the groundhog day project

I like to find in-universe reasons for things even if practical behind-the-scenes reasons explain stuff. That's a given. One that caught my attention watching Back to the Future yesterday was Doc Brown's photos of scientists. In 1955, he has four of them on his mantel--Isaac Newton, Benjamin Franklin, Thomas Edison, and Albert Einstein. So, it took the second viewing in as many days to notice that in the opening tracking shot, there are just three of these photos hanging by Doc's bed in his 1985 abode--the garage of his old house (which burned down and then he sold off the property-- and which exists (the filming location anyway) next to a Burger King that is still there--and I forgot about heading there after work to get a photo... His 1955 house exterior--the Gamble House--still exists not too far from here as well, but I didn't get over there either. I would love it if I had time to get to every nearby location--and living in LA, there are a lot, for many a film--b...

Movies blend together sometimes. That's the life of a person like me, watching movies all the time for decades. Marty talks about how great that 4x4 is and wants to take it up to the lake, and I'm thinking of the 4x4 from the opening sequence of The Goonies and the lake trips from The Last Starfighter .           And, I realize there might be very little to actually say about Back to the Future . I almost watched the trilogy a few years ago in time for the 30th anniversary, but opted not to because of this very problem. One thing, though: when Doc first drives the DeLorean out of his truck and gets out, there's smoke inside of both. And, some weird tube thing attached to Doc's hand-- --and I think we can assume Doc has been sitting in that truck smoking something special (like the band later in the movie) while he waits for Marty's arrival and his own potential demise. It ain't just head injuries that put DeLorean time machines in your mind.   ...