Director's Club

As we get closer to Episode 200 (technically Episode 300 if you count bonus episodes), one of the more exciting traditions that started seven years ago in 2015 continues onward with the help of Chicago film critics and pals Collin Souter & Erik Childress as we look back at an entire year in cinema and this one could very well be the longest episode of the show ever.

There's so much to cover, so much to revisit and there are song cues and sound clips to bring you back 30 years to review the year that was. Strap in for yet another exciting edition of the yearly retrospective. Stay tuned for Episode 199 on Todd Haynes late this month too. All the retrospectives are available at the link below and be sure to check out Collin's podcast and Erik's podcasts as well!

All Of The Yearly Retrospective Episodes:

https://www.directorsclubpodcast.com/archives/yearsinreview

Check Out The Friendship Dilemma:

http://www.nowplayingnetwork.net/the-friendship-dilemma

Check Out Christmas Movies Actually:

http://www.nowplayingnetwork.net/christmasmoviesactually

Check Out Movie Madness:

http://www.nowplayingnetwork.net/moviemadness

This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit directorsclub.substack.com/subscribe

Most of my new episodes this year are all about revising, rethinking and revisiting directors covered here in the past. Yes, I guess you can call these sequels but "reboots are in." Joining me to talk about one of my favorite filmmakers this time are two wonderful podcasters and writers of the highest caliber.

Returning guest Ryan McNeil of The Matinee.Ca is back alongside the one and only Marya Gates making her Director's Club debut that I could not be more excited about since it turns out, Jane Campion is her favorite director. We run down pretty much her entire filmography. There's also some discussion about a few Sundance 2022 titles for the what we watched segment as well including BRAINWASHED: SEX-CAMERA-POWER.

00:00 - 09:18 - Introduction
09:19 - 28:31 - What We Watched Recently
28:32 - 01:35:02 - Campion Discussion 1
01:35:03 - 02:11:46 - Campion Discussion 2
02:11:47 - 02:18:34 - Top 3 Campion / Outro

Follow All-Things Marya Gates:
https://linktr.ee/oldfilmsflicker
https://letterboxd.com/oldfilmsflicker

Follow All-Things Ryan McNeil:
http://www.thematinee.ca
https://letterboxd.com/matinee

Ryan & Marya Review The Power Of The Dog:
http://www.thematinee.ca/episode274

Jim, Patrick & Steven Ray Morris Talk Campion A Decade Ago:
https://directorsclubpodcast.libsyn.com/website/episode-36-jane-campion

Check Out A New Podcast That Just Launched On NPN:
http://www.nowplayingnetwork.net/the-friendship-dilemma

For this bonus episode, I announce the winners of the Blu-Ray giveaway during the introduction and talk about future plans and possible revisions. Those changes will be confirmed in the months to come but this episode is mainly just a quick showcase regarding the movie that changed my life forever. I’ve talked about it a lot in the past and have done some interviews about it. Here, I just put three excerpts together of moments where I discuss the film PUMP UP THE VOLUME with others including writer/director Allan Moyle and actress Samantha Mathis. Mathis also talks about River Phoenix and working with Peter Bogdanovich which I felt was timely to include.

Later on I play an extended clip from Corey Pierce’s The Soundtrack Of Your Life which is a now-defunct podcast that I highly recommend checking out all episodes of which I linked below. I figured with Episode 200 around the corner (technically 300 with bonus episodes), I’d mention again why this film means so much to me for its partially responsible for turning me into the podcaster / cinephile that I am today. Thank you to everyone for the email entries for the contest and for your kind words and encouragement these past 11 years. It means a lot to me, truly. Stay tuned for more!

00:00 - 15:09 - Introduction
15:10 - 24:44 - Allan Moyle Excerpt
24:45 - 35:02 - Samantha Mathis Excerpt
35:03 - 59:04 - Soundtrack Of Your Life / Outro

Allan Moyle Interviews:
https://www.voicesvisions.net/episodes/allanmoyle

Samantha Mathis Interview:
https://www.voicesvisions.net/episodes/samanthamathis

Soundtrack Of Your Life Podcast:
https://www.rowthree.com/category/podcast/ostl
https://www.rowthree.com/2014/08/01/soundtrack-of-your-life-4-pump-up-the-volume

New Website (work-in-progress):
https://www.directorsclubpodcast.com

Another year in cinema has come and gone. 2021 was certainly one of the more difficult and challenging years for me personally (we all needed lots of hugs) but it's ended on a high note particularly with the films discussed here. As always, I needed to invite special guests to celebrate the year in cinema, two familiar voices you know and love join me to discuss our favorite films of 2021. Returning to the show is my dear friend Patrick Ripoll, current host of Tracks of the Damned and former co-host of this here show. Another great returning champion and former co-host is Brad Strauss who was kind enough to take over hosting duties for a few years, doing stellar work with his compadre Al. Happy to have him join us too!

