FANCY MEETING YOU HERE: “Wait. You want us to sell Amway?” How much does chance play in our lives and what happens to us? How much does it play when it comes to our interaction with strangers? Or when we or others are the victims of seemingly sudden and random acts of violence? Sounds like the perfect time for Episode 38 of Pop Art, the podcast where my guest chooses a movie from popular culture, and I’ll select a film from the more art/classic side of cinema with a connection to it. For my listeners, please like, follow or comment. Today, I am happy to welcome back film enthusiast and podcaster of Cinemarecall, The Vern, who has chosen the dark comic riff on Pulp Fiction, the cult classic Go, where I have chosen Michael Haneke’s Austrian art house classic 71 Fragments of a Chronicle of Chance, two films about three disparate groups of people whose paths cross due to shocking acts of violence during the holidays. So, Merry Xmas, I guess. And in this episode we answer such questions as: What was Melissa McCarthy and Sebastian Stan’s first film? What did the grocery store where Go was filmed do to cause the filmmakers consternation? What does Killer Condom have to do with it? How is Family Guy like a Haneke film? In what show did Scott Wolf and Jay Mohr reunite?
Meanwhile look up The Vern’s podcast CinemaRecall at Cinemarecall.net. Continue reading →
WATCH THE SKIES. “It’s not destroying. It’s making something new.” When we’re visited from another world, how will it happen? Will it be with a bang or a whimper? Will it be a war of the worlds, a day the earth stood still, a close encounter? Or will it be a subtler arrival with a philosophical bent? Sounds like the perfect time for Episode 37 of Pop Art, the podcast where my guest chooses a movie from popular culture, and I’ll select a film from the more art/classic side of cinema with a connection to it. Today, I am happy to welcome director, writer, producer, Gustavo A. Garzon, who has chosen the female driven sci-fi epic Annihilation, whereupon I have chosen the Andrei Tarkovsky philosophical sci-fi art house classic Stalker, both about alien arrivals that resulted in the creation of a mysterious location the government has cut off from the general public. And in this episode we answer such questions as: What do these movies mean, or do they mean anything? Why did Annihilation flop? Why was Stalker filmed three different times? How does Annihilation support post-modernism and how does it address the ideas of female leads in film and the new era of genre meets diversity? How did Stalker contribute to the death of the director, the director’s wife and the lead actor?
Other episodes: Raiders of the Lost Ark/The Treasure of the Sierra Madre; Goldfinger/The Spy Who Came in From the Cold; Monty Python and the Holy Grail/The Seventh Seal; The Great Escape/A Man Escaped; Best in Show/Series 7: The Contenders; Robocop/THX 1138; Singin’ in the Rain/Irma Vep; Star Wars/The Hidden Fortress; The Omen/Village of the Damned; Aliens/Attack the Block; Adaptation/Sunset Boulevard; Die Hard/District B13; American Psycho/Repulsion; Dumb and Dumber/Too Late For Tears; Get Out/Upstream Color; Galaxy Quest/The Seven Samurai; Face/Off/Mulholland Drive; The Karate Kid/Let the Right One In; Finding Nemo/The Searchers; Jaws/White Hunter, Black Heart; Constantine/The Wailing; The Blues Brothers/Silence (1971); The Goonies/The Bridge (1959); Hell or High Water/Bonnie and Clyde; The Running Man/The Most Dangerous Game; Back to the Future/La Jatee; Snatch/The Twelve Chairs; Halloween III/The 5000 Fingers of Dr. T; Jurassic Park/Frankenstein, Bride of Frankenstein and Son of Frankenstein; Bridesmaids/Monsoon Wedding; Mad Max: Fury Road/A Boy and His Dog; The Longest Yard/The Loneliness of the Long Distance Runner; Planes, Trains and Automobiles/Ballad of a Soldier; Big Trouble in Little China/That Man From Rio; Kiss Kiss Bang Ban/The Thin Man; Captain America: The Winter Soldier/Manhattan Melodrama.
Check out my Script Consultation Services at http://ow.ly/HPxKE. I offer several types of service. Testimonials can be found at the blog entry.
Ever wonder what a reader for a contest or agency thinks when he reads your screenplay? Check out the second edition of my screenwriting book, More Rantings and Ravings of a Screenplay Reader published on Amazon at https://www.amazon.com/dp/B07GD1XP9Y
BFFs: “On your left.” Does this sound familiar? You have a best friend growing up. You’re inseparable. You’d give your life for them. But as you get older, you find yourselves going your separate ways. While you go the straight and narrow and fight for law and order, your former friend joins the forces of evil to take down all that is worthwhile. It’s happened to all of us. Sounds like the perfect time for Episode 36 of Pop Art, the podcast where my guest chooses a movie from popular culture and I’ll select a film from the more art/classic side of cinema with a connection to it. Today, I am happy to welcome film enthusiast and podcaster, Kevin Myth, who has chosen the Marvel blockbuster Captain America: The Winter Soldier and I have chosen the favorite film of John Dillinger, the pre-code Manhattan Melodrama, both films about best friends who grew up to find themselves fighting each other on opposite sides of the law. And in this episode we answer such questions as: Who is the modern day Clark Gable? What is the difference between the Marvel and DC universes? Who played Clark Gable as a child? How relevant is Captain America: Winter Soldier to today’s world? What does John Dillinger have to do with it? Why did Robert Redford do the movie? What is significant about Nick Fury’s gravestone in Captain America?
