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Helen and Bill's Excellent Movie Adventures - 2013 · Death by Multimedia

• 0:00
  Hello avid listeners and welcome to today's episode and firstly
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  let's apologise for the length in between episodes.
• 0:09
  But what I wanted to do to start with today was to acknowledge 2
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  losses to the movie industry which both Helen and I are avid
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  viewers of. And the first was David
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  Stratton. So today we're going to pay
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  tribute to David Stratton. Now David was an English and
• 0:27
  Australian film critic and historian.
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  He also worked as a journalist and author and interviewer,
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  educator and lecturer. He was a television personality
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  and producer and his career as a film critic, writer and educator
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  in Australia spanned 57 years until his retirement in December
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  2023. Stratton's media career included
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  writing film reviews for The Weekend Australian for over 30
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  years and lecturing in film history for 35 years.
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  He was widely regarded as an extremely influential film
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  critic in Australia, presenting the film review shows on
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  television with Margaret Pomerance for 28 years, which is
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  where we know him best from and is the inspiration behind this
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  podcast. David and Margaret started on
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  SBSTV with their show The Movie Show from 1986 through to 2004
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  where they reviewed new release movies, both mainstream and art
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  house, and they did this on a weekly basis with their unique
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  perspectives and often differing opinions.
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  Does that sound familiar? In 2004, they both quit the
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  network due to disagreements with the executives and
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  relocated to the ABC where they presented their format under the
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  name At the Movies. From 2004 until 2014 when they
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  retired, their final show was one of the highest rating shows
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  ever on the ABC. David lived in the Blue
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  Mountains West of Sydney and would often be invited to
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  special movie screenings at the local movie theater just down
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  the road from him to talk about the movie before and after its
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  screening, which always brought in packed houses in his final
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  years. Giant cell arthritis.
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  Sorry, I'm trying to say that properly.
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  Giant cell arthritis caused David to lose sight in one of
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  his eyes and have limited vision in the other.
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  Steroids used to treat the disease made his bones weak and
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  he fractured his back twice. He also had a collection of
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  about 20,000 DVDs in his home. That's just a few more than me.
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  Stratton died on the 14th of August 2025 at a hospital in the
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  Blue Mountains, near where he'd been living.
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  He was 85 years old. The Prime Minister of Australia,
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  Anthony Albanese, posted a personal tribute to Stratton on
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  X, saying all of us who tuned in to at the movies respected him
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  for his deep knowledge and for the gentle and generous way he
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  passed it on. On the SBS The Movie Show.
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  The following films received five star reviews from both
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  hosts. Goodfellas, the Thin Red Line,
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  schindler's List 2001 A Space Odyssey, Aliens, Eyes Wide Shut,
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  Russian Ark, The Thin Blue Line, Evil Angels Return Home, The
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  Piano, lantana and Three Colors red on AB CS at the movies, only
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  7 films have achieved a perfect five star rating by both
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  pomerance and Stratton. Good night and good luck,
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  Brokeback mountain, no country for old men, Samson and dalia, A
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  separation, a Moore and Birdman, or the unexpected virtue of
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  ignorance. So today we pay our respects to
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  David Stratton for his wonderful career and the way that he has
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  inspired us to continue on their wonderful work.
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  We also want to talk about Robert Redford, one of the quiet
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  giants of cinema who quietly passed away last week or the
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  week before, maybe at the age of 89.
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  Actor, writer, director and instigator and creator of the
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  Sundance Film Festival, which has championed independent films
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  and film makers for half a century, Robert Redford gave far
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  more than he received from the industry.
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  He first starred in the movie version of Neil Simon's Barefoot
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  in the Park, a book that I studied in English and then
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  watched the movie as a result. It was not the first film I saw
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  him in, but it was one of the more instructive.
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  If not for Mum, my mother, I would never have watched The
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  Electric Horsemen, which would have been an error.
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  A touching film where Redford and Jane Fonda were terrific in
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  their roles alongside Dustin Hoffman.
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  His performance in All the President's Men retold the
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  Watergate scandal in a detail that made you feel the true evil
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  of what occurred. He's remembered most fondly for
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  his role as the Sundance Kid alongside Paul Newman's Butch
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  Cassidy in the film of the same name, and the chemistry of these
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  two great actors together lit up the screen.
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  And his performance with Meryl Streep in Out of Africa was
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  outstanding, as was his Co star and the film itself.
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  There are other performances that are lauded and other films
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  that people love that I am less enthusiastic about.
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  I'm looking at you, the Horse Whisperer.
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  He also made his name as a director and indeed won his only
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  Academy Award as director of Ordinary People, which also won
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  Best Film and Best Supporting Actor for Timothy Hutton.
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  Two other films he directed that are the best examples of his
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  ability to get the right shots and the best performances out of
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  the actors are the underrated and magnificent The Milagro
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  Boeingfield Wall and one of the best films of the 1990s in Quiz
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  Show. My favorite three Redford films
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  and performances come from three entirely different types of
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  films. The ensemble comedy heist film
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  Sneakers is a fun romp and excellently written and acted,
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  and Redford carries the main role perfectly in The Natural.
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  He plays the young phenom baseball player who misses his
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  shot through a series of events, only to turn up in later years
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  for a last shot of glory. One of my all time favorite
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  sports films. And of course The Sting, one of
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  the dozen movies in my life that my father said to me, sit down
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  and watch this. Everyone needs to watch this
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  film. And he was right.
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  The Sting remains one of my top ten films of all time.
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  And Redford's performance as Johnny Hooker is just perfect
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  for all of his acting performances.
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  He drew his directing performances.
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  He's champion of the independent film market.
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  He just seems like a nice guy, a quiet, unassuming character who
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  did his job, lived his life, and helped people in the industry
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  when he could. If only there were more of them
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  out there. So there we go.
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  We've lost 2 champions and now two other champions are going to
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  come and tell you all about the latest films that we've watched
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  in Helen and Bill's excellent movie adventures Go.
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  Hi there everyone, and welcome to today's episode.
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  After that long and lengthy introduction and now let's
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  introduce the absolute star of the show, the one that you have
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  all been waiting for, the one you've all been asking for.
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  Where is the lovely Helen? Well, maybe the lovely Helen
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  will explain to us where she's been and why it's been for very
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  long months since our last episode.
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  Hello lovely Helen. Hello William.
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  Hello listeners. Where have I been?
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  I guess most of the time I was here preparing for a holiday,
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  then going on a holiday, then, you know, recovering from a
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  holiday and going back to work and that sort of thing.
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  And we, we it took us a while to watch these movies.
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  There's nine of them. So.
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  Yeah. And, And to write the notes, you
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  know, that takes me a while, but here I am.
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  Hi, everybody. It seems like the notes tend to
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  be the longest possible time. It takes takes you longer to
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  write the notes than it does to actually watch the films.
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  Well, I do prefer the watching of the film and the talking
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  about the film to writing notes well.
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  Anyway. Yes.
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  Here we are four months. That is a long.
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  Last episode. Yes.
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  So we've probably lost all of our audience.
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  They won't know who we are anyway.
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  We watched 9 films of course, and these are the films from the
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  86th Academy Awards from 2014, which is the movies from 2013,
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  Yes. How overall did you think of the
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  movie selection this time? All.
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  Very high calibre and a lot of movies based on true stories.
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  Which is too many, but we'll get to that.
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  So are you all all drugged up there?
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  You've got your alcoholic beverage all ready to go.
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  I do have a lovely white wine but no drugs.
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  Well, that is the drug. Alcohol is a drug anyway, yes.
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  So we're going to move on and get stuck into these films.
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  Great. All righty.
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  Well, the first film that we're going to talk about is Captain
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  Phillips. And Captain Phillips is a 2013
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  American biographical action thriller film directed by Paul
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  Greengrass, based on the 2009 Maersk Alabama, Try that again,
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  Bill Maersk Alabama Hijacking, which was the name of the boat.
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  I'm guessing Master Bing probably should have looked at
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  that earlier. I probably did back when I wrote
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  my notes 17 months ago. The film tells the story of
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  Captain Richard Phillips, an American merchant mariner who
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  was taken hostage by Somali pirates.
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  It stars Tom Hanks as Phillips, alongside Bhakad Abdi as the
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  pirate leader Abdulwali Moos. Helen, why don't you tell us all
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  about Captain Phillips? Well, I think it's an amazing
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  story. So yes, this one obviously based
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  on true events. I don't know why.
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  I don't really take Tom Hanks as a serious actor.
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  I just don't because. You're still thinking of
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  bachelor party. Perhaps or.
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  Big. But I think you've been in so
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  many movies, maybe that's why. But I kind of take him for
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  granted. But in this movie, he skilfully
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  and without me even noticing, just worked his magic.
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  It just gets you in like, you just think he's that person
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  straight away. It the story is great and, like,
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  compelling, a very compelling story.
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  And it's good because it holds back on the national, you know,
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  yeah, America pride, national pride.
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  That can be in some of those sorts of movies about Americans
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  on an international stage doing good.
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  But there was none of that aspects of the story.
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  Yeah. And gently brings your attention
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  to the Third World poverty and how it pushes its citizens
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  towards criminal acts in order to survive.
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  That was the strongest message I got out of it.
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  It's a sad story, but it's a great movie.
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  Great story. Yep.
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  What about you, Bill? So I've written it's the first
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  film off the rank and it's based on true life events and I've
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  said, so let's just see how many of these there are for this
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  year's nominations. Well, there are quite a few
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  there are. Yes, I must admit, when this
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  film came out, I never had a desire to see it.
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  Did we see it? I think no.
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  So is this I didn't. I feel like maybe I did see.
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  It Yeah, I definitely did not. I just didn't have a desire to
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  see it. And that was so, well, the
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  subject matter never really appealed to me.
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  Pirates on the high seas. Yeah, you know, kidnapping.
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  Modern day pirates. That kind of stuff.
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  I mean, when it actually occurred, when the actual thing
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  occurred, I followed it on the news while it was happening for
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  that five days to seven days that it was actually occurring.
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  So for me, I was pretty much aware of what had occurred
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  having, you know, read the news stories and and watched the news
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  about it all going on. So I think for me that was
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  always going to be enough for me.
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  I didn't need to see a film on it because I felt as though I'd
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  already gotten all the information I needed from it
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  from the actual event. One quote from the film that
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  stands out is when Phillips says to Muse, surely there is
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  something else to do in Somalia apart from phishing and piracy,
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  To which Muse replies, maybe in America.
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  And as you said, it's a major part of the story that I, I
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  still think wasn't explored enough.
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  Now, it was kind of towards the end, yeah, that that that theme
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  came to the fore, yeah. But it's the crux of the whole
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  story. Yeah.
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  That it's the actual reason behind the desperation to
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  participate in modern day piracy.
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  Yeah. And I think they had an
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  opportunity there to do that. But that's what the scriptwriter
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  obviously decided. That's not what they're looking
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  for. They were.
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  They were. Well, it was interesting to see
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  sort of the blow by blow account of what, you know, the lead up
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  to this and how prepared they were as a crew and that they
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  were just ordinary people doing their job.
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  And then how it just the the Navy, American Navy Seals or
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  something got involved at the end and how they resolved the
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  issue. Like all of that day-to-day
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  stuff was very interesting. The thing that I might have
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  written here, but I'll bring up now anyway is if they knew this
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  was dangerous and they did, they said to us out when when when
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  Captain Phillips came on board, he said, you know, this, this is
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  going to be a dangerous thing. Why did they not have escorts?
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  I know it just seems ludicrous that I mean the cost is that
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  what the company decided they didn't want escorts must have
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  been cost. And so they just said it's it's
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  I don't know. I didn't look up that.
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  But that watching the movie, I'm just thinking straight away, you
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  know, there's pirates out there. They need some help, Yeah, and
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  maybe they do do that now. Yeah, you'd think so, but again,
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  we don't know. We're only movie watchers.
