After doing full career retrospectives on Michael Mann and Quentin Tarantino last year, it didn’t take long to figure out whose directorial career the Aftertaste was going to tackle next. An influencer, and someone whose films can be dissected to death, Christopher Nolan is someone who has a firm grasp on what kind of vision he wants to display. From Batman to focused World War II stories, Nolan has certainly run the gamut of what kind of stories he has to tell. But with the only Nolan related things covered in this podcast being his Dark Knight Trilogy, as well as him having a film called Tenet scheduled to come out this summer, we felt it was time to tackle the rest of his career. So join myself, Jack, and Matt as we look at what his career outside of the cowl has consisted of, while leading up to a review of Tenet.
After the incredible $1 billion success of The Dark Knight, everyone wondered what Nolan was going to do next. Enter an idea he had been working on for almost a decade called Inception. The concept of deconstructing dreams and influencing someone to do something because of them is an idea that was much different than anything the British filmmaker had done up to that point. Audiences flocked to it, as it made almost $900 million at the box office. But how do we feel about it?
Join Matt, Jack, and myself as we have perhaps the most confrontational discussion of this retrospective. Guess who doesn’t like Inception and wants us all to know?
Note: Once again, technical problems reared their ugly heads throughout this podcast. Around the 30 minute mark, there are some mic and connection issues, which did not deter anything from the interesting things Ms Shea said. So bear with them, and you will have a good time listening to it.
Katt Shea is someone whose films and style I have admired for quite some time. So it felt like a jolt of electricity through my body when she agreed to come on and talk about her experience in making her films with me on this week’s episode of Binge Movie Aftertaste. First thing’s first though. Before getting Shea on the line, I had to get a co-host.
With the lovely Jason Morris out on location and Johnny Moreno out of town, I was left co-hostless. Luckily, my friend and former Adventure Amigos cohort Matthew Goudreau answered the call and turned out to be more than up to the task. After introducing Matt and covering how things are going at the Amigos, we get into a discussion about the Wachowskis and where they can go now that Jupiter Ascending has flopped.
We then get Shea on the line, and she launches into stories about her early acting and modeling career, along with what it was like on the sets of Psycho III and Scarface. After covering what it was like working for the legendary Roger Corman, Shea mentions that her experiences directing plays at a young age set her up for what the next stage of her career would bring.
We briefly cover Shea’s directorial debut Stripped To Kill, and then get into a discussion about her 1989 film Dance of the Damned, and how Shea had to film the entire film in 15 days. Stories about a young Wally Pfister and meeting Christopher Nolan follow, and then Shea answers the question of whether her long in development remake of the vampire film will ever come to fruition. She concludes this segment of the conversation by giving her two cents on whether she prefers film or digital filmmaking.
We then talk at length about Shea’s 1992 Drew Barrymore starring thriller Poison Ivy. Stories about Shea’s struggles to convince the studio to hire Barrymore, along with what a 15 year old Leonardo DiCaprio was like to work with follow, and then Shea discusses how she feels about the three (!) subsequent sequels. Hint: she doesn’t like them.
The Rage: Carrie 2, a film which Matthew says ‘screwed up his childhood,’ is brought up. Revealing the film to be yet another stressful shoot, Shea still has great things to say about it, including a particular scene she is incredibly proud of. Taking the reigns of Brian DePalma is never easy, but Shea also reveals that she had to get the approval of both him and Stephen King (as well as Amy Irving) in order to direct the film, which shows up in blu ray format April 14th.
All of this plus how she enjoys her current gig of teaching actors and directors, if she ever saw the recent Carrie remake, if she will ever direct another film, and so much more get covered here in this interesting hour plus interview.
Special thanks goes out to Goudreau for coming through on such short notice. Check the Adventure Amigos for his reviews and podcasts.
And an extra special thanks goes out to Shea for not only proving to be a great interview subject, but also for being patient through some bad technical issues.
Welcome to the October 26th edition of Working the Weekend with Luke here at Binge Media. Hopefully, you all enjoyed my top ten trilogy countdown (to see the full list, click HERE). But now that the list has been completed, I need to find a new way to entertain you. So I’ve come up with this. Every now and again, I’m going to bring you a celebrity showdown…a 1-on-1 matchup of two Hollywood heavyweights. I’ll give you a tale of the tape, the positives and negatives of each individual, and then I’ll pick a winner and let you either praise me or tear me a new one. Just a few that first came to me could be Pacino vs DeNiro or perhaps Van Damme vs Seagal, and you know I’m always open to suggestion. But for our first bout, I’m going to hang on to the success of Gone Girl for at least one more week and bring you a matchup of two childhood friends that have both gone on to big careers. That’s right, it could only be…………..
