Flixwise Podcast

Today, Lady P is joined to by Anne Marie Kelly and Margaret de Larios to talk about the 2015* Academy Awards. Anne Marie and Margaret both write for The Film Experience, which specializes in movie awards coverage. That means you can trust that they've analyzed the spread, and they can tell you approximately who's going to walk away with all the awards this coming Sunday. Will it be BOYHOOD or BIRDMAN? Michael Keaton or Eddie Redmayne? Julianne Moore or... no it's definitely Moore. Have your ballots handy. They're talking predictions, snubbing (aka whitewashing), and whether or not in his 87th year, Ole Oscar is still relevant.

*In the recording I call it the 2014 Oscars Special. While we are talking about films released in the 2014 calendar year, the ceremony is the 2015 Academy Awards.-Lady P  

Today, Lady P is joined by Emma Guerard and Tad Chamberlain to talk about the 24th Greatest Movie of All Time, Carl Theodor Dreyer's ORDET. The movie certainly stirred up a lot of existential angst among the panel. Lots of questions arise: What is the meaning of life? Does God exist, and If so, in what capacity? And perhaps the greatest puzzler of them all, what the hell is going on with that ending? Listen up to see if they come up with any satisfying answers.

Then the panel takes part in the annual commemoration of the martyrdom of Saint Valentine.  To honor his sacrifice, the trio offers up a list of cinema's greatest beheadings, along with a smattering of other "Alternative Valentine's Day" movies. There's plenty of blood spurt-age and/or gut-wrenching domestic turmoil to go around. And then there's also movies about candy, because there's never a bad time to celebrate candy.

Lady P is joined today by frequent guest, Emma Guerard, and newcomer, GuiltyFilm Podcast host Kevin McKee, to talk about the Sight and Sound Critics' Poll's 24th entry to the Greatest of All Time List: Wong Kar Wei's IN THE MOOD FOR LOVE. Listen up to see if our panel is equally taken with Mr. Chow and Mrs. Chen's tale of love and longing.

Then, the panelists take a cue from Mr. Chow and unburden themselves of a few shameful secrets. Unfortunately, airfare to Angkor Wat just wasn't in the budget, so the Flixwise-gang had to make due with whispering these deeply private matters into their microphones. Also, instead of recounting tales of lost love, the panelists mostly just talk about bad movies that they have an embarrassing fondness for. And to be honest, they don't even feel all that bad about it.

For our first Sight and Sound entry in the new year, Lady P is joined by film historian Professor Joseph McBride to talk about the 63rd Greatest Movie of All Time, SUNSET BOULEVARD. You may have noted that we've jumped ahead a few spots on the Critics' Poll. That's because we thought it would be nice if the podcast coincided with the BAM/PFA's Wilder retrospective, which kicks off this Thursday(1/15). Also, we just really felt like talking about SUNSET BOULEVARD. 'Nuff Said!

Next we move from Wilder to Welles. Our guest, Joseph McBride, is the series consultant for the Film Forum's current Orson Welles retrospective. McBride will be speaking at Film Forum several times throughout the week, starting this Wednesday(1/14) at the TOUCH OF EVIL screening.

We feel very fortunate to offer listeners a special sneak preview of the events. Today we're going on a brief tour through Welles' filmography, including stops in his pre and post-KANE work.  We talk about Welles' thematic and stylistic constants, as well as the ways in which his work changed and grew throughout his career.

It's exactly what it sounds like! Today Lady P is joined by Emma Guerard and Anne Marie Kelly, to talk about the best movies, tv shows, performances, haircuts, etc. from last year.

There are top 5 lists, there's Tilda Swinton fawning, there's fist-pumping (Go ORANGE IS THE NEW BLACK!), there's bubble bursting (Looking at you, GUARDIANS OF THE GALAXY), and both grave and hopeful predictions for the year ahead.

... lock him up real tight, something something something some, laa la la la la la laaa.

