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In Episode 067 of Movie Podcast Weekly (the first of the New Year), your ever-faithful hosts bring reviews of Disney’s Hatchet …er… Frozen and Paranormal Activity 5 …er… Paranormal Activity 4.5 …er… Paranormal Activity: The Marked Ones. And if you think a major horror franchise is a strange pairing with a new release from Disney, wait until you hear all of the talk about pornography in this episode. Although the content of the porn discussion is kept pretty PG, there is quite a lot of it by our standards. Parents be warned. We are also joined by two very special guests—including fan-favorite WILLIS WHEELER of The Donut Show podcast, the Terror Troop podcast, and more!
Movie Podcast Weekly features four hosts (and frequent guests), who give you their verdict on at least one new movie release that’s currently in theaters, mini-reviews of what they’ve been watching lately, and specialty recommendation segments. New episodes release every single Monday.
SHOW NOTES — with Time Stamps!
( 00:00:00 ) I. Intro:
—We have a special guest for our Frozen review
—Welcome Willis Wheeler
—Willis reprimands us for our lists
—Willis drops some knowledge with his list and the films of 2013
—Listener feedback
( 00:25:40 ) II. Mini-Reviews:
Karl: The Intouchables, Europa Report, Erased, Lovelace
Jason: The Collapsed, River’s Edge, HBO’s OZ
Willis: Don Jon, Taxi Driver, Godzilla Raids Again
Josh: Paranorman, Red Dawn (Red Dawn remake reviewed by Josh on Movie Stream Cast Ep. 033)
Andy: Cloud Atlas, Searching for Sugarman
( 01:16:40 ) III. Feature review of PARANORMAL ACTIVITY: THE MARKED ONES:
Willis: 7.5 (Buy It!)
Josh: 6.5 (See it in Theaters / Rent It)
Jason: 1 ( Avoid It at All Costs )
Hear Jason and Josh really battle it out over this film on Horror Movie Podcast!
( 01:42:42 ) IV. Feature review of FROZEN:
Andy: 7 ( Andy Will Probably Have to Buy It )
Andy’s Daughter: 9
( 01:54:00 ) V. Film News
—Shia LaBeouf’s short film and subsequent plagiarism scandal
—Movie theater seating rants
—Netflix’s genre classification rants
—The Simpsons go to the movies
( 02:17:42 ) VI. Segments:
ANDY’S ABSURD ASSOCIATIONS:
Other movies Andy’s daughter likes: The Croods
JOSHUA LIGAIRI’S CONTINUING EDUCATION:
Documentary: A Band Called Death
ROBOTIC ROMANCES WITH KARL HUDDELSTON:
Romance: The Russia House
JAY OF THE DEAD’S CREEPS AND CRIME:
Crime: Breakdown
( 02:31:06 ) VI. Wrap-Up
—Next week’s special guest will be Geekcast Ry of the Geekcast Live podcast
—Karl says to checkout the upcoming season of Sherlock
—Josh says to check out his review of the 2012 Red Dawn remake on Movie Stream Cast
Next Monday on MPW we will review Lone Survivor and list our favorite movies of the 1990s.
Links for this episode:
Follow Willis on Twitter: NastyWillDC
Check out Willis’ Podcasts: The Terror Troop podcast, Sausagefest Reviews, the NFW podcast, and The Donut Show.
Hear Jason and Josh really battle it out over Paranormal Activity: The Marked Ones and the best horror films of 2013 on Episode 006 of Horror Movie Podcast!
Get help managing you Netflix queue from Josh on: Movie Stream Cast
Special thanks goes out to singer-songwriter Frederick Ingram and the voice talents of Midnight Corey Graham from The Electric Chair Podcast, Willis Wheeler from The Donut Show Podcast and Mr. Ron Baird for their help with our recommendation segment intros.
We’d also like to thank The Dave Eaton Element and Dave Eaton himself for the use of his music for our theme song.
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You can always contact us by e-mailing MoviePodcastWeekly@gmail.com. Or you can call and leave us a voice mail at: (801) 382-8789. And you can leave us a comment in the show notes for this episode.
Thank you for listening and join us again next Monday for Movie Podcast Weekly.
Hey guys, I’ve seen Twixt, it’s good and bad for me. It’s very dreamlike. Sort of like 1408 meets Identity meets The Raven. Why all John Cusack films, I have no idea. For me, I understand what it’s going for but I don’t really think the ending works. I would predict that Josh will either like it or be middle of the road. I think you’ll be with Willis.
I mean I think Jason will be with Willis.
I had to buy it. Couldn’t help it. I love Coppola. I will return and report.
Did you check out Post Tenebras Lux?
Hey guys! I’m commenting on the site this week regarding the Christ symbolism in Man of Steel. Carl jokingly said regarding dislike of the film “What, you don’t like Jesus?” I know it was a joke, so please don’t take me wrong, but I want to say that I don’t think the religious analogy was handled well. I didn’t mind the heavy-handedness of the Christ symbolism. In fact, I can outright say that I personally love Jesus, and I mean it.
