EPISODE #6: THE ROYAL TENENBAUMS

In episode #6 we discuss Wes Anderson's comedic drama The Royal Tenenbaums. With a star studded cast, this detailed world delves in the dysfunctional lives of the Tenenbaum family. Starring Gene Hackman, Anjelica Huston, Ben Stiller, Gwyneth Paltrow, Luke Wilson, Bill Murray, Owen Wilson and Danny Glover.

SHOWNOTES

• The Royal Tenenbaums - Criterion Collection
• The Apple Cube
• Wes Anderson movies:
  • Bottle Rocket
  • Rushmore
  • The Royal Tenenbaums
  • The Life Aquatic with Steve Zissou
  • The Darjeeling Limited
  • Fantastic Mr. Fox
  • Moonrise Kingdom
  • The Grand Budapest Hotel
• Burn After Reading
• The Wilson brothers
  • Owen Wilson
  • Luke Wilson
  • Andrew Wilson (who appeared in Whip It with Ellen Page)
• Narrated by Alec Baldwin
  • 30 Rock
• A compilation of Wes Anderson slow motion shots
• Eric Chase Anderson (brother of Wes Anderson)
  • Some of Eric Anderson’s drawings
• Property Masters
• Wes Anderson miniatures
• Bill Murray plays Margo’s husband
  • Stars as Bob Harris in Lost in Translation
  • Stars as Peter Venkman in Ghosbusters
• Anjelica Huston plays Etheline Tenenbaum
• Danny Glover plays Henry Sherman, Etheline’s love interest
• Futura Bold is the font of choice in this movie.
  • Also used exclusively by Field Notes
• Helvetica Documentary
• The Warriors
• Music from The Royal Tenenbaums Soundtrack
  • Hey Jude - The Mutato Muzika Orchestra
  • 111 Archer Avenue - Mark Mothersbaugh (Royal Tenenbaum Theme)
  • Me and Julio Down by the Schoolyard - Paul Simon
  • Christmas Time is Here - The Vince Guaraldi Trio
  • These Days - Nico (Not to be confused with Neko Case)
  • Judy is a Punk - The Ramones
  • Gymnoépdie No. 1 by Éric Satie
  • Goodbye Ruby Tuesday - The Rolling Stones
• Baz Luhrmann also has very stylized films
  • Romeo + Juliet
  • Moulin Rouge!
  • The Great Gatsby
• FilmStruck - One of the easiest ways to stream Criterion movies online

EPISODE #5: THE MAN WHO KNEW TOO MUCH

In episode #5 we discuss one of Alfred Hitchcock's first major films: The Man Who Knew Too Much. On vacation in Switzerland, Bob and Jill Lawrence get caught up in a secretive world of spies and assassins. With time running out, they must follow a cold trail to save their daughter and prevent a world war. Starring Leslie Banks, Edna Best and Peter Lorre.

SHOWNOTES

• The Man Who Knew Too Much - Criterion Collection
• Alfred Hitchcock
• Gaumont-British Picture Corporation
• The 39 Steps
• The Lady Vanishes
• The character’s name is Bob Lawrence, not Bill
• Peter Lorre
• Foley Effects
• The Free Irish State
• Chekhov’s Gun (not to be confused with Pavel Chekhov)
• The Jazz Singer (first film with sound, a talkie)
• Gallows Humor
• National Highway and Traffic Safety Administration commercial
• Glasses without earpieces are known as Pince-nez glasses
• Casablanca
• M (criterion collection)
• Hey Abbott
• Remake of The Man Who Knew Too Much (starring Jimmy Stewart)
• Star Wars
• THX 1138 starring Robert Duvall
• Wipe Transition intentionally used in Star Wars and Raiders of The Lost Ark
• Royal Albert Hall
• Leverage (S03E04) - The Scheherazade Job
• Scheherazade by Korsakov
• Rear Window and Psycho are not Criterion Collection
• Classic Hitchcock Criterion box set: The Man Who Knew Too Much, The Lady Vanishes, The 39 Steps, and Foreign Correspondent
• The Woody Allen movie Shadows and Fog (starring John Cusack)
• Also stars the Julie Kavner who does Marge Simpson’s voice (and who is Not in Sleepless in Seattle)

EPISODE #4: BRAZIL

In episode #4 we discuss the comedic dystopia "Brazil" from director Terry Gilliam. Sam Lowry, an average employee at the Ministry of Information, gets caught up in a quest to solve a bureaucratic mistake while simultaneously searching for the literal woman of his dreams. Starring Jonathan Pryce, Robert De Niro and Kim Greist.

