The Factual Opinion

Travis Bickle's HELLOWEEN SPOOKTACULAR

THIS WEEK - OUR HALLOWEEN SPOOKTACULAR. ACTUALLY COMING TO YOU ON HALLOWEEN!

ALL HORROR MOVIES THIS WEEK! Tucker "FUNNY THING" Stone and Sean "FUNNY THANG" Witzke take you through a tour of terror. 


00:00 - 6:39 - INTROS! Inclusdes some talk about the Simpsons creators Matt "Hell" Groening and Sam "Sayonara" Simon and Law and Order. Also some "behind the curtain" business of how we chose the movies we wanted to talk about, and some mention of Ruggero Deodato's grossout classic Cannibal Holocaust (1980). 


06:40 - 19:29 - Starting off the only way we know how,  focusing on John Carpenter's The Thing (1982), starring Kurt Russel, Keith David, Wilford Brimley and 9 other great character actors doing the best work of their careers, special effects by Rob Bottin. Originally based on the film The Thing From Another World (1951), directed by Chrisian Nyby (ghost-directed by Howard Hawks). Carpenter once said that "People still think of The Thing as a little bit above pornography". Also mentioned in this sectionIrreversible (2002), Alien (1979), and Psycho (1960).


19:30 - 35:00 - Next up we have An American Werewolf In London (1981), directed by John Landis and starring David Naughton, Jenny Agutter, Griffin Dunne. Special effects by Rick Baker. THEY MADE A NEW OSCAR CATEGORY FOR RICK BAKER'S WORK ON THIS MOVIE. John Landis tells the story of how he wrote the film, and some cool Bottin/Baker facts (Bottin ran away to live in Baker's garage when he was 15!) facts in this lengthy interview with Kevin Pollak. 


35:01 - 46:17 - Up next we have Candyman (1992), directed and written by Bernard Rose, based on the short story The Forbidden by Clive Barker, starring Tony Todd, Virginia Madsen, Xander Berkley, and a score by Phillip Glass.  We also talk about the treatment of race in Candyman, other Clive Barker movies, how Neil Gaiman sucks, and Tony Todd's stint on 24. 


46:18 - 1:00:09 - Then we watched Exorcist III: Legion (1990), written and directed by William Peter Blatty, starring George C Scott, Jason Miller, and Brad Dourif. With cameos by Fabio, Patrick Ewing, and Samuel L Jackson. Also - Tucker talks about nightmares. There is a lot of discussion about Brad Dourif's stunning performance in this. 


John Carpenter on working with Blatty on the screenplay, from the book John Carpenter The Prince of Darkness interviewed by Giles Boulenger - " I spoke to Blatty about the eerie implications of sub-atomic physics: His eyes flashed "Oh you mean Bell's Iniquity", then he smiled. "You know of course the word 'lucifer' means 'light'." And a chill went up my spine." 


1:00:10 -  1:10:21 - To change the pace away from 80s/90s American horror, we watched Ugetsu (1953), directed by Kenji Mizoguchi and starring Masayuki Mori and Machiko Kyō. There is some discussion in this section of cultural translation of books and films to the US, including Javier Marrias and the Wallander series . And there is a mention of Adrienne Barbeau's (who was Carpenter's wife at the time, in keeping with the Carpenter obsession)  performance in Creepshow (1982) and the stock character of the shrill housewife. 


1:10:22 - 1:28:13 - Finally rounding up we close with Evil Dead 2 (1987), directed by Sam Raimi, written by Raimi and Scott Spiegel, produced by Rob Tapert, makeup effects by Greg Nicotero, and starring Bruce Campbell.  There is a discussion/overview of Sam Raimi's career, Sean talks about weird fanboy bullshit in Darkman (1990) and Tucker tells a real life story about The Quick and the Dead (1995) as a way to bail out of his inability of backing up his own bullshit opinions. When that doesn't work, he just takes a straight up non-movie detour to talk about Sean Howe's great new book Marvel Comics: The Untold Story, Howe also edited the Deep Focus line of books, which included the absolutely essential Jonathan Lethem book about They Live (bringing it back to Carpenter, like the goddamn ticking of a clock we'll always come back to him. He must be our lucky star, shining on us wherever we go). 

