Steady Diet of Film

#034 Eat, Pray, Love and The State of Chick Flicks w/ Joanne McNeil

This week I'm delighted to be joined by Joanne McNeil to discuss Julia Roberts and Eat, Pray, Love. Joanne defends EPL's lack of quirk and we easily agreed on the film's spot-on casting choices all the way down the line. But the topic that really brings us together is trouble with "chick flicks" -- why she loves them, why I hate them, what constitutes "hardcore chick flicks" and which director we would both like to see brought to a military tribunal for crimes against humanity by way of chick flicks. 

 

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#033 Sweet Crude w/ Sandy Cioffi and Tammi Sims

On this week's podcast I sit down with Sweet Crude director Sandy Cioffi and producer Tammi Sims to discuss their experiences film-making in the Niger Delta. While at first I was most intrigued with their harrowing story of being detained by military police and interrogated for 7 days, I was quickly taken with their dedication to the story they came to tell instead of reducing the struggle of the Nigerian people to a story about themselves. 

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#032 Outrage w/ Andy Blubaugh

This week I'm joined by film-maker Andy Blubaugh (whose recent documentary The Adults in the Room* will be on the festival circuit later this year) to discuss Kirby Dick's documentary on the outing of closeted homosexual politicians, Outrage. First we discuss the eternal question all documentary film-makers face: "Why isn't this a book?" Then we get into the issue of making a film that relies on professional Beltway talkers to provide personal experiences before we have a full-on Doc Dorkout over that special devil/angel of the genre, Michael Moore. Enjoy!

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*Full disclosure: I'm a producer on The Adults in the Room.

#031 The White Ribbon w/ Greg Wick

This week I'm delighted to be joined by Greg Wick, a long-time film-making compatriot of mine, to discuss Michael Haneke's The White Ribbon. Wick (who also worked on John Hillcoat's The Road last year) explains how digital video is increasingly being used to create effective period pieces. We then discuss the paucity of immersive film experiences, how this film dredged up one of my greatest phobias and what entertainment journalists have in common with repressive Protestant villagers. Enjoy!

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#030 The Agony and the Ecstasy of Phil Spector w/ Chris Sutton

This week I am delighted to be joined by musician Chris Sutton (The Gossip, Hornet Leg) to discuss Vikram Jayanti's documentary The Agony and the Ecstasy of Phil Spector. After Chris talks me down from the fugue state watching this film creates, we talk about the difficulty rock biographers face to expose the mania of celebrity without exploiting mental illness, the Phil Spector seduction technique and how arduous the editing process becomes with a narcissistic subject. 

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#029 We Live in Public w/ Phoebe Owens

This week I am joined by social media advisor Phoebe Owens to discuss Ondi Timoner's new documentary We Live in Public. We decide quickly that Josh Harris may be a lot of things: lucky, clever, confident -- but a visionary? Not so much. We then discuss the complex situation of a documentary film-maker acknowledging their subject is a total nutter and still wanting the film to go further, Timoner's amazing PT Barnum-esque promotional skills and ultimately why social media is too chaotic to be controlled by millionaires. Enjoy!

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#028 The Private Lives of Pippa Lee w/ Cathy de la Cruz

This week I am joined once again by Cathy de la Cruz to discuss Rebecca Miller's The Private Lives of Pippa Lee. First we dispense with some of the "men have mid-life crisis movies like this, but ladies have mid-life crisis like THIS" tomfoolery, then discuss the irony that Pippa with its all-star ensemble is the most obscure film we've enjoyed all year. We close out the discussion by having a knock down drag out fight (not really) about Robin Wright Penn's acting abilities before Cathy waxes ecstatic about Keanu Reeves's chest tattoos and we determine whether Jean Luc Godard would appreciate the film. Enjoy!

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#027 A Single Man w/ Cathy de la Cruz

 

This week I am delighted to be joined by film-maker and former Show Me Your Title co-host Cathy de la Cruz to discuss Tom Ford's directorial debut A Single Man. We discuss the need for gay Americana in popular culture, why Erin loves any film that reminds her of Joan Didion's "The Year of Magical Thinking" and Cathy's secret insight into what Ron Howard thought of the film. Enjoy!

Spoiler alert, this review contains major plot details.

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#026 Up in the Air w/ Aaron Tuller

This week I discuss Jason Reitman's Up in the Air with Aaron Tuller, whose world travels have made him an expert on all things related to the logistics and lifestyle of constantly being in the air.

We both easily enjoyed this romantic yet bleak film and toggle between Aaron's knowledge of the rarefied world of VIP luxury travel and our shared antipathy for seeing women consistently bear the responsibility for failed relationships in romantic movies. Enjoy!

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#025 Avatar w/ Mendi Menefee

This week I am delighted to be joined by animator (and science fiction aficionado) Mendi Menefee to discuss Avatar, a film being saddled with the responsibility of single-handedly saving animation, theater exhibition and the career of director James Cameron (The Abyss, Titanic, Terminator 2). We talk about the irony of making a war movie for a sum of money that could have end worldwide poverty, how Gen X film-makers seem to be obsessed with re-writing their high school experiences while Baby Boomer directors just want to re-write Star Wars and the sacrilegious moments of comedy. Mendi then explains some of the science fiction influences while I wax poetic about childhood franchises I would like to see this animation technique applied to. Enjoy!

SPOILER WARNING: this podcast contains major plot details. 

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Show Notes:

• Ann Powers' piece on Lady Gaga.