Denzel Wandering the Wasteland: The Hughes Brothers' The Book of Eli There are few great actors who can also be considered movie stars. Denzel Washington is certainly on that short list. A few weeks back we discussed his crowning achievement, Malcolm X . In 2010 he would produce and star in the Hughes Bros. directed, The Book of Eli . The rare instance of an action film with a purpose beyond mere entertainment, The Hughes Bros. brought to the screen one of the great "neglected" films of the 21st...
Aug 13, 2025•1 hr 39 min
Neo-Nazi Family Drama: Tony Kaye's American History X Some films simply don't age well. With the passing years the problems of a narrative can become glaring. Such is the case with Tony Kaye's American History X (1998). A difficult subject that would have been better served with a revised script and a stronger director, American History X suffers from a forced and simplistic narrative. Good performances and interesting cinematography (by director Kaye) are simply not enough to overcome a story t...
Aug 06, 2025•1 hr 52 min
A Time for Martyrs: Spike Lee's Malcolm X Last Week Spike Lee, Ernest Dickerson, and Denzel Washington started Mr. Chavez & Myself on an artistic, political, and introspective journey. We originally intended to discuss this masterpiece in one episode, however art, life, and the conversation often dictate a different outcome. Last week was the "making" of Malcolm X , this week WatchThis W/RickRamos dives into the beauty, power, and ground-breaking nature of this labor of love/passion project/...
Aug 01, 2025•1 hr 52 min
By Any Means Necessary: Spike Lee & The Making of Malcolm X Cinema can change attitudes, englighten ignorance, strengthen understanding and faith. In 1992 director Spike Lee would partner with star Denzel Washington and long-time cinematographer (and NYU schoolmate) Ernest Dickerson to bring to the big screen the life of one of the most important firgures of the 20th Century, Malcolm Little to become "Red" to become Malcolm X, to become el-Hajj Malik el-Shabazz. In an expansive narrative tha...
Jul 23, 2025•1 hr 54 min
Chaos, Frame by Frame: Alex Garland's Civil War We're on top of it. The podcast continues to look into the possible disintegration of this country. We've discussed dystopias, comical and deadly serious looks at atomic annhilation, immigration abuse, fascism, paranoia, and now the full-on dissolution of the country. Last year Alex Garland directed Civil War a well-acted, interesting look at the fracturing of the United States. It's a problematic film that - probably - bit off far more than it cou...
Jul 15, 2025•1 hr 36 min
Total Massacre - Takashi Miike's 13 Assassins Not a whole lot is better this week, so Mr. Chavez & I find ourselves digging deeper into an examination, coping, and understanding of Fascism, Cruelty, and Troubling Political Rule with this week's film, Takashi Miike's 2010 13 Assassins . Miike's vision is typically brutal, violent, and magnificent. 13 Assassins exceeds the critical constraints of your "Typical Action Film" with a look at Samurai Culture during the Edo Period (1603-1868 - in th...
Jul 07, 2025•1 hr 15 min
Operation Wetback: Richard "Cheech" Marin's Born in East L.A. Somethings refuse to change and what was true three and a half decades ago continues to be true today. With a nation struggling under the hand of an adminstration refusing to look at human beings as anything more than numbers, "Cheech" Marin's Born in East L.A. seems even more relevant today than it did when it premiered in the summer of 1987. Marin's film (the first of his projects after the end of his partnership as the ground-break...
Jul 02, 2025•2 hr 3 min
Mutual Doomsday: Stanley Kubrick's Dr. Strangelove /Sidney Lumet's Fail Safe Recording a mere two days before Donald Trump fired on Iran, Mr. Chavez & I sit down to discuss nuclear war and the incredible self-destructiveness of humankind. In 1963 Stanley Kubrick would direct one of his earliest masterpieces. With a ridiculous and hilarious George C. Scott, frighteningly honest Sterling Hayden, and a briliant Peter Sellars in a trio of roles that stands as one of the (three) greatest comic pe...
