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Movie reviews (seasonally thematic)

24/02/2024

🚨NEW EPISODE🚨 Scarf Season continues with Darren Aronofsky’s grim REQUIEM FOR A DREAM (2000). Aronofsky’s second film and first to really cement his name amongst film nerds, Requiem’s protagonist is addiction itself. Wow! Does it win in the end? joins us to figure it out and the Brady Bunch song makes more sense when you listen to the episode 😃 . Link in profile
#2000

18/02/2024

Part two of our first Aronofsky pairing, THE WHALE is out now where ever you find podcasts (link in profile). We’ve been doing this podcast for years and 100+ episodes but this may be the most divisive conversation we have ever had. joins us to talk representation and responsibility in showcasing characters like Brenda Fraser’s Charlie, a 600-pound dude wracked with grief and eating himself to death. Fraser won an Oscar is this film morally objectionable for its portrayal of Charlie and his weight? We still love each other despite the evidence of this episode ❤️

04/02/2024

Since we’re doing Aronofsky’s filmography in a temporal pincer movement, we’ll be talking a LOT a lot about this guy: Hair care product enthusiast and generational talent at cinematography, Matthew Libatique. A graduate of California State University and the AFI Conservatory, Libatique has been with Aronofsky from Pi - which we talk this week, link in profile - and has been the DP on six of Aronofsky’s 8 films. Bradley Cooper has been doing his best to be his new BFF lately but we have faith that one of the best director/dp collabs this century will continue and Cooper can go make another Hangover movie or whatever.

02/02/2024

SEASON PREMIERE! Darren Aronofsky, what’s his deal? The grim movies, the scarves, the… well, that’s all we got so far. We start out at the beginning, with Pi, his self-financed black and white bombshell of a debut that put him and a host of his collaborators on everyone’s watch list. What’s Pi about? A math wiz with mental health issues and a number of conspiracy-laced interests in the contents of his head. It’s not a comedy! Thomas and Ken are joined by Ryan for part one of our two part opener (paired with The Whale). Get your calculator out!

17/11/2023

Reminder: we are guesting on tomorrow in a showdown between Se7en and The Social Network, two of David Fincher’s best (maybe his two best??). An amazing episode talking one of our best - and most divisive - mainstream directors.

16/11/2023

We have the best time guesting on and their episode with us discussing David Fincher is out Friday! Not only did we put The Social Network against Se7en (closer than you think!), we talked Fincher’s entire career.

31/10/2023

Happy Halloween! New episode! Tom Savini, makeup expert, bit actor, dean of his own school and film director! Screenwriter and horror scholar joins us to talk his seminal work on George Romero’s seminal 1978 Dawn of the Dead and his less-than-seminal work directing the remake of Night of the Living Dead in 1990. Link in profile.
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28/10/2023

To call the Talking Heads seminal might be hyperbole or facts (it’s facts), from 1977-1988 they released 8 albums (stick with the first 4) and two live albums along with an equally seminal concert film, Stop Making Sense. So Hollywood wanted in and curious and brilliant lead singer David Byrne got to make TRUE STORIES (1986). It is a warm-hearted film full of quirks and small town oddities that have since become common occurrences in film and, mostly, TV. Ken and Thomas, both fans, are joined by Ryan, musician and super fan to talk the film, Byrne, and the Talking Heads - who have apparently thawed decades of acrimony recently and begun appearing together while pimping the re-release of Stop Making Sense (which happened days after we recorded, BTW). Link in profile

27/10/2023

Now that Prince has been gone more than seven years, we can all admit that, despite his world-shattering talent as a singer/songwriter and performer, he was an awfully weird human being. And that’s ok! We watched his tremendously epic UNDER THE CHERRY MOON for this week’s episode (link in profile!) and nothing about it indicates it was made by someone whoever had a human interaction in their entire lives. Charming, in a way. Otherworldly in another. We are joined by and , Prince experts, to talk Moon.
#1999

24/10/2023

🎵 NEW EPISODE 🎶 Musicians making movies! No, we are not talking Taylor Swift, her current concert film or the film she is slated to direct. We do have two 1986 films she should watch and study before beginning her own feature, though.

