Full Cast And Crew

Actor Kathy Baker joins the podcast this week for a very special episode about her 1988 film 'Clean and Sober'. Director Glenn Gordon Caron probably needed a stiff drink or 20 after coming off the tumultuous four-season run of 'Moonlighting' with its famously fractious co-stars.  Instead he chose to direct one of the most underappreciated film gems of the 80's in 'Clean and Sober', co-produced by...

After two episodes about 'The Shining' and a couple weeks wondering what to do for Episode 200 of the podcast....events at the Presidential Debate pointed me in the direction of 'Peanuts' and the relatively terror-free childhood presented specifically in the 1972 Election special 'You're Not Elected, Charlie Brown'. In this Special, Charlie Brown neither runs for office nor is or isn't elected. Bu...

In Episode 197, I covered much of the backstory and making-of history behind 'The Shining'. In this episode, I cover many of the scenes in the film that I didn't get to in Part 1, along with other commentary and observations about the film, Kubrick, 'Doctor Sleep', and 'Room 237'.  Come and play with us, for ever...and ever...and ever.

I went from not really ever wanting to watch 'The Shining' again...to now doing my first-ever two-part episode!  Funny how often the answer to 'why did that film affect me so much as a child?' turns out to be 'DUH!'. Part 1 covers the origin story of the film, some of the King/Kubrick interplay over the years, the casting, the sound design, the music, and some cinema speculation on what it's all a...

Paul Brickman's 'Risky Business' is one of the greatest films of the 80's and is so much more than the "teen sex comedy" many people thought they were getting at the time.  Frame by frame, it's really a masterpiece with so many aspects and elements of brilliance.  The score by Tangerine Dream, Tom Cruise at NINETEEN, Rebecca De Mornay, the genius editing of Richard Chew...on and on...what an incre...

Little-seen but worthy, the 1985 John Candy comedy 'Summer Rental' is due for a little revisit and respect! On the news of a forthcoming and hopefully definitive John Candy documentary directed by Colin Hanks and produced by Ryan Reynolds, I stumbled across this film (which I'd never even heard of) and found myself gleefully experiencing an expertly-cast superior comedy of its era with a typically...

I gave up drinking. I gave up drugs. I don't smoke. BUT I CAN'T QUIT DEAD & COMPANY! And I hope I never do! With the wife and daughter overseas on a girl's trip, I went back to Vegas for Week Seven of the Dead and Company shows over the 4th of July Weekend at the Sphere Las Vegas. This short (18 minutes) episode is not an inside-Dead show rundown, but a paen to the joys of live music played at thi...

Well, it's not really a summer movie but nonetheless I ended up appreciatiating the weird-in-a-good-way 'Vision Quest'. Join me, won't you?    

Peter Yates' 'Breaking Away' is the greatest Townie Movie of all time. A heart-warming, feel-good film with an extraordinary sense of place.  

Say hello to my little podcast about Brian DePalma and Oliver Stone's 1983 Cocainesterpiece, 'Scarface'.

Before I get to Oliver Stone and Brian DePalma's 1983 Miami-set remake of 'Scarface'...here's a background episode about the 1932 'Scarface', written by Ben Hecht and directed by Howard Hawks, the Steven Spielberg of the 1930's and 40's. From that still-vital, seminal gangster film, I also found my way to some others: Little Caesar  is a 1931 American  pre-Code  crime film distributed by  Warner B...

One of the stranger and most poorly-marketed films of the 70's is Nicholas Gessner's adaptation of Laird Koenig's 1974 novel 'The Little Girl Who Lives Down The Lane'.  Far from the horror film the poster and trailer tried to sell audiences on, it's instead an unsettling but realistic portrait of a young girl in an uncertain situation, and a film that I find particularly resonates with people who...

It's almost Memorial Day Weekend in the States and that means it's time for Yacht Rock! The term didn't exist before the 2005 web series of the same name was written, directed, and produced by J. D. Ryznar, David Lyons, Hunter D. Stair, and Lane Farnham.  You can revisit their highly specific genius here. Before that, music of the type we now refer to as 'Yacht Rock' was known as "The West Coast S...

Some thoughts on gratitude and appreciation, and a few anecdotes about how quickly humans go from wide-eyed wonder and astonishment to entitled self-centered expectations, drawn from my three-concert experiences during Dead & Company's recent inaugural stint at MSG's groundbreaking new concert and film venue, Sphere Las Vegas.

OK so today in Las Vegas I learned it's "Sphere" and not "The Sphere".  And we're back recording for posterity impressions of the 2nd night of the inaugural 3-show residency kick-off for Dead & Company at Sphere Las Vegas.  

Some thoughts on an extraordinary in-person collective entertainment experience...remember those??

The female actors of 'Blade Runner 2049' are a huge part of the brilliance of Denis Villenueve's 2017 sequel to Ridley Scott's 'Blade Runner'. They bring to life such wonderfully complicated, original, genre-bending, emotionally resonant, funny, and strong characters. In this special episode of the podcast, I take a look at all of the scenes featuring the incredible actors who brought the characte...

Denis Villenueve's masterpiece 2nd part of his 'Dune' trilogy.  

Barry Sonnenfeld and Scott Frank's adaptation of Elmore Leonard's 1990 crime novel 'Get Shorty' was the 2nd film that John Travolta made after returning to top stardom with a bang in Tarantino's 'Pulp Fiction'.  This vibe-y, enjoyable, smartly-written and brilliantly-acted mid-90's example of the $20-30 million-dollar studio movie that now seems like a vestige of another time and place.  

I'm joined again by multi-hyphenate Brad Caleb Kane for a discussion about Billy Wilder and Charles Brackett's iconic 1950 satirical noir Hollywood cautionary tale 'Sunset Boulevard' and various other digressions!       

The second in my growing collection of episodes devoted to 'Once Upon a Time in Hollywood'...this time it's an episode celebrating all the brilliant Cliff Booth scenes...scenes representing some of Brad Pitt's finest acting to date and the heart and soul of Tarantino's greatest homage to the Hollywood of his youth.

It's my annual Oscar Recap. And Killers of the Flower Moon wuz robbed!

All of Leonardo DiCaprio's scenes as Rick Dalton in Quentin Tarantino's movie-making love-letter 'Once Upon a Time in Hollywood' If you're new to the podcast, there's an episode just for you. Previous All Their Scenes episodes: Phillip Seymour Hoffman in 'Charlie Wilson's War' Michael Keaton in 'Jackie Brown' and 'Out of Sight' as Special Agent Ray Nicolette. Paul Newman in 'The Verdict' Sean Penn...

Alan J. Pakula deserves more attention and respect as one of the grestest American film directors of any era.  His run of films in the 70's, from 'Klute' to 'The Parallax View' to 'All The President's Men'...all brilliantly shot by Cinematographer Gordon Willis (The Godfather films)...are as impressive and of their moment as any films made in this thrilling period of American filmmaking. In this e...

Carol Reed and Graham Greene's iconic post-war neo noir classic 'The Third Man'. A perfect movie. Steven Soderbergh calls it the only movie you need to watch in order to learn how to make a movie. In this episode I cover the making of, the battles between David O. Selznick, Alexander Korda, Reed and Orson Welles, the happenstance score to end all film scores and MORE.