Shows
Like Mother, Like Son, Like MoviesEp. 78 - Oscars 2022 (Part 2)This is the second part of our discussion about films featured at Oscars 2022. We will first go through the rest of the films in Best Picture category and then talk about some of the few other ones worth mentioning. At the very end we reveal our favourite film from the awards ceremony.
2022-10-011h 18Like Mother, Like Son, Like MoviesEp. 77 - Oscars 2022 (Part 1)In this episode we are going to talk about the films that were featured in the Best Picture category of Oscars 2022. We will go through them one by one and give our thoughts. Getting through all of them is way too big discussion for one episode, so this is just the first part.
2022-09-081h 12
Like Mother, Like Son, Like MoviesEp. 76 - Jason Bourne franchiseI had never had that much interest in the Bourne movies, so when I got inspiration to check out some movie franchises I was positively surprised and felt stupid to have never seen them before. My mother has enjoyed them already before so this gave us a chance to talk about them. So we will go through every Bourne movie starting with The Bourne Identity (2002) and ending with Jason Bourne (2016).
2022-03-301h 08Like Mother, Like Son, Like MoviesEp. 75 - Another Round, In Treatment, Star Wars, Ocean's trilogy, The Hand of GodWe open up our episode with deeper discussion of Thomas Vinteberg's Another Round (2020). After this we indulge ourselves with several topics, including the interesting production behind the series In Treatment, my mother's experience with the first Star Wars (1977), my own experience with Sodebergh's Ocean's movies. At the end my mother gives a comment on Paolo Sorrentino's The Hand of God (2021) and her struggle with currently ongoing tv shows.
2022-01-241h 11Like Mother, Like Son, Like MoviesEp. 74 - Promising Young Woman, Many Saints of Newark, Squid Game, Gaspar NoéIn this casual discussion we are going to go over several topics from our recent viewings. We start off with Emerald Fennell's award winning comedy thriller Promising Young Woman (2020). After that my mother gives her review of the "Soprano story" The Many Saints of Newark (2021) and I mention something about Netflix's hit series Squid Game that I have not seen much talked about. We close things off by talking about Gaspar Noé and share our thoughts on two of his recent movies: Lux Æterna (2019) and Climax (2018).
2022-01-1255 minLike Mother, Like Son, Like MoviesEp. 73 - Liisa's favourite movies of 2020On our second part exploring our favourite movies of 2020 we concentrate on my mothers list. There are some natural overlap with my list, but I'm definite that she will surprise you with some of the titles she mentions. And if you stick at the very end she will reveal which movie became her new favourite movie of all time.
2021-12-031h 03Like Mother, Like Son, Like MoviesEp. 72 - Aharon's favourite movies of 2020This is the first part in our list exploring personal favourites of 2020. We both had a handful of recommendations which we also wanted to comment on, so instead of one big episode we decided to release them as two part episodes. I was able to see 76 movies and these are 11 that made my very top of the list. Unfortunately because of the time limit, I couldn't mention all the recommendations. So if you are interested and looking for good movies, check out my Letterboxd list.
2021-11-2258 minLike Mother, Like Son, Like MoviesEp. 71 - DuneDenis Villeneuve's cinematic adaptation of Dune has been winning over critics as well as the box office. Considering the troubled history of adapting the book, releasing a satisfying singular vision is an achievement by itself. Next to this monumental release, the opinions of some son and mother can't help to feel little bit insignificant. All we can really do in the end is talk about our experience that - like my mother points out - has been years in the making. In the discussion we explore the perspectives of someone who didn't know anything about Dune beforehand and someone...
2021-11-031h 00Like Mother, Like Son, Like MoviesEp. 70 - Small AxeWith Small Axe (2020) British filmmaker Steve McQueen contributes to the ongoing evolution of merging the line between cinema and television even more. The series of films (presented as a mini-series) tell five distinct stories set in West Indian community in London from 1969 to 1982. We explore our experiences watching them in a discussion that gets also little bit emotional.
2021-08-0559 minLike Mother, Like Son, Like MoviesEp. 69 - Watching Movies in 2020This time instead of talking about a specific movie, we are going to talk about watching movies during the quarantine in 2020. Liisa describes her troubles with the library and how certain series helped her survive. Aharon shares his evolution towards streaming services and how big changes in his life pushed him to become more open about how we watch movies.
2021-07-1040 minLike Mother, Like Son, Like MoviesEp. 68 - Oscars 2021During most of 2020 we took a quiet break from podcasting. When we finally felt like recording again it was difficult to get back on it. But thankfully we have the annual Academy Awards to cheer everybody up and get the discussions flowing. We do our traditional predictions and reactions while giving bits of opinions on the topics at hand.
2021-05-1554 min
Like Mother, Like Son, Like MoviesEp. 67 - DownsizingDespite of its interesting premise, Alexander Payne's 2017 sci-fi satire Downsizing failed to impress both critics and the audience. It was criticized for it's poor plot, uninteresting use of the genre, dull protagonist and the portrayal of an Vietnamese refugee character. For us the level of hatred this film got was baffling, to say the least. My mother, for example, honored it as one of the best movies of the year. So we are definitely seeing something different than everyone else...