1986! Prince releases his follow-up to Purple Rain (a film he did not direct) UNDER THE CHERRY MOON. If you like woefully (we mean woefully) bad films with beautiful cinematography, this is for you. Also 1986, David Byrne releases TRUE STORIES, a surreal grab bag of stories set in a Texas town inspired by tabloid stories.

We talk both with musical legends Ryan and Andi as guests! Link in profile

21/10/2023

In covering Star Trek films directed by Star Trek actors (link in profile!), the absence of Shatner’s Star Trek V has resulted in a few questions. Here, from the show notes, written by co-host Thomas, is an explainer:

“But what of Shatner?” serious nerds of film and fiends of the franchise might ask. Look, nerd/fiend, the ‘final frontier’ might be a destination to boldly go, but it’s a s**t flick and gives credence to the cursed “odd number” Trek movies. We’d prefer to listen to 106 minutes of remixed whale song than suffer again through the trauma of Star Trek V: The Favored Nations Clause in Kirk’s Contract (1989). So, in short, double du***ss on you.

20/10/2023

Jonathan Frakes, who plays Will Riker, directed the best of the Next Generation films, First Contact (covered this week, link in profile!). He has also become the go-to in directing Star Trek on the small screen, being an integral creative piece of the current roster of Trek shows on Paramount+, most importantly perhaps directing a number of episodes of Picard S3, which was designed as the proper send-off of The Next Generation cast. For fans of this iteration of Trek he is as beloved for behind the scenes work as his work as an actor. Nerd out with us talking two Treks this week along with Martin of

18/10/2023

Leonard Nimoy only directed film seriously for a little over ten years from The Search for Spock in 1984 to Holy Matrimony in 1994 (there was TV work before and after) but a few of those works have stood the test of time. Best known as Spock, Nimoy’s most popular directorial works (including the Treks) were extensions of his real life personality; warm, amusing, thoughtful and intelligent. We talk Star Trek 4 The Voyage Home this week (link in profile), one of the most enduring of all Trek movies. A year after Voyage in ‘87 Nimoy would have his greatest success as director with Three Men and a Baby, with Ted Danson, Tom Selleck and Steve Guttenberg forced to be roommates because of San Francisco’s wildly expensive cost of living. Nimoy was a one of a kind presence in TV and film for decades and he is missed.
***ss

17/10/2023

🚨NEW EPISODE🚨 We are joined by Martin from to discuss two Star Treks directed by Spock and Riker. Or Leonard Nimoy and Jonathan Frakes, depending how you look at it. STAR TREK 4: THE VOYAGE HOME and FIRST CONTACT, featuring time travel, space ci**rs, Farmer Hoggett and the Borg. One of the best of the original crew paired with the best of the Next Generation. Sorry if you thought we were too cool to be Trek nerds.

Captain Ken, Number One Thomas discuss with Admiral Martin the two films, their directors, and let their Trek geek hair down a bit. Link in profile
***ss

16/10/2023

14/10/2023

e’re not going to get in any fights with Johnny Depp stans, we promise! Depp is in ONCE UPON A TIME IN MEXICO, covered this week (link in profile) and is a classic first era Depp performance. Yes, he was an aesthetically beautiful human being given to using that beauty to trojan horse unique and quirky performances. It’s why first era Depp was so beloved by film nerds. In Mexico he is clearly given too much leeway by a director not known for getting the best out of actors. It’s a tonal mess in-keeping with the film in general but still fascinating as it came right about the time Depp entered his big time commercial era before he started to become disinterested in acting and his offscreen antics and indulgences became more interesting than onscreen performances. We are right at the fulcrum where that begins to creep in. Depp still has it in him, with the right director and role, to wow us. It has simply been awhile

