Tag Archives: fargo
Smug Film Podcast Episode #3 – Movies That Got Us Into Movies (4/21/14)
1:15:47 | View on iTunes | Download Mp3
On this episode, I am joined by fellow Smug Film contributors John D’Amico and Jenna Ipcar. We discuss the movies that got us into movies, and were our gateway into obsession. As always, we go on tangents along the way, take a quick break for a movie joke by comedian Anthony Kapfer, and then close the show with questions from our mailbag.
If you have a question for the show, leave it in the comments or email us at Podcast@SmugFilm.com.
If you enjoy the podcast, be sure to subscribe on iTunes, and leave a rating and a comment on there as well. Doing this helps us immensely as far as our ranking on there, which is what allows people to be able to discover us. Word of mouth is always best of all though, so spread the word!
Movie Stuff Referenced in this Episode:
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Posted in All Posts, Podcast Episodes
Tagged 2001, 2001 a space odyssey, 29 days later, a clockwork orange, a hard day's night, alan mehrez, albert magnoli, alfred hitchcock, aliens, altered states, anthony kapfer, anthony kapfer comedian, apollo 13, back to the future, batman, batman begins, batman tv show, battlestar galactica, big, blake edwards, bloodsport 2, bloodsport ii, blow, blue velvet, breakfast at tiffany's, breakfast on pluto, brian depalma, bryan singer, buckaroo banzai, casablanca, christian nyby, christopher nolan, chuck russell, cody clarke, commando, danny boyle, david cronenberg, dawn of the dead, dawson's creek, death wish, detour, disco pigs, do the right thing, don hartman, don siegel, donnie darko, ed wood, edgar g. ulmer, edgar wright, eric rohmer, ernest b schoedsack, ethan coen, fargo, ferris bueller's day off, film joke, film jokes, film podcast, forrest gump, francis ford coppola, frank oz, geoff murphy, george romero, going home, groundhog day, hal ashby, handbuilt city, handbuiltcity.org, harold and maude, harold ramis, herbert b. leonard, holiday affair, howard hawks, irvin s. yeaworth, irvin s. yeaworth jr., james bridges, james cameron, jaws, jenna ipcar, joe vs. the volcano, joel coen, john badham, john carney, john damico, john ford, john g. avildsen, john hughes, john patrick shanley, joseph kosinski, jurassic park, ken loach, ken russell, king kong, kirsten sheridan, krzysztof kieslowski, kurt neumann, lee unkrich, lost, lost highway, magnolia, manhunter, mark l. lester, marnie, merian c. cooper, miami vice, michael curtiz, michael mann, mike's murder, movie joke, movie jokes, movie podcast, mystery science theater 3000, nashville, neil jordan, network, night of the living dead, o brother where art thou, o' brother, on the edge, paul thomas anderson, pauline at the beach, pee wee's big adventure, peewee's big adventure, peggy sue got married, penelope spheeris, penny marshall, peter yates, plan 9 from outer space, podcast, podcast ad, podcast advertising, princess bride, pulp fiction, purple rain, quentin tarantino, raising arizona, rambo, rambo; first blood part ii, red eye, ricahrd lester, richard donner, richard kelly, rob reiner, robert altman, robert zemeckis, rocky, ron howard, rushmore, saved by the bell, saving private ryan, scarface, seinfeld, shaun of the dead, sidney lumet, smug film, smug film podcast, smugfilm, smugfilm podcast, spike lee, sponsor a podcast, stand by me, stanley kubrick, star trek, stephen lisberger, steven spielberg, sunshine, ted demme, ted kotcheff, the adventures of buckaroo banzai across the 8th dimension, the big lebowski, the birds, the blob, the blob remake, the boondock saints, the breakfast club, the decalogue, the fly, the fly remake, the friends of eddie coyle, the goonies, the handbuilt city, the lone ranger, the princess bride, the terminator, the thing from another world, the usual suspects, the wind that shakes the barley, the wonder years, thief, tim burton, toy story 3, tron, tron legacy, troy duffy, under siege 2, under siege 2: dark territory, upstream, upstream john ford, w.d. richter, wargames, wayne's world, wes anderson, wes craven, what about bob, where art thou?, who framed roger rabbit, zack snyder
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The Cosmic Circle: Outside ‘Inside Llewyn Davis’
Inside Llewyn Davis (2013)
Written and Directed by Joel & Ethan Coen
104 min.
