Random Acts of Cinema

The romantic misadventures of the continental European upper class of the nineteenth century?  Making use of expertly-machined narrative devices that play with pattern, coincidence, and repetition? Sounds to me like director Max Ophüls has gone and made another movie.  A pair of diamond earrings are sold to discreetly pay off a debt… and that should have been enough.  But sometimes, the earrings c...

This week we are re-joined by filmmaker Scott Sawitz (Save State) to discuss Jean-Pierre Melville's beautifully bleak WWII French resistance film.  Are we going to get a film drenched in that Melville cool or and old-man-war-movie?  Maybe both?  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...

Is it bad because it's a theatrical follow-up to a television phenomenon that famously went of the rails, or does David Lynch's prequel somehow manage to get everything back on track.  Opinions are divided.  We're joined this week by Vincent and Craig of the Twin Peaks: Evangelion podcast to solve this debate once and for all. Join the Random Acts of Cinema Discord server  here ! *Come support the...

It's time to hit the rails and Meridith and Michael from the Going Over Our Freds Podcast (@goofpodcast) are hear to take us on a ride to discover the real America.  We're watching Preston Sturges' high-minded and thoughtful ode to dumb slapstick.  With a little bit of sex. Join the Random Acts of Cinema Discord server  here ! *Come support the podcast and get yourself or someone you love a random...

Two girls rampage their way through an allegory-laden modern city steeped in its own hypocrisy and decadence, indulging in everything "bad" in a feature-length gesture of seeming nihilistic hedonism. But director Věra Chytilová has more than cheap laughs in mind as she tweaks the manners of polite society. Looks like Luis Buñuel has some competition. And it looks like we're joined by return-guest...

Kevin Allison of the podcast Risk! , The State , and so much more returns to the podcast with his selection of Laurie Anderson's atmospheric exploration of death, mourning, acceptance, dogs, mothers, the banal anxieties of a post-9/11 world.  S et to her own animation, music, home movies, and news footage, Anderson narrates the viewer through a hypnotic and meditative reflection on how we can let...

Dracula needs… you guessed it. But specifically he needs the blood of a virgin. But where to find a virgin in the modern world? If you found this joke/premise both funny and erotic, have we got a film for you. Director Paul Morrissey and star Udo Kier either push the limits of or nearly approach the genre of horror/comedy in this vaguely Andy Warhol-affiliated romp.  Join the Random Acts of Cinema...

Acclaimed martial arts director King Hu's tale of court intrigue, assassination, loyalty and betrayal is long-lauded as the seminal wuxia film.  As the English-speaking internet is oddly silent about this film other than by offering just such unsubstantiated platitudes, we decide to evaluate it on (gasp!) its internal merits alone.  Our unasked-for conclusion: it's pretty damn good. Join the Rando...

And with the coming of another Rando Awards, so too passes another season of Random Acts of Cinema.  Join us as we look back and reflect on all the bests and the worsts of a solid year of Criterion films. 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 mor...

D. A. Pennebaker and his documentary crew capture the scene of the century, as Jimi Hendrix, Janis Joplin, the Who, the Mamas and the Papas and a host of other rockers take the spotlight during and serve as backdrop to the summer of love. Oh, and we also take a look at the full sets of Hendrix and Otis Redding just to earn the "complete" on the spine. Join the Random Acts of Cinema Discord server...

A young Vincent Cassel burns with a raw intensity in Mathieu Kassovitz's day-in-the-life account of three young men bristling against the cycle of poverty and violence that society has both trapped them in and assaults them with at every moment of their daily experiences. Join the Random Acts of Cinema Discord server here ! *Come support the podcast and get yourself or someone you love a random gi...

But is it a  Criterion film?  We drill deep into Michael Bay's blockbuster to end all blockbusters. And you won't want to miss a thing. 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 disc...

Sci-fi/horror.  Bikini lady.  Pre-code.  A story that has been remade for every generation since the dawn of cinema.  Starring Quasimodo and Dracula.  Kind of.  Don't pretend that you're not interested. 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!...

