The Film Thugs Movie Show

As we said on our last show, this week was so hectic that we literally could not get together at all to record. So, for I believe the second time in 3 years, there will be no show this week. That being the case, I offer the end of my Best of the Year lists as a paltry substitute.

5-1

Finally! I’m speaking for myself with that. Honestly, I am so glad to be done with this thing. I enjoyed it, but enough is enough. So, here you go. The home stretch, my top 5 of the year.

5) Moonrise Kingdom

I didn’t see this movie until very recently. Like mid January. I wanted to see it sooner, but just couldn’t get it together. I am so glad I finally did.

Wes Anderson... man, I have a tricky relationship with him. I saw Bottle Rocket in the theater during it’s initial run. At the time I was living in a dorm that had one of the best independent theaters in the state attached to it, so I got to see some really amazing films in incredibly small, empty theaters.

I liked it, but not so much as everyone else. It has amazing characters and dialogue, but the story is really thin, so I just don’t connect with it that much.

Rushmore is... well, it’s Rushmore. He and Owen Wilson set the bar so high with that one that I thought it would be impossible to reach.

But then...

The Royal Tenenbaums cleared it. Easily. That move is just... damn!

Then...

The Life Aquatic was a bit of a let down for me. Not terrible, but just not something I really cared for that much.

Which was followed up by...

The Darjeeling Limited was... I really didn’t like it. Not at all. It took me a week to finish it. It couldn’t hold my attention and I kept falling asleep. Again, good dialogue and characters, but the overall execution was just lacking.

The Fantastic Mr. Fox was a really outstanding return to form. It was funny, quirky, fun, just... everything I love about Wes Anderson’s work.

Moonrise Kingdom looked... well it looked really precious, like Wes had stored up all his excess quirk and threw it all at the wall for this one.

Which he did. And man, did it work.

Moonrise Kingdom is Wes Anderson at his Wes Anderson-ist. It all takes place in a world that we don’t live it. Yeah, it looks kind of the same and the people in it act kind of like people you may have met, but it’s just off enough to be... well, charming.

It’s about an orphaned scout who runs away from his summer camp to be with the girl he met a year earlier at... well it wouldn’t make sense if I explained it.

I’ve had a theory about Wes ever since Life Aquatic. I think that he is one of those writers who needs the right partner. His work with Owen Wilson was superb, but when he started working with other people it started to become a bit spotty. That’s no insult to him or the other writers, but he and Wilson met in college and really developed as writers together. It’s hard to get that chemistry down.

This is the second script he wrote with Bambach was Fantastic Mr. Fox, and this was his second with Roman Coppola and in both cases the maturation of their working relationship was evident.

Moonrise Kingdom is one of the quirkiest movies I’ve ever seen. It very easily could have slipped into obnoxiousness, but it doesn’t. The characters are odd, but believable. The rules of their world are absolutely insane, but they make sense because the world itself is a bit insane. This is one of those rare, touching films that reminds me what I love about movies in the first place.

4) Lincoln

I’v e read some things about this movie recently that have struck me very odd. There are quite a few people who are calling it dull and boring. Which, if I’m being completely honest, is what I was expecting. Going into this I was only expecting one thing- to be utterly blown away by Daniel Day-Lewis and find the rest of it to be very stuffy and costume drama-ey.

More than anything I was, and in many ways still am, blown away at how interesting I found this film. Yes, it is a bit slow, but the subject matter is so absolutely engrossing that I couldn’t help but be completely pulled in by it.

I will confess that I am very interested in history the way this film portrays it. I like knowing the small things, the little moments that make up every day life. The way I put it, were I to meet someone who was on the Titanic, let’s say, I wouldn’t care about the things you normally learn in history class. I would want to know what music they listened to, how family dynamics and friendships worked. How was your actual life different than mine? That’s what fascinates me.

