Dead Format

In a very special episode the boys are joined by former PNAC host and pro cat nurse Erik to talk Mel Gibson's psycho War World 2 biopic "Hacksaw Ridge". We talk the rise and fall and rise and fall of Mel Gibson, the Chinese box office, even more about how good 2016 films were, how cheap and inept every second of this is along with the absolutely bonkers persecution fantasy cooked up for it's viewe...

The boys are back this week talking Gregg Araki's 2004 child abuse coming of age drama Mysterious Skin. We get into working with child actors, shoegaze, how cool Preston is, Awesome Culture and appreciate the insane degree of difficulty this tightrope act of a movie manages to pull off with absolutely brutal success. This is another one where both of us really hope you actually watch the movie ins...

Fun time is over as Ben brings the boys back into their element with S Craig Zahler's brutal, nasty crooked cop heist nightmare "Dragged Across Concrete". Tim is left utterly confused as to what this movie is and we get into the bizarre hardboiled cop meta-satire and we talk Mel Gibson, the myth of Zahler as right-wing auteur, how the movie uses it's cheapness to it's advantage and wonder is this...

Tim and Ben conclude the Spring of Love by going back to 1999 with Robert Iscove's delightful high school Pygmalion riff "She's All That". The boys talk high school, M Night's ghostwriting, what a good song "Kiss Me" still is along with teen movies that still believe in a future that could be good and how even 25+ years later the idea that a 20 year old Rachel Leigh Cook looks disgusting in a pair...

The boys are back this week to talk about Maren Ade's nerve shredding, demented daddy-daughter dramedy "Toni Erdmann". We get into how much of this movie is actually about work, globalization, The EU, an American Dad comparison somehow and learning self-respect via getting butt naked in front of your coworkers to celebrate birthday. Also discussed: Speed Racer, Woman of Fire, Dead Man, Mysterious...

The boys get romantic again this week as we go back to Ang Lee's 2005 queer cowboy romance "Brokeback Mountain". We talk about Lee as demented auteur, the murder's row cast and crew, the insanely good acting performances plus talk a lot of Oscar controversey and the long life this movie still has as a meme in spite of it's greatness.  Also discussed: Tetsuo: The Iron Man, The Shipping News, Forza...

The boys celebrate Tim's birthday this year with a much better episode than the last bday one we did! We get into Guillermo del Toro's nasty, classical 2021 noir "Nightmare Alley". Tim argues for the novel was one of America's greats, we get into another tortured production, push back against the idea of "Guillermoslop", crown Cate Blanchett as the living queen of noir and agree that deep down eve...

The boys are back discussing Wes Anderson's 2001 film about hating your dad and wanting to smash with your hot not-sister (?). We get into fake New York City, bird ransom, the secret sauce that is Owen Wilson and enjoy some Hulk Hogan style lying from Alec Baldwin. Also discussed: Lord of the Rings: Fellowship of the Ring, Upgrade, The Phoenician Scheme, The Lighthouse and the films of Ken Russell...

The boys are back this week for one of Ben's all timer favorite romcom's, Andrew Bujalski's beautifully demented look at love and personal training, "Results". We talk about Bujalski's catalog, this movie as a response to "Computer Chess" being called mumblecore, marvel at how great all of the performances are and get into genre tropes and how hard this movie subverts them. Like "The Beast" last w...

Tim and Ben continue the Spring of Love with another low budget, sci-fi romance horror (?) Bertrand Bonello's brutal 2023 film "The Beast". We dig into the insane generation spanning plot, marvel at the beast mode level acting performances, question how much this actually adapts from the Henry James novel that suggested it, grumble over having to stream the end credit stinger to your phone and Ben...

Tim and Ben really shake up  the format this week and talk about a pleasant movie with a happy ending, Claude Lelouch's dreamy 1966 romance "A Man and A Woman". We get into the fly by night production, debate the possible themes in the cornucopia of film stocks, Ben loses it over talented women acting with their faces and Tim offers some valid criticism to go with Ben's gushing. Also discussed: Mi...

The boys kick off The Spring of Love proper with a beefy double feature of Andrei Tarkovsky's arthouse sci-fi tale of love and loss along with the confusing but interesting remake by our boy Soderbergh. We talk about Tarkovsky's beef with Kubrick and 2001, filmmaking in the USSR and how not very different it was from the West, explore the depths of hatred author Stanisław Lem had for both adapatio...

With Tim in Ireland Ben enlists a tag team of special guests, returning champ Nick (Nyid07) and Jeremy (jmball321) to talk Darren Aronofsky's 2008 masterpiece "The Wrestler". We get into the coolness of pro wrestling, the world that the movie captures in downright uncanny detail, Aronofsky as the dumb guy GOAT, suggest Necro Butcher matches to watch on YouTube and of course we remember so many guy...

