Film School

I'm with you...in  your corner...  One Round Jack faces off against Australian Heavyweight Champ Bob Corby...for the love of a woman. Alfred Hitchcock's third film--at least in terms of the order they were released to the public--finds its drama in the boxing ring, a place he went to frequently in real life. And clearly, we've been making boxing movies since the beginning of film. So, how does thi...

When has something you're working on turned out much better than you expected? The opposite, too: when have things turned out short of your expectations? Why? Is there a common thread in either case? We discuss our own answers to that question this week. Also, Josh recommends Gordon Ramsey's classic Kitchen Nightmares on Hulu, and Ira recommends the Bond films The Spy Who Loved Me and Casino Royal...

The Avenger strikes again! Alfred considers this film to be his TRUE first film. The first film, at least, where he really felt like he got to be himself, stretch his wings, and have an artistic point of view. Unsurprisingly, he's mixing sex and violence, at least in concept. There's a serial killer out there. A mysterious lodger comes to call. Is HE the notorious 'Avenger?' Or . . . is he someone...

Remember going over to Grandpa's house and watching cable television? Pluto TV is a free, ad-supported streaming service from Paramount/Viacom that (in addition to some on-demand stuff as well) streams LIVE 24/7 CHANNELS of all your old favorite shows. There's 24/7  I Love Lucy, Star Trek, Mission: Impossible, Twilight Zone, MST3K, Johnny Carson's The Tonight Show,  documentary channels, movies, n...

Meet Patsy Brand... It's Alfred Hitchcock's very first feature! At least that we know of and/or have the ability to watch. We're in the silent era; it's 1926 Britain. A pair of chrous girls at the famous "Pleasure Garden" theatre navigate love, sex, and ghosts--yes, ghosts! There's murder and a plantation thrown in there, too. So...how does Hitch's first effort stack up? CAN we see the master yet?...

Is Alfred Hitchcock the best of them all? That's the question that watching the AFI's Top 100 films raised for us as we saw the British director at his peak. We feel like in order to answer that question, we need to go allll the way back to the beginning--his beginning--and watch as many of his films as we can get our hands on. Several of Hitch's films, both feature-length and shorts, have been lo...

A surrealist for the masses. The king of dreams. Sultan of non sequiturs. David Lynch's 10-film career spans 30 years, from  Eraserhead  in 1977 to  Inland Empire in 2007. It also covers a surprising span of genres and styles, glimpses beyond his trademark ethereal and often disturbing style. Now that we've watched all his features, what did we learn? Both about him as an artist, filmmaker and sto...

This is the way to the palace... David Lynch makes his last film, at least as of 2023. Who knows, he might return to the silver screen again but FOR NOW...this is it. His finale. It completes an informal trilogy, Lost Highway and  Mulholland Dr.  being the other two. All three films are based largely in Los Angeles, all three films deal with dreams and nightmares, and all three films deal with an...

Is it possible to start a project and then realize that in the time you've spent working on it that you've grown beyond it? OR...is that thought just another version of 'shiny object syndrome' that's designed to keep you from actually finishing anything? This week, we wrestle with that question. Also, Josh recommends Gordon Ramsey's classic Kitchen Nightmares on Hulu, and Ira recommends Star Trek:...

No hay banda! There is no band... Lynch returns to Los Angeles for his ninth feature film, and he revisits the world of dreams, old Hollywood, murder and love. All very much the themes he was wrestling with in  Lost Highway , but is he simply repeating himself, or is he actually stating something more clearly that he's tried to say before? Can David get it right this time and blow our collective m...

What is the hardest feedback to hear? How does it make you feel? Why? And how do you handle it, both at your worst and at your best? Criticism is part of the gig, and it's tough even with it's constructive. Josh and Ira discuss their own painful moments. Hopefully it helps you in your own creative journey. Also, Josh recommends  Star Trek: The Next Generation on Paramount+, and Ira recommends a bo...

There's no one knows your life better than a brother that's near your age. For David's eighth feature, he's leaving behind the world of nightmares, sex and violence, and instead embracing the heart of Americana: the Greatest Generation. Inspired by the true story of a man who's too old to drive, so he rides his lawnmower across the country to visit his dying brother, David Lynch has found the perf...

