Fly By Films

Blamison talk about the 2018 film You Were Never Really Here directed by Lynne Ramsay and starring Joaquin Phoenix as well as the soundtrack by Jonny Greenwood. We dig into why Phoenix is a great actor and whether or not the ending of this movie is actually good. Other topics discussed: the Emerald Triangle, Missing 411, and Delillo's Underworld. Clip from I Think You Should Leave Season 1, Ep...

Blamison begin a new ongoing series for season 3 by talking about the 2010 film The Book of Eli and pairing it with the 2001 underground hip hop classic The Cold Vein by Cannibal Ox. We dig into the film's peculiar place in recent cinematic history, its religious text (because there is little subtext), and what a couple of rappers from Harlem have to do with Denzel Washington. Other things dis...

Blake and Jamison dive into the manic pixie dreamland of Cameron Crowe's 2005 film Elizabethtown and talk about everything from daddy death issues to why reductive film criticism is annoying to what makes a great compilation soundtrack. Check it out! Things get a little emotional. Other things talked about: Jamison sets up a podcast-length game for Blake, the Brick app , and Jamison goes deep...

Jamison and Blake talk about the 1995 Jim Jarmusch film Dead Man , its score by Neil Young and how Roger Ebert was such a good rhetorician that even his dumbass takes are superbly written (and hilarious!). Our friend Greg Shafer joins us for this terrific conversation. Other things talked about: Catholicism, whether the invention of the automobile was good or not, and identity. Clip from the last...

Jamison and Blake. IN THE SAME ROOM AT THE SAME TIME. WE EVEN SAW THE SAME MOVIE AT THE SAME THEATER. That's right! We watched Ethan Coen's first single outing post-Coen Bros. divorce: Driveaway Dolls . We discuss what Joel and Ethan's choice in filmmaking says about their past films and their future as individual filmmakers. Other items discussed: getting in on that parenting bullshit...

Blake and Jamison talk about William Friedkin's 1977 work of old school sweaty-ass machismo Sorcerer . We dig into its seeming prelude to the gamification of everything down to the synth-y score by Tangerine Dream. It's a surprising take on the film that is sure to send some to permadeath by the end of the episode. Other things talked about: Jamison's plan to save all animals via vegan...

Blake and Jamison kick off a new season by trying out a new gimmick of picking films based on their soundtracks and being intentional to bring the film music into the typical conversations they have. On the first episode, we take on the 1961 Akira Kurosawa classic Yojimbo . Blake brings the film and its intentionally discordant music into conversation with Cormac McCarthy's Blood Meridian and...

Jamison and Blake are back in a fashionably late manner to ring in the NEW YEAR with our second annual podcast film ranking episode. We ranked our individual lists of the films we watched for season two of the podcast with points and conglomerated them into our starter list. From there Blake treats Jamison to a quiz about the filmmaking during the year of his birth--1987--and based on whether he g...

Jamison and Blake bitch about work without getting too specific as to not lose their jobs, then they talk about parenting sick kids and those who won't sleep and Blake's skype goes in and out on this recording so enjoy that. We then turn our attention to 2013's indie science fiction film Coherence where a group of friends come face to face with themselves from other dimensions and have...

Jamison and Blake figured the only way to finish up their review of the McDonagh Brothers' filmographies was to go dark, real dark . We talk about 2021's The Forgiven and 2022's Banshees of Inisherin and about the general lack of listeners we have had for these episodes. Also talked about: parenting, Blake's dedication to this podcast and the Catholicity of these films. Clip: Steph...

Well, it's Halloween finally. And we here at Fly By Films are wrapping up another year of horror-related field recordings. On this final episode, we dig into our final pre-2000 found footage film The Last Broadcast . It probably wasn't the best choice for our final film in the series, but, alas, beggars can't be choosers after all. We break apart what it does well and what it sucks at....

Jamison and Blake bring in the penultimate October episode by talking about their shitty producer and more parent talk before they dig into the stellar 1992 Ghostwatch and how it may say something about the corruption of technology and media via Stone Tape theory. We probably go deeper than was actually needed. Also, Blake clicks his mouse a lot. So enjoy that. Clip from Lost Highway.

