May 17th, 2012 | Posted by Justin

On this week’s episode Joe Zabel, Jason Tucker and Joe Agee get together to review Hipsters, a small Russian musical from director Valeriy Todorovskiy, which is currently playing in select theaters. Then the trio opts to step in to the murky controversy of spoilers and our relationship/sensitivity as movie-goers toward hearing plot details on movies we want to see. Be sure to have a listen, and to send us your thoughts afterward!

FCP Episode 31: Hipsters, Our Spoiler Discussion, Joe A.’s Film Confession

Episode Agenda (total running time 1:09:56):

• 0:00 - Introductions
• 7:25 - Review: Hipsters
• 31:20 - Discussion: Spoilers
• 54:10 - Film Calendar
• 1:05:06 - Film Confession: Joe Agee
• 1:08:22 - Next Week/Close

Listen in the player below, or download the podcast directly as an mp3. Afterwards, please let us know what you think by commenting here, or sending us an e-mail to filmconfessional@gmail.com. To subscribe to the Film Confessional Podcast, click here. Otherwise, you can subscribe to us on iTunes!

Music Credits:

• “Such Great Heights,” by The Postal Service
• Music from the Soundtrack to Hipsters
• “Hip to be Square,” by Huey Lewis and the News

Notes/Corrections:

• Indeed, Rutger Hauer is Dutch; he was born in Breukelen in 1944.
• Spetters, the movie Joe was talking about in our intro, is available on Netflix Instant to stream.

Next Week:

Jason, Joe Agee and Justin will get together to review Tim Burton’s latest movie, the film adaptation of the popular 70’s supernatural soap-opera Dark Shadows. Once we get that out of the way, Joe and Jason will talk about the film adaptations of some of their favorite classic TV shows, which Justin - an ignoramus when it comes to classic TV - will simply nod his head and smile.

May 9th, 2012 | Posted by Justin

On this week’s episode Joe Agee, Justin Jagoe and Angela Fabbrini get together to review Joss Whedon’s Superhero orgy, The Avengers. Does the movie meet expectations? You’ll just have to listen to find out! Before we review the movie, however, we will take some time to quickly review all five of the previous movies in the Marvel Cinematic Universe!!!

FCP Episode 30: The Avengers & The Marvel Cinematic Universe

Episode Agenda (total running time 1:13:04):

• 0:00 - Introductions
• 5:31 - Review: Marvel Cinematic Universe: Iron Man, The Incredible Hulk, Iron Man 2, Thor and Captain America
• 35:01 - Review: The Avengers
• 1:05:14 - Film Calendar
• 1:12:02 - Next Week/Close

Listen in the player below, or download the podcast directly as an mp3. Afterwards, please let us know what you think by commenting here, or sending us an e-mail to filmconfessional@gmail.com. To subscribe to the Film Confessional Podcast, click here. Otherwise, you can subscribe to us on iTunes!

Music Credits:

• “Such Great Heights,” by The Postal Service
• Soundtrack to The Avengers, by Alan Sylvestri

Notes/Corrections:

• Sorry, we forgot to officially mention what is going on for next week’s episode. See below for more information.

Next Week:

Next week, Joe Zabel, Jason Tucker and Joe Agee will get together to discuss Hipsters, the acclaimed Russian film currently playing in limited release. Also, on a completely unrelated note, the trio will take some time to clash over the controversy of  Spoilers - why we are obsessed with them, how protective we are about plot details, and how problematic they may (or may not) be. Be sure to listen!

May 3rd, 2012 | Posted by Justin

On this week’s episode Joe Agee, Justin Jagoe and Joe Zabel get together to review the critically acclaimed film from Drew Goddard and Joss Whedon, The Cabin in the Woods. As a nice tie-in to that horror/comedy film, we will also review John Landis’ 1981 horror classic An American Werewolf in London, which is available on Netflix Watch Instant. Enjoy. To close up, Joe Zabel shares a film confession sure to frighten you and make you laugh all at once!

