Episodes

We react to Christopher Nolan’s “Oppenheimer” and discuss: Cinematography, color, black & white, fission vs fusion, IMAX considerations; Story & Writing, fast starts, Trinity buildup, final scene; Music, and Casting supporting roles; and other such stuff and things and stuff. “The opposite of a correct statement is a false statement. But the opposite of a profound truth may well be another profound truth.“ – Niehls Bohr Notes & References: Ludwig Goransson discusses scoring “Oppenheimer” (Vari...

We stir the tanks on Ron Howard’s “Apollo 13” and discuss: Cinematography, vertigo shot, selling space-gravity; Story & Writing, exposition, building stakes & tension; Acting & Directing, building emotional weight, stoicism; and other such stuff and things and stuff. “The only real mistake is the one from which we learn nothing.“ – Henry Ford Notes & References: Blanch Lovell is played by Ron Howard’s mother, Jean Speegle Howard (iMDB) Carol Hickey Acting Studio Gene Kranz on failure (YouTube...

We do our own thing in “Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse” and discuss: Story & Writing, leaning into exposition, moral dilemmas and the trolley problem; using Music to tell an efficient story; and other such stuff and things and stuff. “Act that your principle of action might safely be made a law for the whole world.“ – Immanuel Kant Notes & References: Immanuel Kant (wiki) How a 14-year-old animated a scene in Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse (YouTube) “How Animators Created the Spider...

We dash through “Run Lola Run” and discuss: Visual signature; Story & Writing, Chaos Theory, time, soccer, runtime; and other such stuff and things and stuff. “It is a test (a positive test, I do not assert that it is always valid negatively), that genuine poetry can communicate before it is understood.“ – T.S. Eliot Notes & References: Portishead “The Rip” animation (YouTube) Chaos Theory (wiki) Sepp Herberger (wiki) Univ. of Texas “CRIT” – analysis of Walt Whitman’s “The Learned Astronom...

We articulate “The King’s Speech” and discuss: Cinematography & Directing, framing Bertie; Story & Writing, British dry humor, Bertie’s struggles; Performance, vocal exercises, and other such stuff and things and stuff. “I wish nothing but good; therefore, everyone who does not agree with me is a traitor and a scoundrel.“ – King George III Notes & References: Screenwriter David Seidler interview (YouTube) David Seidler’s Oscar speech (YouTube) David Seidler (iMDB) Watch us on YouTube! This W...

We devour Miyazaki’s “Spirited Away” and discuss: Cinematography, editing; Story & Writing, Chihiro’s journey from weak to strong, complex emotions; What’s it all about, what does No Face represent; and other such stuff and things and stuff. “The challenge of the unknown future is so much more exciting than the stories of the accomplished past.“ – Simon Sinek Notes & References: Miyazaki interview (midnighteye.com) Watch us on YouTube! xx This Week’s Recommendations: The post Ep 237: “Spir...

We discover “The Secret of Kells” and discuss: Wes shooting a music video (0:00-18:00); Story & Writing, dialog, Aisling, Pangur Ban; Music, art style, hand-drawn animation; and other such stuff and things and stuff. “May you live every day of your life.“ – Jonathan Swift Notes & References: Music video James Hough “I don’t know why” (YouTube) Orb Recording Studios Pangur Bán poem (wiki) Sally Rooney (goodreads.com) The Sun Also Rises (goodreads.com) Watch us on YouTube! Artist Spotlight: Se...

We roar at Tollywood’s breakout sensation “RRR” and discuss: Cinematography, frame rate; Story & Writing, musical storytelling, heightened tone; and other such stuff and things and stuff. “There are very few people who are going to look into the mirror and say, ‘That person I see is a savage monster;’ instead, they make up some construction that justifies what they do.“ – Noam Chomsky Notes & References: Baahubali: The Beginning (iMDB) – this is also a S.S. Rajamouli film Abolitionist John Br...

We interrogate Danny Boyle’s “Slumdog Millionaire” and discuss: Cinematography, Directing; Story & Writing, exposition, the Dickensian aspect; Gift and curse of winning an Oscar; Special guest Chandrashish weighs in from India; and other such stuff and things and stuff. “Suffering has been stronger than all other teaching, and has taught me to understand what your heart used to be. I have been bent and broken, but – I hope – into a better shape.“ – Charles Dickens, from Great Expectations Note...

We feel our way through The Hughes Brothers’ “The Book of Eli” and discuss: Visual style; Story & Writing, theme, outline; and other such stuff and things and stuff. “There is no saint without a past, no sinner without a future.“ – Saint Augustine Notes & References: CNN clip Reza Aslan discussing religion (YouTube) other films we’ve covered that were shot by Don Burgess: “Cast Away”, and “Contact” The Book of Eli Music by: Atticus Ross, Leopold Ross, Claudia Sarne “Sunshine” Music by: John...

We drive by The Hughes Brothers’ “Menace II Society” and discuss: Story & Writing, opening scene, morality tales; Hollywood gangster films; and other such stuff and things and stuff. “I respect the audience’s intelligence a lot, and that’s why I don’t try to go for the lowest common denominator.“ – Spike Lee Watch us on YouTube! This Week’s Recommendations: The post Ep 232: “Menace II Society” appeared first on The Pestle.

We swear to Christopher Nolan’s “The Dark Knight” and discuss: Cinematography and Directing, cheating for speed; Story & Writing, Batman vs Joker, philosophical stakes, Joker’s tests; and other such stuff and things and stuff. “When law and morality contradict each other, the citizen has the cruel alternative of either losing his moral sense or losing his respect for the law.“ – Frederic Bastiat Notes & References: College Humor Batman Did Heath Ledger improvise the hospital scene? (ScreenRant...

