The Kick

Our “Vampires of America” kick has one last burning question—what if vampires were teen fashion icons? "The Lost Boys" (1987) gives us a vampire corruption tale that mixes post-hippie paranoia with a dash of "The Goonies," Peter Pan, music video sheen, and the costume-conscious filmmaker who later bravely put nipples on the Batman suit. Noah Ballard (Verve) is here to close out this series in styl...

I’ll put it this way — “Sinners” has everything you could want as the centerpiece of a “Vampires of America” podcast series. Tommy guns, blues guitars, two Michael B. Jordans, vampires as jig-dancing cult leaders, and visually entrancing commentary on folk art and oppression. Bennett Campbell Ferguson (Fools Who Dream) is back for a deep dive into Ryan Coogler’s strikingly original horror musical.

Brimming with vicious bloodletting, neon beer signs, and Bill Paxton hootin’ and hollerin’, “Near Dark” might be the high watermark for vampire Westerns. I’m elated to have film critic and author Sarah Welch-Larson (Bright Wall/Dark Room) on the pod this week. She’s a “Near Dark” turbofan, with as many deep thoughts on what the film suggests about Manifest Destiny as she has musings on whether the...

Forget the vampire tropes this week; let’s hallucinate and appreciate. Horror scholar Lea Anderson (Fangoria, Shudder) is here to look deep into 1973’s "Ganja & Hess" (and honestly, help me understand it). This beguiling Black vampire story stars Marlene Clark and Duane Jones as a pair of cursed, blood-craving immortals reckoning with the beauty and horror of forever togetherness. We break down ‘7...

Today, this “Vampires of America” kick lifts the coffin lid on the Blaxploitation era and 1972’s "Blacula." I’m thrilled to be joined by Odie Henderson, author of “Black Caesars and Foxy Cleopatras” and film critic for The Boston Globe. We analyze William Marshall’s Shakespearean performance as Blacula, speculate on why the backhand is his weapon of choice, and explore the key film history around...

I'm not breaking news by saying that seduction often factors into vampire movies. But has it ever been done better than by Chris Sarandon in "Fright Night" (1985)? This horror-comedy toys with suburban paranoia by casting the vampire as the debonair stranger next door and drinking in his charisma "from toe to tip," as returning champion Susan Tomorrow puts it. So happy to have Susan, a programmer...

Awaken, my friends. We’re on a stateside vampirism kick—no Transylvanian castles allowed. This run begins south of the border with “From Dusk Till Dawn” (1996) a horror-action romp that begs the question, what if pistol-toting outlaws stumbled into a biker bar run by the undead? Matthew Jackson (host of “The Scares That Shaped Us” podcast) kicks off this series. He’s here to talk about George Cloo...

We close out Year 1 of this podcast with my favorite movie of 2024. Luckily, Ian Berry (artist, programmer, trivia host, and all-around Astoria film hero) is even more into "Furiosa" than I am. We talk about what it means to have Chris Hemsworth's villain almost steal the show, why the Mad Max movies are like the Gospels, and break down the difference between George Miller's myth-making and Hollyw...

You can't tell the story of a movie year without the indie shockwave. In 2024, that breakout hit was "The Substance"—the body horror firehose that drowned audiences in gooey viscera and provocations about "chasing the dragon of youth." That's how my guest Alex Barr puts it. She's here to talk makeup effects, Demi Moore, and the eerie feeling that no one can accurately remember their younger selves...

Today's episode proved the point of this whole "2024 Passion Projects" exercise. Ray Gill Jr. (Portland Mercury, Willamette Week) nominated a movie I was maybe going get to? And it ended up a favorite of the year. In "My Old Ass," Maisy Stella and Aubrey Plaza play the same character at different ages, connected in time by a mushroom trip. Ray and I dig into how director Megan Park plays with our...

A strong contender for the year’s best action movie, "Rebel Ridge" is currently Noah Ballard’s favorite of 2024—bar none. On this episode of our year-end series, we dive into Aaron Pierre’s otherworldly calm, Don Johnson’s shit-eating grin, Jeremy Saulnier’s penchant for stomach-dropping bursts of violence, and a movie that Noah calls a mix between Rambo and The Pelican Brief.

We’re closing Year 1 of The Kick by asking guests to nominate a film from 2024 that they couldn’t stop thinking about. This first choice is right over the plate for me. Ben Campbell Ferguson returns to discuss “Sometimes I Think About Dying,” a sweet yet crushing character study set right here in Astoria, Oregon. Daisy Ridley stars as Fran, an introverted young office worker preoccupied by vibrant...

