Stuff We’ve Seen

Brian De Palma: Jim and Teal Get Obsessed.

What began as a curiosity turns into a full-blown Brian De Palma obsession as Jim and Teal tackle the filmography of one of cinema's great genre technicians. This episode is just a starting point of discussion, and there will be several more episodes of De Palma to come. 

We're not just talking Scarface, Untouchables, and Carrie, people. We are going full rabbit hole with this director, and uncovering early work, late entries and everything in between. The hope here is, after listening to our De Palma episodes, you'll want to check out more of his work too.

Death by Alogrithm: The Search for Movies with Style, Substance, and Soul

How did things go off the rails so quickly? Jim and Teal quickly find themselves down a rabbit hold of Robert Zemeckis' making, and the only way out of it is through the films of Yorgos Lanthimos. Teal finally watched Alps and Dogtooth, and he's all in with the daring Greek director's original filmic vision. 

But that then sends Teal into complaint mode, as he found himself watching two paint-by-numbers genre movies on Netflix that were so devoid of style and substance, he swears they were designed by an algorithm.

Sticking with the genre theme, Jim does some exploring of his own, and makes his way down under for a little Ozploitation.

This episode is full of weird, wild twists and turns. Enjoy!

You Don't Know Jack! Nicholson Vs. The Academy

This week Jim and Teal tackle the new Sofia Coppola film, On the Rocks, plus they take a deep dive into the many roles of Jack Nicholson. All this plus Jim watches one more Criterion Horror film, The Vampire Lovers, and Teal examines 1BR.

Thrillers, Killers, Chillers, and Drillers: Criterion Horror Films of the 70s Continued.

Jim and Teal continue their exploration of the Criterion Channel's 1970s horror offerings from 1974 - 1979. Also, some bonus 80s horror films are discussed, with extra attention paid to Videodrome. Finally, director Richard Stanley is back with his new horror Sci fi film, Color Out of Space. This is a movie that lets Nic Cage rage, and that's some high praise.

Jim and Teal Scare You to Death

Jim and Teal go full-on Halloween with their look at Criterion Channel's 1970s Horror film lineup. With so many movies to tackle it will take two episodes to cover them all, but enjoy this first installment now and look for part 2 later in the week.

Joel Potrykus: A Writer/Director Doing it His Way.

Writer/Director, Joel Potrykus joins Jim and Teal for a lively interview. They discuss Potrykus' films, Ape, Buzzard, The Alchemist Cookbook, and Relaxer, and a whole lot more. And as an awesome bonus, Joel shares his encounter meeting one of his film icons, Malcolm McDowell. 

Teal and Jim Give You the Feels

Need something to feel good about? Of course you do. Teal and Jim have you covered this week with their recommendations of My Octopus Teach (Netflix), Enola Holmes (Netflix), and Boyhood (Criterion Channel.) 

#byNWR, Nicolas Winding Refn All the Time.

This week Jim and his guest, Bill Muir, tackle the filmography of Danish provocateur, Nicholas Winding Refn. It's all about the #byNWR in this laugh-filled romp through the dark and violent world of Refn, including an extended discussion about the merits of Amazon Prime's, Too Old to Die Young.

The Devil All The Time and The Cotton Club Gets an Encore.

Netflix surprised Jim with a new offering, The Devil All The Time. Filled to the rim with white English and Australian actors playing Souther white characters from the late 1950s through mid 1960s this Southern Gothic offers a lot. But what does Teal have to say? That is the question for you, the podcast listener.

First up, though is Francis Ford Coppola's 1984 misfire, The Cotton Club, gets a new look thanks to a complete reworking done in 2019. Now available on Amazon Prime and other streaming services, Jim and Teal checked out Coppola's latest effort to re-imagine one of his earlier films, and talk about its problematic history. Does this new version come closer to the classic people envisioned when they first heard about the project?

 

All this, plus Jim and Teal discuss the current state of cinema going with the recent stateside failure of Tenet to get people into the theater. Is this the end of moving going in the US?

I'm Thinking of Ending Things: Charlie Kaufman's Manic Pixie Fixation.

On this week's episode Jim discusses the controversy surrounding the Netflix film, Cuties, and then Jim and Teal dissect Charlie Kaufman's, I'm Thinking of Ending Things. 

Things start to get spoiler-ish around the 32 minute mark, so if you haven't seen Thinking of Ending Things, and want to keep surprises and plot points in tact, don't listen past this point until you do. Listener be warned!