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Today's episode is my conversation about the 1928 film Glorious Betsy. My friend Enrico Banson from the Director's Notes newsletter joins me to discuss the film and we talk about how the viewing experience would be substantially different with the partial talkie segments that are now missing, Conrad Nagle's involvement in the creation of the Academy Awards, and where Glorious Betsy fits in with other films of the era that were experimenting with sound. I also have an unexpected guest on this episode with my dog barking at a squirrel outside while we were recording! We also touch briefly on the 1928 film The Cop which was supposed to be our topic on this episode, but is currently unavailable.

You can watch Glorious Betsy on YouTube and be sure to check out Enrico's newsletter.

Other films mentioned in this episode include:

• Riley the Cop directed by John Ford
• The Magnificent Ambersons directed by Orson Welles
• The Jazz Singer directed by Alan Crosland
• Don Juan directed by Alan Crosland
• 7th Heaven directed by Frank Borzage
• Pandora's Box directed by G. W. Pabst
• Wings directed by William A. Wellman

Other referenced topics:

• Glorious Betsy (novel) by Arline De Haas
• Glorious Betsy (play) by Rida Johnson Young
• New York Times review of the film
• Listen to Pasquale Amato's singing voice on Wikipedia

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In today's episode, I interview Emily Sheskin, the director of the short documentary "Livestreams with GrandmaPuzzles." The film focuses on the unlikely pairing of Twitch with jigsaw puzzles and premiered at the Hot Springs Documentary Film Festival last fall.

Listen to hear about the incredible community around jigsaw puzzling that continues to grow around the world, the importance of representation in the puzzle world, and how we would all benefit from reinforcing community connections in our lives.

Books mentioned in this episode include:

• Lenin's Tomb: The Last Days of the Soviet Empire by David Remnick
• Reaganland: America's Right Turn 1976-1980 by Rick Perlstein
• The Spellshop by Sarah Beth Durst

Films and TV shows mentioned in this episode include:

• "Livestreams with GrandmaPuzzles" directed by Emily Sheskin
• JessZilla directed by Emily Sheskin
• Wicker Kittens directed by Amy Elliott
• Join or Die directed by Rebecca Davis and Pete Davis
• The Remarkable Life of Ibelin directed by Benjamin Ree
• Nausicaä of the Valley of the Wind directed by Hayao Miyazaki
• Spirited Away directed by Hayao Miyazaki
• Princess Mononoke directed by Hayao Miyazaki
• The Little Mermaid directed by Ron Clements and John Musker
• Love on the Spectrum (series)
• The King of Kong directed by Seth Gordon
• Capturing the Friedmans directed by Andrew Jarecki
• The Art Star and the Sudanese Twins directed by Pietra Brettkelly
• Jesus Camp directed by Heidi Ewing and Rachel Grady
• Star Trek: First Contact directed by Jonathan Frakes
• Doctor Strange directed by Scott Derrickson
• The Silence of the Lambs directed by Jonathan Demme
• Legally Blonde directed by Robert Luketic
• Parks and Recreation (series)
• Black Snow directed by Alina Simone
• Mistress Dispeller directed by Elizabeth Lo

To check out Adele's puzzle livestreams yourself, head over to justlovepuzzles on Twitch. Follow Emily on Instagram @emilysheskin and the film @puzzlepeopledoc. Check out Emily's production company's website at chickenwingpictures.com and her personal site at emilysheskin.com.

For more puzzle goodness, check out puzzlesofcolor.com, speedpuzzling.com, the USA Jigsaw Puzzle Association, and the World Jigsaw Puzzle Federation.

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Today's episode is my conversation about the 1928 films Street Angel and Skyscraper. My friend Beth Lisogorsky from Beth's TV & Film Recommendations joins me to discuss the films and we talk about some of the visual touches in Street Angel, how vertigo inducing some of the images in Skyscraper are, and a wonderful relationship between to two leads in Skyscraper. Check out the previous episode where Beth and I first covered Street Angel.

You can watch Street Angel and Skyscraper YouTube and be sure to check out Beth's newsletter.