Next week's homework assignments: 13 Assassins and The Tenant. Apologies for this episodes lateness, that's pure hurricane action for you. 

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No Pictures: He's Not Been Back To Oxford Town

All Souls
By Javier Marías, 1989

I bought this years ago after The Believer published a long article about the writer, upon which it immediately slipped through the cracks. Picking it up on a lark, I found it difficult to put back down again. It's a short novel about a Spanish professor who takes on a two year gig as a visiting lecturer at Oxford, and while a good bit of the plot focuses on the affair he has with the randy wife of a milquetoast local, Marías seems most interested in just letting you see how funny intellectuals--a group he happily considers himself a member of--appear. Academic takedown books are probably a dime a dozen, only bested in quantity by overly inspirational films where professors help young men find truth, maybe pussy; that being said, there's nothing cliched about the way Javier goes about delivering his acerbic stab at how the overly educated go about their daily lives. The portion where his narrator delineates to a bored woman why she should bail on her marriage for a romantic adventure that he's idealized to the point that it's more reminiscent of the board game Candyland than anything that might occur between two people is a personal favorite, but really, there's nothing in here that isn't a positive delight. Few things are quite as funny as listening to eternally single intellectuals explain how relationships are supposed to work to someone who is in the process of breaking up with them.

Long Ships
By Frans G. Bengtsson, 1941-55

Similar to All Souls only in that it utilizes humor so subtly and efficiently that it starts to feel like the author is in the room while you're reading, making you laugh purely with wry glances and abashed shrugs, Long Ships is a series of Viking stories built around the tumultuous life of one incredibly likeable individual named Red Orm. While there's a lot of action, all of it increasingly more interesting as the book barrels forward--the best being the non-stop fighting that take place in the chapter entitled "How King Harald Bluetooth celebrated Yule"--this is a series of stories heavily tilted towards the adventure side of the equation. Bengtsson doesn't so much gloss over the more brutal aspects of the culture as he does present it in bald celebration, making for a book that leaps, chapter by chapter, from seafaring to skull smashing with nary a whiff of self-analysis. Like most books of this ilk, there's an excellent romance pulsing throughout; like almost none of them, the final 100 odd pages of the book go deep into that relationship's decrepit years, making for such a meaty subplot it threatens to steal the reins entirely. This is an immensely satisfying book.

-Tucker Stone, 2012

Comic Books Are Burning in Hell Episode 16

In this week's clatter n' chatter, the crew talks about Batman 13 (a super-hero comic), Prison Pit 4 (a Fantagraphics comic), Lose 4 (a Michael Deforge comic) and The Understanding Monster (a psychedelic comic). It's never what you expect with these guys, except for when you read this part and it tells you exactly what you're in for.

I know, no links this week, recently. I KNOW. I apologize. Things! There have been things!

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Never Ask Tucker What He Thinks About The Django Trailer

TUCKER AND SEAN TALK MOVIES! AREN'T YOU EXCITED?! WHY AREN'T YOU EXCITED?! LISTEN YOUR MOM'S GONNA PICK YOU UP ON SUNDAY! WHY ARE YOU CRYING? COME ON! I BOUGHT PIZZA GOLDANGIT!

00:00 - 02:22 - INTROS - Politics, Sports, the healing spiritual powers of Jai Alai. The weird noises are all Sean's 13 dollar headset on and the bad connection, sorry about that (it's actually Sean's gimp mask rubbing up against the mic for the whole show). If this is really annoying, it has already been remedied for the next week. Next time he'll wear the Mickey Mouse head gasmask. Listen we've talked to him about it, he's only doing the show in some kind of mask - he's been told that we are not recording video and that his identity is not in danger, but we honestly don't think he understands how the internet works.


