2008 was not the banner year that ‘07 turned out to be, but there were still plenty of movies worth watching. Sometimes end-of-year lists look like straight Oscar predictions, with little deviance from critic to critic, not so this year. Some of our favorite stuff was not playing in a theatre near you, some of it was. For the record, our complete lists are after the jump.
But first! Wholphin 7 is out now! The geniuses over at McSweeny’s have once again curated a delightful collection of rare and unseen short films. We share our thoughts about a few favorites. One film we both loved, Glory at Sea, is available for free here.
(Subscribe to FilmCouch–Spout’s weekly movie podcast–in the iTunes store or to our RSS feed and an episode will download each Friday)
0:00 - Intro, listener e-mail
2:59 - Wholphin 7
16:18 - Kevin’s list, Paul’s “soup”
FilmCouch is coming from the exotic Austin, TX. Guess what we talk about.
That’s right.
Movies at SXSW.
To name a few: Yeast, Medicine for Melancholy, One Minute to Nine, Wellness, The Promotion and the unforgettable Andre Williams (Agile, Mobile, Hostile). Note: After we recorded this podcast, Wellness won the SXSW Grand Jury Award.
On the surface, Jake Mahaffy’s Wellness seems similar to many films that have played at SXSW recently. It was made with almost no money, shot on a handheld camera with natural light, and the non-actor cast was not working from a script. While many films that fit this description never leave the territory of Gen-Y narcissism, Wellness takes a different tack, examining several days in the life of a middle-aged pyramid scheme salesman. Like many films of its ilk, it nails awkward social situations with laser precision, but the value of Wellness doesn’t stop there. As the tragic story unfolds, the film becomes a profound meditation on the blurry line between faith and self-deception.
Kevin Buist
FLAME + CITRON Review
Christopher Campbell
Happy Halloween Links. Today in Film...
Brandon Harris
5 80s Literary Adaptations Worse Than...
Kevin Kelly
John Krasinski, Brief Interviews With...
Karina Longworth
SpoutBlog, Now Available in Book Form
Paul Moore
October 31, Karina’s Last Day
Lauren Wissot
Sasha Grey Interview
We’ve had a bit of trouble getting this episode to go through the iTunes feed, so we hope this re-post will fix the problem. The original post, with episode description and embedded player, is here.
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