 Joining us is our resident film critic Michael Snyder. These are the films. He's going to be talking to us about risk New documentary burden a new documentary King Arthur the legend Snatched the wall Paris can wait Farewell Something Stevan's V farewell to Europe Step on slide very well to Europe. Oh my god. Sometimes I wonder about you. You're a smart man I thought come on buddy stuff on slide. We all know him. I'm not as smart as you tell me about the Julian Assange Is this Laura Poitras? It is risk is it seems almost like a follow-up to her Incredibly good documentary You are there documentary about Edward Snowden citizen for that basically is Her shooting right in the middle of the big Snowden crisis where he has to basically Run for his life and find a shelter I guess in Moscow eventually now She's done the same thing maybe even simultaneously with the WikiLeaks editor-in-chief and that's noir Julian Assange and the documentary is entitled risk and She interviews the guy and it was easy for me to root for Edward Snowden You know the hacker leaker for some reason I'm like on this guy's side as I'm watching him and his travails through her camera I not so easy to get behind Assange who Politically speaking seems like a rogue more than anything else more like Someone who wants to shake things up rather than actually do good. I know that sounds like you know The editorializing but hey whatever But what happens is you see her Following him around and interviewing him While he is reaching prominence, you know seven eight nine ten years ago And then when things start going awry and he too like Snowden goes on the run But as I root for Snowden, it's difficult To root for Assange and that kind of changed the way that this film risk struck me as opposed to citizen for I mean it was fascinating to be on the inside of Assange's story But the guy is kind of a douche. I mean he's not he fancies himself, you know V for Vendetta the You know the sexualized thing about a revolution in modern-day England led by a that Roguesh character V in the mask it was adopted by the Occupy groups You know this guy thinks he's V, but but he's not he doesn't have the nobility of the true Spiritual revolutionary and the movie itself seems to lack a consistent point of view like As if Poitras is as ambivalent about Assange as I am watching it What is your ambivalence and what is your ambivalence about Julian Assange? I mean I just feel He's okay. There is the accusation of rape. Did they discuss that? Oh, yes, and they deal with it quite directly and that does tend to color things a little bit One of these masters of the universe type self-styled who thinks you can get away with anything But comes a sort of subtextual narrative as you're watching risk. Is he guilty? Do you think he's guilty of this? Who knows I wasn't there, you know, that's the thing that you have to consider You know here say he said she said she said I guess it would be to women involved anyway a bit You know it can be considered as a point of view or you want to side or not But the absence of one from Poitras who is you know seemingly looks upon him in an adversarial way in some ways Where I felt a certain kinship with Edward Snowden one would presume So that doesn't make for a compelling filmmaking as I would have hoped but still fascinating to be at close quarters with this guy I Think he's very interesting and I don't know I I guess the rape accusations But he hasn't been found guilty yet, right? No, I don't think so. I think that it's a bit there are that some of the charges have been dropped But you have a situation here where you see this guy who seems like he is Raging against the machine and I'm not you want to like root for him But on the other hand he seems like you know a screw you come guy to this pier who he tramples You know those are there's a question of humanity here, you know And it's unfair to humanity or purity or purity. Well, I would say, you know I sometimes question how humane the guy is when He doesn't seem to care who's left in his wake when he does what his self-styled You know morality pushes him to do are there people are there people left in his wake? I do know that he works with newspapers and they Redact certain things There may be there may be some I think there have been people who have been victimized by this who maybe don't deserve to be But you know, I would generally Talk more about how the man strikes me as I watched this by comparison to how Edward Snowden struck me You know, maybe it's a question of demeanor. Maybe they are equitable But I thought that the citizen for was a better film You felt that you really had a you know a kind of you you had a rooting interest in this guy whereas this guy You're just sort of fascinated by I Will say this about Julian Assange We live in a nation where Tribune is about to be bought by the right-wing Sinclair television group television radio and our newspapers are owned by basically five corporations We don't have the money Media does not have the money to do investigative journalism anymore They're stifling it. They're stifling it. So He has filled the gap left by the greed of corporate America you need Julian Assange and WikiLeaks because big media Will not spend the money to do investigative journalism that being said we have Mattathias Schwartz on the show today. He's