Clark
Wait. What do I usually. How do I. How do I usually intro this? I can't even.
00:00:13:22 - 00:00:16:04
Cullen
Hello, everybody.
00:00:16:04 - 00:00:31:12
Clark
I love it. Hello, everybody, and welcome once again to the Soldiers of Cinema podcast. I am Clark Coffey and with me, as always, is his co-host extraordinaire, Mr. Cullen McFater. What's up, buddy?
00:00:31:13 - 00:00:33:16
Cullen
Yes, Co-host. I'm good. How are you?
00:00:33:19 - 00:00:36:02
Clark
Wait, is that a bad thing? Is cold. No, no, no.
00:00:36:02 - 00:00:42:19
Cullen
No, no. I was laughing. Is there's a there's this Internet show called On Cinema at the Cinema by Tim Heidecker and Greg Turkington.
00:00:42:20 - 00:00:45:07
Clark
Oh, my gosh. I know Tim. I don't know the other guy.
00:00:45:12 - 00:00:49:13
Cullen
It's it's just it's like the best show ever. It's like, been running for like, 12 years now, but.
00:00:49:14 - 00:00:50:05
Clark
Oh, wow.
00:00:50:12 - 00:01:04:12
Cullen
They do basically this like, it's like a parody of, like, the Siskel and Ebert. But when when that kind of thing started happening online and people like it would just be two guys in a on an awful green screen talking about movies trying to be Siskel and Ebert. Yeah. And they're parodying that. And that's kind of what it started out as.
00:01:04:12 - 00:01:15:02
Cullen
Now it's branched off into all this crazy stuff. But oh, my. The the joke is that the one guy who's been hosting it, Greg Turkington, who's been hosting it with Tim Heidecker for 12 years now, is always referred to as the guest host.
00:01:15:06 - 00:01:17:01
Clark
Yeah, hi. I got I.
00:01:17:01 - 00:01:19:01
Cullen
Just popped into my mind when you said co-host.
00:01:19:01 - 00:01:22:01
Clark
Wow, that was one of the longest digressions little.
00:01:22:01 - 00:01:22:14
Cullen
Segways.
00:01:22:16 - 00:01:39:03
Clark
We've ever had and we haven't even gotten through the introduction to the episode yet. But, but I'll have to check that out. And, you know, and as I was introducing you, I felt so bad because I, I introduced myself first and I feel really like full of shame and guilt for that and I apologize.
00:01:39:03 - 00:01:40:10
Cullen
Well, I'll never like, it's.
00:01:40:16 - 00:01:53:15
Clark
So rude, so rude. And I apologize not only to you, but to everybody out there. I feel like I'm a bad role model for everyone. But hey, today's our 50th episode, man. What do you think about that?
00:01:54:12 - 00:01:55:06
Cullen
I think that's insane.
00:01:55:06 - 00:02:01:06
Clark
I can't believe we made it to 50 episodes. You know, I don't even remember when we started doing this, but it was like, didn't we start.
00:02:01:13 - 00:02:02:23
Cullen
Like August 2020 maybe?
00:02:03:11 - 00:02:07:20
Clark
Was it was it I thought it was even was it before COVID or did we do I kind.
00:02:07:20 - 00:02:10:14
Cullen
Of I think we started in COVID. I think we started COVID.
00:02:10:14 - 00:02:17:10
Clark
I mean, look at it like the world has been just like off axis. I feel like everything's been weird. I can't even judge time anymore.
00:02:17:10 - 00:02:25:22
Cullen
I mean, if you think about yeah, if you think about things that you did at the beginning of COVID, sometimes I think about that and I'm like, that was during COVID man went for a long time.
00:02:25:22 - 00:02:48:00
Clark
It's been going on for a long, long time. So but, but we made it. We are at our 50th episode, which is like just blows my mind and I'm it's been like a really fun journey and I'm happy that we've gotten to take it together. It's been really fun to do these. And yeah, that's what we're going to do is mix things up a little bit this time.
00:02:48:00 - 00:03:13:09
Clark
So, you know, when we started off our first handful of episodes, we were we stuck to a really, really small niche of discussing Werner Herzog's masterclass, and we kind of used that as a jumping off point to discuss film and kind of film philosophy. And, you know, it was really Werner Herzog centric and which is where you and I met actually, that that was a long, long time.
00:03:13:09 - 00:03:14:09
Cullen
Ago, 2016.
00:03:14:11 - 00:03:34:00
Clark
Definitely pre-COVID. So that extent, just like my brain just explodes when I think that that was six years ago. Yeah, but we met. Yeah, yeah, we met. Taking that class and like, have it, you know, we had discussions like every couple of weeks and we actually there's a group of us that that still kind of sticks together from that class and that's turned out to be really wonderful.
00:03:34:00 - 00:03:53:02
Clark
And then we kind of shifted into covering a new film and kind of breaking it down, analyzing it, just kind of like talking about the things that interested us about and we kind of been alternating back and forth. You pick a film, I pick a film we've been doing that for, I don't know, now what, ten, 15 episodes, something like that.
00:03:53:15 - 00:04:21:18
Clark
So we thought we might do something fun for the 50th episode where each of us have picked five episodes at five episodes, five movies that are special to us in some way, or that we just wanted to discuss here, or who knows why you picked them and who knows why I picked them. But we picked five each and we're going to kind of like Rapid Fire go back and forth and have kind of like a quick mini discussion about the five films that we picked.
00:04:21:18 - 00:04:43:01
Cullen
I just realized it's actually oddly similar to the was a on my YouTube channel back at the beginning of COVID. Me and three Friends did this show called On our ten minute Filmmaking, and it was like we'd have a topic of discussion every week. And we basically had 2 minutes, two and a half minutes to choose a film and discuss why we thought that that film fit that topic.
00:04:43:01 - 00:04:46:23
Cullen
And it would be like a ten minute episode would be so very quick, Rapid Fire. And I just made that connection.
00:04:46:23 - 00:04:49:17
Clark
Now that I just feel like that's a shameless plug. Colin Is that.
00:04:49:17 - 00:04:51:20
Cullen
Just maybe I go check it out 10 minutes and maybe.
00:04:53:06 - 00:04:54:22
Clark
I feel like it's just a shameless plug.
00:04:55:01 - 00:04:59:01
Cullen
I'll get I'll get .001 cents for every, every watch.
00:04:59:01 - 00:05:13:06
Clark
So yeah, yeah. It'll, it'll be like most residual checks of my actor friends. He'll get like a check for a penny, you know, that's, like, worth less than the paper that it was printed on. All right, well, hey, without further ado, then, let's dive in. Cohen. Yeah. Your first film.
00:05:13:12 - 00:05:24:01
Cullen
Okay, my first. So I tried to pick things that are not super, super niche. I didn't want to, you know, just use them like the movie from 1926 to.
00:05:24:01 - 00:05:27:05
Clark
Show off show off your cinematic file.
00:05:27:05 - 00:05:48:10
Cullen
But but I did also try to choose movies that I think most, perhaps most of the listeners and perhaps you as well, either might not have seen or might not have thought about in a long time. Okay, so this first movie is called Toni Erdmann oh 2016 German Comedy. And I first saw this movie when it came out in theaters at TIFF.
00:05:48:20 - 00:06:08:06
Cullen
This TIFF, the TIFF Theater in Toronto, will usually have like a host of international movies, not just during the festival, but all year round. That's kind of the best place to go. See international stuff in in Toronto and indie stuff as well. And it's directed by Marin de I do, I think, or Ade Okay.
00:06:08:06 - 00:06:09:10
Clark
Adi Yeah.
00:06:09:23 - 00:06:26:21
Cullen
So I apologize if I'm mispronouncing things, but it's essentially this the way that it was pitched to me when we were going to see it with a friend of mine was it's like a German high concept, Mrs. Doubtfire. And it is this, It's like this.
00:06:26:21 - 00:06:29:16
Clark
Wait, wasn't Mrs. Doubtfire already high concept?
00:06:29:16 - 00:06:46:17
Cullen
Yeah, well, I mean, it's so it's about this. It's about this dad who his daughter is like a businesswoman, a really successful businesswoman. But she's incredibly busy and is is in, you know, constantly in meetings and never really has time for him or anything else. And he's this kind of carefree. I think he's like an art teacher at a school.
00:06:47:00 - 00:07:12:22
Cullen
And he's this old German guy and he's really funny and he plays these little characters. But his dog, Vili, as he calls it, winds up dying. And he's like really sad about that. So he decides to go to Bucharest in Romania to his daughter's like this big, you know, pitch thing that she's doing for her company and decides to just go and pretend to be this life coach called named Toni Erdmann.
00:07:13:01 - 00:07:19:21
Cullen
Okay, makes up this title. He puts in these fake teeth that are like these, like those weird teeth that you get at the dollar store for Halloween.
00:07:19:21 - 00:07:22:06
Clark
Like Billy Bob. Like Billy Bob. Yeah. Yeah.
