 Well, good morning or good afternoon or good evening whenever you're listening. This is Davisville on KDRT LP 95.7 FM in Davis, California. We live at KDRT.org online I'm Bill Buchanan and I thank you for tuning in and I welcome you back to our annual movie show with Derek Bang Yes, even though theaters have been closed in Davis and much of the world for most of the year from the COVID-19 pandemic We are still talking about movies today. We're certainly still watching them And the conversation is occurring even if only to find out what has survived the dislocations of the year Derek writes reviews for the Davis Enterprise and his blog Derek Bang on film Derek. Thanks for coming back on Davisville I want to note. This is our 10th annual year-end show. Oh my goodness. Has it really been that long? It's been that long. I look forward to this every fall or after. We'll do out a bonus disc at some point For the first nine years the format and topics of discussion were pretty much the same and then yeah Here we are at 2020 and all of a sudden everything's up for grabs Well, that's and in fact, that's the one of the main themes tonight And in fact that I should make a programming note people who've been listening to the show may have noticed that today's show Sounds better than they have more recently and in fact, it still had the music in the intro that we normally have That's because we're actually recording this in a Davis backyard So that we can do it more or less in person and keep social distance I've been doing most shows on zoom lately glad to be able to do this one in person And of course this being radio. We are leaving you the listener the opportunity to envision exactly what this backyard looks like That's right and where we're placed within it. Maybe there's a movie in here, Darrell Don't know how good it would be, but It's an idea. Well, okay, so I schedule this every November Right before the notable year-end movies come out and there are year-end movies this year, right? Well, that's the question, isn't it? It has been a moving target for the past six months I could not keep track of the number of major releases That have been pushed back three four five times. I Suppose one of the earliest and most notorious is the next Bond film Which should have come out in April and then was pushed to June and then was pushed to October and now it's Next April So what's left? Well We're not Getting anything major Theatrically it's simply not going to happen the few films that have been trickling into the theaters that are still operational. I hesitate to call them Well in fact, I won't call them bottom of the barrel because that's not fair But they are for the most part what we used to call B films The smaller pictures where there isn't as much of a financial risk running on how many people are going to show up to Watch a film in a theater. So for the most part We all have the at-home options, which had been multiplying rapidly during the same time period a Lot of the films that would have seen theatrical release are now going to streaming platforms Netflix Amazon Prime Disney plus Apple TV plus HBO Max and Hulu seem to be the six big players and of course if you want to have the Maximum choice you'd have to subscribe to all six of them, which is significantly more expensive than it would have been to Just pick a theater and go see a movie, you know, and I have to say here one reason I like to do this show over years because I like movies. I've always liked going to movies and It's maybe an obvious statement to say that you know that I miss them But I do and and it the convenience is nice at home, but I also find It's reduced a lot of movies to sort of a you know that the cable TV phenomenon 500 channels and what do you watch? It's like it's harder for me now just as a movie watcher to find the really good movies in the mid all the because You know when Davis we have theaters and if something comes to town, it's it's like, okay It's at the theater. Do you want to go or not? It you can look at the marquee and you can immediately see what's there You're right because on top of everything else it has become very difficult to keep track of what is debuting on each of those streaming platforms So far the notification system has not caught kept up with The fact that they just get dumped Yeah, well and I and as a user as a viewer There's a technological term that came in there. I work in technology for my job and you talk about users We're really mean customers and such so anyway as a viewer of movies It helps me sort to see to the theater and then when I see that something's online I think well is that on the channel that I have access to I Always had access to the theaters. I could go or not you pay your admission you go in but you know It's on Disney Plus. Well, I don't have Disney Plus. I really don't want to buy a lot of these other channels I don't want to spend eight nine ten dollars a month that way and so that's one more complication It's a process. Yeah, and the other thing I don't like Which I miss about the big screen theatrical experience is that at home it is too easy to hit pause when you want to go to the bathroom or Get another cup of coffee or another glass of wine or the kids run through the room or the dog does something unspeakable and You keep Breaking the experience Whereas in the theater you don't have that option. Yeah, you are quote-unquote Trapped if you will you are forced to sit there and watch the whole thing start to finish Which obviously is the way that writers and directors and actors Intend that you should be watching them. Yeah, and this makes a job your job is film critic really kind of all the more important because Your column your blog remains one of the markers that I have But film critics in general remain one of the markers that people have to sort of sort through the flood And I find myself Putting a great deal more effort into that process now than I ever used to don't talk about that Well, as I just mentioned there isn't it's not like I get a guide once a month that tells me What's coming up on Disney plus or Amazon or Netflix Netflix