At last, it's the season 9 finale, and we go out with a bang: THE KILLING OF A SACRED DEER by writer-director Yorgos Lanthimos and co-writer Efthymis Filippou is one of the most searing film experiences of the last few years. Colin Farrell, Nicole Kidman, and Barry Keoghan star in this family drama / suspense thriller / haunted house / horror film, which despite being a tough hang that no one's really sure what it's about, was also widely praised upon release in 2017. In this episode, your hosts discuss their experiences watching it a second time, the story's roots in Greek mythology, Lanthimos' cold but invigorating style, and appraise the slippery career of one Mr. Farrell. Also: RIP FilmStruck, the streaming service that was too good to live.
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In today's episode, your hosts grapple with the Danny Boyle-directed, Alex Garland-written 2007 science-fiction horror-thriller SUNSHINE. A commercial failure at the time, with a mixed reception among critics, the film has over the past decade gained an appreciable cult following. But what do your hosts think? Is it a spooky, contemplative outer space film with some third act troubles? Is it a stylish but conceptually thin entertainment that needed a major rethink? Maybe both! You'll just have to listen and find out. Also discussed: which story elements worked and which ones didn't; how much we should care about scientific accuracy, the career arcs of Boyle and Garland; and whether it's ever a good idea for smart characters to do dumb things.
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Once nearly impossible to find and now... still pretty tough to obtain via legitimate means, Dalton Trumbo's JOHNNY GOT HIS GUN—the 1971 film he wrote and directed based on his own 1939 novel—is both legendary and forgotten at the same time. It tells the disturbing tale of a young soldier who loses his limbs and nearly all of his senses, but whose mind remains intact as he's trapped inside his own body in a military hospital. Adapted into Metallica's music video "One" and rubbing shoulders with the great anti-war and surrealist films, Johnny Got His Gun is not easy to watch. Also discussed: the film's most effective techniques; Trumbo's career and politics; other adaptations on stage and film; and its maybe-possible influence on Better Call Saul. Plus: does Metallica really own the film outright?
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Alan Parker's 1987 ANGEL HEART contains explicit sex, voodoo rituals, amnesia, chickens, and a few shocking twists that your hosts figured out at different points. In today's episode, they reveal when they knew what and compare their impressions of this not-quite-successful but still semi-legendary Hollywood thriller, now more than thirty years old. Combining elements of gothic horror and film noir, featuring performances from early period Mickey Rourke, mid-period Robert DeNiro, and only-period Lisa Bonet, Angel Heart is worth considering for its religious motifs, keen historical detail, uncomfortable datedness, sometimes horrifying imagery, sometimes goofy dialogue, and its relationship to films like Devil's Advocate, Jacob's Ladder (which we covered in season 3) plus Sixth Sense and even Big Lebowski.
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