In one of the biggest, baddest episodes of the Way Too Indiecast yet, we welcome two of the best directors in the game as we hear from Richard Linklater about his ’80s college hangout movie Everybody Wants Some!! and are joined by Jeff Nichols, whose sci-fi thriller Midnight Special hits theaters this weekend as well.

WTI’s very own Ananda Dillon chats with Bernard about what she saw of AMC’s new Preacher series at WonderCon this past weekend, and if that wasn’t enough, the Dastardly Dissenter himself, CJ Prince, chimes in to talk about the recent controversy surrounding the Tribeca Film Festival and share his Indie Pick of the Week. Whew! What are you waiting for? Dive into the deep end of this week’s pool of ooey gooey Indiecast goodness!

And if that last sentence grosses you out…um…just hit play and enjoy.

Topics

• Indie Picks (5:18)
• Richard Linklater (18:42)
• Preacher Preview (32:17)
• Tribeca Vaxxed Controversy (51:13)
• Jeff Nichols (1:06:32)

Articles Referenced

• City of Gold Interview
• Fireworks Wednesday Review
• Everybody Wants Some!! Interview
• Midnight Special Interview
• Preacher Preview

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• Subscribe on Stitcher

At a certain point during the WonderCon screening of AMC’s new show Preacher, based on the dark and brazen comic series of the late ’90s, I wondered fleetingly if what I was seeing was even allowed on television. Then I remembered AMC has basically rewritten the “rules” of television since Breaking Bad, The Walking Dead and Mad Men. The network that has pushed how ambitious and movie-like television can be, pushes that scope even wider with its most comic-like comic adaptation yet, and indeed perhaps done anywhere.

Whereas The Walking Dead is a gritty adaptation of a comic based in real-life scenarios and post-apocalyptic relationship dynamics, Preacher is your definitive supernatural and even horror-ish comic series. And not only does the show not tame down any of it, the show’s creators—Garth Ennis, creator of the original comic, with Evan Goldberg, Seth Rogen and Sam Catlin producing and writing as well—have figured out how to create a screening experience that feels similar to the pacing, reveals, and character details one gets when flipping through the panels of a comic.

Dominic Cooper is Jesse Custer, a man with a dark past (of which a few black and white flashbacks only really hint at) who returns to his hometown of Annville, Texas to be the local preacher. Of course, he’s not actually any good at it, and there’s the small matter of him not being entirely sure there is a God. Joining him by way of passing airplane is Cassidy (Joseph Gilgun, who’s role in the British show Misfits immediately gives him my personal approval) an Irish vagabond with fighting skills and an unnatural ability to regenerate by drinking blood. But it’s by far Tulip O’Hare (Ruth Negga, also a Misfits alum!), Jesse’s ex-girlfriend, who makes the most impressive entrance: wrestling with a bad guy in a moving car through a corn field and then putting together a homemade bazooka with a couple of farm kids to take down more bad guys.

Fans of the comic will be glad that another familiar face from the series is introduced in the pilot. Though, to be honest, you don’t forget a face like his. Eugene, aka Arseface, is a teen in Annville who sports a particularly freakish mouth after a botched suicide attempt. His introduction is just one of many darkly comedic moments in the series.

And in fact, what makes Preacher most work is that dark comedy. It’s subtle in parts, like a news channel playing in the background of a scene announcing Tom Cruise has exploded (all part of the supernatural plot of Preacher), and blatant in other ways like a slow motion zoom in on Jesse’s face as he gets an obvious sense of pleasure kicking the shit out of a dude who deserves it.

In the WonderCon panel, producer and writer Sam Catlin mentioned that they were determined not to create “AMC’s Preacher” or “Preacher the TV Series” but just plain “Preacher,” which would suggest we’re sure to see even more of the incredibly dark elements that make up this series. But credit is most certainly due to AMC, whose freedom-giving to its showrunners has yielded some pioneering results. Those of us feeling the sting of The Walking Dead’s season coming to a close soon can find solace in knowing our thirst for blood—and some needed comedic relief after a dramatic season—will be quenched come May.

Preacher premieres May 22 on AMC. Follow Way Too Indie for further coverage.

