The Gauntlet

Night and Day (2008) / Moffie (2019) This week the summer breeze has us feeling so fine as we get drunk and confused in Paris with Hong Sang-soo and find a sliver of humanity in a South African barracks with Oliver Hermanus

The Private Eyes (1976) / They All Laughed (1981) This week we investigate two private detective agencies and get swept up in the hustle and bustle of Hong Kong with the Hui brothers and look for love on the streets of NYC with Peter Bogdanovich

The Passionate Friends (1949) / The Great Outdoors (1988) This week we’re kicking it lakeside as David Lean takes us on an emotional speedboat ride through time and we invade Wisconsin’s Northwoods with Howard Deutch’s Chicago jagoffs

Ta'ang (2016) / Rambo: Last Blood (2019) This week we cross a border into cursed territory, as Adrian Grünberg's hackwork reveals the inherent cowardice of John Rambo while Wang Bing bears witness to the endurance and strength of refugees from Myanmar.

Vampires in Havana (1985) / The Grand Bizarre (2018) This week we’re getting animated as we stop-motion around the world in Jodie Mack’s intricately woven textile tapestry travelog and get bitten in Havana by Juan Padrón’s revolutionary vampire comedy

The Fan (1982) / Love and Death on Long Island (1997) This week we’re feverishly writing fan mail as we fall into a trance with Eckhart Schmidt and Richard Kwietniowski shows us it’s never too late to fall in love with a hot C-list actor

58 - Anatomy of Hell (2004) / How I Ended This Summer (2010) This week we locked ourselves in for a two-hander, as Catherine Breillat helps us get under each other's skin and Alexei Popogrebski cools us down with a bucket of Russian Arctic water.

57 - Times Square (1980) / The Apple (1998) This week, mom and dad are out of town and we’re throwing a house party with Allan Moyle's punk anthems, Samira Makhmalbaf's stolen ice cream, and a six-pack of self-discovery.

56 - Come Back, Africa (1959) / Ici et Ailleurs (1974) This week we explore hybrid documentaries, as Lionel Rogosin secretly captures South Africa under apartheid and Anne-Marie Miéville helps Jean-Luc Godard confront ghosts of past and present.

Thunder Birds (1942) / Night Witches in the Sky (1981) This week we soar through the clouds alongside two real life aviators, as Wild Bill Wellman helps us get our wings while Yevgeniya Zhigulenko leads us on night bombing raids

Simone Barbes or Virtue (1980) / The Taking of Beverly Hills (1991) This week we're pulling an all-nighter as we take tickets in a porno theater with Marie-Claude Treilhou and stage an explosive coup in Beverly Hills with Sidney J. Furie

Lancelot du Lac (1974) / The 13th Warrior (1999) This week we explore Medieval tomes of spiritual agony, listening carefully to Robert Bresson’s clanking armor and filling in the gaps of John McTiernan’s massacred Viking epic

Lookin’ to Get Out (1982) / Fat Choi Spirit (2002) This week we’re testing our luck, risking it all in blackjack and mahjongg as we hit the tables with Hal Ashby and Johnnie To

The Hidden (1987) / Dan Aykroyd Unplugged on UFOs (2005) This week we’re putting on our tinfoil hats as we try to track down materialistic and murderous aliens with Jack Sholder while a sweaty Dan Aykroyd tells us the damage is already done

The Five Heartbeats (1991) / Platform (2000) This week we’re getting sentimental as we hit the road with Robert Townsend and The Five Heartbeats and tour the countryside with Jia Zhangke and the Fenyang Peasant Cultural Group

Entranced Earth (1967) / Escape from L.A. (1996) This week we’re raging against the machine as we hit the campaign trail with Glauber Rocha and try to escape from John Carpenter’s theocratic nightmare

Stage Door (1937) / Hell in the Pacific (1968) This week we’re moving in together, shacking up with the aspiring actresses of Gregory La Cava’s Footlights club and staking out a claim on John Boorman’s contested island beach

THE GAUNTLET MOVIE MIXTAPE – VOLUME ONE A SONIC JOURNEY through THE GAUNTLET From Chicago Guys to Take Me Out to the Ballgame Music and Sounds from Episodes 1-10 Stormy Weather (1943) – Black Book aka Reign of Terror (1949) – Caught (1949) – Calamity Jane (1953) – The Return of Dr. Mabuse (1961) – Martha (1974) – 92 in the Shade (1975) – Orca (1977) – Maa Bhoomi (1979) – The Hunter (1980) – A Ques...

News From Home (1977) / Serial Mom (1994) This week we’re giving our moms a ring after we bear witness to motherly love through Chantal Akerman’s foreign correspondence and John Waters’ display of murderous affection

The Penalty (1920) / Miami Blues (1990) This week we’re wreaking havoc with charismatic villains as Lon Chaney unleashes a blizzard of crimes on San Francisco and George Armitage shows us how to embrace the criminal-entrepreneurial spirit in Miami

The Family Jewels (1965) / Men & Chicken (2015) This week we’re sanctioning buffoonery and focusing on fools as we discuss the many jewels of Jerry Lewis and ponder our animal nature with Anders Thomas Jensen

The Pit and the Pendulum (1991) / Death and the Compass (1996) This week we annotate a pair of short story adaptations and get lost in a Borgesian labyrinth with Alex Cox and try to survive Stuart Gordon’s inquisition

Blood Money (1974) / Take a Hard Ride (1975) This week we’re wasting away in Margheriti-ville, gorging on spaghetti with a global twist as we search for butts & treasure with Lee Van Cleef & Lo Lieh and take a hard ride with Jim Brown & Fred Williamson

The Mattei Affair (1972) / Gas Pump Girls (1979) This week we get a crash course on oil from Francesco Rosi, who teaches us how to erect out of Italy’s postwar rubble, while Joel Bender’s Gas Pump Girls show us how to squeeze it for all it’s worth

The Gravy Train (1974) / A Perfect Couple (1979) This week we’re doubling down on Dooley in roles big and small as we search for the perfect couple with Robert Altman and romp and stomp through D.C. with Jack Starrett and the Dion Brothers