POP ART: Episode 21, Constantine/The Wailing

“What if I told you that God and the devil made a wager, a kind of standing bet for the souls of all mankind?” Have you been thinking that maybe there’s just a bit too much evil in the world? Not sure what is getting into people these days? What is possessing people to act the way they do? The perfect time for Episode 20 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, my guest, screenwriter Jordan Trippeer, chose the Keanu Reeves apocalyptic comic book vehicle Constantine, while I chose the new wave South Korean horror thriller The Wailing, both with stories about characters confronting demons and great evil. And here we answer such questions as: Myth Constantine? Why was there no sequel to Constantine? Just what is it about South Korean films? Which film has the less forgiving worldview? How does Kill Bill, Vol. I fit in? What the hell is the Book of Revelations? And many others.

And don’t forget to listen to other episodes, as well as like, comment on and follow ON ITUNES AND PODOMATIC. https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/pop-art/id1511098925 and https://hcasner65579.podomatic.com/, 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 , Anchor: https://anchor.fm/howard-casner, Google Podcasts: https://podcasts.google.com/?feed=aHR0cHM6Ly9hbmNob3IuZm0vcy8xZWI4N2NmYy9wb2RjYXN0L3Jzcw , Breaker: https://www.breaker.audio/pop-art, Pocketcasts: https://pca.st/vfjqj6j6, Radiopublic: https://radiopublic.com/pop-art-GExxNb

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.

 

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

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.

Renaissance: The Films of South Korea

 

First a word from our sponsor:

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

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.

 

I have been an admirer of South Korean films for a number of years now, constantly touting them as, along with the output from Romania, the most interesting films being made today, far more interesting more often than not, in comparison to American films.

 

Now that Parasite has won best picture at the Academy Awards, I thought I would list my favorite South Korean filmmakers and their films. For those who are not as aware of the movies being made there, this might hopefully serve as somewhat of a primer or introduction. I certainly am not the expert others are, but still, I think my list is probably pretty decent.

My recommendations for film watching this week in L.A. 6/24-7/1/2016

First, a word from our sponsors: I wanted to say thank you to everyone who contributed to our Indiegogo campaign for 15 Conversations in 10 Minutes. We did very well due to you folks. For those who weren’t able to give, keep us in your thoughts. And if you are able to contribute in the future, contact me and I’ll tell you how. I will even honor the perks on the original campaign.

I am now offering a new consultation 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

My recommendations for movie watching this week in L.A. 6/24-7/1/2016

A change here. I now also have HBONOW and Amazon, as well as Netflix and Hulu, so I will be rotating these from now on.

ON HULU: Mommy is French-Canadian wunderkind Xavier Dolan’s latest film and his best since his début with I Killed My Mother. A mother removes her son from a mental institution. But her son’s emotional difficulties promise to send him back until a new neighbor helps. But is that help going to be enough? Wonderful acting by the three leads, some interesting directorial flourishes, and a deeply moving ending.

ON NETFLIX: As an actor, Tab Hunter was never a great one, maybe not even a particularly good one, and he was only a box office star for a relatively short period of time, so it may be hard to conceive that a documentary about him would be anything but fluff. But Tab Hunter Confidential, directed by Jeffrey Schwartz, is a fascinating look at the Hollywood acting machine, what is was like to be closeted in the U.S. at the time, and how Hunter came to terms with his life and found peace. Hunter, who is interviewed for most of the movie, is very candid about his life. A fascinating portrait.

FIRST RUN and OPENING:  Swiss Army Man, The Shallows, Independence Day: Resurgence, The Neon Demon, Hunt for the Wilderpeople, Seoul People, Les Cowboys, My Love, Don’t Cross That River, Finding Dory, Tickled, The Witness, De Palma, King Jack, Diary of a Chambermaid, The Wailing, The Nice Guys, The Lobster

POSSESSION IS 9/10ths OF THE LAW: The Wailing and The Conjuring 2

First, a word from our sponsors: I wanted to say thank you to everyone who contributed to our Indiegogo campaign for 15 Conversations in 10 Minutes. We did very well due to you folks. For those who weren’t able to give, keep us in your thoughts. And if you are able to contribute in the future, contact me and I’ll tell you how. I will even honor the perks on the original campaign.

I am now offering a new consultation 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

Two movies have opened of late that revolve around children being taken over by supernatural forces beyond their control. I’m sure many of you might ask, “But how can you be sure it’s not just puberty?” Well, see the films and decide for yourself.

In the last number of years, the most interesting movies have been making their way over here from two unlikely sources: the Romanian and South Korean new waves. One might suggest that one is the result of having recently thrown off the cloak of Communism and the other from living under the specter of the same. But that’s little more than speculation.

However, there is a difference in the two. While the movies we get from Romania tend to be more political and social critiques (4 Months, 3Weeks, 2Days, Police: Adjective, The Death of Mr. Lazarescu), the ones from South Korea tend to be more genre focused (The Host, Thirst, Sympathy for Mr. Vengeance).

Writer/director Hong-jin Han is one of the more interesting of the new set of Korean filmmakers. He started out with a psychological thriller (The Chaser, about a serial killer targeting prostitutes), and followed it up with a political thriller (Yellow Sea, about a man set up as a fall guy for an assassination, in a style worthy of Alfred Hitchcock).

