After the break, you'll find the latest episode of the world's only movie podcast, Travis Bickle on the Riviera. With your host Sean Witzke and we welcome guest host and teen sensation Chris Mautner.
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0:00:00 - 0:25:58 - To start us off this week, we talk about a movie that doesn't fit the episode format. Chris watched Hunger Games 3: Mockingjay (2014), directed by Francis Lawrence, starring Jennifer Lawrence, Phillip Seymour Hoffman, Jeffrey Wright, Josh Hutcherson, Liam Hemsworth, Woody Harrelson, Donald Sutherland, Elizabeth Banks, Julianne Moore, Natalie Dormer, and Jena Malone.
Also discussed in this section: The Giver, Phillip Noyce, The Prisoner, Divergent, Jack Kirby, Scanners, Harry Potter, Twilight, Die Hard With A Vengeance, Big Hero 6, the Star Wars 7 trailer, Live Free or Die Hard, Spider-Man, Shane Black, Michael Bay, Tony Scott, JJ Abrams, Interstellar, Zero Dark Thirty. The People Vs. George Lucas, Willow, Radioland Murders, and Michael Mann.
0:25:59 - 0:41:55 - Chris watched the Samurai Trilogy (1954, 1955, 1956), directed by Hiroshi Iganaki, starring Toshiro Mifune.
Also discussed in this section: Gone With The Wind, Ran, Throne of Blood, Sergio Leone, Hideo Gosha, The Ballad of Cable Hogue, Yojimbo, Sanjuro, Lone Wolf and Cub, Samurai Champloo, John Ford, Vagabond, Fistful of Dollar, Magnificent Seven, The Bad Sleep Well, The Thing, The Wizard of Oz, and High and Low.
0:41:55 - 0:48:46 - Sean and Chris watched Sword of Doom (1966), directed by Kihachi Okamoto, starring Tatsuya Nakadai, Toshiro Mifune
Also discussed in this section: Rebel Without A Cause, The Wild One, A Clockwork Orange, Akira Kurosawa, Scarface, Heat, and Henry Portrait of a Serial Killer.
0:48:47 - 1:01:58 - Sean and Chris watched Legend of the Eight Samurai (1983), directed by Kinji Fukasaku, starring Hiroko Yakushimaru, Hiroyuki Sanada, Sonny Chiba, and Minori Terada.
Also discussed in this section: Message From Space, Yakuza Paper/Battles Without Honor Or Humanity, Battle Royale, Graveyard of Honor, Doberman Cop, Quentin Tarantino, William Friedkin, The Street Fighter, Seijun Suzuki, Seven Samurai, Vampire Hunter D, Tsui Hark, Seven Swords, Detective Dee, John Woo, Green Snake, Zu Warriors, Star Wars, Raiders of the Lost Ark, and Star Search.
1:01:59 - 1:19:25 - To close out, Sean watched Hara-Kiri: Death of a Samurai (2011), directed by Takashi Miike, starring Ichikawai Ebizo XI, Eita, and Hikari Mitsushima.
Also discussed in this section: 13 Assassins, Shield of Straw, Kobayashi's original, Qui-Gon, Ingmar Bergman, Paul Verhoeven, and Michael Haneke.
Next Week: Fury or maybe some Spielberg. Or maybe something else, these "next week on" things are always about as useful as the ones from Scandal.
Our outro music this week: "I Don't Want This Night To End" by John O'Banion from Legend of the Eight Samurai. Yeah, that's really in the movie. And our intro, as always, is from Escape From New York.
You can download episodes directly from itunes and rss. For a quick look at who has been on the show before and what movies have been discussed, look at our one-page episode guide. You can follow the show on twitter, tumblr, and facebook.
WHAT WE DO
The argument against Takeshi Mike's remake of "Hara-Kiri" is that the members of the clan are sadistic and appear to take pleasure in Motome's suffering, but in the original the clan doesn't at all. Rather they are caught up with the ideals of bushido and Hanshiro's attack at the end is an attack on the entire power structure and false honor system underpinning it. The remake muddies the waters on this and makes it into more of a personal drama and family revenge story - still a great movie, but the original is a stone cold classic.
Please talk about more Samurali films! I loved this episode.
Posted by: AJ | 2014.12.27 at 02:01