Here's the first in a series. The Watchmen Recommend. Over the next {whenever we feel like it} we'll be recommending {general things that aren't actually films}. This week {implying a weekly feature and thus some discipline on our part - never gonna happen} we are dealing with Podcasts. We're gonna recommend 2 podcasts that we like a lot and 2 we'd advise you to steer clear of.
THE GOOD
Mark Kermode's movie review from Radio 5.
Search for Mark Kermode on iTunes. Mark is a comically pompous, pretentious, and supercilious critic who, like him or hate him, makes for great radio. He is articulate, funny and generally plays up to his persona with tongue placed firmly in cheek. He also isn't afraid to go with his gut on a movie and contradict the perceived wisdom on a film. Whether you agree with him or not you find yourself desperate to know what he thinks. Simon Mayo, the presenter of the radio show on which he guests (and from which the podcast is taken) acts as a great straight man to Kermode's near caricature of a film critic.
The Hollywood Saloon
If you want lengthy, in-depth and did we mention lengthy discussions about Hollywood cinema, this is the place to go. Search for The Hollywood Saloon on iTunes. Andy Siems and John Jansen are two seemingly failed filmmakers who have transformed themselves into professional fans of cinema and host regular discussions about everything from the state of Hollywood today, to the art of the DVD commentary. From the work of various directors right down to a near 2-hour discussion on film grammar. For serious fans of cinema, this is essential. Ah, who are we kidding? This stuff isn't essential, it's indulgent distraction for cinema obsessives but all the better for it.
THE BAD
Guardian Film Weekly
Jason Solomons - aka the critic with the highest pitched voice in show business this side of Joe Pasquale - hosts a professional and serious podcast with high production values that is ultimately drab, dull and uninteresting. Though it appears to aim itself at the highbrow film fan, it ultimately fails to offer in-depth analysis and instead opts for fawning interviews, and annoyingly dismissive and short reviews. We could handle the British upper-middle class chatter and inconsequential loquacious eloquence if there was any substance behind their analysis but the podcast, despite its intentions, is ultimately light and frothy without any real meat.
THE UGLY
Movies You Should See
File under Podcasts You Shouldn't Listen To. Tragic stuff altogether. Nuff said.
5 comments:
I agree with you completely on this list and I'm so glad that you've placed the Guardian podcast in the bad list. Jason's voice is incredibly annoying, he's the host and the professional, is there not a sound engineer listening that has the courage to take him aside and tell him to lower the pitch? Also, I have found his reviews to be pithy and pandering. He once interviewed Jerry Sienfield and was so smitten by him that he said the 'Bee Movie' was the film of the season, a classic. We all know it wasn't. In a recent podcast he was visiting the 'Brit-Doc' festival and was wearing his intellectual film lover jacket and reviewed for the Dark Knight, he said 'it was all too loud and confused but it seems perfecty comprehensible to 10 years olds, much like the Matrix was' Fuck off Solaman's! I'll still keep listening to him though.
Can I add to these suggestions:
Film Couch from Spout Blog
Filmspotting
and
The IFC news podcast
How about the MoviwWatchmen doing one of their own??
I just wanted to drop a note and say thanks for the kind comments on the Saloon. - Andy, from the Hollywood Saloon.
Thanks for the suggestions Brian. We'll check them out. As for our own podcast, maybe one day. Maybe one bright and shiny day.
To Andy, thanks for stopping by. We're big fans so keep up the good work. Hope you aren't too put out about by the (almost) weekly box office news. When they start reporting the attendance, we'll writh our story to that.
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