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  That's right. We're not researchers.
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  We're not. We're not newsmen or women.
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  The story of the different levels of authority in the movie
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  I thought was interesting. Like Captain Phillips is there
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  to protect his crew and his decision in staying near the
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  coast and not to go further out. I thought that was an
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  interesting decision because it was said by his second in charge
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  at one stage, why aren't we going out further away from the
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  coast than we were to try and steer clear of all that.
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  But also then the muse as the captain of his crew and and the
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  arguments about those decisions in his crew about what he was
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  making decisions about. Then we had Commander Costellano
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  from the USS Bainbridge who wanted a peaceful solution but
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  was under time pressure to actually perform it before the
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  big boys came in. So he was sort of rushing
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  against time in doing that as well.
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  And then of course, the US Navy Seals brought in their
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  negotiator who wanted to bring this to its conclusion quickly.
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  So that part of it, the different levels of authority
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  and what they were doing, I thought was was well explained
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  and done in the movie to give you an overview of all that kind
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  of thing. Was Tom Hanks used as the draw
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  card to get people to watch this movie?
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  And I'm guessing definitely yes. Because for me, for most of the
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  over 2 hours of the film, anyone could have played this role of
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  Captain Phillips. Yeah.
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  It was only in the final 5 minutes of the film where
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  Hanks's amazing acting ability really shines and is required to
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  create the emotion of the moment when he's actually.
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  And all the tension and yeah, when he's.
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  Being looked at, Yeah. In the at back, when he's been
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  saved, he's back on the boat. And we looked at the way that he
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  portrayed that scene from someone who was, you know, he
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  said I'm under control because I'm the captain, whatever.
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  And then you could see just little by little, just breaking
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  away from him. Yeah.
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  I mean, that's when you want an actor of his stature.
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  And it was very affecting. It was, and it really was in
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  that last bit. Everything before that, anyone
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  really could have played it. I reckon I could have played it.
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  I would have been great in the part, but that was where, that
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  was the money. That's where all the money in
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  the film was spending that 5 minutes just for Hanks to do
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  that. And it was just fabulous in that
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  bit. For me, the film was OK.
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  I didn't enjoy it. It wasn't a film that I looked
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  at it and I thought, oh, that was really enjoyable.
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  I just thought, Oh, yeah, OK. I don't know if it's a subject
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  matter or whatever it is for me, it didn't offer enough glimpses
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  of why the Somalis are doing the piracy part and why they're
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  doing that. And I had written here at the
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  very end, if it's dangerous, why no armed escorts?
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  So I've just got ahead of myself.
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  But yeah, it was OK without, I thought, without being
• 18:09
  brilliant. So what did you give it?
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  I gave it four stars. I was really compelled, yeah.
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  Well, we're often a role here. I've given it 2 1/2 stars.
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  No surprise. No, probably not.
• 18:21
  So we watched this on Binge in Australia.
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  No idea where it is for you and the rest of the world.
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  It was nominated for six Academy Awards and one nun.
• 18:30
  Oh, OK. So it was nominated for best
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  picture for best supporting actor, for Bhakad Abdi, who
• 18:36
  played Muse, who was very good. Yeah.
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  Best adapted screenplay, best film editing, best sound mixing
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  and best sound editing. So for me, I think that just
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  showed that like someone like Tom Hanks being in that role
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  didn't get nominated for an Academy Award.
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  I mean, this was an amazing year for acting awards, so it's not
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  really a surprise. But I just think because all he
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  did was that everything he did what anyone could have done up
• 19:03
  until that last five minutes, and that it was just judged on a
• 19:06
  5 minute period, he probably gets it right.
• 19:16
  Yeah. So our second film is The Wolf
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  of Wall Street. And The Wolf of Wall Street is a
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  2013 American epic biographical black comedy crime film that's a
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  mouthful Co produced and directed by Martin Scorsese,
• 19:31
  written by Terence Winter and based on Jordan Belfort's 2007
• 19:35
  memoir. It recounts Belfort's career as
• 19:39
  a stockbroker in New York City and how his firm, Stratton
• 19:42
  Oakmont, engaged in rampant corruption and fraud on Wall
• 19:46
  Street, leading to his downfall. The film stars Leonardo DiCaprio
• 19:50
  as the Belfort, Jonah Hill as his business partner and friend
• 19:54
  Donny Azoff, Margot Robbie as his second wife Naomi, Matthew
• 19:59
  McConaughey as his mentor and former boss, Mark Hanna, and
• 20:03
  Karl Chandler as FBI Special Agent Patrick Denham portraying
• 20:08
  a real character of Gregory Coleman, apparently.
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  I think I should have edited that before I did it.
• 20:13
  Too bad. It is Dicaprio's fifth
• 20:15
  collaboration with Martin Scorsese.
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  Tell us all about the Wolf of Wall Street, Helen.
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  OK, the main thing everyone needs to know is it's too long.
• 20:26
  It's ridiculously long. It's like they really needed all
• 20:30
  the nudity and the sex and all of that to flesh out.
• 20:34
  We might say flesh out the story, or it would have been a
• 20:38
  fairly short, pedestrian, predictable Wall Street I.
• 20:42
  Mean they could have cut out other stuff apart.
• 20:44
  From. I'm not, I'm not sure it added
• 20:49
  anything new to the, you know, Gordon Greco Wall Street story
• 20:53
  that we've, we're already very familiar with.
• 20:56
  And as you said, it's adapted from, is it Jordan Beckford or
• 21:00
  Belfort from his autobiography? So and I, I don't like this guy,
• 21:06
  so I don't care about him. And it all just feels very
• 21:09
  egotistical to me. Not recommended.
• 21:13
  That's pretty true that. I'll come to that in a second.
• 21:16
  I guess. So, yeah.
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  Two out of two films now based on true life events.
• 21:22
  Your beauty. This went for three freaking
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  hours is what I've written. Crazy.
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  It was over long. Even for Scorsese, this was
• 21:32
  outlandish. There were a lot of scenes that
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  were needlessly extended conversation pieces that added
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  nothing to the film and could have been cut or finished in 30
• 21:42
  seconds. It's just interminably long.
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  And then we have the scene on Belford's boat with the FBI,
• 21:50
  conversations in the office with Belfort and Donnie, overt sex
• 21:54
  scenes. Have you been reading my notes,
• 21:56
  Helen? Maybe I'm just old, but the
• 21:59
  short check in to offer the viewer the idea of what was
• 22:02
  happening and then just move on instead.
• 22:05
  I mean, we didn't have to make these scenes 4-5 minutes long.
• 22:09
  Just move in, say the talk a bit, move out.
• 22:12
  Yeah, was it, was it such a big part of the story that needed to
• 22:18
  be shown so much? Is what I've said as well.
• 22:20
  Scorsese's other films don't always feel long, but this
• 22:23
  certainly did. Yeah.
• 22:26
  Yeah, it was terrible. I'm sure you've read my notes.
• 22:29
  How dare you. Oh, it's.
• 22:30
  Is there some repetition there? Well, there isn't that bit.
• 22:32
  Yeah, it's just everything you said.
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  I could have. Just sat here and just nodded
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  and said hell I've just extended this 3 minutes longer than it
• 22:38
  needed to because I could have just nodded my head.
• 22:40
  Chucked the Scorsese. Scorsese, it means we agree.
• 22:46
  Well that that can't be true. Sure, this was another film that
• 22:49
  I never felt the urge to watch and had never watched before we
• 22:54
  watched this. Having seen it, I feel exactly
• 22:57
  the same way. It's far too overlong.
• 23:00
  Could have had an hour cut out of it and it would have been
• 23:02
  improved. There are no likeable
• 23:04
  characters. They're just all scumbags.
• 23:07
  Yes. Why do we want to hear about
• 23:09
  scumbags? I don't know, I think Americans
• 23:13
  just want to see bad guys made good.
• 23:15
  Yeah. I mean, they seem to have wow
• 23:17
  brought brought in a president in telling that political.
• 23:21
  There's going to be cancelled here.
• 23:23
  We go back to the movies, there's no doubt there are a
• 23:26
  number of people cheating in to see Margot Robbie with a kid off
• 23:30
  like our 17 year old son. She is gorgeous, yes.
• 23:33
  Can't blame them. Did she do this in Barbie as
• 23:35
  well? Have I missed something by not
• 23:36
  seeing Barbie? She didn't get her kid.
• 23:38
  Didn't she? OK, so I don't need to see.
• 23:40
  She was scantily clad, though sometimes that's.
• 23:42
  Because she was Barbie though, is it?
• 23:43
  No, No, because I mean Barbie's often nude.
• 23:46
  Yeah, but until you dress her in the next outfit.
• 23:50
  Yeah, that's right. But that didn't have it in the
• 23:51
  movie. Maybe I'll find out.
• 23:53
  Was that nominated for an Academy Award?
• 23:54
  Maybe I'll find out about that down the track.
• 23:56
  See, anyone will ever be watching that movie?
• 23:58
  I think it was for every everything except Margot Robbie.
• 24:02
  I think everything was. Yeah, right.
• 24:03
  Yeah. OK.
• 24:04
  Leo DiCaprio is as entertaining as ever, but the character is
• 24:08
  despicable. And yet he plays it as it is
• 24:11
  written in the script, as though he is likeable and lovable and.
• 24:15
  Which is what he needed to do because this guy, when he wrote
• 24:18
  his autobiography, I'm sure he thinks he's likeable and
• 24:20
  lovable. I'm sure he does.
• 24:21
  And that's what I mean, he's he's played it as it's written
• 24:24
  in the script. And he was great.
• 24:25
  And he was absolutely fantastic in Django Unchained.
• 24:29
  Like he was evil. Yeah.
• 24:31
  And he knew and he played it beautifully like that.
• 24:35
  And he. He's one of us, said he he he is
• 24:40
  almost meant to say all of this is above board.
• 24:42
  That's what I'm saying. Yeah.
• 24:44
  So but you know, doesn't cry from the actual performance, but
• 24:49
  just. Yeah, the character was pain in
• 24:51
  the ass. Yeah, he was.
• 24:52
  I thought Jonah Hill was really very good in his role.
• 24:54
  Yeah, he was. And again, showing that he's
• 24:57
  more than just a bit player or a comedic sidekick, which is what
• 25:01
  he's often portrayed as. But it is another film that I
• 25:05
  have no desire to ever watch again.
• 25:09
  What did you give it? I gave this three stars.
• 25:11
  I gave it 2 and I'm wondering now if I was too generous.
• 25:15
  Like, I mean, I gave it 3 after the film.
• 25:19
  Like I'm thinking back now I could, I could probably give it
• 25:21
  less, yeah. But after the film, after it
• 25:23
  finished, I gave it three stars. So I'm going to have to stick
• 25:25
  with it, Yeah. Yeah, that's what I do to give
• 25:27
  it stars straight. Away.
• 25:28
  Yeah. So we rented this on oh, we
• 25:31
  didn't rent it. We watched it on Stan in
• 25:33
  Australia, nominated for five Academy Awards and it won none.
• 25:38
  Good. Best picture, of course, Best
• 25:41
  director for Martin Scorsese, Best actor for Leonardo
• 25:44
  DiCaprio, best supporting actor for Jonah Hill, and Best adapted
• 25:47
  screenplay. Now third film is her, and her
• 26:00
  is a 2013 American science fiction romantic comedy drama
• 26:03
  film. Bloody hell, Late Wikipedia have
• 26:06
  got some really long winded explanations.
• 26:08
  Yeah, their genres are getting massive.
• 26:09
  That's crazy. Anyway.
• 26:11
  Film written, Co produced and directed by Spike Jones, it
• 26:15
  follows Theodore Toombly, who's played by Wakin Phoenix, a man
• 26:21
  who develops a relationship with Samantha, played by Scarlett
• 26:24
  Johansson, an artificially intelligent operating system
• 26:27
  personified through a female voice.
