And we’re back! We’ve fallen a bit behind in posting episodes of High and Low (Brow) and rather than place blame (its James’ fault) I’ll just say we will try and have a quick turn around for our next episode (if James allows it).

This episode we focus on two lesser known Dennis Hopper films, The Sons of Katie Elder and Mad Dog Morgan. The Sons of Katie Elder certainly has the better pedigree, with its epic scale and big names such as director Henry Hathaway and stars John Wayne and Dean Martin, as well as a host of other well known actors from its time. And Mad Dog Morgan, a low budget Ozploitation film from Australia which has its share of heavy hitters (Frank Thring, Jack Thompson and Aussie aboriginal star David Gulpilil) but its genre conventions and micro budget certainly hindered the film from being seen by the mainstream, but does that mean it is the weaker film? Stay tuned to find out.

Be sure to stick around for the selection portion of the show, as James takes the reigns once again and the theme he chooses reveals some of the deep seeded desires and needs from his long lost childhood. It also turns out to be a doozy of a theme as our two choices for next episode should be a heck of a lot of fun.

And as always James and I tend to ramble a bit, while we try and end the episode at around the 70 minute mark, my implying James’ mom is a circus freak and inadvertently spoiling Twilight: Breaking Dawn for James cause a bit of a ruckus. And at that point, hilarity ensues.

If you have any recommendations for films we could watch for the podcast, or want to suggest a potential theme for us to use, or simply want to tell James how awesome he is, feel free to email us and tell us your ideas. If you enjoy the show make sure to subscribe through iTunes or our RSS feed so you can catch every new episode. Also, please friend James on Facebook. Because it will frighten and confuse him. And while you’re there be sure to join our relatively new Facebook group devoted to Where the Long Tail Ends.

One more thing, if you enjoy the show feel free to donate to it through PayPal in either a single installment or as a recurring donor. We’d love to upgrade some of our equipment and anything you donate will go directly towards us getting some decent mics and perhaps even pop screens that aren’t made out of cotton balls.

As always, thanks for listening!

Opening Theme – Adonai by Ennio Morricone
Closing Music – Spaceman by Harry Nilsson

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Recurring donation $.99/month

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Scott Pilgrim vs The World is one of those movies that I dread reviewing as it was a movie that I knew had a good chance of winning me over, yet at the same time would most likely turn off most viewers. I hadn’t been a fan of the comic, but as a die hard supporter of Edgar Wright I was simply excited to see his next film, and that it was one he didn’t write was something I found incredibly intriguing. Then as I found out more and more about the comic and the film I soon became absolutely hooked.

Scott Pilgrim is a film that has invented its own universe, a universe that exists within a video game where people find random warp zones, power up as they gain experience and in general kick ass for little to no discernable reason. And if you weren’t sure what you were in for, the 8-bit Universal logo intro is sure to give you a serious hint at what is to come.

If you don’t live and breath comics and video games it may be hard to understand just what the heck is going on in this visual barrage of a film, the quick cuts, CGI sound effects and quickly paced dialogue is bound to confuse and annoy many, but once you figure out the films rhythm you start to discover something more.

A film working on multiple levels, and in particular working its ass off to change the complexion of how one takes in a film, and it is succeeding again and again. Its taken the training wheels off of Kung Fu Hustle and propelled a visual masterpiece at your optic nerve, all while pummeling your auditory senses with music and sound galore. Its all such glorious noise, noise noise. Scott Pilgrim vs the World isn’t so much a game changer, but rather cinemas first killer app.

Scott Pilgrim vs the World, the coolest thing in the history of stuff, opens in not enough theatres on Friday.

It seems like 2010 is the year I start watching film series I said I never would. First was Twilight (with the ridiculousness that is Eclipse) and now along comes Step Up. Unlike Twilight, which is seemingly everywhere and impossible to ignore, the Step Up series is something I know next to nothing about. Oh sure I gathered that it typically involved warring factions (both in ideals and clothing lines) who unified through dance, or should we say, the romantic leads unified through dance. But besides that I was fairly ignorant of any specific plot lines. What’s that? There aren’t any? Oh then that makes this much easier.

Step Up 3-D is about two warring factions (the Pirates and the Samurais) and their attempts to win some dance battle contest who’s name doesn’t really matter. As if this intrigue isn’t enough, it also follows the budding love of two people from different socio-economic backgrounds and the struggle of trying to be in love when you are obscenely rich. Full of love and loss, heartbreak and sadness, this is a bitter sweet tale that shows that while popping and locking can unite anyone, it is friendship that truly is the strongest bond in life.

Also their is copious use of a CGI Icee which is just about the dumbest fucking thing I have ever seen.

In, like, my whole life.

But the dance scenes are pretty solid (apart from the horrific Fred Astaire number) so at least their is something worth watching in this movie, cause it sure as hell isn’t the acting, plot or examinations of the human condition that will convince people to watch this thing.

Still interested? Well then watch the trailer after the break!
(continue reading…)

And we’re back! It’s been a few weeks (months?) since James and I have had the time to get together and record a podcast and it sure shows in this episode. Oh sure we spend a good deal of time on Operation: Endgame and its massive cast of characters (Zach Galifianakis, Emilie de Ravin, Maggie Q, Odette Yustman, Rob Corddry, Adam Scott, Ellen Barkin, Ving Rhames, Brandon T. Jackson, Jeffrey Tambor, Joe Anderson, Beth Grant, Bob Odenkirk, Tim Bagley and Michael Hitchcock) but soon after we drift into all sorts of other topics including James complaining about my poor working knowledge of Minnesota geography, discussions on movie endings and why James doesn’t want to hang out with more than one person a day.

And that’s just the first hour.

Needless to say this is a pretty packed episode and it runs much longer than what we typically prefer Spoiler Alert! to be, but I think it ends up being a pretty damn interesting episode because of it. Hopefully all of you feel the same.

And as always, thanks for listening!

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So one of the perks of my job is I get to watch a lot of movies in advance. While at the previous chain I worked for we were able to go to press screenings, we also screened anything that we thought looked interesting pretty much whenever we felt like it. It was a pretty awesome part of that job.

But at my new chain I was introduced to something very different, preview screenings that were required of all managers working the night before a changeover. You see, evidently other chains had people who weren’t very good at building prints, so managers were required to watch every single print of every single new movie they would be opening as soon as the prints were built. That meant I’d be paid to sit and watch movies for a whole day. Which is awesome when the movies are good, and which sucks when they aren’t.

Which brings me to Twilight: Eclipse, a movie I have claimed on numerous occasions someone couldn’t even pay me to watch. It seems I was incorrect on that statement, though to be fair if I didn’t perform this task I would have lost my job, so clearly I was going through the kind of extreme duress seen only in Lifetime movies.

Which segues nicely into Twilight: Eclipse, which at its best could maybe be considered a good Lifetime movie, but really, that’s being overly kind to the fat girl who is asking you if she looks skinny in her new dress.

You see, Twilight: Eclipse sucks. And not in the fun, sparkly way its fans claims it does.

No, this is a movie that was so bad that even though I was paid to watch it, I still went up to the box office to demand my money back.

But on the plus side I now know never to date anyone who likes this bilge. Seriously ladies, stop eating your feelings and go kiss a dude. Its way more fun than this crap. You’ll even find that your chances of getting laid go up by a factor of 20. Bonus!