Category: Season 07

Release date:  5/30/2008

Roadside Attractions

Directed by

• Tarsem Singh

Produced by

• Tarsem Singh
• Ajit Singh
• Tommy Turtle

Written by

• Tarsem Singh
• Dan Gilroy
• Nico Soultanakis

Cast

Lee Pace

• Roy Walker/Red Bandit

Catinca Untaru

• Alexandria/Red Bandit’s daughter

 

Before discussion of the movie even begins, there is a necessary and sexy discussion regarding David’s beard, it’s transformation and the future of his facial hair.

 

Initial comments by the hosts:

Darrell thought it was a very strange movie (in a good way!) that sucked you in, in the way that it kept falling into the fantasy and Alexandria’s (Catinca Untaru) imagination of what Walker’s (Lee Pace) story meant to her (how she translated it in her young mind).  He also thought that between the sounds and the visual beauty of the film, you kept falling down this rabbit-hole, not knowing where it was going to end.  David adored the movie and loved that this film fully explored the visual medium.  He was very impressed with the fact that there were no special effects used in the movie.  He was less interested in the story in the hospital, but thought it was still fantastic.

 

The hosts all agreed that the little girl stole every scene she was in.  Because most of Untaru’s acting consisted of reacting to what was given to her and not having very much of a scripted dialogue, she gave a very natural performance.  Tony said that when he finished the movie, he was still processing it, and it wasn’t until later that he could fully embrace how good the movie was.  The hosts all appreciated how the film was less about the story itself and more about the relationship between Walker and Alexandria.

 

One thing that resonated with Darrell was the way that Walker used and manipulated Alexandria to procure drugs for him (morphine), as an addict does.  Tony and David argued that neither of them felt that Walker was an addict, but was only trying to kill himself.

 

The manner in which Alexandria pulled the characters (the hospital workers in dual roles) into Walker’s story was reminiscent of The Wizard of Oz and very well done.  The hosts also liked how Walker used his relationship with his Evelyn and Sinclair/Odious to shape his story for the little girl.

 

Tony and Darrell brought up how the sounds of the outside world would bleed into the story and impact it, as sometimes happens in dreams.  They also liked how Walker had to keep adapting the story to keep Alexandria interested, as one would have to do for a child.  Another fantastic piece was how Alexandria believed the story was real throughout most of the film, but when Walker began to kill off the characters at the end, she insisted that Walker was making that part of the story up.

The hosts all enthusiastically recommend this film

Trivial bits and pieces:

This movie was inspired by the Bulgarian movie, Yo ho ho.

The film was shot on 26 locations over 18 countries.

Catinca Untaru initially believed that Lee Pace was really a paraplegic, and Tarsem Singh found that this brought an added level of believability to her dialogue, so he decided to keep almost the entire cast and crew under the same impression.  It was difficult to keep up the lie, as a makeup artist almost passed out from shock after walking into a room to find Pace standing up.

The hospital scenes with Untaru were shot in chronological order, as the child’s English improved over time; she grew taller and lost her two front baby teeth before filming started.

Alexandria’s misinterpretation of the letter E as the number 3 in the “morphine” note written by Walker was an actual mistake by Untaro.  Singh realized he could adapt that into a clever twist in the story.

 

Your Producers for this episode were:

• Tony
• Darrell
• David

This episode was recorded: 5/9/2012

Podcast: Play in new window | Download

Subscribe: Apple Podcasts | RSS

Part 5 of our 5 part Rock ‘n Roll series

Release date:  3/2/1984

Embassy Pictures

Directed by

• Rob Reiner

Produced by

• Karen Murphy

Written by

• Christopher Guest
• Michael McKean
• Harry Shearer
• Rob Reiner

Cast

Rob Reiner

• Marty DiBergi

Michael McKean

• David St. Hubbins

Christopher Guest

• Nigel Tufnel

Harry Shearer

• Derek Smalls

1:03  2012 RPG Podcast Listeners’ Survey – TAKE THE SURVEY!

http://rpgpolls.com/fill/survey/2012-RPG-Podcast-Listener-Survey/The-Podge-Cast

3:28  Prometheus – Happy Birthday, David.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WFyU10B5Jt0

4:05  David discusses watching Michael Fassbender urinate.

5:10  Host reviews.

8:00  This is the one time the pod didn’t open, why didn’t they show all the other times?

8:25  David (unless you’re Tony, then he’s Adam) has hairballs.

8:50  David’s the only one at the table who could shave and pull off a Wolverine.

9:25  David admitted that he fast-forwarded every time a song started… you what??

9:35  Big Bottom… Sex Farm.

