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Friday, December 10, 2010

R.I.P. Leslie Nielsen/ Irvin Kershner (podcast)

The weekend of Nov. 27-28 2010, brought about a massive one-two punch to our childhood memories with the passing of two men who forever affected our movie-watching careers. Tonight we remember Leslie Nielsen and Irvin Kershner.




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Monday, November 29, 2010

The Social Network (Podcast)

We finally found the time to gather together and discuss another one of the most important films of 2010. Fight through the shitty audio with us and join in the discussion. Enjoy.



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Tuesday, November 9, 2010

Cody's Film Review: The Social Network

One of the best films of the year and defiantly some of the best acting. I was really looking forward to this film because Fincher does a personal pic then a studio pic, and after Benjamin Button (2008) it was time for him to really care about a project. I also have a weakness for films based on true stories in contemporary times, like Shattered Glass (2003). I know this film is a dressed up version of the real thing, but it was realistic and enjoyable. The film represents how business is done today in the fast paced .com industry. Companies are based on fads and software, and are in and out of fashion so fast that Napster seems like a company that existed 30 years ago. The savvy businessman is out the window and young anti social misfits like Zuckerberg are in charge and they come across as cold and deceptive. Are they really bad or just inexperienced nerds thrown into the forefront of a multimillion dollar companies who can't interact with other people? I think David Fincher and Aaron Sorkin bring all of these points to the table and this film will be a time capsule of business in the 2000's, just like Wall Street (1987) was to the 80's. Fincher is also king of how to properly use CGI. He has fun with it wants to fool the audience of it's existence, which is what SFX are supposed to be used for. Great music, smart Sorkin script, and fine directing and acting all around. 4 out 5 stars.

Saturday, October 9, 2010

Overlooked and Underrated: Let it Ride (1989)



I got excited last weekend about the time Disney released Secretariat. Not for the film itself, but upon seeing the TV ads that had run the previous weeks, I ordered a copy of an overlooked comedy about horse racing from the late 80's that I happened to catch on HBO one summer in my teenage years....and my DVD finally arrived. Let it Ride stars Richard Dreyfuss as Jay Trotter, a man trying to break his gambling habits in order to save his marriage only to then have a sure bet fall in his lap. The quick-witted screenplay and brilliant casting makes for a very funny, quirky and enjoyable film. Screenwriter Nancy Dowd and first-time feature director Joe Pytka do a great job of capturing the setting of the racetrack as well as the mindset of the everyday bettor. Dreyfuss once again delivers a comedic performance on the money, but the real jewels of this movie are the side characters. David Johansen is hilarious as Trotter's best friend and biggest loser of the group of riff-raff they hang around the track with. Teri Garr was a great choice to play his wife who is used to having her heart broken time after time. Jennifer Tilly plays her trademark dim-witted character, this time with more sex-appeal, and many other recognizable faces pop up as well, like Allen Garfield, Robbie Coltrain, Cynthia Nixon, Tony Longo, and Richard Dimitri (Roman Maroni from Johnny Dangerously) just to name a few. Richard Edson, the garage attendant from Ferris Bueller has all of eight lines and is one of the funniest people in the movie. These days, a story with this many characters would have the director trying to shoehorn in equal screen time for a bunch of egos, but this one gets it right and gives the viewer no more than they need. A collaborative effort between writing, performance and editing generates a comedy with a good pace, and it all wraps up in a tidy 90-minute package. There aren't many copies out there but getting hold of one is well worth the effort.

Tuesday, September 14, 2010

Podcast: Best Films of the Decade (pt. 3 of 3)







We conclude our “Best of the Decade” talk with the top 10 lists of Matt Fickel, Cody Franklin, and Jeff Ayala. Will Fickel put “Tetro” on his list? Will there be a ‘Shotgun Stories’ in Jerf’s future? How many more times does ‘There Will Be Blood’ Appear? Tim Sigur makes an appearance by email and our own beloved Reverend Renke delivers a spiritual message to us after the discussion, so besure and stay tuned all the way through. Enjoy.






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Monday, August 30, 2010

Podcast: Best Films of the Decade (pt. 2 of 3)



The roundtable discussion continues with the "best of" lists offered by Hal Duncan, Eric Meisner and Scott Griffin. Rounding out the table are Cody Franklin, Matt Fickel, and Jeff Ayala. Even though Phillip is not here in this episode, he does manage to make an appearance. Enjoy.