• 26:30
  The film also stars Amy Adams, Runa Mari, Olivia Wilde and
• 26:35
  Chris Pratt. The film was dedicated to James
• 26:39
  Gandolfini, Harris Savides, Maurice Sendak and Adam Yaunch,
• 26:44
  who had all died before the film's release.
• 26:47
  Must have been good friends of Spike Jones, I guess.
• 26:50
  That's a lot of people. Who all died before it?
• 26:53
  Yes, now they were in the film. But anyway, there you go, Helen.
• 26:57
  Tell us all about her. Well, the concept explored in
• 27:01
  this movie of relationships with AI probably seemed like science
• 27:06
  fiction when the movie was made, I reckon in 20/12/2013.
• 27:11
  But now this is in real life. This thing sort of thing happens
• 27:14
  in real life. I've said the same thing here, I
• 27:17
  said. I'm sitting here, I've get the
• 27:19
  significance of the film and the foresight as we are now.
• 27:22
  In 2025 are now. Currently going through the
• 27:25
  exact same scenario with AI and people who are claiming to be in
• 27:28
  a relationship with the operating system on their
• 27:30
  computer. And to me, this idea is
• 27:33
  disturbing and dysfunctional. But yeah, individuals are doing
• 27:38
  it. Some people probably think it's
• 27:40
  not that much of a jump from online relationships with real
• 27:43
  people, which have been a thing for decades really now but for
• 27:48
  me, AI relationships are world's part AI have no feelings people,
• 27:54
  they're just pretending everybody this yeah it's creepy
• 27:58
  Why do actual humans think it's OK that AI are manipulating us
• 28:03
  by pretending to have actual feelings that's not OK, just
• 28:07
  I'm. Steady on here.
• 28:09
  We're talking about movies here. I'm just totally creeping from
• 28:12
  the pulpit. This whole idea and this movie,
• 28:16
  yeah they'd creep me out. At the risk of being a
• 28:18
  predictable grey haired 50 year old, what is the world coming
• 28:22
  to? Bill I I wouldn't recommend this
• 28:26
  movie. In the end it's creepy and a bit
• 28:28
  boring too. What do?
• 28:29
  What do you think? Well, as I said, I already
• 28:32
  agreed with you on the the foresight part of it.
• 28:35
  I mean, that's, that's probably the most interesting part about
• 28:38
  it, the fact that it, you know, it was made in 2013 and yet in
• 28:41
  2025 we're now seeing this actually happen.
• 28:44
  Yeah, everything else. Is not interesting.
• 28:47
  As a story envisioning a future where this could be occurring,
• 28:51
  it does its job well. The interaction of
• 28:53
  relationships, both as friends or as partners, and the
• 28:56
  difficulty for some people to interact with people on a human
• 28:59
  basis rather than with an artificial intelligence that
• 29:01
  adapts to your own likes and loves, is something that is
• 29:04
  being explored now in our real world.
• 29:07
  Which is, as you've already mentioned, is a bit weird to be
• 29:13
  just not even speaking about it in a long way.
• 29:16
  OK, beyond that still I've said didn't like the film.
• 29:20
  Same same. Wakin was OK, and perhaps he was
• 29:23
  supposed to be this awkward and unlikeable, so if he was, then
• 29:28
  kudos. He's he's a brilliant.
• 29:29
  Actor he is. Yeah, I don't think there was
• 29:32
  much there for him to explore Scarlett as the voice was as
• 29:35
  perky as you would expect. Yes, as she is.
• 29:38
  I thought Chris, Pat, Amy Adams, they were both fine for the
• 29:41
  parts that they played, but the film for me was not enjoyable.
• 29:47
  And I I checked out of this film very early on.
• 29:52
  Me too, and could not be dragged back in.
• 29:55
  I wonder if we've agreed on the score.
• 29:58
  Well, tell us what you think. I gave it one.
• 30:01
  I gave it two. It would have to be really bad
• 30:04
  to get one like atonement. How dare you?
• 30:12
  So yes, anyway, it was, yeah. It was just moving more than
• 30:15
  anything else. It was just boring.
• 30:17
  Yeah. Like it just didn't really.
• 30:19
  Didn't get me in, no. There was no hook for me, no.
• 30:21
  Exactly right. So we watched this on Stan in
• 30:24
  Australia. This was nominated for five
• 30:26
  Academy Awards and won one, believe it or not.
• 30:29
  What do you reckon more to one for?
• 30:33
  Music score. No.
• 30:35
  So it was nominated for Best Picture, Best Original
• 30:39
  Screenplay, Best Original Score, Best Original Song, and Best
• 30:43
  Production Design. It's either going to be
• 30:45
  production design or original screenplay.
• 30:48
  Right. Which one do you want to go for
• 30:50
  production? Yeah, you should have gone.
• 30:52
  There. Oh damn.
• 30:53
  Scott Jones won it for best original Screenplay, and I can
• 30:55
  understand that with the way he's written this story and
• 31:00
  especially in that day and age looking back now.
• 31:02
  But we'll see the other nominees shortly, and I think we'll be
• 31:07
  able to discern that perhaps something else should have won
• 31:09
  it. Yeah, this had no chance really.
• 31:11
  No. So anyway, yeah, 11 and that was
• 31:14
  it. OK.
• 31:21
  Righty O let's move on to our fourth film, I believe, and
• 31:25
  we're going to talk about Philomena.
• 31:27
  And Philomena is a 2013 drama film directed by Stephen Frears,
• 31:32
  based on the 2009 book The Lost Child of Philomena Lee by
• 31:37
  journalist Martin Sixsmith. Film stars Judi Dench as
• 31:41
  Philomena Lee, an elderly woman who has been searching for her
• 31:44
  son for 50 years, and Six Myths efforts to help find him, help
• 31:50
  her find him sorry. And six myths is played by the
• 31:53
  wonderful Steve Coogan. Helen, tell us all about
• 31:56
  Philomena. Well, it's another movie based
• 31:59
  on fact. To start with, and it's actually
• 32:02
  a film we've seen before. This one.
• 32:04
  Have you not seen the first 3? Yeah, it's a really moving and
• 32:08
  heartbreaking story, as you've said, about a mature woman who
• 32:11
  repeatedly tries to track down her child after being forced to
• 32:15
  give her baby up for adoption as a young, unmarried mother.
• 32:19
  Judi Dench is, of course, magnificent in the way she
• 32:23
  portrays her character, moving between stoicism and devastation
• 32:28
  and then back again. This.
• 32:29
  Yeah. That to hold her life together,
• 32:31
  she had to go between them. She's so translucent that you
• 32:35
  can see every emotion play out in her face.
• 32:38
  I really, whenever she's in a movie, I can't take my eyes off
• 32:41
  her. She's always the main
• 32:43
  attraction. And as you know Bill, this
• 32:45
  storyline is close to home for me and so all the more powerful.
• 32:51
  My maternal grandmother had two babies as an unmarried mother
• 32:54
  and was forced to give up her first child in 1946 but managed
• 32:59
  to hold on to her second child, my mum, in 1947.
• 33:03
  My Nana never saw her first born again and my auntie never met
• 33:07
  her mum who she is. The spitting image of this loss
• 33:11
  of time and loss of belonging is such an injustice, which is
• 33:14
  shown clearly in this film. My mum found her sister, my
• 33:18
  Auntie Pat, in 2006 when they were 60 and 61 years old.
• 33:24
  So yeah, it it did touch me on a different level maybe to other
• 33:28
  people because I can totally relate to it.
• 33:30
  It's a great film. What did you think?
• 33:33
  Yes, it is a terrific film and as you say, when we first saw
• 33:42
  this, this had already happened with with your mother.
• 33:47
  Yeah, probably about 6-7 years earlier they'd found each other.
• 33:51
  Yeah, so it is, and it does show again, they'd like to have a
• 33:59
  category of politics. Oh, what are you going to have
• 34:01
  to go? Oh, the church.
• 34:03
  And you have a go at the church there for yeah what they thought
• 34:06
  was you know the work of God in in keeping these people apart in
• 34:11
  any way. Let's it does show that
• 34:14
  particular and I did enjoy Steven Coogan's portrayal of
• 34:19
  Martin Sixsmith and the the shock and horror and disgust
• 34:23
  that he had towards the clergy. And the nuns.
• 34:26
  Absolutely. So yes.
• 34:31
  So yes, my notes always have stuff here that Helens already
• 34:34
  brought up because she's so good and we're so like minded
• 34:37
  apparently. This time I read.
• 34:39
  What the Hell's going? On maybe four months is far too
• 34:41
  long to be doing episodes, so I'd written already here about
• 34:45
  Helen talking about her grandmother and her mother and
• 34:48
  her aunt. I've also written the church and
• 34:51
  I've said all churches can go fuck themselves, and that's
• 34:53
  pretty much the feeling I had watching this film.
• 34:56
  Yeah, that's probably a bit broad, but anyway, I I just
• 35:02
  dislike the way that I mean, and this movie is portraying what
• 35:06
  happened and not just for this person, but for so many people
• 35:10
  all over the world. Yep.
• 35:12
  And it's terrible. All the coincidences in this
• 35:16
  life line up, which is quite amazing.
• 35:18
  Her son became a high-ranking advisor in US politics, and
• 35:22
  Martin, as a journalist, had actually met him.
• 35:25
  But they didn't realize that until I actually saw a photo of
• 35:27
  them together, which is amazing, really, when you think about it.
• 35:30
  Yeah. All the people in the world,
• 35:32
  Yeah. So he'd met her son.
• 35:36
  But she But she hadn't. Didn't meet?
• 35:38
  No, hadn't met him. So I've written here, why do
• 35:42
  some people such as Philomena feel as though they must confess
• 35:46
  for their sins all of their lives to be able to gain the
• 35:49
  forgiveness of God, which is what happens in this movie.
• 35:53
  It's shown through this movie while others in high places not
• 35:59
  taking anyone particular but their initials are DT feel as
• 36:03
  though they can do whatever they want because in the long run
• 36:06
  they believe in a God that will forgive them without having to
• 36:09
  ask for forgiveness. And that really annoys me and
• 36:14
  was brought out, I thought perfectly in this film as well,
• 36:16
  because all the way through a film, and it was always, she
• 36:19
  went in to confess her sins to the church that was there.
• 36:24
  So even though all this had happened to her, all these
• 36:28
  terrible things had happened to her, she still felt the need to
• 36:33
  confess sins, you know, to God. Whereas there are other people
• 36:37
  who claim to believe in God, who do all this terrible stuff and
• 36:41
  just think that in the long run they're going to get forgiven at
• 36:43
  the end and get their entry into heaven.
• 36:47
  It's because of the way people have been brought up, I think,
• 36:50
  and because of people's individual personalities and
• 36:55
  egos and gender. It's very hard to take, but it
• 37:00
  was very well shown in this film.
• 37:02
  Yeah, it was. And and given, you know, both
• 37:05
  sides of the story too, because obviously Martin Sixsmith was
• 37:07
  very much of the say, why are you doing this?
• 37:09
  Why do you feel you have to do this and the film?
• 37:11
  And he kept saying, it's my belief.
• 37:13
  This is what I think is right. And so I thought they, the film
• 37:16
  showed that really well. I thought Stephen Fries had that
• 37:19
  part excellently put into the film.
• 37:22
  Yep, I know all about the Catholic guilt bill, and many of
• 37:26
  our listeners probably will as. Well, I'm sure, and I've now
• 37:30
  read I've written this as well. I must have been drinking when I
• 37:33
  wrote all this. What did you say?
• 37:35
  True evil so often resides within the walls of those who
• 37:39
  proclaim they are the bastions of good.
• 37:41
  And how often is this proven to be the case?
• 37:44
  We see it a lot at the moment, yes, in the big wide world.
