Categories
Back Seat Producers Season 08 Shows

BSP Episode 274: Beasts of the Southern Wild

Release date – 6/27/2012

Fox Searchlight Pictures

 

Directed by

  • Benh Zeitlin

Produced by

  • Josh Penn
  • Dan Janvey
  • Michael Gottwald

Screenplay by

  • Lucy Alibar
  • Benh Zeitlin

Based on Juicy and Delicious by Lucy Alibar

 

Cast

Quvenzhane’ Wallis

  • Hushpuppy

Dwight Henry

  • Wink

 

  • The wonderment that is Redbox.
  • The first half wasn’t that good, the second have was great.
  • The girl was a perfect fit for the role, well-acted and emotionally charged.
  • What is that huge, hulking, bore-looking thing?
  • Fantasy embellishments.
  • You might not see it at first, but it is a hopeful movie.
  • Anne Hathaway vs. Quvenzhane’ Wallis.
  • Okay… it’s Kwah-VAY-Jah-Nay.
  • Argo vs. Beasts of the Southern Wild vs. Django Unchained.
  • No surprise… Man of Steel discussion.
  • Beast it!

Your Producers for this episode were:

  • Tony
  • David

This episode was recorded:  6/12/13

Categories
Announcement

Theatrical Review: Man of Steel

I’m 50 years old and have been a comic book fan pretty much all of my life. It all started for me at the age of 4 and my “gateway drug” into this whole world was Superman. I got my earliest exposure to Superman by seeing an episode of the George Reeves TV show and then that was shortly followed by my Mom buying me my first comic book, a giant-sized issue of Superman. I’ve mentioned it before, but I actually learned to read from a Superman comic before even entering kindergarten and distinctly remember asking my Mom what the word “invulnerable” meant.

Sure, most kids during my period grew out of comics, but they just stuck with me. I can’t tell you why for sure, I wasn’t a kid who necessarily felt like an outcast and felt the need to have this world to escape to, I just loved the form. I loved the idea of this character who had this bright primary-colored costume and he could fly, and had great strength and this plethora of wonderful super-powers. For me, Superman led to Batman and in turn led to the rest of the members of DC’s Justice League. As I got a little older, I got an allowance of 50 cents a week and that allowed me to start to buy my own comics (usually two a week unless I saw one of DC’s 100-Page Super-Spectaculars and then the whole allowance was blown on that book). Whenever I bought my own comics, Superman was almost always a part of it whether through his own comic, Action Comics, Superboy or team-ups with Batman in World’s Finest Comics or the rest of the DC characters in the pages of Justice League of America. I was massively hooked.

This continued into my mid-teens even further. When I was 16, I got my first job working at the local Wal-Mart in Lousiana, Missouri and all of a sudden just had more money than ever before to buy comics, much to the chagrin of my Dad. Superman continued to be a big favorite for me even after discovering the world of Marvel Comics as well. When Warners debuted Superman: The Movie in 1978, I’d only just gotten my driver’s license and still wasn’t really allowed yet to drive much further than around town. The nearest theatre to Louisiana that was showing Superman was in Quincy, Illinois, about 30 miles away and I made the offer to my Dad that I’d pay for my whole family (Mom, Dad and my brother) to see the movie if he’d drive us there, and he did. I came out of that theatre thinking that I’d seen the greatest movie that was ever made and was just flabbergasted that it wasn’t recognized as the best movie of the year by the Oscars.

Thanks for bearing with me this long, but I really thought it was necessary to go into my love for Superman before I get into the review of Man of Steel. Superman is extremely special to me and so I certainly wanted to illustrate that. I’ve read comic stories of the character ranging from his debut in 1938 all to the present day. I’ve seen this character (and comics themselves) go through massive changes in all of this time, so I’m no stranger to that and further even embraced them. It’s only in the past couple of years, since DC debuted their re-booted New 52 line, that I’ve thought things have started to drift from what I’ve loved about the character and so the idea of a new movie that was going to make Superman palatable to the Twiiter age was certainly something to give me pause.

