Full Cast And Crew

A quick recap and assessment of last night's Oscar telecast, which, to me, was a much-needed reboot and refresh of a format that had become stale, out of touch with itself and increasingly at odds with the stated mission of awarding creative efforts. In this episode I talk a bit about some of the conventional wisdom (or lack thereof) that's hampered the evolution of the Oscar telecast over the yea...

The Rockford Files is one of the most beloved tv titles and James Garner's Jim Rockford would become the character this veteran actor was and will forever be best known for.  There's a reason Garner, whose career began in the 1950's, titled his excellent, charming, and self-deprecating autobiography 'The Garner Files'.  In this episode, I take a look back at my own introduction to the series durin...

Is there a moment, a single day, a couple of hours even, in your teenage years that you could point to and say "that was one of the most important and formative times in my life"? In this episode, Jason is joined by two of his oldest friends, Chris and Roy, and they revisit a specific afternoon in 1985 when, as 15-year-olds, they began a friendship that opened up so much into all their lives. The...

Heather Thomson and Marianne Sierk are two of my favorite people and social media follows guaranteed to brighten your day with laughs.  They're talented and funny comedians and Marianne is also a Sorceress who somehow put a spell on my cinephile dude self and made me watch  Practical Magic and talk about it for an hour and a half with two die-hard "Prac Mag" obsessives! Much fun was had and our co...

Starman  is a 1984 American  science fiction   romance film  directed by  John Carpenter  that tells the story of an  alien  who has come to Earth and cloned a  humanoid  body (portrayed by  Jeff Bridges ) in response to the invitation found on the  gold phonograph record  installed on the  Voyager 2  space probe. The original screenplay was written by  Bruce A. Evans  and Raynold Gideon, with  De...

A listener question prompted this episode about Peter Weir's excellent 2003 period naval-warfare epic 'Master and Commander: The Far Side of the World', and why it's one of my favorite films and a comforting re-watch at any time I encounter or am in the mood for it. The movie is an interesting demarcation line between a Hollywood that would make a movie like this for 150 million dollars...and a Ho...

In our first post-Trump episode, Jason is joined by Friend Of The Pod Richard Brown to discuss the 1979 Nick Nolte film North Dallas Forty. Before that, Rick and Jason catch up on withdrawing from political mainlining, growing up as children of single Mom's in the 1970's, and then get to the good stuff; a robust, detailed discussion of the genius of Ted Kotcheff and the singular pleasures of  Nort...

Two-time FCAC Very Special Guest Ted Jessup and I revisit 1974's Panavision international espionage and Nazi-hunting thriller 'The Odessa File' and make plenty of stops along the way to discuss 'The Rainmaker', 'Deliverance' 'The Seven-Ups', 'Anaconda', 'Coming Home', 'Heat', 'The Assassin', and much more!

Gomorrah  ( Italian :  Gomorra - La serie ) is an Italian  crime drama  television series created by  Roberto Saviano  for  Sky Atlantic . Based on Saviano's  book of the same name , [1]  the show premiered on Sky Atlantic in  Italy  on 6 May 2014, and has run for four seasons. The title of the show is a play on the name of the Neapolitan crime syndicate,  Camorra . The 2008  film of the same name...

The Bureau  (original title:  Le Bureau des Légendes ) is a  French   political thriller  television series created by  Éric Rochant  and produced by TOP - The Oligarchs Productions and  Canal+ , which revolves around the lives of agents of the  DGSE  (General Directorate of External Security), France's principal external security service. Originally aired in France from 27 April 2015, it was laun...

It's been a long time coming, and finally, its time to devote an entire episode to singing the praises of 'Columbo'!  In this Very Special Episode of the pod, Jason is once again joined by TV historian and pop-cultural eminence grise Richard Brown as they discuss the classic Columbo episode 'Try and Catch Me', starring Ruth Gordon and work their way through 20 Questions About Columbo as submitted...

Jason is joined by stand-up comedian, actor, and podcaster Sean Donnelly for a deep-dive into M. Night Shayamalan's 'Signs', which Sean and Jason agree is a film that now feels like an old-fashioned Hollywood movie of the sort we just don't get anymore. Jason and Sean also talk about Sean's new UFO podcast, his appearances on Letterman, Conan, and Colbert, the state of stand-up comedy in the midst...

Get Carter  is a 1971 British  crime film  directed by  Mike Hodges  and starring  Michael Caine ,  Ian Hendry , [3]   Britt Ekland ,  John Osborne  and  Bryan Mosley . The screenplay was adapted by Hodges from  Ted Lewis 's 1970 novel  Jack's Return Home . Producer  Michael Klinger  optioned the book and made a deal for the ailing  Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer  (MGM) studio to finance and release the film...