Lincoln gives you that, but in the context of one of the most important days in the history of my country. People forget that the words we live by in our constitution (as Piers Morgan so lovingly refers to it “our little book”) have changed over the years. I mean, “We the People” originally meant, “We the property owning white males...”

This film shows the events of a few days, the dirty politics of a massive system, as it attempts to correct a grievous sin. Above all else, it shows just how dirty a business politics is. Make no mistake, the 13 Amendment was purchased by Lincoln, and this movie shows how.

Day-Lewis is amazing, as expected, but so is everyone else. This film is an collection of best in career performances. Sally Field, Joseph Gordon Levitt, Tommy Lee Jones, James Spader, John Hawkes, Tim Blake Nelson, hell, I could go on, but they are all amazing.

I could see how some people might find this movie dull, so be forewarned. Personally, though, I found the subject matter fascinating, the performances amazing, the direction solid and well paced... just in general, I loved this thing.

3) The Dark Knight Rises

Another one that some people have problems with. I think this was the absolute perfect end to an amazing series. I make no secret of my love for Christopher Nolan. His films are entertaining, intelligent, and visually striking, writing and narrative style is perhaps the most sophisticated and well developed out there, and his ability to make wildly entertaining movies that you have to pay close attention to in order to understand is second to none.

Nolan had his work cut out for him on this one.

a- How do you follow up a movie that is held up to the impossible standard of “The Dark Knight?”

b- How do you wrap up such a respected and obsessed over film series without letting a lot of people down?

c- How the hell do you have a villain step into Heath Ledgers massive shoes?

Nolan was somehow able to not just follow up TDK, but in many was surpass it because he set out to make a different film. Instead of trying to retread it, he took things in a wildly different direction. Begin with a broken hero and give reason for him to come back. Establish what your film is, and execute it with as much gusto as humanly possible. Create a villain that is as different from the last one as you can make him.

Basically, make it its own film.

Tom Hardy as Bane is... just DAMN!

For as terrifying as Leger’s shotgun of random chaos Joker was, the intense focus and singleminded determination of Hardy’s Bane just amplifies that feeling.

It’s a movie about the cruelty of false hope and the need to embrace your own fallibility and weakness.

Some people may not agree, but I don’t care. The Dark Knight Rises is one of the most original and striking films I’ve seen in years.

2) Zero Dark Thirty

There are few jobs more horrendously misrepresented in film than that of spy. You dress cool, go to cool places, get cool gadgets to play with, everyone you work with is really attractive and all they want to do is have sex with you.

Zero Dark Thirty puts the lie to that and does so in one of the most fascinating, engrossing, and thrilling movies I’ve seen in a while. Everyone knows the broad strokes and this film fills in a lot of the details.

Imagine the impossibility of this undertaking. One man hiding somewhere in the world, most likely in Afghanistan, or maybe Pakistan, or... maybe somewhere else. All we know  is that he, and the very large organization he heads up, would rather he not be found.

It’s stunning that such a small team of people was able to accomplish anything, much less finding and killing the guy.

That’s kind of what pisses me off about the way the media covers things like this. Neither Obama nor Bush “got” Bin Laden. A group of people in the CIA, working for YEARS with little to no information was able to put together enough to track him down. And that’s what this movie shows you. A very small group, grinding it out over many years.

To the “controversy” over the torture scenes. Yes, there are scenes of torture, and yes they are pretty rough, and yes the torture does yield a small amount of information. But the tremendous amount of single minded work that went into finding the man really takes center stage. The movie makes it quite clear that all they got from the torture was one name. Had that name not stuck with one intelligence officer who refused to let it go, nothing would have happened. But one woman wouldn’t let the lead go.

This is a tough movie to categorize. I mean, it’s a spy movie, but a realistic one. It’s also a procedural, but different than you are maybe used to. It has elements of an action movie, but a very grown up action movie. It’s drama for certain, but not manufactured.