BEN AFFLECK vs MATT DAMON
THE TALE OF THE TAPE
42 AGE 44
60 ACTOR CREDITS 68
6 DIRECTOR CREDITS 0
5 WRITING CREDITS 3
15 PRODUCER CREDITS 15
2 ACADEMY AWARDS 1
THE EARLY ROUNDS
We won’t count that both Damon and Affleck were extras in Field of Dreams during the scene at Fenway, so I’ll go ahead and start off with the film where both gained a little fame, Damon more so than Affleck.
Damn, were you really expecting to read anything about School Ties today? And yes, that is Chris O’ Donnell next to them. If you haven’t seen it, Matt Damon plays the overall villain where the star is actually….wait for it….Brendan Fraser in a dramatic role. Process that for a moment, but Fraser plays a Jewish kid who is recruited by a prep school to play football, but is forced to hide his religion. Matt Damon finds out, tells a Jewish joke, a naked shower fight breaks out and eventually Damon is expelled. The movie actually isn’t as bad as it sounds. It’s not great by any means, but it really did put Damon on the map. Affleck is in it as well, but his role isn’t nearly as big. He’s just one of the other students with a few lines here and there. So out of the gate, I’ve gotta give the edge to Damon.
But Affleck fights back with 1993’s Dazed and Confused. He certainly didn’t have top billing here either, but he certainly showed that he can play the asshole too as hated super duper senior O’Bannion. And in case you weren’t aware, this movie also helped launch the career of Matthew McConaughey, who happens to be sitting ringside waiting for his rumored bout against Leonardo DiCaprio.
But back to the action. 1995 has rolled around and Kevin Smith has made it big with a little low-budget flick called Clerks and finally has some money to spend on Mallrats. Affleck is cast as yet another prick who attempts to steal Shannen Doherty (why would anyone want to do that) away from Jason Lee. He still isn’t a star yet, but this movie and the next in the series, Chasing Amy really get his name out there. Matt Damon hasn’t been doing a ton, but gets a decent role in Courage Under Fire with Denzel Washington and Meg Ryan. At this point, he’s definitely got the upper hand. Neither is an A-lister just yet, but they’re determined to achieve this status so they start working on writing a movie for themselves. You know what comes next.
And you know what comes next.
Good Will Hunting turned Matt Damon and Ben Affleck into full-fledged stars. Along with winning the Oscar with his pal for Best Original Screenplay, Damon was also nominated in the Best Actor category, so at this point, I’ve still got to give the edge to Matt Damon.
THE MIDDLE ROUNDS
With big fame usually comes big budgets and they both certainly took advantage. I will openly admit that I think Armageddon is a very entertaining movie, and Affleck is actually involved in the most emotional scene of the movie opposite Bruce Willis. Damon is still ahead on points here though with a nice role in Saving Private Ryan and stars in the very underrated Rounders with Edward Norton. But then come movies like All the Pretty Horses, so there’s certainly nothing positive to discuss there. I know a lot of people really thought The Talented Mr. Ripley was a good film, but I didn’t. The only points on my scorecard that Damon gets here is that he kills Jude Law, who I’ve never been a fan of anyway.
Affleck is trying so hard to be a movie star instead of an actor, but bombs like Reindeer Games (we do get a naked Charlize Theron here though) and Pearl Harbor certainly aren’t helping his case. And don’t pretend that you actually like Shakespeare in Love just to sound like you know about movies. Throw in Bounce, Forces of Nature, and Gigli and I think we’ve got our first knockdown of the fight.
But we also get some more Kevin Smith in here, including this gem from Jay and Silent Bob Strike Back.
And I’ll be completely honest. Affleck gets a point from me for Jersey Girl. Maybe it’s because I have daughters, but I love that movie and I don’t care who knows it. If you haven’t seen it, I won’t give anything away, but I will share a great scene he has with Will Smith.
In the meantime, Matt Damon has entered the world of franchises. The Ocean’s franchise became wildly popular with Damon starring alongside heavyweights like Clooney, Pitt, and Cheadle, and I thought he did a great job holding his own. But honestly, the franchise that became his really surprised me. I never thought that Matt Damon could be an action star, but now I can’t picture anybody else as Jason Bourne. Score a few points for Damon here.
