Monday 27 October 2014

Hello To Jason Isaacs...

Hi Class,
Great to meet you for the first time. It goes without saying that Miss Robertson will be a tough act to follow, but I'll do my best!

Just a couple of wee things to get you started, both came up in discussion during Monday's lesson.

@wittertainment
If you are interested in film in particular, then the best film review podcast (by a loooonnnnggggg way) is Mark Kermode and Simon Mayo's Film Reviews. You can find them on iTunes or by clicking this link: http://www.bbc.co.uk/podcasts/series/kermode

The podcast is more entertaining than the live radio show (Friday from 2 - 4 on Radio 5 Live), not least because it loses the news and travel interruptions. More importantly, it has podcast extras which, if you 'get it' will become a highlight of your week.

What I will say is that Mark Kermode is one of the shrewdest and best film critics out there, bar none. He will infuriate you, he will rip films apart that you may like, and he will give you ideas for films you may not have ever thought of watching, but one thing you will find is that he is just about always fair in his reviews. Simon Mayo (ask your mum!) is an effective 'straight man' to Kermode's outbursts.

Their show is full of in-jokes, but you will soon pick up on them (Hello to Jason Isaacs!). There are also over 200 previous shows on iTunes that you can download... if you want a taster, and one of the funniest film reviews of any films ever, then Kermode's review of Sex and the City 2 is about as good as it gets:

Journey To The Line
The second link relates to a quick chat about soundtracks. As some of you may have realised, the trailer for a new movie is often showing in cinemas or online way before the film is released... or even finished! This means that the film maker will use music from a previous film in the trailer. Of late, one of the most common and recurring pieces of music is 'Journey to the Line' from Terrence Malick's 1998 WW2 movie 'The Thin Red Line'. There's an interesting collection of trailers that feature the music in this article on the Inside Movies blog.

Feel free to leave any thoughts or suggestions in the comments! :-)

1 comment: