Cinema Smorgasbord

RSS / iTunes / Spotify On a landmark episode of WE DO OUR STUNTS we continue our chronological look at the career of Jackie Chan with his first great movie: 1978’s SNAKE & CRANE ARTS OF SHAOLIN! Directed by Chen Chi Hwa (who would later collaborate with Jackie on POLICE STORY), the film is about a marital arts student (played by Jackie) who is guarding “Eight Steps of the Snake an...

RSS / iTunes / Spotify It’s not only the return of ERIC ROBERTS IS THE (bad word) MAN, it’s also the return of the STALKED BY MY DOCTOR SERIES with 2021’s JUST WHAT THE DOCTOR ORDERED. A return to the heady days of the original STALKED films, this time we have Dr. Albert Beck hiding out in an abandoned house.. but not for long! We also talk at length about a newly launched Eric R...

RSS / iTunes / Spotify On YOU DON’T KNOW DICK we look at the films and TV work of the beloved character actor Dick Miller! On this episode we’re joined by writer, producer and podcaster Scott Weinberg to discuss the legendary Roger Corman cheapie horror-comedy THE LITTLE SHOP OF HORRORS! We look at the history of the legendarily threadbare production, the various remakes and tributes (...

RSS / iTunes / Spotify What’s Steve Buscemi up to in the 1991 star-studded gangster film bomb BILLY BATHGATE? Not much! Despite a big budget, an incredible cast (Dustin Hoffman, Nicole Kidman, Bruce Willis and.. uh.. Loren Dean!) and Tom Stoppard handling the script, it’s a lifeless and predictable slog. On this episode of HOW DO YOU DO, FELLOW KIDS? we try to work out what went wrong,...

RSS / iTunes / Spotify On the latest episode of FORGOTTEN GEMS? we’re traveling back to 2004 to check out Joshua Marston’s much lauded (particularly for its lead performance by Catalina Sandino Moreno) drug smuggling drama MARIA FULL OF GRACE. But aside from that dynamite lead, does the film hold up to our older – and somehow even MORE cynical – eyes? And does it even matte...

RSS / iTunes / Spotify Ken Russell tackles the life of “the great lover” Rudolph Valentino in 1977’s VALENTINO, an occasionally inspired bio-pic that fixates (and speculates) on the silent film star’s much-debated sexuality. On the latest episode of PRAISING KANE we’re looking at the film, its stars, and whether or not it’s Ken Russell-y enough to deserve redisc...

RSS / iTunes / Spotify Billed as “the screen’s first erotic kung-fu classic”, FIRECRACKER stars RAW FORCE’s Jillian Kesner as a butt-kicking karate expert who travels to Hong Kong (actually the Philippines) to track down her journalist sister who recently vanished. Featuring topless fight scenes, stick fighting and, of course, Vic Diaz as “Grip”. Essentially a r...

RSS / iTunes / Spotify On this rip-roaring episode of Cinema Fantastica we’re traveling to the 2014 (premiere) edition of the Chattanooga Film Festival in Chattanooga, Tennessee to pit two festival favs against each other: James Ward Byrkit’s low budget sci-fi mindbender COHERENCE vs Sion Sono’s epic tribute to filmmaking (and “mankind’s greatest achievement”) W...

RSS / iTunes / Spotify On this heart-racing episode of WILD IN THE STREETS we’re looking at the seminal 1972 poliziottesco film EXECUTION SQUAD (aka La polizia ringrazia)! The film takes a surprisingly balanced look at the war between cops and criminals in Italy in the early 70s, with a sympathetic police commissioner (Enrico Maria Salerno) battling both violent psychopaths, as well as a gro...

RSS / iTunes / Spotify On this episode of WE DO OUR OWN STUNTS, a chronological Jackie Chan podcast, Jackie is still stuck in Korea with Lo Wei who is determined to make him a star. His next attempt is 1977’s TO KILL WITH INTRIGUE, an often baffling revenge film featuring Hsu Feng as a memorably sadistic villain who falls in love with Jackie’s Lei Shao-feng! There’s plenty of oth...

RSS / iTunes / Spotify Nothing in your education or experience could prepare you for Alejandro Jodorowsky’s THE HOLY MOUNTAIN and on this episode of JodoWOWsky we’re going long on one of the strangest, most unique, most transformative films ever made. We start by discussing Jodorowsky’s career post-El Topo and the preparation for – and influences on – THE HOLY MOUNTAI...

RSS / iTunes / Spotify On this episode of HOW DO YOU DO, FELLOW KIDS? we continue our journey through the career of Steve Buscemi with the hilarious Armando Iannucci-directed 2017 comedy THE DEATH OF STALIN. Adapted from a French graphic novel, the film deals with the political maneuverings that kick into gear following the sudden death of Joseph Stalin in 1953. Featuring an all-star cast, includi...

RSS / iTunes / Spotify On the latest ERIC ROBERTS IS THE MAN: REDUX we’re joined by author/director Jeremy Herbert to watch 1999’s FACADE! It’s filled with crime, obnoxious noises, “comedy”, and so much more. We also chat about Steven Seagal, DISNEY ADULTS, the monsterverse, dog spies and, of course, all things Eric Roberts! CHECK IT OUT! This episode’s guest is...

