With 'Spinal Tap II: The End Continues' arriving to theaters this week, England's "loudest band" is coming back to the big screen! If you haven't yet listened to it, or would love to remind yourself of what makes the original film such a delight, don't miss our conversation from last year (originally released August 2024), where Madeline, Julian and Emilio dig into Rob Reiner's groundbreaking mockumentary. The group discusses the film's origins, all of the wonderful improvised ac...

Continuing their episode cycle discussing films related to "Audience Interrogation", Emilio, Julian and Madeline strap on their masks, observe social distancing guidelines, and harken back to the recent past with 'Eddington', Ari Aster's darkly comedic Neo-Western and one of 2025's more polarizing and thought-provoking releases. In true lockdown fashion, the cohosts are joined by virtual guest Mariquita Reese, a top-shelf cinema fangirl and cohost of Post Film Clarity, to dig into the f...

Julian, Madeline, and Emilio begin a new episode cycle focusing on Audience Interrogation in film with a "View-nanimous" discussion on David Lynch's 1986 masterpiece "Blue Velvet," and are joined by returning guest, multi-talented musician and fellow Lynch fan Lily Desmond for the conversation. Marking their long-awaited first episode on a Lynch film, the group discuss their formative past experiences with "Blue Velvet" and its undeniable staying power, on account of its simultaneous adherenc...

Julian, Madeline, and Emilio wrap up their cycle of Musicians on Film by diving into the filmography of Tom Waits, once dubbed a "performer, singer, actor, magician, spirit guide, changeling" by the great Neil Young. Joined by Madeline's dad Richard, the trio kick off the conversation by discussing Waits' starring role in Jim Jarmusch's "Down By Law", and ponder the similarities between his character Zack and his well-known boozy troubadour persona. The group then pivots to Francis Ford Coppo...

For our Musicians-Turned-Actor cycle "Two Shot", Madeline, Emilio and Julian are swinging for the fences with an unexpected pair of films - Penny Marshall's 1992 baseball classic 'A League of Their Own' and Olivia Wilde's 2022 release 'Don't Worry Darling', featuring acting performances by Madonna and Harry Styles, respectively. The cohosts are joined by Emilio's pop culture literate sister Maria-Elena to make some connections between these two films, one a unanimous home run, the other...

Julian, Madeline and Emilio pop some Asti Spumante and welcome back podcast favorite and social media maven Jamie Homs to talk 'Moonstruck', the beloved 1987 romantic comedy directed by Norman Jewison. A "Suggestion Box" entry from Madeline, the group makes time to highlight the film's musician-turned-actor Cher, and her lauded and iconic turn as Loretta Castorini. The group also dives into the film's universal themes of family, relationships and love, breakdown the multiple love ...

Madeline, Julian, and Emilio welcome back past guest and Julian's longtime friend Michaela Brady to continue discussing films with Musicians-Turned-Actors, and this time it's a "Mise-Unseen" on Nicolas Roeg's 1976 film "The Man Who Fell to Earth," starring David Bowie in his first acting role. Centered on the titular alien's efforts to harness earthly resources and bring water back to his drought-laden home planet, the film blends its literary world-building with a tone barely seen in films a...

This week, Emilio, Julian and Madeline set sail with pop culture writer and Spielberg aficionado Mike Duquette aboard to take on 'Jaws', the landmark film that is celebrating its 50th anniversary this summer. The group discuss what makes this film so unique in film history, Spielberg's maturation as a nascent Hollywood director, the ways in which the novel and the film differ, the iconic Oscar-winning score by John Williams, the underappreciated performances throughout, and what modern ...

To kick off a new cycle featuring musicians turned actors, Julian, Madeline and Emilio rewatch 'Licorice Pizza', Paul Thomas Anderson's 2021 film and love letter to the San Fernando Valley circa 1973. Populated with memorable turns from Bradley Cooper, Sean Penn, Tom Waits, Skylar Gisondo, Benny Safdie and others, the film is anchored by the performances of newcomers Cooper Hoffman (son of late great PTA favorite Phillip Seymour Hoffman) and Alana Haim, the youngest of three musician si...

Madeline, Emilio, and Julian are joined by Julian’s oft-mentioned cinephile cousin Sylvie for a standalone discussion about Andrzej Żuławski’s singular film “Possession” (1981). Distinctly mixing a drama of romantic turmoil with elements of body horror, spy thrillers, and creature features, “Possession” centers on the alternatively broad and grounded performances of its two versatile lead actors, Isabelle Adjani and Sam Neill, to deliver a film worthy of high accolades yet relegated to obscur...

