Bernie, Richard Linklater’s black comic docudrama about Bernie Tiede, has two great tricks up its sleeve. The first happens to be Carthage, Texas, the city in which both the events that inspired the film and the events that occur within the film take place. Choice in location may not seem like an impressive sleight of hand, but Linklater so successfully installs his production “behind the pine curtain” that we’re not only transported to Carthage proper, we’re drawn into their culture. The townsfolk we meet– bona fide Carthage residents who knew Tiede and witnessed the circus surrounding his 1998 trial– breathe rural, down-home authenticity into Bernie, but more importantly they talk…
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G-S-T Quick 5 – Favorite Casino Heist Films
Among the many established or iconic locales famous for gambling, the Las Vegas Strip has been a very popular cinematic setting over the years. From films like Warren Beatty’s Bugsy (1991), the Joe Pesci/Robert De Niro classic Casino (1995), hell even Chevy Chase’s Vegas Vacation (1997), there’s something undeniably cool and edgy about “The Strip” (except maybe that National Lampoon one). Yet in the city of sin, or wherever you try and find Lady Luck, when you pony up to the tables sometimes you’re putting more than just some colorful chips on the line. Unfortunately, as one Danny Ocean astutely comments, the underlying rule is that “the house always wins“, but it’s not always the case as…
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G-S-T Review…Django Unchained
If there’s one filmmaker who marches to the beat of his own drum, it’s Quentin Tarantino. Raised on a healthy cinematic diet of spaghetti westerns, gritty 60’s/70’s cult classics, not to mention pretty much everything in the Australian documentary Not Quite Hollywood and more, he has become one of the film world’s most talented and widely accepted acquired tastes. From Pulp Fiction to Jackie Brown to Kill Bill to his 2009 film Inglourious Basterds, QT has learned so much about how to make film that Django Unchained might just be the pinnacle of his efforts. So how does Tarantino weave that special kind of magic? Simple, outright theft. Now that’s not…
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G-S-T Review…Parental Guidance
As we turn the page from one year to another and one decade to the next, new and different styles of film making trends emerge. The 80’s are forever cemented in history with blockbuster hits from Steven Spielberg and a plethora of Arnold Schwarzenegger and Sylvester Stallone action flicks. In the 90’s we transitioned to Die Hard and more empathetic characters. As we rolled into the new millennium technology began growing exponentially and so did the use of CG. Another trend that has emerged over the past decade is over-the-top comedy. With every movie it seems the bar is set even higher for shock factor. Movies have gotten to the…
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G-S-T Trailer Round-Up: Drive Blue, Pain & Bay, and Apocalypse
The Mayans may have been wrong about the end of the world, but don’t worry– the Go, See, Talk! Trailer Round-Up is here with two visions of Armageddon to slake your thirst for wanton destruction. Of the pair, the first isn’t a literal Ragnarok, but rather a localized catastrophe that devours an entire city; then again, when your film is set against a backdrop of explosions, crumbling buildings, and rapidly rising social anarchy, maybe that counts as the wholesale destruction of a cinematic world. Either way, Aftershock looks harsh, nasty, and bonkers in all the right ways, though I’ll take bets on how long Eli Roth actually survives in the film (and on…
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G-S-T Quick 5 – Westerns You Should See Before Seeing 'Django Unchained'
Editor’s Note: In anticipation of Quentin Tarantino’s Django Unchained (which hits theaters tomorrow), this Quick 5 list comes from our good friend Mark Walters of BigFanBoy.com. Here Mark offers up a sort of “Spaghetti Western 101” to all of us who are a little dusty when it comes to the classic gunslingers. This quick but concise list of required reading will be sure to make Django more enjoyable walking into Quentin Tarantino’s latest live-letter genre film. Director Quentin Tarantino is unleashing DJANGO UNCHAINED in theaters on Christmas Day, which in may ways is his love letter to Hollywood Westerns. Being a fan of that genre, and aware enough to spot some of his more…
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“What’s New on Blu?” – Week of 12/24/12
Whether you rent or buy movies, Blu-ray offers the ultimate in sight and sound. Streaming is convenient, but if you plan on watching the movie more than once, you need Blu. So, What’s New On Blu? you ask. Well, good, bad or indifferent, Go,See,Talk offers up a trio of titles that are being released each week. Check out what’s hitting the shelves this week… ——————————————————————————————————————————— Dodging speeding cars, crazed cabbies, open doors, and eight million cranky pedestrians is all in a day’s work for Wilee, the best of New York’s agile and aggressive bicycle messengers. It takes a special breed to ride the fixie — super lightweight, single-gear bikes with…
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Off the Shelf…’The Muppet Christmas Carol’
Who doesn’t just love the Muppets? With delivery and material geared for kids and adults they have such universal appeal exemplified by they fact that they’re so honest direct and friendly. The Muppet movies are known for their original humor and lovable characters but The Muppet Christmas Carol treads new ground though a lot of the tones and structure here just seem an odd fit. The film is an important distinctive film in the Henson legacy for reasons outside of the on-screen antics. First off, it is the company’s first outright adaptation. Second, and more importantly, it’s the first Muppet film following the passing if the legendary Muppet founder Jim Henson. As such this adaptation, very…
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'Stoker' Official US Poster Gets Symmetrical & Dirty
If I have anything further to offer regarding Stoker, South Korean wunderkind Chan-wook Park’s first American venture, it’s marketing praise. Our cultural gatekeepers haven’t overlooked Park’s existence, so to call him an unknown quantity State-side would be something of a falsehood, but his name doesn’t have much meaning to the mainstream. So seeing Fox Searchlight go to work promoting the film, first with two teasers released in the fall, then with the international poster and a promo video in October, is something of a surprise, but the good kind of surprise– perhaps the best kind. Who doesn’t want to see one of their personal favorite contemporary directors get a good…
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Oscar Shortlist For Docs Is Anything But
Get this: the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences’ shortlist for the Best Documentary category is fifteen films long. Fifteen! Sort of makes you question the entire use of the phrase “shortlist”, especially given that their other shortlists are, you know, actually short. We can chalk this up to some pretty significant rules changes to qualification in that particular area, instituted by the Academy this year. It’s not unusual for the AMPAS to alter or fine-tune the rules for submission and eligibility year to year– as the culture of film ebbs, flows, and otherwise changes, it’s likely a necessity, else the Academy is just fickle– but as Deadline reports,…