MURDER-SET-PIECES III

Well, damn. For a movie nobody liked, they’re sure talking about it a lot. In this episode, Cold Cuts spills over into part three of Nick Palumbo’s Murder-Set-Pieces. Overthinking It continues, and Pappy concludes his discussion on empathy and extreme cinema. After sussing out their own empathetic reactions and possibilities to extremely disturbing movies, Danny, David and Pappy turn their attention to cinematic representations of psychopathy. Anton Chigurh, Patrick Bateman, Norman Bates and… the Benny the Photographer? It’s pretty clear Palumbo is doing the most to create a memorable movie psycho, but… did he? Borat’s cousin, Dr. Simon Baron-Cohen, and Dr. Phil McGraw do their best to help the fellas decide.

In Loose Ends, Murder-Set-Pieces fatigue is very real. You can hear it when they start parsing out Danny’s problem with Borat, Cultural Learnings of America for Make Benefit Glorious Nation of Kazakhstan. Finally, David closes the show by sharing a better version of Murder-Set-Pieces, one that leaves Danny and Pappy speechless.

Timestamps:

Overthinking It
00:00:00 — 00:11:57: Is it possible to feel empathy while watching these movies?
00:11:58 — 00:25:17: Empathy according to Borat’s cousin
00:25:18 — 00:32:29: Borat’s cousin’s psychopath criteria
00:32:30 — 00:37:58: Psychopaths according to Dr. Phil
00:37:59 — 00:39:01: Is the photographer a psychopath?
00:39:02 — 00:52:26: Empathy & ethics

Loose Ends
00:52:27 — 01:00:45: Danny has a problem with Borat
01:00:46 — 01:03:30: David wrote a better movie

Next Week’s Movie
01:03:31 — 01:06:16: Danny handpicks a wild one

Episode Notes & Such
Baron-Cohen, Simon. The Science of Evil: On Empathy and the Origins of Human Cruelty. Basic Books, 2012.