Sibling Cinema

This week we talk about the musical biography of James M. Cohan, Yankee Doodle Dandy, featuring James Cagney's iconic performance. SPOILER ALERT We do talk about this movie in its entirety, so if you plan on watching it, we suggest you watch it before listening to our takes. A Warner Bros. Picture. Released on May 29, 1942. Directed by Michael Curtiz. Written by Robert Buckner and Edmund Josep...

This week, we discuss the intense, ripped-from-the-headlines crime thriller, Dog Day Afternoon , a film that captures the sweltering heat and media circus of a Brooklyn bank robbery gone wrong. SPOILER ALERT We will be talking about this movie in its entirety, including the motives behind the heist and its tragic conclusion. If you plan on watching it, we strongly suggest you do so before listenin...

This week, we discuss Billy Wilder’s 1948 Technicolor musical comedy set in the picturesque mountains of turn of the century Austria, The Emperor Waltz . SPOILER ALERT We will be talking about this movie in its entirety, so if you plan on watching it, we suggest you watch it before listening to our takes. A Paramount Pictures production. Released on June 17, 1948. Directed by Billy Wilder. Written...

This week, we discuss the 2003 animated journey, Brother Bear , a story about first peoples and bears, brotherhood and parenthood, ecology and revenge, with a couple of moose thrown in. SPOILER ALERT We will be talking about this movie in its entirety, so if you plan on watching it, we strongly suggest you do so before listening to our takes. A Walt Disney Feature Animation production. Released on...

This week, we discuss the creme de la creme of film noir, Billy Wilder's Double Indemnity , which perfected the genre's dark style and biting dialogue and put Wilder firmly on the A-list. SPOILER ALERT We will be talking about this movie in its entirety, including the details of the central murder plot and its ultimate resolution. If you plan on watching it, we strongly suggest you do so b...

This week, we discuss the early aughts comedy film, Legally Blonde , proving that being true to yourself is always in style. Or perhaps it doesn't. Who knows? SPOILER ALERT We will be talking about this movie in its entirety, including the major plot developments in the courtroom. If you plan on watching it, we strongly suggest you do so before listening to our takes. A Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer (MG...

This week, we discuss the intense World War II spy thriller, Five Graves to Cairo , set in the desolate landscape of North Africa during the height of the desert campaign. SPOILER ALERT We will be talking about this movie in its entirety, including the details of the central German operation. If you plan on watching it, we strongly suggest you do so before listening to our takes. A Paramount Pictu...

This week, we discuss the smash hit sequel, Moana 2 , which finds our wayfinding hero embarking on a dangerous new voyage across the far seas of Oceania. SPOILER ALERT We will be talking about this movie in its entirety, so if you plan on watching it, we strongly suggest you do so before listening to our takes. A Walt Disney Animation Studios production. Released on November 27, 2024. Directed by...

This week, we discuss the screwball comedy, The Major and the Minor , the first American film directed by legendary filmmaker Billy Wilder. SPOILER ALERT We will be talking about this movie in its entirety, including the central masquerade and the romantic tension it creates. If you plan on watching it, we strongly suggest you do so before listening to our takes. A Paramount Pictures production. R...

This week, we discuss Disney's ill-conceived animated Western, Home on the Range , which features a trio of dairy cows who turn into bounty hunters. SPOILER ALERT We will be talking about this movie in its entirety, so if you plan on watching it, we strongly suggest you do so before listening to our takes. A Walt Disney Feature Animation production. Released on April 2, 2004. Directed by Will...

This week, we discuss the road rage thriller that launched Steven Spielberg's career, Duel . SPOILER ALERT We will be talking about this movie in its entirety, so if you plan on watching it, we strongly suggest you do so before listening to our takes. An ABC Movie of the Week, produced by Universal Television. Aired on November 13, 1971 (US TV) and later released theatrically internationally....

This week, we discuss the often-overlooked French film, Mauvaise Graine ( Bad Seed ), which marked the start of a legendary directorial career for its co-director, Billy Wilder. SPOILER ALERT We will be talking about this movie in its entirety, so if you plan on watching it, we strongly suggest you do so before listening to our takes. An independent French production. Released on July 5, 1934 (Fra...

