night of the comet is a 1984 american science fiction horror comedy film written and directed by thom eberhardt .

it stars catherine mary stewart , robert beltran , and kelli maroney as survivors of a comet that has turned most people into either dust or zombies .

night of the comet grossed $ 14.4 million in the us on a $ 700,000 budget .

it has a rotten tomatoes approval rating of 83 % and has since become a cult film , influencing the creation of buffy summers .

night of the comet

night of the comet ( 1984 ) - november 19 , 20 . . .
normal theatre in illinois will be screening night of the comet on 18 may 2018 .
made by fishing using a catch - of - the - day bait during night of the comet .
the article includes an interview with night of the comet producers , andrew lane and wayne crawford .
actresses remember the cult classic ' night of the comet ' catherine mary stewart and kelli maroney recall filming on christmas and late night at a mall for the 1984 cult classic
night of the comet .
check out this story on urltoken urltoken
catherine mary stewart and kelli maroney recall filming on christmas and late night at a mall for the 1984 cult classic
night of the comet .
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during the night of the comet , the geiger counter will be really hard but still able to used . it would always detect radiation where ever you go , since the comet emits radiation . if you manage to find something during the night of the comet , you will get the achievement
atomic luck
.
artist hannah adair [ urltoken ] created this fantastic poster for the night of the comet screening at the plaza atlanta on 19 july .
stars catherine mary stewart and kelli maroney discuss their late night filming in a mall for the 1984 film
night of the comet ,
on blu - ray nov . 19 .
the plaza theatre in atlanta , ga will be screening night of the comet on thursday 19 july as part of their plazadrome cult film series .
file : ben giving barbra slippers in night of the living dead bw . jpg
sam ( kelli maroney ) trades her pom - poms for an uzi to deal with zombies in
night of the comet .
night of the comet is that rare movie that ' s effective as both a science - fiction movie and a parody of a science - fiction movie .
maroney and catherine mary stewart starred as teen sisters sam and reggie respectively in the 1984 doomsday cult classic night of the comet , which chronicled a zombie apocalypse in southern california by way of the same comet that wiped out the dinosaurs .
the comet ' s coming , and the world will never be the same .
illuminating and unforgettable , the night of the comet is a novel about the perils of growing up , the longing for connection , and the idea that love and redemption can be found among the stars .
there ' s no question night of the comet was made in the 1980s , and that ' s a positive for people who have enjoyed similarly silly sci - fi flicks like return of the living dead , night of the creeps and other delightfully airy efforts from that decade .
when most of the people of the earth are dehydrated into pink dust , will girls still just want to have fun ? ' night of the comet ' answers that question in the affirmative , with a flourish of candy colors , short skirts , mtv beats & ' teenage comet zombies . '
nov 28th : it ' s the night of the comet ! the comet will arrive at midnight growtopia / time and will only be here for 24 hours . under the cosmic glow of the comet , strange new materials can be discovered , and possible even spliced into amazing new items . . . if you miss out though , don ' t worry - the comet will return every month !
the irreverence at the perceived end of the world constitutes night of the comet ' s biggest selling point : borrowing some of the cheekiness that george a . romero used so well , and making it the main dish rather than the garnish .
ok its finally done we now have the songs from night of the comet . . . although there are a few missing . . . hope you enjoy the songs and the clips
when destroyed , driffen ' s comet splits up in three comet fragments . you have to take these down as well .
night of the comet ( collector ' s edition ) [ bluray / dvd combo ] [ blu - ray ] by shout ! factory by thom e . eberhardt
also because of the lapse , james riffel was in a position to create night of the day of the dawn of the son of the bride of the return of the revenge of the terror of the attack of the evil , mutant , alien , flesh eating , hellbound , zombified living dead part 2 : in shocking 2 - d , by simply removing the audio track from night of the living dead and replacing it with his own dialog .
the rosetta probe transported the robot lander to the comet , where it operated for 60 hours before falling silent . a great deal of information was mined from philae’s examination of the comet , such as
curse of the comet an interview with special make - up effects creator david b . miller
as reggie , catherine mary stewart hopped on a motorcycle in dealing with end - of - the - world shenanigans in
night of the comet ,
debuting on blu - ray tuesday .
denée benton as the other title character in “natasha , pierre & the great comet of 1812 . ”
players with a cloaking device have a clear advantage in this situation . approach the comet cloaked from the far side of the klingon ships and blow it up , then hit evasive maneuvers and cloak again . repeat this cat and mouse game 13 times in order to destroy the comet , the three comet fragments and the nine comet shards .
josh groban as pierre in the musical “natasha , pierre & the great comet of 1812” at the imperial theater .
curse of the comet – an interview with special make - up effects creator david b . miller
in an exclusive clip from the bonus features of the
night of the comet
blu - ray , out nov . 19 , catherine mary stewart and kelli maroney recall filming on christmas morning in los angeles .
the wonderful fan - site for ‘ night of the comet ‘ managed to also track down 7 extra tracks from the soundtrack after cassette tapes were unearthed by the music producers bob summers and don perry .
any full moon is the enemy of a stargazer . a full moon whitewashes the starlight out of huge swaths of the night sky . serious stargazers avoid full moons unless the moon itself is the source of the gazing .
the bastard offspring of an entire drive - in era , night of the comet is one of the most unique motion pictures from any age , and it ' s a wonder that more modern filmmakers haven ' t used it as a cinematic template .
“equally sweet and sad , the night of the comet is a look back at an indelible time in one family’s life together . george bishop has crafted a fine novel of love and forgiveness . ” —stewart o’nan , author of snow angels and the odds
each comet fragment in turn spawns three comet shards . when the shards are destroyed , the mission is complete . if the shards dont apear its a good time to restart the mission .
“author george bishop paints an intimate portrait of an unraveling family as comet kohoutek comes crashing through their lives in his second novel . . . part coming - of - age story , part family saga , ‘the night of the comet’ is sweet and sad , heartbreaking and uplifting . it also provides a wealth of information on astronomy and the stars . the night sky looms in the background , like another character in the story . ” —the free lance - star ( fredericksburg , va )
the film and its successors spawned countless imitators that borrowed elements instituted by romero : tombs of the blind dead , zombie , hell of the living dead , the evil dead , night of the comet , return of the living dead , night of the creeps , braindead , children of the living dead , and the video game series resident evil ( later adapted as films in 2002 , 2004 , and 2007 ) , dead rising , and house of the dead . night of the living dead is parodied in films such as night of the living bread and shaun of the dead , and in episodes of the simpsons (
treehouse of horror iii
, 1992 ) and south park (
pink eye
, 1997 ;
night of the living homeless
, 2007 ) . [ 64 ] [ 65 ] [ 66 ] the word zombie is never used , but romero ' s film introduced the theme of zombies as reanimated , flesh - eating cannibals . [ 67 ] [ 42 ]
night of the living dead meets valley girl in this “entertaining , tongue - in - cheek pastiche of numerous science fiction films . ” - variety
because of the public domain status , the film is sold on home video by many distributors . as of 2006 , the internet movie database lists 23 copies of night of the living dead retailing on dvd and nineteen on vhs . merchandise for night of the living dead at the internet movie database . retrieved june 24 , 2006 . the original film is available to view or download free on internet sites such as the night of the living dead site . ( retrieved august 9 , 2011 ) .
i think it ' s the film ' s ability to embrace its own zaniness that has cemented night of the comet ' s legacy in modern horror as by far one of the most inventive cult classics to have been spawned during the 80 ' s .
night of the living dead had a great impact upon the culture of the vietnam - era united states , because it is laden with critiques of late - 1960s u . s . society ; a historian described it as
subversive on many levels
. [ 4 ] although it is not the first zombie film , night of the living dead is the progenitor of the contemporary
zombie apocalypse
sub - genre of horror film , and it influenced the modern pop - culture zombie archetype . [ 5 ] night of the living dead ( 1968 ) , is the first of five dead films directed by george romero , and twice has been remade , as night of the living dead ( 1990 film ) , directed by tom savini , and as night of the living dead 3d ( 2006 ) .
halley ' s comet rolls around , what , every 75 years ? whatever .
comet 45p will come closest to our planet overnight between february 10 and 11 .
curse of the comet with david b . miller ( 1080p ; 6 : 32 ) profiles the film ' s makeup supervisor .
a comet wipes out most of life on earth , leaving two valley girls to fight the evil types who survive .
the actresses discuss filming during the holidays and all night long in an actual department store in one of the blu - ray bonus features entitled
valley girls at the end of the world .
