Wednesday's Movie Mashup No. 2

Thank you to people for guessing.  It even inspired a twitter feed so you can follow my blog @In_Entertain if you want to try to get notified as soon as this is up.  Last week's clue:

"An Irish couple come to America to seek their fortune, but she eventually gets Alzheimer's and can't remember his name"

Answer:  Far and Away from Her

Leader board:
David - 1

This week's clue:

"Two men have terrible adventures while they travel across the country so one man can enjoy an evening out with his wife that also goes awry"

If you think you know it, leave your guess in the comments section.

New Release (Kind of): Winter's Bone

Jennifer Lawrence - keep an eye on her.

Every Monday, a theater about an hour away shows very second run indie or foreign flicks.  It's usually the only way those kinds of movies make an appearance in theaters.  However, they pay no attention to the DVD release date, so I've often already seen the movie by the time it appears on the big screen.  Winter's Bone was released on DVD recently, but thanks to the encouraging comments by Scott and Whitney at Frankly, My Dear and The Mad Hatter during our podcasting this weekend, I trekked to the theater to see it on the big screen.  They were right - this is a movie that was meant to be seen in a dark theater with no distractions. 

The story is simple: Ree Dolly (Jennifer Lawrence) takes care of her younger brother, sister, and infirm mother.  Her absentee father has been arrested and in order to get bonded out of jail, put up their house and land for collateral.  Now he's missed his court appearance and the bail bondsman wants his due.  Ree decides she needs to find her father to be sure she doesn't lose the house.  Basically, this was what I knew when I went into the theater, and was the better for it.  The only reference in the movie to where it takes place is near and Arkansas border, so the Ozark mountains likely.  Ree is related, in some fashion, to all the people she goes to to try to find her dad, but that doesn't mean they won't kill her if she crosses them.  There are obviously family feud's going on, and since they're all part of illegal meth operations, it's not surprising they fight to the death (either by blowing up their houses, or actually dumping them in a 'holler').  Lawrence is amazingly bad-ass trying to stay strong.  The gender roles among the families are strong - only women can beat up other women, men shoot other men.  They govern their own, and at least at a minimum level take care of their own.  There are moments of levity from the tension building as we find out the level of difficulties Ree faces, but mostly they continue to build tension throughout the film, with a few OMG moments, a few "jump in your seat, this is going to end badly" moments.  One thing that struck me in particular is the relatively unknown status of the actors.  There were a few I recognized, but only in a very general sense, and it added to the tension of who would survive or help our heroine.  Overall, the pacing, cinematography, and design of the movie are terrific - award worthy in almost every aspect.  5 of 5 lambs/stars

Reel Insight: Episode 22 James Franco

We have our second guest, winner of October Quoteable Quotes, winner of the Lammy for 2010 best podcast for The Matineecast, as well as the author of "The Dark of the Matinee", and a good friend.  Known in Blogland as The Mad Hatter, we have a lot of fun talking James Franco, podcasts,The Walking Dead, "Glee".  Check it out.  Send feedback (since Hatter can't comment on himself, we need more) to reelinsight [at] gmail.com

The Valley of Elah - This came out at the same time as a few other war movies, which made people think (at least me) that it was about the war in Iraq.  Also, with a title from an obscure Biblical reference, I didn't have any real desire to see the flick.  However, since it was listed as a movie in which James Franco appeared, and I happened to purchase it when my local video store went under, I was excited.  It turns out to be a terrific detective, murder mystery, and the main characters are only peripherally connected to the military.  Tommy Lee Jones is the father of a soldier who has gone missing.  He decides to go investigate himself, since as a former MP he knows the capabilities of the military.  The local police, Charlize Theron among them, can't help him.  Eventually, they do partner up and battle the military codes of silence and internal cover-ups to find the truth.  While there are stereotypes of the military and cliches as well, mostly it's a refreshingly well done flick that does show the horrors of war, but again, not as the main idea like The Hurt Locker.  4 of 5 lambs/stars

