LAMBcast #226: Taxi Driver

Jess, JD and Movie of the Month champion Will joined Jay and me for a discussion about Taxi Driver, Martin Scorsese's classic film about a mentally unstable taxi driver named Travis Bickle (Robert De Niro) who sets out to clean up the streets of New York. He's just gotta eat some apple pie with cheese first.



Some notes/highlights!

• Do you think the ending (post shootout) was real or some sort of death/dream? 
• We talked quite a bit about Travis' diet. Apple pie with cheese and liquor poured over bread (was he trying to make bread pudding or something?) are just a few of Travis' favorite snacks.
• Here's that "Rorschach Meets Travis Bickle" thing Will talks about. It's from "Before Watchmen", a series of prequel comics that came out a few years back. As far as I know, "Watchmen" writer Alan Moore wasn't involved with those comics at all. 

Bleeding Cool

• My Travis Bickle impression does kind of suck. But did Jess do one? No!!! Someday she will. Oh yes, someday.

Favorite Scene Friday! Watchmen: One More Body

If you read yesterday’s post, you know that Zack Snyder’s Watchmen was released five years ago! The film is more or less a favorite of ours here in the Hatch. I personally enjoy the film's whodunnit style plot, visuals, and acting. That last point is the focus in this week's scene.

Examiner

We're about to watch Rorschach (Jackie Earle Haley) square off against Dr. Manhattan (Billy Crudup) after a larger confrontation between the two of them, Nite Owl II (Patrick Wilson), Silk Spectre II (Malin Akerman), and Ozymandias (Matthew Goode). It’s just been revealed that Ozymandias has detonated multiple weapons of mass destruction around the world and that he’s framed Dr. Manhattan for the crimes. However, Ozymandias has convinced the Doctor that this deadly lie is the only way to unite a hostile world in peace. Rorschach is not down with that.



First and foremost, great acting in this scene. And under interesting conditions. Billy Crudup (essentially) isn't even in the scene and Jackie Earle Haley has his face covered for a good bit (and one of my favorite moments of his is the "Convenient." line, muffled under that mask). And Patrick Wilson produces one of the most pained howls of rage I've ever heard or seen in a film (after all, his character just watched his partner get reduced to an ink blot), but he's pretty much absent from the scene other than that.

Everything else aside, I for one don't agree with Ozymandias. It may seem silly that I feel I have to say that, but I don't subscribe to the more general idea of peace (or good of any kind) based on a lie. What do you guys think?

Obsessive Cinematic Disorder: Watchmen is Five Years Old

Watchmen came out five years ago today. It’s funny because there’s been quite a bit of chatter over the last few weeks about the flick (Terry Gilliam could have made is soooo much better!/No he couldn’t, Zack Snyder rulz!) but no one's really pointing out that the film is turning five years old.

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For me, Watchmen is sort of special, in more ways than one. I moved to Jacksonville, FL in late 2008, so I can pretty vividly remember seeing Watchmen in the theater - it was one of the first “big” movies I saw after moving. Does anyone else mark life events by films?

Watchmen is also special because of how the film's director - Zack Snyder - is factoring into modern pop culture. Like him or not, he’s been entrusted with some of our biggest blockbusters. He has an undeniably spotty record - for me, I’d break his films down like this: Good: Watchmen, Dawn of the Dead, 300, Meh: Man of Steel Bad: Sucker Punch (although it's almost Meh), Legend of the Guardians (I’m assuming? I haven’t seen it but it’s 50% on Rotten Tomatoes) - but I know Batman vs. Superman has a chance to turn out amazing because of Watchmen.

Ken Taylor Poster via Collider

So Watchmen, a film that will probably never (rightfully so) get a sequel (but may get some prequels?) is five - celebrate with me by sharing what you love about the film in the comments below.

Favorite Scene Friday! Watchmen: "The Times They Are a-Changin'"

I've had superhero films on the brain recently, what with our Avengers team up with Nerd Lunch and Cavalcade of Awesome these past few months. Today's scene isn't from a pre-Avengers movie or a Marvel film at all for that matter. Instead, I've chosen one of my favorite scenes from Zack Snyder's Watchmen - the opening sequence set to Bob Dylan's "The Times They Are a-Changin'".

In general, I could probably watch this film once a month. Maybe it's Snyder's directing or maybe it's the story or the cinematography. I find this scene in particular gorgeous and it really sets the tone for the rest of the film. The madness, death, and dastardly deeds on display only hint at what the movie has in store.

Probably the greatest aspect of the scene is the lush slow motion. Combined with Dylan's song the technique is almost hypnotic. I also get a kick out of the synthesis of fiction and real characters - JFK, The Village People, Nixon, Neil Armstrong, and Andy Warhol all make appearances. Even smaller details in the scene are great - 3:00 features a wintery snowglobe perched on a TV depicting a blazing Vietnam self-immolater.

Dylan's song really does make the scene, however. Read about it over on Wikipedia if you get the chance - it's got a great story in and of itself.