9:40  I’m gonna plow your beanfield!

9:48  My silo is rising!

10:10  The hosts loved the cameos.

10:42  David: Who’s Angelica Houston?  Jill: (sighing) Oh my God.

11:40  What Jill liked…

12:10  What Tony liked…

12:25  Rob Reiner’s awkward hand movements.

12:45  Rob Reiner in spandex?  There isn’t a pod big enough!

13:12  Some else’s vomit.  You can’t dust for vomit.

14:15  The bass player with the pipe, he’s the intellectual one.

14:45  Jill dared to say it… Nic Cage is not aging well!

15:00  David will take any Nic Cage he can get.

15:10  How did Lenny Kosnowski become David St. Hubbins?

15:52  Stonehenge sh*% was hysterical!

16:10  We have armadillos in our pants!

17:23  Trivia time with Jill.

18:00  Is Spinal Tap a real band?

18:40  Darrell discusses Spinal Tap’s DVD releases and copywriting issues.

19:20  Help, we are going into the pop business!

20:00  Well, we’re huge in Japan.

20:34  The hosts get sentimental with lyrics.

20:35  My baby fits me like a flesh torpedo, I love to sink her with my pink torpedo.

20:45  Talk about mud flaps, my baby’s got ‘em!

21:00  The looser the waistband, the deeper the quicksand.  Or so I have read.

21:08  Drives me out of my mind.  How can I leave this… behind?

21:27  Lick my love pump.

21:35  It’s a mix between Mozart and Bach.

22:00  Oh, she’s dead.  What?  No.  Yeah.  No.  No, she’s not dead.  You’re right.

22:45  Geoff: Part of the brilliance of the movie was the gradual deterioration of the band’s success as represented by dwindling Americana.

23:09  And the puppets have a bigger dressing room.

23:55  Odd sexual references to Deuce and Luke.

24:45  Mr. Bentley from The Jeffersons.

25:30  Their other movies; A Mighty Wind, Best in Show, For Your Consideration, Waiting for Guffman.

25:55  They named the drummers after the different “Curly” characters from The Three Stooges.

26:25  A nice wrap-up to the Rock Series.

26:35  David was disappointed by the lack of penis in the movie.

26:50  Well, there WAS the cucumber!

27:23  Instead of a movie where a nobody becomes a rock star (Rock Star), this was a movie about how a rock star can become a nobody.

28:00  Back to Rock Star, lamenting the fact that Jennifer Aniston didn’t get naked.

28:36  David wants Tony to record a parody video, playing the part of all three characters.

28:45  Challenge accepted (yet… I’ve seen no such video).

29:00  Spinal Tap-only karaoke at David’s Cinco de Mayo party.

29:44  Broken mailboxes and more vomit.

30:10  David’s beloved track pants.

30:30  Darrell wraps this party up by stating that This Is Spinal Tap is rated by The Library of Congress as one of the Top 100 Movies of all Time.

31:10  David’s turned on by lists.

31:20  Melina calls David to get the story straight.

32:30  Relationship pro-tip from David.

33:18  Is that Sauron’s University?  U of I?

Your Producers for this episode were:

• Tony
• Darrell
• Jill
• David

This episode was recorded: 5/9/2012

Podcast: Play in new window | Download

Subscribe: Apple Podcasts | RSS

Part 4 of our 5 part Rock ‘n Roll series

Release date:  9/7/2001

Warner Bros.

Directed by

• Stephen Herek

Produced by

• Robert Lawrence
• Toby Jaffe
• George Clooney (executive)
• Mike Ockrent (executive)
• Steven Reuther (executive)

Written by

• John Stockwell

Cast

Mark Wahlberg

• Chris “Izzy” Cole

Jennifer Aniston

• Emily Poule

Dominic West

• Kirk Cuddy

 

Initial comments by the hosts:

Darrell points out that this movie was inspired by what happened with Judas Priest when they replaced lead singer Rob Halford with Tim “Ripper” Owens (who had been in a Judas Priest and Pink Floyd tribute band.)

The consensus from all three hosts was that the movie was… okay… filtered, lackluster, problematic in how the story was told.  The basis of the story was less about realizing your dream than it was in living someone else’s fantasy.

David wasn’t thrilled with Jennifer Aniston’s performance, but Darrell and Tony both thought she wasn’t all that bad.  Their complaint was in how the character was written.  Emily (Aniston) seemed completely oblivious to the “rock star” life and her reactions to hers and Izzy’s life were very unrealistic.  The movie seemed to be pandering to much less of a rock ‘n roll audience than a mainstream audience.

