FILM 2020: DETECTIVE PIKACHU

FILM 2020: DETECTIVE PIKACHU

TRIVIA: Tim mentions a gangster film on TV is an "old detective movie." The clip being shown is actually "Angels With Filthy Souls", a movie-within-a-movie which was featured in the original Home Alone (1990).

The realistic style of the Pokémon were based on the artwork by RJ Palmer. The movie's production designer discovered him while he was looking for realistic Pokémon designs on the internet, and he was so impressed by Palmer's artwork that he gave him a job as the concept artist for the movie.

The day before the film's theatrical release, the entire movie was "leaked" onto YouTube. In reality, clicking this video will play a minute of the film, before cutting to a loop of Pikachu dancing for an hour and forty five minutes.

Despite having six distinctive cries (according to both sound bites and Build a Bear) the voice for Psyduck is unlisted and unnamed.

The first movie based on a video game to have a fresh score on Rotten Tomatoes, at 64%.

A petition was made to have Danny DeVito voice Pikachu.

At one point Pikachu looks to ensure that Psyduck stays calm by repeating the term "Serenity Now" a number of times. "Serenity Now" is a famous catchphrase from Seinfeld Season 9 Episode 3

It was The Pokémon Company's idea to have Ryme City ban battling and using Pokéballs, wishing to show a different and "more elevated" relationship between Pokémon and people. They were also very protective of Ash Ketchum and forbade any reference to him from being made. Going as far as even forbidding Tim from wearing a cap.

Ryme City is very obviously London, complete with distinctive Routemaster buses and cars driving on the left-hand side of the road (and Pret-A-Mangers). Other landmarks that prominently appear include the Gherkin and King's Cross Station as Tahnti Station.

In a world full of Pokémon with different kinds of powers, of course people are going to put that to use. For example, in the night market, one man uses a Charmander's flame tail to flambe the food in the wok, and the laboratory people are using Greninjas as hitmen to take Detective Pikachu and Tim down. Demonstrated more in earlier scenes, a Machamp is directing traffic, a squad of Squirtles help put out a fire, the police force has a lot of dog-type Pokémon, and a Braviary is flying around the city to deliver a construction worker on a crane his lunch. It also makes sense for certain Pokémon types to have their own occupations, like Octillery cutting up sushi and Loudreds being used as loud speakers in the round house.

FILM 1803: ALL THE PRESIDENT'S MEN

FILM 1803: ALL THE PRESIDENT'S MEN

TRIVIA: Frank Wills, the security guard who discovered the break-in at the Watergate complex, plays himself.

The two lead actors memorized each other's lines so that they could both interrupt each other in character. This unsettled a lot of the actors they were playing opposite, leading to a greater sense of verisimilitude.

One scene involving Robert Redford on the phone is done in a continuous six-minute single take with the camera tracking in slowly. Towards the end Redford makes a mistake - he calls the phone caller by the wrong name - but as he stays in character it simply appears genuine and this was the take used in the final cut.

To prepare for their roles, actors Robert Redford and Dustin Hoffman hung out in the Washington Post newsroom for several weeks, observing reporters and attending staff meetings. Once, when Redford was standing in a hallway, a group of high school students came through on a tour of the newspaper offices. The students immediately started taking pictures of Redford with their pocket cameras. At that point, Bob Woodward walked by. Redford told the students, "Wait a minute! Here's the real Bob Woodward, the guy I'm playing in the movie! Don't you want to take a picture of him?" The students said no, and walked on. Hoffman also recalled that he had been asked by the paper's science reporter to fetch a new typewriter ribbon. Due to Hoffman's long hair and casual dress, the science reporter had mistaken him for a copy boy. 

The film introduced the catchphrase "follow the money", which was absent from the book, or any documentation of Watergate.

The telephone number that Robert Redford dials for the White House is the real number of the White House Switchboard: 456-1414.

Washington Post boss Katherine Graham, who was initially very apprehensive about the film using the paper's name, loved the film and later wrote a letter of praise and approval to star and co-producer Robert Redford.

Actress Jane Alexander's Oscar nominated performance for Best Actress in a Supporting Role runs for only around just over eight minutes in total screen-time.

