Just in time for the release of Peter Jackson’s ‘The Hobbit’, the Film Junk crew sit down for episode #13 of their ongoing series of premium podcasts and attempt to make sense of the 12 hour extended cut of the Lord of the Rings trilogy. This is one Film Junk Premium Podcast to rule them all, and in the darkness bind you to some serious discussions about the convenience of the Great Eagles, Elvish psychic bonds, Aero-win or Arwen, fat Rudy, and of course, multiple endings. You’ll find all of this plus much, much more on this latest episode of the Film Junk Premium Podcast. But remember, without a minimum .99 cent fee, YOU SHALL NOT PASS. (Be sure to check out a few highlights from this episode embedded above.)

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This series of premium podcasts was created to help support the regular weekly Film Junk Podcast. Head on over to Bandcamp and download full episodes for a minimum donation of just 99 cents. As always, let us know if you experience any technical difficulties or if you have any other suggestions for future specials. Thanks for your support!

You asked for it, you got it. Frank and Jay are back — minus Sean, who is currently re-evaluating his own collection — with this follow up to last year’s ‘Movie Organization Manifesto’ podcast! This time we’ve got over two hours of in-depth discussion on the various in’s and out’s of blu ray organization, including a few interesting updates on our own collections. Have we stayed true to our own rules or did the previous episode sway us to rethink our organizational methods? We also get in to the ethics of blu ray bargain shopping, recounting glorious tales of product swapping, price matching, and border crossing. Additionally, in an effort to resolve the issue of a collection’s immediate accessibility to friends and family, we come up with what we think could be a revolutionary solution: the blu ray karaoke book. All of this plus your listener emails and tweets add up to yet another important chapter in the storied crusade for what the unfaithful erroneously claim to be “beyond the bounds of possibility”: the perfectly organized blu ray collection. This is Part 3 of the Film Junk Movie Organization Manifesto! May you all have a blu Christmas!

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In celebration of 007 turning 50, we decided it was time to tackle James Bond in this latest episode of the Film Junk Premium Podcast. With 23 films to choose from it was a tough task narrowing things down to a manageable number of movies. In the end, it was decided we should cover at least one film from each version of Bond and attempt to provide a look at the very best and the very worst of the series. With that in mind, we finally decided on: Goldfinger, On Her Majesty’s Secret Service, Live and Let Die, Moonraker, The Living Daylights, GoldenEye, and Casino Royale. We tackle some of the tougher questions including an in-depth discussion on the practicality of Baron Samedi’s flute radio, the origin of Jaws’ metal crotch, the impenetrable Fort Knox as a metaphor for Pussy Galore (but what does the radiated gold represent??), and the world’s most amazing Kentucky Fried Chicken restaurant. So join us as we attempt to make sense of one of the longest running — and ultimately inconsistent — franchises of all time. From all of us here at Film Junk…happy 50th Jerzy Bondov!!

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This series of premium podcasts was created to help support the regular weekly Film Junk Podcast. Head on over to Bandcamp and download full episodes for a minimum donation of just 99 cents. As always, let us know if you experience any technical difficulties or if you have any other suggestions for future specials. Thanks for your support!

This October I attended my fourth straight year at the Flyway Film Festival in beautiful Pepin, Wisconsin. It’s an intimate, cozy little festival created by festival director (and Pepin resident) Rick Vaicious and run by a team of dedicated volunteers. Last year I was at the festival with Beauty Day and Rick asked if I might be interested in shooting an opening night film specifically for Flyway. Immediately we both knew Reed would be involved as I’d previously screened both Cooking With Gerry and A Very Gerry Xmas, cementing Reed Farrington’s status as a Flyway favourite. So, after taking about half a year to think it out, it was decided that Reed would actually take over the duties of filming the opening night short, and I would document the process. The result is a behind the scenes look at the making of ‘Scientific Method’, a remake of a short film Reed made 20 years ago (originally titled ‘The Experiment). Well, last weekend we screened the short to a packed house on opening night and it was met with lots of laughs and plenty of love. Now, as a Halloween treat, we’re sharing it with our dedicated Film Junk listeners! So, sit back and enjoy ‘The Making of Scientific Method’!

Right off the bat, I’ll admit that I’m probably the wrong guy to be talking ‘In the Mood for Love’. The only other Wong Kar-Wai film I’ve seen is The Chungking Express (which I liked), but beyond that I’m clueless when it comes to Wong’s filmography. More importantly, I haven’t seen the two films that bookend the apparent trilogy ‘In the Mood for Love’ belongs to. I’m sure the film is designed to stand on its own but something tells me a pre-existing familiarity with these characters and Wong’s themes might have been helpful. In short, I’m coming into this film 12 years late and new to Wong’s work, so bear with me.

