Monday, June 11, 2012
Episode 6 - 11 - 12
Howdy and how do, adoring public. I guess this week the big news is the ubiquitous deflation of Prometheus (called it). Most people were disappointed for reasons they couldn't quite put their fingers on. Personally, I put a gigantic finger on Damon Lindelof, the "Lost" co-tard, who has again shown his alacrity for creating a good idea and then sharting it down his leg with poor execution masquerading as existential ambiguity. As an Alien prequel, it's inconsistent; as a metaphor on myth and creation, it fails due to a lack of internal logic; as a postmodern pastiche of Stanley Kubrick and Scott's own oeuvre, it baffles; as a space-chiller, it occasionally succeeds; as a visual deployment of ideas, it works, but the parts do not make a compelling whole. Ridley Scott has entered a weird phase of his own postmodern cycle, couched within the existing cultural postmodernism, wherein he references and/or inadvertently parodies his own canon. Like a cocktail party guest who makes his greatest remark five minutes in, he can only stand around awkwardly, gesturing to his lauded moments with increasing desperation, unable or unwilling to move on.
The Boom Operator felt the film was serviceable, citing the use of non-digital effects and the admittedly great performance from Michael Fassbender.
We heard music from the following:
Predator, 1987 - Alan Silvestri
Project Metalbeast, 1995 - Conrad Pope
Poltergeist II: The Other Side, 1986 - Jerry Goldsmith
Prometheus, 2012 - Marc Streitenfeld
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Tuesday, June 5, 2012
Episode 6 - 4 - 12
We return after a brief vacation in which the Boom Operator sojourned to America's weenie (fine, fine...Florida) ready to bring in da noise/funk, report on films we had seen, and kick off Season 3 of Tavern Trivia. Last week I caught Piranha 3DD, which, unlike its predecessor, was a pile of shit. Well, I'll elaborate: Piranha 3D was B-movie fun, a delectable pile of garbage with just the right amount of boobage and gore. Piranha 3DD doesn't even try: a fat-guy jumps on a pile of puke; a piranha swims up some girl's woo (because apparently she didn't notice) and then bites her lover's weenie, which he proceeds to slice off; a guy decapitates himself on plastic rope, his head lands betwixt a pair of silicone sweater-puppies and he is motor-boated posthumously. There's an art to trash, and just giggling with your friends about tits and splatter is bad, not because it's low-brow, but because it's lazy. The Boom Operator saw Men in Black III and offered shrugs.
We heard music from the following:
Men in Black III, 2012 - Danny Elfman
"Fraggle Rock", 1983-1987 - Various
Batman, 1989 - Danny Elfman
Back to the Future, 1985 - Alan Silvestri
Legend, 1985 - Tangerine Dream
Episode 5 - 21 - 12
So, we're back after an off week (for the Gaffer, at least), and it seems like literally nothing has come out, and certainly nothing but gnats on The Avengers' shit, money-wise. I mean, goddamn Battleship? I'm still in awe of that. Look for Candyland in 3D and Imax next Friday. Tim Burton also shat out his 28th Depp/Carter project; a friend of mine had this to say about it: "Dark Shadows might not have felt so godawful if it wasn't pretty good at first. Then it jumped off the rails, off a cliff, into a boat, that sunk. But nobody had a chance to drown because everything exploded." Well said. Oh, new Wes Anderson and Men in Black movies are upcoming, so that's happening. You should listen to the show this week, is basically what I'm saying, if only for the part where I am urged by the Boom Operator to google and recite the definition to "rusty trombone," a phrase that I dropped without knowing its meaning. Oh dear.
