Bravo for the B-side Podcast

From the early 80s we have a South African indie-comedy, The Gods Must Be Crazy. It’s a complete nonsense, buffoonery level fun film that takes a clean, simple approach to humor. We talk about this highs of the movie and the lows of the production, and spend a good amount of time talking about comedy. What happened to clean, funny films? The Gods Must Be Crazy is funny without puerile or vulgar hu...

The Vicious Kind is another movie where the story is not quite up-front on its intent or purpose. We surmise some theories, but ultimately it will be up to the viewer to decide. With a great cast and top-notch production, we flow through some confusing moments, confusing dialogue, and murky purpose. We talk about lessons having to do with the failings of male-written scripts depicting women, wasti...

An adaptation of the William S. Burroughs book, David Cronenberg brings us a muddled, uninviting film with Naked Lunch. Names like Peter Weller, Judy Davis, Ian Holm, Julian Sands, Roy Scheider, and others, are lost in the mundane, shock-topic nonsense of this movie. We talk about the importance of engaging the audience, and giving them world-building that makes the story have some sense to it. Ji...

We really wish we could tell you what Astro Loco is about. We do tell you what happens in the movie, but the point of it eludes us. It took some time for us to figure out if we liked this or not, if it was good or not, and we come to a conclusion in the episode. Technical aspects were great, and performances were just fine also. The primary lesson here is what can happen if you don’t have a clear...

A nuclear war, a fleet of DeLoreans, and Billy Zane. Unfortunately these excellent features do not help mend the fractured plot and storytelling of Blue World Order. Certainly an ambitious film, and technically sound, it suffers from too many story points. We talk about lessons in focused storytelling and pacing. For an action/adventure film it is pretty laid back, to the point that when something...

It’s a bushwhacking ride this week as we dive into Hunt for the Wilderpeople. This Taika Waititi film is not just a magnificent family watch, it’s a delightful treat of excellent direction, performances, and technical skill. In front of and behind the camera there are lessons everywhere. The comedic timing of Julian Dennison and Sam Neill is brilliant and sharp. Julian Dennison was great in Deadpo...

Paul Giamatti. What else needs to be said? We plunge into Cold Souls, the 2009 film from Sophie Barthes where Mr. Giamatti plays a fictionalized version of himself. Stressing over his role in a Broadway play, Paul decides to have his soul put in storage so he can remove the burden of his anxiety. Sounds a bit off, but it is brilliant. Giamatti is fantastic, as always. We talk about the comedy that...

Hearkening from the early 90s, Arcade gives us the very worst of genre exploitation. More frustrating than frightening, Arcade takes us into a possessed virtual reality game that feeds off of the souls of young players. Another crystal clear example of Jim’s mantra; Know what you are writing about, or don’t write it at all. The technical references are laughable. One of the only saving graces is t...

A sci-fi horror thriller, The Mind’s Eye is a solid work on all levels. We dive into this salute to the old 80’s film Scanners set in the 90s and follow Zack and Rachael make their way through twisted experiments, an over the top villain, and a bevy of psychokinetic battles that do not disappoint. We talk about the importance of allocating your budget, getting actors involved in their parts rather...

We deep-dive into The Tall Guy. This wonderful film with Jeff Goldblum and Emma Thompson is a riotous ride out of the ‘80s into a new era. A UK movie filmed during the actor’s strike in the US, this film celebrates the silliness of 80’s romance comedy films - before the dreaded word RomCom came out - brilliantly, and heralds in a new era that would lead to Love Actually, Notting Hill, and more. An...

This one comes from Dani’s vault. We cut deep into Repo: The Genetic Opera. This rock-opera has it all. Gore, out of this world performances, dark and twisted civilization, and so much more. We have seen this many, many times (Dani far more than Jim), and it just gets better every time. We talk about the mastery involved in this film, the killer songs, music, singing, performances, and just how ha...

For our 100th episode we bring in our daughter Lily and we all talk about films that moved us and shaped us through our lives. We celebrate this milestone by talking about the films that got us to where we are, why they are important, and share thoughts. We also have some surprise guests sounding off on movies that inspired, moved, or motivated them. This was a fantastically fun episode to record....

