In this week’s podcast, Glenn and Daniel have a grand ol’ spy romp with Charlize Theron. It’s not complicated, but it is fun – and it succeeds on soundtrack where Baby Driver failed with us (22:20).
May contain NSFW language.
FilmWonk rating: 7.5 out of 10
Show notes:
Music for this episode is the tracks “Major Tom (Völlig Losgelöst)” by Peter Schilling, and a new, dour version of “99 Luftballons” by Kaleida, from the film’s soundtrack.
CORRECTION: We lamented Theron’s relative lack of starring roles – of course, she was the sole lead in Æon Flux and Monster, the latter to great critical acclaim.
Listen above, or download: Atomic Blonde(right-click, save as, or click/tap to play on a non-flash browser)
In this week’s podcast, Glenn and Daniel address an age-old question – is Fifth Element and Lucy director Luc Besson still a master of sci-fi, and can strong worldbuilding (and one surprising gem of a performance) make up for dubious screenwriting. Come along and find out, but first, check out an important documentary about the worst excesses of ISIS in Syria, and the brave men and women who risk their lives to reveal them to the world (56:31).
May contain NSFW language.
FilmWonk rating (City of Ghosts): 7 out of 10
FilmWonk rating (Valerian): 6.5/10 (Glenn), 7/10 (Daniel)
Show notes:
[01:52] Review: City of Ghosts
[23:06] Review: Valerian
[37:41] Spoilers: Valerian
Music for this episode is the track, “Space Oddity” by David Bowie, from the Valerian soundtrack.
Full disclosure, the “back of the envelope” calculation of Alpha’s escape velocity from Earth was done with some assistance from computational knowledge engine Wolfram Alpha, which revealed – assuming a consistent velocity over 600 years (for the sake of simplicity) – that the station was going too slow (relative to the Earth) by a factor of 187.8 to escape Earth’s gravity. And yes, this was just me being nerdy. Not an actual complaint.
Listen above, or download: Valerian, City of Ghosts(right-click, save as, or click/tap to play on a non-flash browser)
In this week’s podcast, Glenn and Daniel get reacquainted with their friendly neighborhood Spider-Man, and their friendly Keatonesque Bird-Man, and are rather pleased about it (45:16).
May contain NSFW language.
FilmWonk rating: 8 out of 10
Show notes:
Music for this episode comes from a pair of Spider-Man TV series theme songs. The first is the classic 1967 animated series theme, with lyrics by Paul Francis Webster and music by Bob Harris. The second is a slick reimagining of the same from composer Michael Giacchino, from the film’s original score.
Glenn also appears this week on our podcast nemesis, The Spoilers : Wayne & Daryl, to discuss Spider-Man, comedians as villains, the oeuvre of Kevin Smith, and anything else that strikes our fancy. Consider yourselves spoiler-warned.
Listen above, or download: Spider-Man: Homecoming(right-click, save as, or click/tap to play on a non-flash browser)
In this week’s podcast, Glenn and Daniel check out a rallying cry for the British working class with Ken Loach‘s new film, I, Daniel Blake, then check out a shriek of impending doom from David Lowery, A Ghost Story, a film in which a goofy game of supernatural dress-up is just the thin veil covering intense trepidation about the whole of human existence. Three points if you guess which film caused an actual panic attack (56:50).
May contain NSFW language.
FilmWonk rating (I, Daniel Blake): 7 out of 10
FilmWonk rating (A Ghost Story): 9.5 out of 10
Show notes:
[01:54] Review: I, Daniel Blake
[21:21] Spoilers: I, Daniel Blake
[34:27] Review: A Ghost Story
[41:58] Spoilers: A Ghost Story
Music for this episode is the track, “I Get Overwhelmed” by Dark Rooms from the soundtrack/trailer to A Ghost Story.
In assessing the labyrinthine bureaucracy depicted in I, Daniel Blake, we referred to the game, “Papers, Please“, from indie developer Lucas Pope – highly recommended.
Listen above, or download: I,
Daniel Blake; A Ghost Story(right-click, save as, or click/tap to play on a non-flash browser)
In this week’s podcast, Glenn and Daniel return to the stylish world of writer/director Edgar Wright, and find it strangely exhausting this time around. Can an array of fun gangster performances overcome an oppressive soundtrack and wasted, one-dimensional female leads? We’ll struggle to find out (27:52).
May contain NSFW language.
FilmWonk rating: 5 out of 10
Show notes:
Music for this episode is the tracks “B-A-B-Y” by Carla Thomas, and “Bellbottoms” by The Jon Spencer Blues Explosion, from the film’s soundtrack.
