And the Winner Should Have Been...

This time it's the back half of a pair of episodes on Kurosawa. As ever, we're talking about the films with the assumption that you'll have seen them, so beware the fearsome SPOILER. Mark picked the movies for Part I and Bob has picked the films for Part II. We also talk a little aboutShane and A Fistful of Dollars. Enjoy!

00:10 Intro to Part 2
07:37 Yojimbo
10:36 A Fistful of Dollars
11:12 Accounts vary about exactly how much Kurosawa received, but he did win his lawsuit
14:41 "Gamblers" as code for "criminal"
16:14 Toshiro Mifune
18:05 Social commentary?
21:01 Spoilers for Shane
22:11 Seven Samurai vs Yojimbo
25:35 The shameless cribbing of Sergio Leone
27:10 Not knowing the history
28:12 High and Low
32:07 The second half is a second movie
33:55 Mifune and Nakadai
36:01 The villain
43:14 Takashi Shimura
43:46 Kagemusha
46:34 Solid casting/makeup
47:41 The accuracy/truthfulness of the story
49:57 Surrealism; possession?
55:21 Similar endings for Ranand Kagemusha
55:52 Mark argues that Ran surpasses Kagemusha as the sun outshines the moon
57:30 The Coppola (and Lucas) interview
59:13 The moment it all goes wrong
1:02:30 Cavalry vs firearms true to the real battle
1:03:40 Picking a favorite from across both episodes
1:05:42 High and Low remake?
1:08:20 The next episode topic

Note: Oscar® and Academy Awards® are the trademarks and service marks of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences. This podcast is neither endorsed by nor affiliated with the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences.

Music:
Intro and Outro music excerpted without alteration other than length and volume from AcidJazz by Kevin McLeod under a Creative Commons (CC BY 3.0) license: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/legalcode

First of a pair of episodes about the great Japanese director Akira Kurosawa. Mark is dipping into his ouevre for the first time and Bob is revisiting many of his favorite movies. Featuring SPOILERS throughout, but also the return of the clicky pen! Listen at your own risk.

00:10 Episode introduction
04:08 Seven Samurai
19:50 Wrong, Bob; three left
20:10 Wrong again; 4 of 7
20:34 (Seems to be an audio error in the original recording dropping a fraction of a second...)
25:14 The ending of Seven Samurai being more cynical than the ending of The Magnificent Seven
26:20 Bob realizes his mistake from 6 1/2 minutes earlier
27:41 Ran
39:20 Kurosawa's diminishing eyesight
42:08 Tatsuya Nakadai
44:36 Ran makes Mark's top ten films
45:22 Ikiru
48:44 Spoiler for the final moments of Ikiru
57:25 Bob rants about human nature for a while
1:01:50 Wrapping up

Note: Oscar® and Academy Awards® are the trademarks and service marks of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences. This podcast is neither endorsed by nor affiliated with the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences.

Music:
Intro and Outro music excerpted without alteration other than length and volume from AcidJazz by Kevin McLeod under a Creative Commons (CC BY 3.0) license: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/legalcode

This is as close as we get to jumping on the bandwagon of popular, recent films. We talk most about the Villeneuve Dune movies, but we also touch on the other iterations. No spoiler warnings in the episode, because the whole podcast is composed ofSPOILERS!

00:10 Intro - What's going to be covered and not
04:50 There is no such thing as "spoiling" a 70 year old story; no spoiler warnings this podcast
06:05 Dune, the novel
13:35 The story from the novel changes in the transition to film
15:55 Jodorowsky's attempted adaptation
22:44 Dune (1984) (which we praise with faint damns)
32:55 Television vs. Movies for adapting books to screen
33:56 Dune miniseries (2000 and 2003)
36:30 Dune Parts I and II
37:42 Bob's rant
38:00 Mark thinks II is significantly better than I
39:35 Bob doesn't think II is better than I
45:00 The secret goals of the Bene Gesserit
46:32 Zendaya/Chalamet and Chani/Paul
52:10 Chalamet too young? Too small?
55:28 We agree Bardem was excellent; Mark is wrong about Walken not being great
58:52 Zimmer and the music
01:03:46 Sandwalking and the Rohirrim
01:04:37 Mark wants the final battle to be longer; Bob disagrees (and gets in a gratuitous swipe at John Wick 4)
01:07:05 (The Death Star battle lasts just under 11:30)
01:08:13 Why do the Fremen jaunt off into space?
01:12:10 Third film coming?
01:12:53 Dune II is overrated

Note: Oscar® and Academy Awards® are the trademarks and service marks of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences. This podcast is neither endorsed by nor affiliated with the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences.

