0:00:00- Not using a sounder to open the show. Instead, let’s talk about Supka. It’s more important.
0:03:41- Intro, yo.
0:05:07-Ammon is sort of on time. He hands in his man card cause he watches The Bachelor. Moreno and Law reminisce about Duncan Jones. Movie homework gets highlighted a lil’ bit.
0:16:55-TV ROUND UP. The first chunk of this segment is devoted to Sounder Wars because the boys don’t know how to stay on topic, goddamnit. Anyway, Moreno puts things back on track with The Jinx. The Leftover Buddes recap the first season and give their thoughts…on The Leftovers. Law bitches about Luther because the new season is short as hell. Ammon wonders if the comeback of the X-Files will have any traction with his co-hosts. The dildo factory worker, the Bigfoot hunter, and the taco lover all talk about shows they’d love to see come back just like X-Files is doing. Law takes a fucking piss while Ammon and Moreno talk Serial. And then everybody discusses cereal. Jesus Christ.
1:04:12-GOGGLE VOICE. Lot of shit to sort through here.
1:54:03-Old shit sounder wars. Kick back and sip the nostalgia. Drink it up. All of it. I’m gonna be up all night.
2:01:26-MOVIE HOMEWORK: Dances with Wolves. Dance if you want to. Leave your goddamn friends behind.
2:25:16-Nostalgic corner yet again.
2:36:00-WHAT DID YOU WATCH? Moreno briefly mentions a doc about The Band’s Levon Helm, titled Ain’t In It For My Health. Law has only got one review (The Veil) and it’s not good. Cycle back to Moreno, who praises Muscle Shoals. He moves onto Mission: Impossible-Rogue Nation. Ammon clocks in with Ant-Man, Dope, and The Gift. After that it’s all random bullshit until…
3:06:16-Even more nostalgic bits to send you on your way. Peace the fuck out.
It’s time to lay down our Best of lists. Moreno, Ammon, and Law all give their favorite films of the year. There’s also talk of the year’s best in Television and a shitload of voicemails. I’m tired…… here’s a time stamp.
0:00:00-It’s on like Donkey Kong
0:02:22-Ammon is on schedule? This won’t last. Top ten of the fucking year is happening this episode, so put your big boy pants on and get rwady. TV Round up is non existent this week. Don’t cry, you whiny bastard.
0:06:10-OSCAR NOMINATIONS AND STUFF. Only the big three are discussed, which includes best fucking actress (not the best actress who fucks, just for clarification), best fucking actor, and best fucking picture. Actual categories may or may not include the word “fucking.” They should though.
0:27:16-GOOGLE VOICE. There’s a ton of voicemails, so don’t even try to leave.
1:12:10-NEW SOUNDER. If you’re a fan of farts, then you’ll dig this. Weirdo.
1:25:42 WHAT DID YOU WATCH? Law checked out Sisters since he has a raging hard on for Tina Fey and Amy Poehler. Can you blame him? The dildo factory worker stays thematic with family member labels as he discusses Daddy’s Home. He moves onto Truth, starring Robert Redford, and fifes all over Moonwalkers. Wrapping up his portion, JLaw (yup) gives his thoughts on The Program. Ammon follows with The Big Short and Joy. Moreno eats tacos.
1:59:08-MOVIE HOMEWORK: Carol. Nope.
2:12:12-TOP TEN MOVIES OF 2015. Enjoy you cocksuckers. And if you disagree, well that’s great. Go fuck yourself.
Apparently there was some technical difficulties (drunk Mexican, drunk Canadian, high bigfoot) with the end of our latest BingeCast and everybody has been yelling at us because our Worst Films of the Year lists were cut off before the money shots. Let’s fix this. Here is our entire list of films we deemed the shit-holes of the past year. Please comment below with your pick for worst movie of the year and why.
Holy crap. We had a little bit to get through after two weeks off. That results in 17 movie reviews, our 13 Worst Films of the Year, a handful of shows in TV Round-Up, a couple voicemails yelling at us, and many beers in my belly.
In no particular order, we talk THE HATEFUL EIGHT, TRUMBO, THE REVENANT, SPOTLIGHT, BRIDGE OF SPIES, THE BIG SHORT, THE FORCE AWAKENS, CHI-RAQ, STEVE JOBS, ANOMALISA, SPECTRE, THE PEANUTS MOVIE, BONE TOMAHAWK, Making a Murderer, F is For Family, Billions, Luther, and a thousand other things my brain blocked out when I fell asleep on the toilet.
