Remainders

This week on Remainders we watch the 2019 documentary 63 Up. Part of the long-running British film series that started in the 1960s, The Up Series has been following its cast of characters since they were 7 years old. Originally intended as a study on the British class system, their personal lives have become the purpose over the decades of filming. About as unique of a film project as can be, and...

On this episode of Remainders, we watch the 2002 biographical comedy drama 24 Hour Party People. Steve Coogan plays Tony Wilson and follows his work in late 1970s and early 1980s post-punk with such bands as Joy Division, New Order, and Happy Mondays. Consistently breaking the fourth wall tied together with Coogan’s brand of snark, the story of Manchester in the 70s is a pivotal piece in the histo...

This week on Remainders, we watch the 1974 horror-comedy rock opera Phantom of the Paradise. A cult classic by Brian De Palma, Phantom has gained notoriety in the decades since its release thanks in part to De Palma’s legendary filmography, but also because of a small but rabid fan base that hails to this insane mashup of horror and glam rock. Other topics include Killers of the Flower Moon, Chica...

This week on Remainders, we watched the 2001 Icelandic fantasy-drama No Such Thing. Directed by Hal Hartley, with a stealthily great cast and aspirations to surreal stories like Beauty and the Beast and Beowulf, No Such Thing tries to have its cake and eat it too. A throwback pick to the era of endless DVDs, revisiting this drama leads to some surreal and honest opinions on the movies and how they...

This week on Remainders, we watch the 2009 movie Trash Humpers. A piece of post-cinema and experimental insanity by Harmony Korine (Gummo, Spring Breakers), Trash Humpers is a practice in hedonistic voyeurism, found-footage VHS, elder depravity, and plenty of garbage. A movie that questions what even is a movie, it’s another great example of Korine’s exploration into erratic places in film. Other...

This week on Remainders, we celebrate our 50th episode in style with the 1987 satirical classic, RoboCop. The story of Alex Murphy, a Detroit cop who is executed only to be remade by corporate America as the ultimate police enforcer. Paul Verhoeven’s action movie could be viewed as just a seminal piece of 80s action filmmaking, but that would still be selling it short. RoboCop builds upon ideas of...

This week on Remainders, we discuss the 2016 film Manchester By the Sea. A story of grief, depression, trauma and confronting the past, Kenneth Lonergan directs a movie that manages to deal with these difficult themes while also showing the imperfections in life and the awkward, sometimes funny moments in between. A case of realism with a touch of levity, Casey Affleck plays Lee, a man who upon lo...

This week on Remainders, we talk the 2007 gem The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford. Partially forgotten and possibly overshadowed by No Country for Old Men and There Will Be Blood upon its release, Assassination is absolutely an essential modern western. Brad Pitt plays Jesse James who is put on a pedestal by Casey Affleck’s Robert Ford. As Ford idolizes and fawns over James...

This week on Remainders we watch The Big Heat. A gripping 1953 film noir directed by Fritz Lang, The Big Heat follows determined detective Dave Bannion (Glenn Ford) as he exposes corruption within his own department after a fellow officer's death. Gloria Grahame is essential as one of Darren’s all-time picks for noir femme fatales. With intense performances, dark atmosphere, and themes of cor...

This week on Remainders we discuss the 2018 crime thriller Dragged Across Concrete. From director S. Craig Zahler (Bone Tomahawk, Brawl in Cell Block 99), Dragged stars Mel Gibson and Vince Vaughn as two cops caught committing police brutality who turn to robbing criminals out of desperation. Filled with his trademark violence and considerable runtime, Dragged is a movie that further cements Zahle...

This week on Remainders, we watch the 1946 noir classic Gilda. An iconic role for Rita Hayworth, she plays the femme fatale shrouded in secrets. Set against the backdrop of a post-World War II casino in Buenos Aires, Gilda’s past collides with her present as Johnny Farrell (Glenn Ford) steps back into her life. An all-time great in the noir genre. Other topics include Oppenheimer, favorite Christo...

This week on Remainders, we talk the 1999 crime thriller A Simple Plan. Directed by Sam Raimi, mostly without his signature chaotic style, Bill Paxton and Billy Bob Thornton play brothers who discover a duffel bag of money and decide to keep it. Almost immediately, this apparent blessing turns into a curse as greed, violence, past trauma, and death all arise as a result. Paxton and Thornton reunit...