“george bishop gives us a vivid , immensely readable novel , a poignant story of coming of age under the shadow of an approaching comet which seems to unsettle every formerly comfortable aspect of 14 - year - old junior broussard’s life and family . told in junior’s compelling voice , the night of the comet is a deft , clear - eyed , and sensitive examination of the mysterious bonds of family , the allure of the unattainable , and of love and desire—and their consequences—in all their many forms . ” —ellen baker , author of i gave my heart to know this and keeping the house
empty piles of clothing : the only thing left of most of the world ' s inhabitants .
a comet wipes out most of life on earth , leaving two valley girls fighting against cannibal zombies and a sinister group of scientists .
debuting on blu - ray for the first time tuesday , night of the comet takes the female siblings on a sci - fi romp through a radio station , government base and a mall , where the youngsters have to deal with undead retail employees .
years : not since the last of the dinosaurs mysteriously vanished off the face of the earth .
“ the night of the comet is a heartfelt bildungsroman by a novelist with a sure , light touch . in prose lucid and lovely , george bishop shares alan broussard’s memories of the summer of ’73 , when a comet marked the sky above terrebonne , louisiana , and alan’s boyhood innocence ended . bishop’s one of our best , and this book’s a quiet marvel . ” —josh russell , author of yellow jack and a true history of the captivation , transport to strange lands , & deliverance of hannah guttentag
a comet is approaching the earth , and all over california people are celebrating even though , as the narrator points out , the last time the comet passed was coincidental with the overnight extinction of the dinosaurs . sisters regina ( catherine mary stewart ) and samantha ( kelli maroney ) for different reasons spend the night in steel - lined rooms and come . . . read more
night of the comet is a 1984 film directed by thom eberhardt and starring catherine mary stewart , robert beltran , and kelli maroney . it has elements of such diverse genres as science fiction , horror , zombie apocalypse , comedy , and romance .
i love the style of this glass . it accentuates the flavor of the ingredients !
night of the comet was released in the year 1984 , some songs of the official soundtrack are trouble by skip adams , eyes on you by jocko marcellino , girls just want to have fun by tami holbrook , hard act to follow by diana dewitt . listen the soundtrack online !
other extras on the night of the comet blu - ray include an audio commentary by the two actresses as well as one by writer / director thom eberhardt , plus interviews with actor robert beltran and makeup - effects artist david b . miller .
scream factory , the horror - thriller offshoot of independent film distributor shout factory , has dated and detailed its upcoming collector ' s edition blu - ray release of director thom e . eberhardt ' s night of the comet ( 1984 ) , starring robert beltran , catherine mary . . .
scream factory , the horror - thriller offshoot of independent film distributor shout factory , has revealed that it plans to release a combo pack edition of director thom e . eberhardt ' s night of the comet ( 1984 ) , starring robert beltran , catherine mary stewart , kelli . . .
night of the living dead is the first of five . . . of the dead films directed by george romero . following the 1968 film , romero released dawn of the dead ( 1978 ) , day of the dead ( 1985 ) , land of the dead ( 2005 ) and diary of the dead ( 2008 ) . each film traces the evolution of the living dead epidemic in the united states and humanity ' s desperate attempts to cope with it . as in night of the living dead , romero peppered the other films in the series with critiques specific to the periods in which they were released .
captain , the comet approaching the station . it ' s triolic energy is making it easier for the devidians to manifest .
the broadway production of “ natasha , pierre and the great comet of 1812 ” may be much larger than the original version at off broadway’s tiny ars nova , which had an audience of less than 90 people each night . but it’s still an up close and personal affair — especially for the folks seated onstage .
the night of the comet blog is a non - profit fan site with the purpose of archiving information regarding the 1984 film night of the comet which was distributed by metro - goldwyn - mayer studios inc . all rights reserved . this site features several images from the film which are used for editorial purposes under the fair use doctrine in the us ( nonprofit educational purposes ) and fair dealing doctrine in the uk ( fair dealing with a work with acknowledgement for the purposes of criticism or review or , unless the work is a photograph , for the purposes of news reporting ( s . 30 ) ) . all images have been credited where possible .
captain , the station is safe for now , but we still need to deal with the comet in orbit .
night of the living dead — download both hd ( blue ray ) and standard version available for free . ( copyright is public domain )
it was a champagne reception at letchworth’s historic broadway cinema on friday night as it celebrated 80 years .
this is as close as the comet ' s trajectory will take it to drozana station , captain .
the robot spacecraft philae arrived and landed at its icy destination , comet 67p , in november 2014 .
the broadway production of “natasha , pierre and the great comet of 1812” may be much larger than the original version at off broadway’s tiny ars nova , which had an audience of less than 90 people each night . but it’s still an up close and personal affair — especially for the folks seated onstage . at the [ … ]
the pocono cinema in east stroudsburgh , pa will be screening night of the comet on sunday 15 july 2018 with a special appearance by catherine mary stewart ( reggie ) . the meet and greet starts at 5 . 30pm with the film screening at 7 . 15pm .
the soundtrack for ‘ night of the comet ‘ has only been officially released once – it was made available on macola records and released in 1984 on vinyl and cassette . this soundtrack release collected 10 of the main tracks from the movie and the track list can be seen below ( and the album artwork can be seen at the top of this page ) :
if you get killed by a killer comet the only thing left of you will be your members only jacket and some red dust .
cassidy and i got into a drinking contest with a klingon one night and we ended up drinking firewine .
side of the aisle , evidently it was a dastardly comet that wiped out the dinosaurs . so perhaps we need a tie breaker . if one takes the lunatic
“hilarious and heart - wrenching , ethereal and earthy , the night of the comet points us to the fragile universe of dreams and disappointments , joy and tragedy ; says here it is , all of it : feast your eyes on the magic . a heavenly book . nobody writes about the gravitational pull of parent - child relationships—all that we yearn for and all that we can’t have—like george bishop . ” —minrose gwin , author of the queen of palmyra
the film that night was ginger rogers and fred astaire in follow the fleet , for which something like 1 , 400 squeezed in .
the plot centers around a comet the is due to pass near earth , in fact it comes so close to our planet that earth actually passes through the tail of the comet . this event causes huge worldwide interest and people flock in crowds outside so they can observe this rare cosmic event . however , this spectacular cosmic event is not without consequences . the comet ends up wiping out most of humanity and also causes an outbreak of the undead .
it changes all world ' s weathers to dark green hills which appear to be at night with a comet in the background moving accordingly to the time . comet dust and antimatter dust will spawn during that time in worlds depending on how many people there are ( they don ' t fall from the sky , they just spawn like fireworks )
night of the comet is a movie that is an incredible amount of fun . if you’re down and want to be in a good mood , pop it in . it’s a fantastic example in balancing comedy , horror and action .
– brandon peters , why so blu
“‘the night of the comet’ offers a snapshot of a moment in time and then fills in all the back story of the circumstances preceding it . a coming - of - age tale liberally dusted with starry trappings , the book perfectly captures the interminable feeling of high school—how the days drag and the future looms yet seems as if it will never come—as well as the heightened sense of drama that suffuse events at the time , as first loves and infatuations take on near - cosmic importance . ” —the san francisco city book review
the reason the picture above was taken on december 23 is because there was almost no moon in the sky that night . it was just before a
new moon ,
so the moon was almost entirely black - ideal conditions for catching a comet reflecting the sun .
taking its cue from classic doomsday movies such as the day of the triffids and the omega man ( and with a healthy dose of dawn of the dead thrown in for good measure ) , night of the comet is an irresistible slice of reagan - era b - movie fare which features cyndi lauper dance - alongs as well as some truly gravity - defying bouffant hairstyles . . . well , it was acceptable in the 80s !
“in his new novel , ‘the night of the comet , ’ george bishop builds a bildungsroman upon the arrival of kohoutek , using it as a metaphor for life’s expectations , mysteries , glories and disappointments . . . alan is an appealing character who embodies the poignant hopes and fantasies and fears of a young man caught by love’s gravity . ” —the cleveland plain dealer
in the late hours of sunday , the european space agency’s comet lander philae was found , months after scientists believed it had been lost in space forever .
the triolic energy levels keep rising , and sensors show that blasted comet is to blame . modulating the shields is not going to be enough . something needs to be done about the comet if we ' re going to live to see the morning .
: in 1910 , halley ' s comet returned . everyone thought they were going to die then .
it has been decided that you need to go back in time to destroy driffen ' s comet .
you can survive a killer comet as long as you stay inside a metal building or go underground .
the plot centers around the earth passing through the tail of a rogue comet — an event which has not occurred in 65 million years , the last time coinciding with the extinction event that wiped out the dinosaurs . on the night of the comet ' s impending mid - december passage , large crowds gather to celebrate the event . the next morning , a reddish haze covers everything , and there are no people , animals or other signs of life , only small piles of red dust and empty clothes where people stood and watched the comet ' s passage . the people who
survived
are either dying , or turning into flesh eating zombies . siblings samantha and regina belmont are the film ' s protagonists .
side of the column , according to many astronomers it was actually a comet that led the three wisemen to that fabled manger in bethlehem . that ' s kind of cool , right ? but on the
shout ! once again proves that they’re second to none with re - releasees of fan favorite genre properties . night of the comet is a memorable and fun take on a usually depressing subject and is worth the price for the film alone . the impressive audio and video transfer and the great variety of features only make the set a better buy and likely the most definitive version of the film to date .
