Full Cast And Crew

You see this watch? I hadn't seen Pulp Fiction probably since it came out in 1994, so when my family (including a teenager) wanted to watch it this weekend I wondered if it would hold up and if it would hold the attention of today's kids. Find out how it went in this episode!  PLUS: plenty of alternative casting options and scene-setting for where the world of independant cinema was in 1994, a ver...

Since I contain multitudes, have run out of ideas, and since I aspire the podcast to embody Paul Krassner's iconic satirical magazine The Realist's motto of "Irreverrance is our only sacred cow", I am debuting the first in a series of occasional episodes where I revisit those films so firmly ensconced in our collective filmgoing conscience that we can be forgiven for forgetting if they're actually...

Somehow, I've never seen this film before for reasons to do with "the 90's" as described in the episode.  What a great experience to watch a ruthlessly efficient screenplay in the hands of such an excellent and fun cast. Plus, it turns out there's plenty of funny off-screen content surrounding this production, including casting drama, studio interference, and some deft machinations from both scree...

In this urgent plea for understanding in these troubled times, I veer off the normal charted waters of the podcast and into the knotty, twisted reality of a dawning awareness that all has not been as it seemed in the world of my most beloved snack food, Bachman Twist Pretzels. In this episode I will for the first time reveal the fruits of my investigative efforts uncovering the truth about Bachman...

One of the greatest, most thought-provoking yet totally accessible films is this masterpiece of cinema from Iranian filmmaker Abbas Kiarostami. It's the true story of a Tehran man who impersonates a famous filmmaker and convinces a family that he's going to cast them in a movie.  Kiarostami then reconstructs the events that occurred using the real people involved, including the imposter. Part docu...

From Senator Geary to Frankie Five Angels, Duvall's Tom Hagen navigated a twisty and often dirty road in the second Godfather film. Watching the movie through the lens of Tom Hagen, it's clear tha the film in its own way really focusses on Tom and Michael and how the changing times and Michael's increasing paranoia have removed the family so far from "The Good Old Days". The last two brothers left...

'Night of the Juggler' is either one of the best 70's film titles or one of the worst. Honestly I enjoy it, for it's uniqueness and complete (well...near complete) relevence to the film's plot.  It's certainly memorable, if not directly speaking to the film's setting...which is mostly in the daytime of a VERY 1978 NYC. 'Night of the Juggler' had long been sort of like that Jerry Lewis Holocaust fi...

Robert Duvall passed away at the age of 95 after more than 60 years as a working actor at the highest levels. One quick way to pay tribute to him is to revisit perhaps his most iconic and substantive role, that of Tom Hagen in The Godfather. Quietly the most important character linking the people and events in the film, Duvall's portrayal navigated complex internal issues like: when is a son not a...

Choosing 'Hooper' out of a combination of desperation and momentary podcast apathy, and seeking a distraction and light entertainment, I discover instead a beautifully realized love letter to Hollywood stunt performers inside an impressive movie-about-making-movies. 

Chris Smith and Sarah Price's Sundance-winning first documentary feature, 'American Movie,' remains an iconic and thoroughly modern film to revisit or to experience for the first time. Like all truly great documentaries, it's ostensibly about a finite thing: hardscrabble, complicated Midwestern working-class 30-year-old lives at home, delivers newspapers, works at a local cemetery, and has big dre...

The sequel to Denis Villeneuve's 'Sicaro' is an impressive off-ramp from the first film's focus on drug cartels trafficking narcotics and stacking bodies. Italian director Stefano Sollima (Gomorra, ZeroZeroZero) focuses more intently on Josh Brolin's Matt Graver and Benicio Del Toro's Alejandro Gillick characters, as they face a (final?) confrontation with the outer limit of their own moral codes....

Denis Villeneuve's film 'Sicario' remains a vital and prescient glimpse into extra-judicial Governmental activities and the blurring of lines on both sides of the drug war, all brilliantly rendered by top-notch cinematography from Roger Deakins and a host of career-best performances from actors like Emily Blunt, James Brolin, Daniel Kaluuya, and, especially, Benicio Del Toro.  Harrowing, procedura...

