Click below the break for trailers and detailed show notes.

UPDATE: Problem with truncated audio is fixed.

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NOTE: Be sure to join us from March 12-20 for our SXSW coverage!  Our next mainstream reviews and discussions will be on She's Out of My League and Hot Tub Time Machine.  You can email Andrew and Morgan with your feedback at podcast@randomchatter.com. Thanks for listening!

SHOW NOTES:

Announcements:

• 1:57 - It's SXSW time!  Click here to visit the film festival tour thread and help us decide what to see!

QuickChatter:

• 3:34 - The 2010 Oscar-Nominated Animated Shorts (Andrew and Morgan)
• 7:48 - The White Ribbon (Andrew)

Discussion - Alice in Wonderland (spoiler-free):

• 11:00 - Intro and clip
• 12:53 - Morgan and Andrew's ratings and general thoughts

Discussion - Cop Out (spoilers):

• 20:53 - The "second time here" subplot
• 23:59 - Careful with your eyeballs
• 25:29 - The Mad Hatter's mental stability
• 26:44 - References to the original Disney film and drug subculture
• 29:00 - The conflict between the two queens
• 31:00 - The Red Queen's disturbing punishment
• 32:19 - The voice acting
• 35:27 - The themes of female empowerment

DVD Recommendations:

• 39:18 - Intro
• 39:34 - Andrew's Pick:  Cold Souls
• 40:20 – Morgan's Pick:  Up In The Air

43:54 - Bonus trailer discussion

TRAILERS:

Click below the break for trailers and detailed show notes.

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NOTE: Be sure to join us next week when we'll be discussing Alice in Wonderland! You can email Andrew and Morgan with your feedback at podcast@randomchatter.com. Thanks for listening!

SHOW NOTES:

Announcements:

• 1:57 - Click here to visit the film festival tour thread and help us decide what to see!

QuickChatter:

• 3:54 - The 2010 Oscar-Nominated Live Shorts (Andrew)
• 7:41 - Goodfellas (Morgan)
• 10:59 - Lost, 24, House (Morgan)

Discussion - Cop Out (spoiler-free):

• 14:02 - Intro and clip
• 15:30 - Morgan's rating and general thoughts
• 17:57 - Andrew's rating and general thoughts

Discussion - Cop Out (spoilers):

• 21:30 - Making it a "Kevin Smith" film and comparisons to other buddy-cop films
• 24:55 - The racial politics of Tracy Morgan's schtick
• 30:24 - The non-sensical relationship between the two main characters
• 33:53 - Seann William Scott's performance

DVD Recommendations:

• 36:15 - Intro
• 36:29 - Andrew's Pick:  Where The Wild Things Are
• 37:18 – Morgan's Pick:  The Damned United

TRAILERS:

Click below the break for trailers and detailed show notes.

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NOTE: Be sure to join us next week when we'll be discussing Cop Out! You can call Andrew and Morgan with your feedback at 866-830-2525. Be sure to leave your first name and where you're calling from. Alternatively, you can email podcast@randomchatter.com. Thanks for listening!

SHOW NOTES:

Announcements:

• 1:53 - Click here to visit the film festival tour thread and help us decide what to see!

Listener Feedback:

• 3:37 - Where's the love for Up in the Air?

QuickChatter:

• 6:27 - The Last Station (Andrew)
• 9:42 - Rich Man, Poor Man (Morgan)

Discussion - Shutter Island (spoiler-free):

• 13:00 - Intro and clip
• 14:51 - Morgan and Andrew give their ratings and general thoughts

Discussion - Shutter Island (spoilers):

• 23:48 - The cameo by Ted Levine
• 26:42 - The revelation at the end and how it relates to deeper themes
• 30:12 - The slightly ambiguous ending
• 33:59 - The opening homages to Hitchcock-era filmmaking
• 35:03 - The three cameos

DVD Recommendations:

• 37:10 - Intro
• 37:23 - Andrew's Pick:  Black Dynamite
• 39:22 – Morgan's Pick:  Cloudy With A Chance of Meatballs

TRAILERS:

Click below the break for trailers and detailed show notes.