Other films mentioned in this episode include:

• Sunrise: A Song of Two Humans directed by F. W. Murnau
• Four Devils directed by F. W. Murnau
• Murnau's 4 Devils: Traces of a Lost Film directed by Janet Bergstrom
• "The Arrival of a Train at La Ciotat Station" directed by the Lumiere Brothers
• Speedy directed by Ted Wilde and Clyde Bruckman
• An Affair to Remember directed by Leo McCarey
• Love Story directed by Arthur Hiller
• Love Affair directed by Leo McCarey
• Good Will Hunting directed by Gus Van Sant

Other referenced topics:

• The Fountainhead by Ayn Rand
• "At the Intersection of Love & Technology" by Beth Lisogorsky
• Variety review of Skyscraper
• Photoplay Magazine review of Skyscraper
• Letterboxd review of Skyscraper by @Christof
• Critique from silentsaregolden.com

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In today's episode, I am joined by Chris Etrata, the winner of the 2025 Oscar prediction contest on The Oscar Project. We talk about our reactions to the 97th Academy Awards, some movies from 2025 so far, and what we're looking forward to in the rest of 2025.
 
Books mentioned in this episode include:

• Mickey 7 by Edward Ashton

Films mentioned in this episode include:

• Wicked directed by Jon M. Chu
• Anora directed by Sean Baker
• Conclave directed by Edward Berger
• A Complete Unknown directed James Mangold
• The Brutalist directed by Brady Corbet
• Mickey 17 directed by Bong Joon Ho
• Parasite directed by Bong Joon Ho
• Captain America: Brave New World directed by Julius Onah
• Joker directed by Todd Phillips
• Mission: Impossible-The Final Reckoning directed by Christopher McQuarrie
• Jurassic World Rebirth directed by Gareth Edwards
• Jurassic World directed by Colin Trevorrow
• Barbie directed by Greta Gerwig
• Oppenheimer directed by Christopher Nolan
• Top Gun: Maverick directed by Joseph Kosinski
• A Minecraft Movie directed by Jared Hess 
• Wicked: For Good directed by Jon M. Chu
• Avatar: Fire and Ash directed by James Cameron
• Emilia Pérez directed by Jacques Audiard
• I'm Still Here directed by Walter Salles
• RRR directed by S. S. Rajamouli
• One Battle After Another directed by Paul Thomas Anderson
• Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse directed by Peter Ramsey, Bob Persichetti, and Rodney Rothman
• The Wild Robot directed by Chris Sanders
• Flow directed by Gints Zilbalodis
• Inside Out directed by Pete Docter
• Inside Out 2 directed by Kelsey Mann
• Predator: Badlands directed by Dan Trachtenberg
• Prey directed by Dan Trachtenberg
• Superman directed by James Gunn
• Guardians of the Galaxy directed by James Gunn
• Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2 directed by James Gunn
• No Other Land directed by Basel Adra, Hamdan Ballal, Yuval Abraham, and Rachel Szor
• Porcelain War directed by Slava Leontyev and Brendan Bellomo
• Wallace & Gromit: Vengeance Most Fowl directed by Nick Park and Merlin Crossingham

Check out the full list of films mentioned on Letterboxd.

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Today's episode is the beginning of my conversations about the films nominated at the 2nd Academy Awards. I'm joined by Lewis Beer who writes the Slow Moving Pictures newsletter and we break down some of the history of the 2nd Academy Awards, all of the nominees, and take some time to discuss some of the missing or hard to find films that won't be covered in individual episodes this season.

Be sure to subscribe to the podcast to get all the news episodes delivered to your device every Friday from now through August and if you want to be a guest for a film from the 3rd Academy Awards, send me a message replying to this episode and let me know you're interested.

Nominees of the 2nd Academy Awards (linked films will take you to where you can watch the film online as of the recording of this episode):

• A Woman of Affairs
• Alibi
• Coquette
• Drag (unavailable)
• Dynamite
• Four Devils (unavailable but documentary Murnau's 4 Devils: Traces of a Lost Film is on YouTube)
• In Old Arizona
• Madame X
• Our Dancing Daughters
• Sal of Singapore (archive print only)
• Skyscraper
• Street Angel
• The Awakening (partial archive print only)
• The Barker (archive print only)
• The Bridge of San Luis Rey (archive print only)
• The Broadway Melody
• The Cop (unavailable)
• The Divine Lady
• The Hollywood Revue of 1929
• The Last of Mrs. Cheyney
• The Leatherneck
• The Letter
• The Patriot (unavailable)
• The Valiant
• Thunderbolt
• Weary River
• White Shadows in the South Seas
• Wonder of Women (unavailable)

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In today's episode, I interview John Kelly, the director of the short film "Retirement Plan," an animated short that follows a man as he dreams about what he will do in his retirement years. The film won the Grand Jury and Audience Awards at SXSW.