On Her Majesty's Secret Service  is a 1969  spy film  and the sixth in the  James Bond  series  produced by  Eon Productions . It is based on the  1963 novel  by  Ian Fleming . Following  Sean Connery 's decision to retire from the role after  You Only Live Twice , Eon Productions selected an unknown actor and model,  George Lazenby , to play the part of  James Bond . During the making of the film...

Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan  is a 1982 American  science fiction film  directed by  Nicholas Meyer  and based on the television series  Star Trek . It is the second film in the  Star Trek  film series , and is a  sequel  to  Star Trek: The Motion Picture  (1979). The plot features Admiral  James T. Kirk  ( William Shatner ) and the crew of the starship  USS  Enterprise  facing off against the...

Fargo  is a 1996  black comedy   thriller film  written, produced and directed by  Joel and Ethan Coen .  Frances McDormand  stars as Marge Gunderson, a pregnant Minnesota  police chief  investigating roadside homicides that ensue after a desperate car salesman ( William H. Macy ) hires two criminals ( Steve Buscemi  and  Peter Stormare ) to kidnap his wife in order to extort a hefty  ransom  from...

  Jason's guests this week on the pod are Micheal Chernus and Emily Simoness, a married couple who join him to take a very deep dive into all the wonderful, like, greatness, man, of 'The Big Lebowski'.   Michael's a Julliard-trained stage, TV, and film actor currently appearing on TV as speechwriter Ken Rosey opposite Edie Falco on the CBS series 'Tommy'.     You might have also seen him as  Piper...

The Princess Bride  is a 1987 American  fantasy   adventure   comedy film  directed and co-produced by  Rob Reiner , starring  Cary Elwes ,  Robin Wright ,  Mandy Patinkin ,  Chris Sarandon ,  Wallace Shawn ,  André the Giant , and  Christopher Guest . Adapted by  William Goldman  from his 1973 novel  The Princess Bride , it tells the story of a farmhand named Westley, accompanied by companions be...

Rosemary's Baby  is a 1968 American  horror film  written and directed by  Roman Polanski , based on the novel  Rosemary's Baby  by  Ira Levin . The cast features  Mia Farrow ,  John Cassavetes ,  Ruth Gordon ,  Sidney Blackmer ,  Maurice Evans ,  Ralph Bellamy ,  Angela Dorian ,  Clay Tanner , and, in his feature film debut,  Charles Grodin . The film chronicles the story of a pregnant woman who...

Network  is a 1976 American  satirical   drama  film written by  Paddy Chayefsky  and directed by  Sidney Lumet , about a fictional  television network , UBS, and its struggle with poor  ratings . The film stars  Faye Dunaway ,  William Holden ,  Peter Finch  and  Robert Duvall  and features  Wesley Addy ,  Ned Beatty  and  Beatrice Straight . The film won four  Academy Awards , in the categories...

The Bad News Bears  is a 1976 American  sports   comedy film  directed by  Michael Ritchie  and written by  Bill Lancaster . It stars  Walter Matthau  and  Tatum O'Neal . The film was followed by two sequels,  The Bad News Bears in Breaking Training  in 1977 and  The Bad News Bears Go to Japan  in 1978, a short-lived 1979–80  CBS   television series , and a 2005  remake . Notable was the score by ...

Dirty Dancing  is a 1987 American  romantic   drama   dance film  written by  Eleanor Bergstein , produced by  Linda Gottlieb , and directed by  Emile Ardolino . It stars  Jennifer Grey  as Frances "Baby" Houseman, a young woman who falls in love with dance instructor Johnny Castle ( Patrick Swayze ) at a holiday resort. The film was based on screenwriter  Eleanor Bergstein 's own childhood. She o...

Phantasm  is a 1979 American  science fantasy   horror film  directed, written, photographed, and edited by  Don Coscarelli . The first film in the  Phantasm  franchise , it introduces the  Tall Man  ( Angus Scrimm ), a supernatural and malevolent undertaker  who turns the dead of Earth into dwarf  zombies  to be sent to his planet and used as slaves. He is opposed by a young boy, Mike ( Michael B...

The Outsiders  is a 1983 American  coming-of-age   drama film  directed by  Francis Ford Coppola , an  adaptation  of the  1967 novel of the same name  by  S. E. Hinton . The film was released on March 25, 1983. Jo Ellen Misakian, a  librarian  at  Lone Star Elementary School  in  Fresno, California , and her students were responsible for inspiring Coppola to make the film. [2] The film is noted f...

12 Angry Men  is a 1957 American  courtroom drama film  directed by  Sidney Lumet , adapted from a  teleplay of the same name  by  Reginald Rose .  This  courtroom drama  tells the story of a  jury of 12 men as they deliberate the conviction or acquittal of an 18-year old defendant  on the basis of  reasonable doubt , forcing the jurors to question their morals and values. 12 Angry Men  explores m...