• 37:48
  So anyway, after all that pontificating yourself, Bill,
• 37:52
  get down off your pulpit. Judi Dench, Unbelievably
• 37:57
  marvelous once again. Yes, just she's such a treasure
• 38:00
  and so wonderful to watch in any role she's in.
• 38:06
  Stephen Coogan, I thought was fantastic.
• 38:08
  And he ran into a year where the heavy hitters of the category of
• 38:12
  best actor all came together, which meant that he missed out
• 38:15
  on even being nominated. And I feel he deserved at least
• 38:19
  a nomination for what he did. I thought he was fantastic in
• 38:22
  the role. And overall, I think this is a
• 38:27
  terrific film. I think everyone should watch
• 38:29
  this film. Yeah, me too.
• 38:30
  And I gave it four stars. I also gave it four stars.
• 38:34
  Bill, there you go. How many times have we ever
• 38:36
  agreed on a score? Not many.
• 38:37
  More often than you think. Not many, I don't think anyway.
• 38:40
  It's it's just the ones that we disagree on that we actually,
• 38:43
  you know, portray more on this. So we watch this on ABC iview in
• 38:49
  Australia. So anyone who's in Australia can
• 38:51
  watch it for free on ABC iview. It was nominated for four
• 38:54
  Academy Awards 1 nun what a surprise nominated for best
• 39:00
  picture, nominated for best actress for Judi Dench best
• 39:04
  adapted screenplay and best original score.
• 39:08
  So what do you think about them apples?
• 39:10
  Well, I should have won something.
• 39:19
  Friday Well, we've been what, we had four films, three of them
• 39:25
  true life stories. Yep, let's get into another one,
• 39:27
  eh? Okie dokie into the old 12 Years
• 39:30
  a Slave. 12 Years a Slave is a 2013 biographical historical
• 39:35
  drama film directed by Steve McQueen, Not the one on the
• 39:38
  motorcycle. From a screenplay by John
• 39:41
  Ridley. Based on the 1853 slave memoir
• 39:44
  12 Years a Slave by Solomon Northup, an American of mixed
• 39:48
  race who was kidnapped from Washington DC by two con men in
• 39:52
  1841 and sold into slavery. He was put to work on
• 39:57
  plantations in the state of Louisiana for 12 years before
• 40:01
  being released. The first scholarly edition of
• 40:04
  David Wilson's version of Northrop's story was Co edited
• 40:07
  in 1968 by Sue Eakin and Joseph Logsdon.
• 40:11
  Probably could have edited that out.
• 40:12
  Bill. Shuartel Ejiofor was stars as
• 40:17
  Solomon N Up Here, with supporting roles portrayed by
• 40:20
  Michael Fassbender, Benedict Cumberbatch, Paul Dano, Garrett
• 40:25
  Dillahunte, Paul Giamatti, Scoot Mcnairy, Lupita Nyong'o, Adapiro
• 40:31
  Aduyu Aduyu. Yes, that'll do.
• 40:34
  Sarah Paulson, Brad Pitt, Michael Kenneth Williams and
• 40:38
  Alfre Woodard. Helen, having got through all
• 40:42
  that mouthful, why don't you tell us all about the
• 40:45
  wonderfulness and the the light joy of 12 Years a Slave?
• 40:50
  No joy. So I wasn't looking forward to
• 40:53
  seeing this one again. It's an epic and and it's
• 40:59
  riveting, riveting film, but at times sickening and shockingly
• 41:03
  real. And yes, obviously based on real
• 41:08
  life events, it's beautifully filmed, though I noticed this
• 41:13
  time around the colour palette and the quality of light,
• 41:17
  they're just soothing. And I think this is deliberately
• 41:21
  juxtaposed with the half harsh subject matter because to me it
• 41:25
  seems to say that evil can be present even in beautiful
• 41:28
  surroundings. Don't be fooled.
• 41:31
  Yeah, I don't want to give too much away because maybe some
• 41:35
  people haven't seen. That.
• 41:36
  Oh good, I'll do that. The actors shine and although
• 41:39
  difficult, this movie really is a must see in order to
• 41:42
  understand our world. I think.
• 41:45
  Yeah, I I think it's a really, really good film.
• 41:50
  It's a tough film to watch. It really is.
• 41:52
  I'll never forget Paul Dano's character.
• 41:55
  Oh my God. Oh, he's so good, though.
• 41:58
  He's so good at playing bad people.
• 41:59
  Yeah, yeah. It's like we've watched it twice
• 42:03
  now. I don't believe I'll ever watch
• 42:05
  it again. No, I don't want to.
• 42:08
  And but such amazing scenes from this story.
• 42:13
  And so, as you said, just amazingly filmed.
• 42:15
  So the scene that I thought was just fantastically filmed was
• 42:20
  the scene where Solomon or Platt, which was his slave name,
• 42:25
  was left hanging in the yard. He was just filmed so
• 42:30
  beautifully there from a. Tree.
• 42:31
  You see, he's just there on the tree, on his toes, trying not.
• 42:34
  To be towing? Yep.
• 42:35
  Can't fall there, he'll die. As you see over a few minutes,
• 42:38
  then all the slaves just suddenly start going back about
• 42:41
  their duties again behind him and in front of him.
• 42:43
  And those who are in the house, including the wife would just
• 42:47
  stare at him and leave him to his business and didn't do
• 42:50
  anything. And until Ford finally arrives
• 42:53
  to cut him down. I just thought that was such an
• 42:55
  amazingly filmed soon. It seemed to go on forever, but
• 42:59
  I don't know how long it actually went for.
• 43:00
  Might have been maybe 3 minutes. And you start off thinking, oh
• 43:03
  good, these people are going to come and cut him down and save
• 43:05
  him. But no, they walked past him
• 43:07
  doing their daily chores. And the slaves couldn't, because
• 43:10
  they then they'd be flocked. Yeah.
• 43:11
  So everyone had to wait until the owner, Yep, of this slave
• 43:15
  came back to the property and made the decision to cut him
• 43:18
  down. Everyone else just had to put up
• 43:20
  with this guy nearly being dead. Yep.
• 43:22
  Oh. Yes, it was amazing, harrowing.
• 43:24
  The only thing that happened was one of the the girls came over
• 43:27
  and gave him some. Water.
• 43:28
  A drink? Yep.
• 43:29
  Yeah, but just the filming of that was just spectacular.
• 43:34
  I thought when Ford's going to selling to Michael Fassbender's
• 43:40
  character. Yep.
• 43:41
  And his quote was whatever the circumstances, you are an
• 43:45
  exceptional *** Platt. I just thought.
• 43:49
  But so he knew that he was, he basically knew he was a free man
• 43:53
  and but he just, he had to sell him just to get off his debt.
• 43:57
  Well, because it was all business.
• 43:59
  Yep, and you know, no matter what, you're an exceptional ***
• 44:05
  Yes, as you've more or less said, it's a harrowing retelling
• 44:10
  of the time and the age before the Civil War and how the blacks
• 44:15
  were kidnapped, how they were treated in all aspects.
• 44:18
  You could barely believe that they could live life like that.
• 44:23
  Yeah. And yet in so many ways, this is
• 44:27
  still the persecution and treatment that minorities face
• 44:31
  today, almost 200 years later. And.
• 44:33
  It's in all sorts of countries around the world.
• 44:35
  And it's it's amazing that in 200 years, you know, everyone
• 44:41
  says how such things have improved so much.
• 44:45
  And then if you look a little deeper, just below the surface,
• 44:48
  they haven't at all there's. So much trafficking that goes
• 44:51
  on. I thought all the portrayals in
• 44:54
  the film were fantastic and all the scenes showed the danger of
• 44:58
  the time for everyone involved. So obviously for the slaves who
• 45:02
  were being captured and who were trying to escape and if they did
• 45:06
  one thing wrong they'd get flogged or beaten or whatever it
• 45:09
  was. But then even for the white folk
• 45:12
  who were the owners, and if they didn't do the right thing, then
• 45:14
  they would as well. So yeah, everything was based on
• 45:18
  fear. The whole way everyone lived,
• 45:20
  even. Even someone who was travelling
• 45:22
  around the United States for work, who ended up being a
• 45:27
  salvation. Yes, even he had to, really.
• 45:31
  Yeah, he had. To really think about it, how he
• 45:34
  would help this person without getting himself involved.
• 45:37
  Yeah, without consequences for himself.
• 45:38
  He was. Brave to have done that.
• 45:40
  Yeah, yeah. And that's the only thing that
• 45:42
  saved this man. Yes, so it's a tough film to
• 45:45
  watch as. I said especially twice now, but
• 45:48
  it is one that everyone should see, being aware that at the end
• 45:52
  they will need to go and watch the Naked Gun to get over it.
• 45:56
  Is that what you did? I don't remember.
• 45:57
  But I must have. How does that help you get over
• 46:00
  it? Because it's a.
• 46:01
  It's a comedy and it's fun and it's.
• 46:03
  You just laugh at silliness instead.
• 46:05
  You've got to do something. After watching this film, you
• 46:07
  can't just say, OK, now it's time for dinner or it's time for
• 46:10
  bed. It's just such a harrowing film.
• 46:12
  Yeah. And there's so much involved
• 46:13
  that you need to watch something.
• 46:15
  Just says, OK, let's watch something else.
• 46:18
  I mean, we wanted to watch the Bake Off or something like that.
• 46:20
  Yeah, I think we did. Whatever it was, it was
• 46:21
  something frivolous. It was something.
• 46:23
  To get over it. So I gave this 3 1/2 stars.
• 46:28
  It's a terrific film, don't get me wrong, and but it's such a
• 46:32
  hard film to watch that it's difficult to give it more
• 46:35
  because it's hard to actually enjoy.
• 46:37
  But you still need to watch it. I actually gave it four, Yeah.
• 46:41
  I can understand why. It's so well done.
• 46:43
  Yeah. So we watched this on Stan in
• 46:46
  Australia. It was nominated for 9 Academy
• 46:49
  Awards and it won three. It was nominated for Best
• 46:53
  Picture, Best director for Steve McQueen Not on the Motorcycle,
• 46:58
  best actor for Shuartel Ejiofor, best supporting actor for
• 47:02
  Michael Fassbender, Best supporting actress for Lupita
• 47:05
  Nyong'o, Best adapted screenplay, best Costume design,
• 47:10
  best film editing and best production design.
• 47:14
  So it's one for best adapted screenplay.
• 47:17
  It won the best supporting actress full of Peter Nuongo.
• 47:20
  Oh, yeah. And it won best picture.
• 47:23
  OK Did it right? Yes.
• 47:28
  And I mean, you can see why. Yeah, it did, definitely.
• 47:32
  But again, it's a true story. And true stories.
• 47:36
  Always seem to win best picture, especially American true
• 47:40
  stories. Our next film.
• 47:49
  Is We're going to Take a Little Little Road trip with Nebraska
• 47:53
  and Nebraska is a 2013 American comedy drama Rd. film directed
• 47:58
  by Alexander Payne, written by Bob Nelson and starring Bruce
• 48:02
  Dern, Will Forte, June Squibb, Stacey Keach and Bob Odenkirk.
• 48:08
  Released in black and white, the story follows an elderly Montana
• 48:12
  resident and his son as they try to claim $1,000,000 sweepstakes
• 48:16
  prize on a long trip to Nebraska.
• 48:19
  Tell us all about Nebraska, Helen.
• 48:22
  Well, I had no knowledge of this movie.
• 48:25
  So, you know, went into it without expectations, which, as
• 48:28
  you know, Bill, I love to watch a movie like that knowing
• 48:31
  nothing. The story unravels slowly and
• 48:34
  it's hard to tell where it's going but my advice is to stick
• 48:38
  with it. It's a small town story
• 48:41
  following the dynamics within an ageing family, elderly parents
• 48:44
  and middle-aged sons. The timing for me to watch this
• 48:48
  film was perfect. I'm middle-aged, am I still I
• 48:51
  don't know. Yes, when does that cut off?