Tony listened to the commentary track after watching the movie and stated that some of the most interesting parts of the movie seemed to have been cut out, including one scene in which Emily’s character had taken drugs with some of the other rock wives and girlfriends.  The movie appeared to be designed to make Izzy’s character sympathetic so that the audience would approve of Izzy and Emily getting back together at the end.

Their biggest complaint was not in the acting or the actors, but in the editing, writing, deleted scenes.  Tony would have liked to have seen Izzy’s character be a bit darker, which would have fit more into the story.  They all thought Aniston was miscast in this role.  She was still doing Friends at the time and they thought that having Aniston portray any type of unpleasant character might not have gone over well with fans of Friends.

One of the other issues the hosts brought up was that in Izzy’s life, there was no conflict; he liked his day job, he loved his music and his family and friends were supportive of what he did.  Even when Emily broke up with him, there was no conflict!  The only time Izzy faced any kind of opposition was when he brought some of his own music to Steel Dragon and they dismissed him.  This is what ultimately caused Izzy to leave Steel Dragon (in the same way he joined Steel Dragon).

Many of the musicians in the movie are actual musicians:

Mark Wahlberg – Marky Mark and the Funky Bunch

Jason Bonham (Steel Dragon drummer) –Bonham, and he is the son of John Bonham (Led Zeppelin)

Jeff Pilson (Steel Dragon bassist) – Dokken

Zakk Wylde (Steel Dragon guitarist) – Black Label Society, and he played with Ozzy Osborne

Blas Elias (Blood Pollution drummer) – Slaughter

Brian Vander Ark (Blood Pollution bassist) – The Verve Pipe

Nick Catanese (Blood Pollution guitarist) – Black Label Society

Stephan Jenkins (Black Babylon singer) – Third Eye Blind

Your Producers for this episode were:

• Tony
• Darrell
• David

This episode was recorded: 4/25/2012

Podcast: Play in new window | Download

Subscribe: Apple Podcasts | RSS

Part 3 of our 5 part Rock ‘n Roll series

Release date:  11/9/1998

Miramax Films

Directed by

• Todd Haynes

Produced by

• Christine Vachon
• Michael Stipe
• Bob Weinstein
• Harvey Weinstein

Written by

• Todd Haynes
• James K. Lyons

Cast

Ewan McGregor

• Curt Wild

Jonathan Rhys Meyers

• Brian Slade

Christian Bale

• Arthur Stuart

Toni Collette

• Mandy Slade

Eddie Izzard

• Jerry Devine

 

Initial comments by the hosts:

Darrell isn’t a big fan of “flash-back” story telling but he liked this movie and thought it offered a nice little history of glam rock.  Jill loved it, thought it had a lot of layers but didn’t see it as a historical piece.  She looked at it not to look back at history but to look forward to where we are now.  David thought he would hate it, but he really enjoyed it because it wasn’t about the music itself, it was about the human interaction.  Tony liked all the pieces of the movie but wasn’t blown away by it as a whole.  He thought that acting, the music and the visuals were great.  Jill, being a big David Bowie fan, said she constantly finds new references every time she goes back to watch this movie again.

The hosts get into an interesting discussion regarding whether culture today embraces the different musicians/styles/visuals the way that Britain did in the early 1970s, and specifically whether America did versus the way Britain adapted to that style.  They also agreed that the movie is more about Arthur’s (Christian Bale) character than either of the musicians.

Jill liked how the music was used to push the narrative along with abstract music video pieces, performance pieces and soundtrack pieces.  It was also impressive that both Ewan McGregor and Jonathan Rhys Meyers both sang for this movie.

Tony brought up that he found the story line very similar to Eddie & The Cruisers in that the lead character faked his death and a reporter tries to figure out what really happened, but the similarity pretty much ends there.  The story itself is more about the reporter trying to figure out who he is, his experiences, and how he related to that movement.

David appreciated that this movie tackled relationships not in a childish way, which he tends to see in music-themed movies, but in a more realistic way that shows relationships as “complicated, messy, and broken.”

It was agreed that all of the acting was outstanding, with extra kudos to Eddie Izzard for stealing every scene he was in.

David brought up the question of whether music played an integral part in your development as a person.  Jill emphatically said “yes” and followed it up by saying that this movie is an indictment of the United States in that the cultural references die away in this country, more so than others.  David stated that, which he has specific memories tied to some music, he doesn’t have any emotional connections to music.  Jill found that this movie resonated with her in that you can be an “alien” and find a world of other aliens/alienated people, through music.  David would have been perfectly fine if this movie had removed the soundtrack because the human narrative spoke more to him than the music did.

