The energy is a little bit low for episode sixty-one, and for that I beg a bit of patience considering we were at the mercy of a wicked time-zone difference. Precious few times have I recorded a podcast episode where the host is getting up early and the guest is staying up late, but that’s exactly what we had here.

Once again, I bring you an episode where I discuss a film rather quickly after watching it, and before I got a chance to flesh out my thoughts and write about it. I’d say that this was becoming a trend, but happily I already know that I’ll be getting back to normal for episode 63 in two weeks. I wonder if there will be an audible difference?

I’ve said it before, and I’ll say it again – I wish at the age of seventeen I had the cinematic taste that this week’s guest does. maybe then, I’d be further ahead of the game and not just catching up with French New Wave, Italian Neo-Realism, and the wonderful melodrama of Powell & Pressburger. Makes me wonder how film-savvy she’s gonna be when she’s my age!

Oh, and there’s a little something extra in this episode…I wonder if anybody will notice.

Here’s what’s in store in episode sixty-one…

Runtime
62 minutes, 00 seconds

Up for Discussion

1. Introduction
2. KNOW YOUR ENEMY– Q& A with this week’s guest Stevee Taylor from Cinematic Paradox (3:12)
3. COME TALK TO ME – Fielding some listener feedback on people’s least-liked Pixar film (14:13)
4. THE NEW SLANG – Review and reaction of BRAVE (21:11)
5. THE BEST OF YOU: Ryan and Stevee discuss their favorite animated films. (34:48)

More behind the scenes info on this episode can be found on Twitter by searching out #matm61

You can subscribe to the Matineecast via iTunes or RSS

Comments and feedback are welcome, and thank-you very much for listening.

Enjoy!

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36 Replies to “Episode 61”

  1. Hehehehe I hope the Pixar people are listening 😛

    Favourite film of 2012 so far- The Avengers. HULK SMASH!!!! That is all.

    Merida isn’t a Disney princess. She doesn’t sing and well, doesn’t need a man to make it happen 🙂 I love her.

    I don’t like Tangled. At all. Her hair was so freaking irritating! And I want to marry Merida’s hair. Merida’s brothers are like Scottish ninjas. I love them.

    Gah I must watch more anime stuff. And Disney. My Disney knowledge is appalling. I didn’t see How to Train Your Dragon in 3D. I feel bad now 🙁 I am not a pets person, but I want Toothless.

    My favourite animated film is Ratatouille. It’s about a rat who can cook- good lord that is amazing! I think Toy Story 3 has one of the greatest endings of all time. Iron Giant is just beautiful.

    This whole podcast makes me want to on an animated film marathon. For a month 😀 😀

    2. Nikhat, I think you need to write (or at least pitch) a screenplay where you’re the main character and you work as a waitress at the Pixar Studios cafeteria only to be swept up into the world of filmmaking. It could be live action mixed with animation. I would watch that movie. That’s all I’m saying.

    3. I second the notion of you writing a screenplay where you’re working a Pixar lunch counter.

      As for classic Disney, these should be your core ten:

      SNOW WHITE AND THE SEVEN DWARVES
      PINOCCHIO
      FANTASIA
      BAMBI
      ALICE IN WONDERLAND
      SLEEPING BEAUTY
      THE JUNGLE BOOK
      BEAUTY AND THE BEAST
      ALADDIN
      THE LION KING

      And Stevee did do a pretty darned good job didn’t she? Wish we were both more awake so that we could go deeper into the themes of BRAVE.

      1. Wow this screenplay thing is interesting 😛 Um… I’ll see what I can do.

        Thanks for the list. Getting onto it right now.

  2. I was so slow to respond to show 60 for some reason that I missed it before there was a new show up. (I loved it; it was wonderful to hear all the praise for Prometheus and I’m glad that Conact worked out so well as a companion). Anyway: I won’t make that mistake again!

    It’s hard for me to comment on Brave since it won’t come up here until in the autumn. But about animated movies, I was happy to hear your appreciation for The Iron Giant. I watched it as it came out and I remember loving it. Like Nikhat I also hold Ratatouille as one of my favorites.

