I’ve finally seen the original Miracle on 34th Street (with only three more versions to go!) and I’m pleased to say I liked it very much. The third re-make with Mara Wilson was out when I was a little kid, but somehow I missed it and all its older siblings for all these years.
Continue reading “Brian’s Exploratory Christmas Endeavor ’20: Miracle on 34th Street (1947)”Something interesting happened this year, dear listener. I never directly addressed it on the show, because it seemed in poor taste to make personal issues public, but Adam and I–longtime viewers will recognize–had a falling out in 2017, which is why in late 2018 when the show returned, I was the sole host, with a rotation of guests and Adam was nowhere to be found. I understood that the lack of clarity about that may have been frustrating for some folks. I also understand that people have different takes on which version of the show was better.
This will be an interesting listen for people, I think, as Adam and I go some way toward illuminating the matter and our reconciliation. The show will, however, maintain its current shape, with me and a rotation of co-hosts, of whom Adam will now return as one.
Regarding the show’s immediate future, I am planning on my annual Christmas episode, as well as a mini-series about Neon Genesis Evangelion, given that the 4th Rebuild of Evangelion movie is due to finally release (after 8 years) in January of 2021. The first episode of these, featuring two entirely new co-hosts, will be out soon. Before that, there will also be a long-overdue and well over-stuffed episode with Adam in the co-host’s seat. That should go up shortly after this one does.
Hey. I just got a really encouraging piece of fan mail. But because I never check my e-mail, it’s been sitting there since August.
Anyway, I’ve been super busy between school and work, and my recent revelation that I’ve got undiagnosed ADHD at least gives me something on which to blame the constant haze in which I live. But that shouldn’t stop me from recording the show.
Especially with October mere hours away.
So for now, enjoy a re-post from the GBU archives, of The Wrestler, and try not to think about how the entire country is collapsing while I reassemble the studio and prepare for some recording during the spookiest month of the spookiest year in all of human history.
I need to stop getting suckered by movie marketing. This film isn’t the comedy I thought it would be.
In fact, it is nearly as frustrating a thing to watch as is the time of life it portrays. I believe that is on purpose. This film features a low hum of constant conflict, sometimes punctuated by moments of acute conflict that actually move the plot forward. Most of the time, you will be watching close-ups of Natalia Dyer’s face, screwed up in inner conflict, while the people around her drag her and her reputation through the mud, and while it is very effective, I just think it could have used a few more jokes.
I am glad that American popular media is beginning to shrug off the ancient taboo about women’s sexuality. That is an act of growing up we and our movies have needed to make for a long time. Spiritually, I’m 100% on board with this film. I do not regret watching it. But I have no interest in a repeat viewing. It doesn’t have enough moments of impact, the ending doesn’t feel especially victorious. Perhaps it would resonate more with me, and get by on that fact alone, if I were a woman, or a Catholic, who had lived through something like this, but I am just viewing it as something of an outsider, and I found myself disappointed.
It is also frustrating that they cast a man to play the priest who looks so much like Dillon Francis, instead of casting Dillon Francis. You expect me to believe Dillon Francis was too busy? Because I don’t.
6/10
GOOD
Really wonderful acting from everyone involved here, and that is the highlight of the film for me. That said, for a film about the greatest school theft in American history, it never feels particularly explosive or exciting. The fact that the bad actors will be caught is a foregone conclusion and there is never a sense that the school reporters will be in any danger for their meddling. While this isn’t exactly a knock against the movie, it does combine with the drab, “inside of schools” look of the whole film to make the entire thing feel a little flat. That is, it feels like less than the sum of its parts.
Still, it is a pretty easy one to recommend.
7/10 GOOD
What a dumb title.
Here we are again. And by we, I mean me, because I’m the only one who ever comes to this site, and I’m really fine with that.
It’s ironic that I’ve never had more free time, and not only have we only managed to churn out one episode of the podcast since the Beginning of the End began, but it wasn’t even about movies. You have my sincerest apologies for that, by the way.
I have very loose plans to do an episode on Blade Runner and Blade Runner 2049, and Dustin has supplied me with a long list of potential films which could serve as his inaugural episode. In the meantime, however, the thought only just occurred to me that I can still write reviews of movies I watch. That’s just something I forgot about.
I like writing film reviews because even though I know no one is reading them, it is still an exercise in creative writing, as well as trying to cobble together something that resembles, if only loosely, professional writing.
Anyhow, none of them are fresh in my mind anymore, but I have watched a few films, so maybe I’ll put some write-ups on here soon.
Or maybe I’ll forget and I won’t put any content up for the rest of the year.
This week we look at Masaaki Yuasa’s Ride Your Wave, and touch on his Night is Short, Walk On Girl, and Sonic the Hedgehog, starring James Marsden and Jim Carrey.
That is all.
Thank you for stopping over to the blog. We’d love it if you shared the show with your friends if you like what we do. You can follow us on Twitter @GBUpodcast, and you can get in touch with us there, or by e-mailing me at Brian@candidpodcast.com. Don’t forget to rate and review the podcast on your podcatcher of choice if you can, like Apple Podcasts, but if you don’t use Apple Podcasts, don’t forget you can find the show elsewhere, including Spotify and Stitcher. We’re supposed to be listed on Google Play, but who the hell even knows, you know? Apple and Spotify are your safest bets.
Hello, there. The charge on my credit card for the continued ownership of this domain tells me that we’re still in business here at the Dayton Upstairs Recording Studio, although things have been quiet lately.
Over my Winter Break I spent the first half doing family stuff and the second half working on my house, including reworking my bedroom. Since then I’ve started another term of college, and it’s one which is very reading-intensive, so it has been difficult to find time to record. Besides that, the groups with which I’ve seen movies these past months have been all over the place, and I have wanted to do group shows rather than just sitting down with one other person. I don’t know why, Adam and I used to record two-man shows all the time. I guess it’s because most of these movies are seen, sooner or later, or expected to be seen, by more than just one of my potential co-hosts, and so I’m always holding out for someone else to see it and make the potential recording pool bigger.
At any rate, I will try to have something recorded soon, and in the meantime, after the break are are some scattered thoughts about the following movies:
Well, this year’s Exploratory Christmas Endeavor was a bust.
I guess it’s time to pack up and call it a day. Who even cares about
*knock* *knock* *knock*
Who’s that!?
Continue reading “GBU Season 2 Finale: Bonus Episode 3: Christmas Miracle ’19”
Here’s our episode reviewing a feel-good dramatization of a feel-good situation involving the feelingest-good man, Fred Rogers.
Continue reading “GBU Season 2, Episode 18: A Beautiful Day in the Neighborhood”
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