Cut and Splice: Reviewing, discussing and analyzing movies
By Digital Spiral
Cut and Splice: Reviewing, discussing and analyzing moviesSep 03, 2024
A Time to Kill: Back with a bang
We went on a little unplanned hiatus but after 100 or so episodes, we are looking forward to sharing the next 100. We give a 26 minute review before getting into spoilers and delving into the moral complexities of this John Grisham adaptation. Later on we also spoil Get Out, so beware if you haven't seen it.
Is John Wick intentionally bad?
Gil finally got around to seeing the first John Wick and was troubled by what he saw that he had to share and get some feedback from Jason and Matt.
Movie 43: The horror! The comedy horror!
Jason subjects Gil and Matt to this objectionable piece of...cinema? We start with a 23 minute review before getting into the gory details.
Clue: A killer adaptation or dead on arrival?
Amusingly in our last episode we couldn't get a good answer from Matt about his favorite childhood movies only to end up doing a full episode about one of his favorites as a kid. We start with a 31 minute review which involves a discussion about board games and we then get into the details of this who done it mystery.
80's kids movies and aging actors
We had a short discussion about some memorable kids movies from our youth which led to a conversation about how actors age.
Guardians of the Galaxy Trilogy: Family Matters
We tackle James Gunn's trilogy, starting with an 18 minute review before getting into spoilers. Our friend Andrew joins us with some strong words against Vol. 2 and Jason coming to its defense.
Disgraced Actors
We have a short discussion about the phenomena of disgraced actors from me too to other reasons why some talented people derail their careers and fall out of favor.
Free Fire: Guns, Guns, Guns
We start with a 36 minute review before getting into the spoilers of this one location showdown.
We bring up Cillian Murphy and date the recording by wishing him that he'll get his Oscar for Oppenheimer.
Movies that take us to uncomfortable places
In our Tropic Thunder discussion Matt brought up Babylon as an example of a movie that was about Hollywood, only with a very different approach. That got us talking about some uncomfortable movies and what they are trying to achieve.
Tropic Thunder: A Comedic Masterpiece
We are joined by our friend and fellow podcaster Yusuf to discuss this irreverent and yet somehow reverent comedy. We start with a 36 minute review before we get into spoilers. We also discuss directors cuts vs. theatrical and the cultural significance of the movie and comedy in general as we move to more politically correct times.
From the mega directors, to the oddballs
In this short segment that didn't make the cut of our Oscars episode, we talk about Nolan's goal of continuing to make big films. Denis Villeneuve comes up as well regarding a silly comment he made and we also delve into a few directors that tend to go too far in their attempt to be unique.
The Oscars: Anatomy of an awards show
We delve into some of the nominees, mention our favorites from the ones we've seen and sing Margot Robbie's praises. Quick correction: Anatomy of a Fall is mentioned to be a German film but it's a French film with a German actress.
Barbie Goes to The Oscars
In order to not derail our Oscars episode by delving too much into Barbie, we decided to give it a bonus episode before we deal with the rest of the movies.
300: This is Madness!
We had a bit too much fun discussing this over the top movie. We start with a 27 minute review before getting into the themes and bloody details.
Westerns
We took a few minutes to bring up our favorite westerns and discuss the genre as a whole.
Open Range: A Modern Western Gem
We start with an 18 minute review of this intimate yet exciting western from Kevin Costner before getting into spoilers. We also get to discuss some of the ways in which the west actually was, compared to how it was presented in many westerns.
Movies that should never be remade
We have a short discussion about movies that should not be remade and give examples of remakes that were ill advised, as well as some movies that could be remade.
Cadillac Records: An Origin Story
Our musician friend Mike Maye joins us for a discussion about this film which tracks the rise to fame of some of the most influential African American musicians and artists of the 50's and 60's. We give a 32 minute review before getting into spoilers.
What's in a meme: When one in comedy has to go
Another meme, another discussion. This one took us in the direction of exploring the state of comedy in these times of censorship and self censorship.
T-34: Come for the tanks, mostly
This week, Jason's pick takes us to the world of tank warfare between the Germans and Soviets in WWII. We give a 23 minute review before getting into spoilers and dive deeper into all that is wrong and some that is right about this Russian extravaganza.
Golda and Israel wrap up
In this final episode of Israel month, we talk about antisemitism and as a whole the way history is relayed in movies, bringing up movies such as Oppenheimer and Gettysburg. We also talk about the generational divide in opinions and leadership.
Golda (2023): An Israeli "Darkest Hour"
This was recorded prior to the events on October 7th and was due to be released much later, but we felt it was appropriate to release it after Waltz with Bashir given the situation. We give a 25 minute review before getting into spoilers and along the way discuss some of the history regarding the wars of Israel.
An Israel Exit: When life becomes as surreal as a movie
In one of our last recordings, Gil took some time to give details on how it felt being in Israel when the war broke out on October 7th and what it was like trying to make it out of there.
This is part of our month long focus on the conflict with another movie coming up as well as further discussion about the issue in another bonus episode.
Waltz with Bashir
In an unplanned coincidence, the next movie in our pipeline is a self reflective Israeli movie dealing with an aspect of the conflict in the middle east. We give a 21 minute review before getting into spoilers. We mostly avoid getting too deep into a political discussion, something we fail more so in an upcoming episode.
