Chat Transcript: Out Of Sight

(00:00:00) Alastair: PUSH PLAY
(00:00:18) Alastair: I’ve never said that before. It feels good.
(00:00:59) stephanie: it’s the power!!
(00:01:03) Alastair: Clooney is such a classic leading man. He just has that Look.
(00:01:05) ForestJane: the other thing that sounds good is crumpets, dripping with… what is it, clotted cream?
(00:01:23) mae: or butter they are really good with butter
(00:01:24) ForestJane: I like Clooney
(00:01:39) mae: who doesn’t?
(00:01:44) Kelly S.: he looks very young here
(00:02:02) stephanie: this was 1998?
(00:02:43) Alastair: That’s right. Almost fifteen years ago, and he barely looks any younger.
(00:03:30) Alastair: Nice con.
(00:03:56) stephanie: it’s amazing what he does just with his voice
(00:03:58) mae: I feel really sorry for her
(00:04:29) Alastair: Looks like a prologue…
(00:05:05) mae: the con works as i wouldn’t want to call on someone who has a gun
(00:05:24) stephanie: how do you get a real bank to let you use their name as a bank that’s being robbed?
(00:06:01) stephanie: i’m guessing next time he takes a bus
(00:06:13) mae: lol
(00:06:52) stephanie: @A – i think you’re right about the prologue. but maybe it ‘works’
(00:07:08) Alastair: He’s smart, observant, and doesn’t have clear loyalties. Those are key qualities in the Trickster hero.
(00:08:13) ForestJane: Isn’t it better to show the failed bank robbery than have him sitting there in jail telling an inmate how he landed there?
(00:09:23) Alastair: That’s always the conflict with prologues, Jane — some argue that it’s better to show than tell, others maintain that your story starts when your story starts, and everything else is backstory. Honestly, we see Clooney being as smart and capable in his first moments in the prison than we do during the failed robbery. I don’t think you need it.
(00:09:25) stephanie: now that is an outfit!!!
(00:11:54) Kelly S.: her dad gives good advice
(00:12:00) mae: I really like the father
(00:13:28) stephanie: ‘we don’t talk much’ – um yeah. when you’re hiding a cheating boyfriend you’re not gonna talk to your dad about it!
(00:17:57) Alastair: This is good storytelling; we’re getting back-story and character work at the same time. They could easily have started the movie with the break-out.
(00:19:13) stephanie: i maced myself accidentally once. it’s not fun.
(00:19:48) mae: oh my god that sounds awful
(00:20:20) Kelly S.: ooh, Stephanie – ouch!
(00:20:51) stephanie: good riffing between them. shows they have some stuff in common
(00:21:35) Kelly S.: I’m getting bored with the conversation
(00:23:02) Jenny: I love Steve Zahn.
(00:24:27) mae: He was really good in that friends episode
(00:25:32) stephanie: good foreshadowing
(00:26:01) ForestJane: I can’t believe no other cars came down the road that whole time
(00:28:10) mae: I’m laughing
(00:31:01) Jenny: I love the non-traditional structure in this movie. It’s a trickster plot, it keeps shifting reality on you.
(00:31:07) Jenny: But you’re never lost for long.
(00:31:17) Jenny: It’s like the plot plays with you.
(00:31:46) stephanie: at least this time we get to see a hot guy in the bathroom
(00:32:37) ForestJane: and he’s not peeing
(00:32:46) stephanie: clooney in a bathtub with a candle. okay, i’m laughing.
(00:33:00) Jenny: Karen’s dad is my favorite character in this movie. I think he’s the only smart, honest person in here.
(00:33:17) Jenny: The FBI guy: always a putz.
(00:33:26) mae: I love her look, she’s really smart
(00:33:48) Jenny: Can I say again, I love Steve Zahn.
(00:36:16) mae: If I wasn’t stoned – great line
(00:38:28) Alastair: Don Cheadle is great in this.
(00:39:48) Jenny: As much as I hate that, it’s a really good way to show his character. Jesus.
(00:40:43) mae: I didn’t even recognise Albert Brooks, he’s a great actor
(00:40:49) Kelly S.: aw, the poor fish
(00:40:55) Jenny: I love that. Looks like her dad.
(00:42:38) Jenny: I love this movie.
(00:42:48) Jenny: Everybody’s a trickster. Except Ray.
(00:43:20) mae: wyatt earp lol
(00:43:41) Alastair: "Having too much fun." That’s it, right there.