How important is a schedule to putting out creative work? Isn't creativity at the mercy of the muse? And isn't every day different? All true. True, too, is that there will always be distractions trying to keep us from our work. Turns out having a schedule is a valuable tool in protecting our creative time from the forces that would keep us away from it. We discuss how we build and use our own sche...

Dick Laurent is dead... David Lynch returns to form with  Lost Highway  to a large degree: we're back in the realm of dreams and nightmares. He's playing around in his own subconscious, and that's Lynch at his best, at least in theory. So, how does this film stack up in execution? We discuss!

Short stories. Short films. Short shorts. What makes them good? When attempting to craft something short, what are the things to aim for, and what are the pitfalls? Josh has a ton of experience making shorts, and he shares his pointers. Also, Josh recommends  The Inbetweeners on FreeVee and Tubi, and Ira recommends Last Chance U  on Netflix.

We live inside a dream... It was kind of a shock to Lynch, and everyone, when Twin Peaks was cancelled by ABC. David, in particular, wasn't done with that story...so bringing it over to the silver screen was the logical choice. What we got was a prequel. We know how Laura Palmer's story ENDED, but how did she get there? That's the subject of this exploration of backstory. Does that work? Just how...

Is this taking me too long? This taking me too, long, isn't it? How long SHOULD it take me write this damn thing? How long did it take you? THEY did it in half the time I've spent already, and I'm not even finished. ...who among us has asked ourselves these questions, or ones like them, when working on a project? We have. Constantly. So...how do you handle the constant pressure of time ? Josh and...

Don't turn away from love, Sailor... Lynch enters the 90s with a roar. Filmmakers like Tarantino, Stone and others were pushing the boundaries of sex, violence and excess, and Lynch was no exception. He was fresh off the heels of a hit in  Blue Velvet . What was David going to do next. Turns out: an adaptation.  Wild At Heart is a raucous, chaotic, messy circus of a film based on a novel of the sa...

The creative world is REPLETE with those who would tell you they're an expert on something, but in fact have no idea what they're really talking about. So, when it comes to advice on succeeding in things that we've never done before, how do we know whose advice to listen to??? What actually makes someone an "EXPERT?" We talk about how you can figure out who to trust. Plus, Josh recommends  Shrek w...

There is trouble 'til the robins come... David Lynch rebounds from the disaster that was  Dune with something much more akin to his debut film  Eraserhead . It's weird, it's moody, and it's intensely personal. Kyle Maclachlan and Laura Dern star in a film that's part Hitchcock, part Normal Rockwell, and part nightmare. It's a return to form for Lynch. THIS is the filmmaker we know and love. It's b...

What makes a character irredeemable? What are actions that cross the line, can't be undone, and take them a step too far for the audience to ever forgive them? It's a super important question! If we as a storyteller cross a line we didn't know was there, we can lose our reader or viewer. We discuss what one can and cannot come back from; there's a super effective, super simple formula, actually. P...

The spice must flow. David Lynch bites off his first big-budget studio film, and boy howdy is it a BITE. He's tackling one of the biggest, densest Sci-Fi tentpoles out there: Frank Herbert's  Dune . Quite the departure from his smaller, arthouse-y fare. So, how does he do? We watch and discuss!

Thinking about going indie? This is the podcast for you. What are the pros and the cons to eschewing the "system?" There are some GENUINE advantages to being your own studio, publisher or distribution network. There are also some disadvantages. How much you enjoy going indie very much depends on how you navigate those pros and cons, and how much you know yourself and what you like. We discuss our...

I am not an animal!!! The David Lynch Deep Dive continues with his second feature film, an historical biopic centered around John Merrick, a young man in 19th Century England with striking birth and genetic defects that made him treated as a freakshow, whether in the circus or in a hospital. It's a surprisingly conventional, normal, straightforward film. Very much not what we associate with David...

It's probably the first thing people ask of an artist: where do your ideas come from? What kinds of things strike the inspiration chord and makes you want to create? And when inspiration does come, how do you foster it into an actual piece of art? We discuss our own personal answers to this common question this week on the Cutting Room Floor! Also, Josh recommends  Entergalactic on Netflix, and Ir...