This week’s episode explores the only horror film to win an Oscar for best picture, The Silence of the Lambs ! It took some work to find someone who hadn’t seen the film but Chelsea Okey was good enough to join us even though she really doesn’t like horror. We spend a lot of time talking about the acting work of Jodie Foster and Anthony Hopkins, which is superb. But we also look at how well constructed this film is as a thriller and we observe that perhaps we should not have recorded the podcast...
Aug 01, 2016•42 min
This week’s episode features another guest host from our sister podcast: A Reel Education – Noir. Alee Elingsburg joins us to talk about The Lion in Winter , a classic historical drama about a fictional Christmas Henry II spent with his family. It is full of political machinations, scenery chewing dialogue, and a very youthful Timothy Dalton & Anthony Hopkins. Katherine Hepburn and Peter O’Toole are the stars who drive this whole acting train and they do a darn fine job. We hope you enjoy th...
Jul 15, 2016•33 min
We are sad to say goodbye to Jena as a regular co-host and movie non-expert but that means we will have rotating cast of non-experts instead! This episode, Tonya Wershow from our sister podcast, A Reel Education: Noir , joins us for Federico Fellini’s 8 1/2 . The movie is surreal and collapses in on itself like a black hole and it is all pretty brilliant. At least we thought so. We also thought the cinematography was lush and amazing. Definitely worth a viewing although it will probably take mor...
Jul 07, 2016•37 min
We remain in the jungle for a third straight episode as we watch King Kong ! We begin in an actual jungle and then transition to a concrete one! Given the time period, we are treated to more racism and sexism but also a monster movie that will, from that point on, be the movie against which all other giant monster movies will be measured. Including the remakes of this film. You owe it to yourself to start with the original. We make sure to provide constant musical tribute to special effects wiza...
Jun 16, 2016•43 min
This episode, we return to the jungle with a look back at the quintessential Tarzan film – Tarzan the Ape Man ! Featuring Johnny Weismuller and his abs (also Maureen O’Sullivan), the film is basically about Africa killing all sorts of African American extras while most of the white people survive. There are lions and elephants and hippos and crocodiles (even though they are alligators) and more! Enjoy this classic trip down movie racism lane!* Next up, we’ll be watching the original King Kong ! ...
Jun 02, 2016•38 min
We continue down the Werner Herzog rabbit hole this week to watch Fitzcarraldo! A movie that was years in the making, this is one of those films where the story of the making of the movie is possibly more interesting than the film itself. Don’t let that statement fool you, though, the movie is a spectacular journey into the Amazon jungle and one man’s madness. Or, if you include Werner Herzog, possibly two men. If you want to move a boat over a mountain, sometimes you have to make a movie. Our n...
May 15, 2016•38 min
It is time to dive into the works of Werner Herzog with the documentary film Grizzly Man! Herzog tells the story of naturalist Timothy Treadwell who researched grizzly bears up until one of them decided he looked like a tasty morsel. Using mostly Treadwell’s old footage, the film is less about his death than it is about the effect his obsession had on himself and those around him. Pat Wick joins us as stunt Jena even though she has seen the film and Tim has not! Since we watched one film by Herz...
May 01, 2016•35 min
After watching Spotlight on our last episode, we decided to take a look at another “Newspaper Journalist Thriller” so we watched All the President’s Men ! The film stars Robert Redford and Dustin Hoffman as the reporters who broke the Watergate story. If you aren’t familiar with Watergate, it is the scandal that ensured every succeeding scandal ended in the word “gate.” This film is a true classic about two guys digging until they finally found the truth. Definitely worth the watch! Our next fil...
Apr 17, 2016•45 min
As has become an annual tradition, we are watching this year’s Best Picture Oscar winner. For 2016, most people assumed the award would go to Revenant. However, Oscar voters surprised everyone by selecting Spotlight instead. The film is representative of a dying genre as newspaper journalism is a dying medium. Fine performances anchor this movie that is disturbing not so much because of how the story is told but because so much of the story is true. Our next film will be All the President’s Men ...
Apr 01, 2016•45 min
We take a trip down Western lane with the John Wayne/John Ford classic, Stagecoach! This film basically made a superstar out of Wayne and defined the western genre for the next several decades. It features Ford’s favorite location – monument valley – as well as his favorite actor. In addition to Wayne, the movie also stars a lot of very well known character actors including Andy Devine and John Carradine. Interesting trivia: Wayne was not the first billed actor in this film. That was Claire Trev...