– jay plainsafe , diabolique magazine
i imagine the bright white moonshine of a crystal clear full moon atop freshly fallen snow powder , turning night into almost - day and everything into winter magic .
don ' t alter the timeline any more than you have to . destroy the comet and stop the devidians , but other than that , try to stay out of trouble .
local musician justin hillman will be joined by david nagler at the dream away lodge in becket on sunday night , starting around 8 .
if you are online at midnight growtopia / time on the 28th , you will see this message instead : what ' s that in the sky ? ? a comet is blazing a trail through the night ! it will only be here for 24 hours . . .
in 1910 , halley ' s comet returned . everyone thought they were going to die then .
as that deciding vote , the ultimate response as to whether a comet might be a good thing or a bad thing might still be somewhat questionable . the comet in this film wipes out almost all of humanity , which is certainly going to be met with vast approval by the cynics out there in the viewing audience ( who will of course simply assume that they will automatically be exempt from such interstellar genocide ) . on the other hand , the comet
lets
two valley girls survive , so maybe the comet and darwin should go head to head to decide what survival of the fittest actually boils down to . moon unit zappa had immortalized the peculiar
regina is trying to convince samantha that the comet turned almost everybody into red dust . sam is being a hard sell .
the birthday show , 80 years to the day after the opening night on august 26 , 1936 , was marked with a showing of charlie chaplin’s 1936 classic modern times , with half the proceeds going to charity .
guarantee the perfect movie night with tickets from fandango . find theater showtimes , watch trailers , read reviews and buy movie tickets in advance .
“‘comet’ combines the best writing i’ve seen in a long time of coming of age , midlife crises and the ‘quiet’–or not so quiet–desperation that thoreau wrote of . bishop’s prose is good writing , serious but liberally seasoned with a sense of humor . ” —huntington news ( wv )
yup . extinction . unless you happened to be surrounded by steel as the tail of the comet tore through the night sky , every trace of organic matter the world over has been reduced to a pile of ruddy dust . even in a sprawling city like los angeles that was once home to millions , you can count the surviving population on both hands and probably still have a couple fingers left over . reggie
the soundtrack for ‘ night of the comet ‘ is a basically a compilation album with original tracks from a variety of ‘known’ and ‘unknown’ artists of the time performing 80s pop tunes made for the film . it’s basically an anti - horror soundtrack , there are no dark and moody pieces , no brooding 80’s synths , no discordant pieces to unsettle the viewer – this is pure 80s pop and power - ballads .
how close is close ? compared to our own moon , comet 45p will be about 30 times further away .
‘ night of the comet ‘ is a us horror comedy written and directed by thom eberhardt and released in 1984 . the film isn’t strictly a zombie film ( although it has zombies in in it…hence its inclusion here ) , it is probably more accurate to call it an ‘apocalyptic - comedy - horror’… . maybe .
has gone to a lot of trouble to keep it off of the navigational charts .
he ' ll be calling for reinforcements . we need to destroy the comet and return to our time before we ' re overwhelmed .
the remaining comet debris is too small to be a threat . now we just need to find a way to . . . .
: comets are visible long before and after they pass , so not wanting to
miss the comet
is a little silly .
the cheesiness and fun of the soundtrack has undoubtedly contributed to the lasting popularity of this film amongst particular age groups .
two sisters , high school seniors in the early 1980s , awaken one morning to blood red skies and the realization that the human race has been wiped out . this becomes apparent that anyone who was not surrounded by steel when earth recently passed through the tail of a comet has been reduced to a pile of red dust ( the trace elements of human chemical makeup ) . they encounter a friendly truck driver and take over the airwaves at a local radio station in an attempt to get help . unfortunately , they attract the attention of a group of scientists who knew what the effects of the comet would be . they hide underground in a steel laboratory , but carelessly left the vents open . now as various survivors of the comet who were only partially surrounded by steel are decaying into flesh - hungry zombies , the scientists are attempting to come up with a vaccine made of the blood of people who were not infected by the comet . thus the trio must fight their way past not only roving packs of the cannibal zombies , but also outsmart a pack of scientists desperate not to become that way themselves .
musical duo hawthorn will join singer - songwriter izzy heltai and luke tobin at the design lab in north adams on saturday night , starting at 6 .
we ' ll need to come back to the past and attempt to destroy driffen ' s comet again , but this time without altering the timeline .
night of the comet is a cheesy , camp 80 ' s low budget movie but i have always had a soft spot for it since first renting the movie as a teenager . as usual with arrow films releases this is top notch in terms of blu - ray quality presentation and extras , if you are a fan then this edition is a must .
the battle against the comet is difficult , since there is a steady flow of d7 battlecruiser reinforcements . however you may fight any d7s you want , including the quv , they will only be disabled .
night of the living dead lapsed into the public domain because the original theatrical distributor , the walter reade organization , neglected to place a copyright indication on the prints . in 1968 , united states copyright law required a proper notice for a work to maintain a copyright . [ 82 ] image ten displayed such a notice on the title frames of the film beneath the original title , night of the flesh eaters . the distributor removed the statement when it changed the title . [ 83 ] according to george romero , walter reade
ripped us off
. [ 84 ]
despite the comet lander no longer being functional , discovery of its hiding spot means a more accurate analysis of the data from philae can be undertaken . with the space agency gearing up to bring the whole mission to a close towards the end of the month , researchers and avid followers of philae’s journey can gain closure knowing exactly where its final resting place is .
the same year day of the dead premiered , night of the living dead co - writer john russo released a film titled return of the living dead . russo ' s film offers an alternate continuity to the original film than dawn of the dead , but acted more as a satire than a sequel . russo ' s film spawned four sequels . the last — return of the living dead : rave from the grave — was released in 2005 as a television movie .
stop the hyperbole , please . the combination of a comet , a
snow moon
and a penumbral lunar eclipse on february 10 is actually a coincidence of two events , not three - and none are worth looking for .
the imperial theater , where the rapturous musical “natasha , pierre & the great comet of 1812” blazed opened on monday night , has never looked more imperial — or felt more intimate . who would have guessed that dave malloy’s gorgeous pop opera , adapted from a slice of tolstoy’s “war and peace , ” would land on broadway with all its signal virtues intact , and in some ways heightened ?
the eerie and disturbing music score of night of the living dead was not composed for the film . karl hardman told an interviewer that the music came from the extensive film music library of wrs studio . much of what was used in the film was purchased from the library of capitol records , and an album of the soundtrack was released at one point . stock music selections included works by wrs sound tech , richard lococo , philip green , geordie hormel , william loose , jack meakin and spencer moore
did i mention it ' s christmas ? : a few hints - decorations in stores , radio broadcasts , hector dressing as santa to surprise the girls - suggest it ' s the holiday season , although the buildup to and hype about
comet night
seems to have taken precedence due to the latter being a rare celestial event .
cheesy , but enjoyable satire is like the poor man ' s version of 28 days later ( 2002 ) with a big chunk of ' 80 ' s vibe for flavor ! comet eliminates the worlds population , leaving surviving sisters to fend against a group of demented scientists . while many peg night of the comet as a zombie picture , and granted two or three zombies do show up along the way , this film really has much more in common with the old b sci - fi movies of the 1950s . in fact , one could make a good case that the film is meant to be a comical parody of those old schlock films , after all it does have a nice comic book feel ! from any view , this is an entertaining film even with its silly moments . it manages to stir up a few chills along with the laughs . the films cast is only decent , but their performances do hold their own . the special fx , mostly the zombies , are pretty decent . the music score is composed mainly of electronic tunes that perfect that great ' 80 ' s feel ! for those seeking a bit of fun humor with their horror , night of the comet isn ' t a bad choice . * * * out of * * * *
i remember seeing this movie several times on tv as a kid . it ' s hard to have any kind of proper discernment when you ' re 8 years old and sitting there chewing on pixie sticks and gulping down hi - c , but once again i ' ve decided to smash my head into the wall of nostalgia and see if i can survive the night of the comet . well , i did , but just barely .
check out highlights from some of the best recent trailers including mandy , the predator , zoe , and the king of thieves .
night shoots are always a total drag ,
says stewart , who also starred in the last starfighter and weekend at bernie ' s .
but it was kind of cool having the whole store to ourselves .
it would be best for the empire to keep the details of what transpired here secret . time travel is so troublesome . but while the loresingers will never tell the tale of the i . k . s . < shipname > and the comet , know that those in power recognize and appreciate your achievements .
the soundtrack was arranged and produced by don perry and bob summers , who was behind the soundtrack for another 80s pg - rated ‘horror’ ‘ one dark night ‘ ( 1983 ) .
meanwhile , two sisters who missed the comet passing over and are unaffected by the effects of it , wake up in la to find that most of the inhabitants have perished and all that is left roaming the streets are mutants , zombies , and some scientists and government agents .
moviegoers walk into the cool , dimly lit confines of the theater venue hoping to find catharsis . the tacit assumption of the filmgoer is that the pr . . .
the tomatometer score — based on the opinions of hundreds of film and television critics — is a trusted measurement of critical recommendation for millions of fans . it represents the percentage of professional critic reviews that are positive for a given film or television show .
some new clothes could be found such as cosmic skirt or velour space uniform . these items can be spliced with the starseed or galactic starseed ( which you can get by tapping 200 comet dusts or 200 antimatter dusts on yourself ) . before the first night , players could obtain the clothes from rare clothes packs but was later removed .
she dates an old surfer named johnny , who also manages the night - club in the hilo hotel and plays jazz piano in a quartet with her son , who plays lead guitar .
justified in that in this case , the comet is passing unusually close to the earth and there ' s one prime observational time ( probably when the earth passes through its tail ) .
at midnight , growtopia / time , the comet will fly pass growtopia for 24 hours . this will happen only once per month , always occurring on the 28th . the first event happened on the 28th of november 2014 when update was introduced .
