New Episode: Our Favorite Years!

For this episode, each of us pick a year and talk about a few of our favorite films from that year: Niko, 1984; Yogesh, 1994; and Bereket, 1999.  The films we discuss include Beat Street, Amadeus, 1984, The Shawshank Redemption, Red, Shallow Grave, Go, The Limey, and Three Kings.

Incidentally, Go screenwriter John August (whose other credits include Charlie's Angels, Titan A.E., and several Tim Burton movies from Big Fish onward) maintains a popular blog that apparently has, according to its heading, "a ton of useful information about screenwriting".  I'm not a regular reader but it's probably worth checking out.

Anyway, the episode: Download it below.  This one's a little longer than usual, but we've cut out all the chaff and left in only the good parts!

Episode 5: Our Favorite Years (~74 minutes; ~103 MB)

New Episode! "What Makes a Good Action Scene?"

Episode 4: What Makes a Good Action Scene? (~59 minutes; ~82MB)

Note: Please read this brilliant article by David Bordwell.  I briefly mention it during the podcast, but Bordwell articulates his arguments much better than I could on his behalf. Also referenced is this beautifully-written essay by Kit Whitfield, which is a MUST READ.

New episode! "Why Watch Old Movies?"

Episode 3: Why Watch "Old" Movies? (~57 minutes; ~79MB)

Notes: I think at one point I refer to the first Austin Powers movie as having something to do with "the '70s."  It's a slip of the tongue; of course I know that that movie was about The Sixties.  Also, it may be helpful to read this article and this blog post by David Bordwell for useful background and expansion on our arguments.

Special bonus mini-sode up!

Hey, here's a portion of our recordings for the previous episode that makes for its own good, self-contained discussion.  In it, we unload our gripes against two recent films we feel are overrated: The Departed (2006) and The Dark Knight (2008).  Please note that the discussion contains MAJOR SPOILERS for both films.

NB: I misspeak in the podcast when I attribute a certain blog entry to critic Wesley Morris.  It was actually written by his Boston Globe colleague, Ty Burr.

Episode 2z: The Departed (2006) and The Dark Knight (2008) (~20 minutes; ~29MB)

Second Episode Up! (Plus special extended cut!)

At long last, the second episode of Pictures Worth a Thousand Words is up.  For this episode, I wrote a sort of "Getting to Know You"-type open-ended questionnaire, similar to the wonderful "quizzes" by Dennis Cozzalio at Sergio Leone and the Infield Fly Rule or the AV Club's AVQ&A column.

In addition to what's included in this post, stay tuned for a bonus bumper featuring even more discussion, including our (perhaps controversial) thoughts on The Departed (2006) and The Dark Knight (2008)!

EDIT: Bonus mini-sode now available here!

Episode 2a: Raut Questionnaire (Part 1) (~60 minutes; ~84MB)

Episode 2b: Raut Questionnaire (Part 2) (~60 minutes; ~83MB)

Special Extended Producer's Cut of Part 1! (~73 minutes; ~101MB)

Note: I go into a lot more detail about my thoughts on the underrated XXX (2002) -- and its amazing leading lady, Asia Argento -- here. Also, Niko and I hope to get another chance to talk about An Education (2009), because we have a lot more to say.

For those of you who wish to play along at home, I'll list the questions below.  I've also written up a blog entry containing my own answers.  Keep in mind that my blog entry is NOT REDUNDANT with the podcast, so please read/listen to both of them.  Thanks!

1. Name a movie that you feel a personal connection to.

2. Name a movie that made you angry.

3. Name a movie that made you laugh.

4. Name a movie that made you cry.

5. Name a movie that made you think or provided a genuine insight.

6. Name a movie that genuinely disturbed you.

7. Name a movie that made you want to stand up and cheer.

8. Name a movie that you walked out of or turned off early.

9. Name a movie you love that everyone else hated.

10. Name a movie you hate that everyone else loved.

First Episode(s) Up!

It's so amazing to see something I've been planning for over a year finally become a reality.  Here is the first episode (split into two half-episodes) of Pictures Worth a Thousand Words.

This episode deals with the career of the recently deceased filmmaker Sidney Lumet (RIP).  We were very ambitious in terms of the amount of ground we covered -- Lumet's filmography comprises 43 features, one documentary, one short, a handful of TV series episodes, and many live TV dramas -- and it was inevitable that some interesting discussions would be cut out.  In particular, I was sorry to lose much of my commentary on his early masterpieces Long Day's Journey Into Night (1962) and Fail-Safe (1964) (especially my praise of Dom DeLuise in the latter); however, those are two of my all-time favorite films and I'm sure I will be unable to avoid talking about them at length in the future.  (You can read some of my thoughts on them -- as well as Lumet's brilliant live 1960 TV production of The Iceman Cometh, starring Jason Robards and a then-unknown Robert Redford -- here and here.)

And now, without further ado:

Episode 1a: Sidney Lumet Discussion (Part 1) (~45 minutes; ~61MB)

Episode 1b: Sidney Lumet Discussion (Part 2) (~45 minutes; ~64MB)

Please contact us at picturesworththousandwords@gmail.com (note the absence of "a") with any feedback!

The Podcast Doors Are Open, HAL!

Hi!  Welcome to the website of our movie-related podcast, Pictures Worth a Thousand Words!  You can contact us at picturesworththousandwords@gmail.com.

We love and treasure all types of cinema: mainstream and experimental; silent and sound; color and monochrome; short and feature-length; Hollywood, independent, and foreign; highbrow, middlebrow, lowbrow, even nobrow -- every genre and every decade.  But our love also sometimes takes the form of criticism.  In general, we enjoy talking about how people relate to cinema; the choices made by filmmakers; the historic, cultural, and personal factors underlying those choices; and the artistic and moral consequences of those choices.

Here's a little information about us:

Niko is a musician and film buff originally from California.  He graduated from NYU and currently resides in Austin, TX.

Bereket is a filmmaker with degrees from Stanford and the University of Texas at Austin, currently residing in the greater New York area.  His dream project is a biography of Emperor Haile Selassie.

Yogesh is a graduate student in psychology at NYU, originally from Springfield, IL.  He holds degrees from Stanford and the USC School of Cinematic Arts and also completed post-graduate work at the UC-Berkeley Haas School of Business, where he was a devoted denizen of the Pacific Film Archive theater.  You can find his personal blog here.

We hope that you will enjoy listening to our discussions, and please feel free to join in the conversation by contacting us at the above email address!  :-)