Long-time watcher, first-time commenter: because of you two gentleman, I am now forced to watch Badlands! Thanks for giving my Sunday evening meaning! I also have to say that I love your show and critiques. They're especially entertaining when I've seen the movie you are reviewing. Keep up the great work, I look forward to the next episode!
Finally watched it fir the first time, just now, I absolutely loved it, and I've been meaning to watch it ever since this episode came out; I also was struck by how detached both the characters were to their actions. Great show!!
What I love about this show is how they take movies that make me feel dead inside and instead have a little fun. I get the gist without my mind numbing and, again, love it.
I used to know an attorney who, when he was young, was a guard in the same prison as Charles Starkweather, the killer who inspired this movie. I have nothing further to add to this comment. I knew a guy who knew a guy.
I'm so glad you covered this movie. I first saw this in a film studies course about "The Road Movie". It was an exploration into the creation of a genre and the themes therein; grand vistas, rolling tires, trouble with "the man", an interesting soundtrack, and more. Each movie varied greatly in style and story but these themes remained constant; Easy Rider, Lost In America, Two Lane Blacktop, Bandlands... I'd love to hear your thoughts on the "Road Movie".
Correction. Humanity is not the only animal that murders other animals for no reason. The most famous and popular example other than humanity, is cats.
I personally don't enjoy The Dark Knight Trilogy. Period. But that's me, I am however glad it has fans, just because I don't like it doesn't mean others won't. Thanks for another great show guys!
I can't wait for an Akira Karusawa flick to be on the Basement. Oh and have yall seen Waltz with Bashir? It is one of my favorites and really hits me deep being a veteran.
I loved how you really tore into Sucker Punch, Matt. I feel exactly the same way about it, and about the idea of "geeksploitation", but most other people I know seem to either have a positive or neutral opinion about the movie.
I spot Electric Ladyland in the background! I have a vinyl collection of just over 200. You should do a Welcome To The Basement vinyl show where you listen to an album and talk about it. I'm actually going to a Hendrix Experience concert this Sunday in D.C! Super pumped.
Badlands sounds like an early member of the couples on the run movies. Hold up with movies like Natural Born Killers, Bonnie and Clyde, True Romance, Thelma and Louise
just to note, i love that you do this and beer and board games. Those are two different types of humor i like a lot, but anyways, have you seen " the man with the golden arm" with frank Sinatra?
Great show as usual! Have you guys seen "Enter the Void" by Gaspar Noé? A movie shot entirely through the eyes of the main character. It does have a couple of disturbing scenes but, boy, what a real feast for the eyes.
Seen it! Have you seen ''Kill the Irishman''? I'm a huge fan of gangster films and this one seemed to stand out amongst others. While it does romanticize the particular life the same way other gangster movies do, ''Irishman'' truly puts a lot of heart into it, showcasing unmistakably likeable characters not only through story-telling, but also great acting. Also, gotta love anything with Walken. (say ''hi'' to Jason for me).
A quick bit of Googling tells me that "Geeksploitation" is a term that has seen some limited use before (most notably by Slate movie reviewer Tim Wu in describing subculture-focused films like High Fidelity and The King of Kong) but not in the way that Matt used it here.
Thank you so much for giving me the term Geeksploitation! It seems like a decent amount of movies lately have been using some form of this to attract an audience. On the other hand if movies didn't have an audience then who would watch them. In kind of a weird attempt at starting a debate, I want to ask if there some movies that you think should never be watched?
Love this show, getting me back into films after years of crap burning me out. Have you seen Come and See? The 1985 Soviet war movie that's scarier than any horror I've ever seen.
Clints aversion for anything Star Trek/Wars is so blatancy snobbish and considered to be too pedestrian for his approval. Galaxy Quest RAWKS much respect Craig
According to Wikipedia. Geeksploitation: 1. The practice of taking advantage of highly-motivated programmers willing to work long hours. 2000, Richard Grayson, The Silicon Valley Diet and Other Stories, Red Hen Press (2000), ISBN 9781888996234, page 149: Finding a new job just meant driving to another office-park campus with dopey street names (Disc Drive, Resistor Road, Infinite Loop) to endure more geeksploitation in exchange for dead presidents, stock options, a flexible schedule, no dress code, and all the junk food I could eat.