I’ve written before about the difficulty of making a movie about actual events. I was writing about “The Devil’s Double,” and how it lacked a satisfying resolution, because in real life that’s how it went. Zero Dark Thirty was lucky in that it is a complete story that ends in success. Personally, I don’t think it would have been anywhere near as compelling if it had been made before Bin Laden was killed. It would have been a lot of built that ended with a question mark. Instead you get real life falling together in a very Hollywood way.

Zero Dark Thirty manages to do something very difficult. It is a smart, adult targeted espionage movie that never drags or gets boring with an ending that feels completely fantastical and totally realistic at the same time.

1) Argo

Another Middle East centric movie based on actual events that has been criticized over nit picky details that have nothing at all to do with the film itself? I am just soooo predictable.

I am going to address the bullshit criticism before I go on about why this movie topped my list.

1) Canada's Involvement

Critics claim that the movie underplays the involvement of the Canadian Government and Ambassador Ken Taylor claiming that not enough credit was given for their risk and role in the planning and execution of the extraction.

I call a bit of BS on this because those who criticize it give me my retort.

“Taylor himself has a major part, and is presented as a sympathetic and brave man who took great personal risks to save the Americans. But his actual role was even larger.”

You know what? There are a lot of people who contributed significantly who didn’t get mentioned at all. It’s a movie, and a movie’s intended purpose is to tell a story as compellingly and as concisely as possible. Is it necessary to go into great detail about everyone and make a 12 hour miniseries just to insure that nobody gets overlooked.

Taylor comes off as a compassionate human being who is willing to risk his life by committing what would be considered an act of war in order to do what is right. I cannot think of any higher praise one could be paid than that. This was not a “he might get in trouble” situation. He witnessed the storming of an embassy, he knew what would happen just by having them there. The level of courage it took to do that demands respect.

Also, the fact that Canada took sole credit for the mission for 25 years and Taylor himself received 112 citations for what he did should be sufficient. It’s a movie, don’t lessen what you did by bickering over it.

You know what you don’t see? Tony Mendez complaining that he was denied credit for one of the most incredible intelligence operations ever conducted for almost 3 decades. Canada, we thanked you then and continue to thank you now. Perhaps let the other people, those who had to keep their participation a secret for 25 years, have a moment in the sun.

2) Not spending sufficient time on the hostages.

More than one article that I’ve read has criticized this film for focusing on the 12 who got out and basically ignoring the 52 who were held for 444 days.

Ok, so your criticism is that the movie isn’t about something else. That’s what your saying. It should not have been about a, it should have been about b.

In other words, you didn’t like the movie. Because that’s what you’re saying. It’s a nit picky bullshit reason to criticize something. That’s like criticizing Zero Dark Thirty for not giving enough screen time to the helicopter pilots. The movie wasn’t about them.

3) The escape didn't happen that dramatically.

This one might have the most validity, but it is still stupid. For starters, it’s not a documentary, it’s a fiction film that is meant to entertain. That’s it. Most movies based on actual, historical events are not 100% faithful to the actual history.

Did you know that Mozart and Salieri were actually quite good friends? So, does that make Amadeus a bad movie?

There are no recorded cases of Russian Roulette being played by Vietnam POW’s, does that make Deer Hunter any less good?

Marcus Aurelius never wanted to restore the Republic. Commodus didn’t kill him. Maximus never existed. So I guess Gladiator is a piece of shit.

Yes, history is important and movies tend to be more popular than books and this can lead to massive misunderstandings in the popular culture. But that isn’t new.

Do you know who Israel Bissell was? No? Strange, because he rode hundreds of miles to warn American colonists that “the Redcoats are coming.” Paul Revere only rode 13 miles, but because Paul Revere rhymes with more things than Israel Bissell, he had a kick ass poem written about him and history followed suit.

Sucks for Bissell, but it doesn’t change the history and those who are willing to learn it will, those who aren’t never will. At least the movie or the poem will give them some sort of knowledge.