2020-05-031h 06
Like Mother, Like Son, Like MoviesEp. 66 - 12 MonkeysTerry Gilliam's 1995 time travel epic 12 Monkeys is in many ways very relevant topic to discuss these days. While being simply an awesome movie and must see, we concentrate in our talk mainly on the philosophical aspects of the story and how it compares to other movies as Mad Max, Vertigo and of course Chris Marker's original La Jetée (1962).
2020-04-041h 00
Like Mother, Like Son, Like MoviesEp. 65 - Favourite Movies of 2019We go through our favourite movies of 2019 with some honorary mentions and other memorable experiences.
2020-02-2059 min
Like Mother, Like Son, Like MoviesEp. 64 - Oscars 2020Last time the Oscars gave us such a depressing event that we almost didn’t want to do our annual reaction episode this year. Somehow we found the energy and settled for the most thrilling awards ceremony since Moonlight (2016) winning best picture.
2020-02-151h 01
Like Mother, Like Son, Like MoviesEp. 63 - The IrishmanRobert De Niro, Al Pacino and Joe Pesci star in Martin Scorsese’s Netflix release The Irishman (2019) which was a very long crime drama movie. We start the episode with a story of how hard it was for Aharon to find a moment to watch this movie. We continue with a discussion on the length and editing. Then we move on to the de-aging technology. And finally with some nice closing thoughts on the magic of cinema.
2020-02-0659 min
Like Mother, Like Son, Like MoviesEp. 62 - Joker and Once Upon a Time In HollywoodIn which we are having more relaxed time and discuss first hand thoughts about movies we saw recently. Aharon tells a story about how several movies he saw tied together and Liisa is dying to get into Todd Phillips’ Joker (2019) and Quentin Tarantino’s Once Upon a Time In Hollywood (2019).
2019-10-3159 min
Like Mother, Like Son, Like MoviesEp. 61 - Murder on the Orient ExpressIn this epic episode we discuss three adaptations of Agatha Christie’s Murder on the Orient Express starring his most famous character, Hercule Poirot. We talk about our history with Agatha Christie’s stories, Belgium, how the adaptations portray Poirot and which one of them truly captures the full potential of this particular crime story. Because of Poirot’s famous country of origin, we thought a great chance to invite our friend Vincent Gebruers and give his local perspective on these adaptations.
2019-10-171h 28
Like Mother, Like Son, Like MoviesEp. 60 - A Monster CallsWe found ourselves this time surprisingly talking about J. A. Bayona’s 2016 dark fantasy film A Monster Calls, adapted from the novel of the same name. While I had both negative and some positive feelings about the movie my mother simply didn’t understand why we were talking about this movie. Nevertheless like usual we managed to dig ourselves deep into fairy tales and children in cinema.
2019-07-061h 02
Like Mother, Like Son, Like MoviesEp. 59 - Oscars 2019So here we are again. The Academy Awards were given while we avoided the news until we sat down and hosted our own Oscar special during which we revealed the winners.
This year we wanted to include into the discussion also the movies from 2018 that didn’t get any attention in the Oscars and which we would definitely recommend people to see. So this time we will first go through a handful of Oscars winners and the other half we will dedicate to our own recommendations.
2019-03-121h 20
Like Mother, Like Son, Like MoviesEp. 58 - Valerian and The Fifth ElementLuc Besson’s space adventure The Fifth Element (1997) still holds up as one the most entertaining movies coming out from 90’s. Naturally the fans were excited when the director chose to revisit space with his 2017 film Valerian and the City of Thousand Planets. The movie flopped at the box office and was forgotten relatively fast. Oddly we found this topic enough interesting that we had some thoughts of our own to put up on the table.
We compare both movies and examine what are the failures of Valerian while also diving into the origins of the comic. While my mother give...
2019-01-231h 00
Like Mother, Like Son, Like MoviesEp. 57 - EllePaul Verhoeven’s Elle (2016) is probably the hardest movie we had to talk about. It is a complex movie with very heavy subject matter. It’s a challenge to define the characters and their motives as confidently as the movie presents itself. But we knew it was a movie we had to get out of our system somehow. For my mother especially it was a major experience that ended helping her with her own life.
In our talk we, among other topics, try our luck with analysing the characters and events, share thoughts on Paul Verhoeven and Isabelle Huppert and at t...
2019-01-1459 min
Like Mother, Like Son, Like MoviesEp. 56 - We Need to Talk About KevinI became really interested in Lynne Ramsay’s movies and because I heard so much about We Need to Talk About Kevin (2011) I decided to put it on the table for us to discuss. Little did I know Liisa was more than familiar with the movie and not very happy about it.
Apart from Kevin we talk about psychopaths, mothers, Tilda Swinton and other Lynne Ramsay movies we are excited about. We kind of sidetrack at the end towards other directors, their methods and role of actors in productions.
I had to record my end outside so you might hear so...
2019-01-0859 min
Like Mother, Like Son, Like MoviesEp. 55 - mother!Prior to seeing mother! my own mother told that her primary goal with Darren Aronofsky's 2017 film was to see what he was all about. Apparently she never really got him. In the other hand I have been following him very closely ever since I saw Requiem for a Dream (2000). That said, it has been surprisingly fascinating (and confusing) to observe his latest output. Similarly to my mother I also found myself bewildered. So fortunately we got to sit down and talk about it and finally put the topic to rest.
