My Week with Marilyn [Review]

I went into My Week with Marilyn with very little knowledge about the source material. I know very little about Marilyn Monroe aside from what I have seen depicted in other films, and shows. And what little I have read or heard about her over the years. I have never seen any other her films, and have seen very little actual archival footage or  interviews. I was walking into a learning experience, something I often like to do. Watching a biographical film on a topic I know very little about can be very entertaining and enlightening.  This was a little different, this is not a biographical telling of the life of a tragic screen goddess, it’s a story of a young man’s brief brush with greatness, a week that would change his life forever.

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Dazed And Confused: The Criterion Collection 35th Anniversary release [Review]

It’s the first day of summer as three to-be high school seniors drive around aimlessly with nothing to do but question the meaning of life.  “But what are we preparing ourselves for?” asks Cynthia, played by Marissa Ribisi, in Richard Linklater’s 1993 cult classic Dazed and Confused.  “Death,” Mike (Adam Goldberg) instantly responds.  So why not enjoy ourselves now, in the moment, before we reach that inevitable end?  At least, that’s a message writer and director Linklater appears to relay.

 Dazed and Confused has always been one of my favorite films.  To this day, I get goose bumps every time Aerosmith’s “Sweet Emotion” kicks on and that sweet orange 1970 Pontiac GTO cruises across the screen in the opening shot.  The entire mixture of cast, music, heat, and beer makes this film a fine coming-of-age story colored by wit and nostalgia. … Continue Reading

Episode 015: Gingers in Space

Rufus James Billy and Shaka drink some whiskey and talk about Wild, Wild, Planet and The Green Slime, two Warner Archives classics. Mostly we talk about models, 60s dances, and just how many gingers there actually are in space. Remember to let us know what you think of the new leaner, meaner, (sometimes drunker) version of your favorite double feature podcast cineAWESOME! Spread the word, keep recommending us to people and let us know what you think.

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The Ox-Bow Incident [Review]

“This Is A Fine Company For A Man To Die With.” – Anthony Quinn

Filmed while Henry Fonda was under 20^th Century Fox’s thumb, and during a long stretch of films of perceived low quality, The Ox-Bow Incident (William Wellman, 1943) was seen as a personal highlight for the well established heroic leading man of John Ford’s America (Young Mr. Lincoln, Drums Along The Mohawk, The Grapes of Wrath).  Based on the critically acclaimed novel by William Van Tilburg Clark, the film was the last one to ever be nominated solely for Best Picture, and respectively lost to Casablanca (Michael Curtiz, 1943).  It sat on the shelf for over a year while Fox tried desperately to discover its marketing strategy, but it’s still doubtful that this dark, brooding non-Western would have taken home the previous year’s Oscar when the country was entrenched in buying War Bonds.  The war-time romance of Bogie & Bacall and William Wyler’s good, little war wife Mrs. Miniver were the appropriate crowd pleasers of the era.  All The Ox-Bow Incident has to offer is depressing heaps of cynicism and anger.

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An Interview with Director John Landis

Director John Landis

Fashionably a few minutes late, American film director John Landis entered the tiny room at New York University with a Diet Coke in hand.  Escorted by Film Criticism Professor and New York Times film critic Dave Kehr, and his British side-kick, Justin, Landis didn’t take long to make himself right at home.  He quickly began cracking jokes with the students and even calling a couple of them “lying sacks of shit,” as he joked about the students’ homework assignment that may or may not have been completed before he arrived.

In town to help promote his new book Monsters in the Movies at the Brooklyn Academy of Music’s cinématek series, “See You Next Wednesday: 8 Films by John Landis,” the Chicago-born, L.A.-raised native brings a Hollywood style swagger to the East Coast.

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The King of Comedy

Robert De Niro plays one of his best roles to date when he portrays Rupert Pupkin, a somewhat unstable wannabe superstar who seeks nothing more than to be his living icon Jerry Langford (played by Jerry Lewis). His whole life he has followed, and idolized this Jonny Carson type comedian and late night talk show host, and now feels his time has come, and he must take his shot at super stardom by appearing on the Jerry Langford show. His determination to achieve this celebrity status escalates rapidly.

