1. One. Un. Eins. Welcome to the first episode of the Spirit Guides… is what I would say if we watched the films of the Criterion Collection in numerical order. It took us nearly seven seasons, but we've finally been assigned spine number one: Jean Renoir's The Grand Illusion. Jean Gabin, Pierre Fresnay, and (scene-stealing) Erich von Stroheim, trace the lives of prisoners-of-war and their captors during World War I. Escapes, indignities, and unexpected friendships mark the scenes, but it's really an exploration of how humanity must compete with national duty. A powerful, but unheard message, in the prelude to the second World War.

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If you'd like to watch ahead for next week's film, we will be discussing and reviewing Krzysztof Kieslowski's Blind Chance (1981).

This week we are joined by special guest Max to (sub in for Mike and) discuss one of the great concert films of all time. Music. Death. Controversy. The Rolling Stones and the directing trio of the Maysle brothers and Catherine Zwerin find themselves in the middle of a decade-defining disaster: 1969's free concert at Altamont.

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If you'd like to watch ahead for next week's film, we will be discussing and reviewing Krzysztof Kieslowski's Blind Chance (1981).

Huh… Apparently Akira Kurosawa and Toshiro Mifune made a few movies together. Wonder if this one is any good?

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If you'd like to watch ahead for next week's film, we will be discussing and reviewing Jean Renoir's Grand Illusion (1937).

Sex, drugs, and rock n' roll. These are the things that you come to Random Acts of Cinema for. Paul Thomas Anderson almost manages to reach our podcastly levels of hedonism and vice in his late 90s indie apogee covering the late 70s porn apogee.

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If you'd like to watch ahead for next week's film, we will be discussing and reviewing Akira Kurosawa's Yojimbo (1961).

Imagine a world where, whenever you think you are alone, there are always a bunch of dudes in trench coats quietly standing behind you and resting their hands on your shoulder. And they can read your mind. And they talk about you to their friends. And sometimes they sneak into your dreams.

Now imagine that there is nothing creepy about that and it's actually very reassuring. And that maybe we can find world peace through understanding and a new kind of politically-informed spirituality. Thanks to these trench coat guys.

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If you'd like to watch ahead for next week's film, we will be discussing and reviewing Paul Thomas Anderson's Boogie Nights (1997).

Andrew Haigh directs a totally-not-boring movie about people talking about a marriage that seems find but maybe it really isn't. But, like I said, in a totally-not-boring way.

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If you'd like to watch ahead for next week's film, we will be discussing and reviewing Wim Wenders' Wings of Desire (1987).

Did you know that the Beatles also made movies?!? Yeah, so did we.

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If you'd like to watch ahead for next week's film, we will be discussing and reviewing Andrew Haigh 45 Years (2015).

This is not your father's brother's nephew's cousin's former roommate's neo-noir western. This is John Sayle's interrogating generational legacies of racism, corruption, compromise, and passion in a south Texas border town.

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If you'd like to watch ahead for next week's film, we will be discussing and reviewing Richard Lester's A Hard Day's Night (1964).

Come listen to two woodworkers talk about this one guy who specializes in wooden bench-style kung fu. Oh, and Jackie Chan is in it also. I guess he directs it too. But let's get back to this bench…

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If you'd like to watch ahead for next week's film, we will be discussing and reviewing John Sayle's Lone Star (1996).

"Once a lawyer, always a drunkard, and now looking like 2010s David Bowie." So says newly-minted gangster "Rolls Royce" Wensel describing himself to the POSSIBLY love of his life, the daring thief "Bull" Weed. And it turns out that this, the first American gangster movie (yay!), was also a love triangle (boo!).

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If you'd like to watch ahead for next week's film, we will be discussing and reviewing Jackie Chan's The Young Master (1980).