When the first trailer to Man of Steel came out, I have to admit I had a gut reaction to it that was pretty negative- everything just looked to dark and somber and culminated with a line from Superman’s adopted earth father, Jonathan Kent, that maybe he should have let people die rather than expose himself. This just didn’t set that well with me, but I was still willing to give this a chance, especially considering that I have a huge amount of respect for the director of the movie, Zack Snyder and producer Christopher Nolan. Once an extended trailer came along, I got quite a bit more enthusiastic for the film. There were changes made here that seemed to me to be more in the right direction- less somber and more sense of wonder. I got more enthusiastic about it, but still cautious.

Now, Man of Steel is finally here, I’ve seen the whole thing for myself and I have to say, I just had a ball with the movie. I’ve still got a few problems with the film one major and a couple that are minor, but I had a great time here.

Man of Steel re-tells the character’s origin and pits him against his first major threat, an invasion of the planet by a small cadre of soldiers who have survived the explosion of the planet Krypton, led by General Zod. That’s all I’m gonna give you when it comes to the premise and basically that’s all that you need to know going in. The rest you should just see for yourself, though there’s a few points I’ll get into with it that really stand out.

But first, let me just get right up front with my problems with the movie. My major problem is that I just flat-out hate the look of the new costume. I’m certainly open to changes with the character as long as fundamentally, it’s still the same character and part of that for me is in the character’s look. Certainly Superman’s look has evolved since his debut in 1938, but fundamentally it has remained the same; bright primary colors that have a proper aesthetic balance. In recent years, it’s become a trend amongst newer fans to say that the red trunks that the character has worn just look wrong and that would be practical. I tend to think that the word “practical” when it comes to the look of the character should just go right out the window, he’s a comic book character that exists in a comic book world and this is an aspect that doesn’t need to be reflected in the real world. It’s been argued that all you really need for the character is just the basic profile- a well chiseled figure with a red cape and the red “S” emblem and that says it all. I disagree with this and think that the brightness of the colors and the division of the colors says the right thing, this character is the originator and his basic look stands for that. I look at the new look for the film, and think that this new costume looks more like high-tech long-johns that should have an equally high-tech super trapdoor. The costume is too textured and becomes to shiny in some scenes. Yeah, sure maybe I’m just being traditionalist in my thinking here, but I just don’t think it needs to be altered, neither here or in the comics. That’s my major problem with the movie and yet, I still had a blast with the film.

My minor issues come with a couple of specific scenes and so there’s a few spoilers ahead, just skip to the next paragraph if you don’t want to be spoiled. I’d mentioned above about a scene in the first trailer where Jonathan Kent suggests that maybe his young son Clark should’ve let people die rather than risk exposure. That scene is certainly still within the movie and within it’s proper context, it actually works to an extent. The words would make more sense if young Clark Kent had had this experience in 2013, but as the scene plays, it takes place about 20 years in the past and it becomes questionable if Jonathan Kent would’ve had this outlook on life then. it makes sense for now, but that far back in the past could and maybe should be a different point of view. The other scene is near the end of the film. Superman has saved the day and comes back home to make sure his mother is OK. Martha Kent makes a statement to Clark that Jonathan “knew” as to what sort of man Clark would grow to be and then another flashback is shown that shows the young Clark Kent playing with his dog and wearing a red towel as cape. You see this sort of imagery and it’s the sort of thing that Superman would inspire, but it couldn’t even begin to be part of his life yet without knowing his true origins. This scene shows up in the trailers for the film as well and I certainly liked that part of those trailers, but then it was shown out of context. As it plays within the film, it just doesn’t make sense. A better use for this sort of imagery would’ve been to have made this kid who was playing with the red towel attached a kid who was inspired by Superman after the events of the film had taken place. Using the scene in that context would’ve cemented the acceptance that this alien among us was gaining.

Those are my problems with the film, and with the exception of the costume, the other scenes are somewhat moot considering that there is just so much heart here on the part of director Zack Snyder and writers David Goyer and Christopher Nolan to do what they can to preserve the legend and still make it palatable to a new audience (and just to give Snyder further credit, he’s been on the record for wanting to have Superman’s traditional look in the film, but was overruled). There’s just so much here that is so right, that even with my problems, I can’t help but love the movie.

