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Hi, and welcome to Movie Podcast Weekly, Episode 095! We have five Feature Reviews for you: “The Purge: Anarchy,” “Begin Again,” “Snowpiercer,” “Tammy” and “Rage.” And we also have our usual, ridiculous bickering and banter. Karl and Jason kick off this show with some mini reviews. Josh joins up with us later, and Andy was away on Baby Patrol.
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. Introduction
— Just Karl and Jason for now; Josh will join later.
II. Mini Reviews
Karl:
Original Star Trek series
Louis CK – Live at the Beacon Theater = 3 ( Avoid )
Orange Is the New Black (first five episodes) = Avoid
Young Adult
Dawn of the Planet of the Apes = 10 ( Theater / Buy it! )
Jason:
Recommends listening to Horror Movie Podcast, Ep. 021: The Proto-Slasher, in which Josh, Jason and Dave Becker cover Psycho, Peeping Tom, Torso and The Town That Dreaded Sundown.
Josh:
The Office, Season 8
The Karate Kid Part II = 6 ( Rental )
III. Feature Review: THE PURGE: ANARCHY (2014)
Jason = 6.5 ( Rental )
Karl = 8.5 ( Theater / Buy it! )
Josh = 6 ( Theater / Rental )
IV. Feature Review: BEGIN AGAIN (2014)
Karl = 9 ( Theater / Buy it! )
V. Feature Review: SNOWPIERCER (2014)
Jason = 8.5 ( Must-See Rental )
Josh = 7.5 ( Theater / Rental )
VI. Feature Review: TAMMY (2014)
Karl = 5 ( Rental )
VII. Feature Review: RAGE (2014)
Jason = 5.5 ( Rental )
VIII. Wrap-Up / Plugs
NEXT WEEK:
We will be reviewing LUCY and VERY GOOD GIRLS and DOM HEMINGWAY.
Links for this episode:
Horror Movie Podcast: Ep. 021: The Proto-Slasher
Book Review Podcast: Ep. 027: The Road and Ain’t It Cool?
The Resurrection of Zombie 7: Ep. 103: Saw VI
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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.
Just about finished this episode and Jay, I can’t believe you haven’t seen “To Live and Die in LA”! That’s an absolute classic of the 80’s cop genre. It’s sleazy, gritty and loads of fun plus it has an awesome cheesy 80’s pop soundtrack: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DM_FGAL0-Mg
Oh and Willem Dafoe does indeed play the villain and he’s great. I think it was one of his first big roles too.
I have to say I was pretty impressed when Jay listed off his recent “important” Science Fiction movies. They were some great picks and movies that I feel are actual Science Fiction rather than just the dumbed down pseudo-Sci-Fi that we see too much of these days. And the inclusion of “Minority Report” got me thinking how lots of my favourite movies in the genre are based off of Philip K. Dick stories. Filmmakers should take note of this. I’d love to see novels like “Ubik” or “The Three Stigmata of Palmer Eldritch” made into classy, thought provoking movies. They could be masterful in the hands of someone like Fincher, Aronofsky or Gilliam. Also I have to say that “Snowpiercer” has me quite excited. I love the premise and I think it’s great when movies can be entertaining and action-packed while at the same time acting as social commentary.
Finally, this week I watched “Jodorowsky’s Dune” and I really, really liked it. I think I recall Josh criticising it for not doing much with it’s presentation but honestly I thought that the subject matter was so compelling, interesting and full of imagination that it didn’t require any fanciful cinematic additions. It let the “Dune” that-never-was speak for itself and I really enjoyed that about it. I loved Jodorowsky’s energy and passion and there’s something that appeals to me on a very creative level about the concept of this artistic masterpiece being fragmentary and diaphanous, existing in the real world only as scattered components but with the potential of being assembled in the ether of a human mind into something totally transcendental. 8.5/10.
– David
P.S. I hope Jay and Josh will be catching up on True Detective soon!
David,
Absolutely! Josh and I were texting about “True Detective” yesterday. I watched Episode 003 (and loved it) last night! I’ve actually been trying to ration it…
Jason
You must have a will of iron Jay. I’m one of those people who just binges on a show and then doesn’t know where to turn when it’s all finished.
And man, I can’t wait to hear what you guys think when you get to episode 004. That one’s worth watching for the cinematography alone! Such a great show.
Hi David,
I’m loving your comments (as usual). Yes, “To Live and Die in LA” is on my list now. Random note: I once met Willem Dafoe’s aunt at my optometrist’s office in Glen Dale, West Virginia, birthplace and hometown of country singer Brad Paisley.
