Wednesday, April 12, 2017

F This Movie! 381 - Donnie Darko

Never doubt Patrick and Adam Riske's commitment to Sparkle Motion.


Download this episode here. (52.2 MB)

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Also discussed this episode: The Dark Crystal (1982), Life (2017), Personal Shopper (2017), Ghost in the Shell (2017), The Devil's Candy (2017), I Am Not Your Negro (2016), Officer Downe (2016), The Unholy Four (1970), Frankenstein Created Bikers (2016)

40 comments:

  1. I'm not in love with the dark crystal, but a few years ago i found a director's cut/workprint of it, and it was way better.

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    1. I'll have to check it out. Can't remember if it's on the original DVD. Do I need a special edition?

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    2. i'm not sure where i found it, but i don't think it's 'officially' available. i think i ripped it off youtube, but that was years ago. maybe torrent if you're lucky

      one of the major change that i like a lot is with the skekis. they don't talk in the workprint. it feel way darker and unsettling. i'm not sure about the other changes. it's been a while since i seen it

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  2. "Officer Downe" was unwatchable.

    "Sucker Punch" is legit.

    You guys killed it on this one and I really enjoyed listening to you talk about DD. Agreed on the commentary being well worth a listen. I've mentioned here before that it's one of the best I've ever heard. Kelly explains so many ideas that he had for the film, down to minute details, that it blows your mind that he even thought of some of the things that are in the film. I really connected and still connect with DD, both cuts are fine for me but I prefer the Theatrical. Kelly is from the same area I live and grew up in and he pretty much nailed the look and "vibe" of NOVA. That and being a child of the 80's, the music, the aesthetics, made the film immediately resonate with me even before knowing what it was about.

    Riske, those people DEFINITELY exist in real life! Come to Virginia! It's for lovers! AND crazy religious people!

    One of the things I love about DD is that it did everything right, perhaps by luck, to make it a universally accepted indie that spanned to a larger audience. It's a film that I could probably show someone who doesn't care about movies but would like it.

    My brother was fortunate enough to see DD when it premiered at Sundance. I believe it was about a year later when it hit DVD and we both watched it together. He said the DVD version was really different than the version he saw at Sundance so not sure if it was the Directors Cut he saw or maybe an unfinished cut that was screened.

    Side note story: During the festival he was at a bar waiting for a drink when Carson Daly and Jerome Bettis ("The Bus" - 255lb. linebacker for the Pittsburgh Steelers) came up to the bar, Daly smacked his hand on the table and rudely said "Hey bartender! Bus needs a Cosmo!" That phrase has now become an ongoing joke between my brother and I. It's ridiculous because it's Carson Daly being a dick, it's Carson Daly hanging out with "The Bus" and it's Carson Daly ordering "The Bus" a friggen' Cosmopolitan.

    Typing that story makes me think it's a lot funnier to just my brother and I. Sorry.

    Other side note story: My brother went to the next three Sundance film festivals and took his wife each time. In 2003 he called me and asked what they definitely need to see and I said "Oh man, you HAVE to go see "Irreversible"! Yikes. His wife wasn't too happy with my choice.

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    1. Thanks Chaybee! I heard/read somewhere that the DC is close to what Richard Kelly screened at Sundance. He had to cut it down because it wasn't selling for several months after the fest and was in danger of premiering on Starz.

      That Daly-Bettis story is great. I would totally be friends with Carson Daly at that point in time. He was around all the beautiful people. Especially Jerome Bettis! Daly '01 is the type of guy who if he was rushing my frat in college we would accept into a pledge class solely for his ability to bring glitz and glamour into the frat house. We were such douchebags. We would call people like Daly "value adds".

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    2. my friend and me don't like the director's cut that much, but i'm happy to have both version on the disc

      in a recent interview about the restauration, richard kelly mentionned that there's actually no definitive version. he couldn't change everything he wanted for the DC and there's plenty of stuff he's happy with in the theatrical.

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    3. I read that as well which I think is great. Kelly should be just as proud of the Theatrical Cut and I got the vibe that he is.

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    4. I feel compelled to be a bit of an a-hole and correct you that Jerome Bettis was a running back, not a linebacker. Still a great story.

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    5. Oh, GEEEEZ, I just noticed that I wrote "Linebacker". Feeling dumb, thanks for the heads up!

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  3. Half asleep this morning when I saw my feed update, I was thinking it was Donnie Brasco. In my defense Al Pacino is basically an evil time-traveling bunny at this point.

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    1. And he is scheduled to play a character called Jimmy Hopper in the upcoming Martin Scorsese-Pixar collaboration about the life of the former president of the International Brotherhood of Teamsters. Seems a little tasteless to me.

      Harvey Keitel is in it as well.

      Leaked image from this movie here.

      I'm very special.

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  4. Thank you so much for mentioning Psychomania. This is a movie that I thought I dreamt for years. The bikers driving out of graves was the only thing I had to go on. I just looked it up hoping it was the right one. Success!! This is like a 10 year brain itch finally scratched.

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    1. Me too! I thought I had seen it on Elvira in the 80s, but had no way to even think about finding it until now.

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    2. There's a link to buy the Blu-ray at the bottom of this article. It's also streaming on Shudder if you're a subscriber! http://www.fthismovie.net/2017/03/off-shelf-psychomania.html

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  5. Good episode, you're a pair of funny bunnies !
    NW Refn's commentary for Valhalla Rising is good one for convincing you the film's not as good as you thought it was!

