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Tag Archives: Adam Kempenaar

Filmspotting #284: Brothers / The Son’s Room / 2009 Golden Brick Nominees

by Jon Cole in Movies789 days ago

This week, Adam and Matty surprise us with a film that they seemed absolutely unexcited about, Brothers.  Surprisingly, the guys almost always agree with each other throughout the review, with Matty hitting it off talking about the genuine emotional power of this film.  The Filmspotting crew has their problems with some of the actors, but the performances of Portman, Gyllenhaal, and Maguire in Brothers are decidedly brilliant. Adam gives probably the highest praise to this movie when he says that the writing is as subtle as you could hope for,...

Filmspotting #283: The Road / Dancer in the Dark / Top 5 DVDs of 2009

by Jon Cole in Movies796 days ago

This week, Adam and Matty tackle The Road, a much anticipated film adaptation of the novel written by Cormac McCarthy.  Adam kicks off the review, quickly expressing his disappointment in some of the more thrilling scenes and distracting musical swells.  Both of the guys agree that the performances are fantastic, but Matty isn’t sold by the dialogue.  In the end, both the premise and atmosphere of The Road prove to be excellent, which seem to more than make up for the negatives of this film. Dancer in the Dark is this week’s entry into the...

Filmspotting #281: The Men Who Stare at Goats / Farewell My Concubine / Top 5 Films of 1999

by Jon Cole in Movies817 days ago

Adam and Matty start of this week’s Filmspotting exercising their psychic powers in their review of The Men Who Stare at Goats.  Unfortunately, both of the guys agree that the film doesn’t live up to its brilliant premise, the story of an Army unit infused with paranormal abilities. Adam says that the last thirty minutes played like the writer (Peter Straughan) had no idea how to end the film.  The film is sufficiently star-studded, but Ewan MacGregor’s character is entirely unbelievable and George Clooney’s great performance isn’t nearly...

Filmspotting #280: Precious / When Father Was Away on Business / Top 5 Bad Screen Parents

by Jon Cole in Movies826 days ago

Filmspotting follows up last week’s review of Antichrist with a comparably devastating film, Precious.  Based on the novel “Push” by Sapphire, this film tells the story of a young African-American woman who’s sexually abused by her father and emotionally tortured by her mother.  Both Adam and Matty were absolutely destroyed by this film, some segments forcing them to cover their faces due to some of the powerful imagery in the film.  There’s a little bit of push and pull concerning the casting choices of Mo’Nique as Precious’s mother...

Filmspotting #279: An Education / Antichrist / Top 5 Taboo Relationships

by Jon Cole in Movies833 days ago

It’s a Filmspotting double feature this week with Lone Scherfig’s An Education and Lars Von Trier’s Antichrist.  First off is An Education, which both Adam and Matty really love.  Matty really admires all of the character dynamics, most importantly the relationship between Carey Mulligan and Peter Sarsgaard’s characters, the latter of which he can identify with personally in his youth.  The art direction, screenplay, and casting all receive plenty of praise. Antichrist doesn’t nearly get as many props as An Education, but both Adam...

Filmspotting #278: Where the Wild Things Are / High and Low / Top 5 Nostalgia Movies

by Jon Cole in Movies838 days ago

Adam and Matty take the most anticipated fall movie by the horns with this week’s review of Where the Wild Things Are.  Both Filmspotting guys praise the film, taking care to respond to the complaints from other reviewers over an oversimplified determinant of the film’s premise – a child dealing with his parents’ divorce.  They believe that the film’s “wild things” are meant to be personifications of different aspects of the protagonist Max’s psyche. Matty thought that the movie was left open to interpretation, allowing the viewers...

Filmspotting #276: A Serious Man / Michael Stuhlbarg Interview / Top 5 Chicago Film Fest Preview

by Jon Cole in Movies852 days ago

This episode of Filmspotting takes a lot of the essence of the show and stuffs it into one dense podcast.  The show opens with the review of A Serious Man, the latest from the writer-directors Ethan and Joel Coen.  For long-time listeners, it’s no secret that the guys love the Coen brothers, so the review is almost predictably glowing.  With their near encyclopedic knowledge of these directors’ work, Adam and Matty reveal some major themes and characterizations that’re worth keeping an eye out for. After Massacre Theater, the...