a national security reporter for the intercept Glenn Greenwald's Website which I recommend everybody go to Glenn Greenwald worked with Snowden and and Works with WikiLeaks we need investigative journalism and Somehow they say the money isn't there. So we need WikiLeaks Well, you know what? Huzzah for that and that reason alone he himself is very very secretive because I guess he Proceeds of himself as a target even as he is like trying to unearth the truth ostensibly or for some of the misdeeds of those in power, you know speak lies to power No, you know truth to power whatever you want to call it and you're right It is a necessity. We need more revealed about what's been going on in terms of Potential treason in our own country on the part of people who are in charge for whatever reason that said If you look at this as a piece of filmmaking I Do believe that this feels incomplete and less conclusive than the Snowden movie We learn a little bit about the people around us. Well, she but yeah, but she got lucky Yes, I mean Snowden. Yeah, she was she was there when It all broke and she was there with Glenn Greenwald Who was meeting with Snowden to be fair? She's also with the songs a lot of the time when like crazy, you know, oh Sweet Volcanic circumstances are occurring in his life and in his shall we say his struggle isn't he basically in the Ecuadorian embassy in London For much of this film he is, you know, I don't know where he is today tough to say Burden Chris Burden is an interesting case. He is Now departed this mortal coil, but in the early 70s he became one of the most innovative Performance artists and installation artists to come down the pike This is the man who made art of being shot shot by a colleague with a gun at his own behest and He's also the man who had himself crucified on a Volkswagen I want to VW bug he electrocuted himself. This is a guy who okay You're ready. He locked himself up in a locker for five days I mean he did all these things starting when he was in school, you know and as a would-be artist and Eventually, I don't know Actually, let me amend this. I do know that you live very nearby one of his most beautiful and memorable installations you used to at least live near LACMA and The LA County Museum of Art has something called urban lights outside it which is a whole series of vintage street lamps that are in row That's him Row upon row he oversaw that installation and it's so beautiful and memorable It's the sort of thing when people say, what do I go see when I'm in Los Angeles? Well, I'm thinking sure maybe you want to see a giant Mastodon model stuck in the La Brea tar pits But walk a few other blocks and you'll come upon Chris Bergen's urban lights and it's gorgeous at twilight Yeah, this is a guy who had a fascinating career and after all of this craziness You know and again, that's the Los Angeles County Museum of Art open Oh, I don't have the actual figures But after all this craziness he retreated to the hills essentially and began doing his work there and kind of lay low for a while But he was incredibly innovative in this movie burden doesn't tell the whole story But it has a lot of archival footage from back when he was first starting and has some interviews with him before he died a few years ago So if you're interested in You know cutting-edge art and artists and one of the most unique of the sculptors performance artists Installation people to ever come down the pike this movie about Chris Burden which incidentally is Directed and co-written by Richard Dewey and a guy named Timothy Maramon They it's It's pretty cool worth checking out better than elevated rock That I remember that but they took a rock at LACMA at the LA County Museum of Art Oh, yeah, they spent millions of dollars to bring a rock up from the Southland and People were rightfully infuriated by that some guy said this is art and they paid millions To just hang a rock outside the LA County Museum of Art and you wonder why you wonder why people want to defund the arts I might have been Chris Burton I know that he dug a giant hole in the ground at the LACMA He was one of the people who did part of that excavation look, you know, you win some you lose some urban lights beautiful And he got shot. He he let why did he get it? No performance one film of someone shooting him and the guy was supposed to shoot him in You know just miss him or something. I don't know and actually hit him in the arm and there you go It's the idea was to graze him, but he got it full in the meat of the arm And it was stunning and you can see a lot of it on film. It is that alone brings you to the Chris Burton documentary already And he sang in the animals, right? That's Eric Burton. No relation. I know what is it the house of the rising dumb King Arthur legend No, it's King Arthur legend of the sword now How's this for a misbegotten idea guy Richie? best known for his gangster movies Said in modern-day England Particularly lock stock and two smoking barrels and a secondarily known for being foolish enough to have married Madonna for a while and allowing her to scuttle his career by forcing him to make a remake of the great Italian film swept away starring her instead of You know a talented actress a guy Richie kind of Found his found his Metier More recently in the wake of that kind of bump in the road