HOWL - A recent movie, telling the story of an obscenity trial from 1957 about importing copies of Allen Ginsberg's poetry, specifically a poem called "Howl".  It follows bits of the trial and the testimony of literary experts trying to argue the merits of the poem.  Interspersed are pieces of James Franco as Ginsberg being interviewed about the trial and telling his life story.  The third frame is Franco reading his poetry in black and white at a coffee shop (or somewhere) and then the poem being animated.  The visuals aren't particularly appealing, but the poetry they chose and how they weave Ginsberg's story together does make for an interesting biopic.  It does makes you want to know more about Ginsberg and his poetry. 3.5 of 5 stars/lambs

Camille - Wow, I don't even know where to start with this wackadoo, romantic comedy meets The Sixth Sense movie.  The description on Netflix doesn't do it justice - trying to be coy about the fact that just as you're wishing Sienna Miller's character Camille would just shut up and die, she actually does, well she doesn't shut up.  Franco is her parolee husband who hates her when they marry but really likes her after she's dead.  The whole movie is a set up for "ba-dum-bump" type jokes or cliches, but strangely, it's so bad, it turns into a lot of fun.  Franco seems to be constantly waiting for the movie cliche to appear, and it never does. 1 of 5 stars for actual achievement, 5 of 5 stars for so bad it's good.

James Dean - I knew Franco had won the Golden Globe for his portrayal of James Dean so I figured I had to see it.  I didn't realize until I was watching it that it was a made for TV movie, so I'll call SHENANIGANS on myself.  But I watched it anyway.  I've see Rebel Without a Cause and didn't really get why after only 3 movies James Dean was an icon.  This movie goes a long way toward explaining it.  And explains why he might not have maintained his icon status had he lived, but definitely would have gotten a few more Oscars.  Franco is crazy and grins a lot instead of acting.  His own acting skills have improved a ton in the 10 years since this was made.  Not a great flick, but he deserved his Golden Globe.

New Release: Megamind 3D

I've complained many times about the rural movie theaters in my area, and how when I actually have time to see movies in the theater, there's not a lot worth seeing.  However, I do get to see a lot of random stuff that way.  Which is how I ended up at Dreamworks' Megamind in 3D yesterday celebrating Veteran's Day.  There were 4 kids in the theater, my friend and me.  I love when there's no one there, but this was pretty close. I'm sure Megamind would have been improved by listening to the giggling of more children, but I have to say it was still a pretty funny flick.  It parodies all superhero movies, from The Incredibles to comic book movies and even Austin Powers and such.  Will Ferrell voices Megamind, a blue-skinned, large-headed alien who arrive on earth with his side-kick "Minion" at the same place and time as another alien who can fly and has great hair.  Well, Megamind and the boy who grows up to be his arch nemesis, MetroMan, fight - because that's what they're good at.  I think the plot tickled me most when it reaches that point of thinking about "what would happen if the bad-guy actually won".  They've done it in other movies, exploring how the Joker would run Gotham, etc. but this movie did a terrific job pushing that really far.  Megamind realizes that he was good at being evil, and he's not so good at running a city (Metro City - which he always pronounces Metrocity - rhymes with atrocity).

Brad Pitt is wasted voicing Metro Man, and Tina Fey voices the female news reporter who is constantly kidnapped by Megamind in order to be rescued by MetroMan.  The movie takes the next step again and asks what would happen if the bad guy got the girl - would that even be possible, how would that work?  So Megamind decides he needs to Frankenstein himself another hero to fight - which doesn't go well (and Jonah Hill was perfect because I don't like him anyway).  Anyway, I know I'm reading a lot of meta-analysis into this kids movie, but I'm not a kid so that's what I do at kids' movies.  It was fun, the animation was really good - giving Megamind some terrific facial expressions, and I'll enjoy watching it again later.  Oh, the 3D was well used, but totally not necessary.  When big fights were going on, they'd throw things around and they'd come at you - the flying robots would hover around your head and such, but it didn't really matter.  What the 3D was AWESOME for was the Kung Fu Panda 2 trailer.  Just imagine this in 3D - awesome!