is actually pretty good They have a website that lists everything that they're going to be releasing for like about the next six weeks Amazon has no such site. Disney keeps everything secret until it actually debuts it's very hard and It's difficult as well Reading a brief description because the other thing that's not happening is that the studios are not releasing The same degree of advertising. What's the last time you saw an ad for a movie on During a TV show. Yeah, well, I got to admit this morning. I was reading the Chronicle and I saw a display ad in there for a movie hillbilly Elgi algae, right and but it struck me two things first that I was even seeing an ad and And and the second I was interested that someone had made a movie out of that But I thought I don't know when I last saw a movie ad and it used to be the most natural thing in the world And so the research process has got has become more challenging because I definitely don't want to waste time with and Forgive me those of you who enjoy these kinds of movies things that are made exclusively for hallmark and lifetime Because you know we're talking about a different subset of cinema there Yeah, well, and I suppose you can say people who like those movies or any particular channel I mean if you like something you start to follow it, you know how to find it Right the dilemma is how do you find the good thing in a category that you don't? Don't normally follow or a movie from a filmmaker. Maybe you don't know or something like that. Well, we're in the same territory now as Used to be the case with buying music, right? Used to be able to walk into a music store and browse through the racks Looking for an album or an artist it looking for something That you don't know you don't yet know you're going to like and it has now become just as hard to do that with movies Yeah, it's a challenge. So this comes back to your role as a critic. I mean I You become all the more important here. Well, I appreciate the thought and I take it seriously and I hope the results are worthwhile well, okay, so What well one of the point I wanted to make to you we're talking about B movies are sort of what we're left with this fall B movie doesn't necessarily mean bad quality, right? It might not at all. It just means less expensive Yeah, low commercial value But well, so is there anything coming out at the end of the year that that you're thinking would be I Don't know good to see Well, supposedly still Studios are gonna be releasing two big guns on Christmas Day now between you me and the wall I don't think it's gonna happen But as of this moment as we're taping this show Wonder Woman 1984 is supposed to open in theaters on Christmas Day Hmm and so is news of the world which is the period Tom Hanks drama He's a Civil War veteran who assumes the responsibility for bringing a little girl Back to her family Okay, I don't know that movie. Well, I don't really know the first either except I can tell this from the title roughly what it's about but So these are two big movies. They're they're opening theatrically now as For streaming There's quite a list. I Just saw Uncle Frank Which is coming to Amazon on November 26 Paul Betney and Sophia Lilis who was the Young girl in the two-part it movies. It's a great period story 1973 About a family very conservative family in South Carolina And she has always had a favorite uncle her uncle Frank who is nothing like the rest of the clan He moved to New York City became a very well respected teacher at New York University and of course, there's a reason he left and moved to New York City Because in 1973 his lifestyle was not compatible with okay family values great film Um Netflix December 11th directed David Fincher is doing a an intriguing biography of Screenwriter Herman J. Mankewitz the film's called make and it's about his experience working with Orson Welles Developing what ultimately turned into citizen Kane. Yeah, I was actually just reading a review of that one this morning And that's a real movie for film buffs as well. Definitely Rose Island, which is popping up on Netflix on December 9th Now this is an Italian import and I can't wait to watch it because it's based on actual events Where an idealistic engineer not that long ago Built his own island off the Italian coast and declared it a sovereign nation And this really happened Okay the prom Sounds cute Netflix on December 11th Meryl Streep Nicole Kidman and a bunch of other people a Group of self-absorbed theater stars swarm into a Conservative small Indiana town to support a high school girl who wants to bring her girlfriend to the prom Okay, sounds like it has potential my Rainey's black bottom Netflix on December 18th. I mean Play by August Wilson. Yeah, starring Chadwick Boseman and Viola Davis. I need say no more and Then I'm really looking forward to this one the midnight sky Netflix on December 23rd George Clooney's next movie. This is a post-apocalyptic tale Something devastatingly awful has just happened everywhere on earth and he's a scientist who has survived in the Arctic and He is desperately trying to warn some astronauts who are returning from space not to land on earth Hmm, so these sound like pretty substantial movies. They are that's my point The the B films are taking the risk with the theatrical exposure But the really the big guns the good ones they're streaming because that's the only way they're really going to get seen to the degree that they deserve We're talking with Derek bang Davis film critic. I'm bill Buchanan and this is Davisville on KDRT LP 95.7 FM and Davis, California and our subject today is our annual movie show with Derek Um so I'm a little puzzled that those two still plan to release in theaters because I mean the it's not going to happen, okay? Yeah, it's just it's not going to happen. So that's that's just a vestige then I mean at one point releasing right at Christmas or Christmas Eve. That would be the big time to release. Oh, I know in fact every year it was something of a crisis because you'd get Anywhere from 8 to 13 massive releases between December 15th and about December 25th and Some of them