THE HELP: Based on the Novel The Help by Uncle Remus
To call THE HELP caricature insults Aunt Jemima, but it’s difficult to define precisely how this grotesque sideshow operates without associating it with camp, melodrama, slapstick, Southern Gothic, and other broadly emotional modes
HARRY POTTER & THE DEATHLY HALLOWS 2: Childish Things
As half-films go, David Yates’ HARRY POTTER AND THE DEATHLY HALLOWS PART 2, FILM 8: ABBOTT & COSTELLO MEET VOLDEMORT lurches from scene to setpiece like it’s Daniel Radcliffe’s awkwardly effortful performance.
THE LINCOLN LAWYER: In Cold Blood
I felt dirtier walking out of Brad Furman’s THE LINCOLN LAWYER than its idol THE LONG GOODBYE, and not just because all that hero worship makes us into peeping toms.
ECCENTRICITIES OF A BLONDE-HAIRED GIRL
It’s right there in the title. No, not the “BLONDE-HAIRED GIRL” part, that object of beauty framed in her window like an untouchable museum piece. The detractors don’t seem to notice anything beyond this crumbling skeleton of a Victorian romance, inspired as it is by realist writer Eca de Queiroz, but Manoel de Oliveira’s 2009 film [...]
TRUE GRIT: City of Mann
Comparing the Coen Brothers’ latest western, the chase film TRUE GRIT, to its predecessor, the camp classic (double entendre!) that finally won John Wayne his Oscar, is a triflin’ quarrel. Never mind that the original TRUE GRIT is dated by its tomboys with Mia Farrow voice, comic mugging accompanied by jaunty woodwinds, and an overall [...]
HARRY POTTER AND THE PRISONER OF AZKABAN
I’m not going to inspire any fainting spells by saying HARRY POTTER AND THE PRISONER OF AZKABAN is the best film in the franchise. I might when I say that the other six are barely watchable. Why is the Alfonso Cuarón entry so much better? Glad you asked.
TFT 135 – THE LAST AIRBENDER / THE KILLER INSIDE ME
TFT 135 – THE LAST AIRBENDER / THE KILLER INSIDE ME – – – TFT 135 running time: 48 minutes 41 seconds – 23.5mb mp3 THE LAST AIRBENDER starts at 2 minutes 55 seconds ASK THE FILM TALK starts at 26:18 THE KILLER INSIDE ME starts at 32:58 – – – HELP JETT FIND WORK [...]
TFT 111 – CRAZY HEART / EDGE OF DARKNESS [1985 and 2010 Versions] / Art by Chance
![TFT 111 - CRAZY HEART / EDGE OF DARKNESS [1985 and 2010 Versions] / Art by Chance](http://thefilmtalk.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/02/crazy-heart-jeff-bridges-podcast-200x200.jpg)
TFT 111 – CRAZY HEART / EDGE OF DARKNESS [1985 and 2010 Versions] / Art by Chance – – – DISCUSSED IN THIS EPISODE: ART BY CHANCE / EDGE OF DARKNESS [1985] / EDGE OF DARKNESS [2010] / CRAZY HEART
TFT 110 – RED RIDING Scriptwriter Tony Grisoni Interviewed / FISH TANK
TFT 110 – RED RIDING Scriptwriter Tony Grisoni Interviewed / FISH TANK – – – FISH TANKS OPENS AT THE BELCOURT IN NASHVILLE FEBRUARY 12TH – – – DISCUSSED IN THIS EPISODE: FISH TANK / RED RIDING
The 10 Most Underrated Films of the Decade
There’s an infinite amount of content out there Dear Reader – too many movies to possibly see – so how do ya find the good ones? Your gut feeling, your friends, reviewers you trust – these folks can steer you. But sometimes your gut is wrong, your friends wouldn’t know a Ti West film from [...]
TFT 100 – An Interview with Ben Foster on 'The Messenger' / 'The Box' / Our Favourite Films of the Past 100 Episodes
[I'll be introducing 'The Messenger' at its 7:30 Premiere this Friday here in Nashville at The Belcourt Theatre] In this week’s action-packed, adrenaline-fueled thrill-ride of an episode Gareth and I talk with actor Ben Foster about his experience of making the extraordinary new film The Messenger’, why he wants listeners to write a romantic comedy [...]
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 [...]
Penelope Cruz was Robbed. By Penelope Cruz.
Through the magic of Netflix Watch Instantly – which seems to be delivering much better quality image than it used to – tonight I saw one of the films I had been eager to catch last year but missed due to unhelpful film distribution patterns/other commitments/laziness. ‘Elegy’, a film based on a Philip Roth story, [...]
'Star Trek' Live on Stage
As discussed in these comments TFT rarely critiques television shows. I would make an exception though for the original ‘Star Trek’ series – if only as an excuse to publicise the wonderful video above, (via Metafilter). What a delight – would loved to have been there!
'Watchmen' Re-visited
Regular listeners will already know that my genial co-host and I didn’t much care for ‘Watchmen’. Jett, as a long term fan of costumed avengers felt it missed the point, to say the least; I wasn’t sure. I saw it again the other night in the hope that my thoughts might clarify themselves. So, for [...]
Why Not Re-Hab Films Like We Do Houses?
The area of East Nashville I live in is in turnaround. Decrepit old houses are being done up. Young couples are moving in. Which got to me to thinking. There’s plenty of crappy movies out there. Movies that, for whatever reason, poor script, ineffectual acting, befuddled direction, are just not worth watching. But there’s a [...]
The Film Talk – Part 52 – Watchmen
Films Reviewed This Week: Watchmen Get TFT delivered weekly via iTunes Subscribe to our podcast Subscribe to our blog Follow us on Twitter
Just Back from 'Watchmen' – The Theatre was Empty
Has everyone who is going to see ‘Watchmen’ seen it already? After all the websites, Twitter chatter, blogs, etc. me and my film-going companions this afternoon were shocked to find the matinee showing of ‘Watchmen’ empty, only one day after being released. So is all the hype, all the fan-boy excitement just an example of [...]
An Experiment in (not) Reading a Film
I’m a writer. That’s the kind of gambit that gets people in trouble – Rip Torn in ‘Wonder Boys’ comes to mind, the appellation apparently being evoked as the beginning and end of his vocation: he seems to believe that ‘being’ a writer is more important than ever actually writing anything. So I know I [...]
'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 [...]
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 [...]
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 [...]
The Film Talk – Part 49 – Revolutionary Road and The Wrestler
Films Reviewed This Week: Revolutionary Road / The Wrestler Plus we continue our DVD Commentary Competition
Is 'Revolutionary Road' Totally Unrepresentative, Disingenuous and Easy for Them to Say?
Jett and I discuss ‘Revolutionary Road’ on the next episode of TFT – and it perhaps should go without saying that we have responded differently. The film’s getting a lot of coverage for what some see as its piercing evaluation of US suburban life in the immediate post-war period; the suggestion being that conformity is [...]