Wednesday's Movie Mashup No.1

I've had this game in mind for a while, it was inspired by an episode of "Cougar Town" a few weeks ago.  They play this game, similar to the "Before & After" category on Jeopardy where you mash two titles together based on a description.  I will try to incorporate the articles (A, An, The) in a title, but sometimes the mashup won't work with them.  I know it's not a new concept, but my descriptions of them will be.  Really, I still want to see if I can keep a regular feature going, and if people will play.

The example from Cougar Town:

Clue:  "A killer whale gives out golden tickets to see who will inherit his candy factory"

Answer:  Free Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory

This week's clue is:

"An Irish couple come to America to seek their fortune, but she eventually gets Alzheimer's and can't remember his name"

If you think you know it, guess in the comments and I'll keep a running leaderboard.  I have about 10 banked, so this should go through the end of the year if there's interest. 

New Release: Due Date

My love of Robert Downey Jr. is well documented here.  And I enjoyed  The Hangover last year, though can't say I loved Zack Galifiankis (aka Beardo - I think Rachel started calling him that on a past episode of Reel Insight, but I can't be sure, but it stuck) who is RDJ's costar in Due Date.  While they should have just come out and said it was a modern version of Planes, Trains, and Automobiles, since most of the travel issues, from not being able to take a plane to sharing a rental car are nearly identical.  However, for me, that's where the positive comparison ends.  This was such a missed opportunity to make RDJ the straight man to Beardo's bumbling, but heartfelt, idiot.  RDJ is MUCH funnier than this movie ever lets him be.  Steve Martin was the funny man to John Candy's bumbling, but heartfelt, nice guy, and they created comedy TOGETHER.  Due Date hits that mark only a very few times, instead relying on gross-out humor (a dog masturbating, really?) and Beardo's effeminate walk for laughs.  The screenplay is really uneven, never really knowing where the story is going to turn, and then all of sudden, after getting high together, RDJ, who previously (and rightly) hated Beardo, suddenly loves him.  Then there are the myriad ways they break the law or their bodies and just get away with it, and nothing negative ever follows them around, beyond a single broken arm.  They "accidentally" drive into Mexico, and get detained.  Beardo walks away, and RDJ is in a trailer being questioned (still stoned) that Beardo rips off the stand and drives away with, but the police just stop chasing them? Odd.  And, RDJ gets shot, and still manages to drive 300 miles without bleeding to death.  What a great immune system?   Okay, those are most of the major rants and problems I had with this movie.  By the end, most of them didn't bother me much - you kind of like Beardo, RDJ has finally figured out how to be funny again, and it's an "aw shucks" moment when they're friends now.  Overall, didn't like it, and was definitely disappointed, but probably moreso from high expectations.  2 of 5 stars/lambs

Reel Insight Episode 21: Diane Keaton

We had a great time talking about things OTHER than Diane Keaton this week.  And for the first time, we conceded on the Top 3 to general consensus, rather than coming up with our own choices (what can you do when someone is in the Godfather flicks?) and just did TWO BOTTOM 3.  Turns out we just don't care for her movies very much.  However, it also turned to ZOMBIES, with discussion of the new AMC mini-series The Walking Dead and a Jesse Eisenberg love-fest for The Social Network and Zombieland.  Check it out here or on itunes.

Manhattan - This was one of Woody Allen's early movies I'd heard of, but never seen.  I think when it came out in the 1970s it would have been unique and controversial, but Allen's personal life is just a bit too much "life imitating art" when you see Manhattan now.  He of course stars as a bumbling New Yorker, divorced from a gorgeous Meryl Streep, dating a 17-year old Mariel Hemingway, just mirrors his own real life too much not to be distracted by it and put the creepiness on the character.  He ends up dating Diane Keaton, who was having an affair with his best friend.  It doesn't end well and he goes back to Hemingway.  The soundtrack is terrific with lots of classic music about New York or falling in love and the cliche of the city being a character in the film cannot be ignored - it's right in the title.  But perhaps because it's been 30 years, this movie doesn't stand out as anything special.  Keaton is good as a strong, educated woman doing whatever she wants, but I confess I just wanted to know more about Streep's character.  Check her out here. 

