​I'm Talking Here!
Monday October 28th, 2019 with Joshua Robert Bateman and Josh Murray
The Lighthouse and Dolemite Is My Name

As Spocktober draws to a close, The Joshes still aren't lacking for discussable content. There's also a tangent about the relative merits of the Joshes' preferred Practical Magic (1998) and the also interesting The Craft (1996), which plays at Lansdowne tonight. They also share hype for the Bruce Springsteen-directed Western Stars (2019), and puzzle at the rumours and rumblings that Terminator: Dark Fate (2019) is allegedly "good". Josh M. then summarizes the specialness of Dolemite Is My Name (2019), the tribute biopic to Rudy Ray Moore's blaxploitation films, in which Eddie Murphy shines as Moore and Wesley Snipes is at least as great. They talk about the importance of the original Dolemite (1975), Murphy's career, the importance of different subcultures getting their own comedies, why this is more satisfying than The Disaster Artist (2017) and A Futile and Stupid Gesture (2018), and where you can see it on the big screen instead of Netflix (it's the Mayfair). But the Spocky main subject this week is Robert Eggers' sophomore outing, The Lighthouse (2019). Shot by Jarin Blaschke (in Nova Scotia!), and starring Willem Dafoe and Robert Pattinson as lighthouse keepers, the Joshes were riveted and entertained by its funny, singular vision and vernacular. They get into why its thematic roteness doesn't matter, Pattinson's accent work over the years, the influence of Ingmar Bergman's Hour of the Wolf (1968), and the film's impeccable and Gollum-ish seagull work. Much gratitude is expressed for Dafoe's recent comeback, including The Florida Project (2017) and Dog Eat Dog (2016). Only Josh B. has seen Eggers' The VVitch: A New England Folktale (2015), but he prefers The Lighthouse. Look into OCanFilmFest, featuring the work of past guest Christian Belisle! And please read up on our funding drive and you can support the show!