Single Serving Cinema

Tim & Tay explore the movie that launched Christopher Nolan's career in proper: Memento. We talk about its innovative story structure, the way it plays with the nature of film, and how Carrie-Anne Moss can be pretty mean sometimes. 

Synopsis
A man with short-term memory loss tracks his wife’s killer, employing a series of habitual techniques to find his target and, eventually, take his revenge.

Starring Guy Pearce and directed by Christopher Nolan, Memento was released September 9, 2000.

Where to watch Memento.

Scene: 1:13:00- 1:17:17
Natalie returns home with a plan to aggravate and manipulate Leonard into helping her.

Recommendations

• Tim: Lady Vengeance (Park, 2005)—where to watch
• Tay:   Blue Ruin (Saulnier, 2013)—where to watch 

Next episode: Kill Bill (Tarantino, 2003)—where to watch

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• SSC on Instagram
• Tim on Letterboxd
• Tay on Letterboxd

You know we couldn't go from our bomb theme in July to our revenge theme in August without talking about one of the summer's two biggest films: Oppenheimer.

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• SSC on Instagram
• Tim on Letterboxd
• Tay on Letterboxd

Tim & Tay dig into John Woo's maximalist style with the ridiculous, fun, and arguarbly flawed Face/Off.

Synopsis
FBI agent Sean Archer undergoes radical surgery to trade faces with his nemesis, the terrorist Castor Troy, in order to discover the location of a bomb that threatens Los Angeles.

Starring Nicholas Cage and John Travolta, and directed by John Woo, Face/Off was released June 27, 1997.

Where to watch Face/Off.

Scene: 45:30-48:25
In short order, Castor Troy wakes up from his coma, calls in his henchmen and takes Sean Archer’s face.

Links

• The Birth Of Gun-Fu

Recommendations

• Tim: Hard Boiled (Woo, 1992)—where to watch
• Tay:   2 Guns (Kormakur, 2013)—where to watch 

Next episode: Memento (Nolan, 2000)—where to watch

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• SSC on Instagram
• Tim on Letterboxd
• Tay on Letterboxd

Tim & Tay get to talk about one of their all time favourite films: William Friedkin's Sorcerer. In this first installment for our bomb month (in honour of the forthcoming Oppenheimer), we talk explosions, existential dread, and much more.

Synopsis
Four desperate men, on the run from their past lives and stuck in a quagmire of Colombian poverty, agree to drive unstable nitroglycerin across 200 miles of dangerous jungle road to put out an inflamed oil well.

Starring Roy Schieder and directed by William Friedkin, Sorcerer was released June 24, 1977.

Where to watch Sorcerer.

Scene: 1:26:35 - 1:41:15
Scanlon and Nilo arrive at the site of a gargantuan Kaoba tree that has fallen on the road, blocking their path. Amidst Scanlons rage, Victor and Kassem show up and Kassem immediately conjures up a plan to remove the impossible roadblock. The scene stars Roy Scheider, Fransisco Rabal, Bruno Cremer and Amidou

Links

• The Thirst For Annihilation

Recommendations

• Tim: Cheap Thrills (Katz, 2014)—where to watch
• Tay:   How To Blow Up A Pipeline (Goldhaber, 2023)—where to watch 

Next episode: Face/Off (Woo, 1997)—where to watch

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• SSC on Instagram
• Tim on Letterboxd
• Tay on Letterboxd

Tim & Tay revisit the seminal  summer blockbuster: Jaws. We talk about the dawn of the modern movie megahit,  the difficulty of shooting a movie on the ocean, and much more.

Synopsis
When a great white shark terrorizes a tourist trap island off the coast of New York, the local police chief, an oceanographer, and a seasoned fisherman are charged with catching it. 

Starring Roy Schieder and directed by Stephen Spielberg, Jaws was released June 20, 1975.

Where to watch Jaws.

Scene: 45:18 - 50:20
Hooper convinces Brody to join him on a night hunt for the killer shark that he believes is still roaming the Amity coastline. They come across a noted fisherman, Ben Gardner's boat  that is partially sunk. Hooper dives to investigate the boat and gets more than he bargained for.

Links

• The Playhouse Cinema
• "10 animals more likely to kill you than sharks"
• CORRECTION: Gone With The Wind was in theatres for 30 years.
• "Leitmotif" in Williams' film scores

Recommendations

• Tim: The Taking of Pelham One Two Three (Sargent, 1974)—where to watch
• Tay:   Frank Darabont's Indiana Jones' script 

Next episode: Sorcerer (Friedkin, 1977)—where to watch

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• SSC on Instagram
• Tim on Letterboxd
• Tay on Letterboxd

Another season in the bag means another head-to-head ranking of the latest crop of taglines. 

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• SSC on Instagram
• Tim on Letterboxd
• Tay on Letterboxd

Tim & Tay honour the legacy of summer blockbusters by discussing Stephen Spielberg's adventure classic, Indiana Jones and the Raiders of the Lost Ark.  We talk fallible heroes, action along the z-axis, and much more.  

Synopsis
An adventuring archaeologist races to beat the Nazis to a priceless, potentially powerful religious relic in this globe-trotting pulp action classic. 

