Show #98: 10 Reasons to Watch 'Paranormal Activity', Why Jett Changed His Mind About 'This is It' and Our 'What to Watch Halloween Guide'
In this week’s action-packed, adrenaline-fueled thrill-ride of an episode I give 10 Reasons why ‘Paranormal Activity’ is so good, Gareth and I delve into the Michael Jackson tribute pic ‘This is It’, (in which I change my mind mid-review!), ‘It’s a Mad Mad Mad Mad World’ gives us hope and we both give our Halloween [...]
Orson Welles' 'War of the Worlds' – Streaming Online Tonight!
Sure it’s a gimmick by the folks over at ‘Me and Orson Welles’ – but I’m a big fan of gimmicks, and Orson Welles. Streaming online, on the same date/time as the original broadcast, will be Orson Welle’s magnificent ‘War of the Worlds’: Orson Welle’s ‘War of the Worlds’ – Live 8PM Eastern, October 30th [...]
Marty Scorsese’s 11 Scariest Horror Films of All Time
“No live organism can continue for long to exist sanely under conditions of absolute reality; even larks and katydids are supposed, by some, to dream. Hill House, not sane, stood by itself against its hills, holding darkness within; it had stood for eighty years and might stand for eighty more.” Shirley Jackson, ‘The Haunting of [...]
Clint Eastwood's Moral Imagination and Why Glenn Beck Should Read More Speeches
It’s that time of year again – you know, when Clint Eastwood releases a trailer for a movie that looks fascinating and completely different from the last thing he did, and your triple reactions run something like this: 1: Hmmm, Clint’s got a movie coming out – didn’t we just see ‘Gran Torino’ five minutes [...]
What to Watch this Halloween
Halloween’s soon upon us Dear Listeners, so it is incumbent upon me to make recommendations for that most scary and spooktacular of nights! First off – let’s say you’re staying in and can’t be bothered with all the boisterous bewitching out there. Then you have no choice but to turn off the lights and watch [...]
Is it Wrong to be too Scared to See Paranormal Activity?
So I was up early this morning having slept restlessly after watching the end of ‘Battlestar Galactica’ last night (no spoilers – suffice it to say that fans of Richard Dawkins and Thomas Merton may find themselves both satisfied; I certainly was). Cylons colonised my repose (for some reason the early models, one of whose [...]
TFT 97 – A Serious Man / Amelia / On Nostalgia / The Room
In this week’s action-packed, adrenaline-fueled thrill-ride of an episode Gareth and I review what I think is the Coen Brother’s best film: ‘A Serious Man’; ‘Amelia’ – a pic with the all the excitement of small town cattle auction, the Escapism Film Festival in Durham and the astonishing ‘The Room’; (special thanks to DJ Mark [...]
The Teeth of Gilgamesh
It was another special edition at TFT Central this afternoon when Jett had his first experience of ‘Jaws’, and I saw it in a cinema for the first time, having grown up afraid of swimming due to repeated pan-and-scan broadcasts on probably all four of the terrestrial channels granted me in childhood, but never having [...]
'The Room' – Screening at Midnight this Friday and Saturday in Nashville – Is it Right to Laugh at Others Dreams?
Ok, so I couldn’t wait to see ‘The Room’ tonight at The Belcourt right? This bad film to end all bad films is supposed to be a riot, with Midnight audiences across the Country and Europe erupting in peals of laughter at its shoddy writing, one-dimensional acting, multiple plot strands that go nowhere and just [...]
Mental Illness and the Movies
Just a brief post from me as I’m on my way to Nashville to, among other things, meet up with the maestro for a screening of recent cult film ‘The Room’ at the glorious Belcourt Theatre. Meantime, I’d like to recommend the gutsy article at the Huffington Post from Glenn Close on the cinematic portrayal [...]
For Tarkovsky Fans
The genuinely fascinating documentary ‘Meeting Andrei Tarkovsky’ by friend of TFT Dmitry Trakovsky (no relation, except in the metaphysical sense) has some Southern California screenings this weekend. Jett & I loved the film, and it should look great on the big screen. There’s a bonus in that Dmitry will be present to meet you and [...]
Cinema is Collapsing? So What Are You Gonna Do About It?
(My thoughts on the below were cross-posted at Current – to read Current readers responses click here) Don’t know about you but I was excited to hear that Francis Ford Coppola thinks cinema is collapsing: “The cinema as we know it is falling apart,” says Francis Ford Coppola. “It’s a period of incredible change,” says [...]