(00:44:42) stephanie: when you pick the bad guy instead of the Feeb boyfriend that’s telling
(00:45:21) Kelly S.: well the Feeb boyfriend is cheating on his wife and seems a bit dumb
(00:46:08) mae: she says he was very gentle lol
(00:48:43) stephanie: I think this might be the same music from Get Shorty
(00:50:54) mae: poor adele
(00:52:19) mae: ok I like adele now
(00:52:54) Alastair: Adele just won me over; Karen too, come to that.
(00:53:33) stephanie: those women are good together
(00:55:07) mae: the fbi guy such a douche
(00:55:25) Kelly S.: wow I hate her boss – idiot
(00:55:54) Alastair: Yeah, he’s a weak point in the story for me. He’s such an ass, he’s making Karen’s choice for her.
(00:56:46) mae: love the wave
(00:57:46) stephanie: but jack treats her like she has a brain. the feebs treat her like a girl.
(00:58:45) Jenny: The movie makes you pick the crooks. It makes you Karen, basically.
(00:59:12) Jenny: I love the way her father knows her so well, too. You can see why she’s so strong: good fathering.
(00:59:17) Kelly S.: blue filter on detroit – I’m mean sure it is cold in the winter and not too sunny often and 3rd most dangerous city in the U.S. but … eh, nevermind
(01:00:16) Alastair: It would be the obvious choice to make Karen’s father the antagonist, but this film is smarter than that.
(01:02:02) stephanie: the antagonist is the one driving the conflict, right? would that make it glen?
(01:02:02) mae: the actor that plays him is really great too
(01:02:32) Kelly S.: not liking this part with the killing
(01:09:43) mae: wow he;s invested in getting her
(01:09:43) Jenny: I think the antagonist is Karen.
(01:10:09) Jenny: They’re screwing up each other’s lives.
(01:10:11) mae: I thought it might be Don Cheedle
(01:10:25) Jenny: That’s the subplot.
(01:10:33) Jenny: Complicating his life.
(01:10:39) mae: oh ok
(01:10:43) stephanie: yeah, glen isn’t smart enough to be the antagonist of this
(01:10:57) Kelly S.: who’s Don Cheedle?
(01:10:57) Jenny: He wants to retire to an island someplace after his big score.
(01:11:03) Jenny: Snoop.
(01:11:07) stephanie: cheedle isnt’ around enough
(01:11:37) Jenny: All the supporting people are solid. But this is Jack vs. Karen.
(01:11:57) Jenny: Tricksters don’t dare attach to people, screws them up, grounds them.
(01:12:26) Kelly S.: thanks
(01:12:33) mae: he’s an asshat
(01:12:47) mae: karen is a badass
(01:15:44) stephanie: oh, this is not the way to reform a bankrobber
(01:15:53) Jenny: I love the way the patterned structure in this builds character. This movie is all about character. You put the scenes in chronological order, it’s about plot.
(01:16:53) Jenny: Douche-bag hair.
(01:17:33) stephanie: so this is why we needed the prologue at the beginning. because it’s actually just an out of sequence scene
(01:19:33) mae: oh good poor karen
(01:19:40) mae: *god
(01:23:33) Alastair: This is beautifully done.
(01:24:20) stephanie: good balance, too. which is a nice surprise.
(01:24:36) ForestJane: lol, I was just thinking I didn’t like it… flashbacks are okay but prologues are not?
(01:24:48) Jenny: This is one of the best love scenes of all time.
(01:25:06) Jenny: Not a prologue. This isn’t told in chronological order so there’s no time to violate.
(01:25:12) mae: they have chemistry together
(01:25:13) stephanie: i think it’s not a flashback … it’s two scenes on top of one another. like a double exposure
(01:25:36) Jenny: The bank job he pulls isn’t the first thing that happens in this movie. Not a prologue.
(01:25:56) Jenny: You can only have flashbacks and prologues in a chronological plot. This is a patterned plot.
(01:28:15) Jenny: I love the way this movie works objects and motifs. Nothing is ever wasted.
(01:28:26) mae: he really knows her – really good charecterisation
(01:29:16) Jenny: Her father give her the gun (nailing that relationship), he takes the gun from her and then gives it back (nailing that relationship) and there’s a third beat coming up. It’s really beautiful and really important in a patterned plot that doesn’t have chronology to hold it together. It’s all about the patterns, the repetition.