career-wise by making the Sherlock Holmes films that stored Robert Downey jr. And Jude Law so well and good He's sort of bringing a kind of Batman sensibility to the Victorian set Sherlock movies, which are kind of charming and bond-esque in their tongue-in-cheek approach So now in bold and he decides to take on the Arthurian legend But it's told even though it's set back in you know, I don't know Ancient times if you will it's told British gangster style with art and his boys up against his vicious uncle Who's on the throne and and are displayed by Charlie Hunnam from among other things? Um not breaking bad. What's the one about the motorcyclists? Oh It may cycle, you know, it's Katie Segal. Yeah. Yeah Never watched the name will come to me, but that's irrelevant. It's the son's of anarchy sons of anarchy he's also in The gear modell Toro movie Pacific Rim about the giant robots. He's a good actor And he will do most anything what giant robots motorcycles and young funky of King to be Arthur and Jude Law who was so good as Watson in those kind of wacky Sherlock films is here as his vicious uncle who has You know to allow people to die on his watch just so he can consolidate his power So what you have is swords a stone, you know, there's a lady at the leg There are mages and peasants and and sword fights, but art Arthur's gangs are like guns lose Without gats if you will no no guns just swords and knives I guess, you know a guy in the east end of London will stick you with a ship and so with one of the soon-to-be King Arthur's Not so nice and there's a lot of modern cadence and slang. It just is flat You know, it's big noisy. It's crazy. It seemed like a waste of my time I mean, I really love lock stock and two smoking barrels And I don't think I've enjoyed a single Richie film as much as that one And there was a you know a number of people including Richie contributed to the to the script and admittedly You know, it's hard to hate a movie that has among other people Chiman Honsu Aiden Gillen Eric Banner has a small role in this thing, but it just did not work for me Well, you know, yeah, this looks fun snatched that has Amy Schumer and Goldie Hawn. I think the trailers the trailers look fun Yeah, well wrong a nice to see Goldie Hawn back on the big screen and she has aged Well, I dare say and her husband. Holy crap He's wonderful in Guardians of the Galaxy volume to Kurt Russell and and Goldie both on the big screen this weekend in various theaters and their son Wyatt Russell was sort of Owen Wilson the next generation and a good and charming performer too showing up in various films But this is not what I hoped it would be that still has the great comic timing But here she plays Amy Schumer's overly protective mom as the two end up Stuck on a vacation trip to I believe the Ecuador that goes horribly wrong as in kidnapped for ransom wrong You see no one wants to go with the obnoxious Amy Schumer character on this getaway to South America So rather than piss away the ticket She offers it to her housebound mom to get mom out of the house mom lost the husband ages ago She's been caught up in being a homebody So Amy thinks Amy Amy's character thinks this is going to be a tonic And anyway, the mom of course turns out to be more than a match for the Latin American gang members who target the women and There are violent moments and Amy Schumer leaves of blood and gore in her wake You're willy-wee or hit certainly in this movie and it's just not funny Violent some tired setups and Unfunny and you're sweating the whole time as they're wandering through of you know the Latin American jumbles Joan Cusack has a few good moments as the sweetheart of Wanda Sykes character They're involved on the periphery of this Ike Baronholz. It is insufferable as the obnoxious Brother Jamie Schumer and the son the Goldie horn Christopher Maloney has a brief run here You know you can't fault some of these cast members, but man not a good film I I really Goldie horn deserves so much more hmm That's too bad, and I know who is the comedic mind behind today me writes a movie Well, you know, I don't think she had much of a hand in it if she did at all the truth is It was written by a woman named Katie DiPolo who I don't think her as The polled or deployed at the name I wasn't familiar with directed by Jonathan Levine Let's finger the guy, you know, I just don't think the script is very good. Some people You know, they can nail the comedy and in this case These two women tried their very very best again. I'm not a big fan of Amy Schumer's. I thought wasn't sacrilege or take that back like they're I like TV show her Stand-up book you're a stand-up comedian as well as a commentator radio host and and you know stand up as a different thing sketch comedy is everything and acting and holding down a lead role all different and I will say that her you know well received starring vehicle from a year or so ago as a considerably better film than this one and You know, I just she has yet to impress me except as a sketch comedian and writing her own material How about so she has impressed me, but you know how about all the lives she saves by Appearing in a bikini Well, I will say this I am among those people who don't find her attractive. Well, what I'm saying is the body Acceptance that she's forcing on American women to accept