Lady P is joined by a pair of NYC film critics: Caroline Golum and Matt Prigge, to discuss the 69th (nice!) film on the Sight and Sound International Critics Poll: David Lynch's 1986 release, Blue Velvet. They talk about Lynch's manichean universe and his use of pastiche to emphasize his themes. Due respect is paid to the universally beloved artists that Lynch references in his work including Bobby Vinton, Roy Orbison, and Laura Dern. The Blue Velvet discussion then segues into Lynch's recent te...
Aug 29, 2017•1 hr 8 min•Ep. 69
Martin Kessler and David Blakeslee shimmy across a line between two towering films by certified auteur Robert Bresson, Pickpocket and A Man Escaped; at the 63rd and 69th spots on the Sight & Sound list respectively. They examine Bresson’s style & technique, the plausibility of A Man Escaped, consider if Bresson is more theatrical than he may lead us to believe, and examine Bresson’s (in)famous approach to performers. Will both Bresson films prove worthy of their position on the Sight &am...
Aug 15, 2017•1 hr
Sony executive Becky D'Anna joins Martin for a conversation about love, happiness, and digital color timing. They look at how Amélie fits into the filmography of Jean-Pierre Jeunet, and discuss its cast, visual style, and music as well as its enduring appeal. Becky relates Amélie to Terminator 2 and Martin gives his Paris hot take.
Aug 11, 2017•1 hr 13 min
On today's show Lady P welcomes back Carol (2015) screenwriter, Phyllis Nagy, for an in-depth discussion of Phyllis' all-time-favorite film, Billy Wilder's Sunset Boulevard (1950) . Phyllis isn't the only one celebrating her glorious return to Flixwise. This is also the second appearance of one Norma Desmond, or rather Lady P's rather embarrassing imitation of the silent age film star. Norma first appeared on our original Sunset Boulevard episode, which features Professor Joseph McBride offering...
Aug 01, 2017•1 hr 16 min•Ep. 63
On today's show, get ready for some resentment, misery, and existential dread. That's right, it's Ingmar Bergman time!! Lady P is joined by Michael Leader of Film 4, and resident Bergman aficionado, Dave Eves, to discuss the 63rd movie on the Sight and Sound Critics' Poll, Wild Strawberries (1957). The film follows an elderly protagonist named Isak Borg, who's played by Victor Sjöström, on a road trip through the Swedish countryside. Along the way, he has a series of flashbacks that force him to...
Jul 18, 2017•1 hr 33 min
Burton Fischer returns to discuss with Martin the eclectic and profound body of work of Australian filmmaker, Peter Weir (Picnic At Hanging Rock, The Last Wave, Gallipoli, The Year of Living Dangerously, The Mosquito Coast, Fearless, The Truman Show)They talk about their impressions of his film, and unpack the Weir’s complex themes of spirituality, nature, culture, history and gender. They reflect on the many ambiguities in Weir’s films, discuss his dramatic tendencies, musical choices, common c...
Jul 11, 2017•1 hr 16 min
On today's show, it's time for a good ole fashioned bro-down. For the 63rd entry on the Sight and Sound International Critics' Poll we have Howard Hawks' 1959 Classic Western/Hang-Out Movie, Rio Bravo. On hand to share his analysis and personal anecdotes from his encounters with the director is film historian and author of the book Hawks on Hawks, Professor Joseph McBride. McBride joins host, Lady P, for a discussion on what makes Rio Bravo the quintessential Hawks film. They also discuss the va...
Jul 04, 2017•1 hr 6 min
Martin is joined by film distributor and slow cinema guru Nadin Mai to discuss Wang Bing’s Tie Xi Qu: West of The Tracks, an over nine-hour long look at a collapsing industrial district in China. They look at how best to watch it, how it fits into Wang Bing’s body of work, whether it can even be classified as a documentary, and how it connects the present to the past. They switch rails to discuss the appeal of Slow Cinema. and then move on to look at the challenges and virtues of film distributi...
Jun 13, 2017•1 hr 14 min
On today’s show, we have the 63rd entry on the Sight and Sound International Critics’ Poll, and the second Charlie Chaplin film on the list, Modern Times. We have a full assembly line of guests to look at the final outing of The Little Tramp. Lady P welcomes Flixwsie art director Emma, Eclipse Viewer host David Blakslee, and criterion enthusiast Jason Beamish. Will they find it worthy of its spot on the list? How does it compare to Chaplin’s other films? More importantly how does it compare to K...
Jun 06, 2017•1 hr 17 min
Certified hoser Martin Kessler welcomes Wrongreel podcast host James Hancock to discuss the dark corner of cinema known as Canuxploitation. They look at tax shelter film funding, try to figure out what constitutes Canadian content, and attempt to wrap their heads around a parade of some of the strangest films ever made. Things go full-Cronenberg. Listen to find out if they think Canuxploitation was a worthy venture or a failed experiment, learn which popular Canadian film Martin hates, and specu...