Badlands is a loose interpretion of the Starkweather murders. There is a miniseries about it called Murder in The Heartland that delves much deeper into the case.
Have you guys seen berberian sound studio? One of my absolute favorite films of all time. A real tribute to the idea that blood,guts, and boobs don't equal a great horror movie. Its fantastic use of sound will give you chills.
I always get so excited to see you fellas in my subscription box! Have you ever seen Kung Fu Hustle? It fuses the awesome and the absurd in a totally brain-tickling way, if you know what I mean. (Not sure I know myself...) Anywhooo: Cheers!
I just recently watched Seven Psychopaths and your mention of Tom Waits made me think about it. I'd love to hear your thoughts on it. Talent bomb or talent grenade?
I was hoping your almodovar would be El Espinaza del Diablo, but then, he was producer, not director...still, think you should watch that if you haven't.
I got to visit Third Man in person this past December. Saw the record booth and everything. Bought a Charlie Patton record and a few Sun single reissues.
Is the cat at the end from RedLetterMedia? You know, the guys that did the hour long star wars prequel reviews? I could swear that is Mr. Plinkett's cat.
I have never seen this movie, but after watching your review I can see that this film is based on the real life story of Caril Ann Fugate and Charles Starkweather in the 1950s. Fugate was only 13 years old at the time of the murders. And in real life Starkweather was executed soon after the crime and Fugate went to jail until the 1970's, like 17 years. Then she moved to Ann Arbor Michigan. She became a nurse, were I bet a lot of her patients died mysteriously. Then she married a man much older then her, sound familiar, and her husband did die mysteriously.
Excellent as always. Have you guys seen Pooty Tang? Because it's definitely not for everyone, but I think it's hilarious. Also, I'm so happy Matt included how Sucker Punch ruined all those songs in his critique. It was awful.
Thing about Sucker Punch is it was exactly what Snyder meant for it to be. It was his vanity film encompassing everything he thought was cool. That being said have you seen Stand and Deliver.
Have you guys seen the movie Last Night by Canadian director Don McKellar. It's beautiful and haunting, and if you've seen it I'll be shocked and impressed.
Have you guys seen "Sexy Beast"? Title track by the Stranglers. A killer rabbit. For a gangster film it has a surprising number of under water cinematography.
I was really hoping the name for next time was Almodóvar,even though I like Mamet plenty. But there's a couple names on the list I can't get; was the last one Circ/Cirque/Sirq? Can you type the list out, oh please, oh please?
The last one was Sirk. Douglas Sirk. He was a director in the fifties who made stylish movies about a certain kind of man, but due to the times had to be oblique about it.
Have either of you seen The Holy Mountain? Quite the trip, and I suppose you could call this film one of Direct Alejandro Jodorowsky's children as he has said that “Most directors make films with their eyes; I make films with my testicles."
I think they would lose their fragile minds if they watched that. I could only bear through half of it. I was thinking of turning it off after the frog exploding scene anyways.
Is this movie vaguely based on Charlie Starkweather? Kato's place looks like Uncle Eddie's place in National Lampoon's Vacation. Actually Kato kind of looks like Uncle Eddie.
Well, Matt, the computer has supplanted the tv as the most used appliance in the home. I should know as I watch most of my tv shows on my computer from the net.
My gf hates old movies and you guys watch all kinds of movies she won't watch with me. It is great i can share my love for film vicariously through you two. This movie was a 70's version of Natural Born Killers minus the sex.
Watcheruvdatube yo hmm...I have a few friends that feel the same way about older films and I am a curious person by nature so I tried to find a common link. The thing they all had in common was they were not really introduced to older film and they will not watch anything more than 3 years older than they are.
Long-time watcher, first-time commenter: because of you two gentleman, I am now forced to watch Badlands! Thanks for giving my Sunday evening meaning!
I also have to say that I love your show and critiques. They're especially entertaining when I've seen the movie you are reviewing. Keep up the great work, I look forward to the next episode!
Finally watched it fir the first time, just now, I absolutely loved it, and I've been meaning to watch it ever since this episode came out; I also was struck by how detached both the characters were to their actions. Great show!!
