You know when you go into something with the best intentions? Well, this week, I think I tried that, and I know that I utterly failed. I suppose that’s the risk of drunkenly recording a podcast: you never know what you’re going to get. So this week’s episode is not really even about a film, it's about me getting angry when I think films are mean. Thankfully and as always, I can count on my man Labeja Kodua Okullu to deliver his usual brand of hopelessness in this week’s LABEJA'S SAD MAN SCENARIOS.

Coming off the back of a very spooky Friday 13th/Full moon combo, I was in the mood to hit up some horror. Enter one of my favorite films from 2017, CREEP 2. Armed with only one drinking rule, I found myself delighted by this 78-minute wonder, and booze aside, could not have picked a more-perfect film for episode 15 (what does that mean? I don't know). Although I'm recording solo, back in the closet of shame, I'm actually not the saddest thing from this mid-September week, as I introduce a brand new segment from Labeja Kodua Okullu: LABEJA'S SAD MAN SCENARIOS. 

After a strange week, I needed a pick-me-up: enter Nisha Ganatra's LATE NIGHT (2019). With an overall message of positivity in a world that can really suck sometimes, Mindy Kaling's script knows exactly what it is doing, despite her character's disarming charm. Sharing a great performance with Emma Thompson, the two women have a great chemistry that seems to have begun outside of the narrative, and has merely bled in to their onscreen world—brightened glances and smiling eyes abound. Is LATE NIGHT a cure for seasonal depression? Absolutely not, but it might distract you from it for 102 minutes, and what more could you possibly want from your entertainment?

With filmmaker Ian Mantgani and poet Labeja Kodua Okullu by my side, I drink way too much mezcal and become infatuated by Alan Johnson's Solarbabies. Through the magic of hindsight, we discuss how someone as seemingly intelligent as Mel Brooks goes into debt making a film like this, why M. Bison makes for a triggering villain and how, sometimes, fake torture is worse for the stuntmen then their fantasy counterparts. Going deeper than any other trio has ever dared, we are now officially the world's foremost Solarbabies scholars (Scholarbabies), and will be publishing our first book on the subject as soon as funding is secured. 

This week I'm joined by friend, journalist and politics-man Alex Schaffer, as we both discover the profound joys of modern Wayans. Is Sextuplets 20 years too late, or is it a timely reflection of current social stratification? Given how much we drank, I'd err on the side of the former, but who's to really say. Though pleasantly surprised by the quality of this absurd film, the meat of our conversation centered around the idea of Netflix as a kind of modern boredom insurance. A bit above our purview, sure, but a damn interesting topic at the time (we think).

Life isn't all booze and movies, it's also got alcohol and television. This week, I turn away from the big screen to focus on the little one. Are movies really dead? Is this the golden age of television? My head still hurts from drinking, so I can't tell you if I answered these or any questions, but I will assume that the episode will be all the better for it. 

This week I find myself on America's northern border, battered from the journey, and much more incoherent than my intrepid part 2 co-host, Doug (Doug does not have a surname, do not ask for it). With the anonymity of Jenna Ricker's Buffalo reflected by our own Doug, the convoluted no-placeness of THE AMERICAN SIDE comes right to the front of our intoxicated conversation. As this plucky detective story vies to bewilder us with one-liners and narrative twists, we find ourselves lost in the fray, dissecting this middle-of-the-road offering. Trying our best, we explore the artifice of cinema (drunk us did not see it this way), commenting on strangely punchy dialogue, chunky editing and knowing your script too well for your own good. Join us on this chilly jaunt up to the brutalist grey of Buffalo and the American side (of Niagara falls). 

Having slunk back into the closet of shame, my mood cooled like summer into fall. Despite Keenen Ivory Wayans' uplifting and absurd film, I was unable to shake some nagging feelings, and decided to go on a rant that might eventually end identity bias in the film industry. What is identity bias? I don't know, but I can tell you that WHITE CHICKS is in contention for 'Best Film of 2004'. 

This week's episode finds itself blessed by the worldwide premier of APOCALYPSE OF THE BLOOD FREAK. Part anthology, part socialist cry into the black hole of auteur theory, this film by first-time director A.P. Clarke (of The Lost Cat Podcast fame) is something all fledgling filmmakers should aspire to; proving once and for all, that a feature film is within your reach, you just have to be nice enough to grab it. Featuring the director himself, our esteemed colleague Dr. George Crosthwait and the lovely Zoë Anderson (aka DJ Shabbee Chic), we host a transcontinental episode that takes aim at the filmmaking process, horror fandom, mean gin drunkenness, being nice to get ahead and a bunch more that I can't remember. 

Continuing my streak of special guests, I have old friend and fantastic writer, Dylan Moses Griffin with me talking about Rian Johnson’s Brick (2005). On a journey that saw perhaps one too many negronis, Dylan and I come full circle while discussing Johnson’s filmmaking, creativity and the (now dead) thing that brought us together: film criticism.