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Category: Podcast Episode

Podcast Episode

Episode 7 – Darren Aronofsky’s The Wrestler (2008)

February 8, 2017 By No Comments

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SPECIAL GUESTS
Author Dr. Tarja Laine, “Bodies in Pain: Emotion and the Cinema of Darren Aronofsky”
Author Dr. Jadranka Skorin-Kapov, “Darren Aronofsky’s Films and the Fragility of Hope”

This month we’re taking it to the mat as we pay tribute to Darren Aronofsky’s 2008 film The Wrestler.

This podcast is non-profit and has been broadcast for educational purposes. Excerpts from the following material has been included to enhance the listener experience:

MOVIES
The Wrestler (2008) dir. Darren Aronofsky, USA
Black Swan (2010) dir. Darren Aronofsky, USA

SONGS
Score (2008) w & p: Clint Mansell
“The Wrestler” (2008) w & p: Bruce Springsteen
“Sweet Child o’ Mine” (1987) w & p: Guns N’ Roses
“Don’t Walk Away” (1990) w: Bill Snare and Bill Leverty, p: FireHouse

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SHOW NOTES

Our first special guest this month is Tarja Laine, author of “Bodies in Pain: Emotion and the Cinema of Darren Aronofsky”, first published in 2015. Tarja is the Assistant Professor of Film Studies at the University of Amsterdam.

Our second special guest this month is Jadranka Skorin-Kapov, author of “Darren Aronofsky’s Films and the Fragility of Hope”, first published in 2015. Jadranka is a Professor in the College of Business, Affiliate Professor in the Department of Philosophy and the Department of Applied Mathematics and Statistics at the State University of New York at Stony Brook.

We’ve touched in the episode on President Donald J. Trump’s association with professional wrestling, which began with his hosting WrestleMania IV in 1988, and was capped off with his induction into the WWE Hall of Fame in 2013. Here’s some interesting reading on the President’s time in wrestling, and his relationship with the McMahon family.

The history of professional wrestling is a rich and interesting one, with many melodrama-style stories of betrayal and reconnection. Perfect fodder for a filmmaker such as Darren Aronofsky. Here’s one of the best non-industry write-ups on what made the sport what it is today. ‘Breaking Kayfabe: An inside look at WWE’s unlikely business empire’ (VICE Sports)
https://sports.vice.com/en_us/article/breaking-kayfabe-an-inside-look-at-wwes-unlikely-business-empire

Aronofsky is a director of details, and The Wrestler has them in abundance. He even created a fully-functioning video game for one scene. ‘The Making of Wrestle Jam: The Wrestler’s unsung hero’ (Kotaku)
http://kotaku.com/5158834/the-making-of-wrestle-jam-the-wrestlers-unsung-hero

IFC (formerly the Independent Film Channel) ran an interview with Aronofsky around the time of the film’s release back in 1988. His favourite wrestler was Ivan Putski (not Putsky).
http://www.ifc.com/2008/10/darren-aronofsky-on-the-wrestl

The visuals of The Wrestler are grainy, realistic and entirely different from anything Aronofsky had done in the past. Part of that was due to cinematographer Maryse Alberti, who shot on 16mm to increase the grain and bring out the grit. She’s spoken about the movie several times, including to the Museum of the Moving Image.
http://www.movingimagesource.us/articles/making-the-wrestler-real-20090213

If you want to follow us on Letterboxd, we’re always logging and rating films we’ve been watching and occasionally Luke will do some pretty in-depth reviews, too.

Luke Kane: http://www.letterboxd.com/overbreakfast/
Damien Heath: http://www.letterboxd.com/jedikaos/
Cameron Crothers: http://www.letterboxd.com/crot00192/

You can find Celluloid Junkies on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, YouTube and Pinterest. Luke is also on Twitter, as is Damien.

Thanks again for checking out Celluloid Junkies. We’ll see you next month with a close-up, in depth look at Woody Allen’s “Hannah and Her Sisters”.

