Episode 119:
Kurt and Andrew sort of return to their roots with an epic, tangential episode full of off-topic subjects and deeper discussions… and Bill Pullman. Enjoy.
P.S. The time tracks below might be off by just a few seconds. Deal with it.
Click the Audio Icon below to listen in:
Below the fold are the Show Notes…
Show notes for the Cinecast Episode 119:
- Jay & Silent Bob/Opening: :00 – 1:31
- Lollapalooza: 1:34 – 5:53
- State of Play: 5:51 – 23:11
- Mpls. Film Festival:
- The Broken: 47:59 – 1:01:49
- One-sheet discussion: 1:01:50 – 1:05:52
- More Mamet (Ricky Jay and His 52 Assisstants): 1:05:53 – 1:14:23
- Yes Men/Yes Men 2 (Helvetica/Objectified): 1:14:24 – 1:27:38
- “on the road” (Nick & Norah’s Infinite Playlist): 1:27:39 – 1:34:13
- Long tangent on evolving as a film watcher/snobbery/nostalgia: 1:34:14 – 1:53:10
- DVD picks: 1:53:10 – 1:57:01
- more bullshit/upcoming films/closing: 1:57:03 – 2:04:58
- Outro Music: 2:01:38 – 2:06:27
- ???: 2:06:27 – 2:06:59
– - White Night Wedding: 23:14 – 33:40
– - Surveillance: 33:41 – 47:58
Closing bumper music provided by Jane’s Addiction (iTunes profile): “Classic Girl”
Track Row Three:
RSS Feeds (paste these URLs into your favorite RSS reader):
Cinecast (Andrew and Halfyard show)
After the Credits (Marina and Co.)
Mamo! (Matt and Matt)
ALL the RowThree Podcasts on one feed
All posts and discussions from RowThree
Visit us on iTunes:
Lollapalooza:
Incredible Lineup at our MorePop site. Plus social links, etc.
State of Play:
Check out the 2003 TV series
Mpls. St. Paul Film Festival:
White Night Wedding:
Ólafur Darri Ólafsson:
Surveillance:
Andrew’s review
RowThree hosted trailer
The Merry Gentleman:
Trailer
The Broken:
Tangent on posters/marketing:
Ricky Jay and His 52 Assisstants:
On the road (with Andrew’s iPod):
Nick and Norah’s Infinite Playlist:
smiles per mile: .03
DVD Pick(s) for Tuesday, April 21st:
Andrew:
The Wrestler
Kurt’s review
.
Kurt:
Dante 01
Other stuff:
Comments or questions?
Leave your thoughts in the comment section below, or email us:
feedback@rowthree.com (general)
andrew@rowthree.com
kurt@rowthree.com
Good discussion about the movie posters. I think Kurt might have been thinking about The Deep poster when he was talking about Jaws. Leviathan also had a similar poster in that sense. One style that is still being copied way too much is the Saw style, which was fantastic when it first came out and I truly believe that it was a big factor for getting people in the theater.
I also like to correct Kurt with that Children and Parents bombed over here although they were critically acclaimed. They did sell well on DVD though.
Dear God Kurt, stop saying Benna Fleck! You know its wrong!
I didn’t like Yes Men at all. They spent a lot of time showing them setting up these pranks and the payoff just isn’t that funny. Its a very self congratulatory and boring film.
maybe you touch upon it later on but I would say one of the best examples of a movie poster inspiring me to see a film is The Strangers.
Unfortunately I didn’t think the film lived up to it
Rot, totally. Wish I had thought of this one. This should have been one of those motion posters though where the guy just slowly appears like in the trailer.
you know Andrew, as strange as it may seem to some here, I kind of do that exact same thing you do. In an effort to be affable I do on occasion feign interest in films that my friends think are great but which I think are shit just because you have to choose your battles, and some battles ain’t worth winning.
Dealing with everybody’s precious egos, its a tacit dance, I mean even the shit I write here, like the Filmosophy Manifesto, I write it knowing the response it would get, it is attempting to cut through the niceties and say something directly, irrespective of if what is being said is of value, it is still taken as a kind of breech of contract with a sect of people for being uttered. I loathe this carryover of the Victorian ethics, this self-editing to appease the masses. I wish I was more like Kurt in his resolve to be the asshole, as you put it Andrew.
and even though I rarely agree with Henrik, I at least admire his resistance to this kind of slow death to meaning. We need to say exactly what we feel, and the egos need to take a back seat…
there really isn’t more to admire in henrik than there is that obnoxious kid in class that has to make a comment and speak his mind about everything.