Let’s start with the basic origins. Right off the bat, we’re on the planet Krypton and in regards to it’s look and feel, it’s 180 degrees opposite of what was done back in Richard Donner’s movie in 1978, and yet for Superman fans, this new version of Krypton draws on aspects right out of the comics, ranging from the days of late 50s and 60s from editor Mort Weisenger right up to the mid 80s reboot from writer and artist John Byrne. It’s an exciting vision of Krypton that’s just given further credence by an exceptional performance by Russell Crowe as Jor-El. From there, the movie makes the jump to the adult Clark Kent wandering the world trying to find himself and in the midst of this, the bigger story starts to grow, but intermixed with this are flashback scenes relating to her early life and his upbringing by the Kents. One of my big problems with last year’s Amazing Spider-Man was the fact that it was just so laborious in re-telling the character’s origin and that the pace just made the whole thing dull as can be. Not the case here at all, everything is mixed together properly and it all serves in the big picture.

The visual effects are absolutely spectacular and the fight scenes are incredible. It’s amazing in itself to see a Superman movie where the main character actually does use his fists to devastating effect. In some instances, the visual effects looked like they drew some inspiration straight from the old Max Fleisher Superman cartoons of the 40s. When Superman first takes flight, I was particularly satisfied to see the character actually smiling and taking great joy in this new achievement.

The characters are all extremely well-drawn. Certainly much credit goes to Goyer and Nolan for their script, but it’s the cast that truly gives this life and it starts right at the top with the casting of Henry Cavill as Superman/Clark Kent. There’s just so much heart in Cavill’s body language alone that you can tell this actor is throwing himself into the part. Amy Adams would not have been my first choice to play Lois Lane, but she’s made me a believer and after the fact, I’ve found out that she’s actually a fan and has tried to get herself into some sort of Superman projects for awhile now. She and Cavill have a natural chemistry together that’s further exemplified by a nice little twist that’s thrown into the relationship. Im sold… Adams and Cavill are the Lois and Clark for a new generation and I cannot wait to see how this evolves in future movies.

I’d mentioned Russell Crowe above, and earlier in the year I saw Crowe in the movie Broken City and thought it was one of the best performances that he’d turned in in awhile. Well, he’s starting a string now and his turn as Jor-El is absolutely terrific and he literally commands the screen when he’s on-screen. I also have to give good marks to actress Ayelet Zurer who plays his wife Lara, she certainly looks right in the part and further conveys the weight properly an extreme situation that she’s put into. Though I have my problems with some of the scenes that Jonathan Kent has, that’s no reflection on Kevin Costner’s extremely earnest performance. Both he and actress Diane Lane as Martha Kent are just terrific and totally exemplifies the salt-of-the-earth upbringing that Clark Kent has.

On the villain front, we have Michael Shannon in the lead here as General Zod, and again, I cannot say enough good words about what this intense actor brings to the part. Shannon’s Zod truly does represent a character who thinks he has Krypton’s best interests at heart with little regard to what others think. His main lieutenant, Faora-Ul is played by Antje Traue and she certainly has terrific presence, especially in the fight scenes of the film.

Rounding out our main cast is nice little supporting work from actors Harry Lennix, Richard Schiff and Christopher Meloni as the United States authority figures that Superman works with. These guys are just always solid and certainly lend credibility to the parts. As a Superman fan, it was particularly gratifying to see Schiff play Emil Hamilton, a character straight out of the 80s re-boot. Laurence Fishburne plays Daily Planet editor Perry White and I guess “earnest” is the key word for all of the performances in the movie and Fishburne certainly is that (and as an aside, Fishburne plays Jack Crawford on NBC’s Hannibal series, a show that deserves to be watched in greater numbers).

There’s just loads of Easter Eggs peppered throughout this movie that really do add to the total enjoyment for the Superman fan, or at least to this one, but it’s really just icing on an already delicious cake. Zack Snyder was certainly the right man for the job in bringing to life a new Superman for a new generation and I can only hope that Warners is wise enough to put him in charge for any further sequels as well. Man of Steel was thoroughly entertaining to this long-time Superman fan and I certainly hope this gives Warners enough impetus to put more DC Comics characters on the fast track for the big screen, but only as long as the same consideration is involved. With Christopher Nolan’s Batman movies and now with Man of Steel it’s certainly been shown that you can be faithful to the characters and bring some pretty heady weight to the film as well. Now if they’d just go back to the character’s traditional look I’d be really happy, but still Man of Steel is highly, highly recommended and I cannot wait to see it again.