00:07:22:08 - 00:07:37:15
Cullen
He puts in these weird teeth, he has this wig and he just winds up like a showing up at her business meetings and things like that on an uninvited. Or he'll sit in the lobby until she's walking through with a bunch of her, you know, the CEO and this big oil executive. And he'll just kind of walk over and walk along with them.
00:07:37:15 - 00:07:50:23
Cullen
And it's this really, really charming, funny, but incredibly heartfelt movie. You know, it's like a movie that that brings me to the verge of tears. It's also really, really long. It's 162 minutes.
00:07:51:02 - 00:07:51:11
Clark
Okay.
00:07:51:12 - 00:08:11:16
Cullen
Wow. It's this it's this is so everything about it. Every every sentence seems to not fit the last one. It's this, like, nearly three hour epic about this German dad that follows his daughter to Bucharest, Romania, to basically show her the meaning of being a little bit more carefree by dressing up as this funny character named Toni Erdmann.
00:08:12:12 - 00:08:35:00
Cullen
But no, I would totally I mean, it's it really it's an odd movie also for me to love because it kind of goes against a lot of things that I normally really like about a movie in that it's it's very, very like the cinematography is very digital. It's it's not super, you know, it's pretty desaturated that very like digital, black, white and sharp, super.
00:08:35:02 - 00:08:44:03
Clark
Popular when people like when when you had like full frame sensors. Yes. Like reasonable reasonable. Oh gee.
00:08:44:03 - 00:08:46:03
Cullen
It's like noise reduction and dynamic range and.
00:08:46:06 - 00:08:55:01
Clark
You know, reasonable dynamic range. And and like they shot raw and it was almost like there was this weird period of time where it's like, I feel like people just, like, left the raw.
00:08:55:01 - 00:08:58:12
Cullen
Almost like raw. They would they would adjust the contrast a bit. But yeah.
00:08:58:13 - 00:09:07:15
Clark
It was so weird. Yeah. Just to digress for a second, it was like, yeah, it was like, Dude, that's raw footage that's not graded Like, that is not what you were supposed to do, is just.
00:09:07:15 - 00:09:08:00
Cullen
And.
00:09:08:06 - 00:09:08:10
Clark
It.
00:09:08:19 - 00:09:16:22
Cullen
It really, it looks exactly like that. It's shot. It's not like a mockumentary, but it's shot, very mockumentary style and that a lot of it's handheld.
00:09:16:22 - 00:09:17:08
Clark
Okay.
00:09:17:08 - 00:09:32:18
Cullen
Just following the character the way things like that. And so it's not at all the stylistically a movie that I like, like doesn't really fit with any of the other movies that I chose today nor movies that I normally like. But it's incredibly heartfelt. The performances are great.
00:09:32:18 - 00:09:36:05
Clark
I mean, you've you've piqued my interest. I definitely want to check it out. I mean, Oh, yeah.
00:09:36:05 - 00:09:38:11
Cullen
If you've got 3 hours to spare to watch them a year.
00:09:38:17 - 00:09:40:04
Clark
I've always got 3 hours to.
00:09:40:04 - 00:09:45:18
Cullen
Spare, but it's also it's it's it's very bizarre, but it's also really, really, really funny. Like there's.
00:09:45:19 - 00:09:46:19
Clark
A lot of bizarre and.
00:09:46:19 - 00:10:02:16
Cullen
Great there's a lot of great, very subtle kind of German humor in it as well. So it's a laugh out loud movie by any means. I mean, I laugh out loud just cause I love it. So I'm like, Well, you're kooky. Yes, exactly. But no, I'd say that it's definitely a very, um. That's yeah, it's a great movie.
00:10:02:16 - 00:10:03:20
Cullen
That's all I really say. Wow.
00:10:03:20 - 00:10:20:03
Clark
Well, okay, so right off the bat. So you have picked a film that I haven't seen. Not only have I not seen it, I hadn't even heard of it. Now it's possible that I had heard of it and then forgotten about it because we're sitting at, what, six year old film? It was nominated for best Foreign language film at the Academy Awards.
00:10:20:03 - 00:10:20:16
Cullen
Yes, it was.
00:10:21:05 - 00:10:30:12
Clark
And that's probably back at an era of time when I was actually watching the Academy Awards. I haven't seen it in the past couple of years for no other reason than just I'm like, Yeah.
00:10:30:22 - 00:10:32:03
Cullen
Yeah, who cares?
00:10:33:05 - 00:10:46:14
Clark
No other reason than that. But so I probably was kind of, you know, exposed to it, heard about it, something, and I just never kind of, you know, it's like, how many films can a person see? You know, films, sadly, fall through the cracks and you missed them.
00:10:46:15 - 00:10:49:12
Cullen
Especially in theaters. They're not a lot of foreign movies play in theaters and.
00:10:49:18 - 00:10:55:21
Clark
Not here in the States, for sure. Yeah. I mean, you don't get like wide release or even, you know, many release.
00:10:55:22 - 00:10:58:11
Cullen
Of I mean, I was really lucky to see it in theaters, but but yeah.
00:10:58:12 - 00:10:58:19
Clark
I could.
00:10:58:19 - 00:10:59:23
Cullen
Very easily missed it so.
00:10:59:23 - 00:11:19:01
Clark
Well, you're in Canada so you guys are open minded up there than we are down here, so. All right, Well, well, now I'm like, I knew this was going to happen. I feel like a certain amount of shame because, you know, none of my films are even going to be remotely not obvious films.
00:11:19:01 - 00:11:20:04
Cullen
Oh, that's okay.
00:11:20:07 - 00:11:52:12
Clark
So. So because I thought about it, I thought, you know, because when we pick out when we when we pick our films for the regular episodes, I try to kind of like thread the needle of, you know, I don't want to go against my own taste. And I do in many instances have fairly mainstream taste, you know, And so I'm not going to pretend that I'm somebody I'm not and, and pick these, like super obscure, you know, foreign films that three people saw on a Tuesday, five years ago, you know, So I stayed true to myself.
00:11:52:17 - 00:12:15:15
Clark
And basically my criteria was just like, what films have really impacted me? That's kind of like my my main criteria. What films do I love? What films have inspired me when I watch these films usually, or more often when I was younger, when I first saw all these films on my list, it was like I had a sense of awe and amazement and it made me want to be a filmmaker.
00:12:15:15 - 00:12:38:00
Clark
So that's my criteria for this. So the first one on my list is one of the most important films to me as a filmmaker. This film blew my mind in 1994 when it was released, saw it in theater, and it just I mean, it just blew my mind open. And that is Quentin Tarantino's Pulp Fiction.
00:12:38:07 - 00:12:43:09
Cullen
That's funny. I also I remember seeing that as a very young, probably way too young to see this movie.
00:12:43:10 - 00:12:48:23
Clark
Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. You got you had to have been because dude, I was a so I saw this.
00:12:48:23 - 00:12:51:16
Cullen
I didn't see it in theaters, but I remember being shown it very, very young.
00:12:52:00 - 00:13:06:21
Clark
So I saw this this, this came out in May in 94. So I would have been just graduating high school when this film came out. So you had to have been like a toddler, dude?
00:13:06:21 - 00:13:09:00
Cullen
No, I was I wasn't even alive in 94.
00:13:09:00 - 00:13:29:22
Clark
I was going to say, yeah, it's like you're you're you weren't even alive. But this film, I mean, look, I don't I don't need to go into explaining this film because you and everybody else on the planet have already seen this film. So just from a personal perspective, I mean, I this film just blew me away on so many levels and like it did many people when it was released.
00:13:30:18 - 00:14:01:12
Clark
You know, I had seen Reservoir Dogs before. That was that was, you know, I was definitely into cinema. Reservoir Dogs had definitely kind of entered my world. I was familiar with that. But I felt like this film was such an elevation was on such another level. I was just completely captivated by everything about this film. I even I mean, literally, I even I even took took two VCRs and re-edited this film on VCRs in chronological order.
00:14:01:12 - 00:14:03:09
Cullen
I remember how you could do that. Yeah. Yeah.
00:14:03:09 - 00:14:18:22
Clark
So that I could kind of in my own mind as a way to kind of analyze how that non chronicle chronological representation of the story impacted how you perceived it when you watched it. So I literally tried my best because this is in an era before Internet and before, you know.
00:14:18:22 - 00:14:20:06
Cullen
So in pressing play and pause.
00:14:20:09 - 00:14:43:20
Clark
And so I'm getting ready and I just I duped the. Exactly. I duped the tape. And I and so but this film, it was just the writing blew me away. I thought the dialog with some of the best and just I mean, it was just the I guess the best way for me to describe it was that it felt like pure cinema energy, just like shooting off the screen and just piercing my heart and mind and soul.
00:14:43:20 - 00:15:14:13
Clark
It just everything about this film to me screamed, The person who made this loves cinema as much as you and and and it just it's almost like, you know how you walk into a room and you meet somebody and somehow there's like, just this, like, electric connection of like your brains seem to be on the same wavelength and, you know, it's just like, wow, you know, it's like you're, you're the conversation elevates like 15 levels because you're both just on fire.