Download MP3 ♦ Subscribe via iTunes ♦ Subscribe via Email

NOTE: Be sure to join us next week when we'll be discussing Shutter Island! You can call Andrew and Morgan with your feedback at 866-830-2525. Be sure to leave your first name and where you're calling from. Alternatively, you can email podcast@randomchatter.com. Thanks for listening!

SHOW NOTES:

Announcements:

• 2:00 - Announcements

QuickChatter:

• 3:05 - Dead Snow (Andrew)
• 5:09 - Ben-Hur (Morgan)
• 9:25 - Dark City (Morgan)
• 10:52 - The Time Machine (Morgan)

Discussion - The Wolfman (spoiler-free):

• 12:22 - Intro and clip
• 13:56 - Morgan's rating and general thoughts
• 18:34 - Andrew's rating and general thoughts

Discussion - The Wolfman (spoilers):

• 21:52 - The "twist" at the end, and how it was given away in the first flashback
• 24:50 - Anthony Hopkins' performance, the inconsistent tone
• 27:00 - Production hell; the problem with the score
• 31:07 - Pacing and structure

DVD Recommendations:

• 35:49 - Intro
• 36:07 - Andrew's Pick: Sin Nombre
• 38:37 – Morgan's Pick: Doubt

TRAILERS:

Click below the break for trailers and detailed show notes.

Download MP3 ♦ Subscribe via iTunes ♦ Subscribe via Email

NOTE: You can call Andrew and Morgan with your feedback at 866-830-2525. Be sure to leave your first name and where you're calling from. Alternatively, you can email podcast@randomchatter.com. The show will be on hiatus until the end of January. Thanks for listening!

SHOW NOTES:

Miscellaneous:

• Watch the short film some of our younger listeners made here.

QuickChatter:

• 3:00 - A Single Man (Andrew)
• 4:31 - Crazy Heart (Andrew)
• 5:34 - Broken Embraces (Andrew)
• 6:33 - Tape (Andrew)
• 8:10 - Mad Men, Season 1 (Morgan)
• 10:20 - Philadelphia (Morgan)
• 13:30 - D.E.B.S. (Morgan)

Discussion - The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus (spoiler-free):

• 16:58 - Intro and clip
• 19:23 - Morgan's rating and general thoughts
• 23:27 - Andrew's rating and general thoughts

Discussion - The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus (spoilers):

• 26:36 - The theme of fantasy vs. reality
• 28:48 - Uneven, jarring storytelling
• 33:02 - Spirituality and religious metaphors?
• 39:35 - The use of different actors to play the same character

DVD Recommendations:

• 42:06 - Intro
• 42:24 - Morgan's Pick: Manhunter
• 45:53 – Andrew’s Pick: Spring, Summer, Fall, Winter... And Spring

TRAILERS:

Click below the break for trailers and detailed show notes.

Download MP3 ♦ Subscribe via iTunes ♦ Subscribe via Email

NOTE: You can call Andrew and Morgan with your feedback at 866-830-2525. Be sure to leave your first name and where you're calling from. Alternatively, you can email podcast@randomchatter.com. Tune in next time for our catch-up discussion of Sherlock Holmes and more! Thanks for listening!

SHOW NOTES:

3:18 - Major Announcement: The MovieChatter Spring Film Festival Tour!

The 2009 MovieChatter Awards Extravaganza:

• 9:12 - Intro
• 10:28 - Additional and Unique Awards
• 19:04 - Best Screenplay
• 23:09 - Best Actor
• 29:00 - Best Actress
• 34:05 - Best Director
• 41:16 - Best Action Film
• 47:56 - Best Comedy
• 52:20 - Best Romance or Romantic Comedy
• 57:03 - Best Animated Film
• 1:01:17 - Best Documentary
• 1:06:05 - Best Horror Film
• 1:09:58 - Best Drama
• 1:15:33 - Biggest Surprise
• 1:20:30 - Biggest Disappointment
• 1:25:46 - Most Underrated Film
• 1:35:40 - Most Overrated Film
• 1:42:43 - Worst Film
• 1:51:22 - Best Film

Click below the break for trailers, an interview transcription, and to check to see when the film is playing in your area.