Chris Carter often quotes this movie as one of his bigger inspirations for The X-Files(1993), wherein a prominent character used the Deep Throat codename. Perhaps not coincidentally, one of the names on Woodward and Bernstein's list of CREEP employees is "Scully."

Robert Redford's first choice for the role of Carl Bernstein was Al Pacino.

This feature film contains twenty-five telephone conversations in which audiences are privy to both sides of the dialogue exchange.

The film cast includes five Oscar winners: Dustin Hoffman, Robert Redford, Jason Robards, Martin Balsam and F. Murray Abraham; and five Oscar nominees: Jack Warden, Hal Holbrook, Ned Beatty, Lindsay Crouse and Jane Alexander.

Included among the "1001 Movies You Must See Before You Die", edited by Steven Schneider.

Robert Redford actually met Richard Nixon. When he was 13, Redford was presented an award for athletic prowess by the man who would go on to be President. Even then, Redford said he found the man to be rather creepy.

FILM 1800: ZODIAC

FILM 1800: ZODIAC

TRIVIA: The Zodiac case was re-opened after the release of the film.

The only real comment that Robert Graysmith said about the finished screenplay was, "God, now I see why my wife divorced me."

The shooting script was two hundred pages long. To prevent any problems with length, that such a long script might cause, Director David Fincher decided to ask his cast members to speak faster.

The producers hired a private investigator to track down the real-life Zodiac survivor, Mike Mageau.

Hair was digitally added to the close-ups of Jake Gyllenhaal's knuckles as he draws or holds letters. David Fincher felt that Gyllenhaal's hands "were too hairless and pretty".

When Mark Ruffalo met David Toschi, the investigator he plays in the film, he was very impressed to learn that Toschi had perfect recall of every detail of every case.

Robert Graysmith and Paul Avery were not actually friends. Their relationship is fictionalized for the film.

David Fincher was always first choice to direct, based on his work on Se7en (1995).

Jake Gyllenhaal shares one of the film's creepiest scenes with Charles Fleischer. In real-life, the two have known each other since Gyllenhaal was three years old.

Anthony Edwards was cast as Armstrong because David Fincher wanted him to be played by a thoroughly decent person. Fincher already knew him, not so much from his work on ER (1994), but because he was a neighbor.

Because he wanted the film to be as accurate as possible, David Fincher decided not to depict any of the alleged Zodiac murders for which there were no surviving victims or witnesses.

In order to save time, David Fincher decided to digitally add all the blood in the murder scenes.

Robert Downey Jr. was so unaccustomed to the experience of both David Fincher's multiple takes, and the process of filming digitally, that he rebelled against David for "having no time to get my shit together in my trailer" by hiding mason jars full of his urine on set.

(At around thirty-three minutes) Dave Toschi, in real-life, was the inspiration for Steve McQueen's performance in Bullitt (1968). In the film, Graysmith mentions that Toschi wears his gun like Bullitt. Avery replies that Bullitt got it from Toschi.

Dermot Mulroney had to wear a fat suit for his few short scenes, because David Fincherfelt he was in far too good shape for his character.

David Fincher's template for the film was Alan J. Pakula's All the President's Men (1976).

South Korean film Director Joon-ho Bong has classified David Fincher's film as a "masterpiece," writing that "There was really nothing to find fault with about it, down to the cinematography, art direction, and action."

Daniel Craig was first choice for Paul Avery.

(At around fourteen minutes) The bar Paul Avery frequents in the film, is called Morti's. Mortis is Latin for death.

Two of the lead actors, Mark Ruffalo and Robert Downey, Jr., would go on to co-star in the Marvel Cinematic Universe as The Hulk and Iron Man respectively.

The historical Paul Avery did not withdraw from working at the San Francisco Chronicle to a life of reclusive obscurity, as the film suggests. In 1974-75 he did reportage on the kidnapping of Patricia Hearst which he turned into a high-profile published book, "The Voices of Guns" (1976); he was also married with two daughters, a fact the film does not mention.