But here we go.
Clark’s Earth-father, Jonathan Kent, failed his son in that when it came to self-sacrifice, he couldn’t tell his son whether he should have saved a busload of drowning schoolchildren or not. When he asked his father if he should have let them die, he simply shrugged and said “I don’t know.” Honest? Sure. The right answer? Absolutely not.
Then, his father’s future act of self-sacrifice was an attempt to save the family dog from a tornado, but in injuring himself, he wouldn’t allow his son to save him in order to protect his secret. I wonder if this fuels Clark’s rage later on in the film(?). Christ was portrayed in the Bible as being capable of taming storms, but here, his father shows a lack of awareness of what his son is capable of.
Later at the family farm when the Man of Steel is facing three Kryptonians who are threatening the life of his mother, he reacts out of anger and carries Zod away from the farm, leaving her alone with the two others who could have killed her if it pleased them. His rage carries Clark and his enemy TOWARDS a large population center, destroying a gas station and endangering many lives.
Jor-El did what he could to teach his son what it was that he needed to know in order to be a hero, but how much can the computer-ghost of his real father accomplish in such a limited time?
So, we’re treated to the destruction of a city, possibly thousands of people dying in the process (which remains unadressed at the end of the film) and Clark’s final act in his battle with Zod? Instead of sacrificing himself as Christ would , he doesn’t find a way to give his own life but chooses instead to use his power to snap a neck.
The Man of Steel wasn’t thinking, he wasn’t sacrificing as much as he was using force to accomplish his goal, and he caused a lot of pain and problems in the process. Does this sound like Superman to you?
I love Superman with all my heart, but I will not follow the Man of Steel.
I hope that in the sequel an older, wiser Batman will put Clark in his place by becoming the human father figure that he needs, that will actually teach him how to be a hero. And if he gives the ‘Man of Steel’ a beating in the process, I will get some sick joy out of that. Not Christlike, I know, but it may not hurt to help wise the strong guy up some. Especially when you’re only human.
Interesting points. I haven’t seen Man of Steel, so it is difficult for me to comment on the Christ symbolism, but one thing is for sure. It doesn’t sound like Superman.
I did have one thought while reading your comment, I have historically heard the Superman story compared to the Moses story, rather than the Jesus story. Is that maybe a better fit here as well? Moses brought a lot of destruction upon the people of Egypt to achieve his goals.
On the other hand, if the Man of Steel is supposed to be a Christ symbol here, maybe Costner represents Joseph’s failure to grasp the weight of Jesus’ origin … or maybe David S. Goyer is just lazy with his Christ symbolism. He is Jewish, afterall.
That’s a good point, the ship in the first comics was more of a Moses symbolism than Christ. And the thing about Costner’s character failing to realize is interesting too, and I could have dealt with that, but the way it was handled was kind of sad. This whole movie was a tragedy!
I think this whole religious symbolism is going overboard. Jonathan Kent was a human and gave human answers. Just cause Jesus can tame storms, doesn’t mean Superman can. And doesn’t mean Jonathan Kent knows he can if he can. I think the criticism of the final moments of Zod’s life is craziness. If Superman does sacrifice himself somehow, the human race is dead. Unless Zod dies too. It killed Clark to do it and that was good enough for me. Superman is an overpowered superhero and this film was almost as good as you can get for a Superman film, except its insanely dumb at times. I’ll go along with maybe Supes should have tried to keep the casualties and destruction down. But Zod was on par with him and the most imperative thing was for him to win for mankind’s sake. Just my opinion.
I agree with bits of what you say…like it was dumb at times. XD
The religious symbolism is hardly going overboard when in the film Clark goes to a church, his father Jor-El (El means God in Hebrew, if I’m not mistaken) and he falls backwards out of the spaceship and does so with his arms held out in a Jesus Christ pose before he descends to Earth.
It was certainly heavy-handed.
As far as taming storms, that could’ve been used in an interesting way. Superman’s been very powerful for a very long time. But instead, he didn’t get to do anything but have his last words to his earthly father be something terrible he shouldn’t have said.
And I’ve already done the fan-fiction in my head regarding what he could have done differently in the final battle just to make myself feel better (I almost rolled my eyes at myself there). Superman has usually put himself in danger to save lives, willingly making sacrifices. And by sacrifice, he wouldn’t even have to die. He could try to give his life, at least.
What I’m saying is that instead of making him a failed Christ figure with all of the overt religious imagery and his anger driving him, they could have had him outwit his opponent so that Zod would have destroyed himself. And by sacrifice, I mean he could do something that would’ve ended the battle instead of using just his muscles to snap a neck.
Also, I was sitting with my ten year old daughter in the theater when we witnessed this spectacle. It wasn’t an example of heroism that I had hoped she would see.
Every story says something, whether it’s thought through or not, and I don’t think this movie should get a pass.
