Dan Persons

Cinefantastique Spotlight Podcast: Star Trek Into Darkness

2013-05-20T10:56:21-04:00

Star Trek is back, Captain Kirk (Chris Pine) is still flouting the rules, director J.J. Abrams is still dividing the fan base, but amazingly, inconceivably, there's no dissent within the Cinefantastique Online ranks this time: Steve Biodrowski, Lawrence French, and I all agree that Star Trek Into Darkness is supreme, quintessential Trek adventure. Telling the tale of the Enterprise's encounter with a diabolical mastermind (Benedict Cumberbatch), the film at once delivers the big-scale action (even better in IMAX 3D) that audiences have come to expect from a major studio tent pole release while honoring the ideals that made creator Gene Roddenberry's optimistic vision of the future so compelling.

Come join Steve, Larry, and myself as we delve deep into this top-notch entry to the Trek franchise, exploring what makes it both a superior entertainment and a worthy elaboration of Roddenberry's humanistic vision. Plus: What's coming to theaters next week.

Click on the player button to hear the interview, or right-click the title to download.

Cinefantastique Spotlight Podcast: Star Trek Into Darkness

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Mystery Science Theater 3000's Frank Conniff: The CFQ Interview

2013-05-17T00:10:13-04:00

As Mystery Science Theater 3000's TV's Frank, comedian and writer Frank Conniff became possibly the most cuddly mad scientist in history. From his debut television appearance that started with the show's second season -- for which he scripted and also pre-screened the "cheesy movies" that would torture host Joel Hodgson and crew -- Conniff went on to gigs both behind and in front of the cameras for such diverse genre shows as Sabrina the Teenage Witch and Invader Zim.

I am, admittedly, an unabashed MSTie, and so when I got the greenlight to go ahead with The CFQ Interview, Frank was the first person I contacted and subsequently the first to be interviewed. The talk is wide-ranging, including an in-depth glimpse into to the work on MST3K and other shows, plus discussion of the aborted Joel Hodgson feature project Statical Planets and Frank's creation of the satiric, audio musical, The Wonderful Pundits of Oz (which you can download here).

Click on the player button to hear the interview, or right-click the title to download.

Mystery Science Theater 3000's Frank Conniff: The CFQ Interview

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Cinefantastique Spotlight Podcast: Tribute to Ray Harryhausen

2013-05-13T10:23:19-04:00

It is not an understatement to say that, for many who work within the industry of fantastic film and those who cover it, Ray Harryhausen was one of the key godfathers of the Sense of Wonder. In such films as Earth vs. the Flying Saucers, The Seventh Voyage of Sinbad, Jason and the Argonauts, and Clash of the Titans, Harryhausen's collection of creatures -- singlehandedly and painstakingly stop-motion animated by the man himself -- exhibited a wondrous sense of life, and convinced many of us that, with dedication and love, almost anything that could be dreamed of could be realized on the screen.

Come join our special guest, theofantastique.com's John W. Morehead, as he sits down with Cinefantastique Online's Steve Biodrowski, Lawrence French, and myself to celebrate Ray Harryhausen's achievements and evaluate his indelible contribution to the world of film. Plus: I give my capsule reviews of Sightseers and The Painting, and preview what's coming to theaters next week.

Click on the player button to hear the interview, or right-click the title to download.

Cinefantastique Spotlight Podcast: Tribute to Ray Harryhausen

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Mighty Movie Podcast: Alice Winocour on Augustine

2013-05-12T11:19:12-04:00

Let no one say that French director Alice Winocour isn't audacious. She chooses not only to make her debut film -- which she also scripted -- a period piece, but to use it as a conduit for some trenchant observations on class, sexuality, and gender. Based on true events, Augustine tells the tale of the titular kitchen servant -- played by the singer Soko -- who is brought to an asylum after suffering a strange seizure that leaves her paralyzed on one side. Placed in the care of Dr. Jean-Martin Charcot (Vincent Lindon) -- whom Sigmund Freud would eventually cite as a major influence -- the young Augustine becomes the 19th century equivalent of a media sensation, her near-orgasmic fits under hypnosis staged for the edification (and entertainment) of French society.