We heard music from the following:
Dark Shadows, 1966-1971 - Robert Costella
Buckaroo Bonzai, 1984 - Michael Boddicker
Cat People, 1982 - Giorgio Moroder & David Bowie
My Neighbor Totoro, 1988 - Joe Hisaishi
Men in Black, 1997 - Danny Elfman
Swamp Thing, 1982 - Harry Manfredini
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Tuesday, May 1, 2012
Episode 4 - 30 - 12
The Boom Operator watched and thoroughly enjoyed the new Aardman Animations film Pirates! Band of Misfits, which provoked our perennial discussion and preference for tangible, non-digital effects ad nauseum. We also saw the obscure and soon-to-remain-obscure Panos Cosmatos film Beyond the Black Rainbow, one of the weirdest films ever made, and a true masterpiece of retro-futurist artsanity pastiche: Kubrick, Tron, Tarkovsky, THX 1138, Dark Star, Jodorowski and Kenneth Anger set to a Valerie Collective soundtrack and a mescaline addiction. Whoa. Whoa. Whoa. I can't recommend this film at all, and I can't recommend it enough. That's one for the vault.
We heard music from the following:
Blade Runner, 1982 - Vangelis
Cutthroat Island, 1995 - John Debney
The Hobbit, 1977 - Maury Laws
Irreversible, 2002 - Thomas Bangalter
Monkey Island Series, 199x - Various
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Episode 4 - 23 - 12
Another dreary week where neither of us could be arced to see any of the new releases. With such future-Criterion contenders as Think Like a Man and Hasbro's Battleship, who can blame us? For an alleged critic on a show allegedly meant to digest film culture, I certainly do hate much if not all of its representations as they appear in wide release every feel. It's not just that the movies coming out are bad; I find them beneath even consideration, perhaps an idiosyncratic (OK, fine, snobby) view, but in my mind, really becoming appreciative of film involves an archival mindset of digging and exploring the many frontiers not found or represented by the production machine in Los Angeles. If and when you do that, how in the motherfucking fuck can something like the 2012 The Three Stooges even be worth your time or interest except in the most abstract way?
Anyway, we spiffballed our way around two hours of tonight's show on varying topics. It got so obtuse I can barely remember what was going on, save we talked about the upcoming monolithic (in every sense) Prometheus. Have you guys seen the ad campaign behind this? Somebody wants to be Kubrick real hard, but then, I'm anti-hype.
We heard music from the following
Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind, 2004 - Jon Brion
Gone Fishin', 1997 - Randy Edelman
My Name is Nobody, 1973 - Ennio Morricone
The Omega Man, 1971 - Ron Grainer
Planet Earth, 2006 - George Fenton
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Tuesday, April 17, 2012
Episode 4 - 16 - 12
Pack it up, pack it in, this Drive-in Speakerbox blog is about to begin. This weekend we were blessed by the unexpected presence of the much-hyped Indonesian martial arts actioner The Raid: Redemption. Bullets flew almost as fast as the fists and the techno-whumpy score. It was intense, and lacked the obviously-choreographed "delicacy" of most films of this ilk. The action was hilariously brutal and had an accompanying sense of unease and tension I don't usually experience from watching face punches. Lockout, on the other hand, was as forgettable a film that I'd watch and forget on Netflix Instant except that I just saw it in the theater, as I've ever seen. Save for the delightful (and dreamy!) Guy Pearce, all I can really say about Lockout is that it was a movie. Oh, and the special effects looked like scenes from the 1994 computer game System Shock.
We heard music from the following:
The Beyond, 1981 - Fabio Frizzi
Karate Warrior 2, 1988 - Stefano Minette
Lost in Translation, 2003 - Various
Teen Wolf, 1985 - Miles Goodman
Episode 4 - 9 - 12
Podcasts are back after a brief absence. By brief, I mean a month or two, and by back, I mean we bought our own goddamn hosting account so we don't have to rely on the..well, let's just say we're taking matters into our own hands. Anyway, while our neck of the University world is embroiled in what I have dubbed "hanny-gate" wherein a randy coach with a winning record has caused a kerfuffle by getting a motorcycle-demolishingly good hand job from the 25-year-old blonde he just hired. RUH ROH.
Anyway, the film world isn't in much better straits after Easter weekend. The Boom Operator saw Wrath of the Titans for reasons known only to Zombie Jesus and remarked upon its stupidity.
Also, Street Sharks.
We heard music from the following:
Young Frankenstein, 1974 - John Morris
Hawaii 5-0, 1968 - Morton Stevens
The Hulk, 2003 - Danny Elfman
The Big Blue, 1988 - Eric Serra
Zombi, 1978 - Goblin
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