Crimes of the Heart - What was it about the early 1980s that somehow told movie makers that they should layer all their movies with lots of music to create a mood?  With something like Crimes of the Heart, it only distracts from the actually powerful story.  Three sisters, Diane Keaton, Jessica Lange and Sissy Spacek, are reunited when Spacek shoots her husband, in the suburban South in the 1980s.  Keaton has been watching after their aging grandfather who took them in when their dad left and their mom committed suicide (which needless to say screwed them all up).  Lange has been trying to make a life as a performer, but it hasn't gone well and she just pretends to be successful.  And Spacek was doing all she was supposed to, be a good wife, but her jackass husband has been ignoring her, beating her, etc. so she found someone who liked her and shot her husband.  It's a complicated story that is really well put together, though the final "moral" they all learn about their mother's suicide is too cheesy and painfully delivered so the ending robs this movie of a lot of its powerful storytelling.

Town and Country - what a terrible flick.  Great cast, lots of marriage cliches and cheating.  Stupid concept.

"Every Creation Myth Needs a Devil": The Social Network

I'm slow to get a review done, but I wanted to be sure to add my opinion to the noise about this movie.  It was a well-made movie that showed a really terrific story that may or may not be completely accurate about the founding and development of FACEBOOK.  Mark Zuckerberg (played BRILLIANTLY by Jesse Eisenberg) was obviously an extremely awkward college student (he's fairly clearly some version of autistic or Asperger's) who doesn't care a lot about the niceties of friendship or business.  He allegedly partners with a group of guys to create a website for Harvard that would be exclusive.  The movie makes it seem like he took a kernel of their idea and created a much better one with the investment from a friend.  Eventually he squeezes out the investing friend and makes himself a bajillion dollars. The Social Network flashes between the two court cases when these guys sue him back to the actual events.  It's very well composed and the acting is superb.  If they continue with 10 Best Picture nominations, I predict this will definitely get one.  And so far, Jesse Eisenberg has done of the best acting performances of anyone this year, and will deserve a good look come awards season.  There will definitely be a writing nomination at some point too.  Not really anything new to add to the many other reviews of The Social Network, but I saw Zombieland the next day and now have a new-found respect and admiration for Eisenberg that nearly wipes away Adventureland.  4.5 of 5 lambs/stars

The Demented Podcast: Doorknob Entertainment!

Recently I had the distinct privilege of being the first guest on Nick Jobe's new podcast, The Demented Podcast.  It's a very engaging experience - you have to act, play games, come up with a title, discuss whatever you want, and have a great time.  Check it out - you'll definitely want to subscribe to this one, which you can do, right from this podomatic page until itunes gets their act together to post it.  And then e-mail Nick to find out when you can be the guest!

DVD Roundup: Sleepers and That Evening Sun

I went back in my Netflix queue and decided to watch a movie I'd always meant to see and had never gotten around to it.  There's a gap of movies rated R that came out before I was old enough to see them that have mostly slipped by me.  Sleepers was one I got mixed up with Sneakers for a long time and thought I'd already seen it, but now I know I have and that there's a huge difference. 

Sleepers is the story of 4 teenagers from Hell's Kitchen (the west side of Manhattan kind of between Times Square and Lincoln Center) in the 1950s.  They have tough upbringings, abusive/absent parents, lots of Catholic guilt, and actually a good relationship with Father Bobby (Robert DeNiro).  They plan a prank to steal hot dogs, and end up sending the hot dog cart down subway stairs hurting someone.  They're sentenced to a year in a boys juvenile facility, Wilkenson.  The movie is narrated by Jason Patrick, he's one of the boys grown-up, and he tells about the horrors the boys faced at Wilkenson at the hands of Kevin Bacon's guard, Nokes.  They're horribly abused, beaten, and traumatized, but survive. 