You can't end a career with more enduring mystery than Stanley Kubrick's "Eyes Wide Shut." John DiLillo returns to explore how the film still reverberates (perhaps too conspiratorially) in the culture, the volumes it suggests about Tom Cruise, and why it's a movie about learning the hard way to deal with marital complexity. Need any last-minute Halloween costume ideas? We've got those, too. I'll a...

"If all great filmmakers would make a documentary about their lives right before they died, wouldn't that be so handy?" Couldn't put it better than Jennifer Jones does in this episode. She and Laura Glazer are the co-founders of the Agnes Varda Forever project, and they're here to talk about "Varda by Agnes" (2019), the final film from world cinema icon Agnes Varda. We dig into Varda's one-of-a-ki...

What is "Megalopolis" about? The 40-year dream of Francis Ford Coppola to make his opus? A reclusive inventor who holds the key to utopia? Deviant capitalism? Cyclical violence? Aubrey Plaza giving *the* comedic performance of 2024? Bennett Campbell Ferguson is here to talk about the vast contradictions, bravura setpieces, and wild swings of "Megalopolis"—aka, this series' inspiration. Check out B...

Arguably the most influential rom-com voice in movie history, Nora Ephron ended her reign in 2009 with an ode to marriage, butter, and idealizing Paris. "Julie & Julia" is this week's career finale, and author Erin Carlson is here with anecdotes from both her Meryl Streep and Nora Ephron books, plus tales from the set, theories on why Julie's plotline is so stressful, and her experience cooking Ep...

In honor of "Megalopolis," we begin a new series on great filmmakers' last big swings. Today, it's Kevin Costner's all-in bet on himself, as he rewrites the frontier myth once again. Noah Ballard (Verve) is here to talk "Horizon: An American Saga - Chapter 1," its baffling number of plot lines, questionable portrayal of the Apache, and impossible infatuation with the "real West."

End of the road for this kick, gang. And fittingly enough "The Bikeriders" (2024) is all about how nothing lasts. But it's also about a lot of actors—Tom Hardy, Jodie Comer, Austin Butler, Michael Shannon, and 15 more—bringing wildly different acting styles to the table in this requiem for a Chicagoland biker gang. Film critic Bennett Campbell Ferguson is back to discuss whether "The Bikeriders" i...

Nic Cage brings the boys back together for a weekend of Ghost Rider. In search of the motorcycle rebel's most demonic representation, we watched “Ghost Rider” (2007) and “Ghost Rider: The Spirit of Vengeance” (2011). What did we find? Floating skulls, hot chains, performances stuck between a Cage and a hard place, and two movies that just need a *little* more time to explain what a Ghost Rider is.

“The Motorcycle Boy Reigns” as our kick arrives at “Rumble Fish” (1983). It’s not set on the highway, but perhaps no movie in this series uses the idea of the motorcycle rebel to such cool, elusive effect as Francis Ford Coppola’s dreamlike crime drama, starring a young Mickey Rourke. Ray Gill Jr. (Portland Mercury, Willamette Week) is here to explain why “Rumble Fish” is his favorite film, why Ma...

I've said from the beginning that this podcast represents freedom—specifically the freedom to beg far-flung thinkers to talk about canonical movies. This week, our Motorcycle Rebel kick arrives at "Easy Rider" (1969), and motorcycle bard / journalist J. Peter Thoeming, aka THE BEAR, is on the show to talk about how this countercultural touchstone relates to Faust, road safety, backaches, and searc...

Let's start the engines on a new kick! Now through the end of June (when "The Bikeriders" hit theaters), we're tracing the archetype of the motorcycle rebel. Most historians agree the first biker picture was "The Wild One" (1953) starring an iconically moody and leather-clad Marlon Brando. Today, author Burt Kearns joins the show to share how "The Wild One" became a flashpoint for censorship, anti...

It's match point of our sports-romance kick and hooooo, baby. "Challengers" is here, and we've got writer Alex Barr on the program to discuss this year’s sweatiest, hungriest, horniest movie. We talk tennis as sex, sex as tennis, the movie's use of food, unexplained bruises, a different side of Zendaya, bafflingly inventive cinematography, and so much more.

A cop and robber touch souls—and bods while skydiving at 120 mph—on the penultimate episode of our sports-romance kick. It's "Point Break" week, baby. Bennett Campbell Ferguson is here to dig into everyone's favorite surfing-skydiving-beach football spectacular. We break down good vs. goofy Keanu, assess how Kathryn Bigelow's first big hit epitomized her directing style, and try to figure out what...

This week, dreams of soccer stardom clash with a host of familial and cultural expectations. Writer Jessie Tu (Women’s Agenda, “The Honeyeater”) is here to break down how "Bend It Like Beckham" (2002) changed the culture, showcased heartfelt father-daughter relationships, and everything happening in that one dizzying nightclub scene. Plus, is this another movie where the romance is not between the...