Watch This With Rick Ramos

Dead Air - Oliver Stone's Talk Radio  On this week' s episode of WatchThis W/RickRamos, Mr. Chavez & I sit down to talk an underseen Oliver Stone film . . . Talk Radio (1988). From an original theatrical production (produced Off-Broadway), Eric Bogosian tells the story of Barry Champlain - provocateur, shock jock, vile human being. It's a wonderful debut from an actor we don't see nearly enough of...

He's My Father: James Foley's At Close Range  On this week's episode of WatchThis W/RickRamos, Mr. Chavez & I sit down to discuss a 1980s cable mainstay, James Foley's At Close Range . One of the earliest films to showcase Sean Penn as a lead, Foley's film is a harrowing look at father-son/criminal relationships in rural Pennsylvania. Penn made a name for himself with this film after exceptional t...

"No Hunting Like the Hunting of (Wo)Man"  - Ernest Hemingway Dan Trachtenberg's Prey (2022) Solo Episode . . . . this week I go it alone to talk the newest entry in The Predator Film Series, Prey. Premiering on HULU August 5th, it is a thrill seeing this film and getting the chance to discuss it, the series, the Native American presence in Cinema, and the future of film releasing. There's not a wh...

Breaking Down the Gates: Defining the 70s (Part II)  The Second Half of an earlier episode where Mr. Chavez & I discuss ten films (and a short list of Honorable Menitons) that defined the 1970s as a decade. All the usual names: Scorsese, Coppola, Spielberg, Friedkin, DePalma, Lumet, etc. are found throughout the episode. Take a listen and see if these (remaining Top 5 and The Honorable Mentions) a...

Breaking Down the Gates: Defining the 70s  (Part I) On this week's episode of WatchThis W/RickRamos, Mr. Chavez & I continue our examination of the films that defined their respective genres. This week we discuss - arguably (Mr. Ramos's opinion) - the single greatest decade in Cinema . . . The 1970s. The 1970s was an incredibly creative, ground-breaking, and overpowering period of filmmaking that...

Towards a New Hope: George Lucas's THX-1138 On this week's episode of WatchThis W/RickRamos, Mr. Chavez & I continue our look into - arguably - the greatest of The Cinematic Decades - The 1970s. This week we pay particular attention to George Lucas and his directorial debut, THX-1138. We discuss the film, it's themes and religious connatations, as well as it's production history - including role a...

Tormented Road: Steven Spielberg's Duel This week Mr. Chavez & I dig into one of our favorite film decades - The 1970s with a look at - arguably - the most successful box-office director in the history of cinema . . . Steven Spielberg. This week we take a look at his feature length directorial debut, Duel. 1971 was a phenomenal year for cinema with the trumpeting of a great new director. It's diff...

Easy Drugs & Raging Egos: New Hollywood & the Auteur Era On this week's episode of WatchThis W/RickRamos, Mr. Chavez & I take a look at Ted Demme & Richard LaGravenese's IFC Documentary, A Decade Under the Influence and Kenneth Bowser's Easy Riders, Raging Bulls: How the Sex, Drugs and Rock 'N' Roll Generation Saved Hollywood .  It's a great time for a couple of cinema nerds to look at one of the...

A Decade Light and Dark: Defining the 60s On this week's episode of WatchThis W/RickRamos, Mr. Chavez & I continue our dive into the films that define their respective decades. This week we look at the 1960s . . . Racial Unrest, Vietnam, The Hippie Culture, Revolution and Class Uprisings, Male-Female Relations . . . The 1960s were a tumultuous decade that would test the country and the world. The...

Rome Before Christ, After Fellini: Fellini's Satyricon On this week's episode of WatchThis W/RickRamos, Mr. Chavez & I sit down to discuss one of the great names in all of cinema - The Great Italian Master Federico Fellini. Fellini's Satyricon (1970) is a powerful, overwhelmingly beautiful, and incredibly conflicting film based on Petronius's Late 1st Century AD look at Imperial Rome during the re...

Highway Without Horizon: Monte Hellman's Two-Lane Blacktop This week, Mr. Chavez & I sit down to discuss a seminal film of the 1970s, Monte Hellman's Two-Lane Blacktop . Featuring musical icons, James Taylor and Dennis Wilson (as, respectively, The Driver & The Mechanic ), Laurie Bird, and the great character actor, Warren Oates as GTO . There's not a whole lot I can put into this description, but...

Frontier Justice: William Wellman's The Ox Bow Incident On this week's episode of WatchThis W/RickRamos, Mr. Ramos goes it alone to discuss a seldom seen, little discussed film in the Western genre, William Wellman's The Ox Bow Incident. Henry Fonda leads a cast of noted character actors in an early look at the Western,  closer to it's actual truth. A controversial and disturbing look at mob rule...

