The devil walks among us!  And his name is… Chris Cooper?  That can’t be right.  Find out the real name of Satan by listening to our thoughts on John Sayles’ period drama about the fight for labor rights between 1920s West Virginian coal miners and the company men sent to put sow discord and drive out union members by any means necessary.

If you’d like to watch ahead for next week’s film, we will be discussing and reviewing Guillermo del Toro’s The Devil’s Backbone (2001).

Beatlemania is both plot device and backdrop in first-time director Robert Zemeckis’ period comedy about a cluster of Jersey teens screaming and shenanigan-ing around New York City in pursuit of the Fab Four on the day of their generation-defining appearance on the Ed Sullivan show.   If you’d like to watch ahead for next week’s film, we will be discussing and reviewing Guillermo del Toro’s The Devil’s Backbone (2001).

This week we are joined by Cameron Kunzelman of Just King Things, Game Studies Study Buddies, and a host of other podcast projects as part of Ranged Touch in order to break down the layers of perceived reality in David Fincher’s mind-bending Michael Douglas-led thriller.  Or does Cameron only think he’s participating in a harmless movie podcast?  Wait a minute… is The Game even in the Criterion Collection?  Is this microphone even real?  Is there a team of paramedics secretly waiting in the next room if this recording gets too out of hand?

If you’d like to watch ahead for next week’s film, we will be discussing and reviewing Richard Zemeckis’ I Wanna Hold Your Hand (1978). 

With his ensemble album smash hit Buena Vista Social Club musician Ry Cooder introduced the world to a generation of twentieth-century Cuban musicians made obscure by time, trends, and world politics. Then he worked with past collaborator director Wim Wenders, returning to Havana, to put these talented performers on the big screen. An array of talented characters tell their own stories and showcase their timeless skills.   If you’d like to watch ahead for next week’s film, we will be discussing and reviewing David Fincher’s The Game (1997).

It’s time for our annual review of the highs and lows of a bunch of movies picked by a random number generator.  And it turns out that this system really paid off this year, bringing us a truly eclectic list of memorable, challenging, and occasionally delightful Criterion films.  But which of these select few will go home with a coveted Randy award?

If you’d like to watch ahead for next week’s film, we will be kicking off season 4 with Wim Wenders’ Buena Vista Social Club (1999).

Briana and Maddy of the Chapter One: Take Two podcast join us this week to discuss director René Clair’s screwball jaunt through the centuries as a mischievous and thoroughly evil witch (Veronica Lake) and her father (Cecil Kellaway) plot to torment the modern-day descendent (Frederick March) of the pilgrim who burned them at the stake.  With his political future, public reputation, impending marriage, life, and sanity at risk, can this proto-Bewitched cast a love spell instead?6

Join us next week for the fourth annual Rando Awards ceremony!

This week we are joined by Michael Patrick Jann, director of the upcoming film Organ Trail and member of The State, to watch John Hughes’ all-time classic teen drama The Breakfast Club.  We talk a little about fashion, a little about lunch, and a lot about the ego, Jungian self, and gestalt therapy.  And, it should be said, crass sex jokes.

If you’d like to watch ahead for next week’s film, we will be discussing and reviewing René Clair’s I Married a Witch (1942).

Dan Connell from the Cinderella Storiez podcast brings us a moving documentary that is - at first glance - about skateboarding in Rockford Illinois. But being made from footage gathered for years by seldom-on-screen director Bing Liu, Minding the Gap turns into a surprisingly gentle exploration of young men finding their path’s forward as they confront their experiences with domestic abuse.   If you’d like to watch ahead for next week’s film, we will be discussing and reviewing John Hughes’ The Breakfast Club(1985).

Things get decidedly erotically unrestrained in Nagisa Oshimi’s tale of a maid and her employer’s headlong dive into sex and obsession in 1930s Tokyo.  And who better to have an open and mindful discussion about kinks and boundaries that with Kevin Allison of Risk! the podcast and comedy group The State.

If you’d like to watch ahead for next week’s film, we will be discussing and reviewing Bing Liu’s Minding the Gap (2018).

We’re joined this week by Richard and AJ of the Cult Popture podcast to try to wrap our heads around all things Wes Anderson: symmetrical framing, meticulous production design, quirky soundtracks, the inevitable backlash, and the even more inevitable enduring love (some of us have) of his films.  And what better way to start this with the Gene Hackman-led ensemble that is The Royal Tenenbaums.

If you’d like to watch ahead for next week’s film, we will be discussing and reviewing Nagisa Ōshima’sThe Realm of the Senses (1976).