Director's Club

Welcome to Voices and Visions , formerly Pop Culture Club.  Confused?  Well, there’s an introduction to help assist you.  As you may or may not know, PCC is now V&V , and this is the first official episode under the new name.  After my 8-minute monologue at the top, I am pleased to present another wonderful singer/songwriter by the name of Kay Hanley .  If you’ve heard of the band Letters to Cleo...

Happy Thanksgiving to all.  And I want to say thank you for all the very kind words and messages in regards to my introduction from the last episode in which I announced the show will be hosted by two different voices next year. For this episode, it is my pleasure to welcome back two special guests from the past that have meant a great deal to me and for their friendship, I am grateful. The first...

As of mid-January 2017, I will no longer be the host of Director's Club on a full-time basis. Episode 121 (The Best of 2016) will be my last official episode as the predominant voice you hear on the show. While some of you may frown at that change, I encourage you to listen to my reasons during the introduction as well as learn who the new host will be and why I decided to move forward. Reminder:...

Once again, couldn't resist including this Pop Culture Club episode in the Director's Club feed due to the level of talent involved. And hey, they happen to be directors as well of course, and very good ones. The introduction finds me reflecting on baseball, The Cubs, and the city of Chicago which segways nicely into my first guest who is from the South Side. John McNaughton got his start early on...

Cross-posted on the Pop Culture Club podcast feed The Hollywood Reporter said that MEATHEAD GOES HOG WILD is "A psycho-breakdown flick that goes full-tilt violent without losing its odd, almost endearing underlying friendliness." Which is a great summation of this thought-provoking dark comedy that is somewhat inspired by one of my favorite movies AFTER HOURS. One of its creators, Sean Pierce has...

Happy Halloween everyone!  Ever wondered the origin of the "jump scare?" Well, it has been documented as being in the director of this episode's classic masterpiece known as CAT PEOPLE!  French film director known for the classic film noir Out of the Past and a series of low-budget horror films he made for RKO Studios, we're talking about another old-school master of the craft.   Of course, with a...

I tied my dear friend Patrick Ripoll to a f*****g couch!  Former co-host and podcaster extraordinaire, is back for this special bonus episode. We are hoping that this bonus offering for October will encourage you to donate any amount to the network to help keep our shows running, but again, no obligation, just a request: http://www.nowplayingnetwork.net/donation/ Patrick is a movie commentary sava...

Two very good friends and former guests join me for a live roundtable discussion on New Zealand director Peter Jackson.  Both Collin Souter and Al Kwiatkowski have contributed to the show many times before, and they're among my favorite people to talk films with.  As most of you know, Peter Jackson wasn't always the award-winning mastermind behind LORD OF THE RINGS, he started out in horror/comedy...

CROSS-POSTED as an official Pop Culture Club episode Well everyone, after a couple of months of waiting in anticipation, I was able to get a hold of Allan Moyle . "Who?!" you might ask.  Well, he's responsible for films such as TIMES SQUARE, EMPIRE RECORDS, NEW WATERFORD GIRL, and many more. But the film that has a special place in my heart, as listeners should know, is his 1990 teenage rebellion...

Before we begin, let me remind you that you can vote on which director will be covered in late November. Since the beginning of that month, I’ll be covering Peter Bogdanovich, and then in early December, I’m covering William Wyler, I thought it would be a good idea to create a poll of directors with smaller filmographies that we’ve yet to cover on this show. And you can be the deciding factor.  Ri...

Nicholas Ray is now one of my top ten favorite filmmakers of all time. I had seen REBEL WITHOUT A CAUSE when I was younger, but it wasn’t until recently that I went back to check out about a half a dozen of his films back-to-back. I realized the more that I watched, the more I responded to his work thematically. Joining me once again to talk about this legendary director is returning guest Sergio...

Two hosts from my favorite movie podcast return for a second appearance!  Sean Dwyer and Frank Knezic from Film Junk are back to have some laughs and deconstruct the art of the parody genre, focusing on the acclaimed trio Zucker Abrahams Zucker .  We talk about the origins of the term “spoof,” revisit and review the three films that ZAZ created together, and talk about other comedies that each of...

Movie Madness’ very own Erik Childress returns once again for another blockbuster action filmmaker. This time it’s the self-proclaimed perfectionist James Cameron, arguably one of the great innovators behind the science-fiction genre especially when it comes to state-of-the-art special effects.  We pretty much cover his entire career despite not having enthusiasm for where his career has gone most...

