The Stacks

Due to an unexpected schedule change, the regularly scheduled episode is postponed for one week. In the meantime, this week Shana and j. are discussing the genderfluid surrealist coming-of-age film Les Garçons Sauvages (The Wild Boys, 2017, directed by Bertrand Mandico). The live list of The Stacks as always can be found online at https://letterboxd.com/jshopa/list/the-stacks/

This week in The Stacks, Shana and j. discuss Alfred Hitchcock's classic 1942 wartime espionage classic, Saboteur (going to 1:18:18), followed by Miguel Llansó's wild 2019 Afro-futurist romp Jesus Shows You the Way to the Highway (continuing to 2:23:32), then on to our moves and picks for next time. The live list of The Stacks is online at https://letterboxd.com/jshopa/list/the-stacks/

This week, Shana and j. talk about the influential 1966 Shaw Brothers / King Hu wuxia Come Drink With Me (discussion running to 1:14:41) and Graham Mason's affectionate 2020 pastiche of 70s TV mystery drama, Inspector Ike (discussion continuing to 2:30:37), followed as always by discussion of a bunch of other movies j. watched this week and decisions on what to cover next. The live list of The Sta...

This week, Shana and j. discuss the classic revenge western, Backlash (1956, directed by John Sturges, discussion going to 1:16:46) and the loopy creature feature Sting of Death (1966, directed by William Grefe, discussion going to 2:30:52), followed as always by our also watched this week, and picks for next week. The live list of The Stacks can be found online at https://letterboxd.com/jshopa/li...

For the 50th episode / 1 year anniversary extravaganza, Shana and j. discuss Andy Sidaris' best-known and best-loved picture, 1987's Hard Ticket to Hawaii (discussion running to 1:35:48) and the classic 1972 Barry Shear action/crime drama Across 110th Street (running to 2:37:05). In part 3 after choosing next week's films, we present our various awards for the 101 movies we've watched in our first...

On this week's episode, Shana and j. discuss a couple fun 80s pop-horror films, Joel Schumacher's The Lost Boys (1987) and Mark Lester's Firestarter (1984), followed as always by discussion of other films watched and our picks for next week. Discussion of Lost Boys runs to 1:19:53 and Firestarter to 2:26:00. The live list of The Stacks can be found online at https://letterboxd.com/jshopa/list/the-...

This week, Shana and j. discuss the iconic Harold Lloyd silent era classic Safety Last! (1923, dirs. Fred C. Newmeyer and Sam Taylor) as well as the definitive summer blockbuster, 1975's Jaws (directed of course by Steven Spielberg). Discussion of the first film runs to 1:16:16 and the next to 2:26:41, followed by the usual discussion of additional films watched and deciding on what to watch next...

This week in The Stacks, Shana and j. discuss the 1969-shot, 1971-released Al Adamson exploitation picture The Female Bunch, featuring a very menacing Russ Tamblyn and a much less menacing Lon Chaney Jr. For our second feature, we talk about the intensely visual psychedelic medieval film The Green Knight (2021, directed by David Lowery). Discussion of The Female Bunch goes to 1:22:33, and The Gree...

It's western week on The Stacks, as we talk about the classic Clint Eastwood revisionist western High Plains Drifter (1973) and the hyper-kinetic, star-studded (and thoroughly underappreciated) Sam Raimi splatter-western The Quick and the Dead (1995). Discussion of High Plains Drifter runs to 1:22:35 and The Quick and the Dead to 2:27:03, followed as always by discussion of additional movies watch...

This week in The Stacks, it's Cher vs an Army of Darkness! Shana and j. discuss the classic 1987 Norman Jewison romantic comedy Moonstruck (running to ~1:22:05), featuring a formative Nicolas Cage performance, and the 1992 Sam Raimi action-horror-comedy Army of Darkness (running to 2:07:05). Stay tuned for the third section, where j. goes over a unified Crystal Lake series theory and we have some...

This week, Shana and j. discuss the next entry in the Gamera series, 1968's Gamera vs Viras, directed by series originator Noriaki Yuasa (0:00:00-1:17:30), and get raw and contemplative with the 2012 Don Hertzfeldt animated masterpiece It's Such a Beautiful Day (1:17:30-2:13:45). As always, the live Stacks list can be found online at https://letterboxd.com/jshopa/list/the-stacks/

For this week's episode, j. and Shana talk about the landmark kung fu epic 5 Fingers of Death (aka King Boxer, 1972, directed by Jeong Chang-hwa) and the classic, definitive horror-comedy Evil Dead II (1987, director Sam Raimi). Discussion of 5 Fingers of Death runs to 1:40:57 and Evil Dead II until 2:27:38 The live list of The Stacks can as always be found at https://letterboxd.com/jshopa/list/th...

