Monthly Archives: August 2010

FilmWonk Podcast – David Michôd’s “Animal Kingdom”

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In this episode of the FilmWonk podcast, Glenn and Daniel review David Michôd’s “Animal Kingdom”, starring Ben Mendelsohn, Joel Edgerton, Luke Ford, Jacki Weaver, Sullivan Stapleton, James Frecheville, and Guy Pearce. (20:00)

[may contain some NSFW language]

FilmWonk rating: 8.5 out of 10

    Show notes:

  • Spoilers begin at 10:30/20:00.
  • Music for this episode is a selection from the brilliantly bleak and haunting Animal Kingdom score, from composer Antony Partos.
  • Addition [SPOILER FOR REAL LIFE]: We allude to this, but don’t actually mention the police shootings near the beginning of the film, which were loosely based on the Walsh Street police shootings that occurred in Melbourne in 1988.
  • Additional thought regarding Michôd’s claustrophobic direction: As the film went on, the tight camera shots constantly ratcheted up the tension by acting as a framing device for the characters’ vulnerability. The closer the character sits to the edges of the frame as the film goes on, the more likely it seems that at any moment, they could be shot dead from off-screen.
  • Animal Kingdom is out now in limited release, expanding to more theaters each week. Click here to find out when it’ll be playing in your city.
  • If you’re so inclined, stick around at the end for a blooper!

Listen above, or download: Animal Kingdom (right-click, save as)

FilmWonk Podcast: Matthew Vaughn’s “Kick-Ass” – Thank heaven for little girls

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Poster for "Kick-Ass".

In this episode of the FilmWonk podcast, Glenn and Daniel review Matthew Vaughn’s “Kick-Ass”, starring Aaron Johnson, Chloe Moretz, Nicolas Cage, Christopher Mintz-Plasse, and Mark Strong. [may contain some NSFW language]

Part 1 (spoiler-free) – 14:32

Part 2 (with spoilers) – 16:39

FilmWonk (Glenn) rating: 8 out of 10
Daniel’s rating: 5 out of 10

    Show notes:

  • This episode was actually our first, which was recorded prior to our Expendables episode from last week, so I make some introductions and acknowledgments to that effect.
  • The “trusted lieutenant” whose performance I enjoyed was “Big Joe”, played by Michael Rispoli.
  • During the spoilers section, we had a minor recording glitch, and I had to reinsert the section in which we discuss Red Mist. So if the edit sounds a little awkward, sorry about that.
  • I badmouthed Michael Cera a bit… Let’s just say, I hadn’t seen Scott Pilgrim yet.
  • Correction [SPOILER]: During the spoilers section, we discuss a particular character having seen Hit-Girl kill a bunch of mobsters on video. The video in question actually shows Big Daddy killing the mobsters.
  • FilmWonk would like to thank David Chen, Devindra Hardawar, and Adam Quigley from the /Filmcast, the official podcast of slashfilm.com, for the thousands of hours of entertainment and insightful film criticism, and random asides about theater etiquette. Cheers, fellas. You inspire me.

Listen above, or download Part 1, Part 2 (right-click, save as)

FilmWonk Podcast: Sylvester Stallone’s “The Expendables”

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In this first episode of the FilmWonk podcast, Glenn and Daniel review Sylvester Stallone’s “The Expendables”, starring Stallone, Jason Statham, Jet Li, Dolph Lundgren, Eric Roberts, Randy Couture, Steve Austin, Terry Crews, Mickey Rourke, and David Zayas. (13:56)

[may contain some NSFW language]

FilmWonk rating: 5 out of 10

Listen above, or download: The Expendables (right-click, save as)