There are only a handful of directors whose films feel like events. From the 90's class of directors, there's Quentin Tarantino, Paul Thomas Anderson and Wes Anderson . The latter Anderson's films have only grown in popularity and mainstream appeal. For better or worse, along with Tarantino, Wes Anderson has a built a brand around his name. In 2004, Anderson experienced his first flop with his $50 million Disney swan song, "The Life Aquatic with Steve Zissou." Co-written by Noah Baumbach , the f...
Sep 18, 2023•1 hr 8 min•Season 4Ep. 28
Danny Boyle and Leonardo DiCaprio head to Thailand to drink snake blood and cuck French guys in "The Beach." In 1996, Danny Boyle was riding the success of "Trainspotting" and American studios were lining up to give him a shot at the big leagues. In 1999, Boyle teamed with Fox and Leonardo DiCaprio for his first big post "Titanic" role to bring Alex Garland's 1996 novel "The Beach" to the big screen. Unfortunately, "The Beach" failed to bring even the most die-hard DiCaprio fans to theaters, wit...
Sep 12, 2023•56 min•Season 4Ep. 27
James Gray has quietly made a name for himself as one of the most underrated modern filmmakers of the 21st century. From his 2000 breakout "The Yards" to last years "Armageddon Time," Gray's films have often been festival and critical darlings, but rarely had crossover appeal. After a 7 year hiatus, Gray reunited with Joaquin Phoenix and Mark Wahlberg for his first studio film, "We Own the Night." Unfortunately, the film once again failed to give Gray the crossover hit that some of his peers exp...
Sep 06, 2023•1 hr 43 min•Season 4Ep. 26
Spike Lee tackles disco and serial killers in his 1999 flop “Summer of Sam.” 1999 was a landmark year for cinema with directors like Paul Thomas Anderson, David Fincher, Spike Jonze, Stanley Kubrick, David Lynch, Michael Mann and Martin Scorsese releasing new films. Often forgotten is Spike Lee’s kaleidoscopic vision of the Son of Sam’s 1977 summer of terror, “Summer of Sam.” Featuring an ensemble led by John Leguizamo, Adrien Brody and Mira Sorvino, Lee’s film captured a volatile, frightening m...
Aug 28, 2023•1 hr 9 min•Season 4Ep. 25
In the mid-90s, Tim Burton and Steven Spielberg were two of the most beloved directors in Hollywood. Spielberg was coming off his first Oscar for "Schindler's List" while Burton was riding the hot streak of Batman movies, " Edward Scissorhands," "Beetlejuice" and the Oscar-winning "Ed Wood." Burton's luck ran out with his first critical and financial bomb, "Mars Attacks!" featuring a stacked ensemble of actors like Jack Nicholson, Glenn Close, Natalie Portman, Pierce Brosnan and Sarah Jessica Pa...
Aug 21, 2023•1 hr 48 min•Season 4Ep. 24
We're back in action with a pair of political thrillers starring heavyweight stars of the 90's! That's right, there was a time when Hollywood produced big budget thrillers for adults starring bonafide movie stars! First up, it's Alan J. Pakula's return to the paranoia thriller with 1993's "The Pelican Brief," starring Julia Roberts and Denzel Washington as a law student and journalist caught up in a conspiracy to assassinate members of the supreme court, who definitely do not fuck at any point. ...
Aug 04, 2023•1 hr 45 min•Season 4Ep. 23
Buckle your fucking seatbelts because it's time to go ballistic as Auteur Misfires enters the 90's. Kicking things off, it's Clint Eastwood's return to the podcast with one of his forgotten cop thrillers, "The Rookie" starring Eastwood, Charlie Sheen and Raul Julia . After that, we're headed into the Wooniverse with John Woo's second American feature, "Broken Arrow" starring John Travolta, Christian Slater and Samantha Mathis. Cinematographer and resident 9/11 correspondent Jake Ures returns to ...
