Crit Club returns to at least half of its members' roots as we watch this 1976 documentary about a coal miner strike in the eponymous Harlan County, Kentucky. Come for this riveting and revolutionary look at small community collectively fighting for their livelihoods and stay for continuous dunking on capitalism. 

Other things mentioned in this episode: 

- Hades

- Titus

- What We Do in the Shadows

- Borat 2 (???)

Join us next week when we take a rough trip to France, to ride the rails with Agnès Varda's 1985 film Vagabond. 

Not ready for the spooky season to be over? Join the club. The Crit Club!  We're back this week with our Halloween themed episode where we discuss Vincent Price's 1973 schlocky romp Theater of Blood. The Criterion Channel has a lot of fun horror selections for scary October (and the far more frightening November), but only one movie has the costumes, the monologues and the fake mustaches of Theater of Blood. Come for the reviews, stay for the trampoline fencing scene. 

Other things talked about on this episode:

- The Lure

- Shaun of the Dead

- Masque of the Red Death

- The West Wing

- Star Trek: Discovery

- What We Do in the Shadows

- It Follows

- Bram Stoker's Dracula

Join us next week for what became our election episode, as we watch the groundbreaking 1976 documentary Harlan County U.S.A.

To quiet things down a bit, Crit Club takes a look at Hirokazu Kore-eda's 2008 meditative family drama Still Walking. It was Angela's pick, and as her, Coire, Wizard Chris and Peter form a family of their own in discussing this move, will they fall to the same brooding in-fighting and passive aggressive shaming on display in the film? Why don't you listen and find out, nosy. 

Other media we discussed:

Shoplifters

Magarosi

After Life

Yasoira Josu - Tokyo Story

Happiness

Midnight Diner - Tokyo Stories

Samurai Gourmet

Easy

Happy Christmas

Drinking Buddies

Join us next week, when Crit Club will belatedly celebrate Halloween with 1973's campy Vincent Price horror film Theatre of Blood.

Is this the real life? Is this just fantasy? Actually, it's Albert Brooks' 1979 directorial debut Real Life, and Crit Club wants to talk about it. Peter, Coire, Angela and Wizard Chris are back this week to talk about this dark mockumentary, how it stands the test of time now in our reality show lives and where it ranks in the history of comedy. Come listen!

Other media discussed during this episode:

An American Family (obviously)

The Plumber

Survivor

Judd Apatow movies

Monty Python

The Jerk

Defending Your Life

You Only Move Twice (Simpsons)

Music for Torching by AM Homes

Gone With the Wind

Beethoven

Beethoven’s Second

The Bachelor

The Bachelorette

Love Island

Next week join us while we quiet things down a bit with Hirokazu Kore-eda's Still Walking.

The Crit Club crew (Coire, Peter, Angela, and Wizard Chris) takes on Cheryl Dunye's 1994 The Watermelon Woman, a playful fake documentary about Dunye's search for a 1930's Black film actor whom she only knows as the watermelon woman. Part of the new queer cinema, the Watermelon Woman is a stage for Dunye to share her experience as a young, Black lesbian and explore the culture that came before her. 

Other media we mentioned during our discussion:

Clerks

Totally F***ed Up

F for Fake

Adaptation

I’m Thinking of Ending Things

Go Fish

Chasing Amy

Mallrats

Gummo

Tiger King

Join us next week as we discuss Albert Brooks' directing debut, 1979's Real Life.

This week, it's Wizard's pick! Crit Club takes on the 1987 Norwegian movie Pathfinder. Written and directed by Nils Gaup, it revolves around the indigenous Sami people of Scandinavia and tells the story of one of their old legends. 

Other things mentioned in this episode:

Pathfinder 2007

Willow

Legend

Never Alone (Kisima Ingitchuna)

Atanarjuat: The Fast Runner

Blood Quantum

Next week we will watch The Watermelon Woman by Cheryl Dunye. Come join us!

Crit Club heads to Eastern Europe on a cryptozoological safari. This week we're talking about Agnieszka Smoczyńska's 2015 Polish horror musical The Lure. Join us while some of us fall for the sirens' song, and some of us get lost in translation.

Other things brought up in this episode:

Meshes of the Afternoon - Maya daren

Umbrellas of cherbourg - Jacques Demy

Ginger snaps - John Fawcett

Mulholland drive - David Lynch

Demon - Marcin Wrona

Rocky Horror Picture Show

Tombstone - Clint Eastwood

Relic - Natalie Erika James

Next week's movie will be 1987's Pathfinder.

Crit Club takes on the Australian New Wave! This week, we discuss Peter Weir's 1979 psychological thriller The Plumber, a truly harrowing story about class, colonialism, and cannibalism.

On the inaugural episode of Crit Club, Coire, Angela, Wizard Chris and Peter look at Greg Arraki's 1993 New Queer Cinema classic Totally F***ed Up.