Filmstalker's Audiocast

The Filmstalker Film Club decided to watch the first two Christopher Nolan Batman films and then head to the cinema to see The Dark Knight Rises. This is what we thought, and each of us comes away with a different opinion of the film in a longer than normal debate that looks in-depth at the film and where it stands in the trilogy. Be warned, here be spoilers for all of the franchise, including what will come next for Batman as we delve into his future.

Mark, Steven and I decided to watch Prometheus and get together to discuss the film, this was decided before I made my review public and I think we all saw the film before I posted my review so I thought it was going to be an interesting discussion. It was. While we might not have hugely disagreed about the issues the film had, it seems we came away with different views of the final film, something that seems to be reflected in the wider audience. This audiocast is what we discussed when we sat down to talk Prometheus.

We have a special edition of the Filmstalker Film Club as this time we've gotten together and talked piracy. No, not the seven seas kind and not how to do it but we've rather stupidly decided to enter the whole debate about piracy and see where it leads us. The answers are contained within this very audiocast where myself, Mark and Steven discuss where the problems lie and find some solutions that tell the film studios the right way to tackle this problem. Chances of any studios listening and doing something about it? Probably very low, but we think we've cracked it. Have a listen and see if you agree.

It's Xmas again, boy has it come around fast, and so perhaps for the final time I've pulled the Filmstalker Film Club together to talk about the best Xmas films and it's producing plenty of disagreements between the three of us, let's see if you agree, or more likely you don't. Because we've talked about the best Xmas films before we've decided to pick a couple of lists from other sources to discuss, and so we have the Empire readers best Christmas films and a similarly themed, but very different list from The Observer, and we work our way through them and have a few debates on the way.

Round 8 was recorded some time ago, you'd never guess as it was in tribute to the death of the actor Dennis Hopper, yes it is that old. However it's still very relevant as we each chose a film of his - Hoosiers, The Osterman Weekend and Blue Velvet. Blue Velvet was the winner and the resulting discussion is no doubt going to prove a little controversial, especially for fans of the film and of David Lynch. So watch the film, download the audiocast, and see if you agree with what we think of the film.

Round 7, and we’re handing over to Mark for his choices. He chose three films which didn’t seem to have any connection, well we couldn’t figure it out, but he thankfully put us right when we got round to recording the audiocast. The film that was selected from his list was Tin Cup, the 1996 comedy starring Kevin Costner, Rene Russo, Don Johnson and Cheech Marin, as well as a number of real golfers. It’s never a film that appealed to me but I think we were all pleasantly surprised. So take a look at it, download the podcast, and lay up along with the three of us.

We've looked through the winners of the 2011 Orange BAFTA awards and discussed what should, and shouldn't have won. We've gone off on tangents about what awards are really about, the Academy Awards, gesture/end of life awards and if there should be an award for franchise or sequel. It's all here, so get downloading and get listening.

This episode myself, Mark and Steven run through our favourite films of 2010, as well as a number of other topics from mobile cinema to 3D to a bit of an Oscar rant, we might go off on tangents, but they're worthwhile and definitely entertaining. Our longest audiocast to date, but it's also one of the best. Hop on and hear if we pick your best film of 2010.

We break from the standard Film Club to turn to Christmas and talk about the best Christmas films. This leads us to argue about what makes a Christmas film, whether it just needs snow in the background or not, and as usual it's me against the other two! We also talk about the yesteryear of Christmas film programming and are surprised at just how bad it was, and there's an ongoing debate about a certain action film and whether it should be classed as a Christmas film or not. I think I lost that argument. Download, enjoy, and let us know if you think we got the best Christmas films list right or not.

Round 6 saw the choices return to me again and since the recording coincided with the start of the F1 season, strange this is now the end for the release, I decided to pick three racing films depicting three different classes of racing. The voting was for the F1 film Grand Prix from John Frankenheimer starring James Garner, James Goldstone's Winning starring Paul Newman about Indy racing, and Lee H. Katzin's Le Mans starring Steve McQueen. Grand Prix was the winner providing a number of international stars and tracks and delivering some of the best racing sequences committed to film. We discuss pretty much everything about the film as well as delving into some very interesting behind the scenes facts.