Film Optimists

Happy Halloween! To celebrate the season we're discussing one of the greatest horror films of all time, The Shining by Stanley Kubrick. The film follows a Jack Nicholson as Jack Torrence, a struggling writer who takes up a job overseeing a secluded hotel in the off season. Joining Jack are his wife Wendy, played by Shelley Duvall, and young son Danny. The job involves living in complete isolation for several months. It's not long before strange things begin to happen at the hotel, but the real terror may be coming from something far more familiar. Joining us in this episode is friend, artist, and The Shining superfan, Casey Hoaglund.

Last month Spain won the World Cup. As a late celebration of their victory, we're back with a Spanish film. The film is Pedro Almodovar's All About My Mother from 1999. The film follows Manuela, a single mother whose life is upended when her teenage son dies in a car accident. Filled with references to Hollywood classics, the film tackles motherhood, gender identity, transsexualism, and much more with immense empathy.   

For decades some of the greatest and most interesting films have come from South Korea. While they've come up before, its about time we dedicate an episode to one of these films. In this episode we discuss last year's No Other Choice. This is the latest film from Park Chan-wook, one of the leading figure in Korean and world cinema. No Other Choice follows a man who is laid off after faithfully serving his employer for years. After months of underemployment a role that would be perfect appears. There's just one problem, there are several other qualified candidates. Desperate, our protagonist decides to kill his competition one by one leaving the employer with, No Other Choice.

In this episode we discuss Bugonia directed by the Greek Director Yorgos Lanthimos. The scfi/dark comedy follows Jesse Plemons as a conspiracy theorist who is convinced that the CEO (played by Emma Stone) of a major company is in fact an Alien. Not just any alien, a a member of an alien race that is actively trying to destroy earth. The plan is to kidnap her and force her to admit to her that she is actually an alien, then have her arrange a meeting between Jesse Plemons and her superiors so he can attempt to negotiate the aliens leaving Earth alone. What could possibly go wrong? Well the answer is just about everything. As with all Lanthimos films, this one is a wild and surreal ride into the unexpected. Bugonia is a remake of the Korean film, Save the Green Planet!

We're turning our focus to American Independent Cinema this episode in covering John Cassavetes, A Woman Under the Influence. The film was written for, and stars, Cassavetes wife Gena Rowlands as a working class housewife who struggles' include mental illness. Rowlands' performance is nothing short of extraordinary and earned her great acclaim, including an Academy award nomination for Best Actress. The film also stars Peter Falk as Rowlands' husband who has great difficulty in navigating his wife's increasingly erratic behavior.

Happy Spring Everybody! To celebrate the season we have an early Easter episode with The Gospel According to Saint Matthew. Why are a couple of nonbeliever's talking about a religious movie? That can be answered in three words. Pier Paolo Pasolini. The vastly influential, and controversial, Italian filmmaker directed the Gospel According to Saint Matthew. The film finds Pasolini at perhaps his most tranquil and reflective while he explores what he referred to as a "nostalgia for a belief". Casting non actors in all the roles, Pasolini brings Matthew's gospel to life in inspiring and mesmerizing fashion. Don't take our word for it, take the Vatican who referred to the film as the best film on Christ ever made.

Its time for our annual top 5 episode! We'll be discussing the top 5 movies we each saw last year, not necessarily movies that came out last year. We'll also be discussing the Oscar nominees, who want to win and who will most likely win. Let us know some of your favorite watches from last year in the comments!

Its been a long time coming, but we're finally doing a Martin Scorsese episode. With a career that spans over 6 decades and includes several masterpieces, we had plenty of options to choose from. We went with one we consider underrated, yet deeply influential. The King of Comedy from 1982. The film stars Robert De Niro (in one of his ten collaborations with Scorsese) as a self proclaimed comedian named Rupert Pupkin. Rupert is obsessed with a late night host named Jerry Langford, played by the one and only Jerry Lewis. Rather than become a star through the usual routes, Rupert is convinced that Jerry will offer him his big break. When that doesn't happen, Rupert takes matters into his own hands. If the plot involving a failed comedian and a late night host sounds an awful lot like a certain movie that came out a few years ago, you aren't wrong. Hear us to discuss that and much more!

Happy Halloween, Optimists! In light of the holiday, our obligatory horror episode is dedicated to one of the most anticipated releases this year, Zach Cregger's second feature film Weapons. A town is riddled with anxiety and fear when an entire classroom of students willingly run away from their homes at 2:17am, leaving behind one teacher and student. Dubbed a "must watch" by Megan, we discuss whether this underdog film lives up to its hype (no tricks here: it does).

We are joined once again by artist and author Adam Melster of ACM Designs to discuss Jurassic Park directed by Steven Spielberg. There is a strong case to be made that Jurassic Park is the perfect blockbuster. It's at times frightening and at times funny. It discusses important and interesting ethical questions. It does this while remaining family-friendly and well paced. The special effects are outstanding, the music is perfect, and, in case you didn't know, there's dinosaurs. The cast is led by Sam Neil, Laura Dern, Jeff Goldblum, Richard Attenborough, and Samuel L. Jackson.

In addition to discussing the film, Adam chats with us about his latest graphic novel entitled "Shitty Wizard". Adam has described the book as, "an amusing, fantastical, and illustrative comic tale explaining why Shitty Wizard is so shitty.”

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