Back in top form with as close to a hug-a-thon as we are ever likely to get. This weeks discussion on Neil Marshall’s Centurion is generally positive as well as yet another “knock-it-out-of-the-park” performance from Robert Duvall in Get Low. Matt gives us his real feelings on three dimensional boobs (That’d be Piranha 3D, folks) while Kurt remembers the good times of what was one of Toronto After Dark Film Festival‘s stronger years. We have got a whole bunch of recent watches – that is a full hour of content, boys and girls – including the “sweding” of Star Wars, stunt women documentaries and good ol’ fashioned Clint Eastwood ass-kickery. Sit back and enjoy spending the next three hours of your life with us, your not so humble narrators (multitasking is highly recommended.)
As always, please join the conversation by leaving your own thoughts in the comment section below and again, thanks for listening!
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http://rowthree.com/audio/cinecast_10/episode_180.mp3
ALTERNATIVE (no music track):
http://rowthree.com/audio/cinecast_10/episode_180-alt.mp3
Full show notes are under the seats…
show
IN-HOUSE BUSINESS:
Alternative track without music
Movie Club coming soon
– Wizards
– Grave of the Fireflies
MAIN REVIEWS:
Centurion (Andrew’s review)
Get Low (Kurt’s review)
OTHER REVIEWS:
Piranha 3D
TORONTO AFTER DARK HIGHLIGHTS:
Rubber (Kurt’s review) – (Bob’s review)
Heartless (Kurt’s review)
Black Death (John’s review)
WHAT ELSE WE WATCHED:
Life During Wartime
Plague of the Zombies
Double Dare
Red - sneak peak
Wanted
Star Wars: Uncut see it here
Where Eagles Dare
| DVD PICK #1: | |||||
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Andrew: The Square (Kurt’s review) 
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Kurt: Time Bandits (IMDb) 
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Matt: Survival of the Dead (IMDb) 
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| DVD PICK #2: | |||||
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Andrew: Withnail and I (IMDb) 
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Kurt: The Square (Kurt’s review)
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Matt: N/A |
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LOST: Complete Collection
OTHER DVDs NOW AVAILABLE:
City Island
The Back-Up Plan
Ajami
Shogun Assassin
Dorian Gray
Three Silent Classics By Josef Von Sternberg (Criterion)
The Long Good Friday [Blu-ray]
“The Simpsons” (s13)
“Flight of the Conchords”: The Complete Collection
OTHER STUFF MENTIONED:
Timothy Spall
Eddie Marsan
Life During Wartime – full discussion in Cinecast Episode 142
White Zombie – watch it in the public domain
Restoring Star Wars article
NEXT WEEK:
Phasma Ex Machina
The Last Exorcism
PRIVATE COMMENTS or QUESTIONS?
Leave your thoughts in the comment section below, or email us:
feedback@rowthree.com (general)
andrew.james@rowthree.com
kurt@rowthree.com
In conjunction with the discussion on Get Low, I should’ve mentioned the absolutely terrible trailers showing in front of it. The Phillip Seymour Hoffman one (Jack Goes Boating I think it’s called) looks so dryly smug it made me want to puke (I MAY see it simply because it is Hoffman’s directorial debut however). And then there was some foreign comedy that the 50+ crowd just ate up; but it made me just cock my head, look around at others in bewilderment.
Just started listening to the Centurion review. Figuring out who’s good or evil wasn’t difficult. The story’s morality focuses on the individual characters as opposed to the political nations. In the end, Marshall made sure that Fassbender was the idealistic classic hero and Kurelynko was the killer without a conscience but with a back story that made her the tragic villain. It’s classic Joseph Campbell, Hero with a Thousand Faces.
I think that was how I took it as well Arnold, but I also think that Matt/Andrew have a point when it comes to the overall politics of the situation. Politics is (perhaps) all one has to latch onto when the characters are drawn that thin.