Jul 25, 2023•1 hr 37 min•Season 4Ep. 22
We're kicking off month 3 of Auteur Misfires with a pair of 1986 coke-noirs from two of the most iconic directors of the 20th century. First up, it's Hal Ashby's unlikely swan song, "8 Million Ways to Die" starring Jeff Bridges, Rosanna Arquette and a ponytailed Andy Garcia in Scarface mode. After that, it's John Frankenheimer's adaptation of Elmore Leonard's "52 Pick-Up" featuring Roy Scheider, Ann-Margaret and an all-timer villain performance from John Glover . Why did Ashby's career decline s...
Jul 18, 2023•1 hr 11 min•Season 4Ep. 21
Just in time for the 4th of July, it's Alex Cox's radical, career-killing satire, "Walker." It's hard to imagine a more radical film being made in the studio system than Alex Cox's "Walker." Shot on location in Nicaragua with a predominately Nicaraguan crew, "Walker" was Cox's scathing satire on William Walker , the man who colonized and attempted to rule over Nicaragua in 1853. Featuring a career-best performance by Ed Harris , "Walker" was nearly forgotten to time just as the real-life Walker ...
Jul 03, 2023•51 min•Season 4Ep. 20
Ever listen to Simon & Garfunkel and wonder what Art Garfunkel's balls look like? Curious what an Austrian/Brooklyn accent would sound like? Then we have the perfect double feature for you. Like so many other directors in the first part of this series, Nicolas Roeg had an incredible run of films in the 1970's. From the critically acclaimed "Don't Look Now" and "Walkabout" to the David Bowie -starring cult hit "The Man Who Fell to Earth," Roeg had prominently secured himself as the best cinem...
Jun 26, 2023•1 hr 17 min•Season 4Ep. 19
It's rare that both the original and remake of a film are critically maligned, but that's exactly what happened to Lina Wertmüller's 1974 class satire "Swept Away." Wertmüller's 70's run with muse Giancarlo Giannini culminated in her becoming the first woman ever nominated for directing at the Academy Awards in 1977, but "Swept Away" was a rare critical misfire for the auteur. So what happens when the biggest popstar in the world and her in demand director husband decide to remake it nearly 30 y...
Jun 19, 2023•56 min•Season 4Ep. 18
On this week's double feature, we're taking on a pair of 1960's psychosexual thrillers featuring Elizabeth Taylor in the prime of her career. First up, it's the aforementioned "Reflections of a Golden Eye" featuring a pre-Godfather Marlo Brando as a repressed army captain who's being publicly cucked by his horny wife (Taylor) as he quietly longs for the mysterious new cadet riding riding horses naked on the base (a very young Robert Forster ). After that, it's Joseph Losey's 1968 tale of two fre...
Jun 13, 2023•46 min•Season 4Ep. 17
In 1999, Time Magazine compiled a list of The 100 Worst Ideas of the 20th Century. "Ishtar" was on the list. So was Michael Cimino's career-derailing, studio-bankrupting "Heaven's Gate." Both films became synonymous with financial disasters. While Cimino continued to work, albeit not on the same scale as his previous features, Elaine May never directed another film again. And while "Ishtar" didn't bankrupt Columbia Pictures , it did result in the studio being sold to Sony after the $50 million d...
Jun 06, 2023•57 min•Season 4Ep. 16
Twenty-five years after Peter Bogdanovich's self-distributed critical failure "They All Laughed" was quietly released in a handful of theaters, Quentin Tarantino declared it one of his top ten favorite films of all time. Soon after, fellow 90's auteurs like Wes Anderson and Noah Baumbach reclaimed it as one of Bogdanovich's very best. Today, it's been mostly reappraised as an underrated entry in the prolific director's long career. But in 1981, the film was marred by controversy after the tragic...
May 30, 2023•1 hr 15 min•Season 4Ep. 15
The Godfather. The Godfather Part II. The Conversation. Apocalypse Now. It's hard to think of a director with a better consecutive run than Francis Ford Coppola in the 70's. The winner of five Academy Awards and nominee of 7 more during the decade, Coppola was quickly being hailed as the greatest American filmmaker of his generation. Sure, the "Apocalypse Now" shoot was notoriously troubled and nearly killed the director, but he was in the lucrative position to make whatever the hell he wanted i...