The parallel of podcasting is brought up, and both Tony and David talk about how podcasting (though not necessarily in the genre of movie reviews) is an essential part of their lives at this point.  The friendships that have been gained over the years through this shared forum are often closer and/or stronger than friendships gained through childhood.

It was brought up that there were a lot of critical complaints about this movie that there was no real completion to the story lines.  The hosts disagreed with those complaints; arguing that there were, in fact, completed story lines (What happened to Brian Slade?) and also arguing that there didn’t need to be a completion regarding Arthur Stuart’s character.  You don’t know what will happen next with him, you just know that he will move on, move forward, and he’ll be fine.

Jill asked about the similarities between this movie and last week’s movie, Almost Famous.  Tony correlated Russell Hammond and Stillwater to Curt Wild.  One is about being the musician that they want to be and the other is about striving to be an iconic figure/performer that the fans will adore.  Jeff Bebe (Jason Lee, Almost Famous) is the one who wants to be an icon, while Hammond just wants to play his music.

A few trivia bits and pieces:

Jonathan Rhys Meyers and Ewan McGregor sang their own songs, but a few of Rhys Meyers’ songs were overdubbed by Thom Yorke (Radiohead).

A great deal of the dialogue stems from the writings of Oscar Wilde.

The name of Brian Slade’s persona, “Maxwell Demon,” and his band, “The Venus In Furs”, are references to two of glam rock’s biggest artists: Maxwell Demon was the name of a band in which Brian Eno performed in England in the 1960s, and “Venus In Furs” is a Lou Reed and The Velvet Underground song.  Both artists are on this film’s soundtrack.

Curt Wild’s character is largely inspired by David Bowie’s relationships with Iggy Pop and Lou Reed.  Iggy Pop hailed from Michigan and, for a time, had long blond locks, while Reed was forced to undergo shock therapy for bisexuality as a teen and was also rumored to have had an affair with Bowie before their later falling out.

When Brian first sees Mandy, he asks “Do you jive?” This is what David Bowie reportedly said when he first saw his future first wife, Angela Bowie.

During the scene where we’re first introduced to Curt Wild’s character, during the Festival scene, Ewan McGregor was only supposed to moon the audience.  He had been so inspired by Iggy Pop that he improvised and dropped his pants to his ankles and began to jump around the stage.

Your Producers for this episode were:

• Tony
• Darrell
• Jill
• David

This episode was recorded: 4/11/2012

Podcast: Play in new window | Download

Subscribe: Apple Podcasts | RSS

Part 2 of our 5 part Rock ‘n Roll series

Release date:                           9/15/2000

DreamWorks and Columbia Pictures

Directed and Written by         Cameron Crowe

Produced by                            Cameron Crowe

                  Ian Bryce                   

Cast

Billy Crudup                           Russell Hammond

Patrick Fugit                           William Miller

Frances McDormand              Elaine Miller

Kate Hudson                           Penny Lane

Jason Lee                                Jeff Bebe

Initial comments by the hosts:

Before discussion of the movie began, the hosts talked about how difficult it was to find Almost Famous in streaming form.  It’s available for rental, and even that is limited, and the movie is also broken up into 12 parts on You Tube.

This is a semi-autobiographical movie of how Cameron Crowe got his start and you really get the sense that this movie feels a biopic, even though it’s a fictional story.  Darrell points out that there are lots of little inside jokes in the movie (some of these will be listed at the end of the notes).  Darrell thought it was funny that, only in the 1970’s, could a 14 year-old boy get a job with Rolling Stone Magazine, go on tour with a band and his mother does NOT completely freak out over this.

Lena (from the chat room – watcher of the You Tube version) noted that it was nice to be reminded that Kate Hudson is actually talented.

Tony thought Frances McDormand was fantastic; her character was a force in this movie.  He also was impressed with the acting talent throughout the movie, not only of the main stars but also of the background/secondary characters, such as Fairuza Balk and Anna Paquin (The Band Aids), Zooey Deschanel, Jimmy Fallon, and Phillip Seymour Hoffman, to name just a few.  Every character had a distinct voice and Crowe did a very good job at capturing and realizing these different people.

Billy Crudup did a very good job at portraying Russell Hammond, the lead guitarist of Stillwater, who struggles through his ascent from musician in an up and coming band to a Rock God.

Two of the favorite “quirks” of controlling single mom Elaine Miller (McDormand) was her referring to Simon and Garfunkel as the devil’s music and her making her kids celebrate Christmas in September, “when it’s not commercial.”

Jason Lee was good at portraying Jeff Bebe as the leader of Stillwater, both insecure and someone who knows what to look for, what can (and eventually does) cause a rift in the band.

