And the Winner Should Have Been...

This week we talk about the films of Ralph Fiennes. We haven't seen all his movies, but we have seen a goodly number. If you're afraid of the sneaky and nefarious SPOILER, you probably ought to be cautious since we fear it not.

00:10 Intro and the topic

02:40 Fiennes and the theater (theatre?)

06:11 Bob attempts to categorize Fiennes' films

07:05 Bob's very wrong about Macbeth being on streaming

08:00 The bulk of Fiennes' movies

13:37 Fiennes as villain

16:03 The Avengers (1998) Bob will be wrong a few seconds later about Fiennes being the villain (it's Sean Connery); not only that, Fiennes plays the hero, which would have been a good thing to have looked up before having the rest of this conversation. Do your homework, kids!

16:51 Our discussion of The English Patient

19:18 "Never" the hero? Didn't you guys just say he was the hero of The King's Man? Tells you how forgettable that film was.

20:13 Fiennes is an actor not a star?

26:31 Work in children's films

31:46 Odds and ends

37:19 Getting off topic and talking about physical media

43:27 Favorite Ralph Fiennes film

47:25 Digression about commentaries, food, other nonsense

51:24 Least favorite Ralph Fiennes film

54:51 Winding down; upcoming episode

56:45 Quick mention of two upcoming films

Intro and Outro music excerpted without alteration other than length and volume from AcidJazz by Kevin McLeod under a Creative Commons (CC BY 3.0) license: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/legalcode

Bob jumps straight into the topic this episode with SPOILERS from the very start. This episode we assume that you have at least a familiarity with the basic plot of the Terminator films even if, like Mark, you've never seen them. We discuss the first three films and ignore the latter three (which neither Bob nor Mark has seen). Enjoy!

00:10 Intro

00:45 Mark had not seen The Terminator; cultural significance and Schwarzenegger

05:37 Evolution from conclusive to open-ended

08:42 The Terminator

12:30 Does James Cameron care more about technical filmmaking than the story elements?

20:04 Masking the antagonist in Terminator 2

23:10 Linda Hamilton/Sarah Connor

25:41 Which is best and supporting cast

27:43 Terminator 3 is a real step down

31:12 Schwarzenegger is inextricably linked with the Terminator

34:05 Rough story moments in the second filmmaking

35:21 Edward Furlong - American History X

36:25 Robert Patrick

37:10 Kristanna Loken

40:25 Time travel and its problems

44:07 Special effects

48:35 Mild spoilers(?) for Reacher season 2

49:27 Prosthetic effects in The Terminator

52:08 Actor miscellany

56:35 Winding down

Intro and Outro music excerpted without alteration other than length and volume from AcidJazz by Kevin McLeod under a Creative Commons (CC BY 3.0) license: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/legalcode

We return triumphantly with...a filler episode! Okay, they can't all be about timeless classics. This episode we look back at what we've seen so far and what is on the horizon. Mostly it's not great, but there were a few gems and several films which augur well. Minimal spoilers too! Enjoy!

00:17 Intro (and the brief return of the clicky pen!)

04:32 Bob's Top 5 of 2024 (so far)

08:32 Mark's movie-going (or lack thereof)

11:34 Bob raves about Perfect Days

13:58 What *should* movies be about? Are we jaded?

19:40 So many sequels/remakes on the horizon

23:57 The War of the Rohirrim

24:58 Writers strike and streaming

28:23 Movies we're looking forward to

31:38 Movies we *aren't* looking forward to

32:58 Back to The War of the Rohirrim

35:35 Upcoming release dates

42:14 Ralph Fiennes

44:00 Terminator(s)

45:49 Wrapping up

Intro and Outro music excerpted without alteration other than length and volume from AcidJazz by Kevin McLeod under a Creative Commons (CC BY 3.0) license: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/legalcode

00:00 Intro

04:54 Starting the topic

06:55 What's the key understanding?

12:10 A role departure for Denzel Washington

15:57 Mark's choice for a unique Washington role

22:20 Another, similar, actor

23:52 It's not necessarily bad...

26:10 Glory

29:02 Comparing to Tom Cruise

31:51 Man on Fire vs The Equalizer

36:02 (It was from Sicario. -Ed.)

36:29 Noble self-sacrifice

39:42 Roman J. Israel, Esq.

41:40 Inside Man

43:00 Training Day

43:22 Mojo Jojo?

45:45 Wrapping up? No, of course not quite yet.

47:39 Much Ado About Nothing

50:05 Unstoppable

51:27 Two Guns

53:44 Manchurian Candidate(s)

55:40 Wrapping up for reals this time

Back this episode to talk about Jane Austen adaptations. There are many, but we only have time to watch and discuss a handful. At first Bob and Mark seem to be on the same page, but by the end...well, you'll hear. As ever, SPOILERS, but really, these stories are 200 years old. If you don't know them already, that's on you.

00:00 Introduction

2:28 Austen adaptations

7:25 Pride and Prejudice (1995 and 2005)

14:30 Bob compares it to Ozu, because of course he does, and we discuss the stories as a group

20:58 Persuasion (1995)

25:11 Social conventions

33:31 Emma (1996 and 2020)

40:29 Sense and Sensibility (1995)

47:30 Bob and Mark disagree vehemently on the relative quality of the films, then Sense and Sensibility specifically

51:47 Mark finds watching a group of similar movies back to back diminishes his enjoyment

52:36 The perils of watching a lot of movies

56:30 Wrapping up

58:31 Baseball!

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Music:
Intro and Outro music excerpted without alteration other than length and volume from AcidJazz by Kevin McLeod under a Creative Commons (CC BY 3.0) license: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/legalcode