Mar 15, 2016•51 min
This episode, we watch the classic French film “La belle et la bete” (Beauty and the Beast). Jean Cocteau’s artistic rending of the classic French fairy tale is a clear influence of the adaptations that followed up to and including the well known Disney version. We talk a lot about the artistry of the film as well as the clear influences on other works. We also spend some time looking at the production filmed in post WWII France. For our next episode, we will be watching Stagecoach ! Beauty and ...
Mar 01, 2016•38 min
One episode later than promised, we watch the 1925/1929 version of The Phantom of the Opera! Why do we list two dates? You’ll have to listen to the podcast to find out! Not only do we discuss this fine silent film, Tim also spends a not insignificant amount of time ranting about the 2004 musical. If you happened to like the 2004 musical, you may want to skip past that part of the podcast because he will destroy your dreams. Aside from Tim’s epic hatred of the musical, we do talk about some of th...
Feb 15, 2016•40 min
Those of you who listened to our last episode may have noticed we said this episode would be about The Phantom of the Opera . Surprise! With The Hateful Eight leaving theaters soon, we decided we should shuffle off to the movie theater and check out Quentin Tarantino’s latest offering. Melissa actually saw the film in 70mm glory while Tim and Jena got to see the digital print from the front row. We’ll talk about the film and a lot of the social implications contained in the film. Somehow, we fai...
Feb 01, 2016•43 min
We’ve been circling this one for a while. Having watched Ed Wood , Plan 9 From Outer Space , and Horror of Dracula , it is finally time to look at the role that both defined and trapped Bela Lugosi: Dracula . Our first Universal horror film and one of the best known, we took a look at this classic retelling of Bram Stoker’s novel. After watching the movie, we talked about the careers of many of the actors, the legacy of Universal horror films and – as always – a bunch of other stuff. Up next, we...
Jan 16, 2016•36 min
For this episode, we take a look at one of the most famous films out of the Hammer Horror studio – Horror of Dracula! We decided to watch the movie because Sir Christopher Lee was in Hugo and this film is one of his breakout roles. We explore his career as well as that of Peter Cushing. For some reason, we spend a long time talking about The Hound of the Baskervilles. Our next film is, somewhat predictably, Dracula ! Horror of Dracula (1958) Rating: 7.2/10 (29,581 votes) Director: Terence Fisher...
Jan 08, 2016•36 min
Note: We apologize for the late posting of this episode. This episode, we return to the works of director Martin Scorsese to watch the film Hugo. Jena was unable to join us so we appointed stunt Jena Sean O’Laughlin to watch the film with us. Hugo is notable for being a film almost completely unlike any other film by Martin Scorsese. It starts out as a children’s movie and morphs into a love letter about film preservation. It is also visually amazing. We dissect all of this in our conversation a...
Dec 21, 2015•35 min
We’ve been watching a lot of recent movies lately so for this episode, we slid all the way back to the silent film era and comedy legend Harold Lloyd! Lloyd is the third of the great solo silent comedians. We’ve already taken a look at Buster Keaton and Charlie Chaplin and, like most people, we’ve passed over Lloyd until now. Safety Last is his best known work. The film is engaging and, notably, Tim’s eleven-year-old son was completely enthralled by the film when we watched it. Even though it in...
Dec 01, 2015•29 min
In part two of our exploration of movies about Baseball, we watched Bull Durham . Pat Wick acts as our stunt Jena but it is Melissa who has never seen the film. The film is one of the more quotable ones we’ve watched and is actually about baseball . At least it is a little bit like baseball. Susan Sarandon, Tim Robbins, and Kevin Costner star in this film that is as good as people have told you. Our next movie will be Safety Last ! Bull Durham (1988) Rating: 7.0/10 (62,125 votes) Director: Ron S...
Nov 16, 2015•38 min
With this episode, we embark on a two episode exploration of baseball movies. Moneyball stars Brad Pitt and it takes a look at the evolution of the way modern baseball teams are assembled. Like most baseball movies, this movie isn’t about the game so much as it is about the people who make a living within the game. This the second movie in a row that Melissa hasn’t seen. If we can find about three more, that will probably encompass cover every movie she’s never seen! Our next movie is another mo...
Nov 02, 2015•35 min
Having watched Akira Kurosawa and Sergio Leone tackle the same story, this episode considers John Broderick’s take on the same material. We know what you’re thinking: who is John Broderick? Exactly. Frequent guest Kelvin Hatle joins us for a sword and sandal retelling of Yojimbo that is, in almost every conceivable way, a complete disaster. The Warrior and the Sorceress takes elements we have grown familiar with and inserts bad fight choreography, gratuitous nudity, and a bizarre puppet lizard. ...
