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Welcome to Episode 083 of Movie Podcast Weekly. Even though Karl is missing again this week, Jason, Andy and Josh still bring it for you with five Feature Reviews of “Brick Mansions,” “The Quiet Ones,” “Blue Ruin,” “Only Lovers Left Alive” and “Under the Skin.” And of course we give you our Mini Reviews, as well as some impromptu fighting about Harry Potter. Don’t miss it!
Movie Podcast Weekly typically 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:
I. Intro
— Jason anticipates “The Amazing Spider-Man 2”
— Unpleasant fighting about the Harry Potter series
II. Mini Reviews:
Andy: Knuckleball!, 30 for 30: Broke, 12 Years a Slave, The Notebook, Parks and Recreation Season 6 finale
Josh: Comic Book Men Season 2, Byzantium, The Secret Life of Walter Mitty
Jason: August: Osage County, Snake Eyes
III. Feature Review: BLUE RUIN (2014)
Jason: 10 ( Theaters / Buy it! )
Josh: 9 ( A Must-See / In Theaters If Possible / Buy it! )
IV. Feature Review: BRICK MANSIONS (2014)
Jason: 4.5 ( Low-Priority Rental )
V. Feature Review: ONLY LOVERS LEFT ALIVE (2014)
Josh: 8 ( Rental )
VI. Feature Review: THE QUIET ONES (2014)
Jason: 3 ( Avoid )
VII. Feature Review: UNDER THE SKIN (2014)
Josh: 8 ( Arthouse Crowd — High Priority Rental / General Audiences — Avoid )
VIII. Wrap-Up
— Listener request from Deadboxmike
— Quick news tidbits by Josh
NEXT WEEK:
We will be reviewing THE AMAZING SPIDER-MAN 2 and BIG BAD WOLVES and FAVOR.
Links for this episode:
NEW! Remember to add Movie Podcast Weekly to your Stitcher playlist here: Stitcher.com
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Check out Book Review Podcast
Horror Movie Podcast Ep. 014: Oculus (2014) and Afflicted (2014) and BillChete’s Big News and Jan-Gel
Josh covers streaming movies: Movie Stream Cast
We’d also like to thank The Dave Eaton Element and Dave Eaton himself for the use of his music for our theme song.
Special thanks goes out to singer-songwriter Frederick Ingram and the Blue Claw Philharmonic for the use of their music and the voice talents of Midnight Corey Graham from The Electric Chair Podcast, Willis Wheeler from the Terror Troop Podcast and Spike Real for their help with our recommendation segment intros.
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Thank you for listening, and join us again next Monday for Movie Podcast Weekly.
Hey guys great podcast again!
12 Years a Slave – 9.5/10 Amazing film, Chiwetel is so good, as is Fassbender
Comic Book Men Sn. 2 – 6/10 Interesting to see how the Secret Stash is run, I used to adore Kevin Smith… I don’t know, ever since he starting smoking weed he grates on my nerves. I did however love Red State.
Harry Potters:
1 – 6/10 great for children, I was thirteen when this came out. I would’ve given it close to a 10 at the time. Revisited it now that I have a little girl recently… not as good for adults compared to the later entries in the series.
2 – 6.5/10 an improvement on the first
3 – 8.5/10 Cuaron. ’nuff said
4 – 7/10 a definite step down from the imaginative filmmaking in Azkaban, but engaging
5 – 7/10 Potter is getting dark
6 – 8/10 darker still. This one was second best in the series.
7 – 7/10 Interestingly dull filler.
8 – 7.5/10 Saw it opening night in a packed house, very fun with a crowd… Ultimately I was let down with where some of the characters ended up. In terms of spectacle and wizardry duels there is a good payoff though.
Love the banter…. missing Karl’s touch though. He might have filled Andy’s dead air at times. Just kidding Andy! I’m very excited about Blue Ruin and Under the Skin.
Thanks for your ratings. Love to see them as usual. I think you’re a little higher on the HP franchise than me. I’ll have to give it some thought.
B-Rye,
What I loved most about your comment is how you put up all your number ratings! That’s awesome, Man. That’s exactly how we roll… I’m sorry to say, “You’re one of us.” And yes, HP3 is the best of the bunch. And if you don’t mind my asking, what was the half-point deduction on “12 Years a Slave” for? Just curious.
Thanks for listening and writing.
Jason
Brad Pitt. I like Pitt, he just didn’t belong in this one. Took me out of it. His casting was a half point. Just shy of a perfect movie.
