The Movie Blog: Uncut Podcast – June 16th 2008

Hey there folks! Welcome to the Monday Round Table installment of The Movie Blog: Uncut podcast. Today was just strange… we fly off on all sorts of tangents, but had a very good time doing it. Joining Darren, Doug and I and sitting in for Bruxy Cavey this week is Canadian Comedy Award nominee for his Comedy Network special, Manolis Zontanos. Join us as we discuss:

1) Net Neutrality (which we really know nothing about) and new smoking laws in Ontario… for some reason

2) Will Hulk be the “bad guy” in the Avengers movie?

3) Why did this new Hulk make less than the first Hulk film opening weekend?

4) Iran and the Canadian “censorship” issue

5) John appearing on panel at Comic Con

6) With “The Happening” getting horrible reviews, has M. Night run out of chances?

7)Screw The Love Guru vs Get Smart… the next weekend is Wall-E and Wanted!

All this and a few things more.

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39 thoughts on “The Movie Blog: Uncut Podcast – June 16th 2008

  1. I watched the Happening last night and I think it should be renamed as The Un-Happening. I liked the premise, but what was with the poor acting??…It all just felt too ‘wholesome’ for my liking. I expected more from the characters, but I didn’t connect to them at any point.

    And is it me, or is Mike Myers Indian accent the worst thing ever?…he sounds like a cross between his normal self and a scottish accent. poor poor poor.

  2. I don’t think we can underestimate the unique chemistry between Doug and John and Darren (and, to some degree, Bruxy). Any attempt to inject another personality into that mix seems to be either annoying or forgettable.

  3. I too have never commented here before, but I feel I need to echo the comments made by Mozzerino and Gershwyn to make sure the point hits home. I don’t want to pile on Manolis but he was beyond frustrating to listen to. Who is Shyamalan? What was his first film? Who directed Edward Scissorhands?? There is no way anyone should be allowed to ask those questions DURING the podcast! It’s possible that Bruxy may have not known these things, but he would never sound that ignorant on the air. Honestly, if I see Manolis’ name attached to another Uncut, I’m going to have to skip it. Otherwise, to John, Doug and Darren… bang up job as usual fellas.

  4. M. Night’s next film is The Last Airbender based off the Nick cartoon called Avatar: The Last Airbender. It would be his first adapted screenplays so it could change the game. This film could be his redeeming film. So if he is done he might be back on the right path to greatness. I am not saying he can’t mess up something good but sometime it hard to mess up. He is cable of making good film just look at Six Sense, Signs, and Unbreakable. So if he brings that creativity and stay true to the cartoon then it should rank up there with Six Sense, Signs, and Unbreakable.

  5. “That’s very generous of you.”

    Thanks. I thought so.

    After the brilliant ‘Sixth Sense’ and the suspenseful ‘Unbreakable’, I patiently waded through the illogic of ‘Signs’, the obvious treacle of ‘The Village’, and the pure, insipid goofyness of ‘Lady in the Water’. That’s three strikes (I won’t be seeing ‘The Happening’), which is more than fair.

  6. Lets get one thing straight. The Happening is a critical bomb but it is not a financial flop at all. So far its worldwide take has been $65 million. It cost 60 million. So if it stopped making money tomorrow. Like if the worldwide BO take each day for the rest of its run was $0 then yes it would be a financial bomb but it still has to open in lots of places and then of course there is dvd etc so the film will not bomb financially and at the end of the day that is all that matters. you make a studio money you get work. At the moment because it was relatively low budget it is doing fine. Studios don’t give a shit about critical praise. I mean sure it helps but all they care about is the money so as long as your film BO comes to more then they spent to make it you are fine.

    This film has made me like him again personally because I think he has intentionally made a very very bizarre movie and I liked the shit out of it.

    I don’t think this is the death knell that everyone is saying and bizarrely hoping it is. I hated Lady in the water and the village so I am not shayamalan apologist of superfan but I just find is kind of yucky to see people celebrating someones supposed “failure” so much.
    Its kind of gross. I have film makers I hate but I don’t revel in there “failure” the way everyone is doing with this guy. and I put ” ” around the word failure because like I said at this stage its making money.

  7. “I’ve given M. Night every chance to redeem his recent film flops…”

    That’s very generous of you. Maybe you need a “time out”. Smoke a bowl. I hear it’s quite relaxing.