Alright, now that that song is blasting in a perpetual feedback loop in your brain's audio center (you're welcome!) you are probably in the mood to listen to a trio of nerds talk about Tim Burton's and Henry Selick's modern holiday classic, THE NIGHTMARE BEFORE CHRISTMAS.

This is a special listener submission to the Flixwise Favorites. Alex Keller is on hand to make the case for why he thinks NIGHTMARE is one of the most important animated movies of all time. He must convince Lady P and her brother, Gary Lampert, that the film is more than a series of catchy tunes (...kidnap the Sandy Claws..la la la laah) and pretty images, and that it is in fact, a well rounded, fully realized, cinematic masterpiece. So join us for this fireside chat, and find out if we're feeling cheery enough to let Jack, Sally, and Co. into our Favorites list.

Yesterday, December 15th 2014, marked the 75th anniversary of the release of the Selznick adaptation of GONE WITH THE WIND; a film that is often cited as the crowning achievement of a year that's brimming with classics. For those who are mathematically challenged (No judgement here. This is movie podcast, not an algebra podcast) that year is 1939, the supposed "Greatest Year in Cinema History." And why, you ask, should anyone give a damn? Well, in this episode Lady P is once again joined by two of her favorite classic-film-aficionados, Anne Marie Kelly and Carrie Specht, to ask that very question, and to reflect on whether or not this historic 365 day period lives up to its reputation. Plus, everyone offers up their own personal favorite 1939 movie selections.

But before they get into all that, there's the small matter of the next Sight and Sound entry to tackle. This time the panelist offer their analyses of the 24th Greatest Film of All Time, Akira Kurosawa's RASHOMON. Will our group of ladies find Toshiro Mifune's devilish bandit as charming as he thinks he is, or will they take the side of the humorless bandit? Listen up to find out.

On today's show Lady P is joined by Gabe Haggard and The Film Experience's Anne Marie Kelly to celebrate the 84th birthday of Jean Luc Godard. To mark the occasion the panel discusses one of Godard's best remembered classics, CONTEMPT. And what do you know, CONTEMPT also happens to be the next entry on the Sight and Sound Greatest of All Time list. However, just because it's someone's special day doesn't mean the panel's gonna be any less critical of this supposed masterpiece. To do any less would be an insult to our listeners, and to cinema's favorite enfant terrible.

Then it's a double-dose of self-reflexive cinema, because they follow up their CONTEMPT discussion with another film about film: Alejandro González Iñárritu's BIRDMAN.

On today's show Lady P is joined by two Gs, Gabe Haggard and Gary Lampert, to chat about a family of Original Gs. Get ready for a close dissection of one of the most powerful, and oft-parodied, portrayals of 20th century American masculinity, plus lots of very silly Marlon Brando impressions.  It's the Sight and Sound Critic's Poll's 21st Greatest Movie of All Time, Francis Ford Coppola's THE GODFATHER. Is it worthy of the 21st spot? Listen up to find out.

For the second topic (which may or may not be related to the first topic), we talk about overrated movies. How does one gauge if a movie is too highly regarded, and why do cultural tides turn for or against certain films? We discuss. 

On this episode Lady P is joined by Bill Krohn, the Hollywood correspondent for the renowned film journal Cahiers Du Cinema. First up, we're paying a little tribute to Italian film star Monica Vitti, who turned 83 yesterday, with an analysis of one of her most famous works, Michelangelo Antonioni's L'AVVENTURA. L'AVVENTURA also happens to be the 21st movie on the Sight and Sound Critic's Poll. Nice how that worked out.

Then the podcast sets sail for HELL'S ISLAND. Lady P and Bill chat about his collaboration with The French Cinematheque on the ongoing retrospective of the works of Phil Karlson. Karlson is best known for directing dozens of films for Monogram Pictures—the favorite American movie studio of La Nouvelle Vague. Film nerds will recall that Jean-Luc Godard dedicated his debut feature, BREATHLESS, to Monogram.

Ideally, we could all head out to Paris and check out the retrospective in person, but this podcast offers a second-best option. Bill offers listeners a primer on Phil Karlson's films, and gives his recommendations on where to start in Karlson's extensive body of work.