(01:33:52) mae: wow I like Karen so much and glen deserves to run
(01:36:07) Alastair: There’s a lot of self-indulgence in the cinematography. Odd shots, the use of colour filters, freeze-frames and repeated shots… it’s stylistically heavy-handed, but it doesn’t add up to anything.
(01:36:40) Kelly S.: Alastair – I totally agree
(01:38:15) mae: I love Buddy
(01:40:54) stephanie: just what is the appropriate soundtrack to a home invasion?
(01:41:11) Kelly S.: ah yes, white boy is his size for a reason
(01:41:34) Kelly S.: love the bookshelves
(01:42:57) mae: I love Jack’s code of ethics
(01:44:36) Jenny: Nope, I think that’s part of the patterning. I like it, I like the stylized mood. Very true to its source, Elmore Leonard.
(01:47:38) mae: that really sweet between buddy and jack
(01:48:54) mae: I like that Midge is really smart
(01:56:21) Jenny: I love this movie.
(01:57:22) Alastair: There’s a great deal to like. I have a few reservations, but I need to think about it a little bit.
(01:57:56) Kelly S.: I’m trusting Ray, the Feeb douche, is out
(01:58:01) mae: The music is good
(01:58:16) stephanie: i’m more impressed than i thought i would be. i’m not a fan of JLo or of out of sequence story telling – since using it’s self-indulgent – but i liked it.
(01:58:33) Jenny: I think it’s the best example of patterned structure in film that I’ve ever seen.
(01:58:42) mae: this is the first thing that i really liked her in
(01:58:45) Jenny: Lopez is terrific in this.
(01:58:48) stephanie: glad that amazon gives me a 24 hr rental. i think i’ll watch this again later on.
(01:58:50) Alastair: I don’t think that telling this story out of sequence was self-indulgent; it was a conscious choice that was woven into the fabric of the story. I like it.
(01:58:58) Kelly S.: I mostly liked it. Also not a JLo fan. But I thought it was rather slow often
(01:59:17) Alastair: I think I should watch it again too. Probably not today, but before we record the podcast.
(01:59:36) stephanie: oh, i agree. this sequencing worked. i just mean that other times it’s been done when it wasn’t necessary and wasn’t tied in well
(01:59:39) mae: I think George really sells his character
(02:00:16) ForestJane: I didn’t like … well, Karen’s not true to her job. I mean, there she’s an agent, and she sees him in the elevator but doesn’t sound the alarm.
(02:00:20) stephanie: i think it’s the only thing i’ve liked lopez in where her character actually lived through the entire movie
(02:00:21) mae: it helps that her character is strong from the begininng
(02:00:26) Alastair: My main problems with the story involved Glen and Snoopy. It seemed like there was a lot of stuff that was irrelevant to the plot, and the problem with having leads like Clooney and Lopez is that things drag when they aren’t on screen.
(02:00:35) Kelly S.: I liked Clooney & Buddy & adele – JLo did well. I also liked the rich guy. Which I suppose is how they wanted it.
(02:01:13) mae: Jack’s link to the job is glen right?
(02:01:43) Kelly S.: I agree w/Alastair. Plus, I like the lighthearted & smart more than the violences
(02:01:52) Alastair: It is, but Glen’s continued presence in the plot is hard to justify.
(02:01:59) stephanie: what is jack’s growth through the story? he’s still going to break out again? do we think he’s going to not rob banks?
(02:02:21) Alastair: It was interesting, and I enjoyed it a great deal.
(02:02:54) mae: I liked it a great deal and it really shows off George Clooney as an actor
(02:03:18) stephanie: i will say that i got sucked into the story most of the time. there was more tension than we ‘ve seen in this series, that’s for sure.
(02:03:27) mae: one of my favourite scenes in oceans eleven is the meeting with Julia Roberts and him and they both hit it
(02:04:07) mae: i might not be here next week so hope that everyone enjoys it!
(02:04:11) Alastair: Well, thanks for joining us, everyone! The podcast will go up early in the week, and we’ll be back next week with Ocean’s Eleven! Have a great Sunday!
(02:04:22) mae: Bye!
(02:04:27) stephanie: sounds good. bye.
(02:04:29) Jenny: I think there’s plenty of evidence that he’s going to find that island.
(02:04:32) Jenny: Bye.
(02:04:48) Kelly S.: bye