The Wages of Cinema

It's 2015. Let that sink in. We're living IN THE FUTURE! And it's the year where if you go back 100 years you get the first milestone(s) in cinema history. So with that in mind we at the Wages of Cinema take a look at a movie that made a year in history stand out ending in 0 or 5 (i.e. 1975, 1950, 2000, etc). What did we pick? You'll have to listen and take a trip in our goofy-looking car of a pod...

And now for that image of the Sad face and the smiley face that one often sees as the cliche in theater - Italian Neo-Realism at its most striped down and masterful, and Hollywood escapism as its most ebullient. Isn't this what cinema can do, folks? Andrew goes back for more Vittorio De Sica, while Jack finally sees one of Andrew's favorite films (previously talked about in episode 1 of this show)...

Episode 17 will be in part about what is fun, funny and exciting, and what is dark and depressing. All about the human condition as usual on the Wages of Cinema podcast! On the Two-Minute Movie Mile, where Jack and Andrew each get two minutes to talk about their recent movie-viewing experiences, we got all-time classics, another look at an experimental short, and that one movie The Departed was ba...

I could copy and paste from her IMDb biography, but then why even bother with talking with the super lovely and talented Adele Dazeem? Wait, wrong teleprompter damnit! Seriously, this is the one and only SARAH SEEDS, an actress, producer and writer originally from Baltimore - and other points South, which we talk about - and how she fell in love with acting at the age of 3(!) and has gone on to be...

Because Mad Max Fury Road won't leave our heads - and because of how much Charlize Theron kicked our asses up and down the wastelands - we'd like to take a look at some of the major action heroes (or is it heroines, will that be something that can be clarified) including the likes of Pam Grier's characters, Ellen Ripley, Sarah Connor, Beatrix Kiddo and many more. Also, the question comes up for Ja...

We return to Ray Harryhausen this week for 1973's THE GOLDEN VOYAGE OF SINBAD, which Jack watches (did he like it as much as 'Argonauts'? We'll see). Meanwhile, Andrew checks out Kurosawa-san's 1952 existential masterpiece IKIRU. So for those of you who have been pestering us to do a team-up with Tom Baker and Takashi Shimura, HERE YOU GO! facebook.com/wagesofcinema

Jack may put a pox on the 2 minute movie mile (or Triple M for short) but he's going to do it anyway! Another day, another episode of the Wages of Cinema, and there's another boatload of classics and new films, ranging from the latest from George Clooney to a British classic with Alec Guinness, two by David Lynch and two by Thomas Vinterberg, and a claymation movie about... Mark Twain? Starting at...

(on Mad Max: Fury Road): "Oh my God!" - Andrew from 'The Wages of Cinema Can you say LOVELY DAY enough times? What did Andrew and Jack think of the return after 30 years for George Miller to the franchise that started him as a filmmaker? Did it blow their minds away into smithereens? May we get a guitar with flame-thrower? Hopefully. Oh, and SPOILERS. Visit us on iTunes and subscribe! facebook.com...

"Fortunately, somewhere between chance and mystery lies imagination, the only thing that protects our freedom, despite the fact that people keep trying to reduce it or kill it off altogether." - Luis Bunuel "Take me, I am the drug. Take me, I am the hallucinogenic." - Salvador Dali In case you don't know who people like Bunuel, Dali, David Lynch, Jan Svankmajer, Guy Maddin, Maya Deren or others ar...

We don't ever want to short-change you folks. That's why when we do a recording, we don't have just one auteur, but TWO, that's TWO AUTEURS! (ah-ah-ah says the Count). In one corner, a Swedish export that has galvanized art-houses for almost 50 years, and the film where Ingmar Bergman decided to just say 'f*** it' and do whatever he felt like doing. Did Andrew 'get it'? What's not to get about two...

Another day, another time where Jack and Andrew talk about a whole swarth of movies. In this collection there's some new ones like Alex Garland's directing debut Ex Machina, and the latest from Quentin Dupiex called 'Reality'. A focus is on surreal movies, and we'll be getting into that in the main segment. And Jack sees an Iranian feminist vampire hipster spaghetti western shot in black and white...

We finally return to a segment we started a couple months ago (sorry for the delay) called 'Local Vocal', where Jack interviews local filmmakers, actors, artists, etc (as of now around NYC/tri-state area). On this second episode, the subject is MATT STEINER. Matt is an actor who has done some movies and TV pilot projects - one of the big ones currently making the rounds is LOSERS - but his passion...

So... what's the consensus - what did the Wagers think this time? Yey? Ney? In the middle? Are there nitpicks? Oh, you betcha, but are they from the hosts or the guests? Oh, and SPOILERS (duh) On this very special episode of The Wages of Cinema, we look at what looks to be one of the big movies of the year that involve robots and people with powers and the like. And this time we have SPECIAL GUEST...