With sleek packaging that would make the late Apple CEO proud, Steve Jobs is a biopic told in three extended scenes, over the course of three separate product launches. Alternately taking place in 1983, 1988 and 1998, the newest film from director Danny Boyle (Trainspotting, Slumdog Millionaire) begins in chaos with arguments bleeding into one another. An audience of eager techies waits outside the 1983 Apple Keynote while Jobs (Michael Fassbender) stands center stage demanding that the Mac on display say, “Hello.” He orders Mac developer Andy Hertzfeld (Michael Stuhlbarg) to fix this problem while Joanna Hoffman (Kate Winslet) pulls him backstage to handle other issues; he meets with Apple co-founder Steve Wozniak (Seth Rogen) as his estranged wife (Katherine Waterston) and daughter (played by Makenzie Moss, Ripley Sobo, and Perla Haney-Jardine during different time periods) wait for him in a dressing room; he balances all these tasks, never doing just one thing at a time.

Credit the breakneck pace to writer Aaron Sorkin (The Social Network, Moneyball), whose wordy diatribes have been both the subject of praise (The West Wing) and scorn (Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip). Few writers are as capable of making intelligent people sound smart, and here he’s once again demonstrated that ability. In Steve Jobs, Sorkin’s script sends the actors careening into one another. Their piercing verbal takedowns and cleverly dismissive retorts provide a staccato rhythm that remains humorous and enthralling for the duration of the movie. Steve Jobs cares about ego, and characters who demand or want credit for their contributions. “I’m tired of being Ringo when I know I was John,” Woz yells at his friend and collaborator. The script spends as much time building its characters up as it does tearing them down.

Imposing this 3-part structure requires Sorkin to reach for several storylines simultaneously. It’s a structural conceit that asks the audience to overlook that sense of “the gang’s all back together” each time its central characters are reintroduced for later scenes. Steve Jobs is more of an impressionistic portrayal of the tech innovator than all-encompassing biopic, but this assembly is far more entertaining than what the conventional treatment allows (looking at you, Jobs).

New chapters begin with an exposition dump through montage and dialog. The script maintains a high energy, which allows the actors’ emotive line delivery to cover up the expositional nature of some of their interactions. It gets messy during a section in the middle of the film, when editor Elliot Graham (21, Milk) jumps from flashbacks to the height of an argument between Jobs and his former boss, John Sculley (Jeff Daniels). More often, the film is electric, smoothly transitioning between its exciting moments.

Fassbender commands attention on-screen as Jobs. His magnetism transcends Sorkin’s depiction of Steve Jobs as an unrelenting asshole (who relents a bit too much by the end). He embodies the character’s unchecked sense of superiority through his disaffected saunter and casually spoken insults, delivering a well-timed, “Fuck you,” as if it were completely innocuous. It’s one of the actor’s most fascinating roles to date, elevated by the A-class ensemble around Fassbender. In particular, Kate Winslet nails Joanna Hoffman’s subtle Polish accent while serving as a sounding board and frequent scene partner to Fassbender’s Jobs.

Director Danny Boyle blends the dynamism of the script and the actors’ performances with his mastery for technical flairs. Shooting each time period in its own format—16mm for 1983, 35mm for 1988, and digitally for 1998—Boyle implies the technological progress through these periods. The filmmaker matches Sorkin’s rapid-fire dialog by condensing as much visual information into each frame as it will allow. He laces his scenes with the shortest of cutaways to a crowd stomping their feet in anticipation of Jobs’ latest unveiling or a brief glimpse of Jobs and Woz back in the garage.

The overwhelming display of craft makes Steve Jobs among the most stimulating biographical films in recent years. Any liberties Sorkin takes in adapting the famous Walter Isaacson biography of Steve Jobs serves to accentuate the underlying conflicts in Jobs’ life. Its gripping first few moments ultimately prove to be the film’s best ones, as the momentum gradually slows by act three; however, Steve Jobs is nonetheless a highly entertaining look at an icon and the ways in which his hard-headed determination affected those in his radius. Lead by one of the year’s best performances, Steve Jobs is constantly compelling perspective on the shortcomings of a man who achieved greatness.