“this latest from the talented bishop brings stardust and domestic disillusionment to the bayous of louisiana . . . coming - of - age novels examine youthful revelations about the world—filled with cynicism and wonder and rearranged expectations—and the quality hinges on the honesty of the voice , the truth of the observations , the handling of innocence lost ; bishop succeeds on all these fronts . a fine story of everyday sadness and otherworldly joys . ” —kirkus reviews , “best books of 2013”
for his fourteenth birthday , alan broussard , jr . , receives a telescope from his father , a science teacher at the local high school who’s anxiously awaiting what he promises will be the astronomical event of the century : the coming of comet kohoutek . for alan broussard , sr . —frustrated in his job , remote from his family—the comet is a connection to his past and a bridge to his son , with whom he’s eager to share his love for the stars .
since the release , critics and film historians have seen night of the living dead as a subversive film that critiques 1960s american society , international cold war politics , and domestic racism . elliot stein of the village voice saw the film as an ardent critique of american involvement in vietnam , arguing that it
was not set in transylvania , but pennsylvania — this was middle america at war , and the zombie carnage seemed a grotesque echo of the conflict then raging in vietnam
. [ 55 ] film historian sumiko higashi concurs , arguing that night of the living dead was a horror film about the horrors of the vietnam era . while she asserts that
there are no vietnamese in night of the living dead , [ . . . ] they constitute an absent presence whose significance can be understood if narrative is construed
. she points to aspects of the vietnam war paralleled in the film : grainy black - and - white newsreels , search - and - destroy operations , helicopters , and graphic carnage . [ 56 ]
is one of the more genial zombie movies of its era , it also has a rather peculiar melancholic subtext to it . a couple of the scenes between stewart and maroney ache with a kind of depressive
, released in 1984 , is a great example of that . the ability of the production team to create this classic “last people on earth” science fiction effort on a budget of $ 500 , 000 - 700 , 000 is in fact quite admirable . the premise of the film is highly tenuous , that a comet that last visited the earth at the time of the dinosaurs’ extinction 65 million years ago is now returning , and taking out life on the planet all over again . of course , a tenuous premise is part of what makes a b movie interesting . where can the director / writer go with this thin thread connecting the elements of the story ? fortunately , the film’s writer and director (
“but it was probably just as important to provide some emotional closure for the millions who have been following both philae and rosetta through the trials and tribulations of their exploration of this remarkable remnant of the birth of our solar system . and there’s one big final adventure to come on 30 september as rosetta itself descends to the comet , doing unique science close - up before the mission ends for good . ”
unaware of what has happened—inside the family home . sam it turns out had run away the night before and had , like reggie , taken refuge in a steel lined shelter . the two girls aren ' t quite sure what to make of this state of affairs until they hear what appears to be a live disc jockey at a local radio station , so the two set off to investigate . at the radio station , they find out that everything is actually prerecorded and is simply playing out with no human supervision , but they ' re shocked to be confronted by hector ( robert beltran ) , who , like the girls , had escaped the destructive wrath of the comet by having spent the night enclosed by steel . the girls play around in the studio and end up broadcasting some silly snippets out over the airwaves , which are actually heard by a horde of surviving scientists ( including beltran ' s
china and other countries are little tired of being bossed around because of the us dollar so they ' re looking to . . . * read the rest of the article on the ne . . .
it is said that the beatles were scheduled to play at the cinema in 1963 , but cancelled after becoming chart - toppers . a year later their film a hard day’s night broke all the cinema’s box office records .
urltoken night of the comet : catherine mary stewart , kelli maroney , robert beltran , sharon farrell , mary woronov , geoffrey lewis , peter fox , john achorn , michael bowen , devon ericson , lissa layng , ivan e . roth , thom eberhardt , andrew lane , michael rosenblatt , nancy israel , sandra scheik , thomas coleman , wayne crawford : movies & tv
elaborate underground base : the project ' s bunker . it was supposed to be deep enough to prevent the comet ' s radiation from reaching them . . . but someone left the air ducts open .
romance , soul & rock ` n roll and berkshire olde tyme review present at 7 : 30 p . m . on friday and saturday ,
the night of the comet : a totally magical evening
at the colonial theatre , 111 south st . , pittsfield . tickets are $ 20 general admission , with all proceeds to benefit berkshire theatre group ' s btg plays ! year - round education program .
comet , snow moon and eclipse ′trifecta′ have the potential to disappoint | science | in - depth reporting on science and technology | dw | 10 . 02 . 2017
when you head back to the shipyard , the station becomes out of phase again and everything is dipped in blue . scotty tells you that the regulator buys them a little bit of time , but driffen ' s comet has to be destroyed as fast as possible . otherwise , the triolic energy will kill everyone on the station .
' s mary woronov here , and some of the good and less - than - good stuff about working with the folks on the other side of the camera .
the scenes of an empty los angeles were filmed in the morning on normal business days . the shots of the barren city were done quickly while the traffic was held up at stoplights .
driffen ' s comet is a memory . i ' m sure a federation scientist will do some meaningless study into its disappearance in the 23rd century , but , like so many of the minutia those
explorers
are so fascinated with , it will be of no consequence .
when cheerleader samantha belmont ( kelli maroney ) is playing at the radio station as a disk jockey , she says that she is taking requests from
all you teenage mutant comet zombies
. this was the working title of the film . see more »
, if you are receiving this message then you and your crew have completed your mission . driffen ' s comet is destroyed , and the devidans are no longer a threat to the federation .
, if you are receiving this message then you and your crew have completed your mission . driffen ' s comet is destroyed , and the devidans are no longer a threat to the empire .
of the
secrets
the government agents have up their jumpsuit sleeves , it turns out there are actually gradations of zombiefication going on , and both the scientists themselves as well as at least one of the trio of focal survivors may be well on their way to becoming one of the undead . a disturbing plan to rescue mankind , which plays out like a kind of sibling to some of the elements in george a . romero ' s
the supporting cast had no experience in the film industry prior to night of the living dead . the role of tom remained keith wayne ' s only film role ( he committed suicide in 1995 ) , [ 29 ] but judith ridley co - starred in romero ' s there ' s always vanilla ( 1971 ) . [ 30 ] the cemetery zombie who kills johnny in the first scene was played by s . william hinzman , a role that launched his horror film career . hinzman was later involved in the films season of the witch ( 1973 ) , flesheater ( 1988 ) , legion of the night ( 1995 ) , santa claws ( 1996 ) , and evil ambitions ( 1996 ) . [ 31 ]
technically living zombie : the
comet zombies
aren ' t so much undead as simply slowly decomposing people who must drink human blood to stave off their transformation into dust .
below is the homily i preached at the funeral of the widow of the priest that sponsored me for ordination . burial homily for gay hadden watson st . john’s . . .
reviewers disliked the film ' s gory special effects . variety labeled night of the living dead an
unrelieved orgy of sadism
and questioned the
integrity and social responsibility of its pittsburgh - based makers
. [ 50 ] new york times critic vincent canby referred to the film as a
junk movie
as well as
spare , uncluttered , but really silly
. [ 51 ]
cutting the cake at the broadway cinema ' s 80th birthday party on friday night . left to right : heritage foundation board of governors acting chairman ian cotterill , interim chief executive colin chatfield , venues manager jason valentine , and letchworth film club ' s peter griffiths .


the armstrong lie is a 2013 american documentary film directed by alex gibney about the cyclist lance armstrong .

originally titled the road back , the film takes its name from " le mensonge armstrong " , the headline of the august 23 , 2005 issue of the french newspaper l'équipe .

the film was screened out of competition at the 70th venice international film festival and in the special presentation section at the 2013 toronto international film festival .

the armstrong lie

the armstrong lie
simply offers up the armstrong lie . sorry , but we ' ve all already heard that one .
the armstrong lie is eye - opening and myth - shattering and more than a little depressing .
looking for movie tickets ? enter your location to see which movie theaters are playing the armstrong lie near you .
