The (Pod) Casting Couch - Movie Draft Results

TEAM                        SHANNON                         SIMON                              LAURA                                  ANDREW

DIRECTOR              David Fincher                    PT Anderson                    Steven Soderbergh              Christopher Nolan

WRITER                   The Coen Brothers            Charlie Kaufman            Shane Black                          Aaron Sorkin

LEAD                         Brad Pitt                              Tom Hardy                       Michael Fassbender           Robert Downey Jnr

LEAD                         Angelina Jolie                   Rooney Mara                   Jennifer Lawrence              Amy Adams

SUPPORT                 Anna Kendrick                  PS Hoffman                     Gary Oldman                        Paul Giamatti

SUPPORT                 Mark Ruffalo                     Michael Shannon           Joseph-Gordon Levitt        Kristen Wiig

SUPPORT                 Chloe Moretz                     Greta Gerwig                    James McAvoy                     Stanley Tucci

PRODUCER             Clint Eastwood                  Judd Apatow                    Nicholas Winding Refn    Joss Whedon

MUSICIAN               Reznor & Ross                   Jon Brion                          Cliff Martinez                       Bruce Springsteen

WILDCARD             Q. Tarantino (Script)       Nic Cage (Cameo)           Bruce Willis (Cameo)        Matt Damon (Cameo)

The (Pod) Casting Couch - The Descendants

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THE 2012 ACADEMY AWARDS NOMINATIONS PREDICTION GAME

Much like the American presidential elections or the Miss Universe pageant, I follow the Academy Awards race not because I care who wins, but because the getting there is so much fun to watch. 2012 holds some vestige of promise – unlike last year, there isn’t yet one definite winner. (In retrospect, it was always going to be The King’s Speech last year, as much as one might have wished for a The Social Network upset.) Annually, I submit myself to the fool’s errand of trying to pick the nominees – so here we go again.

This year, I humbly submit a play-along-at-home game. It works like this. Write down your 10 possible nominees for the main categories in order of likelihood. Your top choice receives 10 points, second 9, third 8, etc. For every nomination you get correct, you get that many points. Total ‘em up at the end and see if you can beat my score! (Spoiler alert: You probably can.)

BEST PICTURE

THE ARTIST (10)
HUGO (9)
THE DESCENDANTS (8)
THE HELP (7)
WAR HORSE (6)
MONEYBALL (5)
MIDNIGHT IN PARIS (4)

THE GIRL WITH THE DRAGON TATTOO (3)
THE TREE OF LIFE (2)
BRIDESMAIDS (1)

BEST DIRECTOR

MICHEL HAZANAVICUS, THE ARTIST (10)
MARTIN SCORSESE, HUGO (9)
ALEXANDER PAYNE, THE DESCENDANTS (8)
WOODY ALLEN, MIDNIGHT IN PARIS (7)
STEVEN SPIELBERG, WAR HORSE (6)

DAVID FINCHER, THE GIRL WITH THE DRAGON TATTOO (5)
TATE TAYLOR, THE HELP (4)
TERRENCE MALICK, THE TREE OF LIFE (3)
BENNETT MILLER, MONEYBALL (2)
GEORGE CLOONEY, THE IDES OF MARCH (1)

BEST ACTOR

JEAN DUJARDIN, THE ARTIST (10)
GEORGE CLOONEY, THE DESCENDANTS (9)
BRAD PITT, MONEYBALL (8)
GARY OLDMAN, TINKER TAILOR SOLDIER SPY (7)
MICHAEL SHANNON, TAKE SHELTER (6)

MICHAEL FASSBENDER, SHAME (5)
LEONARDO DICAPRIO, J. EDGAR (4)
WOODY HARRELSON, RAMPART (3)
DEMIAN BICHIR, A BETTER LIFE (2)
RYAN GOSLING, THE IDES OF MARCH (1)

BEST ACTRESS

MERYL STREEP, THE IRON LADY (10
VIOLA DAVIS, THE HELP (9)
GLENN CLOSE, ALBERT NOBBS (8)
TILDA SWINTON, WE NEED TO TALK ABOUT KEVIN (7)
MICHELLE WILLIAMS, MY WEEK WITH MARILYN (6)