This week, Bernard talks to filmmaker/screenwriter Oren Moverman in-depth about his new movie starring Richard Gere, Time Out of Mind. Bernard also reviews the film, which he calls “the most ‘3-D’ movie of the year,” and talks about AMC’s forthcoming series Preacher, based on the classic Garth Ennis comic book and presented by Seth Rogen and Evan Goldberg.

Topics

• Preacher (1:50)
• Time Out of Mind Review (9:18)
• Oren Moverman Interview (21:15)

WTI Articles Referenced in the Podcast

Time Out of Mind NYFF Review

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It’s incomparable, in the modern age, the impact Steve Jobs had on the world. Tremors of his influence will permeate technology and culture years after his death, and the movie industry is no exception. Aside from the movies Pixar continues to churn out (Jobs was the studio’s majority shareholder since 1986), Jobs’ presence was more literally felt in Joshua Michael Stern’s 2013 pile of rubbish, Jobs, a pale, trashy representation of one of the most colorful lives ever lived in the public eye. That movie marked the false start to a line of Jobs biopics and documentaries (Alex Gibney‘s Steve Jobs: The Man in the Machine is out this fall) that’ll stretch on into the foreseeable future.

Next in line to interpret Jobs’ story are two of our best: Danny Boyle and Aaron Sorkin. The director/writer dream team’s Steve Jobs has got a new trailer showing off Boyle and DP Alwin H. Küchler’s rich imagery and Sorkin’s nimble banter. We also get a good look at the cast, which includes Michael Fassbender as the man himself, Seth Rogen as burned right-hand-man Steve Wozniak, Kate Winslet as Macintosh marketing chief Joanna Hoffman and Jeff Daniels as Apple CEO John Sculley.

Aside from the fact that Fassbender looks and sounds much less like Jobs than Ashton Kutcher did, Boyle’s take on the modern American myth looks to be a better film than Jobs all around, with a more frenetic, focused approach to the story. It’s set backstage at three pivotal Apple product launches which, if you think about it, should be the perfect playing field for Sorkin to dole out his acrobatic verbiage. Boyle’s one of the most reliable filmmakers of our generation, and the film’s new trailer seems to indicate he won’t start failing us now.

Steve Jobs arrives on October 9th.

In Seth Rogen‘s 2nd film as director, he and writing partner Evan Goldberg are taking the act to one of the least funny places in the world, North Korea. In The Interview, Rogen plays Aaron Rapoport, TV Producer of celebrity news show “Skylark Tonight” hosted by James Franco‘s Dave Skylark. Together, the pair are invited to the DPRK to interview one of their biggest fans Kim Jong-Un, when the CIA recruits the under-qualified pair to assassinate the North Korean dictator.

This likely won’t be quite the celebrity-filled affair that turned out be Rogen & Goldberg’s debut film This Is The End. Complete with CIA spy-tech, North Korean tanks, and throngs of applauding admirers of Kim Jon-Un, the stakes are bound to be high in The Interview when it comes out on October 10th. Watch the trailer below:

Official trailer for The Interview

Why on earth would this post-modern feminist put a crass, self-referential, bro-mantic apocalypse film in her top 5 of the year (thus far)? Because Seth Rogen and super side-kick Evan Goldberg (Superbad, Pineapple Express), hit it on the head with this film. Everything’s been done before. Stoner comedy. Check. Apocalyptic bromance. Check. Crazy amounts of cameos. Check. A healthy dose of celebrity voyeurism? Wait a second boys, I think you may be on to something.

From scene one in this film as Seth Rogen waits at the airport for his buddy from Canada, Jay Baruchel, to arrive for a visit, it’s apparent Seth is, well, real-life Seth. “Give us your trademark Seth Rogen laugh” an asshole with a camera at the airport chides. And he does, establishing that yep, he can turn it on and turn it up, and you’re going to eat it up. Seth takes Jay home and its established Jay isn’t a big fan of LA and it’s pompous Hollywood types. So the two stay home for gaming and smoking, until Seth throws out that maybe they pop over to James Franco‘s housewarming party. Jay is hesitant, they aren’t his crowd, and they represent Seth’s new Hollywood life.