00:15:14:13 - 00:15:15:10
Cullen
And you're finishing each other.
00:15:15:11 - 00:15:26:08
Clark
Sandwich off. Yeah, there you go. And that's what it felt like when I sat in the audience, when I watched Pulp Fiction, and I just felt like, Holy crap, this.
00:15:26:08 - 00:15:36:13
Cullen
Yeah. I mean, I remember I was probably six or seven when I saw it for the first time, and it was at a friend's house who had an older brother who always showed us.
00:15:36:18 - 00:15:36:21
Clark
That.
00:15:36:23 - 00:15:52:03
Cullen
Older, very violent. Yeah, that older brother where we would watch South Park or we play Gears of War on Xbox along with that. And this was probably the first time I'd seen a movie. I mean, I'd seen a lot of not kids movies. Again, I grew up watching Hitchcock with my dad.
00:15:52:03 - 00:15:52:18
Clark
Yeah, me too.
00:15:52:18 - 00:16:13:21
Cullen
Probably the first time I'd seen that level of, like, visceral violence in a movie. And I remember it was like this. This my parents were never super stingy about what I watched as a kid. They weren't very effective in that way. But I remember like finishing the movie and feeling like I can't tell my parents that I watched this like it was like this.
00:16:14:02 - 00:16:23:00
Cullen
It felt like this, this Nazi like. Exactly. And I was like, it just felt so provocative. And but in a very good way. I mean, but it's so funny.
00:16:23:00 - 00:16:25:01
Clark
Is that how long has it been since you've seen it?
00:16:25:05 - 00:16:32:15
Cullen
Because I think the last time I watched it was when I was in university and first year. So it's been probably probably six or seven years for me.
00:16:32:15 - 00:16:40:02
Clark
I recommend that you watch it again because it's so funny the way you described it and this is the way that it was. It was kind of, you know.
00:16:40:18 - 00:16:42:00
Cullen
Or not marketed, but.
00:16:42:00 - 00:17:04:22
Clark
It was responded as like a very like, Oh my God, it's hyper violent. It's hyper violent. This film came out. It was released very closely with a film that Quentin had written but not directed, which was Natural Born Killers. And of course, Oliver Stone directed that film, and he radically changed the script, such to the point where Quentin Tarantino basically disowns natural born killers.
00:17:04:22 - 00:17:16:21
Clark
But both of those films kind of came out at the same time. And and it was just this like big media kind of, you know, coverage of this hyper violence in these films. But go back and go back and watch Pulp Fiction. It's yeah.
00:17:16:21 - 00:17:17:10
Cullen
I do.
00:17:17:11 - 00:17:17:21
Clark
Actually.
00:17:18:00 - 00:17:18:23
Cullen
Actually violent.
00:17:19:17 - 00:17:28:12
Clark
It's actually and especially when you look at it in the kind of, you know, put it in the context of today's films, it is like surprisingly benign.
00:17:28:16 - 00:17:35:00
Cullen
Yeah, totally anti especially because TV sort of went yeah, Oh yeah. Game of Thrones and all those.
00:17:35:03 - 00:17:35:11
Clark
Breaking.
00:17:35:11 - 00:17:40:03
Cullen
Bad. Like everything, every single episode was trying to provoke you into throwing up or something.
00:17:40:04 - 00:17:42:02
Clark
I know. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. For sure.
00:17:42:02 - 00:17:43:19
Cullen
For sure. But no, I could pick.
00:17:43:19 - 00:18:04:22
Clark
Yeah, yeah. So that it's so it's super obvious but it just, and it's a film that to this, to this day I can, I can plop it into the Blu ray player and I, I mean I'll sit down and I'll watch the whole film. I just absolutely love it. I think there's a tremendous amount of heart in that film that it feels like a very personal film to me.
00:18:05:07 - 00:18:15:09
Clark
It is a you know, for someone who loves cinema, it feels like such a beautiful love letter to cinema. So yeah, there's my pick number one Pulp Fiction.
00:18:15:20 - 00:18:38:04
Cullen
And I will say as a quick aside, that even though some of my movies are foreign films and you know, they're not super obvious picks, they are all, at least in my top ten movies, I would say like they're all movies that have influenced me greatly. So definitely when I was choosing these was not just again, trying to I Oh, I regular.
00:18:38:05 - 00:18:39:07
Clark
Yeah, I know. These are all.
00:18:39:07 - 00:18:41:11
Cullen
Movies that were very that are still very.
00:18:41:13 - 00:18:46:20
Clark
Influential, just trying to look cool. I know I look I've known you long enough. I just get in. I'm just and.
00:18:46:20 - 00:19:15:16
Cullen
I say that I say that as my next pick. I think I mean, there's a better chance that you've seen this one. But also, I wouldn't be shocked if you hadn't. But this is a much better known foreign film called Caché by Michael Hanukkah and and it is Caché is the French word for hidden. And it is this really, really interestingly done another one that's not necessarily my pick, but I've stolen so much from this movie in terms of like things that I've done in the way I shoot.
00:19:15:16 - 00:19:41:08
Cullen
But it's essentially about this guy who receives a VHS tape at his at his front door one day, and it's just a like three hour recording of the front of his house and the whole movie is shot. The opening shot of the movie is, is that tape okay. So you get the opening credits over the tape and then you and then you cut out to them watching it and you realize, oh, that opening shot was actually the tape that they're that they received.
00:19:42:08 - 00:20:00:10
Cullen
And then the entire movie, though, is shot like like that. It's always the camera's always still very observational and just looking at a scene and you never know if what you're watching is a tape or if you're watching an actual scene. And so it builds paranoia. So I really.
00:20:00:23 - 00:20:16:07
Clark
Have heard of it. I've heard of this film, but I have not seen it. I have definitely heard of it. And you mentioned it. Now I'm like, Ooh, I'm making a note. I really do want to watch this film. And I have wanted to watch it in the past. And you have now like reminded me, I really need to see this.
00:20:16:07 - 00:20:16:23
Clark
But yeah.
00:20:17:07 - 00:20:38:07
Cullen
And again, it's one of those movies that so it's stylized, but not in a, in a, in a way that, that shows off. It's stylized in a way that serves the purpose of the movie so incredibly well. I again, I've stolen so much from from this movie in the way that I've shot scenes and it I think it features to me the most shocking scene.
00:20:38:07 - 00:20:39:06
Clark
I don't say a word.
00:20:39:16 - 00:20:41:03
Cullen
I won't say what it is, but please.
00:20:41:03 - 00:20:41:19
Clark
Don't ruin that.
00:20:42:01 - 00:21:04:14
Cullen
I won't, I won't. I won't talk about what? What happens where. Yeah, but I will say that that like if you if you want to talk about effectively shocking effectively Yeah. Putting provocative imagery on on screen that this this movie I mean you'll know it when you see it. Yeah this movie does it impeccably well and you know like Monica a lot I think that he's a great director otherwise.
00:21:04:22 - 00:21:21:07
Cullen
Yeah but I do think that this is is his best and also unarguably the one that has influenced me the most in terms of like the way just just the way that he sets up some of these scenes is so remarkable. And I won't say much more than that because it's really a great thriller that I would recommend.
00:21:21:07 - 00:21:26:00
Cullen
You know, everyone check out, even if you're not super into like foreign films, it's it's really, really remarkable.
00:21:26:04 - 00:21:36:05
Clark
Well, I appreciate you reminding me that I want to check this out. But, you know, so, you know, I am curious, though. I mean, tell me a little bit more about, you know, how did you meet this film?
00:21:36:05 - 00:21:54:07
Cullen
Like what it was actually was it was similarly it was in when I was in first year at U of T, I took a third year cinema studies course because the first year one I talked to my professor in the first year one and I was like, I need to, I need to skip this class essentially because I like all the movies.
00:21:54:07 - 00:22:08:08
Cullen
I'd seen everything. I still took the class and I did the exam and all that, but I was like, Is there any way that you can just kind of write a letter to get me into the upper your courses? Because normally you have to take courses beforehand and get into them that way? Yeah. And he was like, Yeah, yeah, I'll see what I can do.
00:22:08:08 - 00:22:27:16
Cullen
And so I wound up getting into like a second and third year course. So thank God for that. I did my only film education that year wasn't just, you know, going through the top ten IMDB movies. Yeah. And so this was either I can remember was in the second year or third year course, but it was such an interest.
00:22:27:16 - 00:22:44:16
Cullen
Like, I just remember from the moment that started playing, we luckily my school had this really big theater like movie theater, and so I was able to see a lot of movies theatrically, technically, theatrically. And I remember just like from the second it started, I thought it was so captivating in how.
00:22:45:03 - 00:22:47:11
Clark
It almost you are captivating.
00:22:47:23 - 00:23:09:14
Cullen
Making subjects, making emotional, but just again, the way that you never know. Like I think a really good thriller makes the audience as paranoid and and scared as the characters are. And this truly does that because you never know again, if you're watching a scene from the movie or a tape that is voyeur that's being that is being filmed.