PODCAST: THE BUTTERFLY EFFECT

PODCAST: THE BUTTERFLY EFFECT 

This is the welcome note for the podcast which was at first only available on Audible but now is free on iTunes:

Hi everyone,

Welcome to The Butterfly Effect. It's sort of about porn, but it's about a lot of other things. It's sad, funny, moving and totally unlike some other nonfiction stories about porn - because it isn't judgmental or salacious. It's human and sweet and strange and lovely. It's a mystery story, an adventure. It's also, I think, a new way of telling a story. This season follows a single butterfly effect. The flap of the butterfly's wings is a boy in Brussels having an idea. His idea is how to get rich from giving the world free online porn. Over seven episodes I trace the consequences of this idea, from consequence through to consequence. If you keep going in this way, where might you end up? It turns out you end up in the most surprising and unexpected places.

So if you're thinking, why do I want to listen to a show about the tech takeover of the porn industry, I have two things to say:

1. Why wouldn't you want to listen to a show about the tech takeover of the porn industry? That's a great idea for a show.

2. Would you want to listen to a show about three women destroying a mysterious Norwegian man's stamp collection? Well, that happens at the end of episode 2. At the end of Episode 3 a woman becomes convinced that she played a part in a murder committed by an Italian priest. At the end of Episode 4 a boy in Oklahoma is forced to move to a house on the very, very edge of his town.

I hope you like our show,
Jon 

MY VERDICT: I absolutely loved this podcast. I am a fan of Jon Ronson, having devoured ‘The Psychopath Test’ many years ago, and find his story telling technique to be always surprising and often exhilarating. His voice is reassuring and he has a way of putting heart into everything he investigates. He is one of the only researchers/journalists I know of to find the positive side to every story, to get excited about things or to find a way to get excited about things where others might give boring facts.

The premise of the podcast itself allows us to see into the lives of all kinds of people and professions and it’s heartwarming to hear people open up to Jon Ronson. The subject matter is an important one, because even if you have never watched porn and know nothing about it, you can find out how it’s affecting the world we live in.

There are some truly amazing stories which I don’t want to spoil here but as Ronson mentioned it already above, the story of the custom porn creators who were asked to destroy one man’s stamp collection is fascinating.

I only finished this the other day but have already recommended it to several people, and I now recommend it to you.

PODCAST: DIRTY JOHN

I decided to start listing recent podcasts that I’ve listened to. This week I finished Dirty John. I totally binge-listened to this and finished it within a few days. Here’s some info:

Dirty John is an investigative journalism podcast hosted by journalist Christopher Goffard and created by Wondery and Los Angeles Times.

The podcast was downloaded over 10 million times within 6 weeks of release.

The podcast was named Dirty John which was one of John Meehan's nicknames given to him by his classmates during his time at the University of Dayton. Other nicknames from this time included Filthy John, or just Filthy. The exact nexus of these nicknames was never divulged during the podcast.

Dirty John is a true crime story focusing on the life and exploits of John Meehan. L.A. Times Journalist Christopher Goffard first heard of Meehan when he learned that the police were investigating a possible murder in Newport Beach. Upon investigating, Goffard discovered a bizarre web of deceit and abuse.

The main focus of the story is Meehan's relationship with businesswoman Debra Newell, who he met via Internet dating, as well her immediate and extended family. The podcast deals with themes of abuse and manipulation, as well as the behaviours of those being abused.

MY VERDICT:

I absolutely loved this podcast, it reeled me in immediately and was extremely well written and paced. The ending (which I won’t spoil) is even more shocking because of the way the story is expertly structured.

It was especially interesting to me because I too have been in a relationship with a manipulative and talented liar and a lot of the things that were said about John rang true for me. It was a cathartic experience to hear these tales and know that my troubles are over and that I wouldn’t be fooled by someone like this again.

Every podcast I listen to I compare to Serial, mostly because it was the first one I really listened to but also because it’s still one of the best, this was not quite as good as Serial but still very interesting and enjoyable to listen to.

https://wondery.com/wondery/shows/dirtyjohn/

http://www.latimes.com/projects/la-me-dirty-john/

FILM 1721: VOYEUR

Journalism icon Gay Talese reports on Gerald Foos, the Colorado motel owner who allegedly secretly watched his guests with the aid of specially designed ceiling vents, peering down from an "observation platform" he built in the motel's attic.