“what’s more , he can use the story as his defence . that was the most astounding thing , when he looks down the lens he uses the fantastic nature of the lie to buttress it . how can i possibly be telling a lie because if i cheated i would put all this at risk ? ”
for four years with the intent of chronicling his return to cycling after retirement as armstrong tried to win his eighth tour de france . unexpectedly , gibney was also there when armstrong admitted to doping , which resulted in the film being retitled from
the road back
to
the armstrong lie .
venice - - italy , oscar - winning documentary director alex gibney ( taxi to the dark side ) returns to a project he started over five years ago in the armstrong lie , which was initially envisaged as a film about champion cyclist lance armstrong ’s 2009 comeback and now includes material shot after the 2012 revelation that the athlete’s insistent denials of ever having used performance - enhancing drugs were a lie .
anyone can pull a con like armstrong’s . you just lie and keep on lying until someone catches you . it takes a master to keep the con going even after you’ve been caught .
the armstrong lie picks up in 2013 and presents a riveting , insider’s view of the unraveling of one of the most extraordinary stories in the history of sports . as lance armstrong himself says : “i didn’t live a lot of lies , but i lived one big one . ”
lance armstrong has confessed to using performance - enhancing drugs during all seven of his tour de france victories , saying :
i view this situation as one big lie .
8 . when in doubt , he played the cancer card . gibney argues that the livestrong foundation and armstrong’s open discussion of his cancer offered a way to rationalize the lie to himself and ultimately provided an out if anyone questioned him .
as gibney admits , it wasn ' t just the
armstrong lie
that drove him through the endurance - testing tour de france , but people ' s desire to believe in that lie . armstrong comes across as both admirably resilient and frighteningly selfish , his treatment of those who crossed him ( teammates with whom he doped , for example ) tellingly callous , his refusal to be beaten bizarrely engaging .
armstrong was sporting a yellow livestrong band on his right wrist . the bracelets were worn by many people during his era of dominance , but recently many have been defaced to read ' lie - strong ' .
the armstrong lie has several insightful moments but is most interesting in how it shows us a filmmaker usually committed to finding the absolute truth in his subjects , suffering when he comes across a story where lies and truth constantly intertwine .
the armstrong lie
also presents a very close relationship between lance armstrong and the international cycling union , cycling ' s governing board . the icu and armstrong had frequent conversations on the cyclist ' s latest drug test , with the board representatives amicably warning armstrong how close he was to getting caught . gibney doesn ' t elaborate on it and purposefully leaves it hanging , but he makes it seem not unfeasible that the whole controversy might have even involved the very head of the uci .
we learn far more about the man from alex gibney’s superb documentary the armstrong lie . the reason for making a drama , you would have thought , would be to speculate and examine in a way documentary never can . well , it does not happen here .
in 2009 alex gibney was hired to make a film about lance armstrong’s comeback to cycling . the project was shelved when the doping scandal erupted , and re - opened after armstrong’s confession . “the armstrong lie” picks up in 2013 and presents a riveting , insider’s view of the unraveling of one of the most extraordinary stories in the history of sports . as lance armstrong himself says : “i didn’t live a lot of lies , but i lived one big one . ”
subscribe to trailers : urltoken subscribe to coming soon : urltoken subscribe to indie & film festivals : urltoken like us on facebook : urltoken follow us on twitter : urltoken the armstrong lie official trailer 1 ( 2013 ) - lance armstrong documentary hd an exposition of cyclist lance armstrong as he trains for his eighth tour de france victory .
in 2009 alex gibney was hired to make a film about lance armstrong’s comeback to cycling . the project was shelved when the doping scandal erupted , and re - opened after armstrong’s confession . “the armstrong lie” picks up in 2013 and presents a riveting , insider ' s view of the unraveling of one of the most extraordinary stories in the history of sports . as lance armstrong himself says : “i didn’t live a lot of lies , but i lived one big one . ”
that same month , hamilton was at armstrong’s villa in nice , and received a vial of epo from armstrong that had been stored in armstrong’s refrigerator , the report said .
the myth of the cancer survivor turned serial winner , which armstrong perpetuated , captivated millions .
the disgraced hero at the center of one of the most compelling rise - and - fall narratives in recent years gets exhaustive and penetrating documentary treatment in “the armstrong lie . ” focusing primarily on the past four years of lance armstrong’s life — from his 2009 post - retirement comeback bid to his recent admission that he had used performance - enhancing drugs , despite [ … ]
“the lie was way bigger than it needed to be , ” says gibney . “the fact is he could have gone through his career and kept his head down , just saying , ' i’d never been tested positive’ . that would have been the truth – well not quite , but almost . instead , he constructs this spectacular lie in line with this spectacular story he has of the cancer survivor coming back from near death to win the tour .
i view this situation as one big lie , that i repeated a lot of times . it wasn ' t as if i just said no and i moved on .
we watch incredible acts , superhuman performance , staggering achievement and in the wake of the armstrong lie we now doubt them all . we have to consider the possibility that every one of our heroes might be powered by dope . it is not a bad position for the cynic , perhaps . but it is a hopeless one for the sporting romantic .
so faithful was the shoot , the story goes that ben foster , the lead actor , took epo to convey armstrong all the more authentically .
many of those who inflated the armstrong bubble will now capitalise on his confession .
armstrong insists he is willing to co - operate with the authorities in future .
at the race’s end , however , armstrong proclaimed his innocence . he won the tour six more times .
so where does the blame lie ? the cycling press can , half - justifiably , blame their employers and their editors , who demanded the usual round of quotes , mini - scoops and interviews . the reporters could argue that they were simply following a narrow interpretation of their professional obligations .
when director alex gibney started working on his lance armstrong documentary in 2009 , the cyclist occupied a very different position in the pop - athletic landscape . but as the film approached completion , allegations against armstrong became a lot more credible , and in 2010 gibney scrapped a bunch of the movie and wound up with a very different film . what was going to be the road back is now the armstrong lie , and here ' s the movie ' s first trailer .
i certainly was very confident that i would never be caught ,
armstrong says in a clip . yeah , no kidding .
still , the armstrong lie feels more often like a possibility for the director to revive an abandoned passion project and try to turn it into something of a ( cosmetically more appealing ) frankenstein’s monster , using interview and some impressive tour footage from the original film and some newly shot material to make what would finally turn out to be a quite absorbing but never riveting or revelatory overview of armstrong’s career and testy personality .
armstrong ' s drug use began in the
mid - 90s
, he said .
the problem with armstrong was the way he aggressively chased down and sued ( or threatened to sue ) people who may have flagged up any alternative to the armstrong - imposed narrative . there was plenty of evidence , but no one dared stand up to la armstrong , the ultimate diva of pro cycling .
in 2009 alex gibney was hired to make a film about lance armstrong’s comeback to cycling . the project was shelved when the doping scandal erupted , and re - opened after armstrong’s confession .
the evidence that armstrong used epo in the 1999 race was overwhelming , the report said , adding , “no other conclusion is even plausible . ”
the armstrong story is fascinating . that someone could get away with such a huge lie in plain sight is terrifying . it ' s a bit like the jimmy savile mess in the uk in that , to put it simply , people must have known ! and some brave people did know and try to talk about it , but if one thing came out of the armstrong debacle , it ' s the knowledge that telling the truth is one thing ; finding someone to listen to you is quite another .
still yet to get a release date in the u . s . , director stephen frears had made no bones admitting that he wasn’t looking to tell lance armstrong’s life story with the program , calling it instead a “crime story about a man who stole the tour de france seven times . ” in the meantime , alex gibney’s 2013 documentary , the armstrong lie , offers an unprecedented look into the cyclist’s fall from grace . originally titled the road back , the project began filming before the 2012 doping investigation and was meant to be a tale of a cycling great returning to the sport he loved . the ensuing scandal changed the plot significantly . the end of the doc even features a sit - down with armstrong done by gibney just hours after he recorded his infamous oprah interview .
when o’reilly , the masseuse , asked armstrong how he would optimize his performance , the report said that he responded , “what everybody does . ” o’reilly understood this to mean armstrong would use epo , the report said .
9 . returning to the scene of the crime . the film makes a clear case that armstrong would have gotten away with it all if he hadn’t returned to the tour in 2009 . why armstrong made that decision is film’s most intriguing question .
