Great Scott! It’s the fourth episode in our continuing series of premium podcasts, and this time around we decided to double back and rewatch another staple of ’80s cinema: the Back to the Future Trilogy! The first film is obviously a classic, but some people seem to be divided over whether or not the sequels are worthy continuations of the story or just pure cash grabs. In this episode we analyze time travel paradoxes, reflect on Robert Zemeckis and Bob Gale’s vision of the future, discuss our preferred Jennifers, and decide once and for all who made the better contribution to the series soundtrack: Huey Lewis and the News or ZZ Top. You guys might not be ready for this podcast, but your kids are gonna love it.

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This series of premium podcasts was created to help support the regular weekly Film Junk Podcast. Head on over to Bandcamp and download the full episodes now for a minimum donation of just 99 cents. As always, let us know if you experience any technical difficulties or if you have any other suggestions for future specials. Thanks for your support!

Jessica Chastain (The Help) and Joel Edgerton (Warrior) are two of the more buzzed about actors working today, so it’s no surprise that they would have their choice of interesting projects. However, their latest career choices could offer something truly unique. The two have signed on to star in a double-feature film project for Myriad Pictures entitled The Disappearance of Eleanor Rigby: His and The Disappearance of Eleanor Rigby: Hers. The films explore a couple’s relationship during a difficult time in their marriage. The His film will capture the perspective of Edgerton’s husband character, a restaurant owner, while the Hers film details the perspective of Chastain’s wife character who decides to go back to college. William Hurt is also in negotiations to join the cast in an unspecified role. The project is the brainchild of Ned Benson (In Defiance of Gravity), who wrote the two scripts and will direct both films.

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I suspect more than a few readers may disagree with the winner of last week’s poll, but what can I say… the Film Junkies have spoken! Sean Penn’s Into the Wild was voted the Best Wilderness Survival Thriller, and while many of us would agree that it’s a great film, it does fail two out of the three main criteria for this category (those being “survival” and “thriller”). I suppose it’s my own fault for including it in the poll, but both Deliverance and Cast Away ended up being very close to winning as well. The Edge and 127 Hours tied for fourth place followed by Touching the Void. Way down at the bottom of the list, Adam Green’s Frozen received just 1.3% of the votes. Do you agree with these results?

1. Into the Wild — 17.8%
2. Deliverance — 17.1%
3. Cast Away — 16.4%
4. The Edge — 12.8%
4. 127 Hours — 12.8%
6. Touching the Void — 10.2%
7. Alive — 6.9%
8. The Perfect Storm — 2.3%
8. Open Water — 2.3%
10. Frozen — 1.3%

I want to make it clear right up front that this next story is nothing more than a big fat rumour, but since Star Wars fans are willing to argue over just about anything, I figured it might be worth mentioning. We all know that George Lucas has been working on a live action Star Wars TV series for quite some time now, but back in 2010 he announced that the series was being put on hold for a few years because it was not yet economically feasible. With a proposed title of Star Wars: Underworld, the series is expected to fill in the gap between the prequels and original trilogy by focusing on the seedy underbelly of the Star Wars universe. Now this week there is a rumour floating around the web stating that the show might introduce a sci-fi element that has been completely absent from Star Wars up until now: time travel. Is George Lucas getting ready to go back to the future?

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For anybody who’s sick of hearing about Beauty Day around here, don’t worry…it’s almost over! The life cycle of the film has now entered the ‘home video’ stage, which means it’s just about dead (or depending on your perspective, about to be ‘reborn’?). So for all of you who haven’t had a chance to see it yet (which is a lot of you), here’s an opportunity to own your very own copy on glorious DVD! (Note: at this point there are no blu ray plans. Sorry.) As an avid DVD/Blu Ray collector, I must say that I’m pretty proud of this release as it’s absolutely STACKED with lots of great bonus features, including an audio commentary track featuring a couple Film Junk regulars. On top of that, we’ve got a bunch of deleted scenes that are actually good enough to have been included in the film, AND some original Cap’n Video Show clips! Check out the list of over 100 minutes of bonus features:

- Feature length audio commentary with director Jay Cheel, Ralph Zavadil, and Robert Buick
- Feature length audio commentary with director Jay Cheel, Sean Dwyer (Film Junk.com), Reed Farrington, Frank Knezic, and Kurt Halfyard (Twitch.net, Row Three.com)
- Deleted Scenes
- Cap’n Video’s 20th Birthday Special
- Original Cap’n Video Show Clips
- Interview Clip

Yup, all of this great stuff for a only $15 (USD) plus shipping. (Note: due to limited shipping options through Canadian Paypal, I’ve had to increase the price of the DVD for international buyers to $17 to adjust for additional delivery costs. And yes, this disc is region free.). Just click the button below, choose your destination, and soon you’ll be having yourself a BEEAUUTTYYY DAYYYYYYYY!