    As of the fight between A bug’s life and Antz, I must admit that I really liked Antz. I’m such a sucker for Woody Allen and having that role written especially for him was irresistable.

    Your question is a bit tricky since we have different schedules here and over at your place. My number one movies watched in theatres this year are We Need to Talk about Kevin, closely followed by Take Shelter. But in other parts of the world they’re considered 2011…

    Other great movies are Tyrannosaur, Bullhead, Moonrise Kingdom. I suppose Moonrise Kingdom at least is safe to call a 2012 movie.

    Loved the little extra thing you had if you sat through the signature in the end. Wonder what that will be! 🙂

    1. You are the first person to make mention of the little easter egg I included at the end. Nice catch, work on that little project began last night, and the details of it will be revealed in episode 62.

      I’ll be interested to know what you think of BRAVE when it drops there in the autumn, especially since once again this summer we have a film that is dividing people – who saw that coming with a Pixar film?

      Thanks for soldiering through an episode, even when you haven’t seen the film for the feature discussion.

  3. I feel like my fav film of 2012 so far is a 4 way tie between Chronicle, Casa de mi Padre, Sound of My Voice and Moonrise Kingdom (add to that some Fest films and I’d have to bring up My Way and Extraterrestrial). All entirely different but that’s why it’s so hard to pick one…

    But I guess for now I’ll go with ‘Casa de mi Padre’ because if anything, that’s what I’d want to watch again right now if I could.

    I liked Brave and thin that using a princess/fairy-tale set up Pixar is able to do enough to make a familiar story feel new but also relevant and a story worth telling. Merida is definitely more of a Miyzaki styled protagonist which is equally refreshing. Funny thing though, Brave feels more like a Disney film and Wreck-It Ralph gives off the more Pixar-esqe vibe:P And I LOVED the La Luna short…that was special!

    1. BRAVE does feel a lot like a Disney film, doesn’t it? But that said, it feels like the sort of film they were making in the early 90’s (MERMAID, BEAUTY, ALADDIN) before they sort of lost the plot around the turn or the century.

      Ain’t nothing wrong with wanting to tell more of that sort of story in my opinion.

  4. At Stevee’s age I was probably watching something like Men at Work with Charlie Sheen & Emilio Estevez and she’s already working her way through the French New Wave. I am so utterly impressed with her and ashamed of my own movie upbringing.

    My favorite film of the year thus far? Seeking A Friend For The End Of The World. All I can say is, I can’t argue with my heart. That’s an argument I can’t win.

    1. If I have one regret about this episode, it’s that I had to hand Stevee BRAVE. I wanted to get her to talk about something meatier (she just fell hard for SHAME as an example), but the wicked disparity between North American and NZ release dates made it impossible to talk about anything current that wasn’t a massive release.

      But I’m like you – at 17 I was just growing out of seeing DIE HARD WITH A VENGEANCE and BATMAN FOREVER.

  5. Ooooh, we sound so tired, but we did well! I must admit, I kinda wanna start my own podcast now – alas, I’ve not got the time to edit them. One day, though.

    As for favourite movie of 2012, I’m in the same boat as Jessica. I loved movies like Take Shelter, The Artist, Young Adult, Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy, Dragon Tattoo, War Horse…all of which were released this year but considered as 2011 films. I guess we could say that Tyrannosaur is probably a 2011 film too. So that leaves me with Chronicle, Brave, The Hunger Games and The Avengers, the only good 2012 films I’ve seen so far. Shows how behind we are in movies here in NZ!

    1. When your schedule settles down a bit, do start one of your own – even if you make it something where you don’t edit the conversations, you just drop in opening and closing themes and post the raw conversations. I for one would certainly tune in.

      Thanks again for making time for this during a busy and stressful week – I owe you one.

    2. Hehehe, I love the little easter egg at the end. Very cool!

      And also, I forgot to mention it before, but – nice choice of music at the start. Hahaha.

  6. Yay, so glad you added Perfect Blue to your list Stevee! Glad you’re plugging the word for it, always good getting more people to see it. (And also, secretly stroking my invisible beard that I’d recommended it to you, way back when.)

    Good podcast from both you guys, though!

