The Academy Academy

Does Bullitt contain the most popular vehicle in all of cinema? Does Frank Bullitt play into liberal cop fantasies the way Dirty Harry plays into conservative ones? Would Steve McQueen have made Sorcerer a bonafide box-office success? Pat & Don discuss all this and more on this week's episode of The Academy Academy!   If you are a fan of the pod and/or need a place to send your unfiltered take...

Did you bragbout brag about watching R-rated films to gain social cache on the playground? Is your life riddled with moments worth of a John Cheever short story? Is Bruce Glover your go-to goon? If you answered yes to any of these questions, look no further: this pod is for you! Don & Pat discuss Wendell James Franklin's The Bus Is Coming and Robert Hartford-Davis' Black Gunn on this week's Th...

Don & Pat use Quentin Tarantino's Cinema Speculation as a framework to discuss the most provocative features of a filmic era they find endlessly fascinating, beginning with Joe and Where's Poppa. Is this button-pushing double feature still relevant today, or merely a mildly concerning curio? What kind of movie uses "The Tush Scene Alone Is Worth the Price of Admission" as its poster logline an...

Don & Pat triumphantly return from their brief hiatus with a banger of an ep, folks! We're concluding our Schlesinger detour with the airport thriller adaptation classic Marathon Man and the cinematic Spruce Goose known as Honky Tonk Freeway. Are you down for a William Devane double feature? Do you think Tubi is the streaming equivalent of a video rental store? What is the true price of watchi...

The Academy Academy covering another feel-bad film from the twisted mind of John Schlesinger, folks! Can you recognize the rot around you, or are you one amongst the stampeding horde? Do you ever want to see a movie in a crowded theater just to see the muted and uncomfortable reaction said film would elicit from the audience? If Conrad L. Hall's sumptuous cinematography worth the watch if it's onl...

We continue our hiatus from the works of Spike Jonze and Michel Gondry to discuss another director of the late sixties and seventies who has unfortunately receded from the cultural limelight: John Schlesinger! We discuss the British director's dual upper-crust/outsider origins, the other actors who were up for the role of Joe Buck alongside Jon Voight, and how a combination of grit, genius, and se...

We're continuing our break from the world of Jonze with a deep dive into a key, yet oft-forgotten, seventies director: Paul Mazursky! Don & Pat do a deep dive into his oeuvre, warts and all. Does Blume in Love feature the most wrongheaded third-act misfire in cinema history? Is Bill Conti's score for An Unmarried Woman his best? Is Michael Ontkean's haircut in Willie & Phil the most insane...

What are your three desert island foods? Would you eat hip health food at The Source? Do you know how to accurately determine a good piece of fruit? Do we all deserve a cool chainsmoking therapist? Would you purchase a French Connection 2-era Popeye Doyle Funkopop? Don & Pat are taking a break from Jonze and Gondry to discuss the late and great Donald Sutherland on this week's The Academy Acad...

Don and Pat tackle Modern Romance and Terms of Endearment on this week's episode of The Academy Academy! Is it possible to make quaaludes look uncool? Shall the shame boys once again sing the song of MacGruber? Do your two favorite ding-dongs provide some light analysis of Must-See TV?! Download this pod and find out!!   If you are a fan of the pod and/or need a place to send your unfiltered takes...

We have to go back to the Baywatch :(   If you are a fan of the pod and/or need a place to send your unfiltered takes on Hong-sang Soo and Jingle All the Way, send us an email at  theacademyacademypodcast@gmail.com  or message us on Twitter at @TheAcadAcad.

We're getting back on schedule with another Academy Academy Classic. Enjoy!   Our first post-Meryl episode! Your favorite Cosmé McMoon appreciators are taking a break from taking a deep dive into an actor's oeuvre by taking a deep dive into the oeuvre of a director who likes to take deep dives! For the next 4 episodes... we're discussing James Cameron!! We talk about a Bond villain-esque producer...

Due to busy schedules and general life things, the pod will be releasing classic eps until June 25th. Enjoy this classic ep in the meantime!   Which Al Pacino character did a young Don dress up as for Halloween? Would Rocket Raccoon side with Neil McCauley or Lt. Vincent Hanna? Is Justin Theroux too hot to portray someone with a job that doesn't involve just being a dang hunk? Quit feeling stinky,...

Does your favorite Friends episode involve a mass grave under the bed? Has Jim Carrey experienced the most sanity-eroding conditions on set of any actor? Is Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind a Staggering Work of Heartbreaking Genius?! Tune in as Don & Pat discuss Michel Gondry's magnum opus on this week's The Academy Academy!    If you are a fan of the pod and/or need a place to send your...