I got to sit down with Winocour to discuss this richly realized and slyly subversive debut. We explore the complex process of recreating a time when a predominantly male medical establishment still regarded female "hysteria" with a mix of fascination and fear, and examine how she sculpted this true story into an enthralling allegory for both the class struggle and male/female politics. Click on the player button to hear the interview, or right-click the title to download.

Mighty Movie Podcast: Alice Winocour on Augustine

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Sightseers' Ben Wheatley: The CFQ Interview

2013-05-10T08:40:40-04:00

Welcome to the banality of evil, Ben Wheatley-style: In his horror comedy Sightseers, a couple (Alice Lowe and Steve Oram, who also scripted) decides to take a caravan trip across the British Isles. But, really, who could enjoy such marvels as an antique tramway or the pencil museum when such distractions as litterers, rowdy Wiccans, and people who are just better than you keep interfering? There's only one solution, and it's one that requires sponges and tons of bleach to clean up after.

Wheatley has a unique way of grounding horror with credible performances and an unassuming shooting style that only accentuates the graphic violence. His hit-man horror film, Kill List, made my top ten last year, and Sightseers continues his streak of riveting an audience with a naturalistic brand of dread. I was happy to meet up with him again to talk about this film -- click on the player button to hear the interview, or right-click the title to download.

Sightseers' Ben Wheatley: The CFQ Interview

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Cinefantastique Spotlight Podcast: Iron Man 3

2013-05-06T10:05:14-04:00

It's felled the likes of Superman, Batman, Spider-Man and the X-Men. It's a more daunting foe than Lex Luthor, Bane, and Magneto combined. It is, of course, the third installment of a superhero franchise, and now it's time for comicdom's snarkiest hero to face the figurative music in Iron Man 3. With Robert Downey Jr, Don Cheadle, and Gwyneth Paltrow returning to their roles as, respectively, Tony Stark/Iron Man, James Rhodes/War Machine (here redubbed Iron Patriot), and Pepper Potts/Pepper Potts (somebody's gotta stay in civvies), plus Ben Kingsley donning a bin Laden beard and a Hugo Weaving/Agent Smith drawl as the politically-incorrect terrorist the Mandarin, and with direction by pop-ironist Shane Black, can this third go for the power-assisted crime fighter break film's most notorious curse? Turns out Cinefantastique Online's Steve Biodrowski, Lawrence French, and Dan Persons form a decidedly mixed jury on that front, differing on whether IM3 is one of the best comic book films to come around in a while, is just solid if undistinguished entertainment, or is an affront to all right-thinking fans of Marvel's steeliest superhero. The conflict will be resolved with a massive, twenty minute fight scene, heavily enhanced with CG. (No it won't.)

Plus: What's coming to theaters next week. Click on the player button to hear the interview, or right-click the title to download.

Cinefantastique Spotlight Podcast: Iron Man 3

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The Cast of Your Pretty Face is Going to Hell: The CFQ Interview

2013-05-03T09:41:39-04:00

Shooting a workplace comedy set in Hell may be challenging, tedious work, but at least you get to traumatize the hotel staff. That's only one of the lessons to be gleaned from the cast of Your Pretty Face is Going to Hell, a new Adult Swim comedy that takes the white-collar satire of Office Space and adds a piquant whiff of brimstone to the proceedings. Joining me for an interview that's part Inside the Actor's Studio, part MMA cage match are comic actors Henry Zebrowski and Craig Rowin, and Satan himself, Matt Servitto. Pour yourself a nice, brimming mug of goat's blood and click on the player button to hear the interview, or right-click the title to download.