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With the release of Raiders of the Lost Ark in 1981, Indiana Jones secured a spot in cinema history alongside Star Wars as one of the defining blockbuster franchises of the 1980’s. In 1984 Temple of Doom gave us the PG13 rating and in ’88 The Last Crusade taught us to always remember our Charlemagne. Then, 20 years later Lucas and Spielberg would add inter-dimensional beings to the mix, simultaneously nuking the fridge whilst raping the childhoods of millions of thirty-somethings around the world. Still, even the sight of an uncharacteristically agile Mutt Williams swinging vine with a gaggle of CG monkeys couldn’t taint what many consider to be one of the best movie trilogies ever. Now that all four films have been rereleased on blu ray, we figured it was time to revisit this classic film franchise and tackle some of the tough questions. There’s lots to discuss here including the availability of direct flights to Venice in the 1930’s, Dan Aykroyd’s Crystal Skull Vodka, forgotten Nazi luggage, and savvy Mom’s driving boat cars (and gloating about it). I think it’s safe to say this episode of the Film Junk Premium Podcast will leave you as giddy as a schoolboy. You have chosen…wisely.

» Download It Now!

This series of premium podcasts was created to help support the regular weekly Film Junk Podcast. Head on over to Bandcamp and download full episodes for a minimum donation of just 99 cents. As always, let us know if you experience any technical difficulties or if you have any other suggestions for future specials. Thanks for your support!

Horrible news. According to The Wrap, Tony Scott, brother of Ridley Scott and director of modern action classics Top Gun, Days of Thunder, Crimson Tide, The Last Boyscout, and True Romance, has died from an apparent suicide. Scott’s body was recovered from the Los Angeles harbour after he apparently jumped from the Vincent Thomas Bridge bridge.

I’ll always have a massive soft spot for Tony Scott’s bombastic brand of high octane action cinema. Sorry to see him go.

Gray’s Anatomy
Directed by Steven Soderbergh
Written by Spalding Gray
Starring: Spalding Gray

With Stephen Soderbergh on the verge of retiring from filmmaking, one has to wonder how somebody with such an amount of creative freedom could ever feel uninspired or suffocated by the limitations of their chosen medium. He’s the guy who popularized the “one for me, one for them” modus operandi and within it, has seemed to have found his rhythm. In the mid-nineties, Soderbergh faced a similar dilemma in which he overcame an artistic slump by rebuilding himself with two experiments; Schizopolis and Gray’s Anatomy. While they both fall under the “one for me” category, Gray’s Anatomy is fairly accessible and wholly entertaining as Soderbergh attempts to transform Spalding Gray’s squeamish tale of a rare ocular affliction into something resembling Errol Morris meets Dario Argento.

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The Gold Rush
Directed by Charles Chaplin
Written by Charles Chaplin
Starring: Charles Chaplin, Mack Swain, Tom Murray, Georgia Hale

Criterion’s Chaplin collection continues to grow with the release of his 1925 classic comedy The Gold Rush. The disc contains both the original silent release and the definitive 1942 version of the film, both of which have been given a full HD restoration. As for the movie itself, The Gold Rush is a timeless comedic masterpiece with a lot of heart and some wonderful examples of early visual effects.

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La Haine
Directed by Mathieu Kassovitz
Written by Mathieu Kassovitz
Starring: Vincent Cassel, Hubert Koundé, Saïd Taghmaoui

17 years after its release, I’m just now getting to Mathieu Kassovitz’s brilliant 1995 film La Haine. Thanks to a recent Criterion Collection blu ray release, I had the opportunity to watch it for the first time in high definition and the film (and its transfer) did not disappoint.

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In the last couple of months I’ve had some down time while focusing on getting my next film, How to Build a Time Machine, up and running. I’d been itching to shoot something and with a fairly new camera (the Panasonic AF100) sitting on my shelf, I really wanted to log a few more hours shooting and become more familiar with my equipment before jumping into the next feature. So, I thought why not make a short documentary? With limited time and resources, I focused on a topic close to home…board gaming. My group of friends have recently started playing games like The Settlers of Catan and Pandemic, and this has resulted in some interesting ‘in game’ personality shifts. This short looks at the politics of competitive board gaming amongst friends, detailing one specific incident in which one friend (Reed Farrington) loses his cool, threatening the future of ‘game night’.

A Night to Remember
Directed by Roy Ward Baker
Written by Eric Ambler
Starring: Kenneth More, Ronald Allen, Robert Ayres, Honor Blackman

With the 100 year anniversary of the Titanic disaster coming up on April 15th, one can expect an onslaught of television specials, films, and books looking back at one of the world’s worst nautical disasters. Criterion’s blu ray release of Roy Ward Baker’s 1958 docudrama A Night to Remember is a strategically timed reminder that before James Cameron’s ‘Romeo and Juliet on a boat’, there was this detailed, cinematic account of the sinking of an otherwise unsinkable ship.

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