Category: Back Seat Producers

Notes to follow

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Release date:  2/11/2012

Walt Disney Studios

Directed

• Timo Vuorensola

Produced by

• Tero Kaukomaa
• Oliver Damian
• Cathy Overett
• Sam Horton
• James Wenban
• Mark Overett
• Samuli Torssonen

Screenplay by

• Michael Kalesniko
• Timo Vuorensola

Story by

• Johanna Sinisalo
• Jarmo Puskala (concept)

Cast

Julia Dietze

• Renata Richter

Gotz Otto

• Klaus Adler

The hosts review:

• Oscars chit chat & Walter White.
• Jennifer Lawrence & Kristin Stewart: one acted like a mouth-breather, one is…
• Someone found it better than A Good Day to Die Hard and Battleship.
• Someone just didn’t like it and couldn’t even get through it.
• Someone thought this movie was better than it deserved to be.
• I’ve got a space ship, you’ve got a space ship, everybody’s got a space ship!
• No nakedness… boo.
• Then let’s make a new horizon.
• So… a cheesy movie with moon Nazis.
• The music was not in the right place.
• Still… better than Four Rooms.
• Harlem Shake, because you can’t have any kind of conversation without that being brought up.
• David makes a disturbing discovery about the clothing that turns him on.
• Covering up guy-parts in Superman and Tron.

Trivial bits ‘n pieces:

• More than 10 percent of funding for this film came from fans. The donors are listed in the credits.
• The German customs office would not allow the film-makers to bring any Nazi costumes and regalia into Germany, but fortunately the makers of Inglorious Basterds helped director Vuorensola by revealing how they had circumvented the same problem.

Your Producers for this episode were:

• Tony
• David
• Tony/Deuce

This episode was recorded: 2/27/2013

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More Tarantino Love!

Release date:  8/21/2009

Universal Pictures

Directed and Written by

• Quentin Tarantino

Produced by

• Lawrence Bender

Cast

Brad Pitt

• Lt. Aldo Raine

Christoph Waltz

• Col. Hans Landa

Melaine Laurent

• Shosanna

Eli Roth

• Sgt. Donny Donowitz

Samuel L. Jackson

• Narrator

The hosts review:

• Beer!
• Batman!
• No mistaking that this is a Tarantino movie.
• Each of the main characters (Aldo, Hans, Shosanna) has their own kind of morality that pushes them to do what they do.
• Or, is Hans Landa a bored, yet brilliant, sociopath?
• Is Aldo really just the same as Hans?
• Brad Pitt is great at playing these off-the-wall characters.
• Aldo Raine = homage to and poking fun at John Wayne
• The film within a film within a film!
• The basement bar scene… a whole bunch of busy dialogue, and then BOOM!
• The cameos were very good; Mike Myers, Rod Taylor and Harvey Keitel (voice).
• Changing lanes and discussing Clerks and Clerks 3, and Kevin Smith’s career.
• The music was all over the place, the soundtrack is fantastic.
• “Being in wool underwear will make you want to kill anything”
• “… and Hannah Montana.”

Trivial bits ‘n pieces:

• Tarantino intended for this to be as much a war film as a spaghetti western, and considered titling the movie “Once Upon a Time in Nazi-Occupied France”.  Instead, that ended up being the title of the first chapter of the film.
• Cloris Leachman originally appeared in the film as Mrs. Himmelstein, an elderly Jewish woman living in Boston, drinking tea with Donny Donowitz (and signing his trademark baseball bat afterward).  This was cut from the final film, but Tarantino has said that he might use the footage in the prequel.
• Roughly only 30% of the film is in spoken English, the language which dominates the film is either French or German, with a little Italian.
• At the end of each take, actors would face the camera and say “Hello Sally”, referring to Sally Menke, the film’s editor.  This has been done with Tarantino’s previous movies (such as Kill Bill: Vol. 1, Kill Bill: Vol 2 and Deathproof).  Inglourious Basterds was the last film by Tarantino to be edited by Menke, whose work was honored in 2010 with her final Academy Award nomination for Best Editing, prior to her death later that year.

Your Producers for this episode were:

• Tony
• Darrell
• Tony/Deuce

This episode was recorded: 2/16/2013

 

 

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Notes to follow

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It’s a Quentin Tarantino Love Fest!!

