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Chapter 1: What recent movies are recommended in this episode?
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So we cover a lot of movies around here, many of which we adore. But look, we are but mere mortals and some really good stuff is inevitably gonna pass us by. which is why we're taking a beat now to spotlight some favorites we just couldn't get to before. I'm Ayesha Harris, and joining me today to recommend some great movies we missed on NPR's Pop Culture Happy Hour is my co-host, Linda Holmes.
Hey, Linda. Hello, Ayesha. Hello. Also with us is NPR film critic Bob Mondello. Welcome back, Bob.
Great to be here.
Great to have you. And rounding out the panel is Walter Chow. He's a writer, critic, and film instructor at the University of Colorado. Welcome back to you too, Walter.
Thanks so much for having me.
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Chapter 2: What is the plot of the movie Tuner?
And of course, Dustin Hoffman and Tova Feldschild playing your loving surrogate parents. That's just a good idea. Yeah. And so I just found this whole movie to be really satisfying and entertaining. And I was really glad to see it because, as you know, festival movies can be heavy. Yeah. And parts of it are a little bit heavy, but mostly it's an entertaining movie and I very much enjoyed it.
You know, I really love movies about people who are good at their jobs. Yes. They show details of people, of them doing their jobs. This movie reminded me a lot of Thief. Those safe-breaking sequences, right, where you have this – this person is really good at it. Or even Rafifi, which is another sort of safe-cracking thing. It's all about plans.
It's about a person who's really good at what they do. It reminded me a lot of Shoot the Piano Player, the Francois Truffaut film, where it's like you're just really good at one thing. And really it's sort of a caper that's not a caper. It's more of an interpersonal drama. Yeah. Yeah, a really satisfying watch, I think.
Yeah, this may be a me thing, but as a person who's worked for 40 years in radio, the representation of audio in this picture is really interesting. And I thought it was very cleverly done. A really smart movie. It just really was. And Woodall is amazing. He's great. He's just such an appealing guy. Is he famous from something?
He's been in a few things. He was in the recent Bridget Jones movie that they did where he's like her young boyfriend. He's done a handful of things. This is my favorite thing I've seen him in. Yeah.
Look, I'm the only one here who hasn't seen this yet, but I'm definitely putting this on my list because you have. Convince me. I need to check this out. It's right up my alley. And look, ambition, it can be fine. It can be admirable. But execution is, to me, often even more important. So that's Tuner, which is in theaters now and on VOD.
So we're going to go from, you know, crime caper, heist movie, but interpersonal relationships to just maximum violence. Maximum everything, violence, messages, and all these things. My pick is The Furious. And I love this movie. If you are a fan of martial arts films like The Raid, you will enjoy this movie. And I had such a blast seeing this.
So this is directed by Kenji Tanigaki, who's this veteran stunt and fight choreographer. He's worked with Donnie Yen. including on Blade II. So he knows his stuff. He knows what he's doing. And this is a movie. It's a Hong Kong action film, but it's kind of a very multicultural, multi-international film. It's set somewhere in Southeast Asia. They don't specify.
But it stars Sien Miao as Wong Wei, a mysterious mute handyman and single father to a young girl named Rainie, who's played by Yang In-yo. And Rainie is kidnapped by traffickers very early into the movie. Of course. Yes. And Wong goes after her and eventually teams up with Navin, played by Joe Taslim.
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Chapter 3: How does Tuner explore themes of crime and relationships?
You've seen this movie more than I have. Four or five times?
I've seen it four times. I'm going to go in for another dip soon. I love this movie so much. It speaks so much to, you know, the first time watches of some movies just sort of linger with you. And this is one of those with me the first time I saw it. It just felt like, oh, yeah. Oh, yeah. This fits just like an old terrycloth robe for me. Something about this is really comfortable. Yeah.
there's scenes where he builds like pyramids out of the bodies of his vanquished he's climbing up the bodies as he's stacking them on top of each other because they keep coming at him it is indescribable as a kind of piece of moving art in a way you know on the one hand it's horribly violent and you know it's hard to recommend it to grandma but on my hand i look at it like you know this is beautiful in a way the choreography is so meticulous it has to be and and the
the imagination how do we film a fight sequence now after we've seen 10 gazillion fight sequences over the course of you know how do we make it new and interesting and innovative how do we make the stakes appropriately high you mentioned the raid and you know this generation of fight choreographers that are redefining what it is to look at fights you know john woo did this for the last generation right and it just lifts you and i've been needing a lot of like lifting of light and
And so I just keep finding myself, you know, kind of wandering back into screenings of this film and saying, you know, I just got to watch The Furious again. This is exactly what I needed right at this moment to watch.
Just everything is so witty, visually witty and inventive, you know, from the detail of the flip-flops to the call-outs to the big boss with the blocks of ice or walking on glass to die hard of all things. You know, they're call-outs to the entire history of great action cinema culminating to this point. It really plays like a history lesson. of action films, if you're so inclined.
Or it's just, you know, it's just one of those movies that I always rail against when people say, turn off your brain and watch it. Well, this is one of those movies. You could do that.
You could absolutely do that.
Just get lost in it.
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