Download MP3 ♦ Subscribe via iTunes ♦ Subscribe via Email

NOTE: You can call Andrew and Morgan with your feedback at 866-830-2525. Be sure to leave your first name and where you're calling from. Alternatively, you can email podcast@randomchatter.com. The show will be on hiatus until the end of January. Thanks for listening!

SHOW NOTES:

A Town Called Panic:

• The official website for the film is here.
• Click here to see if the film will be playing in your area any time soon.
• Click here to watch an English-dubbed episode of the television show the film is based on.

TRAILER:

THE INTERVIEW:

Question: A Town Called Panic is one of the zaniest, craziest movies I’ve seen all year, and I’m sure the first thing our listeners want to know is what kind of drugs were you on when you were making this movie because it is absolutely insane.

Answer: We were just drinking water and coffee.

Q: Wow.  The atmosphere of this film, and of the show that I know it’s based on, is one of complete and utter chaos.  It’s very spontaneous.  I’m really curious, how much of this film w as scripted out beforehand and how much of it was just improvised no set?

A: In the beginning we like to write the story very precisely, so we made the storyboards for three years and, to make the movie, two years.  We storyboarded very precisely.  We can make improvisations just in front of the camera but as directors we’re very straight(forward).

Q: I know that it takes a very long time to do this animation.  You just said that it took two years and I know that it’s a very painstaking process.

A: Yeah, but you know, in the beginning, there were three animators to make the whole movie.  The first one came to help us to finalize the end of shooting.  The technique of Panic au Village gave us the facilities to make what we want with a very small team.  The animations of the puppets are very… we used just figurines, so just like in traditional animation, in drawing on paper, you take frame-by-frame the drawing, we took frame-by-frame the different attitudes of the figurines we made before.  So we have a great multitude of different positions.  So, for the process, I think we can do maybe 15 seconds per day per animator.  It’s very very painstaking, but you know in a manual studio you make maybe one or two seconds per day.  So we made very long animations per days.

Q: Wow.  I’m curious, when you were first inspired to make A Town Called Panic, the show and then the film, why did you choose stop motion animation over traditional forms of animation, and specifically why did you choose puppetooning over traditional stop-motion, because that’s a form of stop-motion that requires a lot of separate sculptures and a lot of separate figurines for each scene.  So I’m curious as to why you chose that style.

A: In the beginning we both played with different techniques like paper sketch, drawing on paper, and the technique interested us.  Very in the beginning we were looking for the possibility to go out of the particulars of technicals.  We don’t know… the first thing… we research <unclear> in the beginning in the storyboards.  So the technique of Panic au Village gave to us the possibility to go out the difficulties of technique.

Q: Of all the characters and all the ideas , how did you come up with Cowboy, Indian and Horse as the three main characters?

A: Because it’s easy to find these characters.  When the creator of the puppets imagined the figurines he imagined Cowboy, Indian and Horse on impulse.  It’s natural.  And after we used some animals like cow, pig and other animals.

Q: Yeah, I noticed in the film that in the film there’s not many references to the historical conflict between cowboys and Indians.  It’s almost kind of like this paradise world where everyone gets alone, everyone’s happy and you focus instead on just the journey of all of these characters.  So I was curious why you chose to take that approach, to focus more on just the insane journey.  I know you were inspired a lot by British comedy and Monty Python.  It’s a very unique style, I have to say.

A: With Indian and Cowboy in Panic au Village, it’s just a character.  We don’t know why Indian and Cowboy ever, for example… it’s just a character, a simple character.  To put Cowboy in the same house… Cowboy and Indian are just costumes.  In their mind they’re just idiots.  Why do the animals in the film speak in human language?  We don’t know.  And the Horse is the father, or the big mother.

