Monday, June 6, 2011

F This Movie! - 12 Monkeys

Patrick and JB have come from the future to let all the animals out of their cages.



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Also discussed this episode: Pom Wonderful Presents: The Greatest Movie Ever Sold (2011), Cave of Forgotten Dreams (2011), Zombie Girl: The Movie (2009)

3 comments:

  1. I just watched this movie this afternoon and thought it was wonderful, aside from Madeleine Stowe's performance, which seemed really lifeless and put-on.

    I think I disagree with you guys regarding the cartoons playing in the asylum; the cartoons seemed to me an integral part of making the audience question Willis' sanity, especially given the importance of Willis' childhood avatar in the film. When the cartoons came on, I found myself wondering if Willis was really just insane and was inspired to create this PTSD-delusion based on cartoons he had watched as a kid, piecing together a story involving time travel and monkeys to explain the events he witnessed in the airport, which caused a psychotic break.

    I side with JB on the war scene, too, I believe. I think it did a good job of emphasizing the false bill of goods in that this futuristic time-travel technology malfunctioned so wildly. I think the scene also makes a deep comment regarding the parallels of the 2035 post-viral apocalypse and the 1910s political apocalypse of WWI. This goes more to the thematic point that JB brought up regarding the rose-tinted glasses view of "going back;" sure, Willis' adult present is a nightmare, but it's not as if a French battleground during the War to End All Wars is much better. Thinking about it now, I am drawn to the 1918 flu pandemic, which took place in the midst of the world war, and killed off something like 5% of the world's population at the time- sort of a microcosm of the effects of the virus in the film's story line. I don't necessarily think Gilliam was considering that when he made the movie, but I think it's truly interesting.

    Great podcast! I listen to them all at least once and then go back to them after I've seen the film in question. This one worked out really well. Happy holidays!

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  2. I rewatched this movie last night, and it's wonderful. There's just so much going on visually which is really what I love most about this movie. I really need to watch some other Gilliam movies. I've never seen Brazil :(

    Then I relistened to this podcast this morning. It's a good one! Thoughts:
    1) Yes, I really need to see Brazil

    2) There was discussion about the time travel "paradox", that if the insurance lady on the plane stopped the evil scientist, then adult Bruce Willis wouldn't have existed to be able to come back,etc. HOWEVER, the evil scientist opened one of his vials in the airport while going through security. He literally got the guy to sniff from it. So the virus wasn't stopped from being released after all. Anyways, as you both agreed, there's always some problem with time travel stuff if you examine it too closely. I still love movies dealing with this, though!

    3) David Morse wasn't evil in The Hurt Locker. Not super evil anyways. Now that I'm typing this, I'm realizing he was very evil.

    4) The other comment here made a good point about the WW1 flu pandemic that was quite interesting. I liked this part of the movie. You don't waste much time with it, but it ties in to the plot later, and reinforces that their time travel device is a bit screwy.

    5) I've had a song from the movie in my head this morning, and it's delightful! I should seek out the score for this.

    6) I will add Brazil to my long list of movies I need to see. Great podcast guys! I'm not from 2011, btw. I'm writing this from the future..

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    1. Also, forgot to mention, It's so great seeing peak Bruce Willis when he gave a shit. He's fantastic in this movie.

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