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In 1996, Francis Ford Coppola needed the money.

He was coming off a run of films that included The Godfather Part III, Bram Stoker's Dracula, and Jack. His critical and box office results were at a career nadir.

So he agreed to direct an adaptation of the John Grisham bestseller 'The Rainmaker' for Paramount. He wouldn't direct another film for 10 years. And he'd make only four more, including the epic disaster 'Megalopolis'.

Curious then that 'The Rainmaker' is a superlative example of a courtroom thriller, a big-business-versus-the-little-guy movie that features fantastic performances from a large cast of total pros; a film that deserves to be considered among Coppola's best, and maybe a film whose constraints brought out the best in a filmmaker not know for personal or professional restraint.

Well, it's come to this. Was it curiosity? Was is discovery? A sense of completism? Oxygen deprivation? Whatever it was, I've now watched '2010: The Year We Make Contact' and I leave it for you to decide whether I'm any better for it.

We've come to the end...or is it the beginning? This is part 4 of my series of episodes about the emotional and intellectual contact Stanley Kubrick made between movie-goers and his epic science-fiction film of 1968.

Here's the amazing mashup between Pink Floyd's 'Echoes' and the final sequence of 2001.

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In Part 3, I geek out into how incredible and evocative the HAL sequences are in this film; what an amazing sense of character and personality Kubrick creates through the use of Doug Rain's iconic, best-in-class voiceover and the varying cutaways to HAL's electronic eye in scenes featuring the computer.

Be sure to check out my other episodes covering the other sections of 2001.

Next up: THE STAR GATE sequence in Jupiter And Beyond The Infinite.

In part 2 of my four-part series on 2001, I am going through the TMA-1 (Tycho Magnetic Anomaly One) sequence in which Dr. Haywood Floyd of "The Council" visits the International Space Station, diverts some Russian scientist attentions, presents a specious, US Governmental coverup of the Clavius discovery to a group of cowed committee members, and then embarks to Clavius base on the Moon to visit the Monolith.

This sequence famously uses Johann Strauss' 'The Blue Danube' as well as additional modern pieces by Ligeti.

Here's the hilarious video making fun of the exposition scenes in the latest Mission Impossible movie. Tom, we kid because we love!

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The first of my four-part series on Stanley Kubrick's '2001: A Space Odyssey' covers some introductory approach notes and the first sequence in the film: 'The Dawn Of Man'.

In these episodes I want to avoid a nerdy technical discussion about how the filmmakers did what they did in this extraordinary, still-vital film masterpiece and instead focus on the remarkable ability of the film to inspire thoughts and feelings in its viewers.

For a bibliography of resources consulted in the research of these episodes, check out my 6/13 newsletter for links to materials you might find of interest.

I'd never seen Texas Chainsaw Massacre before this episode. I had also never seen Texas Chainsaw Massacre II. Regrets, I have a few.

And this apparent chainsaw-sized hole in my film-going life is at the heart the Brad Caleb Kane Experiment In Terror that are our Cannon Fodder series of episodes.

Find out what happened in this chaotic mess of an episode.

Cannon Fodder continues! John Frankenheimer finds himself directing for Cannon Films with Roy Scheider starring in Elmore Leonard's own adaptation of his 1974 novel 52 Pickup.

Watch 52 Pickup on Prime before it leaves this weekend.

Watch the excellent Cannon Films/Golan Globus unauthorized documentary Electric Boogaloo: The Wild, Untold Story of Cannon Films

Watch King Cohen, the Larry Cohen documentary, featuring Martin Scorcese.

Listen to my episode on Roy Scheider's brilliant performance in All That Jazz.

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Listen to the first Cannon Fodder episode about the Charles Bronson flick 10 to Midnight, with my special guest, Brad Kane.

In this week's episode it's the debut of 'Cannon Fodder', a recurring series of episodes where I watch a curated selection of films made by schlockmeisters Golan/Globus in the 1980's for their Cannon Film Group, one of the most entertaining production shingles you'll ever hear or see.

In Brad's view, he is a man of the people's cinema and I am a high-minded, opinionated cinephile. Duly diagnosed, I agreed to expand my horizons under Brad's careful tutelage. The result is either an epic argument or filled with surprises...or both.

Here's a great must-see documentary about the "Go-Go Boys" as they're known.

Here's some info about my frequent guest Brad Kane.

Watch '10 to Midnight'

Here's the Cannon Group's wiki page.

For the hardest of the hardcore Full Cast and Crew Smiley Heads out there...as promised, here are the Tinker Tailor commentary tracks.

Wasn't sure how folks would consume there: would you benefit from a countdown timed to the episodes on YouTube so you can watch and listen? Or will you just listen to these like a normal episode without watching along? LMK and if I can tweak the format to help out on the subsequent commentaries I will.