North of Normal

It's New Years Day 2024. Andrew Hunter Scholey and Melissa Jean Miller are hanging about. They are up and motivated after the previous evening's festivities and are going to discuss Sarah Polley's amazing third feature, "Stories We Tell" (2012).

In this episode we have Ryan Barnett on to venture back into the world of Winnipeg director, Guy Maddin! Ryan is the host of his own podcast about Canadian media titled "Once Upon A Time In Hollywood North" that everyone should listen to. However, in this episode we delve into "The Saddest Music in the World" (2003)!

Melissa Jean Miller returns to help host Andrew Hunter Scholey tackle the most beloved Canadian film ever made. How does it hold up almost 40(!) years later? How does it compare to the many adaptations of the beloved novel (of which there are many)? What is Hunter's opinion of a children's book about an orphan girl that is over a century old after reading it for the first time? These questions and many other things are addressed in this massive breakdown of a Canadian classic.

This one is a doozy. Tackling a giant of Canadian cinema, Andrew Hunter Scholey and James Thornton sit down to discuss Norman McLaren. Possibly the most influential filmmaker in Canadian history, there is a lot to unpack. To discuss Norman one has to discuss the history of the National Film Board of Canada and it's impact on Canadian film. His pioneering animation techniques and the state of animation in North America in the 1930's to the 1960s. And that's just to start. Oh, and they eventually get around to discussing his 1952 Academy Award winning film "Neighbours".

Skyler Greencorn returns to discuss one of David Cronenberg's most controversial films, "Crash" (1996). With host Andrew Hunter Scholey, they discuss "the sex car crash film", the psychology of the car and driving as well as a couple of odd film comparisons for good measure. How does this film age, and is it still shocking over twenty years later? Gotta listen for all of that.

For a Halloween episode, Andrew Hunter Scholey and Colin Everett spun the big wheel of Canadian horror and it landed the 2017 Quebecois zombie film, "Ravenous". What are their opinions of a film neither had seen before? How does this film copy too closely and break the zombie formula at the same time? One way to find out.....

Regular co-host (and big Transformers fan) James Thornton has been after Andrew Hunter Scholey for years to talk about Beast Wars, as well as Vancouver animation studio Mainframe. So Hunter-- for the first time-- sat down and watched some Beast Wars episodes James had picked out. How did that go? How confused did Hunter get? How do copyright rules make things even more confusing? One has to listen to this huge deep dive to find out!

In this episode, Melissa Jean Miller returns to discuss the second film of Sarah Polley's directorial carrier, "Take This Waltz" (2011).  Along with host Andrew Hunter Scholey, they discuss and work through their complicated feelings of the film as well as what the show tagline "our relationship with film" really means when being honest with film discussion. Oh, and did you know that there is an amazing Feist song in this film that has never been released? Yep that's a thing. 

First time guest Glen Carabin joins host Andrew Hunter Scholey to discuss the 2018 Astron-6 short film, "Chowboys: An American Folk Tale" (2018)! They get around to doing a surprising deep dive into all things snowy cowboy cannibalism (and capitalism?). Before that, they talk about Glen's independent comic book Dart Mouth, Glen making short films in his youth and of course.... Zombie Santa Claus.

Chowboys is available on Astron-6's youtube page. https://www.youtube.com/user/Astron6Video/videos

Check out Clen Carabins Dart Mouth at https://glencarabin.square.site

In this episode, James Thornton returns and wants to talk about a movie where Peter Weller fights a giant rat! Of course since it happens to be a Canadian film, host Andrew Hunter Scholey agreed. They also talk about the NFB documentary, "Ratopolis" (1973). Topics include.... Rats! But also discuss VHS box art, the crazy career of director George P. Cosmatos, and Peter Weller playing a yuppie fighting a giant rat.