My recommendations for film watching this week in L.A. 6/17-24/2016

First, a word from our sponsors: I wanted to say thank you to everyone who contributed to our Indiegogo campaign for 15 Conversations in 10 Minutes. We did very well due to you folks. For those who weren’t able to give, keep us in your thoughts. And if you are able to contribute in the future, contact me and I’ll tell you how. I will even honor the perks on the original campaign.

I am now offering a new consultation 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

My recommendations for movie watching this week in L.A. 6/17-24/201

A change here. I now also have HBONOW and Amazon, as well as Netflix and Hulu, so I will be rotating these from now on.

ON AMAZON: 1945’s And Then There Were None is quite possibly the best adaptation of Agatha Christie’s classic novel (I have yet to see Acorn Channel’s new version) in which a group of people are invited and then trapped in a remote location whereupon they are killed off one by one in accordance to a nursery rhyme. Directed by Rene Clair (probably his best American film) and wittily written by Dudley Nichols, one of Hollywood’s best screenwriters. It also boasts a fun cast of some our best character actors including Walter Huston, Barry Fitzgerald, Roland Young, C. Aubrey Smith, Mischa Auer, Richard Haydn and Judith Anderson.

ON NETFLIX: Carlos is a television mini-series about the terrorist Ilich Ramírez Sánchez ‘Carlos’¸who eventually earned the nickname The Jackal after the man who tried to assassinate De Gaulle. Directed by one of France’s best director Olivier Assayas and written by Assayas, Dan Franke and Daniel Laconte, it’s a first rate political thriller in which Carlos is often portrayed as leading a gang that couldn’t shoot straight. And with a compelling performance by Edgar Ramirez in the title role.

FIRST RUN and OPENING:  Finding Dory, Tickled, The Keeper of Lost Causes, From Afar, Bang Gang, Genius, The Witness, De Palma, King Jack, Diary of a Chambermaid, The Fits, The Wailing, The Nice Guys, Love and Friendship, Jimmy Vestvood: Amerikan Hero, The Measure of a Man, The Lobster

My recommendations for film watching this week in L.A. 6/10-6/17/2016

First, a word from our sponsors: I wanted to say thank you to everyone who contributed to our Indiegogo campaign for 15 Conversations in 10 Minutes. We did very well due to you folks. For those who weren’t able to give, keep us in your thoughts. And if you are able to contribute in the future, contact me and I’ll tell you how. I will even honor the perks on the original campaign.

I am now offering a new consultation 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

My recommendations for movie watching this week in L.A. 6/10-6/17/201

A change here. I now also have HBONOW and Amazon, as well as Netflix and Hulu, so I will be rotating these from now on.

ON NETFLIX: Cold in July, written by Nick Dimici and the director Jim Mickle, is a very clever and effective neo noir with great performances by Sam Shepard and especially Don Johnson, who steals the show. A mild mannered family man shoots an intruder and it turns out he was wanted for other crimes. But the family man discovers this might not be true. One of the best films of its year.

ON HULU:  Night on Earth is a portmanteau film from writer/director Jim Jarmusch. It dramatizes five different cab rides in five different locations on earth. The stand out is probably Roberto Benigni who picks up a priest late one night in Rome.

FIRST RUN and OPENING:  De Palma, King Jack, Diary of a Chambermaid, The Fits, Therapy for a Vampire, The Conjuring 2, The Wailing, Chevalier, The Idol, The Nice Guys, Love and Friendship, Jimmy Vestvood: Amerikan Hero, The Measure of a Man, The Lobster

My recommendations for film watching this week in L.A. 6/3-6/10/2016

First, a word from our sponsors: I have just launched the indiegogo campaign for my short film 14 Conversations in 10 Minutes. Check it out http://ow.ly/SblO3005HHu.  Below is a video sample of the short. Think about contributing (the lowest contribution is only $5.00). Please view and share anywhere and everywhere.

I am now offering a new consultation 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

My recommendations for movie watching this week in L.A. 5/27-6/3/201

A change here. I now also have HBONOW and Amazon, as well as Netflix and Hulu, so I will be rotating these from now on.

ON HBONOW: Citizen X is about the search for a serial killer in 1980’s Soviet Russia hampered by the idea held by many at that time that there are no serial killers under Communism since it was only the product of the decadent Capitalistic west. Fascinating, with strong performances by Stephen Rea as the forensics expert put in charge of the case and Donald Sutherland seeming to have a great time as his superior officer. With a cameo of Max von Shadow as something unusual for Soviet Russia, a psychiatrist.

ON AMAZON:  Lady of Burlesque is a nice, fun noir based on the book The G-String Murders. Made in 1943, it was hampered a bit by censorship (there’s not a lot of strip and even less of tease), but Barbara Stanwyck is great in the title role, trying to solve a series of murders before it gets to her. Screenplay by James Gunn and directing by William A. Wellman.

FIRST RUN and OPENING:  Popstar: Never Stop Never Stopping, The Wailing, Chevalier, The Idol, The Nice Guys, Love and Friendship, Jimmy Vestvood: Amerikan Hero, The Measure of a Man, The Lobster