Listen to hear about the inspiration for the story, the importance being nimble with style when creating over 100 animated shots, and the joy of getting to work with one of Ireland's leading actors of the moment.

Books mentioned in this episode include:

• A Thread of Violence: A Story of Truth, Invention, and Murder by Mark O'Connell
• Hits, Flops, and Other Illusions: My Fortysomething Years in Hollywood by Ed Zwick
• The Creative Act: A Way of Being by Rick Rubin

Films and TV shows mentioned in this episode include:

• "Retirement Plan" directed by John Kelly
• Bob's Burgers (series)
• A Grand Day Out (Wallace & Gromit) directed by Nick Park
• Peter Rabbit directed by Will Gluck
• Star Wars Episode VII: The Force Awakens directed by J. J. Abrams
• Ex Machina directed by Alex Garland
• Up directed by Pete Docter
• Fargo directed by Joel Coen
• Raising Arizona directed by Joel Coen
• Barton Fink directed by Joel Coen
• American Movie directed by Chris Smith
• Crumb directed by Terry Zwigoff
• Grey Gardens directed by Albert Maysles, David Maysles, Ellen Hovde, and Muffie Meyer
• The Jerk directed by Carl Reiner
• Being There directed by Hal Ashby
• Bluey (series)
• Fleabag (series)
• Scavengers Reign (series)
• Common Side Effect (series)

You can follow John on Instagram @johnkelly_jnr and the film @retirementplan_film.

Check out the Wheelie Yellow channel on YouTube that John mentioned.

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In today's episode, I interview Paul Kowalski, the director of the short film "Sardinia," a dark look at what a world without humor could be like. The film screened at IndieShorts and won the Best Director Grand Prize at Flickers Rhode Island International Film Festival in 2024.

Listen to hear about the real world inspiration for the film, casting a group of strong actors that could each bring their own interpretation to the characters, and a set of book recommendations that should be required reading for any aspiring filmmaker.

Books mentioned in this episode include:

• The 120 Days of Sodom by Marquis de Sade
• Notes on the Cinematograph by Robert Bresson
• Kieślowski on Kieślowski by Krzysztof Kieślowski
• Making Movies by Sidney Lumet
• On Film-making: An Introduction to the Craft of the Director by Alexander Mackendrick
• The Magic Lantern: An Autobiography by Ingmar Bergman
• Film Technique And Film Acting by V.I. Pudovkin
• Conclave by Robert Harris

Films and TV shows mentioned in this episode include:

• "Sardinia" directed by Paul Kowalski
• The Tenant directed by Roman Polanski
• The Lobster directed by Yorgos Lanthimos
• "Nimic" directed by Yorgos Lanthimos
• First Reformed directed by Paul Schrader
• Burn After Reading directed by Ethan Coen and Joel Coen
• Miller's Crossing directed by Ethan Coen and Joel Coen
• The Goonies directed by Richard Donner
• Mass directed by Fran Kranz
• Silence of the Lambs directed by Jonathan Demme
• Lawrence of Arabia directed by David Lean
• Vertigo directed by Alfred Hitchcock
• Amadeus directed by Miloš Forman
• Rosemary's Baby directed by Roman Polanski
• The Shining directed by Stanley Kubrick
• Stalker directed by Andrei Tarkovsky
• Cure directed by Kiyoshi Kurosawa
• Possession directed by Andrzej Żuławski
• Dekalog: One directed by Krzysztof Kieślowski
• Don't Look Now directed by Nicolas Roeg
• Come and See directed by Elem Klimov
• Salò, or the 120 Days of Sodom directed by Pier Paolo Pasolini
• Accattone directed by Pier Paolo Pasolini
• The Godfather directed by Francis For Coppola
• The Man Who Fell to Earth directed by Nicolas Roeg
• Quest for Fire directed by Jean-Jacques Annaud
• A Clockwork Orange directed by Stanley Kubrick
• Anora directed by Sean Baker
• Conclave directed by Edward Berger
• The Housemaster directed by Paul Kowalski
• Carrie directed by Brian De Palma
• If... directed by Lindsay Anderson

You can follow Paul on Instagram @pauljkowalski and the film @sardiniafilm and check out Paul's website.

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In today's episode, I interview Jonathan Hammond, the director of the short film "Fireflies in the Dusk," a clever genre bending comedy that brings the Victorian Age into the present day with hilarious results.

Listen to hear about some of the films that inspired Jonathan's concept for the film, how he got his actors to buy into the absurd situations their characters would encounter, and what happens when an actor getting food poisoning in the middle of busy L.A. traffic.

