Someone Else's Movie

What? An episode dropping on a Monday? That’s because writer-director Akash Sherman’s first feature Clara is making its world premiere at TIFF this very day, and we mark the occasion by talking about the Star Wars saga. Yup. All of it. Prepared for this, your genial host Norm Wilner is.

As his first feature Trench 11 arrives on iTunes in the US and Canada today, writer-director Leo Scherman finds an unexpected connection to George Sluizer’s The Vanishing, the 1988 thriller with the ending that just won’t let go. Your genial host Norm Wilner has some thoughts about that.

Grace Glowicki -- who co-stars in Cardinals this Friday at the TIFF Bell Lightbox in Toronto, and who'll be back at TIFF in September with Roney's short film Glitter's Wild Women -- sits down to talk about Love, and how its graphic sex scenes are Gaspar Noe's gateway to honesty. Your genial host Norm Wilner would like you to know that this episode features explicit discussions of sexual content, b...

Documentary filmmaker Barry Stevens is in the studio to mark the 50th anniversary of 2001: A Space Odyssey just as Stanley Kubrick’s visionary masterwork about humanity’s place in the universe makes its IMAX 70mm debut. Your genial host Norm Wilner has a theory about the monolith he’s been sitting on for quite some time.

Tamara Podemski, currently starring in the new thriller Never Saw It Coming, is here to confess her love for The Band’s Visit, Eran Kolirin’s 2007 charmer that somehow became a Broadway smash. Your genial host Norm Wilner has to be honest: He loves it too.

Now that friend of the show Corey Mintz is a podcaster himself -- check out his new series Taste Buds on the Canadaland network! -- he makes a triumphant return to celebrate Big Night, Stanley Tucci and Campbell Scott's wonderful 1996 movie about brothers, business, art, food and Louis Prima. Your genial host Norm Wilner bought a red-and-white checkered tablecloth just for the occasion.

Filmmaker Randall Okita — whose first feature The Lockpicker arrives on iTunes later this month following screenings across Canada — is in the studio to talk about Kids, Larry Clark’s 1995 indie about oversexed youth that Harvey Weinstein turned into an artistic cause celebre. Your genial host Norm Wilner has some thoughts about this.

The show returns to London so journalist and filmmaker Neville Pierce — whose latest short, Promise, just arrived on Vimeo — can discuss the life-changing impact and technical virtuosity of David Fincher’s Seven. Your genial host Norm Wilner believes in the second part.

It's construction season, but that won't stop Brent Hodge, director of I Am Chris Farley, The Pistol Shrimps and the brand-new Freaks and Geeks: The Documentary, from discussing Superbad, the 2007 comedy that legitimized writer-producers Seth Rogen and Evan Goldberg as a creative force all their own. Your genial host Norm Wilner identifies more with McLovin, much as it pains him to admit this.

With her new novel Give Me Your Hand arriving this week, author and television writer Megan Abbott celebrates on the 1944 noir masterpiece that is Billy Wilder's Double Indemnity. Fred MacMurray as kind of a heel! Barbara Stanwyck as a seductress in a bad wig! Edward G. Robinson as the world's saddest detective! Your genial host Norm Wilner even included authentic Manhattan traffic noises for atmo...

With his remarkable drama The Unseen newly available on iTunes, Geoff Redknap settles in for a conversation about Joel and Ethan Coen’s Oscar-winning No Country for Old Men, the film that made bowl cuts scary again. Your genial host Norm Wilner just wants to point out he’s never won a coin toss in his life.

You’ve seen her in Saw 3D, Flashpoint and Workin’ Moms, and she currently plays the ferocious Kali in the new feature film Darken. Now listen to actress Olunike Adeliyi discuss Boyz N the Hood, and how John Singleton’s Oscar-nominated breakout changed her life. Your genial host Norm Wilner had the Criterion laserdisc at the ready.