02:23 -  12:21 - HOMEWORK - Tucker and Sean continue their conversation about Dead Man's Shoes (2004), which Sean watched after Tucker did such a great job selling it in the last podcast. Directed and co-written by Shane Meadows and co-written and starring Paddy Consindine, this is a good one. Also briefly mentioned - the Red Riding miniseries from 2009, based on the novels by David Peace, and Kubrick's Lolita (1962).


12:22 - 22:34 -  MORE HOMEWORK - Sean had Tucker watched Dead or Alive (1999), directed by Takashi Miike starring Riki Takeuchi and Show Aikawa. Also mentioned - Heat (1995),  Tim and Eric's Billion Dollar Movie (2012), and a specific scene from the film, and Takeshi Kitano's Brother (2000).


22:35 - 28:30 - MOVIE - Sean watched The Great Silence (1968), directed by Sergio Corbucci and starring  Jean-Louis Trintignant and Klaus Kinski.  The New York Times article Quentin Tarantino wrote about Corbucci that is discussed can be read here. 

28:31 - 36:55 - TRAILERS - The conversation turns to the trailer for Quentin Tarantino's upcoming Django Unchained, and then swerves over to the absolutely perfect trailer for Kathryn Bigelow's Zero Dark Thirty. Also in this section - Tucker talks about Rolling Thunder (1977) directed by John Flynn, which is the absolute best part of this damn podcast. And Sean talks about Richard Fleischer's Mandingo (1975). THEN, Tucker discusses racism on Disney Channel sitcoms. That part where the music plays is when Tucker left the room to throw up for the second time in the last ten years. A historic moment, immortalized for you!


36:56 - 45:50 - AND FINALLY - We talk about Argo (2012), directed and starring Ben Affleck, and starring John Goodman as the great John Chambers, Alan Arkin, Clea Duvall (!), Bryan Cranston, Rory Cochran, Scoot McNairy, Kyle Chandler, Tate Donovan, Richard Kind, Victor Garber, Titus Welliver, Michael Parks, and generally every character actor who kicks ass and/or was available at the time they were shooting. Also discussed in this section - Olivier Assayas' Carlos (2010) and Steven Soderbergh's Che (2008).

45:51 - 46:44 - NINA STONE WITH THE PREVIEW OF ALL FILMS WE WATCHED FOR NEXT WEEK. SEE YOU BACK HERE IN ONE WEEK FOR HALLOWEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEN.

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Comic Books Are Burning in Hell Episode 15

This week, the crew of this fine ship--that's Joe, Chris, Tucker & Matt--talk about Building Stories, the latest installment of wonders from Mr. Chris Ware, an American man. It's a big deal kind of release, so that's the only thing they talk about.

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Idolator, Your Soul Is Required In Hell

SHOW NOTES - Tucker Stone and Sean Witzke talk movies! We love doing it! And being recorded doing so! For internet broadcast!

00:00 - 04:15 - INTROS! We love you disembodied Jamie Lee Curtis voice! Also there is some lead-in discussion from Tucker on Without Limits (1998) and Die Hard and Predator. You don't need links for those if you're a person who is listening to this.



04:16 - 12:28 - HOMEWORK! Tucker had Sean watch Warrior (2011) directed by Gavin O'Connor and starring an insanely jacked Tom Hardy, Joel Edgerton, and Nick Nolte.  Also mentioned - Lockout (2012), Animal Kingdom (2010), and Affliction (1997). Tucker describes this movie as a "male weepie" and it's incredibly accurate, and it is clear that the two of us are dancing around the "wow this movie actually made me feel things" the entire time.



12:29 - 21:28 - HOMEWORK! Sean had Tucker watch The Fortune Cookie (1966), directed by Billy Wilder and starring Walter Matthau and Jack Lemmon. Tucker's use of "schticky" not associated with products Vince Offer. Tucker's homework nearly brings us to tears, Sean's homework assignments are "well that was well made".

