4X4 II: KATHRYN BIGELOW SEASON PREMIERE THE LOVELESS & POINT BREAK

03/21/23 • 136 min

LEATHER & WAX: BIGELOW'S THE LOVELESS and POINT BREAK with Kathryn Bigelow Scholar Ryan.
FOUR FILMS BY FOUR DIRECTORS PICKED BY FOUR GUESTS 4X4 II
IT'S THE EPISODE THAT ALMOST DIDN'T HAPPEN!
DOUBLE THEME SONG! Due to losing an audio file (thanks, zencastr!) ace host and engineer Jack was able to, uh, re-do his part on half the episode. A feat that has to be heard to be believed. Podcasting is a rough business.
1981's The Loveless (credited with Monty Montgomery) was Bigelow's debut. It charts a fateful day in the 1950s when a small Georgia town has a gang of leather-clad motorcyclists rolling through and then... hanging out. Willem Dafoe makes his screen debut as Vance. It's a mood piece, all right, and a pretty good one we have a lot to say about (shocking).
1991's Point Break has become Bigelow's most beloved film. For good reason - it is amazing. Lightning in a bottle casting with a borderline absurd script and strange deification of surfer bros but it works perfectly. The main character in named Johnny Utah and the film is NOT a parody. It is one of the best action movies of an era comprising some of the best action movies ever. A treat start to finish, we show it a lot of love.
THEME SONG BY: WEIRD A.I.
Email: [email protected]
Facebook: https://m.facebook.com/TGTPTU
Instagram: https://instagram.com/thegoodthepodandtheugly?igshid=um92md09kjg0
Twitter: https://twitter.com/thegoodthepoda1
YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC6mI2plrgJu-TB95bbJCW-g
Buzzsprout: https://thegoodthepodandtheugly.buzzsprout.com/
Letterboxd (follow us!):
Ken: Ken Koral
Jack: jackk1096

Send us a text

Previous Episode

OSCAR SPECIAL THE FABELMANS PLUS OSCAR PICKS

Send us a text

BACK TO SPIELBERG, BACK TO THE RED CARPET
THE FABELMANS (2022) is Steven Spielbergs cinematic memoir but with different names and the person playing him does not wear glasses. A story of a marriage slowly falling apart while a young man slowly figures out who and what he is through the art of filmmaking. The-artist-as-myth with Steven Spielberg being the artist.
Last year we did an entire season covering Steven Spielberg's filmography promising to never return. But, we did. They pulled us back in. Ken read the script (by Spiels and podcast favorite Tony Kushner). Resident Spielberg hater Jack then joined Ken to see the movie on the big screen (on a tightwad Tuesday; podcasting does not pay well). What are their thoughts? Be seated for the most shocking episode in The Good, The Pod and The Ugly history! No one could have predicted this.
Then stay tuned as Thomas joins in for a second helping of TERRIBLE OSCAR PICKS. We have no clue about most of these nominations, people. Zero. But we pick them anyway! Then it turns out none of us are even watching the Oscars this year, anyway.
100% Expert Opinions you can use to bet on in FanDuel or wherever.
THEME SONG BY: WEIRD A.I.
Email: [email protected]
Facebook: https://m.facebook.com/TGTPTU
Instagram: https://instagram.com/thegoodthepodandtheugly?igshid=um92md09kjg0
Twitter: https://twitter.com/thegoodthepoda1
YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC6mI2plrgJu-TB95bbJCW-g
Buzzsprout: https://thegoodthepodandtheugly.buzzsprout.com/
Letterboxd (follow us!):
Ken: Ken Koral
Jack: jackk1096

Next Episode

4X4 II: KATHRYN BIGELOW 2: STRANGE DAYS and ZERO DARK THIRTY

Send us a text

OSAMA BIN WAITIN' FOR NEW YEARS: STRANGE DAYS and ZERO DARK THIRTY W/ BIGELOW CURATOR RYAN!
We conclude our four film sweep through the filmography of Kathryn Bigelow with one of her notorious failures and one of her triumphs. 1995's STRANGE DAYS was a big budget summer movie that took place in the far-flung future of (checks notes) 1999! It's mix of contemporary social outrage and little bald caps that can record anyone's feelings and what they are seeing is a tough mix. Ralph Fiennes and Angela Bassett are as pretty as they have ever been on film wallowing around in a semi-futuristic hellscape where only terrible music is available. There are some sharp disagreements on this one, which was unavailable for streaming forever until HBO Max decided to flush it onto their platform as it was stinking up their vaults.
Then 2012's ZERO DARK THIRTY! Bigelow and co-screenwriter Mark Boal had written an entirely different film about the battle of Tora Bora when Osama Bin Laden had the temerity to be killed by a team of Navy Seals. They scrapped the existing script and quickly changed direction to tell the decade-long manhunt for the man responsible for immense pain and suffering (but also had nothing to do with Iraq). A fascinating character study of persistence and value judgements, it is one of Bigelow's knottiest films and makes for a knotty discussion between Big Bigelow fan Ryan and Ken, Jack and Thomas which, like the film itself, has no easy answers.
Stick for the Bigelow Quiz to make sure you were paying attention the last two episodes.
THEME SONG BY: WEIRD A.I.
Email: [email protected]
Facebook: https://m.facebook.com/TGTPTU
Instagram: https://instagram.com/thegoodthepodandtheugly?igshid=um92md09kjg0
Twitter: https://twitter.com/thegoodthepoda1
YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC6mI2plrgJu-TB95bbJCW-g
Buzzsprout: https://thegoodthepodandtheugly.buzzsprout.com/
Letterboxd (follow us!):
Ken: Ken Koral
Jack: jackk1096