What I love about this show is how they take movies that make me feel dead inside and instead have a little fun. I get the gist without my mind numbing and, again, love it.
2:12
"We're going to be here awhile."
After watching Thin Red Line and The New World, I now get this joke.
I'm super glad you placed the Badlands DVD next to the Nebraska album.
I really hope you watch a Miyazaki movie sometime in the near future, excellent show as always guys :D
Love the show, I've seen them all. Have you seen Michael Mann's Heat?
Those were some nice cars in this film - a 1949/50 Mercury lead sled, a sweet '59 Cadillac...I wish I had those cars today!
Haven't seen "Badlands" in a long time, but I remember liking it.
I used to know an attorney who, when he was young, was a guard in the same prison as Charles Starkweather, the killer who inspired this movie.
I have nothing further to add to this comment. I knew a guy who knew a guy.
Sweet! Just in time. I got my drink, my popcorn and now it's time to watch you guys watch a movie. :)
'Taste no evil', Craig? LOL! That's awesome!
I'm so glad you covered this movie. I first saw this in a film studies course about "The Road Movie". It was an exploration into the creation of a genre and the themes therein; grand vistas, rolling tires, trouble with "the man", an interesting soundtrack, and more. Each movie varied greatly in style and story but these themes remained constant; Easy Rider, Lost In America, Two Lane Blacktop, Bandlands...
I'd love to hear your thoughts on the "Road Movie".
That intro was amazing.
Brilliant show guys!
Correction. Humanity is not the only animal that murders other animals for no reason. The most famous and popular example other than humanity, is cats.
I personally don't enjoy The Dark Knight Trilogy. Period. But that's me, I am however glad it has fans, just because I don't like it doesn't mean others won't. Thanks for another great show guys!
I can't wait for an Akira Karusawa flick to be on the Basement. Oh and have yall seen Waltz with Bashir? It is one of my favorites and really hits me deep being a veteran.
I loved how you really tore into Sucker Punch, Matt. I feel exactly the same way about it, and about the idea of "geeksploitation", but most other people I know seem to either have a positive or neutral opinion about the movie.
I spot Electric Ladyland in the background! I have a vinyl collection of just over 200. You should do a Welcome To The Basement vinyl show where you listen to an album and talk about it. I'm actually going to a Hendrix Experience concert this Sunday in D.C! Super pumped.
Glad you liked it, Matt! Badlands in my favorite from Malick.
I watched the movie today. I wanted to see it before you talked about it. I loved it.
Your Analysis of Suckerpunch could not have been more spot on.
Great film!
Catching up on my cyberpunk. Just finished reading Snow Crash a few weeks ago. Great book.
Badlands sounds like an early member of the couples on the run movies. Hold up with movies like Natural Born Killers, Bonnie and Clyde, True Romance, Thelma and Louise
The Mosquito Coast reference made me very happy.
Thanks for everything guys!
just to note, i love that you do this and beer and board games. Those are two different types of humor i like a lot, but anyways, have you seen " the man with the golden arm" with frank Sinatra?
They just played this movie last week at the hipster bijou down the street from my house in Portland OR. What a coincidence.
my favert show!!!
How about a Paul Thomas Anderson month? I say start with "I drink your milkshake! I drink it up!!"
" I yam hewmun 'n I nuyd tew bee luuuuved...juuust lak urvybudy ayelse duuuuz!"
Great show as usual! Have you guys seen "Enter the Void" by Gaspar Noé? A movie shot entirely through the eyes of the main character. It does have a couple of disturbing scenes but, boy, what a real feast for the eyes.
Have you seen Fido? It's a favourite of mine - an unconventional comedy that features one of Billy Connelly's best performances of all time!
R.E.M. reference! I love you Matt. :]
Mamet next, hoping for it to be 'Homicide'. Great show once again, as always, guys.
Seen it!
Have you seen ''Kill the Irishman''? I'm a huge fan of gangster films and this one seemed to stand out amongst others. While it does romanticize the particular life the same way other gangster movies do, ''Irishman'' truly puts a lot of heart into it, showcasing unmistakably likeable characters not only through story-telling, but also great acting. Also, gotta love anything with Walken. (say ''hi'' to Jason for me).
Just can't see Martin Sheen without seeing the illusive man from Mass effect. Thanks Bioware.
