Film Junk Podcast Episode #599: Paterson

Posted by on February 8th, 2017   Filed under: Featured, Film Junk Podcast

podcast599

0:00 — Intro: Frank’s Trip / Episode 600 Details
15:00 — Review: Paterson
55:45 — Headlines: Super Bowl Trailers, Nashville to Get an Indoor Drive-In
1:07:10 — Other Stuff We Watched: Gimme Danger, Nirvanna The Band The Show, Beware the Slenderman
1:30:30 — Junk Mail: Best Tarantino Knockoffs, Twist Endings, Jay’s Review of Loving + Logging Festival Films on Letterboxd, Frank’s Love of Tim Burton’s Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, Best / Worst Child Performances, Dividing Comedies by Era, Favourite Movie Watching Food
2:08:10 — This Week on DVD and Blu-ray
2:13:05 — Outro

» Download the MP3 (62 MB)
» View the show notes
» Rate us on iTunes!

Subscribe to the podcast feed:
RSS iTunes

Donate via Paypal:




 Recurring Donation $2/Month:


←  Older Comments
 →
  • Samb

    Jagged Edge is an early-modern example of a twist movie. I remember at the time people resenting having the rug pulled out from under them multiple times, thinking that technique was the purview of schlocky horror movies. But I loved it — a well-executed twist is like a shot of dopamine.

  • Brian.M

    Outta curiosity what is the best Batman movie for you?

  • Brian.M

    Have to say I really enjoyed the Paterson review, really insightful and It made me want to see the movie. I checked it out and I got even more value listening to your in-depth discussion of it. Film of last year for me.

  • pcch7

    I’ll second Lawrence of Arabia

  • pcch7

    Batman Returns, I love it.

  • Glendon

    A lot of episodes have more than one main review, so it’ll be even more than 600 films over the 60 minutes… That’s less than 6 seconds per review!

  • traynor

    Another perspective: I’m actually rooting for LONGER podcasts. I want audio of Jay and Frank in the on the way to the show, and then a post-show wrap-up.

  • traynor

    It would be perfect for Sandra Bullock’s character in Demolition Man.

  • Peter Harrison

    Jay or Frank has to press record on their phone next time they are chatting in the car on the way to Sean’s. The reviews are often the best available, but I listen for the banter.

  • Kevin Cardoza

    I’m not sure that you can be 100% sure that the religious nutbag was right all along. But it sure suggests that maybe everything would have been much better if everyone would have listened to her all along, which is certainly a way the “twist” would make you re-contextualize everything you saw before.

    Sorry, Frank, but you’re wrong on this one.

  • Indianamcclain

    Sean, is it possible that we’ll get the pulp comic book movie premium that Jay, and Greg brought up in the near future?

  • buttermoths

    STRONGLY disagree. There’s a billion sleek, streamlined film review podcasts. The entire appeal of Film Junk is the feeling of hanging out with 3 long-time friends, and sometimes the anti-comedy of incredibly inane discussions (Krampus, What’s a twist?, the manifesto episodes etc).

  • Sean

    Maybe when the Rocketeer reboot hits theatres? Which movies would you want to be included?

  • Indianamcclain

    This is the lineup that was mentioned on the show a few years ago: Flash Gordon (1980), Dick Tracy, The Rocketeer, The Shadow, and The Phantom.

  • Thom

    Agreed. A twist is something that reverses or tears apart a specific narrative line that a movie has established up to that point, as opposed to something that simply carries the story along in an unexpected direction. So to answer Jay’s Psycho example: Janet Leigh dying isn’t a twist, but the climax/payoff of the movie clearly is.

  • kyri

    “misoprogonic-psychosis”

    Psychotic dislike or ingrained prejudice against things that happened before I was born.

    This is what Frank is suffering from,

    And it is CLEARLY apparent in the Scorsese-premium

    Analysis:

    misos = hate

    progonic – of my ancestors

    pre = everything that happened before

    gonic = i was created

    Regards.

  • No one important

    Regarding the Drive in cinema… One major benefit no one mentioned was the ability to have films screened day or night.

    I also have a question for the episode 600 quiz so if you’re not Sean don’t read on from here…

    What did Jay say in his review of 555 that made Greg lose it?
    And by lose it i mean in fits of laughter.

  • No one important

    Oh and if Reed is going to be on the next episode you really need to review the new Yimou Zhang film, The Great Wall.

  • 100% agree with Frank on this one. The Mist is not a twist. You guys also mentioned Identity. Maybe I’m misremembering the movie, but revealing who the killer is in a who-dunnit movie is not a twist. Even if the killer is unlikely.

    A twist should definitely recontextualizemost of what came before it in the movie.

  • Sean

    I thought the twist in Identity is that everything is happening inside the main character’s mind. That definitely recontextualizes everything.

    I feel like Shyamalan has changed what people think of as a twist ending. I don’t know why a complete recontextualization is a requirement. I keep coming back to Twilight Zone and the fact that sometimes the show simply ended in dark and/or ironic ways but they were still referred to as twist endings. It does seem like it’s somewhat subjective though.