Affleck tried to get in on the action with Daredevil, and do I really need to get into that?
I really wish more people had seen Hollywoodland. If you don’t know what this is, Affleck plays George Reeves, who played the role of Superman (the TV show) back in the day. It also stars Adrien Brody and Diane Lane, but Affleck is really solid here as he shows the back and forth that Reeves had with playing the iconic character, ultimately ending with his death that was ruled a suicide but many have thought to be murder. Overall, this is a really underrated movie.
The problem for Affleck that year (2006) is that Matt Damon was part of yet another dynamic ensemble cast in The Departed. Again, Damon really holds his own with crazy talented guys like Leo and Jack.
Clearly, Affleck has always been behind in points in the acting category. So what can he do to get back in this fight?
THE LATER ROUNDS
There’s a big shot by Affleck!
And another!
And another…… and Damon is down!
The well-rounded attack from Ben Affleck has everybody asking themselves “Oh damn, did you know he could do that?” Obviously, we knew that he could write. But he’s really made a name for himself behind the camera. 2007’s Gone Baby Gone proved that he could take a script that he wrote and turn it into a really solid movie. The same can be said for The Town, which actually gets better each time I watch it. And somewhere along the line, his acting skills jumped up a notch as well, as evidenced by that same movie and in Argo, where he starred, wrote, and produced, picking up his second Oscar to boot.
Meanwhile, Matt Damon hasn’t given me anything that I’ve really been crazy about since Invictus, but that was five years ago. He looked a little out of place to me in True Grit and I will admit that I did not see Elysium, but that movie just looked awful to me. Let me know if I’m wrong. I suppose We Bought a Zoo was nice for families.
As for this year, The Monuments Men was basically a dud for Damon, but Affleck has a huge hit on his hands right now with my favorite movie of the year thus far.
In my mind, Gone Girl has put Ben Affleck ahead on points. He’s actually become a very solid actor, which is where Damon had the advantage for so many years. Throw in the fact that Affleck is doing more behind the scenes with all of the writing, directing, and producing and I’ve got to give Ben Affleck the overall edge in this battle to this point.
So what’s next for these two? Well, Matt Damon knows he’s behind a little bit these days. He does have a small role in Christopher Nolan’s Interstellar and on a similar note, he will be starring in The Martian due out next year about an astronaut stranded on Mars. More Bourne movies may be on the horizon as well, if all the reports I’ve read are true.
Affleck will continue to be busy as well. Once again, he’s set to write, direct, and star in a movie, this time called Live by Night, a Prohibition Era crime drama, so I’ve got high hopes for that. And in case you’ve been living under a rock for the past year, there’s this.
I may be in the minority here, but I think he’s going to kill it as Bruce Wayne/Batman, but that’s just me. The rest of the Internet seems to think he’s going to bomb in the same way they thought Heath Ledger was going to bomb as The Joker. How’d that turn out by the way?
So now I leave it to you. This fight is far from over, as each is poised to have a long career, especially if the rumors are true that Damon will be getting behind the camera as well. I’m giving the slight edge right now to Ben Affleck but that’s just me. But where do you come out on this? Are you a Damon guy or an Affleck guy? Who’s going to deliver the knockout blow? Leave your comments below or you can always follow me and tweet @THElukenorris.
And after a week’s hiatus, the Beverly Hills, 90210 clip of the week returns. Since I mentioned Mallrats today, here’s a little more Shannen Doherty for you.
I know you’re used to seeing Working the Weekend with Luke on Sundays, but due to some technical difficulties last weekend, I was unable to produce. Therefore, you will get two columns this weekend, one today and one tomorrow. I said I would bring five editions in August and dammit, I’m a man of my word. So for today, I’ll touch on the inspiration for my name title above, and I’ll start my Top 10 Trilogy Countdown.
