Celebrating 55 years since its release in 1966, Au Hasard Balthazar is considered by many to be one of the greatest films of all time, and yes, we’ve been long overdue to tackle a film from the one and only Robert Bresson, whose work has influenced filmmakers of all stripes for over half a century. The film stars Anne Wiazemsky a young French woman who develops a striking bond with a donkey she’s known since its birth, and we see a chronicling of her hardships as they parallel the in...
Jun 04, 2021•55 min•Transcript available on Metacast Our film anniversary this month belongs to the romantic drama Charlie Chaplin once called “the greatest movie ever made about America.” That’s right, we’re diving into A Place in the Sun , starring Montgomery Clift, Elizabeth Taylor, and Shelley Winters, with supporting turns from Anne Revere and Raymond Burr. Directed by George Stevens and written by Harry Brown and Michael Wilson, this awards-heavy favorite among classic film lovers celebrates 70 years since premiering ...
Apr 30, 2021•51 min•Ep 12•Transcript available on Metacast This month on Extra Milestone, we jump back in time 75 years to discuss Gilda , a cult classic film noir starring Rita Hayworth, Glenn Ford, and George Macready. Directed by Charles Vidor and co-written by Jo Eisinger and Marion Parsonnet (with an uncredited contribution from Ben Hecht), the story is adapted from the work of E.A. Ellington, and it centers around gambling con man Johnny Farrell (Ford), whose amoral casino boss Ballin (Macready) surprises him with the revelation of his new, striki...
Mar 25, 2021•51 min•Ep 7•Transcript available on Metacast This month’s Extra Milestone discussion is The Silence of the Lambs , which recently celebrated its 30th anniversary. We discuss the ongoing legacy of this perennial classic from director Jonathan Demme and screenwriter Ted Tally (adapted from the novel by Thomas Harris), including how it shaped the modern landscape of true crime filmmaking and left a lasting impact on perceptions of the transgender community. We also discuss the iconic performances of Jodie Foster, Anthony Hopkins, and Te...
Feb 25, 2021•53 min•Ep 3•Transcript available on Metacast For our first official milestone of 2021, we’re discussing Charlie Chaplin’s classic silent film City Lights , which this month celebrates its 90th anniversary since release. This long-celebrated romantic comedy was of course written, directed, and produced by Chaplin, who also stars in it as his iconic character, the Tramp. Along for the ride is Virginia Cherrill as the blind girl who wins the Tramp’s heart, Florence Lee as her grandmother, Harry Myers as the drunken millionai...
Jan 28, 2021•41 min•Transcript available on Metacast To officially conclude this year's Extra Milestone lineup, Jon Negroni and Will Ashton of the Cinemaholics podcast joined forces with me one last time to discuss two distinct (and oddly holiday-centric) auteur-driven classics. We start our conversation by digging through the muck of Terry Gilliam's Brazil, a bureaucratic odyssey of madness often regarded as one of the greatest films of all time. After that, we jump forward to Edward Scissorhands , an intensely personal story from Tim Burton that...
Dec 31, 2020•2 hr 9 min•Ep 47•Transcript available on Metacast Welcome to (perhaps) the largest Extra Milestone yet! In an Anyway, That’s All I Got reunion for the ages, I’m joined by Anthony Battaglia, Guy Simons Jr., and Jason Read to discuss three of the biggest epics of the 21st century! First up is Barry Lyndon, the passion project of Stanley Kubrick released in 1975, and a film that’s quite well-loved among hardcore cinephiles. After that, we circle back to Spartacus , an earlier Kubrick film that is rarely discussed in the context o...
Dec 23, 2020•2 hr 24 min•Transcript available on Metacast Emily Kubincanek makes her welcomed and triumphant return to Extra Milestone, and this week's selections are among the most varied yet! We begin by celebrating the 95-year anniversary of Sergei Eisenstein's magnum opus Battleship Potemkin, a film more fundamentally significant than almost any other when it comes to the art form of editing and propaganda storytelling. After that, we take a lighthearted and melancholy stroll into the world of Henry Koster's Harvey , a rich and complex comedy featu...
Dec 17, 2020•2 hr 47 min•Transcript available on Metacast This week on Extra Milestone, I'm joined by returning guest and fellow cinephile Andrew McMahon to break down an enticing double feature spanning numerous decades and genres. First up is a cinematic and musical appetizer in the form of Gimme Shelter , the iconic Rolling Stones documentary directed by Charlotte Zwerin and the Maysles Brothers, chronicling the doomed Altamont Speedway concert outside of San Francisco in December of 1969, a tragic failure that swiftly signaled the downfall of the C...
Dec 10, 2020•2 hr 50 min•Transcript available on Metacast This week on Extra Milestone, I'm joined once more by my good friend Guy Simons Jr. to dissect a pair of (relatively) recent classics that have garnered acclaim over the years, and which have almost nothing whatsoever to do with each other! First up is Pixar's groundbreaking debut feature Toy Story, the first-ever wholly computer animated movie that has gained a reputation as an indispensable landmark in special effects and storytelling. After that, we jump ahead to M. Night Shyamalan's unconven...