• 48:56
  And my parents are becoming elderly and loss of memory and
• 49:00
  it's all it's frustrations is a theme in my real life and in
• 49:05
  this movie. This was an important.
• 49:07
  And timely lesson here. For me, Bill, the lessons for me
• 49:12
  were be patient, don't take over, but above all be kind.
• 49:18
  And are you utilizing those with me or just your parents?
• 49:22
  With myself as well. Ah.
• 49:25
  Right. I totally know.
• 49:26
  Why this was nominated? What was your take on it?
• 49:31
  Well, for me, the story. And film reminded.
• 49:33
  Me of Little Miss Sunshine. Very much so, yeah.
• 49:36
  And the character's. Quirkiness and the.
• 49:39
  Outlandish sort of story that continues beyond where you would
• 49:42
  think any reasonable person would abandoned it.
• 49:46
  And yet in both cases. The Movie.
• 49:48
  Continues on to its inevitable conclusion, but in a fun and
• 49:53
  beautiful and charming way. Yeah, it's directed.
• 49:57
  By Alexander. Payne, who won Academy Awards
• 50:00
  for his screenplays for Sideways.
• 50:02
  Oh yeah, and The Descendants. Oh, right.
• 50:04
  So both of which he also directed, but this one he just
• 50:09
  directed. He didn't write it, but you can
• 50:11
  see his style again here in a way, and it works the same way
• 50:14
  as those two films did. So mix those two films and
• 50:20
  Little Miss Sunshine together and that makes this like a
• 50:23
  charming and wonderful. Yeah, it really does.
• 50:25
  It's like people's. Like a look at people's lives, a
• 50:28
  snapshot of people's ordinary lives and where it takes them.
• 50:32
  And yeah, absolutely, the human condition.
• 50:35
  And yeah, Will Forte has been on.
• 50:38
  Or had been at the time. Sorry.
• 50:40
  Been on Saturday Night Live for eight years and this role was
• 50:44
  completely out of his wheelhouse.
• 50:46
  A dramatic role that he was able to infuse with his humour.
• 50:50
  And I thought he was absolutely terrific.
• 50:52
  He was, yeah. It reminded me of my grandmother
• 50:58
  with the Reader's Digest. Oh yes, me too.
• 51:01
  I thought of rain. The many.
• 51:03
  Things that she used to. Send away for and she would buy
• 51:06
  things, all in the hope that she was going to win this big.
• 51:08
  I'm going to win. I'm going to win 1000.
• 51:11
  Dollars, Billy. That's right.
• 51:12
  Yeah. Oh, it must be my turn.
• 51:14
  Yeah. So that it's what it reminded me
• 51:17
  of. And your mom said she had so
• 51:20
  many. Any have those Reader's Digest
• 51:22
  things so they got their pound of flesh out of her in a.
• 51:24
  Similar way, yeah, that occurs. She believed all of it, yeah.
• 51:30
  The scene with. All the brothers watching the
• 51:31
  football when Roger arrives in the in the land room all
• 51:35
  together or watching I thought was just fantastically done.
• 51:38
  Yeah. And for me, this is the film
• 51:45
  that the extra nominations came in for instead of just having
• 51:48
  five, having up to 10 nominations because in a
• 51:51
  previous year, up against not the heavy filter, heavy hitter
• 51:56
  films, I should say that we watch these podcasts.
• 51:59
  Both this film and Philomena would never have been nominated.
• 52:03
  Yeah, they're a little bit more alternative.
• 52:05
  They are. And they both deserve
• 52:07
  nomination. And for me, absolutely deserves
• 52:11
  it for the same reasons as the other three that we've already
• 52:14
  spoken about as well. I think it deserved to be
• 52:16
  nominated. Yeah, me too.
• 52:19
  So as I said. Will Forte was great.
• 52:21
  Bruce Dern just amazing. Again, just always great.
• 52:25
  Every film he's in, he draws you in.
• 52:29
  He. Draws you to him.
• 52:30
  And his character, whatever he's playing, he's just so good and
• 52:34
  he's been in so many great roles in his career.
• 52:36
  But he makes this film what it is.
• 52:38
  He does Bob Odenkirk as. Roger was just.
• 52:41
  Wonderfully understated, too, I thought.
• 52:43
  He doesn't often play roles like he did in this, but he was
• 52:47
  really good as well. It's an original story.
• 52:51
  It's not based on fact like so many here.
• 52:55
  And for that reason alone, it is my favorite film of this year.
• 52:59
  Is it? It was just fantastic.
• 53:01
  And I gave it four stars. I also gave it four stars.
• 53:05
  Yeah, I. Really liked it so we watched
• 53:07
  that I believe. That was actually on YouTube.
• 53:09
  You could watch it YouTube for free with ads, which is
• 53:13
  something that YouTube had brought in recently, which is
• 53:15
  very handy. So you have to put up with some
• 53:19
  ads through it. But it was well worth it because
• 53:21
  you can't find anywhere else. This was nominated for six
• 53:24
  Academy Awards. It will surprise you no end to
• 53:27
  know that it won none. Yeah, I thought as much.
• 53:30
  Nominated for Best Picture. For best director.
• 53:32
  For Alexander Payne, for best Actor.
• 53:35
  For Bruce Dern, best supporting actress.
• 53:37
  For June Squibb, who played his wife.
• 53:39
  And she was terrific as well. Best original screenplay and
• 53:43
  best cinematography. Oh yeah, the fact that he's in
• 53:46
  black and white. Yeah.
• 53:48
  Actually really added to it. It did.
• 53:50
  And I'd forgotten until you mentioned.
• 53:52
  It in your blurb that it was in black and white, Yeah.
• 53:54
  But to pick out all those, the trees and the grass and the
• 54:00
  rural fences and I don't know all those details, it was
• 54:02
  perfect in black and white in the homestead and the sheds and
• 54:05
  that kind of stuff, yeah. And the wide streets.
• 54:08
  Yeah, no one. Being on the streets and walking
• 54:10
  into the pub there, nowhere, yeah, they could have won it for
• 54:13
  that, really. Should have, yeah.
• 54:22
  Well, we've had some pleasure. Yes, let's get stuck in the day.
• 54:26
  I know. Dallas Buyers Club is a. 2013
• 54:30
  American biographical drama film written by Craig Borton and
• 54:34
  Melissa Wallach and directed by Jean Marc Valet.
• 54:38
  The film tells the story of Ron Woodruff, played by Matthew
• 54:43
  McConaughey, a cowboy diagnosed with AIDS in the mid 1980s, a
• 54:47
  time when both the etiology and the treatment of HIV AIDS are
• 54:52
  poorly understood and it's sufferers subject to stigma.
• 54:56
  As part of the ongoing experimental AIDS treatment
• 54:59
  movement, Woodruff smuggles unapproved pharmaceutical drugs,
• 55:02
  drugs sorry, into Texas to treat his symptoms.
• 55:06
  Here, he distributes them to fellow people with AIDS by
• 55:09
  establishing the Dallas Buyers Club, all the while facing
• 55:13
  opposition from the Food and Drug Administration.
• 55:17
  Two fictional supporting characters, Doctor Eve Sacks,
• 55:20
  played by Jennifer Garner, and Rayon, played by Jared Leto, are
• 55:24
  are composite roles created from interviews with transgender AIDS
• 55:28
  patients, activists and doctors. Presidential biographer and Penn
• 55:34
  USA winner. I don't even know what that
• 55:36
  means. Bill Munutilaglo.
• 55:39
  I can't remember. Minotag Minotaglo.
• 55:43
  Minotaglio. There we go, I got it.
• 55:46
  Bill Minotaglio. Oh, I still couldn't say it.
• 55:49
  Is it important? No it's not, he wrote the 1st.
• 55:51
  Magazine profile. Of the Dallas Buyers Club in
• 55:53
  1992 is what I was talking about.
• 55:55
  OK, the article. Which featured interviews with.
• 55:58
  Woodruff and also recreated his dramatic international exploits
• 56:02
  attracted widespread attention from film makers and
• 56:05
  journalists. That is a very long winded
• 56:07
  introduction. Helen's going to tell us all
• 56:09
  about the Dallas Buyers Club. Well, I was not looking.
• 56:14
  Forward to watching 12 Years a Slave again and I was not
• 56:17
  looking forward to watching the Dallas Buyers Club again.
• 56:19
  But we did it, didn't we? It's just such a sad story.
• 56:25
  And whether or not it is based on a true story, like it could,
• 56:29
  yeah, it is. And but whether or not it was
• 56:34
  like so many other nominated films, this movie shows the
• 56:36
  reality of how it was for heterosexual men diagnosed with
• 56:42
  HIV in the 80s and 90's. The bigotry and the meanness of
• 56:47
  the general population teamed with having a terminal in
• 56:50
  illness must have just been soul destroying for them.
• 56:55
  Matthew Mahonahy, Is that how I say it?
• 56:57
  I think so. Matthew McConaughey.
• 56:59
  Does he? Does he?
• 57:00
  Pronounce this a rattle rattle rat.
• 57:04
  I think he says Mahonahey, doesn't he?
• 57:06
  Anyway, I can't because there's a sea there.
• 57:08
  Yeah. Anyway, he's brilliant.
• 57:11
  Whatever his name is, and he gives his all in every single
• 57:16
  way in this film. You have to respect it.
• 57:20
  It's an uncomfortable but important film in my opinion.
• 57:25
  What about yours, Bill? Well, I think that
• 57:28
  Mcconaughey's. Appearance is absolutely
• 57:31
  staggering from the IT really is shocking and.
• 57:34
  How he appears at the start of the film.
• 57:37
  Has you believing that he's actually sick, that he's
• 57:39
  actually dying because he's lost so much weight.
• 57:43
  Ridiculous. What he must have done.
• 57:45
  It must have harmed his heart. I.
• 57:46
  Must have and to put yourself through.
• 57:49
  That is a staggering achievement.
• 57:52
  It's like Tom Hanks in Castaway to actually go through that for
• 57:57
  the role is ridiculous. Like in this day and age,
• 58:01
  they'll just use AI, although yeah, use, you know, face
• 58:05
  changing and stuff and they'll say, yeah, don't worry about it,
• 58:07
  just stay who you are. But but that's this guy did it
• 58:09
  even more he. Did than Tom Hanks.
• 58:12
  Yeah, he did. Imagine.
• 58:13
  What his doctors must have been saying to him, but then the fact
• 58:16
  that he was able to put it back on like.
• 58:17
  Because, you know, after he started taking the drugs, he
• 58:20
  started normal again, so he had to put it back on again.
• 58:22
  I don't know which one they filmed first.
• 58:24
  Well, yeah, because then at the end.
• 58:27
  Yeah, he was. There was nothing to him again.
• 58:29
  They must have filmed that at. The same time they filmed the
• 58:31
  beginning, yes. Anyway, we digressed.
• 58:33
  Whatever he did as an actor, that is.
• 58:35
  Commitment. Oh, totally.
• 58:37
  And it made the movie. Yeah, it made it real.
• 58:42
  And you had to stop and take notice.
• 58:44
  Take it. Seriously, as soon as you saw
• 58:46
  him, he's done that. We've got to take this
• 58:48
  seriously. Yeah, I thought Jennifer Garner.
• 58:52
  'S role was a thankless 1. Pretty much it was neither.
• 58:55
  Hardline nor sympathetic. She was just walking through the
• 58:59
  role really and that's not having a go at her as an
• 59:02
  actress. It's just I thought the role was
• 59:04
  thankless. Jared Leto was absolutely superb
• 59:08
  as the obviously intelligent but drug addicted rayon.
• 59:12
  I thought he was fantastic and unrecognisable.
• 59:17
  As well. Absolutely, yeah.
• 59:21
  This is an excellent portrayal of the times which we grew up
• 59:25
  through, which is more or less what you said.