We also get angry with each other over our NEW YEARS EVE Movie Homework. It’s everybody’s fault. Except mine.
0:03:05-Weekend holidays got in the way of two weeks of Bingecasts. Apologies if you were butthurt because of the absence. LISTS. Making a Murder full length discussion will happen most likely on another podcast. You’ll listen to it because you can’t get enough, you obsessed asshole.
0:14:25-MOVIE HOMEWORK: New Year’s Eve. Fuck, really? Ugh.
0:37:20-TV ROUND UP. A little bit of Making a Murderer talk to tease you cocksuckers. Law discusses F is for Family, which Moreno approves of. The bald one also check out Billions and the the newest couple episodes of Luther. Law is a sad panda about Preacher news. Moreno and Ammon are still behind on the Leftovers. The taco lover started his Archer journey, and still states he won’t watch the upcoming season of Game of Thrones because George R. R. Martin is a lazy bastard. 11.22.63 Trailer gets mentioned.
1:32:20-WHAT DID YOU WATCH? Here we go. A three way (ew) discussion of The Hateful Eight kicks things off. The boys tackle The Revenant and a possible award for Leo. Next up is Trumbo, which surprised everyone. After a pee break, Moreno and Ammon give Law advice on Anomalisa. Moreno dissects Steve Jobs. Law bitches about Joy and In the Heart of the Sea, and then continues on with Chiraq, Creed, Spectre, Spotlight, and The Big Short. Moreno is pissed off about Black Mass. Ammon, at machine gun pace, talks about The Force Awakens, (It’s a-me,) Sicario Everest, Shaun the Sheep, Kingsmen, The Peanuts Movie, Bone Tomahawk, Bridge of Spies, and Dark Places. FUCKING WHOA.
3:27:30-Law, Moreno, and Ammon piss all over their choices for Worst Films of 2015. Have a nice fucking day.
A lot of us film fans tend to have accompanying film collections, and for those of us who still have ties to physical media have, at one point or another, grappled with the famous Criterion Collection. Criterion, for those not in the know, is a sort of international badge of honor for film geeks. Wikipedia defines them as “an American video-distribution company which specializes in licensing “important classic and contemporary films” and selling them to film aficionados.” I will say that the company is successful as for the past ten years their existence has been a cornerstone of my film-watching career (?), although as I get older I find a lot of what is in the Criterion Collection to be highly suspect, with no rhyme or reason to what gets added and what does not. It almost seems as if, on a certain level, Criterion is for astute film snobs who worship the brand rather than the consistency, or in my opinion lack thereof, of the content. For those of you who hate Apple, Criterion is the Apple of the movie world.
So what, exactly, makes a film worthy of consideration in the Criterion Collection? That’s not an easy question to answer. You could, for instance, argue that the social importance of a film is a big factor, and in this situation you’d reference a bevy of releases like The Passion of the Christ, Tootsie or Quadrophenia. There are films on the list that have particularly innovative technical achievements, like Stagecoach’s inclusion due to the fantastic stunt-work in the film (for the time, of course). There are the more controversial picks, like the infamous Salo: or the 120 Days of Sodom, My Winnipeg or Heaven’s Gate. While these categories seem to be well defined, there’s a lot in the collection that’s just plain strange. The work that Criterion and Janus Films has done in the past restoring films that have been thought to be long gone is extraordinary, oftentimes restoring these movies back to their former glory (see The Third Man as a fantastic example of this).
As a former collector, I used to bow the altar of Criterion and assume, very wrongly, that if it’s in the collection it must be worth seeing/owning. That was, overall, almost never the case for me. I remember owning movies like WR: Mysteries of the Organism and not knowing or understand why the fuck it exists. It all speaks to this odd, elitist film critic society that goes against what most people enjoy in movies. The list itself is utter chaos, with Fellini’s Amarcord sharing shelf-space with Armageddon. Those two films couldn’t be more diametrically opposed, yet why are they both part of this collector’s…well, collection?
While this seems like nitpicking something that I don’t even really need to pay attention to, I think it bears awareness to like-minded film-geeks like myself. Had I known early on that Criterion was no more than a gimmick I would have ignored it more thoroughly. Few films in the series were movies I ended up enjoying, and of the 500+ entries in the oeuvre I would say I liked less than 5% of what I saw. That’s a staggering statistic and one that doesn’t seem to be getting any better. Moreso though, the Criterion collection represents some of the most expensive DVDs and Blu Rays on the market, so to someone looking for a nice reference as to what any true geek should watch this collection is a little manipulative and misguided.