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Episode 014: Mr. Beardsley

Rufus and James are joined by the always handsome Mr. Billy Ogawa (who is an awesome artist as evidenced by his website) for this slimey double feature of Squirm and Slugs: The Movie. From this episode forward we will be releasing weekly episodes that are shorter than our normal yakfests. Focused more on just the films (with the cineAWESOME tangents thrown in of course) the cineAWESOME! cast is ditching the other segments of the show in order to bring you weekly episodes while Rufus finishes school. Billy will also be joining us as a (mostly) regular cohost because he rocks, lives in Brooklyn and we threatened him with bodily harm if he didn’t agree. Enjoy the new show and let us know what you think!

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The Gunfighter [Review]

Ah, we’re well into 2012 now.  Mayan calendars, John Cusack’s skyscraper-dodging Cessna, and all that wonderfully apocalyptic mumbo jumbo.  Feels like it’s time to strike out on a new cinematic adventure; dragging you poor folks with me.  I’ve been hankering to Go West for a while.  Watching recent releases like Blackthorn (Mateo Gil, 2011) True Grit (The Coen Brothers, 2010), and Appaloosa (Ed Harris, 2008) have rekindled an interest in a genre I once claimed as my all-time favorite, but it’s really been a good decade since I’ve properly delved into the wild, wild west.

But where to start?  The Wild Bunch (Sam Peckinpah, 1969)?  The Good The Bad and The Ugly (Sergio Leone, 1966)?  The Searchers (John Ford, 1956)?  Where is the fun in that?  We all know that those flicks are utterly brilliant and that if you consider yourself a film fan than you most certainly have seen all three of those flicks dozens upon dozens of times.  Nope, I say let’s start at the birth of the “adult” western…whatever that means.

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Episode 013: Best of 2011

Rufus and James are joined by Ryan from Criterion Cast to give you our best of the 2011! Books, films, music, and many other things are discussed. We also make a resolution that from now on (barring crazy situations) we will be making weekly podcasts!! Insane right?

Rufus
10. Alamo Drafthouse!
9. Homebrew
8. Oscilliscope Circle of Trust
7. Make Magazine
6. Movie Soundtracks: Drive/Hanna/Attack the Block/Tron
5. Fast Five
4. Bleak Night
3. Attack the Block
2. Drive
1. Take Shelter

James
10. Criterion itself
9. Destroy All Movies/Swedish Sensation Films/Dark Stars Rising
8. Hugo
7. Dr. Who
6. Fantastic Fest
5. Mission Impossible 4
4. Podcasts: GGtMC/HAMMICUS/Entrails from the Closet/Silva and Gold
3. Submarine
2. Drive
1. Attack the Block

Ryan
10. 5by5.tv
9. Rise Of The Planet Of The Apes
8. Mondo Prints – Del Toro / Dracula / Jurassic Park / Totoro / Star Wars
7. The Hobbit Production Video
6. Apps: Evernote / Text Expander
5. Game Of Thrones / Song Of Ice And Fire
4. Criterion Releases: Great Dictator
3. Certified Copy
2. Tree Of Life
1. Miranda

iTunes Comments and Reviews Appreciated!
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Email: podcast@cineawesome.com

Direct Download here.

Alice Doesn’t Live Here Anymore (1974)

I have to admit two things, first of all Martin Scorsese is my favorite director and has been for years. It began with my ever growing love of Goodfellas since I first watched it as a kid. Sadly I must also admit that my admiration of Marty comes from mostly his post Goodfellas catalog. Casino, The Aviator, The Departed, Gangs of New York, Shutter Island, and of course Hugo all rank among my favorite films. I have not completely deprived myself of his early work, Taxi Driver is one of my favorite Scorsese film, and I love Raging Bull, The King of Comedy, and The Last Temptation of Christ. Then there is that small pocket of early Scorsese films that I am very unfamiliar with. In fact I had not seen any of his pre-1980’s works at all, something that I plan to fix in this coming year, and write about it in the process.  Now it has officially begun with 1974’s Alice Doesn’t Live Here Anymore.

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