ROONEY MARA, THE GIRL WITH THE DRAGON TATTOO (5)
CHARLIZE THERON, YOUNG ADULT (4)
ELIZABETH OLSON, MARTHA MARCY MAY MARLENE (3)
KRISTEN WIIG, BRIDESMAIDS (2)
KIRSTEN DUNST, MELANCHOLIA (1)

BEST SUPPORTING ACTOR

CHRISTOPHER PLUMMER, BEGINNERS (10)
ALBERT BROOKS, DRIVE (9)
KENNETH BRANAGH, MY WEEK WITH MARILYN (8)
JONAH HILL, MONEYBALL (7)
NICK NOLTE, WARRIOR (6)

BEN KINGSLEY, HUGO (5)
ARMIE HAMMER, J. EDGAR (4)
MAX VON SYDOW, EXTREMELY LOUD AND INCREDIBLY CLOSE (3)
GEORGE CLOONEY, THE IDES OF MARCH (2)
PATTON OSWALT, YOUNG ADULT (1)

BEST SUPPORTING ACTRESS

OCTAVIA SPENCER, THE HELP (10)
MELISSA MCCARTHY, BRIDESMAIDS (9)
BERENICE BEJO, THE ARTIST (8)
JESSICA CHASTAIN, THE HELP (7)
SHAILENE WOODLEY, THE DESCENDANTS (6)

JANET MCTEER, ALBERT NOBBS (5)
VANESSA REDGRAVE, CORIOLANUS (4)
CAREY MULLIGAN, SHAME (3)
JUDI DENCH, MY WEEK WITH MARILYN (2)
SANDRA BULLOCK, EXTREMELY LOUD AND INCREDIBLY CLOSE (1)

BEST ORIGINAL SCREENPLAY

MIDNIGHT IN PARIS, WOODY ALLEN (10)
MICHEL HAZANIVICUS, THE ARTIST (9)
TOM MCCARTHY, WIN WIN (8)
ANNIE MUMOLO & KRISTEN WIIG, BRIDESMAIDS (7)
WILL REISER, 50/50 (6)

ASGHAR FARHADI, A SEPARATION (5)
MIKE MILLS, BEGINNERS (4)
DIABLO CODY, YOUNG ADULT (3)
TERRENCE MALICK, THE TREE OF LIFE (2)
ABI MORGAN, THE IRON LADY (1)

BEST ADAPTED SCREENPLAY

AARON SORKIN & STEVEN ZALLIAN, MONEYBALL (10)
ALEXANDER PAYNE, NAT FAXON & JIM RASH, THE DESCENDANTS (9)
JOHN LOGAN, HUGO (8)
TATE TAYLOR, THE HELP (7)
STEVEN ZALLIAN, THE GIRL WITH THE DRAGON TATTOO (6)

PETER STRAUGHAN & BRIDGET O'CONNOR, TINKER TAILOR SOLDIER SPY (5)
RICHARD CURTIS AND LEE HALL, WAR HORSE (4)
GEORGE CLOONEY, GRANT HESLOV & BEAU WILLIMON, THE IDES OF MARCH (3)
ERIC ROTH, EXTREMELY LOUD & INCREDIBLY CLOSE (2)
LYNNE RAMSEY & RORY KINNEAR, WE NEED TO TALK ABOUT KEVIN (1)

The (Pod) Casting Couch - Moneyball

The (Pod) Casting Couch tackles the new baseball drama Moneyball and reach the epic conclusion of their three-podcast project - The Top Ten Movies of the 2000s! The Couch is West Australian film critic Shannon Harvey, (@Choc_Bomb), Quickflix critic Simon Miraudo (@Quickflix), Laura Hewison (girlonfilmblog.blogspot.com) & Andrew Williams (@DrewWilliams9). Check it out and give us a great rating on iTunes if you're a fan! We'd also love to hear your top tens - e-mail as at thepodcastingcouch@gmail.com or Tweet at @podcastingcouch.

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The (Pod) Casting Couch - Abduction/Feature Four Action Movies of the 2000s

A packed Couch this week as we talk the new Taylor Lautner actioner Abduction, pick our Feature Four Action movies of the 2000s and answer some questions without notice. The Couch is Western Australian film critic Shannon Harvey (@Choc_Bomb), Quickflix critic Simon Miraudo (@Quickflix),  Andrew Williams (@IntheBoxSeat). Check it out and give us a great rating on iTunes if you're a fan!