SHOWNOTES

• Brazil - Criterion Collection
• Terry Gilliam directed Brazil (as well as Twelve Monkeys starring Bruce Willis)
• Back to The Future Part I (directed by Robert Zemeckis) did not show a dystopian future
• Back to The Future Part II did show a dystopian future
• The Ministry of Information in Brazil should not be confused with the Ministry of Magic in Harry Potter
• Monty Python - Dead Parrot sketch
• Gilliam has referred to Brazil, Time Bandits, and The Adventures of Baron Munchausen as his Imagination Trilogy
• Blade Runner (starring Harrison Ford) was based on the novel Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?
• The Hudsucker Proxy - starring Paul Newman, Tim Robbins and Jennifer Jason Leigh
• Sucker Punch - starring Emily Browning also featured a battle with a giant samurai
• Clue starring Tim Curry (which was also released in 1985) featured a young Jane Wiedlin as a singing telegram girl
• Chris Tucker’s character (Ruby Rhod) in The Fifth Element (which also starred Iam Holm and Bruce Willis and was directed by Luc Besson) had a similar outfit as Katherine Helmond (Mrs. Ida Lowry) in Brazil.
• Kurt Vonnegut Jr. wrote Cat’s Cradle, another ironic look at a dystopian future
• George Orwell’s 1984 popularized the phrase Big Brother in reference to surveillance
• The Hunger Games starring Jennifer Lawrence made dystopian futures popular again
• While Jonathan Pryce (Sam Lowry) is known for his work in the Pirate’s of The Caribbean and Game of Thrones series, his most memorable role (per Adam) was as media mogul Elliot Carver in Tomorrow Never Dies
• In order, the Pierce Brosnan / James Bond movies were:
  • 1995 - GoldenEye (which also became a classic Nintendo 64 game) featuring Famke Janssen as Xenia Onatopp
  • 1997 - Tomorrow Never Dies featuring Michelle Yeoh as Wai Lin
  • 1999 - The World is Not Enough featuring Denise Richards as Christmas Jones
  • 2002 - Die Another Die featuring Halle Berry as Jinx Johnson
• Terry Gilliam screened the entirety of Brazil for a film class at the University of Southern California
• Robert De Niro played Harry Tuttle the “Heating Engineer”
• Martin Lawrence and Will Smith starred in Bad Boys
• Michael Palin (Jack) was a regular in Monty Python
• Other regulars from Monty Python such as John Cleese, Terry Jones and the late Graham Chapman (who died in 1989) were not in Brazil
• Peter Vaughan (Mr. Helpman) also played Uncle Alfie in Death at A Funeral and Master Aemon in Game of Thrones
• American Psycho featured Christian Bale as lovable serial killer Patrick Bateman
• The weird monsters in Sam’s dreams looked like skeksis from Jim Henson’s The Dark Crystal
• The scene where Sam unmasks the samurai seemed similar to the unmasking of Darth Vader in the swamp in Empire Strikes Back
• Ian Holm (Mr. Kurtzmann) is well known for his roles as Bilbo Baggins in The Lord of The Rings and Sir William Gull in From Hell
• The music in Brazil was scored by Michael Kamen who also scored the Lethal Weapon movies (with Eric Clapton) as well as Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves (which featured the song Everything I Do, I Do It for You by Bryan Adams
• The mythology of Oedipus
• The mythology of Icarus
• Sam Lowry’s face looked suspiciously similar to Ziggy Stardust