Matty “Ballgame” Robinson kicks off the podcast with a list of things he loves… and strangely enough, they all seem to intersect in the subject of this week’s review, Extract. Adam Kempenaar tries to explain why exactly Matty didn’t like the movie so much albeit this alignment of the stars, and he starts off with Jason Bateman’s character whose relationships aren’t really believable. In fact, the guys say that a pretty sizable minority of the characters are cartoonish and don’t have too much payoff. Mike Judge does a pretty good job with the other characters, especially with Ben Affleck’s character, which was played totally straight and ended up being the most satisfying performance of the film. In the end, they agree that the plot is an unfulfilling stringing together of some actually well written individual scenes.
The listener feedback segment starts off with a valiant defense of… Keanu Reeves, in response to a slight against Demetri Martin who they called one of the best actors in last week’s Taking Woodstock. They hit on some responses to last week’s top 5 most anticipated films of Fall ’09, which inevitably mentions Where the Wild Things Are. The conversation turns to the next entry in Filmspotting’s Kurosawa marathon, Yojimbo, which gets a lot of praise for its great cinematography and foundational ideas for the whole film medium. The show wraps up with talk about Adam and Matty’s top 5 anticipated movies for this week’s Toronto International Film Festival, which they’re currently attending (according to their Twitter feed, at least).
:13-15:11 – Review: “Extract”
Music: Colin Hay, “Oh California”
15:59-32:47 – Listener Feedback (Fall Preview)
Music: Colin Hay, “Prison Time”
33:23-36:46 – Facebook/Mamet Winner
36:47-41:02 – Massacre Theatre (Winner: B. Tackett)
41:03-51:28 – Kurosawa #5: Yojimbo
Music: Colin Hay, “There’s Water Over You”
52:13-59:59 – New DVDs/Donations
1:00:00-1:133:52 – Top 5: TIFF ’09 Preview
1:29:00-1:17:33 – Polls, Next Show, Outtake
Runtime – 1:17:33
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I don’t know if I’d call Kurosawa’s Yojimbo revolutionary. I had some brilliant cinematography and moments throughout the film but it certainly isn’t my favorite film of his. It’s nice to see Kurosawa get some airtime, though, and hopefully their podcast has led some people to seek out his amazing films that, half a century after, still remain as some of the best films ever created.
Well, they seem to make a pretty good argument for it, but I haven’t the film background to really adequately point out trends like that. I actually did check out some stuff like Roshomon as a result of the marathon and was totally pleased. Great director.
I own over half of Kurosawa’s films and have several biographies about him, including one numbering over some 600 pages with really tiny print, and his own autobiography, so I guess I’d call myself a fan. But I see they’ve already covered some of his others like Throne of Blood. It’s nice that they’re doing that. You mention Rashomon but I must say that I was kinda disappointed by it. Not sure why. Perhaps because it’s been so hyped by film critics – I just didn’t think it was as good as his other work.
I have to admit, I’m not completely versed in Kurosawa’s films, but I am not a huge fan. Even though I have been to a year of film school (where they all love Kurosawa), I have watched 7 Samurai and I didn’t know what to think of it– and that means that I didn’t love it. I am a big fan of slow-burn dramas, like Wang Kar Wai’s 2046 and In the Mood for Love, but Kurosawa’s films just seem to be a little self-important in the wrong sort of way. It may be that I just need to go back and watch them again though.