21 thoughts on “Movie Podcast Weekly Ep. 148: Pixels (2015) and Southpaw (2015) and Paper Towns (2015)”

1. I’m totally with Andy when it comes to the whole US gun-crime issue. I think the idea that outlaws will “get guns and commit crimes” whether firearms are legal or not is kind of missing the point. Sure hitmen, gangsters and drug barons will find a way to procure illegal weapons, that’s a no-brainer. But how many of these school and cinema shootings that you folks are plagued by are carried out by the types of ne’er-do-wells mentioned above? Very, very few as far as I’m aware. These kind of mass shootings don’t really have a classic criminal motive. It’s not about robbery or territory or whatever. These shootings mostly seem to happen because some unstable kid has easy access to firearms. Sure if they were super intent on carrying out such a heinous act in a country where firearms were illegal they could still hypothetically get hold of them but that process would A) make it more likely that they’d get caught before actually carrying out a murder and B) probably be so much hassle/so expensive that they might actually just give up on the whole thing. And that’s not even taking into account that a lot of these crimes are probably spontaneous acts carried out in unhinged moments. The more elements and logistics that force the shooter to actually sit and consider the act and comprehend the reality of it, the less chance they’ll actually do it.

   I’m sure hardcore criminals can get their hands on firearms here in the UK. But messed up kids driven to madness by bullying going into school and shooting a bunch of people up? It just doesn’t happen. Yeah every now and then someone might bring a knife into school and attack a teacher or another student but the causalities in such situations are never anywhere near the same scale. To be frank the whole argument that “we need guns to protect ourselves from the bad guys with guns” just seems like a cyclical cultural glitch to me. It’s like “well that neighbour I don’t trust owns a bazooka so I want one too because when the shit hits the fan there’s no way I’m being out-bazookad!”. To my foreign eyes the whole “right to bare arms” thing just seems traditionalist but impractical. Surely the right of children to grow up in a safer society should take precedence? I know a big part of it is the idea that you have a right to protect your families, but the truth of the matter is, in a world where any maniacal crackpot can easily pick up a gun the ability for anyone to protect their families is greatly diminished no matter what weapons they own.

   I do agree with Karl’s point about it being a hard genie to put back in the bottle though. Outright banning firearms in the US just seems totally infeasible at the moment. It’s kind of a conundrum.

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   • And I hope nobody construes this post as an attack on gun owners or the USA in general. It’s simply my outsiders opinion on the matter..

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     • David! Bringin’ the fire! : )

       I’m kidding, Boss. This is actually a great post. Your perspective actually made me pause and start to reconsider some of my opinions.

       I didn’t talk about my views very much on this episode, because I despise debating politics with people.

       Anyway, I’m impressed with your comment, David. Your most compelling point to me is about bullied kids not shooting up schools in the UK.

       With respect to the scientific method, where one has a “control group” measure against the introduction of limited variables, I think it’s difficult to draw definitive conclusions on causality. For instance, just spit-balling here, but maybe a part of our problem with shooting sprees in the U.S. can be linked with our hyper-violent media and entertainment. The USA is sensitive about sexuality, be it’s not uncommon for parents (like me) not to flinch when our small children are watching gun violence and explosions, Michael Bay, etc. ha ha.

       Thanks for sharing, David.
       J

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       • “maybe a part of our problem with shooting sprees in the U.S. can be linked with our hyper-violent media and entertainment.”

         That’s a good point, Jay and definitely a factor that needs to be considered. Certainly there seems to be a theme of violence as a viable solution to conflict in a lot of US media. That said I’m always a little reluctant to place the blame squarely on such aspects because I think they can be easy scapegoats to distract from more deep-rooted societal issues. Of course I’m no doubt a little biased on that point, being a horror fan and all, but I can’t help but be reminded of the “Video Recordings Act” over here in the 80’s when the conservative government of the time pretty much blamed all of societies ills on the “video nasties”. Civil unrest, rising crime rates, vandalism, riots etc. It all apparently had nothing to do with high unemployment rates, poor-punishing government policies and an emphasis on self worth defined by materialism. It was those gosh darned horror films that done it!

         I think a lot of the time we need to look deeper at society to get to the root causes of these big issue problems. Broken homes, institutionalised abuse, apathy, inequality, alienation, too much emphasis on body image, consumer culture that repeatedly tells us we need the newest most expensive products or we’re inherently worthless individuals who’ll never be happy. All this kind of stuff feeds into the subconsciousness of society and I have no doubt inspires unbridled levels of resentment, inferiority and despondence. And that’s certainly not to defend or extricate any of these quackbars that act out these awful crimes from blame. But I just feel that it’s a deep rooted problem with no quick and easy solution, rather it requires a lot of introspection on the part of society in general. which of course plays to your point about the difficultly of drawing definitive conclusions on causality.

         Either way, I think just discussing the matter, while maybe a little uncomfortable (and kind of incongruous on this forum), is a positive step in it’s own tiny way.

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2. Also, on a lighter note, I just want to say that one of my very favourite elements of this podcast is when you guys let rip with stories of inconsiderate chumps at movie theatres. It’s so much fun to listen to and as someone who mourns the apparent demise of common decency amongst the majority of the population, kind of cathartic.