May 26, 2023•1 hr 15 min•Season 4Ep. 14
The male and female gaze clash in this week's Gaslight/Gatekeep/Girlboss double feature as we look back on two critically trashed stories of female empowerment and revenge. Illustrator Ella Talkin returns to the podcast to break down the opposing visions of Annette Haywood-Carter's 1996 adaptation of Joyce Carol Oates's "Foxfire" and Zack Snyder's ultimate blank check fantasy "Sucker Punch." One is a sensitive portrayal of young women united by their abuse in 90's grunge-era Portland starring An...
May 15, 2023•1 hr 4 min•Season 4Ep. 9
It's Rotten history on the podcast today as we go all the way back to 1969 and 1971 for the two oldest films ever covered on the podcast. Generally it's hard to find many Rotten films made before 1980, so we're lucky we were able to find the perfect pair of gaslighting thrillers from the New Hollywood era. First up, it's Robert Altman's sophomore feature "That Cold Day in the Park" starring Sandy Dennis as a lonely spinster who develops an unhealthy fixation with a mute teenage boy. After that i...
May 15, 2023•1 hr 16 min•Season 4Ep. 3
For our Gaslight/Gatekeep/Girlboss finale, we're paying tribute to our Rotten Queen Sandra Bullock and two of her most unhinged romantic comedies. First up it's the 90's sleepover cult favorite "Practical Magic" directed by Griffin Dunne (yes, that Griffin Dunnen), featuring Bullock and Nicole Kidman in purple shades as a pair of witchy sisters who use their powers to find love and murder a Bulgarian cowboy (twice). After that, it's Bullock's oft-forgotten pairing with Ben Affleck in "Forces of ...
May 15, 2023•1 hr 6 min•Season 4Ep. 11
Do you remember when Angelina Jolie and Brad Pitt spent their honeymoon making a movie about the disintegration of a married couple on the island of Malta? According to the movies box office and 35% score on Rotten Tomatoes, you probably don't. But in 2015, the couple formerly known as Brangelina quietly released the slow burn marital drama "By the Sea." Dismissed by critics as an indulgent vanity project for the most beautiful celebrity couple alive, "By the Sea" has drifted into obscurity over...
May 15, 2023•45 min•Season 4Ep. 7
"No more wire hangers!" "Tina! Bring me the ax." "I'm not mad at you. I'm mad at the dirt." "She doesn't need an ambulance... She's drunk." Can a movie this quotable be that bad? In 1981, yes. Maybe. We're still not sure honestly. What we do know is that our deep dive on Frank Perry's infamous "Mommie Dearest" left us with a new appreciation for the trashy cult classic and its notoriously difficult star, Faye Dunaway . Writer and astrologer Kaycee Felton-Lui joins us to explore the tumultuous pr...
May 15, 2023•1 hr•Season 4Ep. 4
Spike Lee is back on the podcast after a three year absence following our very first episode ever on his controversial satire "Bamboozled." Lee was riding a near-unanimous wave of critical praise in the early 90's following his mainstream breakthrough, "Do the Right Thing." But in 1996, Lee had his first real flop with the Suzan-Lori Parks penned comedy "Girl 6." Telling the story of a struggling actress turned phone sex operator, Lee's episodic comedy is headlined by a fantastic Theresa Randle ...
May 15, 2023•57 min•Season 4Ep. 10
Before the "Saw" franchise staked their claim to the Halloween release slot, Dark Castle was delivering its annual nu-metal take on classic horror movies. Ah yes, that blissful period in between the 90's slasher wave and the post-9/11 torture porn/J-horror remake craze. During that brief window, we got movies like "House on Haunted Hill" and "Ghost Ship," but their last hurrah was the 2003 supernatural thriller "Gothika" starring a post-Oscar win Halle Berry, Penelope Cruz and Robert Downey, Jr....
