Cinematic Omniverse

After a dynamite run in the 1970s, working under luminaries like Altman, Kubrick, Allen, and Gilliam, Shelley Duvall's career went... other places. Here, Marty and Scott scour the back half of this great actor's filmography... mostly so that you don't have to. Films we pressed against our eyeballs this week: Roxanne (1987, Dir. Fred Schepisi) at 2:51 Suburban Commando (1991, Dir. Bu...

CINEMATIC OMNIVERSE is back, with one of our favourite leading ladies! How did Shelley Duvall first become an actor? Which 1930s starts inspired her performance as Olive Oyl? Why do Scott & Marty find the word "coerced" hilarious? You'll find the answers (such as they are) in this, the first of two Duvall retrospective episodes! We cover DuvALL the following: Brewster McCloud  (...

Words cannot describe how monumental this, our 100th Episode, truly is... but we can't figure out how to make a silent podcast, so we're sticking with the talkies as we wrap up our series on self-reflective cinema. Join Marty and Scott as they scope out these four funky films: Tropic Thunder (2008, Dir. Ben Stiller) at 6:39 The Artist  (2011, Dir. Michael Hazanavicius) at 24:17 Once Upon...

Marty and Scott's centuries-spanning survey of filmic navel-gazing reaches an especially gaze-worthy era: the 80s and 90s. How did the Dream Factory imagine itself? And how do you even know it's a dream, unless you put a dwarf in it? Don't look into the camera! Just join us. The cinematic octopi we wrestle this week: Cinema Paradiso (1988, Dir. Guiseppe Tornatore) at 2:39 The Player...

Scott and Marty continue their chronological deep dive into self-reflective filmmaking. Tune in as they brave monkey ghosts, talking mimes, and the occasional crotch muppet in their tireless quest to answer the question: When you gaze into the camera's lens, does the camera also look into you? Films we chase down on our motorized wheelchairs: Sullivan's Travels (1941, Dir. Preston Sturge...

Scott and Marty go back -- WAYYY BACK -- to the nudists, clock goblins, and rarebit fiends of silent cinema -- as they launch an unprecedented FOUR PART series on how FILM SEES ITSELF! It's so exciting, it requires ALL CAPS and LOTS of exclamation points!!! Covered this week (Holy Monkeyshines!): Meta-movies of the 19th century at 4:00 A Trip to the Moon (1902, Dir. George Méliès) at 30:09 Th...

He's the paragon of character actors, and the podcast's unofficial mascot: Harry Dean Stanton. It's a labour of love as Marty and Scott ramble through his long filmography. Check it out! The Wrong Man (1956, Dir. Alfred Hitchcock) at 4:18 Paris, Texas (1984, Dir. Wim Wenders) at 18:37 Man Trouble (1992, Dir. Bob Rafelson) at 36:04 Lucky (2017, Dir. John Carroll Lynch) at 50:56 Conti...

It takes all sorts of people to make an underworld. Like... Vulcans? Leprechauns?! Canadian mayoral campaign managers?!? Scott and Marty circulate amongst a very odd rogue's gallery, and return to share all the results with you. In this episode, our televisual exposes include: Columbo S2E6 "A Stitch in Crime" at 2:12 Moonlighting S2E7 "Somewhere Under the Rainbow" at 14:36...

Dust off your ruffs and merkins! It's time for Scott and Marty and You to screw your courage to the sticking place, and check out some of Shakespeare's weirdest cinematic outings. Feast thine ears: Chimes at Midnight   (1966, Dir. Orson Welles) at 2:48 Throne of Blood  (1957, Dir. Akira Kurosawa) at 20:27 Prospero's Books (1991, Dir. Peter Greenaway) at 35:20 10 Things I Hate About...

Criminals have overrun Scott and Marty's television sets! Maybe some vampires too. There's only one thing to do: call in the gumshoes! In this episode, we scrape the gum off the shoes of these fine televisual offerings: Columbo S2E5 "Requiem for a Falling Star" at 1:55 Moonlighting S2E6 "Knowing Her" at 15:20 Forever Knight S1E13 "Father Figure" at 30:00 Plu...

A civil rights crusader. Wife of Ossie Davis. An Oscar nominee with a career spanning EIGHT DECADES. It's the incredible Ruby Dee! Scott and Marty scrutinize the tenacious Dee's first, last, best, and worst movies: The Jackie Robinson Story (1950, Dir. Alfred E. Green) at 2:44 1982 (2013, Dir. Tommy Oliver) at 16:28 Do The Right Thing (1989, Dir. Spike Lee) at 30:00 and *heavy sigh* Baby...

By the pricking of my thumbs, something DICK FILLED this way comes! We're talking, of course, about TV detectives, and gadzooks! There are a lot of them in this week's episode. Scott and Marty stake out the following serials: Columbo S2E4 "A Dagger of the Mind" at 2:55 Moonlighting S2E5 "My Fair David" at 15:50 Forever Knight S1E12 "Dead Issue" at 27:20 Plus...