Podcast Episode

Episode 6 – William Friedkin’s The French Connection (1971)

January 5, 2017 By No Comments

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SPECIAL GUEST
Author Thomas D. Clagett, “William Friedkin: Films of Aberration, Obsession and Reality”

This month we are picking our feet in Poughkeepsie as we tip our hats to William Friedkin’s 1971 cops and robbers thriller The French Connection.

This podcast is non-profit and has been broadcast for educational purposes. Excerpts from the following material has been included to enhance the listener experience:

MOVIES
The French Connection (1971) dir. William Friedkin, USA
The Exorcist (1973) dir. William Friedkin, USA
Cruising (1980) dir. William Friedkin, USA

SONGS
“Black Magic Woman” (1973) w: Peter Green, p: Santana
“Everybody Gets to Go to the Moon” (1971) w: Jimmy Webb, p: The Three Degrees
“Run to Paradise” (1987) w: Mark Gable and Brad Carr, p: The Choirboys

–

SHOW NOTES

Our special guest this month is Thomas D. Clagett, author of “William Friedkin: Films of Aberration, Obsession and Reality”, first published in 1990. An expanded second edition was published in 2003 featuring three new chapters, including one on the re-release of “The Exorcist” and others on his 1990s films.

Here’s a couple of brief histories of America’s War on Drugs:

“William Friedkin and Induced Documentary Style”, a Youtube supercut of scenes from Friedkin movies that explain his self-proclaimed filmmaking style.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ucNIuBYOTQk

The Harvard Film Archive ran a William Friedkin retrospective in January and February of 2009 titled “The Uncanny Cinema of William Friedkin”. Here’s a quick write-up on each of Friedkin’s films for those unfamiliar with his work.
http://hcl.harvard.edu/hfa/films/2009janfeb/friedkin.html

One of my favourite internet-era write-ups on The French Connection, from the obscure website Stand By For Mind Control.
http://www.standbyformindcontrol.com/2013/06/the-french-connection-and-relentless-pursuit/

Eddie Egan and Sonny Grosso, the real life inspirations for “Popeye” Jimmy Doyle and “Cloudy” Buddy Russo, both left the narcotics department after their $32 million drug bust. They did a lot of work in Hollywood. Here’s Birth. Movies. Death.’s “The Post-French Connection Exploits of the Real Popeye Doyle”.
http://birthmoviesdeath.com/2015/01/23/the-post-french-connection-exploits-of-the-real-popeye-doyle

If you want to follow us on Letterboxd, we’re always logging and rating films we’ve been watching and occasionally Luke will do some pretty in-depth reviews, too.

Luke Kane: http://www.letterboxd.com/overbreakfast/
Damien Heath: http://www.letterboxd.com/jedikaos/
Cameron Crothers: http://www.letterboxd.com/crot00192/

You can find Celluloid Junkies on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, YouTube and Pinterest. Luke is also on Twitter, as is Damien.

Thanks again for checking out Celluloid Junkies. We’ll see you next month with a close-up, in depth look at Darren Aronofsky’s “The Wrestler”.

Podcast Episode

Episode 5 – Martin Scorsese’s GoodFellas (1990)

November 29, 2016 By No Comments

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SPECIAL GUEST
Author Mark Nichols, “Scorsese’s Men: Melancholia and the Mob”

This month we are taking care of business as we look back at Martin Scorsese’s 1990 masterpiece GoodFellas.

This podcast is non-profit and has been broadcast for educational purposes. Excerpts from the following material has been included to enhance the listener experience:

MOVIES
GoodFellas (1990) dir. Martin Scorsese, USA
Adaptation (2002) dir. Spike Jonze, USA
Casino (1995) dir. Martin Scorsese, USA

SONGS
“Rags to Riches” Tony Bennett
“Beyond the Sea” Bobby Darin
“Layla” Derek and the Dominos
“Then He Kissed Me” The Crystals
“Boulevard of Broken Dreams” Green Day
“Sunshine of your Love” Cream

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SHOW NOTES

Here’s a range of Wikipedia articles on the lives of those involved who inspired Nicholas Pileggi’s book “Wiseguy” and the film.