Tom Cruise: The Last Action Hero
Our Minority Report episode went so long and in different directions that it made sense to make this second part a bonus. Here we delve into Cruise's career but begin by finalizing some thoughts about Minority Report while discussing some of the philosophy and elements and how they compare to other books and movies. The universe of Dune is brought up as well as Forest Gump and Demolition Man.
Minority Report: "I've seen the future, brother. It is murder."
We tackle another Spielberg with our friend Andrew joining us. We start with a 27 minute review before getting into the spoilers and details of this complicated dystopian affair.
Movies on the cheap
Our Primer discussion got us talking about the various stand out ultra low budget movies of the past such as Pi, Following, Clerks, El Mariachi and others.
Primer: Time Travel on a Budget
We tackle another mind bending time travel movie and provide a 15 minute review before getting into spoilers.
Voice Over: The Good, the Bad and the Gorgeous
Part of our Thin Red Line discussion got us on a short tangent about Voice Over in movies.
The Thin Red Line: Voices Everywhere All at Once
In our first sanctioned episode of sorts, our friend LaJuan, who knows Terrence Malick, joins us for a discussion about this art house war movie. He also notified him about us discussing it and got his blessing. We give a 17 minute review before getting into spoilers.
What's in a meme: When one has to go
Jason shares a meme that made the rounds where you have to pick one actor to disappear along with all their work between Denzel Washington, Morgan Freeman, Sam Jackson, Eddie Murphy, Will Smith and Laurence Fishburne.
Running Scared: Come on let's twist again
We had too much fun with this twist of a movie and also added a gimmick where Gil watched the last twist live before giving his reaction. We still kept it spoiler free for the first 19 minutes for those who haven't seen it and want a review only.
Camera Movement and Capture Formats
Our Licorice Pizza episode took us into a discussion about PTA's and other directors' way of moving the camera and choosing a shooting format for the look of their films.
Licorice Pizza: An acquired taste or a dud
Sparks fly again as Jason shares his distaste for PTA's latest while Matt and Gil do their best to defend it. We start with an 18 minute review and rankings of PTA's films before getting into spoilers.
Presentation and Matt projects Oppenheimer
Matt is off to project Oppenheimer with IMAX and we use the opportunity to ask some questions and discuss various movie presentations.
The Lives of Others
Matt chokes up several times while discussing this sad but life affirming tale about how life was like in East Germany. We give a 19 minute review for those who haven't seen it before getting into spoilers. We also discuss briefly how this movie beat out Pan's Labyrinth for best foreign film at The Oscars.
Acting Styles and the GOATS
A short discussion we stumbled onto, while talking about Brando in The Godfather, about some of the greatest actors of all time and their different techniques.
The Godfathers
We give a 17 minute review of the first two Godfathers and then delve into the details in an attempt to settle which is the better movie. Along the way we mildly spoil Star Wars and Game of Thrones, as well as bring up the various spoofs that were inspired by the franchise.
Adaptations
We talk movies adapted from other source materials including other movies. Along the way we discuss and mildly spoil the ending to Watchmen, The Bridge on the River Kwai, Fight Club and Scott Pilgrim vs. the World.
The Lost City of Astra
We didn't intend to make this a double episode but in talking The Lost City of Z, the stars kept beckoning us to compare it to Ad Astra. We give a 20 minute review before going into spoilers on both movies.
When size needs to fit the role
A portion of our Northman discussion led us into talking about times when certain parts call for a specific body type and how that tends to apply to men and women.
The Northman: Conquered by your Fate
We give a 16 minute review before getting deep with spoilers on this assault of a movie. We get to talk some Hamlet/Simba comparisons as well as Robert Eggers filmography this far.
The best performances in Christopher Nolan's films
This time we draw inspiration from an article by Screen Rant and discuss acting in Nolan films. Here is the link to the article which we bring up during the episode: https://screenrant.com/christopher-nolan-movies-best-performances-directed/#al-pacino-as-will-dormer-in-insomnia
Marvel's "Cinematic Universe": Cinema or Television for the Big Screen?
Our friend Andrew joins us again for this lively debate about the merits of the MCU with a focus on the first Avengers movie.
Spielberg's Best
We chase our A.I. episode with a short discussion about our favorites from Spielberg. We also touch on the subject of adaptations again in comparing movies to the books or short stories they are based on.
A.I. Artificial Intelligence
Our first Spielberg film is one that split viewers, especially with that infamous ending. We give a 13 minute review before getting into the spoiler filled details. Along the way we also mildly spoil other Sci-Fi stand outs Ex Machina, 2001: A Space Odyssey and Blade Runner 2049. The discussion as expected also delved into our relationship to future AIs and the ethics that are involved.
Edward Zwick and Tone
In our RRR discussion we veered off for a few minutes to talk about the reputation Edward Zwick built for himself which lead us to discuss how important tone is in movies.
RRR!!!
We start with a 23 minute spoiler free review before delving into this bombastically over the top movie.
Best Opening Sequences
We try to mostly stay on topic but Gil veers into a few great scenes and near the end we sing Mel Brooks' praises while mentioning some of his great opening scenes.
The Oscars: A Triangle that didn't see the Sadness
We compete with the running time of the actual ceremony while discussing most of the best picture nominees apart from "Triangle of Sadness" that sadly none of us saw in time for the recording.
We also cover a few other categories and Matt slightly spoils "Little Children" towards the end, but it was too fun of an ending to "cut that part".