If you were to ask me for a few films to add to their library, especially considering the past year’s films, I would immediately say that both Bone Tomahawk and What We Do In The Shadows deserve spots in the collection. I responded differently to each film but I would argue that Shadows was one of the more unique comedies of the past decade and Tomahawk was insatiably brutal, going to levels of violence I’ve only seen in other Criterion releases. In other words, these two films represent their genres in new and unique ways, a STAPLE of what the collection is supposed to stand for. Yet despite these details one of the future releases is the Greta Gerwig Mumblecore vehicle Frances Ha, a pretty mundane melodrama about a woman living her life…and a film that looks much like over half of the Criterion catalog. Wes Anderson, a director that I love, gets a Criterion release almost automatically no matter what film he ultimately releases. What is the common thread here, and why doesn’t it seem to consider ALL types of films instead of this very small sample size? Maybe it is just me but it seems as though, like everything else in this world, there’s an obnoxious corporate influence in a place where none is needed. My advice to anyone just starting out down this path of film-geekery is to not take any one source as the divine last word of the Movie Gods and remember to branch out from time to time.
On a personal note I wanted to take a moment to give a quick “State of Jack Attack Tuesday” address to you, the readers/Bingers (gross). You may have noticed the articles have slowed down and become a bit more sporadic. While the prospect of a weekly blog was noble, and something I maintained without missing a week for over a full year, it does become daunting and repetitive to just come on and tell you all that “This week I watched ____ and I read _____ and blah blah blah…”. To keep things fresh I’m going with a slightly different format from here on out. That format is this: when I think of something worth writing, I’m going to write it and you’ll be the first to know. A little more volatile for certain, but something I’m choosing to do to keep the content worthwhile in the long-run. Thanks for reading, Happy New Year and, as always, Binge On!
We saved one of the biggest and best shows for the last of the year. Who doesn’t want over four hours of Ammon, Moreno, and Law getting in the Christmas spirit by drinking until they no talk good any more.
Google Voice kicks things off with some of our favorite listeners yelling at us, making amends with us, and accidentally butt-dialing us while talking to their kids.
TV Round-Up is eventful, to say the least, when Law raves about The Affair and Ammon and Moreno continue to be The Leftovers Buddies. They also break down the season finale of Fargo and compare it as a whole to the first season and try to guess what’s ahead for the third season. Also – Jessica Jones.
Movie Homework has the boys watching SCROOGED and discovering that Carol Kane is one of the most annoying actresses in the history of cinema, that everybody should watch John Murray in MOVING VIOLATIONS, and that Mary Lou Retton is the most 80s thing ever.
What Did You Watch is STAR WARS: THE FORCE AWAKENS as Law gives his lightly tread upon thoughts of the film without spoilers of any sort. Stay tuned for an after-the-credits segment where Law goes full spoiler mode with Moreno (The Spoiler Absorber) and gives his in-depth review of the film. Moreno checks out ANT MAN and, along with Ammon, gives an aggressive accent review of AVENGERS: AGE OF ULTRON. Law also reviews ROOM.
Everybody have a great Holiday and sloppy New Year! Be safe!
0:02:45-Last show of the year, folks. Don’t cry, you cocksucker. Law and Moreno fife over the X-Mas intro sounder from Pete MC. For good reason! Update: Sampson is still gay. STAR WARS! It’s a thing.
0:36:20-GOOGLE VOICE. Leave voicemails, not emails. Thanks dickhead.
1:14:05-TV ROUND UP. Transition from Google Voice leads into talk about The Affair. Law continues making love to Ash vs. Evil Dead. Fargo’s season finale gets dissected. Moreno and Ammon are butt….no…wait…Leftover buddies. Jessica Jones is good shit, make no(se) bones about it. Tangent about Law going to a comedy club. Nobody cares.
2:12:05-MOVIE HOMEWORK. Talk about the Netflix Fuller House series trailer. Because Full House is a goddamn masterpiece. Yes, really. No. Maybe not. OH HELL I DON’T KNOW, JIM LAW. Anyway, homework was Scrooged. Niagra falls, Frankie Angel.
2:37:00-WHAT DID YOU WATCH? Law kicks things off with discussion of some flick called The Force Awakens. He then continues with his viewing of Room.