  8. [ This is not to say, of course, that The Shamhammer
    doesn’t deserve a good pounding. I’ve given M. Night
    every chance to redeem his recent film flops, and I’ve
    have been left a bitter hollow shell of a man as a result. ]

  9. That’s fine. Then you should have said that, and maybe detailed whatever it is Harry is dealing with, not left Darren’s ass hanging in the breeze about it.

    Considering how cheerfully and often you pound The Shamhammer, who is a celebrity director (just as Harry is a celebrity film geek), it seemed a little harsh to let Darren choke on it. Just sayin’.

  10. Hey Gershwyn,

    Thanks for commenting.

    Regarding Harry Knowles, I have a very strong policy about not taking public shots at other movie website guys… especially ones who have recently had some serious health problems.

    Cheers.

  11. I am a long-time listener to the Uncut Podcast, and have never commented before, but the following two points need to be brought up.

    1. If you have a guest to the PodCast who isn’t a film director or a serious film geek, he’d better have a wealth of personality. Unfortunately, Manolis Zontanos didn’t meet this qualification. If you need someone to sit in on the Roundtable and ask question after painfully obvious question, I’m sure someone would be willing to lend you their preschooler. Not knocking Zontanos’ comedy stylings, because I haven’t heard them, but… wow. I’d have spent a week preparing for Uncut if I had the chance to sit in, and it just seemed like he brought nothing to the table.

    2. Why was Darren so awkwardly silenced for mentioning Harry Knowles’ mobility, or lack thereof? It’s not film news, but ‘Aint It Cool’ is a big film site, and I’m sure Harry can handle a few jabs. Personally, I ditched Harry when he started asking for X-File porn stories (starring himself) as part of his ongoing contests. Leaving Darren hanging on his offhand comment seemed unusually cowardly.

  12. Great show as always.

    Hulk will be a bad guy early and then they will catch him and become friendly with banner and team up I would imagine.

    The Happening is great I don”t care what anyone says. It is a ridiculous piece of b bordering on c grade sci fi hokum and wouldn’t look out of place on t.v. in 1972. Its a strange film in that the stilted acting and weird editing all seems very deliberate so I don’t know what shyamalan was thinking or trying but it didn’t work. except for me cos I thought was great fun.

    As for bad opening Box Office not having an effect on a film I totally disagree. If it is a low profile low budget film with no BO expectations then no it has no effect but if you are a high profile film and you have a bad opening weekend you get called bomb immediately and that sticks. But again this is only for big budget high profile films.

    seriously can you name any recent big budget block buster that had a bad opening weekend, got called a bomb after 72 hours of release but steadily grew to be a gigantic hit? There is very very few. I am not saying it doesn’t happen. Hell Titanic had a small opening weekend and everyone thought it was (sorry for the upcoming pun) sunk but it is rare. It is much more likely that your film dies after having a bad opening. If its a high profile film especially

    People are way more savy about BO numbers than the used to be. Nearly every paper near me monday morning has the weekends BO listed and I find guys at work now more than ever before – guys who are not movie obsessed like me telling me what “bombed” and what was a hit. I think the stigma of supposedly “bombing” on opening weekend does have a negative effect on a film.

  13. Give Manolis a break, its his first week and i love his clueless aloofness. I picture him having a giant moustache in my head (oh i just checked out his site; what a dissapointment).

    I wish you’re interpretation of Stark’s scene in ‘Incredible Hulk’ was true John because the rest of the Avengers chasing Hulk would be a devilish hook but i think it somply meant that ‘the problem’ referred to Abomination being captured but Ross doesn’t have the facilities to contain him and Stark does and a team is being put together in case another situation like Abomination or Iron Monger turns up.

    This net neutrality thing, at least in the article i read, sounds like the most horrific proof that corporate greed knows no bounds. You might think it would spell the end of the internet because, in an ideal world, people like us would unite together, put our collective foot down and say ‘fuck you corporations, keep your internet’; but they won’t. People cannot live without it so they’ll bite the bullet and we’ll be forced into this ridiculous position.

  14. John, after reading a synopsis of World war hulk it does sound pretty sweet, but I guess the main moral of the story is, dont mess with betty ross or anyone hulk cares about.
    Also, i was only stating that abomination was stronger becuase I think somebody said that in the hulk podcast last Friday.
    If hulk is unstoppable, but inherently good, who would be the villain that emerges to take not only him on but also the avengers.
    …who won in superman versus hulk?

  15. Hey Parker,

    Hulk is unstoppable. He is Marvel’s version of Superman (hence, when they did the crossover “verses” issues, they had Hulk and Superman go at it.

    In theory, there is no limit to his power as he gets exponentially stronger the angrier he gets.