This episode is brought to you by Crystal Meth Papsi, enjoy a refreshing new Papsi.  Papsi.  Drink.  Drink it now.  Film blogger, editor and all-around nice guy Filip ONell joins me for an incredibly fun discussion on cult British filmmaker Alex Cox . Of course we sing the praises of REPO MAN, but we dig even deeper into his other work including the acclaimed SID & NANCY as well as the underapprec...

One of my favorite people to talk movies with returns for the 2nd time this year! Film blogger, enthusiast, and friend Kate Blair is back to talk about a true pioneer of the Nouvelle Vague movement, Agnes Varda .  Her self-funded debut, the fiction-documentary hybrid 1956’s LA POINTE COURTE is often considered the unofficial first New Wave film; when she made it, she had no professional cinema tra...

Back once again after only a month and a half, talk show radio hero extraordinare, WGN's Nick Digilio returns once again to discuss the post-GOODFELLAS career of Martin Scorsese. We start with CAPE FEAR and go all the way to THE WOLF OF WALL STREET, and everything in-between.  Digressions galore, but a real highlight of this episode comes at about the 59 minute mark when Nick brings up an infamous...

We did it all for the glory of love. Ladies and gentlemen, let's go back thirty years to when I fell in love with going to the movies.  The mid-80s informed a lot of my taste, and much like last year's 1985 retrospective, it's always a blast to go back and see what holds up and what we each consider to be personal favorites from a particular year. RogerEbert.com 's very own Erik Childress and Coll...

No solo intro from yours truly since there is a whole lotta ground to cover. Supporting Characters host Bill Ackerman returns once again to talk about a controversial, almost mythological figure in film history, the one and only Sam Peckinpah .  We cover nearly his entire filmography from beginning to end touching on classics such as RIDE THE HIGH COUNTRY, THE WILD BUNCH, PAT GARRETT & BILLY THE K...

From "Video Killed The Radio Star" to Beyonce's "Lemonade," I have been intoxicated and dazzled by the artistry behind music videos. Of course, I'm not alone, and my guest today could probably teach a class on the subject and hopefully will get to program a music video festival event someday.  Writer extraordinare Heather Drain joins me to discuss favorite music videos, our first experiences, grow...

Happy Memorial Day!  For the month of May this year, I have had the pleasure of talking about two of my favorite directors with two of my favorite guests.  One of the reasons that this show exist is due to the inclusion of my former co-host Patrick Ripoll.  He returns to talk about a controversial, innovative filmmaker by the name of Spike Lee, whom has in both of our eyes, made three masterpieces...

At last. He is not only my favorite talk show radio host, but one of the main reasons I became passionate about film in the first place.  WGN's own Nick Digilio , who has been reviewing movies since 1985, came into my life in December of 1989 alongside the legendary Roy Leonard.  I haven't stopped listening to Nick review movies on a weekly basis since then.  He's been incredibly supportive, so it...

Welcome to a very special bonus episode of Director's Club.  These days you can find our guest directing episodes of TV shows like FARGO, DEXTER, THE LEFTOVERS, HOMELAND, MASTERS OF SEX, RECTIFY and so much more.  But if you grew up in the 80s like me, you probably recognized the talent on display in a horror film like CHRISTINE or a comedy like BACK TO SCHOOL.  What I wholeheartedly recommend are...

I have one heck of a lineup in store for you.  A format that I hope to do more of as the year continues.  For this special edition of Pop Culture Club, I talk with two directors and then one musician -- all inspired in different ways but linked via their love of music.   For the first interview, I talk with BLUE RUIN director Jeremy Saulnier about his latest foray into genre filmmaking -- this tim...

I'm back!  This time I needed a lot of help (and defense) of a director I'm not that high up on.  I certainly don't consider myself an outright detractor, but this is a bit of a departure since most episodes this year so far have been glowingly positive.  I am joined by first-time guest Erix Antoine, a filmmaker and avid fan of genre films, to enlighten each other on the rather divisive M. Night S...

Hey guys!  Jim here.  Well, I'm nowhere to be found in this episode other than the ad and parody song. I had to take a couple weeks off, so I enlisted the help of two of my favorite previous guests to take the helm for an epic examination of a favorite Canadian filmmaker of theirs.  Bill Ackerman and Al Kwiatkowski took it upon themselves to discuss the entire filmography of one Atom Egoyan , whos...