SCREAM 4: All About Neve
If you’re wondering what horror tropes are left for Wes Craven, Kevin Williamson, and blonde TV starlets to skewer with the resurrected corpse of the SCREAM franchise, SCREAM 4 isn’t much help.
Episode 172 – This is the End and the Beginning / YOUR HIGHNESS / Why We Do The Film Talk
In what could be our last show Gareth and I discuss the new comedy YOUR HIGHNESS and ruminate on why film criticism matters as well as the reasons behind our desire to continue reviewing, investigating, mocking and praising cinema week after week.
Episode 171 – OF GODS AND MEN / AU HASARD BALTHAZAR
In what might quite possibly turn out to be our penultimate show we talk about Gareth’s film of the year so far: OF GODS AND MEN as well as one of the greats: AU HASARD BALTHAZAR.
JANE EYRE: Bride of Rochester
For a film about a singular meeting of minds, Cary Fukunaga’s JANE EYRE is kind of undistinguished. Now, the words remain delicious morsels straight from Charlotte Bronte’s novel, and the performances (Mia Wasikwoska, Michael Fassbender, Jamie Bell, and Judi Dench) embody three-dimensions like James Cameron never dreamed of.
Sacred Monsters – Bronson v. Statham
At the height of his mid-1970s cinematic celebrity, Charles Bronson was known in movie-mad France as “Le Sacre Monstre,” or “The Sacred Monster.” It’s a strange sentiment, but an appealing one. Bronson was the archetypal action hero of the 70s, but he couldn’t seem more atypical by 21st century standards. He had a face and [...]
Episode 170 – The Secrets of Pitching with Darris Hatch / The Nashville Film Festival / Erin Buckley on NDAPEWA
In today’s show Gareth and I talk with producer and manager Darris Hatch on the secrets of pitching and Erin Buckley stops by to discuss the child produced Namibian short NDAPEWA; all part of the 2011 Nashville Film Festival.
Episode 169 – The Nashville Film Festival / BUCK / An Interview with Director Cindy Meehl / THE CONSPIRATOR
In today’s show Gareth and I talk with Cindy Meehl, the director of the Sundance and Full Frame Audience Award Winning documentary BUCK as part of the 2011 Nashville Film Festival and muse slight on Robert Redford’s new historopic THE CONSPIRATOR.
MILDRED PIERCE: A Woman’s Picture
In the grand tradition of Ingmar Bergman and Rainer Werner Fassbinder comes Todd Haynes’ television miniseries MILDRED PIERCE, which seems like a gray area for The Film Talk but such is the modern age: the difference between Michael Curtiz’ MILDRED PIERCE and Todd Haynes’ is one of degree, not kind, and if cinephilia embraces Youtube [...]
Episode 168 – Nashville Film Festival / Ursula Lawrence – Writers Guild of America East / SUBMARINE
In today’s show Gareth and I talk with Writers Guild of America East Lead Strategic Organizer Ursula Lawrence, discuss the new coming of age laugher SUBMARINE, and touch lightly on THE SLEEPING BEAUTY, 13 ASSASSINS and UNCLE BOONME WHO CAN RECALL HIS PAST LIVES as part of the 2011 Nashville Film Festival.
Episode 167 – An Interview with Monte Hellman / ROAD TO NOWHERE
In this week’s show Gareth and I join director Monte Hellman to discuss his film ROAD TO NOWHERE as part of the 2011 Nashville Film Festival.
SUCKER PUNCH, CERTIFIED COPY & The Nashville Film Festival
After an exhausting week of a Disney World vacation and NOT riding the new Harry Potter ride at Universal Studios because the park closed one hour earlier than I expected, I’m back for quick reviews of SUCKER PUNCH, CERTIFIED COPY, and the 2011 Nashville Film Festival. The Belcourt’s game-changing series VISIONS OF THE SOUTH has [...]
CERTIFIED COPY: Je ne sais quoi
It might be imperial to claim Abbas Kiarostami’s best film is his first outside Iran, not in Farsi, and starring an international star—in other words, the one that’s most European—but I have no guilt, because in my universe it’s true: CERTIFIED COPY is the most intellectually and emotionally stirring film I’ve seen since INLAND EMPIRE
Episode 166 – HANNA / Sidney Lumet
In this week’s show Gareth and discuss the delightful, (for a film so consumed with violence), HANNA and mourn the passing of perhaps the greatest of U.S. directors Sidney Lumet.
Episode 165 – SOURCE CODE / Death of the Film Critic
In this week’s show Gareth and I discuss in some great detail the new Duncan Jones Sci-Fi Romance Actioner SOURCE CODE as well as mull over the possible Death of the Film Critic.
RED RIDING HOOD: Season of the Witch
2011 in general and the weekly viewing of films in particular have taught me a valuable lesson: there are many different kinds of terrible movies. THE EAGLE may be incompetently scripted, but it’s degrees of quality better than the immoral (THE LINCOLN LAWYER), the amoral (THE MECHANIC), and the thunderously boring (BATTLE: LOS ANGELES).
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.
Episode 164 – SUCKER PUNCH / Elizabeth Taylor / TOPSY-TURVY
In this week’s show Gareth and I discuss in some detail the new ‘video games as movie’ SUCKER PUNCH, the work of Elizabeth Taylor and one of Mike Leigh’s few period pieces TOPSY-TURVY.
OF GODS AND MEN: Putting the static in ecstatic
Can we please talk about the difference between contemplative and just slow? OF GODS AND MEN is the most recent César winner and France’s submission to the Oscars, beating Assayas’ CARLOS, Renais’ WILD GRASS, and most conspicuously Denis’ WHITE MATERIAL.
Episode 163 – BATTLE: LOS ANGELES / LIMITLESS / The iPhone Film Festival
Is BATTLE: LOS ANGELES the most important film of the year so far? Gareth and I think so and say why in this episode. Also discussed are the Bradley Cooper vehicle LIMITLESS and the new iPhone Film Festival.
HEARTBEATS: Don’t you want me, baby?
HEARTBEATS is like Godard directing the kind of mad love music video the ‘80s were rife with (“Don’t You Want Me,” “Every Breath You Take,” “There is a Light That Never Goes Out,” etc.) where the bouncy electronic pop doesn’t come close to obscuring the dark edge that underscores passionate love
Episode 162 – The Oscars / RANGO / THE ADJUSTMENT BUREAU
Here it is – Gareth and I discuss how we managed to endure this year’s Oscars, talk about the lovely RANGO, suggest you become a Social Media Intern for a new feature, cry at SONG SUNG BLUE and reveal a strange personal story with THE ADJUSTMENT BUREAU.
THE ADJUSTMENT BUREAU: Patriarchy Rules
When will people learn? Mystery is greater than resolution. Curiosity lured us from hulking mouth-breathers into torture rationalizers—but torture-rationalizers who went to the Moon! Answers just remind us that George Nolfi’s THE ADJUSTMENT BUREAU is a work of poorly planned screenwriting about half-forgotten ideas
JUSTIN BIEBER: NEVER SAY NEVER: Pinocchio
After a good three minutes of pulling my hair out trying not to have to write about UNKNOWN (about which Jett and Gareth have already covered the full spectrum of my faintly entertained response), THE MECHANIC (aka The Boor and the Bore), or—Gwyneth-willing—COUNTRY STRONG, I realized that the best reviewed 2011 wide release is a [...]
Episode 161: UNKNOWN / Glenn Kenny on SHUTTER ISLAND
Here it is – we investigate TAKEN 2, aka UNKNOWN, and special guest film critic Glenn Kenny talks about a film that had a profoundly personal effect on him: SHUTTER ISLAND.
