Piecing It Together Podcast

On the 6th installment of our Missing Pieces series, Joe Black joins us for the absolute mind-trip that is Richard Kelly's Southland Tales. Is it a biblical story? Does anything make sense? Do pimps commit suicide? All of this and more are discussed on this extensive breakdown of this sort-of cult classic. Puzzle pieces include Star Wars, They Live, Demolition Man and Idiocracy. As always, SPOILER...

On this special episode we follow up Episode 129's conversation about Z  with an interview with the film’s writer/director Brandon Christensen. A Las Vegas native, I've known Brandon for years and was happy to not only see the success he's had with his first 2 features (this and his previous horror film Still / Born ), but to get to talk to him about filmmaking and his influences. As always,...

On the 132nd episode of Piecing It Together, film critic Caitlin Kennedy joins me to talk about Arkansas, a southern fried crime thriller that's the writing and directing debut of comedic actor Clark Duke. Equal parts Coen Brothers and Tarantino, it's a solid debut that wears its inspirations on its sleeve. Puzzle pieces include Pulp Fiction, Hell Or High Water, The Odyssey and No Country For Old...

On the 131st episode of Piecing It Together, Bee Garner joins me for a fantastic sci-fi mystery that kind of came out of nowhere. The Vast Of Night, out now on Amazon Prime, is like a modern Twilight Zone episode with a great script and wonderful performances. Puzzle pieces include War Of The Worlds, the Before Trilogy, Evil Dead and Goodfellas. As always, SPOILER ALERT for The Vast Of Night and t...

On the 130th episode of Piecing It Together, filmmaker Michael Keene returns to the podcast to talk about one of 2020's most infamous movies, Josh Trank's Capone. Starring Tom Hardy as the famous gangster in his last dimentia riddled year of his life... It's a weird one and we've got lots to talk about. Puzzle pieces include The Irishman, The Shining, Shutter Island and The Others. As always, SPOI...

On the 129th episode of Piecing It Together, Josh Bell joins us again (twice in one week, third this month!) to talk about a film from Las Vegas based filmmaker Brandon Christensen. Z starts off squarely in the creepy kid with an imaginary friend horror sub-genre and then takes some unexpected turns. Puzzle pieces include The Babadook, New Nightmare, The Omen and Drop Dead Fred. As always, SPOILER...

On the 128th episode of Piecing It Together, Josh Bell stops by to talk about one of the most unique and stylish horror movies of the year, Gretel & Hansel. This re-imagining of the classic children's tale is one of the best movies I saw in the theater this year (before they all closed due to the Coronavirus) and is finally out now for rent. Puzzle pieces include The Witch, The Shining, The Ce...

On the 127th episode of Piecing It Together, Joe Black joins me to talk about one of the last movies I watched in the theater before Coronavirus closed everything, Greed. A hilarious satire that takes down the 1%, it's a timely movie that just came out on VOD last week. Puzzle pieces include the films of Christopher Guest, The Big Short, Vice Principals, and Bruno. As always, SPOILER ALERT for Gre...

On this special episode we follow up Episode 124's conversation about Frances Ferguson with an interview with the film's writer/director Bob Byington. Known for his bone dry indie comedies, getting to talk to Bob was awesome, especially since this movie about a woman whose life spirals after an affair with her student is one of my favorites of the year. As always, SPOILER ALERT for Frances Ferguso...

On the 126th episode of Piecing It Together, Jason Harris joins me for another female led high school buddy comedy (after our previous episode on Booksmart ), Banana Split. It's a really funny, sweet coming-of-age story that deserves a lot more attention than it's getting. Puzzle pieces include Ghost World, Up, Ingrid Goes West and I Love You, Man. As always, SPOILER ALERT for Banana Split and the...

On the 125th episode of Piecing It Together, Josh Bell stops by to talk about a stylish, unique debut from filmmaker Tayarisha Poe, the Amazon Original Selah and the Spades. It's a film that flips the high school movie sub-genre by blending it with an almost organized crime style story. Puzzle pieces include Brick, Donnie Brasko, Rushmore and Mean Girls. As always, SPOILER ALERT for Selah and The...

On the 5th installment of our Missing Pieces series, Rico Albarracin joins me to talk about Edgar Wright's 2010 comic book adaptation Scott Pilgrim Vs The World. A celebration of nerd culture, it's become a cult hit over time, even if audiences didn't immediately respond to the film or its soon to be hugely famous cast at the time. Puzzle pieces include Speed Racer, 500 Days Of Summer, Sin city an...

