On the BiTTE

With the 4k restoration from Strand coming out in September, this felt like the perfect time to delve into the world of Gregg Araki. A seminal 90's, Gen-X, angry "fuck you" piece about 3 felons, murders, and mishaps across the desolate plains of the the United States of "whatever".  With a twist on our original format, we've decided to use THE DOOM GENERATION to premiere our format "Missed a BiTTE...

We're back in the dark reaches of a pessimistic and aggressive portrayal of the world's "most beautiful place": Scotland. In Ryan's words, it can be a terrifying place. Andrea Arnold's slice of Cinema Verité inspired by the Dogme 95 aesthetic and film movement, really puts you in a scary place that is equally horrifying and mesmerizing.  As a counterpoint to the last film we covered, this is also...

Oh boy...here we go. In a new segment we've decided to dub "Stream Peens" where we explore what multitude of streaming services have to offer that pertain to our interests, we've started with this one...THE VOYEURS!  Now, at least Ryan and Laura can come to the agreement that this film is "straight trash" as by design, as an "erotic thriller", it would be a bit trashy. But a resurgence in the main...

We're back on that Ivory train! The Merchant/Ivory Express! Since A ROOM WITH A VIEW, we've been destined to revisit James Ivory as a filmmaker of tremendous honesty and compassion when it comes to realistic cinematic depictions of full-frontal nudity.  In this "Clean-Up" Episode, we're covering MAURICE, another adaption from the E.M. Forster catalogue of tales and a memorable addition to the stap...

Ooft! This ended up being a long one. Our first (and certainly not last) foray into the work of Peter Greenaway and arguably his most accessible motion picture and contender for the most literal title in cinema history: THE COOK, THE THIEF, HIS WIFE & HER LOVER. It's got Michael Gambon! It's got Helen Mirren! It's got Cockney up the gills, firing at a pace so fast, you'll be screaming for subtitle...

Ryan got very excited when a Don Siegel film he watched had a fairly evident full-frontal moment in the first 7 minutes of the film. His love of 50's, 60's and 70's American cinema cannot be understated as this "historically" focused episode tracks the interesting facts about Alcatraz Prison and the true story this film follows.  Yeah, we've done something a bit different here, covering the 1979 a...

Laura touted this film as one of the seminal films that triggered this whole podcast journey. This was way before there was even a podcast and a website was involved with a completely different name. Laura had seen this film many moons ago and with its importance no short stretch in relation to the birthing of the podcast, we gathered a crack team of friends to analyze and scrutinize. Returning gu...

We decided it was time to clean up what's left of Danny Boyle's filmography, so here we are with SHALLOW GRAVE! Starring the inevitably nude Ewan McGregor (who, strangely, isn't nude in this film), Christopher Eccleston, and Kerry Fox. This horror comedy is right up our alley, and just a great film to start off the next 50 episodes!

We made it to episode 50! And for episode 50, we've decided to do something special: we've brought back Josh and Kat, who screened this film at Uncomfortable Brunch many moons ago, to come in and to talk to us about John Cameron Mitchell's seminal piece about sex positivity, inclusivity and finding that elusive orgasm.  I mean, we don't have any time stamps for this film, what you see is literally...

It's been an emotional journey, sometimes infuriating and sometimes confusing, but we're here!  To round off the trifecta , we have TAKING WOODSTOCK, a large scale, period-piece, ensemble cast led telling of the memoir about how the legendary concert came to be. No stone is left unturned. No paperwork left unexamined. No telephone line or portaloo left unerrected, this is the definitive story of W...

Watch your step! Apply caution, there's lust in the air! Get a wet floor sign (the joke didn't really work on air either but it's honestly the best I have at the moment)! The steamy, raunchy, espionage, spy thriller with all those "hard" sex scenes in them: LUST, CAUTION (2007). I mean they're pretty eye-catching, especially if you happen to lock eyes with Tony Leung at any point during them as he...

"Lee-gacy" is here! And yes, we're covering Ang Lee, y'know, that bloke that played the CGI Hulk in his movie. We don't cover HULK in any capacity other than by mentioning Ryan's favourite behind the scenes featurette of all time but we do cover 3 films that happen to be in sequential order.  First up we have a film that probably needs no introduction. You know what this film is the minute you mut...

It seems disgraceful to address but this is the first complete non-English language film that we've covered. I mean, it is the first of many, many, many dives into the European Cinematic well of richness! Starting that journey on the light side, we look at Zoé Wittock's JUMBO, a love story between a young, shy woman and an inanimate amusement park ride. It's a tale established in truth though, as...

