Hi! THis week, Matt and Corbin talk about "Captain America, The First Avenger," a movie about Captain America, an American Superhero. Topics: The MCU as a sort of end-product of the first two decades of digital cinema, the function of the superhero as a multi-meaning storytelling device, the production design in this movie (Good!) and the cinematography in this movie (Less good!), adapting Jack Kirby's fly by night ethic to a large, settled metanarrative, how the movie's depiction of the Red Skull conforms to Nazi neurosis, and, of course, the question of if Captain America is Good or Bad. 

Matt's Recommendation. Corbin's. Next Week's episode will be the FINAL EPISODE of our Digital Frontiers series and it will be about MELANCHOLIA. Watch it here!

Whoops, a little late! Sorry everyone Matt is busy and I am something aside from busy but diverting enough that I forgot to post the episode. This one is about "Leviathan," a documentary from the Sensory Ethnography Lab at Harvard about commerical fishermen, the ocean, and things all sloppin' on the camera. Watch it here! 

Topics include: GoPros, sloppy noises, thinking about how a camera is doing something, guys with horny mermaid tattoos, Solaris, pornography, moshing, and post-continuity reemerging in the tiny cameras we would all be packing around sooner rather than later. 

Matt's recommendation. Corbin's recommendation is MAYBE in theaters near you but if not you can rent it. 

Next week: CAPTAIN AMERICA: THE FIRST AVENGER. Disney+ if you're sick with it. Expect it around Monday, Matt is gonna be in California. 

Old Cinema! New Cinema! Here they are, together! Ellis and Corbs talk about "Hugo," Martin Scorsese's honestly conspicously excellent family movie about a an orphan, a great filmmaker, and the open wounds of World War One. Topics: how exactly is Scorsese so good at making a special effects extravaganza, the 3D moment, fated to fail, color, and Scorsese's ability to bring a wide range of techniques to the table. 

Read a fascinting article about Rave Culture in Britain here. Corbin  Rec. Matt rec. Next episode is about Leviathan. Watch here. 

Welcome. In this episode Matt and Corbin talk about Abbas Kiarostami's 2010 brainscrew "Certified Copy," a movie about two strangers hanging out in the Italian countryside. Topics include: Binoche's performence, an anchor in a storm, Kiarostami as a natural candiate for digital cinema owing to his particular unfussiness, and Walter Benjamin. So much Walter Benjamin.

Matt's recc. Corbin's recc is available on your music streaming application of choice. Our next episode is about "Hugo." Watch it here. 

(sorry for the double post. this is a repost of a bad upload. LISTEN TO THIS ONE)

Hi there! Matt made a guest appearance on a great new podcast about cinema, history, and the left and we are sharing it, with you, RIGHT HERE! The podcast is called 'Cold War Cinema,' and you can find it here and here. 

Join Ellis and hosts Jason Christian, Tony Ballas, and Paul T. Klein as they discuss:

• The Phoenician Scheme’s connections to the Congress for Cultural Freedom, a CIA-backed cultural operation from 1950 that weaponized writers, artists, and other thinkers for intelligence operations.

• How Anderson’s film reveals the Cold War origins of the contemporary world in its critiques of capitalism and the neoliberal project. 

• The ways that The Phoenician Scheme breaks Anderson’s hermetically sealed aesthetics and alludes to its formal limitations.

To stay up to date on Cold War Cinema, follow along at coldwarcinema.com, or find them online on Bluesky @coldwarcinema.com or on X at @Cold_War_Cinema. 

For more from your hosts:

• Follow Jason on Bluesky at @JasonChristian.bsky.social, on X at @JasonAChristian, or on Letterboxed at @exilemagic. 

• Follow Anthony on Bluesky at @tonyjballas.bsky.social, on X at @tonyjballas.

Follow Paul on Bluesky at @ptklein.com, or on Letterboxed at @ptklein. Paul also writes about movies at www.howotreadmovies.com

alright that's all. we'll be back on friday with Certified Copy, which i need to watch RIGHT NOW

Hi there! Matt was on a different podcast, and we are sharing it, with you, RIGHT HERE! It's called 'Cold War Cinema,' and you can find it here and here. 

Join Ellis and hosts Jason Christian, Tony Ballas, and Paul T. Klein as they discuss:

• The Phoenician Scheme’s connections to the Congress for Cultural Freedom, a CIA-backed cultural operation from 1950 that weaponized writers, artists, and other thinkers for intelligence operations.

• How Anderson’s film reveals the Cold War origins of the contemporary world in its critiques of capitalism and the neoliberal project. 

• The ways that The Phoenician Scheme breaks Anderson’s hermetically sealed aesthetics and alludes to its formal limitations.

To stay up to date on Cold War Cinema, follow along at coldwarcinema.com, or find us online on Bluesky @coldwarcinema.com or on X at @Cold_War_Cinema. 

For more from your hosts:

• Follow Jason on Bluesky at @JasonChristian.bsky.social, on X at @JasonAChristian, or on Letterboxed at @exilemagic. 

• Follow Anthony on Bluesky at @tonyjballas.bsky.social, on X at @tonyjballas.

Follow Paul on Bluesky at @ptklein.com, or on Letterboxed at @ptklein. Paul also writes about movies at www.howotreadmovies.com

alright that's all. we'll be back on friday with certified copy, which i need to watch RIGHT NOW

Corbin and Matt talk about THE SOCIAL NETWORK, David Fincher's (and also Aaron Sorkin's) parable about the fouding of Facebook and the terrible dream of what felt like was coming next. Topics include: capital and moral hazard, the Winkelvosses and Eduardo, the movie's make believe version of Zuckerberg, Fincher setting the palette for the future by accident, and a bunch of other stuff. I dont know if you can see, but this episode is very long.

Corbin rec. Ellis rec. Next episode is about "Certified Copy." Have a good day!

Documentarian CHRISTOPHER JASON BELL (MeansTV, 'Miss Me Yet,' the upcoming 'Failed State') joins us to talk about 'A Married Couple,' Alan King's 1969 documentary about a disintegrating Canadian marriage. Topics include: reality TV, the weird sexism in the movie's reception, documentary performance, the parade of hideous outfits this guy wears, and the terrible language of irrational arguements stuck deep in a nightmare mire. 

I will not be indexing our recs this week, there are simply too many of them. Next week's episode will return to the DIGITAL MINES as we talk about "The Social Network," David Fincher's symphony for the end of human communication. Check it out!!!

Ellis and Corbin talk about post-continuity infused, found footage horror extravaganza PARANORMAL ACTIVITY. Topics include: real estate in 2006 (the true horror), why there wasn't a second demonologist in San Diego at the time, the editing style, HDR cameras, porn aesthetics, and other stuff.

Read some Fabulous Criticisim about Paranormal Activity here. 

NOTICE: OUR NEXT EPISODE IS NOT ABOUT THE SOCIAL NETWORK, LIKE WE SAID HERE. It is about "A Married Couple." Watch it here. 

We had to do it, so we did. Topics include: the insane camera setup they used on this, Cameron: Movie Napoleon, the...particular aesthetics, and the faint nostalgia for Michael Bay real heads feel while watching this thing. There's stuff we like about it, too. 

Read this to learn stuff about Avatar. 

Ellis rec here. Corbin rec'd a video game, again. Next week: PARANORMAL ACTIVITY.