Skyfallin'

00:00 - 03:55 - INTROS - Time square movies? Gentrification. Explanation of rules.

03:56 - 16:10 - Tucker's Homework this week was Catch-22 (1970), directed by Mike Nichols, written by Buck Henry, cinematography by David Watkin, starring Alan Arkin, Bob Balaban, Buck Henry, Art Garfunkel, Jon Voight, Orson Welles, Charles Grodin, Bob Newhart. There's also a lot of talk about the awesome commentary track by Mike Nichols and Steven Soderbergh. Mentioned in this section - Grand Illusion and M.A.S.H.

16:11 - 26:49 - Sean's Homework was Moonrise Kingdom (2012), directed Wes Anderson, starring Kara Hayward, Jared Gilman, Bill Murray, Bruce Willis, Bob Balaban, and Tilda Swinton. Tucker brings up Edward Norton's early career - including Primal Fear, American History X, and Keeping the Faith. We also discuss Wes Anderson's other work, Francois Truffaut and Owen Wilson. Double Balaban. THE BALABANCAST.

26:31  - 37:50 - Taken 2 (2012), directed by Olivier Megaton, starring Liam Neeson, Famke Janssen, Maggie Grace, Rade Šerbedžija. Tucker talks about the utter incompetence of the action and the hamfisted misogyny of this movie, and we're the guys who liked the first one.

37:51 - 56:21 - SKYFALL (2012), directed by Sam Mendes,  cinematography by Roger Deakins, starring Daniel Craig, Javier Bardem, Judi Dench, Ben Whishaw, and Ralph Feinnes.  We start this section by discussing Bond as a concept, and Ian Fleming's novels that they are based on. Tucker talks about Quantum of Solace and how he feels like it's unjustly overlooked as a nasty no-bullshit revenge movie. And in discussing Skyfall, both of us go on about Bond Villains and how Raoul Silva is a hell of a good Bond Villain. Then how this might be the first good Sam Mendes movie...ever? and the Chris Nolan influence on the film, and how much we love Daniel Craig. FIND HATE ELSEWHERE, she said.

56:21 - 1:05:28 - The Watch (2012) directed by Akiva Schaffer, starring Ben Stiller, Vince Vaughn, Jonah Hill, Richard Ayoade, Rosemarie Dewitt, Billy Crudup, and Will Forte. Also mentioned in this section - Garth Marenghi's Dark Place, Submarine, Office Space, 21 Jump Street (which - since we haven't talked about it yet on the podcast - is a sleeper great movie of the year). Oh and not mentioned on the podcast - Ben Stiller runs in this like T-1000 Robert Patrick and it is extra creepy and great.

1:05:29 - 1:20:41 - We run out of movies, but WE KEEP GOING.  Because we love doing this and letting you listen to some of it. Tucker continues to talk about reading Pauline Kael, going to see Speilberg's Lincoln out of obligation, and we discuss Toni Morrison, Tyler Perry, Rob Cohen, the XXX franchise, the Fast and the Furious franchise, the World War Z trailer, the Stand Up Guys trailer, and Colson Whitehead's Zone One, and the two competing Hitchcock biopics neither of which seem to have ever even entertained the idea of Hitchcock as an artist let alone his own art and Sean gets his panties in a bunch about it. FEELINGS.

TRAVIS BICKLE WILL RETURN with the Bebop/Sandra Bullock episode after Thanksgiving, this episode required less editing and felt more timely while Bond was still in theaters, so next week - Sandy Bullock stops racism and Spike Speigel stops germ warfare, and Tucker & Sean stop in the name of love.

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Comments

[Bob Temuka]

Dude, Beloved wasn't made by that Candyman guy, it was a Jonathan Demme film. You might be thinking of Immortal Beloved, the Beethoven film with Gary Oldman which Bernard Rose directed.

I've never seen Beloved, but I did like Immortal Beloved, because Oldman's Beethoven is such a giant dick, but then that turns out to be the whole point of the movie, that even the world's biggest asshole could produce work of stunning beauty.

Also, fuck yeah, Darkplace is still good - I just watched it for, like, the sixth time, and it still makes me laugh.

"I know writers who use subtext and they're all cowards. OK? What I was asking in that scene is: what if politicians continue to pay doctors peanuts, could they literally turn into monkeys? And no-one's asked that before."

[Sean Witzke]

Ah I didn't know that because I've never seen either. Which is weird because I've seen most of Demme's stuff.

Dark Place is absolute genius. The hallmark of something great is it actually gets funnier when you watch The Kingdom. Also Stephen Merchant's cameo is Greatest Ever Cameo status.

[Blorg Fleebo]

The only thing that comes to mind when I think of Quantum of Solace is near the end Bond and the girl are in some burning building and he is like CLOSE YOUR EYES as he holds the gun to her head and they sit there for a couple of seconds, but then he shoots the explodey barrel so they can get out, and it's like, did this movie seriously just try to fake me out with the idea that Bond might kill himself? It was that and a handful of other things that confused me so I just don't remember the movie with much fondness and I can't help that.

I really liked Skyfall though.

[Blorg Fleebo]

PS from the beginning of this podcast, I think the "movie where they're shooting meat" could have been the wonderful documentary Wanted starring Angelina Jolie.

[Spencer]

Hey guys, love the podcast (love Sean's 'supervillain' blog too); just wanted to share something I found regarding the whole Hitchcock/Hedren thing that Richard Brody wrote...

http://www.newyorker.com/online/blogs/movies/2012/10/how-hitchocks-obsession-with-tippi-hedren-shaped-marnie.html

Apparently, their personal relationship and conflict has more to do with "Marnie" (as opposed to "Vertigo" as Sean was talking about).

[Sean Witzke]

The HBO Hitchcock film conflates scenes from Vertigo into the shooting of Marnie.