This time you're in for a treat because you can actually win a couple of Blu-Rays by listening to the episode and following the instructions given (all entries/emails must be in by Jan 11th). After summarizing the year that was, we run down a list of categories/awards like we do every time as well as a list of honorable mentions before revealing our top ten favorite films of the year. Prepare yourself for a song later on to celebrate someone who is definitely there in spirit but couldn't join us this time, the one and only Bill Ackerman of Supporting Characters. This was one heck of a year and now it's time to listen to us talk about it for five hours. Much gratitude to all of you for listening and for all the support. 11 years of doing this show and there's never a dull moment. Happy New Year and thanks to my great guests for their lists and wonderful insights as expected - Jim

00:00 - 20:54 - Introductions / Thoughts On 2021
20:55 - 01:01:37 - Ancillary Awards / Categories
01:01:38 - 01:23:04 - Honorable Mentions
01:23:05 - 02:55:02 - #10-#5
02:55:02 - 03:33:44 - #5-#3
03:33:44 - 04:10:39 - #3, #2
04:10:40 - 04:13:39 - Bill's 40 Favorite Films Song
04:13:40 - 04:58:36 - Favorite Film Of 2021 / Outro

Bill Ackerman’s 40 Favorite Films:
https://auteuristtrap.blogspot.com/2021

Jim's Letterboxd:
https://letterboxd.com/jimlaczkowski/list/2021-ranked

Brad’s Letterboxd:
https://letterboxd.com/brads/list/year-by-year-2021-ranked

Check Out Patrick's Podcast:
https://www.nowplayingnetwork.net/tracksofthedamned

The Chicago Film Critics Awards For 2021:
https://chicagofilmcritics.org/blog/2021cfcawinners

Send Me An Email By January 11th (details in the show):
[email protected]

Joining me today for a shorter but another in-depth discussion is the wonderful co-host of Christmas Movies Actually, Kerry Finegan. Over a year ago, she asked if I had done an episode on this director yet and of course, this is one I have wanted to cover for quite some time having only seen a couple of his films two decades ago. As stated in the episode, there simply has to be a sequel in the future for this name because we have so much left to cover mainly his very accomplished work in film noir! A couple of those I highly recommend when I reveal my list of favorites.

Austrian-German filmmaker Fritz Lang, who is sometimes referred to as the “inventor of film noir," was initially known as a silent film director that made an eventual science fiction cult classic known as METROPOLIS. But as we both say in this episode, M stands for masterpiece so we cover that title along with his first feature made in America with Spencer Tracy, FURY, along with THE TESTAMENT OF DR. MABUSE. For the what we watched segment, I bring up the little-seen coming-of-age dramedy PINK SKIES AHEAD and there is also a review of a certain MATRIX sequel that has just come out as well.

00:00 - 07:28 - Introduction
07:29 - 31:13 - What We Watched Recently
31:14 - 01:37:31 - Fritz Lang Discussion
01:37:32 - 01:46:36 - Top 3 Films / Outro

You may not know the name of today's guest but hopefully you are aware of the subject of his new documentary, ADRIENNE. This is one of the best films of 2021. Personally, the radiant Adrienne Shelly was one of my favorite actresses ever since discovering her in the early 90s through the work of Hal Hartley. Then she went on to write and direct one of my favorite romantic comedies, Waitress, which is now a successful Broadway play. I may be biased in loving Andy's film due to my love of Shelly but I guarantee watching it is an experience that everyone will connect to in some way.

Whether it's discovering who Adrienne was as an artist or seeing how the family responds to tragedy, there is something for everyone here, as hard as it is to watch at times especially if you're a fan of her work and wish we could have so much more. But Andy's brave and compassionate approach is truly something to treasure and there's no doubt Adrienne would approve. Thank you so much to Andy for not only this film but for a lot of joy and insight in remembering a true talent, taking from us way too soon. I'm grateful to Adrienne for the legacy she left and please go back and celebrate all of her work as an actress/writer/director.

View ADRIENNE:
https://www.hbo.com/movies/adrienne

Learn more about The Adrienne Shelly Foundation:
https://www.facebook.com/TheAdrienneShellyFoundation

Follow Andy On Twitter:
https://twitter.com/AndyOstroy

Having made three films as a director, Sarah Polley has become one of my favorite storytellers. All of her work has reflected an experience I’ve had to one degree or another and I’ve been a fan of hers going all the way back to her roles in films like GO and THE SWEET HEREAFTER. Joining me for an insightful discussion on her extraordinary three movies is returning guest and friend Kate Blair, who has written for several film websites and remains one of my favorite people to talk movies with. 