Blake and Jamison dive right in to the typical inane bullshit without even taking time to introduce the podcast. We talk donuts, parenting, and using donuts as a means to bribe our kids. Then we turn our attention to 1992's Man Bites Dog [aka by its film title as C'est arrivé près de chez vous ] a charming coming of age tale about a documentary crew and their ruthless serial killer subject...

Jamison and Blake start their second October episode with a rousing philosophical analysis of the word "spoop" and then we turn our attention to our favorite holidays. Mostly we are avoiding talking about The McPherson Tape because while it nails the found footage aesthetic, it falls flat on its face when it comes to scares and effects. We discuss the shift from footage with context to f...

Blake and Jamison dish on their most recent book club book Michel Faber's The Book of Strange New Things and how it triggered Blake's memory of LOST . Then we talk about what we are drinking in order to prepare to talk about what some people eat...namely other people. That's right, we take on the cult classic Cannibal Holocaust as the first entry in our October series on proto-found fo...

Blake suggests using Zencastr once again on this episode and finds out that it really is as shitty as they once thought. Jamison and Blake continue to remind their listeners to not use Zencastr because it is no longer any good. We also talk about parental leave, a Chico, CA connection Blake has at his church, and what documentary is . With this, they turn their attention to Jamison's selection...

Welp. Due to technical difficulties with Blake's mic, the audio is a little wonky on this one. Jamison goes in and out of sounding like an automaton while you hear everything Blake does including clicking a mouse and breathing. My apologies for this. We were only willing to put so much effort into this low-effort podcast. Nonetheless, Jamison and Blake talk about sleep while having kids, Ameri...

Jamison and Blake and special guest Ciara Barsotti (artist and better half of Jamison) talk about parenting, "Nice Cream," and her high effort, pristinely-produced podcast Chico Creates . Folks, we have hit the big time. Our first real major podcast personality joins us for a discussion of 2017's Mandy starring Nic Cage, Andrea Riseborough, and Linus Roach. We talk about how Panos Co...

Blake and Jamison talk about getting their boys swim-worthy during the hot summer months, the inherent misogyny in grilling rice, and what books we are reading (or not reading, as it were). Then we turn our attention to the next two films in our exploration of the films of the McDonagh brothers: 2012' Seven Psychopaths and 2014's Calvary . We talk about what it means to be a psychopath and...

Blake and Jamison banter about severe weather, suss out the origin of the naming of the convenience store chain Kum & Go, talk about Shakesperean adaptations, and about our favorite music of the year so far. Then we turn to our discussion of Blake's pick, the 2021 Swedish thriller Knocking . Or at least try to discuss it and get some meaning out of it. Mostly we just talk about all the way...

Blake and Jamison begin their season-long descent into Irish madness with the films of Martin and John Michael McDonagh by watching and talking about love and honor in 2008's In Bruges and 2011's The Guard . Really it ends up being us talking about our man crushes on Brendan Gleeson. We show our cards on which brother we are picking to win this battle of blood(lines) and we seek restitutio...

Jamison and Blake put an old horse out of its misery and then proceed to kick it endlessly for just over two hours. Blake talks about screwing over his own financial portfolio in order to remain true to his Socialist values. Jamison buries the lead with his podcast sponsorship connections to a future boutique sex shop. If you are listening, yes we are serious about having you as our sponsor. We wi...

Jamison and Blake invite Thadd Harrington onto the podcast to talk about 2009's The Box by Richard Kelly against his will. Before we begin talking about the movie however we bullshit and play a little game of getting to know you with Thadd because neither Jamison nor Blake has met Thadd in the flesh. Weirdly, we also bring up Albert Camus, Jean Paul Sartre, and WWE in the same conversation. Th...

Blake and Jamison run the gamut of discussion between heaven and hell and the pickle that is life in between. This, too, is another episode where Blake came to the recording in a sickly state, but the upside is he brought his sexy voice with him. This means it isn't as grating as it normally is for our listeners. Then we eventually turn our discussion towards 2004' Four Brothers starring M...

Jamison and Blake give some background on the lengthy time between episodes, talk about emotions and how we handle them, and make too many innuendos accidentally throughout the episode. Also, we talk shit on Ari Aster. Then we dig into 2004's much reviled Coen Bros. film The Ladykillers and try to figure out if it is in fact their worst film. As is the case with any episode about the Coen Brot...