Apologies to Mr. Scorsese and Mr. De Niro, but we at Flixwise think the true star of the 53rd movie on the Sight and Sound list, Raging Bull (1980), is editor extraordinaire Thelma Schoonmaker. Robert De Niro and Martin Scorsese are often thought of as the quintessential actor/director tag-team. From Mean Streets through Casino the pair have amassed an impressive collection of great studies in toxic masculinity, perhaps none more noxious than today's first topic, Raging Bull. It's true that Ragi...
Nov 01, 2016•1 hr
We are extremely honored to welcome back to the show renowned author and film historian, James Naremore. He's joining Lady P in covering two of the films tied for the 53rd spot on the Sight and Sound Critics Poll - both of which happen to be directed by Alfred Hitchcock. First up in our Hitch 'Double Feature', the Master of Suspense's 1954 thriller, Rear Window . If you've been following our show for a while, you know that both James and Lady P adore Rear Window co-star, Thelma Ritter. You'll re...
Oct 18, 2016•1 hr 2 min
We've reached the final entry in our first Bette Davis series (first of many if Lady P has anything to say about it). Our previous 'All About Bette' episodes covered Davis' turns in All About Eve (1950) and The Little Foxes (1941) . Rounding out this glorious trifecta is the sister act that would come to define the latter, post-Studio System, half of Bette's career: What Ever Happened to Baby Jane? (1962). Largely due to the infamous feud between the film's two larger than life stars, Bette Davi...
Oct 04, 2016•48 min
We have officially made it through the Top 50 of the Sight and Sound Greatest Films of All Time list! Let's all pat ourselveson the back and celebrate a job partially done. In all seriousness, this a proud moment for our show and we're excited to mark the occasion. Let us continue our commemoration of getting a 5th of the way through this seemingly endless list by raising a glass to one of Hollywood's most enduring and tenacious screen icons, Bette Davis. Today's show is the second in our three-...
Sep 20, 2016•41 min
Ladies and gentleman, Flixwise has officially completed its review of the Top 50 Sight and Sound's Greatest Films of All Time. It's been a long time coming and we can think of no better way to mark the occasion than by having a Bette Davis podcast marathon... because every occasion should be cause to celebrate the fiercest queen in Hollywood history. Curiously, there weren't any Bette Davis movies on the Top 50 list. And curiouser still, there doesn't appear to be any Davis in the remaining 200....
Sep 06, 2016•46 min
On today's show, we're rounding out the Sight and Sound Top 50 with Kenji Mizoguchi's ghost story, Ugetsu Monogatari ('53). Notable for both its stunning long takes and its condemnation of the oppressive patriarchal values of Feudal Japan, Ugetsu has become the quintessential Mizoguchi text. Flixwise co-producer, Martin Kessler, and Eclipse Viewer host, David Blakeslee, join Lady P to discuss why they think Ugetsu's haunting tale of the destructive power of masculine pride managed to surpass bot...
Aug 23, 2016•1 hr 5 min
At long last we've finally come to a Charlie Chaplin entry on the Sight and Sound Greatest of All Time list. Landing square on the 50th spot is Chaplin's 1931 feature, City Lights. Biographer, screenwriter, and film historian Professor Joseph McBride joins Lady P to talk about the legendary director and the enduring appeal of his silent comedies. They review the history of Chaplin as comedic actor and explain how he developed his infamous Tramp character. Along the way, they discuss City Lights'...
Aug 09, 2016•1 hr 1 min
On today's show, Lady P is joined by Martin Kessler, Marcus Pinn, and Flixwise newcomer Lisi Tribble Russell. Lisi is on hand talk about the work of her late-husband, Ken Russell - the acclaimed British director behind such classics as Tommy and Women in Love . Lisi shares the story of her and Ken's longtime-friendship and eventual courtship, and describes what it was like to live and work with one her favorite directors. In addition to those biographical details, the panel also digs deep into s...
Jul 26, 2016•1 hr 16 min
For this episode, Flixwise art director Emma Guerard is here to discuss why she thinks Chris Noonan’s piglet-driven dramedy Babe belongs on the Flixwise Favorites list. In order for Babe to make the prime cut, she’ll have to convince Lady P, Martin Kessler, and Marcus Pinn that there is more to Babe than Oscar-worthy special effects and cinema’s greatest all-mice a capella group. Emma asserts the movie has a lot to say about the farm-fresh milk of human kindness, but will the panel be convinced,...
Jul 19, 2016•39 min
Today's 48th Sight and Sound entry is Jean-Luc Godard's eight-part essay-style documentary series Histoire(s) du Cinema. A film as sprawling and experimental as Histoire(s) requires both time and patience to parse. For that reason, the majority of this podcast is spent decoding Histoire(s) esoteric text. Joining host, Lady P, to translate the film is a set of panelist with wide array of strong opinions on the film - as befits a figure as polarizing as Godard. First up, in his Flixwise debut, is ...
