215: The Raid, Pumping Iron, and the State of Film Criticism

This week on the Frotcast, we’ve got Brendan and Matt Lieb in the Frotquarters, with “Film Critic” author Laremy Legel joining us via Skype. 
We open the show talking about how we’re going to talk about The Raid, and the difference between Silat and Muay Thai. Matt Lieb talks about his bar fighting experiences (mostly theoretical) and that somehow leads us into a discussion of Pumping Iron, and Brendan’s dead-on Lou Ferrigno impression. Lou Ferrigno’s gullibility leads us into a discussion of sales tactics and pick-up tactics aimed at the dumbest people around that just end up working because so many people are so dumb. That somehow leads us to the couple who took professional photos with their stillborn baby, which naturally leads to some thoroughly dark dead baby humor. We talk some about The Raid remake, Taylor Kitcsh, Oliver Stone, and Kid Rock’s strangely well-written letter in the Juggalo sexual harassment lawsuit case. Eventually we get to the famous troll article “Idiocracy is a Cruel Movie And You Should Be Ashamed For Liking It,” which makes everyone groan lots. 
After that, we bring on Laremy, and we talk about The Raid, and Kenneth Turan’s LA Times piece, “Kenneith Turan takes a critic’s lonely stand on ‘Boyhood.'” That of course leads us to discuss some of the courageous stands that *we* have taken in film criticism. I don’t want to use the word “hero,” but… 
Enjoy!
Enjoy!