Q: I know that the television show was primarily broadcast on networks aimed at children, so I was curious as to how much that audience factors into your creative decisions when you’re making films like this.  I mean, was your goal just to create a good animated film, or was it to create a good animated film for children?  How much did the audience impact a lot of your decisions?

A: You know, we always make films for everything from zero to death.  Everybody.  We don’t go to any target when we begin a story, we just want to laugh ourselves, and after we just show to everybody.

Q: Okay.  A Town Called Panic has played at a number of well-known film festivals around the world now, including Cannes and Toronto, and so far it’s been very very well-received.  Were you expecting such positive feedback?  Were you expecting it to kind of blow up and now become more of an international sensation?

A: We don’t think so.  But now to carry on the film is a great adventure, so we’ll see.

Q: Okay.  Do you have any plans for a sequel to the film now that it’s gaining such positive buzz and a lot of attention?

A: Next we’ll make a new series of Panic au Village but with a longer… more longer than the first one.  You know the first series was 5 minutes (per episode), so we are looking for… to make perhaps it ten or twelve minutes.

Q: Wow, that would be fantastic.  Other than perhaps renewing the television show, what’s next for you guys?  What are you working on next?

A: Just now, in this time, we are working on an adaptation of a children’s series with a bear and a little mouse.  It’s 2D, traditional 2D animation.

Q: Alright, well I think that will wrap it up for my interview with Stephane and Vincent.  Thank you very much for joining me today.

A: Absolutely.

Q: And now the film opens up in New York on the 16^th, and then I know it’s expanding to Los Angeles later in January.  I think I read that you have a book based on the film coming out soon as well?

A: Yes, there is two books.  One is a cartoon, Panic au Village comic book.  And a children’s book.

Q: Okay.  Well thank you very much for joining me today.  It was a pleasure and privilege to have you on the show.

A: Thank you.

Click below the break for trailers and detailed show notes.

Download MP3 ♦ Subscribe via iTunes ♦ Subscribe via Email

NOTE: You can call Andrew and Morgan with your feedback at 866-830-2525. Be sure to leave your first name and where you're calling from. Alternatively, you can email podcast@randomchatter.com. The show will be on hiatus until the end of January. Thanks for listening!

SHOW NOTES:

2:14 - The upcoming hiatus

QuickChatter:

• 3:09 - Days of Heaven (Morgan)

Discussion #1 - Up in the Air (spoiler-free):

• 6:04 - Intro and clip
• 8:49 - Morgan's rating and general thoughts
• 10:35 - Andrew's rating and general thoughts

Discussion #1 - Up in the Air (spoilers):

• 12:25 - The revelation about Vera Farmiga's character
• 14:20 - Anna Kendrick's performance
• 16:44 - The subplot with Ryan's family
• 18:33 - The tone of the ending

Review - When in Rome (spoiler-free):

• 21:30 – Intro and clip
• 24:22 - General thoughts
• 25:30 - A reliance on other films/Jon Heder's performance
• 27:00 - The ending
• 28:06 - The use of "magic" in romantic comedies

Discussion #2 - Avatar (spoiler-free):

• 30:11 - Intro and clip
• 34:26 - Morgan's rating and general thoughts
• 36:40 - Andrew's general thoughts

Discussion #2 – Avatar (spoilers):

• 41:07 - Reliance on common ideas and stereotypes
• 44:03 - Avatars and death: is there suspense?
• 45:23 - The acting and dialogue
• 47:12 - A mixed bag/Andrew's rating

DVD Recommendations:

• 50:34 - Intro
• 50:49 - Andrew's Pick: (500) Days of Summer
• 52:19 – Morgan’s Pick: Friends With Money
• 56:43 - Easter Egg/Random Sh*t

TRAILERS:

Click below the break for trailers and detailed show notes.

Download MP3 ♦ Subscribe via iTunes ♦ Subscribe via Email

NOTE: You can call Andrew and Morgan with your feedback at 866-830-2525. Be sure to leave your first name and where you're calling from. Alternatively, you can email podcast@randomchatter.com. Tune in next week for our discussions of The Road, Up in the Air, Avatar and more! Thanks for listening!