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QUICK TV REVIEW: The Joy of Sets

Full disclosure: I was a huge fan of Get This, the Triple M program and podcast that originally brought Tony Martin and Ed Kavalee together, along with the much-missed, much-loved Richard Marsland. So I’m a little biased.

Having said that, I got more laughs out of the opening segment of The Joy of Sets than I did out of a whole episode of Good News World. These guys have a natural, easy chemistry that just works, whether it’s on radio or television. That chemistry comes across here, and they mine some fine material out of the weird and wonderful that is the history of television.

TV REVIEW - TWO AND A HALF MEN

There are so many jokes about Ashton Kutcher’s enormous penis in the return episode of Two and a Half Men, that I half expected the title card to become ‘Two and a Half Legs’ - or ‘Three Men’. It’s a sign that the writers of this show haven’t left their own particular brand of vaguely nauseating humour behind in making the transition from Charlie Harper (Charlie Sheen) to Walden Schmidt (Ashton Kutcher).

The fact that those jokes are possibly among the most family friendly of the episode is quite a spectacular achievement, one only bettered by the breathtaking laziness of a mid-episode fart joke involving Angus T. Jones – a moment that is almost his only ‘line’.

Some more (spoiler-y) thoughts on the return of ‘Two and Half Men’ coming up after the jump:

THE 2011 EMMY AWARDS PREDICTIONS EXTRAVAGANZA

Feel free to play along at home with the Emmy Nomination prediction game. 2 points for a will win, 1 point for a should win.

Supporting Actor, Comedy


Jon Cryer, Two and a Half Men


Chris Colfer, Glee


Ty Burrell, Modern Family


Jesse Tyler Ferguson, Modern Family 


Ed O'Neill, Modern Family

Eric Stonestreet, Modern Family

WILL WIN

As always, the Supporting Actor in a comedy category presents us with the Colfer Conundrum – do you pick the best performance in a comedy or funniest performance in a comedy? If we’re going with best, I suspect Chris Colfer takes this category easily based on his heartbreaking performance in ‘Grilled Cheesus’. If we’re going with funniest, it’s probably (narrowly) Ty Burrell in Modern Family. Given that Emmy voters have to actually watch the episodes, though, I think its going to be difficult to go past Colfer, on his performance of ‘I Wanna Hold Your Hand’ alone.

The (Pod) Casting Couch - Win Win/The Guard

The (Pod) Casting Couch reviews 'Win Win' & 'The Guard' and answers some questions without notice.The Couch is Western Australian film critic Shannon Harvey (@Choc_Bomb), Quickflix critic Simon Miraudo (@Quickflix),  Andrew Williams (@IntheBoxSeat). Check it out and give us a great rating on iTunes if you're a fan!

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The Interchange Bench - Finals Week One

In the absence of Steve Allen, Andrew Williams and Adam Papalia chat all things football in the lead up to the semi finals.

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The (Pod) Casting Couch - The Help

The (Pod) Casting Couch reviews 'The Help, answers some questions without noticeand rates their feature four Books that should be movies. The Couch is Western Australian film critic Shannon Harvey (@Choc_Bomb), Quickflix critic Simon Miraudo (@Quickflix),  Andrew Williams (@IntheBoxSeat). Check it out and give us a great rating on iTunes if you're a fan!

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The Interchange Bench - Round 23

The Interchange Bench (Andrew Williams @Intheboxseat & Steve Allen (@ScubaStv) review Round 23 and deliver the long-awaited Feature Interview. E-mail us anytime at theinterchangebench@gmail.com.

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The (Pod) Casting Couch - Horrible Bosses

The (Pod) Casting Couch reviews 'Horrible Bosses', answers some questions without notice and rates their feature four Scene Stealing performances. The Couch is Western Australian film critic Shannon Harvey (@Choc_Bomb), Quickflix critic Simon Miraudo (@Quickflix),  Andrew Williams (@IntheBoxSeat) and Laura Hewison (girlonfilmblog.blogspot.com). Check it out and give us a great rating on iTunes if you're a fan!

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The Interchange Bench - Round 22

The Interchange Bench put the call out last week for a female listener to send us an e-mail. Did we get one? Listen and find out! E-mail us your Brownlow tip at theinterchangebench@gmail.com.