Listen above, or download: Baby Driver(right-click, save as, or click/tap to play on a non-flash browser)
In this week’s podcast, Glenn and Daniel jump back to their final selection from the Seattle Jewish Film Festival, Keep Quiet, a documentary about Csanád Szegedi, a former far-right, antisemitic political party leader in Hungary who discovers that he has a (still living) Jewish grandmother, which causes a sea change in his political and religious beliefs. Or…does it? If this film had been a great big pat on the back for tolerance and pluralism, we expect it would’ve been pretty tedious. But like The Imposter before it, this film’s definite strength is its ambiguity. Dive with us into an exploration of this fascinating figure and the skepticism that he (deservedly) faces from both his old community of nationalists and neo-Nazis, and his new community of Orthodox Jews. We’re joined once again by friend of the show, local author Erika Spoden(32:11).
May contain NSFW language.
Keep Quiet is available on Amazon Video, and we highly recommend checking it out. As this film deals in ambiguity, there will not be a separate spoilers section in our discussion. Please consider this both a recommendation and spoiler warning for the entire film.
In this week’s podcast, Glenn and Daniel are back at the Seattle International Film Festival to check out a lovely Bulgarian political satire. Then Diana (Gal Gadot) shows up to wreck the place by hand and sword, and we can’t complain, because it turns out she’s pretty awesome when not saddled with a lame mystery B-plot(48:06).
May contain NSFW language.
FilmWonk rating (Glory): 8 out of 10
FilmWonk rating (Wonder Woman): 7.5/10 (Glenn), 7/10 (Daniel)
Show notes:
[00:24] Review: Glory
[17:25] Review: Wonder Woman
[35:49] Spoilers: Wonder Woman
Music for this episode is the track, “Dance for Tomorrow” by Stop the Schizo from the soundtrack to Glory, and the track, “Angel On the Wing” from the Wonder Woman score by Rupert Gregson-Williams.
Correction: Spread the word on this one – we (and many others) have been mispronouncing Gadot’s last name. It’s not French-style, with a silent T – it’s Israeli-style, with a solid T. The actress previously made a video to address the issue (thanks to Dan A. for pointing this out).
Correction: Dr. Maru (“Dr. Poison”) was actually played by Spanish actress Elena Anaya. The actress from Force Majeure, Lisa Loven Kongsli, played Menalippe, one of the Amazons, and she’s actually Norwegian, not Swedish.
Correction: To complete the trifecta, we made a casual reference to a character played by “Kat Denning” in Thor. The actress’ name is Kat Dennings.
Listen above, or download: Wonder Woman, Glory(right-click, save as, or click/tap to play on a non-flash browser)
In this week’s podcast, Glenn and Daniel take a break from SIFF to return to the swashbuckling world of diminishing returns that is Pirates of the Caribbean, pondering the series’ future, and considering whether if Jack Sparrow (Johnny Depp) will ever slip his earthly bonds and meet the Fast and Furious crew in space (37:44).
May contain NSFW language.
FilmWonk rating: 5 out of 10
Show notes:
Music for this episode is the track “Cruel Mistress” by Flogging Molly, and the track “He’s a Pirate“, from the soundtrack to the first Pirates film by Klaus Badelt, because the series’ various derivative versions of this track have yet to match the original in quality.
In this week’s podcast, Glenn and Daniel jump into their favorite perennial time-bubble, the Seattle International Film Festival (which opens today!) (20:38).
May contain NSFW language.
FilmWonk rating: 6 out of 10
There are three public screenings of Time Trap at SIFF 2017, two of them this weekend (Friday 5/19 and Saturday 5/20), and another on 5/30 up in Shoreline. Check out the film’s SIFF page for tickets and details.
Show notes:
Music for this episode is the track “Time in a Bottle” by Jim Croce.
Listen above, or download: Time Trap(right-click, save as, or click/tap to play on a non-flash browser)
In this week’s podcast, Glenn and Daniel return to the latter days of the Iraq War with a lean thriller from Amazon Studios and director Doug Liman, The Wall, and we revisit the 2010 Rodrigo Cortés thriller, Buried. It all looks a bit grim, and while there may be an ending in sight, we’ll figure out which flick handled that ending best (47:15).
May contain NSFW language.
The Wall is in theaters this Friday, 5/12, and will be available on Amazon video later this year.
Clarification: We stated a figure of 500,000 deaths from the Iraq War, and this appears to be on the high end of estimates, based on a 2011 study in PLoS Medicine, which relied on census-style household surveys, and had an extremely high uncertainty interval (95%), meaning that the study’s casualty estimate was anywhere from 48,000-751,000. The Iraq Body Count project, which relies largely on media reports (and thus may be underestimating), puts the figure at closer to 120,000. The overall point notwithstanding, there does not appear to be a single, agreed-upon figure. See Wikipedia: Casualties of the Iraq War for more information.
As promised, according to RF Cafe, the density of dry sand is 100 lb/ft3. A standard coffin is approximately 7 feet long, and 2.333 feet wide at its widest point. If Paul was buried under 3 feet of sand, this amounts to approximately 49ft3 of sand above him, weighing just under 5,000 pounds (2,268 kg). With all respect to The Bride, Paul’s not punching his way out of this.
Listen above, or download: The Wall, Buried(right-click, save as, or click/tap to play on a non-flash browser)
FilmWonk 