6 . don’t ever , ever think about crossing lance . . . armstrong is an expert at discounting anyone who tries to speak out against him ; in many ways , the war against his detractors was worse than the doping itself . the film highlights the guts of longtime friend betsy andreu , the wife of a former armstrong teammate , who was the one of the first people to say armstrong used performance - enhancing drugs .
according to the report , armstrong told o’reilly , the masseuse , “now , emma , you know enough to bring me down . ”
while armstrong has long protested his innocence , retroactive testing found epo in six of armstrong’s urine samples from the 1999 race , according to the report . in addition , the report said , five fellow riders on armstrong’s 1999 united states postal service team — george hincapie , frankie andreu , tyler hamilton , jonathan vaughters and christian vande velde — provided affidavits testifying to firsthand knowledge that armstrong violated antidoping rules , the report said .
the story of disgraced cyclist lance armstrong gets exhaustive and penetrating documentary treatment in alex gibney ' s latest .
armstrong ' s defence long relied on the fact he had never tested positive - a stance he maintains .
normally when i leave the cinema what i want is a pizza . or maybe , if it is a particularly draining comedy involving robert de niro and sylvester stallone , a stiff drink . after watching alex gibney’s brilliant new documentary the armstrong lie , however , i felt in urgent need of something i had never before associated with the movies : a shower . knowing what we know now , watching lance armstrong in all his calculating , self - righteous mendacity up on the big screen is an experience that puts you in urgent search of the soap .
the result is a film that neatly counterbalances the reality we now know with the fantasy the rider steadfastly maintained . at the heart of the complex , sophisticated lie armstrong constructed was his own ability to fib to camera . time and again during that 2009 tour he looks into gibney’s lens and tells him he has never , will never and could never embrace performance - enhancing assistance . at the time , gibney says , he believed him : he certainly saw no evidence during that tour to suggest anything else . to watch now , knowing what we do , armstrong’s lying is breathtaking in its scale , its skill , its audacity .
armstrong also used testosterone , which builds muscle and aids recovery from exertion , during the 1999 tour , the report said . he mixed it with olive oil in a concoction that was taken orally . after one stage , the report said , armstrong squirted the “oil” in hamilton’s mouth .
he said he would have called his family , mother , sponsors and the lance armstrong foundation ( livestrong ) .
the real losers in this game are the clean riders and the writers who contradict the mood of the moment , those who spoke out against doping at the time . there is a market for the truth but it is a very fickle one . we’ve all got some thinking to do about the rise and fall of lance armstrong .
at this point , however , the armstrong story becomes more uncomfortable : because the editors , of course , were trying to anticipate and satiate the appetites of their readers . in the great journalistic trade - off , the very beginning of the story , the first domino , is the public’s credulous demand for meaningless quotes and soft interviews .
according to a doping investigation , armstrong cursed and said , “that’s not good . ”
an irish sports journalist becomes convinced that lance armstrong ' s performances during the tour de france victories are fueled by banned substances . with this conviction , he starts hunting for evidence that will expose armstrong .
in 2009 alex gibney was hired to make a film about lance armstrong ' s comeback to cycling . the project was shelved when the doping scandal erupted , and re - opened after armstrong ' s confession . ( c ) sony classics
lance armstrong , left to right , with frankie andreu , george hincapie and pascal derame after winning the 1999 tour .
even if you dislike sport , hate celebrity confessions and distrust oprah winfrey , you should follow the story of lance armstrong . it is a morality tale of huge implications . beneath the surface , armstrong’s story is about the power of celebrity and the complicity of the media . it is a depressing tale but a deeply salutary one .
because security was tight , the epo was smuggled to the postal service team by a personal assistant and handyman for armstrong , the report said . he was a motorcycle enthusiast who followed the tour on his motorcycle , and the riders who knew his purpose gave him the nickname motoman .
and gibney knows what he is talking about . he experienced the armstrong fibbing technique at first hand , witnessed it at close quarters as it poured down his lens . indeed , the lie came close to undermining his entire credibility as a documentary maker . back in 2009 , he had been invited by armstrong to film the inside story of his comeback to the tour de france . after the most fleeting of retirements , the seven - time winner was remounting his bike , back pounding up alps , threading through the fields of sunflowers , rattling over the cobbles . and he wanted a record for posterity , to mark his place in the pantheon . so he sought out america’s most renowned , fiercely forensic , independent documentary maker to shoot him in action .
for now , let’s leave to one side the disgraceful negligence , perhaps even co - operation , of the cycling authorities . consider the role of the mainstream media in the great armstrong deception . most cycling journalists knew it was highly unlikely that armstrong could have raced at that level without drugs . not only did the vast majority remain silent , they actively froze out the few writers – such as david walsh and paul kimmage – who were brave enough to fight the armstrong conspiracy . cyclists were brutal in cutting down whistle - blowers inside the peloton ; they called it “pissing in the soup” . the journalistic mainstream mirrored the peloton : they closed ranks against reporters who challenged the comfortable status quo .
on october 22 , 2012 lance armstrong was stripped of the 7 tour de france titles he won from 1999 - 2005 .
an intimate but explosive portrait of the man behind the greatest fraud in sporting history . lance armstrong enriched himself by cheating his fans , his sport , and the truth . but the former . . . see full summary »
but this is the tale of lance armstrong , the most successful rider in the history of the tour de france and sport’s most significant doper . and there are so many drugs involved , one observer who attended a preview screening suggested the producers had given their film the wrong title . it should be called the iv crowd .
the effect of these details is to expose the surprising degree to which armstrong was able to calculate his own narrative , belying the against - the - odds inspirationalism that has generally accompanied its telling . “this is not a story about doping ; it’s a story about power , ” one interviewee shrewdly notes , and “ the armstrong lie ” zeroes in on the cynical realities of a sport where victory falls to those with the best medical and financial resources , and where the lure of sponsorships , massive publicity and millions of dollars in cancer - fighting research can encourage even the head of the intl . cycling union to look the other way . the film also taps into the warped mentality of a professional sport where everyone of consequence is assumed to be doping under a code of collective silence , making it easy enough for a cheater to convince himself he isn’t gaining an unfair advantage so much as staying competitive .
a quite absorbing but never riveting or revelatory overview of armstrong’s career and testy personality . twitter
a documentary chronicling sports legend lance armstrong ' s improbable rise and ultimate fall from grace .
3 . alberto contador is a badass . gibney includes captivating footage of armstrong’s feud with teammate alberto contador , who raced alongside the texan in 2009 and didn’t let him win that year’s tour . instead , contador took home the win and armstrong finished third .
stephen frears ' cautious study of lance armstrong ' s fall from grace doesn ' t crack the cyclist ' s implacable veneer .
the latest documentary from oscar winner alex gibney looks at lance armstrong ' s comeback attempt in 2009 and the subsequent discovery of his use of performance - enhancing drugs .
certainly , gibney was not expecting much empathy when he informed armstrong of the title of the film . and when he invited him to a screening , armstrong did not attend , sending instead a representative . gibney has not yet heard what he thought of it .
armstrong announced his refusal to co - operate with the usada investigation last august and was punished by cycling ' s world governing body , the uci , in late october .
twin venice and toronto premieres , gibney’s reputation and the high profile of the armstrong doping case should nonetheless help put bums in seats for sony pictures classics when it releases the title stateside , nov . 8 .
during the first two weeks of the tour , armstrong , hamilton and livingston used epo every third or fourth day in their camper or hotel rooms , the report said . armstrong , hamilton and livingston traveled in a newer , bigger camper during that tour , while other postal service riders shoehorned into a smaller , older vehicle . hamilton and livingston also shared a hotel room so they could speak openly with armstrong about doping , the report said .
with the interview as his film’s centrepiece , gibney then revisited the footage he had shot in 2009 using it to shed some light on the armstrong methodology , the way he had used it to keep one step ahead of detection for so long .
the disgraced hero at the center of one of the most compelling rise - and - fall narratives in recent years gets exhaustive and penetrating documentary treatment in “ the armstrong lie . ” focusing primarily on the past four years of lance armstrong ’s life — from his 2009 post - retirement comeback bid to his recent admission that he had used performance - enhancing drugs , despite vehement denials over the course of his extraordinary career — director alex gibney delivers not just a detailed , full - access account of his subject , in all his defiance , hubris and tentative self - reckoning , but also a layered inquiry into the culture of competitiveness , celebrity , moral relativism and hypocrisy that helped enable and sustain his deception . although unlikely to match the tv audience for armstrong’s revelatory interview with oprah winfrey in january , this authoritative and well - timed sony classics release should easily become one of gibney’s more widely seen efforts .
armstrong denied usada chief executive travis tygart ' s claims that the united states postal service team ' s doping programme was the leading one of its kind , believing the east german regime to be ' better ' .
a new team director , johan bruyneel , and team doctor , luis garcia del moral , were hired that year for the postal service team . armstrong called the team the bad news bears . he wanted a new team , according to the affidavit by vaughters , his teammate , because the outgoing doctor , pedro celaya , “had not been aggressive enough for armstrong in providing banned products . ”
i suppose earlier in my career there was cortisone and then the epo generation began ,
said armstrong , who won the world road race title aged 21 in 1993 .
links / site map / privacy policy / photo credits / © luxstowe vets . website by hudson armstrong
that may have been the most famous of his lies , but it was hardly the first . clinton was well known as a liar — an “unusually good” one , according to bob kerrey , the former senator — long before he ever reached the white house . as early as 1992 , the question posed by his candidacy , as defined by michael kinsley , was not is he a liar , ‘‘but is he too much of a liar ? ” by the end the lies and abuses of power had piled up so high that christopher hitchens was forced to title his scathing account of the clinton presidency no one left to lie to .