would not catch because there were just too many to be seen at one time That's the other nice thing, I guess or one of the nice things about the streaming option Things don't disappear They're evergreens a lot of movies Particularly major releases from major studios if they don't perform in the first 14 days, they're yanked and they're gone Now that doesn't happen with streaming channels and that's nice because also from my standpoint as a critic I no longer have to worry about getting a review in the same day that a film opens In order for the commentary to be relevant Yeah, that's true. All those the whole idea of a release date is really sort of blurred now Back to like what you were talking about music earlier I mean there was a day that you know let it be by the Beatles came out But you could buy it a month later and it was gonna be any problem, right? It's still the same album still the same album and just as available So when's the last time you were in a movie theater, oh my goodness, that's a very good February Yeah, because you used to go to advanced screenings, right, but I'm assuming those are oh no, they're gone the Yeah, it would have been late February because And I just looked this up the other day there was a recent remake of Jane Austen's Emma Which was the first movie? That had already been publicized and was supposed to open in early March that didn't and it only just now Finally appeared on HBO So that's that's kind of how I clock it going back There would have been an opportunity when Tenet came out Christopher Nolan and Warner Brothers were very stubborn about that one and they insisted that it a it be released in theaters and B that anybody who wanted to review it had to go watch it in a theater in other words. They did not provide critics with the opportunity to watch it at home and Pretty much all of the critics across the country myself included rebelled and said sorry But no, I'm not going to risk my life to review your movie. Thank you very much It seems like an odd thing to get stubborn about in the middle of a pandemic. Well, and it failed You know, it was a multi multi hundred million dollar splashy extravaganza and it just went nowhere because Even though some theaters were open at that point in time. This was actually six seven eight weeks ago, I think Obviously there were enough smart people across the country who just didn't go Yeah, and of course it's been a different experience. I best I can tell that the theaters and Davis haven't been open since The spring I know in other parts of the country some have opened and stayed open and sometimes with restrictions and things Well, except of course the two we have three theaters We have the varsity which is the Indian then the other two houses are regal theaters and of course the entire regal chain Closed a couple weeks ago. Yeah, everywhere Suspended I suppose we should say right they intended suspended. Yes Hollywood still making movies though, right? I mean, they're still able to make them under these conditions So all the movies you mentioned that are coming out soon. Were they already made or did they finish them this year? Generally particularly with bigger releases you figure The principal shooting took place about a year Prior to release. There's always a lot of time spent in post editing music, you know all all the fiddly bits the fine tuning and of course that can be done during covid restrictions so I Think there's enough product now. That's kind of been backed up Waiting to be released, but there is going to come a point in time Depending on how long this lasts either late in 2021 or perhaps early in 2022 when there's no product Yeah, I wanted about that listening to you It seems like a lag would be coming up because the the work that wasn't being done Or you could start doing it again I suppose once the pandemic eases up, but it won't be ready. Sure. I mean, there's got to be a hole at some point in time That's gonna be interesting It's uncharted territory, right? Everybody's making up the rules as we go along. Yeah How has the pandemic affected your job? I know you told me earlier this year You're actually writing more for the enterprise than you had been well, you know I I hesitate to call this a silver lining because the cloud in question is so massive and so dark But yes, particularly at the very beginning when traditional entertainment options completely evaporated No live theater productions. No live music presentations. No book readings. I mean, you know, you just tick them all off anything that had evolved Being somewhere in person with a lot of other people just vanished The only thing that was left was me Film criticism and so suddenly whereas I had been placing one film review per week every Friday. I Was doing two and three and I was even asked to start doing an occasional series of anthology features talking about You know films grouped according to a certain category or theme or or interest now more recently a lot of the Different entertainment venues have gotten much more clever and creative about ways of presenting what they do Via zoom or streaming and so the entertainment section in the paper has been building up again and gotten a little bit better So now I'm usually back to one a week, but sometimes still two a week. So but for the first three four months I was busy. I Should mention by the way if you're listening and you hear some background noises here It's not a special effect. We're actually We're recording this in a backyard and I've just heard conversations over the fence is what you mean. That wasn't a Disney bird. Come on We'd probably owe royalties if it were now. I don't know. It was a Starling or something or I don't know not a Starling I don't know birds, but just a programming note folks in case you heard that You know speaking of categorical movies. I wanted to take the opportunity to ask you if If they are good I hesitate to even phrase the question because a good pandemic movie sounds like Nonsense, okay, okay, Bill. Is this question in good taste? Well, I mean it to be yeah But because because movies do deal with with everything, right? That's