Random Acts of Cinema

We are joined this week by Dan Connell for a lively discussion as the thriving, dynamic 1980s New York Ball Room scene is revealed to an unsuspecting world in Jennie Livingston's groundbreaking documentary. Join the Random Acts of Cinema Discord server here ! *Come support the podcast and get yourself or someone you love a random gift at our merch store .  T-shirts, hoodies, mugs, stickers, and mo...

Bergman takes us on a journey into the past, to revisit youthful summer love.  But don't worry: this is all seen through the memory of an emotionally detached beauty left unable to find meaningful emotional attachments following a pointless tragedy.  But, maybe it does all of this in an uplifting way? Join the Random Acts of Cinema Discord server  here ! *Come support the podcast and get yourself...

Director Apichatpong Weerasethakul weaves a mind-bending 'exquisite corpse'-style tale with sequences narrated by documentary subjects, theatrical troupes, group interviews, cinematic recreations, talk show hosts and more all found within the context of modern Thai city and country life.  The trajectory and style of the story swings wildly between formats and genres limited only by the imagination...

Lions! Tightropes! Clowns!  Charlie Chaplin's last true silent film brings the big top to the big screen.  Hijinks ensue. Join the Random Acts of Cinema Discord server  here ! *Come support the podcast and get yourself or someone you love a random gift at our merch store .  T-shirts, hoodies, mugs, stickers, and more! If you'd like to watch ahead for next week's film, we will be discussing and rev...

But is it an allegory? Made under Nazi occupation, French filmmaker Marcel Carné created magical medieval fantasy about the devil and his minions who invade a castle full of beautiful, disillusioned lovers and wreak havoc. Maybe they can… love the devil away? Join the Random Acts of Cinema Discord server here ! *Come support the podcast and get yourself or someone you love a random gift at our mer...

Ron "The C[l/r]own Prince of Sports Movies" Shelton brings us the ultimate sexy minor league baseball movie that strikes a surprising chord of division between your humble hosts.  Which of us is the seasoned podcaster who never really rose in the ranks and which is the young hotshot with a million dollar arm and a five cent brain?  Either way, we both agree that the Costner/Sarandon/Robbins trio i...

We are Random Acts of Cinema.  You subscribed to our podcast.  Prepare to listen.  Fairy tales get that inimitable Reiner-treatment in this nostalgic classic picked for Mike's birthday enjoyment.  Prepare for the "leads" to take a back seat to a supporting casts that exceeds all reasonable expectations. Join the Random Acts of Cinema Discord server  here ! *Come support the podcast and get yoursel...

French comedic powerhouse Jacques Tati finally makes his first appearance on the podcast with an introduction to his gentle homage to silent-era character Monsieur Hulot himself.  And this time, he's at the beach.  And brother, I don't have to tell you that there will be some… les shenanigans . Join the Random Acts of Cinema Discord server here ! *Come support the podcast and get yourself or someo...

Wait, so that Ozzie-Osborne-like-bad guy from G.I. Joe who could change the color of his skin made a prequel of that totally problematic Heath Ledger movie from the early 2000s?  Well, not quite.  Actually, you know what, that's pretty much exactly what happened.  Join us as we discuss Zoltan Korda's remake of a remake of a remake that was eventually remade, remade, remade, and remade again.  We a...

Greg Mottola's takes the viewer on a frantic ride through Manhattan… and into our hearts.  Sort of.  Really he just reaffirms our love for Parker Posey and somehow gets one of the hosts on the side of Leiv Schrieber for the first time. Join the Random Acts of Cinema Discord server here ! *Come support the podcast and get yourself or someone you love a random gift at our merch store .  T-shirts, ho...

It's number 4. It's Fellini. It's a beloved and highly influential 1970s nostalgia-infused takedown of everyday people living in and under fascist Italy. And yet for all of these things, it's truly one of a kind. Join the Random Acts of Cinema Discord server  here ! *Come support the podcast and get yourself or someone you love a random gift at our merch store .  T-shirts, hoodies, mugs, stickers,...

There's a reading of this movie as Jean Renoir's exercise in delayed gratification. What's a cancan? Is that a cancan? Will they cancan? Oh no they can't cancan!! But maybe, just maybe… No they can't! And then just when you've given up all hope: they can cancan! And by god, they do. (Spoiler alert.) Join the Random Acts of Cinema Discord server  here ! *Come support the podcast and get yourself or...