We crash into Charlie Chaplin’s “The Great Dictator” and discuss: Cinematography, old aspect ratios, classic glow-up; Story & Writing, destroy something beautiful, how machine men act; and other such stuff and things and stuff. “The deeper the truth in a creative work, the longer it will live.“ – Charlie Chaplin Notes & References: Charlie Chaplin Behind the Camera on The Great Dictator, 1940 (Reddit) 1939 Nazi rally at Madison Square Gardens (wiki) Anti-halation backing (wiki) Buster Keato...

We trap Denis Villeneuve’s “Prisoners” and discuss: Cinematography, camera movement; Story & Writing, good detective/bad detective, testing faith; Wes unintentionally overstates his thoughts on the impact of the movie; and other such stuff and things and stuff. “There is nothing more deceptive than an obvious fact.” – Arthur Conan Doyle Notes & References: *Wes Note: I did not actually find any official source discussing or defining rationalizing/generalization of fictionalized evidence. I as...

We double-check Denis Villeneuve’s “Enemy” and discuss: Story & Writing, what’s it all about? What’s up with the spider?; and other such stuff and things and stuff. “Truth in philosophy means that concept and external reality correspond.“ – Georg Wilhelm Friedrich Hegel Notes & References: Note: There are a LOT of variations on what constitutes “gaslighting”, apologies if my description on the show was insufficient! “Gas Light” play (wiki) Gaslighting (newportinstitute.com – first google re...

We journey through Darren Aronofsky’s “The Fountain” and discuss: Cinematography and editing; VFX, and setbacks; every film is its own universe; and other such stuff and things and stuff. “We must be willing to let go of the life we planned so as to have the life that is waiting for us.“ – Joseph Campbell Notes & References: Aubrey de Grey on curing aging (LeapsMag) Aubrey de Grey 2006 article (TheGuardian) Interloper (Todd’s synth YouTube music channel) “The not so great escape” (YouTub...

We yearn for Peter Dinklage’s “Cyrano” and discuss: Todd’s path to being a full-time producer, building a creative career (0-23 min); Cinematography & Directing, creating a moment of love; Story & Writing, inevitable death on stage, pacing and structure; and other such stuff and things and stuff. “Everyone thinks of changing the world, but no one thinks of changing himself.“ – Leo Tolstoy Notes & References: Wes note: It finally dawned on me during editing that it’s probably set in the Guich...

We check into Zach Cregger’s “Barbarian” and discuss: Cinematography, camerawork; Story & Writing, playing with the audience; Directing, ambience & tone; and other such stuff and things and stuff. “Before my teacher came to me, I did not know that I am. I lived in a world that was a no-world. I cannot hope to describe adequately that unconscious, yet conscious time of nothingness. When I learned the meaning of ‘I’ and ‘me’ and found that I was something, I began to think. Then consciousness fi...

We obsess over Darren Aronofsky’s “The Whale” and discuss: Cinematography, aspect ratio; Directing, acting and performances; and other such stuff and things and stuff. “I’d like to do a lot of different stuff. I think it’s important as a creative person to keep challenging yourself and keep doing new stuff. If you end up trying to repeat yourself it’s death. It just becomes boring and takes the passion out of it. You gotta find stories and characters that you really want to hang out with.“ – D...

We complete Cameron Crowe’s “Jerry Maguire” and discuss: Story & Writing, using audience expectations against them; Cinematography, traditional lighting; and other such stuff and things and stuff. “The cowards never started and the weak died along the way. That leaves us, ladies and gentlemen. Us.“ – Phil Knight Notes & References: Blue October (Spotify) Matt Noveskey (IG) Orb Studios in Austin, Tx Scott Garrett Graham (IG), Kiona (Apple Music) Engelberg Humperdink (Spotify) Alex Navarr...

We get to Shane Black’s “Kiss Kiss Bang Bang” party and discuss: Story & Writing, humor, subverting expectations; Screenplay snippets, how Shane Black’s voice is distinct; and other such stuff and things and stuff. “An action film can have too much action; picture an equalizer on a stereo, with all the knobs pegged at 10. It becomes a cacophony and is, ultimately, quite boring.“ – Shane Black Notes & References: Dice is prehistoric, dice wiki Screenplay for “Kiss Kiss Bang Bang” Wordplayer art...

We massage Quentin Tarantino’s “Pulp Fiction” and discuss: Story & Writing, out of sequence storytelling, creating contrast, Tarantino’s dialog; Directing & Production value, long takes, music; and other such stuff and things and stuff. “I steal from every movie ever made.“ – Quentin Tarantino Watch us on YouTube! This Week’s Recommendations: DGA “The Director’s Cut” podcast site, and on Apple Podcasts The post Ep 221: “Pulp Fiction” appeared first on The Pestle.

We ride along on Antoine Fuqua’s “Training Day” and discuss: Cinematography, the horizon line; Story & Writing, story outline; and other such stuff and things and stuff. “Real change, enduring change, happens one step at a time.“ – Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg Notes & References: The original ending was far less violent (MentalFloss) Denzel won Best Actor and Ethan won Best Supporting at the Academy Awards; Halle Berry also won Best Actress the same year, the first black actress to win Best A...

We migrate through “Monty Python and the Holy Grail” and discuss: Humor, absurdism, dry humor; Comedy period piece; Guest Scott Garrett Graham joins us; and other such stuff and things and stuff. “The most creative people have this childlike facility to play.“ – John Cleese Notes & References: Check out Scott Garrett Graham on Instagram, listen to his music on Spotify, Apple Music, YouTube, YouTube Music, Pandora Stereophonics “Maybe Tomorrow” (YouTube) Orb Recording Studios in Austin, TX Ma...