This week on Remainders we watch the 1992 crime film One False Move. From director Carl Franklin and co-written by Billy Bob Thorton, Bill Paxton and Thorton lead this forgotten gem about three criminals clashing with a small-town sheriff. Paxton, the all-time great everyman, is at his best as naïve Chief Dale “Hurricane” Dixon, who is excited at the opportunity to become a real cop. But when his...

This week on Remainders, we talk the 1981 neo-noir Body Heat. Written and directed by Lawrence Kasdan – around the same time as writing Raiders of the Lost Ark and the Empire Strikes Back – Body Heat was inspired by Double Indemnity and launched the careers of William Hurt and Kathleen Turner. Ned (Hurt) is a hapless lawyer who falls hard for the sultry but married Matty (Turner). Their affair tur...

This week on Remainders we watched the 2017 film First Reformed. An all-time best performance by Ethan Hawke, First Reformed follows Hawke playing a small-town minister as he grapples with despair brought upon by the looming threat of climate change. Hawke’s crisis of faith leads him down a dark path as he bounces between hope and despair in a world that often leaves little to have faith in. Paul...

This week on Remainders we watch the 1997 drama Cop Land. James Mangold’s urban western was Sylvester Stallone’s return to drama after a slew of over-the-top 90s action bombs. Giving one of the best performances of his career, it helps that the rest of the cast is a list of all-time greats, including De Niro, Keitel, and Liotta. A tale of justice and grit, this sleeper hit is almost a hidden gem t...

This week on Remainders we continue De Palma Days and talk about 1984 film Body Double. Possibly De Palma’s most Hitchcockian film, it’s the story of a man caught in between voyeurism and murder – essential Hitchcock tropes. We discuss its horror and pornographic elements, De Palma’s use of over-the-top acting and direction style, lead actor Craig Wasson’s effectiveness as the lead, Melanie Griffi...

This week on Remainders, we talk Brian De Palma and his 1981 film Blow Out. A classic in Travolta's and De Palma's filmography, the story of a movie soundman uncovering a murder plot against a presidential candidate has grown in appreciation amongst cinephiles since its release over 40 years ago. De Palma's innovative camera movements and focus on doubles and murder mystery do not g...

This week on Remainders, we talk about the 2008 documentary Anvil! The Story of Anvil. Anvil is the story of a veteran heavy metal band that influenced the genre, but never saw their own success. Childhood friends Steve ‘Lips’ Kudlow and Robb Reiner made a pact to become rock stars and they never looked back, despite the doubts, setbacks, day-jobs, and all the other mundane chores that got in thei...

This week on Remainders, we talk the 2007 documentary King of Kong: A Fistful of Quarters, the story of die-hard gamers competing for the record high-score on Donkey Kong. Steve Wiebe, a down on his luck everyman, needs a purpose and discovers it in classic arcade gaming. As he attempts to break the record in Donkey Kong, he is exposed to the power and corruption in the underbelly of competitive g...

This week on Remainders we continue Cage Fest with the 2018 metal-revenge nightmare Mandy. Red and Mandy are living a serene life in the Pacific Northwest woods when a demonic cult sets their target on them and destroys everything they know and love. Red, in an all-time great Cage performance, is forced to descend into madness in a pursuit for revenge. Biker monsters will snort coke, Cage will for...

This week on Remainders we begin Cage Fest with the 1999 underrated gem, Bringing Out the Dead. Directed by Martin Scorsese with a screenplay by Paul Schrader (Taxi Driver, Raging Bull), the Dead follows Frank Pierce, an insanely burnt out emergency paramedic working the night shift in 1990s New York City. As the stress and unpredictability of the job start to wear him down, Frank begins to see th...

This week on Remainders, we finish our Fritz Lang double feature with the 1931 noir classic M. A German suspense thriller ahead of its time, Lang’s first sound film is his most pivotal and is widely considered one of the greatest films of all time and his magnum opus. Peter Lorre sets the stage for decades of creeper performances playing Hans Beckert, an incarnation of evil that still forces a mor...

On this mini-episode of Remainders, we check out the shady side of classic Hollywood with the new film Babylon (w/ Spoilers!), and look back to see how it compares to the notably sunnier 2011 film The Artist. Both dive into the silent-film era and try to illuminate the transition into modern films, but with different vibes on how it affected the lives behind the scenes.  Website Facebook Instagram...

This week on Remainders, we begin Part One of our Fritz Lang Double-Feature with the 1927 sci-fi classic Metropolis. A German Expressionist story of broken down workers toiling away to produce a life of luxury for the rich. Sound familiar? We discuss the recurring themes that are still around today and how Lang created something that not only still resonates with society today, but also the visual...