Julian, Madeline, and Emilio are joined by Brendan McDonald, the producer of 'WTF with Marc Maron,' to finish off their cycle of New York City movies with a "Close-Up" on the works of legendary cinematographer Owen Roizman. A versatile visual talent ready for whatever came his way, Roizman burst out of the gate with William Friedkin's crime drama "The French Connection" (1971), in which he unforgettably and frantically photographed a plethora of New York locales. This showcase of his skills m...

For our "Two Shot" episode featuring New York City movies, Emilio, Julian and Madeline welcome on fellow cinephile and cohost of Post Film Clarity Mariquita Reese to talk two recent NYC based films about late night desperation that sends characters racing around the boroughs - the Safdie Brothers' 'Good Time' from 2017 and Sean Baker's 'Anora' from 2024, the current Best Picture winner. The group discusses the depths of Connie's ineptitude and audacity, the ugly truths that the Safdies ...

For a bonus episode this week, Emilio goes solo to for a (mostly) spoiler free talk about a film he really loves, Ang Lee's "The Wedding Banquet". It was a successful and critically acclaimed independent film back when it was released in 1993, but has mostly stayed relevant as its esteemed director's international breakthrough. Yet it's a timeless film full of humor, compassion, and reflections on what we sacrifice of ourselves due to societal forces and the expectations of ...

Madeline, Julian, and Emilio continue their cycle of New York City movies with a "Suggestion Box" entry covering "Problemista," the film debut of director, writer, and actor Julio Torres, known previously for his writing on Saturday Night Live, HBO special "My Favorite Shapes," and co-creating and starring in the supernatural comedy "Los Espookys." Like other films the group have discussed in this cycle, "Problemista" depicts a recent immigrant's struggle to get by in New York City, but throu...

For this cycle's "Mise-Unseen" entry, Julian, Emilio and Madeline fire up 'Hester Street', Joan Micklin Silver's overlooked and under-appreciated film from 1975 depicting the struggles one Jewish family, recently immigrants to the United States, face while assimilating to life in their new homeland at the turn of the century. The trio comment on the film's unique depiction of New York City (particularly in relation to when it was first released), the unusual complexity that most charact...

Emilio, Madeline, and Julian are joined again by freshly-minted New Yorker Maggie Hill, who helps them kick off a new episode cycle focusing on New York City movies. They begin with a "View-nanimous" entry on “Frances Ha”, Noah Baumbach’s 2012 film co-written by him and the film’s star, Greta Gerwig. The four New York residents praise the many accuracies of the film and share their own NYC-specific stories about living as artists, navigating complex social situations, and searching for an ATM...

Julian, Madeline, and Emilio are graced by the enthusiastic presence of Tony-nominated actor Rob McClure to finish off their episode cycle on Oscar-Winning Supporting Performances with a "Close-Up" about three classic comedic roles, which each garnered their performers the coveted trophies. The first of these would be Kevin Kline's role in "A Fish Called Wanda" (1988), the British-American, Monty Python-adjacent caper where Kline plays the audaciously stubborn diamond thief Otto West. Next is...

This week, Emilio, Madeline, and Julian have the privilege of speaking to Jess LeProtto, an accomplished Broadway performer whose triple threat talents earned him the role of the thorny yet memorable Jet "A-Rab" in Steven Spielberg's 2021 remake of 'West Side Story'. Jess talks about his unusual first exposure to the music of West Side Story, the development and audition process, receiving character backstory from the film's Pulitzer Prize winning writer Tony Kushner, and the new histor...

For our "Two Shot" episode of Best Supporting Acting Winners, Madeline, Julian and Emilio keep things local, and with the help of actor/teacher/fight director Ron Piretti, they dive into both film adaptations of the beloved musical 'West Side Story'. Both the Jerome Robbins original and the Steven Spielberg remake have the distinction of earning the Best Supporting Actress Oscar in their respective years for their portrayals of the same character, Anita, by Rita Moreno in 1961 and Arian...

This week, Madeline, Emilio and Julian welcome back piano man extraordinaire and film aficionado Matt Friedman to discuss 'L.A. Confidential', the 1997 Neo-noir directed by Curtis Hanson and starring Russell Crowe, Guy Pearce, Kevin Spacey, and Kim Basinger in an Oscar-winning supporting role. The group discusses how this movie hits differently if you knew who Crowe and Pearce were upon first watch, how depictions of corrupt police from the 1950s read in 2025, how the film satisfyingly ...