Deep in the heart of a brittle northern winter, four friends (the Crit Club) decide to attend a Danish 60th birthday party as we watch 1998’s The Celebration. The first of the famous (infamous?) Dogma95 movies, The Celebration has us descend on a wealthy manor for a patriarch’s special day and leaves us stranded in stark reality to watch the family’s dirty laundry fill the whole space with an unforgettable stench. Come and listen to what we thought of this fascinating movie and its place in larger film history. 

And next week, join us for a Peter PIck (no sound effect found). He’s picking the 1989 British black comedy How to Get Ahead in Advertising from Bruce Robinson. 

You can follow the whole of our podcast, aided by ⁠this helpful spreadsheet⁠ which documents all the scores we gave to the movies we have watched.

And drop us a line! You can email us at [email protected] or find us on Instagram or Threads with the handle @critclubpodcast.

Crit Club's theme song and art were made by co-host ⁠Peter Allen Clark⁠.

Good day to everyone. The Crit Club has the heat turned up so we can kick off our shoes and watch 1954’s Golden Age drama The Barefoot Contessa. This movie examines the spectacular rise and sudden fall of a Spanish dancer as she is absorbed into increasing levels of high society. Did we dance to the this film’s tune or pull our booties right back on? You’ll have to listen to see.

Next week, join us for a Coire pick as we watch the 1998 Dogma 95 movie, The Celebration.

You can follow the whole of our podcast, aided by this helpful spreadsheet⁠ which documents all the scores we gave to the movies we have watched.

And drop us a line! You can email us at [email protected] or find us on Instagram or Threads with the handle @critclubpodcast.

Crit Club's theme song and art were made by co-host ⁠Peter Allen Clark⁠.

Hello listeners and Happy New Year! For 2024, the Crit Club made the joint resolution to ride off on a magic carpet and never look back. To help us in that endeavor, we watched 1940’s epic fantasy adventure The Thief of Bagdad. Plucked from 1,001 Arabian Night, and subsequently used as the inspiration for Disney’s Aladdin, this special effects-heavy spectacle follows a usurped king on a quest to find a lost love. Listen along and see if this was an oasis in the desert of January, or a Technicolor case of sun poisoning.

Next week, it's an Angela pick! Join us to watch the movie (not the cooking show) The Barefoot Contessa from 1954.

You can follow the whole of our podcast, aided by ⁠this helpful spreadsheet⁠, which documents all the scores we gave to the movies we have watched.

And drop us a line! You can email us at [email protected] or find us on Instagram or Threads with the handle @critclubpodcast.

Crit Club's theme song and art were made by co-host ⁠Peter Allen Clark⁠.

Howdy partners, this week the Crit Club was roped into watching the incredibly named, 1954 Joan Crawford western Johnny Guitar. It’s a psychosexual drama of bitter rivalries, NIMBY politics, and someone named the Dancin’ Kid. Come give a listen and find out whether we rode off into the sunset with this one or left it tied to the railroad tracks. 

For next week, it’s a WIZARD PICK™, and we’ll be watching the 1940 historical fantasy film The Thief of Bagdad. Watch along with us!

You can follow the whole of our podcast, aided by ⁠this helpful spreadsheet⁠ which documents all the scores we gave to the movies we have watched.

And drop us a line! You can email us at [email protected] or find us on Instagram or Threads with the handle @critclubpodcast.

Crit Club's theme song and art were made by co-host ⁠Peter Allen Clark⁠.

If you think Crit Club is above challenging themselves with a three-hour, near-incomprehensible dreamscape, then our watching of David Lynch’s 2006 epic Inland Empire should prove you wrong. From a Polish barbeque attended by circus performers to a nightmare sitcom starring anthropomoric rabbits, we sat through it and then tried to piece it together. Come listen to how good of a job we did! 

And come listen next week where we’ll switch things up dramatically, with Joan Crawford’s 1954 tour de force western, the incredibly named Johnny Guitar.

You can follow the whole of our podcast, aided by ⁠this helpful spreadsheet⁠ which documents all the scores we gave to the movies we have watched.

And drop us a line! You can always email us at [email protected] or find us on Instagram or Threads with the handle @critclubpodcast.

Crit Club's theme song and art were made by co-host ⁠Peter Allen Clark⁠.