BREAKING BAD BINGE
I don’t really buy too many DVD’s or Blu-Ray’s anymore, and I’m not the biggest streamer either, so a few weeks ago, when I came across the news that AMC was going to start Breaking Bad from the beginning, I was freaking jacked. Starting last weekend and going to October 5th, they’ll be running episodes from 4 to midnight every Sunday, while including bonus never before seen interviews with the cast and crew. But Luke, I can watch them whenever I feel like it. Why don’t you just buy the box set? You know what, I’m divorced with a mortgage and other bills and twin 3 year old daughters. If you want to buy it and send it my way, hit me up and I’ll give you the mailing address for you to send it my way. It’s actually pretty cool having to wait again to see more episodes. It’s almost like watching it again for the first time. But this time around, I’ll be able to watch it knowing that I spent a day in the ABQ a few months back just touring the sites. I’ll give you a few pics, but if you want to read about that day, hit up The Luke Norris Experience HERE. Have an A1 day!
THE TRILOGY COUNTDOWN
A few weeks ago, I wrote how excited I was for the release of The Expendables 3 as I really dug the first two. Come on, it’s all the guys I grew up watching. Now, I’ve heard that the newest one doesn’t make the cut, but I’ll decide for myself soon. But it also got me to thinking about my favorite trilogies of all time, so starting today, I’ll be counting down from 10 (one each edition) of my favorites. If you’re new here, make a note to save the hate mail when I’m done because your precious (yes, I meant to do that) Lord of the Rings saga will not be included. I think they’re awful and I don’t like Peter Jackson. Deal with it. But without further delay, here is number 10 on my list of all-time favorite trilogies.
#10-THE INFERNAL AFFAIRS TRILOGY
Infernal Affairs, Infernal Affairs II, Infernal Affairs III
If you’re not familiar with this trilogy, it’s because it came from Hong Kong. If it does sound familiar to you, it’s more than likely because you know that it was remade here in the US by Martin Scorsese as a little movie called The Departed.
These movies were directed by Alan Mak and Andrew Lau, who is actually a completely different person than Andy Lau, who stars as Lau Kin-Ming (think Matt Damon), a member of the triad run by Hon (think Jack Nicholson). Lau has infiltrated the Hong Kong Police and he squares off with Chan Wing-Yan, played by Tony Leung (and not Leo). Chan is an undercover officer who has gotten in with the triad. The movie actually starts with a scene in a hi-fi shop with Lau and Chan and they have no idea who the other is. And that theme continues over the next ten years. Many of the scenes are very similar, if not close to the exact same as those from Scorsese, but this movie got there first. And if you can get a guy like Martin Scorsese to want to Americanize your movie, then you’re doing something right. And this movie did, if you’re able to deal with subtitles, which I really don’t have a problem with. The ending is nearly identical to The Departed, but the beauty is that the story continues, just not right away.
Infernal Affairs II takes the prequel route, explaining how each character got to where he is in the original. Through murders and kidnappings, the stage is set as Hon becomes the leader of the triad, Lau becomes a police inspector, and Chan has to remain undercover.
Infernal Affairs III tends to get a little tricky and confusing at times, as they jump back and forth between past and present events. It goes from about six months before Chan dies to nearly a year after, as the investigation of his death continues. Lau has been transferred to IA and without getting into all the crazy details, Lau ends up in a catatonic state by the end after he is wounded in a shootout and then tries to kill himself by shooting himself in the neck. The end is pretty nice though as Lau uses Morse code to tap out “HELL” as the screen fades, followed only by a final flashback (one of many in the trilogy) to the very first scene from the original as Lau and Chan meet in the shop.
The original is easily the best of the three. I tend to go back and forth between the second and third as I like both aspects. Like I said, the jumping around in the third, while necessary, does tend to get a little strange. But the original itself makes the entire trilogy worthy of cracking my top ten.
As I said, I’m double dipping this weekend, so check back tomorrow for another installment of Working the Weekend with Luke as I continue my countdown with #9 and it’s pretty awesome and even features an alleged killer. Any thoughts on Infernal Affairs? Comment below or follow me and tweet @THElukenorris. Catch you tomorrow, but first, another awesome clip from Beverly Hills, 90210, where the two icons, Brandon Walsh and Dylan McKay, meet for the first time.
Welcome to the first of five August editions of Working the Weekend with Luke. Hopefully, the last week has been as good to you as it’s been to me. I’ve got some things popping at the station and I’ve had a great weekend so far with my daughters, so I’ll just give you a few things this week while they’re down for a nap. Enjoy.