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  6. Ohh I'm excited for this discussion, lots to talk about

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  7. My favorite moment of this episode was the shout out to Lucky Monk. Love that place! I gets my growler filled on the regular, yo.

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  8. I've said it before, but please do a podcast on southland tales

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  9. I remember that episode where everyone wasn't into The Dark Crystal! I too was baffled - The Dark Crystal is freakin amazing. Every time I ask my girlfriend if she wants to see a movie with me,and she declines, I say "I'm not ready to go alone... Alright...alone then!"

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    1. I want a Dark Crystal girlfriend. I dated a girl named Crystal back in the day but she did not have a dark personality.

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    2. I once dated a girl named Jen who had a very dark personality - it ended after a week lol. I think the key is finding a girl named Kira who can sing, and has a cool pet

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    3. I once dated a guy called Jen who knew nothing about Confucianism.

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  10. This podcast ALMOST resisted going in places that are as weird as Donnie Darko is.

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  11. "Thit nexth to the boy you think ith cutetht." I nearly rode my bicycle into oncoming traffic when Patrick went into his Drew Barrymore impression. Tho bad, yet tho funny (Lisping is sorta sexy, I don't think anyone can deny that). Thank your stars Humphrey Bogart is dead.

    It's yonks since I saw either of these movies (although I'm going to try to watch Donnie Darko again this evening because... well, because of this episode) and I might be misremembering, but the thene... scene in the auditorium in which Donnie and Patrick Swayze's character get into it brought to mind for me the exchange in Damien: Omen II wherein the titular spawn of Satan counters every one of his aggressive schoolteacher's points with superior knowledge in rapid-fire stylee. The fact that Donnie calls Cunningham "the Antichrist" makes me wonder if Richard Kelly was aware of this sequel and was paying homage to it, or ripping it off depending on your point of view.

    I thought for years that it was Tina Majorino in the Jena Malone role.

    Great epithode, boyth. I might skip next week's. I know there's a lot of love for the Fastly Furious franchise on this site, but its appeal to me is negligible. Boys and cars, right? I do like Vin Diesel (my name for Bulgarian wine, incidentally) in Riddick and The Iron Giant. There you go, do one of them instead. No? Oh well, listen to you again in a fortnight. Ah, who am I kidding? I'll still listen to it. Damn your eyes, brilliant podcasters.

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    1. BTW, they have already done podcasts for Riddick and The Iron Giant.

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    2. Oh, for flip's sake. I've listened to every episode of this podcast, I think. How did I forget this? Mind like a steel sieve sometimes, me.

      I've just checked my downloads and I've got The Iron Giant but do not have Riddick. Thanks, P-Cal.

      Don't wave at me in that friendly way; I do not deserve it.

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  12. Patrick, that Cranky director of Officer Downe is the one and only Shawn Crahan. Better known as a drummer for Slipknot. Not THE drummer from Slipknot, just a drummer. I think he plays a bag of rice? Or maybe a barrel of jelly.

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  13. Patrick, I think you were referring to "End of Watch" when you said Anna Kendrick. She plays Gyllenhaal's wife in that one. One of his Jake's best performances and movies by the way. Great pod on Darko.

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  14. Michael GiammarinoApril 13, 2017 at 3:56 AM

    1. Listening to Patrick's Drew Barrymore impression, I can't help but hear Sylvester the Cat. Now I'll never hear Drew Barrymore or Sylvester the Cat the same way again.

    2. Out of all the reasons for why Donnie is rushing home to be there when the engine falls, not once did I hear anyone suggest that he's doing it because he wasn't meant to survive the accident, and by dying he's fixing a paradox.

    3. Watership Down is about rabbits, sure, but it's also about one rabbit who has a vision about the end of the world.

    4. It's suggested that the rabbit costume is way too odd for anyone to ever make. I've seen odder costumes at conventions. I think Richard Kelly had his finger on the pulse of cosplay culture in that regard.

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    1. We absolutely discuss why Donnie needs to die when the engine falls.

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    2. Michael GiammarinoApril 15, 2017 at 2:18 AM

      I know, but you expressed some confusion as to why he needed to die in that exact manner, back home and in his bed.

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    3. Michael GiammarinoApril 15, 2017 at 2:38 AM

      If you brought up paradoxes and I missed it, I apologize for suggesting otherwise.

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  15. Now I know that when Patrick does a Drew Barrymore impression he sounds just like Beef.

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  16. I just want to weigh in on the Drew Barrymore impression. It might be one of the best things I've heard on the podcasts to date. I could have heard another hour of it.

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  17. Richard Kelly has directed 3 movies and I have loved all 3. I know what he says doesn't always match up with what is on the screen but I don't care about that. It's death of the author. It doesn't matter what he intended, it's what you got out of it. I just love being in his crazy worlds. I don't really have to understand what's going on for me to enjoy it. I know it is blasphemy to invoke Lynch but I never know what the hell is going on in his movies but I like them a lot. The first time I saw The Box I thought "what the hell was that?" The second time I saw it I fell in love with it. Donnie Darko is my favorite movie of 2001(not much competition sadly), Southland Tales is my #6 of 2007 and The Box is my #3 of 2009. He is one of my favorite directors and I would love for some crazy person to let him make another disastrously wonderful movie.

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  18. The thought of doing homework outside of the film to understand it always baffled me. I can understand something like the long written passages in the Watchmen comic because it supplements it's existing literally source. I imagine what it would be like if during Snyder's movie it it just cut to black mid scene and just started a text crawl.

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