The boys are back with another episode before Tim left in the first place. This week we are talking one of the coolest to ever do it, Jean-Pierre Melville and his brutally personal mangum opus "Army of Shadows". We dive into another tortured production, talk about the near semi-autobiographical nature of the French Resistance capering, how Le Wokeism kept this movie from most of the world for over...

With Tim in Ireland we are back this week with an episode from the old show where we dig into Ridley Scott and Cormac McCarthy's utterly insane 2013 film "The Counselor". Everyone knows this movie sucks but this podcast presupposes that notion.... maybe it's actually awesome? We will return with a new episode next week, the schedule for April will be: Army of Shadows (Melville, 1969) The Wrestler...

Tim and Ben are back with Kelly Reichardt's masterfully tense and morally thorny terrorism thriller "Night Moves". Ben argues for her status as one of our most underrated working filmmakers and offers plenty of comparison to 2025's "Mastermind". Together we get into the fantastic Acting on display, the insane tension it builds, how it compares to How To Blow Up a Pipeline and how you can't outrun...

Tim and Ben are back and have reached the logical end point crap auterism, Ireland's first kung-fu crime thriller "Fatal Deviation". We talk about movie fighting, how this feels legitimately dangerous to watch in places, jam to the rock group Boy Zone, speculate as to what Irish karate might look like and get into all the things you take for granted when you watch a movie that is made by professio...

The boys wrap up the Winter of Torture with the first big studio comedy we have done and sorry, it's a Ben pick so it's still super nasty and unpleasent! We dive into Jody Hill's blacker than black 2009 mall cop comedy "Observe & Report" and talk about how this movie should have been the end of Jody Hill's career, how the complete opposite ended up happening and marvel at how ahead of it's time th...

Tim and Ben go absurdly deep into Lars Von Trier's 2003 black box theater psycological horror small town drama "Dogville". We talk about what the hell this movie actually is, the murder's row cast and what this movie actually says about Our Present Moment as the Winter of Torture climaxes. Plus, Tim kinda defends the infamous sequel "Manderlay" from Ben's weed addled memory. Also discussed: The At...

Ben and Tim are back talking Jordan Peele's 2019 home invasion, horror movie "Us". Ben gets really confused about why this movie exists and Tim provides some analysis that kinda helps even things out. Not crap auterism per se but a baffling movie all the same. Also discussed: Citizen Kane, Star Wars: The Phantom Menace, Underworld: Evolution, Lost in America, Death Rider: In the House of the Vampi...

Ben and Tim continue to talk crap auterism as they dig into Ryan Gosling's 2014 directorial debut Lost River. We talk non-professional actors, attempt to parse what the hell this movie is actually about and wonder if knowing who David Lynch is good enough to justify making a movie. Also discussed: The Chair Company, Sinners, Doctor Sleep, Memory of a Killer, Let the Right One In, 2000 Meters to An...

Mangia, mangia bon appetit! Ben and Tim are joined by friend of the show PD to discuss the notorious final film by Pier Paolo Pasolini 1976's "Salò, or the 120 Days of Sodom". We talk about how the hell you make a movie like this, what is says about Our Current Moment plus share the recipe for homemade poop. This one has to come with a content warning because we get real nasty with this one. Also...

Welcome to a very special episode of Dead Format, the mental health extravaganza! Ben and Tim dig into Robert Greene's 2016 documentary(??)/psychological horror(???) movie "Kate Plays Christine". The boys dig into why most docs suck, what makes this one so compelling and if the end makes the mistake of going full on "Funny Games". Also discussed: The Mastermind, Die My Love, Boogie Nights, Sam Bar...

Ben and Tim, reeling from finding out a glitch has caused their eggs to be empty examine Olivia Wilde's* 2022 film "Don't Worry Darling". We talk about a steakhouse worth of behind the scenes beef, what a director's job actually is and what happens when you let the fans behind the camera. Also discussed: The Housemaid, Avatar 3: Fire & Ash (no spoilers), Blonde, Yeast and If I Had Legs I'd Kick Yo...

Ho ho ho, it's Christmas in January. In the last of the early episodes, Ben cashes in on his birthday episode and the boys sit down to talk Stanley Kubrick's 1999 "Eyes Wide Shut". Ben turns this into Mythbusters big time as we deboonk Kubrick urban legends, talk about the insane production behind this film and oooh boy a whole lot of talk about the rather controversial remaster now out from Crite...