Another long-time in the vault choice, we dive into John Carpenter’s Dark Star. This 1974 gem is another favorite that has so many wonderful stories to it. Pre-Star Wars sci-fi cinema, Dark Star gives us an ultra-low budget effects bonanza with comedy and psychedelic musings. One of the great lessons learned from this film is that the most mundane of projects can lead to powerful, cinema-changing...

Another first for the show. We dive into a subtitled movie, R100, and we are not sorry for it. We watched this movie for pure entertainment, and decided we absolutely needed to do this for the show. A Japanese movie that got little to no love in theaters, R100 brings us into the world of a man who seeks pleasure with a Dominatrix club. That sentence doesn’t do this movie justice. It is fun, wild,...

We have David Howard Thornton on the show! You know him as Art the Clown from Terrifier, and the Joker on Nightwing. Unlike either of those characters, David is a splendidly wonderful man who is an absolute delight to speak with. Please join us as we talk about his career, life in New York City, a little bit about the upcoming Terrifier 2, and a political segway. You can’t help but smile when talk...

This is a first for the show. We found This World Won’t Break and thought its story of artistic struggle would reach all creatives. We could not finish this movie. We made it thirty minutes in and had to call it quits. This episode deals with Slow Burn movies and we talk about some that either started with a slow burn or held the slow burn pace all of the way through, and why those worked. We are...

We dive into The Station Agent. This 2003 piece of brilliance stars Peter Dinklage, Patricia Clarkson, Bobby Cannavale, and is directed by Tom McCarthy. McCarthy’s first foray into directing shows the born talent of this filmmaker. A human story about three very different people going through some rough moments in life who come together, fall apart, and come together again. One of our all-time fav...

David Hyde Pierce gives us a dinner party like no other. This movie, with a brilliantly misleading trailer, gives surprises, humor, and a lot of WTF moments. Dive into this weird as hell dinner party with us as we talk about masterful editing, subtle comedic performances, and how fun this flick is. There are a lot of hat-tips to older films. This is a film you will want to watch twice just to be s...

Who doesn’t love crazy clowns that kill? Terrifier gives us the return of Art the Clown, a silent but thoroughly enjoyable psychopath. Terrifier breaks conventions with some surprising moves, all of which elevate this film into the upper hierarchy of horror. Only in an Indie film will you find such bold moves to balk at standard horror beats. Super simple story pillars set the scene for a massive...

After a lot of packing and unpacking, Kyle Hester returns to the show to talk about his projects, pandemic, state of indie film, and future YouTube projects. Listen and catch up on the status of Preacher 6, Zombie with a Shotgun 2, and future plans for The Coop. We are very lucky to know so many positive, energetic people in indie film and Kyle is no exception. If you are in indie film, this is a...

Released in 2016, 2018 in the US, this UK version of The Lighthouse is spectacularly subtle and soul-wrenching. Sticking to old-school storytelling, combined with brilliant acting, direction, and technical precision, we are thrust into the hellish 1801 storm that spawned this tale. The performances are fantastic, made razor-sharp by the clever pacing of the story. This film is a splendid example o...

We talk once again with Hilton Ariel Ruiz. Creator of Zombie with a Shotgun, Klanz Rules, director of several excellent documentaries, this man is an unbridled force in indie film. We talk about how this past year has affected him, his Patreon page to get the sequel to Zombie with a Shotgun into production, and nerd out over cameras and, yes folks, Frankenhooker. That’s a real movie people, trust...

Returning to the show are Pete Marcy, Joe Marcy, Chris Marcy, and Adam Anderson of Failureboys Productions. We talk about the re-release of Firefly and some excellent behind the scenes stories. Talented filmmakers and just great guys in general, we have a lot of fun talking filmmaking, festivals, and more. Come listen to these wonderful guests get gritty on how indie film can be taxing on the spir...

We dive into the UK film Eat Locals. Jam packed with big names, this vampire horror/comedy delivers on a great many levels. We had a lot of fun watching it the first time, and just as much fun watching it for the episode. A fairly low budget is maximized with a large single location, vampire effects that are done when needed and not overplayed, and a take on vampires that is fresh but familiar. We...

It’s a new release of an older film. Firefly hails from 2005, from our friends at Failureboys Productions. This version has been remastered in 5.1 surround, and it’s fantastic. This is a solid wrap-around plot that comes together magnificently towards the end. There are a lot of layers here, and a lot of character building. When it was over we both felt good for having watched it. Pete Marcy shows...