Here’s a video supercut of all the fast dolly zooms used by Martin Scorsese through the years. From “Mean Streets” through “The Wolf of Wall Street”.
http://theplaylist.net/hang-supercut-highlighting-martin-scorseses-fast-dolly-zoom-shots-20161102/?utm_source=dlvr.it&utm_medium=twitter

Here’s Reel Club’s guide to the memorable sequences from the film.
https://reelclub.wordpress.com/2013/05/12/take-the-shot-sequence-shots-in-scorseses-goodfellas/

The Film Spectrum also has a great history of the movie, full of clips which would otherwise be lost to time, including Joe Pesci’s acceptance of the Best Supporting Actor Academy Award in 1991.
http://thefilmspectrum.com/?p=19745

If you want to follow us on Letterboxd, we’re always logging and rating films we’ve been watching and occasionally Luke will do some pretty in-depth reviews, too.

Luke Kane: http://www.letterboxd.com/overbreakfast/
Damien Heath: http://www.letterboxd.com/jedikaos/
Cameron Crothers: http://www.letterboxd.com/crot00192/

You can find Celluloid Junkies on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, YouTube and Pinterest. Luke is also on Twitter, as is Damien.

Podcast Episode

Episode 4 – John Landis’ An American Werewolf In London (1981)

October 24, 2016 By No Comments

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In honour of Halloween, Celluloid Junkies is taking a look back at An American Werewolf In London (1981), the iconic horror-comedy classic from John Landis.

This podcast is non-profit and has been broadcast for educational purposes. Excerpts from the following material has been included to enhance the listener experience:

MOVIES
An American Werewolf In London (1981) dir. John Landis, USA
The Evil Dead (1981) dir. Sam Raimi, USA

–

SHOW NOTES

Salon did a retrospective look at the impact of the film very recently. ‘”Stay off the moors!”: John Landis’ An American Werewolf In London is a modern horror masterpiece’.
http://www.salon.com/2016/10/15/stay-off-the-moors-john-landis-an-american-werewolf-in-london-is-a-modern-horror-masterpiece/

Joshua Rothkopf did the same for Rolling Stone magazine a few months ago. ‘How American Werewolf In London transformed horror-comedy’.
http://www.rollingstone.com/movies/news/how-american-werewolf-in-london-transformed-horror-comedy-w434829

If you want to find out a little bit more about werewolf mythology, jump on the Historic Mysteries website and their page ‘The history of the werewolf legend’.
http://www.historicmysteries.com/history-of-the-werewolf-legend/

WARNING: GRAPHIC FOOTAGE
Following American Werewolf, Landis was involved with the theatrical version of ‘The Twilight Zone’, and it was an ill-fated production from the start. Ultimately, a mishap on set featuring an explosion and a helicopter led to the death of three actors during Landis’ section of the movie. There’s a Youtube video featuring a short history of the decisions which led to the catastrophe, and the actual video of the accident.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OrtKaykLjfQ

Here’s the Letterboxd list created by Luke entitled ‘The Whole Town Is In On It’, regarding the cinematic trope of an entire townsfolk hiding a dark secret.
http://letterboxd.com/overbreakfast/list/the-whole-town-is-in-on-it/

If you want to follow us on Letterboxd, we’re always logging and rating films we’ve been watching and occasionally Luke will do some pretty in-depth reviews, too.

Luke Kane: http://www.letterboxd.com/overbreakfast/
Damien Heath: http://www.letterboxd.com/jedikaos/
Cameron Crothers: http://www.letterboxd.com/crot00192/

You can find Celluloid Junkies on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, YouTube and Pinterest. Luke is also on Twitter, as is Damien.

Podcast Episode

Episode 3 – Peter Weir’s Fearless (1993)

October 6, 2016 By No Comments

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This month we are taking note of the exits as we look back at Peter Weir’s 1993 bleak psychological drama ‘Fearless’.