00:23:09:14 - 00:23:15:12
Cullen
So it's just it's, it's that that's really all that I can say about it without getting it. Yeah.
00:23:15:12 - 00:23:15:19
Clark
Yeah.
00:23:15:20 - 00:23:20:10
Cullen
Spoilers and don't want to spoil it for anybody but I would 100% recommend watching it. It's not.
00:23:20:19 - 00:23:21:04
Clark
Super.
00:23:21:04 - 00:23:25:04
Cullen
Long. It's only it's only it's under 2 hours by 2 minutes. So um.
00:23:25:06 - 00:23:43:17
Clark
Yeah I, well, I thank you for recommending that because I'm always looking for, you know, this is almost like I feel like I'm getting some good recommendations from you. So, yeah, this has been on my list. I have forgotten about it. And because I'm always, like, adding movies to my list, but then, like, things kind of fall off, you know, again, there's just like, only so much time, you know?
00:23:44:01 - 00:23:56:02
Clark
And I have this weird thing where I love rewatching films. So sadly, it's like, not only is there not enough time for me to watch every film that I want to watch, but then, like, for some reason I'm compelled to watch some films multiple times.
00:23:56:02 - 00:24:00:03
Cullen
Oh, don't worry. I like rewatching. I just rewatched the whole Ocean's trilogy. Yeah. Oh.
00:24:00:13 - 00:24:10:17
Clark
Nice. If you haven't already listened to Soderbergh's commentary track. Yes, the first one. Yeah. He's actually a very lucid and entertaining commentary giver.
00:24:11:20 - 00:24:12:18
Cullen
Yeah. Yeah, he's great.
00:24:12:18 - 00:24:41:12
Clark
Yeah. Yep. All right, so on to my number two. So again, this is so unbelievably commonplace. I feel like if this were a video game and your character had just opened like a, like a treasure chest thing or whatever, this would be like the common, you know, like rare. It's not legendary. It's not it's like super common is 1980 two's Ridley Scott's Blade Runner.
00:24:41:17 - 00:24:44:01
Cullen
Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah. We've talked about this before, too.
00:24:44:02 - 00:24:46:03
Clark
So, yeah, we haven't done an episode on it, so.
00:24:46:06 - 00:24:46:12
Cullen
Yeah.
00:24:46:17 - 00:25:06:04
Clark
So and again, it's like, look, I know that this is, you know, it's everybody in their brother knows about this film, has seen this film by now, especially by now. But, you know, when I saw this film, that wasn't really the case when I first saw this film, I saw this when I was probably like about a freshman or so in high school.
00:25:06:04 - 00:25:27:01
Clark
And I saw this film of the worst way that you could possibly see it. And I actually ended up really not connecting to this film. I ended up taking it a lot. So it was the theatrical cut. BE It was on VHS, see, it was on a like a 15 inch CRT screen. So obviously that's four by three.
00:25:27:01 - 00:25:27:19
Cullen
Your bubble screen.
00:25:27:19 - 00:25:50:21
Clark
So all of the things that make this film great, it's production design. It's cinematography was so stripped from the film when I saw it, because I saw it in such a horrible way. But even more than that, I was I felt like the film was tremendously cold. I felt like it was a it was not a an emotionally connecting story.
00:25:50:21 - 00:26:12:03
Clark
I didn't like on every level. I didn't like it. And I actually a good buddy of mine was like the film. And he we watched it at his place. He's like, Oh, you know, I got this huge check this out, and I really just didn't connect with it. Now fast forward four or five years later and I'm a freshman in college and it was one of our like first, you know, like film one or one whatever.
00:26:12:03 - 00:26:28:12
Clark
And so I got to see this film in a theater. Now, it was laserdisc, which is like that was the best thing that they had back when I was a little kid. So it's still like 40, but at least it's P and at least it's, you know, it's a lot better than VHS. And I saw it on a big screen and I was blown away.
00:26:28:12 - 00:26:54:00
Clark
I was and this was still the theatrical cut and I was freaking blown away. And then, of course, you know, now I've seen, you know, I've got the 4K final cut without the, you know, narration. And I mean, and it's just outstandingly beautiful. But this film is the film that really made me understand the importance of a few aspects of filmmaking.
00:26:54:05 - 00:27:20:01
Clark
Mm hmm. Production design. I really had never seriously considered the impact and the storytelling possibilities with production design before this film. I mean, I just and I still every time I watch a science fiction film, a frame every time I watch any film, frankly, I'm like hoping I'm praying that the production design is even half, even a quarter, even a 10th of the the quality of this film.
00:27:20:09 - 00:27:44:22
Clark
Mm hmm. And sadly, they very rarely are. But yeah, but I mean, it's just you can watch this film a hundred times and the amount of detail and storytelling that's in the production design of this film of every frame. I mean, it's just and then you combine that with the just masterful cinematography. I mean, it, you know. Jordan Cronin, Worst shot the film.
00:27:44:22 - 00:28:01:15
Clark
But of course, Ridley Scott is like right there, you know, working so closely. You know, I mean, Ridley, in his own way, is a really outstanding cinematographer. And I mean, I feel like he is basically a production designer, you know, almost as much or more as he is a director, frankly.
00:28:01:15 - 00:28:02:02
Cullen
Yeah, Yeah.
00:28:02:03 - 00:28:28:13
Clark
So you really get a sense of his fingerprints all over both aspects of this film. But just every Vangelis score. Oh, God, yeah. And it is my favorite score of any film all time ever. Full stop bar none, period. I have, like, every version of this score you could ever like, you know, all the bootleg cuts where it's like, you know, every single little piece of music that Vangelis ever did.
00:28:28:18 - 00:28:30:08
Clark
That's like, not in the original.
00:28:30:15 - 00:28:32:13
Cullen
Right? Yeah. The kind of complete recordings.
00:28:32:13 - 00:29:00:07
Clark
Yeah. Yep. I mean, you name it, dude, I've got it. I am just a combination of all these factors. And now I feel like with the narration removed, I feel like the story is also moving and well-told as well. And it's a very it's actually a very human and warm story. So things that I've missed, you know, and, and I did get to see it in Los Angeles on a big screen theatrical release film a couple of years ago.
00:29:00:07 - 00:29:02:07
Clark
And I was and I was just it was just.
00:29:02:07 - 00:29:08:01
Cullen
I've never gotten to see it on film, but I've seen it in theaters. I got to see it in a 4K rerelease.
00:29:08:06 - 00:29:08:13
Clark
Yeah.
00:29:08:16 - 00:29:09:17
Cullen
So cut. So.
00:29:09:23 - 00:29:25:06
Clark
So yeah. So that's it's it's just one of my all time favorite films. It's it's a film that I go back to, you know, if I ever get a one inspiration on production design or inspiration on cinematography, I go back to this film. I just I just absolutely adore this film.
00:29:25:17 - 00:29:36:18
Cullen
Yeah, it's great. And so my next one is better known. It's by a probably a a director you might have heard of one or two times. Spielberg Oh, wait, who's that?
00:29:36:18 - 00:29:37:02
Clark
What?
00:29:38:07 - 00:29:58:04
Cullen
But now I also wanted to choose four for Spielberg. This is a movie. This is one of my favorite Spielberg movies and definitely my favorite of his 1941 this century. 1941. Yeah, but I and I think it's so often overlooked when people discuss him. And I think that that it really is is one of his best ones.
00:29:58:14 - 00:30:00:06
Clark
Munich was.
00:30:00:09 - 00:30:00:20
Cullen
Alive.
00:30:00:21 - 00:30:02:21
Clark
I was not expecting that.
00:30:03:05 - 00:30:07:14
Cullen
Really? Yeah. I really love Munich. I think that it's. Oh, please.
00:30:07:14 - 00:30:07:19
Clark
Do.
00:30:07:19 - 00:30:32:15
Cullen
Tell. Not only is it to me a movie that really asks such an interesting question of like politics and inherited politics and why people believe the things that they do and like, but who's really benefiting from those beliefs and all that sort of thing? Yeah, but I think that it's also him like, like every single shot in this movie is, is just like Spielberg at his at his A-game on his part.
00:30:32:16 - 00:30:51:11
Cullen
Like you see some of these bits where it'll be a really slow zoom out from someone standing on a balcony into a car window that has a reflection of a character walking over to the car, who then gets into the car and then we go up and follow the car door open, which then leads us to a car driving by and we see the next character going into that car.
00:30:51:11 - 00:31:11:22
Cullen
And it's like every single shot is so insanely well composed. It's just like the why I think one of the best blocked movies in the world, John Williams, who does the score for it, does something that's really, really remarkable and interesting and not very. John Williams There's no like big brass or or anything like that. It's all very low key kind of music.
00:31:12:04 - 00:31:12:14
Clark
Yeah.
00:31:13:02 - 00:31:30:17
Cullen
The cast is fantastic. Eric Bana and Daniel Craig and Kieran Hynes among so many others that are that are really great. I think Johannes Kaminski does an incredibly wonderful job. It's it's his typical beach bleached bypass look that was really popular for him back in that almost.
