Breakfast All Day Podcast 3/29/19
“Shazam!” is such a blast that we wanted to review it a week early. It’s one of the many films that Alonso, Matt and I discuss on the latest episode of Breakfast All Day. We also review Tim Burton’s disappointing live-action “Dumbo,” catch up with the teen weepy “Five Feet Apart,” rave about the beautifully acted indie drama “Diane” and wallow in the sex, drugs and rock ‘n’ roll of the Motley Crue biopic “The Dirt.” But first, we start out with some sad news and some happy news: the death of French New Wave legend Agnes Varda at age 90 and an exciting new gig for our great friend Grae Drake as Ms. Moviefone. If you know the name of the podcast you’d like to hear, press one. And enjoy.
Shazam looks like a delight, I’m totally going to see it. Doesn’t open for us civilians until what, April 4th. The new Hellboy looks interesting too, that’s April 10th.
There is one and only one good Motley Crue song: Smokin’ in the Boys Room. At least that I’m aware of.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wTj5j2ahsaI
Def Leppard does rock. The production values are through the roof, the crisp acoustics and drum gating. I read that one of their albums was the most expensive recording session ever. Yeah, Hysteria cost 8 million pounds back in 1987 when pounds sterling was still very strong against the dollar.
https://blog.musicmagpie.co.uk/2017/05/30/what-is-the-most-expensive-album-ever-made/
Hi- there’s a ‘review’ of Dumbo by Tim Hsia from dailypnut.com that illuminates one aspect about Dumbo – still supports the negative review you all gave it…..
“Disney Dumbo Review: Please bear with me as I consider myself only a student of serious cinema. I saw the movie earlier this week with my family as we lucked into pre screening tickets. The movie is pure spectacle and entertainment much like all Disney productions. The movie was of a movie and it had a scene of a movie within the movie. All of this got me thinking just how much we as humans desire to be entertained and distracted. We actually want to deliberately lose our attention. And we pay lots of money to have others distract us. Fascinating.
The scene that both my boys (6 and 8) really enjoyed was the bubble scene. This scene is an incredible visual and audio experience. The closest the movie got to simulate what it is like to be at a Disney theme park. The six year old smiled and laughed with sheer delight. It was as if Walt Disney possessed a magical device that could simulate the awe-entertainment-happiness area of our young boy’s brain. I personally derived absolutely no enjoyment from watching the movie or the scene. I’m a Scrooge when it comes to entertainment spectacles (Ain’t nobody got time for this…is how I think, or Bah humbug). I was there simply to spend time with my family and it was worth it to endure the Disney flood of orgiastic lights just to watch the joy on my son’s face. Much of life is simply about showing up on time and being present (which isn’t easy).
My wife essentially has a graduate student degree in Disney theme parks. For her the park is a study in optimization of time and space. She explained to me that the new Dumbo movie had many theme park references: a seemingly random train song, Fantasia references, the actual Dumbo ride itself, and many other references that only the initiated could understand.
She was able to answer the only question I cared: why did Disney make another Dumbo movie? Her explanation which I think is absolutely correct is that no one knows anything about Dumbo anymore. The original film was released in 1941 a few months before Pearl Harbor. Dumbo hasn’t been relevant for a couple decades if not more. My kids had no idea when they went to the theme park last year who is this Dumbo and quite possibly wondered why is this ride at Disney? This movie is a capitalist and cunning tactic to make the theme park and Disney more relevant. And hence more money (I gotcha Disney). Everyone wants to be relevant. Achieve relevance by being present. Not just for stories, movies, and theme parks. But also for parenting and relationships.”
Thanks again On the reviews love u guys
I was so very happy to hear Matt first acknowledge his tendency to be more generous and forgiving about action and comic-book movies and less enthusiastic about dramas. His solid endorsement of “Diane” is so refreshing to hear. Reviewing movies and having to slog through all of the junk must be tough sometimes, and I really appreciate all of your efforts.
Thanks for listening, Karen!
yeah this tendency is… abundantly clear over the years, it’s not always the greatest thing. But when you’re getting into the weeds with comic book apocrypha, nobody’s better than Matt. Well, Alonso’s pretty terrific too come to think of it.