Author: bennyshep

AHD Podcast #10 – Gary, the Goblin King

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Is it too early for 2015 nostalgia? Not on this show! Ben, Jonny and Sam finally slam the door on last year, discussing some of their favourites that flew under the radar. Then the gang welcome 2016 by second guessing how bad most of the films will be. Even with all this, they find time to eulogize the greats we’ve lost so far in 2016 and present the epic conclusion to STEVEN SEAG-ALL OR NOTHING

0:00:00 – 0:26:15 – Goodbye 2015. After remembering its dodgy box office practices, the gang chat fondly about Macbeth, The Final Girls, Love & Mercy and the many cool soundtracks of the year.

0:26:15 – 0:42:30 – Bye bye David Bowie and Alan Rickman. 

0:42:30 – 0:54:30 – Is it STEVEN SEAG-ALL IN? Or STEVEN SEAG-NOTHING! Who will win?!

054:30 – 1:24:15 – What delights have we got ahead of us in 2016? Well, according to Sam, it’s all going to be awful. Ben and Jon try to convince him otherwise.

1:24:15 – onwards – BONUS! The gang delve into the mess that is the Oscar Nominations and try their very best not to say anything offensive because they also agree they are awful.

Enjoy! Stream above or download it here.

Let us know if you went nuts over the Christmas break not knowing how the Steven Seagal quiz ended or if you’re just as down on 2016 as Sam either in the comments below or by tweeting at us at @AutHorsDoeu or@samsheppard8 or @jonathanhatfull. You got choices, y’all.

Music this month is a boogie Bowie bonanza:

David Bowie – Move On

David Bowie – Strangers When We Meet

David Bowie – Subterraneans

David Bowie – Blue Jean

David Bowie – Magic Dance

Seriously, if you don’t already know these songs, get on these links and have your world changed. Especially that Strangers When We Meet clip – he was 50 when he made that video. Imagine looking that good at 50! Imagine looking that good now!

 

AHD Podcast #9 – Straight Up Noir

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The rain lashed hard on the window of my office. I was a licensed private investigator. I needed a drink, I needed a lot of life insurance, I needed a vacation, I needed a home in the country, and to get all them I needed a case. What I had was some Humphrey Bogart DVDs. I put them on and got to seeing if I could make some sense of this whole mess. Just then, three guys burst into my office. They demanded to know what the best film noirs were. “What does this look like,” I says, “a PI’s office or a film podcast?” The guys looked at each other and realised that it was them who could solve this case. This month Ben, Jonny and Sam eventually chat about film noir, after a few detours into Baron Munchausen, Brooklyn, Carol and Tangerine. Most excitingly of all however, is the debut of our new quiz STEPHEN SEAG-ALL OR NOTHING!

0:00:00 – 0:03:40 – Ben introduces the noir theme, Sam gives him a critique.

0:03:40 – 0:46:35 – Was Baron Munchausen as good as Sam and Ben remember as kids? Jonny single-handedly ups the podcasts current-film quota by seeing THREE films in one day. He’s a trooper.

0:46:35 – 1:02:05 – Part one of our epic game STEPHEN SEAG-ALL OR NOTHING!

1:02:05 – onwards – The dectectives in Noir-town take on the case of Noirvember, with all kinds of murders and twists!

Enjoy! Stream above or download it here.

Let us know if you loved the quiz or wanted to teach us more about the history of film noir either in the comments below or by tweeting at us at @AutHorsDoeu or @samsheppard8 or @jonathanhatfull. You got choices, y’all.

Music this month:

Andrew Hale – Main Theme (from L.A. Noire)

Michael Kamen – The Sultan (from Baron Munchausen)

Steven Seagal – Dark Angel

Jack Sheldon and John Williams – The Long Goodbye

 

Kafka At The Circus – Woody Allen & Shadows And Fog

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Sometimes people prefer a meal of starters to the supposed heights of fine dining. Here we give you all the appetisers you can gorge upon. This running column picks a celebrated auteur and dissects the lesser known or stranger items on their oeuvre.

At this point, Woody Allen is rapidly approaching 50 completed films. As many people have observed, maybe if he had made half that amount in the same span of time, he’d be sitting on a higher batting average. With an oeuvre that vast, it’s not hard to pick out a lesser known film (and in cases such as Cassandra’s Dream, they’re lesser known for a good reason – that being said, great Tom Wilkinson performance), but to find an interesting one, or even a great one – there’s the challenge.

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Our Brand Is Creative – A (Belated) LFF Round-up pt.1

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And just like that, the 2015 London Film Festival is over; 240 films from over 70 countries have screened, awards have been handed out and the red carpets have been rolled up for another year. Although our dreams of hanging out with Tom Hiddlestone at a premiere didn’t come true, we still had a grand old time, fitting in films into every spare moment. Contained with in this post are some raspberry muffin and Mexican lager fueled thoughts.