Some spoilers ahead.
Inside Llewyn Davis is a frustrating movie. It’s difficult to know how to approach it. Going in, you either know something about the folk music scene of NYC in the early 1960’s, or you don’t—and either way seems to handicap a viewer looking to make sense out of the film. Those who have a familiarity with the subject will be running through their head for facts, looking for characters who correspond to real people, wondering ‘Will Dylan be in this?’ They will be distracted, and in the end, it will not be a very rewarding experience. On the other hand, those who go in blind will probably get lazy and blame their misunderstanding of the film on their ignorance of the subject, thinking it to be full of inside jokes.
If you can somehow make it past that built-in obstacle course, you’ll be able to view the film for what it is—another Coen Brothers film about a cosmic circle. A man, standing still (a la Ray from Blood Simple, H.I. McDunnough from Raising Arizona, Jerry Lundegaard from Fargo, Barton Fink, The Dude) while at the same time, going on an adventure (Tom Regan from Miller’s Crossing, Rooster Cogburn from True Grit, Llewelyn Moss—practically sharing the first name of our main character—from No Country For Old Men, Ulysses Everett McGill from O Brother, Where Art Thou?—literally sharing the first name as our other main character, a cat).
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Posted in All Posts, Ned's Reviews
Tagged barton fink, blood simple, carey mulligan, coen brothers, ed crane, ethan cohen, fare thee well, fargo, gorfrein, h.i. mcdunnough, hudsucker proxy, inside llewyn davis analysis, inside llewyn davis essay, inside llewyn davis explained, inside llewyn davis movie review, inside llewyn davis review, jerry lundegaard, joe coen, just timberlake, llewelyn moss, miller's crossing, ned martin, no country for old men, norville barnes, o brother where art thou, raising arizona, rooster cogburn, the dude, the hudsucker proxy, the man who wasn't there, tom regan, true grit, ulysses everett mcgill
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Forrest Gump: A Gritty Indie Film Masquerading as a Hollywood Epic
Forrest Gump (1994)
Directed by Robert Zemeckis
Screenplay by Eric Roth
From a novel by Winston Groom
142 min.
I know it’s weird, but there are actual people who don’t like Forrest Gump. (Dr. Seuss described this phenomena as having a heart three sizes too small.) Sentimentality is a powerful thing—it makes people cry and tricks intellectuals into thinking art isn’t good. It also tricks moms into thinking that a movie with LSD use, a guy blowing his load early, sexual bartering, and child molestation is appropriate for an 8 year old—or, maybe I just have a really cool mom.
I was flipping through the channels the other day (I don’t use ‘the guide’) and I landed on Forrest Gump, which is the epitome of a ‘whenever it’s on TV I have to finish it’ movie. I landed on one of Jenny’s hippie scenes, the one where a dude pulls up in a Volkswagen Beetle and asks if anyone wants to go to San Francisco, and Jenny says “I’ll go,” and he says “Far out!”, like a very happy hippie.
At that moment, I had a realization: Forrest Gump is a pretty weird movie to be on ABC Family (which is the channel it was on). When I was a little kid, Forrest Gump was just a big, fun movie that made me laugh and then cry at the end. When I was eight, I didn’t understand that when Forrest is sitting on Jenny’s bed in her dorm and she takes off her shirt, he ejaculates early. Forrest Gump is a gritty, indie film masquerading as a Hollywood epic.
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Posted in All Posts, Greg's Reviews
Tagged 100 movies 100 years, abc family, afi 100 best movies, afi list, arthur penn, dustin hoffman, eric roth, fargo, forrest gump, forrest gump analysis, forrest gump essay, forrest gump review, goodfellas, greg deliso, ice age 2, jimi hendrix, little big man, pulp fiction, quentin tarantino, robert zemeckis, smug film, smugfilm, steadicam, tom hanks, winston groom
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Not All Movies Should Have Jokes, But All Movies Should Have a Sense of Humor
Click for bigger version.
