Episode 99 – Michael Mann & Meg Gardiner's 'Heat 2'

After an initial hesitance from a few film fans, Michael Mann’s Heat has cemented itself as an all-timer, as both a great Los Angeles movie, an actors’ showcase, and, more importantly, an expansively novelistic character study inside a cops-and-robbers heist movie. So, when the Heat-universe expanded last year into book form, co-authored by Meg Gardiner, and became a bestseller, did the film world rejoice? On this episode is Mann-fanatic Ted Haycraft, who explains:

• the long history of the Heat universe as a project;

• the odd circumstances around its initial version, the TV-pilot-turned-TV-movie LA Takedown;

• and why Ted took so long to finish the book extension of one of his favorite movies.

Also:

• this novel as a Rosetta stone for all of Mann’s themes;

• the Godfather II structure of the sequel novel;

• and casting speculation for an eventual, hopeful, inevitable film adaptation.

Ted Haycraft is film critic for WFIE-14 and co-hosts Cinema Chat on its Midday show. He can also be found on Cinema Chat’s Facebook page.

Heat 2 is published by Harper Collins and is now available in paperback.

Episode 98 – 'To Be or Not to Be' & Ernst Lubitsch

First declared as Europe’s answer to D.W. Griffith, later (after emigrating to Hollywood) credited as the creator of the modern musical and, as Jean Renoir said, the creator of modern Hollywood, Ernst Lubitsch was also one of the first celebrity directors. And while the “Lubitsch touch” started as a piece of marketing, its influence is still felt over 100 years later. On today’s episode I’m joined by writer/director/author Nicholas Meyer, no stranger himself to classy, erudite wit, to discuss Lubitsch’s fiercely felt jab at Hitler and his abandoned birthplace. On this episode, we talk:

• how is it that Lubitsch’s 100 year old movies are more adult and modern than many current Hollywood movies;

• why is someone who never took a writers’ credit known for some of Hollywood’s best post-talkies writing;

• and the brilliance of the “heist” in the Lubitsch-produced, Frank Borzage-directed Desire.

Also:

• how the Mel Brooks-produced remake, along with the popular Shop Around the Corner remake You Got Mail, are as good of illustrations to be found of the “Lubitsch touch”;

• why many modern viewers come to Lubitsch through filmmakers he’s influenced, from Billy Wilder to Wes Anderson;

• and which famous French filmmaker told Meyer that To Be or Not to Be was his favorite film.

Nicholas Meyer is a director and Oscar-nominated screenwriter. He’s written over 11 books, including his Sherlock Holmes novels, the most recent of which is The Return of the Pharaoh, from the Reminiscences of John H.Watson, M.D.  His films as director include Time After Time, Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan, The Day After, and Star Trek IV: The Undiscovered Country. He lives in Santa Monica, California; more information can be found at his website.

To Be or Not to Be is streaming on both Max and the Criterion Channel, and is available on Blu-ray from Criterion.

Episode 96 – 'Convergence Culture' w/ Author Henry Jenkins

Hollywood and Wall Street have obvious reasons to be obsessed with I.P. (Intellectual Property) because its consistently proven moneymaking abilities. But, how does it actually enrich the storytelling experience? In 2008, Henry Jenkins was asking these questions in his book, Convergence Culture: Where Old and New Media Collide. I’m joined on this episode by Rehman Nizar Ali, as we discuss:

• The Matrix (a trilogy at the point of the book’s publication) as the ideal model of transmedia;

• how the “mothership” transmedia model has dominated;

• what the abandonment of Star Wars canon means for — up to this point — the most sophisticated canon.

Also:

• There are still more James Bond movies than MCU movies;

• the super-hero genre, fatigued or not, as one of empowerment;

• what video game to film adaptation has the best potential to work;

• and Fredric Wertham’s resurgent reputation.

Henry Jenkins is a professor at the University of Southern California; previously, he was the director of the MIT Comparative Media Studies Program. He is the author and/or editor of twenty books on various aspects of media and popular culture, including Textual Poachers: Television Fans and Participatory Culture, Hop on Pop: The Politics and Pleasures of Popular Culture, From Barbie to Mortal Kombat: Gender and Computer Games, Spreadable Media: Creating Meaning and Value in a Networked Culture, and By Any Media Necessary: The New Youth Activism. He also co-hosts How Do You Like It So Far?, a podcast about popular culture in a changing world. More can be found on his blog.

Rehman Nizar Ali is co-editor of recent films for Terrence Malick including A Hidden Life, Song to Song, and Voyage of Time. Other works include commercials for Facebook, Google, Guerlain, and most recently the museum video installation Dioses y Maquinas! You can also find him at his website.