It was only a matter of time before we got to The Master. I don't mean Philip Seymour Hoffman, I mean THE Master, of Suspense! Mr. Hitchcock. We talk about a wide variety of his films, and, specifically as part of the "Required Reading" we talk about one of THE essential books about making movies: Hitchcock by Truffaut. VISIT US and SUBSCRIBE on iTunes. Send any emails and questions or requests to...

Almost sounds like a weird pulp comic from the days when IMAGE was all over the place, right? THE KARATE KID and LADRI DI BICICLETTA . Perhaps some day it will be a Vs. and it'll be about the year we spent as podcasters... This week Jack and Andrew look at a box-office hit from 1984, and the film that many say defined "Neo-Realism" in post WW2 Italy: John G. Avildsen's THE KARATE KID Vittorio De S...

This episode features GOD. And I don't just mean Mr. Alfred P Hitchcock (is his middle name 'P'? Who knows) LOTS of movies to talk about, but first Jack and Andrew spend the opening talking about the recent trailers for Star Wars & Batman v Superman - not so much the content as the entire air of expectations when it comes to such events. The movies in the Two-Minute Movie Mile (including a block f...

And now for a GIGANTIC Summer Movie Preview for 2015. Primarily we're going over the big movies that'll be hitting, though one or two smaller choices will peek their heads in (i.e. right as we're in the midst of talking new Dinosaur and Pixar movies, we got a Jonathan Demme movie to look at). There are a TON of movies discussed here, at length or in brief, including a brief (but passionate) diatri...

On this week's list of New Year's movies, Andrew checks out the 1946 Jean Cocteau magic-surreal version of Beauty and the Beast, and Jack knows what Klaatu means outside of Evil Dead. Also an attempt is made to do a timer for this segment as well. Visit us on iTunes and check out at facebook.com/wagesofcinema for clips of the movies we talk about!

Welcome back to the Wages of Cinema, and this week we're trying something new, an experiment which, if it works, we may keep as a regular segment. It's called the 2-Minute Movie Mile (or as Jack calls it the 2-Minute Dash, but Andrew's title is probably better). The hosts each have two minutes to talk about the movies they've seen in the past two weeks. 2 fast, 2 furious you might say? Eh... not a...

For our BIG Segment this week... Carpenter... Argento... Hooper... Mitchell... wait, who? David Robert Mitchell? Who's that? You'll know soon, oh yes... Jack does a 'horror block' and looks at a new independent horror thriller, the 'latest' (as of 5 years ago) by John Carpenter, and a classic 1982 'Giallo' by Dario Argento. Then Jack AND Andrew talk about the movie that has been pointed to as kick...

Because at the Wages of Cinema we are all about redundancy, Andrew talks about ALL ABOUT EVE again, which he did on a previous episode (see: "DAVIS" for reference), and expounds on some things he neglected to mention. But before that, Jack gets into the Spielberg-cum-Hooper collaboration from 1982 POLTERGEIST (another of those movies that's sadly being remade for, you know, money reasons, but we d...

In other words, VIOLENCE! In forms of satire, documentary, mediocre blockbusters (and OUTLAW!), and Eva Green sex scenes. 1) LITTLE MURDERS (1971) 2) ROBIN HOOD (2010) (about 12 mins in) 3) RED ARMY (2015) (about 25 mins in) 4) 300: RISE OF AN EMPIRE (2014) (somewhere after) (featuring clips from Murders, Hood & 300, but not Red Army)

Wow, what a mix to start off our 10th episode (1st segment): a tale of obsessive-deranged love, a dangerous quest across the frontier, and black goo that eats up men's erections.... But hey, we got a horror, a western, AND a sc-fi, it's a whole pulp selection. Did we mention the erections? Yep. Also, Andrew talks about his Welcome to the Basement card, and we go off about Peter Lorre for a bit. Cl...

Jack and Andrew, mostly Andrew, have a bone to pick with Ridley "Rid" Scott. The director of several iconic and award-winning films - Alien, Blade Runner, Gladiator, American Gangster, The Duellists (this one Jack just watched) - and rather unwieldy flops - Legend, The Counselor, 1492 - is looked at in a long retrospective. We really get into it, folks, the good-the-bad-and-the-ho-hum. (featuring...

How does one face continuing to live after not dying? And how does one live with oneself after committing an act of murder? What is life, as George Harrison once sang(?) On this episode, Jack and Andrew explore life and death with those towering-great-who-doesn't-love-em stars Jeff Bridges and Jimmy Stewart in Peter Weir's underrated 1993 drama FEARLESS and the "all-in-one-shot" (but not really) H...