Filmspotting #275: Overlooked DVD Picks / Top 5 Tearjerkers

by Jon Cole in Movies868 days ago

This week’s big, big show skips over the typical weekly movie review and covered some overlooked DVD picks.  Matty built a Recomatic-2600 Beta version to compete in the Netflix recommendation engine contest and thus, with every pick comes a handful of other similar movies that may be a little better known.  Either way, if you’re looking to fill up your Netflix queue, Filmspotting brings it home with a lot of great choices. Listener feedback is easily dominated by Soderbergh talk, with a handful of dissenting opinions about last week’s The...

/Filmcast Ep. 68 – Jennifer’s Body

by Jon Cole in Movies870 days ago

The “What’ve You Been Watching” segment really dominates this episode of the /Filmcast, probably to its benefit.  The guys give a pretty comprehensive look at a majority of the week’s television premieres, spending a little bit of time on Fringe, Parks and Recreation, Curb Your Enthusiasm, and a handful more.  Dave says that he can’t be sure how he’s survived without these shows on the air, which you’d have trouble disagreeing with after hearing all of the positive impressions of these shows. Guest Adam Kempanaar joins the conversation...

Filmspotting #274: The Informant! / Top 5 2009 Toronto Film Fest Movies

by Jon Cole in Movies874 days ago

Adam and Matty go on the wire this week with their review of Steven Soderbergh’s The Informant!  Adam starts off their discussion pointing out that the movie decides to breeze over the “The Insider” look on this type of corporate espionage film and instead takes a comedic stance on the situation.  Matty said that he was fascinated with the look of the film, which can “only best be described as Simon & Simon-esque, maybe a little Northern Exposure, or sort of Dynasty thrown in for good measure.” Despite the unique look and great cinematography,...

Filmspotting #273: Extract / Yojimbo / Top 5 Most Anticipated TIFF ’09 Movies

by Jon Cole in Movies882 days ago

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...

Filmspotting #272: Taking Woodstock / The Hidden Fortress / Top 5 Most Anticipated Movies

by Jon Cole in Movies889 days ago

Adam and Matty hop in their VW bus, drive down to the closest farm, and pass joint packed with film knowledge around a campfire for this week’s review of Taking Woodstock.  Both of the guys were interested in the idea of a Woodstock movie with no music, but they tend to end up in a similar spot of dissatisfaction with Ang Lee’s latest.  Matty does seem pretty positive about the lead actor, Demetri Martin, who he says plays the role of self-discovering, modest Elliot Tiber with a surprisingly degree of aptitude.  Both guys also agree...

Filmspotting #271: Inglourious Basterds / Top 5 Quentin Tarantino Scenes

by Jon Cole in Movies896 days ago

Inglourious Basterds has taken up quite a bit of real estate in the overarching film conversation, so Adam and Matty naturally take the movie by the horns with an extremely lengthy review.  Right from the start, Adam stunningly praises at least two scenes in the movie as “instant classics” that’ll have a place in film history forever.  He also praises Tarantino’s directing, specifically when a simple movement of the camera reveals multiple layers of depth and foreshadowing in a scene.  Inevitably hitting on the note of...

Filmspotting #270: Ponyo / Throne of Blood / Top 5 Films of 2000

by Jon Cole in Movies903 days ago

Due to a single Chicago screening of Inglourious Basterds that Matty just couldn’t make it out to see, the Filmspotting crew shifts their magnifying glass over Hayao Mayazaki’s latest film, Ponyo.  Adam notes that at several points, Ponyo clearly shows its true colors as a children’s movie by breaking any sense of logic– Miyazaki is generally willing to control his films by constructing a particular set of rules but this film just doesn’t get him to suspend his disbelief.  Matty says that Miyazaki still offers a great...

Filmspotting #269: District 9 / Top 5 John Hughes Characters

by Jonathan Downin in Movies910 days ago

District 9 has Adam and Matty pretty much on the same page here.  They start out by pointing out the rather generic pitch the script must have been, but director Neill Blomkamp has previously shown that he has a unique take on this type of storytelling with his short Alive in Joburg.  The guys both enjoyed some of the subtlety of the film in the first half, but feel that the last action-heavy section devolved in a way it probably didn’t need to.  The film is shot in a naturalistic, documentary style, and the special effects seem to fit...

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