Also, do you really want to watch a movie without a climax, because that’s what it would have been had they done it the way it happened.

So, now why is this my movie of the year?

Good question.

I have not seen a movie that has made me twist in my seat the way this one did in a very long time. The urgency of every scene, the palpable sense of dread, the immediacy of it all.

Yes, this is essentially a caper/heist movie. So what? It’s a fantastic caper/heist movie. So far as a that genre goes, it’s pretty much a perfect caper film. It’s an absurd situation that, were it not based on actual events, would be laughed off the screen as completely unbelievable. The thought that the largest intelligence agency, serving the most powerful country in the world was reduced to “the best bad idea we have,” is amazing.

I also love hidden history. Like Lincoln’s political dealings, or the behind the scenes intelligence work necessary to bring down Bin Laden, the actual machinations needed to enter a wildly hostile country alone and walk out with 6 other people, while constantly under the risk of exposure and execution is incredibly fascinating to me.

Argo pretty much hits everything I love in a movie. It’s smart, funny, exciting, well paced, well acted, well written, brilliantly directed, and about something I find absolutely fascinating. It may or may not be one of my fabled “perfect movies,” for that I will need a few more viewings. But I can say after just one screening that it is damned close to perfect.

So, there you have it. A few months late and a few thousand words too long, but damn it, I finished.

Thanks for checking it out.

Top 20- Things Get Real- 10-6. The most diverse part of my list.

OK, basically every number above 10 is kind of irrelevant. Honestly, anyone who tells you that they can quantify a difference between 15 and 20 when writing a list like this takes themselves a bit too seriously. It’s like a teacher who claims their grading system is exact enough to justify a difference between an 89 and a 90. It’s just not so.

Now, we are down to the real list. I tend to obsess over thing like this and, with the exception of my number 1, which has been set in stone since I left the theater, everything else has moved around a little. So, before I reorganize again, here it is...

10) The Avengers

I was more than a little apprehensive going into this. Rarely has a movie had this much build up. I mean, how many films have had to act as the culmination of 5 essentially unrelated movies? Add to it that only one of the Iron Man films was good, Thor was... well, Thor was, Captain America was half of a good movie, and The Incredible Hulk was a good movie that happened a very long time ago, the deck felt, for me at least, fairly stacked against it.

Then it came out and people started talking about box office. Not the quality of the film, but how much money it made. That always turns me off because I feel that you should talk about what is most impressive about a film. If the most impressive thing was the box office, then it’s not something I really care to see.

But people with whom I tend agree started talking about how good it was and people with whom I tend to disagree started talking about how disappointing it was. So I had to give into the cultural zeitgeist (that’s right, I said it), and see it.

This movie is far, FAR better than it should have been. For starters, it’s fun as hell, which really is the most important thing for a movie like this. The characters are fully realized and brilliantly executed.

Joss Whedon nails it. I was a bit thrown by the choice of a TV guy for a movie like this, but if you think about it, a TV guy is the best choice. Joss excels at creating massive worlds populated with a host of interesting characters that balance big stories and small stories expertly. It’s a movie with 6 protagonists that needed a director who could manage a world. Joss nailed it.

9) Ted

I waited a very long time to see this one. When a movie comes out and people star throwing the “greatest _______ ever” thing around... I tend to shut down a little. I’ve always had the attitude that your second viewing, removed from the hype and emotion of the initial theatrical viewing, is a more accurate barometer of how you feel about a movie.

I saw Ted on video, by myself, after pulling a theatrical triple feature. So, it being my fourth movie of the day, alone on my couch, I was ready to judge it honestly.

Holy crap was it funny. Damned funny. Not funniest movie ever made, but funniest thing I’ve seen in years. When it comes to comedy, Seth MacFarlane just pins his ears back and goes full speed ahead.