There is a moment in Fargo (I’ll never stop talking about Fargo) that makes me die with laughter every single time I watch it. The movie is packed with black comedy and irony and brilliant deadpans (the license plate joke, holy shit) and some basic but perfect physical gags (Jean Lundegaard bursting out of the shower draped in its curtain like a kid in a homemade ghost costume), but I ain’t talking abaout all that stuff. I’m talking about the stills above. This moment seems to be more of an editorial in-joke than an actual written joke, but of course you never can tell with the Coen brothers. After Jean’s dad and Stan Grossman and Jerry discuss the plot’s central ransom over breakfast, Jerry is at the counter. The beaming cashier asks how Jerry’s meal was. After he answers rather shortly, he comes back with an affable “How you doin’” and when it cuts back to her, we see her cock her head to the side before it cuts again. All she does is cock her head to the side. No response, no change in expression, just a slight pitch. It’s hilarious. It’s insanely funny.
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Posted in Alex's Essays, All Posts
Tagged 15 minute rule, 50/50 rule, airplane, alex hiatt, an american werewolf in london, andrew nichol, breaking bad, cody clarke, coen brothers, compliance, david lynch, ethan coen, fargo, fight club, fright night, from dusk till dawn, get him to the greek, greg deliso, guillermo del toro, hostel, in time, inland empire, iron man, jean lundegaard, joel coen, ki-duk kim, kim ki duk, life is beautiful, life of pi, lords of salem, louis ck, mike stoklasa, moon, night of the comet, oblivion, p.t. anderson, pacific rim, paul thomas anderson, premium rush, pt anderson, roberto benigni, roderick jaynes, sam raimi, saving private ryan, saw, schindler's list, shaun of the dead, slither, smug film, smugfilm, source code, spider-man 3, spiderman 3, spring summer fall winter and spring, stan grossman, stanley kubrick, steven spielberg, stir of echoes, structural humor, texas chainsaw massacre, the burbs, the dark knight, the evil dead, the hangover, the lords of salem, the room, the texas chainsaw massacre, tremors, troll 2, tucker and dale vs. evil, twin peaks, united 93, wild at heart
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10 Movies Nobody Has Seen (Because Nobody Cares About Them)
Sometime in the year 2000, I went to the movies, and I don’t even remember what I ended up seeing because one of the previews left such a profound mark on me that what followed has been erased from my memory. The preview was for Under the Tuscan Sun, and when it came on all I could think was, ”who the fuck would ever want to see this movie?”. That moment crystalized my understanding of the irrelevant.
The movies on this list are not famously bad like Plan 9 From Outer Space. And they’re not notorious flops like Ishtar and Bonfire of the Vanities. In fact, there’s nothing remotely memorable about them. They just sort of exist, but it’s hard to believe they do, because nobody talks about them. In a way, they’re much worse than awesomely bad triumphs like The Room and Troll 2, because those movies at least found an audience. These movies are so wholly uninteresting in every way that they aren’t even worth making fun of.
If you’ve seen any of the following movies, please let me know. You’ll be the first person ever to have seen them, and will be given an award as their respective patient zero.
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Posted in All Posts, Greg's Lists
Tagged 10 movies nobody has seen, aaron eckhart, alexander, anthony minghella, any given sunday, audrey wells, barb wire, big year, bonfire of the vanities, catherine zeta jones, david frankel, david hogan, empire strikes back, english patient, failure to launch, fargo, greg deliso, ishtar, it's a mad mad mad mad world, jack black, jay russell, john huston, kathy bates, ladder 49, matthew mcconaughey, meryl streep, movies nobody has heard of, movies nobody has seen, natural born killers, neil diamond, no reservations, oliver stone, ordinary people, out of africa, owen wilson, pamela anderson, pamela anderson lee, plan 9 from outer space, raging bull, rat race, sarah jessica parker, scott hicks, seinfeld, sex and the city, smug film, smugfilm, steve martin, sydney pollack, terry bradshaw, the african queen, the big year, the english patient, the room, tom dey, top 10 movies nobody has seen, troll 2, under the tuscan sun, w., wall street, world trader center
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