Patrick Fugit, as William (Billy) Miller, was able to capture the innocence of a teenager in the 70s, the excitement of a fan travelling with a band and the eye-opening breaking through from adolescence to adulthood as he begins to see what life is really like outside of the world his mother created for him.

The critical scene, near the end of the movie, shows not only the band members crumbling under the threat of their plane crashing, but also Billy Miller’s transformation from boy to man when he confronts the band about how they treat their fans… specifically their biggest fan, Penny Lane (Kate Hudson).

Trivia notes for this movie (this is only a small selection):

This film was Cameron Crowe’s semi-autobiographical account of life as a young Rolling Stone reporter. The actual group that Crowe first toured with was The Allman Brothers Band (Gregg Allman kept asking him if he was a narc).  The near-fatal plane crash happened while traveling with The Who, and the character of Russell Hammond is based on Glenn Frey (Eagles).

The roles of Russell Hammond and Penny Lane were originally offered to Brad Pitt and Sarah Polley.  Polley dropped out to work on her own project, and Pitt worked with Crowe for months before finally admitting, according to Crowe, “I just don’t get it enough to do it.”  Kate Hudson, who took over the role of Penny Lane, had been originally cast as William’s sister.

Crowe wrote the liner notes (at age 18) to the “Frampton Comes Alive!”, and Peter Frampton returned the favor by acting as a music consultant for the film.

Frampton taught Billy Crudup how to play the guitar for the concert scenes.

Stillwater’s songs were written by Frampton, Crowe and Nancy Wilson (Crowe’s wife and member of the band Heart).  This was mentioned early in the credits, although the music acknowledgments credit Russell Hammond and Stillwater as if they were real authors/performers.

Mike McCready (Pearl Jam) provided the guitar track for Stillwater’s songs.

Not only did Patrick Fugit’s voice break during filming, but he also grew three inches, forcing Billy Crudup to wear platform shoes.

Your Producers for this episode were:

• Tony
• Darrell

This episode was recorded: 4/4/2012

Note: Six years ago today, we released the first episode of Fanboy Smackdown… which became Back Seat Producers.  Thanks for 6 great years.  Let’s ROCK!

Podcast: Play in new window | Download

Subscribe: Apple Podcasts | RSS

Part 1 of our 5 part Rock ‘n Roll series

Release date:  9/14/1979

The Who Films

Directed by

• Franc Roddam

Written by

• Dave Humphries
• Franc Roddam
• Martin Stellman
• Pete Townshend

Produced by

• Roy Baird
• Bill Curbishley

Cast

Phil Daniels

• Jimmy Cooper

Leslie Ash

• Steph

 

This recording starts with a discussion about the finale of The Walking Dead.  It contains spoilers so… fair warning… if you haven’t seen the finale yet and don’t want to know what happened or if you don’t watch The Walking Dead and want to skip forward, the section runs from the beginning to 9:55.

 

Initial comments by the hosts:

David likes The Who (or other “old British bands – The Doors, Led Zeppelin, Rush” but I’m not really keeping score) but this movie makes him not like The Who.  Darrell said it was hard to watch but he made his way through it and kind of liked it, or at least liked the movie.  Tony found the movie almost unwatchable at points.  He thought the movie was trying too hard to be A Clockwork Orange and it was a failure.

There was also a general consensus… or was that confusion… that there was a great deal of naked males but NO naked females.  Even during the sex scenes, there were no female bits and pieces to be seen.

Some of the scenes were much too long, with 360 degree tracking shots and some scenes that seemed more like time fillers.  The hosts thought that the movie could have easily been cut down to no more than an hour (running time is 117 minutes) and been more interesting.

Tony thought that Phil Daniels (Cooper) looked and acted like Christian Bale and David thought that this movie should have won an award for the “most actors who look like other people.”  He thought that one of Cooper’s friends looked like one of the Weasley twins (doesn’t matter which one).

Scott (from the chat room) summed it up with the statement, “This is a cast made up of ugly British people.”

David admitted to jumping ahead in five minute intervals out of sheer boredom and correctly assumed that he really wasn’t missing much.  Tony didn’t understand the angst that the movie was trying to convey.  Cooper comes from a working class background and he has a job.  Given, he doesn’t really like his job but he still HAS a job, which is a hell of a lot more than most of his friends have.

When the discussion turned to the Steph character, Tony thought that the character was written to be a hated person.

Tony admitted that the hosts made the conscious choice to watch Quadrophenia as part of the Rock ‘n Roll series over Pink Floyd’s The Wall… at least he’s proud enough to admit that this might not have been the wisest choice!

