Fifteen Minute Film Fanatics

Mike and Dan kick off season 3--one devoted to horror, suspense, and monsters--with Netflix's The Devil All the Time (2020). One of the pair admires the performances; the other argues (with a secret list) that the film contains everything wrong with contemporary movies. Join Mike and Dan as they board the Netflix Original Movie bandwagon.

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Dan and Mike finish Season 2 with a Film Fanatic's Favorite: Jonathan Demme's 1991 The Silence of the Lambs. What makes this movie so rewatchable--despite its having all of the elements of every other serial killer movie? Mike offers his Theory of Three Villains, Dan points out something he noticed about camera placement, and the two of them talk about why Buffalo Bill is much more terrifying than Jason Voorhees, Michael Myers, Freddie Kruger, The Candyman, Chucky, and Saw all put together. If you love the film, give it a listen. If you don't love it, they don't know what to tell you.

Please subscribe to the show wherever you get your podcasts and follow us on YouTube, Twitter and Letterboxd. Please rate and review the show on Apple podcasts and contact us at [email protected]. Incredible bumper music by John Deley.

Dan and Mike talk about the Coen brothers' second film, Raising Arizona (1987). Dan compares the opening to that of Up and Mike talks about H.I.'s attempt to sound dignified. Are, as Dan claims, the light touches and moments funnier than the jokes? Is, as Mike argues, the car chase one of the best in movie history? And what about the letter grades that the guys give to each Coen brothers film? 

Please subscribe to the show wherever you get your podcasts and follow us on YouTube, Twitter and Letterboxd. Please rate and review the show on Apple podcasts and contact us at [email protected]. Incredible bumper music by John Deley.

Is Godfather 3 all that bad? As Michael tries to redeem himself, can a viewer find anything redeemable in Coppola's 1990 conclusion to his trilogy? Mike and Dan talk to their first guest: Professor Jon Lewis, author of Whom God Wishes to Destroy: Francis Ford Coppola and the New Hollywood. They ask Professor Lewis about his take on the film and wether it suffers from what Mike calls a "lack of urgency." There are also some interesting digressions about the career of Al Pacino, the 70s as the perfect decade in which Coppola could work, The Irishman, and the degree to which Godfather 3 pushes the postmodern envelope. Special thanks to Professor Lewis for the visit!

Please subscribe to the show wherever you get your podcasts and follow us on YouTube, Twitter and Letterboxd. Please rate and review the show on Apple podcasts and contact us at [email protected]. Incredible bumper music by John Deley.

What does a person need to be happy? To answer this, the guys discuss the first animated film of the podcast, Michael Dudok de Wit's The Red Turtle (2016). After offering some allegorical readings of the film, Dan insists that they "talk turtle" and get into how the film does what Thoreau did at Walden: reduce life to its lowest terms. All of us are, in some way, on that island being taunted by that turtle. Mike then insists on talking about the title. What is there to say about a title so direct? Tune in and find out! 

Please subscribe to the show wherever you get your podcasts and follow us on YouTube, Twitter and Letterboxd. Please rate and review the show on Apple podcasts and contact us at [email protected]. Incredible bumper music by John Deley.

Yes, the episode goes long, but the subject is, after all, a masterpiece: Vertigo (1958). Mike explains why it's the second-greatest time-travel film of all time, Dan argues that the film has the best kiss in movie history, and both talk about how the most convoluted plots can help great artists explore the most basic, recognizable emotions. It takes one's whole life to watch Vertigo, so think of this episode as a signpost to navigate one of Hitchcock's best.

Please subscribe to the show wherever you get your podcasts and follow us on YouTube, Twitter and Letterboxd. Please rate and review the show on Apple podcasts and contact us at [email protected]. Incredible bumper music by John Deley.

Dan and Mike tackle Alexander Mackendrick's 1957 Sweet Smell of Success. Mike gives his reasons why the film should not work on paper--but does beautifully--and Dan recalls previous episodes about character-driven suspense and how the film makes the seduction of a cigarette girl more suspenseful than any secret agent disarming a bomb. How the film nails the culture of celebrity and how "we get the celebrities we deserve" are in here, too. Match me, Sidney, and give it a listen!

 Please subscribe to the show wherever you get your podcasts and follow us on YouTube, Twitter and Letterboxd. Please rate and review the show on Apple podcasts and contact us at [email protected]. Incredible bumper music by John Deley.

Mike and Dan go long on this one, but ask for your pardon--they are, after all, discussing Martin Scorsese's Taxi Driver (1976) and have a lot to say. Much of the episode is an argument about how the viewer is meant to regard Travis, part of which results in Mike asking, "Well, then why does Travis look in the rear-view mirror?" and Dan responding, "BECAUSE THAT'S WHAT YOU DO WHEN YOU DRIVE." Is Travis a sociopath with a death wish who has decided to act before he's hired as a cabbie--or is he a frustrated searcher for meaning in a cesspool of a city? Take a listen and let us know which one of us is the square.

Please subscribe to the show wherever you get your podcasts and follow us on YouTube, Twitter and Letterboxd. Please rate and review the show on Apple podcasts and contact us at [email protected]. Incredible bumper music by John Deley.

Mike and Dan square off in this episode about Terrence Malick's 1973 film Badlands. Dan admits to never having seen it before Mike asked him to watch it for the podcast. What follows is one of the few complete knock-down arguments in the show's history, all recorded here for your pleasure or fury, depending on how you regard the movie.

 Please subscribe to the show wherever you get your podcasts and follow us on YouTube, Twitter and Letterboxd. Please rate and review the show on Apple podcasts and contact us at [email protected]. Incredible bumper music by John Deley.

Continuing with the concert-movie theme, Dan and Mike discuss Martin Scorsese's The Last Waltz (1978). No arguments here: the two gush over the movie and how it serves as a fitting elegy of the Woodstock era. They evaluate the guest stars, talk about their favorite songs, and carefully use the word "peak" when discussing Bob Dylan. The show ends with some talk about Robbie Robertson's claim that the road is an "impossible way of life" and how the joy of the musicians seems to undermine that statement.

Please subscribe to the show wherever you get your podcasts and follow us on YouTube, Twitter and Letterboxd. Please rate and review the show on Apple podcasts and contact us at [email protected]. Incredible bumper music by John Deley.