00:31:30:17 - 00:31:31:02
Clark
Deliberate.
00:31:31:02 - 00:32:10:08
Cullen
Norton report and Saving Private Ryan and all that. Yeah but it also I think looks looks incredible. It captures like I think it is the best seventies paranoid like political thriller that is was made outside of the seventies. Wow it's it it combines all the things I love about the seventies paranoid you know political thriller like the conversation or All the President's Men and just kind of turns them up and amps them up and you know, so it's a it's a movie that not only is do I think that the that the the idea and the themes are really pertinent and you know all the more relevant today.
00:32:10:08 - 00:32:28:03
Cullen
But also it's a movie that I think is so stylish and really to me proves why Spielberg is is that the Echelon that he is in film history. And I always point to this movie whenever somebody says that he hasn't made a good movie since, like, you know, the nineties or whatever, I'm gonna go watch Munich, which I also disagree with.
00:32:28:03 - 00:32:34:16
Cullen
I think that I think it bar a few I think most of Spielberg's are at least good Yeah.
00:32:35:13 - 00:32:38:08
Clark
Well he's the victim of his own success Yeah right Yeah it's.
00:32:38:08 - 00:32:39:00
Cullen
Very much yeah.
00:32:39:00 - 00:32:48:02
Clark
It's kind of like the Rolling Stones. It's like after a while, you're so good for so long that people take you for granted. And. And it's like you know. Yeah.
00:32:48:02 - 00:32:53:21
Cullen
Whereas if somebody else directed one of the movies that he's made in the past 20 years, they would be like, Oh, who is this new guy?
00:32:53:21 - 00:33:12:03
Clark
Yeah, exactly. Sometimes you can just be the victim of your own success. Well, that's interesting. So you've totally caught me off guard. So I definitely have seen this film. I watched this film when it was released. I'm also, you know, a fan of Spielberg. I mean, especially having grown up when he was really in his heyday. You know, he made some of my favorite movies as a child.
00:33:13:05 - 00:33:38:19
Clark
So I But I'm surprised. Yeah, I'm surprised at this choice. I have to I do have to admit that I don't remember much about the film. You've inspired me to to watch it again, to rewatch it, but I do not remember being particularly, you know, moved or impressed. But, you know, a lot of times I, I, my, my like set and setting is so vital for my enjoyment of a film.
00:33:39:04 - 00:34:00:00
Clark
And I do remember I do remember watching the film, though. I remember watching this film, like with a couple roommates, like my roommate had rented it on DVD and we were like hanging out watching it. And I think it was like I was distracted and, you know, people were talking a little bit, you know, So it was like not an ideal viewing situation for me.
00:34:00:06 - 00:34:02:18
Clark
And I think my head was only kind of half way in it.
00:34:03:02 - 00:34:04:12
Cullen
Yes. Yeah, that makes sense.
00:34:04:14 - 00:34:13:12
Clark
And and so I definitely, you know, your praises, you know, hearing your praises of this film now makes me want to go rewatch this film.
00:34:13:12 - 00:34:24:19
Cullen
And it wasn't the it wasn't the first time that I'd seen it, but I did actually get a chance to see this in 35 millimeter as well. Yeah. Which I again, I think it's so funny that 12 years ago that wouldn't have been special because everything was.
00:34:24:19 - 00:34:26:04
Clark
I know. Yeah, Yeah, exactly.
00:34:26:04 - 00:34:33:10
Cullen
But being able to see it these days. Yeah, it makes me miss it that much more when you could just go to a movie theater and it was, it was projected on film, but it's.
00:34:33:10 - 00:34:36:20
Clark
Like, it's like, Do you want to know a secret? Every movie I ever saw at a.
00:34:36:20 - 00:34:54:10
Cullen
Theater, I mean, even even as a kid, until I was until I was 12 years old, every single thing I saw was was was projected on film. But but now I would definitely, you know, if you if if you haven't seen this movie because it's not I wouldn't say it's like any of Spielberg's movies are necessarily lesser known.
00:34:54:15 - 00:34:58:21
Cullen
Yeah yeah I would say in his filmography, this one is definitely one that's talked about less.
00:34:59:01 - 00:34:59:08
Clark
Yeah.
00:34:59:18 - 00:35:13:14
Cullen
If you haven't seen it, I would recommend seeing it. If you haven't watched it for a while and you remember, I also agreed that when I the first time I ever saw this movie, I wasn't thrilled with it. And but upon I've seen it probably, you know, five or six times at this point.
00:35:14:18 - 00:35:16:05
Clark
It's grown on you every time.
00:35:16:05 - 00:35:42:15
Cullen
Every time I've watched it again and again, I've liked it more and more. And especially like even if you don't, you're not interested in the like, the politics of it or anything like that, which was were controversial at the time as well. Um, that just the craftsmanship behind this movie is, is like, you know, incredible, you know, just pay attention to the way they craft each scene that he blocks, each scene the way that you know it's it really again, proves why he's just such a filmmaker.
00:35:42:15 - 00:35:46:22
Cullen
On another level. And yeah that was that's why it was my my third pick.
00:35:47:06 - 00:36:10:10
Clark
Okay, fantastic. I had a hunch there was going to be a Spielberg flick in here. I actually I thought maybe there would be, like, you know, three quarters of this was going to be Spielberg from you. But no. Well, I again, I'm excited to go back and take a look at that. All right. So my number three, still not an obscure film, but I would say probably less seen than my previous picks thus far.
00:36:10:17 - 00:36:15:14
Clark
And that is Bob Fosse's 79. All that jazz.
00:36:15:23 - 00:36:18:03
Cullen
Oh, yes. Yeah, yeah, yeah. I love that one.
00:36:18:03 - 00:36:35:14
Clark
So I think we've talked about this one before. We've not done an episode on it, but know this one I did not see. I was three years old when it was theatrically, theatrically released, so I did not see this in the theater. As a matter of fact, I didn't even this of my own accord the first time I watched it.
00:36:35:14 - 00:36:55:08
Clark
I am not a fan of musicals. I never have been. And I look, I just you know, some people love musicals. Some people don't take musicals. I just have never really connected much to musicals. And yes, I have seen, you know, I've kind of been forced to sit through a handful of musicals. So it's not that I haven't seen any.
00:36:56:04 - 00:37:08:16
Clark
I just really generally it's a it's a genre of film that I just don't usually gravitate towards. It just doesn't usually connect me. It's not I love music, I love film. You think maybe I might like that too? I generally just don't.
00:37:09:03 - 00:37:11:03
Cullen
There are a lot of bad musicals too.
00:37:11:03 - 00:37:13:22
Clark
Yeah, well, there are a lot of bad films, pure.
00:37:13:22 - 00:37:14:16
Cullen
General, but.
00:37:14:16 - 00:37:24:23
Clark
Yes, then there are a lot of bad musicals. But even musicals that people claim to, you know, say they're wonderful. And yeah, but I am going to give Spielberg's West Side Story a stab, though. I'm going to check it out.
00:37:24:23 - 00:37:26:00
Cullen
I haven't. I haven't seen it.
00:37:26:00 - 00:37:37:03
Clark
Yeah, I've got a screener. I've got a screener for SAG-AFTRA Awards. So finally they started doing those more online so I can actually watch it in HD as opposed to they send out like.
00:37:37:07 - 00:37:38:04
Cullen
A DVD right now.
00:37:38:04 - 00:37:57:01
Clark
Still, they still send out DVDs. And like people haven't watched four AP DVDs in like 15 years. Guys, what in the world are you doing? Hey, if anybody out there is listening from SAG-AFTRA, will you please, like, get with 20, 21 or two or whatever year it is this year? I mean, who in the hell watches DVDs send out Blu rays people?
00:37:57:01 - 00:38:24:14
Clark
Okay, but back to this. So? So I'm not a fan of musicals, but this movie totally blew my socks off, man. I first time I saw this film was in college in a film class. And I remember going into it being like, Oh God, we got to watch it. I have to watch a musical. God sucks. And dude, it was just from the beginning because I was like, I was like, Wait, Roy Schneider, Wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait.
00:38:24:17 - 00:38:39:18
Clark
Roy Scheider from Jaws. Like, what in the hell is he doing in a in a musical? The dude can't dance. He can't sing. What is going on here? And I just was like, and then from that point on, I don't know what it is, but it felt like it was almost like the anti musical.
00:38:39:18 - 00:38:42:08
Cullen
Yeah, it's and it's so stylish and kinetic.
00:38:42:08 - 00:39:01:01
Clark
And and and it was just and then it was like I actually like the songs I actually like the music. I thought the characters were compelling that got me interested in Fozzie. I didn't even know anything about Bob Fosse before that and the impact that he had on dance and choreography and that this was like autobiographical and the whole act where he's like dying.
00:39:01:09 - 00:39:24:23
Clark
I mean, I like, I was just like, I just absolutely loved this film. I just feel like it's it's a beautiful film, I think. And now having kind of gone through, you know, life, a little bit of a life of performance myself, I've never done musical theater, but I have definitely done a decent amount of theater. I've been on stages in front of audiences.
