Category: Back Seat Producers

Show Notes soon.

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Release date – 11/9/2012

Touchstone Pictures

Directed

• Steven Spielberg

Produced by

• Steven Spielberg
• Kathleen Kennedy

Screenplay by

• Tony Kushner

Based on Team of Rivals: The Political Genius of Abraham Lincoln by Doris Kearns Goodwin

 

Cast

Daniel Day-Lewis

• Abraham Lincoln

Sally Field

• Mary Todd Lincoln

Joseph Gordon-Levitt

• Robert Todd Lincoln

Tommy Lee Jones

• Thaddeus Stevens

 

• Historical, but fun to watch.
• Two and a half hours of a movie about the law.
• Worst movie since Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunters.
• NOT about Lincoln, it’s about the Thirteenth Amendment.
• A mini-series about the Thirteenth Amendment might have been more interesting.
• (How’s that for across the board reviews?)
• Assume that the bulk of the audience that would see this movie probably believes that the Civil War was fought about slaves (only).
• A better movie: James Spader and Tommy Lee Jones’ wig on a buddy-cop adventure.
• If you love the law, don’t watch it being made.  And salad bars.
• James Spader was great.
• Darrell thought Sally Field’s portrayal of Mary Todd Lincoln might have been the most accurate possible.
• There were a lot of things in the movie that were unnecessary to the story; things that just repeated and repeated bits of information about the Emancipation Proclamation and slavery.
• The hosts, for the most part, don’t like Spielberg’s attempt to force emotions.
• Disagreements over what were the important points in the movie.
• Very interesting side discussion about Ender’s Game.
• This movie was better when it was The American President.
• DeNiro does Lincoln.

Awards (partial list):

• American Film Institute – 2013 Movie of the Year
• Academy Awards – Actor in a Leading Role, Production Design
• BAFTA – Best Leading Actor
• Directors Guild of American – Outstanding Directorial Achievement
• Golden Globes – Best Performance by an Actor in a Motion Picture
• Screen Actors Guild Awards – Male Actor in a Leading Role, Male Actor in a Supporting Role (Jones)

Your Producers for this episode were:

• Tony
• Darrell
• Tony
• David

This episode was recorded:  5/8/13

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Release date – 11/21/2012

20^th Century Fox

 

Directed – Ang Lee

Produced by – Ang Lee, Gil Netter, David Womack

Screenplay by – David Magee

Based on Life of Pi by Yann Martell

 

Cast

Suraj Sharma – Piscine “Pi” Molitor, age 16

Irfan Khan – Pi, adult

Tabu – Gita Patel

 

• The list of upcoming movie reviews… connect the, umm, dots.
• Deuce (via email) – amazing!
• Tony – visuals lacking & animal special effects, not so good.
• Darrell – blown away, stunning visuals.
• David – liked it, but some aspects turned him off.
• A visually well told story.
• This movie damns religion (although not really about religion)… listen to find out why.
• Which story do we want to believe? NOT which story is true?
• Nature or humanity?
• Is human nature inherently good or evil?
• I need more tiger.
• Best scene… pee on the tarp, spray on his face.
• Is Gerard Depardieu the most recognizable name to US audiences?
• A brief trip into Great Gatsby land.
• Bad movie going experiences.

Trivia bits-n-pieces:

• 86% of the tiger shots were CGI, the rest (23 shorts) were real.  Some of the real tiger scenes were when Richard Parker was swimming in the water and couldn’t get back in without Pi’s help, most of the scenes where Pi is training the tiger with a stick and when the tiger scratches his claws on the hatch below.
• Tabu and Irrgan Khan, who played mother and son in  this film, previously played husband and wife in the film The Namesake.

Academy Awards

• Best Director
• Best Cinematography
• Best Visual Effects
• Best Original Score

Your Producers for this episode were:

• Tony
• Darrell
• David

This episode was recorded:  5/1/13

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Happy Anniversary!

More notes to follow.