• 59:28
  The classing of all AIDS sufferers as gay, the homophobic
• 59:34
  reactions, the misinformation, the frantic search for a cure to
• 59:39
  the point of looking away from possible side effects.
• 59:42
  It captures all of that in this movie.
• 59:45
  And it's something that those who are younger than us probably
• 59:49
  don't really have any idea how bad it actually was.
• 59:51
  Yeah, because remember the fears like.
• 59:54
  If you found out someone was HIV, you know, there were all
• 59:57
  these questions like, can I touch that tap that they've
• 1:00:00
  touched? Like what?
• 1:00:01
  What will happen if I come into contact?
• 1:00:03
  It was kind of like the pandemic in a way, wasn't it?
• 1:00:07
  To a certain degree, yeah, In that it was all.
• 1:00:09
  Unknown people. Didn't know the science of it
• 1:00:11
  and it was just fear. Yeah, but this is a fear of
• 1:00:14
  people. Not a fear of, you know, but not
• 1:00:18
  wanting to come into contact with people, no.
• 1:00:20
  No, Yeah, yeah, in that way, I mean, but it's.
• 1:00:22
  Shown in the film too. Like when he walks.
• 1:00:24
  Into the bar and his his mates. Yep, they've been talking about
• 1:00:27
  it. It's like he spits.
• 1:00:28
  In their direction. And I said, Oh my God, he's got
• 1:00:30
  on me. Or whatever.
• 1:00:31
  Yeah, Yeah. You've got no idea.
• 1:00:32
  How does it pass? And Yep, he obviously had to be
• 1:00:34
  homosexual because you've got AIDS.
• 1:00:36
  Yeah. And that's just how it's a
• 1:00:37
  homosexual disease, nothing else.
• 1:00:39
  Yeah. Or virus, yeah.
• 1:00:40
  But for us people thought for us.
• 1:00:43
  At our. Time.
• 1:00:43
  What? When?
• 1:00:44
  Was when Magic Johnson got came out and said he had AIDS and yet
• 1:00:49
  was still playing basketball and then played on the Dream Team in
• 1:00:52
  at the Olympics. Yeah.
• 1:00:54
  And everyone was saying, well, can you do this?
• 1:00:55
  Was he allowed to do that? Yeah.
• 1:00:57
  If I, if I try to mark you up, if I.
• 1:00:58
  Yeah. So even then, and that's even
• 1:01:01
  when someone like Magic Johnson, who was as famous as you could
• 1:01:04
  be in those days, certainly in America, came out like that.
• 1:01:09
  No one will ever know who what it was like to this, what that
• 1:01:12
  was like. Yeah, the club to buy the drugs
• 1:01:18
  not approved, but it they all appear to be working.
• 1:01:22
  I mean the doctors. That were struck off.
• 1:01:27
  The register for attempting radical theories in regards to
• 1:01:31
  fighting the disease and not just trying to make money from
• 1:01:35
  pharmaceutical companies, which is what everyone else is doing.
• 1:01:39
  That's amazing is that, you know, we've got doctors and, and
• 1:01:43
  companies who are trying to make money out of it and you've got
• 1:01:45
  other doctors who are trying to find ways of fighting this
• 1:01:48
  disease and they're found to be, they're the ones who have been
• 1:01:52
  kicked out. And sent.
• 1:01:53
  To Mexico, but that's the way the Pharmaceutical industry.
• 1:01:57
  Isn't it? Isn't it?
• 1:01:58
  It's such big money and again, such lobbying, you know.
• 1:02:02
  These things coming out after the event, it's absolutely
• 1:02:04
  really ridiculous. So sad.
• 1:02:08
  It's a brilliant. Movie, and I think I enjoyed it
• 1:02:11
  more this time around, as it turns out.
• 1:02:13
  Me too. I had had several scotches
• 1:02:17
  before I watched the movie, so you were a bit more relaxed and
• 1:02:20
  I felt. It made me less adverse.
• 1:02:22
  To the horrific nature of the story as a whole.
• 1:02:25
  And I did feel as though I was watching it with a weight off my
• 1:02:31
  chest in some ways. And that did allow me to watch
• 1:02:35
  it without, I don't know, being too tense.
• 1:02:38
  Yeah, pretty much. And we knew.
• 1:02:39
  Where it was going this time? Yeah, having watched it first,
• 1:02:42
  yeah, it's. Kind of scary, certainly.
• 1:02:45
  Was from that point of view, yeah, anyway.
• 1:02:47
  I gave this four stars. I also gave a four stars Bill.
• 1:02:50
  There you go, we're in. Sync So we watched this on stand
• 1:02:53
  in Australia. It was nominated for six Academy
• 1:02:56
  Awards and won 3 Best Picture, Best Actor for Matthew
• 1:03:01
  McConaughey, Best Supporting Actor for Jared Leto, Best
• 1:03:05
  Original Screenplay, Best Film Editing and Best Makeup and Hair
• 1:03:08
  styling. So one for best makeup and hair
• 1:03:12
  styling, which is probably fair enough given the things that
• 1:03:16
  they had to make, I suppose. So there would have been a lot
• 1:03:19
  of work there. Jared Leto won best supporting
• 1:03:22
  actor. And Matthew McConaughey won best
• 1:03:25
  actor. Oh, totally deserved.
• 1:03:26
  That's good. I feel like having a bit of a.
• 1:03:36
  Hustle an American type. Hustle an American.
• 1:03:39
  Type hustle, in fact. American Hustle, which is a 2013
• 1:03:44
  American black comedy crime film directed by David O Russell.
• 1:03:48
  It was written by Eric Warren Singer and Russell and inspired
• 1:03:52
  by the FBI AB scam operation of the late 1970s and early 1980s.
• 1:03:57
  Oh my God, it's based on fact again.
• 1:03:58
  Who would have thought? No way.
• 1:04:00
  No way. It stars.
• 1:04:02
  Christian Bale and Amy Adams as two con artists forced by an FBI
• 1:04:06
  agent, played by Bradley Cooper, to set up an elaborate sting
• 1:04:09
  operation on corrupt politicians, including the mayor
• 1:04:13
  of Camden in New Jersey, played by Jeremy Renner.
• 1:04:17
  Jennifer Lawrence plays the unpredictable wife of Bale's
• 1:04:21
  character, Helen. Tell us all about American
• 1:04:23
  Hustle. Well, this isn't just any.
• 1:04:26
  American con man's storyline. This is a cut above, I would
• 1:04:30
  say, and the fact that Christian Bale stars in it should alert
• 1:04:33
  you to that fact. Really, he only does good stuff.
• 1:04:37
  He's great in it, and so is Amy Adams and Bradley Cooper.
• 1:04:42
  And you don't actually realise the cleverness of this film
• 1:04:45
  until its conclusion. To say anything else could spoil
• 1:04:50
  the storyline for others, so I won't.
• 1:04:52
  If you like snappy, clever plot lines with crooks and cops and a
• 1:04:56
  bit of sexual tension and a lot of 70s early 80s fashion, this
• 1:05:01
  movie is for you. Bill, over to you.
• 1:05:05
  I can spoil. The ending though, can't I?
• 1:05:07
  No, don't spoil it. This is I haven't seen.
• 1:05:09
  It this is neither sting Oh. No.
• 1:05:13
  So here we have another. Character who had a radical
• 1:05:16
  white transformation for his role the other way Christian
• 1:05:19
  Bale has put on so much weight and again once again to.
• 1:05:27
  Go into this role. And just say, well, I've got to
• 1:05:29
  gain weight to make this character work.
• 1:05:32
  I mean, that's commitment again. And Christian Bale does it all
• 1:05:35
  the time. And he's ridiculously amazing.
• 1:05:38
  He also has the greatest comb over in the history of movies.
• 1:05:41
  He does, and the the beginning. Of this film where he, you know,
• 1:05:45
  you see exactly how that's made. He's putting it together.
• 1:05:48
  Amazing. And that's what.
• 1:05:50
  People did and when you watch the film.
• 1:05:52
  For the first time when you see. That first scene thinking what
• 1:05:54
  the hell is this film about? Anyway, it also brought in.
• 1:06:00
  Most of the cast from Silver Linings Playbook, which was of
• 1:06:02
  course David O Russell's previous film.
• 1:06:04
  Yep. Bradley Cooper, Jennifer
• 1:06:07
  Lawrence and Robert De Niro all appeared in that, and they all
• 1:06:10
  appeared in this. There's no Jackie Weaver.
• 1:06:11
  No, Jackie. Was unavailable.
• 1:06:14
  The cast was incredible for the time for when this was released,
• 1:06:18
  which is 12 years ago as we're doing this episode.
• 1:06:23
  All but Jeremy Renner have won Academy Awards out of the main
• 1:06:27
  cast. Have they since this?
• 1:06:29
  And he has been. Nominated twice.
• 1:06:31
  But he had that big period where he was out of.
• 1:06:34
  Action so before or since this? Film.
• 1:06:37
  All of the main casts have won an Academy Award for acting, so
• 1:06:41
  it's amazing. Where am I?
• 1:06:45
  I'm here in the Medal of Cabin. That's where I am.
• 1:06:47
  There I go. Never sure.
• 1:06:50
  I'm never sure which parts of the movie are real and which
• 1:06:54
  parts a part of the con. You don't really know what
• 1:06:57
  you're watching a film, so it's filmed.
• 1:07:00
  And written and. Acted so cleverly that it gives
• 1:07:03
  multiple impressions throughout without making without making it
• 1:07:07
  impossible to follow. I mean, you can follow the
• 1:07:08
  story, but you're never really sure which parts of the con and
• 1:07:12
  which parts are just not just normal everyday stuff.
• 1:07:16
  So it's done very well. The first thing that comes on
• 1:07:19
  the screen is a quote. That says some of.
• 1:07:23
  These events actually happened, so it lets you know from the
• 1:07:27
  start that it's not like it's not a documentary, not a
• 1:07:30
  historical retelling of the true story.
• 1:07:34
  That has some things changed for the narrative, which is often
• 1:07:37
  annoying. I find that annoying anyway.
• 1:07:40
  It lets you know from the start that you can watch the film
• 1:07:43
  knowing that it's loosely based on an actual event.
• 1:07:47
  So you just watch the movies what it is and not whether this
• 1:07:50
  part's accurate and this part's accurate, which that never
• 1:07:53
  worries me. I know it does.
• 1:07:54
  I enjoy. The movie experience, you do the
• 1:07:56
  research. I do the research, yes.
• 1:07:59
  Even though you said earlier that we don't do any research, I
• 1:08:03
  took offense to that. I'll work very hard.
• 1:08:06
  For this podcast, we're not. We're not journalists.
• 1:08:09
  Political. I want to be a journalist.
• 1:08:14
  Say yes. They're all very good.
• 1:08:17
  Helen said at 1 stage that Bradley Cooper must have been
• 1:08:21
  annoying as a child, the way he was acting.
• 1:08:26
  So they all showed why they had been nominated and won awards
• 1:08:29
  before and after this. I thought Amy Adams was amazing.
• 1:08:35
  Jennifer Lawrence, that role had to be written for her to be the
• 1:08:38
  petulant child who holds all the power.
• 1:08:40
  She was just brilliant in that. So annoying, but brilliant.
• 1:08:44
  And Jeremy Renner, again, just understated good.
• 1:08:48
  I really enjoy the way he plays the characters he does in
• 1:08:52
  movies. And Christian Bale is, I don't
• 1:08:54
  know if there is a better actor in the world than Christian
• 1:08:58
  Bale. Well, for me he's he's the
• 1:09:03
  modern day gene. Hackman Well, I also think
• 1:09:06
  Edward Norton's up. There in that I don't think
• 1:09:09
  Edward Norton is anywhere. Near, I think he is anyway.
• 1:09:13
  Any Christian? Bar like that he is very good.
• 1:09:15
  I could. I love Christian bar.
• 1:09:16
  I could. Name 150 other actors.