Jun 24, 2025•1 hr 22 min
Kill Along to Get Along: Bernardo Bertolucci's The Conformist Does Life Imitate Art or Does Art Predict and Comment on Life? Regardless of Bernardo Bertolucci's reputation - admitted questionable actions in the realization of art - the Italian filmmaker is regarded as one of the great Auteurs of Cinema. Films from 1900 (1976) thru the Oscar-winning The Last Emperor (1987), and the controversial (artistically and production-wise) Last Tango in Paris (1972), have explored the human eperience throu...
Jun 18, 2025•1 hr 21 min
Citizen Accused: Orson Welle's Film of Franz Kafka's The Trial Few authors can lay claim to creating a genre, however it could be argued that Franz Kafka did just that with stories like The Metamorphosis , In the Penal Colony , and this week's cinematic adaptation, The Trial. The term Kafkaesque , instantly builds a sense of excitement, confusion, and paranoia in readers - many whom are only familiar with the term and not necessarily the author. This week we look at Orson Welle's 1962 adaptation...
Jun 12, 2025•1 hr 31 min
Forest vs Iron Town: Hayao Miyazaki's Princess Mononoke This week Mr. Chavez & I continue our exploration of Japanese anime with a look at 1997s beautiful and breathtaking Princess Mononoke . Mr. Chavez & I are both very new to the world of anime . . . these episodes are our ntroduction to this magnificent world. Featuring story elements of traditional folk tales, the hero's journey, and environment warnings. This is a magnificent motion picture; leading us into deeper and more rewarding...
Jun 03, 2025•1 hr 17 min
High School Murder Tournament - Kinji Fukasuku's Battle Royale This week Mr. Chavez & I look back to the beginning of the new millennium and an examination of the paranoia, violence, and uncertainty societies all over the world were facing. In 2000 Japanese director Kinji Fukasuku would bring to the screen one of the most controversial, thought-provoking, and challenging films of the new century. Battle Royale would stun and anger audiences in Japan and - later - throughout the world with it...
May 28, 2025•1 hr 40 min
Franchises, Sex Tapes, & The Future of Film On this week's episode of WatchThis W/RickRamos, Mr. Chavez & I dive back into the archives to remember this 10 year journey. A John Turturro working-class musical, a Sean Penn/Gary Oldman/Ed Harris Hell's Kitchen crime drama, Defining Decades, and a Salute to Martin Scorsese . . . This week we look back to episodes #411-416 in this continuing Journey of Self-Indulgence. We hope you're enjoying this look back as much as we are enjoying talking ...
May 21, 2025•1 hr 31 min
Superficial Sci-Fi: Rupert Sanders' Ghost in the Shell On this week's episode of WatchThis W/RickRamos, Ibrahim & I dive into Rupert Sanders' 2017 live-action re-imagining of Mamoru Oshii's 1995 Anime-Classic, Ghost in the Shell . There are so many things that can go wrong with an adaptation and Sanders manages to check many of those boxes. From casting Scarlett Johansson in the lead role through a amateurish handling of theme and purpose - the film is - certainly - beautiful to look at, how...
May 13, 2025•1 hr 21 min
Cyborg Awakening: Mamoru Oshii's Ghost in the Shell From time to time this podcast allows Mr. Chavez & Myself the opportunity to explore new genre's. With the encouragement and recommendations of WatchThis listeners, we have had the opportunity to engage in new experiences a number of times. Some of these new viewings have been from The World of Japanese Anime (Thank You, Mr. Burroughs!). This week we dive into one of the very best, Mamoru Oshii's 1995 dystopian masterpiece Ghost in the Shel...