And yes, I honestly believe we’ve been getting some tremendous science fiction films in the past 15 years. It seems to me that whenever there’s a leap in technology, we get a boost to the sci-fi genre: the nuclear age and the ’40s brought the resultant 1950s sci-fi cinema; then we got the computer age and especially the advent of the Internet (prominent in the ’90s), and all these great movies have followed after. I’d call the last 15 or 20 years a re-birth of the science fiction genre — and I’d attribute this renewal to the advances of the Computer / Internet Age. What do you think, Karl?
Yes, I meant to bring this up with Josh during the show. Because Josh is such a talented and creative documentary filmmaker, he looks at documentary form with a more critical eye than most of us. Since he is “one of them,” it’s inevitable that Josh would have his director’s hat on and weigh such considerations… But for the rest of us, David, I agree with you: If the subject is interesting enough on its own (as is the case with “Jodorowsky’s Dune”), then nothing fancy is necessary. Indeed, some filmmakers actually detract from their subject matter with distracting artistic flourishes. Sometimes all that is needed is to turn on the camera and capture the story. And I think that’s exactly what director Frank Pavich has done. 10 out of 10.
Thanks for writing (and listening).
Jason
I certainly know where Josh is coming from. He’s obviously incredibly passionate about the documentary as an artistic medium. Certainly in the right hands an imaginatively made documentary can elevate the lowliest and most mundane subject matter but at the same time a self-indulgent and overwrought film about something extremely interesting can get in the way of the transfer of information to the audience. That’s not always the case of course, “The Devil and Daniel Johnston” manages to be a very artistic and imaginatively made film with a very artistic and imaginative subject matter but I think that’s probably a hard balance to achieve.
– David
Oh and by the way, I’ve just started watching “The Wire”. I know you’re a big fan Jay and it’s one of those shows I’ve heard a lot about but just never got started with until now. I’ve just finished episode 4 and I’m loving it so far!
Oh, man! “The Wire” is the greatest, most novel-like TV series ever made! As Karl would say — brilliant! Each season is different but still tremendous… I’m obsessed with Idris Elba as Stringer Bell (my favorite character) and Michael K. Williams as Omar. There is an episode during Season 3 of “The Wire” that literally had me up dancing around in nervous anticipation in the middle of my living room. I was so embarrassed when I realized how much I got swept away! Thanks for watching it, David. Keep us posted.
Jason
I’m up to episode 7 now and so far I am extremely impressed, though to be honest it had me from the word go by using a cover of a Tom Waits song as credit music. I’m loving how it delves into the mechanics and politics of the police work and how each of the characters, even the minor ones, already seem like fleshed out individuals. “novel-like” is a great way to put it! I think this is going to be a show that’s up there at the level of Breaking Bad/True Detective/Game of Thrones/Hannibal for me!
What happened to TV? It used to be terrible.
I definitely think there has been both good and bad sci fi in the last 15 years. Many movies that got panned I loved – like “Next” (also a Philip K Dick short story) which I thought was brilliant but many Nic Cage haters hated because it was Nic.
It’s sad when flicks with potential get derailed – ala “Transcendence” 🙂
And as a trekie – JJ Abrams reboot of Star Trek is so fun I can’t wait for the next. Of course I think he also stands a good chance of getting Star Wars back on track. 😉
I agree with you Karl. Although I think the movies that Jay mentioned are all excellent examples of the genre and I really enjoyed Abrams “Star Trek” (haven’t seen “Next” but I am a Cage fan when it’s the right role) I still think we’ve had quite a few duds in recent years. The “Total Recall” remake, the “Star Wars” prequels, all Sci-Fi films starring Will Smith etc. I do wish modern Sci-Fi filmmakers would drop the whole ultra-sleek, CGI-polished I-pod aesthetics that we’ve seen in countless movies now. I just don’t find that style anywhere near as engrossing and believable as something like “Bladerunner” or “Alien”.
I was a massive Star Wars geek as a kid so I am somewhat excited to see the new movies, but I’m trying to not get my hopes up.
Great Episode Guys
Really enjoyed it and congrats on the Podcast awards
First of all Congrats to Andy on the new arrival, I hope he is getting SOME sleep at least.
After the chat about Karate Kid movies I thought that would be a great franchise for a CTS episode.
I loved The Wire and Breaking Bad and have to say I just finished watching the TV Series of Fargo and It is amazing as well (not as good as the other two Shows but definitely a must-see if you liked the original movie.
Congrats again to all and keep up the good work
Re visited first Planet of the Apes movie (in this new franchise and Its still very impressive, cannot wait to see the new one)
Oh my gosh! So excited for your nominations and your awards! Nice job guys – you totally deserve those.
I loved Karl’s mini reviews of Star Trek (great to hear someone talk about the social and political metaphors), Louis CK (my husband and I watched about 25 minutes and didn’t laugh once), and Orange is the New Black (I never even thought about the possibility that this might be unwatchable – I’m still going to give it a try, but thanks for the permission to just say no).
Thanks, and keep up the good work!