The STACKS

Hello friends, and welcome to MARCH NIGHT SHYAMALAN! That's right, during the month of March we're talking all things M. Night here on the STACKS. We're talking the good, the bad, and the uh, Stuart Little?

On this first episode, we talk about the cult classic(?) THE HAPPENING, starring Marky Mark Wahlberg, Zooey Deschanel, and John Leguizamo! 

When a deadly airborne virus threatens to wipe out the northeastern United States, teacher Elliott Moore (Mark Wahlberg) and his wife (Zooey Deschanel) flee from contaminated cities into the countryside in a fight to discover the truth. Is it terrorism, the accidental release of some toxic military bio weapon – or something even more sinister?

Is it good? Is it BAD? Listen, and find out! 

For more great podcasts and cinema snippets, head over to our Patreon page!

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As we round out Kung February, Jack takes Stephen on a journey into the weird and wonderful world of BRUCE LEE rip-offs. We discuss three different cornerstones of this exploitation genre - THE DRAGON LIVES AGAIN, SOUL BROTHERS OF KUNG FU, and BRUCE AND THE IRON FINGER. 

Bruceploitation is a strange corner of genre filmmaking, the likes of which society at large may never see ever again! We talk about the good elements and the bad elements of Bruceploitation, how different examples differ in their approach to capitalising on Bruce Lee's success and discuss who we'd like to see a fake Bruce Lee fight on the big screen! 

For more great podcasts and cinema snippets, head over to our Patreon page!

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1972 saw Bruce Lee take the world by storm with ENTER THE DRAGON, but on the other side of the Golden Harvest lot, another movie was being filmed... that movie.. was Hapkido! 

Three graduated Hapkido students return to China from Japanese-occupied Korea in order to set up their own school. However, problems start to arise when a local Japanese martial arts school tries to run the new school out of town. It's a surprise remake of another Golden Harvest classic, can you guess which? Stephen can! We talk about Angelo Mao, an early Sammo Hung performance, a surprise Jackie Chan cameo, and the ways in which this differs from Bruce Lee's approach to kung fu filmmaking. 

For more great podcasts and cinema snippets, head over to our Patreon page! 

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Stephen and Jack sit down and talk about one of the most popular kung fu movies ever made, Lau Kar-leung's The 36th Chamber of Shaolin!  

A man studies kung fu at the Shaolin Temple to fight back against the oppressive Manchu government. We talk about Gordon Liu, the restraint of the narrative at play, the Shaw Brothers, and which of the chambers Stephen could manage. 

For more great podcasts and cinema snippets, head over to our Patreon page! (It's good, folks! Promise!)

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This month, Stephen wants to explore the wild and engaging world of Kung Fu cinema. So, it's up to Jack to compile a good starter list for those interested in diving into what can often seem like an impenetrable corner of genre cinema. 

If you liked this episode, you can jump over to our Patreon feed where Jack drops another 10 movies he thinks you should check out if you're in the mood for some good ol' fashioned martial arts mania! 

As mentioned in the podcast, you can find more kung fu films in Jack's ongoing project - The Kung Fu Canon. 

For more great podcasts and cinema snippets, head over to our Patreon page! (It's good, folks! Promise!)

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Keeeeeep STACKing! x

Welcome back to Ki-no Thanks! A series we do on THE STACKS about some of the worst-rated motion pictures on Letterboxd.com. How do we find the perfect STACKS movie? It needs to have something Stephen loves, and something Jack loves. How about a... video game movie... with martial arts??? What could possibly go wrong??

The STACKS boys are joined by Stephen's old school friend Faith to talk about the profound lore of the Street Fighter universe, and to see if Jack knows anything about this cultural phenomenon! We also discuss Street Fighter: The Legend of Chun-Li, a movie that is not very good! 

For more great podcasts and cinema snippets, head over to our Patreon page! 

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Stephen and Jack are joined by Emma to talk about the Academy Awards! We pick our winners for many of the prestigious categories, with a classic twist - who will be crowned the champion of Oscar predictions? Jack? Emma? STEPHEN? Who knows? Only Mr. Oscar knows. 

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Welcome back to our 'A Note From The Author' series, where Stephen talks to his favourite writers, critics, and filmmakers. Stephen sits down with J Taylor-Jones, a filmmaker based in the UK to discuss their process of working on their debut feature 'One Summer On Earth', as well as the projects that followed. 

We appreciate any and all feedback on this podcast series, and our wider podcast work! Comments, questions, angry letters, wedding proposals, everything goes to [email protected]

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Stephen and Jack recently published their top 10 films as part of The Twin Geeks' TG10 lists. You can read Stephen's here and Jack's here, but over the Christmas break, Stephen was asked by a friend for his top 10 HOLLYWOOD PICTURES. None of this European arthouse, none of these microbudget oddities, give me spectacle, provide me with tinsel town magic! 

So, here we are. Stephen lists of some of his favourite 'Hollywood pictures', in chronological order! 

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The boys are STACK in town, boys are STACK in town! 

Welcome back to Office Hours, our semi-regular roundup of all the things we've watched, read, played, listened to, and sometimes enjoyed! 

00:00 - It Begins

6:12 - Books! Both old and new

12:40 - Television! The Big Fat Quiz of The Year and White Lotus 

19:00 - Movie catchup! Smile, Avatar, Tár, and more!

38:00 - Japanuary 2023! 

46:00 - It ends tbf! 

As always, we appreciate any and all ratings and reviews of the podcast. You can email us anything and everything - [email protected]

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Stay STACKING xxx