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TV REVIEW - SUITS

When I sat down to watch Suits, I wasn’t particularly enthralled at the idea. Watching two snappily dressed, rich, white guys banter and do legal things isn’t really my idea of a good time unless its very nicely executed. While I wouldn’t go as far as to say that Suits is ‘very nicely’ executed, there’s a degree of competency at work here that just makes this show fly by.

Reading American critics’ reviews had made me think that ‘Suits’ was going to be a slog, and while you should never think too deeply about what’s going on, a slog it is not. Leads Patrick J. Adams and Gabriel Macht have an easy chemistry and natural charm, although it still baffles me how often in the pilot they aren’t in scenes together, as the show really clicks when they are.

Macht (The Spirit) stars as Harvey Specter, a flashy attorney who is ‘the best closer in town’. This seems to be based more on reputation than actual evidence, as he spends most of his time in the pilot screwing up. Through some contrived plotting he meets Mike Ross, (Adams) a pot-smoking screw-up who also happens to be a genius. He hires Ross to join his legal firm despite the fact he’s never been to law school and they begin to close cases together.

And that’s it, really. There are other people who populate the law firm like Gina Torres (Firefly) as their boss and Rick Hoffman as a lawyer so incredibly prissy and annoying he makes Macht’s character look like a self-deprecating, humble street urchin – and that’s probably the idea – but really this show is about whether you like the two leads and want to see them do the legal equivalent of solve crimes together. The writing is unspectacular, the women are smart, attractive and underwritten, and the cases are nothing to write home about. It’s all down to whether you like the characters.

Personally, I started out not liking either of them but begrudgingly accepted they were a watchable duo in the end – and maybe liking them a little bit. Sure, Gabriel Macht may be playing a played-straight version of Barney Stinson and Adams is like a straighter-laced Aaron Paul from Breaking Bad, but they make decent, inoffensive, frothy viewing.

Just don't think too hard about it.

The (Pod) Casting Couch - Green Lantern/Superhero Movies

The (Pod) Casting Couch reviews Green Lantern and does a superhero themed feature four. Featuring The West Australian's Shannon Harvey (@Choc_Bomb), Quickflix critic Simon Miraudo (@quickflix) and Laura Hewison. E-mail us at thepodcastingcouch@gmail.com or @podcastingcouch on Twitter!

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The Interchange Bench - Round 20

It's a full bench this week as Steve and Andrew are joined by Michael Genovese and Claire Thomas (@ClaireT78) to discuss the round just gone. Our e-mail topic this week is to let us know your biggest disappointment of season 2011 - e-mail us at theinterchangebench@gmail.com and you too could be commemmorated in song.

If you've enjoyed the podcasts, please do us a favour and give us a great rating on iTunes! Cheers

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The Interchange Bench - Round 19

Michael Genovese (@GenoveseMichael) makes his triumphant return to the Interchange Bench, joining Andrew and Steve in a wrap that unsurprisingly concentrates primarily on the Melbourne fallout. It's not all Woe of the Demons, though, as Beau Mitchem (@Mitchem89) joins us from Newcastle to review a Western Bulldogs season that fell just short of his prediction of a runaway premiership. E-mail us at theinterchangebench@gmail.com with your thoughts to win our very special prize.

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FILM: RISE OF THE PLANET OF THE APES REVIEW

Rush Hour: Always a bitch.

I’ve never really understood the whole ‘Planet of the Apes’ phenomenon. I get that they’re entertaining films with a few good ideas and a nice twist, but the series’ longevity and level of cultural impact was always somewhat beyond my grasp. I was therefore not only surprised that there was a prequel on the way but even more surprised that it was premiering in this, the most blockbuster-heavy summer in recent memory.

Most of the hype for ‘Rise of the Planet of the Apes’ has happened by stealth and put the special effects front and centre as the primary selling point. Stars James Franco, Freida Pinto and Draco Malfoy (I mean, Tom Felton) have been sidelined in favour of short, effects-heavy clips of the stunningly real-looking apes. Not only is this also how the film itself works, but it’s also why the film works – and no one is more surprised than me that it does.

The (Pod) Casting Couch - Captain America/Top 4 Sidekicks

The team (Shannon Harvey @Choc_Bomb), Andrew Williams and Laura Hewison tackle the new Marvel Flick Captain America: the First Avenger and talk about their top 4 movie sidekicks of all time. E-mail us at thepodcastingcouch@gmail.com !

           
           
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