This podcast is non-profit and has been broadcast for educational purposes. Excerpts from the following material has been included to enhance the listener experience:

MOVIES
Fearless (1993) dir. Peter Weir, USA

–

SHOW NOTES

Peter Weir is one of Hollywood’s most celebrated directors, and arguably the most successful Australian directing export of the Australian New Wave cinema movement. After making Australian classics “Picnic at Hanging Rock”, “The Last Wave” and “Gallipoli”, among others, he moved to working in America, directing “Witness”, “Dead Poet’s Society” and “The Truman Show”, as well as the topic for this month’s podcast – his 1993 drama “Fearless”.

The great fan-site Peter Weir Cave has a series of articles on the director and this film.

Anne Morra did a 2013 retrospective of the film for the Museum of Modern Art’s screenings, ‘Rediscovering Peter Weir’s Fearless’.
http://www.moma.org/explore/inside_out/2013/07/25/rediscovering-peter-weirs-fearless

Here’s Hal Hinson’s great review for the Washington Post.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/style/longterm/movies/videos/fearlessrhinson_a0a88b.htm

Jeff Bridges took panoramic photos on-set for most of the films he’s been involved with over the last three decades. Here’s a collection of some of them, including from Fearless.
http://airows.com/culture/jeff-bridges-took-incredible-panoramic-photos-on-the-set-of-every-movie-for-the-last-30-years

Oh, and here’s Gary Busey’s Twitter…
https://twitter.com/THEGaryBusey

If you want to follow us on Letterboxd, we’re always logging and rating films we’ve been watching and occasionally Luke will do some pretty in-depth reviews, too.

Luke Kane: http://www.letterboxd.com/overbreakfast/
Damien Heath: http://www.letterboxd.com/jedikaos/
Cameron Crothers: http://www.letterboxd.com/crot00192/

Luke also wrote an in-depth review of the film in August 2016 on his Letterboxd account.
http://letterboxd.com/overbreakfast/film/fearless/

You can find Celluloid Junkies on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, YouTube and Pinterest. Luke is also on Twitter, as is Damien.

Podcast Episode

Episode 2 – Nicolas Roeg’s Don’t Look Now (1973)

August 21, 2016 By No Comments

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This week we board a vaporetto and navigate the murky waters of Nicolas Roeg’s 1973 supernatural classic Don’t Look Now.

This podcast is non-profit and has been broadcast for educational purposes. Excerpts from the following material has been included to enhance the listener experience:

MOVIES
Don’t Look Now (1973) dir. Nicolas Roeg, ENG
Don’t Look Now: Looking back (2002) dir. David Gregory, ENG
The Shining (1980) dir. Stanley Kubrick, USA
The Wicker Man (1973) dir. Robin Hardy, ENG

–

SHOW NOTES

The British are obviously very reverent about this movie, and as such there’s a huge amount of great retrospective content available on the web. Here’s some of the best:

Likewise, here’s some of the more in-depth reviews and analysis of the film, from all over the web and all over the world:

Venetian locations play such a huge part in Don’t Look Now that multiple studies have been done of the exact locations for the shoot, and their history. Here’s two of them:

The British Board of Film Classification began engaging very openly with the public following a revision of their guidelines for film classification in 2000. They produced a series of Case Studies on some of the most important films they’ve dealt with in their history, going over the reasons for their classifications, and here’s their case study on Don’t Look Now.
http://www.bbfc.co.uk/case-studies/dont-look-now

Here’s a PDF version of Pauline Kael’s excellent review of Don’t Look Now.
https://www.celluloidjunkies.com/podfiles/dln-kael.pdf [PDF, 2.8MB]

If you want to follow us on Letterboxd, we’re always logging and rating films we’ve been watching and occasionally Luke will do some pretty in-depth reviews, too.

Luke Kane: http://www.letterboxd.com/overbreakfast/
Damien Heath: http://www.letterboxd.com/jedikaos/
Cameron Crothers: http://www.letterboxd.com/crot00192/

Luke also wrote an in-depth review of the film in July 2015 on his Letterbox account.
http://letterboxd.com/overbreakfast/film/dont-look-now/

You can find Celluloid Junkies on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, YouTube and Pinterest. Luke is also on Twitter, as is Damien.

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