Movie Moan - A Very Merry Movie Moan Christmas
Mon, December 16, 2013
It's always the most fun show of the year and as well it should be because it's the last show of the year.
We've spared no expense this week to give you a podcast every bit as ambitious in size and scope as the film we spend an hour of it discussing; 'The Hobbit: The Pissing Off Of Smaug'.
In an epic roundtable, Phil and Jamie are joined by two gentleman who helped us review the first film in the trilogy exactly one year ago, film critic Gabe Toro (who celebrates his one year anniversary with the podcast), and Canadian representative Mr Lou Sytsma (who has been with us a good deal longer). Rounding out the cast of thousands are friend to the world Matt Thompson, and the immortal Edward Douglas of ComingSoon.net.
After the smoke clears on a surprisingly pleasant discussion of that film (I think everyone agrees it's better than the last one), things turn ugly and fascinating as Gabe and Ed go head to head for a debate on the merits, if any, of 'Saving Mr Banks'. What should be a simple review of an innocent piece of entertaining fluff instead turns into a debate on the rights of the writer and how Walt Disney supposedly crushed the spirit and resolve of P.L Travers. That's what Gabe thinks anyway. Ed is having none of it.
Following that, what should be a simple commentary on this week's trailers for next summer's product (Interstellar, Jupiter Ascending, Godzilla, and Edge Of Tomorrow) turns into a debate on whether movies that are 5-7 months away should even be marketed at such an early stage.
Despite Phil's best efforts, the gang does have an opinion on Sony's plan to expand the Spider-man franchise to villain spin-off movies. Phil follows suit by asking, on the back of the 'Naked Gun' reboot announcement, whether the film parody genre is dead and impossible to make today. And we just have enough time to reflect on 2013 as a year in film.
Phew; have you got three hours to spare? Well click away and Merry Christmas.
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Reader Comments (3)
A true Christmas spectacular, Phil!
Re: Thorin - I think his arc is particularly well-handled in DESOLATION, and I’m expecting that the conclusion of his story in the next film has the potential to be really effective.
Re: SAVING MR. BANKS - Granted, I haven’t seen the film yet, but it feels like Gabe is letting some deeply-held biases color his perception of the movie. That’s not a criticism, we all do it, but when he’s attacking the movie for apparently showing a major Hollywood magnate/studio “pushing around” a writer, he’s missing the fact that Travers’ books themselves were remaining untouched; they’ll always be there for people to find and read. Disney’s concern was with how to turn that material into a marketable, successful motion picture that would appeal to the widest possible audience. No adaptation of a novel is ever completely faithful, and there’s always a give-and-take between filmmakers and the original author; I tend to think that kind of artistic collision/friction can be a healthy thing, and I say all that as somebody who considers himself a writer, as well. In any case, I can’t wait to see the movie; perhaps I’ll find myself closer to Gabe’s perspective once I do.
Lastly, thanks for another terrific year of this show. Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays to all!
And thank you Brett.
It takes care and effort to post a detailed comment following every one of our podcasts but you have done just that throughout the year and, just in case you thought we don't read them, it is very much appreciated.
So glad I found this podcast this yeah, you guys rock. have a good christmas