Back Seat Producers – Page 92 – We Don’t Make Movies, But We’ll Let You Know What Is and Isn’t Working in Hollywood.

BSP Episode 228: This is Spinal Tap

Post author By Tony
Post date May 21, 2012
No Comments on BSP Episode 228: This is Spinal Tap

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

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Announcement

Theatrical Review: Battleship

Post author By Darren Goodhart
Post date May 20, 2012
1 Comment on Theatrical Review: Battleship

Alex Hopper is a 26-year old young man with no direction in life. On his attempt to impress a girl, he gets in trouble with the police. Alex’s brother Stone, a Naval Commander, lays down the law to his brother and makes him get his life in order by joining the Navy. As Alex and Stone are about to engage in war games, an alien threat comes into play, of course threatening to take over our planet.

That’s the real simple premise to Battleship, the latest Hasbro game and toy property to get the big screen treatment following in the wake of the Transformers series and the first G.I. Joe movie (with another of those coming as well). It’s also the latest film from director Peter Berg, who’s previous films have included The Rundown, Friday Night Lights, The Kingdom and Hancock.

I was curious to see this for a couple of reasons:

1. I thought it had a great initial trailer
2. I’m a fan of Berg’s previous films with the one exception being Hancock.
3. I had the Battleship game as a kid, loved it to death and of course was curious to see just how you’d make a movie out of this.

Now, just as I was curious to see it, I was also keeping my expectations pretty low. It is after all based on a game without any discernible characters and the game itself is pretty simple, so while I was curious I wasn’t expecting this to be as bright a spot as say, The Avengers when it comes to big screen, effects-laden action films. And also, initial word on the street hasn’t been all that encouraging either. But still, I am a fan of Berg’s, so I was certainly open to give it chance and make up my own mind about it.

It’s fortunate that I kept my expectations low… yeah, it’s nowhere near being the bright spot that the other big alien invasion movie out there right now (that of course being the aforementioned Avengers film), but it still has it’s moments. I just don’t expect those moments to be enough for anyone to want to give this anything further than a single look (though I do like this more than I did Hancock).

For something like the approach taken here, which is basically following the same pattern as other big budget alien invasion blockbusters since Independence Day, logic is thrown out the window. I expect that and am pleasantly surprised when it’s actually displayed. With Battleship, there’s no pretense at all that logic was ever even in consideration with all sorts of moments throughout that has you questioning the choice made. What Berg’s chosen to do is basically take the time to make his Michael Bay film wanting to bowl you over with it’s explosive effects and a salute to the military. There’s nothing at all wrong with doing that, it just goes over better when you have some actual smarts going into it as well as some really engaging characters, both of which Battleship lacks.

Taylor Kitsch plays Alex Hopper and right now, this isn’t exactly a good year for the young actor. Personally, I liked him in John Carter though he wouldn’t have been my first choice to play the part (that would’ve been Lost’s Josh Holloway). Here he’s not exactly real likable from the start, though of course he has a transformation during the film. The transformation is by rote though, just being a necessity to get through to it’s end and isn’t quite natural, though really that can be said for any of the characters throughout the film, they’re all cliches that are basically going through the motions. Of note though, this also features Liam Neeson as the Admiral of the Fleet and the big-screen debut for pop singer Rihanna. Neeson’s there to give this some gravity, but honestly it really doesn’t help much, especially considering that he’s only in the movie for about 10-15 minutes total.

But to give the film credit, it does have a great look and I thought the special effects were really nicely done. Steve Jablonsky has supplied a pretty powerful score that certainly helps punctuate the action. To me though, the coolest thing in the movie is a nighttime scene that actually pays real homage to the game on which Battleship is based on. This one scene is the most clever idea in the whole piece, it has intensity and it also brings it out from the players as well. It’s just a shame that the rest of the movie couldn’t have been this clever.

With all that being said, I still had some fun with Battleship but I’ll certainly grant you that it could’ve been a lot better than what it is here. It’s not exactly a recommendation, but it’s not a total loss either. There’s certainly a better option out there now, that being seeing The Avengers either for the first time or a second or third time (I’ve now seen it twice and it just keeps getting better) and there’s more promising things coming down the road. If you’re at all curious about seeing Battleship then certainly do so, but it’s best to keep those expectation way, way on the low side.

Back Seat Box Office Shows

Back Seat Box Office #87

Picks:

Jonathan:

Andrew, William:

The Avengers
Battleship
The Dictator
What to Expect When You’re Expecting
Dark Shadows

Tony, BD, Lena:

The Avengers
Battleship
The Dictator
Dark Shadows
What to Expect When You’re Expecting

There are no other wide releases this week.

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Announcement

So we’re hangin out.

Back Seat Box Office BSBO Results Shows

Back Seat Box Office #86 Results and Voice Mail

Post author By Tony
Post date May 16, 2012
11 Comments on Back Seat Box Office #86 Results and Voice Mail

Thanks to Tad for his voice mail this week.

Congrats to Lena and Menolly for their 25s this week.

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Back Seat Quickies Shows

Back Seat Quickies #46: The Pirates! Band of Misfits!

Post author By Tony
Post date May 15, 2012
No Comments on Back Seat Quickies #46: The Pirates! Band of Misfits!

In the seat:

Sam
Scott

Recorded: 05/13/12

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Back Seat Producers Season 07 Shows

BSP Episode 227: Rock Star

Post author By Tony
Post date May 14, 2012
No Comments on BSP Episode 227: Rock Star

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: