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Author Topic: Filmspotting - we have a problem  (Read 17539 times)

doughboy

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Re: Filmspotting - we have a problem
« Reply #20 on: June 21, 2012, 12:57:44 PM »
Brian, I probably shouldn't even respond because you and anyone else should be able to come in this forum and vent and not necessarily have to deal with me responding or seeming to take it personally... which I don't at all because you're respectful and it clearly does come from a positive place. But a few thoughts because I can't help myself:
To be honest, I was hoping you would respond. I was debating whether I should put my comments in a private e-mail (praise publicly, criticize privately), but it seemed to fit with this thread. Plus, not only do you have every right to comment (of course), but I like the hands on involvement. Plus, how often do I get to interact with a celebrity?   ;D

"But try to mix it up a little bit and throw in just ok looking movies that aren't necessarily the biggest draw." -- You mean, like when we talked about Dark Shadows? Deciding which movie to talk about each week is something that's just organic, and it's always been that way. We ask ourselves which movie we are most excited to see and discuss. Occasionally, what we imagine the listeners' interest level to be factors in. But there's no grand plan.
Well, yeah. I was a little tentative about writing that. I guess I'm kind of torn between enjoying the thorough approach that you take to reviewing movies and wanting you to fit more into each week. If you could put out a podcast every day, I think that would be the solution.

I think the note about going from Westerns and Hitchcock to Bresson and Iran is a little bit off because it overlooks all the super arty Marathons both Sam and Matty did on the show. Bergman? Kurosawa? Kieslowski? Almodovar? All with Matty. It's true Matty and I would deliberately try to break up the foreign language/arty ones with a good genre or Hollywood marathon, but Josh and I have always planned to do the same and we've only done two. We felt comfortable getting away with two 'tough' ones back to back because the next one, Blaxploitation, should be much lighter and has been set for several months.
Again, I'm torn. I don't want to be the closed minded one who eschews art house and more challenging fare for the sake of staying in my comfort zone. I don't want to be that guy. At the same time, though, I think about how I am telling people to try filmspotting, but the people I tell have much more mainstream tastes. (OK, that's a cop out. I have mainstream tastes, too. But I'm trying, Ringo.) I just look at the list of upcoming marathons, and it all feels...weighty. Blaxploitation will be nice to see, but I wonder about doing things like revisiting some of the genres you've already done. You said that your horror marathon was lacking in truly scary movies, so maybe you could revisit that. Or even do some well trod territory and critically examine a popular director's work.

At the risk of repeating myself from above, it's probably objectively true that the show has become 'dryer' to some degree since Josh came on board. But I don't think it has anything to do with us needing to relax or build more rapport. If it feels like it's two art critics more than it did before, that makes sense -- it's the first time two people who approached the show as critics are doing it. I'm sure there's room to improve, but I'm honestly as relaxed and comfortable now as I've ever been. And frankly, that comfort level has been there for me since the first time Josh came on.

Sure, it takes some time to understand the other guy's tendencies and be able to play off their likes and dislikes, but I think after 6 months I can safely say: this is your show... unless, you know, it's not. I personally don't want to change anything about our approach on-air or off-air at this point. We're having fun... and having laughs... every week.
Fair enough.

P.S. The summary of the 'lessons' comes from the mind of producer Sam Van Hallgren, and honestly, I haven't completely embraced it yet myself... But as (almost) always, there's a method to his/our madness. The show isn't just a podcast; it's a radio show. And people who listen on radio don't necessarily here the entire episode.
I'm still not seeing much benefit, but we'll have to agree to disagree. I don't see much harm in it, either, but it just feels unnecessary and elementary. Still, not a big deal.

Oh, and I want to add another plus from the show I remembered. I loved the revisiting of Pulp Fiction and To Kill a Mockingbird. Even though Josh got both of those movies wrong,  ;) I like the shared experience of having others weigh in on some classics.
« Last Edit: June 21, 2012, 01:51:23 PM by doughboy »

Adam

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Re: Filmspotting - we have a problem
« Reply #21 on: June 21, 2012, 12:59:03 PM »
Since Matty left (you know, to like get a "life" or whatever instead of being my podcasting poolboy) I've enjoyed the show much more than I thought I would.  I love it when you and Josh disagree, and I think there's more of that than there has been. 