00:39:24:23 - 00:40:03:10
Clark
I've auditioned before. I, you know, I know what rehearsal is like. I know what being a performer is like a bit. And that life. It's just interesting to see somebody take on that kind of lifestyle. But just everything about this film, I absolutely love this meditation on death and this whole third act to me is just like so extraordinary, the different numbers as he's going through these stages of denial and then acceptance of his own mortality, he just speaks to something that I'm personally like kind of obsessed with a little bit, maybe too much.
00:40:03:20 - 00:40:24:22
Clark
But but yeah, it's just it's a film that I go back to every every couple of years. I'll watch it. There's a great addition out on Criterion Collection, and I'm just it's just a really moving film to me. It has like stuck in my head ever since the first time I saw it in college. I think. I think Roy Scheider is fantastic.
00:40:25:17 - 00:40:48:18
Clark
Jessica Lange is just angelic and Reinking, who of course was like a protege of Fosse's, and I think they had a relationship too. Like she's just fantastic in this film. Her dad. I mean, I'm not even like really big into kind of like dance or anything, but I'm just like, mesmerized by Fosse's style of choreography. And this film, the Dance is just exquisite.
00:40:49:02 - 00:40:49:19
Clark
There you go.
00:40:50:16 - 00:40:56:13
Cullen
It's funny because my next pick, it's not a musical, but it's also a dance movie.
00:40:56:13 - 00:40:57:06
Clark
Oh, okay.
00:40:57:17 - 00:41:06:10
Cullen
So this one is a movie that I think is is both the best dance movie of all time. One of the best documentaries of all time.
00:41:06:10 - 00:41:08:01
Clark
Break into Electric Boogaloo.
00:41:08:01 - 00:41:22:09
Cullen
Exactly. Break. Yeah. That hospital scene looks like lady just dancing. Oh, and I think it is the best 3D movie of all time. Oh, whoa! Says Vendors 2011 documentary Pina.
00:41:22:18 - 00:41:24:11
Clark
Okay, this is. I haven't seen.
00:41:24:11 - 00:41:50:09
Cullen
It. It's all about the the contemporary dance choreography. Pina Bausch, who was a dance choreographer, really famous one who is I actually don't a ton about her, funnily enough, because this movie is not just a documentary about her. It's not it hardly goes into Talking heads or anything like that. It's not that at all. It's literally just her dances and these these incredible productions of her dances.
00:41:50:09 - 00:41:50:16
Cullen
All.
00:41:50:19 - 00:41:52:01
Clark
What was the name of the film again?
00:41:52:07 - 00:42:16:09
Cullen
Pina Pie and a Okay. From 2011 and it's shot in 3D. You can get obviously two D versions, but I would 100% if you ever have the chance to watch this movie in 3D, then go for it, because it is it is the first time. I'm not big on 3D. There are very few movies that I think are are interesting in 3D, and one of them is, is Dial M for Murder, which is actually shot in 3D.
00:42:16:11 - 00:42:20:17
Clark
Another one is surprisingly Verner Herzog's cave of the have gotten.
00:42:20:17 - 00:42:42:20
Cullen
Exactly. And inventors and Herzog are both contemporaries there they they both were part of the German kind of new wave. Yes but it is the the way that this movie is blocked like it's blocked like it is this incredible, you know, almost like a Bergman film where there's these incredible senses, like this incredible sense of depth that's used with the 3D.
00:42:42:20 - 00:42:58:19
Cullen
And even if you don't get to see it in 3D, I would really recommend watching it either way. Yeah, because the camerawork is is remarkable. I'm not a dance person at all. I can't dance, nor do I. You know, I've seen Swan Lake and stuff and. Yeah, but I've never really been like I'm not like a guy that's super into dance.
00:42:58:19 - 00:42:59:09
Clark
Right, Right.
00:42:59:21 - 00:43:02:08
Cullen
But this will really make you, you know.
00:43:03:09 - 00:43:04:09
Clark
Appreciate it.
00:43:04:14 - 00:43:07:05
Cullen
It'll make you a dance person for. For an hour and a half.
00:43:07:15 - 00:43:08:08
Clark
Yeah. Wow.
00:43:08:08 - 00:43:32:06
Cullen
And it's, it's. I just like, again, it's so hard to describe because there's no plot to it. It's just it's just I think it's three or four of her most famous pieces. Okay. But it's not her. Like, it's not just recordings of the the performances. It's like they're out in, like parks going through trees. One of them is like on a beach, one of them is on a stage, but the stage is covered in sand and the lighting is remarkable.
00:43:32:06 - 00:43:57:23
Cullen
The cinematography is remarkable. Van Benders direction is remarkable. Like, it's like if I actually have a job. I was supposed to do the job last year, Riko would cancel it. Where I'm basically doing a virtual dance recital with this dance school near me. And I showed them this and I was like, This is if you want to do something that's remarkable and that is made for film, like dance made for film, as opposed to just filming a stage while they dance around on it.
00:43:57:23 - 00:44:14:19
Cullen
I was like, Watch this and choreograph like this and use the camera. The way that this movie uses the camera, where the camera is part of the dancing, where it's it's like part of and that's one of the things that makes the 3D so remarkable, too. But yeah, I would I just you know, this one will be a little bit of a shorter one just because there's not a lot of plot to go on.
00:44:14:19 - 00:44:15:02
Clark
Yeah.
00:44:15:20 - 00:44:34:16
Cullen
But I would 100% recommend if you have the chance to watch this movie. It's not available in too many places, but if you if you find it, watch it, spend an evening watching it, and if by nothing else, you'll be blown away by the direction and the cinematography in it. And again, the 3D is incredible, but I know that that's a little bit harder to find.
00:44:34:19 - 00:44:55:06
Clark
Yeah, Yeah, that's a little hard to replicate. Well, mean, it sounds intriguing and I'll, I'll put that to my list too. And this is a film that again I haven't seen, I am familiar with. I feel like I have the, the kind of the poster is iconic and I feel like I've I have seen that somewhere and I feel like I have heard of that at some point, but I have not watched it.
00:44:55:22 - 00:45:04:06
Clark
But it sounds intriguing. I hope I'll add that to the list then. So wow, I'm only one out of four so far. 25.
00:45:04:11 - 00:45:07:10
Cullen
You will see my next one. You have a chance. I think you might have seen my next one.
00:45:07:12 - 00:45:11:14
Clark
I, I think there's a there's a possibility that you've seen my next one.
00:45:12:06 - 00:45:12:15
Cullen
We shall.
00:45:12:15 - 00:45:33:22
Clark
See. It's. Yeah, you know, I know you watch a lot of films, so unlike many people, you have maybe a better chance. Not many people saw this film. It didn't do very well at the box office. It's pretty much, you know, and it's really hard to find today. Now, strangely, they did make a couple of sequels.
00:45:34:06 - 00:45:35:08
Cullen
So it's just.
00:45:35:08 - 00:45:49:13
Clark
Weird because they don't usually make sequels for films that are so obscure. But what are you going to do? So my next film, and I think this is my fourth film is 1980 Fives, Bob's and Maggie's Back to the Future.
00:45:49:14 - 00:45:54:21
Cullen
Oh, was the indie film right? Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.
00:45:54:21 - 00:46:20:13
Clark
So, I mean, it couldn't be more different than, you know, your last film I be talk about like going from one end of the spectrum to the other. But look, I get it. This is, this is as Hollywood studio mainstream, a movie as you can possibly pick. I get it. I know, I know, but talk to the 19 year old Clark and see if he gives a damn about any of that.
00:46:20:21 - 00:46:27:05
Clark
Because when I was in the theater and I saw this film, it filled my heart with or.
00:46:27:12 - 00:46:29:02
Cullen
Mm. And Oh yeah.
00:46:29:06 - 00:46:47:10
Clark
And that is, that's, I mean I've, well I don't know what else you can say. I was so captivated like so many other kids in that era and like so many people who've seen the film since, I was just absolutely mesmerized, captivated from every.
00:46:47:10 - 00:46:48:16
Cullen
Kid wants to be Marty McFly.
00:46:48:21 - 00:47:22:03
Clark
That this the script is is tight there is if you want a study set ups and payoffs and story then you you can't do better than this script. It is just an extremely efficient, well-told story. It is. So it is just shot with absolute technical excellence. And, you know, so much of the technical side of filmmaking special effects were pioneered with this film and with its sequel, especially Back to the Future, to pioneered some extraordinary special effects.
00:47:22:03 - 00:47:26:00
Clark
And so that part of me is, is super interested in these films.
00:47:26:08 - 00:47:29:08
Cullen
And it's really funny. ZEMECKIS It's a really yeah.
00:47:29:18 - 00:47:43:22
Clark
It's really a funny movie. It's the pacing is perfect. It's I mean, I could go on and on and on, but, I mean, my my alarm tone on my phone is that the title sequence, the opening, you know.
00:47:44:06 - 00:47:44:22
Cullen
Literally.