An appreciation of the life and musical legacy of the peerless and uniquely self-deprecating Grateful Dead co-founder and éminence grise.

For my final episode of 2025, it's 'Nobody's Fool' one of my favorite films, and a true comfort watch in keeping with the theme of last week's episode.  Sweet, subtle, well-cast and directed, and slyly much more than it seems, it's both a paen to small-town life and a surprisingly unblinking look at the cost children pay for their parent's mistakes...and for the ones they make all on their own.

The news is unrelenting. Shootings in Bondi Beach.  Terror in the classrooms at Brown University.  The terrible deaths of Rob Reiner and his wife in LA.  The news is shocking and we become numb to the rippling effects but our minds and bodies internalize the fear, anxiety, and worry.  As I am between episodes at the moment, I thought it might be different to try and episode highlighting the calmin...

From a chance viewing of Saul Bass' iconic 'Psycho' titles on TCM sprung this exploration of the straightforward, human experience of watching 'Psycho' with an eye and ear towards how audience expectations were stoked and then subverted by Hitchcock. From the casting of Janet Leigh to the surprise departure of her character not even halfway through the film, the film toys with audience expectation...

This final episode about Milos Forman's brilliant and deeper-than-expected masterpiece adaptation of Ken Kesey's very 1960's novel explores the subtle emotional power of the film's editing and how it establishes certain critical scenes.  Praise for the depth and intelligence of Nicholson's acting while also appreciating Brad Dourif and the late Will Sampson's performance as the Chief are also indu...

Part 2 of my deep dive into Milos Forman's incredible 1975 film 'One Flew Over The Cuckoo's Nest'. In Part 2 I get into a handful of scenes from the first third of the film: the introduction of Nurse Ratched, the first time we meet McMurphy, the sit-down between McMurphy and Dr. Spivey, and the first few scenes on the ward with the fellas and the nurses.

Leaving behind one iconic adaptation of a popular novel in 'The Exorcist' and picking up another with this introductory episode about 'One Flew Over The Cuckoo's Nest', Milos Forman and Bo Goldman's film based on Ken Kesey's counter-culture classic novel.  In this episode, I cover some of the film's journey from page to screen and from father to son(s). Casting, pre-production delays, and some con...

Finishing up my four-part exploration of The Exorcist, this episode considers the film's exorcism scenes, its ambiguous ending, and lasting legacy.  My newfound appreciation for the towering achievement represented by this film is perhaps news only to me, but totally genuine nonetheless.

In Part 3 of my multi-part deep dive re-exploration of William Friedkin's 1973 masterpiece 'The Exorcist' I take a detailed look at the filmmaking in the first half of the movie.  Considering the Northern Iraq sequence, the Georgetown sequences, Father Karras in NYC, and the Medical sequences featuring Regan up to and including the hypnotism scene. The absolute mastery of camera movement choices a...

The 2nd episode in a series of episodes about 'The Exorcist' is inspired by my rewatch of the film.  My original plan: to meticulously dissect each of three sections of the film in three subsequent episodes.  My new plan? To get this episode filled with my enthusiastic and emotional reactions out to you ASAP.  And to follow with two subsequent episodes if the interest (and downloads) are there.  ...

In this first of a multi-part exploration of William Friedkin's ground-breaking and massively successful adaptation of William Peter Blatty's best-selling novel 'The Exorcist': Friedkin & DP Owen Roizman coming off 'The French Connection' and into 'The Exorcist' Casting travails involving Jack Nicholson, Paul Newman, Jane Fonda, Anne Bancroft, and Audrey Hepburn. Jason Miller and Ellen Burstyn wil...

Here's the 2nd and final episode of my 'Back to the Future' revisit, enjoy! Huey Lewis guitarist Chris Hayes plays his signature parts from 'Power of Love'.  

It's the 40th Anniversary of 'Back to the Future' and I read a review of Michael J. Fox's brief new memoir about the making of the film, and about his life before, during, and just after the film's release. This sent me to finally watch 2023's 'Still: A Michael J. Fox Movie', a brilliant documentary from noted director Davis Guggenheim (An Inconveniant Truth, It Might Get Loud, Waiting for Superma...