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Sunday, August 22, 2010

Podcast: Best Films of the Decade (pt. 1 of 3)


And so it comes to this. After weeks of studying, viewing and ranking, the members of "The Doomsday Machine" have put together their own top ten films of the decade lists and have gathered once again to educate the rest of the world on what they should be watching. Up first is our good friend Phillip Renke, who gets an entire hour devoted to him because he found time in his busy schedule to drive up from Austin just to hang out with us for one night. Enjoy.

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Thursday, August 12, 2010

John Hughes remembered (podcast)


Last week marked the one year anniversary of the passing of John Hughes. This podcast was recorded shortly after his death in August 2009. At first I was doubtful that it would see the light of day due to the unforseen technical frustrations of having sixpeople online simultaniously, but after many hours in the editing room, we we're able to piece something together and pay tribute to a man who has carved out a
special place in all of our hearts.



















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Monday, August 9, 2010

R.I.P. Patricia Neal


Patricia Neal was never a huge Hollywood Starlet, just one of the better actresses of her generation. Neal had a commanding voice with a no nonsense face that lead to her playing strong women who were in control. She had a long career (1949-2009) with some serious health issues that hindered her from having a great second half of a career. Neal also had a successful TV career, but I want to concentrate on a couple of classic films that everyone should see. The Fountainhead(1949) with Gary Cooper was her first film, and she holds her own with Coop. Based on the famous Ayn Rand book, it is a enjoyable film that lead to a torrid affair between her and Cooper. In The Day The Earth Stood Still(1951) Neal plays a mother who finds out her house guest is a alien. One of the greatest Sci Fi films of all time, Neal is easily the best actor in the film. A Face In The Crowd(1957) she gives a flawless performance as a radio reporter who discovers drunk Lonesome Rhodes(Andy Griffith's best role) and turns him into a Superstar. This film is a must see and works better today then it did in '57. This is Andy Griffith's film, but Neal is the most human element in the movie and she is who you connect with. Patricia Neal's best performance and one of my favorite films of all time is Hud(1963). In a film where legends like Melvyn Douglas and Paul Newman give one of their best performances, she still stands out. Neal was so prominent in this film she won a Best Actress Oscar for a supporting role. As a viewer you fall in love with her, and eventually these affections cause you to turn on Hud, then forgive him as she does. A couple of years after Hud she had three strokes at the age of forty,and had to learn how to walk and talk again. This set back forced her to turn down roles that could have made her more well known today. The most noteable was the role as Mrs. Robinson from The Graduate (1967). Patricia Neal died of lung cancer at the age of 84.

Tuesday, August 3, 2010

The Inception debate (podcast)


It looks like Inception is receiving more controversy than it deserves, not so much over the content of the movie, but of its seemingly overrated status by the fanboys. Some of us feel like the audiences of today have forgotten what good cinema used to be like, while others feel that Christopher Nolan has broken the mold and reinvented the motion picture. There is absolutely no one in this argument that thinks the film or the filmmaker is lacking in quality or skill. Inception is a perfect balance between every technical and aesthetic element that makes a good movie, and Nolan is without a doubt one of the best directors working today. However, the topic at hand has summoned an emergency meeting of war room officials and now we invite you to join the debate.

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Friday, July 30, 2010

The Chick Flick Invasion (Podcast)


As early as the 1960's, the major television networks were airing “made for TV” movies on a regular basis. Filmmakers and audiences together created a market for that bridge between the movie theater and your living room. Ever since then that market has grown and even splintered into (sort of) sub-genres of low production value films. Over the years, the Lifetime television network realized the potential for consistent viewership simply by airing these movies and eventually producing them. In a way the network has almost created it's own niche in the made for TV world as we often refer to these films as “Lifetime movies.”

In the same way we enjoy disastrous charms such as “Kickboxing Academy” and “Samurai Cop,” we've all been subject to, and highly enjoyed, the highly dramatized, poorly acted works that have found a home on the Lifetime network. Sisters for Lifetime is a blog that celebrates these treasures we have grown up with over the years. Recently, one of the founders of SFL stopped by the Doomsday studio to talk about her new site and it sparked a conversation about not just Lifetime movies, but chick-flicks and guilty pleasures of all types. Enjoy.