Oct 15, 2015•36 min
Having just watched Yojimbo , it is time for us to watch the same movie made by another director. The style of Sergio Leone is vastly different from that of Akira Kurosawa but he brings his own flair to the story of one man trying to clean out a crooked town in A Fistful of Dollars ! Instead of Toshiro Mifune, our protagonist is played by Clint Eastwood. We compare and contrast the directors and actors who brought this story to life twice. For our next episode, we are going to watch the same sto...
Oct 01, 2015•35 min
We are embarking on a three movie exploration of the same story! First up is a return to the great Akira Kurosawa. His film, Yojimbo , borrows heavily from American Westerns and American film noir. But it has a badass samurai twist courtesy of Toshiro Mifune. We enjoy this relatively light offering from the Japanese master filmmaker as a prelude to exploring the work of another, quite different master. Next up, we’ll be watching A Fistful of Dollars ! Yojimbo (1961) Rating: 8.2/10 (135,707 votes...
Sep 15, 2015•31 min
Since there was only one other Quentin Tarantino film unseen by Jena, we knew we had to get to it as quickly as possible. After showing her Jackie Brown a month ago, we took a look at Django Unchained for this episode. Tarantino does another pastiche of Westerns, Blaxploitation and, because it is Tarantino, a little bit of almost everything else. We hope you enjoy our conversation! Our next movie will be a return to the world of Akira Kurosawa – Yojimbo ! Django Unchained (2012) Rating: 8.5/10 (...
Sep 01, 2015•35 min
Having just watched Jackie Brown, we decided it was time to introduce Jena to the Blaxploitation sub-genre with another Pam Greer classic – Foxy Brown ! Greer rocks a 70’s wardrobe in this film about revenge, revenge, and more revenge. If anyone can get revenge, it would be Pam Greer. We share some information about Blaxploitation films and spend a lot of time appreciating Pam Greer. Because you really need to appreciate Pam Greer. Our next movie will be the only other Tarantino film Jena hasn’t...
Aug 15, 2015•32 min
After much searching, we managed to find a Quentin Tarantino film that Jena hadn’t see yet! That’s a lie. It didn’t take that much searching at all. We sat Jena down in front of Jackie Brown so she could enjoy a film that is not quite as obviously a Tarantino film than all of his other films. Following the film, we had an in-depth discussion about Tarantino through the lens of a rather atypical work. We also talked about some of his favorite actors and some of the actors who have enjoyed career ...
Aug 01, 2015•37 min
Our latest episode is so big, we couldn’t do it with just three hosts! For our viewing of Godzilla , we brought in Matt Kessen , who is an expert on all things Godzilla. We watched a man in a suit rampage through Tokyo and it was awesome! We talk about the cultural impact of the film, the political undertones of the film, and we even fill Jena in about the super dumb shit they did in the American remakes. Our next episode will be…something. We haven’t figured it out yet. You’ll be surprised!!!! ...
Jul 01, 2015•40 min
This week’s episode is all about an under appreciated gem from 2014 – Edge of Tomorrow . The film is an extremely creative action movie that has the added benefit of being the perfect Tom Cruise movie for people who hate Tom Cruise! Is the film the perfect combination of Groundhog Day and Aliens ? In all fairness, it doesn’t have a lot of competition. If you really want to blow your mind, try to figure out all the possible things that could happen after the conclusion of the film! Next up, we sh...
Jun 15, 2015•29 min
For this episode, we return to the lovely Trylon Microcinema in Minneapolis to enjoy Orson Wells’ curious film noir, The Lady from Shanghai . The film stars Wells and his then wife Rita Hayworth, who makes her first appearance on our podcast. Melissa is the only member of our team who has seen the film before so both Tim and Jena have a chance to react to all sorts of weirdness that arises when an auteur has his vision compromised by studio interference. On the other hand, maybe some of that int...
Jun 01, 2015•34 min
Our exploration of the unreliable narrator brings us to the film that is, quite literally, all about unreliable narration. Rashomon is the film that introduced the world to Akira Kurosawa and is easily one of the most influential films ever made. It is also ever so much shorter than The Seven Samurai . So that’s a bonus. Enjoy the special musical interlude Tim selected because he couldn’t find an mp3 of the music online. Our next episode will be recorded live at the Trylon theater. We’ll be watc...
May 15, 2015•30 min
For today’s episode, we explore the concept of the unreliable narrator as we watch The Usual Suspects . Kevin Spacey won an Oscar for his portrayal of Verbal Kint (or did he???) in this twisty crime drama that managed to keep most audiences guessing even after the credits rolled. We tried to decide how much of the movie actually happened as we saw but can you ever really know? For our next episode, we will watch the seminal film about unreliable narrators, Rashomon ! The Usual Suspects (1995) Ra...
May 01, 2015•33 min