2018-11-1347 min
Like Mother, Like Son, Like MoviesEp. 54 - Happy EndDespite mentioning Haneke frequently in our podcast, we haven’t had the chance to have an episode dedicated to him solely. But with his recent drama set in Calais, France, which my mother honoured to be the (other) best movie of 2017, we finally got our opportunity to focus on him.
We talk of course about Haneke’s style and techniques in storytelling. This movie also gives us a good example on how he examines political content through his stories. We get lost in dissecting the characters and their actors and in the end my mother gives us an intriguing mystery to t...
2018-09-181h 18
Like Mother, Like Son, Like MoviesEp. 53 - The SquareAfter Ruben Östlund’s memorable Force Majeure (2014), we were looking forward to his next film, The Square (2017). Especially after it won the Palme d’Or at Cannes Film Festival.
A satire about the art world seemed like a welcoming subject, but oh boy, the movie did not sit well with us. And we knew we had to talk about it. If for nothing else, just to get it out of our system. So abandon all hope, ye who enter here.
We discuss of course about what exactly went wrong here. About Östlunds previous films and how he constructs his own cinema...
2018-05-231h 10
Like Mother, Like Son, Like MoviesEp. 52 - The Wicker Man (2006)To get the whole Wicker Man experience completely out of our system after our talk about the original Robin Hardy masterpiece, we decided to examine Nicolas Cage’s accidental comedy The Wicker Man (2006).
Our focus is particularly on the differences between the remake and the original and how exactly the makers of the remake failed to conceive the concepts of the original movie. Also we talk about the surprising merits of the remake. In particular the fact that both films have achieved a cult status with their own special ways. My mother is not familiar with the “so-good-its-bad” subgenre so I get...
2018-05-081h 04
Like Mother, Like Son, Like MoviesEp. 51 - The Wicker Man (1973)1st of May is around the corner and what would be a better way to celebrate Spring than talking about the greatest movie about the May Day, Robin Hardy’s masterpiece The Wicker Man (1973).
Me and my mother both really love this film and have been waiting for the right time to share our thoughts about it. We dive into the ambiguous definition of the films genre, various details about the making of the film and of course the amazing cast. The second half we devote for the deeper themes of this peculiar story. Why it is so serious about th...
2018-04-2259 min
Like Mother, Like Son, Like MoviesEp. 50 - Youth50 episodes later down our podcast series we go back to the beginning. In the very first recording we talked about Paolo Sorrentino’s La Grande Belezza (2013). Now we return to the acclaimed director with his movie Youth (2015), which my mother has been desperate to talk about.
In addition we manage to also discuss the first season of his mini-series The Young Pope (2016). We talk about being old and young, beauty, death, music, writing, religion and how the Xbox Kinect works.
Spoiler alert: We talk openly about the plot of Youth so watch the film before listening our discussion. If you ha...
2018-04-111h 10
Like Mother, Like Son, Like MoviesEp. 49 - Force MajeureRuben Östlund has seemed like an interesting filmmaker and this film was on our movies-to-watch list for a long time. It was quite fascinating to see what would unfold during an avalanche in the French Alps.
Next to the usual digestion of the film itself, we ended up talking about masculinity and the discussion about gender roles in general. And towards the end we also weight in little bit of perspective about Finland and sauna.
Spoilers: We talk about the plot openly and discuss the ending in detail so I would recommend you first see the film.
2018-04-041h 25
Like Mother, Like Son, Like MoviesEp. 48 - This Is Not a FilmDespite being banned for 20 years of making movies, Iranian filmmaker Jafar Panahi has found numerous ways of continuing making films.
Both me and my mother have been fascinated of his current path and not only the various techniques he films his movies but also how he balances between documentary-like reality with fictional drama. We dive into his reality with two of his post-ban movies: This Is Not a Film (2011) and Taxi Tehran (2015).
2018-03-191h 01
Like Mother, Like Son, Like MoviesEp. 47 - Oscars 2018Continuing our tradition we entertain ourselves with the latest Academy Awards ceremony. Like last time we avoided the winner announcements and instead host our very own Oscar episode in which we go through selected categories and talk about our predictions and reveal the winner to each other as we go along.
This year we had complex feelings towards the nominated movies (and movies that weren’t nominated). Next to the overall Oscar talk we get to share our opinions, among other things, about Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri, The Shape of Water and Dunkirk.
Spoilers: Unfortunately in order to speak ou...
2018-03-081h 21
Like Mother, Like Son, Like MoviesEp. 46 - PatersonWe enjoy Jim Jarmusch’s films enormously and his quiet and meditative Paterson (2016) is definitely no exception. While arguably his most accessible film for general audience, he was able to bring a soft balance to the dominating hectic drama filled cinema. But above all it is a masterful portrait of poetry.
During our discussion we praise the achievements, but also examine how some viewers felt dissatisfied. We also explore the poetic elements of the film and bring up some examples of real magic on screen.
Spoilers: We spoil the plot, so do watch the film beforehand.
2018-02-051h 28
Like Mother, Like Son, Like MoviesEp. 45 - Everybody Wants Some!!This time we dwell into a subject matter that both me, or my mother, have any experience about: college in United States in the 1980’s.