SHOW NOTES:

1:52 - The upcoming hiatus

QuickChatter:

• 3:39 - In The Electric Mist (Morgan)
• 5:31 - Shows at midseason: Glee, Modern Family, 30 Rock, The Office (Andrew)
• 6:01 - Dexter, Season 4 (Andrew)
• 8:49 - Dollhouse midseason (Morgan)
• 10:52 - It's Always Sunny in Phialdelphia, Season 5 (Andrew)
• 11:10 - A Very Sunny Christmas (Andrew)
• 11:48 - Black Dynamite (Andrew)
• 13:51 - Gosford Park (Andrew)
• 14:24 - One Night in Mongkok (Andrew)

Discussion #1 - The Damned United (spoiler-free):

• 15:02 - Intro and clip
• 17:05 - Morgan's rating and general thoughts
• 22:16 - Andrew's rating and general thoughts

Discussion #1 - The Damned United (spoilers):

• 23:58 - Unique creative decisions when tackling sports
• 25:16 - The fantastic cinematography
• 26:50 - The relationship between Brian and Peter
• 28:21 - Differences in scope compared to other sports films

Discussion #2 - The Princess & The Frog (spoiler-free):

• 31:15 – Intro and clip
• 32:49 - Morgan's rating and general thoughts
• 38:45 - Andrew's rating and general thoughts

Discussion #2 – The Princess & The Frog (spoilers):

• 42:46 - Rushed plot points; problems with the villain
• 47:15 - Ray the Firefly and the meta-message of Evangeline the star
• 53:09 - Is it racist?

DVD Recommendations:

• 56:20 - Intro
• 56:35 - Morgan's Pick: Kill Bill, Vol. 2
• 1:01:31 – Andrew’s Pick: Space Jam
• 1:03:35 - Andrew's deep symbolic interpretation of Space Jam

TRAILERS:

Click below the break for trailers and detailed show notes.

Download MP3 ♦ Subscribe via iTunes ♦ Subscribe via Email

NOTE: You can call Andrew and Morgan with your feedback at 866-830-2525. Be sure to leave your first name and where you're calling from. Alternatively, you can email podcast@randomchatter.com. Tune in next week for our discussion of The Princess and the Frog and more! Thanks for listening!

SHOW NOTES:

3:40 - Announcements about show delays, upcoming hiatus

QuickChatter:

• 6:03 - Everybody's Fine (Andrew)
• 8:35 - M (Andrew)
• 10:26 - The Lady Vanishes (Andrew)
• 13:12 - The Fountain (Andrew)
• 13:55 - Beetlejuice (Andrew)
• 15:58 - Away We Go (Morgan)
• 19:06 - The Invention of Lying (Morgan)
• 21:22 - Four Christmases (Morgan)
• 23:45 - Planetes (Morgan)

Discussion #1 - Precious (spoiler-free):

• 26:34 - Intro and clip
• 28:40 - Morgan's rating and general thoughts
• 32:38 - Andrew's rating and general thoughts

Discussion #1 - Precious (spoilers):

• 36:05 - This movie is so depressing!
• 37:57 - IS IT RACIST?! Cue lengthy sociological analysis.
• 50:39 - The performances

Discussion #2 - Armored (spoiler-free):

• 53:57 – Intro and clip
• 55:52 - Morgan's rating and general thoughts
• 1:01:05 - Andrew's rating and general thoughts

Discussion #2 – Armored (spoilers):

• 1:03:18 - The motivation of the protagonist
• 1:05:28 - Milo Ventimiglia is wasted!
• 1:08:48 - The time limit, or lack thereof
• 1:10:57 - The last lines of the movie

DVD Recommendations:

• 1:12:54 - Intro
• 1:13:07 - Andrew's Pick: World's Greatest Dad
• 1:14:42 – Morgan’s Pick: Walk Hard: The Dewey Cox Story
• 1:19:18 - Easter Egg/Random Sh*t

TRAILERS: