I've already done this homework for 75 movies, so I'm not taking a block. Here are my top picks.
Terminator Salvation
@0:15:26
"[McG] thinks that people don’t like the movie because his name is pretentious. … Your name could be Hitler McSodomy, for all that matters. [laughter] If you make a good f***in’ Terminator movie, people … wouldn’t dis the movie."
Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone
@1:51:45
"That dragon actually looks pretty decent. … It’s still right before they had the sub-surface scattering going on. … And you can see the wings feel kind of plasticky. Hey, your wings feel plasticky. Your mom’s wings are plasticky."
Legion
@0:02:16
"It’s really spectacular how you can pull this survival/zombie movie … with angels and God … and not even accidentally— [laughter] —hit some kind of point."
Alien 3
@0:06:00
"You like it? … I have a special place in my heart for it— [laughter] We should get you X-rayed right away."
Raiders of the Lost Ark
@1:21:10
"When he goes under the truck, that’s the clearest Yakima Canutt [homage]. … Trey represents the knowledge of this podcast. Well, just the old and cranky knowledge. [laughter] But isn’t that the best kind of knowledge?"
@0:55:00
"[re: Indy's later war service] Why didn’t Indiana Jones [say], ‘Okay, long story short: I know you guys have a box that melts Nazis. [Laughter] Just get that out of storage. We’ll end this real fast.’"
@0:04:40
"Once the Nazis get the Ark, if Indy went home, it would turn out the same way. … Now, if this was a Vin Diesel movie, he would kill all the Nazis and then he would punch God back into the box."
Hook
@1:31:15
"[as Hook] ‘When the time comes, do you want to be saved?’ Like, oh— This is actually really well done. … Are you admiring his brain-washing? Huh? Yes! [laughter] I have to say, it is impressive brain-washing."
The Truman Show
@1:12:33
"If there’s text, the audience will read it, and they use the sh*t out of that in this movie, geniusly. Already, in her room: ‘Free Truman’ rallies. … In the hands of maybe a less skilled film maker, they’d actually have to show the rallies."
@1:22:26
"Why cut transmission? … That’s captivating. People who hate the show would start watching it. Yeah. Like, if the Big Brother house caught fire, [laughter] I would run to the computer, and be like, ‘What?!’"
The Blob (1988)
@0:59:04
"[That's a] hand puppet trick. … No rigs, no nothing, just me and my hands. Okay, tell the truth, when you’re doing that, and you’re alone on set, are you going, “Yaahr!’ [laughter] Yep. Pretty much. ‘Uurr… I am the Blob!’" — Down in Front,
@1:01:30
"Boy, Kevin’s just smokin’ the hell out of that cigarette. … That cigarette knows it’s been smoked, man. … You know, this is, like, take 20, and they didn’t bring smoke machines into this forest. [laughter] It’s all Kevin."
The Matrix Reloaded
@1:11:51
"So here we have the orgasm cake. … If I went to a place that gave me an orgasm every time I took a bite of their cheesecake, I’d go back. I’d go back there a lot. Yeah, but nobody would take you."
@0:17:27
"Every time [Neo] walks into a room, you can say to yourself, in his voice, ‘I’m confused.‘ [laughter] And it’ll work every time, I guarantee you."
@0:10:38
"I really have a problem with Morpheus’ attitude. … ‘Don’t ask me for reasons, because you’ll find out I have none.’ … Morpheus is basically an analog for the Wachowskis. [long pause] Wow. Whoa."
Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind
@1:14:02
"I would love a bathtub that was shaped like a giant sink. Yeah. I would seriously love that. I would get drunk and panic."
The Fifth Element
@0:00:04
"Ladies and gentlemen, welcome to Down in Front! Our movie this week is the gay, French Blade Runner. [laughter] It is! … You’ve crystallized The Fifth Element. It’s Blade Runner as done by Cirque du Soleil."
Star Wars 5: Empire Strikes Back
@1:02:23
"This became canon, the age thing, whereas he’s just pulling it out of his ass. [as Yoda] ‘No, he’s too old! No, I don’t like his face! Fine. I’ll do it.’ ‘He’s a size 11!’ ‘I got things on Saturday! I can’t do it!’"
Star Wars 4: A New Hope
@0:47:30
"We’ve got a more recent visual effects blockbuster with a tried-and-true story that is not really hailed for its story-telling abilities. So why is Star Wars better than Avatar? Well, there’s a difference between a form and a formula."
Independence Day
@0:16:17
"Does Jeff Goldblum always play a rock star scientist?! Is that what he does? Yes. Yes, he does. … [as Goldblum] Uh, chaotician. Chaotician."
The Fly
@0:26:46
"We had video taps even in ’85. You could have shot directly out of the movie camera. … But how did you make movies without electricity? Well, we just rubbed two sticks together until Jeff Goldblum caught fire."
Watchmen
@0:56:46
"It is kind of this absurdist take on it. … Life is chaos. It’s random. It’s absolutely absurd the things that go on, but … underneath that absurdity, you can find beauty. And I think this is absurdism without the beauty."
Avatar
Avatar
@1:55:12
"We don’t get exposition in the world. … ‘Here’s an animal. And here’s another animal. And these animals glow. And this tree is big.’ And that’s the exposition that we get."
Star Trek
@0:02:52
This movie exists in a quantum state. [laughter] … As long as you don’t look at it directly, it seems to be working fine. But … once you actually start observing it directly, it starts doing all of these erratic things."
Transformers
@0:15:56
"There’s a comparison to be drawn between Michael Bay and Stanley Kubrick. I think they’re both about conveying an experience and not about telling a story."
Men in Black
@1:32:30
"He swallowed Tommy Lee Jones whole. … Don’t you want to savor the taste of a Tommy Lee Jones?"
Ghostbusters 2
@0:06:44
"It’s gonna be like domestic abuse. I’m gonna be slapping this movie around, telling it I love it, but it kind of deserves it. … ‘Why do you make me do this to you?!’ ‘You think I like hurting you like this, Ghostbusters 2?!’"
Gremlins
@1:05:50
"I think it’s completely irresponsible for a store to sell gremlins in the first place. … We were trying open negotiations with China, so we had lax import restrictions on gremlins at the time."
Monsters, Inc.
@0:40:28
"I wonder how genetics and procreation works in this universe. … Each time you get in a new relationship, it’s like, ‘I don’t know what to put in where! We’re gonna discover this together. It’s an adventure!’"
Jurassic Park
@0:54:58
"This thing doesn’t have to do much. … But this is … a damn good puppet. It’s not a puppet, Trey. It’s a triceratops. Yeah. Shut-up your mouth." — Down in Front,
@0:49:43
"Theme park design is like slaughterhouse design. Don’t give the cows any room to do anything wrong, because they will. … What do you need the steering wheel for if [the vehicle is] on a track?"
The Mist
@0:42:08
"Not to get all high-brow here, but the villain is really human nature. [grumbling] You mean this movie is about ideas? … Why can’t it be like a Michael Bay film?"
Spider-Man
@0:19:32
"The thing about casting Willem Dafoe— … He doesn’t have to be scary to be scary. Right. … The part about it that I don’t buy? I don’t buy that this character was ever not insane."
The Abyss
@2:42:34
"[This is] the kind of heavy-handed scene where he’s like, ‘They were going to destroy us because we’re mean. But … we’ve got a second chance.’ … Well, thank you, 1980s, for giving us that moment and Superman 4."
Jaws
@2:11:44
"If we wanted to wave our special edition magic wands—if we fixed about five shark shots, I think we’d be done. … Just cleaned up a couple seams, or whatever. … And maybe do something with Murray Hamilton’s jacket."
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There's also some really good stuff in the first anniversary show and Ryan's mashup, (maybe while the DIF logo, recording room, or end credits are showing).
@0:11:24
"One of your talents, I've noticed over this last year, is that you can articulate failure in a beautiful way...."
@0:25:43
Discussion of humility and how the forum helps and Trey learning that if he says something authority, the rest of the panel buys it.
@0:29:50
Michael talks about Adam Bertocci's observation about Ghostbusters 2, which he wishes he'd come up with.
@0:52:30
Eddie explains that we're lucky to have The Prestige with its flaws (and Brian observes, "'Cause you could've gotten Transformers 2, people.") Then Eddie encapsulates The Prestige and its problems really nicely.
@1:02:45
Trey talks about how Dennis Muren only comes out of hiding for the Oscars, and you get 6 more weeks of Transformers if he sees his shadow. And then he complains hilariously about how all visual effects are done with computers.
Last edited by Zarban (2011-08-24 22:31:19)
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