Tis the season! The WEDDING season, that is. This week your Crit Club pals are hitchin' a ride to watch Tricia get hitched in 1971’s surrealist satire short film Tricia’s wedding lovingly staged by a coterie of irreverent drag performers. Come listen and see whether we renewed our vows to this classic piece of queer performance art, or if we stood it up at the altar.

Join us next week for a Coire pick, where we’ll watch David Lynch’s last (and long) movie, 2006’s Inland Empire. 

You can follow the whole of our podcast, aided by ⁠this helpful spreadsheet⁠ which documents the all the scores we gave to the movies we have watched.

And drop us a line! You can always email us at [email protected] or find us on Instagram or Threads with the handle @critclubpodcast.

Crit Club's theme song and art were made by co-host ⁠Peter Allen Clark⁠.

October might be done with us, but we’re not done with October. This week, the Crit Club is clinging on to the last vestiges of spookiness with Abel Ferrara’s 1995 vampire horror film The Addiction. This heavy film, which uses everyone’s favorite Twilight characters as a metaphor for drug addiction, insists that it has a lot to say about free will, human cruelty, and redemption. Were we drawn into its worldview, or did we kick this film cold turkey. Listen to find out. 

You can follow the whole of our podcast, aided by ⁠this helpful spreadsheet⁠ which documents the all the scores we gave to the movies we have watched.

Next week we'll be watching the 1971 short film Tricia's Wedding.

And drop us a line! You can always email us at [email protected] or find us on Instagram or Threads with the handle @critclubpodcast.

Crit Club's theme song and art were made by co-host ⁠Peter Allen Clark⁠.

During this spooky month, the Crit Club decided to take yet another trip to an isolated location, specifically a desolate island in the north of Sweden for a chill bit of insomnia with Ingmar Bergman’s 1968 horror thriller Hour of the Wolf. This surrealist nightmare about art, existence, codependency, and self-perception follows a quiet, expecting couple making a home away from others, until the husband’s claustrophobic fears call down his internal demons to wreck the lives of them both. Come have a listen and see if the Crit Club thought it was worth staying awake until the Hour of the Wolf.

Catch the last dregs of our October watchings with next week’s Wizard Pick™ where we’ll check out Abel Ferrara’s 1995 vampire horror film The Addiction. Watch along with us!

You can follow the whole of our podcast, aided by this helpful spreadsheet which documents the all the scores we gave to the movies we have watched.

And drop us a line! You can always email us at [email protected] or find us on Instagram or Threads with the handle @critclubpodcast.

Crit Club's theme song and art were made by co-host ⁠Peter Allen Clark⁠.

They said it couldn’t be done. They swore up and down there was no way four nerds could record 50 podcast episodes about the Criterion Channel streaming service. Well, after three years and one pandemic, Crit Club is here with a 51st Episode Extravaganza to prove them all wrong. 

Come listen to Angela, Coire, Peter, and Wizard Chris talk through the highs, the lows, and the lasting impressions of our first 50 episodes. You can follow along with this helpful spreadsheet that documents the all the scores we gave to all the movies we watched: https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1j9G2235MBN7wI3n7_LuVI4UMA111gHStoN3szetlO-s/edit#gid=0

We’re not resting too comfortably on our laurels. We’ll be back next week to talk about Ingmar Bergman’s 1968 thriller Hour of the Wolf. Watch along with us!

And drop us a line! You can always email us at [email protected] or find us on Instagram or Threads with the handle @critclubpodcast.

Predictably, the Crit Club couldn’t stay away from France for long. This week, we joined a sloppy movie production for 1996’s Irma Vep from Olivier Assayas. This sly, meta commentary on the state of French films at the time stars Maggie Cheung playing a version of herself as she plays the titular Irma Vep in a haggard director’s lackadaisical attempt to reboot the silent classic Les Vampires. It’s a bit playful, a bit navel-gazy, and a lotta French. Did Irma Vep steal our hearts in the same fashion as those international jewel thieves from Les Vampires, or did it make us want to wrap the whole shoot? Listen to find out!

And since this was our 50th episode(!), next week we’re looking back at all the movies we’ve watched so far in a big 51st episode celebration show! Come join us for some good ol' nostalgia over the last three years, and a spreadsheet or two. 

If you want to get ready for the next movie we watch, Peter’s on his spooky season kick and has picked Ingmar Bergman’s 1968 horror thriller Hour of the Wolf. 

And drop us a line! You can email us at [email protected] or find us on Instagram or Threads with the handle @critclubpodcast.