I guess I just have an issue with critiquing a film based on its subtext. It seems like someone saying Dawn of the Dead has a consumerism subtext but complaining that obsessive consumerism doesn’t work like the film showed it or something. The way I see it in the climax, Superman had 3 options: 1) End it now, no more humans suffer. 2) Extend the battle, destroy more buildings and put more lives in danger. 3) Try to reason and keep the upper hand (allowing the people to be killed as a direct consequence of his inaction. Further I think he absolutely made a sacrifice at that moment and it destroyed a little bit of himself to kill one of the last Kryptonians. Also you could say when he destroyed that stupid machine he was totally willing to sacrifice himself. My daughter is 6, I would have little issue with my daughter watching that ending (my wife might be a different story), I would merely say “Honey, Zod was more powerful than any human and as powerful as Superman himself and he wanted to destroy every living person on our planet, if Superman had lost, the planet would have been destroyed. Zod was also about to kill that family. Sometimes good people have to do something that goes against everything they stand for to protect others against evil. Sort of like policemen.”
I can see where you’re coming from, and that makes sense. As far as subtext goes though, if you’re going to use it, go all the way with it. And killing someone else isn’t self-sacrifice because you’re losing something. When I’m talking about a Christ analogy, I’m talking about giving your life. You make a good point with his attempts to destroy the machine and putting himself in harm’s way there. I wish that he had done that physically with what Zod was going to to do potential victims.
As far as my daughter’s concerned, and I’m not kidding or overexaggerating, when we walked out of the theater she said, “Those guys just don’t get Superman.”
She’s watched quite a bit of Smallville, so she did have some point of reference.
I don’t doubt that those digging deep within the symbolism can find fault or those who have a deep connection with the character. But from my perspective the character has always been too powerful to really sympathize with, he really would make a better villain if you ask me. But to combat the invulnerability we have krypton it’s which allows basically anyone with a rock to defeat him which I also don’t like. So for me I got a lot more from this film than I expected with his inner turmoil and such and the backstory. So for me without really considering anything about Christ, I actually got what I felt was a pretty deep story. I agree there’s issues with the Jonathan Kent scene and the ridiculousness of an already weakened Superman being able to fly through a machine that makes him even weaker, but I could forgive the former. But I think a lot of non-Superman fans would consider it solid.
I agree with you, and actually, if they had left the Christ symbolism out (or made it far more subtle, but Snyder isn’t known for subtlety) then it would have made things a bit better for me. In fact, if this hadn’t been a Superman movie at all, I would have liked it a lot more!
And I didn’t even get into agreeing with Jay about the resemblance to 9/11 events. I suspect there’s more to it, but then I might only be postulating because it just wasn’t as obvious to me.
I think you guys are making too much of the “official” release dates – just make your lists with whatever criteria you want and let the chips fall as they may.
Regarding The Way Way Back, I do agree with Josh and Karl a bit on the lead actor, not the greatest actor, but was effective as an awkward teen. To me he lowered the film from a 10 to a 9. I think part of that is I went in with no real expectations and was really surprised. As I was watching I figured Karl particularly would love it but was just surprised he was not as enthusiastic about it as I was.
If I remember correctly Jason and Andy disliked Side Effects, that’s probably putting it mildly but Karl enjoyed it. I’d have to agree with Karl, I was pretty shocked by the places the film went and while it’s pretty hard to buy into exactly how things happened, I still had a good time and thought the film was pretty clever.
I’m obligated to see it now that it’s been referred to as Hitchcockian.
..Great show as always guys.
Cannot wait for the best Movies of the 90s lists. The 90s was a great decade for cinema – off the top of my head I can name dozens of unbelievable movies I worked in a video store for a few years in the 90s and got to see all the new releases for free – good times
anyway as I say cannot wait for the show
Will avoid Paranormal Activity 4 but can say my Kids and I loved Frozen
Hi Gerdy,
Thanks for your comment. Yes, avoid Paranormal Activity 4.5 at all costs… Willis and Josh are not thinking clearly or something…
Oh, and thank you so much for letting us know that you’re excited about the Very Best of the ’90s show coming up on Monday! Perhaps I’m just insecure and have a fragile self-esteem, but it does my heart good to hear that people are excited for that: I know I’ve personally looked over, literally, at least 1,500 ’90s films this week (and spent about 4 hours researching it), just to be sure I bring you guys a great list!
Jason
Dont forget to let me know about Love / Hate.
I guess nobody here has pick up a superman book in the last two year . He is not a goodie two shows anymore since the new 52 reboot . So this man of steel movie is more inline with what superman is now . And jay is wrong about pa the marked ones if u want to know what happen in part 3 and 4 this goes along with it and leads to part 5 which will be the end of the pa movies
Hey check out the movie “the Verdict” 1982 film & notice the ghost caught on film at 17:42 minutes into the film. Very cool and easy to spot. As they walk down the stairway in this old Boston courthouse” It’s freaky because it almost looks like someone being hung from the gallows. Ya can’t miss it but it is quick.