 

And now on to… The Hunger Games! (Starts at 32:07)

It was widely agreed that the best parts of The Hunger Games were Lenny Kravitz (Cinna) and Woody Harrelson (Haymitch).  Tony thought the movie overall was good, David thought it was great (your happy note-taker agreed with David).  They also liked the characters of Rue and Thresh, but David’s only complaint was the District 11 scene (after Rue is… ) because they broke the 1^st person immersion.

David thought that the Katniss character was a strong female heroine that hasn’t been forced into a female “gender” role.  She’s all business throughout the movie and she doesn’t break out of that role.  He also would have liked to have seen more of an interaction between Peeta and Haymitch.

Tony didn’t think the movie lived up to the hype.  Neither did David, but that didn’t change his opinion that he really liked it.

Also listen to Tony’s idea for an earlier story line on Cinna and Haymitch.

 

Your Producers for this episode were:

• Tony
• Darrell
• David

This episode was recorded: 3/28/2012

Podcast: Play in new window | Download

Subscribe: Apple Podcasts | RSS

Release date:                                      12/3/2010

Roadside Attractions

Based on Mark Millar’s “I Love You Phillip Morris: A True Story of Life, Love, and Prison Breaks

Directed & Screenplay by              Glenn Ficarra, John Requa

Produced by                                        Andrew Lazar, Far Shariat

Cast

Jim Carrey                                           Steven Russell

Ewan McGregor                                 Phillip Morris

Leslie Mann                                         Debbie

 

Initial comments by the hosts:

Sam really liked this movie.  He thought it was funny and an interesting character study and dubbed it “the two gay guys-funnier Shawshank Redemption.”  Jill did not like the movie at all and had to go back to it three times to finally get through it.  She did not connect with the characters at all and found them to be superficial stereotypes and didn’t see how the relationships made sense.  Darrell thought he wasn’t going to like it and was surprised to find that he really enjoyed it; he thought the story was compelling.  Tony said that the movie surprised him at every turn.  It was not the movie he was expecting it to be, and he was very happy with it.  He’s very hit-or-miss with Jim Carrey, and he really liked him in this performance.

Sam thought the narration worked very well in this movie and Jill thought it was necessary in order to explain some of the more absurd parts of the movie.  Tony liked that the narrator (Steven Russell) flat-out lied, because the character can’t tell the truth.  During Jimmy’s death scene, from AIDS, Steven appeared to be mourning Jimmy’s death but years later Steven faked his own death from AIDS.  So, was Steven really sad when Jimmy died or was he simply filing that bit of information away to possibly be used later?

Jill took issue with how Steven’s life took such drastic changes when #1, he found his mother and #2, he came out of the closet as a gay man and took on that stereotypical, over the top, extravagant lifestyle.  She appreciated, at least, that they also portrayed him as a liar and a jerk.  Sam thought it wasn’t that much of an unrealistic portrayal since the movie would have taken place in the late 1970s and into the late 1990s, as that wasn’t really a set stereotype at that time.  Darrell countered that Steven, who moved to Miami, would have lived during the time of that exact type of life, that stereotype.  Tony thought that this showed one of the flaws of the character.  Steven was attracted to men but he only knew how live as a gay man by fulfilling this stereotype, that this was the only thing he knew.

Throughout most of the film, Jim Carrey played the character in a reserved manner, as he clearly should have, but Jill found a few moments in the film when Carrey let his larger-than-life comedic side come forward, and all the hosts agreed that this was unnecessary.  Darrell brought up the scene where Steven is walking up to his office and finds a slew of FBI agents waiting for him.  In his escape, he took a slightly more physically comedic route, and that would have played much more realistically if it has been played in a more reserved manner.  Sam thought that the movie, in its narration, was framed through the lens of a comedy more than a drama.  He thought that the comedy was Steven trying to poke fun at himself in hindsight.  Tony disagreed with the major life-changing event of the car accident, which then brought Steven to announce that he was gay and this subsequently changed every single aspect of his life.  He found it to be too much of a leap to be believable.

Jill wondered if, without knowing that the movie was based on a true story, the viewers would buy the story?  Tony agreed that he wouldn’t have and Sam stated that he simply enjoyed the movie, true story or not.  Tony thought that if the movie could have earned some of its storytelling points, instead of just leaping at them, it could have gone on to be a good story.

One of the questionable story lines for the hosts is how could someone who spent almost his entire life mired in lies and cons be believable as being in love with Phillip Morris?  Could Steven Russell love anyone other than himself?  Tony said that it was real and believable for him during the early stages of their relationship when Steven and Phillip could only communicate through notes.  You begin to see something deeper develop between them.  On the other hand, the movie never got too deeply into any of Steven’s other relationships (Debbie or Jimmy) so there wasn’t a lot to compare it to.  These were some of the movie’s shortcuts that made the storyline a challenge to find plausible.