   That said, I’m all for sneaking food into movie theatres so long as it’s nothing too loud/odorous. Cinema chains should expect it considering the fact that they find it acceptable to charge a kings ransom for a little tub of popcorn. I mean, it’s just popped corn right? That’s not exactly expensive to make is it? Or is dusted with cocaine, saffron and gold-flakes? They must seriously be making like 10,000% profit on their concessions stands.

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3. Jay, those social media icons are looking swish! A huge improvement.

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   • Thanks, Brother. It was all my design guy, Trump. (He’s the one who’s designing the MPW and HMP T-shirts!).

     By the way, I should be posting the two HMP designs over at HorrorMoviePodcast.com later this evening, so people can let me know which one they want (if any). ha ha

     J

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     • No relation to Donald I hope!

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4. “Dances with Wolves” is a vastly more self-important film than “Goodfellas”, but there’s no way it’s better.

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   • Goodfellas all the way. I really do think it’s not only technically better, but look at the cultural impact it had. The movie is still referenced all the time.

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     • Yep, GOODFELLAS.

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5. Also, Andy is waaaaay wrong about grappling hook shooting guns not being a real thing. Loads of my G.I. Joes had those.

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6. Hi guys, here’s my theater experience from Friday: while waiting for the lights to go down for MI 5, i notice that a lady walks in with a stroller and 4 other children under the age of 10(?). There was a baby in the stroller to bring the total to ten. I immediately started to think about the impact to my movie experience. Seeing that there were only 10-15 more people in the theater bsides myself, I knew that child noises would not be drowned out by the others in the theater. Fortunately, the children did not cause any distractions. They may have drawn my attention only once through the movie. Ry, I did not notice if the Mother was preparing and serving sandwiches. Even though this incident worked out OK, it makes you wonder what people are thinking of when they bring 5 children to a movie that’s not targeted for children (i.e., Disney, Pixar). I was prepared to seek the Manager. Take care and thanks for the podcast.

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7. So I watched Ant-Man and I have to say that I disagree with everyone’s high praise of it. I think it’s just ok. It’s funny, different, and the cast is great but it’s a little bland (especially when compared with some of the higher profile Marvel movies) in my humble opinion. I had fun but overall I think it’s a little over-hyped. It’s an 8 for me and this is how I rank it in the MCU:

   1. Iron Man – 10
   2. The Avengers – 10
   3. Guardians of the Galaxy – 10
   4. Captain America: Winter Soldier – 9.5
   5. Thor – 9
   6. Iron Man 3 – 9
   7. Avengers: Age of Ultron – 8.5
   8. Ant-Man – 8
   9. Captain America: The First Avenger – 8*
   10. Thor: The Dark World – 7.5
   11. Iron Man 2 – 7
   12. The Incredible Hulk – 7

   *I adjusted this rating from an 8.5 to an 8 because I rated Ant-Man an 8 and I felt that was a slightly better movie.

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   • While I wouldn’t call ANT-MAN bland, you’re not far off from where I was with it (5th – 8.5/10). It’s certainly more understated and “different” than the rest of the MCU to this point.

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8. J, take it from the guy who enjoyed THE GALLOWS and UNFRIENDED – you should avoid THE VATICAN TAPES. It’s a below average horror film. I know you can’t avoid it, but had to say something anyway.

   I’ll be interested to hear your thoughts on it, nonetheless.

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9. The worst part about listening to the podcast while I’m working out or driving (the two ways I listen) is that I can’t comment/respond as I’m listening. There was so much I wanted to say as I was listening to this one, and I’ve forgotten nearly all of it. :-/

   However, I do have one question for the MPW community:

   Where is your favorite seat in the house?

   I sent an email to J a few months ago (ignored, of course) asking why the MPW hosts all feel the center back row is the best seat in the house. Personally, I hate sitting that far back. When you sit in the back row, you reduce the relative size of the screen to essentially what you would get at home with a big screen TV. Plus, you have the rows and rows of people and side walls in your field of vision, which just takes me out of the film. I saw MR. HOLMES last week and was forced to sit in the center back row seat because I arrived at the theater late (during the trailers). I found myself constantly distracted and taken out of the film despite the fact that the movie was good and the crowd very well-behaved (none younger than 50, I’d wager), and all because I could see the room and all these other people.

   My preferred seat is as far forward as I can sit while seeing the screen at a comfortable angle. I do this so the screen can fill my entire field of vision (or as much as possible) and I can become fully immersed in the film. After all, isn’t that big honkin’ screen one of the main advantages of seeing movies in the theater?

   I know we’re all different people with different preferences, but the MPW hosts seem to speak of the center back row seat being the best in the house as matter of fact… and I just don’t get it. I’m curious to hear from them why they feel this way, as well as the community on their preferences.

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10. In interesting take on CGI: http://devour.com/video/why-cg-sucks-except-it-doesnt/

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    • Juan, this video essay is great. I hope everyone watches it because it really brings the art of CG and all its benefits to light. One thing I’ll add is that CG seems to be most effective when it’s not the main focus on screen.

      Thanks for sharing the link.

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11. I’m really looking forward to the next episode. I saw MI: ROGUE NATION yesterday, and absolutely loved it. Definitely my favorite in the franchise.

    I need me some MI franchise discussion goodness.

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12. Just wanted to let everybody know that our Mission: Impossible franchise review (Episode 149) is finally posted: https://moviepodcastweekly.com/movie-podcast-weekly-ep-149-mission-impossible-rogue-nation-2015-and-the-mission-impossible-franchise/
    J

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