their own bodies. That's pretty important stuff I don't I don't mind a softy woman, frankly Don't at all. I don't and but I just want to you I don't find her particularly attractive She's not my type although. She's very smart and she has good comic timing But the material she's been choosing film-wise is not impressed me anywhere near her skits on her own television program Yeah, there are other things at play besides what you see I notice this There's a friend of mine who does a year of the godfather at the cellar and It's hysterical He brings comedians up and they reenact the godfather word for word one of the funniest things I've ever seen and a Comedian or a comic named Rachel Feinstein played Kay Corleone the Diane Keaton part. Yeah, the wife of the wife of the the Al Pacino character Michael She added a whole other angle to it, which was what an idiot Kay was it was a very feminist interpretation I Found it very nourishing and enriching and I've seen the godfather like a thousand times So it was nice to see people interpreting these parts comedically, but I don't see Kay Corleone as an idiot Once Rachel started playing her I thought oh, yeah What a what a what a horrible role for Diane Keaton? I see her as someone who just acquiesces I've always thought that the character is sort of a tragic and pathetic and desperate because she acquiesces and doesn't fight back But it's the times and the nature. I think that of that that life and that lifestyle and that meal you you know That the point I'm making is that we watch snatched one way and I would assume Other people see it a different way That's funny. It's funny. It's funny David Feldman and this is not very funny and again. Let me praise The talented gold horn and acknowledge in Schumer's earlier work as a sketch comedian. This this moves not good It's a big studio for it's a big studio film I'm not gonna point fingers at the live. I just did you know the writer and the director okay, but um, you know It didn't do it for me. I was taken To see going in style and I didn't feel like I was taken I really didn't want to see it, but the person who wanted to go I acquiesced and I didn't think it would be fun I don't remember anything about it other than it was light. It was fun And it ended. Did you see going in style? Yeah, I thought it was a sort of a half-ass Let's make something familiar that we know so we can finance it Otherwise, we can't finance a film and let's get guys that we can rely on in the characters And I just thought it was just you know business as usual from Hollywood and not a great film the original movie in its era was kind of entertaining but I didn't think the original was that great either I did I do like the performers involved I just wasn't impressed but you know we go to these things to get Diverted if we don't necessarily go there to be enlightened at the movies. Well, I never go to I never go to a movie For diversion. I just don't I only see serious Documentaries or great comedies which are diversions, but for the most part the idea of going to see going in style again, they I said they're remaking it I Didn't I agree with you. I didn't see it the first time, but it was fun The wall with Doug Lyman. Do you know who Doug Lyman's father was? Lemon Lyman the guy who invented that delicious soda flavor No, he was the The attorney during the Contrigate hearings Well, la di da and and he let and he let Reagan slide go ahead. What is the wall? Okay, it's a very tight very taught very chance Yeah, I just kind of repeated myself and very exciting the Annalytus from director Doug Lyman and those of you who don't know who Lyman is He's the guy who directed swingers John Favreau's Kind of coming out party along with a variety of his jive-ass pals including Vince Vaughn And then moved on to direct among other things the best of the born movies with Matt Damon Now this is a guy who takes a simple premise and two actors one by the way quite good It makes a relevant but timeless thriller about a soldier under the worst kind of pressure He's pinned down in the middle of the Iraqi desert war zone by a haji sniper Who has him in the crosshairs and manages to be able to taunt him by walkie-talkie? A British actor Aaron Taylor Johnson is unrecognizable as the US GI but totally plausible This is the guy who played the young John Lennon in nowhere boy a wonderful Kind of drama biopic about the teenage years of John Lennon as he's just getting to know Paul McCartney Aaron Taylor Johnson also was the star and Title character in kick-ass which is a wonderful takeoff on superhero movies Speaking of which he was in age of Ultron as Quicksilver one of the Marvel heroes and so on He's fantastic in this and then there's John Cena Who just has to be his hunky fellow soldier in the movie and does a fine job? considering the limit the limited needs of the role and You know here basically it's a gripping film for an hour and a half or so as this Two-person firefight, you know with that with a corollary soldier involved that being the John Cena character Going down and you know, you're hoping for all variety of resolutions and you know, it's it It doesn't play It doesn't play easily, you know, it It's kind of a tormented there's a tormenting of the viewer, but it does so very expertly I really thought the wall was good. It's the best film we