The Cast of Your Pretty Face is Going to Hell

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Mighty Movie Podcast: Pierce Brosnan on Love Is All You Need

2013-04-28T12:36:34-04:00

Sometimes the wedding videographers are pointing their cameras in the wrong direction. Susanne Bier's Love is All You Need takes place mostly in a villa in Sorrento, where a young and rather conflicted couple (Molly Blixt Egelind and Sebastian Jessen) are getting married. But the kids are not the only ones being put through changes; the mother of the bride (Trine Dyrholm) has just discovered her husband's infidelity -- a double blow since the woman has just emerged victorious from chemotherapy -- while the groom's father (Pierce Brosnan) has so immersed himself in business that he's lost much of the stuff that connects him to other humans. Could be that each lost soul is what the other is looking for to get through the rest of their lives, but since director Bier is best known for such works as Things We Lost in the Fire, and the Oscar-winning A Better Life, the going in this uncommonly nuanced romantic comedy will not be easy, and the stakes will have genuine impact.

Pierce Brosnan sat down with us to talk about the challenges of bringing genuine consequences to a romantic role, the experience of shooting on-location in one of the most beautiful regions on Earth, and whatever happened to Thomas Crown? Click on the player button to hear the interview, or right-click the title to download.

Mighty Movie Podcast: Pierce Brosnan on Love is All You Need

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Martin Landau: The CFQ Interview

2013-04-25T14:52:37-04:00

Every now and then, we pause in awe of the people we've had the opportunity to spend time with. Doug Trumbull, John Kricfalusi, and Paul Verhoeven in earlier years, Armin Shimerman and Frank Oz more recently -- now it's Martin Landau's turn, and we couldn't be happier.

In an extended and wide-ranging interview, we got a chance to discuss the length and breadth of Martin's career. In the course of talking about his roles in North by Northwest, Mission: Impossible, and his Oscar-winning portrayal of Bela Lugois in Ed Wood -- and much, much more -- Martin provides insights on the art of acting, shares anecdotes from the set, and talks about the sometimes seamy politics that drive the film industry. It is, all told, a fascinating exploration of the life of an actor -- click on the player button to hear the interview, or right-click the title to download.

Martin Landau: The CFQ Interview

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Mighty Movie's Temple of Bad: Riki-Oh: The Story of Ricky

2013-04-24T12:03:24-04:00

In the future -- and by "future," we mean 2001 -- the Chinese prison system will be stupid. Also violent, sadistic, and quite, quite unsanitary -- what with there not being a wall, fixture or floor that isn't thoroughly coated with the viscera of its unfortunate inhabitants -- but mostly really, really dumb. That's the big take-away from Riki-Oh: The Story of Ricky, an ultra-violent Hong Kong martial arts film that doesn't so much tell a story as throw buckets of gore around and hope that viewers will, Rorschach-like, synthesize meaning from the incoherent mess.

Multimediumrare.com's Orenthal Hawkins joins Temple of Bad's Andrea Lipinski, Kevin Lauderdale, and I to celebrate ToB's first anniversary, curse my name for being the one to pick this episode's feature, and engage in possibly the liveliest exploration of a bad movie since the Temple opened its doors with a discussion of Birdemic: Shock and Terror.

Click on the player button to hear the interview, or right-click the title to download.

Mighty Movie's Temple of Bad: Riki-Oh: The Story of Ricky

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Cinefantastique Spotlight Podcast: Oblivion

2013-04-22T09:45:15-04:00

Oblivion is a fun, state-of-the-art, big-studio science fiction adventurer, action-packed and, under the direction of Joseph Kosinski, quite beautiful. That, in its telling the tale of post-apocalyptic caretaker Tom Cruise discovering his alien-war-ravaged Earth suffered its wounds for reasons other than he was told (with Morgan Freeman doing for the Morpheus role what he previously did for penguins), the film isn't much more than an assemblage of well-established science fiction tropes shouldn't be an impediment to enjoyment -- at a time when studio films seem to have a problem getting a basic story across, coming across a corking-good adventure is not something to sneeze at. Come join Cinefantastique Online's Steve Biodrowski, Lawrence French, and I as we debate the pluses and minuses of the film, and once again pledge our troth to Stanley Kubrick.