Books mentioned in this episode include:

• The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe by C.S. Lewis
• Mike Nichols: A Life by Mark Harris
• Pictures at a Revolution: Five Movies and the Birth of the New Hollywood by Mark Harris
• Oscar Wars: A History of Hollywood in Gold, Sweat, and Tears by Michael Schulman

Films and TV shows mentioned in this episode include:

• "Fireflies in the Dusk" directed by Jonathan Hammond
• Somewhere in Time directed by Jeannot Szwarc
• Poltergeist directed by Tobe Hooper
• The Purple Rose of Cairo directed by Woody Allen
• Being John Malkovich directed by Spike Jonze
• A Room With a View directed by James Ivory
• "30 Meetings/30 Days" directed by Duane Andersen
• "A Little House in Aberdeen" directed by Emily Goss
• 8 Simple Rules (series)
• The Magicians (series)
• Pride & Prejudice directed by Joe Wright
• Chinatown directed by Roman Polanski
• Grand Illusion directed by Jean Renoir
• 2001: A Space Odyssey directed by Stanley Kubrick
• Young Frankenstein directed by Mel Brooks
• Molly's Game directed by Aaron Sorkin
• His Girl Friday directed by Howard Hawks
• Silence of the Lambs directed by Jonathan Demme

You can follow Jonathan on Instagram @jonohamm and the film @firefliesinthedusk and check out the film at the Cleveland International Film Festival!

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In today's episode, I am joined by Luis Mendez, the winner of the 2025 Oscar prediction contest on The Oscar Project. We talk about our reactions to the 97th Academy Awards, some movies from 2025 so far, and what we're looking forward to in the rest of 2025.
 
Books mentioned in this episode include:

• Mickey 7 by Edward Ashton
• Opposable Thumbs: How Siskel & Ebert Changed Movies Forever by Matt Singer
• Oscar Wars: A History of Hollywood in Gold, Sweat, and Tears by Michael Schulman

Films mentioned in this episode include:

• Wicked directed by Jon M. Chu
• Anora directed by Sean Baker
• Conclave directed by Edward Berger
• The Substance directed by Coralie Fargeat
• Paddington in Peru directed by Dougal Wilson
• Heart Eyes directed by Josh Ruben
• Companion directed by Drew Hancock
• Bridget Jones: Mad About the Boy directed by Michael Morris
• Mickey 17 directed by Bong Joon-Ho
• Inside Out 2 directed by Kelsey Mann
• High and Low directed by Akira Kurosawa
• Maleficent directed by Robert Stromberg
• Beauty and the Beast directed by Bill Condon
• Cinderella directed by Kenneth Branagh
• Sonic the Hedgehog directed by Jeff Fowler
• My Man Godfrey directed by Gregory La Cava
• The Shop Around the Corner directed by Ernst Lubitsch
• You've Got Mail directed by Nora Ephron
• Sleeping Beauty directed by Clyde Geronimi
• House on Haunted Hill directed by William Malone
• Mr. Smith Goes to Washington directed by Frank Capra
• The Thin Man directed by W.S. Van Dyke

We talked about way more than this so check out the full list of films mentioned on Letterboxd.

Check out Luis's work at mendezmoviereport.com.

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In today's episode, I interview Lucy Davidson, the director of the short film "Baggage," a touching look at the weight we all carry with us in our day to day lives.

Listen to hear about the inspiration for the film, the importance of creating a sonic landscape that felt believable, and some of the fun little details you can look for as you watch the film.

Books mentioned in this episode include:

• When Breath Becomes Air by Paul Kalanithi
• The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks by Rebecca Skloot

Films mentioned in this episode include:

• "Baggage" directed by Lucy Davidson
• "Speak to Me" by Pink Floyd (50th Anniversary Music Video)
• Memoir of a Snail directed by Adam Elliot
• Mouse Hunt directed by Gore Verbinski
• Ratatouille directed by Brad Bird and Jan Pinkava
• Portrait of a Lady on Fire directed by Celine Sciamma
• Babe: Pig in the City directed by George Miller
• Mad Max directed by George Miller
• Happy Feet directed by George Miller
• Muppets From Space directed by Timothy Hill
• "Wander to Wonder" directed by Nina Gantz
• "In the Shadows of the Cypress" directed by Hossein Molayemi and Shirin Sohani
• "Beautiful Men" directed by Nicolas Keppens

You can follow Lucy on Instagram @lucy_maree_davidson and check out her film playing at SXSW this week!