Today we celebrate Mike's birthday with the rebirth of Gozer (you know: the Gozerian?) Yep, we're watching Ivan Reitman's all-time action-comedy classic: Ghostbusters.  But can we disassociated the powerful weight of nostalgia and truly consider the legitimacy of this film as a valid entry in the Criterion Collection? Uh… no. But that's ok, because it's Ghostbusters.  Join the Random Acts of Cinem...

Sophia Loren and Marcelo Mastroinanni heat up the screen again in Ettore Scola's period piece set on the day in 1938 when Hitler visited Mussolini in Rome.  Or at least, that's what the first 20 minutes or so of the film would lead you to believe. 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 . ...

Michael Cimino's sprawling anti-western is, quite famously, one of those films that questions the very legitimacy of auteur filmmaking.  We're joined by recurring guest and friend of the podcast Max Rieger to wrestle with this very question.  And not all of us agree with one another.  Unless we're talking about the casting of Isabelle Huppert; we all think she's perfect in the film. Join the Rando...

Joe and Steve hit the pavement of San Francisco's Chinatown and beyond, searching through a tapestry of Asian-American identities for a business partner who has run off with their money… or has he?  Wayne Wang's stripped-bare noir is less of an homage and more of an exploration of what it means to be an immigrant in a society that demands assimilation and refuses to accept. Join the Random Acts of...

Content Warning: The films covered in this episode depict various scenes of sexual assault. Listeners who would not like to engage with this kind of material are encouraged to skip this one   200 eps! So we're doing 200 movies to celebrate! Actually, just 6 movies. But there's enough good stuff in these 6 for 200 normal films. Get ready for…Kenji Misumi's  Lone Wolf and Cub: Sword of Vengeance (19...

Powell and Pressberger are at it again with another war-time charmer, this time set in rural Scotland!  Local characters, local legends, local color, and local love sidetrack a focused young woman determined to get where she's going! 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, hood...

One of the hosts is almost positive that Robert Altman's cutting satire of the Hollywood studio system has already been covered on the podcast. But that might just be due to the fact that he watches  The Player too often. 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, s...

Dune. Arrakis. Podcast episode. We're not the first to reassess David Lynch's legendarily-disowned adaptation of Frank Herbert's science fiction classic novel, but we're definitely the most recent (at time of this recording). Get into the Random Acts of Cinema Discord !  *Come support the podcast and get yourself or someone you love a random gift at our merch store .  T-shirts, hoodies, mugs, stic...

This 1966 Jack Nicholson-penned and Jack Nicholson-starring micro-western has all of the earmarks of a shaggy Head -era wannabe freak-out.  But wait… Who's that over there?  Is that… Harry Dean Stanton wearing an eyepatch?  Maybe, just maybe… If you'd like to watch ahead for next week's film, we will be discussing and reviewing David Lynch's  Dune (1984). Get into the Random Acts of Cinema Discord...

The podcast FINALLY gets to discuss the master of French noir, Jean-Pierre Melville himself.  Fedoras and trench coats?  A jazzy score?  Twists that you see coming and twists that you don't?  A lesson in hard-won and even harder-boiled loyalties?  Mais bien sur! *Come support the podcast and get yourself or someone you love a random gift at our  merch store .  T-shirts, hoodies, mugs, stickers, an...

We've podcasted things you people wouldn't believe. Like the international theatrical release version of Ridley Scott's tech noir stunner starring Harrison Ford doing his uh… best?… voice-over narration. Mike picks this for Charlie's annual incept-date show! *Come support the podcast and get yourself or someone you love a random gift at our merch store .  T-shirts, hoodies, mugs, stickers, and mor...

Is the solution to having not enough Lady Snowblood, just making more Lady Snowblood?  The very concept of "the sequel" is methodically hunted down and eviscerated in this follow-up episode on a director Toshiya Fujita's own follow-up to one of the best action movies of all time. *Come support the podcast and get yourself or someone you love a random gift at our merch store .  T-shirts, hoodies, m...