a public weigh - in of the riders was to be attended by the news media . a team masseuse found some makeup , and armstrong’s bruise , and the doping that investigators assert caused it , was ultimately concealed .
just before the 1999 tour de france , a teammate pointed out that lance armstrong had a bruise on his upper arm caused by a syringe .
the point of making a drama about armstrong would be , you assume , to do the things non - fiction cannot . but the creative effort of the program appears to have been expended on replicating material that already exists . the director stephen frears has so lovingly recreated the world of the tour , with his sweeping views of bikes swishing past the arc de triomphe and labouring up mont ventoux , that his footage could easily be mistaken for the genuine article .
gibney became involved when armstrong defiantly decided to have another crack at the tour de france in 2009 , submitting to the fierce anti - doping inspections and achieving a very creditable third place .
indeed , this is the ultimate point of the film . the cyclist wanted to use gibney to seal his place in sporting legend . by deconstructing his deception , gibney has done just that . after watching the film you realise what the true lance armstrong legacy entails : he has tarnished the relationship between every sports star and their plausibility beyond repair .
cycle of falsehood … the tissue of lies surrounding disgraced cyclist lance armstrong did film - maker alex gibney no favours . photograph : olivier hoslet / epa
asked whether he felt it was possible to win the tour seven times in succession without doping , armstrong said :
not in my opinion .
one of gibney’s key questions - - why stage a comeback that would prove fatal and , in the long run , reveal and ruin everything ? - - is never forcefully addressed and there’s no satisfactory , in - depth answer that explains why armstrong chose to use the performance - enhancing drugs and lie about it until very recently , when federal investigations were underway ( they ' ve since been halted ) . the filmmaker does hint at the possibility that armstrong - - who continues to claim he was “clean” during the 2009 tour ( in which he placed third ) and its disastrous 2010 follow - up ( 23rd place ) - - is trying to influence his own narrative even in front of oprah and gibney’s cameras . it can ' t be a good sign if your subject seems to have the last word .
the 1999 racing season began , the report said , with an unlikely goal for armstrong , a cancer survivor : to win the tour de france . he would skip many of the buildup races to concentrate on his sport’s major event . and for fuel , the report said , he would rely on banned substances .
the tale behind armstrong’s first tour triumph , an achievement that made him an instant celebrity , is laid out in the investigative report in almost novelistic fashion . it involves a man on a motorcycle who delivered drugs to armstrong’s team , an italian doctor who was famous for helping riders dope , a training regimen designed to avoid drug testing , and the active complicity of the team masseuse .
because armstrong did not have medical authorization to use corticosteroids , the report said , a story was fabricated to backdate a prescription for cortisone cream and claim that the medication had been prescribed to treat a saddle sore , the report said .
the question of what armstrong isn’t is more easily answered here than that of what , or who , he is . drawn principally from walsh’s book “seven deadly sins : my pursuit of lance armstrong , ” hodge’s script largely avoids speculative drama , veering tactfully away from its subject’s personal and domestic lives . armstrong’s former wife , kristin richard , first appears in a snappy meet - cute ; they’re married in the next scene , whereupon she exits the film entirely .
on june 10 , 1999 , less than a month before the tour began , armstrong’s hematocrit level — the percentage by volume of oxygen - carrying red blood cells in whole blood — hovered at 41 percent , below the allowable race limit of 50 percent , the report said .
the film is a lesson in the perils of getting caught in the middle of a story – and creating and believing in a
story
in the first place . armstrong was spinning us a simple tale of innocence . gibney was preparing to spin something more complicated . the spokes got tangled up . gibney extricates himself from the wreckage , but only just .
armstrong ' s decisions were based on a
ruthless desire to win
and , he said , did not feel wrong to him at the time .
after relinquishing the yellow jersey , armstrong reclaimed first place in a time trial , then rode to a dominant mountaintop finish in sestriere , the italian ski village . he was not then known as a great climber , and christophe bassons , a french rider , noted in a newspaper column that the peloton had been “shocked” by armstrong’s ride up to sestriere .
the housewives go to cannes but , unsurprisingly , drama follows them across the ocean .
the documentary includes footage from larry king live , the daily show and the south park episode
a scause for applause
.
the three riders would “inject quickly and then put the syringes in a bag or coke can and dr . del moral would get the syringe out of the camper as quickly as possible , ” the report said .
i didn ' t invent the culture , but i didn ' t try to stop the culture . the sport is now paying the price because of that .
the 1999 tour was supposed to be one of renewal after a doping scandal engulfed the 1998 race . instead , armstrong won his first of his seven tours by using the prohibited blood - boosting agent epo and the steroid hormone testosterone , according to a 200 - page report released wednesday by the united states anti - doping agency .
alex gibney was obliged to reshape his portrait of lance armstrong in response to the cyclist ' s drug disgrace . he salvaged a watchable film – but only just
it is an indictment of so - called expertise . the writers who were supposed to know more about cycling than anyone else in the world were unable to write what they must have known to be the truth . was doping really that obvious , even back then ? yes . even if journalists ignored the persistent rumours and armstrong’s association with dr michele ferrari , a master of doping , simple maths should have been enough . the 1998 tour de france was a drug - fuelled shambles in which the leading team got busted for epic substance abuse . the 1999 tour , the first “armstrong” tour , was billed as the “renewal tour” , a clean season free from doping , a fresh start . yet armstrong was soon clocking speeds that were simply unheard of .
asked about the 2001 tour of switzerland and reports he paid off the uci to cover up a positive test , armstrong said :
that story isn ' t true . there was no positive test . there was no paying off of the lab .
working at a businesslike pace , hodge and frears glide through armstrong’s early rise through the ranks of the circuit , identifying the many key players with talking - head - style subtitles . his 1996 testicular cancer diagnosis disrupts proceedings in as transient a fashion as it seemingly did armstrong’s own life , as foster’s already remote take on the character recedes into a brittle , intriguingly self - styled facade : “you meet yourself along the way , ” he says of the cancer battle , though he appears to estrange himself from others in the process . he’s no patsy , though the film does position armstrong as a kind of inhuman test subject — “no longer confined to physiology” — for michele ferrari ( played with slithery elan by guillaume canet ) , the italian physician and coach who designed the doping program undertaken by the u . s . postal service team .
this documentary follows cyclist lance armstrong from his 2009 comeback effort through his shocking 2012 confession of performance - enhancing drug use .
how exactly had gibney imagined his film working out initially ? he may well have thought that , as the armstrong story was effectively over , with no more surprises to come , he was free to make a subtly neutral film , which wouldn ' t need to question armstrong directly about drugs . despite gibney ' s rueful admission that he ' d found himself rooting for armstrong , i wonder if , in his heart of hearts , he might have been counting on armstrong to do heartbreakingly badly , having been forced to race clean ( apparently ) ; secretly hoping that this would tell its own story about the earlier wins , thus making the filmed record a poignant piece of bittersweet natural justice . but of course , armstrong was up to all the old sophisticated tricks in 2009 , and his smugly successful comeback was what finally brought out the whistleblowers .
indeed , sportsman he may be , but gibney feels armstrong fits neatly into the pattern of his documentary subjects . from enron to assange , what fascinates him is power .
this is far from being armstrong ' s movie debut . that came in 2004 , with his cameo in the comedy dodgeball , in which vince vaughn plays an idle gym owner managing a dodgeball team of lovable underdogs . just as vaughn is about to quit on his loyal band , he encounters armstrong , who shames him into staying the course . it is worth remembering just how embedded in us pop culture armstrong had become – in this case , a comically obvious symbol of honesty and courage . ( gibney doesn ' t mention the dodgeball cameo , but shows satirist jon stewart admitting to being taken in by armstrong ' s lies . )
using the winfrey interview to set the stage , gibney pulls back to recount armstrong’s astounding story , from the testicular cancer that left him with a less - than - 50 % chance of survival in 1996 , to the seven consecutive tour de france victories ( 1999 - 2005 ) that cemented his standing as one of the world’s greatest athletes . one of the key ironies here is that armstrong’s secret might never have been publicly exposed had he been content to stay retired : it was his second grab at the spotlight that re - energized his critics and angered the numerous cyclists who had themselves been busted for doping , many of them former teammates who had firsthand knowledge of armstrong’s own use of epo , testosterone , human growth hormone , cortisone and blood transfusions to boost his performance over the years .