MY FUTURE WITH JENNIFER LAWRENCE
The most exciting news for me in entertainment this week was the news that Jennifer Lawrence is single once again. While I feel for Nicholas Hoult (I don’t), this has completely changed the way I look at life. If you haven’t figured it out, I love her. Yeah, I know I’m not the only one. Do you really think I thought that I’m being overly original with this segment? But seriously, I love her. Sure, you’ve probably watched The Hunger Games at some point and those are fun enough, but this girl is crazy talented. Obviously, she’s got that Oscar for Silver Linings Playbook and she deserved every bit of that. I actually thought she would take the supporting actress category last year for American Hustle, and it’s not that Lupita Nyong’o wasn’t good, but I just honestly hated 12 Years A Slave, but I digress. I’ve loved her since her breakout in Winter’s Bone, and I now have a new goal in life. I’m going to write the next great screenplay, with a part for her in it, and make her fall in love with me. I want to at least give her the chance to realize how talented and handsome and charming I can be. But Luke, what about your girlfriend? Don’t worry. We’ve already had a discussion. The only problem I’ll have there is if she gets to her first. So I’m putting it out there. Jen (yeah, that’s right), I’m coming for you.
GUARDIANS OF THE GALAXY
Let me start this by saying that I’ve always been more a DC guy. But Marvel is really starting to grow on me, and it’s actually pissing me off. The Iron Man movies are good and I’m digging the whole Captain America thing as well. But the buzz around this flick is insane. I know Kupka is already a huge fan, and have you seen the opening weekend numbers? It did 94 million dollars here, and another 66.4 million worldwide. It’s the biggest August opening in history, beating out The Bourne Ultimatum by almost 25 million. When I first saw the trailer and the rest of the ads, I had absolutely zero interest in seeing it, and was actually upset that Chris Pratt would do something like this. But now, I’m not so sure. The buzz is solid as are the reviews, so I think I’m actually going to bite the bullet and check it out. I went through a similar situation last summer. Big budget movie. Ridiculous premise. And one day I went on a whim just for kicks and I was blown away at how much fun I had. It was a little movie called Pacific Rim.
BLOOM V. BIEBER
Please tell me you’ve read a story about this. You must have, because I couldn’t go more than five minutes without running into it somewhere. Apparently, Orlando Bloom and Justin Bieber were in the same restaurant and Bieber made some kind of comment about Orlando Bloom’s ex-wife, Miranda Kerr. Infuriated, Bloom took a swing at Bieber and missed horribly. All I could think of when I first read the story was Bloom’s fight scene from Troy where Bana had to bail his ass out. I’m not going to get into this whole thing because I really don’t care that much, but I found this entire situation to be hysterical. My favorite part though, is that Leonardo DiCaprio, who was at the scene as well, may have initiated the confrontation, and was actually seen cheering for Bloom as he went after that little bitch. Good stuff. Okay, I lied. My favorite part is that this whole thing is just an excuse for me to post a pic of Miranda Kerr. You’re welcome.
TRILOGY COUNTDOWN
With the release of The Expendables 3 right around the corner (which I’m freakin’ jacked for), I started thinking about some of the trilogies I’ve enjoyed over the years. From Evil Dead to Mad Max to The Naked Gun, trilogies are just cool. Sometimes, two movies in a series just isn’t enough, and sometimes four or more is just too much. So the plan is this. Over the next ten weeks, I’ll count down my top 10 favorite trilogies. Check back next week for number 10 on the list. One thing I can already tell you is that The Lord of the Rings trilogy will not be on that list. If you’ve followed me and this weekly column from the start, then you know how much I despise those movies. So just save all the hateful comments. You love it. I don’t. Move on.
That’s gonna do it for me this week. The girls will be waking up from nap soon and I need a snack. Check back tomorrow for Monday Morning Moreno and come back all week for the rest of the boys. I’ll be back next week with the start of the trilogy countdown and full coverage of Kupka and I teaming up for our annual 36-hole golf match against our bitter rivals. As always, comment below or follow me and tweet @THElukenorris. But before I go, here’s your Beverly Hills, 90210 clip of the week.
Katt Shea is someone whose films and style I have admired for quite some time. So it felt like a jolt of electricity through my body when she agreed to come on and talk about her experience in making her films with me on this week’s episode of Binge Movie Aftertaste. First thing’s first though. Before getting Shea on the line, I had to get a co-host.
what it was like on the sets of Psycho III and Scarface. After covering what it was like working for the legendary Roger Corman, Shea mentions that her experiences directing plays at a young age set her up for what the next stage of her career would bring.