13/10/2023

The star of Salma Hayek’s film, THE MALDONADO MIRACLE (covered this week, link in profile), is Peter Fonda. As part of the once-great acting family (it was still going when Danny Elfman kidnapped Fonda’s super-talented daughter, Bridget), Fonda got by on a chill, welcoming screen vibe rather than deep, nuanced acting. He made a lot of low budget films over his career, of which Miracle is one. He was a guy who worked a lot but not often that hard. No judgement. For fans of the pod he was also in Ghost Rider and Easy Rider, which we’ve talked about, along with Grapes of Wrath, starring his father, Henry. He had a 1990s renaissance with a brilliant performance in Ulee’s Gold and an equally brilliant dark take on his screen image in The Limey. Someday we may get to his fantastic directional effort, the classic western THE HIRED HAND. For now we got him in the Hayek film as a good-hearted, chill-vibed small town priest with the WORST bag work on a punching bag in screen history. Seriously. Miracle is on YouTube. Find the punching bag scene right now. Episode link in profile

11/10/2023

If you have spent any time on instagram (🖐️) a photo or video of this scene from Robert Rodriguez’s From Dusk Till Dawn has probably popped up half a million times. It’s popular for some reason! We talk a lot about Rodriguez and even more about Hayek in our latest episode (link in profile). It would be fair if, at the end of Rodriguez’s fairly shabby career, if this were the only indelible image he ever mustered just as it would be equally unfair to Hayek, whose own career is rich and nuanced in a way this scene makes sadly reductive. And yet we still post it because of the algorithm! 🤷‍♂️ Note: known foot fetishist Quentin Tarantino wrote this scene for himself to have Hayek put her foot in his mouth and pour tequila down it. Creepy.

10/10/2023

And we are back! We’ve been on an unintentional hiatus because our production team, much like SAG and the WGA, have been on strike! Unlike SAG and the WGA, their demands were MORE SALMA HAYEK CONTENT, so we met their demands. Now a billionaire’s trophy and TV lifestyle personality, there was a time Hayek was everything; a creatively ambitious A-lister with generational beauty and a burning desire to turn that fame into being able to tell stories that mattered to her. This week, we cover a film that did NOT matter to her, or many others, ONCE UPON A TIME IN MEXICO, the third, tired, messy film in Robert Rodriguez’s El Mariachi trilogy. Hayek is barely in it so we are not quite sure why we picked it. But we did! Then 2003’s THE MALDONADO MIRACLE, a sweet TV family film Hayek directed. Filled with just enough character, humor and charm where we weren’t expecting much, one wonders what Hayek could have been artistically were she not content to be on the wall in the den of a billionaire. Link in profile. Hit it.

15/09/2023

🚨NEW EPISODE🚨 We got a good one! Lee Grant. From ingenue to losing 12 years in Hollywood to being blacklisted, to triumphant Oscar-winning actress and then an Oscar-winning filmmaker, Grant needs a biopic yesterday. What a life story. We picked her amazing turn in the second Columbo pilot, RANSOM FOR A DEAD MAN and her groundbreaking documentary about gender identity WHAT S*X AM I? Ahead of her time on both sides of the camera, you’ll want to do a deep dive yourself after listening to us. We got on the episode! Link in profile
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05/09/2023

Seth Rogen and Evan Goldberg, who wrote Pineapple Express, one of the films covered this week (link in profile) are lifelong friends who have written a number films about lifelong friends. If John Ford is who you think of when you think of westerns, Rogen and Goldberg are the John Fords of millennial male friendship comedies. Since a run of successful films they wrote and produced (Goldberg also directs), things cooled down on the big screen as comedies were no longer a priority with studios - the IP Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles is their first shared screen credit in years. Don’t despair! They are pals now in TV, mostly producing, and they have done a lot in bringing quirky indie comic books to the little screen. They also produced the brilliant, criminally under seen Paul T. Goldman (it’s on Peacock so we get it but put down what you are doing and watch it). Maybe comedy on the big screen is a thing of the past. Either way, Rogen and Goldberg, barring any disaster, are firmly entrenched in the Hollywood hierarchy.

