Comments on: Film Junk Podcast Episode #173: Get Smart and The Love Guru

By: Sean

Sean — Wed, 02 Jul 2008 11:50:07 +0000

I don’t think any of us were saying that his death isn’t sad. We were just saying it’s too bad that the death of someone like Stan Winston doesn’t get as much attention by comparison.

Not sure what being a homophobe has to do with any of it either… because Heath starred in Brokeback Mountain?

By: Mathilda Rose

Mathilda Rose — Wed, 02 Jul 2008 06:51:15 +0000

Fuck You, I’m sick of people like you acting like Heath’s death isn’t sad. So because he died of a drug overdose you shouldn’t feel bad????

Fucking Homophobe!!!!!!!!!!!

By: Open Forum Friday: Should Movie Reviews Avoid Spoilers? - Film Junk

Open Forum Friday: Should Movie Reviews Avoid Spoilers? - Film Junk — Fri, 27 Jun 2008 16:02:41 +0000

[...] here’s a debate that started on last week’s episode of the Film Junk Podcast that I thought was important enough to bring up for Open Forum Friday. The issue at hand is whether [...]

By: Andrew James

Andrew James — Wed, 25 Jun 2008 14:26:16 +0000

So Josh Brolin was in four fairly high profile movie last year: Grindhouse, No Country, In the Valley of Elah and American Gangster. Crazy.

By: Primal

Primal — Tue, 24 Jun 2008 01:35:27 +0000

Definitely tough to know which movies I’d like to hear spoilers on. I wouldn’t want to hear spoilers of a movie that I haven’t seen yet, of course. I don’t care to hear spoilers on movies that are horrible or I don’t care to see.

When it comes to spoiler-warned films that are really good or hilariously funny, I think it adds some replay value to that episode because we might wanna go back to hear an in-depth discussion on that film. You guys definitely sound more articulate when you guys aren’t restraining yourselves.

By: Rusty James

Rusty James — Mon, 23 Jun 2008 22:24:01 +0000

@ “Only if I donÃ¢â‚¬â„¢t give a shit about the film. If itÃ¢â‚¬â„¢s something…”
Exactly my point.

Sean, as long as you’re not talking about changing the show then I’m fine.

By: Henrik

Henrik — Mon, 23 Jun 2008 21:58:55 +0000

Only if I don’t give a shit about the film. If it’s something I am excited about, I avoid reviews because they usually spoil parts of the movie.

By: Sean

Sean — Mon, 23 Jun 2008 21:58:47 +0000

Rusty: I don’t think we’re talking about changing our review style at all. The main reason why the e-mail was sent in the first place was because we specifically gave a spoiler warning about The Happening at the very beginning of the review, which is something we don’t do too often. So that was something out of the ordinary, and someone was worried that we would start doing it all the time. I am saying that I don’t think this will be (nor does it need to be) a regular occurrence.

By: Rusty James

Rusty James — Mon, 23 Jun 2008 21:45:28 +0000

So, I’m confused, do you listen to their discussion of films you haven’t seen or not?

By: Henrik

Henrik — Mon, 23 Jun 2008 21:37:09 +0000

You can be specific, talking about ie. the score or the cinematography, but that doesn’t have to spoil anything. Judge it, but don’t explain it.

By: Rusty James

Rusty James — Mon, 23 Jun 2008 20:56:29 +0000

Henrik, we’re not talking about generalities. We’re talking about J/S/G continuing on with the show we all love vs. tiptoeing around the points they want to make.

Of course no one wants to hear some detailed plot synopses (though I’m sure some idiot will be writing in next week to ask for it). But I do want to hear, as you said, specific criticisms. Or as Jay said, I want them to talk about the movie and what their reaction to it was.

What it comes down to is this: do you want to hear a discussion of No Country where they’re afraid to discuss the ending? I have no interest in that, and if I did I’d be too busy reading Lenny Maltin reviews to bother with film junk.

And Henrik, you cannot be vague and specific at once.

By: Henrik

Henrik — Mon, 23 Jun 2008 19:59:15 +0000

To be honest I prefer no spoilers. I think there is a tendency among critics who have to write several reviews a week to fall back on simply explaining what the movie is. The obsession with explaining the plot is ruining sound criticism. I could care less what a movie is about, if anything the trailers will tell me, and if they don’t, that’s part of the moviegoing experience, I’d rather hear specific criticism of the various elements that come together to make a movie. You can talk about an actors performance without having to resort to “in that situation when he delivered that line I felt this”. And if you have to point out something specific, you can be vague about it.

As few spoilers as humanly possible is preferred. But I’m okay with a warning, I simply skip over the reviews of the films I want to see but still hadn’t at the time (No Country, There Will Be Blood, Jesse James and so on). But I do think a conscious effort to try and focus less on what happened in the film, and rather on how it happened, would be beneficial to any reviewer.