From New York we head down to Baltimore, Maryland for DINER (1982) written and directed by Barry Levinson. This film was, in fact, shot in and around Baltimore, and Claude takes the time to flex his Baltimore geography knowledge. (By the way, when you're visiting the gravesite he mentions during the episode, you can also visit the grave of John Wilkes Booth, perhaps the best-marked unmarked grave in America.)
COMING ATTRACTIONS:
Next time we'll be doing a follow-up to Reel 12, with more Backstage Drama, with a slight twist. We'll start with TOPSY TURVY (1999) and move on to THE CLOUDS OF SILLS MARIA (2014). Join us, won't you?
This episode takes you to the places where a pair of directors grew up. Coincidentally, these places are also the stomping grounds for Your Humble Hosts.
We begin with MEAN STREETS (1973) . directed and co-written by Martin Scorsese, which is set in New York City. (Yeah, it was filmed in Los Angeles, but they found good locations so you don't really notice.) Scorsese weaves a tale through several incidents which were likely lifted from his life.
In Part 2, we'll go to Baltimore and have a bite at a DINER.
In Part Two of our episode, which isn't quite as packed as Part 1 (largely because it's a shorter, more straightforward story), we look at Wes Anderson's THE ROYAL TENENBAUMS, starring Gene Hackman, Anjelica Huston and a half-dozen or so other people as their adult children and in-laws. At the start of the film, the family isn't hanging together very well, until a little bit of deceit brings them closer. Then it separates them again. Then...well, just tune in.
COMING ATTRACTIONS:
In Episode 87 we're keeping our focus on directors (heh), with two films that are semi-autobiographical in nature. We'll begin with MEAN STREETS (1973), directed by Martin Scorsese, and finish with DINER (1982), directed by Barry Levenson.
In today's episode we are looking at the work of two directors named Anderson, although they're not related to one another.
We begin with Paul Thomas Anderson's MAGNOLIA, from 1999. This is a film that has the complexity of a Robert Altman film, in that we have many parallel stories in a few different spaces, and they do manage to bump into one another from time to time. PT Anderson sets us up for this in the opening scenes of the film, and it's a heckuva ride from one end to the other.
Stay tuned for Part 2, when we look at a film by Wes Anderson.
In this half of our episode we lighten the tone just a little bit for another Carl Franklin joint, Out of Time, starring Denzel Washington again (of course) along with Eva Mendes, Dean Cain and the always-delightful John Billingsley. In this film Denzel plays a police chief in Florida who needs to clear a murder before he, himself, becomes a suspect.
COMING ATTRACTIONS:
Our next episode is titled The Magnificent Andersons, as we review films directed by Paul Thomas, and then Wes, Anderson. We'll start with Magnolia (1999), and finish with The Royal Tenenbaums (2001). Join us, won't you?
This is the second of two episodes in which we look at films in which Denzel Washington is a lawman of some kind. We start with the 1995 neo-noir Devil in a Blue Dress, directed by Carl Franklin and co-starring the likes of Don Cheadle and Jennifer Beals. It's a period piece, set in post-WW2 California, and it deals with a man looking for a job but finding a mystery instead.
Stay tuned--in Part 2 we look at 2003's Out of Time (not to be confused with 1987's No Way Out, which has a few plot similarities.)
In the second half of our episode, Denzel returns to the United States, and to New York City for Inside Man (2006), a Spike Lee joint.
This is a crime thriller that has Denzel's character matching wits with a bank robber. There are lots of twists and turns and you're never sure who the titular "inside man" is until you're very close to the end—although there are lots of breadcrumbs to help you figure it out. If, that is, you know how to read them.
COMING ATTRACTIONS:
From the modern-day pieces of today's episode, we're going to jump to a period piece. Devil in a Blue Dress (1995) is set in post-war California. There's a mystery to be solved, and Denzel's the man to solve it. Finally, we wrap this package up with Out of Time (2003), which returns Denzel to the present day, but he's back in a tropical (well, subtropical, anyway) location to solve a murder before it can be pinned on him. Join us, won't you?
This is the first of two episodes we'll be doing, featuring Denzel Washington as a law enforcement officer of some kind.
We open up with The Mighty Quinn, a 1989 film that Washington made right on the heels of his stint in the television show St. Elsewhere. (Don't mistake it for his film debut, though.) Denzel is a police officer on a Caribbean island and there are some strange doings happening, which point to a good friend of his as the culprit. It's a story of comedy, corruption, government interference, voodoo, cool drinks and hot music as he works to crack the case.
In Part Two we come back to the states for Inside Man, from 2006.
In Part 2 of our triumphant return (shrug), we look at 2015's The Martian, directed by Ridley Scott. This film is set on two different planets: one of them has billions of people on it, and the other has...one. And we manage to jump back and forth between the two with tension and humor, and it's a fun ride the entire way. Does it make awesome scientific sense? Mostly, and the places where it doesn't, even the author (whose work is rather faithfully reproduced for this film) concedes that he needed to pull a couple of fast ones to get the story to work out.
COMING ATTRACTIONS:
We hope you like Denzel Washington, because we'll be seeing a bunch of him. First up is The Mighty Quinn, where he's fresh out of St. Elsewhere (but this isn't his film debut by a long shot). From there we check out The Inside Man, a movie with an ending you probably didn't see coming.