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Release date – 11/9/2012

MGM/Columbia Pictures

Directed

• Sam Mendes

Produced by

• Michael G. Wilson
• Barbara Broccoli

Screenplay by

• Neal Purvis
• Robert Wade
• John Logan

Based on James Bond by Ian Fleming

Cast

Daniel Craig

• James Bond

Judi Dench

• M

Javier Bardem

• Raoul Silva

Ralph Fiennes

• Gareth Mallory

 

• Word Association!  Sun… Moon… Skyfall…
• Tony and Darrell saw a sneak preview of Defiance.
• Best parts… Javier Bardem, the opening credits with Adele, and Judi Dench.
• Favorite Bond songs.
• David didn’t like the movie until Bardem.
• Bond… old?
• Sacrificed by M?
• The Shanghai scene was great.
• Q was very cool.
• The set-up of the characters and relationships was handled very well.
• The Komodo Dragon was silly, but fun.
• “Skyfall” was a great turn and end of the movie.
• Shoot up the Aston Martin? Oh hell no!
• Allowing Bond and M to break away from their stoicism lifted their characters.
• “I like you better without your Beretta.”
• Was the rumor of Sean Connery supposed to be Kinkaid?
• Rating this Bond movie with Quantum of Solace and Casino Royale.

Trivia bits-n-pieces:

• It was rumored that Kevin Spacey was considered for the villain, but declined due to scheduling conflicts.
• M’s house is the former house of John Barry, the legendary Bond composer who passed away in 2011.  Both the score for Skyfall and the use of his house were tributes to Barry.

Awards (partial list):

• Academy Awards – Original Song, Sound Editing
• British Academy Film Awards – Outstanding British Film, Original Music
• Broadcast Film Critics Association Awards – Best Action Movie, Best Song, Best Actor in an Action Movie

Your Producers for this episode were:

• Tony
• Darrell
• Tony
• David

This episode was recorded:  4/17/13

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Release date – 10/12/2012

Warner Bros. Pictures

 

Directed

• Ben Affleck

Produced by

• Grant Heslov
• Ben Affleck
• George Clooney

Screenplay by

• Chris Terrio

Based on The Master of Disguise by Antonio J. Mendez and The Great Escape by Joshuah Bearman

 

Cast

Ben Affleck

• Tony Mendez

Bryan Cranston

• Jack O’Donnell

Alan Arkin

• Lester Siegel

John Goodman

• John Chambers

 

• If the intern was there, she’d have been screaming THE DREAM TEAM!
• Vaginas are always serious… a well-established fact.
• Mixed reviews
• A bit of comedy in the first half, then it tightened up.
• A good period piece for the 1970s.
• Also mixed reviews as to whether it should have won the Oscar.
• Affleck did a good job in not over-acting the character, but it might have been too much in the other direction.
• Hey, Argo F%#k yourself!
• The conversation quickly veers off to the other movies nominated for a Best Picture Oscar
• Nice touches that lent to the 1970s-ness of the movie.
• The Civil War would have been over in a week if they had Twitter
• #ShermansMarch
• #AtlantaBurns
• The would have liked a bit more Jack Kirby.
• The 70’s pornstache was brilliant!
• Oscar expectations, when seeing the movie after the fact, weren’t met.  BUT, still a good movie.
• David lists movies that he thought were better than Argo.
• Did it win Best Picture because of politics?
• Discussing past Best Picture winners and whether they were warranted.
• Thoughts on acting – well cast, well acted.
• Alan Arkin stole every scene he was in.
• Bryan Cranston goes all Walter White toward the end of the film!
• Why are so many movies nominated for Oscars?
• Netflix:  House of Cards, Hemlock Grove, Lilyhammer and Arrested Development
• This is the End

Trivia bits-n-pieces:

• In order to make the movie feel like the 1970s, Affleck shot it on regular film, cut the frames in half and blew the images up 200% to increase the graininess.
• Argo is the first movie to win the Oscar for Best Picture without a Best Director win since Crash (2005) and the first movie to win the Oscar for Best Picture without the Director being nominated since Driving Miss Daisy (1989).

Awards won (partial list):

• Academy Awards – Picture, Adapted Screenplay, Film Editing
• British Academy Film Award – Film, Director, Editing
• Critics Choice Awards – Picture, Director
• Golden Globe Awards – Picture/Drama, Director
• Los Angeles Film Critics Association – Screenplay
• National Board of Review Awards – Top 10 Films, Special Achievement in Filmmaking, Spotlight Award/John Goodman
• Directors Guild of America – Director
• Producers Guild of America – Picture
• Screen Actors Guild Awards – Outstanding Performance by a Cast in a Motion Picture
• St. Louis Film Critics Awards (shout out to BSP’s homeland) – Film, Director

Your Producers for this episode were:

• Tony
• Darrell
• Tony
• David

This episode was recorded:  4/10/13

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Show notes will be on their way.

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Not an April Fool’s Joke. Promise!

Show notes will be updated soon.

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Show notes to follow.

This episode is dedicated to Andrew.

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