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Read my review of the Lifetime move Cradle of Lies on Sisters for Lifetime (under my female pseudonym).


Monday, July 26, 2010

Sleep on it


Within the last decade, there has been a tectonic shift in the quality of filmed storytelling. The film business has always been just that, a business, I get it, but there have always been writers/directors/producers who have had passion for the medium and always wanted to create a true art form. Now, for the most part these people have found a larger home in the one place we (the film snobs of the world) have always considered a second-rate medium, television. This shift has left much more to be desired when we go to the theater, because most of the films released today are aimed at thirteen-year-olds. It seems that literally, once in a blue moon we are treated to a carefully crafted story, rather than the usual carefully marketed product.
That elusive moon has risen with the release of Inception. Christopher Nolan and company have, once again, produced nothing short of a quality film. Nolan is one of the coveted few whose attention to detail yeilds not only great stories, but brilliant looking images, especially in the special effects department. We, as an audience, have grown accustomed to watching entire scenes built in a computer and it's a breath of fresh air to see a filmmaker use gimbals and wires rather than a team of CG artists for once. I can only hope the success of his last two films can only inspire the studio system to bring a few more technically savvy and thought-provoking stories to the table more frequently.
I do get a little concerned sometimes when a movie of this caliber is released. Not for the film itself, but for the audience. I feel like sometimes our cinematic blue balls are aching so much for quality, that when we finally see it, our pants explode. I've heard a little too much talk over the past couple of years about certain films being amongst “the best of all time.” Don't get me wrong, I'm not saying they're bad, I'm just suggesting you give it some time before making that decision and let it digest for a few months. Even if you saw it nine times on opening weekend, good for you, you're a winner, but come see me next year when you've had time to examine it for yourself and not see it just for the sake of bragging rights. Inception is a very good film, but not a perfect, 10 out of 10. Best of the year? Sure.....so far. Amongst the best of all time? Ask me next summer.

Tuesday, June 29, 2010

Pardon my french, but you're an asshole! (Podcast)


Johnny Lawrence, Chaz Ozborne and Greg Tolin....Three 80s-era villains all brilliantly portrayed by a man whose face should be on the "mount rushmore" of 1980s antagonists. When asked who their favorite bad guys are of that decade most people will undoubtedly picture William Zabka. Proven to be a successful style of character in comedy as well as drama, the preppy blond asshole became a staple duringa time in which comedies thrived. Eventually morphing into other physical characteristics, one character trait remained consisted throughout the 80s and our favorite nemeses became popular amongst us at "The Doomsday Machine" for one reason....They were all dicks.












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Saturday, June 12, 2010

Kings of the World (podcast)


After a four month spring break, we find ourselves in preparation for the “Best of the Decade podcast” and in doing so we need to finish putting out shows from the 2009 sessions. Hal and Matt are honored once again by the personal appearance of Scott Griffin all the way from Brooklyn, while Cody has to sit in a room all by himself and talk to us over Skype.

I think it’s very rare for most of us on the show to go out to see a movie just because a certain actor/actress is in starring in it. Personally, I get annoyed when someone asks if I’m going to see a movie like “Valentine’s Day” and when I stop laughing their response is something like, “But I thought you liked Bradley Cooper?” And that usually leads to some argument in which I wind up being called a snob. We do get excited however, in that rare instance that an actor has a streak in which he/she can do no wrong when it comes to picking their work. In this episode we discuss a handful of those actors that may peak our interests a little more when we hear their names these days.

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Friday, June 4, 2010

The Springfield Zephyrs Are No More.

I know this is predominantly a film Blog, but from 1990 to 1997 The Simpson's was one of the best shows in TV history. The first episode I remember loving was Homer Goes To Bat which aired February 20th 1992. In the episode Monty Burns decides to bring in some MLB ringers to help the Springfield Power Plant softball team beat the hated Shelbyville team. He brought in Roger Clemens, Wade Boggs, Ken Griffey, Jr., Steve Sax, Ozzie Smith, José Canseco, Don Mattingly, Darryl Strawberry and Mike Scioscia, which were some of the best players of the time. Yesterday the last active player on the Springfield Zephyrs, Ken Griffey Jr, retired from professional Baseball after 22 years. This saddened me because it made me remember a simpler time for The Simpson's and Baseball. The Simpson's was starting to roll into one of my all-time favorite shows and Baseball wasn't marred by strikes and steroid abuse. Now 18 years later The Simpson's have more bad than good episodes and is a shadow of the genius it used to be. Baseball has gotten better the last few years, but I don't have the same passion I had for it when I was a senior in High School. Goodbye Zephyrs you will be missed.

