Tuesday, July 10, 2012

Being Flynn Malkovich

(I wrote this while falling asleep so there may be more typos than usual. I'll try to go back and clean this up when I get some sleep. Really internet. I promise.)

So every website I have gone to in the past few weeks has a banner ad for the DVD release of the Paul Dano and Robert DeNiro drama Being Flynn. I'm sure part of this is simply because I spend a lot of time on movie websites, but since this has also been occuring at random websites I've been on, I can only assume my consumption habits have led google ad sense to decide I am the exact target demographic for this movie.

Google Ad Sense apparently doesn't listen to my podcast or it would know how rarely I can motivate myself to actually sit through a thought provoking movie these days. I see movie in theaters that take advantage of the big screen (Promethus etc) I used to watch good movies at home in my free time, but I've spent most of the last decade watching stuff like Hardcastle and McCormick instead.

Besides all this, the main reason these ads for Being Flynn don't work at making me want to watch this movie is that they advertise the film by incorporating crappy stock images of the two actors in it, while showing that these exact same stills are also mediocre-ly photoshopped onto woefully generic looking DVD cover.


I get that having Deniro in your movie is a selling point, but there are artful ways to show your star's face front and center in the promotional art.




 (The awesome poster above was drawn and designed by Drew Struzan, who I recently discovered was the illustrator behind pretty much every poster I like ever.


The thing that really bums me about the cookie cutter DVD art for Being Flynn is that it had such a fantastic theatrical poster.

To be fair, the DVD art doesn't look as bad on its own as it does in the banner ads, but when you compare it side by side with the poster are you realize the DVD art is the simplified paint-by-numbers version of the same composition (Deniro and Dano waking in new york.)



The theatrical poster is memorable and daring, and grabs the audience's attention much more than just sticking a generic photo of DeNiro on your cover and calling it a day.


For a contrasting opinion on the theatrical post, I thought I would quote the writer of Filmdrunk.com making fun of it: "Hey, camera guy, what is this, a Monet painting? Try hitting the backlight button, I can't see shit. If this picture showed up in my digital camera, I'd delete it."

Monday, July 9, 2012

Podcast Episode 62

Thor's 62: "Well, you did cheat on him with a stuffed animal."


The entire episode is a half hour interview with porn director Lee Roy Myers. After the positive feedback we got about our interview with porn director Seymore Butts, I'm excited to bring you an other interview. We talk about Myers' career, the art of making a porn parody, and the future of big budget porn in the age of downloading.

Keywords: Hansel and Gretel the porno, Porn, Pornography, Porn Parody, Lee Roy Myers, The Office - A XXX Parody (2009) Writer, Director - New Sensations, Scrubs - A XXX Parody, Seinfeld - A XXX Parody, Friends - A XXX Parody, 30 Rock - A XXX Parody, WKRP in Cincinnati - A XXX Parody, 70's Show - A XXX Parody, Entourage - A XXX Parody, Cheers - A XXX Parody, Man VS Pussy, Katy Pervy - The XXX Parody, Facts of Life - The XXX Parody, MilfBusters - The XXX Parody, The Honeymoaners - The XXX Parody, A Wet Dream on Elm Street - The XXX Parody, Tom Byron Pictures, Horizon, Wicked Pictures, Romeo & Juliet, DreamZone Entertainment, Adam and Eve, Family Guy, Cafe Amore, Sailor Moon - The Interactive XXX Parody, Popporn's Pink Lips, Buffy The Vampire Slayer XXX - The Parody, The Valley, The Godfather - The XXX Parody, Maid for Love This week's cover photo via: http://theqit.com/%E2%80%98buffy-the-vampire-slayer%E2%80%99-gets-the-porn-parody-makeover/

Podcast Episode 61

 Episode 61: If You Like This, Than We Have No Idea What You Like 


Keepin' it real with just Thor, Baldr, and Loki as they break down (without much rhyme or reason): Chinese Gruman Theatre, Brave, Aruba, Dutch, This American Life, a plethora of Pixar films, The Klumps, Bambo the Avenging Dear, the short list of things Emma Thompson can't do, Walt Disney frozen in carbonite, Robot Chicken, Nightmares from a Damaged Brain, Saving Mr. Banks, American Splendor, David Lettermen, George Burns, Stanley Tucci, Hunger Games Books, Stephanie Meyer's approval, Alien, Rocky, raw egg shits, Boca Burgers, Epic Meal Time, IMDB's People Also Liked, Star Trek Next Generation Season 7, Facebook, Instagram, Aaron Sorkin, The Newsroom, Colbert Report, Sam Waterston, The Bugle (shocker...), Dish and The Hopper vs Cable vs Amazon subscription vs Netflix, Kim Kardashian Makes Sex Tape with a Unicorn, Parks and Rec, specifically Ron Swonson and Aubrey Plaza, Guam AND Puerto Rico, Jason Statham fest - Killer Elite, Ghost of Mars; Bad Lieutenant, I, Claudius; Moonrise Kingdom, Wes Anderson, J.D. Salinger, The Hot Chick from The Dangerous Lives of Altar Boys, Magic Mike, Channing Tatum, Stephen Soderbergh, and, as promised: http://blogs.miaminewtimes.com/cultist/2012/06/insane_kardashian_lawsuits_cla.php

(Thanks to Loki for editing this one)