Jul 05, 2016•1 hr 14 min
Today is Canadian National Aboriginal Day. To show our solidarity, we are putting Zacharias Kunuk's 2001 film Atanarjuat: The Fast Runner up for consideration in the Flixwise Favorites list. Atanarjuat, the debut feature from Isuma Productions , is a retelling of a centuries-old Inuit legend. It recounts the story of a pair of rival families from Igloolik Village, and the curse that unravels their tenuous peace agreement. Lady P is joined by Emma Guerard and our resident Canuck, Martin Kessler, ...
Jun 21, 2016•37 min
On today's show, Lady P is joined by co-producer, Martin Kessler, and Flixwise regular, Kristen Sales, to talk about the 48th film on the Sight and Sound Critics Poll, Gillo Pontecorvo's 1966 feature: The Battle of Algiers. In the years since its release Algiers has become infamous more for its use as a training video rather than its cinematic legacy. It's been cited by everyone from The Black Panthers to the United States Military as a blueprint for both engaging in and combatting guerrilla-sty...
Jun 07, 2016•1 hr 3 min
On today's show, Pinnland Empire editor, Marcus Pinn, tell listeners why he thinks Ben Stiller's 1996 comedy The Cable Guy is one of the greatest films of all time. He's got to convince host Lady P, and panelists Emma Guerard and Martin Kessler that Stiller's widely-dismissed, critically-panned, box-office disappointment, is actually a misunderstood masterpiece. Prior to its release The Cable Guy was already made infamous due to the staggering payday allotted to the film's star Jim Carrey, so wh...
May 24, 2016•40 min
On today's show, Lady P is joined by CriterionCast contributor, David Blakeslee, and Professor of Islamic History at Penn University/ Film Blogger , Paul M. Cobb to talk Abbas Kiarostami's 1990 film, Close-Up . The Sight and Sound Critic's Poll is littered with works that are about film and/or making films (see 8 1/2 , Les Mepris , Sunset Blvd , etc.) It's no wonder then that Close-Up , a film about an impassioned movie enthusiast who cons a family into believing he's a famous director, found it...
May 10, 2016•1 hr 15 min
On today's show, Flixwise co-producer Martin Kessler and frequent guest Anne Marie Kelly, join Lady P for a surprisingly light-hearted discussion of the 43rd Sight and Sound entry: Carl Theodor Dreyer's 1964 swan song, GERTRUD. GERTRUD, a film about the ecstasy and heartbreak that comes with devoting one's life to a single all-encompassing ideal, isn't exactly great material for a giggle-fest. Never-the-less, our panel manages to have itself a good time discussing whether or not Dreyer's film is...
Apr 26, 2016•1 hr 4 min
On today's show, we have our first Flixwise Favorites entry of 2016! Flixwise Co-Producer, Martin Kessler, is on hand to tell Lady P and Emma Guerard why August Blom's 1916 Danish disaster movie, THE END OF THE WORLD, is one of the greatest films of all time. Blom's work is not as widely seen as the early silent films of the infamous American film pioneer D.W. Griffith. However, Martin thinks that Blom is equally, if not more worthy, than Griffith of critical acclaim. Along the way, they discuss...
Apr 12, 2016•35 min
On today's show, Lady P is joined by screenwriter, author, and film historian Professor Joseph McBride to discuss Billy Wilder's 1959 film, SOME LIKE IT HOT. SOME LIKE IT HOT is the rare comedy that manages to be both uproariously funny and also critically acclaimed. McBride and Lady P talk about how this gangster-genre parody snuck past film snobs' humor filters and nabbed the 43rd spot on the Sight and Sound Greatest of All Time List. They also delve into the film's subversive gender dynamics,...
Mar 29, 2016•1 hr 3 min
On today's show, Lady P chats with author, Patrick McGilligan, about his latest biography, Young Orson: The Years of Luck and Genius on the Path to Citizen Kane. According to McGilligan, it was a mixture of fate and pedigree that lead Orson Welles into life of creative endeavor. McGilligan goes into detail about Orson's childhood in Kenosha, Wisconsin - including his early notoriety as "child-genius" and his pre-adolescent enthusiasm for the arts. He also delves into Welles' family lineage, and ...
Mar 15, 2016•55 min
On today's show, we're touring around the dystopic Paris of the future featured in Jacques Tati's 1967 film, PLAYTIME. Joining host, Lady P, and Flixwise co-producer, Martin Kessler, to talk Tati are two stalwarts of the classic film blogosphere: David Blakeslee of Criterion Reflections and The Eclipse Viewer podcast, and Aaron West of Criterion Blues and the Criterion Close-Up podcast. Together, the panel marvels at the immaculately constructed city that Tati had built from scratch, and they la...
Mar 08, 2016•1 hr 11 min
On today's show, Monica Castillo, contributor for RogerEbert.com, IBTimes, and whole host of other prestigious publications, makes her debut appearance on our little podcast. She's joining Lady P and Martin Kessler for a discussion about the 43rd film on the Sight and Sound Critic's Poll, Jean-Luc Godard's 1965 feature PIERROT LE FOU. This is Godard's third appearance on the S&S list - the first two being BREATHLESS (#13) and LE MEPRIS (#21) . The panelists discuss the ways in which Godard u...