Categories
Back Seat Box Office Shows

Back Seat Box Office #143 & Results #142

Congrats to Scott for his high score of 24!

Thanks to Nick for his magnificent voice mail!

Picks:

Jeff & Art

  1. Man of Steel
  2. This is the End
  3. The Purge
  4. Now You See Me
  5. Fast & Furious 6

Back Seat Art House:

  • Jeff & Art – The Bling Ring

 

 

Categories
Back Seat Reality Shows

Back Seat Reality #12

We’re still here!

Thanks to Tim and Art for the voice mail.  Keep them coming!

In this show, we discuss the new TNT shows The Hero and 72 Hours and continue with our coverage of The Bachelorette.

You can hear more from Art on Back Seat Box Office.  And Tim can be heard over at Funny Books with Aron and Paulie and Knights of Reignsborough.

 

Categories
Back Seat Quickies Shows

Back Seat Quickies #91: Scott Just Watched a Movie (fixed)

In the seat:

  • Scott

Recorded: 11/05/13

Listen to We Just Watched a Movie here http://thewayofthegame.net/?cat=1924

Categories
Announcement

Weekend Box Office: June 7-June 9

#1 The Purge from Universal opened at #1 with a gross of $34.1 million in 2,536 theaters.  Budget was $3 million.

#2 Fast & Furious 6 from Universal fell from #1 to #2 with a gross of $19.6 million (-44.2%) in 3,771 theaters (+85).  Total gross to date is $202.8 million.  Budget was $160 million.

#3 Now You See Me from Lionsgate fell from #2 to #3 with a gross of $19 million (-35.1%) in 3,020 theaters (+95).  Budget was $75 million.

#4 The Internship from 20th Century Fox opened at #4 with a gross of $17.3 million in 3,366 theaters.  Budget was $58 million.

#5 Epic from 20th Century Fox held at #5 with a gross of $11.9 million (-28.5%) in 3,594 theaters (-300).  Total gross to date is $83.9 million.  Budget was $100 million.

#6 Star Trek Into Darkness from Paramount fell from #4 to #6 with a gross of $11.4 million (-31.9%) in 3,152 theaters (-433).  Total gross to date is $199.9 million.  Budget was $190 million.

#7 After Earth from Sony/Columbia fell from #3 to #7 with a gross of $10.7 million (-61.1%) in 3,401 theaters.  Total gross to date is $46.1 million.  Budget was $130 million.

#8 The Hangover Part III from Warner Bros. fell from #6 to #8 with a gross of $7.3 million (-55.2%) in 3,242 theaters (-323).  Total gross to date is $102.3 million.  Budget was $103 million.

#9 Iron Man 3 from Buena Vista fell from #7 to #9 with a gross of $5.8 million (-31.8%) in 2,351 theaters (-544).  Total gross to date is $394.3 million.  Budget was $200 million.

#10 The Great Gatsby from Warner Bros. fell from #8 to #10 with a gross of $4.2 million (-35.2%) in 2,160 theaters (-475).  Total gross to date is $136.2 million.  Budget was $105 million.

#11 Mud from Roadside Attractions fell from #10 to #11 with a gross of $1.1 million (-5.7%) in 580 theaters (-1).  Total gross to date is $18.5 million.  Budget was unknown.

#12 Yeh Jawaani Hai Deewani from Eros fell from #9 to #12 with a gross of $803 thousand (-48.8%) in 161 theaters.  Total gross to date is $2.9 million.  Budget was unknown.

The combined gross of the top 12 movies this weekend was $143.3 million.

