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00:00 - 01:43 - INTROS - This week we have a special Stunt Casting episode, with special guest Jeff Lester of the Wait, What podcast, which is the only comics podcast outside of Tucker, Joe, Chris, & Matt's respectable half of The Factual Opinion Podcast Network (TFOPN) that you should ever listen to.
01:44 - 24:23 - Jeff watched 56 Up (2012) directed by Michael Apted, latest entry in the Up series of documentaries. Also in this section we talk about the Simpsons/Eric Idle parody of the Up series, Nick Broomfield, Friday the 13th pt 4, Hostel 1 & 2, The Princess Diaries, Joss Whedon and Dollhouse, AICN, the Runaway Bride commentary, the Wire season 2 commentaries, Ryan's Daughter, and Logan's Run. We also make fun of Eli Roth for a while, because what are we not supposed to make fun of Eli Roth? We are human people.
24:24 - 34:10 - Jeff also watched Lincoln (2012), directed by Steven Spielberg, starring Daniel Day Lewis, Sally Field, Tommy Lee Jones, David Oyelowo, Jared Harris, S. Epatha Merkerson, Walton Goggins, John Hawkes, James Spader, and that dude with the face from Girls. Jeff also gives us his personal theory on Lincoln, which is the best thing you'll hear all day. And then we talk about Spielberg, a lot.
34:11 - 55:17 - HOMEWORK - Jeff's homework was The Seven Ups (1973) directed by Philip D'Antoni, starring Roy Schieder, Tony Lo Bianco, the dude from Maniac, other guys. In this section we also talk about The French Connection, Bullit (both produced by D'Antoni), Pauline Kael's piece on French Connection, Jean Pierre Melville's Le Samourai and Army of Shadows, On the Waterfront, Godfather, Michael Clayton, Jaws, 2010, and John Cassavettes.
55:18 - 1:17:57 - HOMEWORK - Sean's homework this week was All That Jazz (1979) directed by Bob Fosse, starring Schieder, Keith Gordon, Jessica Lange, Leland Palmer, Irene Kane, and Ben Vereen. The actor playing Lenny Bruce in All that Jazz is not the guy who played Roger Rabbit, but Cliff Gorman from Paul Mazursky's An Unmarried Woman. In this section we also talk about Cabaret, Lenny, Star 80, 8 1/2, Annie Hall, Manhattan, Deconstructing Harry, growing to hate Darren Aronofsky, American Horror Story, Val Kilmer, Howard Chaykin's Black Kiss, Cafe Flesh, Barbarella, and the unexplored possibilities of a porno musical.
1:17:58 - 1:28:15 - Both Jeff and Sean watched one of their favorite movies, The Killer (1989) directed by John Woo, starring Chow Yun Fat, Danny Lee (for real this time), and Sally Yeh. In this chunk we talk about Le Samourai again for a little bit, our discovering John Woo, and for Jeff how it got him into movies in general. Also Django Unchained, Michael Haneke, and Jeff seeing all the Oscar best picture films.
1:28:14 - 1:42:27 - Jeff watched Zero Dark Thirty (2012) directed by Kathryn Bigelow, and he is the first person to appear on this podcast and not be held agape by it (which is still four out of five Helens agreeing). We also talk about Bigelow's career, The Hurt Locker, believeable female characters, Bigelow's non-stylistic similarities to Kubrick, Ben Affleck's abs, Stray Dog, Carlos, and Ben Affleck's abs.
1:42:28 - 2:02:59 - To close out we watched the trailers for Shane Carruth's Upstream Color and Rob Zombie's Lords of Salem. Also in this section we talk about Primer, Looper, Shane Black on Predator, how Sean doesn't understand feelings, Terrence Malick as a disease, the Casshern trailer, more Stanley Kubrick, Tarkovsky, more Spielberg, the Coen Brothers, Michael Bay, Roman Polanski, the Final Girl concept, John Carpenter's Halloween (CARPENTER IS ALWAYS HERE), Rob Zomie's Halloween 1 & 2, and the perrenial podcast favorite The Devil's Rejects.
See you back here next week @ tha moviez.
I think Kubrick feels cold in a lot of films because of the sacrifice of characterization for a kind of painterly aesthetic that seems almost more interested in it's surrounding architecture than the humanity within the frame. His movies are for me mostly about the staging in which his characters exist than the characters themselves. The hotel is more important than any of the characters in the shining. The ship, hal, and space itself are more important than any human in the movie. Full Metal Jacket--war and militarization are more of a focus.
His characters are often almost cyphers to me, within his larger statement as a filmmaker. I don't see humanity in them. With the exception of Barry Lyndon which is I think the least Kubrick film he made in some ways. And because of that it's my favorite one.
Compared to Tarkovsky though--who I think is constant in his imbuing his frames with humanity--there are so many tortured glances from his characters--we don't often understand the full breadth of what they are thinking--but not because it's not communicated--but because it is uncommunicable. I think when people call Tarkovsky cold--they are doing it in the same way they might call Bergman or Von Trier cold--which I think is more just an expression of their uncomfortableness with the soul crunching innerspace they are exploring in their films.
It is interesting. I do think there's probably a case to be made for latter day Spielberg films to be considered cold films. But only for the same reasons that the Star Wars prequels were ostensibly cold films as well. Passionless beaten director husk connects dots for latest feature.
It took me a minute to get back on track with these with Tucker being gone. But I'm happy to say I'm still enjoying the podcast. You guys do a great job and go really interesting places that I wouldn't normally think about on films I don't think very much about generally. And are also extremely entertaining while doing so. Thank you.
Posted by: sarah horrocks | 2013.02.26 at 01:42
Attack of the SuperJews.
Posted by: Abhay | 2013.03.03 at 19:53