14 thoughts on “Movie Podcast Weekly Ep. 239: Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2 (2017) and Blood on the Mountain (2017) and The Discovery (2017) and Summer Movie Preview 2017”

1. I watched Arsenic and Old Lace for the first time last month and really enjoyed it. I didn’t even know it was a halloween movie which was a bonus. Thanks to Jay, I now understand the references to Boris Karloff. But, a 6? I’d say it’s more like an 8.

   Plus, I watched a few more movies this past month that Jason recommended…

   The Real Miyagi was a great watch for fans of the Karate Kid and I wouldn’t have known about it without Jay’s mini review.

   I finally got around to watching Gutterballs which Jay probably mentioned on horror movie podcast and I may one of the few who actually sought it out. Quite enjoyable, enough said.

   Lastly, I watched Jay’s favorite movie ever, The Village, which I really liked. The look of this film was great and the monsters looked amazing. If The Village existed in real life, I would vacation there. I’d probably give it a 7.5.

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2. I loved John Carter. I’m not super familiar with the source material so I might have been better off because of it. I think it got a bad rap from the terrible marketing of it.

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3. So did Andy actually forget his anniversary altogether? Did he think he’d covered all the bases with a long day of festivities and retire to Podcast Central expecting to be undisturbed for a couple of hours while Shawn gratefully went to bed early? Was the whole thing a cheeky little nugget of improvised theater because Andy wanted to get out of doing the show? Is Andy even married? Has he just been making up his wife and children all along? (Occasionally hiring child actors to give pretend reviews on the podcast?) So many questions that will never be answered, since Andy never reads the comments. Or his e-mail, apparently: Otherwise, he would know that, way back when Andy’s Unseemly [Something or Other] was a thing on the show, I e-mailed him to suggest a couple of movies to be watched for his segment. As did at least a handful of other listeners, I would imagine. So as to the bit about him never getting any e-mail from listeners, that is, as Jay would say, “Incorrect, sir.”

   My 12-year-old daughter and I have been watching Star Trek together on Netflix since last summer. We just hit the next-to-last episode of the entire original series last night. She has loved it from the start, and has never really minded the cheesy effects. For her, it’s all about the characters. Of course, maybe Netflix is streaming the remastered version with the digitally upgraded special effects. I guess I don’t know whether her reaction supports Karl’s logic or refutes it. 🙂

   Interesting discussion of John Carter. I haven’t seen it since the theatrical release, but I’m probably closest to Jay, though maybe leaning a bit more toward Karl than in the direction of Ry. It didn’t strike me as being the hot garbage that Ry seems to think it is, but I also couldn’t roll with it to nearly the extent that Karl does. (More of my thoughts: http://bit.ly/JCofMars)

   Love Ry’s idea for the Casties. There shouldn’t be a Casty (or an Andy, or whatever) for Best Picture, though. That should continue to be the BMOTY.

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4. Great show as usual. I can’t help thinking that the latest Star Wars films will never live up to your expectations, as they are missing the most important factor – nostalgia…
   Admittedly the prequalls were disasterous – but for me, the recent movies have recaptured my love of the Franchise. On a separate point – I just wanted to back Jay up from a few months back, Logan is still my film of 2017 – also my favourite Marvel film to date (although Guardians comes pretty close). Cheers Marcus

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5. Also, I think you guys need to get in touch with your sensitive side – what you got against crying! Sure Clint Eastwood didn’t cry in the early days – but I think that says more about the type of movies he was making… On the subject of crying, did you guys ever review A Monster Calls? I’ve literally never cried so much – superb film.

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6. Oddly, the Asylum version of Prncess of Mars was a much better adaptation of the source material. I see very little that connects John Carter to the original novels, so it ultimately failed to live up to my expectations. The problem is that themes and moments from the Carter series have already been mined for many other movies and IP”s sobasnti seemna ripoff if repeated in a real adaptation of the material.

   Arsenic and Old Lace is an old favorite of mine. It’s 9 out if 10, but I also enjoy plays what with writing them and all that. The role of Dr. Einstein has been a bucket list role for me since I was a kid.

   Mandy Pandy Tandy Randy foo foo can make fun of MY name all he wants, we all know the truth. He’s secretly a fan of every Marvel movie and was really the be dragging poor Jay to see F8 of the furious.

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7. The Discovery is definitely worth watching, and as Ryan says, the premise is great and brings up some very interesting questions. As a film, though, it starts really strong but doesn’t quite live up to that start. Wants to be an Inception/Interstellar type of thing, in terms of where it goes with the story, but I never bought it at that level. I think I gave it a 6.5.

