Well, I've had such fun working on the podcast with fellow film writer J. Robert Parks that we've decided to launch a new movie web site full of reviews, interviews, and textual mayhem. And with what will likely turn out to be a crippling degree of boldness, we've included a posting frequency in the site's very name.

It's called Daily Plastic, and I hope you'll check it out. The podcast will be moving over there, but the transition should be seamless. And I'll be posting more frequently than I do here at good ol' Errata, beloved and cob-webby.

I've been hooking up technical do-dads, so Mr. Parks has taken more than his fair share of the pizza, but not to worry. I fully intend to sabotage the remaining pieces by picking off the anchovies. Wait, back up. I fully intend to carry my own weight as we go forward.

More plastic goodies are in the works. Do not be daunted by the movie grid. It's there to help.

Charles Burnett's Killer of Sheep (1977).

In this episode of the podcast we talk about a great American film, Charles Burnett's debut feature Killer of Sheep (1977)

0:00 Intro
2:07 Killer of Sheep
9:27 The Gradual Reveal / Kids and Adults
12:19 Improvised Games
14:55 Continuing a Tradition
16:48 Stan's Malaise
18:31 Bittersweet Humor / Sisyphean Struggle
22:53 Clip: Stan's Wife Dispatches Unsavory Characters
24:00 Pulling Stan Out
25:35 Captured Moments, Real Settings
27:12 Issues of Class
28:37 Low Placement of the Camera
32:11 Long Shot to Close-Up
33:30 Burnett's Other Films
39:08 This Bitter Earth
40:45 David Gordon Green on Killer of Sheep
43:01 Outro

Hey, my review of The Love Guru made Defamer. Or, rather, my tomato rating did. The review itself is quite mixed.

Zooey Deschanel and Mark Wahlberg in M. Night Shyamalan's The Happening.
Photo credit: Zade Rosenthal

On this episode of the podcast, we speed through brief reviews of 18 summer movies, including the new film by M. Night Shyamalan called The Happening.

Like the wheels of a big rig, each of these films has a different size, shape, color, and decibel level. Some are clearly overinflated, some might benefit from an injection of air, and some have nails driven into them by rivals who are sick and tired of a driver who lets his speed fluctuate so wildly. Some are shaded by mud flaps with shapely women silhouetted in chrome, others by Yosemite Sam who urges you and yours to call an 800 number if you see the driver texting from the wheel, immediately, using your mobile carefully as you try to draft off of this erratic mofo. Some, frankly, have been reduced to flayed strips of rubber and stirred with unlucky, misshapen armadillos on the shoulder, but not by the likes of us.

Eighteen wheels from a thirty-ought-six, comin' straight at ya. Eighteen full and considered film reviews, conceived not at all hastily but presented as though they were, an illusion accomplished not with mirrors but by speaking at double the accepted conversational rate. Consider yourself forewarned.

Subscribe in iTunes and you'll get a program with the following chapter stops built-in for easy jumping, complete with links to the appropriate trailers:

0:00 Intro
1:35 Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull (Spielberg)
10:07 The Happening (Shyamalan)
15:09 Kung Fu Panda (Foshko)
17:01 My Winnipeg (Maddin)
20:06 Mongol (Bodrov)
22:54 War, Inc. (Seftel)
24:49 Roman de gare (Lelouch)
28:37 Speed Racer (Wachowski & Wachowski)
31:03 Iron Man (Favreau)
35:21 Redbelt (Mamet)
38:24 Shotgun Stories (Nichols)
41:34 Son of Rambow (Jennings)
43:50 Reprise (Trier)
46:08 Three Films by Rivette, Breillat, and Assayas
49:47 Young@Heart (Walker)
55:18 Stuck (Gordon)
57:20 "The end is important in all things"
58:29 Outro

Filmmaker Errol Morris on the set of Standard Operating Procedure.
Photo by Nubar Alexanian © 2007 Max Ave Productions. Courtesy Sony Pictures Classics.

On this episode of the podcast, J. Robert Parks talks with filmmaker Errol Morris about his new film, Standard Operating Procedure, then we reconsider the film to see if our comments from Episode 16 hold up in light of the interview, a second viewing, and Morris's writings and public statements.

0:00 Intro
3:52 Interview: Errol Morris
20:13 Interview (continued): "I like trouble"
27:24 Interview (continued): "A problem with my art"
32:42 Rob's Second Viewing
38:12 Depicting Atrocities: Resnais, Lanzmann, Farocki
43:32 External Ideas: The Drop of Blood
44:58 Ambiguous Stance: Morris's Voice
48:36 The Title: Threading the Needle
49:54 Cynical View vs. Benefit of the Doubt
52:14 Give Me Thoughts, Let Me Think
57:01 The Distracting Beauty of Images
1:00:33 Outro

The Visitor (McCarthy)

On this episode of the podcast, we're talking about three movies that are currently playing in theaters around the country: The Visitor, Stop-Loss, and Errol Morris's Standard Operating Procedure, and we'll also hear a brief interview with the writer and director of The Visitor, Thomas McCarthy.

0:00 Intro
2:12 The Visitor (McCarthy)
9:31 Film Critic as Consumer Guide
12:37 Interview: Thomas McCarthy
20:59 Stop-Loss (Peirce)
27:32 Standard Operating Procedure (Morris)
45:40 Outro and Photo Caption Contest Winners

As usual, our takes on these movies should be considered definitive and absolute. Except, well, next time, we'll see if more recent events — J. Robert's interview with Morris in Chicago, Rob's re-viewing of the film in San Francisco, and Morris's essays and comments on the film — have changed our view of Standard Operating Procedure.

UPDATE (1 June 2008): Episode 17 features a followup discussion of Standard Operating Procedure, including an interview with the director.