21:29 - 26:36 - Sean watched the Amazing Stories episode "Mirror, Mirror", directed by Martin Scorsese for the tv series Amazing Stories. starring Sam Watterston. In this section we make reference to Tim Robbins being dressed as Terror Inc. and Scorsese on Scorsese. Sean then goes on about Scorsese on Scorsese once again, talking about professionalism which is pretty great. But he does a shit job at describing how amazing that book is, and how inspiring it is for someone who loves movies so much his entire life is nothing but movies, to get to the point where he could be talking about things he's made or things that inspired him, and he speak about them with the same passion and sensitivity. Scorsese is an absolute treasure to hear this man talk about movie that aren't even his best. It's not just the stuff about Mean Streets and Taxi Driver that are the money shots of the book, it's all great - him talking about giving lectures is amazing. Him talking about going to dinner with Schrader, Deniro, and De Palma, yeah of course that is what you came for, but you really can't understate how huge this book is as a resource and as a reminder that film can be endlessly inspiring. In a way that's not - "well this is a story that will help me to move through hardship" or "fasttrack to epiphany" cliche inspiration. Instead it's more like a contagious passion for the art form in all it's facets.

26:37 - 27:44 - Tucker saw Looper (2012) again. Seriously if you haven't seen this movie yet, Tucker and Sean have both seen in in theaters twice, run and see it. Seriously we don't like to promote things, it must actually be great.



27:45 - 41:10 - Tucker saw Amour (2012), directed by Michael Haneke and starring Jean Louis Tritignant and Emmanuelle Riva; at the New York Film Festival, and saw Haneke do a Q&A afterwards. Also mentioned A Man and A Woman (1966), and Hiroshima Mon Amour (1959), the recent Woody Allen PBS documentary for American Masters, and the commentary track for Aliens (1986) --  because Sean is a pedant -- and the Dogme 95. The worst question Michael Haneke was asked during the Q&A was when a grown man who should know better asked "How do you think of your ideas", the question Tucker would have asked if he had been called on would have been a deep geek question about working with Darius Khondji, and if you ever want to see elderly people in New York go into a full Hulk rage, point a flash light in their eyes when they are 15 minutes into a movie at Lincoln Center. I saw an usher learn that lesson, and I have no doubt that he will remember it as long as he lives.




41:11 - 51:12 - Sean watched the Roman Polanski version of Macbeth (1971), starring John Finch and Francesca Annis. Also mentioned are Mike Nichol's Day of the Dolphin (1973), Polanski's What (1973), Kuroswa's Throne of Blood (1957), Lynch's Dune (1984), and and Gosha's Three Outlaw Samurai (1964). All of this to distract that the guy we're discussing is horrible human being, no doubt.



51:13 -  59:04 - Tucker watched Dead Man's Shoes (2004), directed and cowritten by Shane Meadows and cowritten and starring Paddy Consindine and starring Toby Kebbel.
Also mentioned: Ghost Dog: Way of the Samurai (1999) and Tyrannosaur (2011).



59:05 - 1:03:20 - Sean watched Blow Out (1981), directed by Brian De Palma and starring John Travolta, Nancy Allen, and John Lithgow. And gushes over it, as he's doing too damn much of lately. Also here is the excerpt from Bruce Campbell's autobiography about De Palma and Raimi that was mentioned.




1:04:21 - 1:11:40 - Tucker watched the classic NEW JACK CITY (1991), directed by Mario Van Peebles starring Wesley Snipes, Judd Nelson, Ice T, and Chris Rock.
Also mentioned are Wesley Snipes classics Blade (1998) and King of New York (1990). 



1:11:41 - 1:22:12 - And finally Tucker watched Deja Vu (2006), directed by Tony Scott and starring Denzel Washington, Jim Caviezel, Paula Patton, Val Kilmer, and Adam Goldberg. Yes, we will do the Tony Scott director themed episode we keep teasing, just maybe gonna be a while until we feel cool enough with the format to do director-themed episodes. Tony's up first.

1:22:13 - END - And that's Nina Stone, pluggin the next one. Thanks so much!

