Wednesday, February 1, 2012

F This Movie! - JB's Favorite Movies

With just one more show to go before the 100th episode spectacular, Patrick and JB talk about some of JB's old favorites. And we do mean old.

Don't forget to join us for the first F This Movie Fest on Saturday, February 4!



Download this episode here. (72.7 MB)

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Also discussed this episode: Melancholia, Haywire, Godspell, Man on a Ledge, Witness for the Prosecution

22 comments:

  1. Great choices JB. Only seen "Dr. Strangelove" and "Casablanca" from that list (I know, I know... shame!) but have read a lot about all of them. Fitting that JB names "Casablanca" his favorite movie ever on the year (a) it celebrates its 70th anniversary and (b) Warner announces that a 4K restored Blu-ray set is coming soon (google it). "Casablanca" (on HD-DVD) and "Dr. Strangelove" (on Blu-ray) are some of a handful of old movies I've forced others to sit and watch to understand the benefits of 1080p resolution on B&W films. "Wages of Fear," "The Third Man," "400 Blows" and "Night of the Hunter" are a few others I've tried. Only "Night of the Hunter" scored well with people I've showed these movies though, and that's because of the plot/performances (especially Mitchum) and not the BD resolution itself. Morale learned: show little kids being chased by Mitchum and people won't care about B&W or disc rez.

    Happy that JB liked my #1 favorite movie of 2011, "Melancholia" (tied with "Another Earth" in my book) though I doubt it would have broken his Top 10 list unless he liked it more than "Sucker Punch" (snark). Patrick's e-mail joke about Warner Bros. Archive asking 'are you sure?' actually made me crack laughing in the middle of our busy office (listening to the podcast on headphones) making everybody around me look at my funny... again! :-)

    See you Saturday afternoon for the festival, although I still haven't found a cheap copy of "Star Trek II" or "Dark Crystal" to get. Heck, I ordered some new furniture (to replace damaged old stuff that had to be thrown out) that won't arrive until the weekend after next. My apartment has a bare floor and no chairs to sit on. I may actually have to be part of the festival while sitting on the floor (Indian style) or laying on the sleeping bag I'm using until the new bedding arrives. Good luck to everybody (and by that I mean good luck to me!) in winning cool swag from the 'F This Movie' crew. Remember foreign listeners of 'F This Movie': if its international freight to foreign lands, these guys will be paying for shipping! :-P

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    1. Glad you liked my choices, and that new 4K of Casablance being released on the Blurays also comes with COASTERS! So, while I am certainly looking forward to a new scan of Casablanca, what I am really looking forward to are those @*&^%$#! COASTERS. Right, Warner Brothers?

      Also, I am afraid now that on Saturday I will not be able to get the image of you squatting in your sleeping bag on a bare, wooden floor as you participate in the FThisMovie Fest! out of my head.

      Have you considered inviting some homeless men in to join you?

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  2. I saw Singin’ in the Rain for the first time at Christmas, and enjoyed it immensely, while being a little annoyed at myself for not making time for it before. I, like JB’s students, had my mind blown when trying to figure out how all the film within a film stuff works. Also, great little bits of trivia like the story about Jean Hagen actually dubbing Debbie Reynolds dubbing of her is one of the reasons I keep on enjoying your shows so much.

    I’m going to have to track down a copy of that Wizard of Oz book, thanks for bringing it to my attention.

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    1. Me too! It appears to be OOP, but can a used copy can be found relatively inexpensively on Amazon.

      Thanks for the nice words about the show!

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  3. Challenge accepted, JB. SEE YOU SATURDAY.

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  4. What an awesome list of movies, JB. I'm thrilled that Bride of Frankenstein made it...to be honest, I'd probably have been frightened and confused if it hadn't, knowing what I know about you. Also, I anticipate the return of the Quibbler with bated breath.

    I didn't know that Casablanca was going to get a shiny new edition, but that sounds pretty exciting. I figure I'll just bypass the coasters and use my old DVD of the movie as the coaster.

    Hey, speaking of Star Trek (J.M. did), Patrick, did your original series reviews ever land on any other site? I remember the site they were on was having problems and you were looking for a more permanent home for them. Could you just e-mail me the Word documents? I'm kidding. By the way, did you happen to pick up the blu-ray of The Next Generation episodes that came out this week? I'm not nearly as into TNG as I am The Original Series, but I did pick it up for a future viewing.

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    1. Wait...Patrick has more reviews? I think you and I are two of the "three readers."

      There's a Blu-ray edition of TNG? Odd, considering the show was made in standard def, but maybe worth checking out. Or better yet, maybe the DVDs will be a lot cheaper now. I grew up on TNG, so I like it at least as much as TOS if not more (well, starting with Season 3 anyway).

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    2. Yes, Carl, I believe you are. I started moving all my ST writing over to a new site called Red Shirt Diaries (redshirtdiaries.com), but, to be honest, I haven't touched it many weeks. With all the other writing I have to do for various other jobs/sites/Twitter film festivals, that one gets the short shrift. I want to get back to it, though, because I miss watching the show and I was SO CLOSE to finishing TOS.