This week on Cinematic Omniverse... It's David f*****g Lynch. Heads are scratched over: Eraserhead (1977) at 4:13 The Elephant Man (1980) at 23:49 Wild at Heart (1990) at 42:09 The Straight Story (1999) at 1:00:30 Also in this super-sized episode: Continuity Boulevard at 1:17:52 Lightning Round at 1:35:25 Follow us on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, or Amazon Music. Visit us at slac...

DO NOT ADJUST YOUR SET... just leave it alone, and instead use your favourite podcasting device to dig into the ear-tickling antics of Marty and Scott, as they discuss, critique, and riff on... Columbo S2E3 "The Most Cruicial Game" (at 2:25) Moonlighting S2E4 "The Dream Sequence Always Rings Twice" (at 14:15) Forever Knight S1E11 "Hunters" (at 28:05) ...and for Elite...

For the first podcast of 2025, Marty and Scott study the unorthodox filmography of John Cazale, who starred in FIVE Best Picture-nominated films in the 1970s... and that's it. Your listening options are twofold: play straight through, or hop around: The Godfather (1972, Dir. Francis Ford Coppola) at 2:20 The Godfather Part II (1974, Dir. Francis Ford Coppola) at 17:17 Dog Day Afternoon (1975,...

If you have been contemplating cold-blooded murder, DON'T DO IT! Or at least, check out this collection of TV detective reviews before you act. If nothing else, it will help you decide in which decade (and city) to kill. Skewered in this installment: Columbo S2E2 "The Greenhouse Jungle" at 2:10 Moonlighting S2E3 "Money Talks... Maddie Walks" at 19:47 Forever Knight S1E10 &...

Marty and Scott continue their deep dive into Rowlands's fifty-eight year filmography. After the death of her husband, auteur John Cassavettes, Rowlands... wait, what am I doing? You need to listen to the episode to get the story! Dissected within: Night on Earth  (1991, Dir. Jim Jarmusch) at 1:26 The Mighty  (1998, Dir. Peter Chelsom) at 18:55 The Notebook (2004, Dir. Nick Cassavettes) at 31...

With a film career spanning 56 years, there's no easy way to encapsulate a class act like Gena Rowlands... so Scott and Marty dedicate a two-parter to this luminous lady, whose filmography threads the careers of some of cinema's most maverick auteurs. Didja get all that? It's Gena time. Shadows (1958, Dir. John Cassavetes) at 2:20 A Woman Under the Influence (1974, Dir. John Cassave...

Only two men are brave enough to ask the hard questions: What's up with all these 30-, 40-, and 50-year-old detective shows these days?? And those two men are Marty and Scott... and the answers they find can be time-logged as follows! Columbo S2E1 "Etude in Black" at 02:25 Moonlighting S2E2 "The Lady in the Iron Mask" at 15:45 Forever Knight S1E9 "I Will Repay" a...

Are you ready for an entertainment experience more invasive than Feel-Around? More devastating than bespoke porn? More transcendent than live organ transplants? Marty and Scott return to the omniverse of film with four sketch comedy anthologies. That's, like, 60 movies for the prize of... well, it's all free! Sketchy flicks we excoriate: Everything You Always Wanted to Know About Sex * B...

Columbo digs deep! David squares off against his own flesh & blood! And Nick Knight meets his match in Chinatown. Who knew you could immobilize a vampire with basic acupuncture? Scott and Marty did NOT. Rehashed in this episode: Columbo S1E7 "Blueprint for Murder" at 2:05 Moonlighting S2E1 "Brother, Can You Spare a Blonde?" at 15:30 Forever Knight S1E8 "Cherry Blossoms...

It's still the spooky season, and we've got your vampires right here. COP VAMPIRES! Also, Detective Columbo and Maddie and David, who are not vampires... AS FAR AS WE KNOW. Cue the spooky music! Columbo S1E6: "Short Fuse" at 1:50 Moonlighting S1E6: "The Murder's in the Mail" at 19:00 Forever Knight S1E7: "False Witness" at 31:20 Follow us on Spotify, Ap...

Movies are back! And just in time for Halloween! Scott and Marty celebrate in the best way possible: welcoming back horrorcore guest star Abbey Schwartz, to discuss three stone cold classics, each of which is a BRAND NEW WATCH for at least one of the three! WILL THEY SURVIVE? WILL YOU?!? Movies Vivisected: John Carpenter's Halloween (1978) at 2:50 John Carpenter's The Thing (1982) at 24:...

Would you, could you, murder somebody on a train? You both would and could if you were legendary character actor Vincent Schiavelli! If you don't know who that is, or what is Schiavelli's connection to Moonlighting's Allyce Beasley, then this ep will be a real learning experience for you. If you DO know all that, you're probably already listening! Commentary on the following ep...

In this episode, we learn about Marty's sacred Moonlighting viewing ritual. All this plus a Lightning Round for the ages! Find our commentary on the episodes here: "Suitable for Framing" - 1:54 "The Next Murder You Hear" -  15:22 "Dance By the Light of the Moon" - 27:55 Follow us on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, or Amazon Music. Visit us at slackandsl...