Now, the story is pretty by the numbers and basically just serves as a vehicle for gags, but the gags work. Sam Jones absolutely steals the show, and I cannot remember laughing harder at anything than I did at the entire “shit on the rug” bit.

This is a juvenile movie aimed at adults who embrace the juvenile, so if you take yourself too seriously, then you are probably going to hate it. But, if you can just allow it to be what it is and have fun with it, you will laugh your stupid, stupid ass off.

8) Django Unchained

There is nothing like manufactured controversy, is there? Especially when it is one that is un-winnable. What do I mean by un-winnable? Well, Tarantino makes a movie about slavery in the United States. He makes a freed slave the hero. Aaaaannnnnnddddd.... people who are spoiling for a fight over racism LOSE THEIR GODDAMNED MINDS!!!

Of course they did. And in losing their minds, they purport to speak for an entire race of people. I can’t really comment. You see, I’m white. So, while I can understand how certain words can be inflammatory, they don’t really hit me with the same power.

All I will say is, how would Spike Lee have reacted were the term “African American” substituted? Is that what he wanted?

Would the exchange,

“Christ, Stephen! What is the point of having an AFRICAN AMERICAN that speaks German if you can't wheel 'em out when you have a German guest? Now I realize it is an inconvenience! Still, you take her ass out.”

have been better?

No. It would have sounded stupid.

Also, this is a movie that depicts a time when HUMAN BEINGS WERE PROPERTY! How the fuck is a WORD what’s offensive here?

But, let’s get past that. This is QT doing what he does best. Bad ass characters with bad ass dialogue doing bad ass things. It is brutal, funny, and entertaining as hell.

Christof Waltz is so fucking good in this that it almost pisses me off. He should be in every movie that gets made these days, and after he dies, I want a Tupac hologram of him in every movie that gets made.

Don Johnson, Tom Wopat, Samuel L. Jackson, and Jonah Hill all steal their scenes with ease.

The only reason this isn’t higher is because I had slight, and I do mean slight issues with three things in it, very brief things that were very much in keeping with the traditions of the Spaghetti Western genre, but they just made me scratch my head a little. No big deal, hell... it’s still in my top 10.

If you are easily offended in any way or are turned off by fairly brutal violence, you might want to skip this. If you are looking for a good time with one of the greatest genre tributes ever made, then check this shit out.

7) The Cabin in the Woods

Post modern film making is a tricky prospect. What I mean by “post modern” in this regard is a genre movie that admits to and plays with the fact that it is a genre movie. The genre is almost a cast member.

The Cabin in the Woods takes every horror movie convention you can think of and shifts it to the forefront, from the crazy old man warning our band of kids, to the makeup of the group, to the predictability of predictability of the outcome. All of those are exposed as just part of the world and then twisted and repurposed into something new.

This was a gamble of a movie. With something like this there is a razor thin line between brilliant and obnoxious. Not only does this movie never spill over onto the obnoxious side, it never even comes close to it.

If you are a horror fan, this movie is taylor made for you. The amount of inside jokes and references hidden and put on direct display throughout this movie is incredible. But it never feels like it’s trying to be clever, even though it is very clever.

Also, the ending is one of the outright ballsiest things I’ve ever seen, so... that’s pretty cool.

6) Eden

People, normally very self important ones, like to throw the word “important” around when talking about movies. Normally it’s code for boring and pretentious. Sometimes, though, sometimes it’s the only fitting word.

We may not like to hear it, but according to statistics there are more people held as slaves today than there have every been at any point in human history. Most are female, most are underage. Eden is the true story of a young woman survived a horrific three years of sexual slavery in THE UNITED STATES.

The movie unflinchingly shows this brutal world where young women are treated as property, rented out in a sometimes shockingly public manner. This is not a comfortable movie, but I think it is a vitally important one because it brings to light an issue that too many people are unaware of, and that no where near enough effort is put into stopping.