On this week's episode, j. and Shana are delving into some 80s crime/action cinema, with the first film in Andy Sidaris' Malibu Bay Films cinematic universe, Malibu Express (1985), then the 1983 Paul Aaron film Deadly Force, starring our beloved Wings Hauser. Discussion of Malibu Express runs to 1:04:44, and Deadly Force concludes at 1:40:31, with additional mini-capsule reviews as always in the t...

It's indie zombie week in The Stacks, as we discuss the 2006 no-budget SOV picture Pathogen (directed by 12-year-old Emily Hagins) and the influential 1981 independent horror classic The Evil Dead (debut feature of Sam Raimi). Discussion of Pathogen runs until 1:10:40 and The Evil Dead until 1:53:50. The live list of The Stacks is online at https://letterboxd.com/jshopa/list/the-stacks/

This week, Shana and j. talk about the second Yokai Monsters film, the 1968 Yoshiyuki Kuroda film, Spook Warfare, as well as the great 1980 giant radioactive monster flick Alligator, directed by Lewis Teague. Discussion of Spook Warfare runs to 1:04:35 and Alligator until 2:03:20 The live list of The Stacks is online at https://letterboxd.com/jshopa/list/the-stacks/

This week, Shana and j. dig into some deep 80s culture with the classic 1982 teen movie Fast Times at Ridgemont High (directed by Amy Heckerling) and the utterly bizarre 1986 Taiwanese wuxia Kung Fu Wonder Child (directed by Lee Tso-Nam). Discussion of Fast Times runs to ~1:38:58 and Kung Fu Wonder Child until 2:36:25 As always, the live list of The Stacks is online at https://letterboxd.com/jshop...

On this week's episode Shana and j. are discussing two very different takes on criminal justice, with the classic 1973 Sidney Lumet true-life police corruption film Serpico and the queer, candy-coated 1995 Joel Schumacher blockbuster Batman Forever. Discussion of Serpico runs to ~1:17:20, Batman Forever until ~2:22:25 As always, the live list of The Stacks is online at https://letterboxd.com/jshop...

This week, Shana and j. discuss the sweeping Cuban triptych film Lucía, directed by Humberto Solás, 1968, as well as the 1984 Romanian animated sci-fi picture Delta Space Mission, directed by Victor Antonescu and Mircea Toia. One audio dropout in the first section at ~18:00 - Lucía is referred to as 'Gardenia' Discussion of Lucía ranges to 1:13:50, Delta Space Mission until 1:50:45. Final section...

This week, Shana and j. talk about Shunya Ito's 1972 debut film Female Prisoner #701: Scorpion and the amazing blend of animation and live action that is the 1962 Czechoslovakian film The Fabulous Baron Munchausen, directed by Karel Zeman. Discussion of the first film goes to ~1:06:45, a little bit on The Peanut Butter Solution and Flag of Iron in between, then 1:14:30-1:58:10 covering Munchausen,...

On this week's episode, Shana and j. discuss the fourth film in the Arrow Shinya Tsukamoto 'Solid Metal Nightmares' box set, 1998's Bullet Ballet, and third in the Severin 'All the Haunts Be Ours' box, 1973's Leptirica, directed by Đorđe Kadijević. 0:00-~6:15 - some additional discussion of last week's second film, Koko-di, Koko-da (2019, Johannes Nyholm) 6:15-1:23:35 - Bullet Ballet 1:23:35-2:16:...

This week, Shana and j. discuss the third entry in the Gamera series, 1967's Gamera vs Gyaos, from Noriaka Yuasa, director of the original film in the series, as well as the 2019 Swedish horror film Koko-di, Koko-da from director Johannes Nyholm. As always, the live list of The Stacks is available online at https://letterboxd.com/jshopa/list/the-stacks/

This week, Shana and j. explore another classic Italian western with 1968's If You Meet Sartana, Pray for Your Death (from director Gianfranco Parolini) and another wildly entertaining Wings Hauser performance in the 1989 film L.A. Bounty (directed by Worth Keeter). As always, the active Stacks list is online at https://letterboxd.com/jshopa/list/the-stacks/

We're back after a week off with the second film in the original Zatoichi series, Tale of Zatoichi Continues (1962, directed by Kazuo Mori) and Avery Crounse's important folk horror film Eyes of Fire (1983). As always, the active Stacks list can be found at https://letterboxd.com/jshopa/list/the-stacks/

This week we have an accidentally thematic pairing, with j. and Shana discussing Spike Jonze's 2002 film Adaptation and Mark Savage's 1997 psychotronic shot-on-video picture The Masturbating Gunman. (This will be followed by a week off, due to illness) As always, the live list of The Stacks is online at https://letterboxd.com/jshopa/list/the-stacks/

On this week's episode, Shana and j. talk about Blood & Flesh: The Reel Life and Ghastly Death of Al Adamson (2019, directed by David Gregory) and Stanley Kubrick's (now) well-loved 1980 film adaptation of The Shining. As always, The Stacks list is live at https://letterboxd.com/jshopa/list/the-stacks/