Month: August 2015

We have a podcast! Episode 6 is about Cinematic Streaks!

Posted on by bennyshep

The Hatfull Residence continues! With Sam still left marooned without internet (just like Robinson Crusoe on Mars), the most excellent and non-non-non-heinous Jonathan Hatfull steps up to the plate once more to pinch hit a home run (baseball metaphors don’t work if your only connection to the sport is Moneyball). Ben and Jonny go in-depth on Diary of a Teenage Girl, discuss a few other movies in cinemas now before settling in for a long chat about cinematic streaks.

0:00:00 – 0:02:44 – One day, this intro theme tune will go platinum, but until then, it has to put up with our tenuous links to topics.

0:02:44 – 0:20:40 – Ben and John get off together whilst reading a Diary of a Teenage Girl, those sickos.  They also discuss Skeleton Twins, I do hope this leads to many Bill Hader impressions.

0:20:40 – 0:41:40 – Seinfeld asks “what is the deal with Greta Gerwig?!?!” Urgh, Seinfeld, always asking what the deal is and never finding out. No work ethic. Ben finds out and reports back after seeing Mistress America, plus added bonus thoughts on Best of Enemies.

0:41:40 – 1:27:10 – Cinematic streaks, what are they? What do they know? Let’s find out!

1:27:10 – onwards – THE OUTRO!

Enjoy! Stream above or download it here.

Let us know what you think the greatest cinematic streak was in either the comments below or by tweeting at us at @AutHorsDoeu

Music is all over the place this week, but all of it banging:

Broken Social Scene – Anthems for a Seventeen Year Old Girl

Wu-tang Clan – Method Man

Daft Punk – Television Rules the Nation

The Pains of Being Pure At Art – Mistress America

Posted on by bennyshep

I travelled to New York once. I stayed up the entire night before, didn’t sleep on the plane and arrived at JFK Airport around midday utterly shattered. Yes, I agree, not sleeping on the plane was a daft idea, but planes terrify me and so I had enough adrenaline in my system to cause a cat’s heart to explode. By the time my brother and I arrived at the hotel, I was desperate to crash for a couple of hours, but we were politely informed that the room wasn’t ready. So, we ventured into the daylight to plod around the city. The first stop on our impromptu walking tour? There was only one choice. When you think of New York City, the Big Apple, the city that doesn’t sleep and any other platitude you’d care to mention, there’s one small slice of intersection that embodies all the hustle, bustle and bright lights your clichés envision and furthermore, it was just around the corner from the hotel.

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Keep On Keeping On – Michael Mann & the Keep

Posted on by bennyshep

True (not false) fact: Sometimes people prefer a meal of starters to the supposed heights of fine dining. Here we give you all the starters you can gorge upon. This running column picks a celebrated auteur and dissects the lesser known or stranger items on their oeuvre.  

There are few filmmakers whose name alone can conjure such a clear sensation of the content of their films. When you sit down to watch “un film de Mann”, you can expect something predominately filmed at night featuring men of few words consumed by their certain sets of skills and having very few other hobbies. These men will live for their work, whether that be as a thief, cop, journalist or computer hacker, plus they’ll probably implausibly live on the beach for no reason and Tangerine Dream will be the only music in this strange world. From his remarkably assured debut Thief (1981) to this year’s criminally underrated Blackhat, Mann’s name has become synonymous with machismo cinema of a very specific aesthetic. So, what I least expected to see in my Mann-athon™ was a tale involving smoke monsters eating the life force of Nazis. At least, I think that’s what was going on…

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