For Screen and Country

This week, the guys have their most focused and on-topic discussion yet when they discuss Atom Egoyan's masterpiece The Sweet Hereafter. They talk about their misconceptions before watching the film which were based on reputation and Oscar nominations, Egoyan's use of a fractured narrative and very selective plot details, Sarah Polley's real life informing her ability to reach certain emotional an...

This week, the guys talk all about a film about the good lord above... kinda. It's #4 on the Top 10 Canadian Films list - Jesus of Montreal. They talk about Denys Arcand's personal stance on religion and if he sees the film as a religious tale, the similarities between the main character and the story of Jesus, the cinematic representation of the play-within-the-movie, criticisms of the Canadian h...

The show is A HOUSE DIVIDED this week as one of the guys did not care for this film as much as the other one! The film in question? The late Jean-Claude Lauzon's coming-of-age opus dipped in LSD - Leolo. The guys debate the film's focus or lack thereof, they wonder if the disturbing moments are borderline-exploitative or not, they debate the casting of a very prominent Quebec Separatist despite th...

It's time for some Maritime shine as the guys break down the classic 1970 rags-to-rags (?) story about two Nova Scotians traveling to Toronto for the promise of better work - Goin' Down the Road. How authentically Maritime is this movie? Did director Donald Shebib use authentic transients and war veterans for key scenes? Does Jayne Eastwood make a seemingly thankless role worth something just base...

This week, the guys talk about a movie featuring TWO Jeremy Ironses - that's right, it's #7 on the list, Dead Ringers. Many topics are discussed such as the subtle differences in both of Irons' performances, the surprising lack of gore but strong colour design that may act as a substitution, the real-life twin gynecologists on which the movie is based, the Canadian touches Cronenberg adds to this...

This week, the guys discuss the breakout family drama/coming-of-age film by the gone-way-too-soon Jean-Marc Vallee - C.R.A.Z.Y. The guys discuss the movie avoiding the typical 'dysfunctional family' and 'bad father' plot tropes, Vallee spending 10% of the budget on the soundtrack alone and how it's utilized, the implied psychic link between mother and son, the significance of the title and much mo...

This week, the guys move on to #9 on the Top 10 Canadian Films list and enter the surreal, dreamlike world of Guy Maddin with My Winnipeg. This is definitely the strangest film that has ever been reviewed on this podcast by far but the guys buckle down and talk all about it including: the very similar themes to last week's movie, the casting of Guy Maddin's "mother," the silent-film aesthetic, the...

This week, the guys watch the OTHER movie listed at #10 on the Toronto International Film Festival Top 10 Canadian films - the Sarah Polley-directed documentary Stories We Tell. Can a documentary truly ever be 100% objective? How badass is Sarah Polley and how great is she at structuring a film?! Does the movie using recreated Super 8 footage prove to be effective or not? And how about her non-int...

In the very first installment of Our Screen, Our Country, the guys start from the bottom of the list and look at #10 - Michel Brault's haunting, neorealistic Les Ordres, a film that takes a critical look at a very troubling time in Canadian history. Jason takes us on a history lesson through Quebec politics in the 1970s, they talk about using black-and-white combined with colour film to achieve a...

It's time to start with the next venture - OUR Screen, OUR Country. Brendan and Jason take a look at the Top 10 Canadian Film (as released by the Toronto International Film Festival in 2015). To begin though, they go through some of their favourite pieces of Canadian film and television. Does Canadian humour bridge the gap between American and British comedy? Why does very little Canadian comedy m...

Just some yuk 'em ups and bloops for you folks. Enjoy!   Next week: a little introduction to Canadian film. Questions? Comments? Suggestions? You can always shoot us an e-mail at forscreenandcountry@gmail.com   Full List: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/BFI_Top_100_British_films Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/forscreenandcountry Twitter: https://www.twitter.com/bfi_pod Our logo was designed by t...

Once again, Southern Santa graces us with his presence with a special holiday message! Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays!   We return on Jan. 3rd with... BLOOPERS! Questions? Comments? Suggestions? You can always shoot us an e-mail at forscreenandcountry@gmail.com   Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/forscreenandcountry Twitter: https://www.twitter.com/bfi_pod Our logo was designed by the wonderf...

