Bryan “Scare Bear” Dressel
Graham “Not Nick” Mason
Matt “Smurfs Lay Eggs” Dykes
Brok “Toaster Face” Holiday
Talk about a jump in quality! This week in our Taika Waititi retrospective we discuss Boy, his feature-length follow-up to Eagle vs. Shark set in New Zealand in 1984. It’s a story about overcoming grief, growing up, and being there for your family, all told from the point of view of the title character. Taika has a larger role in this film compared to the last and his energetic and comedic touch REALLY work. Could say more, but you should probably just dive into the episode.
We also talk Team Thor, Team Thor Part 2, and his Flight of the Concords episode “New Zealand Town,” all of which are pretty funny but maybe don’t pop in the way we’ve come to expect from a Taika Waititi venture.
A new month means a new filmmaker, so for this month we’re talking Taika. We begin with his feature length debut Eagle Vs. Shark, which at first glance looks like the next Napoleon Dynamite. Instead it’s much more down to earth and features characters that are more than just dorky caricatures. Doesn’t mean the film is without flaws and we note that were this movie made today it would end quite differently.
We also talk Thor Ragnarok, which provides an interesting look at the filmmaker and gives us a little bit of an idea about what to expect for the rest of the month. Boy, oh boy, are we in for a treat.
We end our John Singleton month with Four Brothers, a movie that never quite finds its tone and never really hits its stride. It’s a well-directed movie, and the acting is fun across the board, but the script drags the experience down by playing more to caricature than to character. We also discuss his entry in the Fast series: 2 Fast 2 Furious and why despite his obvious skill as a director, he was not right for the job. Toward the end of the podcast we wrap up our thoughts on the month and what we found interesting about his career. There’s quite a journey from Boyz in the Hood to Four Brothers.
If there’s one constant in the ATH Network, it’s that at some point Bryan and Jon will get together to talk about Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, and this week on the now renamed Casual Cartoons is no different. The two episodes up for discussion are Season One’s “Hot Rodding Teenagers From Dimension X” and Season Three’s “Leatherhead Meets The Rat King.” One episode has the lore, and the other has two of the most fun villains of the show going head to head. Come join our heroes in a half shell for a fun discussion that will inevitably veer off into all the other iterations of the IP. Well, except maybe the latest series…
We take a bit of a turn in our John Singleton retrospective with the film Shaft, not to be confused with Shaft, or the more recent film Shaft. It’s a film that features a lot of dirty cops and dirtier criminals and the sum of all these interesting parts leave us feeling uncomfortable. It’s a film that features the line “It is my duty to please the booty” along side a frat boy version of Patrick Bateman beating a black man to death and getting away with it. Well, at least until the end of the movie. There’s a lot here, and while some of it doesn’t quite work, and awhile some of it is tough to watch in 2020, it stands out as another strong piece of filmmaking from John Singleton.
We have a quick update on the status of Casual Cartoons, as well as plans to record the Venture Bros finale that was promised all that time ago. There’s also talk about the upcoming Frisky Dingo podcast and whether or not Matt will be one of the cohosts. He will. Maybe? For sure.
As for the rest of today’s episode: Kubo and the Two Strings was another one of those Laika films that was a bit overlooked at the box office, which is a shame. It’s a marvelous piece of animation with a great story and some heavy emotion. Cheers.
This week in our John Singleton retrospective we’re discussing his sophomore film Poetic Justice, starring Janet Jackson and Tupac Shakur. There’s a lot here to like. In fact, there’s a lot here in general. The film doesn’t feel nearly as focused as his previous but despite that feels very unique and very personal. The leads do marvelous work here, especially Tupac, and for those of us who are only familiar with him by name it’s enough to make us want to look into the rest of his career.
We also briefly discuss Abduction, starring Taylor Lautner. It’s not good, but John Singleton does what he can and his direction makes you wish that he had been given a Bond or Bourne film instead of this well-directed clunker.
In light of the current political climate we decided it would be best to educate ourselves and expand our perspectives. To do this we chose director John Singleton as our filmmaker this month, who gave us the intense and illuminating Boyz n the Hood. Everything about the film was astounding and took us out of our comfort zone. It was wild seeing the talent at play in front of the camera and behind it. If you haven’t seen this film yet, please do so before listening. Join us in widening our perspective.
This week on Corona Cartoons Bryan is joined by Alex Orona from Super GG Radio and friend Katherine Cliff to discuss the the Macaulay Culkin movie The Pagemaster. If you’ve ever seen those posters in the library with celebrities that say “READ,” this movie is essentially that. Come for the Macaulay Culkin trivia, stay for the fun animated film that has a love for film and that really wants kids to read.
Note: Bryan also gives some updates about the show at the top of the episode and what to expect before the upcoming Frisky Dingo season.