Starring Harrison Ford and Karen Allen, and directed by Stephen Spielberg, Raiders of the Lost Ark was released June 12, 1981.

Where to watch Raiders of the Lost Ark.

Scene: 1:15:50-1:21:15
After miraculously escaping the sealed Well of Souls, our heroes Indy and Marion stumble into another death trap featuring a grounded, out-of-control Nazi plane, a worthy boxing opponent for Indy and a most excellent explosion to cap off a memorable blockbuster set piece.

Links

• Hitting the lamp in Who Framed Roger Rabbit?
• Indiana Jones story conference transcripts

Recommendations

• Tim: The Lost City Of Z (Gray, 2016)—where to watch
• Tay:  Jungle (McLean, 2017)—where to watch

Next episode: Jaws (Spielberg, 1975)—where to watch

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• SSC on Instagram
• Tim on Letterboxd
• Tay on Letterboxd

Tim & Tay dig into the iconic Quentin Tarantino and his oeuvre for the first time with his revisionist fantasy: Once Upon A Time...In Hollywood. Tune in for a discussion of cache-cashing, period-specific production design, and much more. 

Synopsis
Once Upon A Time...In Hollywood tells the story of waning ‘60s TV star Rick Dalton and his stunt double Cliff Booth, who, in the course of their seemingly regular lives, encounter the Manson family gang and change the course of Hollywood history.

Starring Leo Dicaprio, Brad Pitt and Margot Robbie, and written/directed by Quentin Tarantino, Once was released July 26, 2019.

Where to watch Once Upon A Time...In Hollywood.

Scene: 20:13 - 26:00

After driving Rick home, Cliff commutes along Hollywood Blvd. en route to his trailer home on the lot of the infamous Van Nuys’ drive-in movie theatre. He prepares food for himself and his dog, Brandy, as she eagerly awaits.

Links

• Matt Johnson on The Big Picture
• "...because we love making movies!"
• Tarantino's 10th film
• The Hays Code
• Flamethrower stunts
• You Must Remember This podcast: Charles Manson

Recommendations

• Tim: Where Eagles Dare (Hutton, 1968)—where to watch
• Tay:  Under The Silver Lake (Mitchell, 2018)—where to watch

Next episode: Raiders Of The Lost Ark (Spielberg, 1981)—where to watch

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• SSC on Instagram
• Tim on Letterboxd
• Tay on Letterboxd

Tim and Tay are once again joined by James Stacey (The Grey Nato) to talk about our first David Fincher pick for our potlucks: Se7en. We discuss the movie that launched Fincher's film career in proper, how it stands as a unique work of its time, and who we'd cast as an alternate Mills and Somerset.

Synopsis
A veteran detective partners with a rookie to take on one last case before he retires, hunting a serial killer of unparalleled commitment and barbarism.

Starring Morgan Freeman and Brad Pitt, and directed by David Fincher, Se7en was released on Sept. 22, 1995.

Where to watch Se7en.

Tim's Scene [47:58 - 56:20]
Following a lead from fingerprints left at the Greed crime scene, the detectives and a SWAT team enter a potential suspect’s home to find yet another victim in the series of crimes.

James' Scene [1:14:56 - 1:23:45]
Mills and Somerset investigate John Doe's apartment, gaining their first direct look into his methods, habits, and state of mind.

Tay's Scene  [1:08:02 - 1:14:45]
Mills and Somerset pessimistically arrive at the apartment of John Doe based on a far-reaching lead from an FBI source. The man in question gets the jump on them, arriving as they knock on his door, initiating a dark, tantalizing chase through the dingy apartment complex.

Links

• The Social Network trailer
• Denzel Washington passed on Se7en

Recommendations

• Tim—I Saw The Devil (Kim Jee-Woon, 2011) [where to watch]
• Tay—The House That Jack Built (von Trier, 2018) [where to watch]
• James—"What's In The Box" via The Ringer

All links are verified at the time of publication and based on availability in Canada.

Follow:

• SSC on Instagram
• Tim on Letterboxd
• Tay on Letterboxd

Tim & Tay talk about one of the most iconic animated movies of all time, Spirited Away. They discuss this timeless film's attention to the child's perspective, its careful development of her developing sense of agency, and director/writer Hayao Miyazaki's singular approach to his animation. 

Synopsis
Spirited Away tells the story of 10-year-old Chihiro, who enters the spirit world after her parents are transformed into pigs. Chihiro takes a job at the spirits’ bathhouse in order to save her parents and find a way home. 

Written and directed by Hayao Miyazaki and starring Rumi Hiiragi, Spirited Away was released July 20, 2021.

Where to watch Spirited Away.

Scene: 52:00-1:06:35

On Chihiro’s first day of work, she is tasked with washing the bathhouse's stinkiest guest, who turns out to be much more than meets the eye (or nose, for that matter).

Links

• "No cuts"
• How Spirited Away Changed Animation Forever
• Miyazaki and the concept of "ma"
• Ghibli Fest

Recommendations

• Tim: Only Yesterday (Takahata, 1991)—where to watch
• Tay:  The Tale Of The Princess Kaguya (Takahata, 2013)—where to watch

Next episode: Se7en (Fincher, 1995)—where to watch

Follow:

• SSC on Instagram
• Tim on Letterboxd
• Tay on Letterboxd