This week, we discuss Disney's bizarre update of a classic fable, Chicken Little . SPOILER ALERT We will be talking about this movie in its entirety, so if you plan on watching it, we strongly suggest you do so before listening to our takes. A Walt Disney Pictures release from Walt Disney Feature Animation. Released on November 4, 2005. Directed by Mark Dindal . Screenplay by Steve Bencich, Ro...

This week, we discuss Walt Disney Animation Studios' recent flop, Wish . SPOILER ALERT We will be talking about this movie in its entirety, so if you plan on watching it, we strongly suggest you do so before listening to our takes. A Walt Disney Pictures release from Walt Disney Animation Studios. Released on November 22, 2023. Directed by Chris Buck and Fawn Veerasunthorn . Written by Jennife...

This week, we discuss the groundbreaking and enduringly popular computer-animated feature film, Toy Story . SPOILER ALERT We will be talking about this movie in its entirety, so if you plan on watching it, we strongly suggest you do so before listening to our takes. A Walt Disney Pictures release from Pixar Animation Studios. Released on November 22, 1995. Directed by John Lasseter . Written by Jo...

For our season finale, we look back upon our year-and-a-half journey through the films of Alfred Hitchcock.

This week we talk about what may be Alfred Hitchcock's most enduringly popular film, Psycho. ***SPOILER ALERT*** We do talk about this movie in its entirety, so if you plan on watching it, we suggest you watch it before listening to our takes. A Universal Picture. Released on September 8, 1960. Produced and directed by Alfred Hitchcock. Written by Joseph Stefano, based on the novel by Robert B...

This week we turn our lens to Alfred Hitchcock's 1954 classic Rear Window. Jimmy Stewart stars as a photographer stuck in his apartment while recovering from an injury who takes to watching his neighbors. ***SPOILER ALERT*** We do talk about this movie in its entirety, so if you plan on watching it, we suggest you watch it before listening to our takes. A Paramount Picture. Released on Septemb...

This week we discuss Vertigo. Arguably Hitchcock's most critically acclaimed film, it follows a former detective who reluctantly takes up a new case at the behest of an old college friend. What follows is a tale of romance and obsession. ***SPOILER ALERT*** We do talk about this movie in its entirety, so if you plan on watching it, we suggest you watch it before listening to our takes. A Param...

This week we discuss the classic 1959 cross-country thriller, North by Northwest. Enjoy. ***SPOILER ALERT*** We do talk about this movie in its entirety, so if you plan on watching it, we suggest you watch it before listening to our takes. An MGM Picture. Released on July 1, 1959. Produced and Directed by Alfred Hitchcock. Written Ernest Lehman. Starring Cary Grant, Eva Marie Saint, James Mason, M...

The focus of this week's podcast episode is Alfred Hitchcock's 1946 romantic spy thriller Notorious. We are into the top five, and this is probably the least well-known of the top five. But don't sleep on it! Check out this gem and come back and listen to our yapping about it. ***SPOILER ALERT*** We do talk about this movie in its entirety, so if you plan on watching it, we suggest you...

This week we return once again to Manderley. We podcasted about Rebecca a while back during our Best Picture Oscar countdown, and now we encounter it again in our Hitchcock countdown. Tune in to hear us discuss how the film has held up for us. ***SPOILER ALERT*** We do talk about this movie in its entirety, so if you plan on watching it, we suggest you watch it before listening to our takes. A Sel...

This week's podcast covers Alfred Hitchcock's classic murder swap thriller, Strangers on a Train. A tennis player has a chance meeting on a train that suddenly turns his world upside down. ***SPOILER ALERT*** We do talk about this movie in its entirety, so if you plan on watching it, we suggest you watch it before listening to our takes. A Warner Brothers Picture. Released on June 30, 1951...

This week we dive into Shadow of a Doubt. This is Alfred Hitchcock's 1943 thriller about a small California town that get shaken up by a visitor from the city. ***SPOILER ALERT*** We do talk about this movie in its entirety, so if you plan on watching it, we suggest you watch it before listening to our takes. A Universal Picture. Released on January 12, 1943. Produced by Jack H. Skirball and D...

Our Hitchcock series takes us to the master's famous long-take, single-setting, real time macabre thriller Rope. Loosely inspired by the real-life Leopold and Loeb case (depending on who you ask), we follow to cold-blooded students as the host a very unusual dinner party. ***SPOILER ALERT*** We do talk about this movie in its entirety, so if you plan on watching it, we suggest you watch it bef...