Episode Ten: The Grandmaster and A Touch of Zen

This week Mike and Sean discuss a pair of martial arts films, Wong Kar-wai's latest The Grandmaster, starring Tony Leung and Zhang Ziyi and King Hu's 1971 masterpiece A Touch of Zen. They also take a look at the career of Wong Kar-wai and make their picks for the Essential Fight Scene of all-time.

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Some Links:

Fandor's Index of recent Wong Kar-wai writings
David Ehrlich's comparison of the two cuts of The Grandmaster

Episode Nine: Ishtar and Sons of the Desert

A cavalcade of comedy classics as Mike and Sean tackle Elaine May's neglected masterpiece Ishtar and Laurel and Hardy's acclaimed 1933 feature Sons of the Desert. The boys also talk all about the Marx Brothers and share their picks for Essential Slapstick movies.

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Some Links:

The Laurel & Hardy Project
Donna Bowman on Newsradio
Two Tars
The Garage

Episode Eight: Gun Crazy and Point Break

This week, Mike and Sean dive into the seedy noir world of Joseph H. Lewis's 1950 film Gun Crazy, take a stroll along the beach with Keanu Reeves and Patrick Swayze in Kathryn Bigelow's Point Break and talk about their Essential Adrenalizing films. They'll also take a closer look at the career of Keanu and debate the proper usage of the phrase "Vaya con Dios'.

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Some Links:

Sean's Top 100 List
Mike's Top 10 List
The 20/20 Awards
The Heart of the World

This week's theme music is "Surf Beat" by Dick Dale and his Del-Tones.

Episode Seven: Logan's Run and WALL-E

This week, Mike and Sean tackle a pair of sci-fi classics with discussions of Michael Anderson's 1976 film Logan's Run and Andrew Stanton's acclaimed Pixar film WALL-E. They also discuss Stanton and Pixar in general, the Essential Animated Films of the 21st Century and the latest news in Harvey Weinstein's scissors and Dr. Who's casting.

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Some links:

Sean's stuff on Auteurism & Vulgar Auteurism:

On Some Objections to Auteurism 
Army of Milla: Resident Evil and Modern Auteurism: Part One: On Vulgar Auteurism  
Army of Milla: Resident Evil and Modern Auteurism: Part Two: What are the Resident Evil Movies?   
Army of Milla: Resident Evil and Modern Auteurism: Part Three: Resident Evil and Classical Auteurism 

Episode Six: Two Lovers and Two English Girls

This week Sean and Mike explore some romantic geometry with James Gray's 2008 film Two Lovers and François Truffaut's Two English Girls. They also discuss Truffaut's career in general, along with their picks for the Essential Love Triangle movies and the dire state of summer blockbuster cinema.

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Some show-related links:

Marcello Mastroianni dancing in Visconti's Le notti bianche.
The They Shot Pictures episodes on James Gray and Akira Kurosawa.