Gentlemen, I give you Emma Stone:
http://jezebel.com/emma-stone-lip-syncing-to-all-i-do-is-win-by-dj-khale-1569180744
I love Jimmy Fallon’s lip-sync battles. Stephen Merchant’s is awesome, especially since it is with Andy’s OTHER big Hollywood crush, Joseph Gordon-Leavitt. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R4ajQ-foj2Q
You know what? A movie with Emma Stone and Joseph Gordon-Leavitt……..might make my head explode.
Josh,
I love Upstream Color and 2001: A Space Odyssey; I’m dying to watch Enemy after hearing your review and cannot wait to see Under the Skin after hearing your reviews. Honestly, any time you bring up a film that could be considered challenging, it jumps to the top of my list because I find those kinds of films to be very rewarding.
I absolutely hate the fact that many people dislike being challenged by film as if the art form is worth nothing more than plain entertainment value. It’s terrible that anyone would refuse to think, but I can understand that not everyone is in to puzzles. But cinema is an art form, and every film is a puzzle. Are all the pieces there? Do they fit? Am I seeing the whole picture? And when a film is composed in a way that challenges me to see the whole picture because the proper parts have been withheld, I am absolutely thrilled, entertained, enlightened and I think, made into a more intelligent and well-rounded viewer.
Anyways, enough of my high-minded comments. Keep telling me what’s good and I’ll keep watching!
I have a slightly different idea about movies. For me, a movie is many things. Art form is only one of the words that I would use when describing movies — and so are challenging and entertaining. But only one word can really summarize everything I love about movies. That word is magic. Movies create magic, and that magic is what takes us to a different time and a different place to meet different people. It takes our thoughts, feelings, fears, hopes and everything in between and transports them to places we didn’t think possible. When watching a movie, we transcend time and space and into another realm. The realm of magic. A movie that summarizes my thoughts is Hugo. If you watch Hugo and you leave with a renewed sense of wonder, then you’d be in the same place as I am. Now, you might think of my words as silly and innocent. But, I think that’s the point.
By the way, Hugo is a 9 for me. Jay, I can’t believe you hated that movie. You must have no heart 🙁
I like that sentiment, Juan. Obviously, cinema means different things to different people takes many forms and I’m fine with “magic” being one of them. In my line of work, it is also a business, an industry, unfortunately. When I formed my production company I knew I wanted to go with Icarus as the symbol of my personality, but I struggled with the second half of the name. Should it be “Productions” or “Films” which are the two most common. Maybe “Pictures” or Studios”. Ultimately, I decided that what I was interested in making was both “Art” and “Entertainment” and so borrowed a page from the A&E network.
I was being dismissive before, but Josh is right about the cinema meaning different things to different people. For me, despite all the good things it is, life is already full of frustration, ambiguity, confusion, bewilderment, etc., so I don’t want my escapism to no longer be an escape.
To me it’s comforting to know that in about 90 minutes, I can see the struggles of a life play out in microcosm, beginning to end. I already don’t know how my own life will end, and I already have a million unanswered questions. So, I don’t want my movies to be more of the same…
I love horror because it’s much more severe than my world, which makes me thankful and relieved. I love crime because I’m a goodie-goodie (mostly), and it gives me an outlet to live dangerously from the safety of my comfy couch.
And while I love realism, I don’t want it to be too close to home. If cinema gets too real (meaning, too much like my own daily existence), then it’s not an escape; it’s just more burden added to my plate.
I sound like a terribly negative and depressed guy who hates his life. ha ha. That’s not true at all. But I use the cinema for my drug. It’s my chocolate. It’s my sugar buzz. It’s my pick-me-up. It’s my thrill-ride. In short, the cinema is my great reconciler that bridges the gap between what I might have been and what I actually am.
Jay, I’m pondering one comment that you made and I should take time on the rest, but that’s limited at the moment. So I will say this: Aren’t movies an attempt to solve a problem, while making a statement about a particular subject or life in general? Any story seems to say ‘life is like this’. And if you don’t have the answer, maybe the filmmaker doesn’t either. Maybe that storyteller is seeking also, and wondering what conclusions an audience might come to?
We have to ponder and ask questions in life and when a film is open-ended, it may be inviting us to consider or think about a particular problem without having all of the answers spelled out to us and doing this for a reason. Their may be some leading towards a particular conclusion, but no ‘resolution’.
Sometimes, instead of being told what to think, isn’t it valuable to consider what a film might be saying without claiming to have all the answers? I don’t think all movies that leave things open to the viewer are being deliberately obtuse out of pretensiousness or anything like that.
Maybe it’s a matter of taste, but for us horror fans, aren’t we supposed to be uneasy? Maybe your true horror is not knowing and it doesn’t have to be a horror film that does it to you.
Ha!
Levi, I like the way you think and I’d like to subscribe to your newsletter. I remember your messages about Upstream Color now and I’ll remember your tastes next time Jason asks me if I think you’d like a film.