May 30, 2017•1 hr 9 min
Film historian, professor James Naremore returns to discuss Charles Laughton’s dark southern classic, The Night of the Hunter (1955). We ask ourselves if it’s love or hate we feel for the film, and unpack how absolutely bonkers it is; a dark fairy tale that climaxes in a showdown between an evil bible-thumping Robert Mitchum and a shotgun wielding Lillian Gish. A commercial and critical failure upon its initial release, we ask ourselves if its worth of the 63rd position on The Sight & Sound ...
May 22, 2017•1 hr
On today's show, we have a messy love triangle to sort through. No, I'm not referring to any sordid entanglements with our trio of panelists - host Lady P, co-producer Martin Kessler, and Battleship Pretension's Scott Nye - but rather the messy bed hopping and relationship dramas of the central trio in Jean Eustache's The Mother and the Whore (1973). Despite it being a notoriously difficult movie to see, The Mother and the Whore has drummed up enough critical support to land the 59th slot on the...
May 09, 2017•1 hr 1 min
Dave Eves joins Martin Kessler for a wildfire fast conversation about filmmaker Mikhail Kalatozov. They brave the elements to marvel at I Am Cuba’s famous long takes, consider the logistics of Letter Never Sent’s forest fire, and look at how The Cranes Are Flying set the bar for self-serious Russian directors. If you survive to the end you’ll hear some strong opinions on arthouse theatre audiences, Hard to Be a God , Blumhouse horror movies, the accents of token straw-man Americans, and of cours...
Apr 25, 2017•33 min
Buckle up, things are about to get slow. Lady P welcome Monique “Momo” Morgan in her Flixwise debut, and Flixwise co-producer Martin Kessler, to talk about the second Kenji Mizoguchi entry on the Sight and Sound list, Sansho The Bailiff. They navigate its murky waters in discussing its themes, symbols, and moral quandaries, the role of women in the film, and Mizoguchi’s filmmaking technique. For our second topic we take a long look at long takes. Our panelists discuss different types of long tak...
Apr 18, 2017•1 hr 22 min
It's our final installment in this coverage of the TCM Classic Film Fest. For this last minisode, Lady P and Kristen Sales are talking Cock... Cock of the Air (1932), that is. Produced by Howard Hughes, Cock of the Air is a bawdy Pre-Code comedy/adventure flick that serves primarily as a showcase for actress Billie Dove and her ample (ahem) talents. And in keeping with the sexual objectification theme, the gals take a good gander at the David Farrar shapely gams, which really popped in the new A...
Apr 10, 2017•30 min
It's the 2nd in our series of minisodes from the 2017 TCM Classic Film Fest. Lady P and Kristen Sales are back, bringing you highlights and random musing from days 2 and 3 of the Fest. Talking points include the greatness of Madeline Kahn, watching really depressing movies at a comedy oriented Fest, and Sean Connery in a mankini. Check back Monday for the final episode in our #TCMFF series.
Apr 09, 2017•31 min
As promised, Lady P and Kristen Sales are back with updates from the 2017 TCM Classic Film Festival. For their first episode they discuss some of their favorite moments from the Fest thus far. Highlights include a variety of Pre-Code delights, the various TCM fan gatherings around town, and the surprise appearance from the ultimate classic film superfan, Mr. Martin Scorsese. Stay tuned for more updates throughout the weekend!
Apr 08, 2017•20 min
On today's show, it's our annual TCM Film Fest preview! The Fest begins this Thursday, April 6th, and continues through Sunday, April 9th. Helping listeners navigate the ins and outs of this year's program, is a very special guest - TCM Saturday Daytime Host, Tiffany Vazquez. Tiffany joins host, Lady P, and Flixwise regular, Kristen Sales, to offer up suggestions on what to see from this year's roster of great films. They talk about what attendees can expect as they run back and forth between th...
Apr 04, 2017•1 hr 8 min
Martin and returning guest Marcus Pinn delve into the minutiae of juxtaposing film stills. They cover coincidence and influence, and what makes a good side by side and a bad side. Along the way they touch on how to watch a Claire Denis film, visual cliches, Twitter etiquette, and hands-on cinephilia, Which filmmaker says they’ve never seen Star Wars but totally knows what an Ewok is, and which filmmaker only copies class? All questions will be answered! Check our Marcus Pinn’s writing over at ht...
Mar 31, 2017•1 hr 1 min
On today's show, three of the internet's finest twits (Lady P, Martin Kessler, and Kristen Sales) attempt to find purpose and salvation through a meandering, nonsensical quest - to figure out whether Monty Python and the Holy Grail (1975) is worthy of the Flixwise Favorite's list. Together they parse through a submission from listener, Jessica Gilbert, who outlines why she thinks the Pythons' second feature is one of the greatest films ever made. She touches on all the usual topics: filmic techn...