04/09/2023

🚨We are back!🚨 We continue with our Side Hustle season and the curious case of James Franco. Talented hyphenate in front and behind the camera, equally adept at playing comedy and drama. He could have had it all. We talk the classic male friendship comedy PINEAPPLE EXPRESS followed by the male friendship comedy THE DISASTER ARTIST this week with special guest Leigh! It’s a good’n.

16/08/2023

🚨NEW EPISODE🚨 Emilio Estevez, 1980s heartthrob, director, writer + actor! We get to talk about an all-time mutual favorite in REPO MAN followed by a film Estevez wrote and directed 6 years later, MEN AT WORK, co-starring famed winner and sibling, Charlie Sheen. It’s ostensibly a comedy. Good stuff. Link in profile.

02/08/2023

Ivan Reitman (1946-2022), had an interesting career. He directed a series of memorable comedies playing off an ascending, young Bill Murray and then made three memorable high concept films with Arnold Schwarzenegger - the first of which, TWINS, we discuss on our current Danny DeVito episode. Other than those movies, Reitman directed a good deal of forgettable studio films that rarely entered into the zeitgeist like the films with Murray and Schwarzenegger. If you’ve watched a, say, Legal Eagles (directed by Reitman) recently, it would seem clear why. He was a generic journeyman director who struck gold with an actor twice, ran it to the ground, and that is just fine! He also gave us Jason Reitman, who continues to make *interesting* choices as director.

01/08/2023

🚨NEW EPISODE🚨DANNY DEVITO🚨 We are joined by to talk DevIto as iconic comedic actor in the buddy movie TWINS and then as actor/director in… kind of a buddy movie as well, THROW MOMMA FROM THE TRAIN. It’s Hollywood at its most insanely 1980s high concept along with Hollywood getting a mainstream black comedy right in the 80s. “ Owen! Turn that podcast on!” Link in profile.

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For her sweet romance between two broken, small town lovers in The Maldonado Miracle (episode link in profile) director Salma Hayek cast Rubén Blades and Mare Winningham, both of whom are also successful musicians. Hat lover Blades is a music legend and has a room full of Grammy’s for his salsa music, his main gig he is best known for. Winningham has been nominated for just about every award and has two Emmys as a result. Their quiet, determined chemistry in Miracle may be the one thing holding it all together. Both are expertly cast and directed by Hayek in her, sadly, only film directing credit . . . . . #film #cinema #podcast #actor #actress #producer #salmahayek #elmariachi #onceuponatimeinmexico #antoniobanderas #johnnydepp #maldonado #miracle #director #fromdusktilldawn #rubenblades #salsa #grammys #marewinningham #emmywinner #singer #singersongwriter

We’re not going to get in any fights with Johnny Depp stans, we promise! Depp is in ONCE UPON A TIME IN MEXICO, covered this week (link in profile) and is a classic first era Depp performance. Yes, he was an aesthetically beautiful human being given to using that beauty to trojan horse unique and quirky performances. It’s why first era Depp was so beloved by film nerds. In Mexico he is clearly given too much leeway by a director not known for getting the best out of actors. It’s a tonal mess in-keeping with the film in general but still fascinating as it came right about the time Depp entered his big time commercial era before he started to become disinterested in acting and his offscreen antics and indulgences became more interesting than onscreen performances. We are right at the fulcrum where that begins to creep in. Depp still has it in him, with the right director and role, to wow us. It has simply been awhile . . . . . #film #cinema #podcast #actor #actress #producer #salmahayek #elmariachi #onceuponatimeinmexico #antoniobanderas #johnnydepp #maldonado #miracle #director #fromdusktilldawn #piratesofthecaribbean #timburton #angelinajolie #aliceinwonderland #edwood #superstar #celebrity #amberheard #wine