3:02:43-ACCENT REVIEWS. Moreno and Ammo review Ahvehnjurs: Ahge of Uhltrhohn (translated-Avengers: Age of Ultron). Moreno continues on the Marvel movie route with Ant-Man. Ammon revisited Love Actually, Star Trek Into Darkness, and he shits all over the Buddy the Elf musical or something.
3:29:00 Live sounder to lead into to SPOILER ALERT. STAR WARS: THE FORCE AWAKENS.
Merry Christmas you filthy cocksuckers. And a Happy Fucking New Year.
With the upcoming release of The Hateful Eight I think this is a perfect opportunity to take a look at arguably the most interesting filmmaker working today, Quentin Tarantino. For a lot of us, Tarantino was the springboard to becoming a movie fan. Pulp Fiction was the gateway drug that led me down the path of cinema obsession, winding down the corridors of spaghetti westerns, giallo horror and Siegel-esque 70’s crime thrillers. Much in the way The Beatles hold together the center of my musical universe, Tarantino’s begging, borrowing and stealing from other filmmakers and genres is what makes him unique. Quentin has always had a knack for taking elements that may not have worked as well in other films and reworking them in the framework of a stronger narrative. Granted, there are some who claim he does nothing but steal from other filmmakers before him, but all the greats do. We are, after all, a product of our influences, and anyone who wants to argue Scorsese has more integrity and originality than Tarantino clearly has no concept of modern film history. So, I present to you, my ranking of Tarantino’s filmography and what these movies mean to me.
***DISCLAIMER*** I’ve chosen to include some of his written works and collaborations here as well ***
Natural Born Killers
I’ve mentioned it here quite a few times that I’m no big fife for Oliver Stone. To me, his filmography is largely sensationalistic and focuses on a lot of half-truths in the name of being a prick. He famously misrepresented Jim Morrison’s girlfriend in The Doors for no real reason, something that always bothered me as a film geek. Make no mistake, there are a few Oliver Stone films that I can enjoy (Platoon, JFK), but in a filmography as large as his two films aren’t enough to redeem it. When it comes to egregious changes, Natural Born Killers was a script that was completely bastardized by Stone. Tarantino hated the film and has since decried Stone for ruining his story. I have read the original script (although it’s been almost a decade) and could absolutely see Tarantino making this a much better film. As it stands, NBK is the one true failure on his resume in my eyes, and in truth it has nothing to do with him.
Death Proof
Back in 2007, I remember seeing Grindhouse in the theater with my pals. Despite it being the longest I’ve ever gone while needing to take a piss, I really enjoyed 60% of the experience. Planet Terror and the fake movie trailers were fantastic, but Death Proof was not. I don’t know if it was the severe shift in tone that threw me but overall I was very underwhelmed by Death Proof. I found the stunts to be solid and the editing to be the typical A-Grade Tarantino quality but his dialogue out of the mouths of women trying to get laid was incredibly boring to me. Kurt Russell was great until he wasn’t and the film became something else entirely. I have seen it since that first viewing and while I don’t hate it as much as I did I still think it’s Tarantino’s weakest directed film.
From Dusk Till Dawn
What can you say about From Dusk Till Dawn that hasn’t already been said? At this point with the TV series’ quality consistently dwindling it is easy to forget that the movie was a freaky, unique outing. Directed by Robert Rodriguez, the film takes the typical Tarantino narrative of two pop-culture versed brothers out on a killing spree and throws vampires into the mix. The tonal shift throws a lot of people but it’s so wacky and fun that I dig it every time I watch it. Great effects and over the top dialogue make this the craziest film in Tarantino’s catalog.
Jackie Brown
The polar-opposite to Pulp Fiction, Jackie Brown is the story of a woman dealing with a life of petty crime creeping in on her. Tarantino’s version of the Blaxploitation homage is rife with references and full of very solid performances. In fact, Robert DeNiro shows up in a strange but interesting little role. Jackie Brown is Tarantino’s answer to the high-violence and frenetic energy of Pulp Fiction. He goes with a smaller story and it works pretty well. Admittedly this was a film I wasn’t that into when I first saw it but I have grown to like it as time has gone on.
Kill Bill Vol 1
A phenomenal ode to samurai and kung-fu films, Kill Bill Vol 1 gets a lot of love for its insane violence, quick cutting action and wire-fu stunts. The mystery of never seeing Bill’s face, the broken timeline and the insanely violent opening scene all work towards building Tarantino’s most cartoonish film in his oeuvre. Coupled with a fantastic soundtrack, Vol 1 is technically very impressive and shot by a guy who is just itching to push the limits of what he can do.