Music:
Intro and Outro music excerpted without alteration other than length and volume from AcidJazz by Kevin McLeod under a Creative Commons (CC BY 3.0) license: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/legalcode

Bob finally stopped being lazy and got this edited. Wrapping up our discussion of the Coens and their films along with theme Mark thinks he's sussed out of their movies. As ever, SPOILERS!

02:00 Why are we doing two episodes on the Coens?
04:15 Blood Simple
10:15 Spoilers begin in earnest
16:49 Subscribers only (unfortunately): https://www.criterionchannel.com/videos/bill-hader-on-blood-simple
21:17 The Big Lebowski
23:59 Raymond Chandler
33:50 Mark's thesis
35:02 Inside Llewyn Davis
42:24 Comparing O Brother Where Art Thou?
50:01 True Grit
53:38 Law and justice
54:39 Couldn't find it
1:05:10 Summing up

Note: Oscar® and Academy Awards® are the trademarks and service marks of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences. This podcast is neither endorsed by nor affiliated with the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences.

Music:
Intro and Outro music excerpted without alteration other than length and volume from AcidJazz by Kevin McLeod under a Creative Commons (CC BY 3.0) license: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/legalcode

Another two part episode (at least two; we haven't recorded any more than this so far) this time around, but looking at a selection of Coen Brothers movies chosen by Mark. We discuss four of their films in this episode and plan to discuss four more. SPOILERS THROUGHOUT!

Enjoy!

00:43 Mark's flu podcast
01:46 Introducing the topic
04:10 Raising Arizona (SPOILERS BEGIN)
20:55 M. Emmett WALSH (Bob apparently has football on the brain, he'll make the mistake again later too)
24:26 Miller's Crossing
42:48 Fargo
45:50 Mark "surfaces" the theme he has in mind that runs through Coen films
52:49 No Country for Old Men
1:09:04 Wrapping up

Note: Oscar® and Academy Awards® are the trademarks and service marks of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences. This podcast is neither endorsed by nor affiliated with the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences.

Music:
Intro and Outro music excerpted without alteration other than length and volume from AcidJazz by Kevin McLeod under a Creative Commons (CC BY 3.0) license: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/legalcode

First episode of the new year is...finishing the topic we started at the end of last year. We're thinking about maybe tackling some smaller topics this year, but the best laid plans, etc. As ever with our podcast SPOILERS ABOUND! Listen at your own risk.

00:10 Intro
04:42 The Artist
10:18 Would it work as a true silent movie?
12:55 Mark doesn't like the title character
16:32 Bob loves this movie
27:24 The Descendants
29:15 Connection to Sideways
30:57 George Clooney
32:29 The Artist vs The Descendants
40:21 The Help
46:03 A realistic range of people
49:58 The Tree of Life
53:37 Dinosaurs?!
56:42 War Horse
58:51 The Black Stallion, redux
1:02:20 What else could have been nominated? (Drive!)
1:06:35 Wrapping up

Note: Oscar® and Academy Awards® are the trademarks and service marks of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences. This podcast is neither endorsed by nor affiliated with the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences.

Music:
Intro and Outro music excerpted without alteration other than length and volume from AcidJazz by Kevin McLeod under a Creative Commons (CC BY 3.0) license: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/legalcode

This time around we decided that since the 2012 Best Picture had 9 nominations, we'd split the discussion into two parts so we didn't have to either run very long or skim over films without discussing them. So 4 this episode, 5 next time.

00:10 Intro and beard discussion
03:47 Podcast topic - 2012 Best Picture
06:05 Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close
08:25 SPOILERS BEGIN!
18:58 Hugo
31:10 Midnight in Paris
39:26 "Bougie" interlude
40:39 Back to the film
42:10 Owen Wilson, wow!
42:47 Moneyball
45:16 The big game
58:56 Final thoughts and summing up

Note: Oscar® and Academy Awards® are the trademarks and service marks of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences. This podcast is neither endorsed by nor affiliated with the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences.

