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Thirty years back, filmmaker Whit Stillman charmed audiences with a comedy about two Americans abroad in chaotic Cold War Europe. He joins Rob, James and Peter to discuss his movie Barcelona, cinema as an artform and as a business, and reasons for hope regarding its revival as a crowd-pleaser.
Plus: Rob’s returned from Morocco, Peter’s got big news, and James has a plan for the post-CCP TikTok.
- – Soundbites from the opening: Chris Eigeman and Taylor Nichols in Barcelona; Bob Hope at the Academy Awards in 1968; and Brendan Fraiser at the Oscars on Sunday.
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Stillman is a big fave.
Looking forward to listening to this! Thank you!
Everyone yammers on and on that you will damage your eyes by looking at the sun. There is no evidence that anyone has ever damaged his eyes by looking at the sun because you instinctively look away. You would have somehow to force yourself to look at the sun. It’s just that you won’t see much of the eclipse without solar glasses or a filter on your telescope because you will look away from it. And you can look safely at the sun during the actual total phase.
I so love Whit Stilman’s film. Sadly, Love and Friendship is only one I’ve seen in the theater. But I have most of the rest on DVD. Viva Physical Media!
Also, @WhitStillman is active on Twitter and it has been so cool to have him respond to my Tweets.
I like both of the Dune films and I’ve enjoyed other things by director Denis Villeneuve. But this quote from him is just assine:
“Frankly, I hate dialogue,” the filmmaker told The Times of London in a recent interview. “Dialogue is for theatre and television. I don’t remember movies because of a good line, I remember movies because of a strong image. I’m not interested in dialogue at all. Pure image and sound, that is the power of cinema, but it is something not obvious when you watch movies today.”
Every film of Whit Stillman (and most 0f Quentin Tarantino’s dialogue rich films) are better than anything by Villeneuve.
Liam Neeson starred in the movie, Marlowe.
The streaming series, Monsieur Spade, stars Clive Owen.
It’s not that the Biden administration did nothing on the border, they actively and viciously undid what was somewhat working just for pure spite, everything Trump had to go.
That was a motive, but another one for the young radicals embedded in the Biden Administration was to work toward breaking the Southwest off from the United States.
For the more moderate partisan operatives, illegals would add to the population of blue states, preventing them from losing still more Congressional seats in the next census. They would also eventually become voters, either by amnesty or by illegal registration and voting.
Jim: Well, here we are at Lord’s with this piece of smoked trout…
Peter: …glass!
Jim: Oh, please? Oh, oh, glass! Waiting quite superbly for the eclipse of the sunlike object.
Brian: And here, if I’m very much mistaken, comes the eclipse.
Jim: Yes, you are very much mistaken. Here it comes. Peter.
Peter: Yes, I can’t see anyone stopping it now!
Brian: No, it’s all over bar the shouting.
Jim: The sands of time must surely be drawing to a close for this plucky solar… (thunder) …oh!?
Brian: Oh!?
Peter: Oh!?
Jim: Oh.
Brian: Rain!
Peter: Rain!
Jim: Rain. Uh-hmm. Well, what a shame, the rain is beginning to come down now here at Lord’s.
Jim: Rain. Uh-hmm. Well, what a shame, the rain is beginning to come down now here at Lord’s.
Brian: Light’s going, too.
Peter: Yes, going really quite fast.
Jim: Mind you, it’s getting quite murky up here now.
Brian: You can hardly see your glass in front of your face.
Jim: What a shame. Well, that’s it from Lord’s then, I’m afraid, but we’ll be back here again the moment there is any sign of improvement.
Narrator: (Michael Palin) Well, while we’re waiting to take you back to Lord’s, we play you a recording of Alistair Cook being attacked by a duck.
You are correct. I blame myself, but also the unremarkable show. But mostly myself.
Wow, Rob’s admiration for Mike Gallagher didn’t age well.