I’ve seen “Jack Goes Boating,” and met Phil Hoffman – as ego-free as an actor can be. His Q&A was fantastic as well. I highly recommend his directorial debut. It’s a great little romantic dramedy, not unlike “Punch-Drunk Love” only way more subdued. A bit dry for sure, but carried by excellent performances, especially by Amy Ryan. It’s definitely worth a look if it opens near you, just don’t expect anything overly LOL-worthy. It’s just a nice, strange little movie about nice, strange little people.
The same producers that did Little Miss Sunshine, Sunshine Cleaning and Away We Go. That’s all I need to know to know exactly what to expect with Jack Goes Boating. Three movies there that I actually like well enough, but all of them are pretty “safe” and just don’t exactly get the blood running. I’m sure it will be cute and emotional in an artificial sort of way. Everyone will like it and then it will be completely forgotten after a year.
*** CENTURION SPOILER ***
***
I thought for sure the Noah Clarke character was going to show up in the end and finish off the asshole guy. Since we never actually see him get killed by the wolves, I thought maybe Marshall would surprise us by having had him fight off the wolves and make a triumphant return. Alas, no.
***
Interestingly enough, Noah Clarke has an equal non-presence in HEARTLESS. One character that could perhaps be trimmed away from that film, as he is ‘mostly harmless.’
Andrew, I think I’m pretty glad that didn’t happen. Heh. And it’s Noel Clarke (Noah Clarke is apparently a hockey player). He actually really distracted me because I couldn’t think of anything but the character he plays on Doctor Who – with the exact same accent and mannerisms.
Age of Consent…Set in Australia starring James Mason from Lolita with a teenage Helen Mirren. She’s nude, nude……and lots of nude! lol
Wow, did Matt ever miss the mark with Piranha. I know this movie isn’t for everyone but to claim that Piranha ‘plays it straight’ is just flat out misguided. It’s actually a pretty baffling statement.
It seems to me that the majority of the vitriol thrown at this film is seeded in some sort of personal vendetta against jocks. Sounds like somebody received one too many wedgies in the locker room! The fact that Eli Roth’s personal character (we all know Gamble and Roth are tight) is used as a point of critical analysis is pretty entertaining as well.
Also, just because the actors don’t directly wink at the camera doesn’t mean they’re performances aren’t in support of the goofy tone of the film. In fact, it heightens it. Maybe this would’ve been a little more clear if the Piranha exploded into coins when you killed them.
It’s a real shame that anyone might actually take Matt’s comments into consideration and end up missing one of the funnest films of the summer. (I’m looking at you Kurt)
SHAME ON YOU MATTHEW GAMBLEZ. SHAMING ON YOU.
Well, the 3D isn’t helping. This is the sort of thing I usually end up catching by somebody lending me the DVD.
Well as long as you don’t use the film as another opportunity for grandstanding against 3D and blockbuster filmmaking oh wait…
It’s playing in 2D as well.
Hardly, Henrik. The Piranha remake is barely a blockbuster, and it is intentionally (methinks) parodying 3D by vomiting on the audience and sticking stereoscopic boobies in their face. Thanks for the petty negativity though, tiresome as it is…
Yeah I was pretty tired myself when I wrote it. You can’t store all the bile, sometimes you have to try and ease it out!
Just bring a mop to clean up after yourself, is all I ask…
Jay you ignorant slut. If by complaining that the “comedy” in the film is dumb, lazy and uninspired means that jocks sucks then I guess jocks suck. And I’m sure you’d know plenty about sucking.
And I don’t really have a problem with dumb humor, I even admitted that I laughed at the regurgitated penis, but when that is the height of comedy in your film, then I’m going to be bored shitless. And that’s exactly what I was in Piranha. Not only that, I sure as hell wasn’t laughing. And according to you if you don’t laugh at a comedy then it sucks and everyone else is wrong, so the movie sucks and you’re wrong. Deal.
Love and kisses,
Matt
PS – Suck my Farrington!