talked about so far. Oh great Okay Alex Bennett who we have to have on the show. I Was talking to Jackie the joke man martling from the Howard Stern show and he was Reminding me how Howard freely admitted to being influenced by the great Alex Bennett when I was on the show About 20 years ago. He had Eleanor Coppola on to promote her Documentary about the making of apocalypse now. I believe was called heart of darkness great documentary remember that First rate documentary and she of course had the inside tracks and she was married to the director Francis Ford Coppola I would assume there's a movie. I would assume they're still married I don't know. I don't know if they are or not. I haven't checked the society pages David halfway through the Alex Bennett show I turned to Eleanor Coppola and I said could you give your husband a message and she said yes, and I said can you tell Francis that? The godfather does not hold up after the three thousandth viewing and She just looked at me Stone-faced and I went It's a joke. It's a joke I've seen the godfather three thousand times So it's a joke Saying it doesn't hold up after you've seen it three thousand times Not mm-hmm. Yeah, nothing nothing nothing from her Not even a slight bry grin. No, just a glow. Well, holy crap Well, guess what her film written and directed by Eleanor Coppola Paris can wait doesn't really hold up for one viewing how's that grab you and I'm not joking This stars Diane Lane and Alec Baldwin as a sort of well-to-do couple But yeah, you had me at Diane Lane and you had me at Alec Baldwin And it they are A the wife of a very driven movie producer and they're in Cannes But the husband is so busy asks his French friend and compadre to drive The Diane Lane character, let me guess let me guess go on Like play it. So they're driving back to Paris And there's sexual tension between Alec Baldwin's friend and Diane Lane Damn, it's like I'm talking to Sandra because yeah, it's an ugly thing happens at the end Yeah, you're talking tragedy. No, yeah, I have to say that, you know There you can't complain about I'll know the hour to play shock the buddy. He's great if Diane Lane, you know She's top drawer. You love looking at that face. She's so good at what she does Alec Baldwin, you what's the old you could read from the phone book and you'd be entertained But this movie just it's like the height of meh, right? You do get the French countryside and you get the dream of oh I wish I was taking this drive with people I care about instead of these two people And not enough Alec Baldwin. I felt a little bit, you know, like Alec phone this baby in you know Eleanor said I just need you for a day or two and I will fly you to Cannes and then fly you to Paris. What do you say? Hard to say no about that and Again, this is the woman who wrote the wonderful Directed the apocalypse now documentary like you said hearts of darkness She does not have a way with comedy. I don't think if this is you know, it's not bad It just seems like a vanity project, you know, she was able to put this together They had a ball making it it just is not a great film, but it must look great It looks okay because you kind of wish you were on the trip I'm a cinematography had the cinematography has to be amazing. It looks good I look I enjoyed watching it because I'm traveling, you know through the south of France something I love to do on the rare occasions I get a chance to do so and man I thank the fates that yours truly has had a number of occasions You know travel to the south of France one of my favorite places in the world can't complain in that regard But this is not a very good film. It does not as a romantic Comedy it also kind of takes some missteps in terms of plot and dialogue and you're kind of rolling your eyes at it I just wish it had been better Farewell to Europe. I won't say the first name Stefan Stefan's vibe farewell Europe. This is a movie. I saw of a little while ago That was presented by the Gerrita Institute in Los Angeles, which is you know, the German culture You know the German culture club if you will they're located in many big cities particularly To my mind in LA and in San Francisco and they present films and film series And I got an early look at the at this film which is just now getting a theatrical lease release in the States and it's all about a guy I didn't know anything about a Incredibly popular and well-read German language writer of the mid 20th century Stefan's vibe who was in fact a Jewish intellectual and Was in Germany as the Nazis were coming to power and got out Despite knowing that he had to do something and say something about what was going on in his home country And I'm a man who longed to be in his home country, but couldn't for obvious reasons so a large part of this film is set the pre-war and during the war in Buenos Aires and New York and Brazil where he's traveling and living while all of this tumult is going down in you know in Germany and the surrounding countries in the late 30s and early 40s So he has to kind of express himself as best as he can and you know rail about the situation from a distance and at the same time he's trying to find a place where he can feel comfortable in This side of the world so Maria Schrader who was a pretty solid actress co-authored this and directed it and Joseph Hader is fantastic at