May 07, 2025•1 hr 19 min
Synthetic Sexuality: Alex Garland's Ex Machina AI continues to hold our fascination. This week Mr. Chavez & I dive into Alex Garland's examination of Artificial Intelligence with 2014s Ex Machina . Set, as Garland describes, "Ten minutes from now," Ex Machina is a fascinating film with exceptional performances from Domhnall Gleeson, Oscar Isaac, and Alicia Vikander. Few films are able to capture the subtleties and realities of science fiction paranoia with this level of skill. As these talks...
Apr 29, 2025•1 hr 33 min
Bad Bitch, Cyborg, & Liquid Metal: James Cameron's Terminator 2: Judgement Day Go to last week's introduction to James Cameron's The Terminator . . . fast-forward seven years. Sarah Connor is no longer a "damsel in distress". James Cameron has worked his Sigourney Weaver magical transformation on another heroine, creating one of the great female action stars in all of cinema. Once again, Sarah Connor is facing the destruction of the world. However this time she is fully aware of the danger i...
Apr 22, 2025•1 hr 47 min
Skynet AI 2029: James Cameron's The Terminator If you grew up in the 1980s, you were living in a decade that would be controlled by raunchy teen sex comedies ( Porky's , My Tutor , Private Lessons ), John Hughes ( The Breakfast Club , 16 Candles , Ferris Bueller's Day Off ), and the emergence of straight to video. However there was one genre that stood above all others and would forever alter the output of Hollywood. Action films had always been a part of Hollywood, however the 1980s would unlea...
Apr 16, 2025•1 hr 58 min
Gonzo Hellscape: Terry Gilliam's Fear & Loathing in Las Vegas In 1998 Director Terry Gilliam - a director whose cinematic career has been fraught with difficulty on the level of Job ( see 2002s Lost in La Mancha ) was finally successful in bringing to the screen Hunter S. Thompson's 1971 Classic roman á clef of excess, paranoia, idealism, and disappointment, Fear & Loathing in Las Vegas: A Savage Journey to the Heart of the American Dream . A polariizing film upon its release in 1998, Gi...
Apr 08, 2025•1 hr 23 min
This week we continue digging through the archives to remember the past ten years of WatchThis W/RickRamos. (Episodes #395 - #410) Great Episodes . . . Great Discussions. We dive into Mr. Chavez's Favorite Cinematic Decade - The 1990s, as well as looks at Horror both Domestic and International: Dante/Carpenter/Craven & Cronenberg/Kobayashi/Na Hong-jin/Jodorowsky, Oliver Stone, Defining the 80s, but we start everything with a terrific, exciting, worthy re-boot of the Predator series, Prey . W...
Apr 01, 2025•1 hr 28 min
Godzilla, the 60s, Hopes, & Monsters A return to 10 years of WatchThis W/RickRamos (Episodes #384 - 394) - This week we return to the vault to look at one of the greatest movie monsters of all time . . . Toho's Godzilla . We look back on the tumultuous 1960s and the changing face of Cinema, Monsters, and Hopes for the Future. Take a listen and let us know what you think. We can be reached at gondormaos@yahoo.com - Many Thanks. For those of you who would like to donate to this undying labor o...
Mar 27, 2025•1 hr 31 min
Cynicism, Rogan, & What Would Carlin Say? - Remembering 500 Episodes We come back to this celebration as we look through the archives and reminisce and what these episodes have meant to us. Take a listen as we remember the good times, arguments, and great cultural gifts that Pop Culture, Music, Television, and - of course - Cinema have gifted us. It's a fun conversation . . . We hope you enjoy it. Send us your thioughts: gondoramos@yahoo.com . Many Thanks. For those of you who would like to ...
Mar 19, 2025•1 hr 20 min
Carry the Fire, Get to the Coast: John Hillcoat's The Road Bleak & Dark, Hopeless & Beautiful . . . On this week's episode of WatchThis W/RickRamos, Mr. Chavez & I sit down to discuss one of the most brutal and powerful films to emerge from the studio system in decades. In 2009 Director John Hillcoat adapted Cormac McCarthy's 2006 novel The Road . Featuring a career best Viggo Mortensen as "Man" and newcomer Kodi Smit-McPhee as "Boy" - two of the last surviving humans, left to wander...