DEAR MATT GUMBLE
You seem to be suffering post traumatic stress disorder after I shocked and awed the fuck out of you with my last comment. Sure, Piranha is no ‘Hot Tub Time Machine’ but it manages to hit a pretty sweet spot between dark comedy and goofy horror. I would compare it to Tremors, Deep Blue Sea, Lake Placid and even Hostel 1 & 2. In your review you claim that the film plays it straight yet you totally overlook the humour in the post-battle Saving Private Ryan-esque ‘clean up’. SOLID.
WAY OFF MATT GUMBALL. WAY OFF.
Dear Jay Cheapshot
You seem to forget that you stated on the Film Junk podcast that everyone is playing it straight except Jerry O’Connell. If that’s the case then why do you get so upset when I state something similar? Also, a comedy isn’t dark just because an African American is in the cast. Looks like your therapist will have to set aside your fear of anal polyps so you can revisit your rampant racism again. And you were doing so well.
Also, Tremors and Lake Placid are interesting and at times inventive horror comedies, everything else you list blatantly panders to the lowest common denominator. And of course when someone states they don’t like that you hold your breath and stamp around like the spoiled adolescent you are.
Now quit acting up or daddy is going to have to spank you.
-Matt
PS – It will hurt so good.
Matthew, Matthew, Matthew. I guess I will have to make things clear for you AGAIN.
“You seem to forget that you stated on the Film Junk podcast that everyone is playing it straight except Jerry O’Connell. If that’s the case then why do you get so upset when I state something similar?”
Yes, I said the ACTORS were playing it straight. YOU said the FILM was playing it straight. A small yet very important distinction there.
“Also, Tremors and Lake Placid are interesting and at times inventive horror comedies, everything else you list blatantly panders to the lowest common denominator.”
Oh right, you probably don’t like Hostel or Hostel 2 because of your personal feelings towards Eli Roth as a human being. He’s right up there with Polanski and the dude who directed Powder.
NOBODY LISTEN TO MATT. PIRANHA IS FUN. I AM NOT RECEIVING PAYOLA FROM THE PRODUCERS OF PIRANHA.
Gonna have to check it out for myself. The trailer suggested a fine line between absolutely shit and stupidly funny. Unfortunately Scott Pilgrim is out this week in the UK so I’ll probably see that instead.
Yes, I said the ACTORS were playing it straight. YOU said the FILM was playing it straight. A small yet very important distinction there.
By the actors playing it straight the tone of the film comes across as straight. Oh sure their are the occasional gags, but they are few and far between. I wasn’t laughing because their weren’t any jokes.
Oh right, you probably don’t like Hostel or Hostel 2 because of your personal feelings towards Eli Roth as a human being. He’s right up there with Polanski and the dude who directed Powder.
No, he’s just smarmy and isn’t a very good director. In fact I’d be hard pressed to name a more over rated, or insignificant modern director than Roth. <—– This is going to set Jay off.
NOBODY LISTEN TO MATT. PIRANHA IS FUN. I AM NOT RECEIVING PAYOLA FROM THE PRODUCERS OF PIRANHA.
Just because you give out the hand jobs for free doesn’t mean you aren’t a whore.
Oh yeah, watched Machete tonight. Now that was fun. Ridiculous, violent and fucking funny. Also, Fahey fucking owns in that movie.
“Fahey fucking owns in that movie.”
This does not surprise me, but it does not make it any less awesome. Looking forward to another helping of Rodriguez-Grindhouse goodness!
On this statement, “In fact I’d be hard pressed to name a more over rated, or insignificant modern director than Roth.”
Hmmm, Todd Phillips? Chris Columbus? Ron Howard? Mike Newell?
Lapidus!
First off, you have an unfair advantage because I don’t know how to bold words.
“By the actors playing it straight the tone of the film comes across as straight.”
