Awesome Movie Year

The fourth episode of our season on the awesome movie year of 1977 features the Cannes Film Festival award winner 3 Women . Written and directed by Robert Altman and starring Shelley Duvall, Sissy Spacek, Janice Rule and Robert Fortier, 3 Women won the Best Actress award for Shelley Duvall at the 1977 Cannes Film Festival. The contemporary reviews quoted in this episode come from Roger Ebert ( htt...

The third episode of our season on the awesome movie year of 1977 features the year’s biggest flop, Martin Scorsese’s New York, New York . Directed by Scorsese and starring Robert De Niro, Liza Minnelli, Lionel Stander, Barry Primus and Mary Kay Place, New York, New York was a box-office failure and a major disappointment for Scorsese following the success of Taxi Driver . The contemporary reviews...

The second episode of our season on the awesome movie year of 1977 features our pick for a notable filmmaking debut, David Lynch’s Eraserhead . Written and directed by David Lynch and starring Jack Nance, Charlotte Stewart, Allen Joseph, Jeanne Bates and Judith Anna Roberts, Eraserhead was negatively received by critics but eventually built up a cult following and wider cultural recognition. The c...

The first episode of our season on the awesome movie year of 1977 features the top-grossing film at the box office, George Lucas’ Star Wars . Written and directed by George Lucas and starring Mark Hamill, Harrison Ford, Carrie Fisher, Alec Guinness, Anthony Daniels, Kenny Baker, Peter Mayhew and the voice of James Earl Jones, Star Wars grossed $410 million worldwide in its initial release and beca...

In this epilogue to our season on the awesome movie year of 1996, we talk about alternate movies we considered including in all of our different categories this season, and read suggestions from some listeners about which movies they hoped we would cover. Please like, share, rate and comment on the show and this episode, and tune in next time for the premiere of our fifth season, covering the awes...

In the finale of our season on the awesome movie year of 1996, we’re talking about this season’s audience choice pick, Tom Hanks’ That Thing You Do! Written and directed by Tom Hanks and starring Tom Everett Scott, Liv Tyler, Johnathon Schaech, Steve Zahn, Ethan Embry and Tom Hanks, That Thing You Do! beat out Billy Bob Thornton’s Sling Blade and Steve Buscemi’s Trees Lounge in our audience choice...

The twelfth episode of our season on the awesome movie year of 1996 features our future cult classic pick, David Cronenberg’s Crash . Written and directed by David Cronenberg (based on J.G. Ballard’s novel) and starring James Spader, Holly Hunter, Deborah Kara Unger, Elias Koteas and Rosanna Arquette, Crash was awarded a Special Jury Prize at the 1996 Cannes Film Festival. The contemporary reviews...

The eleventh episode of our season on the awesome movie year of 1996 features our producer David Rosen’s personal pick, Peter Jackson’s The Frighteners . Directed and co-written (with Fran Walsh) by Peter Jackson and starring Michael J. Fox, Trini Alvarado, Jeffrey Combs, Peter Dobson, Dee Wallace, Chi McBride and Jim Fyfe, The Frighteners was a box-office disappointment but helped launch Jackson’...

The tenth episode of our season on the awesome movie year of 1996 features the Best Picture Oscar winner, The English Patient . Written and directed by Anthony Minghella (based on the novel by Michael Ondaatje) and starring Ralph Fiennes, Kristin Scott Thomas, Juliette Binoche and Willem Dafoe, The English Patient was nominated for 12 Oscars and won nine, including Best Picture. The contemporary r...

The ninth episode of our season on the awesome movie year of 1996 features the Grand Jury Prize winner from the Sundance Film Festival, Todd Solondz’s Welcome to the Dollhouse . Written and directed by Todd Solondz and starring Heather Matarazzo, Brendan Sexton III, Eric Mabius, Matthew Faber, Angela Pietropinto and Bill Buell, Welcome to the Dollhouse went on to be nominated for five Independent...

The eighth episode of our season on the awesome movie year of 1996 features Jason’s personal pick, influential indie comedy Swingers . Written by Jon Favreau, directed by Doug Liman and starring Jon Favreau, Vince Vaughn, Ron Livingston, Patrick Van Horn, Alex Desert and Heather Graham, Swingers was a minor box-office success, but went on to be one of the essential movies of the ’90s indie boom. T...

The seventh episode of our season on the awesome movie year of 1996 features one of the year’s most notable foreign films, Czech drama Kolya . Directed by Jan Sverak, written by his father Zdenek Sverak and starring Zdenek Sverak, Andrei Chalimon, Libuse Safrankova and Ondrej Vetchy, Kolya won the awards for best foreign language film at the Oscars and the Golden Globes. The contemporary reviews q...