   I do have fun with Guy Ritchie films (Man from UNCLE was surprisingly great), and will probably catch the new King Arthur from Redbox, eventually. But hoo boy, Excalibur is amazing. In my top 5 films of all time. Incredible cinematography and score, a deep and epic and dark feel (Game of Thrones long before Game of Thrones), and some outstanding performances (esp. Nicol Williamson as Merlin). 10/10

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   • Correction. I had given The Discovery a 7.5, which feels more apt. It is worth a look, for sure, though I’m curious if others of you will come down closer to me (or lower) or to Ryan at a 10.

     One thing I had mentioned before is that an aspect of this movie reminded me of one of my favorite films from way back, called Brainstorm, from 1983. Anybody see that? It starred Christopher Walken and Natalie Wood (her last movie) and was about a guy who discovers a way to record people’s inner experiences in a way that others can play back and experience themselves, and that ends up including someone’s death. It’s been probably 25-30 years since I’ve seen it, so I don’t know if it holds up that well, but boy did I love it at the time, and watched it probably 9-10 times on VHS.

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8. You guys into Twin Peaks at all? J, if you never watched it, I think you would especially like the (somewhat standalone) film, Fire Walk With Me, as a solid horror film. It doesn’t have the best reputation (it didn’t have some of the humor and tone of the TV series), but I think it’s an excellent portrayal of both a killer and a victim, and is at times powerful and moving. (I’ll give it an 8.5.)

   The “Twin Peaks return” series on Showtime debuted the other day and I saw the premiere last night. I had meant to rewatch the series and the movie this past year but only got a couple episodes in. But it didn’t matter too much. Yes, this new series calls back some things, and it would be very helpful to rewatch if you can, or at least get a reminder about what happened (one aspect involving a doppelganger was completely lost on me until I read a review later that reminded me that the season two finale had an important connection for that), but it also seems to stand pretty well on its own.

   A few of the interactions and dialogue exchanges felt a little clunky, and as expected some things are just inscrutable (it is David Lynch, after all). One moment involving a certain former character (meaning that in more ways than one) in the Black Lodge was both horrific and laughable in the way it looked and played out. In any other hands I’d have thought that unintentional, but probably not.

   The small town humorous character stuff was really nice. Today, I think of that as being Fargo-esque, but of course Lynch was doing that before the Coens.

   This new series seems more focused on horror and the supernatural, which I think is good. There is a side story involving a school principal and his wife that plays out in a beautifully twisted way, and there is a mysterious glass box being studied in a secure room, which is probably a meta commentary on television, but also a wonderfully creepy element of its own.

   Felt like he stretched about 1:30 of material into the two hours of the premiere, but that fits with all of these new anthology series, where if they’re 10 episodes they probably would have been better in 8, and so forth. Still, this type of format seems perfect for Lynch and this material.

   If you’ve never seen Twin Peaks before, eh, I can’t really recommend it (meaning any of it). I mean, I love it, and many do, and you might, but it’s also just odd and even annoying in some ways. It sure isn’t for everyone. But if you are already into it, then I think you will probably appreciate this new revival. Brings back what was always great about it, but also feels fresh.

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   • Btw, as of next Tuesday, these shows will all be running: Fargo, Better Call Saul, The Leftovers, Twin Peaks, House of Cards. I’m kind of glad I have little or no interest in the films coming out lately. (Got my Wonder Woman ticket, though!)

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     • I agree, Eric. I think we are in the New Golden Age of Television. There is just SO MUCH and SO MUCH of it is GOOD!! Movies seem like re-gurgitated pap for the most part. Nothing new to see in theaters, yet our at-home queues are piling up!

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       • Right?! Along with the shows I mentioned, there are 3-4 others I can think of that people are raving about. Too much, really. And I’m someone who has never seen The Wire or The Sopranos, and barely any Mad Men. My time could easily be consumed catching up on great things I’ve missed.

         But there’s a quote I’ve heard attributed to Frank Zappa (could have been Einstein or Lincoln, though), that goes, “As long as you’re absorbed with something, you’re not missing anything.” I try to remember that, and just be glad to be able to catch and appreciate what I can, while I can.

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9. Answer; Why is one adorably named side character with it’s own storyline, awkward body movements and quirky language universally panned (Jar-Jar Binks) and another dances into our hearts (Groot)?

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10. Great show! I listened to Filmspotting podcast after I listened to this episode and they actually covered The Discovery so I thought I’d listen to that episode since I was interested from this podcast already. Their thoughts to be short were that it was ambitious but Jason Segel was miscast in his role. They compared it to The Lobster and thought if you replaced Jason with Colin in The Discovery the film would be much better, they also said imagined it with Fassbender instead also. They were trying not to be harsh but said that it felt like one of the most miscast roles they could remember I thought going off of memory.

    I know I mentioned it before and never had the time to revisit older posts to see if someone commented but The OA is about the after life discovery on Netflix as well.

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