Feb 23, 2016•54 min
We are very pleased to welcome back to the show author and film historian Professor James Naremore. Naremore joins host, Lady P, for a discussion on Roberto Rossellini's 1954 JOURNEY TO ITALY. Upon its initial release, JOURNEY TO ITALY was generally panned or dismissed by critics. However, in the intervening years, its esteem has risen tremendously, and it now sits comfortably in the Top 50 in the Sight and Sound Critics Poll. Lady P and Professor Naremore discuss the film's post-war trauma subt...
Feb 09, 2016•57 min
On today's show, Lady P is joined by fellow podcasters, James Hancock and Mikhail Karadimov, to talk about Satyajit Ray's 1955 film PATHER PANCHALI. James and Mikhail are co-hosts of Wrong Reel , one of the most irreverent and profanity-laced film podcasts on the web. So they're a natural fit for a discussion about a sensitive portrait of a poverty stricken family living in rural West Bengali India. In true Wrong Reel style, they celebrate and send-up Ray's masterpiece in equal measure-- which i...
Jan 26, 2016•1 hr 8 min
Today's minisode is an addendum to our previous 2015 In Review podcast. Lady P, Marya E. Gates, Martin Kessler, Anne Marie Kelly, and Kristen Sales are back to briefly review their favorite television shows of last year. Highlights include some pretty stellar animated shows, the "most jewish show on tv", and some "beautifully sculpted man bodies".
Jan 19, 2016•22 min
We're back with a special Flixwise XXL episode. The length of the episode is due in part to our super-sized panel. Lady P is joined by Flixwise regulars Marya E. Gates, Martin Kessler, Anne Marie Kelly, and Kristen Sales for a countdown of each of their Top 5 2015 releases. Plus, they talk about their favorite scenes, the best performances, and also some dishonorable mentions. Expect lots of shout outs to female filmmakers and railing against the patriarchy. Happy 2016, Everyone! Note: We had a ...
Jan 12, 2016•1 hr 33 min
On today's show we're closing out the year with a special Christmas entry to the Flixwise Favorites list. Lady P and Martin Kessler are joined by Lady P's brother, Gary Lampert, to discuss Frank Capra's perennial holiday classic, IT'S A WONDERFUL LIFE. The panel talks about the film's reputation as a sentimental tearjerker, how it got that reputation, and the ways in which tearjerker is and isn't an accurate description. They also discuss how Jimmy Stewart is more often remembered as a persona r...
Dec 22, 2015•48 min
Lady P's partying it up, Italian style, with fellow panelists Martin Kessler and Kristen Sales. Today's 39th Sight and Sound entry is Federico Fellini's LA DOLCE VITA. The film stars Marcello Mastroianni as a young intellectual type also coincidentally (or not) named Marcello. Throughout the course of the film we watch as Marcello attends parties, embarks on ill-fated love affairs, and cruises around the countryside. Fellini allows the viewer to indulge in all the fast car/faster women cliches, ...
Dec 08, 2015•1 hr 14 min
Lady P, Martin Kessler, and Marya E. Gates continue the "A Year With Women" series with a special "Noirvember" episode. In today's Flixwise Favorites entry, the panel peers into the shadows that line the deserted highways in Ida Lupino's THE HITCH-HIKER. The film takes the viewer on a harrowing ride through the Baja California desert, as a pair of unassuming middle aged men are kidnapped by a wanted murderer and forced to help him flee the authorities. THE HITCH-HIKER is loaded with noir tropes:...
Nov 24, 2015•48 min
On today's podcast, we are celebrating the 56th anniversary of the seminal French New Wave film, THE 400 BLOWS. The film was lauded upon its original 1959 release and inspired countless other filmmakers around the world to pick up a camera and start shooting. However, this episode focuses primarily on the man behind the film, François Truffaut. We explore his upbringing and his relationship with his family, his decision to cast Jean Pierre Léaud, how THE 400 BLOWS compares with some of François ...
Nov 16, 2015•1 hr 6 min
Today's panelists, Lady P, Martin Kessler, and A. Tad Chamberlain, have all danced with the devil and lived to podcast the tale. This is Flixwise's special super-sized episode on the 36th Greatest Movie of All Time, Bela Tarr's 1994 Hungarian classic, SATANTANGO. SATANTANGO has a reputation as a notoriously daunting watch; partially due to its run time (it clocks-in somewhere around 7.5hrs), but also because of it's unsparing pessimism about the nature of humanity and mortality. On top of that, ...
Nov 10, 2015•1 hr 54 min
Today is a continuation of our ongoing "Female Filmmaker Extravaganza", a series of podcasts meant to showcase films directed by women. This time we're making an effort to spotlight an under-the-radar, woman-helmed, classic. Martin Kessler lays down the case for why Liu Jiayin's little seen 2009-film, OXHIDE II, is worthy of the Flixwise Favorites List. OXHIDE II boast a cast of three, a crew of one, and has the distinction of having far-and-away the smallest budget of any movie Flixwise has eve...
Nov 03, 2015•32 min