Director Brad Silberling's modern spiritual masterpiece dares to propose a world filled with unseen angels, who look upon humanity with a detached sense of whimsy.  Until a brash, brilliant, and beautiful heart surgeon dares to question a universe who steals the life of one of her patients, and one of these angels… falls for her.  In more ways than one. Join the Random Acts of Cinema Discord serve...

Come gather 'round children, it's high time ye learned. About a hero named Harlan County and a devil named Duke Power.   The fight never stops.  And Barbara Kopple's beautifully specific and devastatingly timeless documentary about a grueling coal miner's strike won't let us forget it. Join the Random Acts of Cinema Discord server  here ! *Come support the podcast and get yourself or someone you l...

Bonus episode drop!  We recorded this a while ago, but we're finally releasing the rankings of our 10 highest rated criterion movies.  Sure we each gave Rashomon 10 out of 10.  But we also gave The Seventh Seal 10 out of 10.  So… which is better?  All questions will be answered! Join the Random Acts of Cinema Discord server  here ! *Come support the podcast and get yourself or someone you love a r...

Please come celebrate our 300th episode with spine number 300!  We grapple with our legacy, come to terms with our many failures, reaffirm old friendships, get matching outfits, mourn our losses, go on one last adventure, and have a few laughs. And because it's Wes Anderson, we can't help but fall for yet another flawed father figure. Join the Random Acts of Cinema Discord server here ! *Come supp...

Your humble hosts stumble happily headlong into the world of avant-pop Moroccan folk music!  This week we watch what seems to be a proto-version of The Last Waltz  (even though it's not) with a documentary chronicling some of the past and and a lot of the present of the group Nass El Ghiwane . Join the Random Acts of Cinema Discord server here ! *Come support the podcast and get yourself or someon...

Bond is back! …to this podcast.  We swing back into the world of Ian Fleming with the second film adaptation of his books, and perhaps the most faithful to the original source material.  So does that mean the movie will be MORE or LESS racist/misogynist?  Pour yourself a martini and join us to find out. Join the Random Acts of Cinema Discord server  here ! *Come support the podcast and get yoursel...

For this week's episode your hosts intentionally try to make the WORST episode they've ever recorded.  No wait, that's what this Mel Brooks movie is about.  Oh, now I remember: this is actually the BEST episode we've ever recorded. Join the Random Acts of Cinema Discord server  here ! *Come support the podcast and get yourself or someone you love a random gift at our merch store .  T-shirts, hoodi...

One of us is prepared to insist that this Academy Award winning film is more than just "that fish-sex movie."   A little behind the scenes: in our recording schedule notes Mike keeps writing the title of this movie as "Shapes of Water".  For those of you who know him to be a fully-committed listman and self-professed admirer of Guillermo del Toro, this is shocking.  This may is your first hint of...

Director Jacques Demy returns to the podcast with a notably non-musical romance this time.  Gone are the songs and vibrant colors, instead we are given… crushing, co-dependent gambling addictions?  Can a platinum blonde Jean Moreau give us hope?  Maybe just one last spin… Join the Random Acts of Cinema Discord server  here ! *Come support the podcast and get yourself or someone you love a random g...

Spoiler alert. In this movie Christopher Lee stabs Boris Karloff and Boris Karloff throws acid in Christopher Lee's face. And there's some stuff about 19th century medical experiments, but mostly that first part.  Join the Random Acts of Cinema Discord server here ! *Come support the podcast and get yourself or someone you love a random gift at our merch store .  T-shirts, hoodies, mugs, stickers,...

Neither a documentary on the films of David Lynch nor a film about the man we knew as David Lynch.  But an account of a young man who through circumstance and single-minded drive, would find himself in and construct just the sort of environment that could form a David Lynch.  Directors Olivia Neergaard-Holm, Jon Nguyen, and Rick Barnes put the camera on a man making art and a microphone on a man l...

For one of us, this is where it all began.  You leave me breathless… ahhhhh….  That's from a different movie though. Join the Random Acts of Cinema Discord server  here ! *Come support the podcast and get yourself or someone you love a random gift at our merch store .  T-shirts, hoodies, mugs, stickers, and more! If you'd like to watch ahead for next week's film, we will be discussing and reviewin...

This week we return to the Shohei Imamura's "Pigs, Pimps, and Prostitutes" collection with his "entomological study" of one woman's lifelong struggle for survival and purpose in a cruel modern world.  Style, ambiguity, and shock mark this as a classic Imamura story. Join the Random Acts of Cinema Discord server here ! *Come support the podcast and get yourself or someone you love a random gift at...