I hope hope hope you guys disagree about the next Tarantino.  That would be epic.   ;D
There's definitely been more disagreement. Different background doesn't always equal different perspective.
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smirnoff

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Re: Filmspotting - we have a problem
« Reply #22 on: June 21, 2012, 06:44:00 PM »
Massacre theater has been better (worse) than ever with Josh around.

I mean that in a good way. :)

shuabert

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Re: Filmspotting - we have a problem
« Reply #23 on: June 21, 2012, 07:42:11 PM »
@sdb_1970: I agree with everything you said above, and I wasn't trying to slight Matty at all. I just often noticed that he seemed to put less effort into his role in the show than Adam did,  which is understandable given that it wasn't his "full-time" gig. I don't consider it a matter of his being lazy, just a possible underlying reason for the difference in tone between the Adam/Matty era and the Adam/Josh era.


Adam

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Re: Filmspotting - we have a problem
« Reply #24 on: June 21, 2012, 07:46:26 PM »
It's not anybody's "full time gig." :)
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shuabert

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Re: Filmspotting - we have a problem
« Reply #25 on: June 21, 2012, 07:48:15 PM »
It's not anybody's "full time gig." :)

Right. What I meant was that he always clearly seemed more interested in acting than in criticism, whereas for you (and now Josh) that isn't the case.

Adam

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Re: Filmspotting - we have a problem
« Reply #26 on: June 21, 2012, 07:50:13 PM »
I gotcha.
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oldkid

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Re: Filmspotting - we have a problem
« Reply #27 on: June 22, 2012, 12:33:04 AM »
I think the show is still great.  And Josh is a great, but different, co-host.  It's wonderful how you guys disagree and we get to hear some great other perspectives from other guests and SVU folks.  I really like the way you guys are mixing it up.

My only problem with the show is a "good" problem-- that it sounds more like a radio show.  More ads, more time on donations, more time spent advertising special events and stuff.  This means that the program is becoming more solvent, which is good, and more listeners, which is good.  But it also means more "dead" time where there isn't any real conversation going on.  The more ads, the less interested I am, and I can't help but wonder if that isn't the case for others.

But as far as the conversation goes, I think it's as good as ever.
"It's not art unless it has the potential to be a disaster." Bansky

Adam

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Re: Filmspotting - we have a problem
« Reply #28 on: June 22, 2012, 07:36:09 AM »
I think the show is still great.  And Josh is a great, but different, co-host.  It's wonderful how you guys disagree and we get to hear some great other perspectives from other guests and SVU folks.  I really like the way you guys are mixing it up.

My only problem with the show is a "good" problem-- that it sounds more like a radio show.  More ads, more time on donations, more time spent advertising special events and stuff.  This means that the program is becoming more solvent, which is good, and more listeners, which is good.  But it also means more "dead" time where there isn't any real conversation going on.  The more ads, the less interested I am, and I can't help but wonder if that isn't the case for others.

But as far as the conversation goes, I think it's as good as ever.
Naturally, you'd post this the week that we have no 'notes' about special events or anything else in segment 2. But coming off a week when we had a bunch. :)

Time spent on things like Audible and Donations is actually no more or less than it was 1, 2 or 3 years ago. But you add in Fandor for MT, special events like #400, my class, the apps... Yeah, there's often more 'stuff' to promote.
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shuabert

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Re: Filmspotting - we have a problem
« Reply #29 on: June 23, 2012, 01:28:12 AM »
What I love about Josh is his bizarre taste in films that always seems to catch me off guard. I'm finding I lean more towards agreeing with Adam in general, but I enjoy the disagreements between the two, even when Josh is tearing down a film that I love, like Prometheus. Getting fired up and angry listening to him is part of the fun. And then he'll go and throw something completely indefensible, like What Lies Beneath, or Monkeybone -- both pretty terrible films -- into the top five. You never know what you're going to get with Josh.

 

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