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armstrong’s confession is just the latest and most high - profile in a line of confessions of convenience . tyler hamilton , armstrong’s former team - mate and ex - doper , won last year’s william hill sports book award for his ghosted autobiography . it was a deeply seductive book and hamilton enjoyed a wonderful round of sympathetic interviews for his book tour . it was hard to open a newspaper without reading a quote from hamilton : “lance should tell the truth” , “the truth really will set you free” , “a weight off my shoulders” . the only way to get a better press than promoting lance armstrong before the fall was to dish the dirt on him after his disgrace .
gibney calls armstrong a master storyteller , a constructor of his own narrative . his was , moreover , a hugely lucrative yarn .
armstrong took a brown paper bag from marti , held it up and , according to andreu , called it “liquid gold . ”
alex gibney offers a thorough account of lance armstrong’s long brewing scandal – and the corrosive power of win - at - all - costs ambition . here are his film’s juiciest moments
for gibney , the unmasking of armstrong made him instantly a more fascinating subject for a documentary . he is , he reckons , on a par with the australian with whom he spectacularly fell out during filming of his acclaimed documentary we steal secrets : the story of wikileaks .
the tale is fascinating , not just for cycling enthusiasts , but connoisseurs of the human condition .
7 . . . . because you don’t bring a knife to a gun fight . gibney points out that the tour de france presents such an absurd challenge to the human body that the concept of pain reduction , recovery and chemical enhancement is as old as the race itself , dating to the days when riders cured their wounds after each stage at the local bar . in the film , armstrong uses a similar everyone - was - doing - it defense to explain how the doping began – and why he didn’t stop .
in the interview with talk - show host winfrey , recorded on monday in his home city of austin , texas , armstrong was asked why he chose to confess his misdemeanours now .
indeed , gibney ' s film shows that armstrong was part of a much bigger hypocrisy . the use of the banned red blood cell booster epo was not just widespread ; it was almost universal . epo remained undetectable for years , and armstrong , many of his teammates as well as his opponents pumped their blood full of it , and enjoyed the occasional blood transfusion , also banned . the film implies that it would be hard to find anyone who was actually clean in the 1990 - 2005 period . so no one can actually point the finger too much .
rather , “the program” frames its narrative as something akin to a criminal chase , with walsh — an early skeptic regarding armstrong’s winning prowess — as the dogged investigator and audience proxy , and armstrong as his elusive quarry . on these terms , it makes sense to seal off the latter’s inner life , though imagined emotional access is what might have separated the film from previous reportage on the subject ; for better or worse , we’re left to ponder what , if any , degree of psychological strain or moral conflict the champion felt over his infamously concealed doping habit .
in 2009 director alex gibney set out to film the road back , a documentary on cyclist lance armstrong ' s comeback year after a four - year retirement from the sport . three years later , on october 2012 , a doping investigation led to his lifetime ban from competition and the stripping of his seven tour de france titles , and the documentary was shelved . on january 14 , 2013 , three hours after his appearance on oprah , armstrong went back to gibney to set the record straight about his career .
the golden years , during which the recovered armstrong racked up seven tour titles and attained a - list celebrity status , are briskly covered . editor valerio bonelli’s multiple montages approximate the superficiality of sporting sizzle reels , perhaps reflecting the slick ease with which armstrong’s camp sold the world on a tale that was , for all the man’s natural prowess , a shade too good to be true . ( “go out there and live the best life story you can , ” he says , and it’d be hard to argue that he didn’t . ) “the program” doesn’t pass judgment on the misdeeds portrayed as explicitly as gibney did in his documentary , even via the character of walsh : as played by a typically disarming if oddly cast o’dowd , the irish journo appears to chase personal vindication as eagerly as he does ethical reform .
the film does an effective job of repackaging the armstrong brand in its opening reel . danny cohen’s camera indulges in the impatient , zooming moves and aggressive angles becoming of a brash young athlete ; combined with a hot primary palette , the images recall nothing so seductive and deceptive as an energy - drink commercial . foster gets the sarsaparilla slide of armstrong’s texan accent just right as he’s introduced speaking in ready - made slogans : “my mom didn’t raise a quitter , ” he tells sunday times sportswriter david walsh ( chris o’dowd ) where the film begins , at the time of his first tour de france in 1993 .
armstrong retired after his 2005 tour win and believed his doping may never have been uncovered had he not made a comeback in 2009 .
, cycling’s governing board . armstrong says there were “hundreds” of conversations with uci officials where he was warned his drug tests were “flying too close to the sun . ” the film also implies there was a conspiracy involving uci head hein verbruggen that was designed to protect the famous racer .
basically the story of a man forced to finally see the injustice around him . riley’s movie is designed to do the same thing to you . …
another key figure granted significant screentime here is michele ferrari , the italian sports doctor whose obsession with pushing the human body to and beyond its physical limits led him to devise the most advanced and sophisticated performance - enhancing drugs available , using armstrong as guinea pig and the tour de france as a regular testing ground . one of the most essential aspects of gibney’s film — and what distinguishes it from the average primetime interview — is the scientific acuity of his research , explaining how epo increases endurance by stimulating red - blood cell production , an effect that can also be achieved through the more grisly route of a blood transfusion ( which armstrong and ferrari also experimented with ) .
so why did the press , with a few honourable exceptions , show so little appetite for the truth ? because they craved access to the stars , especially armstrong . they relied on quotes from lance , a few scraps of celebrity gossip to pepper their copy with , perhaps a sit - down with the great man . and armstrong , like a brutal political spin doctor , was utterly ruthless about dividing the world into two camps – with me or against me , friend or enemy , soft touch or ( in lancespeak ) “troll” . some of david walsh’s oldest friends in journalism eventually refused to share a car with him because armstrong made a note of who travelled with the “troll” and cut them off accordingly .
the armstrong narrative arc runs absolutely counter to the standard trope of the sports movie . as brilliantly sent up by the comic adam riches in his recent edinburgh festival show coach coach , the convention is for the film’s hero to work himself into a position where redemption is at stake in a climactic moment of sporting jeopardy . score this goal , slam that dunk , hit your home run and all will be resolved , all will be well .
when armstrong failed to mark his return with anything more than third place , however , gibney’s original documentary was quietly forgotten about . given the subsequent revelations about doping , bullying and lying , the tsunami of evidence that led ultimately to the confession armstrong made to oprah winfrey that he used chemical assistance to achieve all seven of his tour wins , that he was the mastermind of systematic drug - cheating in his sport on an industrial scale , gibney shudders when he thinks of the effect a supportive film would have wrought on his credibility .
asked if it was hard to live up to that image , armstrong said :
impossible . the story is so bad and so toxic , a lot of it ' s true .
those who eventually testified against armstrong ( and are interviewed here ) include george hincapie , his best friend and regular cycling domestique , and frankie andreu , who along with his wife , betsy , said they overheard armstrong disclose his use of performance - enhancing drugs to cancer doctors in 1996 , a claim he still denies . apart from author dan coyle , who offers withering assessments of armstrong’s legacy , betsy andreu emerges as the film’s most forceful and outspoken presence , leading the charge against the most famous figure in a sport whose reputation and other participants were irreversibly damaged by his actions .
a fine actor ben foster may be , but he’s no helen mirren , and “the program” doesn’t cede itself to him in the same way ; his armstrong , projecting a surface as glib and hard and wipe - clean as that of the man himself , can be a difficult figure to see even when he’s in the foreground . ( in one moment of metatextual playfulness , a glory - era armstrong is asked to comment on the potential casting of matt damon in his biopic . it’s a sly allusion to just how far the cyclist’s public image has shifted over the years — damon is hardly an actor called to mind by foster’s wily translucency . )
this slightly disjointed aspect of the production makes certain individual scenes and moments stand out , yet they never quite come together . the lack of catharsis allows the viewer enough leeway to judge armstrong for themselves , and that particular aspect of gibney ' s film is much more fascinating than the
arrogant - pillock - dopes - and - lies
story .
a further irony awaits . many of those who inflated the armstrong bubble will now capitalise on his confession . as i write this , armstrong is due to appear on us television in an interview with oprah winfrey , in which he would offer a carefully calibrated confession – just enough to hint at the truth , not so much that he faces ruinous legal challenges and a trial for perjury .
in may 1999 , emma o’reilly , the team masseuse , made an 18 - hour round - trip drive from nice to spain to deliver a bottle of pills to armstrong that , according to the report , “she understood to be banned drugs . ”
the film falls roughly into two halves , with the first hour providing the backstory on armstrong’s career , with talking heads ( armstrong , ex - colleagues such as frankie andreu and george hincapie and bicycling experts ) and archive footage painting a picture of the cyclist as a head - strong and controlling leader who was just as much a fanatic on his bike as he was off it ( “i was a bully , ” he would later say to oprah ) . after surviving cancer , he seems to have taken to heart the idea that “losing equals death . ”
i think it ' s probably the most honest armstrong has been . a hugely informative and amazingly unbelievable documentary that just astounds me as to how he manage to get away with it for so long .
if anyone dared question him , the film shows , armstrong retaliated with almost biblical fury . armstrong personally went after anyone who even insinuated that something fishy might have been going on . he was a scary , intimidating , and cold man . his story is not a tragedy in the classical sense . it ' s a cautionary tale with a very simple and obvious message : don ' t be an sob .