Lessons in Film

Julia and Pete watch The Empire Strikes Back, the second film in the Star Wars franchise, and discuss how the success of the original impacted the sequel's production.

Julia and Pete discuss two very different 1977 Best Picture nominees, and try to determine which is greater: Pete's love for Star Wars, or Julia's utter hatred of Annie Hall.

Julia and Pete watch Clint Eastwood's 1992 masterpiece Unforgiven, discuss how it reinterprets the tropes of the western, and explore how the United States used the genre to tell its own history.

Julia and Pete watch two very pretentious Best Picture nominees from 2014 - Birdman and The Grand Budapest Hotel - and try to determine what exactly the Academy is looking for when they choose a winner.

Julia and Pete compare two Best Picture nominees from 2015 that couldn't be more different -Spotlight, a grounded true story about the struggles of journalism, and Mad Max: Fury Road, a post-apocalyptic epic of non-stop action.

Julia and Pete watch two legendary Best Picture nominees, Gone with the Wind and The Wizard of Oz, and compare what both films say about the Hollywood studio system of the 1930s.

Julia and Pete discuss, compare, and contrast two films nominated for Best Picture in 1990. First, there's the film that won, the overlong Kevin Costner epic Dances With Wolves, and the film that should have won, Martin Scorsese's mob classic Goodfellas.

Julia and Pete watch The Blues Brothers and discuss the career of Dan Aykroyd through the lens of the auteur theory.

Julia and Pete watch Brokeback Mountain and discuss the film's message about masculinity and repression, how the culture received it at the time, and the incredibly restrained performances from Heath Ledger and Jake Gyllenhaal.

Julia and Pete watch the cyberpunk classic Johnny Mnemonic and discuss how it still resonates today, from the fear of technological omnipresence, to the film's anti-corporate, anti-capitalist message.