Frames and Fools: Film, Filmmakers, and Foolishness

Brace yourself as we go back to ‘Mid90’s’ (2018). Writer and director Jonah Hill will throw you into walls, off rooftops, and right back into a time before cellphones, where the hits were hard and the skaters were harder. Rejoice as main character Stevie pops his first ollie! Delight as he smokes his first cigarette! Thrill as he earns his place in the group (and likely his first concussion)! Our 13-year-old hero ‘Sunburn’ escapes his rough suburban existence by getting a skateboard through any means necessary and linking up with the skate crew that hangs out at a local shop. Before long Sunburn’s life is moving as fast as he can kick, push his way through LA traffic.

Just, like, go for it, man!

Do a kickflip! ‘Skate Kitchen’ was nearly a documentary, because the actual Skate Kitchen is a collective of female skaters in NYC who can seriously shred. Come for the breathtaking skateboarding scenes, stay for the breezy, natural group dynamics and the charismatic badasses both on and off the boards. Throw in a rad soundtrack and you’ve got yourself a pretty sick summer flick.

Drop on in to our ‘Skate Kitchen‘ episode and enjoy!

We hope ‘Sorry To Bother You’ bothers you in the best way. (Spoilers abound) It’s a modern tale about capitalism, the struggle for an equal share, and working as hard as a horse only to be paid about as well. It’s a wild absurdist gallop through alternate modern day Oakland that examines how our economic system pits us all against each other. It argues that we’ve all been saddled with the burden of keeping the great wheels turning and that we must band together if we hope to change anything. Race is no small factor in this struggle (and we don’t mean the kind of race that does laps around a dirt track), and Cassius (played by Lakeith Stanfield) finds himself climbing the corporate ladder once he affects his ‘white voice’, fooling the customers on the other end of his phone line. The higher he climbs, however, the farther he gets from his neigh-bors. Sorry, doing a bit here—somebody else take the reins.

Once again our friend Kate lends her voice to the discussion.

Hike those pants up til you’re future-cool. This week it’s ‘Her’ (2013) from Spike Jonze, starring Joaquin Phoenix and Scarlett Johansson. Set in an LA not too far into the future, ‘Her’ explores human emotions in a unique way: by giving them to a sophisticated and naive operating system who names themself Samantha. Joaquin plays Theodore, a letter writer and de facto poet who is struggling to connect with the world after separating from his longtime friend and wife (Rooney Mara) when he stumbles into a novel situation: falling in love with OS1, the new and advanced operating system that’s designed to not only proofread your emails but to seem entirely human as well. Turns out you can learn a lot about humanity by simply putting in an earpiece and opening up your heart.

For relaxing times, make it Suntory time. For ‘Lost In Translation’ (2003), give us loneliness and peak Bill Murray at his most subtle. Throw in some early and affecting Scarlett Johansson and you’ve got chemistry to go with your Tokyo cocktail. Pour it all on the rocks, then drink it down with some beautiful cinematography, a healthy pour of witty banter, and a dash of challenging questions about life. Best served at a moment of existential pondering. Kanpai!

Jump around! Jump up, jump up and get down! This week it’s ‘Jumper’ (2008) starring Hayden Christensen. I wish I could say this was the mid-2000’s smash hit about competitive double-dutch, but the truth is just as cool; Anakin can teleport. That’s right, little Annie can zap himself anywhere by simply thinking about it. The story starts with a boy’s brush with death and the realization that he is special. And that he can fake his death, run away to New York City, and rob a bank without using the door. So starts a life of slick crime and a stylish lifestyle that comes crashing down when our good friend Sammy L. Jacksón (and his sweet hair) shows up to put an end to the party. Hijinks ensue. A few innocent bystanders might not make it, but we gotta sacrifice something to the ancient gods of Cool Action, right?

Teleport right into this week’s episode!

Jump to lightspeed with us—it’s ‘Solo’! Here’s part two of our duo of episodes devoted to the fascinating production and product that is ‘Solo: A Star Wars Story’. In this episode we discuss 2018’s space fantasy prequel offshoot anthology tie-in *pause for breath* origin-story action spectacular that follows a young Han Solo as he becomes the icon we know and love in a shockingly brief amount of time. No, not in parsecs; those describe distance. And get out of my seat, flyboy. But if you’re curious how Han manages the legendary feat, it’s here! It’s all here! Our intrepid hero meets a walking carpet, a certain suave gambler, and a familiar hunk of junk that can make the Kessel run far quicker than you’d think possible. You might wanna buckle up, baby.

We’re so glad we took this job!

Sometimes it’s good to shake things up, stretch out the ol’ leg muscles, and speak in over-generalized platitudes with a buddy while watching the world go by. With that in mind, here is our first non-saga episode, ‘Frames and Fools at the park’! We wanted to have little episodes where we got ‘out of the studio’ and into the world, giving ourselves a chance to make our tangents the focus for once. 

For this first one we discussed the Star Wars anthology films, known officially as ‘Star Wars Stories’. So far these include ‘Rogue One’ and ‘Solo’, and the road to the these films has been a fascinating journey of creative differences, fan expectations, and the modern production rumor cycle. Sit outside with us!

As if! 1995 called and they want their sick oversized hats back. This week we watched ‘Clueless’, written and directed by Amy Heckerling, starring Alicia Silverstone, Brittany Murphy, Stacey Dash, and two (very) young men by the names of Donald Faison and Paul Rudd. In the movie we follow Cher, the popular and meddling Beverly Hills high schooler with the loqued-out Jeep and that annoying (former) step-brother. Why won’t he just go away? Why does he have to stay with us? Ugh! Anyway, this story is about how she like totally sets up those two teachers and like basically transformed that new girl Tai into the most popular girl in school. Jealous? Why would I be jealous? And no, young Paul Rudd is not like super cute, why would you even say that? Hello! Not interested. It’s all about that total Baldwin named Christian. See, he dresses well and gets me. Anyway, who wants to go to the mall?

Get rollin’ with the homies and listen now.