Stefan's like and a familiar face as his wife Frederica Barbara Sikawa who's been in a boatload of films including I think some fast-bender films. It's a pretty Solid German cast and they did a great job And this is somebody I didn't know anything about it's a little dry perhaps for some people But you know, I thought very well done and again, you know, it's rare You talked about going to documentaries to learn stuff and you know, you don't want You don't necessarily want a trip to the movie theater to be you know, like going to school But I got schooled by this film, you know, and I learned a little bit about an historical figure That was a you know, somebody I had no knowledge of prior to seeing the film. What are you watching on Netflix? I Am watching the handmaid's tale or as I have subtitled it pence's paradise I don't know what you know, but that was Hulu and now it doesn't matter. You want to talk about streaming There's Netflix. There's Amazon. There's Hulu They're all out there doing their thing Handmaid's tale has been fantastic an adaptation of Margaret Atwood's chilling Futurist novel about an oppressive theocracy aka A twist version of America that seems all too familiar with every day where women are just birthing Shatel and have no rights and are just there for procreation and some women decide that they ain't too happy about that Which is why I subtitle The show You know, you get it theocracy Mike Pence Anyway, uh, that is one wonderful piece of work. Believe me. Um, I'm very very excited about that I've been loving on FXX the latest iteration of archer the animated tv series About uh, the tough guy spy slash private eye And in this one, he's having this particular set of episodes He's in a coma and he imagines imagines himself a Raymond Chandler s private eye in los angeles And it's a period thing set right after world war two and he's got ptsd And it's funny and it's just sharp and well done very h dose John benjamin As the lead voice and uh, aisha tyler as the girlfriend and jessica walter as the overbearing mother And um, yeah, it's it's top drawer stuff that Judy Greer is in the voice cast. I love archer I'm very entertained by it and uh, you know, there are other shows that are coming down the pike soon Among them the return of ocean black on bpc america. There's there's a lot of stuff out there You know, you just have to know where to find it. Are you watching anything about netflix right now? I'm excited this uh sunday king charles the third will be on masterpiece theater Ah I don't have not seen that it's the the play The broadway. I think i want to tony. I'm not sure hey and finally The giants the giants. How are the giants doing? The giants are not doing well and um, they're breaking my heart right and left um And the san francisco giants baseball team which of course began as the new york giants baseball team Are um, like lifeblood for me day and day out. I You know, I have no great stake in it. I don't cover sports per se So it's my name is david. My name is david not per se. Why do people keep calling me per se? per se be shea shea That's a poet joke. Anyway, so listen seriously uh, madison bumbarner the greatest postseason pitcher Arguably in major league history and that's uh over a century Hurts himself on a dirt lake the giants ace about three weeks ago. He's out for two months Suddenly their chances of the playoffs don't look as good as they did before and their hitting has been subpar The other pitchers have not come through their middle relief has been weak and this is all While buster posie Perhaps the greatest player in all of baseball is hitting The horse hide off the ball. He's been hitting 365 Something outrageous in terms of his batting average Yet, there's nobody on base for him to drive in so they have been struggling and believe me when the giants struggle So do I Thank goodness my golden stable warriors of the national basketball association and looked like they're uh headlong Toward a confrontation with their arch rivals the cleveland cavaliers in another nba final coming up in a few weeks I'm hoping the warriors plow through Even though I spend so much time in los angeles and love it dearly My heart sports wise belongs to the 49ers the warriors and the giants up in the bay area And how are you living with that vince scully? Well, you know, babe The young man from the warlands, but we see and I look here's what I like to say Vince scully a national treasure too bad He was affixed to be hateful los angeles dodgers all those years Is anybody left from that generation or was he the last? Of that particular ilk, yeah, probably but The metal smoothies probably the last one. I'm rather thrilled that he originally grew up as new york giants And he ended up becoming identified with the los angeles dodgers formerly the brooklyn dodgers And they just about a week ago at a they retired some they put some kind of plaque up at dodger stadium On at a game where the giants played the dodgers and the giants pulled the game out and I was laughing I'm driving down the 10 listening to the game and I'm like Take that vince scully take that dodger fans. You know, I'm not saying I hold a grudge I'm just not, you know, wanted to give up on my home team Michael Snyder is our resident film critic. We'll talk to you next week. Well as soon as we can my friend great