THE HOLIDAYS CAN BE MURDER. “Don’t quit your gay job.” Don’t you hate when this happens? You gather for the holidays. Christmas carols are in the air. Trees are lit with fairy lights. You’re ready to exchange gifts. And then, wouldn’t you know it? Someone gets murdered and you have to figure out who did it. Yes, sounds like the perfect time for Episode 35 of Pop Art, the podcast where my guest chooses a movie from popular culture and I’ll select a film from the more art/classic side of cinema with a connection to it. For my listeners, please like, follow or comment. Today, I am happy to welcome back a previous guest, film enthusiast and podcaster, and lover of Christmas movies, Jay Cluitt, who has agreed to join me to talk about a couple of holiday films. Jay has chosen Shane Black’s directorial debut, the dark comedy Kiss, Kiss, Bang, Bang, while I have chosen the classic detective film based on the Dashiell Hammett novel, The Thin Man, both about murder at Christmas time. And in this episode we ask such questions as: Why was Kiss, Kiss, Bang, Bang not a box office hit? What was so difficult about filming the climactic scene in The Thin Man and how do oysters come into it? What is the source material for Kiss Kiss Bang Bang? Who is Skippy? Who played the bear in the commercial in Kiss Kiss Bang Bang? How does Mia Farrow fit in? What is it about Kiss Kiss Bang Bang and women?
Meanwhile, check out Jay’s podcast Deep Blue Sea (about Renny Harlin’s film) on Apple, Spotify, Podomatic and many other streaming services.
NOW YOU SEE ‘EM, NOW YOU DON’T-“This is Jack Burton in the Pork Chop Express.” What would you do if someone was kidnapped, abducted right in front of you? What if you loved this person? What if this person was your fiancé? What if it was your truck? That’s right. It sounds like the perfect time for Episode 34 of Pop Art, the podcast where my guest chooses a movie from popular culture and I’ll select a film from the more art/classic side of cinema with a connection to it. For this episode, I am happy to welcome movie hyphenate, actor, director, writer, producer, stuntman and podcaster, Darin Munnell, who has chosen John Carpenter’s martial arts cult comedy classic, Big Trouble in Little China, and I have chosen French director, Philippe de Broca’s whimsical thriller/comedy spoof That Man From Rio, both about characters who see their fiancés, and a truck, abducted right before their eyes and go on an adventure to get them back. And in this episode we answer such questions as: Why did John Carpenter say he’ll never work for the studios again? How did That Man in Rio possibly influence Raiders of the Lost Arc? Who else auditioned for Sulu in Star Trek? How does James Bond fit in? Is there a structural problem with Big Trouble in Little China? And does it work anyway? What happens in the uncut ending to Big Trouble…?
HOME FOR THE HOLIDAYS? MAYBE, MAYBE NOT: “Those aren’t pillows”. We’ve all been there. We have to be somewhere. We only have a certain amount of time to get there. And when we try…we hit nothing but obstacle after obstacle after obstacle. That’s right. It sounds like the perfect time for Episode 33 of Pop Art, the podcast where my guest chooses a movie from popular culture and I’ll select a film from the more art/classic side of cinema with a connection to it. For this episode, I am happy to welcome back a previous guest, film enthusiast and blogger movierob, who has chosen teen scene John Hughes’ first adult movie, the Steve Martin/John Candy farce, Planes, Trains and Automobiles, and I have chosen the classic Russian antiwar film, Ballad of a Soldier, both films about characters trying to get someplace by a certain time, and find it, well, just a tad difficult. And in this episode, we answer such questions as: Why did Planes, Trains and Automobiles get an R rating? What did Ballad of a Soldier signify when it came to Russian films? What was the original ending of Planes, Trains…? Who is “one righteous dude”? How successful was Ballad of a Soldier? What does Planes, Trains… say about class in the US? What was the director of Ballad… able to get away with more than other Russian filmmakers?