The Players and why they couldn't play in the championship game.

Roger Clemens-(1984-2007) Thinks he's a chicken, but it's not the Hypnotist fault, he did a good job.
Wade Boggs-(1982-1999) Barney beats him up because of their disagreement on the best British Prime Ministers. Kip the Elder?
Steve Sax-(1981-1994) Arrested for every unsolved murder in NYC.
Ken Griffey Jr.-(1989-2010) Loved drinking Nerve Tonic so much he got Giganticism.
Ozzie Smith-(1978-1996) Fell into the Springfield Mystery Spot, and is still there.
Jose Canseco- (1985-2001) Too busy saving a woman's possessions from a fire. I call bullshit on this one, he was really doing blow in a ally way.
Don Mattingly-(1982-1995) Kicked off the team because of his sideburn problems.
Mike Scioscia- (1980-1992) Loved working at the power plant so much he caught the radiation bug.
Darryl Strawberry- (1983-1999) The only one who played, but was distraught because of Bart and Lisa's heckling. Darryl,Darryl,Darryl.

Tuesday, June 1, 2010

R.I.P. Dennis Hopper

Sad to see one of the great Hollywood Bad Boys die, but he did live longer than most would have thought. Breaking into the business in the mid '50's with television and bit parts in great films like Rebel Without A Cause (1955) and Giant(1956) Hopper showed a lot of potential. He looked like the boy next door with a streak of rebellion and recklessness. Along with Brando, Newman, and James Dean, Hopper helped feed the fear of all WWII vets that the youth was going to ruin America. Dennis Hopper was one of the few that actually tried to change the way things were, and he proved it with his and Peter Fonda's ground breaking directorial debut Easy Rider(1969).
Like so many others Hopper spent the 70's drugged out of his mind and getting in trouble with the law and Hollywood executives. In 1986 The Dennis Hopper Resurgence occurred with two amazing performances, Blue Velvet ( My favorite) and Hoosiers, and from this he was allowed to direct and get choice roles again. In the 90's the elderly Hopper became one of the great crazy bad guys and shined in movies like Speed (1994). I thought his last good performance in a quality film was in Basquiat (1996) and I am saddened that he never had one more great role before he died. Everyone should drink a Pabst Blue Ribbon this week in his honor.

Other Notable Films
Gunfight At The OK Corral (57) His hometown
Cool Hand Luke (67)
True Grit (69)
The American Friend (77)
Apocalypse Now (79) Maybe my 2nd favorite performance
Rumble Fish (83)
My Science Project (85) That's Right! and I'm gonna skip Flashback because of this.
The Indian Runner (91)
Red Rock West (93)
True Romance (93) He's in the best scene in the entire picture.
Waterworld (95)
As a Director
The Last Movie (71)
Colors (88)
The Hot Spot (90)