Convergence Culture: Where Old and New Media Collide is published by NYU Press, and is available online or brick and mortar bookstores.

Episode 94 – The Annual Richard Lester Year-End Dinner: 2022

It’s been a year-end tradition that me, Aaron Smith, and Ted Haycraft usually meet sometime after Christmas but before New Years at an IHOP or Denny’s, recap the year among friends, and eventually get into an argument as to whether Richard Lester is the father of the music video. It happens. Every year. For the third podcasting year, we’ve continued away from in-person dining to the podcast episode, where the three of us talk:

• why Ted, after three years of doing this, forgot to make a list this year;

• if Jordan Peele’s Nope is overrated — or this generation’s Jaws;

• and the difference between a normal top ten list and spectacle experiences in-person at the theater.

Also:

• the mutual love of The Northmen from different directions;

• our mutual best surprise of the year coming from late summer;

• and my surprise and enthusiastic pick for #2, which barely appeared on other critics’ top ten lists.

Aaron Smith is the lead manager at Showplace Cinemas Newburgh in Evansville, IN.

Ted Haycraft is film critic for WFIE-14 and co-hosts Cinema Chat on its Midday show. He can also be found on Cinema Chat’s Facebook page.

Episode 93 – The 'Is "Die Hard" a Christmas Movie?' Debate

Roughly since 2007, the assertion that Die Hard -- a movie that takes place at Christmas -- is a Christmas movie has been met with either strong support or opposition. On this episode, along with Ted Haycraft and writer/director Tyler Savage, we discuss the history of the heated debate, while also debating ourselves:

• has this debate ever happened IRL, off of Twitter?;

• if so, were the debaters online journalists or bots?;

• have any of these IRL debates lasted any longer than three minutes?

• and did the debate’s resolution involve anything other than the participants realizing it all comes down to one’s own definition of a “Christmas movie”?

Also:

• the careers of Steven E. de Souza and John McTiernan;

• their assertions in the debate, along with Bruce Willis’s and his mom’s;

• Die Hard’s origin as a sequel to a novel that was adapted into The Detective, starring Frank Sinatra;

• and the film as a progression in action filmmmaking.

Tyler Savage’s latest film, Stalker, is currently streaming on Hulu, while his first feature, Inheritance, is currently streaming on Amazon Prime. His latest short, “Oddities,” starring Adrienne Barbeau, Logan Miller, and Ariela Barer, is currently making its festival run for 2023.

Episode 92 – 'Sight & Sound's' 2022 Greatest Films of All-Time Critics' Poll

Sight & Sound magazine and the British Film Institute put out their once-every-decade poll of greatest films. The top ten:

1. Jeanne Dielman, 23, quai du Commerce, 1080 Bruxelles

2. Vertigo

3. Citizen Kane

4. Tokyo Story

5. In the Mood for Love

6. 2001: A Space Odyssey

7. Beau Travail

8. Mulholland Dr.

9. Man with a Movie Camera

10. Singin’ in the Rain

The poll, which first started in 1952 and had come to be the definitive film list, now has a controversial and brand new #1 film for this decade: Chantal Ackerman’s 1975 piece of slow cinema. And this episode, we discuss:

• the expansion of the voter-base leading to the controversy

• Paul Schrader’s reaction on Facebook decrying the poll being “woke”;

• which titles were dropped between 2012 and 2022;

• and the distinction between polls of “favorites” and “GREATEST.”

Also:

• how the poll ensconced Citizen Kane into the top spot for so long;

• the poll’s history of top tens;

• the age of those top ten titles at the time each decade’s poll;

• and the lists’ preference for titles over filmographies.

The Sight & Sound/BFI list can be found here.

Episode 91 – 'Red Carpet' w/ Author Erich Schwartzel

Though it had been widely predicted to happen sometime later this decade, China managed to surpass North America during the pandemic 2020 — during the first year of decade — in domestic box-office. A big part of that was the fact that China had built more movie theaters than North America. On this episode, we discuss:

• whether I say something in this interview that disqualifies me from ever working for a studio movie that needs China’s box office;

• the definition of “dumb money” investors, and how this applies to the China’s access to the American moviemaking process

• why did a movie like Wolf Warrior 2, the first movie in the worldwide top-ten, get completely ignored domestically in America?

• what contribution the Russo Bros., famously of the Marvel Avenger movies, added to Wolf Warrior 2?

Also:

• the Eastern ethos and religious philosophies that are being applied to Chinese big-budget productions like The Wandering Earth,

• alongside what the Asian crossover effect of K-Pop, Parasite, and Squid Game;

• the difference between Russia’s successful mid-50s film production/censorship from China’s current state-based film distribution.

