Cinebuds

It’s always preferable to have our usual dynamic duo piloting the podcast. But when that’s not the case, it usually means we’re making room for some special guests. For this episode, we’ve got two who know their way around movie making and are using that knowledge to make a positive impact on all of Wisconsin.

Writer/director Nathan Deming, who hails from the northern reaches of the state, is smack dab in the middle of an ambition project to create 12 films set in Wisconsin, with each taking place in a different month (January and February are already a wrap). Jeffrey Kurz is a Racine native and former studio exec at Miramax Films. Both are involved with Action! Wisconsin, a statewide group pushing to make Wisconsin friendlier for film and television production.

It’s not just movie types involved, either. In addition to the many people involved in film production — from directors to technicians — the coalition includes city governments, hotels, restaurants, small-business owners and educators. Their goal: to create jobs, lift local economies and promote tourism across the state.

They scored a big win earlier this year, when Wisconsin legislators passed and Governor Tony Evers signed into law the creation of production incentives and a state film office. You’ll hear from Deming and Kurz about how that victory happened, how filming in Wisconsin can be a win for everyone and a few personal stories from their own movie-watching histories (including the ones that made them cry).

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Cinebuds is sponsored by Joe Wilde Co.

When is a concert film not a concert film?

It's an existential question that's particularly fitting for this episode, as we focus on a movie that is literally about death. And also new-wave-slash-electronic-music legends Depeche Mode.

The unfortunate intersection between those two subjects is the death of the band's keyboardist, Andy Fletcher, in 2022 and subsequent release of 2023 album Memento Mori. During that difficult time, remaining members Dave Gahan and Martin Gore went on tour to support the record and invited Mexican director to Fernando Frias capture their performances in Mexico City in September of 2023.

Combining the footage with "interpretive interstitials and archival material," Frias delved into his culture's relationship with death and came away with Depeche Mode: M. On this episode, Kpolly leads our own delving with a specialized crew representing the two major sides of the movie:

You'll hear what all three of them had to say about the documentary, how well it connected to the culture and whether it'll hit with people not quite as familiar with the band (like Paula). Plus, there's a quick detour into favorite concert films, first movies and — perhaps in response to all the death talk — laugh-out-loud comedies.

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Cinebuds is sponsored by Joe Wilde Garage Door Company.

In this episode, we take a very special trip … to the Bizarro World.

Imagine a place that is the opposite of the Cinebuds universe. A place where the two main characters are awful to their very core. A pair of people who hate everything, including each other. A couple who are … gulp … married.

The duo at the center of Roald Dahl’s novel-turned-Netflix-movie The Twits are truly the Bizarro version of Dori and Kpolly, who are notoriously nice and do not hate indiscriminately and are definitely NOT married. They do, however, manage to disagree about The Twits movie adaptation in their own agreeable way. 

Maybe you’re more like Dori and will have trouble disconnecting the plot from certain real-world events or find the Twits “a little bit too much.” Maybe you’re more like Kpolly and will deeply dig the "really impressive" animation and creative plot additions to the source material. Find out for yourself by listening to the episode in full and checking out The Twits on Netflix.

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Cinebuds is sponsored by Joe Wilde Co.

The only thing more plentiful than Halloween candy is Halloween watchlists. Our favorite fall holiday (you heard us, Thanksgiving) was celebrated for the first time more than 2,000 years ago, possibly to recognize the first batch of Circus Peanuts ever manufactured.

Fun fact: They haven’t needed to make any more, because no human being has ever actually eaten a Circus Peanut. We’ve just been passing around the same ones for two millenia.

That’s also a lot of movie-making time, enough for the catch-all “horror” genre to split off so many subgenres. Slasher. Monster. Folk. Body. Even comedy. But that still wasn’t specific enough when Dori and Kpolly set off to give you their recommendations for this film-friendly time of year. So our scions of the cinema picked two pretty granular categories — "'70s Scares"  and "Mild Frights" — and sprinkled their picks throughout this episode.

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Cinebuds is sponsored by Joe Wilde Co.

Have you ever played a two-player game where the other person keeps getting in your way, inadvertently knocking you into the nearest lava pit or spiky enemy? Anyone who has ever played any of the Super Mario games knows the phenomenon. Well, this is the podcast version of that — except nobody rage quits.

To clarify, our hosts didn’t exactly see eye-to-eye on Tron: Ares, Disney’s latest attempt to breathe some life (or put another quarter into) the franchise that started way back in 1982. In fact, one of our hosts was so “out” on this movie that she didn’t even bother showing up for this episode!

OK, that’s not exactly true. Dori couldn’t quite make this one work with her schedule, and fortunately we had a very able guest ready to step in: local Milwaukee filmmaker James Tindell! In addition to knowing a thing or two about movies, he’s a self-described “Tron superfan,” which means he was either going to REALLY like the latest installment or REALLY not like it.