Ship To (Price Includes Shipping)

North America $20.00 USD International $22.00 USD

Does John Hawkes look like a young Robert DeNiro? Writer-director Dan Schechter seems to think there is a resemblance of some sort, as he has just cast him to play a younger version of DeNiro’s character from Quentin Tarantino’s 1997 film Jackie Brown. A few years back, Schechter wrote a spec script for an adaptation of Elmore Leonard’s novel The Switch, a prequel that takes place 15 years before Rum Punch, the book that Jackie Brown was based on. Leonard ended up liking it so much that he granted him the rights to make the movie and also signed on as a producer. Now Schechter is also directing the movie, and Yasiin Bey (the actor formerly known as Mos Def) has also signed on to play Samuel L. Jackson’s former role. The plot synopsis is as follows:

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Well if you’re not too concerned about spoiling the Super Bowl experience for yourself, you can watch yet another Super Bowl trailer a few days before it airs during the big game. Paramount clearly has high hopes for Sacha Baron Cohen’s The Dictator this summer, but unfortunately so far the marketing has been pretty underwhelming. This new TV spot doesn’t add much aside from a quick Super Bowl-specific one-liner from Sacha Baron Cohen that is sure to inspire groans at Super Bowl parties everywhere. I’m hoping to be surprised by this one, but something tells me it could be Sacha Baron Cohen’s first real misfire. The Dictator hits theatres on May 11th, 2012; check out the TV spot after the jump and see what you think.

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Despite the initial setback of losing director Darren Aronofsky, MGM’s Robocop reboot is slowly inching its way toward becoming a reality. Last year Brazilian director José Padilha (Elite Squad) signed on to helm the movie and Joshua Zetumer (Quantum of Solace) was assigned to pen the script. Now this week they have hired screenwriter Nick Schenk to do some rewrites on the movie as well. Schenk’s only major credit to date is the Clint Eastwood drama Gran Torino.

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Whether you’re a fan or not, you have to admit that Ridley Scott consistently stays busy, especially for a guy in his 70s. While he’s wrapping up work on Prometheus, Scott has been sorting through options for his next film and he may have found what he wants with The Counselor, a script written by celebrated novelist Cormac McCarthy. The story follows a respected lawyer who dabbles in the drug business only to get sucked in and then struggles to find a way out. The Counselor represents McCarthy’s first spec screenplay, which was quickly optioned by the producers of The Road, Nick Wechsler, Steve and Paula Mae Schwartz, back in December. If he does direct, Ridley’s production banner, Scott Free Entertainment, would join the project as well.

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From what I’m hearing, there aren’t going to be a lot of big movie trailers debuting at the Super Bowl this year. For whatever reason, studios just can’t be bothered to spend the money, but at least there are still a few manly movies being advertised, an obvious one being G.I. Joe: Retaliation. The 30 second spot has hit the web a few days early, although there’s not too much to say about it. Aside from the addition of some Jay-Z lyrics, we saw most of this footage in the previous trailer. G.I. Joe: Retaliation hits theatres on June 29th; check out the trailer after the jump and see what you think.

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What does it take to make a good stoner comedy? Does it only have to be funny if you watch it when you’re high, or does it require a few extra laughs for those lame sober folks as well? Is it a prerequisite that the title has the word “high” in it somewhere? I don’t have the answer to these questions, but I do know that I’m sort of on the fence with the trailer for the upcoming comedy High Road. It stars a ton of funny people including Lizzy Caplan, Ed Helms, Rob Riggle, Horatio Sans, Abby Elliott, Kyle Gass, Joe Lo Truglio and Zach Woods, but a lot of the jokes somehow seem to miss the mark.

The plot revolves around Glenn “Fitz” Fitzgerald (James F. Pumphrey), a young man who starts dealing pot after his band breaks up. When one drug deal goes bad, he takes a little road trip to try and escape his problems. High Road is co-written and directed by Matt Walsh, one of the founders of the Upright Citizens Brigade, and apparently it is largely improvised. In my experience, that can be either a blessing or a curse. High Road hits VOD, DVD and Blu-ray on March 6th; check out the trailer after the jump and see what you think.

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Sony is starting to build buzz nice and early for the 23rd official James Bond movie, Skyfall, which is due to hit theatres in November. This week they’ve released another photo from the movie, following up on the picture of Daniel Craig lounging poolside that hit the web a couple of weeks ago. Fortunately, this one at least has him holding a gun, although it doesn’t tell us much else about what is going on.

The shot shows Bond in a futuristic-looking Shanghai, although it’s unclear if these scenes are being shot on a set or on location. The producers recently scaled back the budget and decided to rely primarily on UK beaches to substitute for many of the exotic locales. Skyfall is being directed by Sam Mendes and co-stars Javier Bardem, Albert Finney, Ralph Fiennes and Naomie Harris, among others. Does this get you pumped for more Bond? Take a better look at both of the recent photos after the jump.

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