I guess but at least you can get an honest answer out of that kid, whereas another person will just tell you what they think you want to hear.
Dealing with everybody’s precious egos, its a tacit dance, I mean even the shit I write here, like the Filmosophy Manifesto, I write it knowing the response it would get, it is attempting to cut through the niceties and say something directly, irrespective of if what is being said is of value, it is still taken as a kind of breech of contract with a sect of people for being uttered.
I love that Mike just used a 70 word sentence to lay down his plea that people should more direct.
Touche!
oh hell I sure don’t mean brevity, just look at the post in question, but I do mean not having to sugar-coat everything you say, like have 18 qualifiers and then the statement.
all for style and rhetoric and all that, just so long as they are working towards something sincerely held by the person speaking.
When it comes to online film criticizing and discussion (especially here), I don’t use that form of “sugar-coating.” I only use that “tactic” when face to face with people who just don’t know any better. I also don’t feel the need to insult people just because they like a certain type of movie or film and I don’t (like some people I know).
yeah, the personal insults over taste are annoying. now, if you’re insulting someone because you don’t like them as a person or because they insulted someone else… that is cool
I am often brutally honest with my film making friends on their projects. My girlfriend is studying acting and I tell her if I think the play she performed in sucked or not, but then I can’t stand the theater format so usually I’m bored to tears. It’s so bad that she has stopped inviting me to see her perform. But I also commend her if she does well of course.
I have a hard time faking interest in things but sometimes I have to, being such a small community and that I work with so many of the people involved I can’t really review the films they do on Twitch for instance, especially if they are bad because these artists are a touchy bunch.
When it comes to true film geeks or people I know really well, I have no problem expressing my true feelings. And I’m sure when I do “fake it,” the other person can instantly tell, but they realize that at least I’m trying not to be a dick. Which counts for something I guess.
I don’t know. Why would you say anything but what you really felt when it comes to movies or books or music or whatever? I don’t think I ever “sugar coat” something like that… don’t really see much of a reason to.
Whatever people like and enjoy is fine by me – even if it is something like Epic Movie. Hell, as much as I despise Reality TV (and I am sickened by the majority of it), I won’t tear somebody down for watching and enjoying it. Who cares? I’ll state my feelings on it, but see no need to criticize a person for liking it.
“as I despise Reality TV (and I am sickened by the majority of it), I won’t tear somebody down for watching and enjoying it.”
I was really into Scream Queens over the holidays, especially since James Gunn (Slither) was heavily involved in it. Great short run reality show, very funny too.
“Who cares?”
There’s been more than one incident around here of dressing down other people for making time for low art.
I’ve been enjoying James Gunn’s PG-PORN series on the internets.
Tim Roth great actor. has any seen his Tim Roth Director
The War Zone It’s the perfect anti-feel good movie.
djspike, Tim Roth might be the most underrated actor of our time. I have his directed film in my queue, but haven’t had the time to get it to the top yet. I really look forward to it though.
Haven’t listened to the whole cast yet but I do have to say that I’m sorry to hear you aren’t going to be able to make it to Toronto After Dark Andrew! You will be missed
djspike – check this out: http://twitchfilm.net/site/view/twitch-o-meter-five-films-to-cry-with/
Let’s see how many thoughts I can recall from listening to the show on Friday.
Impressed that someone else actually saw Gunnarsson’ Beowulf. Sure, it has a few problems but it’s one of the better adaptations I’ve seen. Plus it’s Sarah Polley and Gerard Butler. Worth checking out.
On discussing film – that’s why my film group comes in handy. We’re all movie fans and we’re never worried about hurting each other’s feelings.
Punisher War Zone is complete and utter shit. Not even worth viewing on the iPod. And someone mentioned Dear Wendy. That movie was awful. I could get behind the message but it was painful to watch.
And awesome closing music.
I thought Dear Wendy was pretty sublime “over-the-top” filmmaking. The satire of getting the aunt across the street is 5-ways-of-awesome. And Bill Pullman rocks at the typical American small-town sheriff. Furthermore, the use of The Zombie’s tune in that film is pretty damn great. I like that one a lot:
From my old screening notes on the film:
This movie could have been titled Dead Poet’s Society in Dogville, but I’m oversimplifying. Combining the character driven directing of Thomas Vinterberg with the sledgehammer allegory of screenwriter Lars Von Trier, Dear Wendy is a heady cocktail of commentary on hot button American issues such as youth violence, gun control and racism. Both the director and screenwriter have said several times that the film is not to be read as a allegory. Yea. Right.