With her first feature Paper Year playing theatrically in Toronto, Ottawa and Vancouver (and available across Canada on iTunes and Google Play), writer-director Rebecca Addelman drops in to talk about The Graduate, Mike Nichols' indelible 1967 satire of American upper class and lower morals. Your genial host Norm Wilner has never sat at the bottom of a swimming pool, because he's allergic to chlor...

Her second feature Octavio Is Dead! opens in Toronto and Regina this Friday, so broadcaster and filmmaker Sook-Yin Lee is here to dive into the simple, stark power -- and, regrettably, the present-day relevance -- of Rainer Werner Fassbinder's 1973 drama Ali: Fear Eats the Soul. Your genial host Norm Wilner is pretty sure he didn't confuse Munich for Berlin again.

Do you like scary movies? Emily Gagne and Danita Steinberg, hosts of the new podcast We Really Like Her!, bring the love for Wes Craven's Scream, the 1996 movie that taught us all to be afraid of crank calls and department-store ghost costumes. Your genial host Norm Wilner made sure to record this during the day in a room with plenty of windows. It's just safer for everybody.

Before writer-director Antoine Bourges brings his first feature Fail to Appear to Toronto's TIFF Bell Lightbox this week, he stops into the studio to discuss the austere allure of Chantal Akerman's 2000 Proust adaptation La Captive -- a choice that lines up very nicely with his own aesthetic. Your genial host Norm Wilner exerts only the smallest amount of control on the conversation.

For our 175th episode, we welcome author, actor and fake Internet judge John Hodgman — whose lovely book Vacationland is out in paperback today! — to the studio to talk about Murder on the Orient Express, Kenneth Branagh’s opulent Agatha Christie adaptation starring all those actors you like. Your genial host Norm Wilner is delighted to play conductor.

With his new film Adventures in Public School is on iTunes and Amazon Video in the US, and available for pre-order on iTunes in Canada, Kyle Rideout drops in to talk about the lush, digitally enhanced beauty of Jean-Pierre Jeunet's Amelie. Which explains why your genial host Norm Wilner has been receiving photos of a gnome for the last few weeks.

As his new film The Child Remains expands across Canada, writer-director Michael Melski turns his thoughts to Peter Medak’s 1980 chiller The Changeling, and how effective a horror film can be with one great actor and a few carefully calibrated scares. Your genial host Norm Wilner still prefers not to think about the wheelchair.

Birdland director Peter Lynch digs deep into The Conversation, Francis Ford Coppola’s note-perfect 1974 thriller about surveillance, paranoia and the strange watchability of Gene Hackman in an ugly plastic raincoat. Your genial host Norm Wilner strongly recommends you watch the movie before listening to this episode. Like, really strongly.

Oscar-winning documentary producer Frederic Bohbot — whose first dramatic film Boost is now available on iTunes — does his best to unpack the tangled conspiracies and complex filmmaking of Oliver Stone’s JFK. Your genial host Norm Wilner resists the urge to say “back and to the left” every six seconds.

Her new short Pumpkin Movie has its Canadian premiere at Hot Docs this Thursday, April 26th, so filmmaker Sophy Romvari is here to discuss Kirsten Johnson’s masterful 2016 essay film Cameraperson. Never seen it? Your genial host Norm Wilner thinks you should rectify that as soon as possible.

With his new film Kodachrome arriving on Netflix this Friday — and opening theatrically in major U.S. cities — filmmaker Mark Raso digs deep into the mysteries of The Talented Mr. Ripley, Anthony Minghella’s 1999 adaptation of Patricia Highsmith’s seductive chiller. Your genial host Norm Wilner is totally not getting into that rowboat.

As far back as he can remember, actor Ajuawak Kapashesit has always loved GoodFellas. And with his new movie Indian Horse opening across Canada this Friday, it seemed like the perfect time for him to tell us about that. Your genial host Norm Wilner brought his shinebox and everything.

This week, the podcast goes to London so director Saul Dibb -- whose striking WWI drama Journey's End expands across Canada this Friday -- can share his love for A Prophet, Jacques Audiard's knockout drama starring Tahar Rahim as a young man trying to survive six years in a French prison. Your genial host Norm Wilner wouldn't make it six hours.