RSS / iTunes / Spotify After that last episode of FORGOTTEN GEMS? we were feeling a little down, so to pick up our spirits we decided to watch a film that is only PARTIALLY miserable: the Golden Bear winning Brazilian-French film CENTRAL STATION from 1998. Featuring death, despair, and – rather improbably – hope, it includes an incredible (and Academy Award nominated) performance from...

RSS / iTunes / Spotify Well, here’s something a bit different. We were both dreading having to talk about ANNIE HALL on the latest episode of PRAISING KANE (Liam even wanted to skip this episode entirely), so instead, we spend the first half of the episode talking about why we almost skipped it (yes, it’s because of Woody Allen), our frustrations with separating art from artist, and ho...

RSS / iTunes / Spotify On this episode of YOU DON’T KNOW DICK we’re joined by CLAPBOARD JUNGLE director Justin McConnell to discuss Joe Dante’s wonderful 1985 science-fiction film EXPLORERS, starring Ethan Hawke, River Phoenix, Jason Presson and – of course – Dick Miller as Charlie Drake. We talk about 80’s nostalgia, the film’s often-criticized third act,...

RSS / iTunes / Spotify On the final episode of THE FILMS OF JOHN SINGLETON we’re looking at his sequel/reimagining of SHAFT starring Samuel L. Jackson, Jeffrey Wright, Christian Bale, Toni Collette and a returning Richard Roundtree as (Uncle) Shaft! After that we take a look at the career of John Singleton as a whole, and rank his nine film filmography. Check it out! The post Episode 65 – Th...

RSS / iTunes / Spotify On the PREMIERE episode of WILD IN THE STREETS: A EUROCRIME PODCAST we’re looking at the two films which kick off Roberto Curti’s essential book Italian Crime Filmography, 1968-1980: 1968’s  Bandits in Milan, as well as 1968’s Bandits In Rome! The first film takes a documentary approach to a real-life incident that took place in Milan, Italy in 1967 w...

RSS / iTunes / Spotify On this episode of HOW DO YOU DO, FELLOW KIDS? we’re looking at Jim Jarmusch’s 1989 triptych film MYSTERY TRAIN from 1989, featuring Masatoshi Nagase, Youki Kudoh, Screamin’ Jay Hawkins, Nicoletta Braschi, Elizabeth Bracco, Rick Aviles, Joe Strummer and Steve Buscemi as Charlie the Barber. The film features three stories that examine the relationship betwee...

RSS / iTunes / Spotify On this episode of JodoWOWsky, be prepared to live the most wonderful experience of your life! It’s Alejandro Jodorowsky’s legendary acid western EL TOPO, and after seeing it you’ll never be the same. Liam, Julia and Doug break down the history of the film and their experiences with it before delving into the film proper, splitting it into three parts for e...

RSS / iTunes / Spotify Beware! They are still at large! On this episode of WHATEVER HAPPENED TO VIC DIAZ it’s 1974’s SAVAGE SISTERS, a wonderfully cartoonish (sorta) women-in-prison film full of outrageous humor, double crossing and – of course Vic Diaz as ONE EYE. Gloria Hendry, Cheri Caffaro and Rosanna Ortiz play the titular characters, with Sid Haig, Eddie Garcia and John Ash...

RSS / iTunes / Spotify On this episode of FORGOTTEN GEMS? we’re looking at the winner of the 1978 Cannes Film Festival Jury Prize, Marco Ferreri’s BYE BYE MONKEY (aka CIAO MASCHIO) starring Gerard Depardieu! You might think a film about a grown (french) man adopting a baby chimp after finding it nestled in a giant animatronic King Kong would be loads of fun, but BOY is it not! It&#8217...

RSS / iTunes / Spotify On this episode of We Do Our Own Stunts we’re continuing our look at the early career of Jackie Chan with the Jimmy Wang Yu-starring THE KILLER METEORS, which features the first collaboration between Jackie and Wang Yu (though their fates would entwine a few years later) as well as Jackie playing a VILLAIN! It’s a bizarre, and sometimes incomprehensible, high-fly...

RSS / iTunes / Spotify We’re taking another journey through time and space to the film festivals around the globe on another episode of Cinema Fantastica! This time we’re headed to the controversial Fantastic Fest in Austin, Texas to check out two Japanese films that played in the 2010 iteration: Sion Sono’s COLD FISH and Yoshihiro Nakamura’s GOLDEN SLUMBER! Check it out! C...

RSS : https://www.cinemasmorgasbord.com/feed/podcast/ iTunes : https://podcasts.apple.com/ca/podcast/cinema-smorgasbord/id1495606055 Spotify : https://open.spotify.com/show/36GyQpY4P9HS87wmCKkGKY?si=wfj0g2auRlagZW2Aqx8ZJQ Come follow us on Twitter or Facebook ! BARK AT THE MOON! On this howl-arious episode of YOU DON’T KNOW DICK we’re joined by NOW Magazine critic and Someone Else&#821...