Dear Wendy is told with a dry after-the-fact voice-over narration, by the superb Jamie Bell (remember Billy Elliot? he followed up his debut with the acclaimed Undertow and a small role in King Kong). The story follows a down and out boy in a small US mining town. Rather than face the prospect of a dreary life working in the mines, he forms a club with a few kids the same age (late teens) around town. What does the club do? Why obsess over the tiniest detail of firearms, shoot at targets in abandoned parts of the mine and view footage of what a bullet can do to a human body. Nicknamed “The Dandies,” They dress up in frilly ‘wild-west crossed with 1960s swinging-British’ fashion and listen to old Zombies tunes (the soundtrack on this film is divine, by the way). All is fine an nice and kept under wraps, until a new kid joins and escalates the MO of the club.
While the ending of the film may be seen coming quite early, it is the joy of getting there, combined with the black humour and over the top nature of the film which make it a winner for entertainment. After all, you often see a pacificist film abhor and condemn violence, Dear Wendy offers one that sort of relishes the though of the storm coming. It is reasonable to say that this is Natural Born Killers done the right way. There are some top notch performances, including Bill Pullman (an under appreciated actor if there ever was one) as the local sheriff, and Alison Pill (an actress who usually does TV shows) are stellar, but Jamie Bell is just bloody fantastic.
If you like your allegorical dramedy black as pitch.
(see http://kurtscomment.blogspot.com/2006/08/kbt-presents-dear-wendy.html )
I did like the whole moving the old woman across the street idea and did think it was somewhat effective in its satire but I didn’t enjoy any of it. Pitch black dramedy indeed.
I think the same reason I liked Dear Wendy applies to Blindness and Miracle at St. Anna. I tend to like overblown melodramatic allegories.
don’t have the energy to fight it out today but I will just say I think Dear Wendy is great, but my God, Kurt, Miracle at St Anna was unspeakably bad. I am a huge Spike Lee fan but this was painful.
I know I stand alone on this. But charity is not something filmmakers go after very often as a subject, (I know Bunuel did, but he often went at it, like most filmmakers, from a satirical side). I thought many elements were handled well, even if much of the film was clunky, I did like the ‘mercy’/charity stuff and heck, it was better than Slumdog Millionaire.
I’m constantly at war with my friends over film tastes. I’m often torn between giving my honest opinion and politely nodding along with certain friends, and with most of them I’ve simply given up.
I used to host monthly movie nights which I would program with a feature I really loved that nobody else had seen, but too often I got negative feedback, or they would overrule my selection and pick something else, so I stopped doing it. The titles weren’t even that “out there” either. I showed A History of Violence, Sideways, Shallow Grave, Children of Men, and C.R.A.Z.Y. The last time, I tried to show Once, but everyone else wanted to watch Die Hard instead.
I still use Flixster to send out my reviews to my friends, but I don’t think that does any real good. Only one friend has embraced my opinions, he even gave me his Netflix password and I pretty much control his queue now. He’s been very happy with the results so far.
@Ashley – I’ve found the same thing with our schedule. I tend to post a variety of different selections and the attendance varies quite a bit but once in a while folks do extend themselves and come out to something they generally would not see on their own. That said, I’ve found that my movie group has three groups: the “festival” crowd, the blockbuster crowd and the “I’ll try anything” crew (smallest of the bunch).
Sometimes it’s hit and miss (since we mostly make trips to the theatre) but for the most part, I haven’t struck out too many times.
I do movie nights all the time, to mixed results. The most painful ‘failures’ for audiences to enjoy the film were The New World, Happiness and Vital.
…The biggest successes were: Kung Fu Hustle, Battle Royale, and The King and the Clown (liked enough, I showed it twice). Perhaps I should do all Asian flicks….
I definitely have plans to revitalize Movie Night someday, but I need to give it a rest for now and focus on something else, like finding new friends. Haha, kidding of course, my friends are great, we just have nothing in common.
Sideways was a pretty successful night, but only if you count “successful” as people having a lot of fun doing their hair and make up in my bathroom for the planned pub crawl after the movie, talking about sex and drinking bottles upon bottles of wine (Merlot of course), while the movie played unwatched in the background. :S