The MacGuffin

Spencer and Greg give their DVD rundown for January 22^nd, 2013. In this episode they discuss End of Watch, Searching for Sugar Man, The Imposter, and Pina.

Additional content:
-Our interview with Wim Wenders (Pina).
-Our interview with Bart Layton (The Imposter).
-Our interview with Rodriguez/Malik Bendjelloul (Searching For Sugar Man).

It isn’t often I get to see a film where even though there are a fair amount of issues I can nitpick, the overall project is so compelling that the issues don’t matter. End of Watch is one of those movies. The more I think back on the film, the more flaws come to my mind—but the more it also reinforces how much I liked it.

In honor of the release of Robot & Frank, Spencer and Greg discuss Peter Sarsgaard.

In honor of the release of Safety Not Guaranteed, Spencer and Greg discuss time travel movies.

Another Top 5 segment from The MacGuffin. This time Allen and Brandi share their top 5 doomed romances.

This segment is also available on Stitcher and iTunes. The audio version can be downloaded directly from here. After you’ve watched the video please vote in our poll and share which one you think is the best.

Let’s break this down, shall we?

On the big screen

What have I been watching in theaters lately? (I mean, besides Bridesmaids, of course.) Because I couldn’t seem to get it together to see it in a timely fashion, I haven’t yet talked about Source Code here on the site, but I did see that movie, and liked it very much—and not just because of my well-documented girl crush on Michelle Monaghan (I was once within three feet of her and kept my composure!) or my more-traditional-for-a-straight-woman crush on Jake Gyllenhaal. Let me say: if the conceit is fun enough, the actors have enough chemistry, and the execution works, I am never going to be the person who gets stuck on logic details of a sci-fi film. For example, if you start talking to me about time travel paradoxes or some such in relation to, say, Back to the Future, I will zone out. As long as the momentum works, I just do not care. And it really does work here. So eight minutes of one dude’s memory should not a whole detailed world make? So the way information travels from one track of the story to another probably doesn’t make much sense if you think about it? So what? Tension! Banter! Explosions! Pretty people! Enjoy the ride.

Love & Other Drugs (2010) is a screwball comedy, or a romantic comedy, or a serious melodrama, or a satire of the pharmaceutical trade.  Are you starting to catch my drift?  In some ways, the film works on all these levels, but in others, it doesn’t work in any of them.  Interesting, given that the director is Edward Zwick.  Here is a solid director whose previous work includes Glory (1989), Legends of the Fall (1994), The Last Samurai (2003), and Blood Diamond (2006).  Needless to say, the man knows how to direct a film.  Unfortunately, his cinematic touch wasn’t enough to elevate this film above what it could have been, despite having a lot of potential and looking pretty darn good on screen.

Spencer and John discuss the career of Jake Gyllenhaal in advance of the release of Love & Other Drugs, share some Thanksgiving movie recommendations, and close out with their DVD picks of the week.