Release date:  12/25/1995

Miramax Films

Directed and Written by

• Allison Anders
• Alexandre Rockwell
• Robert Rodriguez
• Quentin Tarantino

Produced by

• Lawrence Bender

Cast

Rim Roth

• Ted the Bellhop

“The Missing Ingredient”

Valeria Golino

• Athena

Ione Skye

• Eva

“The Wrong Man”

David Proval

• Sigfried

Jennifer Beals

• Angela

“The Misbehavers”

Antonio Banderas

• Man

Lana McKissack

• Sarah

“The Man from Hollywood”

Quentin Tarantino

• Chester Rush

The hosts review:

• Robert Rodriguez’ clip was good… kinda weird… enjoyable.
• Quentin Tarantino’s was also really good.
• “The Misbehavers” could have been a standalone short.
• “The Missing Ingredient”… missing a whole lot more.
• The reason you watch the whole thing, all four stories, is for the very last five minutes.
• The reason for some of the witches being topless didn’t make sense.
• It would have made more sense if “The Misbehavers” was first.
• Tarantino’s short was typical of his long films, long mundane dialogues that explode into insanity.
• What, exactly, brought these four writer/directors together?  And, was it a good idea?
• Alison Anders biography reads almost like a Tarantino script.
• Robert Rodriguez followed up the first three Spy Kids movies with Once Upon a Time in Mexico.
• The hosts can’t really recommend the whole movie, but the opening credits and Tim Roth’s movements were very Pink Panther-ish.
• Ione Skye… aged well, looked good!
• Madonna… meh, why was she there?
• A discussion of Madonna’s… oh, let’s just call it her movie career for the sake of argument.

Trivial bits ‘n pieces:

• “Five Rooms” was the original title of this movie, but Richard Linklater withdrew before production began.
• Salma Hayek is the dancing girl in TV in “The Misbehavers.”
• The role of Ted the Bellhop was originally written with Steve Buscemi in mind.
• Bruce Willis is not credited because he violated SAG rule by acting in this film for no money, doing it for fun and as a favor for Tarantino.  SAG agreed not to sue Willis if his name was not included in the credits.
• Robert Rodriguez and Antonio Banderas filed their segment one week after finishing Desperado.

Your Producers for this episode were:

• Tony
• Darrell
• Tony/Deuce

This episode was recorded: 2/7/2013

 

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Release date:  11/09/2010

Lionsgate

Directed by

• Paul Haggis

Produced by

• Michael Nozik
• Olivier Delbosc
• Paul Haggis
• Marc Missonnier

Screenplay by

• Paul Haggis

Based on Anything for Her by Fred Cavaye’, Guillaume Lemans

Cast

Russell Crowe

• John Brennan

Elizabeth Banks

• Lara Brennan

The hosts review:

• Reminiscing about the joy that was The Hobbit (The recording, not necessarily the movie).
• Watching a movie, sitting in a recliner, being waited on… this is the good life!
• Jennifer Lawrence is talented, don’t blame The Hunger Games.
• The many faces of Robert DeNiro.
• Two likes and one not-so-much.
• Discussing Paul Haggis’ career.  He’s come a long way from The Richie Rich/Scoobie Doo Show.
• Criticisms on how to rub a drug dealer.
• How does a person respond to such extreme circumstances?
• Elizabeth Banks… Olivia Wilde… Elizabeth Banks… Olivia Wilde… what to do?
• How bada$$ is Liam Neeson? Come on!
• Brian Dennehy is AWESOME.
• Was she really a murderer?  Was the recreation what really happened?
• Darrell would have preferred that scene be cut from the end.
• Should the detective have cared more?
• Darrell depressed Tony/Deuce.
• Tony liked the Lara/spinning car scene, as it seemingly jumped out from a mostly sedate movie.
• Once John’s plan was set, there wasn’t anything that was going to derail it.

Trivial bits ‘n pieces:

• The “bump key” procedure Crowe used actually does work on cylinder locks.
• The phone and fax numbers on the lab work are the real numbers for Med-Health Services in Monroeville, PA.
• Mark Isham, Haggis’ regular collaborator, didn’t compose this score due to their falling out over Haggis’ very public break from the Church of Scientology, of which Isham is still a member.