FCP Episode 29: The Cabin in the Woods, An American Werewolf in London, Joe Z.’s Film Confession

Episode Agenda (total running time 1:04:27):

• 0:00 - Introductions
• 8:01 - Review: The Cabin in the Woods
• 28:09 - Review: An American Werewolf in London
• 46:33 - Film Confession: Joe Zabel
• 57:08- Film Calendar
• 1:02:15  - Next Week/Close

Listen in the player below, or download the podcast directly as an mp3. Afterwards, please let us know what you think by commenting here, or sending us an e-mail to filmconfessional@gmail.com. To subscribe to the Film Confessional Podcast, click here. Otherwise, you can subscribe to us on iTunes!

Music Credits:

• “Such Great Heights,” by The Postal Service
• “Roll with the Changes,” by REO Speedwagon
• “Moondance,” by Van Morrison
• “American Girl,” by Tom Petty

Notes/Corrections:

• A Link to this year’s lineup for the Minneapolis/Saint Paul International Film Festival
• Justin meant The Woman in Black, NOT The Lady in Black.

Next Week:

It’s Superhero Week at the Film Confessional Podcast! Joe Agee, Angela Fabbrini and Justin Jagoe team up to review all five canon films of the Marvel Cinematic Universe: Iron Man, The Incredible Hulk, Iron Man 2, Thor and Captain America. Once we’re done with those mini-reviews, of COURSE we will review the year’s first summer blockbuster, Joss Whedon’s highly anticipated The Avengers. Needless to say, you won’t want to miss that!

April 24th, 2012 | Posted by Justin

On this week’s episode Jason, Angela and Joe Z. get together to review the Farrelly brothers’ devout revival of The Three Stooges, and use that review as a means of having a larger discussion on slapstick comedies in general. When all is said and done, Jason has a Film Confession that will make you want to smack him over the head with a hammer a la Curly. Woop Woop Woop!!!

FCP Episode 28: The Three Stooges, Slapstick Comedies, Jason’s Film Confession

Episode Agenda (total running time 59:40):

• 0:00 - Introductions
• 5:12 - Review: The Three Stooges
• 25:07 - Review: Slapstick Comedies
• 46:39 - Film Confession: Jason Tucker
• 55:24- Film Calendar
• 58:06  - Next Week/Close

Listen in the player below, or download the podcast directly as an mp3. Afterwards, please let us know what you think by commenting here, or sending us an e-mail to filmconfessional@gmail.com. To subscribe to the Film Confessional Podcast, click here. Otherwise, you can subscribe to us on iTunes!

Music Credits:

• “Such Great Heights,” by The Postal Service
• Main Theme from The Three Stooges shorts
• “Dance of the Cuckoos,” from the Laurel & Hardy shorts
• “Who’s on First” sketch excerpt from the Abbott and Costello TV Show

Notes/Corrections:

• A Link to this year’s lineup for the Minneapolis/Saint Paul International Film Festival
• Ryan Reynolds is indeed in Van Wilder.
• The “Daddy Would You Like Some Sausage” line was in fact from Freddie Got Fingered, not Road Trip.
• Monsieur Lazahr was the Canadian submission – not the French submission - for last year’s Foreign Language Film Oscar (the submission from France was Valérie Donzarelli’s Declaration of War).
• See below for the (slightly) revised lineup for next week’s episode.

Next Week:

Justin Jagoe, Joe Agee and Joe Zabel team up to review two well-regarded horror-comedies - the first being Drew Goddard and Joss Whedon’s critically acclaimed new film The Cabin in the Woods, and the second being the 1981 horror classic An American Werewolf in London, which is available on Netflix Watch Instant.

April 18th, 2012 | Posted by Justin

On this week’s queer-centric episode, Joe Zabel, Joe Agee and Angela Fabbrini get together to chat about two films about trasgressive musicians - one fictional, one not. The nonfiction flick, The Ballad of Genesis and Lady Jaye, is reviewed first. Next up is a favorite of the FCP crew, John Cameron Mitchell’s cult classic Hedwig and the Angry Inch. Also, Joe Agee cheats on his confession this week a bit, but you’ll forgive him once you hear it!

