FS #252: Goodbye Solo / Jules and Jim / Top 5 Films of 2004

April 3: This week on Filmspotting, find out what happens when two film critics stop being polite, and start being neo-neo real. A review of director Ramin Bahrani's newest film "Goodbye Solo" begins innocuously enough, but quickly devolves into a soul-searching, cacophonous, theoretical debate on the very future of film -- so much uproar sparked by a sweet little movie about a chatty Winston-Salem cabby (Souléymane Sy Savané) and his unusual friendship with one of his fares (Red West). Then, as if they didn't come across unbearably erudite (pretentious?) enough in the first segment, Adam and Matty carry on like two drunken non-tenured professors falling all over themselves to extol the virtues of Francois Truffaut's legendary "Jules and Jim," the first entry in Filmspotting's New Hollywood Marathon. Then the lads wrap things up by listing their Top 5 Films of 2004, a year when Filmspotting was just a glint in Adam's eye and Matty was just a wide-eyed 19 year-old college sophomore who spent the better part of the year volunteering at orphanages and puppy shelters.

Also on the show: Massacre Theatre -- presented by In Review Online -- Listener Feedback and music by The Privates.


Filmspotting #252
:13-17:37 - Review: "Goodbye Solo"
Music: The Privates, "You Never Take Me Dancing"
18:15-21:30 - Voicemail, Poll Question
21:31-34:26 - Feedback (Love You Man, Duplicity, Sister Movies)
Music: The Privates, "I'll Be Honest"
35:33-39:15 - Mass. Theatre (Winner: Pruthvi, Pune, India)
39:16-49:51 - New Hollywood #1: "Jules and Jim"
Music: The Privates, "Motion"
50:42-55:34 - New DVDs, Donations
55:35-1:10:40 - Top 5: Films of 2004
1:10:41-1:13:10 - Close/Next Show/Outtakes

NOTES
- Some major initial poll omissions -- Reese Witherspoon and Maggie Gyllenhaal. Follow more of our mistakes, notes and more on Filmspotting's Twitter page.

- We always recommend Jeff Goldsmith's Creative Screenwriting Podcast, which can be accessed through iTunes here.

- Adam recognized the name F.X. Feeney from reading about "Z Channel: A Magnificent Obsession."