Fortunately we are very familiar with the director, Richard Linklater, and his masterful career as a filmmaker. Upon viewing Everybody Wants Some!! we saw an opportunity to open a discussion on his films and how this particular movie represents his thematic and stylistic motifs. Next to Linklater we explore High School movie tropes and nostalgia in movies.
Spoilers: We do reveal the end scene, so be aware.
2018-01-291h 11
Like Mother, Like Son, Like MoviesEp. 44 - James Bond Copy Cat MoviesAfter discussing in depth about Spectre with Vincent Gebruers, we spend a lot of times entertaining ourselves in all topics about Bond. One of the continuous comments that caught my interest was when certain movies were referred to as “James Bond copy cat movies”. This came up most notably whenever we dared mention the Mission Impossible series, which has a conflictive history with Vincent.
So we decided to get together (with Liisa also this time) and see how far the rabbit hole we can go tracing back action/gentleman/spy movies to their original British influence. After getting through the obvi...
2018-01-221h 33
Like Mother, Like Son, Like MoviesEp. 43 - HappinessThis is the second part of our discussion on Todd Solondz’ career. Last time we started things off with Wiener-Dog (2016) and the various connections of themes and characters it opened to Solondz’s previous films like the cult film Welcome to the Doll House (1995) and Palindromes (2004).
Now we concentrate on his arguably most famous movie, Happiness (1998), and the various crossroads it takes us within Solondz’s oeuvre. Not to forget the uncomfortable rooms it opens when exploring the human condition.
2018-01-131h 14
Like Mother, Like Son, Like MoviesEp. 42 - Wiener-DogWe have been wanting to talk about Todd Solondz for a long time. For us, and arguably for most people, his twisted cinematic universe was introduced with Welcome to the Doll House (1995) and Happiness (1998). Understandably after watching them the audience might not want to see another film by him, or be left intrigued for more. Me and my mother fell in with the latter and gracefully watched whatever he was able to produce.
This is the first part of our in depth discussion and analysis of Solondz career and themes in his movies. We start with his latest movie Wiener-Dog (2016...
2017-12-101h 24
Like Mother, Like Son, Like MoviesEp. 41 - Sidetrack: SilenceDespite of our in depth discussion with my mother on the Japanese culture and thematic concepts explored in Martin Scorsese's Silence, we could not help no to dedicate another discussion on the matter.
But instead of the usual mother-son chit chat, I sit down with Eddy Van der Borght, a professor at the The Faculty of Theology at VU University Amsterdam. He was an amazing conversationalist with whom I got to share thoughts on the theological weight of Endo's story.
Next to the themes of the film and novel, we go through a lot of the history of jesuits and C...
2017-10-101h 08
Like Mother, Like Son, Like MoviesEp. 40 - SilenceMartin Scorsese is one of my mother's absolute favourite filmmakers. She always manages to go into the deeper levels of his narrations. She is also crazy about the cultural history of Japan. So when Scorsese utilises his thematic moral core to the Japanese culture and brings onscreen a massive epic religious drama, for sure we will have some thoughts about it.
We talk about and compare both the film and the original novel. And as the culture plays a big role in the story, we also paint the landscape of an historical rural Japan in 1600’s. Of course we don’t fo...
2017-09-241h 35
Like Mother, Like Son, Like MoviesEp. 39 - Lord of the Rings and The HobbitSo my mother somehow finally got around to see Peter Jackson’s adaptations of Lord of the Rings and The Hobbit.
Listen us remember our own personal introductions to Tolkien’s books and how we both couldn’t not get over the first page. And then how the movies won us over and why especially for Aharon the first trilogy has a special place in his heart.
We also go examine certain noticeable perks in Tolkien movies and fantasy genre in general and take the opportunity to mention our love for Christopher Lee.
The story about Michael Jackson wanting to play J...
2017-08-311h 22
Like Mother, Like Son, Like MoviesEp. 38 - The Incredible Shrinking ManEver since my mother first mentioned her interest in Jack Arnold’s The Incredible Shrinking Man we have been looking into movies that deal with shrinking. For this grand episode we bring together all we have learned about downscaling.
Keeping Jack Arnold’s amazing sci-fi adventure as the center focus, we go through its story beats and analyse the deeper themes in its core while drifting off and examining links to other sci-fi movies dealing with shrinkage.
Spoilers: We talk about the whole plot of the movie, so if you are sensitive, then go and see the movie first.
2017-08-221h 09
Like Mother, Like Son, Like MoviesEp. 37 - ArrivalMe and my mother have had an interesting history in following Denis Villeneuve's career so far. We had our first debate on his merits all the way back on our first episode and we settled some thoughts after seeing Sicario. And our stakes for him . as a filmmaker would just get higher for his first science fiction film. So finally our episode on Arrival is ready. We recorded this way back in January, but took a long break from our podcast and it stood on the shelf so to speak. This is good to keep in mind, because the t...
2017-08-081h 13
Like Mother, Like Son, Like MoviesEp. 36 - I, Daniel BlakeI had the unfortunate experience of going to see I, Daniel Blake in a bad mood. Despite agreeing a lot with what the movie wanted to say, I could not handle the preaching tone. So I came out of it conflicted. Nevertheless I have been ever since recommending everybody to go and see it.