FCP Episode 27: The Ballad of Genesis and Lady Jaye, Hedwig and the Angry Inch, Joe A.’s Film Confession

Episode Agenda (total running time 1:09:05):

• 0:00 - Introductions
• 5:59 - Review: The Ballad of Genesis and Lady Jaye
• 29:10- Review: Hedwig and the Angry Inch
• 47:38 - Film Confession: Joe Agee
• 58:44 - Film Calendar
• 1:06:51  - Next Week/Close

Listen in the player below, or download the podcast directly as an mp3. Afterwards, please let us know what you think by commenting here, or sending us an e-mail to filmconfessional@gmail.com. To subscribe to the Film Confessional Podcast, click here. Otherwise, you can subscribe to us on iTunes!

Music Credits:

• “Such Great Heights,” by The Postal Service
• “Beauty is the Enemy” by  cEvin Key and Genesis P Orridge
• “Wig in a Box” and “Origin of Love,” from the Hedwig and the Angry Inch Soundtrack

Notes/Corrections:

• A Link to this year’s lineup for the Minneapolis/Saint Paul International Film Festival

Next Week:

Jason drags Angela and Joe Z. to a screening of the Farrelly Brothers’ newest film, the (ir)reverent film revival of The Three Stooges. The trio will also use their review to parley into a discussion of Slapstick comedies in general, which you certainly won’t want to miss!

April 11th, 2012 | Posted by Justin

This week, the Film Confessional Podcast primes up for the Advent of the Summer Movie Season! Angela, Joe Agee and Jason get together to talk about some of the Summer Blockbusters that have them the most excited - followed up by a discussion of several movies we plan to avoid like the Plague. Angela closes out the episode with a slightly embarrassing Film Confession - one that might actually explain her lack of disdain toward an upcoming Summer movie very few want to see.

FCP Episode 26: Summer Movie Preview, Angela’s Film Confession

Episode Agenda (total running time 1:02:11):

• 0:00 - Introductions
• 8:30 - Discussion: Most Anticipated Summer Movies
• 37:35 - Discussion: LEAST Anticipated Summer Movies
• 51:04- Film Confession: Angela Fabbrini
• 57:22 - Film Calendar
• 1:01:07  - Next Week/Close

Listen in the player below, or download the podcast directly as an mp3. Afterwards, please let us know what you think by commenting here, or sending us an e-mail to filmconfessional@gmail.com. To subscribe to the Film Confessional Podcast, click here. Otherwise, you can subscribe to us on iTunes!

Music Credits:

• “Such Great Heights,” by The Postal Service
• Music from the trailers to Cabin in the Woods and Prometheus
• “Summer Nights,” from the Soundtrack to Grease, by Jim Jacobs and Warren Casey (As performed by John Travolta and Olivia Newton-John)
• Theme from Total Recall by Jerry Goldsmith

Notes/Corrections:

• The Michael Fassbender-starring horror movie Angela saw was called Eden Lake, which was directed by The Woman In Black director James Wadtkins.
• The working title for To Rome With Love was “Nero Fiddled.”
• Will Smith and Tommy Lee Jones will indeed be starring in Men in Black III.

Next Week:

It’s transgressive music this week, with Joe Zabel leading a double-review of the new film The Ballad of Genesis and Lady Jaye and the queer cult classic Hedwig and the Angry Inch.

April 5th, 2012 | Posted by Justin

On this week’s episode Joe Agee, Angela and Justin get together to review the the first blockbuster of the year, The Hunger Games. We also take the time to review a thematically similar Japanese film, the bloody 2000 classic Battle Royale, and welisten to Justin give his latest Film Confession. Be sure to listen in!!!