The sixth episode of our season on the awesome movie year of 1996 features Josh’s personal pick, John Sayles’ Lone Star . Written and directed by John Sayles and starring Chris Cooper, Elizabeth Peña, Joe Morton, Kris Kristofferson, Miriam Colon, Clifton James and Matthew McConaughey, Lone Star premiered at the 1996 South by Southwest film festival and was nominated for an Oscar for Best Original...

The fifth episode of our season on the awesome movie year of 1996 features our pick for the year’s most notable documentary, Joe Berlinger and Bruce Sinofsky’s Paradise Lost: The Child Murders at Robin Hood Hills . The second feature collaboration between directors Berlinger and Sinofsky, Paradise Lost premiered at the 1996 Sundance Film Festival before airing on HBO in June 1996. The contemporary...

The fourth episode of our season on the awesome movie year of 1996 features the Palme d’Or winner at the Cannes Film Festival, Mike Leigh’s Secrets & Lies . Written and directed by Leigh and starring Brenda Blethyn, Timothy Spall, Marianne Jean-Baptiste, Phyllis Logan and Claire Rushbrook, Secrets & Lies debuted at the 1996 Cannes Film Festival and went on to be nominated for five Oscars,...

The third episode of our season on the awesome movie year of 1996 features the year’s biggest flop, literary adaptation The Island of Dr. Moreau . Directed by John Frankenheimer from a script co-written by original director Richard Stanley and starring David Thewlis, Val Kilmer, Marlon Brando and Fairuza Balk, The Island of Dr. Moreau was beset by production and budget problems and considered one...

The second episode of our season on the awesome movie year of 1996 features our pick for a notable filmmaking debut, Wes Anderson’s Bottle Rocket . Directed by Wes Anderson, written by Anderson and Owen Wilson and starring Owen Wilson, Luke Wilson, Robert Musgrave, Lumi Cavazos and James Caan, Bottle Rocket was an expansion of Anderson’s 1994 short film and also marked the film debut of both Wilso...

The first episode of our season on the awesome movie year of 1996 features the top-grossing film both worldwide and in North America, Roland Emmerich’s Independence Day . Directed by Emmerich from a script he co-wrote with Dean Devlin and starring Will Smith, Bill Pullman, Jeff Goldblum, Judd Hirsch, Margaret Colin and Vivica A. Fox, Independence Day grossed more than $800 million worldwide and wo...

In this special bonus episode of our season on the awesome movie year of 1989, we’re talking about one of the year’s most acclaimed and influential movies, Spike Lee’s Do the Right Thing . Written and directed by Spike Lee and starring Lee, Danny Aiello, Giancarlo Esposito, John Turturro, Ossie Davis, Ruby Dee, Richard Edson, Bill Nunn and Rosie Perez, Do the Right Thing premiered at the 1989 Cann...

In this epilogue to our season on the awesome movie year of 1989, we talk about alternate movies we considered including in all of our different categories this season, and read suggestions from some listeners about which movies they hoped we would cover. Please like, share, rate and comment on the show and this episode, and tune in next time for the premiere of our fourth season, covering the awe...

In the finale of our season on the awesome movie year of 1989, we’re talking about this season’s audience choice pick, action sequel Lethal Weapon 2 . Written by Jeffrey Boam, directed by Richard Donner and starring Mel Gibson, Danny Glover, Joe Pesci, Patsy Kensit, Joss Ackland and Derrick O’Connor, Lethal Weapon 2 beat out Back to the Future Part II and Ghostbusters II in our audience choice pol...

The twelfth episode of our season on the awesome movie year of 1989 features our future cult classic pick, teen skateboarding drama Gleaming the Cube . Written by Michael Tolkin, directed by Graeme Clifford and starring Christian Slater, Steven Bauer, Min Luong and Richard Herd, Gleaming the Cube was a box-office failure but became an influential piece of skater culture. The contemporary reviews q...

The eleventh episode of our season on the awesome movie year of 1989 features our producer David Rosen’s personal pick, “Weird Al” Yankovic’s UHF . Written by Yankovic and his longtime manager and music video director Jay Levey, directed by Levey and starring Yankovic, Michael Richards, Kevin McCarthy, Victoria Jackson and David Bowe, UHF was a financial and critical failure at the time of its rel...

The tenth episode of our season on the awesome movie year of 1989 features the Best Picture Oscar winner, Driving Miss Daisy . Written by Alfred Uhry (based on his Pulitzer Prize-winning play), directed by Bruce Beresford and starring Morgan Freeman, Jessica Tandy and Dan Aykroyd, Driving Miss Daisy opened in limited release in December 1989 and went on to win four Oscars, including Best Picture....

The ninth episode of our season on the awesome movie year of 1989 features the Grand Jury Prize winner from the Sundance Film Festival, Nancy Savoca’s True Love . Directed and co-written (with her husband Richard Guay) by Savoca and starring Ron Eldard, Annabella Sciorra, Aida Turturro and Roger Rignack, True Love premiered at the 1989 Sundance Film Festival and went on to be nominated for three I...