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AHD Podcast #8 – Jurassic World Cup?

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Don’t let the picture fool you, we are not talking about any scary movies, but guess what? Jonathan Hatfull is back, brandishing a chainsaw and protecting the brothers Sheppard against a monster that wants to pick Ben’s nose. The dream team is finally all together and in this episode, Ben, Sam & Jon lay the smackdown on other dream teams – sports dream teams! In movies! Sports movies! Come for Ben & Jon rounding up the films they saw at the London Film Festival, stay for Sam’s pitch for a sequel to Bedknobs and Broomsticks.

0:00:00 – 0:02:34 – The gang attempts to rationalise their decision to forgo a Halloween theme and instead discuss sports films.

0:02:34 – 0:31:24 – London. The City. In the South. They had a film festival recently and Sam wants to know about it! Can Ben and Jon answer his queries??

0:31:24 – 1:22:20 – Touchdown! Offside! Checkmate! Wicket! None of these words come up in our discussion of sports films.

1:22:20  – onwards – THE OUTRO! There’s a cliffhanger!

Enjoy! Stream above or download it here.

Let us know if you’d pay to see a sequel to Bedknobs and Broomsticks set during the Iraq War either in the comments below or by tweeting at us at @AutHorsDoeu or @samsheppard8 or @jonathanhatfull. You got choices, y’all.

Music this month:

Trent Reznor & Karen O – Immigrant Song

Abba – S.O.S.

Maxine Nightingale – Right Back To Where We Started From

We have a podcast! Episode 7 is about Night Movies!

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Well, look who’s come crawling back! It’s Sam! He’s back with a vengeance in this kinda-recorded-live-but-with-no-audience podcast. Warning: there are accents and, occasionally, singing. The guys hash out some real beef thanks to Michael Mann’s Thief before Ben goes on a tirade about Netflix’s documentary Tig, during which Sam drops some serious clostridium difficile knowledge. The guys also get their jaws nailed to the floor by magic tricks with cards (Deceptive Practice: The Mysteries and Mentors of Ricky Jay) and bodies (The Raid 2: Berandal). After they exhaust themselves with tangents, Ben quizzes Sam with a new game, the Vincent Price Is Right, but What are the iMDB Scores For These Movies? So sinister. Finally, because the podcast was recorded at night, the two describe their favourite ‘night movies’, but spend most of the time describing what the hell they think that term means.

0:00:00 – 0:04:55 – Give these guys a Tony for their singing! And Grammies for their theme tune! Nothing for the Tom Waits impressions though.

0:04:55 – 0:56:20 – Jesus Christ, these guys enjoy talking about the movie films. An hour chitter-chatter about pretty much every film listed above, plus an added bonus argument about which Queen songs were on the Highlander soundtrack.

0:56:20 – 1:09:50 – GAME TIME! THE VINCENT PRICE IS RIGHT BUT WHAT ARE THE iMDB SCORES FOR THESE MOVIES? We even threw in a catchy theme tune for you.

1:09:50 – 1:49:45 – Night movies. So like, movies set at night? Movies that feel like they take up a whole night? Who knows.

1:49:45  – onwards – THE OUTRO!

Enjoy! Stream above or download it here.

Let us know if you think ‘night movies’ are an actual thing either in the comments below or by tweeting at us at @AutHorsDoeu

Music this month!

Mick Smiley – Magic

The Price is Right Theme

Kavinksy – Nightcall

Five Reasons We Are Excited for the London Film Festival

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The August Bank Holiday has come and gone. The fall is upon us, which that could mean one of two things depending on your place of birth. The only things that are certain from both definitions are that the days are shorter and grimmer now, like in Salford. To elevate us all from this misery, the British Film Institute have come along, announced their programme for the 2015 London Film Festival and charitably given us something to look forward to.

The London Film Festival feels like a bit of an oddity compared to other major festivals, lacking both the volume of premieres or buzz that the “Big Three” of Berlin, Cannes and Venice exude, but also thankfully the frantic marketplace atmosphere of something like Toronto. It is simultaneously difficult to choose what to attend and, I imagine, difficult to organise as, not only have the majority of films already premiered elsewhere, but they are also generally receive a broad UK release fairly soon after the Festival’s final curtain closes. This is even further pronounced this year as one of the Official Competition entries has already received limited cinema release in the US (Tangerine) and another will hit Netflix just over a week after its initial screening in London (Beasts of No Nation). Still, if one avoids the Galas, there’s plenty of opportunities to find films that you wouldn’t otherwise be able to see. Here are five things that have us excited for the LFF. Read More

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

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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

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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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