Last Day for Our DVD Commentary Competition!
Last day for the DVD Commentary Compeition folks!: DVD Commentary Competition If you want to see your favorite U.S. film have a pithy, entertaining commentary by yours truly and Dr. Gareth Higgins then Contact us before midnight Central time!
'Two Lovers' – A Young Man Who Would Rather Care for Someone Else Than Be Cared For
Two Lovers / Featuring Joaquin Phoenix – Vinessa Shaw – Gwyenth Paltrow – Isabella Rossellini – Moni Moshonov / Directed by James Gray (warning: possible spoilers) What a wonderful movie. Computerised recommendation systems, (such as those employed by Netflix), encounter difficulty with using people’s ‘star ratings’ as accurate data due to humans tendency to reward [...]
It's Official – 'Watchmen' to be Remade for 2012
A friend in the business sent me this framegrab from a Warner Brother’s Press Release site, (click on the image for larger version), – looks like it accidentally went live a week early. As to the content…well…I’m not surprised. – – – UPDATE: Our 40 minute podcast analysis on the failure of ‘Watchmen’ is now [...]
I'm Francis Coppola and I Welcome You – Francis Ford Coppola introduces "Tetro"
I find the above video so enduring. The visionary director, who decades ago prophesied ‘electronic cinema’, putters around his office, holding what I imagine to be a Macbook Air, and speaks directly to you. Gone is the grandiosity, the posturing, the suffocating ambition. Just a guy. Talkin’ on YouTube about his project. Who would have [...]
Total Recall Being Remade
As I think has been mentioned on the Podcast, I’ve completely changed my mind about film remakes. While it used to incense me, (a remake of Dawn of the Dead? With all the political content stripped out? Thanks Guys), I now embrace them. It’s a sign of healthiness – the more films get remade the [...]
Crossing Over
So, there’s the movie called ‘Crossing Over’ that, according to the imdb is being released this Friday. It’s directed by Wayne Kramer, the came-out-of-nowhere director of the wonderful smart, sexy and funny Vegas drama ‘The Cooler’; it stars Sean Penn and Harrison Ford and Ashley Judd and Ray Liotta. Its pedigree would lead you to [...]
The Film Talk – Part 51 – The Oscars
Films Reviewed This Week: Jett and Gareth’s Live Commentary from the Belcourt Theatre Oscar Night America Benefit Plus we continue our DVD Commentary Competition Get TFT delivered weekly via iTunes Subscribe to our podcast Subscribe to our blog Follow us on Twitter – – – (Photo above from Gareth Higgins blogging at the Belcourt before [...]
Great Night at the Belcourt Theatre Oscar Benefit
Special thanks to everyone at the Belcourt Theatre who helped us podcast, live blog and Twitter from last night’s Oscar Night America Benefit: ‘The Film Talk’ to Podcast from Belcourt Oscar Party! Gareth and I had a great time – the edited highlights of the our Oscar commentary will be live on the site this [...]
We Live Blogged to the Bitter End…
Here for your viewing pleasure, Dear Listener: the full and unexpurgated TFT Live Blog from the Academy Awards: 3.49pm: (Oscar Time): Gentlemen, Your Vehicles Please: Let the Live Blogging Commence! Some folks like turning up early to the Kodak – and if you’ve ever tried to drive in LA in the week preceding the Oscars [...]
Predicted Winners
Tonight sees TFT’s first live coverage of the Oscars – we’ll be blogging as the show continues; and the podcast will be up in a day or two – but for now, we’ll cast our lot with some predictions: Who’ll Win vs. Who We Like Best Picture Slumdog, of course will win; Gareth liked ‘Milk’ [...]
TFT at the Oscars 2009: The Excitement Mounts
Well, dear listener, the time is almost now – your genial TFT co-hosts are be-suited and be-seated and be-truffled (a new verb to describe the feeling when you’ve just sipped a soup you would only be served at an Academy Awards party; in our case, it came from Panera Bread in downtown Nashville). You may [...]
If Danny Boyle Wins for Slumdog Millionaire, Should Loveleen Tandan Get an Oscar as Well?
So I get up this morning, shuffle around in my robe, take the dog out, pour myself a cup of coffee, fire up the laptop to finish the Oscar Benefit script and peruse the Tubes for film news. And what do I find? That ‘Slumdog Millionaire’ is actually co-directed by a woman named Loveleen Tandan: [...]
