Entries from February 2015
February 22nd, 2015 ·
Shot/Reverse Shot have got sunshine in a bag this week because Matt and Ed are talking about the work of Clint Eastwood. In between discussing French documentaries and struggling to say "Joe Pesci," they delve into Eastwood's status as an icon of the Western genre, the merits of American Sniper (and the toxicity of the debate surrounding it), and lay into Jersey Boys with a passion and intensity alien to anyone involved with that film.
Tags: Profile
February 15th, 2015 ·
With the Academy Awards mere days away, Matt and Ed discuss why exactly they care about the Oscars, especially since they both occasionally hypocritically dismiss them as not really meaning anything. In so doing, they talk about the real commercial and artistic impact that an Oscar nomination can have, wonder if the Academy secretly hate Martin Landau, and talk about some of the odder wins/snubs in Oscar history. They also try to predict who will win on Sunday, foolishly.
Notes:
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Here is the article by Mark Harris on the narrative of "X and Y" films in Oscar season that Ed mentions in the episode.
- Harris' book, Pictures at a Revolution, is an essential and entertaining work of film history that's especially interesting in examining what the Oscars can mean in a broader cultural context.
Tags: Themed
February 8th, 2015 ·
Considering the ongoing controversy surrounding Ava DuVernay's civil rights drama Selma and its relatively minor deviations from history (as well as the ongoing non-controversy surrounding Morten Tyldum's The Imitation Game and its multiple, egregious deviations from history) Matt and Ed decided to ask why historical inaccuracy is so often used as a criticism against works of fiction, where exactly the line between inaccuracy and artistic license lies, and wonder if Dave Lister holds the real truth behind the Kennedy assassination.
Tags: Themed
February 1st, 2015 ·
This week, Matt and Ed ponder why it is that so many film series are able to produce two good-to-great films, then fumble it when they have to make a final film to round out the trilogy. What is it about third films that makes them so prone to failure, and why do some series manage to avoid those pitfalls? They try to answer those questions, though not without deviating into an apoplectic rant about Return of the Jedi.
Tags: Themed