You should because I’ve been digging what you recommend. I haven’t gotten to all of it yet because that’s not possible, but nothing but good has come out of following your recommendations.
And newsletter?! Man…that’d be something. I’ve thought about blog writing but just haven’t done it yet. Maybe someday.
Yeah, I don’t like puzzles, either.
JP
I know you don’t. You might have actually even said as much before on the show, haha.
You’re also much more intelligent than you give yourself credit for, and don’t bother coming back on that.
P.S.
I don’t like Harry Potter movies either. As Conan O’Brien would say, it’s all about a bunch of nerds waving sticks around (while he pushes his pretend glasses up his nose).
harry potter is not exciting just like the hobbit is tedious to those who doesnt have enough to praise it. i got dragged into harry potter movies by my wife every time and came out of it swearing that i wont go back to the next one. i am not giing to any further the hobbit movies in theatre. and i think the hunger game sucks too.
jason i am with you on this and i assure u you are not alone here. and to andy, froddo is NOT suppose to be powerful but harry is. and harry in the movie felt like a wet fart.
the bad news is, the new spiderman movie is a mess. i will let willis tell u on that.
to josh, u know for a fact good relationship doeant make a good story just like a good story doesnt make good news.
if u still want to search in then the birdcage give u a very sweet gay couple and story about us is good couple struggle.
and why is everybody loves Raymond not enough for u? 🙂
Ha. Never watched Everybody Loves Raymond, but I do love the documentary about taking the show to Russia called Exporting Raymond.
Andy is a fan of The Birdcage, but I just barely remember seeing it when it came out. I will have to revisit it.
well, the birdcage is also a comedy I liked much because it is not one of those dumb ones. I watched exporting Raymond because you recommended it here on one of the episode.
So you should catch at least a season of it, as karma does go around. 🙂
hi Jay, you listed under Josh’s review for the secret life of Walter Mitty but I went back twice, I didn’t hear Josh talking about it.
That’s because I brought it up after I was supposed to be done talking. I interrupted Jay’s mini reviews. I talk about Mitty between Jay’s reviews of August: Osage County and Snake Eyes.
ah, found it. 🙂 guess there is a lesson about commenting on things too early…
by the way I actually like this one much, beautifully shot and feels like a fresh breeze of air… this one is 7.5/10 for me.
Hi guys,
Just saw this fascinating review of Robocop (1987), just when I thought there is nothing much else to say about this classic.
http://dejareviewer.com/2014/04/29/cinematic-chiasmus-robocop-is-almost-perfectly-symmetrical-film/
I have not seen the 2014 remake yet. From NPW’s reviews, it is a low priority rental for me.
Really curious to know what other movies are made (deliberately or not) this way…..
Yo guys. I just want to say I’ve been lurking and listening to your podcast for a few months now and I love it 85% of the time. Thanks for all the work you put into it. It makes my drive to and from work much more enjoyable.
I’m so PUMPED to watch Blue Ruin. I actually helped those guys via Kickstarter back when they only had some test footage to show. I finally got my download of the film, now I just need to find the time to watch it.
Super intrigued by the comments about Under The Skin now. I’ll probably check it out.
Glad to have you, Ian. And we will try to to deliver on that other 15%, haha.
That’s awesome that you supported Blue Ruin on Kickstarter. I’ve backed dozens of Kickstarter and Indie GoGo campaigns myself and I’d have loved to support these guys. I love what they are doing.
Haha thanks. Actually it’s more like 92%.
Pleasant experience listening to you guys.
And Yes Harry Potter series is really dumb!
Ok, Jason. Challenge accepted! I have resisted “The Notebook” for years, despite it being so popular with the ladies. Maybe that’s why. I just thought it would be super sappy, and I hate movies where I FEEL manipulated. I fully expect to BE manipulated by a movie; I just don’t want to be aware of it. So that’s where I’m coming from. So, on your recommendation, I watched “The Notebook”. 7/10. The two main characters were very good, and by that I mean sexy, sexy, sexy! Great chemistry and gorgeously shot. You probably don’t care too much about this, but Rachel McAdams’ wardrobe was perfect. So beautiful. And that boy? (Ryan Gosling) He hasn’t really been on my radar, but yeah. Super cute. Especially when he got his facial hair going on. I was aware of the emotional manipulation at times. But you were right; some genuinely heartfelt moments and a great love story. Thanks!
Jason I completely agree with you on Harry Potter. They’re not entertaining at all. I got bored so insanely quick. Let me know if you need back up over there 🙂
Thank you, Lauren! Absolutely. We muggles with common sense need to stick together.
-JP