The Love of Cinema

The week on the show, we welcome back our music sponsor and artist in residence, DASEIN, using John’s crap audio to discuss Spielberg’s 2nd of 4 (at least) WWII epics, “Empire of The Sun.”  The random year generator spun 1987, a year we visited to discuss Bertolucci’s “The Last Emperor”, but we still gave you some set-up of what was happening around the world to add context to why in the hell two...

This week, the boys return to 1989 for the second time to discuss “The Abyss”, James Cameron’s underwater sci-fi thriller that paved the way for much of T2 and Titanic. Starring Ed Harris, May Elizabeth Mastrantonio, and Michael Biehn, the film looks real… because it is! After John kicks things off with a mini-review of “Last Breath”, we set up what was happening in 1989 before diving deep into th...

This week, the boys head back to 1962 to discuss Blake Edwards’s “Days of Wine and Roses”, starring Jack Lemmon and Lee Remick. We’ve previously discussed the 1962 films “To Kill a Mockingbird”, “What Ever Happened to Baby Jane?”, and “The Man Who Shot Liberty Valence”. We start the conversation with thoughts on the Oscars, the state of cinema, and more! Grab a beer- or coffee- and join us for a c...

This week, the boys head back to 2009… or 2013… to discuss “Mr. Nobody”! After Jeff and Dave give quick thoughts about “The Gorge,” we follow the random year generator to 2009, set up the film year, and discuss some world events before getting to our featured conversation. Our phone number is 646-484-9298. It accepts texts or voice messages.  0:00 Intro; 13:35 “The Gorge” mini-reviews; 17:41 Gripe...

This week, the boys head back to 1996, a peak movie year featuring dozens of movies we’ve all seen multiple times! Dave kicks things off with mini-reviews of “Captain America: Brave New World” and “Companion”. John gives some quick thoughts about “Nickel Boys”. For our featured conversation, we chose “Primal Fear”, the movie that gave us Edward Norton and helped Richard Gere prepare for “Chicago”....

This week on the show, the boys head to Jerusalem! The random year generator spun 2005, so we chose “Kingdom of Heaven” (Directors Cut Roadshow Version) to see what Ridley Scott had in mind for his swords and sandals epic with lots of class and grace surrounding the religious tension that has disrupted the peace in Jerusalem for the last 1500 years or so… probably longer. What a cast, too!  Our ph...

This week on the show, we welcome back our music sponsor and artist in residence, DASEIN, to discuss Ingmar Bergman’s time-tested masterpiece, “The Seventh Seal”: Films of 1957. While our audio is kooky today, our conversation is fun and moving! Dasein gives a mini-review of Steven Soderbergh’s new film, “Presence,” and then John revisits Jeff’s “A Real Pain” mini-review from last week before we g...

This week on the pod, Jeff gives a mini-review of “A Real Pain” starring writer-director Jesse Eisenberg and Oscar hopeful Kieran Culkin, John takes us back to “A Complete Unknown”, and Dave poops his pants having to re-watch another Ari Astor horror thriller as the boys discuss “Midsommar” as part of or random wheel generator series. We’ll give you some 2019 film news, world news, and then dive i...

This week on the pod, after the boys catch up, honor David Lynch, and give three mini-reviews, the boys discuss 1993’s “True Romance”, the film that makes you ask, is Quentin Tarantino a better writer or director? Not that it really matters, of course, but Tony Scott directed this Tarantino/Avary script to cult superstardom. It’s Dave’s favorite QT film (maybe), and Jeff and John realize why they...

This week on the pod, It’s Dave’s Birthday! We celebrate by drinking and discussing “All About Eve.” The random year generator spun 1950, so we’ll give you some context of what was happening in the film year and world events before our featured conversation, Joseph Mankiewicz’s masterpiece starring Bette Davis and Anne Baxter. We open the episode with Dave’s mini-review of “Kraven the Hunter”, dis...

This week, we have our most contentious episode in years! The boys rapid-fire some mini-reviews before our featured conversation, Mike Nichols’ 1966 triumph “Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf?”. “Wicked”, “Gladiator II”, “Anora”, “Juror #2”, we covered a lot! What did we argue about? You’ll have to listen to hear. Grab a beer and join us! Our phone number is 646-484-9298. It accepts texts or voice me...

This week, the boys rewatch “Sicario”, the Roger Deakins- I mean, Taylor Sheridan- I mean, Denis Villeneuve film that took 2015 by storm. The random year generator spun 2015, so we give you the context of the film year (5 Billion-dollar movies!), world events (Remember the FIFA scandal?), and then discuss what makes this film stand out above the rest of its peers. At the end of the episode, Jeff a...