“Stick this is your trophy case.” It’s November, and to paraphrase Alfred Lord Tennyson, in fall a young man’s fancy turns to thoughts of…sports, or, since one of our films is British, sport. And since we are still in quarantine, what better idea that to combine sports with prison. Sounds like the perfect time for Episode 32 of Pop Art, the podcast where my guest chooses a movie from popular culture and I’ll select a film from the more art/classic side of cinema with a connection to it. For this episode, I am happy to welcome back a previous guest, film enthusiast, creator of the Film a Day blog, and host of the LAMBCast podcast Richard Kirkham, who has chosen the Robert Aldrich directed Burt Reynolds vehicle, The Longest Yard, and I have chosen the angry young man Tony Richardson drama, The Loneliness of the Long Distance Runner, both about sports and prisons. And in this episode we answer such questions as: What was the alternative ending for The Longest Yard? Which people associated with the movies are part of long film dynasties? What did Aldrich think of Reynolds and what did Reynolds think of Aldrich? How does James Bond and Alfred Hitchcock fit in? What is the difference between James and Edward Fox? Who started the crazy old ladies films? What is an angry young man and what do they want?
NEW EPISODE: “I live, I die. I LIVE AGAIN!” Do you sometimes think we’re on the edge of an apocalypse? That tomorrow you might wake up to a barren and dog eat dog wasteland of mass destruction? And I’m not talking America after the election. Sounds like it’s time for Episode 31 of Pop Art, the podcast where my guest chooses a movie from popular culture and I’ll select a film from the more art/classic side of cinema with a connection to it. For this episode, I am happy to welcome back a previous guest, the host of the Cathode Ray Mission, Adam Ferenz, who has chosen George Miller’s blockbuster reimagining of the George Miller cult classic franchise Mad Max, Mad Max: Fury Road, and I have chosen L.Q. Jones cult classic adaptation of enfant terribles sci-fi author Harlan Ellison’s cult classic A Boy and His Dog, two apocalyptic films about some very strange strangers in some very strange lands. And in this episode, we answer such questions as: How does the Brady Bunch and Green Acres fit in? What did Miller steal from Ellison that led to Mad Max: Fury Road? How did Tom Hardy break his nose? How many hours of footage was there for Mad Max and how long did it take to view it? What was the controversy over the last line in A Boy and His Dog?
“It’s coming out of me like lava”. Is there some event you’ve been missing out on since the quarantine kicked in? Are you having those wedding bell blues? Are you not going to the chapel? Are you not getting married in the morning? Sounds like it’s time for Episode 30 of Pop Art, the podcast where my guest chooses a movie from popular culture and I’ll select a film from the more art/classic side of cinema with a connection to it. For my listeners, please like, follow or comment. I’m especially looking for more reviews on iTunes and I’d love to know what you think. For this episode, I am happy to welcome two guests, actors, producers and radio hosts, Jasper Cole and Ralph Cole, Jr., who have chosen the hit marital farce that gave us the national treasure known as Melissa McCarthy, Bridesmaids, and I have chosen the art house hit from Indian filmmaker Mira Nair, Monsoon Wedding. And in this episode we ask such questions as: Does the bathroom scene hurt the film, make the film, or both? Which movie made 30 times its cost? What is the legacy of Bridesmaids? Where did the idea for Monsoon Wedding come from? Where does Miss Marple fit in? Fill in the blank: weddings are a __________? Why did Jon Hamm not get his credit?
Previous episodes: Raiders of the Lost Ark/The Treasure of the Sierra Madre; Goldfinger/The Spy Who Came in From the Cold; Monty Python and the Holy Grail/The Seventh Seal; The Great Escape/A Man Escaped; Best in Show/Series 7: The Contenders; Robocop/THX 1138; Singin’ in the Rain/Irma Vep; Star Wars/The Hidden Fortress; The Omen/Village of the Damned; Aliens/Attack the Block; Adaptation/Sunset Boulevard; Die Hard/District B13; American Psycho/Repulsion; Dumb and Dumber/Too Late For Tears; Get Out/Upstream Color; Galaxy Quest/The Seven Samurai; Face/Off/Mulholland Drive; The Karate Kid/Let the Right One In; Finding Nemo/The Searchers; Jaws/White Hunter, Black Heart; Constantine/The Wailing; The Blues Brothers/Silence (1971); The Goonies/The Bridge (1959); Hell or High Water/Bonnie and Clyde; The Running Man/The Most Dangerous Game; Back to the Future/La Jatee; Snatch/The Twelve Chairs; Halloween III/The 5000 Fingers of Dr. T; Jurassic Park/Frankenstein, Bride of Frankenstein and Son of Frankenstein.
Check out my Script Consultation Services at http://ow.ly/HPxKE. I offer several types of service. Testimonials can be found at the blog entry.
Ever wonder what a reader for a contest or agency thinks when he reads your screenplay? Check out the second edition of my screenwriting book, More Rantings and Ravings of a Screenplay Reader published on Amazon at https://www.amazon.com/dp/B07GD1XP9Y
