Jason and the Movienauts

Shawn and Paul are back for the latest blockbuster look at the films and TV shows of David Lynch. This time the guys start their bite of the biggest apple of Lynch's career as they start their review of Twin Peaks: the Return, covering episodes 1, 2 and 3. The guys discuss subverted expectations, meandering plot, and visual and audio brilliance.

Eric is back and this time he and Jason are starting their looks at the brilliant, mysterious fictional films of Hiroshi Teshigahara. This time they look at his first full-length features, Pitfall and Woman in the Dunes, two of the more fascinating films of any time period but especially the 1960s. Lots of interesting debate and perspectives in this episode!

Starting yet another series on Jason and the Movienauts, this time talking about the beautiful, transcendent films of Michael Powell and Emeric Pressburger. Michelle joins Jason and the duo talk about their deep appreciation for I Know Where I'm Going, A Canterbury Tale and Black Narcissus - three films which are all about travel in some way, and all of which find uniquely P&P insights into the idea of travel.

It's a great conversation full of smart thoughts and we hope you enjoy!

I got together with a group of friends to discuss The Shining, Stanley Kubrick's 1980 horror classic. The resulting two-hour discussion of the film is fascinating listening, getting into many questions about acting, artifice, camera, the unknowability of evil, and the cosmic sublime. I think this is one of the best film discussions I've been part of, two hours of smart discussion which shed a tremendous amount of insight into this most perplexing of films.

The world of film fandom erupted into a small controversy recently when Criterion announced they'd be releasing a 40th anniversary boxset with 40 movies they selected. That got Jason, Bryant and Michelle talking: What would they include in their 40 movies in their boxset?

So the group decided to get together and debate their selections, and slowly but surely build a collection which we believe is pretty dang interesting.

Hear the results in the longest - but we think most fun - episode of Jason and the Movienauts episode so far!

Blaize is back with Jason to continue their look at the films of Paul Schrader, this time with perhaps Schrader's oddest career killing move.

In 2014 Schrader was contracted to deliver a "geezer teaser" action thriller with Nicolas Cage called Dying of the Light. But the film was taken away from Schrader and edited without his consent. So Schrader created his own take on Dying and posted it to torrent sites as Dark.

Are either of these films any good, or is this another example of the eternal oddball Schrader sabotaging his old career. Can the old man learn new tricks?

Answer: well, it's complicated!

Eric is back to talk Masahiro Shinoda again with Jason, this time chatting about three of the master's movies centered around love: One Way Ticket to Love, Epitaph to My Love and Love, New and Old. These are early Shinodas, which means they're less experimental - but even in these early films, a lot of the genius of Shinoda shines through and makes these films well worth watching. Join us and find out why!

Now Eric and Jason come to an odd point in their look at the films of the great Masahiro Shinoda. Shinoda made one unabashedly commercial film, his look at the 1972 Sapporo Winter Olympics. So they had to look at that movie, but what to pair it with? They ended up deciding to look at perhaps the most critically acclaimed Olympics documentary ever made, Kon Ichikawa, 1965 Tokyo Olympiad.

The films are almost in dialog with each other. Both take similar concepts and do different things with them, so what emerges from a watch of both is an intriguing compare and contrast: about these films, about the portrayal of sports on celluloid, and even about tthe way Japanese society changed in one short decade.

It's a fun listen, and we'd love to hear your take on the same ideas.

This week, Paul and Shawn join Jason as the trio discuss a pair of outlier films in the careers of two of their favorite directors: first, Fast Company, directed by David Cronenberg, divided the crew. Fast Company is a fairly by-the-numbers look at drag racing in western Canada in the late 1970s. Paul felt like the film didn't use its talent well enough, while Shawn and Jason fell into the film's vibe.

Then they discuss The Straight Story, David Lynch's most experimental film (according to Mr Lynch). This time Paul disliked its meandering pace and pat insight into human nature while Shawn and Jason both liked the dark mysteries at the center of the film's lead characters.

Disagreements make for good listening and we think you will enjoy this episode.

This time in our look at the films of Paul Schrader, Blaize and Jason get obscure and controversial.

First they look at Schrader's decidedly different Adam Interrupted, which stars Jeff Goldblum as a former popular German entertainer who is sent to a Nazi concentration camp - and the trauma that camp visits upon him. It's a very Goldblum type of performance, as the guys discuss.

Then they get to the notorious The Canyons, a kickstarter-funded LA noir starring rehabbing Lindsay Lohan and abusive porn star James Deen. It's an odd film for all those reasons, and many more which the guys argue and debate about in detail - this is one of the episodes in which the guys disagree the most.

We think this is a very interesting 100 minute (!) chat and well worth your time!