Your Producers for this episode were:

• Tony
• Darrell
• Tony/Deuce

This episode was recorded: 1/24/2013

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Release date:  12/29/1995

Universal Pictures

Directed by

• Terry Gilliam

Produced by

• Charles Roven

Screenplay by

• David Peoples
• Janet Peoples

Based on Le jetee by Chris Marker

Cast

Bruce Willis

• James Cole

Madeleine Stowe

• Kathryn Railly

Brad Pitt

• Jeffrey Goines

The hosts review:

• Pimpin’ Back Seat Book Club!
• Hugh Jackman is the Wolverine of singing.
• Les Miserables singing reviews.
• Loving and hating ABBA.
• P….a….c….i….n…g
• Great example of time-travel sci-fi.
• You can’t change time.
• Bob… another time traveler or Cole’s psychosis?
• “I wouldn’t mind seeing a Brad Pitt Joker”
• Brad Pitt’s rants made Fight Club unnecessary.
• Breakdown of Terry Gilliam’s successes.
• The music is insane and off, it works really well.
• “All I see are dead people.”
• Glad that it didn’t have a Hollywood ending.
• Time is fixed.  Time loops are fixed.  Time travelers are fixed.
• This sci-fi was a mind game, as opposed to special effects.
• Setting the movie in the year that it came out was a great move, but a few things didn’t age well.
• Any time you have a character in science fiction named Cassandra, PAY ATTENTION.
• Cole, as the time traveler, didn’t do actually change time himself.
• It wouldn’t have worked if it was faster paced, and it wouldn’t be a Terry Gilliam movie.
• On to Batman.
• Tony reads another of Goines’ rants.

Trivial bits ‘n pieces:

• Terri Gilliam gave Bruce Willis a list of “Willis acting clichés” NOT to use, including Steely Blue Eyes Look.
• Most of the actors took a pay cut because they wanted to work with Gilliam.
• In a scene where Cole is drawing his own blood, there is a shadow of a hamster in a wheel.  This took a whole day to film because the hamster wouldn’t move, and Gilliam is a perfectionist and insisted that this detail should work as intended.  For the rest of the production, Gilliam’s perfectionism was nick-named “The Hamster Factor.”

Your Producers for this episode were:

• Tony
• Darrell
• Tony/Deuce

This episode was recorded: 1/17/2013

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Release date:  10/2/1992

New Line Cinema

Directed by

• James Foley

Produced by

• Jerry Tokofsky
• Stanley R. Zupnik

Screenplay by

• David Mamet

Based on Glengarry Glen Ross by David Mamet

Cast

Al Pacino

• Ricky Roma

Jack Lemmon

• Shelley Levene

Alec Baldwin

• Blake

Jonathan Pryce

• James Lingk

Kevin Spacey

• John Williamson

The hosts review:

• Deuce’s type of movie.
• Darrell likes it less and less each time he sees it.
• How can you be this despicable all the time?
• Tony thought there were a few places where they could have slowed down the dialogue.
• Pacino, Spacey and Lemmon seemed to “belong” in that movie.
• Pacino outperformed by Spacey and Lemmon?
• Everyone outperformed by Lemmon.
• Pacino impersonations… please no.
• Dirty sales tactics for legitimate real estate sales.
• After seeing the movie when it was new and seeing it again years later, some of the shine is gone.
• North American grosses were less than its budget.
• Geez, Tony, leave some trivia for the rest of us.
• The power of chewing gum.
• The Tonys would see it again; Darrell is probably done with it.
• Kevin Spacey bio.

Trivial bits ‘n pieces:

• “F&#k” and its derivatives are said 138 times.
• “S@^t” and its derivatives are said 50 times.
• “Lead” or “leads” are said 83 times.
• During production, the actors referred to this film as “Death of a F&#kin’ Salesman.”
• None of the major roles were auditioned; the actors were all offered their roles, although Jack Lemmon said he would have been glad to audition for such a good role.
• Alec Baldwin based the tone and delivery of his famous monologue on George C. Scott’s “Wars are won…” speech from Patton.
• This film has been used to train real salesmen on how to see and how not to sell.
• There is only one female character in the entire film… Coat Check Girl.