This movie will scare you, it will break your heart, and it will open your eyes. It’s not an easy one to watch, but it will change your outlook on some things. I am really grateful that I got to see this at South By Southwest and to hear the director talk about the process of making the film and the woman about whom it is based. I encourage people to look into this problem more, and hopefully begin to discuss how real the problem still is.

So that brings the most wide ranging part of this list to a close. Come back in a few days for the thrilling conclusion to my top 20 of 2012.

Near Misses

I see quite a few movies every year and always struggle with a year end ranking. It’s actually quite difficult to do if you care at all about the quality of your list. Because for some reason I do care about that it takes me forever to put mine out, which is pretty obvious as it is almost February and I don’t have my complete list published yet.

Before I get to that I want to go over a few movies that didn’t make my final list and talk about why they were so close, but ultimately didn’t make the cut.

The Hobbit

Ok, this one is a bit polarizing. Part of my reasoning for this not making the list is my slight annoyance with what I see as a pretty flagrant cash grab on the part of the production.

The first edition of The Hobbit was 310 pages.

The first edition of The Fellowship of the Ring was 531 pages.

The first edition of The Two Towers was 416 pages.

The first edition of The Return of the King was 624 pages.

So, a 310 page book is going to be made into a film series that runs the same length as a 1571 page trilogy. The concept just rings so false and forced. I know, there is going to be stuff from the other books put in, but that feels like something being padded out.

That aside, I did enjoy this movie. Really, I did. I actually liked it a whole lot more than I thought I would. But that being said, I didn’t think it was great. The entire time I was aware of the story being padded out. The opening part in the Shire was cute, but it felt padded and pandering. There was no need for it and it made the film overlong.

I get that there is a need to set mood and all that, but if you watch this movie and are not well aware that it is part of The Lord of the Rings world, then will including this really help clear that up for you?

The first rule of screenwriting is to start every scene as late as possible and leave as soon as possible. The beginning meandered so long that it sort of became distracting. Had that time been spent with young Bilbo going about his life it wouldn’t have bothered me that much. I just found the inclusion of the stuff from Fellowship to be a little too mugging for the camera for my tastes.

Like I said, good movie, but it just didn’t have enough to clear that hurdle for me.

Expendables 2

First off, this one kicked the ass clean off the first one. I got a whole lot more of what I wanted in this one. But, again, it just didn’t clear the hurdle enough for me. Honestly I kept waiting for Jet Li to come back. I really wanted the end fight to be between him and Van Damme. Yeah, Stallone kicks ass, but he’s never been a martial arts guy. Le vs Van Damme... that would have been epic.

That being said, I did love this movie, but it just didn’t hit the top 20 for me.

The Hunger Games

Yes, I get it, this movie has similarities to “Battle Royal.” Congratulations, you’ve seen a Japanese movie. Now take your bubble tea and get the fuck out of my face. Saying this is the same as BR is like saying that “Goodfellas,” “The Godfather,” and “Donnie Brasco,” are the same movie because they are about the mafia.

Kids killing each other. That is literally the only similarity. It’s a surface similarity, that’s it. I find the premise of The Hunger Games so much crueler than BR. I mean, this is kids fighting for the amusement of the wealthy as their families are forced to watch. These are starving, poor children who are being forced to kill each other so that their home town might be able to finally not be hungry for one year.

The idea of class structure, exploitation, suffering as entertainment, and sacrifice are explored in a way that kids can actually grasp it. At least in the book. The movie does a fine job of capturing it, but it just didn’t hit as hard as I would have liked.

Chronicle

The found footage movie. Most of these... well, most of these don’t really work. I mean, they kind of work, but there is such an attempt to make it look amateur that the story structure goes out the window. Chronicle impressed the hell out of me because it was able to capture the amateur feel, but still had a solid and tight structure that made the narrative work really well.

If you haven’t seen it I definitely recommend checking it out. It’s a really fantastic take on the found footage genre.