Sources:
Box Office Mojo

Categories
Back Seat Producers Season 08 Shows

BSP Episode 273: Star Trek Into Darkness

Release date – 5/16/2013

Paramount Pictures

Directed by

  • J.J. Abrams

Produced by

  • J.J. Abrams
  • Bryan Burk
  • Damon Lindelof
  • Alex Kurtzman
  • Robert Orci

Written by

  • Roberto Orci
  • Alex Kurtzman
  • Damon Lindelof

Based on Star Trek by Gene Roddenberry

Cast

  • Chris Pine – Captain James T. Kirk
  • Zachary Quinto – Commander Spock
  • Zoe Saldana – Lieutenant Nyota Uhura
  • Karl Urban – Lt. Commander Dr. Leonard “Bones” McCoy
  • Simon Pegg – Lt. Commander Montgomery “Scotty” Scott
  • John Cho – Lieutenant Hikaru Sulo
  • Anton Yelchin – Ensign Pavel Chekov
  • Benedict Cumberbatch – John Harrison/Khan

Hosts thoughts

  • Disagreements begin with the title!
  • BLEEP!
  • General consensus… a good movie but a few problems.
  • Are the homages too much fan service?
  • The ending was a little too tidy.
  • Darrell wanted something original.
  • Passionate views on Spock, Spock and Khan.
  • They need to get away from Earth.
  • Enough with the five year mission!
  • So, where’s this Darkness you speak of?
  • Plot hole.
  • Buckaroooo!
  • Retooled Super Heroes and Legends.
  • Stop hitting the table!
  • Benedict was a good Khan.
  • Shatner & Montalban vs. Pine & Cumberbatch.
  • A better ending would have been…
  • Kirk as a warrior, rouge or fall-guy?
  • Scotty, the unsung hero.
  • Predictions on the next Star Trek movie.

Trivia bits ‘n pieces:

  • J.J. Abrams said that the time travel-alternate reality concept was used to enable a reboot for new sagas/films.  It allows them to use ideas from the past or create new ones.
  • Damon Lindelof’s favorite film title, including the joke titles, was “Star Trek: Transformers 4.”  He said, “It’s technically available, we can go there!”
  • McCoy says, “Shut up Spock, we’re rescuing you!” in the opening sequence.  The original McCoy said the same line in the episode “The Immunity Syndrome.”

*Christopher Doohan, son of James (the original Scotty) Doohan, had a cameo appearance as a Transport Officer alongside the current Scotty, Simon Pegg.

Your Producers for this episode were:

  • Tony
  • Darrell
  • Tony
  • David

This episode was recorded:  6/5/13

Categories
Announcement

Theatrical Review: The Purge

The year is 2022. In the United States, unemployment is less than 1% and crime is at it’s lowest rate ever. The reason for this is that the powers-that-be (known here as the New Founding Fathers) have passed an act called The Purge which allows anyone and everyone a 12-hour open period of letting out any sort of pent-up aggression in all sorts of violent acts without any sort of legal consequences.

Purge night is about to take place and our focus is on the Sandin family. The Sandins live in an affluent neighborhood with a house that’s a little bigger than the rest made that way because James Sandin (the father) sells home security systems that are designed to fortify homes for The Purge. James’ wife, Mary, is a typical housewife who just wants the best for her family. Their children, Charlie and Zoey, question aspects of The Purge. 7:00 rolls around and it’s now time for the Sandins to place their home into lockdown mode. Charlie sees a bloody stranger come near their house (through home security cameras), takes compassion on him and lets down the security system to take him in, much to the alarm of his parents. After they’ve taken the stranger in, a group of masked, privileged youth approach the house and threaten to tear it apart in order to get to their prey, vowing to kill the Sandins as well as long as they are in their way.

That’s the premise to The Purge from writer and director James DeMonaco, who prior to this has worked as a producer and writer on the Crash TV series as well as having written such films as the re-make of Assault on Precinct 13 and The Negotiator. It’s an utterly ridiculous concept, yet the same could be said for other science and speculative fiction works as well. The real trick here is how well do you sell it and still make it convincing and as it is, The Purge is very much a mixed bag, though to it’s credit, it certainly does spur some lively conversation after viewing it.

The concept itself one could basically see as government sanctioned national disaster that acts as a catharsis to it’s citizenry after the fact. But where it falls apart is that it’s assuming that all of the citizens are going to go about their business normally after the Purge takes place. During televised segments shown during the film, the question is put out there that The Purge is designed to eliminate the less desirable elements out of society (i.e. the homeless, criminals, the poor) and most of the film (at least for this setting) backs that up, especially after the Bloody Stranger and his pursuers are introduced, but to DeMonaco’s credit, he does manage to twist this a bit by the film’s end, but it’s still not enough to make up for some of the basic concept shortcomings.