Dec 03, 2020•2 hr 42 min•Transcript available on Metacast Even in the midst of a year as hectic and unconventional as this one, Oscar season is still in full swing when it comes to this week’s selection of heavy hitters. Joining me once again for the first time in nearly three years is Maria Garcia, my former partner in crime from such shows as Now Conspiring and Part-Time Characters, and we’re discussing two films often hailed as being among the greatest of all time! We begin with Raging Bull, the morally complex sports biopic that saved M...
Nov 30, 2020•2 hr 36 min•Transcript available on Metacast To close out the month of October, we're reviewing two of the best films of the 1950s, and also trying out a new format for the show! First up is my conversation with Rob Wilkinson on Joseph L. Mankiewicz's All About Eve, an all-star drama with a record-breaking number of Oscar nominations, and which happens to be a fantastic exploration of the unforgiving theater world. After that, I chat with my Anyway, That's All I Got cohost Anthony Battaglia about Nicholas Ray's Rebel Without A Cause, a lan...
Nov 19, 2020•1 hr 27 min•Ep 41•Transcript available on Metacast Adonis Gonzalez, my cohost on A Nice Place to Visit and Game Over, Man!, is back on the show to discuss a trio of movies that have nothing to do with each other…or do they? Tune in to hear our conversation on Kevin Costner’s Oscar-Winning epic Dances With Wolves, John Sturges’ iconic western remake The Magnificent Seven, and Charles Burnett’s engrossing family drama To Sleep With Anger ! SHOW NOTES: 00:04:50 – Dances With Wolves 00:39:55 – The Magnificent Sev...
Nov 14, 2020•1 hr 22 min•Transcript available on Metacast Guy Simons Jr. (of Anyway, That's All I Got fame) joins me for the first time on Extra Milestone for a special Halloween episode devoted to two of the greatest serial killer movies of all time! Kicking off our conversation is Alfred Hitchcock's game-changing masterpiece Psycho, including the unique and revolutionary distribution of the film, the ways in which it insidiously sets itself apart from every other movie, whether or not it should be considered a 'slasher,' and more! After that, we jump...
Oct 30, 2020•2 hr 36 min•Ep 38•Transcript available on Metacast Cinemaholics host Jon Negroni returns to Extra Milestone for a double feature of two of the greatest films of all time! We start by discussing Sidney Lumet's 1975 crime thriller Dog Day Afternoon , a revolutionary and dynamic film that remains just as relevant 45 years later, if not even more so. From there, we move on to Martin Scorsese's career-defining classic Goodfellas , which we believe may potentially hold the title as the greatest gangster film of them all, in addition to being expertly ...
Oct 23, 2020•2 hr 1 min•Transcript available on Metacast Emily Kubincanek returns to Extra Milestone at last, and in no small fashion! We're diving headfirst into the most Classic of Cinema with two brilliant films that connect to the Silent Era! First up is Charlie Chaplin's The Gold Rush, a dramatic comedy featuring Chaplin's 'Little Tramp' that cemented many dramatic traditions while simultaneously telling a heartfelt and humorous story! From there, we jump forward to Billy Wilder's Sunset Boulevard, which examines the world of showbusiness, the re...
Oct 16, 2020•1 hr 25 min•Transcript available on Metacast The pairings keep getting stranger and stranger every week, and this week's show is no exception! Special guest Ryan Oliver joins Sam and Jon to tackle two very different classics, starting with Akira Kurosawa's massively influential 1950 arthouse classic Rashomon. We discuss everything from our differing experiences with the film, how multiple viewings have yielded different interpretations, and why the film has remained so meaningful even after 70 years. After that, we take a huge left turn to...
Oct 09, 2020•2 hr 5 min•Transcript available on Metacast To officially commence the Milestone month of August, Will Ashton and Andrew McMahon make their long-awaited returns to help break down a unique and unexpected triple feature, the likes of which the podcast world may have never seen before. We begin with an analysis of Barbara Loden’s Wanda, the first film to be written, directed, and led by a female filmmaker. We follow this up with a look back at Pee-Wee’s Big Adventure, the iconic feature debut of Tim Burton. Finally, we dive into...
Oct 02, 2020•1 hr 27 min•Ep 34•Transcript available on Metacast Things are getting real heavy this week, because Adonis Gonzalez is here to talk about the two best movies of 1985, which happen to be radically different from one another! We start with a harrowing exploration of Elem Klimov's Come and See, an anti-war film depicting the Nazi invasion of Belorussia through the eyes of a young boy. We discuss the history of the film's reputation, the drama associated with the production, the way that it emerges as (potentially) the only War movie that actually m...
Sep 26, 2020•2 hr 38 min•Ep 33•Transcript available on Metacast Sam Noland is back on Extra Milestone after a week's respite to take on, along with friend and coworker Robert Wilkinson, two radically different classics. First up is Charles Laughton's gothic thriller The Night of the Hunter, which stars Robert Mitchum as a psychopathic priest hunting down two children during the Great Depression. Next up on our itinerary is the landmark spoof comedy Airplane! , the laugh-a-minute lampooning of pop cinema celebrating 40 years of making the world howl with laug...