Mar 10, 2025•1 hr 21 min
Dumbing Down the Future - Mike Judge's Idiocracy This is an especially fun one! This week Mr. Chavez & I take a trip into a very funny, very frightening, and very likely future. In 2006 20th Century Fox released Mike Judge's Idiocracy in a manner that almost guaranteed that no one would ever see it. . . . but the film would survive. Judge's bleak and pessiimistic vision of the future - the year 2505 - would find a cult audience that would embrace its hilarious prediction of a Professional Wr...
Mar 03, 2025•1 hr 33 min
Dreams with Gilliam, The Rolling Stones Through the Years, The Silent Voice, The Magic of Tarkovsky, Zappa, A Trio of Very Different Noir On this week's episode Mr. Chavez & I return to reminiscing on 500 shows. We begin with the beauty and magic of Terry Gilliam with The Adventures of Baron Munchausen , through a look at Rock 'N Roll and The Rolling Stones, A beginning series of movies that defined their decades, the beauty of Soviet Cinema with Andrei Tarkovsky, and The Dark Brilliance of ...
Feb 25, 2025•1 hr 54 min
Cinematic Karma - Stanley Kubrick's A Clockwork Orange WatchThis fan and BuyMeACoffee contributor, Alan Lamberg, suggests this week's title, Stanley Kubrick's 1971 controversial (masterpiece - ?), A Clockwork Orange. In the late 60s and early 70s the cinematic landscape was changing and evolving into a very different creature. Arthur Penn's Bonnie & Clyde and Sam Peckinpah's The Wild Bunch would usher in a new era of cinematic violence. Stanley Kubrick would soon pick up the baton and create...
Feb 17, 2025•1 hr 25 min
Whitey Saves the Day, Jake Won't Go Down, The Beatles Break Up, & More This week Mr. Chavez & I return to a project that began in the middle of last year, releasing an episode recorded many months ago, and exploring the first 500 shows of WatchThis W/RickRamos . It's taken some time to get back to this, but we find ourselves returning to Memory Lane and plan on spending the next few months peppering the podcast with our reflections on what has come before; what it meant then, what it mea...
Feb 11, 2025•1 hr 19 min
David Lynch: The Art of Dark Dreams This week Mr. Chavez & I remember and say farewell to one of the greats of Cinema - David Lynch (01/20/46 - 01/15/25). Goodbye, Mr. Lynch; we were fortunate to have you. For those of you who would like to donate to this undying labor of love, you can do so with a contribution at https://www.buymeacoffee.com/watchrickramos - Anything and Everything is appreciated, You Cheap Bastards....
Feb 04, 2025•1 hr 25 min
When Evil Men Remember: Joshua Oppenheimer, Christina Cynn, & an Anonymous Indonesian Director's The Act of Killing This week Mr. Chavez & I go up river for one of the most powerful, depressing, and meaningful documentaries ever made, The Act of Killing . This 2012 documentary explores the Indonesian mass killings, rapes, and tortures that occurred between 1965 and 1966 of alleged Communist Chinese and others opposed to the Indonesian New Order Regime. What sets this documentary apart fr...
Jan 27, 2025•1 hr 35 min
Angry White Male: Joel Schumacher's Falling Down Looking at the world - past, present, and future - this week Mr. Chavez & I sit down to watch and discuss Joel Schumacher's 1993 look at American male angst, disgust, and disspointment, Falling Down . As we "welcome" a return of the Republicans to political power, Schumacher's film is a brutal look at the disspointment of the American Dream. Michael Douglas leads with a powerful performance of a late-30s/mid 40s everyman, laid-off, divorced, a...
Jan 20, 2025•1 hr 39 min
