Category: Shows

Join the gang as they discuss the 2011 film The Artist:

• Directed by Michel Hazanavicius
• Written by Michel Hazanavicius
• Starring Jean Dujardin, Bérénice Bejo, John Goodman, James Cromwell, Penelope Ann Miller

The Artist was 2011’s Academy Awards assassin, winning Best Picture, Best Actor, Best Director, Best Costume Design, and Best Original Score. Notable for being a mostly-silent film, The Artist is the almost entirely silent story of George Valentin, a charismatic silent film star with an adorable dog who runs into troubles when Hollywood starts making talkies. If you’re a fan, the film is packed full of references to old Hollywood, some of which the BSP crew discuss during this episode.

Worth noting:

• Deuce and Tony discuss, at great length, their respective books that none of us have read because they don’t exist yet. However, triumph because the web site exists!
• Deuce and Darrell catch up. Now we’re all up to speed.
• Jolie hated this movie because it was excessively boring while Tony and Darrell liked it.
• This movie was highly referential, contained a lot of homage to period films, and is technically focused on being just like a silent movie from the past.
• Jolie’s new puppy now has a name!
• There are two standout performances in this movie: Jean Dujardin does a great job as the swarthy leading man and the adorable Jack Russell Terrier.
• This movie was rated PG-13… but why?
• The film contains a lot of technical references including the aspect ratio, frame rate, acting style, lack of zoom, and more.
• Podcasting and the art of NOT selling out.
• Oscar predictions from we non-Academy members. Jolie and Tony throw down. The gloves are off…
• More Punch Out movie references. How can we make this happen???

 Featured in this episode:

• Tony
• Darrell
• Tony/Deuce
• Jolie
• Frequent (and silent) appearances by Panda

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Join the gang as they discuss the 2002 film Punch Drunk Love:

• Directed by Paul Thomas Anderson
• Written by Paul Thomas Anderson
• Starring Adam Sandler, Emily Watson, Philip Seymour Hoffman, Luis Guzman, Mary Lynn Rajskub

After finding success with Boogie Nights and critical success with Magnolia, Paul Thomas Anderson announced that his next project would be an indie comedy starring Adam Sandler which some thought was a joke. PTA was not joking, however, and this idea turned into Punch Drunk Love, a comedic love story about an emotionally unstable man dealing with new-found love, thugs trying to extort money from him, overbearing sisters, and mountains of Healthy Choice pudding cups.

Worth noting:

• Strap in, Paco. This episode is a long one.
• Hey, did anybody do any actual learning or work their senior year of high school? Apparently the BSP crew didn’t.
• What? You haven’t read/seen The Outsiders? How did you spend your youth?
• Breastfeeding? Birth Stories? Oh my!
• Apparently nobody wants to actually discuss this movie.
• David is obsessed with kristallnacht. Second reference in as many weeks.
• Nobody liked this movie, so there’s no defender in the crew.
• This is supposed to be a comedy and this comes as a surprise to some because it’s just not funny.
• Was Emily Watson’s character a mess or did she have it all together? She does, after all, drive a Geo Metro.
• Luis Guzman was completely wasted. I mean, he was wasted in this role, now wasted in general. You get what I’m saying.
• David doesn’t know what the term “punch drunk” means.
• True Detective is an amazing TV show. Jolie thinks it’s one of the best shows ever made, maybe.
• Matthew McConaughey is killing it these days with the awesome acting roles.
• The Hunger Games isn’t a very good book. There. We said it.
• Ender’s Game… oy!
• New Guardians of the Galaxy trailer: nerds (thus this crew) rejoice!
• Yogurt advertising versus Viagra advertising. Who’s chubbed up now?
• Student loans suck and other really obvious things.
• If we mention Fleshlights a lot, do you think they’ll send us free ones?
• Hey, kids! Don’t start smoking because it might make you look too cool.
• Important and interesting things that will probably go on David’s tombstone.

Discussing the film in this episode:

• Tony
• Jolie
• David

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Join the gang as they discuss the 2001 film Amélie.

• Directed by Jean-Pierre Jeunet
• Written by Guillaume Laurant and Jean-Pierre Jeunet
• Starring Audrey Tautou, Mathieu Kassovitz

Amélie is a French film nominated for five Academy Awards by the same director of Delicatessen and, believe it or not, Alien: Resurrection. It tells the story of a shy and unusual young woman living in Paris who has a rich fantasy life. There’s a lot of Amélie love to go around; it’s listed as number 62 on the IMDB Top 250 and has a 90% on Rotten Tomatoes.

Worth noting:

• Tony’s all hopped up about the brilliant Death Star engineering.
• This movie was called “refreshingly adorable,” despite the, you know, subtitles and whatnot.
• Amélie was well-loved all around because it was cute and different but in an adult way.
• Tony and David avoided this movie for a long time; David mostly because of the terrible cover. Darrell, however, saw it when it first came out.
• The final consensus is that it’s good and worth seeing. Also, it’s a good date movie though making out will be difficult because of all the reading. Perhaps these gents haven’t heard of a pause button?
• Hey, what language did YOU have to learn in high school?
• Overall, this was called a good movie; go see it (unless you absolutely hate reading).
• Pompeii is really a movie? Really???
• Attention, FBI: we’re Googling age of consent laws. Again. Thanks, Chloe Grace Moretz!

Discussing the film in this episode:

• Tony
• Darrell
• David

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Join the gang as they discuss the 2013 film Drinking Buddies:

• Directed by Joe Swanberg
• Written by Joe Swanberg
• Starring Olivia Wilde, Jake Johnson, Anna Kendrick, Ron Livingston and Jason Sudeikis

The film is an entirely-improvised movie from Joe Swanberg who previously did low budget mumblecore movies like Hannah Takes the Stairs. Mumblecore is defined by limited budgets and an emphasis on realistic dialogue and Drinking Buddies is no different, but is characterized by a more famous cast. It’s the story of two friends who work at a Chicago microbrewery and the strange romantic entanglements that can happen between friends.

Worth noting:

• Apparently, Jolie’s missing estrogen is to be credited for the lack of feedback in this week’s recording. Great. Blame the ladies.
• Mixed reviews; it was liked but Darrell was “bored s***less.”
• The realistic dialogue and imperfect characters were well-regarded.
• David has a creepy level of appreciation for Anna Kendrick’s hotness.
• These people are drinking beer all the time. Why aren’t they fatter???
• When you go hiking in the woods with a girl and she opens a backpack and inside are two wine glasses, she wants it hard, apparently, according to David.
• Tony knew the movie was improvised going in; David didn’t.
• RIP Philip Seymour Hoffman.
• The acting and characters were the standout parts of this movie. The technical aspects and story weren’t that impressive.
• Hot damn, Jake Johnson’s beard!
• Hot and angry Super Bowl talk; apparently the Seahawks didn’t win the Super Bowl (which is weird because I watched them win). Payton Manning’s sad face is heartbreaking.

 Discussing the film in this episode:

• Tony
• Darrell
• David

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Point one:  Apparently, someone’s cell phone was too close to the recorder and because of that we kept getting random line noise on the recording.  At least that is what “science” would have you believe. Personally, I’m of the mind that it was Hitler’s ghost coming to haunt our recording.  I cleaned up a good bit of the audio, but there is still some random parts that have buzzing and crackling in them.

Point two:  This movie was too much of a bummer to write show notes for… that, or we are still too lazy to do them ourselves.  By we, I mean me.

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