Sound On Sight Radio #111 – Observe and Report
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Jody Hill’s first studio feature, “Observe and Report,” is already one of the year’s most contentious films; critics are divided right down the middle, including us. In our altest comedy special, ee hash out our differences while also exploring three connected films – Hill’s low-budget debut, “The Foot Fist Way,” the Seth Rogen career-launcher “Knocked Up,” and another contentious flick, the Anna Faris-toplined “House Bunny.” Al Kratina had to sit this one out, but we made him watch “The House Bunny” anyway. As always, keep an ear open for our Trailer Talk and news segments as well.
Also, we’re experimenting with new equipment this week, so apologies if the sound quality isn’t quite up to par.
The Sound On Sight podcast was launched in late 2008 from the ashes of a radio show titled, The Naked Lunch, a show which aired on CJLO, 1690 AM in Montreal. Our podcast is marketed principally towards students and genre enthusiasts, and typically features in-depth discussion and debate on contemporary film. Throughout the years, the podcast has been nominated one of the best film shows world wide by several outlets including, MovieMaker Magazine. 
I’m curious to see it again on DVD and see how it holds up, especially since learning how much Al loves it. I always find such polarizing films fascinating.
re: Wes Anderson: to be fair, I’ve yet to see “Darjeeling Limited,” but “Royal Tenanbaums” is the only film of his that completely works for me. I’m not at all fond of his extremely mannered approach.
I would like to just point out that most people have sided with me on this film. I think the film has great moments but as a whole it didn’t work for me. I had high expectations for the film and I was really disappointed that I did not like it. The good news is that it made more than it’s budget so Jody Hill should be dishing out a new film pretty soon.
I finally saw and Observe and Report so I listened to your full review. I totally agree with you Rick. I said the same thing to my girlfriend when we walked out: It was a music video. It was all songs with no content and slow mo shots. And not done in the way Scorcese did it in Goodfellas and The Departed. It was also too dark. And I love dark films and dark comedies, but this wasn’t done well at all. Though I did like the Fuck You scene.
I checked boxofficemojo and it took in 23 million and its budget is 18. And that’s only domestic. So once world wide receipts are taken in, it’ll still have a decent take. Not for a normal Seth Rogen film, but still more than make its money back. So I don’t think it will affect his career. But his general over exposure might
This message goes out to Simon. What do you mean Wes Anderson used to make good movies. He still does. Don’t count a director out just because of one film. At the end of the day he is still one of the best young film makers working today.
What was the Wes Anderson movie Simon was talking about? I really liked his last one. Liked to better than Life Aquatic.
None of his films are bad. It is jus that the last two weren`t great but he still has more talent than most directors. So I agree with James.
Simon is on crack.
I can’t back you up on downloading this movie. Even if I don’t like it, I would still like to see it make more money at the box office so studios will take more risks with their film makers. However if you did not like the trailer than it is a safe bet you will hate the movie. I loved the trailer but was disappointed with the film.
I haven’t seen Observe and Report but the trailer really put me off. I might download it in a few months, if there’s still any buzz about it. I’d rather wait and see if word of mouth dies down within a week or not – that’s usually a good indicator of a flop.
I have not seen Taken. I wish I liked Observe and Report like everyone else but I have to be the uncool dude on the show and say I did not enjoy it. I also wish my mic worked and more importantly I wish we had more listeners or at least more feedback.
For the record, Observe and Report is my favourite film of the year, thus far.
Wow..Al actually likes something for once..
Didn’t say I liked it. It’s just better than everything else.
From a brain dead action movie perspective, Taken kicked ass! It’s like a Steven Segal movie 15 years later, with better fighting and less pony tails.
Great to hear the News jingle back again!