My mother on the other hand found deep connection with the story straight away. Next to being in general interested in the subject of poverty, she found the movie showing the audience the struggle that she goes through in her daily life. Just like Dave Johns...
2017-03-201h 14
Like Mother, Like Son, Like MoviesEp. 35 - El ClanContinuing themes explored in our previous episode, Memories of Murder and La Isla Minima, about series of murders set against a political turmoil in the 80's, we discuss Pablo Trapero's Argentinian 2015 drama movie El Clan.
Based on the real story about the Puccio family that kidnapped and murdered people in Buenos Aires, the movie gave us such a strong impression that we ended up talking most of our episode about the psychology behind these characters.
Spoilers: We talk openly about the whole plot, so if you are sensitive to spoilers you might want to first watch the movie.
2017-03-121h 07
Like Mother, Like Son, Like MoviesEp. 34 - Oscars 2017Continuing our Oscar special from last year, me and my mother sit down next day after the Oscar ceremony without knowing the winners and discuss the people and films while reveling the category winners.
This time we tried picking a handful of categories that interest us and for which we have time to dwell on. We start easy and move on to the bigger categories towards the end.
So, you are welcome to discover the winners with us (if you have not discovered them already for some reason) or to just join in on our discussion about the movies nominated...
2017-03-041h 57
Like Mother, Like Son, Like MoviesEp. 33 - MoonlightJust in time before the 2017 Academy Awards we sit down and talk about Barry Jenkins's instant classic, Moonlight. It is an incredibly intimate portrait of one mans life searching for his identity that is able to tell a very specific story of race and sexuality being in the same time as universal as you can get.
We mainly just go over the details that make this such a great film. For example how the opening scene itself sets up perfectly the upcoming life journey. But we also go over our thoughts on the upcoming Oscar gala.
Spoilers: We don't talk...
2017-02-241h 12
Like Mother, Like Son, Like MoviesEp. 32 - The Measure Of A ManMy mother described Stéphane Brizé's The Measure of a Man as the best movie of 2015. So naturally I got more and more interested about it. And sure enough it was nothing less than that. A minimal but truthful narration through the casual life of an unemployed man trying to find the means for himself and his family in France. It is a grand work speaking very quiet but saying so much.
We sat down to talk get to the bottom of the movie; Vincent Lindon, neorealism, the heavy subject matter, genius use of set pieces, morality, and the ex...
2017-02-161h 28
Like Mother, Like Son, Like MoviesEp. 31 - Infernal Affairs Of The DepartedMy mother has a natural interest in going back to the original versions of stories. After she has discovered that they might have been remakes or at least inspired from a previous source, she dives deep into the connections to see the whole evolution of the concepts.
Some time ago she discovered that Martin Scorsese adapted his Boston crime thriller The Departed from a 2002 Hong Kong movie Infernal Affairs and naturally she could not let it go until we had a podcast about these two movies.
Spoilers: We don't give away any of the plot twists, so it is safe...
2017-02-031h 21
Like Mother, Like Son, Like MoviesEp. 30 - Swiss Army ManSwiss Army Man is the debut feature film by two friends called Daniels about a man and a corpse on a magical surrealist adventure. Many also knows it as the movie in which Harry Potter's corpse farts endlessly. We didn't really know what to expect from it. But in the end it turned out to be one of the best movies of 2016. Honest.
Despite the juvenile humor and bizarre concept (and probably because of these) it incorporates some the most earnest and emotional film making in a long while. All the while separating itself from the majority of films with...
2017-01-131h 09
Like Mother, Like Son, Like MoviesEp. 29 - Train To BusanBy the time The Walking Dead started playing I got bored of zombies in pop culture. Then again my brother got a real kick for them along with The Walking Dead. And then there is our mother who has never seen a zombie in her life.
So it was quite exciting when we found each other being really enthusiastic to go and see Yeon Sang-ho's first live action movie Train to Busan. It's yet again another zombie movie, this time on a train across South Korea with an ensemble of colorful characters. But it promised something much more than what...
2017-01-051h 18
Like Mother, Like Son, Like MoviesEp. 28 - Star Wars: The Force Awakens"Is this the new one? Why it looks so old?"
My mother waited for the dvd of Star Wars: Force Awakens for half a year. When I saw it on top of her pile I knew it was a podcast discussion not to miss. So we saw it and talked about right after!
I could not wait to hear her opinions about the imaginary adventure action for the new generation. The last time she saw Star Wars when she went with my brother to see the last two of the originals in the theaters.
Amazingly our talk expands from just...
2016-12-131h 16
Like Mother, Like Son, Like MoviesEp. 27 - Son Of SaulLászló Nemes's holocaust drama Son of Saul has been on our absolute must see watch list ever since it came out and some time ago we finally had the opportunity to see it. Naturally we could not wait to sit down and pour our thoughts out of it.
The strange thing about it however was that I happened to be visiting in Israel at the moment when we did our Skype talk, which brought the effect of the film to another emotional level. Our discussion drifted apart from the movie to topics about faith, humanity and generational aftermath and tr...