And we finally come to the end of the BFI Top 100 with a wrap-up discussion of the whole shebang! The guys read some comments from listeners, announce their top 15 and bottom 10, discuss some surprises on the list and briefly talk about their next venture.   Next week: a special holiday message. We return on January 10th with the Top 10 Canadian Movies according to the Toronto International Film F...

The second of two Audience Brit Picks dominates the discussion this week as the guys discuss the Stanley Baker trucker flick - Hell Drivers. Do you like vamping for long periods of time? Is this the oldest movie to have a main character with a "mysterious past?" How do they rate the film's love triangle? Also - be sure to check out Jason's pitch for the plot of Hell Drivers being used for Solo.  ...

Before we wrap this damn thing up, the guys look to the audience and choose The Dresser from the list of suggestions. Does this highly theatrical film starring Albert Finney and Tom Courtenay successfully stake its claim to be placed in the BFI Top 100? How does this movie manage to have such "big" acting that works so well on film? Did Brendan go too 'tiny film glasses' with his war metaphor theo...

This week, the guys wrap up the most recent (and final) batch of 20 movies on the BFI Top 100 with their awards and rank them from Best to Fine (seriously, there was not one bad movie in this bunch, folks!) Find out how similar your two hosts are with some of their rankings! Listen to their continued love for Julie Christie, which like this podcast, will NEVER die! Gasp at Jason's surprising movie...

This week, the guys finally come to the end of the BFI Top 100 list with a discussion of The Third Man (the #1 film!) Is Holly Martens a good writer and how does it factor into the story itself? Could this movie have benefitted from a Se7en-like ad campaign? Does the unusual soundtrack work or is it distracting? And most importantly, how many Taye Diggs movies can Brendan name under pressure? All...

This week, the guys discuss the penultimate episode on the list in Gary Oldman's gritty, dark Nil By Mouth. They discuss everything about this grim film from the invasive camerawork getting in everyone's face, they debate the ending and what it says about abusive relationships, the guys get confused over a character's backstory, Jason teaches Brendan how to do drugs with a famous director getting...

This week, the guys discuss another John Schlesinger film in the form of the 1963 comedy Billy Liar. How does this movie compare to The Secret Life of Walter Mitty, Ally McBeal and Ferris Bueller's Day Off? Was 1963 the peak year for catchphrase comedians? They also talk about speaking in different dialects based on your audience, Julie Christie/fast food restaurant tie-ins and much, much more.  ...

This week, the guys discuss sexuality and relationships in John Schlesinger's Sunday Bloody Sunday. What is this film's weird connection with the actual Bloody Sunday riots? Is this the first time a gay character's sexual preference barely figures into anything outside of their relationship? How much of the movie is based on Schlesinger's own life? And are those children *really* smoking weed!?  ...

This week, your hosts start to round the bend on this list as they discuss Mike Leigh's award-winning directorial effort Secrets & Lies, a film that asks questions about motherhood, family and race... but the latter is surprisingly the least discussed. The guys also talk the terrific one-scene characters, Mike Leigh's writing style allowing for more accurate representation of people of colour, how...

Stand by your beliefs, hold strong and carry on! This week, the guys break down the Oscar-winning A Man for All Seasons detailing Thomas More's refusal to approve of Henry VIII's divorce and the repercussions that follow that. They break down the brief but powerful performances from Robert Shaw and Orson Welles, talk about why evangelical Christians (and the Vatican!) love this movie so much, they...

It's time to head back to the world of comedy one more time on this list with the British box office smash A Fish Called Wanda. How in the world did Kevin Kline shape his infamous and Oscar-winning performance as Wanda's narcissistic lover Otto? Does Michael Palin's portrayal of those affected by speech impediments hold up over time? This movie was going to be an even darker comedy at one point?!...

What better way to follow up last week's raunchy comedy than with an epic profile of a complicated soldier in the Powell & Pressburger classic The Life and Death of Colonel Blimp. Does this movie take shots at the British army through the title character's unwavering committment to tradition and morality? How dangerous was it to talk about Germany's justified anger in 1943? Was this secretly a pro...

It's the moment you've all been waiting for... this week, Brendan and Jason FINALLY get to talk about Carry On Up the Khyber, the 16th in a series of 31 farcical comedies with a mostly-recurring cast. As per usual, the guys ask all the tough questions such as: is there a single person of colour in this film? Did this movie and others in the series inspire filmmakers like David Zucker? Is there a c...