The Stacks

This week, Shana and j. talk about Park Chan-Wook's excellent 2000 political drama of soldiers in the DMZ between North and South Korea, JSA (discussion going until 1:12:29), followed by Leslie H. Martinson's delightful 1966 Batman feature film, based on the classic TV series (discussion continuing to 2:47:18), as always concluding with some discussion of the other stuff we've watched that week and decisions of what to cover on next week's episode.

The live list of The Stacks is online at https://letterboxd.com/jshopa/list/the-stacks/

This week, Shana and j. talk about the third film in the Yokai Monsters series, Along With Ghosts (1969, directed by Kimiyoshi Yasuda & Yoshiyuki Kuroda, discussing running to 57:13), which has surprisingly few yokai as it turns out, followed by 2011's surreal regional horror pastiche The Oregonian (directed by Calvin Lee Reeder, discussion continuing to 2:07:17), then of course some mini reviews of additional movies watched this week and our decision-making on what to cover next week.

The live list of The Stacks is online at https://letterboxd.com/jshopa/list/the-stacks/

This week, Shana and j. talk about the 1994 Coen Brothers' Preston Sturges tribute film, The Hudsucker Proxy (discussion running to 1:13:47) and dive into some full-scale Bayhem with the 2022 Michael Bay flick Ambulance (discussion continuing to 2:48:50), of course followed by brief capsule reviews of some additional movies we've watched in the previous week and decisions on what to cover next week.

The live list of The Stacks can be found online at https://letterboxd.com/jshopa/list/the-stacks/

This week on The Stacks, Shana and j. are talking some metaphorical deadly angels. First up is the Italian western I Am Sartana, Your Angel of Death, the second in the Sartana series (1969, directed by Giuliano Carnimeo, discussion continuing to 1:23:26). After that, we have such a delightful conversation about Luis Buñuel's surrealist satire The Exterminating Angel (1962) that we simply can't stop talking until 3:07:12. As always, we conclude with some discussion of other movies we've watched in the previous week and decide what to cover next week.

The live list of The Stacks can be found online at https://letterboxd.com/jshopa/list/the-stacks/

It's car week on The Stacks, as Shana and j. discuss the 1962 Yasuzo Masumura corporate noir Black Test Car, about bitter competition in the postwar Japanese auto manufacturing business (discussion running to 1:10:33), followed by the 1978 goofy car chase action comedy Stingray, directed by Richard Taylor (discussion continuing to 2:27:26), and then some talk about The Unbearable Weight of Massive Talent and decisions on what to cover next week.

The live list of The Stacks is found online at https://letterboxd.com/jshopa/list/the-stacks/

This week, Shana and j. fill in a gap in our discussion of the films of Shinya Tsukamoto with 1990's oddball suburban 80s-American-horror-styled Hiruko the Goblin (discussion going to 1:14:00), followed by Daisuke Miyazaki's 2019 film of intense urban alienation, Videophobia (discussion continuing to 2:29:22), and then of course discussion of additional movies watched in the previous week and deciding on what we'll cover next.

The live list of The Stacks is online at https://letterboxd.com/jshopa/list/the-stacks/

This week, Shana and j. are talking about two very different early 70s crime pictures, returning to the Female Prisoner Scorpion series with the fabulous, surreal second entry Jailhouse 41 (directed by Shunya Ito, 1972, discussion running to 1:11:50), followed by the twisty, oddly satirical Charles Bronson mafia conspiracy thriller The Stone Killer (directed by Michael Winner, 1973, discussion running to 2:32:44). As usual, this is followed by discussion of other movies we've watched since last time and decisions on what to cover next week.

The live list of The Stacks is online at https://letterboxd.com/jshopa/list/the-stacks/

Due to an unexpected schedule change, the regularly scheduled episode is postponed for one week. In the meantime, this week Shana and j. are discussing the genderfluid surrealist coming-of-age film Les Garçons Sauvages (The Wild Boys, 2017, directed by Bertrand Mandico).

The live list of The Stacks as always can be found online at https://letterboxd.com/jshopa/list/the-stacks/

This week in The Stacks, Shana and j. discuss Alfred Hitchcock's classic 1942 wartime espionage classic, Saboteur (going to 1:18:18), followed by Miguel Llansó's wild 2019 Afro-futurist romp Jesus Shows You the Way to the Highway (continuing to 2:23:32), then on to our moves and picks for next time.

The live list of The Stacks is online at https://letterboxd.com/jshopa/list/the-stacks/

This week, Shana and j. talk about the influential 1966 Shaw Brothers / King Hu wuxia Come Drink With Me (discussion running to 1:14:41) and Graham Mason's affectionate 2020 pastiche of 70s TV mystery drama, Inspector Ike (discussion continuing to 2:30:37), followed as always by discussion of a bunch of other movies j. watched this week and decisions on what to cover next.

The live list of The Stacks can be found online at https://letterboxd.com/jshopa/list/the-stacks/