Ten years later, two of the boys, now mob hit men (played by Ron Eldard and Billy Crudup) run into an aging Dokes in a bar, and do what they do best - put 5 bullets in him, in front of witnesses.  Patrick is now a newspaper reporter and the last boy, Brad Pitt has grown up to be a district attorney.  They've drifted apart, but Pitt has been planning something like this - he wants to use Eldard and Crudup's trial to expose all the abuse at Wilkenson.  The movie plays out following their trial.  They tap into their roots in Hells Kitchen and the mob boss and his attorneys who are willing to be manipulated to do exactly what Pitt wants to ensure other former guards get called to testify and expose the abuse.  Overall, the acting is pretty terrific by an amazing cast.  The story is difficult to watch at times, and Kevin Bacon is so over the top leering and looking so disgusting, but you hate him as much as the boys do.  Since the story is told through their eyes, there isn't any back story on the other characters, but it makes for great story-telling.  Overall, I'm glad I caught up with this one.  4 of 5 stars/lambs

That Evening Sun is an indie flick starring Hal Holbrook.  From the trailer it seemed to be a movie similar to The Straight Story with Richard Farnsworth about an older man taking back a little control of his life.  That Evening Sun is not as good, either from a cinematic or story perspective.  Holbrook decides he's had enough time in the old-folks home and starts walking back to his farm in Tennessee.  He arrives to find his son has rented the farm to the son of a man he hates.  He fights it for a while, hurling insults at the guy, Choate, to get him to leave.  Since Holbrook is just an old man, Choate (played by "that guy" Ray McKinnon) knows he's harmless and lets him stay in the shed.  Holbrook has designs on getting his home back and attempts to get Choate arrested, which he does when he catches Choate beating his daughter and wife.  The movie overall is uneven and it's hard to really like Holbrook's character.  He has dreams about his deceased wife (played by real-life wife, Dixie Carter, also now deceased) and feels guilt over her death that isn't explained much, but given as the reason he's a mean old coot.  The movie builds to a climax that doesn't deliver and you don't really care about them when it's over.  2.5 of 5 stars/lambs

Reel Insight: Episode 20 - Damon/Affleck

This week we did a two-fer to catch up after missing last week.  Ben Affleck and Matt Damon began their careers together and continue to be the longest lasting romance in Hollywood.  We discussed the season finale of Mad Men, Rocky Horror Glee, and Live vs Documentary style TV episodes. Oh, and we announce our October winner.  Mad Hatter, c'mon down!!!   It's a long episode, but enjoy. 

This was actually a pretty interesting week catching up on the few movies they're in that I haven't seen.

30 Rock: Season 4, beginning of Season 5 - This was for Matt Damon's performance as a pilot who becomes Liz Lemon's boyfriend.  I'm sure this will play out in more episodes, but as of now, he's a hysterical character who just shows up on occasion.  The season overall was terrific and I was excited to catch up.

Gigli - Yes, I watched this.  It deserves ALL of it's bad reputation.  Here's an early quote from Mr. Affleck that sums up how much this movie sucks.  He's explaining to Jennifer Lopez why he's in charge.  "If by some fuckin' miracle long shot you haven't heard of my reputation let me tell you who the fuck I am! I am the fuckin' Sultan of Slick, Sadie! I am the rule of fuckin' cool! You wanna be a gangster? You wanna be a thug? You sit at my fuckin' feet and gather the pearls that emanate forth from me! Because I'm the fuckin' original, straight-first-foremost, pimp-mack, fuckin hustler, original gangster's gangster!"

Boiler Room - It's been a while since I've seen Wall Street but this movie felt just like it but missing Gorden Gecko.  Affleck plays one of the higher ups bossing around all the trainees (particularly Giovanni Ribisi who is terrific).  I actually saw an episode of Burn Notice recently that summed up the entirety of this movie in about 48 minutes.  And Jeffrey Donovan is MUCH cuter than Ribisi

Extract - Sooooo boring.  I think the director was trying to recreate his success with Office Space and fails miserably.  Affleck is wearing a curly longish wig that all I wanted to do was snatch off his head!