Music:
Intro and Outro music excerpted without alteration other than length and volume from AcidJazz by Kevin McLeod under a Creative Commons (CC BY 3.0) license: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/legalcode

Another movie that's (loosely) connected to the story of Jesus. We didn't plan it that way, but there it is. The other four films all have some connection to World War II, which at the time was still fresh in the mind for many people. We do haveSPOILERS, but not so many as in other episodes? Listen at your own risk; as always we tend to talk about the films with the assumption that our listeners have seen them.

00:10 Intro
1:24 Monty Python boys
3:31 Old films, color vs black and white film
9:59 Ben-Hur
21:49 The fad for sword and sandal epics
24:20 Anatomy of a Murder
30:26 Stewart vs Heston
34:07 Room at the Top
37:11 SPOILERS for Room at the Top
38:40 Why is it so unpleasant?
42:27 The Diary of Anne Frank
55:21 The Nun's Story
1:06:12 Summing up
1:09:18 We start to ramble a bit before wrapping up
1:11:51 Bob is trying to think of El Dorado with John Wayne, James Caan, and Robert Mitchum

Note: Oscar® and Academy Awards® are the trademarks and service marks of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences. This podcast is neither endorsed by nor affiliated with the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences.

Music:
Intro and Outro music excerpted without alteration other than length and volume from AcidJazz by Kevin McLeod under a Creative Commons (CC BY 3.0) license: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/legalcode

Wrapping up the Indiana Jones trilogy this time around. Hope you enjoy it,SPOILERS, of course! We're not going to talk about the latter two films; at least, not for the foreseeable future. Never say never, though!

0:10 Opening salutations
1:13 "The jewel of Southeast Asia"
4:45 Synopsis
8:50 Is Indy actually searching for the Holy Grail?
12:51 Comparing the three films: villains
19:06 Donovan vs Belloq
20:55 How does the Grail actually *work*?
27:53 Nit-picking minor gripes
29:46 Schoolboy adventure physics again
34:21 Stretching the plot to have the adventure last longer
36:21 Fourth wall break
38:09 Stepping up the action, excellent stunts
42:37 Less like a serial than Raiders, but more like a serial than Temple of Doom
44:56 Comparing the three films: the cast
47:53 More Star Wars connections!
50:01 Ranking the trilogy
54:23 Watching them in order isn't really necessary

Note: Oscar® and Academy Awards® are the trademarks and service marks of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences. This podcast is neither endorsed by nor affiliated with the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences.

Music:
Intro and Outro music excerpted without alteration other than length and volume from AcidJazz by Kevin McLeod under a Creative Commons (CC BY 3.0) license: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/legalcode

Installment number two in our evaluation of the Indiana Jones franchise. (Ugh, it feels a little dirty saying "franchise.") We'll at least get the the third, but no promises about anything further. Very, very mild spoilers for The Sixth Sense (trailer level), and of course SPOILERS! for Temple of Doom. Enjoy!

00:10 Episode 50!
03:05 Thinking about Temple of Doom differently after watching it this time
05:00 The Sixth Sense (very mild) spoilers
05:35 End of The Sixth Sense spoilers
09:11 Deliberately low continuity between Raiders and Temple
09:42 The time gap between the films within the stories (which Bob gets wrong; it's Temple-1936, Raiders-1937, Last Crusade-1938)
11:48 Plot summary
14:23 Should Indy have been trading the emperor for the diamond?
17:29 Temple of Doom more action than adventure
18:46 The absence of Kasdan
21:20 What were the big differences between the first two films?
27:05 The difference between the objects sought
30:47 Rushed production?
32:37 Do sequels usually surpass or fall short of the original?
36:10 The "banquet"? First the raft!
43:06 The bugs!
44:01 Amrish Puri and other positives
46:33 Ke Huy Quan as Short Round
52:31 Child slavery as a plot element
53:45 Deus ex machina ending?
55:17 Who's that big guard?
57:26 Dan Akroyd and... Casablanca... and James Bond?
58:39 Wrapping up

Note: Oscar® and Academy Awards® are the trademarks and service marks of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences. This podcast is neither endorsed by nor affiliated with the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences.

Music:
Intro and Outro music excerpted without alteration other than length and volume from AcidJazz by Kevin McLeod under a Creative Commons (CC BY 3.0) license: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/legalcode