Seeking a Friend For The End of The World

I have said for years that a person can be noble and kind and selfless, but people as a group are just an awful group of bastard flavored bastards with a chewy bastard middle. This movie illustrates that idea quite beautifully.

So, the world is about to end. There is some cataclysm that we have tried to avert, but were unsuccessful. We are never told what it is, just that everything is about to end. What happens?

Well, people actually start acting like there is no tomorrow. Drugs, promiscuity, riots in the streets, dogs and cats living together, mass hysteria.

But what about someone who doesn’t want to go out like that? What about someone who wants to live out there last few days with quiet dignity in the presence of someone they have an actual connection with.

That is what this movie is about, and it’s kind of beautiful. I mean, in the face of an utterly hedonistic society where what you does really bears little meaning, is there anything more powerful than ditching all of that insane indulgence and self gratification in exchange for a few minutes of genuine human contact?

This isn’t a perfect movie, but it’s a pretty damned good one that is well worth your time.

The film franchise has become as much a part of modern life as fast food franchises, with much the same positive impact on our lives.

Stunning thing about this is that most franchises are pretty terrible. There are some that still deliver the goods, but by and large they are not film making at its best.

So, how can it be that, in an arena with so much garbage, there can be movies bad enough to kill an entire franchise where it stands? Hell, some are bad enough to preemptively kill a franchise before it even has a chance to show just how bad it can get.

This week we look into that.

Also, we have some important business to discuss. Since it's Christmas and all, we decided to get charitable for once in our lives.

We are raising money for the Muscular Dystrophy Association on behalf of our little buddy Amadeo Andrade who was diagnosed with Becker Muscular Dystrophy in 2008. Last year, as a team, we raised $23,800 in support of Amadeo for MDA! This year our team goal is $25,000. We will be raising money until February of 2013. Anything will help and be appreciated, and remember all donations are tax deductible!

This year we are Amadeo's ARMY. Not team. Not club. Not group. ARMY! So lets show a great kid just how bad ass Thug fans are.

His Page Link is Below:

Amadeo's Army

Also here is the link to the team page if you would like to read a little about Amadeo:

General/Chariman of the Joint Cheifs of Staff for Amadeo's Army, Navy, Air Force, and Marine Corps.

Thank you for checking that out.

And we are still looking for questions for our "Ask the Film Thugs" show. Ask us about anything at all. Could be about movies, relationships, family, history, recipes, what have you. We will have no idea what your questions are until we read them on the show. Do you want you want to know how quick Jim and Clarkson came come up with some bullshit? Sure you do! So go ahead and ask away at thugquestions@gmail.com

Finally...

Check us out on Twitter at @thefilmthugs, on the Facebook, e-mail us at thefilmthugs@gmail.com, call us at (512) 666-RANT, or on Skype at the_film_thugs.

There are people who you cannot badmouth in front of Jim or Clarkson without putting yourself at risk. Very high on that list is a man named Kurt Russell. He's just... he's Kurt FUCKING Russell! He has been in some of the best movies ever, had a cartoonish batting average as a minor league baseball player, and his name was the last thing Walt Disney ever wrote. What more do you need? The man started out... Grew into... Took some time off to do this... Where he had a .580 batting average (which is UNREAL). Before becoming this guy... This guy... And this guy... And since that wasn't enough, he decided to step back and reinvent trash talking as this guy... So, join us this week as we discuss the man, the myth, the FUCKING LEGEND that is... His Holiness... Kurt Russell Also, call us at 512-666-RANT or on skype at The_Film_Thugs or e-mail us at thefilmthugs@gmail.com And we will play your message on the show!!! Also, e-mail any and all questions about any and all subjects to thugquestions@gmail.com for our upcoming "Ask the Film Thugs" show. Rate and review us on iTunes, check us out on Stitcher Smart Radio, and... Buy some Kurt Russell stuff on Amazon!