Changing Lanes - This movie makes you feel uneasy for almost all of it.  A random collision on the FDR brings together Samuel L. Jackson and Ben Affleck.  Jackson's trying to get to a custody case, which he's late for and misses so loses his kids.  Affleck accidentally leaves behind a brief that he needs for court too.  Basically this sets in motion a series of RAGE events that escalate and then they calm down, and then escalate.  It's hard to tell who wins, but they're friends by the end.  Very odd.

Happy Halloween!

I think of this as the great gay pumpkin.  I hope you're all having a terrific Halloween. 

Apologies

I don't want to say that Insight into Entertainment is on hiatus, but I haven't been able to watch much beyond the TV I enjoy (Dexter, Project Runway, and about 20 other shows) and a few movies a week to keep up with our Actors of the Week for Reel Insight.  The real reason is that my dissertation is entering its final days and I have no creative energy left to come up with anything interesting.  I've been enjoying all the podcasting and Reel Insight will return this weekend, and I'm the first guest on a new podcast, soon to be released.  Stay tuned - creative energy will return. 

Me washing my clothes in a river in Gabon, after collecting data for the soon-to-be-finished thesis.

No Reel Insight this week

I was away for the weekend so we didn't get a chance to record Reel Insight this week.  To make up for it, we're going to do a super episode next week with the winner of October's Quoteable Quotes, and a two-fer "Star of the Week".  Make sure to catch it!

Funniest thing this week

I'm catching up on last season's 30 Rock.  Tina Fey hallucinates her ex-boyfriends are the nurses at her doctor's office.  Just to explain this hysterical clip.

New Releases: Easy A and RED

I have seen a few new movies in the theater lately, but haven't been keeping up with my reviews, so here's two for one.  Easy A is as good as everyone says.  If you've listened to the podcasts I've been on lately, you'll know I loved this movie.  I got to see it all by myself in a theater - one of the benefits to living in a rural area, it's possible to get a private screening on occasion.  In case you've missed it - Easy A is the story of Olive Pendergast (Emma Stone), a high school student who makes up a date with a college student, and when her best friend asks her about it, she pretends they had sex.  This starts a rumor that flies through the high school that Olive is easy.  One of her friends, Brandon (Dan Byrd), is getting bullied because he's gay, and asks her to pretend to have sex with him so raise his reputation.  They pretend at a big party and it changes everything for both of them.  In English class they're studying Hawthorne's "Scarlet Letter", giving a theme to the movie and to Olive's life - she starts dressing like someone easy, and puts a scarlet A on her hootchie clothes.  it escalates to include many of the dorky guys in her school, and of course eventually she has to put a stop to the lies and everything comes out.  Patricia Clarkson and Stanley Tucci play her hippie parents who love her and are hysterically inappropriate, but the best parents on screen in a while.  The rest of the supporting cast is terrific - Lisa Kudrow, Thomas Haden Church, and surprisingly Amanda Bynes.  The movie is really, really funny but has a ton of heart without going into cliche or smaltz.  Definitely check it out.  4.5 of 5 stars/lambs

** No spoilers ** The other terrific movie I saw recently was RED, starring Bruce Willis as a retired CIA agent who is trying to figure out what to do with his life.  They did a terrific job with the trailer because it doesn't reveal too much, and focuses on all you need to know.  Willis falls for Mary-Louise Parker (in a nicer role than her "Weeds" character, but quite similar).  However, just as he's going to meet her, a team comes in to kill him.  The rest of the movie is their trek to figure out who wants to kill him and how to stop it.  They enlist the help of other retired agents, Morgan Freeman, John Malkovich (in a perfect level of crazy), and Helen Mirren (totally badass).  Since I liked it so much without actually knowing the details, I won't spoil it.  I'll just say they did a near perfect job of putting incredibly strong actors into a movie that could easily have turned campy and stupid, but instead is just right.  It's funny, action-driven, with lots of guns and death.  Definitely recommend it highly.  4 of 5 stars/lambs

Reel Insight 19 - Ryan Reynolds and guest

We had our second guest today and decided to let him choose the star of the week.  Nick from Random Ramblings of a Demented Doorknob (who my mom called "Demented Dooknob Nick" when I said he was going to record with us).  He chose the career of Ryan Reynolds, which has some ups and downs and hasn't really settled upon a single character.  But definitely go see The Nines. 