This takes the assumption that everyone automatically “behaves” for the rest of the year, but obviously that wouldn’t be the case. As the rules of The Purge are explained right before it takes place (thanks to an Emergency Broadcast System message), all emergency services are suspended and only a certain level of weaponry is allowed to be used. That level of weaponry is pretty vague, though based off of what we see here it looks to be it’s highest form is guns. Crime is at it’s lowest rate, but considering human behavior, there would still have to be some high level stuff taking place, and one just has to wonder what is there going on in the world that takes care of that. What are the long-range consequences to The Purge? Do people plan for this? How do those that survive these acts then see their neighbors after the fact? These things are lightly touched on in the movie, but because DeMonaco has centered this around one well-to-do neighborhood, it becomes more of a diatribe against gun-control and social conservatives more than anything else. Is that his point? It’s really hard to say, especially after an event late in the film that shifts things around a bit. The final message could be just as simple as there are no quick and simple solutions to any problem, but based on how this story is told, it doesn’t come off quite that way. This concept is just really too big to be satisfying in your basic home invasion terror film.

Now I have to say though, for the most part, the home invasion aspect of the film is pretty well made, only falling apart in areas where characters just disappear for a time (this happens both with the Bloody Stranger- that’s how he’s known in the movie- and the daughter Zoey) only to reappear when the story calls for them to be relevant. The performances are pretty good. Ethan Hawke and Lena Headey play James and Mary Sandin and they’re certainly solid, as our the performances by Max Burkholder and Adelaide Kane who play Charlie and Zoey. Their work is good, they’re just hamstrung by a script that’s trying to do way too much within a very short time frame. Rhys Wakefield plays the Polite Stranger (that’s how it’s listed in the credits) who’s the leader of the mob who invades the Sandin home. It’s a terrifically creepy performance and puts me in the mind of the protagonists from Michael Haneke’s Funny Games. As good as this performance is though, it also leads to another of the film’s problems. This group that invades the Sandin home is masked and the only one who reveals himself is Wakefield’s character, the rest behave as this sort of hive-mind mob and none of the others have any sort of voice in the movie. It’s almost like he’s controlling a cult that has it’s own agenda and would this be something that would be allowed in this new world order? Again, another question that’s just too big for something that’s made as a home invasion thriller.

Technically, The Purge is certainly well-made, features some solid performances and some genuinely creepy moments. It is a ridiculous concept that will certainly leave some just laughing at it by it’s end and have others arguing it based on their own political leanings. That to me anyway is the film’s strongest aftereffect; the pure discussion that will come from it, though it doesn’t necessarily translate to a satisfying film experience. The Purge, in comparison to other summer films, is a low-budgeted film and so far has done very well for itself on it’s first weekend. That certainly leaves me to believe that a sequel could be in store- I’d actually embrace that idea if a potential sequel would look at this idea from an altogether different point of view and further flesh out it’s core concept.

Categories
Back Seat Box Office Shows

Back Seat Box Office #142 & Results #141

I apologize for the quality… I’m very well aware that I sound like I’m in a phone booth.

Congrats to Jeff for his high score of 23!

Picks:

Jeff

  1. The Purge
  2. The Internship
  3. Now You See Me
  4. Fast & Furious 6
  5. Epic

Lena

  1. The Internship
  2. Now You See Me
  3. The Purge
  4. Fast & Furious 6
  5. The Hangover Part III

Art

  1. The Intership
  2. Fast & Furious 6
  3. Now You See Me
  4. The Purge
  5. After Earth

Back Seat Art House Picks:

There are no new movies in wide release this weekend.

Categories
Back Seat Reality Shows

Back Seat Reality #11

Tony and Julie are back!

In this week’s episode, we cover the first two episodes of this year’s Bachelorette.

Herein you can learn about Tony’s idea for a Black Rose and the implications for making things even more awesome during rose ceremonies and during those first impression meetings.

You can also hear about all of the creepers, magicians, knights, and other assorted dorks who were bounced from the first couple of episodes.

Finally, make sure you stick around for Julie’s idea about a Cards Against Humanity podcast.  That could be FUN.