Taking us back to our youth. Back into the gutter of our young minds and back into the classroom of our formative years, THE INBETWEENERS is a horrifically accurate depiction of what it was like surviving your teenage years in the UK.  As the only one of the pair to survive the UK school system, Ryan has plenty of stories (and non-stories) among which we appreciate, dismantle, and gawp over the bo...

The Oscars are upon us once again! Oh joy! And with it comes the celebration of our favourite films of the past year! Be it a film about an everything bagel, the return of a disgraced fighter pilot or the brutalization of a donkey for a vapid attempt of portraying a deep message as justification, it falls into our immediate interests that our personal favourite is Martin McDonagh's THE BANSHEES OF...

It's that time of year again. Every February, couples unite in celebrating their love and single lonesome souls lament or celebrate their single-dom. Some call it Valentine's. Other's call it Galantine's. Since Ryan isn't a woman, he's stepping out on this one and taking a break from editing and telling jokes to spend some time on an island and Laura has invited her best friend Renée to fill in to...

Is it a bird? Is it a plane? No, it's a commune!  In the concluding part of our New Year's Ross-olution, we look at Matt Ross' second feature CAPTAIN FANTASTIC. A story about a family of self-sufficient survivalists who live in the woods of Washington but take a road trip to attend their mother's funeral. As you might expect the journey is shenanigan's galore and we find, they learn a few lessons...

In our New Year's Ross-o-lution! (Laura's genius addition to this series) a limited series dedicated to the films of Matt Ross, we begin where you are likely to start; the debut feature 28 HOTEL ROOMS. We give it a strong C+, a good start. But what you kinda get is a risky film that doesn't take the risks it needs to stand out a bit more. You can make up your mind about it but welcome back and her...

I can't believe we got here! No, honestly. How did we get here? It's all been a blur. The blur of movement we made to get to episode 40. We started this podcast in August of 2021 with the vain hopes it would do "OK". I'm just happy we ended 2022 on a round number.  We celebrate episode 40 looking at Jalmari Helander's RARE EXPORTS, a "rare" welcome addition to the traditional Christmas viewing yea...

Tis the Season! And what better to depict this time of the year than a story of greed, adultery and murder than Stephen Hop... I mean, Simon Moore's UNDER SUSPICION. Starring the inimitable Liam Neeson (even though Ryan tries) and the cream of the crop of British telly and film performers, this "whodunnit" about defrauding the strict divorce laws set in late 1950's Brighton, starts off with a BANG...

Oh boy. Here we are. After watching the scene out of context a few weeks ago, we've found ourselves in the indelible position of having to watch this 189-minute epic to cover on the podcast: AT PLAY IN THE FIELDS OF THE LORD , Héctor Babenco's  adventure/drama/trauma film from 1991.  Don't mistake Ryan's excitement to cover this film purely on the basis of Tom Berenger's visage. We can't stress en...

Does anyone remember that Rage in a Cage song? I'm not talking about that J. Geils Band song but that nu-metal one. And no, not the Pantera song either. Anyway, that was what I referencing for that one joke where I spontaneously broke into song. I thought it was funny. Anyway, here we are.  Thanksgiving is on the horizon! We are nearing the end of another year of living. And here we are watching a...

As you can see, we sadly had to skip Bride of Re-Animator (1989) (no male nudity), but we pick right up 13 years later with Beyond Re-Animator (2003), this time helmed by the great Brian Yuzna! We didn't think there would be a lot to say about this film, simply because it's not amazing, but we were wrong. Animatronic rats, dancing penises, and nanoplasms intermingle to provide an adequately amusin...

We are joined, not only by friend of the podcast Josh Martin (of Uncomfortable Brunch and Orlando Pop Up Movie Services), but also by man-about-town Tighe Arnold, to discuss an absolute favorite: Stuart Gordon's Re-Animator (1985). Produced by the interminable Brian Yuzna, this is where a tag team becomes a real friendship. You know Laura loves a good friendship story, which means she also gets to...

And so it begins. Year two of "Spooky Penis Month!" Or as Miriam aptly retitled it, "Freaky Phallus Friday!"  As you might be able to tell from the title, or within less than a minute into this, Miriam joins us again in the studio to talk about a horror film staring Mark Duplass. Last time, we  promised her a horror movie, and not a James Ivory peiod piece romp in the lake. What she got is (accord...