On the 124th episode of Piecing It Together, Chad Clinton Freeman joins me to talk about one of my favorite movies of this very weird year... the very weird Frances Ferguson. The story of a woman who throws it all away by way of an affair with her student, it's uncomfortable, weird and a lot of people were very offended by it... but I loved it. Puzzle pieces include To Die For, Daria, Fight Club a...

On this special mini-episode of Piecing It Together, David Quinones' daughter Zoe joins me to discuss one of 2019's biggest movies, Frozen II. We don't really get into any puzzle pieces... And I'm not sure we exactly uncovered any particularly interesting analysis of the film, but we definitely talked about something for 10 minutes. As always, SPOILER ALERT for Frozen II and the movies we discuss!...

On this special episode of Piecing It Together we follow-up our Episode 123 on Bloodshot (which is a great episode featuring Sean Malloy) with a short conversation with my dad. He's something of a Vin Diesel expert (when he can remember the movies he's watched), but gets a little side tracked thinking about the girl with the black hair. As always, SPOILER ALERT for Bloodshot and the movies we disc...

On this special episode of Piecing It Together we follow-up our Episode 123 on Bloodshot (which is a great episode featuring Sean Malloy) with a short conversation with my dad. He's something of a Vin Diesel expert (when he can remember the movies he's watched), but gets a little side tracked thinking about the girl with the black hair. As always, SPOILER ALERT for Bloodshot and the movies we disc...

On this special episode of Piecing It Together, Stephanie Barajas of All Rice No Beans, the restaurant podcast that I produce, joins me to talk about our five favorite food moments in movies. As two lovers of food, it was a fun crossover for us to do, especially since this whole quarantine situation we're all living through has us unable to enjoy restaurants and food in the way we're all used to....

On the 4th episode of Missing Pieces, The Lady-Wan from the Screen Fix Podcast joins me to talk about 2004’s Garden State. Zach Braff swings for the fences with a story he wrote, directed, produced and starred in (not to mention putting together an all-timer soundtrack), and it definitely paid off at the time... But the film and star's reputation has taken a hit in recent years. We discuss whether...

On the 3rd episode of Missing Pieces, Luella Chavez joins me to talk about 2014’s Love & Mercy. The story of Brian Wilson, the legendary lead songwriter of the Beach Boys who is perhaps as famous for his beautiful music as he is for the stories of his mental illness and his multiple years spent in reclusion. Puzzle pieces include The Aviator, Ray and I'm Not There. As always, SPOILER ALERT for...

On the 122nd episode of Piecing It Together, David Quinones joins me to talk about yet another movie that critiques Capitalism (I'm sensing a theme here), Netflix's The Platform. It's a crazy movie about a 300 story prison in which prisoners must survive by scavenging from a levitating food platform that travels down from the top to the bottom. Puzzle pieces include Snowpiercer, mother!, The Machi...

On the 2nd episode of Missing Pieces, Chad Clinton Freeman joins me to talk about 2014's Jamie Marks Is Dead. A classic story of boy meets girl, boy meets ghost, ghost falls in love with boy and girl. It's a very unique coming-of-age film, and one I hadn't even heard of until Chad brought it to my attention. Puzzle pieces include American Beauty, Twilight, Time Bandits and Carrie. As always, SPOIL...

On the 121st episode of Piecing It Together, filmmaker Michael Keene joins me to talk about one of the most ridiculous movies you can stream from home during your quarantine: Glenn Danzig's Verotika. Based on his line of borderline-porn horror comics, starring mostly porn stars with fake French accents and lots of blood... It's a crazy movie, and depending on the crowd you watch it with, a great t...

On the 1st episode of a new side series of Piecing It Together called Missing Pieces, Adam Wells joins me to discuss 2013's This Is The End from Seth Rogen and Evan Goldberg. With the Coronavirus bringing an end to Hollywood's planned release schedule for the rest of the year, This Is The End is a fitting way to kick off a look back at movies that were released before the creation of our podcast!...

On the 120th episode of Piecing It Together, Joe Black joins me to talk about one of his favorite actors, Ben Affleck, and his new film The Way Back. An inspirational drama from writer/director Gavin O'Connor, The Way Back tells the story of an alcoholic who finds the way to recovery through coaching a high school basketball team. Puzzle pieces include Hoosiers, Yes Man, Half Nelson and A Star Is...

On this special mini-episode for 3/9/2020, host David Rosen checks in with you, the listeners, about the status of Piecing It Together as it enters year 3, as well as his other podcasts Bird Road , Awesome Movie Year and All Rice No Beans . He also provides some news about a surprise new album release that's coming out THIS month! More news about the upcoming album can be found at this blog post o...