About this Episode
The biggest event in the entertainment industry this week (as far as the Screeners are concerned, at least) was the news of Roger Ebert’s death. The Screeners open the episode by paying tribute to the first movie critic to get his own star on the Walk of Fame, sharing their favorite memories of Ebert’s life and work.
As promised in the show, here’s the original blog post Josh mentioned; turns out it’s been made into a book. And here’s the Rob Schneider exchange Chad excerpted. In the spirit of fairness, though, it’s worth mentioning that Schneider didn’t end this little feud as belligerently as it began.
The Lightning Round...Almost
Moving on to Jump Cuts, the Screeners consider Disney’s recent shuttering of the LucasArts video game studio. Apparently, Josh is the only one who pays attention to the credits screens in the Lego series to see where they’re made. So sad.
Next, not to spoil the episode or anything, but one Screener loved the new GI Joe movie, and one, not so much. If you can’t guess at least one of the mystery identities by now, let us know so we can tell the Screeners that they’ve done a terrible job of introducing themselves so far.
The gloves come off for the third Jump Cut, as the Screeners take on the piracy debate at the center of some comments from Game of Thrones director David Patrarca. The question for the Screeners isn’t so much about whether piracy is good or bad, but about how wrong Chad is. C’mon, Chad; how can you fight Chris’s reasoning? He’s got the Nords on his side!
And in order to not make the summary of the last lightning round question longer than the discussion itself, we have two words: Upstream Color.
A TV Smorgasbord*
There’s a lot happening on the small screen right now, and the Screeners have vowed to take in as much of it as possible. Game of Thrones draws first (dragon) blood in the discussion this time, as three followers of the series and one loser who hasn’t seen a minute of it give their impressions on the season 3 opener.
From warriors to medics; the next premiere on the Screeners’ plate is Dr. Who. Is he, like, the most powerful being in the universe or whatever (sorry, Melody; we couldn’t resist), or is he just another quack? All four Screeners have a different perspective on the series, so answering this proves to be a fun romp through space and time.
But that’s not all! With Bates Motel, A&E has transitioned from the real-life horror of abandoned storage units and the houses their contents came from to the much more pleasant topic of serial killer origin stories. The Screeners are ready for a gritty thrill ride, but is the network concealing something far uglier than Norman’s adolescence?
To round out the main event, the Screeners couldn’t talk the week in TV without mentioning the Walking Dead season finale, even though only two of them have seen it. This part is filled with spoilers, so if you haven’t seen the episode yet, you might just want to skip ahead to the next segment.
Artistic Synergy
We remember movies for dialog, characters, cinematography, and a myriad of other things, but some of the most lasting recollections from a film can be their scores. A great film (or television) score elevates the content it surrounds, and the effect isn’t lost on the Screeners, who are huge fans of music as well as cinema.
Below are the selections the Screeners singled out this time, but they already have others in mind for the future.
What are some of your favorite moments in cinema music? Let us know in the comments, and we’ll see you next time, when the Screeners will review the new Tom Cruise sci-fi thriller Oblivion.
*That’s right; that’s two Scandinavia shout-outs in one post. How do you like us now, Holland? Just kidding; we love you too, Holland. Who can stay mad at wooden shoes?