I’m not going to spoil the episode by telling you what we thought of The Quantum Of Solace, but there’s a hint in the podcast title… We also caught up on Thank You for Smoking, and promised to watch ‘Stralya before next week’s show. Enjoy.
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Just a quickie, Paul, Matt, Jackie, Diego and Dave were the lucky (random!) winners. Tickets are on there way to your postal address.
Thanks for playing, and stay tuned for more freebies.
Via The Inquisitr.
Teh News:
Mickey, and our ridiculous copyright laws, turn 80
Lasseter on the Animation Oscar
War Monkeys just has to be Awesome
Teh Reviews:
True Blood
21
House
Inland Empire
Something else… 
An Episode on The HardDrive is Worth Two in the Cloud [1:07:16m]: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download
On last weeks podcast we reviewed American Teen :
Me: “I really enjoyed it, 3 stars”
Justin: “I hated it, but everyone should see it, 4 stars”
If you’d like a double pass to see American Teen, then simply email podcast at fulltimecasual dot com with Your Name and Postal address and answer the following question:
Which filmmaker is Hannah currently ‘interning’ with?
American Teen opens in Cinemas today.
The hardest thing for a film like Choke was that its major draw-card was also going to attract its biggest criticism. Like the son of a sport star, Choke had massive shoes to fill.
Choke is the second film adapted from the critically acclaimed author Chuck Palahniuk, most reputably known for the punch in the guts that was Fight Club (and when I say critically acclaimed, I should explain that I mean it in much the same way as I would; the critically acclaimed author Irvine Welsh. Meaning that there are few Irvine Welsh fans as there are fans of Trainspotting).
Fight Club is one of my favourite movies of all time, and one of the rare films that defy the common theory that “the book is always better.”
David Fincher visually perfected the intensity and raw power that made the book so definitive and with stellar performances from Ed Norton, Brad Pitt and Helena Bonham-Carter, Fight Club catapulted to the leagues of Taxi Driver and Scarface.
I began reading Choke shortly after I had finished Fight Club. The book was amazing. As his fourth novel to be published, Palahniuk had perfected his craft and was able to further explore a place somewhere between psychedelic and psychotic.
Unfortunately, Clark Gregg’s interpretation failed miserably to extract and capture the disturbing sense of humour and gritty detail, which made this book so incredible.
(This is Gregg’s directorial debut. Before stepping behind the lens, some of you may recognise him as Agent Coulson of the Strategic Homeland Intervention, Enforcement and Logistics Division in Iron Man. Check out his profile here).
Choke’s anti-hero Victor Mancini, much like Tyler Durden, has more issues than your average porn fiend and much of the plot revolves around his inability to cope with where his life is heading. However, where Fight Club focuses on the effect of Tyler’s problem, Choke attempts to explore the cause of Victor’s current mental state.
In between his day job as a historical interpreter and caring for his mother whose memory is slowly deteriorating, Victor attends group therapy sessions for sex addicts and chokes on food at restaurants, only to be saved by unsuspecting victims. It is his theory, that when a person saves your life, they feel somewhat responsible for your well-being.
Sam Rockwell saves the movie from being a complete pile of shit. His portrayal of Victor is exactly as we all pictured in our heads and makes you wonder whether Palahniuk had him in mind when he wrote the book. Without Rockwell’s wit and charm, Victor could have easily been perceived as any old con man or creep.
Kelly Macdonald is extremely bland as Victor’s love interest. She has lost all of the boldness and cheek, which made her so appealing in Trainspotting.
Brad William Henke (who some will recognise from his small role in Dexter, check it out) is confusing as Victor’s best friend. As a second-rate Seth Rogen, Henke switches between complete moron and sexual deviant to Victor’s insightful and thought-provoking conscience on the side.
One scene in particular basically sums up the kind of humour you can expect from Choke and demonstrates Rockwell’s natural ability to entertain…
Having finally received a hand-job from the historical milkmaid; Victor is sprung by his boss Charlie (played wonderfully by director Clark Gregg). As she sleeps with Victor’s dick in her hand and Charlie confesses his love for her, Victor awkwardly tries to convince him to give her another chance. In what Victor manipulates into a perfectly rational explanation, Charlie leaves not only willing to pursue his love again but actually thanks him for the advice.
As an adaption, Choke is disappointing. Gregg, who is obviously a fan, has tried to extract far too many elements from the text and has been unable to provide enough screen time to justify them.
Those of you hoping for another Fight Club – DON’T! Leave your expectations at the door and try to judge this film on its’ own merits. (And yes, yes, I understand the hypocrisy of all this – telling you not to compare the two, when I have spent this entire article doing exactly that).
At the end of the day, Choke succeeds as an original comedy and still a very enjoyable film. Sam Rockwell never fails to disappoint and his performance alone is well worth your time.
2.5 stars
In the meantime, you can check out the official trailer here.
And for those of you with some time to kill, here is a great list of some other book-to-screen adaptations.
I saw this headline a few days ago on the Onion RSS, but didnt click through.. I should have.
YouTube Contest Challenges Users To Make A ‘Good’ Video
Hey Onion, hows about a full RSS feed?
I’ve posted Merlin Mann videos here before, but i always feel i have to justify it. Yeah, its not really film related, but in my defense:
a) This was never meant to be a film only blog – it just kinda evolved into it.
b) Merlin’s advice is perfect for people wanting to find the time outside of their 9 to 5 to focus on creative pursuits.
c) Bite me.
So here he is, Merlin Dreamy Mann, on Time Management.
Wanna see more geeky stuff round here? Tell me in the comments.
The specs of the Red Camera were officially released today. So whats the big deal about Red? Well, you know that super sexy HD 1080p TV or camera you have? On the above diagram your telly is the little red rectangle, the grey around it is the glorious 28k pixels of Red.
Film Is Dead.
Diagram Blatantly stolen from Stu Maschwitz’ excellent Pro-Lost Blog.
So, in an experiment, we recorded with the idea that we would not cut this episode. It actually turned out ok!
In the News: The Dark Knight cracks a billion and gives away the screenplay to celebrate, Where for art thou studio screeners? Uncle Rupert says “Dont fear the tech”, SImon Pegg and Nick Frost are back! , Arrested Development Movie hinted at again, Star Trek is played to some lucky people, Monopoly: The Movie, Spielberg and Smith remaking Old Boy, James Cameron said nothing on T4, Batman sues Batman, Australia still sucks, but now Baz has an ‘out‘.
The reviews this week, Max Payne and American Teen
And your homework is The Kid Stays In The Picture…