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Comic Books Are Burning in Hell Episode 14

This time around, the crew is down a man--no Matt Seneca this week--leaving Joe McCulloch, Chris Mautner and Tucker Stone to go neck deep into EC Comics and their critics, A Chinese Life and The Nao of Brown (from Selfmadehero), and then a closing ceremony centered around Osamu Tezuka's Barbara, brought to you by you, if you threw cash into that Kickstarter. Apologies for the sound quality, which is all over the map for no reason we could discover.

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A Big Fan Of Car As Weapon

00:00 - 03:04 - INTROS. Also we talk about the opening shot of Brian De Palma's Snake Eyes (1998)



03:05 - 12:20 - HOMEWORK: Sean watched Three Musketeers (2011), directed by Paul WS Anderson. Also mentioned in this chunk are The Castle of Cagliostro (1979),  directed by Hayao Miyazaki and Universal Soldier: Regeneration(2009), directed by John Hyams. As they come up in reference to Three Musketeers, Dave Chapelle as Prince and Ignatiy Vishnevetsky mentioning the Warcraft cinematic.


 

12:21 - 31:43 - HOMEWORK: Tucker watched Tenebrae(1982), directed by Dario Argento. With a soundtrack by Simonetti-Morante-Pignatelli (formerly Goblin). Listen to the theme here. I would link to these sequences but we cover a lot of it, and it's a truly great movie. You shouldn't watch it in chunks on the internet. Check it out if you haven't.



31:44 - 38:40 - Sean watched The Man From Hong Kong (1975), directed by Brian Trenchard Smith and starring Jimmy Wang Yu and George Lazenby. On the subject of exhausted fight scenes, Tucker mentions Chaser (2008) and Defiance(1980), and Sean mentions the hotel fight from Darker than Amber(1970).

38:41 - 45:30 - Tucker watched Arbitrage (2012), directed by Nicholas Jarecki and starring Richard Gere and Susan Sarandon. (SECOND RICHARD GERE SHOW).  When we decide we're saying "sequence" too much, we should have said "set piece". We dumb. The woman who won the Oscar for one scene in Network is Beatrice Straight. 


45:31 - 49: 50 - Sean watched the frankly reprehensible women in prison movie The Big Bird Cage (1972), directed by Jack Hill and starring Pam Grier and Sid Haig. Blah blah blah talky talk. The reason it cuts off so quickly is because Sean wouldn't shut up about this one, and none of what he said after that was interesting. Gross.


49:51 - 1:18:46 - Big theater-going week for both of us. We both saw The Master (2012), directed by Paul Thomas Anderson and Looper (2012), directed by Rian Johnson. We start this section off with a mention of Megan Ellison, patron saint of good movies coming out in 2012. We also talk about that David Denby "death of cinema" article. You've read it. You don't need us to link to it. 


Tucker saw the Master at the Ziegfeld theater in 70MM. Sean drove two hours to watch it in a crappy digital projection. We get in our patented WEEKLY JOHN CARPENTER MENTION™.

The section from Scorsese on Scorsese Sean does a poor job of mentioning -
"For example, when Jake asks Joey "Did you fuck my wife?" I had written a 7 page scene, the only full length dialog scene in the film. When he asks the question, "What, how could you say that?", I told Bob I wasn't getting enough reaction from Joe Pesci. He told me to roll the camera  again, and then said "Did you fuck your mother?". When you see the film again, look at Joe's reaction!"


The other time travel crap Sean brings up while talking about Looper - Chris Marker's La Jetee (1962) which you can watch in it's entirety in that link, and it's Terry Gilliam remake 12 Monkeys (1995), James Cameron's Terminator (1984), Looper's time travel advisor Shane Carruth and his movie Primer (2004), Alain Resnais' Je T'aime Je T'aime (1968), Garret Dillahunt on the surprisingly great Terminator tv show The Sarah Connor Chronicles. Yeah, we get it you like all that crap and didn't mention Bill and Ted once. In other words, you suck, Witzke. BILL AND TED FOREVERZ.

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