    1. Thanks Cherokee, and Welcome to The Matinee. Hopefully I can extort your kinship with Stevee and add you to my own readership? Maybe?…Possibly?…

      Learning about titles like PERFECT BLUE is the biggest reason why I still keep the top five feature in the show, since its inclusion has pointed me towards a lot of great selections I either didn’t know about or had been ignoring too long.

      A BAND APART, BRIEF ENCOUNTER, and CUBE come to mind.

      Thanks for suggesting PERFECT BLUE to Stevee so that she could in turn suggest it to me…I’ll try to keep the line moving and suggest it to someone else once I’ve watched it.

      1. My Neighbour Totoro, Howl’s Moving Castle, Spirited Away and Paprika are the big ones at the moment. I’m just going to see where the series leads me to.

  7. HEY!!! A friend of mine was in I MELT WITH YOU!!!!

    Stevee! You are nominated for Best Blog, and you haven’t seen STAR WARS…
    … fix that! NOW!!!

    My favorite film of the year would have to be PROMETHEUS. I rated THE AVENGERS higher at the Black Hole, but the more I think about PROMETHEUS, the more I like. It seems you and I are the few that will champion this film. THE AVENGERS makes a strong case (It must’ve. I’ve seen the god damn thing three times), but PROMETHEUS is leading the charge for me at this point. I don’t really know what it is, but I friggin’ loved that movie!

    RYAN!!! WHEN CAN I COME BACK?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!

      1. Possibly? I don’t think she had a very big role. She is listed as Old Man’s Daughter on IMDB. I leave the judging of her relationship with Christian McKay to you based on that information.

    2. Now look what you’ve done – you have Stevee all worked up!

      I’ll be mapping out autumn at The Matineecast soon and promise to keep you in mind.

  8. Top Film of 2012 So Far: Cosmopolis – It’s a dialogue-heavy and polarizing film that not everyone would be able to connect to, but I was completely enthralled by its overarching theme of the fall of Capitalism, which is physically represented by Robert Pattinson’s character.

  9. Stevie Nicks in the opening? And Edge of Seventeen? You cheeky man.

    And Ryan, you haven’t heard of HIROSHIMA, MON AMOUR? Oh man.

    Paprika? Oh man. That film is such a mess. I like moments of it, but it’s Kon’s worst film, easily. Go watch Tokyo Godfathers and Perfect Blue, which Stevee talks about. Much, much better films.

    As far as my favorite film of this year so far, it’s easily The Kid with a Bike. I know some people considered it “lesser” Dardennes, but I think it’s their most complete and moving work.

    Also…interesting little bit at the end.

    1. Aren’t I clever?

      I think you expressed your dislike for PAPRIKA during the anime syllabus, but considering how much that entire genre seems to be subjective I’m not surprised. It’s certainly flawed, but there was a lot that drew me in…and the aforementioned sound design nudged me over the top.

      Glad you caught the easter egg – it’s for something I’m even more excited since posting it.

      Full details will be revealed on Episode 62.

  10. Good show, Ryan. It’s always fun to hear from Stevee.

    My favorite film of 2012 is Moonrise Kingdom. i just saw it last weekend and think it ranks among Wes Anderson’s best. I loved the style of the movie, which is set in the ’60s but has a timeless feeling of the adventures that can happen in summer. It was fun to see actors who sometimes take themselves too seriously like Edward Norton playing lighter roles. I was charmed from start to finish.

    1. Well said! I’m hoping to give MOONRISE another watch before it leaves cinemas, but with the stacked slate that we have here in Toronto at the moment, I’m not sure I’ll be able to get back to it.

      Thanks for listening Dan.

  11. Awesome episode- I agree with most of your discussion of BRAVE, and Stevee was a great guest! I’m really glad PAPRIKA made it into your top 5, and that Satoshi Kon was in both of your lists! I think THE TRIPLETS OF BELLEVILLE would have made my list, and SITA SINGS THE BLUES. And definitely some stop-motion, maybe Henry Selick or some Jan Svankmajer. And probably a Miyazaki. I’m an animation junkie, I’ve got too many favorites!

    Looking forward to next week, I’ll give my 2012 favorite then obviously.

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