090 Muriel's Wedding

A little late this week, Matt and Mark, consumed with the Sisyphean chores of yardwork the prior weekend, managed to finally get the podcast out! We review Muriel's Wedding and Mark discloses his affinity for the melancholia of the ambition-less suburban existence while Matt riffs on the US and Australia's mutual affinity.

Download: 090 Muriel's Wedding

089 Outland

Not really a science fiction film if you hold a snobby attitude towards the genre, but perhaps a nicely wrought 'space opera' more akin to Star Wars than Blade Runner. Matt and Mark review the film Outland starring Sean Connery, a recasting of the 'High Noon' western tale set on the far-flung Jovian moon of Io. A straight forward plot filled with hit-men, corrupted lawmen, and seedy power-brokers, it makes for a very enjoyable film, minus pretense. Absent heavy thought-provoking sci-fi themes, Matt and Mark discuss the minutia.

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088 Over The Top

A movie about arm wrestling? really? It's high concept, Mark and I both agree this odd Stallone vehicle, strangely ridden with ad placement, is that, but what else is it? Matt finds this Hollywood misfire a strange concoction of sap, corniness, and bad acting while Mark manages to find a certain redemption. What's most troubling is how Mike Hawk is handled in the film, stiff but lacking potency, and at the film's climax, a little dry.

Download: 088 Over The Top

087 Annie Hall

Matt and Mark come to the conclusion that reviewing comedies is tough business and Annie Hall is no exception. More meat on its bones than the romantic comedies that came before and after, Annie Hall provides an interesting window into Woody Allen's persona, one both of us (more so Matt) can easily relate to: neurotic, self-deprecating, liberal, and fond of easy intellectual pretentious stereotypes that invite mild ridicule. We try to do it justice, so... you decide.

Download: 087 Annie Hall

086 Alphaville

Famous French director Jean-Luc Godard explores a world if 60's vintage IBM created a dystopic city hellbent on galactic domination! A sci-fi film minus the leotards and lasers, Alphaville is more about theme than flash, which is to its credit. A society devoid of emotion or passion creates a ant-hive like world where its doped numb citizens only live for the now. Mark expresses a budding affection while Matt expresses admiration despite its derivative sci-fi themes.

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085 The Graduate

It's not rebellion that defines youth (that's a given) but it's really how one rebels... In the case of Dustin Hoffman's Ben Braddock in The Graduate, his act of rebellion comes in the form of easy sex with the venerable Mrs Robinson played by Anne Bancroft. Juxtaposed to 60's counter-culture, Ben's form of revolt lacks a needed creativity or a new paradigm which was the hallmark of his more adventurous generational peers, which is why he is so unlikable. Matt and Mark discuss a film whose time may have passed but is still relevant in its capturing the 1967 zeitgeist, still making it worthy of discussion.

Download: 085 The Graduate

084 Master and Commander

And we're back! This week Matt and Mark review the rip-roaring high seas adventure film Master and Commander The Far Side of the World. Doing storytelling justice, MACTFSOFTW teases out just the right tidbits to flesh out full characters, reflecting and contrasting persona to add depth without bruising the script purple with unneeded conversation. Matt discloses his spiteful appetite for minke whale while both Matt and Mark relish in the blood and splinters visceral nature of Napoleanic tall-ship combat, a form of war rarely depicted in an era of the modern shoot 'em up.

Download: 084 Master and Commander