Invasion fantasies aplenty

Original air-date: 11 - 26 - 12

Having seen the aforementioned Red Dawn remake, I still have no idea how they made the North Korean invasion plausible, and neither did the movie! So, everyone is in a recession and "they" have some kind of electronic super-weapon? Hrm, ok. But then they invade...Spokane...and nobody stops them. But then they explain...something, and lo, the Russians are helping them, at least like six of them. But the movie itself? Ehhhhthbbbt. A useless enough action film with amusingly bad CG replacing PLA paraphernalia with *snicker* North Korean flags and Korean text. We had a good time talking about all the cultural underpinnings, though, so good?

DVD release highlights:
MIB 3, Paranorman, Berserk - Arc 1

In theaters nation wide this weekend:
Killing Them Softly

We heard music from:

1990: The Bronx Warriors, 1982 - Walter Rizzati
Mission to Mars, 2000 - Ennio Morricone
Black Hole, 1979 - John Barry
First Blood, 1982 - Jerry Goldsmith

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Red Dawn this Black Friday.

I really hoped to see the new Red Dawn this weekend to see how exactly the film could depict North Korea invading the U.S. Frankly, envisioning a North Korean invasion of a KFC in Sheboygan, Wisconsin would be a stretch. Apparently the invading nation was changed from the plausible China to North Korea in post-production, probably so MGM and potential investors wouldn't alienate all the labor they've exported to China (and the distribution rights they've just purchased there). But seriously, in what geo-political alternative universe would that make sense? I really want to see this now, just to parse out more hilarious America-WWIII logic.

We heard music from the following:

Buffy the Vampire Slayer, 1992 - Various
Miami Connection, 1987 - Various
Lost Boys, 1987 - Various
Doom, 2005 - Clint Mansell
The Breakfast Club, 1985 - Various

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This podcast is slightly shaken, and a little stirred.

On tonight's show we discussed the damned-if-we-ain't-gonna-build-a-franchise latest installment of the Daniel Craig reBondboot Skyfall. I didn't really care for it. This whole new franchise has somehow consistently created high expectations without actually ever producing a reason for high expectations. This new Bond franchise has prided itself on "realism" and a distancing from the hokum of Connerys and Brosnans past, but has not produced a truly engaging entry and now, as of Skyfall, is fully immersed in building another franchise that will inevitably eat itself through schlock and self-reference. And! As if that weren't enough, Skyfall is itself attempting to be a metaphor on the relevance of Bond the agent and, by extension, Bond the franchise in the Information Age. How convenient that the film's answer is: "Yep! He's still relevant! Old-dog...heh heh, you know the saying!" I'm not sure I agree based on the circular nature of this iconography. Thbbbt.

We heard music from the following:

Patton, 1970 - Jerry Goldsmith
Commando, 1985 - James Horner/Various
Skyfall, 2012 - Thomas Newman
Dr. No, 1961 - Monty Norman

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Wreck-It Speakerbox

Original Airdate: 11 - 5- 12

Hey, well, whadya know, we saw a new movie this week - the video-game-crossover-retro-arcade film Pixar never made: Wreck-It Ralph. Meh. I'm really surprised something like this hasn't popped up before - a pastiche of stuff from video games old and new; I suppose no one except Disney could afford the rights to use all those franchises. The film wasn't just a cameo-athon of games old and new, but a newer story based on game culture, which conversely made the cameos a little pointless. Still, the smarter card was played and this was amusing enough to divert.

Most of the garrulous gaff from this week's show regarded the uber-news that is Disney buying LucasFilm. So, that happened.

We heard music from:

The Empire Strikes Back, 1980 - John Williams

Robin Hood, 1973 - George Bruns, Roger Miller

Tron, 1982 - Wendy Carlos

Grim Fandango, 1998 - Various

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