FCP Episode 25: The Hunger Games, Battle Royale, Justin’s Film Confession

Episode Agenda (total running time 1:09:59):

• 0:00 - Introductions
• 9:28 - Review: The Hunger Games
• 39:19 - Review: Battle Royale
• 59:51 - Film Confession: Justin Jagoe
• 1:04:15 - Film Calendar
• 1:09:14  - Next Week/Close

Listen in the player below, or download the podcast directly as an mp3. Afterwards, please let us know what you think by commenting here, or sending us an e-mail to filmconfessional@gmail.com. To subscribe to the Film Confessional Podcast, click here. Otherwise, you can subscribe to us on iTunes!

Music Credits:

• “Such Great Heights,” by The Postal Service
• “Safe & Sound,” by the Civil Wars, as performed by Taylor Swift
• “Requiem Dies irae,” by Verdi, performed by the New Russia State Symphony Orchestra

Notes/Corrections:

• None today. Let us know if you noticed any mistakes to be corrected!

Next Week:

It’s the Film Confessional Podcast’s 2012 Summer Movie preview. Admittedly, we’re jumping the gun a bit, but we just can’t wait to talk about the movies we’re really excited to see - and even talk about some high-profile movies we’re not terribly excited for.

March 28th, 2012 | Posted by Justin

On this week’s episode Justin, Jason and Joe Zabel get together to review the Ingmar Bergman classic Wild Strawberries. We also take the time to review another beloved, albeit more recent Swedish film from 2000 called Together, and we introduce an exciting new feature to our weekly show!!!

FCP Episode 24: Wild Strawberries, Together, Joe Z.’s Film Confession

Episode Agenda (total running time 1:03:40):

• 0:00 - Introductions
• 8:34 - Review: Wild Strawberries
• 26:14 - Review: Together
• 45:36 - Film Confession: Joe Zabel
• 52:35 - Weekly Poll Question
• 58:15 - Film Calendar
• 1:01:55  - Next Week/Close

Listen in the player below, or download the podcast directly as an mp3. Afterwards, please let us know what you think by commenting here, or sending us an e-mail to filmconfessional@gmail.com. To subscribe to the Film Confessional Podcast, click here. Otherwise, you can subscribe to us on iTunes!

Music Credits:

• “Such Great Heights,” by The Postal Service
• “Strawberry Fields,” by the Beatles
• “SOS,” by ABBA
• “I Don’t Want to Think About It,” by the Wild Strawberries

Notes/Corrections:

• Click here for some more information on the Z-Fest Film Festival that Jason was talking about.

Next Week:

You knew it was coming. Next week, as will be the case with everybody else on the Internet, we will take time to review the first bona-fide blockbuster of the year, the film adaptation of Susan Collins’ The Hunger Games. Are the odds in its favor? Listen in to find out! We’ll also spend some time ocmparing The Hunger Games to a thematically similar film, the controversial 2000 Japanese film Battle Royale.

March 21st, 2012 | Posted by Justin

On this week’s episode Angela, Joe Zabel and Justin get together to review Jennifer Westfeldt’s new film Friends with Kids. We also spend a lot of time deconstructing Lisa Cholodenko’s controversial story (at least in a lot of queer circles) about another non-traditional family, The Kids are All Right. One movie we loved, the other…we did not. Which one could it be?!

FCP Episode 23: Friends with Kids, The Kids are All Right

Episode Agenda (total running time 1:10:28):

• 0:00 - Introductions
• 13:14 - Review: Friends with Kids
• 36:53 - Review: The Kids are All Right
• 1:02:04 - Film Calendar
• 1:08:26 - Next Week/Close

Listen in the player below, or download the podcast directly as an mp3. Afterwards, please let us know what you think by commenting here, or sending us an e-mail to filmconfessional@gmail.com. To subscribe to the Film Confessional Podcast, click here. Otherwise, you can subscribe to us on iTunes!