Mar 21, 2017•49 min
On today's show, we have the 59th movie on the Sight and Sound International Critics' Poll: Barry Lyndon. Speaking of Sight and Sound, today's guest is a freelance critic for that esteemed film journal, as well as the social media maven for Film4, Michael Leader. Michael joins host Lady P and Flixwise regular Kristen Sales to discuss Stanley Kubrick's overlooked masterpiece. Barry Lyndon has historically been dogged by a kind of middle child syndrome. It has neither the technical marvel of 2001:...
Mar 07, 2017•1 hr 23 min
On today's show, we have our first Flixwise Favorites entry of 2017. This time, guest Joshua Wilson, of the film blog F for Films , asks Lady P and Martin to consider Blake Edwards' 1964 farce, A Shot in the Dark, for entry into our alternate greatest of all time list. Those keeping track of our journey through the Sight and Sound Critics' Poll are familiar with Lady P's griping about the lack of comedies featured in the cinema canon. But listen up to hear if she and Martin think this Pink Panth...
Feb 28, 2017•41 min
On today's show, Lady P is joined by the woman who penned one of the greatest movies of the decade: Carol (2015). The funny and brilliant Phyllis Nagy is here to talk about adapting Carol's screenplay from Patricia Highsmith's original source material and the lengthy, and at times frustrating, process of getting the film into production. They chat about Cate Blanchett and Rooney Mara's rendering of the two lead characters, as well as the standout performance from supporting players, Sarah Paulso...
Feb 14, 2017•1 hr 35 min
We are honored to welcome film historian, Professor James Naremore, back to the show for a discussion on Orson Welles' 1958 film noir classic Touch of Evil. Orson Welles is a frequent topic of conversion on this podcast. We've had several Welles scholars make appearances, including Joseph McBride and Patrick McGilligan, as well as today's guest, Professor Naremore, who has made reference to his Welles critical study: The Magic World of Orson Welles on several previous occasions . Clearly, we at ...
Jan 31, 2017•53 min
It's official. Flixwise co-producer Martin Kessler has signed his soul over to the dark lord Black Phillip, and decided to starts a new podcast - Flixwise: Canada. Seeing as how Martin is the world's nicest human, this obvious betrayal of Flixwise founder, Lady P, can only be the work of the Devil. But before you go calling your local exorcist, just know that Lady P is also on good terms with Satan and is totally onboard this new venture. These new Martin hosted-episodes will focus on topics out...
Jan 24, 2017•34 min
Our 2016 wrap-up continues with a special bonus episode on the best television shows of the year. Lady P is joined once again by Martin Kessler, Kristen Sales, and special call-in guest Marya E. Gates, to discuss their top 5 television shows and moments that stood out among the din. They cover the good (the CW and FX rocked it last year), the bad (The Cleveland baseball team is called WHAT?!), the strange (Atlanta - the Twin Peaks of the south!), and the all-too-familiar ( Stranger Things). Let ...
Jan 10, 2017•48 min
It's our annual year in review show! Lady P is joined by Anne Marie Kelly, Martin Kessler, and Kristen Sales (with a special call-in segment from our pal Marya E. Gates) to talk about the best movies of 2016. Each panelist runs through their Top 5 favorite films of the year. Plus, they highlight notable performances and delight in ripping into movies that didn't quite meet their expectations (or in the case of The Handmaiden , met their expectations exactly). Finally, they close things out with ...
Jan 03, 2017•2 hr 13 min
Since this our last episode of 2016, we felt it appropriate to mark the occasion with a pair of discussions about "changing times." First up, Lady P welcomes blogger, David Eves, and Flixwise co-producer, Martin Kessler, to talk about today's Sight and Sound entry, Luchino Visconti's 1963 epic period drama, The Leopard. The film is about an aging Sicilian prince, played by Burt Lancaster, who attempts to stoke the flickering remnants of his family heritage and societal standing as the old world ...
Dec 20, 2016•1 hr 8 min
Yesterday (December 5th, 2016) was the 126th birthday of German director turned Hollywood Auteur, Fritz Lang. Today, we honor the legendary filmmaker with a discussion of his 1931 classic, M . Host, Lady P, is joined by co-producer, Martin Kessler, and Flixwise regular, Carrie Specht, to talk about Lang's disturbingly prescient tale about the dangers of mob rule and police overreach. The panel talks about how well the message of the film holds up to contemporary audiences, and whether or not it ...
Dec 06, 2016•1 hr 5 min
We recorded this episode several weeks ago, but given the results of last Tuesday's election it could not be more prescient. Martin Kessler and Marcus Pinn join Lady P to talk Melvin Van Peebles 1967 debut feature The Story of a Three-Day Pass . Directed by an African-American with the style and panache of a French New Wave film, it perfectly encapsulates the essence of 1960s Parisian chic. It tells the story of an African-American soldier on leave for a few days in Paris. He tours the city by h...
Nov 15, 2016•44 min