Also: Steve and I discuss Rob Zombie's moody, new horror film, The Lords of Salem. Plus: Nothing coming to theaters next week.

Click on the player button to hear the interview, or right-click the title to download.

Cinefantastique Spotlight Podcast: Oblivion

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Mighty Movie Podcast: Kristin Chenoweth on Family Weekend

2013-04-21T10:27:42-04:00

Behold the nuclear family what has outright exploded: Mother (Kristin Chenoweth) and father (Matthew Modine) are so wrapped up in their own agendas that they don't have time to tend to anything else; the kids, rudderless, are left to their own devices to cope. Time to hit the pause button, get everybody together for a few days of bonding and healing. Oh, and better gag and tie Mom and Dad down to their chairs, 'cause that's the only way they're gonna hold still enough for this to do any good.

In Family Weekend, Kristin Chenoweth plays one of the victims of a therapeutic kidnapping gone comedically haywire. We got to talk with her about the role and the challenges of performing while immobilized. Click on the player button to hear the interview, or right-click the title to download.

Mighty Movie Podcast: Kristin Chenoweth on Family Weekend

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Rob Zombie & Sheri Moon Zombie: The CFQ Interview

2013-04-19T08:06:02-04:00

Musician, moviemaker, iconoclastic fan, Rob Zombie has built a formidable rep for himself by taking the horror genre and turning it to his own, unique vision. Now, after such wild rides as The Devil's Rejects and Halloween, he ventures into new territory, telling a more nuanced tale of a New England DJ facing a hellish future when an accursed record introduces her to The Lords of Salem.

I sit down with Rob and wife/star Sheri Moon Zombie, and the result is an energetic, off-the-cuff conversation incorporating, but not limited to, Rob's views about reaching back to the roots of horror for his own work, the challenges of steering a low-budget project to a successful conclusion, and why there can be very little difference between actors stepping onto a set and high noon in Dodge City.

Click on the player button to hear the interview, or right-click the title to download.

Rob Zombie & Sheri Moon Zombie: The CFQ Interview

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Cinefantastique Spotlight Podcast: Scary Movie V & Jason and the Argonauts

2013-04-15T09:38:44-04:00

Scary Movie V opened this week! Yeah, us neither. So instead of delving in-depth into this weekend's big release (takeaway: A Haunted House was much funnier), Cinefantastique Online's Steve Biodrowski and I deliver a quick capsule review, and then Lawrence French joins us for a fiftieth anniversary discussion of stop-motion animator Ray Harryhausen's epic fantasy (actually directed by Don Chaffey), Jason and the Argonauts. Featuring such wondrous creatures as winged harpies, a deadly hydra, and an armed troop of bloodthirsty skeletons, the film stands at the pinnacle of Harryhausen's career, and well worth discovering if you've never seen it before. But if you're still faltering: Scary Movie V sets a baby on fire. So there's that.

Plus: What's coming to theaters this weekend.

Click on the player button to hear the show, or right-click the title to download.

Cinefantastique Spotlight Podcast: Scary Movie V & Jason and the Argonauts

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Mighty Movie Podcast: Francois Ozon on In the House

2013-04-14T10:03:14-04:00

French filmmaker Francois Ozon is once again messing with your mind, telling a tale of envy, desire, and literary license in In the House. Wry and dark, the film is about a teacher (Fabrice Luchini) who becomes obsessed when the writings of a teenager (Ernst Umhauer) turn into an account of his insinuation into the life and household of a fellow student. When the reports go from voyeurism to acts of seduction, and possibly worse, the mentor finds himself taxed with the increasingly urgent need to determine how much is reality and how much merely a reflection of the teen's dark imaginings. A clever examination of the responsibilities artists have to their audiences, and vice-versa, the film's another twisty, enthralling showcase for Ozon.

An ardent fan of the director's, I was delighted to have Ozon on the show again to talk about bringing this story to the screen, and his intent in doing so. Click on the player button to hear the interview, or right-click the title to download.

Mighty Movie Podcast: Francois Ozon on In the House

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