2016-12-091h 16
Like Mother, Like Son, Like MoviesEp. 26 - Memories Of Murder And La Isla MinimaEven if we wanted to, it seems that we cannot get out of South Korea. As long as we still have a fresh interest in it we take our opportunity to talk about a hugely entertaining movie, Bong Joon-ho's 2003 dramatization of South Koreans first murder case labeled as serial killing, Memories of Murder.
Next to that we bring in a more recent Spanish murder thriller from 2014 called La Isla Minima (English title: Marshland) by Alberto Rodríguez. As both take place in the 80's and involves heavily influenced political background, we wanted to explore the similarities with the Asian true c...
2016-11-201h 21
Like Mother, Like Son, Like MoviesEp. 25 - Shaun The Sheep MovieThe next movie we decided to talk during our face to face discussion in Finland happens to have the youngest target audience so far. We watched Shaun the Sheep Movie by Aardman Animations and true to our nature we could not help but create some unconventional opinions out of it.
After some Aardman centered chit chat my mother presents a deep analysis on the animal warden antagonist, Trumper, creating bridges from Les Misérables to Hannah Arendt to paint the picture of what this character truly is underneath the overlapping story line. So you will be dramatically mistaken if you t...
2016-11-1356 min
Like Mother, Like Son, Like MoviesEp. 24 - Where The Wild Things AreWith me and my mother living in different countries it is not so often that we get to meet face to face and when we do we really try savor it. And of course these days one of our favorite thing is to do a podcast. While staying together in Finland we watched all kind of movies of which we took a couple as our subjects for the two next episodes.
The first one is Spike Jonze's Where The Wild Things Are, which I have always held as an example on how to really do a good adaptation. We are...
2016-11-041h 11
Like Mother, Like Son, Like MoviesEp. 23 - I Saw The DevilWith our third episode about a South Korean movie, the country seems to get a common status in our podcast. At the end of our talk of Thirst I gave some movie recommendations which I thought my mother would like. And the one movie that shined out specifically was Kim Jee-woon's I Saw the Devil.
Focusing on a bloody revenge story with a serial killer it is safe to say that this is so far our most darkest and violent movie we have talked about in our podcast. But it gives us also weirdly the catalyst to dive into the...
2016-09-2856 min
Like Mother, Like Son, Like MoviesEp. 22 - SnowpiercerBy the end of our earlier podcast about Park Chan-wook's Thirst, we went off topic and talked about South Korean movies and one major filmmaker that came up was Bong Joon-ho. I recommended my mother to check all of his movies and particularly his first English speaking production Snowpiercer.
In general my mother does not watch Sci-Fi action, but in relation to South Korea it might be an interesting watch, and most importantly I wanted to know if she liked it. Because the fact is that I didn't.
When I saw it in the theater it was more and more...
2016-09-171h 07
Like Mother, Like Son, Like MoviesEp. 21 - Bridge Of SpiesThis week Steven Spielberg offers a refreshingly historical story about spies in the mix of the Cold War, which for some reason went under the radar for me when it came out. My mother in the other hand caught up with it immediately and came up with an interesting realization about what kind of effect Mark Rylance's performance had on the rest of the movie. Without a doubt it sounded like something we should save for our next discussion.
Join us as we dive into the merits of Steven Spielberg's craftwork as well as the sentimental side of his storytelling...
2016-08-061h 08
Like Mother, Like Son, Like MoviesEp. 20 - Fearless Vampire KillersOn the fourth episode on the topic of vampires we step little bit backwards and look at an older movie that made it into my mothers top four vampire movies. Next to being the oldest and most traditional in its lore, it happens to be also the only comedy.
Filled with the master filmmakers personal interests, such as fun winter activities and sports, and careless humor supported by fake makeup it is a fascinating production that perfectly completes our vampire topic. Even though this time me and my mother may not be on the same ground on all of the...
2016-08-011h 30
Like Mother, Like Son, Like MoviesEp. 19 - ThirstThe very physical work of Chan-wook Park, to whom most of the audience is famous from Oldboy, has won over my mothers admiration over and over again. But it really culminated with the mix of vampirism and family/household drama Thirst.
Our series on vampires takes an interesting turn from the previous quiet and more slow paced vampire dramas as we discuss a movie which at first hand feels all over the place, but manages to feel natural enough in its chaos to discuss multiple levels of topics. And on top of that do a satisfying vampire flick.
2016-07-221h 24
Like Mother, Like Son, Like MoviesEp. 18 - Only Lovers Left AliveContinuing with the vampire genre after Let The Right One In, which brought us closer to our home environment and culture, we explore the spiritual and social concepts in the 2013 drama Only Lovers Left Alive and why exactly this movie sparked my mothers mind.
We get to analyze the movie from its characters, themes, locations, music and even its name to the unique filmmaker behind the wheel. Also my mother reveals a surprising history between Finland and Tangier.
For people who have not seen the movie yet, rest assured with this movie we don't give away any crucial plot details...
2016-07-161h 21
Like Mother, Like Son, Like MoviesEp. 17 - Let The Right One InLiisa has never been really into the classic horror genre and least of all into such a ridiculous theme as vampires. So I was kind of shocked when I heard that my mother is suddenly really into these gothic nightcrawlers. I gave her a list of all the vampire films I could think of and she watched all of them. Understandably I could not wait to hear what she got out it.