Just Friends - This romantic comedy hits most of the cliches about high school, a guy and a girl getting stuck as friends, and a fat suit.  It's so bad, it almost comes back around to be good, but mostly it's just bad.  Amy Smart plays Reynolds' love interest, and she just can't be convincing as the popular girl who has guy friends who are in love with her.  Chris Klein is a big part of why this movie stinks, he's the other friend who wanted more in high school and is now trying for the "revenge screw".  Skip this. 2 of 5 lambs/stars

Foolproof - I was surprised by how much I liked this heist flick.  Afterward I kept thinking it must have been a direct to DVD because Reynolds and David Sucher are they only major stars in it, but the story is terrific.  Recasting it, the main girl would have been stronger if Katee Sackoff had played her, and the loser friend could have been played by half of Hollywood.  The concept is fun - watching this group plan heists and then act them out, but not actual break the law.3.5 of 5 stars/lambs

Waiting... was horrible.  Too much SUPER gross-out humor.  'Nuff said. 1 star/lamb

Film Community Potluck - Rosencrantz and Gildenstern are Dead

Over at Anomalous Materials, they've started a Potluck of movie swapping.  The idea is that people will nominate a film to watch (from Netflix Instant Streaming, to make things easy for now) and then all the people who participate are assigned a film to watch and either chat about in the comments at AM or even write a review.  I nominated the film The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo because I finished it and wanted to hear more discussion of it.  In return, I was assigned Rosencrantz and Guildenstern Are Dead, which I knew was a film by Tom Stoppard based on his stage play of the same name.  I remembered reading the play many years ago, and knew it was based on the characters from Hamlet who befriend Hamlet and then are ordered by the King of Denmark to take Hamlet to England and have him killed (which we know doesn't work out well for R & G).  What the movie creates is sort of Hamlet from their perspective.  However, now being Stoppard characters rather than Shakespearean characters, they discuss the meaning of life, death, being on a boat, flipping coins, etc.  Made in 1990, Gary Oldman and Tim Roth are R & G respectively.  We meet them traveling on horseback, in period, and R has found a coin and he flips it several dozen times and it keeps landing on heads, sparking discussion between them about the nature of flipping a coin.  Soon enough they come upon a group of "tragedians" (the players who go perform the play within a play for Hamlet) led by Richard Dreyfus.  They're sort of magical and can play anything as long as it suits the audience.  Then they're transported to Hamlet's castle and now R & G have to figure out who they are and what they're supposed to do.  We see the play Hamlet being acted out but only when R & G are present.  Finally, they're on the boat, transporting Hamlet to England, but the pirates arrive to take Hamlet home and kill R & G. 
Tim Roth is great as the one trying to make sense of it all, while Oldman is just bumbling through.  Stoppard plays on what was actually written by Shakespeare, which made R & G out to be bumbling idiots, but Stoppard takes it a bit further but also makes them metaphysical geniuses.  It's a bizarre movie, but trying to understand it and what it means in relation to Hamlet is terrific.  The acting by all included is superb, and I was pleasantly surprised by how much clearer the play becomes by being able to see it.  Still bizarre and will require rewatchings and perhaps and rewatching of Hamlet itself.   Now it's time to watch Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are UNDead. 

Lambcast 42: Whatcha been watching?

Kai, Nick and Dylan and I do what we do best - b.s. about our recent film watching experiences, spanning from The Boondock Saints 2 to The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo and more. Also on tap:

* Listener Feedback
* LAMB of the Week: Rachel's Reel Reviews
* Trailer Talk: I Am Number Four
* Last LAMB Standing

For the LAMB of the Week, we take a look at LAMB #43, Rachel's Reel Reviews.  Check it out on itunes or listen below.

Guest on the MILFcast

Rachel and I brought our podcasting skills (and coincidentally recording skills) to the MILFcast this week.  After a terrific session on Sunday that was lost, here is the new version, new game, new questions, new movies, we only recycled our celebrity impressions (with interesting results!)  Check it out here or on itunes.  Thanks Kai!