9 thoughts on “Movie Podcast Weekly Ep. 053: Rush (2013) and And While We Were Here (2013) and Don Jon (2013)”

1. FOR HAMMER.

   My attempt at one movie for every letter of the alphabet, one that begins with a number, and three wildcards.

   This was exceptionally difficult. Mostly, because several of my favorite films begin with letters like B, D, G, I, and M (among others). Three wildcards just weren’t enough.

   I also had a hard time picking a movie I really loved that began with letters like K, O, and Q (among others).

   I added as few honorable mentions as were humanly possible (I had about 5 movies for each letter).

   And these are all strictly desert island picks, meaning, these are movies I’d be happy to watch over and over again as opposed to films I think are objectively great.

   A. Attack the Block
   honorable mentions: Adaptation, A Few Good Men
   B. The Burbs
   honorable mentions: The Big Sleep, The Big Lebowski, Blow Out, Baraka, Broken Embraces, Brick, The Beach
   C. Clue
   honorable mentions: Children of Men, City of God
   D. Dan In Real Life
   honorable mentions: Dog Day Afternoon, Double Indemnity, Descendants, Dead Poets Society, Dear Wendy, Death Proof
   E. Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind
   honorable mentions: The Edge, Election, Elephant, Enter the Dragon
   F. Forget Paris
   honorable mention: Fargo
   G. The Goonies
   honorable mentions: The Graduate, Ghostbusters, Glengarry Glen Ross, Good Will Hunting, The Game, Gone Baby Gone
   H. Halloween
   honorable mentions: Hot Fuzz, High and Low
   I. Invasion of the Body Snatchers
   honorable mentions: The Imposter, Insomnia, Inception, Inglouious Bastards, If a Tree Falls, Intolerance
   J. Jaws
   honorable mention: Jackie Brown
   K. Kids
   L. The Lost Boys
   honorable mentions: L.A. Confidential, The Life Aquatic
   M. Manhattan Murder Mystery
   honorable mentions: M, Mulholland Drive, Mystery Train, Mud, The Maltese Falcon
   N. Nosferatu
   honorable mention: North by Northwest
   O. O Brother, Where Art Thou?
   P. Psycho
   honorable mentions: The Puffy Chair, Primer
   Q. n/a
   top options: Quarantine, The Quiet American
   R. Rear Window
   honorable mentions: Rio Bravo, Rushmore, Rocky, The Road to Nowhere
   S. Scream
   honorable mentions: Stand by Me, Swingers
   T. The Thing
   honorable mentions: Talk to Her, Two Lane Blacktop, Thumbsucker, Tremors
   U. Upstream Color
   V. Vicky Christina Barcelona
   W. Waiting for Guffman
   honorable mentions: Wild at Heart, The World’s End, Watchmen, Winter’s Bone, Wag the Dog
   X. n/a
   top options: X2: X Men United, X Men: First Class, The X Files: Fight the Future
   Y. Yojimbo
   Z. Zodiac

   #. 127 Hours
   honorable mention: 3 Days of the Condor

   Wild Cards: Chinatown, Misery, Tree of Life

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2. you know why movies about good families don’t get made? because good married couples don’t go to cinemas. not often enough. they are either staying home watching the kids, or watch TV shows.

   that is why so many Romantic comedies or silly action movies are made, because those dating young couples or school kids DO go to cinemas and they pay for tickets.

   just a Que theory.

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3. Thanks Josh, that’s awesome. Your dilemma (many good films from one letter and none from another) is why I think the question is really interesting. I will post mine soon for you to laugh at. I do have to say though, how can you give Watchmen an honorable mention and X2: X-Men United a possible default selection? X2 was great! It’s seriously in my top 2 comic movies ever! Anyway… Still thanks, I can tell it took some time. And O and Q are tough ones, I thought X was a little easier though.

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4. I was waiting on a reason Rush isn’t the same film as Driven. My guess is it’s a smidge more realistic since it’s based on a true story. But in that film, both Kip Pardue and Til Schweiger are unlikeable for reasons but also sort of demand respect for opposite reasons. It might be a terrible film but I enjoyed it for an actioner. I’ll back Josh on the greatness of Senna. And I’m not if he mentioned it (sorry if so) but it is currently streaming on Netflix.

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5. Hi Movie Podcast weekly,

   Thanks to josh and Andy’s repeated discussion over this movie, I went to get Upstream Color and watched yesterday. I do understand why this movie is being praised repeatedly by josh and also, why Andy is feeling frustrated about this movie.

   To me, the movie making is always falling into two categories, the ones that offer entertainment value, and the ones that offers journey of ‘experience’. ‘Pacific Rim’ is the first type and ‘Upstream Color’ obviously is the latter. Of course a movie can very well be in both types, it is when they are overly focusing on single extreme that gets to be argued over. Upstream Color is beautifully shot with smooth, delicate movie language, it has its plot defects and issues due to its imaginative nature of the setup; however it keeps you engaged and brings you together with the flow of the story. At times it feels slow bot overall, it is an ‘every cup is better than the last experience.’

   That being said, my wife didn’t get the movie and not appreciating the genre. She claimed that the movie is ‘too weird’ and also ‘not having an ending’.

   Movie Podcast Weekly brings great talent to the scene; Josh’s recommendations add fantastic depth to the show. These movies are hard to find in cinemas and often get over looked between the options as they are normally under promoted.

   Andy is the unique asset to the show. The ‘Infidelity’ statement before the while we were here’ brought tears to my eyes while i was on a busy morning train.

   Also if I may, I’d like to know how the podcast view/think about a movie ‘Triangle’ from 2009. I think it might take a stand in the middle ground between Josh and Andy’s preference.

   Great Podcast guys. Keep it up!

   Que

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   • Thanks for the comment, Que. Made my day.

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6. I wanted to chime in on Upstream Color as well. Josh mentioned how fun it was trying to figure out what was going on in the early going. I totally agree with that. I was all in during that time, I thought it was genius. The problem is I wanted it to stay there and follow the thief and intertwine the stories of he and his victim. Too me that was more interesting. It would have been like a genius new spin on a super villain sort of thing. Instead I do think the sampler stuff and the pigs just makes the film strange, and it was complicated to me as well, I can’t understand calling it simple at all. I’m not knocking the film, I’m just not its audience. I gave it a queue it on Movie Stream Cast I believe for that reason.

   I also wanted to ask if anyone had seen Bad Milo? I would have thought maybe Josh had since it’s a Duplass brothers production. It’s about a person’s stress manifesting itself as an ass demon. I enjoyed it a lot actually. It stars Ken Marino, Peter Stormare and Patrick Warburton and Gillian Jacobs. It’s a fun flick.

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   • Thanks for being fair about Upstream Color.

     I haven’t seen (or heard of ) Bad Milo, but it sounds worth checking out for sure. Huge fan of the Duplass bros and Gillian Jacobs. Like Stormare and Warburton too.

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7. Maybe this will warm you to race-car drivers, Jay. Wes Anderson’s new short film for Prada in which “Jason Schwartzman stars as an out of luck race car driver who ends up stranded in his family’s ancestral hometown”: http://nylonmag.com/articles/wes-anderson-prada-costello-cavalcanti

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