FilmWonk Podcast – Episode #82 – “The Hateful Eight” (dir. Quentin Tarantino), “Concussion” (dir. Peter Landesman)

Teaser Poster for "The Hateful Eight"

In this week’s podcast, Glenn and Daniel strike down upon Quentin Tarantino‘s The Hateful Eight with great vengeance and furious anger, but you will know that their name is FilmWonk, when they spend twice as long talking about Peter Landesman‘s Concussion. Note that given the fact-based narrative, we’re not too shy about spoiling the real-life NFL player deaths depicted in the film (55:16).

May contain NSFW language.

Still from "Concussion" featuring Will Smith

FilmWonk rating (The Hateful Eight): 3 out of 10
FilmWonk rating (Concussion): 6.5 out of 10

Show notes:

  • [02:07] Review: The Hateful Eight
  • [13:11] Spoilers: The Hateful Eight
  • [23:23] Review: Concussion
  • Check out Glenn’s combined review of Concussion and Spotlight here.
  • Music for tonight’s episode is “Apple Blossom” by The White Stripes, and “There Won’t Be Many Coming Home” by Roy Orbison, both from The Hateful Eight soundtrack.
  • Daniel called back to a film we saw at the closing night of the 2014 Seattle International Film Festival, called “Story of My Death”. We didn’t feel that film merited a full review, but you can check out the blurb we posted on our Facebook page.
  • We briefly discussed the 2007 double-murder-suicide of WWE wrestler Chris Benoit and his family – from what we’ve been able to find, concussion-related dementia was not considered as a possible factor in this incident by the police and medical examiner. Their focus was on drugs, including the possibility of steroid abuse. Subsequently, Benoit’s family sent his brain to be examined by the real-life Dr. Julian Bailes (Baldwin’s character in the film), who determined that it did have concussion-related neurological damage.

Listen above, or download: The Hateful Eight, Concussion (right-click, save as, or click/tap to play on a non-flash browser)

FilmWonk Podcast – Episode #30 – “Promised Land” (dir. Gus Van Sant), “Django Unchained” (dir. Quentin Tarantino)

Poster for "Django Unchained"

This week on the podcast, Glenn and Daniel take on a surprising double-header. First comes Promised Land, a reunion between Matt Damon and Gus Van Sant (Good Will Hunting), along with newcomer John Krasinski (from “The Office”), featuring salesmen trying to convince a small town to let them drill for natural gas in their backyards (a process known as fracking). Then comes Django Unchained, an escaped-slave revenge romp from Quentin Tarantino starring Jamie Foxx, Christoph Waltz, and Leonardo DiCaprio. The biggest surprise? After declaring Inglourious Basterds the FilmWonk favorite of 2009, we had a very different experience with Tarantino’s latest (1:09:22).

May contain some NSFW language.

FilmWonk rating (Promised Land): 7.5/10
FilmWonk rating (Django Unchained): 4/10

Show notes:

  • (0:00) Review: Promised Land
  • (13:06) Spoilers: Promised Land
  • (26:00) Review: Django Unchained
  • (46:01) Spoilers: Django Unchained
  • Music for this episode comes from Luis Bacalov‘s original theme song to the 1966 Sergio Corbucci film Django, which also appears in Tarantino’s film.
  • While we certainly don’t attempt to settle the fracking issue on this podcast, you can read more about it here.
  • CORRECTION (from Glenn): Upon reflection, I must retract my comment about Spike Lee. While he did attack Django Unchained for depicting slavery in the context of a spaghetti western, and has criticized Tarantino about his use of racial epithets previously (NSFW), he has not (to our knowledge) ever stated that Tarantino’s race is a factor in his ability to make a film about slavery. Read his exact position (in brief) on Twitter. We apologize for the error.
  • While Glenn adored Inglourious Basterds, Daniel was definitely not a fan. Revise history in his presence at your own peril!

Listen above, or download: Promised Land/Django Unchained (right-click, save as, or click/tap to play on a non-flash browser).