The Bret Easton Ellis Podcast from patreon

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S8E35: The Summer of Spielberg with Chris Nashawaty

🕑 Added 2024-09-17 07:34:07 +0000 UTC

Comments

Louis

Agreed. If Jody Foster will go to bat for him, who am I to denigrate him?

Louis

You are out of your mind 😂

Louis

Totally agree. I guess people who she sick of Blade Runner are sick of everything to do with it.

dorsia now

Absolutely spot on with the Vangelis soundtrack. I use it to concentrate on a task, oddly enough.

Samer Akl

In my opinion it’s easily one of the greatest horror films ever made

Twan Van Geel

What a super enjoyable episodes these were, 100% awesomeness 🫶 tnx!

J Hay

Your BLADE run!?

J Hay

Are you going on a blade run, to the Bradbury building, as seen in ____?

J Hay

I disagree, very much. “The Thing” is one of the 20 greatest movies I’ve ever seen (I’ve seen a lot of them, and I’ve worked on many movies). I saw it twice when it was first released, and several times since; I also saw the 1951 version a few times, and I read the original novella “Who Goes There?”

The Dude

They mention Ridley Scott created the look of bladerunner with sketches... I beg to differ, check out Moebius: the long tomorrow.

Dan

Looking forward to the sequel book - 1 Vice Squad 2 48hrs 3 Zapped! 4 Silent Rage 5 Grease 2 6 Basket Case 7 Fighting Back 8 Firefox

Stephen Curry

You’re right, I didn’t realize that. Vangelis is the equal of polidoris. The music in movies back in those days is part of what made them great. People don’t realize how important that was.

Stephen Curry

Aeon flux is a great series!

FlyingWaffle

I'm surprised hardly anyone ever mentions the cult Vangelis soundtrack on Blade Runner (for decades there was no official decent version and all you could get were bootlegs)... it had and still has such an impact on me... it made for one of the most perfect mix of visuals and music. The Conan soundtrack is also one of my all time favorite. The soundtrack of The Thing plays a major role in creating the paranoid mood of the movie.

FlyingWaffle

I saw Conan in the theater when I was 12 or so, and it was mindblowing indeed - Arnold, the music, the designs from Ron Cobb, the violence, the sex, the humour, ... it was perfect for the time.

Stephen Curry

Thanks! I can see you are of the higher order.

Ryan Mcnabb

So correct on Conan. Thanks. John Milius went hard. People think Apocalypse Now is all about helicopters and Wagner, and that Conan is all about swords and muscles, and they're all wrong.

Steven Hamilton

NERDS!

Stephen Curry

Uh, sorry, but you guys’ opinions are way off on these movies for the first time. It’s not Brett’s wheelhouse, I know, so I forgive him. The best of the batch is BY FAR Conan the Barbarian. This is easily the most philosophically profound of the movies, with the best soundtrack. The meaning of the movie extends into the soundtrack. What is the answer to the Riddle of Steel? The brilliant overarching plot unifier of the movie. It has four answers, two answered only indirectly. You guys have to answer that to show you understand the movie well enough to rate it. A key might be seventh voyage of Sinbad by harryhausen. Second, Bladerunner, here for its brilliant visual effects and rendition of a future scape, together with intriguing sci fi premise. Also through influence by putting Dick on the map as you guys discuss. That resulted in a stream of subsequent great movies. So did Conan(beastmaster, etc.) but none of these even nearly lived up to Conan. Next wrath of khan for its script and plot driven effect. The pathos of Spock’s death must have been riveting at the time, but has been diminished by subsequent cliffhangery. I suspect they were trying to imitate Han solos freezing in carbonite from empire with this—people don’t remember, but most viewers assumed Han Solo was dead at this point. Whoops!

TheRealAudreyHorne

Fake

David Willis

Excellent guest! I think he was the best one this year.

David Willis

Steven Hamilton

Let’s be clear, for once & for all, The Thing is NOT a ‘great film’: it has great effects & would run better backwards but a lot clearly hasn’t worked & critics/audience picked up on it.

Thomas Edwards

Mel Gibson is a legend and a good guy. Drunken rants at cops aside.

Brian James

Great timing. I just did a deep dive into the Mad Max saga on my pod and we’re doing Blade Runner next. https://www.patreon.com/posts/111634155?utm_campaign=postshare_creator

Collin Myers

maybe i just have blade runner fatigue since ive been hearing how great it is since my dad basically told me the story of the movie when i was a kid--there is beautiful spectacle but i have, as i've gotten older, become annoyed by how beloved it has become. it really is boring and slow and i just have grown out of this endless lovefest for it. i almost find it kind of goofy and laugh at it. Alien > Blade Runner 24/7/365

Collin Myers

could not agree more. it is such a beautiful borefest. Alien is and always will be Ridley's best movie

Trezerand

I was curious about the pronunciation of Robert Bottin's name, so I jumped on youtube. I found a short vid where John Carpenter pronounced his name as "Rob bow-TEEN". https://youtu.be/lfdRTvytNvY

Someone Else

Great episode. They’re right. Blade Runner does not hold up.

Iain

Another great episode. Think I’m going to watch The Thing. It’s been a while.

Paul Richardson

For a more in-depth, scholarly analysis of the Poltergeist authorship debate, I highly recommend ‘Directed by Steven Spielberg: Poetics of the Contemporary Hollywood’ by Warren Buckland, which contains a chapter on the issue that compares the respective aesthetics of both directors to reach its conclusion.

Mike in Philly

Anyone else having Patreon problems with this ep?

Darren Ankenman

All these insights are super thin. It doesn’t take much digging to know Harrison Ford was dating Melissa Mathison before Spielberg asked her to write ET. And - he dead ended on getting Tobe Hooper’s insight/feelings on his Poltergeist experience. This story has always felt so speculative and still feels that way. But yeah it does seem like a Spielberg film. Lastly Blade Runner holds up immensely. A spectacle. Perfect film. And yeah check out the Hampton Fancher documentary “escapes” mentioned in another comment

Dan Palmer

‘Zapped!’ must be next week.

Billy Vega

am going to listen on my run. will say more later, after my run.

Normaling

RAGGEDY MAN. APCO CINEMA CENTER OCTOBER 1981 SEAT H4. POPCORN WAS TOO SALTY. STEPPED IN GUM. TOP 10 OF 1981.

Louis

DEEPLY offended by the slights towards Blade Runner! Scott is, it's true, a director who tends to underdevelop his characters to the detriment of his films. But his usual too-light touch is just right in BR as it was in Alien. (Note: The Final Cut, I mean. The theatrical cut voiceover is almost as painful for the audience as it clearly was for Ford to record.) And the sequel is, impossibly, a worthy followup. I saw it in the theater and love it fiercely.

Louis

It really is. It may not be a great a film as many of the others discussed, but I disagree that it's not a great one.

Bryan

This Michael Almereyda doc about Hampton Fancher is really good. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Escapes_(film)

Cine-Mechanic

I can image the Poltergeist thing being humiliating for Hooper but I believe Spielberg at the very least deserved a co-director credit as his finger prints are all over that movie. And there were rumors that Hooper had a drug problem which forced Spielberg to be more active on the set.

Ryan Peck

To clarify, there is solo work by Don Felder, Glenn Frey, & Don Henley I like more, however

Ryan Peck

Chris’ answer re: The Eagles is the exact answer I would’ve given myself ha ha I don’t go out of my way to listen to them, but I don’t go out of my way to avoid them either