Seen it - Ravenous
A quick bit of Googling tells me that "Geeksploitation" is a term that has seen some limited use before (most notably by Slate movie reviewer Tim Wu in describing subculture-focused films like High Fidelity and The King of Kong) but not in the way that Matt used it here.
I did enjoy Badlands, especially the 1959 classic cadillac!
That third man records reference was priceless
14:12 Matt's take on Sucker Punch might be one of my favorite things ever on this show.
Thank you so much for giving me the term Geeksploitation! It seems like a decent amount of movies lately have been using some form of this to attract an audience. On the other hand if movies didn't have an audience then who would watch them. In kind of a weird attempt at starting a debate, I want to ask if there some movies that you think should never be watched?
Craig gets his druther in the Dial M For Murder episode
Love this show, getting me back into films after years of crap burning me out.
Have you seen Come and See? The 1985 Soviet war movie that's scarier than any horror I've ever seen.
Clints aversion for anything Star Trek/Wars is so blatancy snobbish and considered to be too pedestrian for his approval. Galaxy Quest RAWKS much respect Craig
According to Wikipedia. Geeksploitation: 1. The practice of taking advantage of highly-motivated programmers willing to work long hours. 2000, Richard Grayson, The Silicon Valley Diet and Other Stories, Red Hen Press (2000), ISBN 9781888996234, page 149: Finding a new job just meant driving to another office-park campus with dopey street names (Disc Drive, Resistor Road, Infinite Loop) to endure more geeksploitation in exchange for dead presidents, stock options, a flexible schedule, no dress code, and all the junk food I could eat.
Badlands is a loose interpretion of the Starkweather murders. There is a miniseries about it called Murder in The Heartland that delves much deeper into the case.
Hey dudes with the best show on youtube, have you seen God Bless America?
Have you guys seen berberian sound studio? One of my absolute favorite films of all time. A real tribute to the idea that blood,guts, and boobs don't equal a great horror movie. Its fantastic use of sound will give you chills.
I always get so excited to see you fellas in my subscription box!
Have you ever seen Kung Fu Hustle? It fuses the awesome and the absurd in a totally brain-tickling way, if you know what I mean. (Not sure I know myself...)
Anywhooo: Cheers!
Have you seen "Lucky Number Slevin"? I think its a great move that has slipped under many people's radars.
Have you seen the Japanese comedy-drama Survive Style 5+? It's one of my favorite movies of all time.
I just recently watched Seven Psychopaths and your mention of Tom Waits made me think about it. I'd love to hear your thoughts on it. Talent bomb or talent grenade?
OMFG YOU GUYS READ MY COMMENT!!!! I THOUGHT THIS DAY WOULD NEVER COME! THANK YOU SO MUCH YOU GUYS ARE AWESOME! Have you seen the hunger?
Holy crap Matt that Geocaching hipsters comment made me roll. I've been a Geocacher for ten years.
I was hoping your almodovar would be El Espinaza del Diablo, but then, he was producer, not director...still, think you should watch that if you haven't.
LOL 1:28 - Craig's face!
Where you keep getting all the movies??
Speaking of "So much evil to speak", you guys should watch Evilspeak, if you haven't already...
Matt is a Jack White fan!! Awesome!
I got to visit Third Man in person this past December. Saw the record booth and everything. Bought a Charlie Patton record and a few Sun single reissues.
It’s a great movie.
Have you ever seen Dirty Mary Crazy Larry? Kinda similar movie with a great scene of a helicopter chasing a car.
Have you guys seen The Adventures of Buckaroo Banzai Across the 8th Dimension? Such a crazy movie.
Wait, Craig has a blog?! What's the link?
Kimber Clayton actually did a country cover of Addicted to Love. Don't ask me how I know.
Is the cat at the end from RedLetterMedia? You know, the guys that did the hour long star wars prequel reviews? I could swear that is Mr. Plinkett's cat.
How about a clockwork orange? I think that would make for a good episode
+Ryan Golden They only watch movies that both or one of them haven't seen yet.
You guys should check out the movie Heist by David Mamet, if you haven't already.
I'd love it if you guys could do a Hitchcock film after this. (:
I'm guessing Wag The Dog, The Verdict, or The Spanish Prisoner.