Erich Schwartzel covers the film industry in the Wall Street Journal's Los Angeles bureau. He joined the Journal in 2013 and has written dozens of front-page stories on life and business in Hollywood, specializing in features where commerce meets culture. His work can be found here.

Episode 89 – 'Blood, Sweat & Chrome' w/ Author Kyle Buchanan

Hiatus over! When Mad Max: Fury Road came out in 2015, a 30-year gap since Beyond Thunderdome, its breathless and near-universal reception as — already — one of the greatest movies of the decade and — already — one of the greatest action movies of all-time, automatically erased the two-decade lead-up to the film’s execution and completion, erasing previous versions and false starts. Yet, once the final studio greenlight came, that only began the film’s arduous production. On this episode, Kyle Buchanan talks the oral history book he’s written about that epic production, thusly untold and way more epic than previously thought — all leading towards the triumph as one of the best action movies of all time. We discuss:

• the silent-movie, low-dialogue inspiration for whole production;

• the extremely thorough pre-production, where even cameramen were given extensive audition processes;

• what would Mel Gibson in Fury Road really have felt like?

• or the in-sequence shooting schedule which focused the million-dollar production on, ostensibly, seconds-long inserts.

Also:

• how the shoot was bolstered by a crew-member and long-time Max fan named “Toast”;

• the intensive storyboarding/writing process,

• Charlize Theron and Tom Hardy’s (pre-known, pre-excerpted) on-set tension,

• and how the next Mad Max film, Furiosa, was implanted and planned from this film, starring Chris Hemsworth as a previous-revealed villain.

Kyle Buchanan is a pop culture reporter and serves as the Projectionist, the awards season columnist for the New York Times. Prior, he was a senior editor at Vulture, New York Magazine's entertainment website, where he covered the movie industry. A native of Southern California, he lives in Los Angeles. Blood, Sweat & Chrome is his first book.

Episode 88 – The Annual Richard Lester Year-End Dinner: 2021

It’s been a year-end tradition that me, Aaron Smith, and Ted Haycraft usually meet sometime after Christmas but before New Years at an IHOP or Denny’s, recap the year among friends, and eventually get into an argument as to whether Richard Lester is the father of the music video. It happens. Every year. For the second podcasting year, we’ve migrated away from in-person dining to the podcast episode, where the three of us talk:

• how Ted’s disdain of making a top ten list, in a small market where most top ten films have not yet been shown, led to him creating his own year-end award categories;

• with categories such as Best End Credit Tag, Needless Film of the Year, Guy Ritchie Doing Michael Mann, Overlooked Indie, and Most Insightful Documentary;

• or other Ted categories like Most Fun Artsy-Fartsy Film, Deserves More Attention, or Number One Film of the Year (Question Mark?),

Also:

• Why that hasn’t stopped Smith or me from making our own top twenty lists;

• our mutual love of Mitchells vs. the Machines, which Smith has seen multiple times for his kids, and I’ve seen a second time just to confirm that I like it as much as the first time;

• and how, despite it all, we all mutually agreed on our number one movie from 2021.

Aaron Smith is the lead manager at Showplace Cinemas East in Evansville, IN.

Ted Haycraft is film critic for WFIE-14 and co-hosts Cinema Chat on its Midday show. He can also be found on Cinema Chat’s Facebook page.

Episode 87 – Steven Spielberg's Musical(…Sequence)s

After 32 features, Steven Spielberg has finally directed his first full-fledged musical! From the director whose camera has visually danced compositionally on screen more than any other for almost 50 years, it all begs the question: Why did it take so long? And what other attempts at the musical form has he made over the years? I’m joined by Ted Haycraft as we discuss:

• Why the most obviously salvageablely revelatory sequence from 1979’s 1941 is its musical “Jitterbug” dance sequence;

• the cut-off Busby Berkeley opening for Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom with its reverse dance shots;

• and why the key to good musicals, from stage to screen, is musical numbers that advance the story or theme forward.

Also:

• Why 1991’s Hook should have committed to its original conception as a musical;

• Spielberg’s intention of stuffing other musical sequences into A.I. or The Terminal;

• the debate over whether the new 2021 West Side Story and the 1961 original, universally considered one of the greatest movies ever made, should have have been remade,

• and if the 2021 version, with all its updating, might legitimately be superior.

The 2021 West Side Story is currently available in theaters for who knows how long. It’ll likely end up streaming on Disney+ eventually. 1941 is available on DVD and Blu-ray; as is Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom in streaming and physical media, and Hook DVDs and Blu-rays.