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    Mamo #140: Un-Memoriable

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    Mamo!

    That wet, slurping sound you hear is the sound of the Memorial Day weekend sucking. Terminator Salvation and Night at the Museum 2 brought the yawn – what happens when none of the movies are good? And what does a disappointing May do for June?

    Mamo #140: Un-Memoriable [ 37:29 | 29.97 MB ] Play Now | Play in Popup

6 Comments


  1. rot says:
    May 27, 2009 at 2:27 pm

    I think my predictions are still pretty solid, Up goes big now that Night at the Museum is not blowing away the box office, and I refuse to believe Land of the Lost will be bigger than Up, and I know the argument is just because something looks awful doesn’t mean it won’t make money, still there has to be a threshold.

    you both seem down on this summer but to me this is the best I have seen in a long while. Maybe it is just suited to my tastes…

    Loved Star Trek, Loved Limits of Control, expect to love Public Enemies, Up, Away We Go, Moon, I can’t remember a summer with such high quality moderate fare, usually its about the blockbusters and counter-programming, but a Dave Egger’s scripted Sam Mendes film in the summer? A Jim Jarmusch film that is like his Mulholland Dr in scope and ambition in the summer?

    Hell I have all but given up on Woody Allen and vowed never to see another film of his and even his latest has me interested, granted it has everything to do with Larry David, but still.

    Reply
  2. rot says:
    May 27, 2009 at 2:38 pm

    to further prove my point that this is the summer of quality (or potential thereof):

    Star Trek
    Limits of Control
    Up
    Public Enemies
    Away We Go
    Whatever Works
    Hurt Locker
    500 Days of Summer
    Moon
    District 9
    Taking Woodstock
    hell even, Inglorious Basterds

    If you cut out blockbusters, I defy you to find another summer with that much substance in waiting.

    Reply
  3. Kurt says:
    May 27, 2009 at 4:35 pm

    I’m really, Really, REALLLY looking forward to HURT LOCKER, everyone seems to love this film.

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  4. Matt Brown says:
    June 1, 2009 at 7:13 am

    @Rot – you’ve got to bear in mind, from the vantage point of this podcast, the majority of the films you’ve mentioned are irrelevant. I realize there are good movies coming out all the time (I have been doing this a while) but Mamo considers the zeitgeist-makers and landmark pop culture events, particularly in the summer season. Limits of Control might be wonderful, and might end up on some top ten lists at the end of the year, but in the May-August corridor it’s not (by design) going to make a mark in the wider public consciousness.

    @Kurt – Found Hurt Locker surprisingly bland and formulaic when I saw it at TIFF, and suspect the various critical waves have the faint whiff of white liberal guilt about them.

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  5. rot says:
    June 1, 2009 at 9:14 am

    @Matt OK but I thought when you said this summer looks lousy that it was a comment about quality of films, outside of your Mamo-filter of popular culture as a judgment of the actual worth of the films, but I see now you are living and breathing popular culture processors. :)

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  6. Kurt Halfyard says:
    June 1, 2009 at 9:41 am

    @Matt (on Hurt Locker) – Dang, I was itching for some good old-time Bigelow like Near Dark, or even, heck, Point Break. Bland is not the word I wanted to hear!!

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