After the boys get through their mini-reviews, they discuss “Mrs. Miniver”, the 1942 Oscar-winning film that sold a whole lot of war bonds. Set outside London but filmed in the USA for obvious reasons, we discuss this William Wyler masterpiece and whether or not the propagating was too much!  Our phone number is 646-484-9298. It accepts texts or voice messages.  0:00 Intro; 6:19 mini-reviews; 21:3...

This week, the boys discuss Stephen Spielberg’s AI: Artificial Intelligence, not to be confused with A1: The Steak Sauce. When Stanley Kubrick handed over the film, did 10-year-old John know he’d never ever be able to trust this film? Just kidding. He went in with an open mind. As did Dave, who pulled a Roger Ebert: hated it the first time he watched it but loved it this time around! Where did Jef...

This week, after John briefly discusses "Goodrich", the new Michael Keaton picture written and directed by Hallie Meyers-Shyer, the boys take on another Hitchcock classic to highlight the film year 1959. Chosen by our random year generator, 1959 was a doozy for world and civil news, making a mistaken identity spy thriller the perfect film to highlight. You’ll have to listen to see if the boys thin...

The random year generator spun 1974, so the boys head to 1937 L.A. to discuss the Roman Polanski, Robert Towne, Bob Evans, Jack Nicholson, and Faye Dunaway classic “Chinatown”. Often cited as one of the best movies with one of the best scripts in Hollywood history, plenty has been said about this film. Still, cinematographer Dave had never seen it, John went to fancy film school, and Jeff goes dee...

Two of the three dive into this high drama from the early 2000's.  Jeff is away but somehow still appears in the episode and doesn't sound the least bit like he's broadcasting from a phone in a toilet cubicle in Times Square (Don't try and find them, they don't exist) thanks to our AI audio algorithm knowing what he sounds like and his volume level.  We discuss acting performances, daring editing...

This week, the boys head back to 1940 to discuss “The Shop Around The Corner” after setting up the film year and discussing some world events- Nylon stockings were invented this year! After Jeff gives his mini-review of “Saturday Night”, the Jason Reitman film about the making of the first episode of “Saturday Night Live”, the boys discuss the Ernst Lubitsch film, adapted from the 1936/1937 play H...

This week, the boys reviewed the film year 2022, in which we saw over 50 films and discussed them in our feed. We feature “Decision To Leave,” Park Chan-wook’s incredibly filmed Korean film, which is considered one of the best international films of the year. Dave flexes his cinematography chops by detailing how the hell they did some shots, John gets wet talking about storytelling, and Jeff drink...

For our 250th episode this week, the boys headed to Peking to discuss the Bernardo Bertolucci masterpiece ‘The Last Emperor.’  The random year generator spun 1987, and we set up the film year, noted some world events, and then discussed how great it is to no longer have fantastic films set in Chinese spoken in English. John, with full CoVid immunity, also caught ‘Beetlejuice Beetlejuice’ and gave...

The boys get romantic in 1955 NYC, where a simple middle-aged 34-year-old butcher named Marty caves to societal pressures and calls up a lady. We discuss! The random year generator spun in 1955, and we decided to delve into Paddy Chayefsky’s pen when he wrote “Marty”, the Oscar and Palme D’Or-winning 90-minute slice of dramatic life film starring with Ernest Borgnine in his Academy Award-winning p...

This week, the boys head back to 2012 to discuss “The Hunt”, the Thomas Vinterberg - Mads Mikkelsen film nominated for a Best Foreign Language Film Oscar. After we take our ritualistic pre-show shot of whiskey, we discuss major films & film news from 2012, movies we’ve previously discussed, movies that inspire us, and share some world events from 2012. We then get into an open conversation abo...

The boys head back to 1945 England, where not much was happening (just kidding), to watch David Lean’s 'Brief Encounter' as part of our Random Year Generator series. David Lean’s first three films, including this one, were all Noël Coward adaptations! Didn’t expect that from the guy who gave us 'Lawrence of Arabia' and 'The Bridge on the River Kwai'. We’re a drinking podcast trying to keep it posi...

The boys head to 1995 to discuss ‘Leaving Las Vegas’, Nicolas Cage’s Oscar-winning role, and whether or not there can be such a thing as too much jazz scatting in a film score. We set the scene, give you some context of world and film news from 1995, and sink our teeth into a productive conversation about this emotional film about an alcoholic (Cage) and his prostitute friend, Elizabeth Shue. Dave...

This week, the boys watch ‘Double Indemnity,’ the incredible Billy Wilder film based on the crime novella of the same name, which is also based on a true story! Since the co-hosts don’t have solid life insurance policies, we can rest easy knowing our spouses can’t try that crap on us. Don’t even think about it, Diamond! We also spend a few minutes on some spoiler-free mini-reviews of M. Night Shya...