The Kick

Awaken, my friends. We’re on a stateside vampirism kick—no Transylvanian castles allowed. This run begins south of the border with “From Dusk Till Dawn” (1996) a horror-action romp that begs the question, what if pistol-toting outlaws stumbled into a biker bar run by the undead? Matthew Jackson (host of “The Scares That Shaped Us” podcast) kicks off this series. He’s here to talk about George Clooney’s first starring role, anoint the hottest on-screen vampire of all time, and reflect on just how seismic it was when Quentin Tarantino and Robert Rodriguez joined forces in 1996.

Listen to Matthew’s podcast here:

https://thescaresthatshapedus.com/

We close out Year 1 of this podcast with my favorite movie of 2024. Luckily, Ian Berry (artist, programmer, trivia host, and all-around Astoria film hero) is even more into "Furiosa" than I am. We talk about what it means to have Chris Hemsworth's villain almost steal the show, why the Mad Max movies are like the Gospels, and break down the difference between George Miller's myth-making and Hollywood's usual world-building.

I also spend a few minutes at the beginning sharing my Top 10 films of 2024. Thank you all very kindly for spending any amount of time with The Kick. See you in 2025!

You can't tell the story of a movie year without the indie shockwave. In 2024, that breakout hit was "The Substance"—the body horror firehose that drowned audiences in gooey viscera and provocations about "chasing the dragon of youth." That's how my guest Alex Barr puts it. She's here to talk makeup effects, Demi Moore, and the eerie feeling that no one can accurately remember their younger selves. For my part, this rewatch of "The Substance" unlocked new ways of viewing the movie's absurdly disjointed backdrop.

You can listen to Alex's prior appearance on The Kick here:

https://thekickcast.com/episodes/challengers-with-alex-barr

Today's episode proved the point of this whole "2024 Passion Projects" exercise. Ray Gill Jr. (Portland Mercury, Willamette Week) nominated a movie I was maybe going get to? And it ended up a favorite of the year. In "My Old Ass," Maisy Stella and Aubrey Plaza play the same character at different ages, connected in time by a mushroom trip. Ray and I dig into how director Megan Park plays with our allegiances, champions youth, and turns a possibly sappy premise into a deeply affecting call for self-reflection.

A strong contender for the year’s best action movie, "Rebel Ridge" is currently Noah Ballard’s favorite of 2024—bar none. On this episode of our year-end series, we dive into Aaron Pierre’s otherworldly calm, Don Johnson’s shit-eating grin, Jeremy Saulnier’s penchant for stomach-dropping bursts of violence, and a movie that Noah calls a mix between Rambo and The Pelican Brief.

We’re closing Year 1 of The Kick by asking guests to nominate a film from 2024 that they couldn’t stop thinking about. This first choice is right over the plate for me. Ben Campbell Ferguson returns to discuss “Sometimes I Think About Dying,” a sweet yet crushing character study set right here in Astoria, Oregon. Daisy Ridley stars as Fran, an introverted young office worker preoccupied by vibrant visions of her own death. Ben argues "Dying" has much to say about dating, Oregon filmmaking, and the fascinating state of Daisy Ridley’s post-Star Wars career. Let's begin the year-end festivities!

Keep up with Ben's work here:

https://foolswhodreammovies.com/

You can't end a career with more enduring mystery than Stanley Kubrick's "Eyes Wide Shut." John DiLillo returns to explore how the film still reverberates (perhaps too conspiratorially) in the culture, the volumes it suggests about Tom Cruise, and why it's a movie about learning the hard way to deal with marital complexity. Need any last-minute Halloween costume ideas? We've got those, too.

I'll add that this is the conclusion of Kick #4, but we'll close out the year with a series on the best (or rather, most beloved) films of 2024.

"If all great filmmakers would make a documentary about their lives right before they died, wouldn't that be so handy?" Couldn't put it better than Jennifer Jones does in this episode. She and Laura Glazer are the co-founders of the Agnes Varda Forever project, and they're here to talk about "Varda by Agnes" (2019), the final film from world cinema icon Agnes Varda. We dig into Varda's one-of-a-kind career, suggest starting points for newcomers, and assess what sets Varda's final film apart of the towering epics that seem to typify this series.

Check out the Agnes Varda Forever website for free posters, cool merch, info on a forthcoming postcard project, and news of their return to Clinton Street Theater in March:

AgnesVardaForever.com

What is "Megalopolis" about? The 40-year dream of Francis Ford Coppola to make his opus? A reclusive inventor who holds the key to utopia? Deviant capitalism? Cyclical violence? Aubrey Plaza giving *the* comedic performance of 2024? Bennett Campbell Ferguson is here to talk about the vast contradictions, bravura setpieces, and wild swings of "Megalopolis"—aka, this series' inspiration.

Check out Ben's new film writing site Fools Who Dream:

https://foolswhodreammovies.com/

Arguably the most influential rom-com voice in movie history, Nora Ephron ended her reign in 2009 with an ode to marriage, butter, and idealizing Paris. "Julie & Julia" is this week's career finale, and author Erin Carlson is here with anecdotes from both her Meryl Streep and Nora Ephron books, plus tales from the set, theories on why Julie's plotline is so stressful, and her experience cooking Ephron's rice pudding recipe.

Subscribe to the "You've Got Mail" substack to read Erin's terrific reporting and criticism:

https://erincarlson.substack.com/