From all them we chose four that stood out to her to discuss on the podcast. So this will be a short series of four episodes concentrating on...
2016-07-061h 01
Like Mother, Like Son, Like MoviesSidetrack 2 - Spectre (Part 2)Continuing our small break from Part 1, we spent some more time to explore thoughts about the cinematic ingredients of Bond (including the possibility of example Idris Elba playing Bond), how Bond movies reflect their release time period and get a closer to our analysis with Spectre involving the symbolism of women in Daniel Graig's portrayal of the character.
Spoiler warning: Again, we do talk openly about the new movie, so beware. In this episode we also talk about the female relations in all Graig's Bond movies, so we will spoil them if you have not seen them yet.
2016-04-151h 42
Like Mother, Like Son, Like MoviesSidetrack 2 - Spectre (part 1)In the honor of Daniel Graig supposedly concluding his Bond arc with Spectre I dived deep into his characters story in the previous three movies in order to prepare myself with the emotional package which was to come.
I was fortunate to have in the family a very dear friend who happened to be a huge Bond fan. With Vincent the whole experience of watching Bond movies had an extra level of fascination. It wasn't a hard decision to ask if he would like to do a podcast related to watching Spectre and amazingly he agreed.
We recorded our discussion...
2016-04-141h 57
Like Mother, Like Son, Like MoviesEp. 16 - Oscars 2016We always have a lot of fun talking about the Oscars. The anticipation and the inevitable final disappointment when that one movie didn't get that price. On top of this the ceremony is filled with real problems that tend to come up every year, this year the concerns being wrapped in #whiteoscars.
For our discussion we managed to avoid reading who the winners were and saved the reveal for our discussion. So you can hear our reactions as we predict and analyse the resulting list of winners. We wanted to tackle as many categories and movies as possible so the...
2016-04-062h 12
Like Mother, Like Son, Like MoviesEp. 15 - The RevenantJust like we mention in the intro, originally we intended to talk more about The Hateful Eight and just a little bit about The Revenant. But as it usually goes, our plans don't stick around and the discussion quickly folds into a lengthy exploration about racism, realism in film making, how certain movies speaks to certain people and what is the entertainment value of watching movies in the end.
And even thou it does not necessarily come out that clear, Aharon (for reason unmentioned here) had a rough time coming into the podcast so his approach takes a more confronting...
2016-04-051h 28
Like Mother, Like Son, Like MoviesEp. 14 - The Hateful EightThis discussion was recorded in the beginning of February and we had the fortunate circumstance to be able to go and see the movie in the middle of a snow blizzard and sit in a cold theater for three hours. Rarely we have had such a relatable experience in cinema.
We talked about it the next morning at Liisa's apartment and the only way of recording the talk was with a headset in the middle. Despite of this the quality is relatively good. Actually if you listen close enough you can hear in the beginning our cat, Avi, purring on...
2016-03-251h 24
Like Mother, Like Son, Like MoviesEp. 13 - The MartianNow after long passed its theatrical lifespan and even the Oscar spotlight, our podcast about Ridley Scott's sci-fi adventure is finally edited and online.
Our discussion was recorder in November when the movie was in the theaters just after Aharon saw the movie and was excited to share his thoughts about it.
In the podcast we talk about survival (or "fiasko") movies and how The Martian seems to take a different kind of look at it. There is also a personal connection with the movie so the reasons why Aharon saw this movie and how it affected him will take...
2016-03-2236 min
Like Mother, Like Son, Like MoviesEp. 12 - The Extraordinary Adventures Of Bond, Hugo & AdèleNeedless to say this episode is going to be a baffling topic at first glance, but hopefully something that becomes more and more clarifying towards the end. At better yet, something that will give a new perspective to all three movies.
Our podcast starts as Liisa reveals her intentions with compiling these specific movies for our discussion after which we go into all three films separately. In the end we go more deeply into the overall theme that combines these movies.
For example in relation to the latest Bond we discuss such highly sophisticated topics as comparing Bond with MacGyver...
2015-12-061h 42
Like Mother, Like Son, Like MoviesEp. 11 - Terminator Genisys"Why the young terminator did not act like a terminator and instead acted like a hulk?"
While anticipating the new Terminator movie we realized that we had the amazing opportunity to actually talk about Arnold with someone to whom he has been an idol in the fields of bodybuilding and business, not to mention growing up with all his movies.
Aharons brother and Liisa's first born son Olli is our families full blown Arnold fan who has always seen the best in him. When he is not in the gym himself he spends his time working on cool award winning...
2015-11-261h 42
Like Mother, Like Son, Like MoviesEp. 10 - Sicario"If you can't stand excitement, don't go and see this film, because it is pure excitement."
Liisa's words couldn't describe this movie better. From beginning to finish the movie takes the viewer through the war driven border with the most intense energy we have seen in a while on the silver screen. There wasn't any question for us about it and this much we did agree on themovie.
Apart from this we venture towards the possible disagreements and confront each other with loaded opinions. We circle around the usual premises like cinematography, music, actors, screenwriting and float along analyzing the...