  • I probably don’t remember Identity that well, so I bad example.

    But some of these other examples (and the definition) Jay used are terrible.

    Psycho definitely has a twist, but it isn’t the death of Janet Leigh. Just having an unexpected plot development does not make for a twist. If anything that happens in a movie that is unexpected is considered a twist, then I agree with Frank it kind of cheapens the whole idea of a twist.

    IMO, a twist should make you reflect back and fundamentally change the way you look at the movie (Kaiser Soze, Fight Club, Sixth Sense, etc.). Someone just getting killed isn’t a twist, it’s a plot development. I didn’t expect Goose to die, but it’s not a twist – it’s a plot development.

    #MistAintATwist

  • Jay Cheel

    First off, I agree that the Psycho example was not a great one. It was in response to the ending of Split being a twist.

    I’ve gone into this elsewhere, but the ending of The Mist is BY DEFINITION a twist.

    As per Wikipedia’s page on “Plot Twists”, they break down the “Mechanics of the Twist Ending.”

    https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Plot_twist#Mechanics_of_the_twist_ending

    Included in this section detailing the mechanics of the twist ending is the term Peripeteia. Wikipedia defines peripeteia as “a sudden reversal of the protagonist’s fortune, whether for good or ill, that emerges naturally from the character’s circumstances.” Reminder: this is listed as an example of one of many twist ending “mechanics.”

    Literaryterms.com expands on this definition, which draws it even closer to what happens in The Mist (and the Twilight Zone episodes Sean alluded to.) They say “Peripeteia is meant to cause fear and pity in the audience upon witnessing the tragic twist of fate which abruptly ruins the life of the protagonist.” Here’s the link:

    http://literaryterms.net/peripeteia/

    So while The Mist might not fall under your own opinion of what a “twist ending” might be, BY DEFINITION it is one.

    Also of note: according to thesaurus.com, a synonym for Peripeteia is “twist.”

  • Jay Cheel

    Additionally:

    “Someone just getting killed isn’t a twist, it’s a plot development. I didn’t expect Goose to die, but it’s not a twist – it’s a plot development.”

    That’s no equal to what happens in The Mist. The twist isn’t somebody dying or being killed. The twist is the reveal AFTER they’re killed. Also, it happens at the end of the movie. It’s not a plot twist/development in the middle.

  • I guess fair enough. This Wiki article is not my definition of a twist, nor should it be anyone’s. To use Frank’s parlance, “it cheapens the notion of a twist.”

    Going by what this wiki article says, almost every movie is a twist movie then. If a movie employs any of these traits (or tropes), then it is considered a “twist”:
    Anagnorisis, Flashback, Unreliable, narrator
    Peripeteia, Deus ex machina, Poetic justice, Chekhov’s gun, Red herring, In medias res (narrative that starts in the middle), Non-linear narrative, Reverse chronology.

    Obviously this is absurd.

    (related: interested in your guys’ review of “A Cure for Wellness” this week.)

  • Jay Cheel

    The “twist” comes at the end of the film and employs a shock so effective that those who’ve seen it consider it the defining moment in the film and a main point of discussion/debate. I think that, in combination with what I’ve laid out above, suggests it’s not simply an example of plot development.

  • I agree about it being shocking and a great moment for discussion and debate. It doesn’t twist anything about the rest of the plot of the movie. It’s just something that happens.

  • nate_austin75

    Hope you guys can squeeze in a review of “visionary” director Gore Verbinki’s A Cure of Wellness in the next couple of weeks. It’s bombing, so it will disappear from theaters pretty quick. Whether you like it or not, visually it is one of the best-looking films in recent memory and is worth seeing on the big screen for that.

  • Jay Cheel

    Well there’s no point trying to convince you or Frank of anything as long as you’re unwilling to accept any definition outside of the narrow one you’ve randomly decided upon. So, we’ll agree to disagree! ;)

  • Jay Cheel

    P.S. We won’t be getting to Cure for Wellness this week. Maybe next week?

  • Oh no, I’m not arguing the definition anymore. Now I’m arguing the point of the definition. Like I said, according to that article, just about every movie is classified as a “twist” movie, so why even talk about twists?

    I watched Almodovar’s “Julieta” this weekend (it was great btw) and in the movie the main character writes a letter describing her past – which we watch – then comes back to the present. I would never consider this a twist, but I guess by definition it is.

  • Cocky S.O.B.

    What’s the name and artist of the intro song for this episode?

  • Sean

    Willie West – I’m Still a Man (Lord Have Mercy)

  • Lori Cerny

    Without the FJ crew’s discussion, I wouldn’t have sought out Patterson to watch.

    Patterson turned out to be the most realistic film I’ve ever seen. So subtle, inspiring, and multi-layered… moving it into my top 10 of all time.

  • Brian.M

    I had to re-read your reply because I thought it was my own…i.e. are thoughts are the exact same :-)

  • hecramsey2

    i can do that with my own friends

←  Older Comments
 →