      The Blu-rays of TNG are a big deal, because it was originally said it could never happen (for the reasons you stated, Carl; the effects, in particular, were all created on video and couldn't just receive an HD remaster without basically having to go back in and recreate them all...not sure if this is how they solved that problem or not). They just released a three-episode "sampler" disc just to get people excited about the full season releases that are coming up. To answer your question, Heath, I didn't buy the sampler, because it would be too slippery a slope to re-purchasing the whole show and I'm not going to do that. But I really want to know how it looks; the short online "demo" I saw was pretty incredible.

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    3. Well said, Patrick. the blu-rays are definitely a big deal, just for the recreation of the original elements. I have all the TNG stuff on an Asian DVD set that I got off of ebay years ago, and some of the discs just cut off on the last episode of the disc a good 5 minutes early. I like TNG, but I don't love it like I do TOS (confession, I've still never finished season 3 of TOS, but seen seasons 1 and 2 several times). At any rate, I picked it up and hope to dig into the episodes soon. I think it's definitely a cash grab to the hardcore ST fans, but with all the work going into it, I can't blame them. It seems awesome. I mean, I want to count the hairs in Riker's beard, and now I can.

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    4. (after visiting redshirtdiaries.com)

      How the FUCK did I not know about this? Did I miss some major announcement? That's a fully formed awesome site with reviews, news, and pictures of scantily clad wimmins?

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  5. Liked the inclusion on Twelve Agnry Men. Ive only seen it once on late night television, but I was sucked right in and loved it.

    I watched Bride Of Frankenstein after JB praised it so much last time, and I was expecting a much more scray film than what I saw. In particular the old woman from the village seemed straight from a vaudville/pantomime, which kinda set an odd tone for the film from then on. Im not overly familiar with films from that ear so it may be part of the style of that time, but I dont think it added anything to it as a horror film. SO im glad to hear now thats its intention was to be a "hoot" and a parody. Might warrant another viewing with that expectation.

    Nice show. Looking forward to the F Fest!

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    1. Thanks, Brad. I would give Bride of Frankenstein another chance, since it sounds like expectations might have played a part in how you felt about the movie. It's really great, but very different from all the other classic horror movies.

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    2. Definitely. I came to Bride of Frankenstein for the first time last October and was really awed by the imagery and the subtext. Given the context of the world of the 30s, it's pretty great. Pretorius is just amazing, and some of the images feel could be postcards. I love it. JB made a Universal horror fan out of me.

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  6. Shit, I don't know if I can listen to this - I'm about a half-hour in and I'm starting to get worried about spoilers for Dr. Strangelove which I haven't watched and just got the blu-ray. From the comments it looks like Casablanca and 12 Angry Men are on the list too - just got those on blu-ray and have never seen either before but plan on watching them very soon. Can someone give me a heads up as to whether there are any big spoilers for these movies in this podcast?

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    1. No major spoilers except maybe for Casablanca -- but that's a movie that the final scene is so well known you might not be spoiled. Besides, the movie is so good it won't hurt your ability to watch it.

      Actually, I'll say the same for all of the films. I've seen several of JBs choices a ton of times, and even though I could probably quote at least of Casablanca by heart, it's just as enjoyable a watch for me.

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    2. Thanks, Carl. I do think we reference the endings of a couple of the movies (I know 12 Angry Men is talked about a little), and while I don't think there are any MAJOR spoilers, you might want to wait (Sol) before you see them to listen to the show. I'd hate for your enjoyment of any of the movies to be tainted by something we say.

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    3. Thanks for the heads up duders - I will hold off then - other than the fact that the problems of two people aren't worth a hill of beans in this world (or something like that) I actually don't really know much about the ending of Casablanca.

      I'll just look forward to listening to this with most of the movies fresh in my mind!

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    4. Yes, Sol-- just let the podcast fester in the back of your laptop like a primo bottle of dry, white wine that you just cannot wait to open!

      Or something like that.

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    5. My favorite part of Casablanca is when Bogey pulls out two guns John Woo style and just starts blasting things and diving sideways in slow motion. And the doves! Oh, the doves, it's just poetry.

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    6. ^^^ You're confusing "Casablanca's" classic two-fisted slow-mo action shoot-out with the one in Bergman's "Wild Strawberries" (because they're both in B&W and, as we all know, all B&W old films are the same)... it's OK, happens to the best of us. ;-)

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  7. So I watched Casablanca and Dr. Strangelove (and Paths of Glory and The Killing - turns out I love Kubrick even more than I thought I did!) over the past few days and I was slightly relieved to find I loved them and want to watch them both again immediately. Especially Casablanca - I think that when I go into a movie like this that I'm "supposed" to love but basically know nothing about, I don't necessarily enjoy it in a relaxed (maybe not the best word) sort of way - I approach it using the wrong part of my brain if that makes sense? So though I did really enjoy it from a technical perspective and see why it's such a great movie, I think I'll be able to enjoy it on a more personal level on a second viewing.

    I had a better idea of what I was in for with Dr. Strangelove so I think that helped me love it from the gut moreso than Casablanca. The satire really still holds up today (sorry my paranoid and violent, yet somehow still endearing, neighbours to the South) and I love the subtlety of much of the humour. It was my first experience with Peter Sellers too, so I'll definitely be seeking out more of him.

    Still have 12 Angry Men to watch - may hold off on Singing in the Rain until the blu-ray release later this year and though I remain skeptical of how I will react to old horror, will try to track down Bride of Frankenstein as well.

    Anyway, great podcast - nice to hear JB talk about movies that clearly give him so much joy.

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