POP ART, EPISODE 55: The Hitman’s Bodyguard/The Gauntlet

NEW POP ART EP 55: ON THE ROAD AGAIN: “Nag, nag, nag.” How hard can it be? Your assignment is to get a witness from point A to point B? What could possibly go wrong, you ask? Sounds like it’s time for Episode 55 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/indie side of cinema with a connection to it. Today, I am happy to welcome as my guest, blogger. podcaster and film enthusiast Thomas Stoneham-Judge, who has chosen the Ryan Reynolds/Samuel L. Jackson bromance road picture, The Hitman’s Bodyguard, while I have chosen the Clint Eastwood/Sondra Locke romantic action road picture, The Gauntlet, both about people trying to get a witness to trial against almost insurmountable odds. And don’t forget to follow my podcast and comment.

And in this episode we answer such questions as: What is the Wilhelm Scream; What is a Pat Hingle and would you want to be one; Why do Reynolds and Jackson work so well together; What did test audiences scream out at the climax of The Gauntlet; What song do the nuns on the bus sing; who were first cast in The Gauntlet; What happened to the screenplay to The Hitman’s Bodyguard a few weeks before shooting?

And check out Thomas’ blog at ForReel Movie News & Reviews at https://www.moviesforreel.net/home/category/Blogs+by+Thomas

Check out my blog at https://howardcasner.wordpress.com/

My books, More Rantings and Ravings of a Screenplay Reader, The Starving Artists and Other Stories and The Five Corporations and One True Religion can be found at https://www.amazon.com/s?k=howard+casner&ref=nb_sb_noss

Meanwhile, like, follow or comment on my podcast. I’d love to know what you think. And check out the other episodes. On ITUNES and PODOMATIC. https://podcasts.apple.com/…/pop-art/id1511098925and https://hcasner65579.podomatic.com/, Anchor: https://anchor.fm/howard-casner, as well as iheartradio: https://www.iheart.com/podcast/269-pop-art-65365716/, Sticher: https://www.stitcher.com/podcast/pop-art Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/5jX4noVGArDJdmcFtmrQcGm , Google Podcasts: https://podcasts.google.com/…, Breaker: https://www.breaker.audio/pop-art, Pocketcasts: https://pca.st/vfjqj6j6, Radiopublic: https://radiopublic.com/pop-art-GExxNb

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.

Finally, I have published a collection of three of my plays, 3 Plays, https://www.amazon.com/dp/B08478DBXF as well as two collections of short stories, The Starving Artists and other stories, https://www.amazon.com/dp/B07FS91CKJ and The Five Corporations and the One True Church and other stories, https://www.amazon.com/dp/B07KY5Z3CF.

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

A BIT SHORT: The Big Short and The Hateful Eight

First, a word from our sponsors: I am now offering a new service: so much emphasis has been given lately to the importance of the opening of your screenplay, I now offer coverage for the first twenty pages at the cost of $20.00.  For those who don’t want to have full coverage on their screenplay at this time, but want to know how well their script is working with the opening pages, this is perfect for you.  I’ll help you not lose the reader on page one. 

 

Ever wonder what a reader for a contest or agency thinks when he reads your screenplay? Check out my new e-book published on Amazon: Rantings and Ravings of a Screenplay Reader, including my series of essays, What I Learned Reading for Contests This Year, and my film reviews of 2013. Only $2.99. http://ow.ly/xN31r

 

and check out my Script Consultation Services: http://ow.ly/HPxKE

Warning: SPOILERS

The Big Short, like Spotlight, is the one of those movies ripped from the headlines—of years and years ago; but this time the subject is not pedophile priests, but the downfall of the American economy. Written by Charles Randolph and the director Adam McKay, from a book by Michael Lewis, it’s also a very satisfying bit of agitprop theater with Brechtian distancing devices thrown in for good major.

It basically tells the story of four different groups of people who all realized, more or less at the same time, and years ahead of schedule, that the housing mortgage bubble was going to burst in 2007 and destroy the world’s economy.

This leads to the movie’s major irony: the people who figured this out then proceed to invest heavily against the U.S. economy, making tons of money when their Cassandra like prediction of doom came true.

So basically, we in the audience, along with the characters in the movie, find ourselves and themselves actually hoping that the U.S. financial system tanks like the Titanic.

KING, QUEEN AND PAWNS: Kingsman: The Secret Service, Song of the Sea and Timbuktu

First, a word from our sponsors. Ever wonder what a reader for a contest or agency thinks when he reads your screenplay? Check out my new e-book published on Amazon: Rantings and Ravings of a Screenplay Reader, including my series of essays, What I Learned Reading for Contests This Year, and my film reviews of 2013. Only $2.99. http://ow.ly/xN31r

 

and check out my Script Consultation Services: http://ow.ly/HPxKE

Warning: SPOILERS

Kingsman: The Secret Service, the latest entry in a comic book franchise, this one with an espionage theme, is, in many ways, an impressive and handsomely made movie.

From a technical perspective, it’s incredibly well done with the best costumes, sets, and music money can buy. It doesn’t stint and there is nothing in this film that is an old piece of tat or is cheap as chips.

The acting is also first rate, raiding the cupboards as it does for the actors who are left who managed to not appear in The Lord of the Rings or The Harry Potter series.

And it has some beautifully well staged and directed second unit scenes of carefully, even wittily, choreographed episodes of extreme violence.

In many ways, those who like these sort of studio type tent pole films will probably find it hard to carp at anything they see.

So why did I find the whole thing dispiriting and extremely depressing?

THRILLS BOTH CHEAP AND EXPENSIVE: Cheap Thrills and Captain America: The Winter Soldier

In the 2012 drama, Compliance, Pat Healy played a sociopath pretending to be a police officer who manipulates the workers at a fast food restaurant into do some pretty disgusting things (and I don’t mean to the food, though from what I understand, fast food workers wouldn’t need much manipulation for that in the first place).

In his newest movie, Cheap Thrills, he’s on the opposite side of the fence, playing a poor schnook being manipulated into doing disgusting things by a pair of sociopaths.