Sep 18, 2020•1 hr 23 min•Transcript available on Metacast Hey there, buddy-boys and buddy-gals! This week, we might just have the key to your next favorite movie, The Apartment , which recently celebrated 60 years since its initial release. Widely considered to be one of Billy Wilder’s true masterpieces, this romantic dramedy stars Jack Lemmon, Shirley MacLaine, and Fred McMurray. We discuss the film’s impact on our own movie-going lives, play some of our favorite clips, and have a spirited debate about this either being a “Christmas ...
Sep 10, 2020•1 hr 9 min•Transcript available on Metacast This week's Extra Milestone is so iconic that we may just need a bigger boat. Anthony Battaglia reunites with Sam to discuss two immensely significant blockbusters that have irreparably shaped the cinematic landscape. We start with a discussion on Steven Spielberg's Jaws, including our differing experiences with the movie, our appreciation for the writing and acting, differences from Peter Benchley's novel, a confession as to our shared fear of open water, and even an extremely hot t...
Sep 04, 2020•2 hr 49 min•Transcript available on Metacast It’s all play and no work on this week’s Extra Milestone, because Jason Read has returned to the show to discuss a trio of very different movies. We begin with a detailed exploration of Stanley Kubrick’s Horror masterpiece The Shining, complete with reflections on why the terror of it is so effective, analyses of the movie’s themes and mysteries, a discussion of why method acting is a flawed and unnecessary process, and even a few personal stories that relate ...
Aug 27, 2020•2 hr 2 min•Transcript available on Metacast In what is certainly the most comedically inclined Extra Milestone yet, I am joined by my very close personal friend Tyler Chambers to discuss a pair of classics within the genre. We begin with a lengthy rundown of Terry Jones and Terry Gilliam’s 1975 cult favorite Monty Python and the Holy Grail, complete with behind-the-scenes stories, details we’ve noticed over the years, our personal experiences with the movie, analyses of the film’s comedic stylings, and revisi...
Aug 21, 2020•2 hr 37 min•Transcript available on Metacast Jon Negroni makes his long-awaited return to Extra Milestone to investigate Federico Fellini's La Dolce Vita, one of his very favorite films. For 60 years, the film has gained a reputation of being one of the most insightful and layered journeys of World Cinema, and I had a wonderful time learning about its many rich cinematic attributes from Jon. Tune in to hear the two of us break down the film's cinematography, the way it uses the city of Rome to help tell its story, the many exci...
Aug 14, 2020•1 hr 3 min•Transcript available on Metacast Settle in, listeners, because Julia Teti is back for this week’s Extra Milestone, and it’s for an undertaking of very subtle, methodical proportions. Julia and Sam have decided to touch on the most famous work of the late, great Chantal Akerman with her three-hour 1975 art house classic Jeanne Dielman, 23, Quai Du Commerce, 1080 Bruxelles. Celebrating 45 years this past May, the film has been revered by nearly all who have seen it, and continues to signify a wholly unique exploration...
Aug 06, 2020•51 min•Transcript available on Metacast The summer is about to conclude with a creeping, atmospheric, gory bang, because Emily Kubincanek is back on The Extra Milestone to discuss a trio of Horror Classics! We start with a look at Sean S. Cunningham’s iconic slasher Friday the 13th, and how it sets itself apart from other such films, as well as the excitement of it all that still plays today. We continue with a discussion of James Whale’s sequel Bride of Frankenstein , including the similarities to Mary Shelley’s nov...
Jul 30, 2020•2 hr 32 min•Transcript available on Metacast Hold on to your helmets, listeners, because the illustrious Julia Teti is back on the Cinemaholics feed! And not a moment too soon, because the two of us are joined by the scintillating Will Ashton to make Extra Milestone history by tackling our second Best Picture Winner, our second 1930s Film, and our first War (and Anti-War) Film with Lewis Milestone’s All Quiet on the Western Front! Celebrating 90 years this past April, the film has built a deserved legacy of being one of the most effe...
Jul 23, 2020•1 hr 1 min•Transcript available on Metacast In what will likely go down as the nerdiest and most esoteric Extra Milestone yet, I am joined by my good friend and fellow hardcore cinephile Andrew McMahon to discuss a pair of significant, influential, and all-around great films. We begin with a lengthy discussion of Michelangelo Antonioni’s reflective 1975 thriller The Passenger, in addition to Antonioni’s career as a whole that we’re familiar with, followed by a look at Michael Powell’s career-ending 1960 horror film...
Jul 16, 2020•2 hr 39 min•Transcript available on Metacast Promises are being fulfilled left and right on this week’s Extra Milestone, in which the long-awaited debut of podcast veteran Adonis Gonzalez finally takes place! Adonis and I have a trio of dramatically contrasting movies to discuss, starting with a lengthy exploration of John Ford’s depression-era adaptation of John Steinbeck’s The Grapes of Wrath. We continue with a discussion of Ishirō Honda’s character-defining Kaijū film (as well as Godzilla’...
Jul 09, 2020•2 hr 35 min•Ep 22•Transcript available on Metacast 