They go anyway. Cameo after cameo of young Hollywood comedic actors pop up. Hello, Craig Robinson. Hello, Jonah Hill. Hello, Micheal Cera (busily casting off any semblance of George Michael Bluth by baring his ass while receiving “favors” from another party guest and blowing coke into peoples faces; not unlike a few of his other films coming out this year, ahem, Crystal Fairy and Magic Magic). Hello, Mindy Kaling. Hello, Aziz Ansari. Hello, Rihanna? Ok, who invited her?

Yes, it’s exaggerated, but it all just feels somewhat likely. For all we know these actors have weekly ragers at Franco’s house. Eventually Jay feels a bit stifled by Seth’s new group, and the two walk to the store for munchies. Queue the apocalypse, or as Jay will later devise, the Rapture, complete with blue light sucking the enlightened into heaven. Jay and Seth make it back to Franco’s house in time for most of the party to die via sinkhole in James’s front yard (or Cera by even more hilarious means) and Jay, Seth, James, Craig, and Jonah manage to survive and horde themselves into Franco’s house, immediately fortifying it with duck tape and barring the doors with Franco’s eclectic art collection as protection. Danny McBride shows up shortly thereafter, an oblivious and unwelcome member of the group.

The film is endlessly hilarious and it seems to manage this with the perfect amount of self-awareness. The actors trash talk each other in their tell-all room camera and we think, yeah, I bet Danny McBride is a pain in the ass. And when they sit around the dinner table describing just how difficult it is to be an actor because sometimes you have to pretend it’s hot, when it’s really freezing cold, it’s funny because as comedic actors (ironically, all who are now taking on much more serious roles, Jonah Hill is Oscar-nominated for Pete’s sake) we’d possibly expect them to be so shallow. One of the more hilarious bits is when Emma Watson shows up and the guys sabotage her stay by being overly sensitive to her role as a woman. In fact the lack of sexist jokes is worth noting.

In This is the End, during which I literally slapped my thigh and gasped for air at numerous times, Seth Rogen and Evan Goldberg have created a film that maintains a steady comedic ride that never lets up. A feat I’d consider much more difficult than tugging at my heartstrings. As each of these actors recognizes they weren’t “good” enough to make it up to heaven and attempts to make up for that, we wonder in earnest about their fate. If living in sin is as funny as they make it out to be, could being good people possibly be as hilarious? It could. It can. It is.

Take This Waltz plays out more like a fantasy than the traditional romantic comedy it is based upon. This sophomore feature from director Sarah Polley contains an outcome that leaves you with something to chew on, but it’s attempts in quirkiness results in awkwardness. It brilliantly showed how the grass is not as green as you may think, however, in that big achievement it tripped on small things along the way.

On this particular day, everything seems to be falling in place for Margot (Michelle Williams). While on a writing assignment for a tour guide brochure, Margot has a run in with a man named Daniel (Luke Kirby). On her flight back home the two happen to not only have the same flight, but actually sit next to one another. The two openly flirt with each other in the time they spend in the air.

Margot mentions that she has a fear of connections in airports; because there is too much rushing, not knowing, and concern if you are going to make it your flight. She admits she does not like to be between things. Or the very thought of wondering if she is going to miss things. Even though she is just talking about terminals in airports, there is an obvious metaphor between relationships in her life.

After the plane lands they share a taxi only to find out he lives right across the street from her. Just when things could not get any better for the two, we find out that she has been holding back something very important. She explains that she is married to which he replies, “That’s too bad”, as he walks across the street to his house.

The very next scene we see her waking up next to her husband Lou Rubin (Seth Rogen). The two indulge in pillow talk, like most people who are in a serious relationship do. When his entire family comes over for a visit she is very engaged with everyone, especially with his sister Geraldine (Sarah Silverman). We see no reason as to why she would want leave her happy marriage with Lou, yet we see her watching across the street in search for Daniel.

All along you wonder (and for good reason if you go back to the airport metaphor) if Margot is just tired of the routine in her life with Lou. Geraldine validates the suspicion while talking to Margot and some friends about how depressing marriage life can be when you start to think about trading it all in for something new. Someone wisely states that, “New things get old”, but that seemed to go in one ear and out the other of Margot. Which is a shame because that simple line is the most important line of the film. It is also the best scene, the display of naked female bodies, both of younger and older, to bluntly represent new and old.