Monsoon Wedding: 'There's a temple right in the middle of the driveway'
The good folks at the Criterion Collection have set a new standard for themselves with their edition of Mira Nair’s 2001 ‘Monsoon Wedding’, out today, and, if it wasn’t for the fact that they’re giving us ‘Wings of Desire’ in a couple of weeks, it would be my choice for simply the best DVD release [...]
5 Things You Should Do if You Want Your Movie to Last
This post was originally written by us for Filmmaker Magazine. You can see the original post here: Five Things You Should Do if You Want Your Movie to Last. For an ‘additional thing’ to make your film last go this week’s podcast: TFT 96 – Where the Wild Things Are / 5 Ways to Make [...]
Escapism Preview #4: Flash Gordon, The Goonies, Return to Oz, Back to the Future
The Queen of an Imaginary Land Yesterday was fantastic, a genuine surprise – ‘Superman’ is as close to a perfect version of its particular story as you could imagine; ‘The Black Hole’ looks astonishing and sounds awful – who knows what they were trying to do, but one can certainly imagine Disney not being all [...]
'The Film Talk' Named Best Film Podcast of 2009 by the Nashville Scene
Special thanks to the fine folks at the ‘Nashville Scene’ who’ve just named us Best Film Podcast of 2009! Of course with great accolades come great responsibilities so Gareth and I will do our best to behave in a more adult and mature fashion from now on. Wish us luck. Here’s what Scene Editor and [...]
TFT 96 – Where the Wild Things Are / 5 Ways to Make Your Film Better / Let's Get Lost
In this week’s episode Gareth and I review ‘Where the Wild Things Are’, in association with Filmmaker Magazine we list Five Ways to Make Your Film Better and in a TFT first we have a listener, Juan Pablo Colon, help us review the documentary ‘Let’s Get Lost’: Get TFT delivered weekly via iTunes Subscribe to [...]
Escapism Preview #3: It's a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World
I haven’t seen ‘It’s a Mad Mad Mad Mad World’, because when it would show up on holiday TV schedules I was usually playing with my new toys or trying to find batteries for them, so I never had three unbroken hours. But today, Jett and I are going to give our Saturday afternoon over [...]
Escapism Preview #2: Dr Strangelove, Superman, The Black Hole, Planet of the Apes
The Escapism Festival begins tonight and runs til late on Sunday evening – Jett and I are ensconced and ready for the show. One sentence previews follow: hope you’ll be with us in spirit if not body; and we’ll podcast next week about whether or not the experience renewed Jett’s love of the movies, or [...]
'Big Fan' – Starting this Friday at The Belcourt
In association with Filmmaker Magazine next Monday’s Podcast spends some time discussing the merits of collaboration in cinema. I bring this up because the podcast uses as an example ‘Big Fan’; the first film directed by Robert D. Siegel, (screenwriter of ‘The Wrestler’), which is screening at The Belcourt from this Friday: Big Fan Tickets [...]
Escapism Festival Preview #1: The Last Unicorn
In preparation for this weekend’s Escapism Film Festival, I’ve been watching a film I didn’t see on its first release – 1982′s ‘The Last Unicorn‘. I remember it being released, but even at 7 years old, I was sure I knew what kind of movies were for girls (having experienced ‘Annie‘ at the Savoy Cinema [...]
'I'm Up to My Neck in Being an American, whether I Like it or Not'
Wallace Shawn – you know, Wallace Shawn, man of wit and letters, agreeable suppers with theatre directors, and potentially poisoned cups of mead, has some things to say about life. Haymarket Books have gathered his elegant essays in a book (remarkably enough it’s titled ‘Essays‘) which turns out to be one of the wisest and [...]
The Michael Mann Movie before There Was A Michael Mann: 'The Friends of Eddie Coyle'
Cris-crossing two-timing cops and robbers. Worn out old pros. Finks, snitches, the snitch and the snitchee. Crime capers so detailed, so clear and framed so fantastic they’re a how-to manual for those on the slippery slope. ‘The Friends of Eddie Coyle’ is a Michael Mann film before there was a Michael Mann. It’s a 70′s [...]
Long Thought Lost Hour Long Interview with Alfred Hitchcock
Above – a long thought lost hour long interview with the master, Alfred Hitchcock, (part 1 of 6); [via Metafilter].