The show returns to begin 2025 with a look at a pair of films that, on their surface, couldn't possibly be more different from one another--but in fact they have more in common than you'd think. Both of them owe some debt to Howard Hawks, whether in visual style or dialogue patterns, or something else.
And we start with 1994's Speed, directed by Jan de Bont in his American directorial debut. Quick wit combined with action sequences make this a tight thriller with a light rom-com overlay.
In Part 2, we'll jump to 2015...and beyond!
In this half of the episode, we look at Bergman Island (2021), written and directed by Mia Hansen-Løve. It stars Tim Roth and Vicky Krieps as a couple who have come to Faro Island as fans of Ingmar Bergman and want to take the tourist view while they complete their own work in a house they've rented. Like some Bergman films, as the characters move deeper into the story, the line between the audience and the actors begins to dissolve, and we're reminded that we're watching a movie starring these actors-as-characters. It's hard to describe in writing but Bergman fans will understand instantly when they see the film.
COMING ATTRACTIONS:
Next time around, the directorial inspiration is Howard Hawks, with a couple of fairly recent films: Speed (1994) directed by Jan de Bont, and The Martian (2015), directed by Ridley Scott. Join us, won't you?
In our last episode we took a look at films that followed Alfred HItchcock's filmmaking style. This time around we're looking at films that have deep echoes of the work of Ingmar Bergman.
We start with Away From Her (2006), written and directed by Sarah Polley. Julie Christie plays a woman whose Alzheimer's is starting to advance, and her husband (Gordon Pinsent) has to deal with the guilt, the loneliness and all the other unexpected complications that come with placing her in a facility. It's probably one of the best films about Alzheimer's you'll see, and it's simultaneously sad and uplifting.
In Part 2, we'll talk about a movie that's a little more on the nose, with Bergman Island.
In this half of the episode, we're looking at Tell No One, a French film from 2006 directed and co-written by Guillaume Canet.
COMING ATTRACTIONS:
In our next episode we go from Hitchcock to Bergman, as we look at a pair of films styled after that director. We start with Away From Her (2006) and then to the aptly-named Bergman Island (2021). Join us, won't you?
In today's episode we explore films that look like they could be produced by Alfred Hitchcock, but they weren't. We start with Diva, from 1981.
In this half of the episode, we're reviewing the 1969 film Z, directed by Costa-Gavras. In this film we're in a European country that totally isn't Greece, and we see both sides of an ideological war between two extreme factions. It's a gripping story with an ending that's all too familiar, if you're politically cynical.
COMING ATTRACTIONS:
Episode 81 will be the first of three episodes where we look at films which are made in a very specific style. Perhaps it's homage to a director, perhaps it's unconscious imitation. Find out with us as we review 1981's Diva, directed by Jean-Jacques Beineix. From there we move to 2006 and Tell No One, directed by Guillaume Canet, both of which appear to be shot in the style of Alfred Hitchcock. Join us, won't you?
In this episode, we'll be taking a look at a pair of political thrillers, both of them based on real-life events. (It should be noted, however, that one of them is definitely fiction. Thinly-disguised fiction, but fiction nonetheless.)
We start with The Battle of Algiers (1966), co-written and directed by Gillo Pontecorvo. We're not talking about a military battle here so much as a story of terrorism and counter-terrrorism at work.
In Part 2 we'll be looking at 1969's Z (or Zed, if you prefer).
We conclude this overstuffed episode with a look at 1976's Network, directed by Sidney Lumet and starring William Holden, Peter Finch and Faye Dunaway.
Finch plays a television news anchor who decides to say exactly what's on his mind, and the audience reaction comes as a huge surprise to everyone. His bosses are only too happy to capitalize on this renewed popularity. But even though he's starting to show signs of mental instability, they continue to exploit him...until it stops paying off.
COMING ATTRACTIONS:
In our next episode we take a look at a pair of political thrillers from overseas. We start with The Battle of Algiers (1966), and move on to 1969's Z (or Zed, if you prefer). Join us, won't you?
Both Sean and I like both of these films so unabashedly that we wound up with a truly overstuffed episode.
This time around we're looking at a pair of films that turned out to be oddly prophetic in their vision, although one of them missed the mark, but only slightly.
In this part of the episode we examine the 1957 film A Face in the Crowd, directed by Elia Kazan and starring Patricia Neal and Andy Griffith as two people whose lives become intertwined when one of them becomes a media sensation. It's a brilliant examination of the "absolute power corrupts absolutely" ethos and leaves us wondering what happens next.
In this half of the episode, we look at When Harry Met Sally... and we learn that not all rom-coms are alike, even if most of them look alike and--unfortunately--sound alike.
COMING ATTRACTIONS:
Next time around we take a look at the dark side of television, starting with A Face in the Crowd (1957) and finishing up with Network (1976). Join us, won't you?
We're wrapping up our brief series of films that can definitely be enjoyed on the individual level, but the ripple effects they caused tend to make the films that follow in their wake to be somewhat less than amazing.
And this week we begin with Halloween, from 1978 and directed by John Carpenter. Jamie Lee Curtis is a teenager who has some truly supernatural adventures in babysitting. This film set some of the slasher film template, but alas some people just have to color outside the lines.
In the next segment we'll find out what happened When Harry Met Sally...