Music Credits:

• “Such Great Heights,” by The Postal Service
• “All I Want,” by Joni Mitchell
• “We Are Family,” by Sister Sledge

Notes/Corrections:

• Unfortunately, the length of our two reviews resulted in our having to nix a planned confession by Joe Zabel this week, but he will get a chance to confess next week. Hopefully our discussions on these two really fascinating movies make up for that missing segment.
• The IMDb page for the film Please Give.
• The name of the female lead of Brick who was also Claire from Lost is Emilie de Ravin.
• Link to Viola Davis’ Interview with PBS’ Tavis Smiley where she talks about her role in The Help (note that Octavia Spencer was also interviewed alongside Davis for that interview).
• Fathom Events is the presenter for Casablanca - in the Twin Cities that event happens to be at just AMC and Icon, but they actually work with a large numbers of circuits nationally.

Next Week:

Skål Bergman!! In this all-Swedish edition of the podcast Justin, Jason and Joe Zabel will review one of Ingmar Bergman’s most beloved films, Wild Strawberries. They will also discuss Together, another beloved Swedish film from 2000. Strawberries is available to watch on Hulu Plus and Together is available to stream on Netflix. Be sure to watch these great films and join us!

March 13th, 2012 | Posted by Justin

On this week’s episode Jason, Angela and Joe Agee get together to discuss Andrew Stanton’s new film John Carter. The movie, based on serialized work from Edgar Rice Burroughs, follows an interesting tradition of movie adaptations lifted from the pulpy pages of magazines and comics of the early 20th Century (i.e. Flash Gordon & Tarzan). The gang takes some time to discuss their favorite film (and TV) adaptations of famous works of Pulp fiction.

FCP Episode 22: John Carter, Pulp Fiction Adaptations, Film Confession

Episode Agenda (total running time 1:04:38):

• 0:00 - Introductions
• 6:39- Review: John Carter
• 27:00 - Discussion: Pulp Fiction Adaptations
• 47:52 - Film Confession - Angela Fabbrini
• 59:07 - Film Calendar
• 1:02:18  - Next Week/Close

Listen in the player below, or download the podcast directly as an mp3. Afterwards, please let us know what you think by commenting here, or sending us an e-mail to filmconfessional@gmail.com. To subscribe to the Film Confessional Podcast, click here.  Otherwise, you can subscribe to us on iTunes!

Music Credits:

• “Such Great Heights,” by The Postal Service
• “John Carter’s Theme” from the John Carter Soundtrack by Michael Giacchino
• “Flash!” from the Flash Gordon (1980) Soundtrack by Queen
• “Superman’s Theme” from the Suprman Soundtrack by John Williams

Notes/Corrections:

• Indeed, The Lord of the Rings is split up into two “books” for each of the three installments in the series, totaling in six “books.”
• According to Wikipedia, the first part of A Princess of Mars serialization “appeared in the February 1912 edition of The All-Story, it bearing the title ‘Under the Moons of Mars.’”
• Also, According to Wikipedia: “Tarzan’s distinctive call … was reportedly created by sound recordist Douglas Shearer using special audio effects, including an Austrian yodel played backwards at quickened speed. Weissmuller himself always claimed he had created the trademark Tarzan yell in a yodeling contest he won while he was a boy. He later learned to mimic the famous call so well people assumed that he was the one doing the yell in the films.”
• Joe is right; the  Travis Fimmel Tarzan indeed came out in 2003.
• The Destroyer book series was the source material for Remo Williams.

Other Pulp Fiction Adaptations Worth Checking Out:

• Annie (1982)
• Buck Rogers (1939)
• Dick Tracy (1990)
• Flash Gordon (1980)
• Greystoke: The Legend of Tarzan, Lord of the Apes (1984)
• Popeye (1980)
• Psycho (1960) (Hitchcock’s take on Robert’s Bloch’s novel)
• Superman: the Movie (1978)
• The Wrecking Crew (1969) (based on Matt Helm series; films intentionally done as Bond parody)

Next Week:

It’s Unconventional Families Week at the Film Confessional! Angela, Joe Zabel and Justin will review Kissing Jessica Stein writer Jennifer Westfeldt’s directorial debut Friends with Kids. We will also review 2010’s Oscar-nominated Sundance hit The Kids are All Right, starring Annette Bening, Julianne Moore and Mark Ruffalo.