Cinemakers

Our tumble down the rabbit hole of Amy Heckerling's career continues as we cover National Lampoon's European Vacation. How naive we were to think that last week's movie was rough! Little did we know just how much we'd all collectively dislike our journey abroad. While Heckerling helped Robert Klane write the screenplay, the good news is that this is the final movie we're covering in this run that Heckerling does not have a writing credit on. From here on out, everything is hers (and hers alone, presumably), which will bring this series right in line with the heart and spirit of Cinemakers. In this episode, we cover this curs'd production (both on-screen and off) but quickly stray into a conversation about nostalgia and memory. It's a good chat! If you'd like to become a member and support us on Patreon, head to patreon.com/cageclub

Johnny Dangerously marks the second installment in our journey through Amy Heckerling's filmography. Can it live up to the wonder that was Fast Times at Ridgemont High? We dive deep (well, as deep as we can) into this movie to see which jokes landed; whether the film worked as an homage, spoof, or satire; and whether or not we just were way out of our depth by a movie set 80 years in the past. Will Amy Heckerling continue her streak of greatness or will she endure a sophomore slump? Listen to this episode of Cinemakers and find out for yourself!

Aside from critical and commercial success, Amy Heckerling shares something in common with both Steven Soderbergh and Christopher Nolan (the two previous directors we've covered on Cinemakers): her first film is one of her best. Fast Times at Ridgemont High is an incredible debut and one of the greatest (and funniest) high school films ever made. (It also marked the feature film debut of a certain actor we're pretty fond of around these parts.) We're thrilled to welcome in Cara of the Wistful Thinking podcast to talk about this run of Cinemakers, which is our first season to examine a female director's filmography. Fast Times set the tone for Amy Heckerling's career and, oh, what a way to begin!

Now that we've finished out our Cinemakers season of Christopher Nolan movies, it's time for another quick detour/one-off episode to cover two films by a trio of up-and-coming filmmakers: the RKSS Collective. Both Turbo Kid and Summer of 84 rely very heavily on nostalgia for the 1980s, but do they hold up as films or do they buckle under the overabundance of references and allusions? To answer this question, we welcome Nick Jenkins of the Reel Bad podcast, to help us break down both movies and figure out what works, what doesn't, and what might come next.

After ten short weeks, we've made it to the shores of Dunkirk and to the end of the Cinemakers run for Christopher Nolan. Past Cinemakers co-host Tobin Addington says Dunkirk is the only Christopher Nolan movie he loves (but he loves it enough for ten movies' worth). While your humble hosts disagree with his take on the rest of Nolan's filmography, will they agree with his take opinion of Dunkirk?

Is Interstellar one of Christopher Nolan's best films, or is it emotionally manipulative and narratively shallow? It turns out... it depends who you ask! We're nearing the end of this run of Cinemakers (with only Dunkirk to go), and this week's episode covers Christopher Nolan's (possible) magnum opus. A sprawling nearly three-hour epic with Academy Award winners as far as the eye can see, Interstellar interwaves stories of love, loss, and outer space. Also, TARS is here, and TARS is the best.

The Dark Knight Rises caps off Christopher Nolan's Dark Knight trilogy -- or at least Batman/Bruce Wayne's narratives -- in spectacular fashion. While each of Nolan's three Batman movies stands alone, the journey of Bruce Wayne from scared boy to Gotham's Knight encapsulates one of the greatest superhero arcs in cinematic history. While this movie may be a little long, there's no question that it wraps up this Batman story in appropriately epic style. Also, Anne Hathaway is in this movie and she's the absolute best and we gush about her a whole lot. Side note: today's episode of The Reel Bad Podcast is also taking on The Dark Knight Rises, and I'm sure that episode will play out a little bit differently than this one...

Inception is Christopher Nolan's first wholly original film since Following, and perhaps his most mind-bending film in a career full of them. Sandwiched between the Dark Knight films, Inception is the culmination of a 10-year script process that Christopher Nolan had worked on since Insomnia wrapped. But with double the audience surrogates and 399 (!!!) questions asked by characters in the film, did things get a bit too complicated?

The Dark Knight changed the game for comic book movies and ushered in a new type of superhero film. But you already knew that. What's left to say about The Dark Knight? Nothing that hasn't already been talked about ad nauseam, but that didn't stop us from running our traps for two hours to effuse praise on the movie, the trilogy, and (of course) Heath Ledger's performance. While The Dark Knight isn't perfect and isn't necessarily Nolan's best movie -- watching all of Nolan's films in order makes you realize that the guy's made a ton of really, really good movies... who knew?! -- it's ludicrously fun and well-made.