00:47:45:19 - 00:47:53:04
Clark
No, no, the oh, gosh, it's the it's the it's the God. It's like the big sweeping.
00:47:53:04 - 00:47:54:11
Cullen
Oh, the brass up, you know.
00:47:54:13 - 00:47:55:02
Clark
Yeah.
00:47:55:13 - 00:47:56:10
Cullen
Yeah, yeah.
00:47:56:11 - 00:47:57:00
Clark
Yeah, yeah.
00:47:57:00 - 00:48:02:11
Cullen
That and it was, it was my go to Halloween costume for like three years straight.
00:48:03:01 - 00:48:07:09
Clark
I love it. I could totally see that the mustache does. It doesn't work now. You'd have to.
00:48:07:10 - 00:48:09:02
Cullen
This was back in high school but Yeah.
00:48:09:02 - 00:48:11:09
Clark
Get you get you like a big puffy vest. You know.
00:48:11:09 - 00:48:13:22
Cullen
I've got I mean, it's over in my closet right now, so.
00:48:14:04 - 00:48:41:22
Clark
It was awesome. So I, you know, so. So yeah, I mean, look, everybody's seen the film. I don't need to go into it, but, you know, I think Zemeckis as a director is often overlooked when cinephiles kind of talk about directors because, you know, he definitely makes mainstream films. A lot of people will laugh and joke about films like Forrest Gump, But, you know, he is he has really pushed the technical boundary of filmmaking.
00:48:42:18 - 00:49:07:01
Clark
He's he's a pioneer. And I think that's really that's worth looking at. And he's made some really, I think, extraordinary films, some really interesting films. This, I think, stands at the very zenith of his his achievement. But Back to the Future is just one of those films where as a kid, I'm just sitting in the seat and I mean and I'm just like, just completely experiencing, ah, yeah, an hour and a half.
00:49:07:01 - 00:49:24:02
Cullen
I was, was one of my favorites as a kid, too. I'm still is. Yeah. I mean, I think the thing is too, that there's so many people who are kind of naysayers about popular cinema because it's like they feel like if they enjoy something that the bulk of people also enjoy it, that there's, there's, there's somehow less exclusive.
00:49:24:03 - 00:49:24:16
Clark
Yep. Yeah.
00:49:25:00 - 00:49:41:21
Cullen
But there is a very there's a big reason why these movies are famous and popular and it's not because they're bad. Yep it's it's, it's a masterclass in that era of, of like that. I call it kind of the Amblin era. Even though Amblin wasn't involved in all of these movies. But. Well, of.
00:49:41:21 - 00:49:43:20
Clark
Course. But Amblin did produce this, though.
00:49:43:20 - 00:50:07:17
Cullen
Yes. Yes. Producing it was. Yeah. Yeah. But it's one of those things that it's it's like it's just a masterclass in really accessible cinema, but at the same time, really, really high quality, you know, it's almost and I think the value there is that it almost introduces people who otherwise wouldn't see such like high quality cinema to what that can be like.
00:50:07:22 - 00:50:11:16
Cullen
Yeah, it's almost like a bridge into perhaps a more obscure.
00:50:12:00 - 00:50:12:17
Clark
That's me.
00:50:12:22 - 00:50:14:09
Cullen
You know, making. Yeah, that's exactly.
00:50:14:09 - 00:50:34:10
Clark
I mean, I grew up on Star Wars, Raiders of the Lost Ark, Back to the Future. I'm E.T. I grew up on these films, but. But that that planted the seed that filled my heart with love of cinema. And it planted the seeds for me as I grew up to. To really want to delve into cinema, you know, well beyond those kinds of films.
00:50:34:13 - 00:50:35:23
Clark
Yeah. So it worked at ABC.
00:50:35:23 - 00:50:36:10
Cullen
Exactly.
00:50:36:10 - 00:50:37:18
Clark
That's what it did for me. Yeah?
00:50:37:19 - 00:50:58:01
Cullen
Mm hmm. Yeah. So my fifth and final, uh, movie is. Is I think it's my, I, you know, my second English language one. Um, but it is, it is considered one of the greatest movies of all time. Oh, it is an older movie, though. So. So a lot of people may have missed it just because it is from 1941.
00:50:58:01 - 00:51:17:19
Cullen
But it's Sullivan's Travels, which is directed by Preston Sturges. It starred Joel McCrea and Veronica Lake, and it is a movie that I remember. I was giving it in like grade ten at a birthday party. Wow. One of my friends just, like, gave me the criterion for it.
00:51:18:17 - 00:51:20:00
Clark
That's such a random gift.
00:51:20:00 - 00:51:25:10
Cullen
For like, yeah, for. I mean, this friend always gives me gives me straight. No, no, I was, I was in grade ten. I wasn't.
00:51:25:11 - 00:51:28:12
Clark
Oh, great. Yeah. Okay. Okay. First so I heard.
00:51:28:12 - 00:51:29:15
Cullen
You 15, 16.
00:51:29:15 - 00:51:33:20
Clark
And I was like, I was like, wait a minute. So you're telling me at ten years old, somebody gave you.
00:51:34:05 - 00:51:35:17
Cullen
Sullivan's travels from 19.
00:51:36:02 - 00:51:39:06
Clark
41? Okay, sure. Box I is.
00:51:39:16 - 00:52:04:04
Cullen
Is it's a comedy. I mean, it's about this guy who he's like this Hollywood director who wants to make a movie about, you know, like homeless people and stuff like that. And he decides to basically go on this trek across America to experience the homeless world and like to be, you know, train hopping and have a little pack on your back and stuff like that.
00:52:04:04 - 00:52:16:23
Cullen
And and so it begins as this A if you haven't watched comedies from this era, watch comedies in this area because they are all hilarious like they are, you might think that they are dated, but they.
00:52:16:23 - 00:52:17:20
Clark
Are such time.
00:52:17:20 - 00:52:36:22
Cullen
They make me laugh harder than most comedies that come out today. And that's not just me saying like, Oh, I've got such a distinct taste. They are legitimately I can watch this with friends and they will all be like, you know, falling over backwards, laughing as they are such. They take so much from vaudeville. Yes. And it really it's like timeless, timeless humor.
00:52:37:00 - 00:52:53:21
Cullen
Yeah. So firstly, the opening scene, this movie is one of the funniest scenes in any movie. Yeah, but then it just turns into this movie that becomes so incredibly heartfelt. And it's really been an inspiration for me in terms of blending, blending style and tone.
00:52:54:03 - 00:52:55:16
Clark
Okay.
00:52:55:16 - 00:53:02:02
Cullen
Because it has the famous scene where they go to they're in the South and they're in a black church.
00:53:02:07 - 00:53:02:18
Clark
Don't give too.
00:53:02:18 - 00:53:28:14
Cullen
Much away there. I won't give too much away. But there's this moment where it's a very famous scene and then these prisoners are marched in and they're singing Let My People Go, the biblical song. And it's like this insanely emotional, like heart wrenching scene in this this, you know, 1940s comedy. That's that's like this is almost like a screwball comedy about this director who's just like, getting into antics and, you know, Three Stooges style kind of thing.
00:53:29:15 - 00:53:54:18
Cullen
And but it becomes really heartfelt. It's got a really incredible, you know, message, for lack of a better term. It's just it's in the performances are great. Um, it's not hard to get through by any means. It's not like it doesn't feel dated at all. The cinematography is greats, black and white, of course, but it's that beautiful, rich God I love, like most Moorish black and white.
00:53:55:16 - 00:54:13:16
Cullen
And it's one of those it comes from that era where every single person on set because there was no digital to depend on. There was no you couldn't check the dailies immediately. You couldn't write, you know, you didn't have a focus puller looking at a monitor. Now every single person on set was at the it was the most skilled practitioner of what they did.
00:54:13:19 - 00:54:15:03
Cullen
Yeah. And every shot.
00:54:15:03 - 00:54:16:01
Clark
Is real craft.
00:54:16:01 - 00:54:34:19
Cullen
With, with, with, you know, incredible accuracy in terms of lining up that focus and pushing that camera forward. If you're if you're dallying, then you are dallying. And it's like they everyone is on their A-game. And yet there's just there's, you know, too much to say about this movie. I could spend an hour talking about this movie, but.
00:54:34:19 - 00:54:36:17
Clark
Yeah, well, maybe we can pick it up.
00:54:36:17 - 00:54:45:05
Cullen
Time. Yeah, perhaps so. But it's it definitely deserves, you know, it's again, it's it's it's regarded as one of the best movies made. It's it's regarded as a masterpiece.
00:54:45:10 - 00:54:48:00
Clark
I feel so shameful that I haven't seen it.
00:54:48:10 - 00:54:52:04
Cullen
It's fantastic, though. It's on Criterion. I'm not sure if it's on the Criterion Channel.
00:54:52:05 - 00:54:53:11
Clark
I'll I'm going to go check it.
00:54:53:11 - 00:54:58:04
Cullen
Action definitely has a yeah, because I own it somewhere. It's it's one of my favorites.
