During an erudite discussion of the NFL playoffs, Golden Globes, and actors becoming directors, a bottle mishap nearly derails the episode. Plus JVL dismantles the Skins Bandwagon. Sonny breaks down the Fourth Wall. And Vic mentions The Big Hunt for no apparent reason. All on this week’s Substandard!
This podcast can be downloaded here. Subscribe to the SUBSTANDARD on iTunes or on Google Play.
Endnotes and digressions from the latest show:
* I’m not sure how often we’ll be talking sports on the Substandard, but I’m glad we got a chance to talk about 4th and 26—a play so famous that it has its
own Wikipedia page. If you’re part of the Philly diaspora and want to revel in it, here’s a
mini-documentary starring some of the folks from WIP. Totally worth five minutes of your time.
* Sonny Bunch mentioned the comedic genius of Matt Damon. Here’s
his cameo in Euro Trip. I’m more partial to his guest stint on 30 Rock. Here’s the scene where he
threw shade at Sully. Awesome.
* And speaking of secret comedy snipers, as we mention, Rose Byrne is pretty fantastic, too. Here’s
(slightly NSFW) sample from Get Him to the Greek.
* Vic Matus inexplicably defends Ordinary People as being a great movie. I continue to disagree.
See here. It’s basically the Good Will Hunting “it’s not your fault” scene, but even worse. Watch that and then tell me Robert Redford is more than a directorial dilettante.
* By the by, when Ordinary People won Best Picture in 1980 it beat out Raging Bull, which was directed by the absolutely fine . . . Martin Scorsese. Who is a major talent and a very good director and let’s just leave it at that. (If you want to see the great troll job ever, go catch last week’s
Scorsese episode.)
* On the key question of Meryl Streep: Overrated? Sonny put together a post and determined, using science, that
Streep is appropriately rated. So there.
* As always, you can download the episode here and subscribe to the Substandard on iTunes or on Google Play. (“Can”=”Should”)