• 1:09:18
  In front of Ed Norton. OK, I'm.
• 1:09:23
  A fan. I'm a fan.
• 1:09:24
  I'm going to say someone. Good, but.
• 1:09:26
  Yeah, yeah, you said, Edward. Norton I am alternative at
• 1:09:29
  times, William. Is that what you call it anyway?
• 1:09:33
  Weird. This was good again.
• 1:09:35
  And just as good the second time around.
• 1:09:37
  Yeah, it was enjoyable. And again, I've given this four
• 1:09:40
  stars. Well, I've given it 3 1/2 right
• 1:09:42
  there. You go, yeah, very close.
• 1:09:45
  This was. Nominated for 10 Academy.
• 1:09:47
  Awards. Was it really?
• 1:09:48
  It was, and it won none. No way you'd think if you were.
• 1:09:52
  Nominated for 10? You'd come out with something.
• 1:09:54
  It was nominated for Best picture, Yeah.
• 1:09:56
  Best Director for David O Russell, best actor for
• 1:09:59
  Christian Bale, Best actress for Amy Adams, Best supporting actor
• 1:10:02
  for Bradley Cooper, Best supporting actress for Jennifer
• 1:10:05
  Lawrence, Best original screenplay, best costume design,
• 1:10:08
  best film editing and best production design.
• 1:10:12
  Costume designer should have won.
• 1:10:14
  I feel that's because you love the 70s.
• 1:10:16
  You want to dress up and be in the 70s?
• 1:10:18
  Not really. I appreciate it.
• 1:10:28
  All righty. So I think we're in the home
• 1:10:29
  stretch here. We are one more film.
• 1:10:32
  Feeling kind of heavy? You're feeling a bit lighter.
• 1:10:35
  Yeah, if only there was 0. Gravity I would.
• 1:10:38
  There you go. So gravity is.
• 1:10:40
  A 2013 science fiction thriller film directed by Alfonso Cuaron.
• 1:10:45
  I think that's how you pronounce it.
• 1:10:46
  Yeah, I think so too. Yeah, it'll do.
• 1:10:48
  Who also. Co wrote.
• 1:10:49
  Co edited and produced the film. It stars Sandra Bullock and
• 1:10:53
  George Clooney as American astronauts who attempt to return
• 1:10:56
  to Earth after the destruction of their space shuttle in orbit.
• 1:11:00
  Helen, tell us all about Gravity this movie.
• 1:11:04
  Is transfixing. You can't look away.
• 1:11:08
  It's action, at times at the agonizingly slow pace of a
• 1:11:12
  spacewalk, at other times at the speed of re entry into Earth's
• 1:11:16
  atmosphere, but always on the edge of your seat type action.
• 1:11:22
  It's thought provoking and gives real perspective on our small
• 1:11:26
  human lives. It showcases how everyone and
• 1:11:29
  everything that happens on our planet is interconnected.
• 1:11:33
  From how missiles launched from Earth can send debris hurtling
• 1:11:38
  through space, to how the feeling of loneliness and
• 1:11:41
  aloneness is common to all of us.
• 1:11:44
  And the atmosphere created by the camera angles and the
• 1:11:47
  cinematography is just masterful.
• 1:11:50
  I love this film, from Sandra Bullock and George Clooney to
• 1:11:54
  the concepts explored on a universal scale and on an
• 1:11:57
  intimate scale. If you've never seen it, do
• 1:12:01
  yourself a favor, go and see it so.
• 1:12:06
  We originally saw this at the cinemas.
• 1:12:08
  We did in 3D, did we? You don't remember that?
• 1:12:12
  Don't remember it. Being in 3D.
• 1:12:13
  But I remember it being good. At the movies, maybe that's why,
• 1:12:15
  because it's 3D. Well, when you watch it and you
• 1:12:18
  can see things coming. At you at the on the screen just
• 1:12:21
  when you watch it now yeah and you can see where the 3D yeah
• 1:12:25
  was utilized from so yes we did it's good that you remember the
• 1:12:31
  fact that you didn't see it in 3D sounds like me it does a
• 1:12:35
  little. And as.
• 1:12:37
  Yeah. So it took three years,
• 1:12:40
  apparently, to create the effects for this movie, which
• 1:12:43
  make up 80 of the 91 minutes of the film.
• 1:12:46
  So there was there was no little thing that they did.
• 1:12:49
  I mean, there's and the effects are amazing.
• 1:12:51
  They are. This did lose some of its
• 1:12:55
  majesty at home and not on the big screen.
• 1:12:58
  It's it's it's a movie that's designed for the big screen.
• 1:13:02
  It was still enjoyable, but the overall experience is different
• 1:13:07
  of being caught in deep space alone.
• 1:13:08
  It wasn't quite replicated on our screen at home as it was at
• 1:13:12
  the cinema, where you were on the big screen and and in
• 1:13:15
  complete darkness and because you were surrounded by.
• 1:13:19
  Space. It's still terrific, but you
• 1:13:23
  know what, if they ever release it at the cinema again, it's
• 1:13:27
  it's one of the few films I reckon that you need to go and
• 1:13:29
  see in a cinema. Yeah, I'd I'd agree.
• 1:13:33
  So it's still great, but just it was for me it was diminished
• 1:13:38
  slightly from watching it at home.
• 1:13:42
  From start to finish, the film goes for just 90 minutes, which
• 1:13:46
  is great because the story itself stretches only for about
• 1:13:51
  5 hours maximum in real time. So if you think about.
• 1:13:56
  Because they said that the. Debris was coming around every
• 1:13:58
  90 minutes and it came around three times.
• 1:14:01
  Yeah, so it. Works out from.
• 1:14:03
  About from go to woe. It would have been five hours in
• 1:14:06
  real time. OK, man, what are five hours?
• 1:14:09
  That's right. So the 90 minute.
• 1:14:12
  Part works really. Well, yeah, because it you.
• 1:14:14
  You get brings you back. Yeah, it gets you.
• 1:14:17
  You're fully about how. Quickly.
• 1:14:18
  Everything's happening and how you how you have to get in the
• 1:14:21
  space dock and do these quickly and, and put the oxygen in and
• 1:14:24
  then now you've got to get back out again.
• 1:14:26
  So all of that's really well done because of that short
• 1:14:29
  space-time span, there's only the two really in it.
• 1:14:35
  Yep, Sandra and George. So it's a task to.
• 1:14:40
  Carry the screen time on. Your own and make it watchable.
• 1:14:43
  Sandra was amazing and. Sandra Bullock generally.
• 1:14:46
  Always does, and George Clooney can pretty much do that as well.
• 1:14:50
  And together here, well, George is only in it for about half the
• 1:14:53
  film, but they do it as well, interestingly enough.
• 1:14:57
  So the voice of Mission Control in this film, Yeah, is done by
• 1:15:02
  Ed Harris, and I did too. And Ed Harris of.
• 1:15:06
  Course performed the. Same role in A in the following.
• 1:15:09
  Yeah, he did too. So he was down.
• 1:15:11
  On the ground saying instructions, yeah.
• 1:15:14
  So I thought that was interesting, yeah.
• 1:15:18
  So for me, yeah, it's a terrific film at the cinemas.
• 1:15:23
  For me it's really close to A5. Out of five at home, I give it
• 1:15:29
  four, I gave it 5. Gotta write that down.
• 1:15:33
  Five star film is that? My only five star film.
• 1:15:36
  I don't know. You should know I don't know.
• 1:15:38
  I delete all my. Notes.
• 1:15:40
  Dear, don't know, I suppose that'll.
• 1:15:41
  Be up to the the person who doesn't do any research.
• 1:15:45
  Well, maybe Bill. I'll listen to the podcasts.
• 1:15:47
  You reckon and I'll tell you. You reckon you will.
• 1:15:50
  You never know. I do.
• 1:15:53
  Know. But a very good idea.
• 1:15:55
  How many are there? Oh, there's been a few now.
• 1:15:59
  This will be this is episode 18. Oh, that's a lot.
• 1:16:02
  Yes, it is. So watch that on Stan.
• 1:16:06
  I believe nominated for 10 Academy Awards and it would have
• 1:16:10
  got some 7 nominated for best picture, Best director for
• 1:16:16
  Alfonso Cuaron, Best actress for Sandra Bullock, Best
• 1:16:20
  cinematography, Best film editing, Best original score,
• 1:16:24
  Best production design, Best sound editing, best sound
• 1:16:28
  mixing, and best visual effects. So out of those three, out of
• 1:16:32
  those 10, the only three that they didn't win was best
• 1:16:34
  production design, Best picture, of course, and best actress for
• 1:16:39
  Sandra Ball. OK, she didn't get it.
• 1:16:40
  She didn't get it. I wonder if.
• 1:16:41
  The other person I had her as one of my options.
• 1:16:45
  Anyway, we'll get to that. And we'll get to it right now.
• 1:16:53
  OK, so. Helen got all our pics here
• 1:16:58
  before we read out the actual other award winners and other
• 1:17:02
  nominees. Tell us, what was your best
• 1:17:06
  picture? Gravity, right?
• 1:17:09
  What was yours? Nebraska, OK.
• 1:17:11
  Yep, you. Did say that.
• 1:17:13
  Yes, I had a lot of four-star films.
• 1:17:15
  Me too, but when I. Had to choose it it.
• 1:17:21
  Came down to, OK, do I, do I pick the film that I think has
• 1:17:24
  been filmed the best and, and all that kind of stuff, or do I
• 1:17:28
  just pick the film that I enjoyed the most?
• 1:17:30
  Yeah, that means the most, and that's what I chose.
• 1:17:32
  Nebraska. Best director, I said.
• 1:17:36
  Alfonso. I don't know if it's.
• 1:17:38
  Cuaron or Suraron? I don't know that guy.
• 1:17:41
  The gravity director. The gravity director?
• 1:17:44
  Yeah, I chose Stephen. Fries for Philomena.
• 1:17:47
  Oh, yeah. Because I thought they did such
• 1:17:48
  a great job with that film, not only in the filming aspect of
• 1:17:55
  it, but getting the performances out of the actors.
• 1:17:59
  I thought that was fantastic. Yeah.
• 1:18:01
  Yeah. He he must have.
• 1:18:04
  Sat back and let them do their thing.
• 1:18:06
  Yeah, yeah, yeah. Best Actor Best Actor Matthew
• 1:18:12
  McConaughey. Yeah, I don't think there was
• 1:18:14
  any doubt that he was the. One there was some other like
• 1:18:17
  the guy out of. 12 Years Slave Great performances which we'll
• 1:18:21
  get to in a second. Christian Bale like these, but
• 1:18:23
  yeah. I it wasn't.
• 1:18:25
  It wasn't clear cut. I didn't think well for me.
• 1:18:30
  I just thought that he was the one outstanding one.
• 1:18:33
  I thought everyone was very good, but I just think you watch
• 1:18:35
  that performance and you just think straight.
• 1:18:38
  Yeah, He, it's him. Yeah.
• 1:18:40
  Which is funny because I, I was saying to someone else while ago
• 1:18:43
  that probably, what is it, 30 years ago now, when I started
• 1:18:47
  watching him, I used to think this guy can't act.
• 1:18:49
  He's, I mean, he's going to be one of these, you know, very
• 1:18:53
  fairy guys. He's never going to do it this
• 1:18:55
  serious. Yeah.
• 1:18:57
  And then saw. Him in the.
• 1:19:02
  Jodie Foster film. Contact where he played the.
• 1:19:06
  The priest in there, yeah, he was good in that.
• 1:19:08
  And he was so good in that I. Thought, oh, maybe.
• 1:19:10
  He can act and then he's done so many great things.
• 1:19:12
  So he'd be up there with the Christian Bale, Edward.
• 1:19:14
  Norton situation? Well, he's definitely in front
• 1:19:18
  of Edward Norton. By about 149, he can do a lot.