Thursday, May 27, 2010

Self-Fulfilling Prophecy


The older that I get, I find it harder and harder to get myself to the theater. Out of fear that I will become one of those people that waits to see films largely through my Netflix que, I find myself looking for different films that might strike enough interest to actually see it outside of the realm of streaming. The problem lately is that rarely do I see a trailer that strikes up this kind of interest.
That being said, I fully realize that this time of year is not geared towards my personal taste. I went to Catholic school for eighteen years, and the Jesus story that has been adapted into every super hero movie over the past twenty years is old hat. Sure, I enjoyed Iron Man, but that doesn't mean I want to race out and see Robert Downey, Jr mugging it up in between fight scenes for Iron Man 2. Let me guess, he's going to have to make some sort of sacrifice towards the end, right? The summer tent pole movie is not made for me and that fact has become evidently clear.
When I did drag myself from the couch and the on-going NBA Playoffs (Go Celtics!), I chose to go another route and saw (gasp!) a foreign film. I chose said foreign film for a couple of reasons. I figured while the rest of the texting tweeners and obnoxious theater goers who have started this unnerving trend of convincing themselves that they are the only people in the theater to the point of having full blown conversations during the film were watching Iron Man 2, I could slip past them all and huddle into the smallest screening room possible and avoid potential conflicts. Let's face it, the same guy who is still amazed that Iron Man can fly is the same guy who won't watch foreign films because he, "don't like reading movies." (I would worry about offending said guy, but, seeing as he doesn't like to read, I'm sure the computer is more of a porn box and/or e-mail transporter than anything.) Second, I chose what was supposedly a violent and nerve-wracking film, and, kind of get a kick watching people walking out of movie theaters after witnessing something violent and/or nerve-wracking. (One of my greatest experiences being the two rows of people I watched leave during a screening of Pulp Fiction in Monroe, Louisiana. I think you can guess the scene.) Point being, the older I get, I am getting more and more disturbed by the modern day movie-goer.
So what could possibly drag me out of my house and be worthwhile? The film is called A Prophet and is one of the best gangster films that I have seen since Goodfellas. French filmmaker Jacques Audiard paints one of most realistic and gripping portraits of the modern day criminal, yet adding moments of the surreal to give a genre a much needed shot of adrenaline. Tahar Rahim (in an absolutely brilliant performance on the level of DeNiro's Johnny Boy in Mean Streets) plays a young Arab prisoner who over the course of the film is introduced to the various levels of the criminal underworld that run a Parisian prison. (These various levels strangely resembling how most major industries run.) Audiard is able to tell an almost Shakespearean level tragedy with a modern edge that keeps the viewer riveted throughout.
It seems that today's European filmmakers have gone the opposite route of the modern American cinema. While studio after studio invests in the fad of 3-D, most prominent European filmmakers have made a point to go more bare-bones. Embracing cinema verite techniques such as long tracking shots and use (sometimes overuse) of hand held to interject realism into every frame, enveloping the viewer into the world of the film. It was refreshing, in the sense of A Prophet, to see this realism brought to the crime drama genre that at it's best is classic filmmaking (The Godfather, Casino) and at it's worst overdone to the point of nausea (Suicide Kings, Things to Do in Denver When You're Dead). No matter how many times you have seen the rise of a criminal to the peak of his powers, A Prophet is as engaging as the best of it's kind.
The most surprising part of my experience was the actual viewing experience. At first, watching retirees (the last of people who actually read the newspapers, therefore reading reviews, and therefore not minding when they have to read subtitles) and hipster film students (they are the ones who haven't showered or peeled off their skinny jeans in months who sit in the back to the chagrin of no one but themselves) slowly come in, I was entranced by a seemingly normal family of a father, mother, and daughter enter in last. I waited for them to sit by me and then prepared myself for a soon-to-infamous-razor-blade-scene I had read about before, pondering what expletive the father would yell out as they left the theater, aghast that such things could happen in a prison of all places. But as the scene played out, I was able to peek out of the corner of my own cringing to see that the seemingly normal family was still there after the scene had ended. Not only were they there, but they were just as enthralled with the movie as everyone else in the theater. The retirees, the film school cynic in the ripped Ramones shirt, even my wife (her movie suggestion that day was Letters to Juliet) were so wrapped up in the story (imagine that and we didn't even need glasses) that the entire audience was pinned to their seat. Putting kidneys and bladders in harm's way for the sake of seeing where this character and, more importantly, this movie was going to take us next. The experience alone might have been enough to get me off the couch and back to the theater one or two more times this summer. Even if one of those times is for McGruber.

Wednesday, April 7, 2010

See It! Hunger

I was really surprised at how good this film was and shocked that it didn't receive any Oscar buzz. I loved the first half of the film a lot more than the second half. I am not saying that the second half is bad, but I saw original storytelling and throwback film making leading up to the beginning of the Hunger Strike. Once the Hunger Strike begins the film becomes more of a document, but still very good. Every actor is suburb and Michael Fassbender is just flawless, especially with the scene of him and the priest. I loved the way you didn't know who you were following in the beginning and then BOOM it's Fassbender's film. Kudos to director (still hard to say it) Steve McQueen for making a powerful and somewhat objective movie. The film looks beautiful and disgusting at the same time and guess what people, he used a tripod. I love that he went away from the documentary look and just shot a straight forward and very powerful film. One of the best and most important films last year. Watch it on Criterion Blu-Ray, but not while you eat.