    In the recent World War Hulk and the serise previous to it, the biggest heroes basically had to team together to send Hulk into space… and then he came back REALLY pissed off. It’s great… you should check it out.

  16. Avengers should definitely go versus Hulk, then they have to unite to take out a bigger villain, maybe abomination who is supposedly bigger and better than hulk anyway.
    But from what I have read on wikipedia based on the Thor comics, the man is unstoppable, even by hulk. Hes a god for heaven’s sake.

  17. @JACKL

    “If he’s trying to say that certain things may be beyond our understanding, then ok, fair enough, but to say that we should STOP trying to make sense of certain things then that’s going too far.”

    I didn’t mind that so much because that was an “explanation” from the character played by Wahlberg. Given how Sham organized Wahlberg’s scenes in the classroom, I totally buy Wahlberg’s interpretation of events. It’s consistent with Wahlberg’s character and what knew at the time. If Wahlberg had played an aggressive university professor angling for tenure and R01 grants and international acclaim, I would probably side with you, because then ignorance wouldn’t be sufficient. Given that Wahlberg was playing the role of educator and mentor, I buy it.

    Eh, I’ll watch it again on DVD and see if my impression changes. Right now, I am thoroughly impressed.

  18. I’ve only watched The Sixth Sense (was that nominated for Best Picture?).

    I think I’m gonna see Wall-E. Wanted looks awesome, even though McAvoy screams like a little girl. Maybe I’ll get my dad to take me to see that. I’m only 13.

  19. “Non-science types might not appreciate the seemingly fantastic premise”

    I am actually a scientist (geneticist to be exact) and that was another problem I had with the movie. An explanation giving for the ‘happening’ and also for the disappearance of bees is that it’s just an event of nature that we may never be able to explain. To be this has something of anti-science slant about it and it bothered me a little.

    If he’s trying to say that certain things may be beyond our understanding, then ok, fair enough, but to say that we should STOP trying to make sense of certain things then that’s going too far.

    As for the Love Guru vs Get Smart thing, the only good thing that might come of it is Steve Carell showing up on The Colbert Report to do an Even Stephven as on their old days on The Daily Show (Colbert appears in The Love Guru).

  20. John, in the future when you invite people to join the Roundtable, you maybe should check if they know ANYTHING about movies beforehand. With Manolis Zontanos that certainly wasn’t the case at all.
    To be a worthy addition to this podcast, you won’t have to be an expert ( Darren and Bruxy aren’t experts either), but you should have a little interest in films and upcoming releases. Otherwise what’s the point?

  21. IMO – love guru is going to hammer get smart this weekend.

    i think love guru looks like shit, but you guys are underestimating the retarded teenagers/preteens that the myer’s shit is aimed at.

  22. I’m sorry John but Studio Ghibli kicks Pixar’s Ass :P, they just work for a smaller market, only japanese people and people who watch non-english speaking movies. Dubbing movies just doesn’t work.

  23. This was made before news of his death was released. You people need to get the fuck over the fact that John, Doug, and co cannot travel back in time to re-record a Podcast made before some major news was released, so they could have said news mentioned on the podcast.

  24. Loved The Happening. But I have to admit my source of my bias: I’m a neuroscientist. Non-science types might not appreciate the seemingly fantastic premise.

  25. i just watched that trailer for ‘Global Metal’. It looks really awesome. Once i saw Max Cavelera from Sepultura (with a Deftones shirt on nonetheless) in it, that sealed the deal. hopefully it is playing in my area.

  26. I thought The Happening was pretty bad as well, even if you use Shyamalan’s ‘it’s meant to be a fun B-movie’ excuse (see here – http://www.reuters.com/article/filmNews/idUSN1146617320080611). The problem with this is that even if it’s meant to be silly (and it is very, very silly), it’s still not much fun.

    It he actually wanted it to be fun, people need to be freaking out all over the place. There needs to be more hysteria and over the top death scenes. The tone is all wrong for a ‘fun B-movie’. Plus all the gore was basically in the red-band trailer, so it doesn’t deliver at all in that respect (seemed tame for an R-rated film).

    There are many other things wrong with The Happening, but I haven’t got time for them right now. Suffice to say, if you want to see a chemical/toxin induced mass hysteria B-movie set in Pennsylvania check out George Romero’s ‘The Crazies’ instead.

  27. The Happening was the worst movie I’ve seen this year. Fucking terrible, terrible movie. Bad acting, bad dialog and bad plot. I’d prefer to have my eyes removed then to watch the garbage ever again.

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