Madman's Miracle: Jodorowsky's El Topo There are a few filmmakers that when you watch their work you can step back and honestly say that you are watching a visionary work. The great Russian-Chilean filmmaker, Alejandro Jodorowsky, is a filmmaker of immense talent and visual uniqueness. From his earliest films, including his earliest film Fando y Lis thru The Holy Mountain and his ill-fated adaptat...

Postwar Paranoia:  Defining the 50s On this week's episode of Watch This W/Rick Ramos, Mr. Chavez & I sit down and continue our examination of the definitive films of their respective decades. This week we look at the 1950s . . . A Post-War America, The Red Scare, McCarthyism, and the "Imagined Idealism" of the Leave it to Beaver decade. It's a fun talk as we dig into our respective choices for th...

More Than Seven Words: George Carlin's American Dream On this week's episode of WatchThis W/RickRamos, I visit with an old friend, Mrs. Amy Nelson Melle. Amy & I first met thirty-three years ago as sophomores in the Camelback High School Drama Department. The only two Chicanos (and - maybe two of less than seven or eight Non-White students), we bonded early with our mutual love of Soul Music, Cine...

Sons of South Gate: The Cypress Hill Story On this week's episode of WatchThis W/RickRamos, Ibrahim & I bring it home with this  fun discussion digging into Mr. Chavez's feelings, attitude, and memories of his hometown, South Gate, CA. - which also happens to be the birthplace of Latino Hip-Hop pioneers Cypress Hill. We look to cinema for inspiration and the new Showtime Documentary, Cypress Hill:...

What Was Real? Andy Kaufman, Latka Gravas, Tony Clifton, & Jim Carrey On this week's episode of WatchThis W/RickRamos, Mr. Chavez & I look at the life and career of Andy Kaufman. Kaufman was always a polarizing figure in the world of comedy and entertainment. A challenging artist, constantly at odds with his audiences, Kaufman was responsible for some of the most controversial "crowd stunts" in la...

Black Summit 64 - Regina King's     One Night in Miami On this week's episode of WatchThis W/RickRamos, Mr. Chavez & I sit down to discuss the 2020 critical hit from first-time director, Regina King, One Night in Miami . A fictionalized portrait of a meeting between four of the leading figures of 1960s Black Culture: Soul Singer, Sam Cooke (portrayed by Leslie Odom Jr.)/NFL fullback and soon-to be...

More Than Hardboiled: Defining the 40s On this week's episode of WatchThis W/RickRamos, my partner, Mr. Chavez & I are continuing our look at the very best films of each decade, culminating with our opinions on the single films that define the decade. This week we look at the 1940s . . . a period of The U.S. coming out of The Great Depression, the beginning and conclusion of World War II, and the...

"Toons . . . Gets 'Em Every Time!" Robert Zemeckis's Who Framed Roger Rabbit On this week's episode of WatchThis, Mr. Chavez & I discuss the ground-breaking 1988 Robert Zemeckis Classic Who Framed Roger Rabbit . This is truly a game-changing film that succeeds far beyond any novelty it may appear to be. With a collection of classic fan favorite cartoon characters from Warner Brothers (Bugs, Daffy,...

"It's the pictures that got small." - Billy Wilder's Sunset Boulevard This week, Mr. Chavez & I continue our descent into the ruthlessness, horror, and sadness of Hollywood - Billy Wilder's Sunset Boulevard (1950), a true classic of cinema and a film that continues to astonish audiences over 70 years later. With a young William Holden cementing his stature in cinema, and brilliant performances fro...

In Dreams: David Lynch's Mulholland Drive On this week's episode of Watch This , Mr. Chavez & I are diving into the hazy dreams of David Lynch. A polarizing, controversial, and challenging director, David Lynch has overwhelmed audiences for over four decades. Mulholland Drive (2001) may be his masterpiece. An uneasy and brutally honest look at Los Angeles and Hollywood, Lynch's tale of a young act...

Cinema Has Something to Say: Defining the 30s On this week's episode of WatchThis W/RickRamos, Mr. Chavez & I sit down to talk the 1930s and so many of the brilliants films that came out of that generation. This week we take a look at films from a wide variety of directors including: Michael Curtiz, Victor Fleming, Frank Capra, Lewis Milestone, Leni Riefensthal, John Ford, Howard Hawks, and Fritz...

The History of Rock N Roll Part XIII - Laurel Canyon & The L.A. Sound On this week's episode of WatchThis W/RickRamos, Ibrahim & I go back to our never-ending examination of the History of Rock N Roll with a look at the Laurel Canyon scene of the late 60s and early 70s. Profiling The Mamas & The Papas, The Byrds, Crosby, Stills, & Nash and Crosby, Stills, Nash, & Young, The Doors, Linda Ronstadt,...

Beautiful Darkness - A Few Thoughts on Film Noir On this week's episode, I go solo to talk my favorite genre . . . Film Noir. Take a listen as I ramble and bumble my way through a rudimentary understanding of the (supposed) genre. There's a lot to unpack here and I'm doing the best that I can to get my ideas down. Take a listen and let me know what you think. As always I can be reached at gondoram...