Again, maybe in your black and white world this may be true. However, as a fan of comedy, I would imagine you could appreciate the humour derived from actors playing it straight within the confines of an otherwise ridiculous film. I guess not. You’d rather focus on the background extras use of Axe body spray. LAAAAAMEMEMEMEMMEME
“No, he’s just smarmy and isn’t a very good director. In fact I’d be hard pressed to name a more over rated, or insignificant modern director than Roth. <—– This is going to set Jay off."
Smarmy? I'm lost…are we talking about his films or his persona? Eli Roth is not on my list of favourite modern directors so I'm not sure why you think this comment will set me off. I just don't get the whole persona you've attached to him (and the way you use it to further criticize his work).
Oh dear … I would not have expected Piranha 3D to cause a heated argument. It is bloody Piranha 3D , for goodness sake!
PS – Matt loves the Cheel; Jay loves the Gamble.
Again, maybe in your black and white world this may be true. However, as a fan of comedy, I would imagine you could appreciate the humour derived from actors playing it straight within the confines of an otherwise ridiculous film.
Sure I can appreciate it when its done well, Re-Animator for example, but the problem with Piranha is that the film isn’t all that ridiculous. Its extras dancing with their tops off, kids yelling “Whoooo!” and the occasional fish eating someone. And I don’t have a problem with lazy or sophomoric humor in a film, but I do have a problem when that is all it is in the film.
Now sure the gore was nicely done and they had some fun with that, but we’re talking maybe 10 minutes of a 90 minute movie. That is no where near enough entertainment to justify my time. Per your own logic, if a horror comedy isn’t funny and it isn’t horrifying then it failed. And Piranha failed.
Smarmy? I’m lost…are we talking about his films or his persona? Eli Roth is not on my list of favourite modern directors so I’m not sure why you think this comment will set me off. I just don’t get the whole persona you’ve attached to him (and the way you use it to further criticize his work).
His films are ridiculously smarmy, and his persona is utterly empty. And yes, he is on your list of favorite modern directors nestled in between Herzog and Haneke.
In honor of both Matt and Jay’s love for severed penises, io9 presents the top ten severed penis scenes of all time:
http://io9.com/5622801/the-ten-greatest-severed-penis-scenes-in-science-fiction-nsfw
They totally forgot NAKED KILLER on that list, in which Simon Lam is then served the severed penis on a hotdog bun. Good times.
Calling out Kurt on the McAvoy hatred. Name one movie you’ve seen him in other than Wanted (which he is fantastic in by the way).
@Andrew – this should be good.
I have seen the chronicles of narnia and not only is that movie terrible, mcavoy is pretty forgettable…doesn not help that it was around the time of pans labyrinth and del toros faun is far more bitchin’!
Fair enough. Although not fair in that he’s in the movie for what, 5 minutes? The movie is terrible agreed, but his portion of the script is what is forgettable. See King/Scotland or MUCH better yet, Atonement.
Oh, and for the record, the title, “The Full Rampling” still cracks me up.
@kurt – but you saw ATONEMENT right? Riiiiight??
I also enjoyed him (McAvoy) in Starter for Ten, pretty innocuous British film from 2006 – not great, but decent and also boasts Rebecca Hall, who I’m always glad to see.
Bah, Joe Wright is the 21st century Lasse Halstrom. Not interested.
That’s a little tough on Wright. True, I haven’t seen Pride & Prejudice nor The Soloist, but I think Atonement is a fine piece of work. And McAvoy is fairly decent in it.
Atonement is crap and The Soloist is crappier. Pride and Prejudice is at least decent.
Just got to this episode… MUST WATCH PARTY DOWN, looks great and anything Adam Scott does I will watch. He has already one me over in two films this year: Passenger Side and The Vicious Kind.
which I guess includes Pirhana 3D.
Wow, I thought the dozen people in my theatre were the only ones that actually saw Passenger Side. Scott was awesome in it; that scene where they were eating pie with that crazy hippie killed me, but he owned that entire film.
Party Down was great; real shame the show got cancelled.
I caught Passenger Side at Cinematheque Ontario, it was a full house. Even more interested in Party Down after figuring out Lizzy Caplan is in it too.