The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus
Look at this astonishing Korean poster for the upcoming Terry Gilliam film ‘The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus’. You have to ask yourselves, what if Terry had made ‘Watchmen’, as was in the cards years ago, instead of Zack Synder? What would Gilliam have done with it? We know he can produce astonishing visuals for a [...]
Gene Siskel – Gone These 10 Years Now
Via The Screengrab comes this lovely reminiscence by Roger Ebert of his foil, and partner of many years, Gene Siskel, who passed away, this day, 10 years ago: Remembering Gene Growing up I watched Sneak Previews religiously; I loved the chemistry between Gene and co-host Roger and I always wished the show was longer – [...]
Podcasting from the Belcourt Oscar Benefit this Sunday!
Just a quick reminder that Prof. Dr. Higgins and I will be podcasting from the Oscar Night America Benefit at the Belcourt Theatre this Sunday: ‘The Film Talk’ to Podcast from Belcourt Oscar Party! We hope to see ya there – and if you can’t make it we’ll be releasing the highlights of the show [...]
A Modest Proposal: Watchmen Should Never Be Released / Destroy the Negative
Perhaps, the most interesting thing about the upcoming film ‘Watchmen’, (based on the graphic novel of the same name), are the ancillary promotional activities for it. Fanboys throughout the Tubes have been slavishly following every release of teaser trailers/teaser posters/actual posters/action figures/behind the scenes puff pieces/fanboy art/production design leaks/supplemental features, etc. This drip, drip, drip, [...]
‘Taken’ aka "We used to outsource these things"
Taken / Featuring Liam Neeson / Directed by Pierre Morel / Produced By Luc Besson (warning, this review contains spoilers for ‘Taken’ and ‘Atanarjuat’) Look at the man above. He is alone and miserable. Look at him below. Two Chinese take-out cartons. You only see this in movies. This film does not waste time straining [...]
How Will the Oscars Be Re-Invented? Gary Cooper Shows One Way Forward
Via dana comes this lovely bit of Academy Award history: Audrey Hepburn winning an Oscar® for “Roman Holiday” While I appreciate the youthful elegance of Audrey Hepburn in the clip, what interests me more is the ‘remote’ segment with Gary Cooper somewhere in ‘old-time-hollwoody-mehico’. As talked about in this post: What the Oscars are Planning [...]
Nate Silver's Oscar Predictions
Nate Silver, the sports and politics statistics genius behind FiveThirtyEight has gone all Oscar on us: Oscar Predictions You Can Bet On! I think he’s spot on, except for the Best Supporting Actress Award. I just can’t believe that the Academy is going to award that little man to Benjamin Button’s Taraji P. Henson, (who [...]
‘The People vs. George Lucas’ and Why I Find the ‘Star Wars’ Phenomena Profoundly Depressing
‘The People vs George Lucas’ trailer is now online, (see below); watching it left me profoundly depressed. Why? This dark mood was triggered by a comment someone makes at the start of the trailer: “George Lucas…unlocked a generation’s imagination.” The truth is George Lucas did precisely the opposite. He locked up a generations imagination. Watching [...]
William H. Macy's Hair
Via Screencrave, have just seen a trailer for the new film ‘Bart Got a Room’, (see trailer below – warning, for those who are sensitive to incorrect aspect ratios = this is especially bad – it’s like hearing an instrument out of tune – but not out of tune enough to be interesting). The film [...]
Un/deserving Oscars
This is a simple post, with a simple question. I spent a few minutes earlier today looking at the titles of films that were nominated for Best Picture since 2000. I only found five that I wanted to see again. Five out of forty-five films. So, here’s the question: Which of the films that were [...]
Inspector Clouseau
Look at the image above, the DVD menu screen for Inspector Clouseau, with Alan Arkin as the eponymous detective. I can only refer to it as anti-funny. If I was in a good mood, laughing; this pic would shut me right down. You know when Professor Dr. Gareth Higgins suggested we watch the Pink Panther [...]
The Film Talk – Part 50 – The Pink Panther Films, All of Them
Films Reviewed This Week: The Pink Panther, A Shot in the Dark, Inspector Clouseau,The Return of the Pink Panther, The Pink Panther Strikes Again, Revenge of the Pink Panther, Trail of the Pink Panther, Curse of the Pink Panther, Son of the Pink Panther, The Pink Panther, The Pink Panther 2 Plus we continue our [...]