00:54:58:04 - 00:55:04:19
Clark
I'm hopeful that it's on the I'm hopeful that it's on the channel. Yeah. And which I love just Yeah and and.
00:55:05:10 - 00:55:16:20
Cullen
The the cinematographer, if I'm not mistaken, was the same cinematographer who did What is it? It's. It's John. John F Seitz.
00:55:16:20 - 00:55:17:03
Clark
Yep.
00:55:18:02 - 00:55:22:19
Cullen
And what was he did Sunset Boulevard. He did Double Indemnity. So a lot of those noir movies.
00:55:23:08 - 00:55:25:10
Clark
Oh, my God, he. He shot a million films.
00:55:25:11 - 00:55:27:00
Cullen
You look at. I mean, everyone, this.
00:55:27:00 - 00:55:27:07
Clark
Guy had.
00:55:27:07 - 00:55:45:06
Cullen
Filmography of like anyone back in the day that was like even directors. It was they all are like hundreds of movies or anything because they were turning them out, you know? KRAKER Yeah, Yeah. So, so I would definitely again, 100% recommend this movie. I mean, no surprise. These are the five movies we chose. But but but that's my final one.
00:55:45:06 - 00:55:46:18
Cullen
And now right to your final one.
00:55:46:21 - 00:56:17:16
Clark
All right. So again, it's a film that, you know, nowadays and especially with, you know, people like Quentin Tarantino heaping so much praise on this film and mentioning it as a significant inspiration for him. I think that, you know, now everybody this film as a as a an important classic and a milestone in cinema. But back when I was a little kid and I was watching TV like the Sunday afternoon movie with my father, that none of that really existed.
00:56:17:18 - 00:56:42:07
Clark
It was just a, you know, a kind of like a spaghetti western that happened to be pretty good. And, you know, it was fun film and it did have Clint Eastwood in it. So it was known. But yeah, and now it's kind of reached this like huge, you know, space and the cannon. But my final pick is 1966 is Sergio Leone's masterpiece, The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly classic.
00:56:42:07 - 00:56:44:00
Cullen
I actually watched this not too long ago, too.
00:56:44:08 - 00:57:27:23
Clark
And yeah, there's some really extraordinary the latest restoration on 4K is like just absolutely magnificent. But but yeah I mean, you know basically that's the story I, you know spaghetti westerns. I grew up watching these films. They were films that my dad loved. And, you know, they were the films that were on, you know, the like the Sunday afternoon, you know, like movie marathon on, you know, Channel 11 in Saint Louis, you know, And and so I grew up watching these films, and I was just I loved, you know, it was almost like a cartoon come real to me, you know, with these exaggerated camera moves and zooms and these, like, really colorful characters that
00:57:27:23 - 00:57:48:00
Clark
almost required no language whatsoever. I mean, you could turn the sound off on this movie and, you know, you knew every you know, who's the bad guy, who's the good guy, you know? But I just it was it was so epic. And scope and and I was just so captivated by this, you know, it was it was I don't know what else to say.
00:57:48:00 - 00:58:08:22
Clark
It was I was just mesmerized by this film. And now that I've watched it later, multiple times as an adult, of course, I appreciate, you know, so much more about this film. But but yeah, that's that's my first film. I know you've seen it. Yeah. So it sounds like you agree that you're a fan of the film. Absolutely.
00:58:08:22 - 00:58:09:16
Clark
Yeah. Yeah.
00:58:09:16 - 00:58:13:14
Cullen
And this is a this is also a movie. It's so easy to show people of younger generations.
00:58:13:17 - 00:58:14:00
Clark
Yeah.
00:58:14:00 - 00:58:24:23
Cullen
It and get them into like again it's it's it's it's a timeless, timeless movie. Yep. And I've never had any trouble showing people like that, like, you know, the high schoolers in my class this.
00:58:25:11 - 00:58:44:02
Clark
Um, because the characters are such archetypes, it's so that's what I mean is that it translates language you don't really. And then you could show this to somebody. And in so many different countries and with different languages and I think, you know, so much of this translates, I think, yeah, so much of it. And so for a young child, you know, a lot of it translated in it and it's.
00:58:44:02 - 00:58:50:14
Cullen
A great opportunity to also go back to like even like kind of take it as a jumping point to like the old Kurosawa movies that they.
00:58:50:14 - 00:58:51:04
Clark
Absolutely.
00:58:51:04 - 00:59:06:06
Cullen
Love this. And, you know, I think that's such a it's such a fascinating period of filmmaking because it was it was like John Ford inspired Kurosawa, who inspired Sergio Leone. And it was like this this feedback loop. We then went on to inspire George Lucas. So, you know.
00:59:06:09 - 00:59:36:15
Clark
Yeah, yeah, I agree. I just I love you know, this is one of the first films where, like, really actively remember, like an anti-hero, you know? And so that was like really compelling to me because, you know, before I'm kind of like, you know, it's like Luke Skywalker or, you know, but to have this, like, reluctant hero, this anti-hero, these that was just like, so compelling to me and, you know, Clint Eastwood's performance, the Man with No name, you know, this like almost silent protagonist, which just so I was like, oh, my God, he's so cool.
00:59:36:15 - 00:59:53:18
Clark
I want to be that you know? Oh, yeah, I just the epic scope of it and I just that everything about this film is so fun to me and what can I say? Yeah, it's another film that really inspired me as a child.
00:59:54:02 - 00:59:56:06
Cullen
And check out the other two from the trilogy.
00:59:56:10 - 01:00:08:23
Clark
Yeah, and, and I have it, and they're wonderful too. But, you know, I picked one, I had to pick one. And so, yeah, I feel kind of like the first two films were kind of like, I don't want to go so far as to say, practice for this one. But they.
01:00:09:09 - 01:00:09:19
Cullen
Definitely.
01:00:09:19 - 01:00:12:02
Clark
They definitely get better as they go.
01:00:12:05 - 01:00:14:03
Cullen
There's there's a reason why this one's the most famous one.
01:00:14:04 - 01:00:30:07
Clark
And there's a reason why this one is the most famous. But they honestly are absolutely all worth watching. I think they've all been really well restored. So as I remember watching them as a kid and it was like sound, I mean, everything. How they look like crap. When I watched them as a kid, I didn't.
01:00:30:07 - 01:00:35:19
Cullen
And especially and it's so funny to do because this like, this is an R-rated movie. I remember seeing this on a shelf. We were saying.
01:00:35:20 - 01:00:37:09
Clark
Is it really? I didn't even know that.
01:00:37:09 - 01:00:52:22
Cullen
Yeah, I was on The View, right? We had it on VHS The first time I saw it was at this like bed and breakfast in, like Nova Scotia or something. And it was on the they had a selection of VHS and it was R and I remember being like so scared to put it in because I thought I was going to see all this crazy violence.
01:00:53:06 - 01:00:55:19
Cullen
It's so tame by like, Oh, it's so tame.
01:00:55:23 - 01:01:06:21
Clark
That's what I'm shocked that it's, ah, I'm like, What is our about it? Like, is there even like a because I'm trying to think it's not really got language that would make it. R Right. And I'd.
01:01:06:22 - 01:01:11:09
Cullen
Assume it's mostly just the violence, but there's not, there's not really much blood in it, but I'm.
01:01:11:18 - 01:01:16:10
Clark
Almost done. Yeah. It's that old fashioned like it. Good shot and just kind of fall all over.
01:01:16:16 - 01:01:17:12
Cullen
Yeah. The railing.
01:01:17:12 - 01:01:28:02
Clark
Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. So. Yeah. But you are right. You know, Fistful of dollars and a few dollars more, they're definitely also worth. And then, of course, the soundtrack I mean, you know, like.
01:01:28:12 - 01:01:31:04
Cullen
Defined westerns to this day. Yeah.
01:01:31:04 - 01:01:49:06
Clark
Yeah. I just you can't even, you just can't get better. Yeah. So anyway, awesome. Well, that dude, this has been fun. I look, I'm excited. I've got a few films to add to my list. I'm excited to see or see. As the case may be, I'm going to go back and check out Munich, but this was enjoyable. It's yeah.
01:01:49:08 - 01:01:51:11
Cullen
It's a Do you want to figure out we're doing for our hundredth?
01:01:51:22 - 01:02:07:12
Clark
Oh my gosh. Yeah, we'll have to figure that out. And hey, by the way, just because I still get to pick the film for next time. So yes, we don't get my we don't get skipped, so. Yeah. So next thing, we'll get to be my choice. Who knows? Maybe I'll pick one of these, but. Well, we hope we get.
01:02:07:12 - 01:02:27:07
Clark
You enjoyed this as much as we did. I know I had a blast. And we always appreciate you checking out our musings on film because we enjoy doing it. We hope you enjoyed listening to it. Until next time. COHEN Have a wonderful week or two, depending on how long it might be. And for everybody else out there, look forward to next time.
01:02:27:07 - 01:02:27:18
Clark
See you then.
01:02:28:01 - 01:02:30:10
Cullen
Yeah. Bye bye.