Episodes
Wednesday Apr 29, 2020
IDMB Episode 186 - Man With a Movie Camera
Wednesday Apr 29, 2020
Wednesday Apr 29, 2020
With Man With a Movie Camera, Dziga Vertov pioneered many technical camera techniques (double exposure, superimposition, under/overcranking) that filmmakers would utilize regularly for decades to come as well as pioneering the cinéma vérité style. But can we talk about how the guy who's mantra was to capture "life as it is".....didn't do that with this film?
Wednesday Apr 22, 2020
IDMB Episode 185 - Mother
Wednesday Apr 22, 2020
Wednesday Apr 22, 2020
"Dedicated propagandist" Vsevolod Pudovkin introduces us to the plight of the poor and working class with Mother, a film that reminds us all that the phrase "eat the rich" was not a contemporary idea.
Tuesday Apr 14, 2020
IDMB Episode 184 - Battleship Potemkin
Tuesday Apr 14, 2020
Tuesday Apr 14, 2020
It's back to film school with the discussion of Battleship Potemkin, a film that is almost 100 years old, yet pioneered many cinematic techniques that we're still seeing implemented regularly today (Montage! Invisible edits! Romanticizing a country's troubling history!). It's both an effective film and an effective piece of propaganda,
Tuesday Apr 07, 2020
IDMB Episode 183 - Introduction to Soviet Silent Films (featuring David Bax)
Tuesday Apr 07, 2020
Tuesday Apr 07, 2020
I Do Movies Badly returns from its month-long with David Bax of Battleship Pretension in tow (tug? Like a tugboat? That's a boat joke). It's been a while, so there's a good deal of catching up first including some talk on working and viewing habits in the pandemic, recapping my improvised marriage in the face of a shelter in place order, and revisiting the lost bet* that resulted in David choosing the topic of discussion.
That topic of discussion, by the way, is on Soviet silent films, which were ahead of their times in how they pioneered editing techniques (...and state funded propaganda). It's a return to film school as David recommends Sergei Eistenstein's Battleship Potemkin (1925), Vsevolod Pudovkin's Mother (1926), and Dziga Vertov's Man with a Movie Camera (1929).
Monday Feb 24, 2020
IDMB Episode 182 - The Rhythm Section
Monday Feb 24, 2020
Monday Feb 24, 2020
Reed Morano month(s) goes out with a whimper instead of a bang. From box office receipts to tepid creativity, there is no way to describe The Rhythm Section other than a disappointment.
Reminder that I'm taking a hiatus for March, but I'll be back with a new guest, new theme, and a wife! In the meantime, head over to my other podcast, The Cast of Cthulhu, to get your fix!
Wednesday Feb 19, 2020
IDMB Episode 181 - I Think We're Alone Now
Wednesday Feb 19, 2020
Wednesday Feb 19, 2020
It's 13 minutes before any words are spoken in I Think We're Alone Now, but by that time, we already know all we need to about the film's main character, his world, and how he sees his role in it. If you're unfamiliar with "film grammar," then you've no better introduction than this Reed Morano film.
Wednesday Feb 19, 2020
IDMB Episode 181 - I Think We're Alone Now
Wednesday Feb 19, 2020
Wednesday Feb 19, 2020
It's 13 minutes before any words are spoken in I Think We're Alone Now, but by that time, we already know all we need to about the film's main character, his world, and how he sees his role in it. If you're unfamiliar with "film grammar," then you've no better introduction than this Reed Morano film.
Wednesday Jan 29, 2020
IDMB Episode 180 - The Skeleton Twins
Wednesday Jan 29, 2020
Wednesday Jan 29, 2020
The Skeleton Twins would have already been a great film thanks to the script from Mark Heyman and director Craig Johnson, but it's accentuated by the indelible mark that Reed Morano leaves on it with her emotionally evocative camerawork and lighting.
Tuesday Jan 21, 2020
IDMB Episode 179 - Meadowland
Tuesday Jan 21, 2020
Tuesday Jan 21, 2020
Reed Morano's directorial debut is an immersive emotional journey into grief and pain, realized wonderfully by how the director/DP uses her camera. But emotion over logic doesn't always lead to satisfying conclusions.
Tuesday Jan 14, 2020
IDMB Episode 178 - Introduction to Reed Morano (featuring Sean Meehan)
Tuesday Jan 14, 2020
Tuesday Jan 14, 2020
New York-based DP/director Sean Meehan returns to IDMB to talk about another DP/director, Reed Morano! The conversation is a little more inside baseball than usual with some film school-ish explanations of the technical and creative considerations that go into being a DP (I learned where the term "color timing" came from!), but it transitions into an excellent conversation about why Morano was equipped to be a great director by first being a great DP.
Seeing Morano's third feature as director, The Rhythm Section hasn't yet been released, Sean had to get clever and recommend one film that she was lensing rather than directing, making January's titles: Meadowland (2015), The Skeleton Twins (2014), and I Think We're Alone Now (2018).
Be sure to keep up with I Do Movies Badly on Battleship Pretension, Podbean, and Facebook