For this episode, we go through Polley’s exceptional work starting with her debut feature AWAY WE GO and ending on the hybrid docudrama STORIES WE TELL. And of course, there’s a lot to say about the rather divisive TAKE THIS WALTZ as well. Be sure to preorder Polley’s first memoir coming out next year and check out her interviews and podcasts because she’s passionate, articulate and remarkably brave and revealing in so many ways. In addition, we briefly talk about the HBO show SUCCESSION, PTA’s LICORICE PIZZA and the heartbreaking new Netflix documentary PROCESSION which was recently shown at the 2021 Chicago Critics Film Festival.

00:00 - 09:08 - Introduction
09:09 - 32:30 - What We Watched Recently
32:31 - 02:04:09 - Sarah Polley’s Films
02:04:10 - 02:12:16 - Outro

Kate Blair’s Letterboxd

Sarah Polley on The Thin Red Line

DGC Podcast: Sarah Polley |  Adaptation Process & Changing Expectations for Directors 

Sarah Polley Opens Up About What Really Matters to Her

Sarah Polley - Interview Magazine

Preorder Sarah’s Memoir Out in 2022

Director's Club is proud to present a special episode hosted by regular contributor Bill Ackerman of the Supporting Characters podcast. He is joined by filmmaker and film programmer Chris O'Neill to talk about the latest film, Zeros and Ones from the last director we covered on the show, Abel Ferrara. In addition, there is an interview with the director himself which is a true honor.

I can't thank Bill enough for doing this which I would've loved to have been a part of but my final semester in grad school is starting to wrap up so I've been extra busy. Looking forward to catching up with this film and for fans of Ferrara, this is a real treat. Thank you so much Bill & Chris for their hard work and thoughtful insights. Be sure to check out Zeros and Ones. The film will play in select theaters and available everywhere you rent movies on November 19th - Jim

The Chicago Critics Film Association throws an annual film fest, giving the public a chance to see buzzed-about unreleased films that deserve to be seen on the big screen. This year's lineup includes a 40th anniversary 35mm midnight screening of Michael Mann's THIEF in addition to several titles that critics are raving about including Maggie Gyllenhall's THE LOST DAUGHTER and Jane Campion's THE POWER OF THE DOG among several other titles that I’m excited to see. Not to mention Collin Souter’s incredible mixtape / playlist of short films that are playing Saturday afternoon too!

Joining me to review a few of the titles that's he seen is returning guest Bill Ackerman who will soon enough be contributing his own bonus content for this podcast in the form of an interview with the great Abel Ferrara! Thank you so much to Bill and please come out to the Music Box this coming weekend (November 12-14) for one exciting lineup that is previewed and discussed here on this episode! Thanks to all the hard-working Chicago critics that put this wonderful event together.

Come To The Chicago Film Critics Festival:
https://musicboxtheatre.com/events/the-chicago-critics-film-festival

The Chicago Film Critics Association:
https://chicagofilmcritics.org

Check out Bill's podcast:
https://nowplayingnetwork.net/supportingcharacters

One of the best guests you can have on any movie podcast would be Supporting Characters host Bill Ackerman, who returns for a yearly visit, this time to talk about the down & dirty gritty auteur Abel Ferrara. Usually for October, we try our best to talk about a horror director and though Ferrara isn't classified as one, you can certainly look at his films as being disturbing with some horrific scenes and well, THE ADDICTION does have vampires after all. Bill saw probably three times as much as I did though I managed to comment on about ten titles throughout the conversation. The ones everyone has likely seen are what we talk about at length including MS. 45, KING OF NEW YORK, BAD LIEUTENANT, TOMMASO and more! In addition, for the what we watched segment, Bill reviews WHEEL OF FORTUNE AND FANTASY and I bring up I bring up Mia Hansen-Love’s BERGMAN ISLAND.

00:00 - 08:22 - Introduction
08:23 - 31:59 - What We Watched Recently
32:00 - 02:00:14 - Early Ferrara (up to The Addiction)
02:00:15 - 02:56:44 - Middle To Recent Ferrara
02:56:45 - 03:02:57 - Top Ferrara Films / Outro

Check out Bill's podcast:
https://nowplayingnetwork.net/supportingcharacters

Follow Bill on Letterboxd:
https://letterboxd.com/billackerman

Ranked Letterboxd List For This Episode:
https://letterboxd.com/jimlaczkowski/list/episode-193-abel-ferrara