🚨NEW EPISODE🚨 Side Hustle E3: Kevin Costner. First, his day job as superstar film star in the 80s/90s with THE UNTOUCHABLES. If you like movies, you know what’s up with this one and @erik1968 joins us to talk about what makes it so memorable and to talk a little about Yellowstone. Then we move ten years into the future for The Postman, a big, beautiful disaster of such misguided faux earnestness, it’s almost fun to watch. But it’s three hours long so the “almost” is relative. Fortunately our discussion is short and sweet. Link in profile. . . . . . #cinema #film #podcast #director #actor #dreamweaver #kevincostner #theuntouchables #davidmamet #briandepalma #thepostman #sidehustle #oscars #blockbuster #disaster #seanconnery #andygarcia #chicago #robertdeniro #alcapone #tompetty #mailman #postoffice

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We begin our four film snapshot of John Ford’s deep filmography with two of his four Oscar winners. 1935’s THE INFORMER features a physically imposing and legendary performance by Victor McLagen as a down on his luck brute at the tail end of a long war who makes a few… unfortunate choices. Brilliant piece of sweaty walls-closing-in filmmaking. Then 1940’s classic adaptation of John Steinbeck’s Grapes of Wrath. Yeah, it’s as good as you either remember or you’ve heard people say. These are the two oldest films we’ve covered on the pod and old friend Rick Patt joins us to talk all things John Ford. A couple of classics. Link in profile or it’s wherever you get fine podcasts. . . . . . #cinema #podcast #podcastersofinstagram #film #oscar #director #blackandwhite #johnford #theinformer #grapesofwrath #henryfonda #ireland #greggtoland #depression #greatdepression #steinbeck #california

Point Break star Keanu Reeves appreciation. We talk Point Break in the first of our Kathryn Bigelow episodes (link in profile) but Reeves’ entire career is remarkable. He is always kind of… the same? But as time goes on that’s all we want? Since John Wick 4: More John Wick is being released today it’s a good time to breeze through the filmography of everyone’s favorite philosopher movie star. . . . . . #podcast #cinema #film #director #retrospectiva #kathrynbigelow #theloveless #pointbreak #keanureeves #billandted #parenthood #dangerousliaisons #dracula #speed #myownprivateidaho #matrix #devilsadvocate #constantine #johnwick

Willem Dafoe’s first credit is in this week’s Bigelow film, THE LOVELESS from 1981. A quick browse through Dafoe’s filmography and one thing is abundantly clear: the dude freaking loves acting because it’s all he does. One of the great faces and voices in modern cinema Dafoe has effortlessly toggled between art house, a-list dramas and silly blockbusters. His big break was in the 80s, playing two martyrs in two films, Platoon and The Last Temptation of Christ. Since then he has built one of the great careers in film. Even today he is the only actor in the just-released and acclaimed thriller INSIDE. Why he didn’t win every single award known to man for THE LIGHTHOUSE is both a mystery and a damn shame. Episode link in profile. . . . . . #podcast #cinema #film #director #retrospectiva #kathrynbigelow #theloveless #pointbreak #keanureeves #patrickswayze #1981 #1991 #seasonpremiere #oscarwinner #screenwriter #semiotics #willemdafoe #platoon #jesus #christ #americanpsycho #spiderman #greengoblin #inside #goat

Instead of Meryl Streep, Pierce Brosnan, Colin Firth and Stellan Skarsgard… how about Gina Lollobrigida, Peter Sellers, Peter Lawford and Telly Savalas? That was the cast of Buona Sera, Mrs. Campbell, a 1968 comedy with the exact plot of Momma Mia! which was then adapted into an actual stage musical called Carmelina in 1979. There was never any litigation and the makers of Mamma Mia! (writer Catherine Johnson and stage/film director Phyllida Lloyd) deny it. Despite the title of the play and film it does not take place in Italy, but in Greece. There is speculation that was done to differ itself from Campbell and Carmelina. No matter, once they stuck the best of Abba onto the silly plot it became a worldwide sensation that has been making theater and film goers happy most of this century. Mamma Mias in this week’s episode (link in profile). . . . . . #merylstreep #meryl #streep #actress #goat #oscarwinner #legend #director #filmmaker #cinema #cinema #podcast #podcaster #podcasts #tv #genius #crime #action #drama #romantic #mammamia #abba #musical #broadway #westend #adaptation #italy #greece

TGTPTU recap first seven seasons.

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