May 15, 2023•1 hr 6 min•Season 4Ep. 6
It’s a sleazy, neon/cum drenched double feature today on the podcast as we dive into a pair of darkly comedic thrillers set in two very different LA worlds. First up, it’s Ken Russell’s 1984 X-rated tale of sexual repression and desire in “Crimes of Passion,” starring Kathleen Turner as a fashion designer moonlighting as a sex worker by night and Anthony Perkins as the unhinged, perpetually sweaty reverend who wants to save her whorish soul from the life she’s chosen. After that, it’s the podcas...
May 15, 2023•57 min•Season 4Ep. 5
This week, we're reminding you that Jennifer Lawrence once starred in a failed franchise starter called "Red Sparrow" in which she plays an impoverished ballerina who is recruited to become a spy for the Russian government. But before that, we're taking you all back to the halcyon days of 1997 for one of Ridley Scott's rare box office misfires, "G.I. Jane." A movie that was once prominently known for being the movie in which Demi Moore shaved her head before disappearing into obscurity, has foun...
May 15, 2023•1 hr 18 min•Season 4Ep. 8
Comedian and co-host of The Toni Awards , Samantha Prosser, joins us to unpack the discourse surrounding Andrew Dominik's polarizing adaptation of Joyce Carol Oates' "Blonde." Starring Ana De Armas in an Oscar-nominated performance as Marilyn Monroe, "Blonde" has been stirring up controversy ever since its first trailer dropped last year featuring De Armas with her native Cuban accent. Things didn't get any better when the film premiered to scathing reviews at the Venice Film Festival , before l...
May 12, 2023•1 hr 18 min•Season 4Ep. 2
2022 was a banner year for unexpected critical misfires. Critical darlings like David O'Russell, Alejandro González Iñárritu, Sam Mendes, Noah Baumbach, and Darren Aronofsky saw their latest films either crash and burn on arrival or quickly disappear after a tepid response. It's hard to say which outcome is worse! But the movie that's endured the most polarizing response yet is undoubtedly Academy Award winning director Damien Chazelle's 189 minute epic "Babylon." And as our listeners know, we l...
May 12, 2023•59 min•Season 4Ep. 1
On-set drama. Recasting. Divorce. COVID shutdowns. Bad accents. Spitgate. How do they shit??? These are just some of the many controversies that befell Olivia Wilde’s sophomore feature “Don’t Worry Darling.” Podcast regular Johnny Langan makes his triumphant return to the show to unpack the slew of DWD controversies and neverending plot holes. Is it really as bad as the critics said it was? Is Harry Styles a leading man? Is Harry Styles even an actor? What’s with the earthquakes? The plane crash...
May 12, 2023•1 hr 12 min•Season 4Ep. 3
In the mid-aughts, Tony Scott was written off by most film critics as a studio showman who valued style over substance. Ten years after his untimely death, Scott's legacy has been reclaimed by new generations of fans and critics as one of the most visionary filmmakers of his time. The 2000s were a transitional period for Scott as he evolved his trademark visual panache and hyper-kinetic action into something far more groundbreaking and experimental than any modern studio director. Scott's singul...
May 10, 2023•1 hr 31 min•Season 3Ep. 41
Is there a more versatile, prolific American director working today than Steven Soderbergh ? In 1989, Soderbergh became the youngest American director to ever screen a film in competition at the Cannes Film Festival and changed independent film forever with his provocative debut "sex, lies and videotape." Since then, Soderbergh has directed over 35 films and several television series, working in nearly every genre imaginable, embracing multiple formats across a wide spectrum of mediums, making h...
May 10, 2023•49 min•Season 3Ep. 39
Art-House and Grindhouse join forces for part three of our Vulgar Vibes miniseries. Cinematographer Matthew Hayes joins the podcast this week to chop it up about a pair of ultra-violent meditations on masculinity and free will. First up, it's VOD maverick John Hyams's surrealist fourth entry in the Universal Soldier franchise with "Universal Soldier: Day of Reckoning" starring Scott Adkins, Dolph Lundgren and Jean-Claude Van Damme . After that, it's Nicolas Winding Refn and Ryan Gosling's much a...
May 10, 2023•1 hr 10 min•Season 3Ep. 38
