Podcast Episode 39: Floating In ROSEWATER With The BIG HERO 6

This week's episode of the podcast tackles two very different movies aimed at two very different audiences.  But that's how we roll here at Daley Screening.  We take all comers.

Jon Stewart's Rosewater is an admirable freshman effort, depicting the story of Newsweek journalist Maziar Bahari who was imprisoned by Iranian authorities and held in solitary confinement for 118 days.  Gael Garcia Bernal anchors the film with a lovely performance as Bahari.  Bernal not only conveys the anguish of Bahari's psychological torment, but also finds remarkable moments of levity and solace.  Stewart deserves credit for demonstrating the humanity of everyone involved, including Bahari's eponymous tormentor.  It would be easy to portray Rosewater and his superiors as paranoid, mustache-twirling dolts, but instead the audience walks away realizing that, from their perspective, the Iranian authorities were simply responding to a reasonably credible threat in the only way they knew how.  As Bahari tells Daily Show correspondent Jason Jones (who plays himself), America and Iran have more in common than most people realize or admit.  The film perhaps overreaches in a few of Stewart's more stylistic choices, but in the end it's a minor quibble.  It's a strong showing for Stewart's first film, even if it doesn't quite deserve some of the breathless adulation I heard coming out of Telluride.

Disney's Big Hero 6, adapted from an obscure Marvel title, is an absolute joy for both children and the grownups who take them to the theater.  We decided to go to a matinee screening with a friend and her kids (one of whom had never been to a movie theater before!) and everyone walked away smiling.  The story is just a little slighter than I would have liked and there are a few key moments where the movie really spells things out for the younger audience in a way that's almost eye-rollingly obvious for adults.  If you've seen a movie before, then you can basically see how the entire plot is going to play out after about 20 minutes, but I guess that's what separates Disney Animation from Pixar at this point.  Pixar doesn't talk down to its audience, ever.  But even if Big Hero 6 is lean on story, it's BIG on characters.  Baymax, the giant inflatable nurse robot, is equal parts sweet and hilarious.  He also sets a new standard for fist bumps.  But each of the supporting characters is totally awesome in their own distinct ways.  There's someone here for everyone to love, whether it be girly-girl Honey Lemon, hard-nosed speed demon Go Go Tomago, fastidious Wasabi or the overly enthusiastic Fred, who was MY FAVORITE.

Jenna and Jamie return to talk about all this plus casting developments for Suicide Squad, James Bond and Captain America, as well as Universal's misguided decision to reforge their classic monsters as modern day action adventures and the honest potential of the upcoming Rocky spinoff.

Next week: The Hunger Games: Mockingjay Part 1

Podcast Episode 29: Free-Roaming Vaporous Drag Queens! On GHOSTBUSTERS And THE BIRDCAGE

September is an odd time at the box office.  For the most part, studios tend to essentially take the month off from major releases while the American public is largely distracted by the end of summer and the beginning of yet another school year.  October is all about horror and by the time November rolls around we're already talking about Oscar contenders, but there's nary a big budget franchise nor a prestige title to be found in the coming weeks.

That's not to say that there's no reason to go to the theater.  In fact, there is a slew of really fascinating films that will have limited releases in the coming weeks, stuff like The Congress, Wolfcop, The Guest, Wetlands, Zero Theorem, The One I Love and James Gandolfini's final film The Drop from Bullhead director Michael Roskam.  These are movies that will require just a little bit of extra effort to seek out and they might not all be home runs, but I can guarantee you that none of them will be boring.  I for one am pretty damn excited.

But because that stuff isn't going to reach a super wide audience, that makes it less than ideal material for podcasting purposes.  Therefore, while I'm hoping to talk about a lot of these more peculiar films, we'll also be pairing them up with some older, more familiar titles for your listening pleasure.

Episode 29 is actually a double feature of classic titles starting with Ghostbusters, which has been newly restored and back in theaters this week in celebration of the film's 30th anniversary.  (If you missed your chance to see it on the big screen, you can pick up both films on 4K Blu-ray in two weeks.)  Ghostbusters is our favorite movie of all time so we try not to gush over the film too much.  We even swap our own personal ghost stories!  We also talk The Birdcage, a movie I've never been particularly fond of and which I don't think I'd seen since the 90's.  While a lot of my initial problems with the film seem exacerbated by the passage of time (some of this stuff is the gay equivalent of the laughing Sambo) there are enough moments of brutal honesty and sincere emotional connection to even out the proceedings.  I can certainly appreciate why this was the movie a lot of people turned to in the wake of Robin Williams' death.  I wish we had talked about this, but I think it's very telling that most of the political stuff which played as broad parody in 1996 is now simply accepted reality.  The conservative senator and leader of the morality coalition is found dead in the arms of an underage black prostitute?  That's a headline which would barely raise an eyebrow these days.

We also chat about the supposed "No Jokes" edict in place for DC's superhero films, Marvel's continued pursuit of Joaquin Phoenix to play Dr. Strange and some of the festival films that have us most excited, including Birdman and Rosewater.

Next Week: TBD