TheRetroCritic

In this 26th episode, fellow film buff Jamie and I discuss movie news, review a recent release ( The Wolf Of Wall Street , this time) and rewind back to more retro cinematic topics. CLICK HERE TO LISTEN TO THE EPISODE CLICK HERE TO DOWNLOAD THE EPISODE If you know which romantic comedy was being referenced in this week's Big Game, let us know and get a shout-out in the next episode! You can email your answer here:  bigrewindpodcast@gmail.com Or simply comment below :) Oh and you can also find us on  iTunes  where you can subscribe to the podcast and download every episode thusfar! @TheRetroCritic retrocriticblog.blogspot.com thebigrewind.blogspot.com youtube.com/TheRetroCritic youtube.com/Cablogula

Directed by David O. Russell, The Fighter sees Mark Wahlberg play a boxer managed by his brother (Christian Bale) who used to be a professional himself before becoming a junkie screw-up. The struggle becomes to figure out a way to juggle family, relationships and a career without anything blowing up in anyone's face. The idea of a gritty warts-and-all look at a fighter's life isn't exactly a brand new concept, especially since The Wrestler only came out two years prior to this movie, but The Fighter is a well-made enough film that it remains compelling from start to finish regardless. The dynamics between the different members of this family are electric and Bale's Oscar-winning portrayal of Dicky Eklund is impressive to say the least. Of course, the actor lost a freakish amount of weight for the role and that physical metamorphosis crossed with a memorably hyper, shifty-eyed performance makes it one of Bale's must-see movies. Mark Wahlberg is much more unders

David O. Russell is back with yet another Oscar-nominated film starring both Bradley Cooper and Jennifer Lawrence. This time, though, we're at the heart of 70's Jersey with added Christian Bale and Amy Adams. The plot sees con man Irving (Bale) get together with Amy Adams' sexy bad-English-accent-imitating gal Sydney as they start a relationship and form a partnership which both turn sour when cocky FBI agent Richie (Cooper) decides to use them in order to expose corruption high-up. The nutty plan involves getting close to Mayor Carmine Polito (a perfect, vastly underrated Jeremy Renner), getting the mob involved using a fake Sheik and taking dodgy dealings as far as possible so the FBI can just swoop in and pick up the pieces. Unfortunately, Richie is no convincing con man and his inexperience keeps getting in the way, as does Irving's mouthy wife Rosalyn (Lawrence) and about a thousand other things. Russell's film can be seen as a homage to Martin Scorsese

So that's the Oscars over and done with and, as ever, here we have a good bunch of winners and losers. Some deserved wins, some predictable, some undeserved... It's a mixed bag. Let's start off with the big ones: BEST PICTURE ARGO Yes, that Ben Affleck movie about a fake sci-fi movie saving a bunch of people from a not very good time. Good film, I enjoyed it, but in no way was it the most memorable film I saw last year. Let alone the best! Would have preferred to see Les Miserables win mostly because of the top performances and the unique, game-changing take it had on movie musicals. Or Django Unchained because... well, it's a good Tarantino flick. Or even Skyfall ! But that's just the 007 fan in me whining. I should be happy the film won Best Song and Best Sound Editing. Also surprised Argo won over Lincoln , which was an equally worthy flick I felt. Still, not the best choice but definitely not the worst. BEST DIRECTOR ANG LEE Gott

Hitchcock blonde Kim Novak’s now famous (or infamous?) expression of displeasure for The Artist ’s use of Bernard Herrmann’s classic Vertigo score may have caused a mini web-quake but how derivative is Michel Hazanavicius’ film, really? And how does that work to the film’s advantage and disadvantage? Looking at the director’s other Jean Dujardin-starring films: namely the OSS 117 duo ( Cairo Nest Of Spies and Lost In Rio ), it’s obvious the man already had a love for aged Hollywood genre movies. OSS 117 channelling the James Bond franchise and 60’s spy capers perfectly. What elevated the films from being pure carbon-copy homages to great comedies, though, really was how its main star stood out from that world. This is a guy who may very well be as misogynistic and insensitive as early Bond himself but for him specifically it’s simply impossible to hide his clueless, bigoted views making him stick out like a sore thumb from an environment seemingly so stylish, clean and perfect (on

Alexander Payne is no stranger to pain. It's his NAME! :O Seriously though, very few filmmakers these days capture loneliness quite as skilfully as Payne. Sideways , About Schmidt and Election all great examples of how to make a lonely guy movie right. What makes these films work, strong performances aside, is the way the protagonists are portrayed: they aren't perfect. Frankly... they're kind of assholes. These are flawed beings: jealous, petty, selfish. Sadly, this is why we can identify with them so easily. Payne's dark sense of humour, along with some razor-sharp writing and a heartfelt look at some of the most loveable dummies you'll ever meet usually proves to be a winning formula. So how does The Descendants fare? Lets just say it fits in nicely as a good companion piece to About Schmidt. Though not quite as heartbreaking or funny as the latter, it's a more grown-up movie in some ways. Focusing less on jokes and more on giving the story the w

David Fincher directs this Dead Poets Society for the internet age with gusto and brings the controversial creation of the popular social networking site Facebook to life. Unfortunately, there's really not much to tell. Zuckerberg comes up with it (kinda), there are a few lawsuits...that's pretty much it. And there's nothing more boring than people sitting at their computer and going to meetings. That said, Fincher makes the story flow perfectly and there's never a dull moment, which is a huge achievement in itself. Unfortunately, at times the film attempts to make Harvard, rowing and typing on one's laptop way cooler and snappier than it really should be. He's Mark Zuckerberg not Beethoven! And no amount of babes, coke or...HTML can change that. In fact, what is most interesting about this whole story isn't so much the creation of the website or the lawsuits that followed but rather the deterioration of Zuckerberg's relationship with his best frie