Double Bill

The cycle of billing comes again to Joshua Humphrey, who picks Pixar’s La Luna and Radiolab’s The Distance of the Moon for comparison.

We seem to be a very moon-centered podcast. On the previous episode, we explored the Dark Side of the Moon. Now we focus on coming-of-age stories involving our celestial neighbor.

You’d think we would have a werewolf billing coming to you next, but no! Instead we have Basket Case and Bad Milo! Just in time for Halloween Thanksgiving!

Brian Watson-Jones picks this Double Bill, a simultaneous listening/viewing of Pink Floyd’s Dark Side of the Moon with classic film The Wizard of Oz (1939), in what is known as “The Dark Side of the Rainbow.” Mikey is on board, but Joshua is dubious of the whole endeavor.

If you want to know more about how to do the mash-up like we did, you can travel back in time to the very early days of the internet, before the blog, to when everyone’s personal site was hosted on Angelfire, like this site that gave BWJ the instructions.

 

Next time, we cross mediums again to bring together Pixar’s La Luna and the Radiolab episode The Distance of the Moon.

We cycle back to Mikey Postle and his pick of Godzilla, King of the Monsters! and Pacific Rim. Mickey debated a long time with Brian and Joshua over what should be paired with Pacific Rim–would it be something Gundam flavored? Or perhaps even Evangelion? But ultimately it was decided we needed to go back to the origins of kaiju and pick the King of the Monsters himself, Godzilla.

The time has come to see just how he squares up today against the monsters from Guillermo del Toro’s dreams.

Next Double Bill will be Brian’s pick. We’ll be trying something different and watching The Wizard of Oz while listening to Pink Floyd’s Dark Side of the Moon to attempt Dark Side of the Rainbow.

Joshua Humphrey takes us on a journey involving smoke men whispering evil in ears, leprechauns that bite off fingers, and one damn rocking accordion interval. Two modern films, Cloud Atlas (2012) and Holy Motors (2012) get the Double Bill treatment, and if our mash-ups could be said to have winners, one clearly outclasses the other, emblazoned in a halo of wtf-ery.

We will update on the next Double Bill as we get closer to the date, and you can stay updated on the upcoming episode at our brand new, shiny Facebook page.

To sate your appetite until the next episode, here’s the Holy Motors accordion scene that should kill a few minutes of your workday.

 

It’s samurais and gunslingers all up ins for Brian Watson-Jones’ Double Bill pick! Akira Kurosawa’s classic film Seven Samurai (1954) was adapted for American audiences as the Western The Magnificent Seven (1960), what Brian describes as a “best of” the original. Is he right? How do they compare back-to-back? And who turns out to be the biggest badass between both films?

Leave a response in the comments–we’re working on getting a Facebook page ready for likes, further discussion, and comments about how we’re completely wrong about everything, especially our Japanese.

Up next is Joshua’s attempt to push the podcast to its “pretentious limits” with Cloud Atlas:

And Holy Motors:

Listen and watch along, and we’ll be back in a few weeks!

In the first episode of “Double Bill”, join hosts Joshua Humphrey, Mike Postle, and Brian Watson-Jones as they dissect the films “Manhunter” (1986) and “Red Dragon” (2002), both adapted from Thomas Harris’ beloved (at least in Mike’s opinion) novel “Red Dragon.” Which is the better adaptation? Why does Michael Mann love blue filters? And who, ultimately, was the better Dr. Hannibal Lecter?*

Like Will Graham, let’s crack this double bill wide open.

*Spoiler: It was Anthony Hopkins.