Convicted Cinephiles #60 - Targeting The Turks

Convicted Cinephiles

The Cinephiles get gangster this episode, as the topic is, as stated by Matty, "People Doing Criminal Sh*t". The guys welcome Drex Live's producer Eric to the show, as well as regular guest J.J. Webb for a pretty interesting group of films. The panel starts with something a little different in their usual news department. They talk television! With Daredevil now on Netflix and the return of Game of Thrones, the guys movie watching took a little break to get immersed in these groundbreaking TV series. Then the horrible R word comes out: Reboot. What's getting a Hollywood "re-imagining"?

These are our Staff Picks of the week!

After checking out the latest Fast and Furious film, Matty has an urge to re watch one of the co-stars Tony Jaa's older films The Protector. The movie is about a young Thai fighter who must travel to Australia to recover his stolen elephant, a sacred animal in his village. This movie is packed with incredible martial arts scenes and awesome one shot sequences. We're a little bummed that this film wasn't called "A Boy and His Elephant".

Stevil got to check out an advanced screening of Noah Baumbach's new film While We're Young and loved it. It follows a middle-aged "Generation X" couple (Ben Stiller and Naomi Watts) who befriend a young hipster couple (Adam Driver and Amanda Seyfried). As the older couple start to feel invigorated by the lifestyle of their new friends, it starts to drudge up the issues within their own marriage. Baumbach knocks it out of the park again with this one and it also features the screen debut of Beastie Boys' Ad-Rock.

Eric has been watching Interstellar pretty regularly and who can blame him? Christopher and Jonathan Nolan weave a beautiful and smart sci-fi about a father going through incredible lengths to save his children and the entire planet from extinction. The visuals are flawless and make you really think about just how small we are in the scope of the universe. Then we pack another bowl in the ol' bong...

Canadian films don't usually get their due, but J.J. bring the deeply complex drama Elephant Song as his pick this week. A very dialogue driven film, it stars Bruce Greenwood as a psychiatrist trying to find the whereabouts of his friends and colleagues by questioning one of his main patients played by Xavier Dolan. This young actor/director Dolan's career is on the rise, making his first film at age 19 and movie lovers should definitely check out his work.

For the main subject of criminal films, our panel explains why they made their choices:

"There are a lot of great criminal or gangster films, but among my favorite are the Guy Ritchie and Matthew Vaughn London gangster films. Vaughn produced Ritchie's Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels and Snatch, then pursued making his own film, my choice, the absolutely perfect Layer Cake. This is really the fist time I took notice of Daniel Craig, in, perhaps, his greatest performance to date. This movie got him Bond. Vaughn direction through cinematography, story and great music is immaculate, a great watch every time." - @thestevildead

"You may jump to some conclusions as to why I picked Eastern Promises. Is it my love of Cronenberg or is it Viggo's flopping manhood. I picked it because it talks about a criminal underworld that has predominantly started in the shadows, Russian Gangsters. What I brought was a look into the bleak and disturbing underbelly of London, where an outsider gets a first hand view of the darkness that lives in some people's souls." - @mattydub604

"You may be asking what the criminal element in this movie is, well it is identity theft. CB4 is a very real look into how many fake people are in Hip Hop the music industry and to go farther life. There are some real lessons to be learned although it may not seem like it with a song called sweat from my balls Art Evans who plays Chris Rocks father speaks a lot of truth. The soundtrack will take you back to the 90's and you will never look at Khandi Alexander the same again." - @nweaz

"I have quite the record of picking Criterion films for these casts. So when the crime genre came up, I had no hesitation in picking this obscure, amazing title. Japan has a great selection of crime films, whether it is yakuza, fast paced action, or a more film noir style of the 50's. Going off the beaten path with Tokyo Drifter, in what can only be described as a jazz, pistol, and loner film, was a no brainer for me, and a great way to introduce a feature most people wouldn't think of when talking about crime films. I hope this opens the door and peaks your interest to maybe go and see what other Japanese crime films can be." - @hesthejage

What is your favourite criminal or gangster film? Do you or did you enjoy our picks? Listen to the episode and let us know what you think in the comments below and follow us on Twitter and Instagram!