Welcome! Well, we still haven’t forgotten how much we hate time travel but maybe we will forget once the timeline changes! Again! For the first or last time! But this week, we’re checking out another time travel epic from 2014 (a big year for time travel movie, as last week’s entry can support) “Edge of Tomorrow” which, despite its title, is not a long-running daytime soap opera but rather a Tom Cruise science-fiction vehicle that fortunately also has Emily Blunt along as another passenger. This has all the classic Tom Cruise elements: running, riding motorcycles, creepy chuckling . . . oh, and there’s aliens and time travel and soldiers in funky battle armor that no one seems to think they need training to use. But most of all, this movie has . . . the Spanus. What is the Spanus, you dare to ask? Give a listen and learn, but be warned! Once learned, this cannot be unlearned!
Poll question: what’s a movie that everyone else seems to love and adore but you either can’t stand it or it just strikes you as “meh….”?
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Okay, we’re having some serious issues with the time stream here! This question is totally not the one you just asked.
Movies that I think shouldn’t be remade–Blade Runner comes to mind, especially with how Rutger Hauer improvised his monologue. I also don’t think that Airplane! could be successfully remade in a post-9/11 world.
As for movies I just don’t get, 2001: A Space Odyssey didn’t really do it for me. I could tell it was beautiful and liked it as a work of art, but it seemed cold and abstract to the point of not being relatable. Maybe it’s a generational thing; I’ve grown up knowing that computers aren’t our friends and that aliens may very well be entirely inscrutable.
Hey Ned! Thanks for the comments! As for the poll questions, well, we’re trying to get ahead like we used to be which means the poll questions and the actual episodes can’t line up. Most people are answering on FaceBook, so we went that route. Rest assured, the question you can answer in time to be included on the show IS the one printed here; it’s just not the one on the episode that’s posted.
I TOTALLY agree with your choices of “Blade Runner” and “Airplane. Don’t think there should be sequels to either, either. Oops.
I can see why 2001 would leave anyone cold. It’s not really all that human, more ‘humankind,’ I guess. Thanks very much! You can have sextuple BumpyBux and three extra catalogs!
I will answer this question on the blog since I answered this week’s question on the podcast last week, so I am a week ahead …behind? Time travel is confusing!
One film everyone loved and I can’t stand is The Color Purple. I think the performances were great but I thought Spielberg used Whooping Goldberg like E.T. , she was treated like prop and they cut the lesbian stuff from the book out and it was just all the worst inclinations Spielberg had at time, the uplifting ending made me ill. It just seemed like a movie about black experience made by white people. I know it’s beloved but to me it was offensive. Disclaimer: I do not represent all Canadians or Quebecers.
Vince: see above for why the poll questions don’t match. Trust what’s written, not heard. It’s a timey-whimey thing. 😀
Never saw “Color Purple,” maybe because it felt like it was going to be one of those movies you were -supposed- to like. I applaud Whoopie in nearly anything she does. Spielberg is surprisingly hit or miss (see “Ready Player One” for a MAJOR miss and “Close Encounters of the Third Kind” for a surprising, under appreciated hit, in my opinion). Thanks for the answers and the listen!
Actually, going to hop in the time machine and add to my response (doesn’t have to get any screentime, but I’m curious to hear you all’s takes on this one). I just saw Spirited Away at the local movie theater, my first movie theater experience in a very long time, and I was reminded that it feels very “meh” to me for a Ghibli movie. Of course, that still means that it’s 4.5/5 stars, but it feels overly neat and tidy. Ghibli’s greatest strength is its naturalism, with how organically their stories unfold, and this one misses for me. Still a great movie, but why this was the one to win at the Academy Awards? I’d put a half -dozen of their movies ahead of this one. Can either of you explain to me what the big deal is around Spirited Away? Was it just good timing?
Hmmm. I admit I haven’t seen “Spirited Away” for some time; I remember being rather wowed by it when it came out. I liked the character design and the unfamiliar mythology. It’s not like it was the only good animated movie of 2001; the same year gave us “Monsters Inc” and “Shrek” although now that I actually write this, while those are decent movies, they’re not the greatest. 2001 was also the first year the Academy Awards gave out the “Best Animated Feature” award and if I’m honest about it, the pickings were fairly slim. Maybe it was just the best of that year? Dang, now I’m going to have to go back and watch it again, see how it holds up. Stop bringing up intriguing and challenging questions! We just do fart jokes here and talk about violence against Bumpy!
Honestly, thanks for this. I think this is going to require further study.