Your Producers for this episode were:

• Tony
• Darrell
• Tony/Deuce

This episode was recorded: 1/9/2013

 

 

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Release date:  12/14/2012

Warner Bros. Pictures

Directed by

• Peter Jackson

Produced by

• Carlynne Cunningham
• Zane Weiner
• Fran Walsh
• Peter Jackson

Screenplay by

• Fran Walsh
• Philippa Boyens
• Peter Jackson
• Guillermo del Toro

Based on The Hobbit by J. R. R. Tolkien

Cast

Martin Freeman

• Bilbo Baggins

Ian McKellen

• Galdalf the Grey

Richard Armitage

• Thorin Oakenshield

The hosts review:

• “Your silly childhood nostalgia can’t defeat my logic.”
• A brief biography of Daniel Day-Lewis.
• We do not have a consensus!
• “Listen, b*#%hes! It is a MOVIE, it is not a BOOK!” (I could just stop here; nothing better can be said)
• Darrell goes WILD!!
• The movie was rushed, and part of that showed.
• Pacing problems and too long battle scenes.
• There is more back story on Thorin in the movie than in the book.
• David liked the parts of the movie he thought he would hate.
• Comparisons of reading The Hobbit to reading The Lord of the Rings
• The dwarves felt dwarfish.
• Singing dwarves are great!
• Martin Freeman is the Bob Hope of this movie.  He’s surrounded by craziness and he’s seemingly the sanest.
• David didn’t like Freeman as Bilbo.
• Hugo Weaving could end up as a quadruple-triple!
• Frodo is about ¾ moron and the other ¼ is Sam.
• Young Bilbo is much more likable than older Bilbo.
• Bilbo has a choice to leave; Frodo doesn’t really have a choice to leave.  Bilbo is better.
• The fight scene with the goblins was too fast, too busy, too much.  Also, their method of bridge-building was lame.
• Gollum was fantastic!
• Hey, remember all the places we went to in Lord of the Rings? Let’s go there again!
• David could do without the eagles.
• Wait… there’s giant spiders in the next movie?!
• The rabbit sled was very cool.
• Deuce could have used more Bilbo Baggins, Tony could have used less Radagast and dwarves (but not the main dwarves), and David could have used less conflict between Thorin and Bilbo.
• Deuce missed the part where Thorin Oakenshield gets his shield of… oak.
• Elves on horseback save the party again!
• A bit of Pacific Rim talk.
• Morgan Freeman must be so proud!

Trivial bits ‘n pieces:

Gollum (Andy Serkis) only appears in one scene in the book, and he completed filming during the first week of production.  Serkis stayed on as Second Unit Director.

The Hobbit is the first feature film to be shot and projected at 48 frames per second, versus the industry standard of 24 frames.  The intention is to provide the film a smoother and more realistic motion with reduced strobing.  This is beneficial when viewing the film in 3D, as the higher frame rate helps to correctly synchronize the images for each eye.

Bombur doesn’t say a word along the entire movie.

Your Producers for this episode were:

• Tony
• Darrell
• Tony/Deuce
• David/Disappointment

This episode was recorded: 1/3/2013

 

 

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Release date:  9/28/2012

TriStar Pictures

Directed and Written by

• Rian Johnson

Produced by

• Ram Bergman
• James D. Stern

Cast

Joseph Gordon-Levitt

• Joe Simmons

Bruce Willis

• Old Joe

Emily Blunt

• Sara Rollins

The hosts review:

• I’m just trying to figure out why Joseph Gordon-Levitt and Bruce Willis are both trying to do a Ryan Gosling impersonation.
• If Joseph Gordon-Levitt turns into Bruce Willis, what hope do any of us have?
• Some disagreement about how they show what Joe’s motivation is.
• It is universally agreed that Gordon-Levitt’s makeup was unnecessary.
• Breakout performance in the movie… the kid!
• Toss the word “paradox” around liberally, and then all problems with the plot go away.
• All the hosts seemed to have different thoughts on what the movie was going to be after seeing the preview… philosophy, action, time travel, chase?
• Was The Rainmaker pulling the strings to set it all up?
• A detour into…telekinetic manual adoration.
• Tony was surprised to find out that this wasn’t a book first.  All the complaints that the hosts have are things that could have been cut from a novel to make it a film.
• Mixed reviews on if Gordon-Levitt was a better Bruce Willis than Bruce Willis.
• JCVD & Time Cop.  Robo-TimeCop.
• The Hobbit.
• Shogun.
• A Few Good Men.
• A final thought… You can’t go back.

Your Producers for this episode were:

• Tony
• Darrell
• Tony/Deuce
• David

This episode was recorded: 12/20/2012

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