2015-11-211h 49
Like Mother, Like Son, Like MoviesEp. 9 - Being Ida & GloriaTiming, in many ways, is an essential part of influence. It is quite simple to think how much it has meant that we have had an experience on the doorstep of another. When an experience is compared with another. It is a basic equation that has it's role in constructing our complex mental web that is personality.
This in mind it was an exquisite chance that Aharon happened to watch Ida and Gloria one after the other (two movies that coincidentally have their lead characters names as the main title ) and to feel how much the lives of the characters...
2015-09-241h 26
Like Mother, Like Son, Like MoviesSidetrack 1 - Mad Max: Fury RoadIt's time to take a car flipping sidetrack and deviate from the family podcasting and discuss George Miller's fourth Mad Max with the company of good friends Dimitri 'Jangojim' Sakelaropolus and Anneke Caramin.
Being also a film enthusiast, it was only natural for Dimitri to sit down at some point with the recorder and share his thoughts on movies. Luckily we were accompanied with Anneke who gave some hard hitting points and in overall kept a rational mind among the adrenal filled drooling men.
We recorded the podcast at their apartment and you might hear some city ambient in the...
2015-08-131h 21
Like Mother, Like Son, Like MoviesEp. 8 - Birdman: Or (The Unexpected Virtue Of Ignorance)Staying still in 2014 for a while it's time to float with Michael Keaton from scene to scene and discuss Iñárritu's existentialist comedy and it's absurd name.
In our most (over-exaggerated) dramatic podcast to date, we find ourselves arguing quite a lot about the movie. We didn't seem to find a common ground at all among the subjects such as the latino influence of Iñárritu, whether Birdman is "man movie" or not, and how much Naomi Watts talked dirty in her scenes. How thrilling!
But despite all this commotion between us we dive also deeper into the subject, comparing Iñár...
2015-08-081h 12
Like Mother, Like Son, Like MoviesEp. 7 - WhiplashAfter learning about the young musicians at the Shaffer Conservatory we had quite a lot of thoughts about the whiplashing teacher responsible for the pupils, the idea of torturing yourself for art, and how this ties in with the Cypriot figure of Pygmalion.
Next to the concept of art and the character of Fletcher it is also interesting to mention that we talk about the similarities to the life story of David Helfgott and the story of My Fair Lady.
We do talk about the story in whole and don't really care to hide the ending, so technically there are spo...
2015-07-2555 min
Like Mother, Like Son, Like MoviesEp. 6 - NightcrawlerIn this podcast we find ourselves having quite an alternative perspective on the morality of Dan Gilroy's debut film Nightcrawler and it's antihero protagonist.
We talk about the background of Louis Bloom and why he is the way he is and who are the real double faced people in the story. Next to that we don't forget to use our ability to associate and find a connection to Odyssey.
It is very likely that we mention some minor details about the ending and stuff that could possibly be spoiling to see the film with fresh eyes. Nothing dramatic, but we...
2015-07-141h 01
Like Mother, Like Son, Like MoviesEp. 5 - The Wind RisesWe have been dying to talk about (wow, that came out heavier than meant) the latest and last animated feature movie by Hayao Miyazaki and the documentary that followed it, The Kingdom Of Dreams and Madness.
We talk about the beloved Isao Takahata, "animated realism" (whatever that means), and how Miyazaki changed Liisa's life. Oh, and of course about what a great movie Kikujiro was.
2015-06-131h 20
Like Mother, Like Son, Like MoviesEp. 4 - Cannes 2015For once we let ourselves be relevant and talk about the Cannes Film Festival 2015 just before they give away the awards. A timing that does not happen often.
Aharon has a cold so you don't hear him that much, and when you do it's mostly sneezing. Nevertheless topics were discussed and the Cannes catalogue looked trough thoroughly.
Considering the podcast, we still have not learned how to begin and end our conversations, so the podcast will just end at some point. Sorry about that.
2015-05-241h 02
Like Mother, Like Son, Like MoviesEp. 3 - Inherent ViceSo you went and spend almost 3 hours to see a film that does not seem to have any point in it? Well how about spending 2 hours more listening two people talk endlessly about it.
This is our breakdown of the Thomas Pynchon adaptation, fresh out of the premiere (which was two months ago).
We talk about the movie in detail, so you could consider it to give away a lot about the movie. But considering the complexity of the actual narration in the movie and our inability to have coherent podcast, I think the movie will be still quite fresh i...
2015-05-222h 08
Like Mother, Like Son, Like MoviesEp. 2 - La Grande BellezzaWhile recording our first podcast we realized that both of us had watched La Grande Bellezza already and that we were finally able to share our thoughts on it.
I think we can admit for sure that there are no spoilers in this podcast, except for the core meaning of the movie (if in case you are that kind of person who likes to find these things by yourself).
2015-05-2154 min
Like Mother, Like Son, Like MoviesEp. 1 - AlphaWelcome to the first podcast! We don’t really know what we are doing, so we would like to take this opportunity now that we are starting to know each other and apology for any lack of professional quality in our conversation. Everything has to have a beginning, so this is alpha (you can also hear it in the quality). But we are learning, so maybe you will find us getting better in the future… maybe. For the first talk we clean the back of our heads with recent movies we have seen and other random things we have been...
2015-05-2044 min