part of their strength is that they they they reflect the broad human experience at least ideally they do and Obviously, uh, this is a major one. I'm not talking about a movie made about the current pandemic I mean that would be kind of fast, but we've run into this before or Things that sort of metaphorically are similar Actually, I was ready for this question. I had a feeling you might ask it and I was frankly surprised at the number of good Uh pandemic movies shall we call them that have been made over the years? One of the very early ones I was surprised it went back this far 1950 panic in the streets With Richard windbark as a police officer who has 48 hours to catch an escaped convict Who unknowingly is infected with pneumatic plague? And it was it's quite a nail biter and it holds up pretty well to this day 1971's the Andromeda strain of course, that's the one I thought of. Yeah, I mean I remember seeing that as a kid And then uh, Richard Matheson wrote a novel called I am legend, which has actually been filmed three times And it's about a post apocalyptic pandemic that turns everybody into Nighttime quasi vampires, I guess And it was made in 64 with Vincent Pryce as the last man on earth and then Charlton Heston did it in 1971 as the Omega man and then more recently we had Will Smith finally doing it under the book's actual title I am legend 12 monkeys 1995 with Bruce Willis excellent time travel plague story Contagion is the one that's been Racing off the shelves 2011 children of men that was a good one. Oh, I don't know that one at all the plague that renders women In fertile. Oh, yes And then if you want horror plague, you know the zombie apocalypse. We have 28 days later And world war z so there's no shortage So there's probably An article in there about why Why we come back to this theme? Um, well, I mean it is rooted in reality Not not the details of what you're talking about, but I mean this sense of dislocation and The one on that list that I recall most vividly that I've seen was the Andromeda man I'm sorry. Um, Andromeda strain Andromeda strain. I did see that but Omega man with Charlton Heston, right? And I think it's set in LA and he lives in a compound that he's got all rigged up with lights and all that and in the daytime He goes out and watches movies. I think part of the time when he's not killing Yeah, the daytime vampires and of course the the buzz on that story is that it turns out halfway through That some of the people that he has been killing Are Infected but not dangerous And so to them he's the enemy Yes, um By way of thinking they're the evolved humanity, I suppose, right Right, right. They're the survivors who are nonetheless infected but not dangerous to anybody else as opposed to the ones that keep coming after Yeah, see and this is part of what makes movies so interesting to me as I mean they can be entertaining They can be diverting. Uh, I will admit I have a real affection for 1950s science fiction movies that Are no one's idea of uh, you know, um smart Smart time well spent but uh, but they're diverting but then you get these movies even something like that that you know was a Big movie in its day, but it's also Trying to be kind of thoughtful. Well social commentary is never very far Particularly when you're talking about science fiction. Good science fiction is always about social commentary It's a way of examining today's problems through a lens that kind of tricks you into Assuming that they're not talking about today's problems Rod Serling was always famous for that with the Twilight Zone episodes back in the day And as technology continues to evolve, I can only imagine, uh, how movies might be able to take advantage of that, uh, you know stuff that Can't even imagine now, you know, I'm thinking back to was William Castle in the 50s had those weird special effects, you know, like, uh Oh the tingler the tingler and you know Skilletors I mean I made that part up But you know well the the fright break was a good one if you left during the last Five minutes of the movie they'd refund your money Which of course didn't work after the first week because back in those days You could see something twice just by staying in the theater Yeah Well, and I recall seeing a couple of movies where they handed you fried insurance It said if you were to die, that was another one. Yes thousand dollars would go to your next again I'm thinking of something perhaps, you know, it will be more, you know Adventuresome, I don't know what it will be but well, I suspect in the next decade We're going to start seeing a lot of movies about cloning Yeah, and artificial intelligence probably and that too. What's the line between humanity and Machine, but we've already seen that but I have a hunch we're about to see a lot more nuance in that in real life Definitely and movies will probably reflect that um All right Just at the very near end just real quick summary Just been a weird year for movies But adjusting for that whatever that means has it been a good year that year mediocre year overall You know, I have to I'm going to take I'm going to cop out on that one and say incomplete Yeah, I don't think it's fair to judge 2020's roster of films And you know between you me and the wall I have no idea how the mpAA is going to mount the academy awards Yeah, that'll be one of the first things to look at in 2021 I actually read one idea that said maybe don't even do it this year let people sort of rediscover the reason why we do it or rethink the way Well, it would be more fair to everybody concerned if they did skip a year and Looked back on a 24 month period To allow exposure to a lot of the stuff that didn't get to come out when it was supposed to Well Derek, thanks for coming back on Davisville for show number 10 about movies Well, you're very welcome and I look forward to doing this again 12 months from now when right everything is back to normal I'm sure it will be by then Derek How could it not be? I'm bill Buchanan. This is Davisville on kdrt. Thanks for listening We're going to go out with a song by vince coraldi Thanksgiving theme. You should recognize it