Don & Pat are back and have secured their Golden Globes nominations via blu-ray bribery on this week's ep of The Academy Academy! Is Spike Jonze an avant-garde genius or a postmodern prankster? Is Three Kings the best middlebrow film? Should Brian Cox have played Napoleon in the titular Ridley Scott feature? Tune in and find out!  If you are a fan of the pod and/or need a place to send your un...

How much would you pay to see Orson Welles chase Wee Man through a crowded Tokyo Subway? Do you miss Pre-Internet virality i.e. the things you would discover from your older brother or the weird neighborhood kid? What is Johnny Knoxville's true name? Is Jackass puerile mishegoss, or a joyous celebration of life and the human spirit? Should Danger Ehren be a DLC fighter in the next Mortal Kombat ga...

What is the value of teaching a mouse table manners? At what does introspection become self-indulgence? At what age do you stop being a wunderkind?  We're covering the beginnings of Michel Gondry on this week's episode of The Academy Academy! Relax, take a seat in a chair that looks like a paper mache bumblebee, and enjoy!   If you are a fan of the pod and/or need a place to send your unfiltered t...

Would you hang out in someone's mind with Gary Sinise and Charlie Sheen for an eternity? Is the best music video of all time an hommage to 70s Cop Cinema? What crucial role did Martin Scorsese play in the making of Video Days? Don Horatio Saunderson and Patrick "The Dubious Non-Welsher" Gremillion enter the world of Spike Jonze on this week's episode of The Academy Academy. The Trickster Iconoclas...

It's another birthday ep, which means another deep dive into the oeuvre of another fascinating arthouse filmmaker! Urban Isolation, Rural Malaise, and the Nature of Evil are just a few of the subjects Nuri Bilge Ceylan tackles in his works. He luxuriates in the vast snow-covered topographies of Anatolia, and in the way relics of the past pepper Ceylan's cinematic landscapes, so too are his films p...

Apologies for the late release, but hooboy this is a fun ep! What's worse: a truly awful film, or a merely disappointing one? Should Tobey Maguire get the Thousand Face surgery? Is Jürgen Prochnow what you have at home when you ask mom for Udo Kier and mom says "honey, we have Udo Kier at home"?! Tune in as Don & Pat gush about all things Dafoe on this week's The Academy Academy!        

We recorded this podcast at 6:30 AM.   If you are a fan of the pod and/or need a place to send your unfiltered takes on Hong-sang Soo and Jingle All the Way, send us an email at theacademyacademypodcast@gmail.com  Also, feel free to message us on Twitter at @TheAcadAcad

Would you pay $200 to see The Killer be a contestant on Love Is Blind? Do you pray to a gas station boiled egg? Is you favorite Guy Ritchie flick Lock, Stock, and Two Smoking Aliens?! It's the finale to our Fincher miniseries, folks. We talk The Killer, and rate the Fincher filmography? Will Mank take it to the bank? And just how curious did we find Benjamin Button's case? Tune in to find out!   I...

Should Unforgiven be remade starring Will Forte as MacGruber? Should the next Equalizer take place in French Canada? Is Ultimate Sicko Pervert a compliment?! Don & Pat's Fuqua miniseries comes to a close on this week's Academy Academy, as we discuss the simple pleasures of the Equalizer franchise, attempt to sum up the director's career, and provide our rankings of the films that collectively...

Does the story of Mank start in 1863? Does cynicism kill the artist within you? Are they selling Cool Ranch Dorito Soda at the Victorville Taco Bell?! We discuss William Randolph Hearst, Orson Welles, auteur theory, Raising Kane, The Kane Mutiny, people as brands, spiritual Big Boys, and so much more on this must-listen episode of The Academy Academy!   If you are a fan of the pod and/or need a pl...

We're covering Emancipation this week's episode of The Academy Academy. We attempt to keep this ep light on spoofs and goofs, although that doesn't stop us from hoping that the Chris Rock-directed remake of Another Round will star Adam Sandler, Kevin James, David Spade, and Rob Schneider. Enjoy!   If you are a fan of the pod and/or need a place to send your unfiltered takes on Hong-sang Soo and Ji...

Two episodes in one day? Mamma Mia!  Don & Pat talk Gone Girl on this week's The Academy Academy. Is Ben Affleck's portrayal of Nick Dunne his greatest performance? Which pod co-host owns a poster of Author! Author!? Which film critic most resembles Bradley Whitford's character in Get Out? Tune in to find out! If you are a fan of the pod and/or need a place to send your unfiltered takes on Hon...