I have never seen this movie, but after watching your review I can see that this film is based on the real life story of Caril Ann Fugate and Charles Starkweather in the 1950s. Fugate was only 13 years old at the time of the murders. And in real life Starkweather was executed soon after the crime and Fugate went to jail until the 1970's, like 17 years. Then she moved to Ann Arbor Michigan. She became a nurse, were I bet a lot of her patients died mysteriously. Then she married a man much older then her, sound familiar, and her husband did die mysteriously.
Damn, Matt lost a lot of weight. Looking good, man!
He looks like he's lost a lot of weight but hasn't updated his wardrobe yet. :E
I don't know if you've already answered this, but have you seen "SLC Punk!"?
Matt; please watch "you are wrong about sucker punch".
It is a two part episode of the webseries "the big picture"
It's good :)
Excellent as always.
Have you guys seen Pooty Tang? Because it's definitely not for everyone, but I think it's hilarious.
Also, I'm so happy Matt included how Sucker Punch ruined all those songs in his critique. It was awful.
Thing about Sucker Punch is it was exactly what Snyder meant for it to be. It was his vanity film encompassing everything he thought was cool. That being said have you seen Stand and Deliver.
Then what Snyder thinks is cool is also what 12 year olds like.
Suckerpunch was a "coping" movie exactly the same that Wizard of Oz was, a dream within a dream.
Have you guys seen the movie Last Night by Canadian director Don McKellar. It's beautiful and haunting, and if you've seen it I'll be shocked and impressed.
One of my favourites is Sam Rami's Darkman!!! Such a great campy Rami film..
Have you guys seen "Sexy Beast"?
Title track by the Stranglers. A killer rabbit. For a gangster film it has a surprising number of under water cinematography.
is it me or are this episode a reupload?
Black Sabbath lyrics are the ULTIMATE country crossover.
I was really hoping the name for next time was Almodóvar,even though I like Mamet plenty. But there's a couple names on the list I can't get; was the last one Circ/Cirque/Sirq? Can you type the list out, oh please, oh please?
The last one was Sirk. Douglas Sirk. He was a director in the fifties who made stylish movies about a certain kind of man, but due to the times had to be oblique about it.
Have any of you watched a Boy and his dog?
"Geeksploitation".
*CoughbigbangtheoryCough
yeh but we want something good. not that shit.
Still waiting for more Dr. Moley.....
Didn't you hear Dr. Moley died in a pill overdose!
Just98rules But you can't overdose on pills. Pills are good for you.
Have either of you seen The Holy Mountain? Quite the trip, and I suppose you could call this film one of Direct Alejandro Jodorowsky's children as he has said that “Most directors make films with their eyes; I make films with my testicles."
I think they would lose their fragile minds if they watched that. I could only bear through half of it. I was thinking of turning it off after the frog exploding scene anyways.
I 100% agree with Matt on Suckerpunch. I couldn't even finish it it was so insulting. Covers sucked too.
Is this movie vaguely based on Charlie Starkweather? Kato's place looks like Uncle Eddie's place in National Lampoon's Vacation. Actually Kato kind of looks like Uncle Eddie.
Well, Matt, the computer has supplanted the tv as the most used appliance in the home. I should know as I watch most of my tv shows on my computer from the net.
You should see the Serbian film Black Cat, White Cat by Emir Kusturica. It shows a very different culture than the american or western european
My gf hates old movies and you guys watch all kinds of movies she won't watch with me. It is great i can share my love for film vicariously through you two.
This movie was a 70's version of Natural Born Killers minus the sex.
What may I ask is her reasoning for not liking older films.
Watcheruvdatube yo
hmm...I have a few friends that feel the same way about older films and I am a curious person by nature so I tried to find a common link. The thing they all had in common was they were not really introduced to older film and they will not watch anything more than 3 years older than they are.
Wait... Craig has blogs?
What did I learn from this movie? Being a trigger happy sociopath is fun. Then again, I already knew that. :) XDD
FTF on that cache.
Is this about Charles starkweather?
Good catch! It was pretty loosely inspired by Charles Starkweather and Ann Fugate - more of a creative jumping off place than anything else.
That answering machine beep for censoring