True Romance
Another screenplay by Quentin, True Romance, directed by Tony Scott, is probably the most well-adapted screenplay in Tarantino’s filmography. Scott clearly gets where the script needs to be and plays to its strengths. Despite a change to the ending, of which Tarantino has admitted he likes in Scott’s film, the movie stays very faithful to the source material. There’s nothing better than Dennis Hopper and Christopher Walken’s incredible verbal standoff but the supporting cast, rounded out by guys you may have heard of like James Gandolfini, Gary Oldman and Brad Pitt, really shines here. True Romance is a fun flick that holds up really well.
Django Unchained
It was only a matter of time before Tarantino did a full-blown western, and Django is that in spades. Part Leone homage, part Blaxploitation film, part Homer-esque epic, Django features the director firing on all cylinders. From the fantastic casting of both Christoph Waltz and Leonardo DiCaprio to the brash intensity of the film’s subject matter Django is a huge success in every respect. My only gripe with the film, and it is a BIG one, has to do with the odd pacing of the third act. It seems like the movie ends, then Django escapes and ends again. Aside from that, Django is one of the director’s best works.
Reservoir Dogs
The film that make Tarantino a name on the indie film circuit, Reservoir Dogs gets a ton of flack for being nothing more than a remake of City of Fire. To that I call bullshit, as Dogs has a unique identity all its own. The cast of characters, played by guys like Michael Madsen, Tim Roth and Steve Buscemi are fantastic across the board. The entire concept of making a bank heist movie where you never see the heist was also innovative and fascinating. Dogs continues to impress on a small scale, containing all the signature elements that would come to define Tarantino’s entire filmmaking language.
Kill Bill Vol 2
It may not be a popular opinion but for me Kill Bill Vol 2 is vastly superior to Vol 1. Where Vol 1 had all action, Vol 2 has all story. If we have to judge these movies separately, then Vol 2 has the edge. The suspension of disbelief does need to be completely given to this film for it to work, and I could understand those of you who may tap out as soon as Pai-Mei shows up, but this film fleshes out the fable of The Bride and provides as satisfying a conclusion as you could ask for. David Carradine is the best he’s ever been here and I absolutely love the Ennio Morricone tracks used here. Maybe QT’s most underrated film.
Pulp Fiction
What could I possibly say about Pulp Fiction that hasn’t already been said to death? Great script? Yep. Fantastic performances? Absolutely. Good direction? You bet ‘yer ass. Pulp Fiction is a film you all should know back and forth by now, I’m not going to try and convince you if you haven’t. It’s a cinema classic, get on it if you haven’t yet.
Inglourious Basterds
I have a theory about filmmakers that I like to use when evaluating their work. I believe that any filmmaker with a distinctive style has a single film that perfectly encompasses their style and provides the audience with that particular artist working at the absolute height of their powers. For Wes Anderson, I feel that film is The Grand Budapest Hotel. For Kubrick, I think it’s The Shining. For Tarantino, I think it’s Inglourious Basterds. The fractured timeline for the narrative broken into chapters, the grandiose music, the heightened performances and maybe the most well crafted script Tarantino has ever written all culminate in my favorite Tarantino film. For a long time it was Pulp Fiction, but Inglourious Basterds dethroned it.
What’s the word, Bingers? Does this list mirror your own, or (more likely) are you ready to call for me to be fired? Let us know in the comments below and, as always, Binge On!
Everybody is in good cheer as the year comes to an end. Ammon and Law get drunk and argue about The Leftovers for a while, answer a shit-ton of voicemails, and look back on the newest Christmas classic, ELF for Movie Homework.
Kupka, Moreno, and Luke call in from the annual Kupka Christmas spectacular (thanks for the invite, again) and talk some massive shit while hiding from their wives in a closet.
Ammon catches up on some Summer films such as PIXELS, TOMORROWLAND, and THE MAN FROM U.N.C.L.E., and start the new season of Serial.
There’s a new (incredible) Pee Break Sounder, Law and Ammon discuss some books, and everybody’s STAR WARS plan is put into effect.
PJ the Intern was sick of waiting around for me to update this thing so he took it upon himself to make things right. That’s why we pay him the big bucks (not a dollar). All magazine covers, box office, and whatnot should be in order so check out where you stand. Here comes Kupka! Click the link below for the entire spreadsheet.