• watching V for Vendetta on a Spanish-language cable channel. better than watching Telemundo. almost. #
• am hoping to find a wifi connection at the beach to record our “Dark Knight” show #

• @hiddenloop Wall-E is fantastic - can’t recommend it highly enough! #

• Replying to comments on the TFT site while stranded here at the Ft. Lauderdale airport on my way to a Central American Isthmus #

• @tinythoughts nice try - but that’s not it! (re: the influences on the dark knight) #
• @goodonpaper Yep, we just recorded the Wall-E show and let me tell you there wasn’t a dry eye in the house! #
• @ibmobl Yep, it’s killin’ the good Dr. that he has to wait to see the Dark Knight. #
• @ibmobl good guess - but heath ledger is basing his performance on someone else…it’s uncanny! #
• @ibmobl that’s why i can’t wait to hear what he has to say about the film! #
• just upload Part 28 of The Film Talk - Journey to the Center of Hellboy! http://tinyurl.com/5qm2tu #
• @icedcoffee i understand TFT is good while doing the dishes or hoovering! #

• off to see the 9am showing of Batman at the local IMax theatrer #
• just got back from dark knight - #
• writing up the notes for this week’s recording session: Chapter 29 - Wall E #
• @digmo don’t want to give spoilers/after you see it ask yourself - who is the real hero in the film and who’s the star?answer is not obvious #
• @tinythoughts have 2 wait to record batman next week=gareth hasn’t seen it!noticed 2 big things that no one else has mentioned so am excited #
• @ibmobl yes…but who was heath ledger impersonating? will reveal in chapter 30! #
• @ibmobl i realized within the first couple o min - i couldn’t believe it - a dead-on impersonation #

• Still watching Eyes Wide Shut - a film w/novelistic depth. #
• still still still watching eyes wide shut - the show is gonna end up being 10 hours long! #
• watching generation kill…not bad #
• Getting ready to record the TFT ‘Eyes Wide Shut’ Appreciation Show #
• @icedcoffee EWS is a neglected masterpiece - guess ya gotta listen to find out why! #
• recorded the Eyes Wide Shut show - it’ll be 90minutes long! #
• limbering up to edit TFT Part 28 - Journey to the Center of Hellboy! #
• installing the twitter on facebook - ideally i’d like to show up in the TFT facebook group! #

• about to watch Le Samourai! #
• http://tinyurl.com/5kkpft #
• @tinythoughts ouch! #
• @davedelaney hmmm…plurk. #
• @tinythoughts be careful! #
• gettin ready to watch rest of Le Samourai #
• starting to watch ‘Eyes Wide Shut’ for a TFT Kubrick Appreciation Special #
• @talktennessee sorry to hear that! #
• @christopholies i miss chattanooga too - got to visit again someday! #
• @evilrooster have been waiting on my Mac to arrive for months (stuck in some shipping container somewhere! #

• writing the notes for this week’s show: Journey into the Center of Hellboy! #
• just recorded chapter 28 #

‘the savages’ has a joke for a title, in that it implies we haven’t progressed much as a race since the prehistoric times when throwing bones in the air was the height of creativity, or even more recently, when the european medieval homicide rate was 50% in some places (you had a one in two chance of being murdered by someone you knew in the days of the black plague, the early inquisition, and orlando bloom’s inter-faith dialogue). ‘the savages’ is about siblings trying to care for the elderly father who didn’t treat them well, and whom they don’t like very much. in that sense, it is about living and dying, and, in the context of contemporary medical culture - which can keep people alive far longer than ever before, leading to the inevitable fact that one day, someone is going to have pull the plug. savage indeed. or at least potentially so.

there are dozens of movies about ‘dying well’ - from ’stepmom’ to ‘terms of endearment’; and even though these have a reputation for over-egging the sentimentality, i don’t mind them that much. we all have to deal with the death of loved ones; this is hard enough without taking away the comfort that a ’soft’ movie might bring to the bereaved. though, of course, in these movies debra winger and susan sarandon don’t exactly die like we do in real life.

‘the savages’ wants to present something more honest; and in philip seymour hoffman and laura linney’s brother and sister pair, and most especially philip bosco’s father, portrays a painful little play. these are characters with whom you sympathise, rather than like. they make bad decisions. they are self-centered. they have a little bit of heart. it feels like real life.

no magic solutions present themselves; but facing the death of a parent does in some sense help the children grow up, if only a little. and the movie ends with a motif that some may find grating, but i think is one of the most honestly life-affirming images in the movies.

Hey Dear Listener it’s a ‘Bite-Sized’ episode of the Show!

Film Reviewed This Week: Illegal, Ghostbusters

Other Topics of Interest: Battlestar Galactica, Michael Keaton in White Noise and Multiplicity, Riker getting hit with a Poison Dart, Jett’s Role in Spy Game and Color of Money used in a Countdown Test.

* The Film Talk - Part 25 - Illegal Ghostbusters! (Click to Play, Right-Click to Download)
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