The beginning of Take This Waltz does not try to distance itself from a typical romantic comedy. It is not until the third act that the film ditches the contrived plot to something a bit substantial. One thing they nailed though was the ending, which mostly makes up for the dreadful start.

On more than one occasion the dialog felt off. In times when characters were in awkward parts in conversation the dialog felt forced in an unnatural way. It was like they were trying too hard at times to be awkward and quirky. Luke Kirby seemed like he was reading his lines out loud instead of acting them out. Even the talented Michelle Williams felt off at times. But aside from that, she played the part of a happily married woman who was deeply confused and depressed well.

Take This Waltz had flashes of greatness but they vanished when outlandish coincidences and bizarre dialog arise. Therefore, the film felt very inconsistent; going back and forth between oddly executed conversations, to spot-on pillow talk, making it difficult not to have mixed feelings for it. A line in the film nearly sums up my thoughts on the film as a whole, “Life has a big gap in it. You don’t try to fill it like a fucking lunatic.”

The name of the film comes from when Adam (Joseph Gordon-Levitt) finds out his odds of survival are 50/50 after finding out he has spinal cancer. The film was written by Will Reiser, who was actually diagnosed with spinal cancer in real life, which is what undoubtedly helped it feel so genuine. The focus of the film is to show how cancer can affect more than just the person with it but also the people around them. It does that surprisingly well.

Adam is not risk taker, when the crosswalk blinks do not walk, he stays put, even when no vehicles are to be seen. The 27 year old does not drive because it is the 5th leading cause of death. So it is ironic when after going to the doctor for some minor back symptoms, Adam is diagnosed with a rare form of spinal cancer, rendering his chances of death 50/50.

Adam gets along with his girlfriend well enough but at the same time you can tell that something is missing from that relationship. He does not realize it at first. It is brought to his attention when two fellow treatment patients question the fact she will not even step inside the hospital. However, it becomes even more evident when she does not answer her phone and shows up an hour late for picking him up.

If it were up to his best friend Kyle (Seth Rogen), Adam would be using his cancer to his advantage for picking up new girls. In fact, Kyle picks up someone at a bookstore by telling her that he is taking care of his dying friend. On their date, Kyle sees Adam’s girlfriend kissing another guy and even snapped a picture on his phone for proof. At the end of the date, Kyle rushes to Adam’s to show him the picture. Needless to say, their relationship came to an end.

Even though Kyle’s repeated attempts to set Adam up with girls have failed, he ends up meeting someone on his own. Turns out it is his 24 year old student therapist that is helping him through treatment. Since he recently broke up with his girlfriend, she offers him a ride home and will not take no for an answer. The first thing he notices about her car is that it is very messy which she insists on him not to judge her for it. The slightly odd scene turns cute when he demands her to pull over so that he can throw away her trash in the car that he could not stand any longer.

Just as things are starting to look up for Adam, one of the patients he got close to passed away. That served as a harsh reminder to him that he may die at any moment. Adam takes his frustrations out on everyone around him; his therapist, Kyle and even his Mom. Up until now he has taken the cancer news fairly lightly so it was only a matter of time until the frustrations settled in.

Not many actors today can make me laugh out loud as much as Seth Rogen does. In most of his films I find myself laughing even when I am watching it by myself (which is the ultimate test), this film was no exception. He did a great job at not dominating the film too much as the supporting actor. Granted, he did play his usual role in the film.

Joseph Gordon-Levitt’s performance felt effortless and brilliant. The awkward romantic scenes between Anna Kendrick and him were outstanding. Most of the film he plays it cool but he shows his range of emotions by the end, particularly well in one “freak out” scene. His career is really starting to take off after recently doing, (500) Days of Summer, Inception and now currently working on Christopher Nolan’s long awaited The Dark Knight Rises.

After watching the trailer for 50/50 when it first came out, I jokingly said it had a 50/50 shot at being good. That depended on which way director Jonathan Levine approached the film. Luckily, he balanced the right amount of comedy and drama together in a very realistic manner without all the pitfalls of a stereotypical dramedy. The situations that Adam gets into seem to all be completely natural, it did not suffer from a cheesy movie-like moment. I was kind of hoping “Banana Pancakes” by Jack Johnson played for the final scene instead of Pearl Jam’s “Yellow Ledbetter”, if you saw the film you know why.