From our metaphor in the first paragraph, it's clear that however he felt, Kpolly didn't quite agree. To find out who fell on which side, check out the full episode.

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Cinebuds is sponsored by Joe Wilde Co.

It's another special guest episode!

Getting the big welcome this time around is one of our wonderful return vistors: Julie Lookatch from the Harry & Rose Samson Family Jewish Community Center, who drops by to drop some knowledge about the 28th annual Milwaukee Jewish Film Festival. She's got all the who, what, when, where and why for this year's event that runs from Oct. 26-30 at the Marcus North Shore Cinema, followed by a streaming option the following week.

Julie, Dori and Kpolly logically start with opening-night film Midas Man, the biopic about The Beatles' longtime manager (and the guy who discovered them), Brian Epstein. From there, they jump around the curated lineup to heartwarming dramedy The Ring, the more straightforward drama Soda, cat-and-mouse documentary The Stamp Thief, and the festival's romcom closer Matchmaking 2.

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Cinebuds is sponsored by Joe Wilde Co.

Being the hosts of a big-time podcast like this one gets you access to some pretty cool stuff. It also turns out that being a fan of a big-time podcast like this one can pay off from time to time — like getting the chance to see the most talked about movie in the country before anyone else!

We like exaggerating now and then, but for One Battle After Another, our cinematic trio (yes, trio) got the privilege to be in the audience for an advance screening happening at only 13 locations nationwide. Milwaukee’s own Oriental Theatre landed on that exclusive list, and Radio Milwaukee member Sara Frenn got the exclusive opportunity to watch the movie with Dori and Kpolly, then talk about it on this episode.

What do they have to say about it? There are a lot of words in a 30-minute podcast, but some of the choice ones are “surprising,” “misleading” (in a good way) and “unexpected.”

If you’ve only seen a trailer or ad for the film, you’d be forgiven for thinking One Battle After Another is an action-y thriller. While it has those elements, the laughs go well beyond mere comic relief and do more than break up tense moments. This is a genuinely funny movie that still manages to mix in impressive action sequences — a combination that makes this nearly 3-hour film feel much shorter and yet still epic in scale.

We've gotten more than a few chances to talk with special guests about a particular film they're involved in, but this episode takes things to a wonderful new level.

At the center of our discussion is the beautiful new documentary, It's Never Over, Jeff Buckley, which received overwhelmingly positive reviews after its Sundance premiere. Through never-before-seen footage of Jeff, as well as interviews with people close to him, the film becomes a graceful retrospective on the gifted musician we lost far too soon.

Nobody understands that feeling better than Jeff Buckley's mother, Mary Guibert, and we were honored to speak with her for this episode. She shares the origin story of this deeply personal project that was decades in the making, and how she decided to put the story of her son in the hands of director Amy Berg.

We also hear about her earliest memories of Jeff's love for music, from singing Spanish nursery rhymes as a toddler to getting a Les Paul guitar that he practically slept with, and the nonprofit organization Road Recovery, which was inspired by Jeff's life to help at-risk youth turn tragedy into harmony through the power of music.

Stick around to the end to hear Guibert's answer to Dori's trademark question, as she reveals what "Scotty" --- as his mom still calls him --- would say his childhood smelled like.

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Cinebuds is sponsored by Joe Wilde Co.

This week, we’re talking all about The Roses, the new film starring the delightful Olivia Colman and Benedict Cumberbatch. It's a modern remake of the '80s classic The War of the Roses, telling the story of a lovely couple whose marriage begins to unravel, leading to a hilariously escalating divorce.

Join us as we compare this updated version to the original, discussing how its deeper character development makes the couple’s mean-spirited sabotage feel both uncomfortable and pretty darn funny at the same time. We also dive into the stellar performances from the entire cast, including Andy Samberg and Kate McKinnon, and touch on fun details like the clever gender-role reversal from the original film.

The only way to describe this episode is "super special" considering the person in the spotlight: Milwaukee-born director Michael Schultz! 

Milwaukee Film introduced a new annual award named in his honor that recognizes luminary Black directors who have profoundly impacted culture and the film industry. Schultz himself will be the first recipient and, very deservedly, will get a full weekend of programming at the Oriental Theatre on Sept. 12 and 13.

Dori and Kpolly delve into Schultz on this episode with a discussion about his prolific career directing for the stage and screen, his groundbreaking moment as the first Black director nominated at the Cannes Film Festival, and a look at some of his outstanding work, including The Last Dragon.

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Cinebuds is sponsored by Joe Wilde Co. and our wonderful Radio Milwaukee members.