They liked Ewan McGregor’s character as the soft-spoken Phillip Morris; they found his naïve character pretty believable.  Even when Phillip knew that Steven was a con-man, his naiveté played well in that he never questioned some of the blatant contradictions in Steven’s character.

It would be interesting to compare the movie to the book to see if the movie took a more comedic turn.  All in all, with the exception of Jill, the hosts found it a fun movie to watch.

Your Producers for this episode were:

• Tony
• Darrell
• Jill
• Sam

This episode was recorded: 3/21/2012

Podcast: Play in new window | Download

Subscribe: Apple Podcasts | RSS

Release date:                           4/16/2010
Lionsgate

Directed by

Matthew Vaughn

Screenplay by

Matthew Vaughn

Jane Goldman

Based on “Kick-Ass” by

Mark Millar

John Romita, Jr.

Produced by

Matthew Vaughn

Brad Pitt

 Kris Thykier

 Adam Bohling

 Tarquin Pack

David Reid

 

Cast

Aaron Johnson                        Dave Lizewski/Kick-Ass

Nicolas Cage                           Damon Macready/Big Daddy

Chloë Grace Moretz                Mindy Macready/Hit-Girl

Christopher Mintz-Plasse        Chris D’Amico/Red Mist

 

Happy Birthday, Sam!!

Initial comments by the hosts:

Melina thought it was a great overall movie with awesome acting, writing and music.  Jill enjoyed it and thought there were some neat parallels to other movies and she loved the characters.  Sam thought this movie was surprisingly violent, appropriately voiced-over and he enjoyed the hell out of it!  Darrell thought… simply put… it kicked ass!  David really liked it.  Tony thought it was hyper-violent and hyper-awesome.  One thing the hosts brought up is that they pretty much all thought that the movie was going to be a light comedy with superhero elements… not so much.

As much as Aaron Johnson gave a good, solid performance as Kick-Ass, Chloe Grace Moretz stole the show as Hit-Girl.  Nicolas Cage was fantastic in this movie!  They thought his voice and mannerisms were very Adam West-Batman/Captain Kirk.  The hosts didn’t think that any other actor could have pulled off the father/daughter relationship any better than Cage.

David liked that the arc of this story didn’t follow the typical arc of a comic-book story.  Typically there is one single large-scale event that motivates the character to become a superhero, or an event that physically changes the character. In Kick-Ass, Dave Lizewski (Johnson) is bullied and sees too many people turning the other way when they witness bullying.  This is his motivation.

Favorite “kills” from the movie:

Tony – when Hit-Girl is wearing the school girl outfit and she shoots the other guys in the building lobby through the man’s mouth… and after everyone else is dead, she casually turns back and shoots the first man one more time to kill him.

Melina – her favorite sequence is Hit-Girl’s first scene (where the funky version of the Banana Splits theme was playing) and in between killing people, she looks up at Kick-Ass and gives him a big, creepy smile.

David – his favorite sequence is Kick-Ass’s jet pack scene, completely with a portion of “An American Trilogy” by Elvis Presley.

Darrell – he liked the scene where Hit-Girl had all pretty much lined up and then she’s waiting with guns in both hands and she explodes out and kills them out.  His favorite scene in that part was where she reloaded her guns, by tossing the magazines in the air, while still marching down the hallway.

Sam – as much as he loved the microwave scene, his favorite was when she was in the library and, after she shoots one of the men, he falls and his sawed-off shotgun then shoots him through his chin.

Tony liked how the crime wall and the back story for Damon Macready/Big Daddy were all hand drawn in comic book style.

Nicolas Cage modeled his speech mannerisms as Big Daddy on original Batman – Adam West. According to Matthew Vaughn, Cage started acting out his lines this way at the first costume fitting. The director was happy for Cage to continue with this performance in the film, citing his irritation with the gravelly voice Christian Bale used in “The Dark Knight.”

According to Mark Millar, the “C-word” moment in issue three of the comic ultimately convinced Vaughn that it was a worthy project.

Cage came up with his character’s “disguise”: that Damon Macready would have a mustache, while “Big Daddy” would have an even larger mustache via adhesive extensions.

The comic montage of Damon Macready/Big Daddy’s past life was illustrated by artist/co-creator John Romita, Jr.

In response to criticism towards Hit-Girl’s character, Chloë Grace Moretz stated in an interview, “If I ever uttered one word that I said in Kick-Ass, I would be grounded for years! I’d be stuck in my room until I was 20! I would never in a million years say that. I’m an average, everyday girl.” Moretz has said that while filming, she could not bring herself to say the film’s title out loud in interviews, instead calling it “the film” in public and “Kick-Butt” at home.

