2014
This series is over. We’ve covered Messiah of Evil, Goodnight Mommy, A Girl Walks Home Alone at Night, The Babadook, The Lure, Saint Maud, and Relic. So what did we think of these horror debuts? And what did we think about their directors?
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The fourth of six in our Horror Debuts series. So many people love Jennifer Kent’s ‘The Babadook,’ but does it deliver? Or is it wearing its metaphor too firmly on its sleeve? We tackle Mister Babadook – including a discussion about his LGBTQ+ explosion in memes and interweb posts – in this episode.
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The third of six in our Horror Debuts series. People call Ana Lily Amirpour’s film ‘A Girl Walks Home Alone at Night’ an Iranian Feminist Vampire Spaghetti Western Movie. But is it horror? We dig into this movie on the show this week!
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The second of six in our Horror Debuts series. Aunt/Nephew writer/director pair Veronika Franz and Severin Fiala tackle twins, possible doppelgängers, and family grief in this slow build of a horror film. It’s incredibly well-crafted but how does the story work for us. Tune in to find out!
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Does “Laggies” work as director Lynn Shelton’s chance to tell bigger budget comedy dramas? How charming are Keira Knightley and Sam Rockwell? And what’s up with the title “Laggies.” What does it mean anyway? Tune in to this week’s show to get answers to these questions and more!
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Why do these unlikeable characters draw us in so strongly? Why did David Fincher and his editor change their entire post-production strategy? How strongly does Rosamund Pike work as the role of Amy? Tune in to this week’s show to get answers to these questions and more!
Listen NowIn the past, we had opted to keep our series and movies hush-hush until the last minute so as to keep things a surprise. It only took us 2+ years to realize that if we made our list public, people could actually watch the movie before the show and be ready to listen to the show as soon as it…
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JJ and Steve finish the first half of 2020 with a film and its remake. This pairing starts with 2014’s The Kindergarten Teacher from Israeli filmmaker Nadav Lapid. There is a lot to discuss and analyze in this film. Is it an allegory? Is it a poem? They both agree that this film is a visual treat.
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Time travel stories come in all shapes and sizes. Some are more focused on the fun and entertainment. Others use the conceit to allow for explorations of themes and ideas. Robert A. Heinlein’s short story “—All You Zombies—” is more the latter, and the Spierig brothers – Michael and Peter – do a great job adapting it for the silver screen with their film Predestination. And while it’s easy to get lost in time loops and find fault in rules and story construction, this film is an easy one to enjoy with the paradoxes presented because of the themes and concepts it develops.
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Christopher Nolan certainly is a filmmaker with ambition. People may argue one way or the other about his story construction, or his editing style, or his attachment to film even, but it’s hard to argue that he’s not a filmmaker who is working hard to push big ideas out into the world of film. His 2014 film Interstellar, which he wrote with his brother Jonathan, pushes ideas about interstellar space travel, about space-time, about a dying Earth, about wormholes, about black holes – about leaving our planet – and creates a film that feels as much a scientific thesis as it does a story. Is it perfect? No. But the ambition and passion shine through in every frame. Join us as we continue our time travel series with Nolan’s film Interstellar.
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