• 1:19:22
  He does, and he can. He does.
• 1:19:24
  Yeah. Best actress?
• 1:19:27
  Well, I said Sandra Bullock. And Dame Judi Dench, you can
• 1:19:32
  only choose one. Yeah.
• 1:19:34
  This is what we're well, I'm. Going to go with Judi.
• 1:19:36
  Dench now. Because I know Sandra didn't win
• 1:19:38
  it, did she? No.
• 1:19:39
  I went with Judi Dench. Yeah.
• 1:19:41
  Who won it? Oh, you're going to tell me in a
• 1:19:42
  minute. You.
• 1:19:43
  Already know who won it? Oh, who won it?
• 1:19:45
  I missed that. Oh, hang on, let me scroll.
• 1:19:47
  It hasn't been announced yet. Darling She was.
• 1:19:50
  She was in a film that wasn't nominated, but you do know the
• 1:19:53
  film. And you do know the actress, OK?
• 1:19:55
  Meryl Streep, No Best supporting.
• 1:19:59
  Actor. Best supporting actor, she would
• 1:20:02
  tell. Easier for He was the he was the
• 1:20:05
  main actor. So.
• 1:20:08
  Maybe Fazbender or Paul Denno, one of those guys in 12 years or
• 1:20:17
  so. Yeah, I went with Jared.
• 1:20:19
  Leto, I thought he was. He was fantastic.
• 1:20:22
  Just just a great, amazing performance, a great,
• 1:20:26
  fantastically written character. Yeah, it was, but you had to
• 1:20:29
  still. Be able to pull up which he did
• 1:20:33
  best supporting actress, best support Amy Adams.
• 1:20:37
  Yeah, she was good. I went with the Peter.
• 1:20:39
  Nyongo, because I just thought she was, yeah, so very, very
• 1:20:42
  good, best adapted screenplay. I didn't put that.
• 1:20:47
  OK. I've got original screen.
• 1:20:48
  Yeah. Best original screenplay.
• 1:20:50
  I said Gravity, right, because I love it.
• 1:20:53
  Best adapted, I said. I said Nebraska.
• 1:20:57
  Yeah, that was original. Yeah.
• 1:20:59
  What? Let's just what do you think?
• 1:21:00
  For adapted Philomena I went with.
• 1:21:04
  I guess so. Or I would do Philomena.
• 1:21:08
  Or 12 Years a Slave. Yep.
• 1:21:10
  Yeah. So yes.
• 1:21:12
  So that's our choices, yes. So now let's just run through
• 1:21:15
  all the other awards. So Best Picture, as we know,
• 1:21:17
  went to 12 Years a Slave. And we don't have to name the
• 1:21:19
  other films because we've just spoken about best director went.
• 1:21:23
  To Alfonso Cuaron. Good Gravity.
• 1:21:25
  And as we have already mentioned before, David O Russell for
• 1:21:28
  American Hustle, Alexander Payne for Nebraska, Steve McQueen for
• 1:21:32
  12 Years a Slave, and Martin Scorsese for The Wolf of Wall
• 1:21:35
  Street. Best Actor in A.
• 1:21:38
  Leading role went to Matthew. McConaughey.
• 1:21:40
  The other nominees were Christian Bale for American
• 1:21:43
  Hustle, Bruce Dern for Nebraska, Leonardo DiCaprio for The Wolf
• 1:21:47
  of Wall Street, and she would tell Giafor for 12 Years a
• 1:21:50
  Slave, Best Actress in a Leading.
• 1:21:54
  Role. Nominees were Amy Adams for
• 1:21:57
  American Hustle, Sandra Bullock for Gravity, Judi Dench for
• 1:22:01
  Philomena and Meryl Streep for August Osage County.
• 1:22:06
  But the winner for Blue Jasmine, Cate Blanchett was Cate
• 1:22:12
  Blanchett. So that was this year.
• 1:22:14
  I did love that and she was great.
• 1:22:16
  I know you weren't a fan, but yeah, what a shame we didn't get
• 1:22:19
  to watch. That again, I'm.
• 1:22:21
  Very glad it wasn't nominated for this.
• 1:22:23
  Film because I don't whenever she.
• 1:22:25
  See it again Whenever she's in something, she wins.
• 1:22:28
  Yeah. Often she's nominated anyway,
• 1:22:30
  yeah. Best actor in a supporting role
• 1:22:32
  went to Jared Leto for Dallas Buyers Club, Barcade Abdi for
• 1:22:36
  Captain Phillips, Bradley Cooper for American Hustle, Michael
• 1:22:40
  Fassbender for 12 Years a Slave and Joni Hill for The Wolf of
• 1:22:43
  Wall Street. With the other nominees.
• 1:22:45
  Best actress in a supporting role went to Lupita Noongo for
• 1:22:48
  12 Years a Slave. There's also Sally Hawkins for
• 1:22:51
  Blue Jasmine, Jennifer Lawrence for American Hustle, Julia
• 1:22:55
  Roberts for August Osage County, and June Squibb for Nebraska.
• 1:23:01
  What else would you like to know best?
• 1:23:02
  Writing for original screenplay. Went to her, as we know, for
• 1:23:05
  Spike Jones. I don't know why.
• 1:23:07
  American Hustle, Blue Jasmine, Dallas Buyers Club and Nebraska
• 1:23:11
  were the other nominees. Best writing for adapted
• 1:23:13
  screenplay. Went to 12 Years a Slave Before
• 1:23:17
  Midnight was another nominee. Captain Phillips Philomena and
• 1:23:22
  The Wolf of Wall Street Best Animated Feature film.
• 1:23:29
  The Wind. Rises was nominated Ernest and.
• 1:23:31
  Celestine was nominated. Despicable Me Two was nominated.
• 1:23:36
  The Croods was nominated. So funny.
• 1:23:38
  But the winner Frozen. Ah wow, yes.
• 1:23:44
  That was a good film. I think I've watched that once.
• 1:23:48
  But you have two daughters who were watching.
• 1:23:50
  It How did you only see it once? That's why I stopped watching
• 1:23:53
  it, because it was. Just always there.
• 1:23:55
  So I think out of all of those. We should say which one we think
• 1:23:59
  people should see. Is yours, Nebraska.
• 1:24:03
  All of those, everyone. 'S got to watch Dallas.
• 1:24:05
  Buyers Club. Yeah, and 12.
• 1:24:08
  Years a Slave. Yeah.
• 1:24:10
  That's the thing I mean. The only ones I would.
• 1:24:14
  Suggest you don't need to watch. I don't think you need to see
• 1:24:16
  Captain Phillips. I don't think you need to watch
• 1:24:18
  her, no. And you don't need to watch the.
• 1:24:21
  Wolf of Wall Street. But I think everyone's seen that
• 1:24:23
  except us. Yeah, true.
• 1:24:25
  Felt like that all. The others I would.
• 1:24:27
  Suggest out of those nine films, the six of them I think are
• 1:24:30
  worth watching. They're all worthy. 12 Years a
• 1:24:32
  Slave everyone should watch once.
• 1:24:34
  American Hustle is worth watching for the film itself.
• 1:24:38
  Dallas Buyers Club, everyone should watch.
• 1:24:40
  Gravity, I think everyone should watch, preferably at the
• 1:24:42
  cinemas. Nebraska I think is a fabulous
• 1:24:45
  film and everyone should would enjoy it.
• 1:24:47
  And Philomena for the same reasons.
• 1:24:49
  I think it's just a, it's just a lovely little film.
• 1:24:51
  It was a good list of films this year, yeah.
• 1:24:55
  Yeah. Out of all that, the most
• 1:24:57
  nominations went to American Hustle and Gravity with 1012.
• 1:25:00
  He's a Slave got 9. Dallas Buyers Club Nebraska got
• 1:25:03
  6, but the most wins was Gravity with 7, Dallas Buyers Club and
• 1:25:08
  12 Years a Slave got 3 and Frozen and The Great Gatsby got
• 1:25:12
  20. It was The Great Gatsby year as
• 1:25:14
  well. Yeah.
• 1:25:14
  And it didn't get nominated for that picture or anything.
• 1:25:17
  OK, for anything. It was all right.
• 1:25:19
  But yeah. I guess.
• 1:25:21
  It didn't compare with the OG. Probably not, no.
• 1:25:25
  Well. Darling.
• 1:25:26
  Done. Four months a slave.
• 1:25:28
  We're done. We would have.
• 1:25:30
  Now we can start. On the next movies and get stuck
• 1:25:33
  into that and get this episode. Out a little bit faster.
• 1:25:38
  Thank you, William, over to you. Does that.
• 1:25:40
  Mean I have to crack the. Whip and no, no, no, I just mean
• 1:25:43
  you've got to then edit. This and put that out there.
• 1:25:45
  Oh, that's OK, enjoy. Everybody, it's how you.
• 1:25:49
  Enjoyed it. It's easy to edit if we actually
• 1:25:51
  have it recorded. I've always found yeah, yeah.
• 1:25:59
  Righto well, thank you everyone for tuning in.
• 1:26:01
  We appreciate the fact that you have waited a long time for this
• 1:26:04
  episode. We hope that you are still out
• 1:26:06
  there and wanting to listen to it.
• 1:26:09
  I know that the lovely Melissa will probably give us a go, the
• 1:26:12
  lovely Kirsty will give us a go. And then of course the wonderful
• 1:26:16
  brother-in-law, sister-in-law duo of Phil and Linda will no
• 1:26:19
  doubt give us a listen. And we hope that there are
• 1:26:22
  plenty others of you out there as well.
• 1:26:23
  I know Jeff over in Florida loves to listen to this.
• 1:26:26
  For Helen, everyone, the Judas Priest guys, everyone.
• 1:26:29
  Everyone. Listens to Helen.
• 1:26:31
  Jeff and Jay I love Helen. Shout out Jeff and Jay no.
• 1:26:35
  Shout out to all of you who sit through our podcasts.
• 1:26:39
  Anyway, yes. Hopefully our next episode will
• 1:26:43
  be at far faster timing than this one has been, so once
• 1:26:48
  again, if you're interested in getting in contact with us, you
• 1:26:51
  can go through the usual channels there on social media.
• 1:26:54
  Might get to the point that people actually say anything.
• 1:26:56
  I can read it out at the start of the episode and give Helen a
• 1:26:59
  good laugh at how much no one cares about what I do and how
• 1:27:02
  much they love what she does. Should we let people know too
• 1:27:06
  that there? Might be some music podcasts
• 1:27:10
  coming up. Well there already are.
• 1:27:12
  Everyone listens to my music. Podcast.
• 1:27:14
  Except I mean I mean that you and I are in.
• 1:27:16
  But we're both in Yes, yes, they will all make so they all listen
• 1:27:19
  to. It so you accept you you've put
• 1:27:21
  that out there I haven't now you've given it away oh you can
• 1:27:24
  cut this bit out bill cut this bit out I.
• 1:27:26
  Can't edit anything I don't I. Don't edit.
• 1:27:29
  I just put music in and then it's done.
• 1:27:32
  That's the the beauty of editing.
• 1:27:34
  It takes 2 minutes anyway moving.
• 1:27:37
  On Thank you. Everybody once again and yes,
• 1:27:40
  shout out to David Stratton, who is who is a big part of making
• 1:27:44
  this podcast what it is and we appreciate his work.
• 1:27:48
  So and and Margaret, Yeah. But she's still alive.
• 1:27:51
  She is. But we can.
• 1:27:53
  That's why we can. She's still out because she's
• 1:27:55
  listening right now. Do you reckon?
• 1:27:58
  You reckon if we send? It to her that she'd listen to.
• 1:28:00
  This and then she'd get on Charlie Pickering and she would
• 1:28:03
  actually, she'd pan us, pan us completely.
• 1:28:06
  Yes, that. Would be fun.
• 1:28:07
  All right, until next time, everybody.
• 1:28:09
  Bye, bye. The.