There was a cameo of Stan Lee as a man watching news footage.

Your Producers for this episode were:

• Tony
• Darrell
• Jill
• Melina
• David
• Sam

This episode was recorded: 3/14/2012

Podcast: Play in new window | Download

Subscribe: Apple Podcasts | RSS

Release date:                           8/8/86
Island Pictures

Directed by                             Spike Lee
Written by                               Spike Lee
Produced by                            Pamm R. Jackson
                  Spike Lee
                  (Credited as Shelton J. Lee)

Cast
Tracy Camilla Johns                Nola Darling
Tommy Redmond Hicks         Jamie Overstreet
John Canada Terrell                Greer Childs
Spike Lee                                Mars Blackmon

Welcome back, David!

Initial comments by the hosts (short and sweet):

David liked the movie, although he expected not to.  Jill liked it, and she’s also a fan of Spike Lee movies.  Sam didn’t like the movie.  Tony thought it was good for an indie movie, it had flaws but it was an interesting character study… he thought he would end up liking the discussion more than the movie itself.

Tony was disappointed in the fact that the three men, who all knew they were in a relationship of sorts with Nola, were “babies” about it.  Each thought they had something more important than the other, some kind of power/control over her, but none of them did.  None of the hosts agreed with Tony, though.  They didn’t see any of the male characters as thinking or feeling as if they “owned” Nola in any way.

While Greer seemed to treat Nola more as an accessory or a trophy than a partner and Jamie seemed to be more the female counterpart of his relationship with Nola, he is also the only one who took a stand and told Nola that she had to make a choice or he was leaving.  Mars appeared to be the only one who had the most realistic view of the relationship, although he also wasn’t too happy about it.

The hosts also discussed the “rape” scene… was it truly a rape scene at all?  Nola never said no to Jamie, never moved to stop Jamie.  She took on the submissive role, for the first and only time in the movie.  Did she force Jamie to play that more violent hand by calling him over in the middle of the night for sex (while he is already in his bed with another woman)?

The hosts discuss what IT might be, but there isn’t a clear answer.  Is it sexual satisfaction, is it a general satisfaction with her life, is it a singular relationship, is it power or control, is it independence?

David brought up the fact that the movie is not presented in a way to portray Nola’s sexuality as negative and was hard pressed to think of other characters treated in the same way.  The only other comparison that was brought up was Samantha Jones in “Sex and the City.”

Tony found it interesting that Nola went to a sex therapist, considering she didn’t have any personal issue with her relationships.  Then Sam brought up the fact that Nola also entered a phase, albeit short-lived, of celibacy.  For someone who seemed so steady in her beliefs and in how she lived her life, she still took in the judgments made by the people in her life and took time for self-examination before returning, again, to knowing that she is who she is.

Tony compared Nola Darling’s character to a precursor to “500 Days of Summer” in that she was always honest and upfront about who she is and how she leads her life.  Sam saw a little bit of a “Chasing Amy” comparison.

Darrell (from the chat room on this night) liked the fact that the actors constantly broke the 4^th wall.  David didn’t like that, reminding him too much of current reality TV.  Tony said it was done in “mockumentary” style.

Tony asked if, at the end of the movie, was Nola truly happy with her life?  David and Jill thought so, even though they show Nola being alone at the end, she is ultimately living the life she wants to live.  She has always known, and after looking deeper into herself, reinforces the fact that she does not want just one man in her life, she is not a sex-addict, she is perfectly fine as she is, and any problems that arise from her multiple relationship are caused by these men, not her.

Jill brought up that, because the film’s budget was so tight, there were no second takes of any scenes.  Also, whenever the cast broke for a meal, Spike Lee instructed them to save their soda cans so they could be turned in for recycling money.  The film was shot in twelve days on a budget of $175,000.

Spike Lee wrote a book detailing the making and distribution of this film, entitled, “Spike Lee’s Gotta Have it: Inside Guerilla Filmmaking.”  His father, Bill (who was also cast as Nola Darling’s father) wrote the jazz score for the movie.

This movie won the “Award of the Youth” Foreign Film award at the 1986 Cannes Film Festival, the “New Generation Award” at the 1986 Los Angeles Film Critics Awards and the “Best First Feature” award at the 1987 Independent Spirit Awards.

Your Producers for this episode were:

• Tony
• Jill
• David
• Sam

This episode was recorded: 3/7/2012

Podcast: Play in new window | Download

Subscribe: Apple Podcasts | RSS