This Movie Saved My Life

This week on This Movie Saved My Life, we're diving into Ken Russell's outrageous 1971 masterpiece The Devils. Religious hysteria, political corruption, sexual repression, and a whole lot of blasphemy—this film has it all. We talk about why it's simultaneously hilarious, horrifying, and one of the wildest films of the 1970s.

On this episode, John and Miles explore the world of NC-17 rated films and whether that rating means what it used to. 

Michael Mann’s Manhunter (1986) brought Thomas Harris’s Hannibal Lecter universe to the screen years before The Silence of the Lambs became a cultural phenomenon, and did it with neon light, synths, forensic procedure, and an overwhelming sense of loneliness. John and Miles revisit Mann’s cult classic to discuss William Petersen’s haunted Will Graham, Tom Noonan’s terrifying and unexpectedly vulnerable Francis Dollarhyde, Brian Cox’s remarkably understated Hannibal Lecktor, and a film in which empathy becomes both a detective’s greatest weapon and a dangerous form of self-erasure. Plus: home movies, immaculate architecture, the tiger scene, “In-A-Gadda-Da-Vida,” and the question of whether Manhunter might be the purest Michael Mann movie of them all.

This week, we're heading from ancient Greece to the kitchen as we pair Christopher Nolan's forthcoming The Odyssey with the final season of The Bear. We reflect on how one of television's defining dramas concludes, asking whether its ending ultimately rewards years of emotional investment. Along the way, we explore work, ambition, burnout, perfectionism, and why stories about impossible standards continue to resonate so deeply, before looking ahead to why The Odyssey remains one of the foundational stories about the long journey home.

It's a reunion episode! After reuniting in person during John's summer holiday, we catch up on the films we've been watching before diving into a Fourth of July conversation about Hamilton. As Miles confronts his well-known skepticism of musicals, we explore how the film uses music, casting, and storytelling to reimagine America's founding and challenge the way we think about history, nationhood, and collective memory. Along the way, we reflect on what historical films can teach us about the stories nations tell themselves, and we close the episode by saying farewell to the great Sam Neill, whose remarkable career left an indelible mark on cinema.

This week, John and Miles take a close encounter with Disclosure Day, a film that asks big questions about evidence, secrecy, belief, and the search for truth. Along the way, they discuss what the film shares with investigative classics like The Conversation, All the President's Men, and even Memories of Murder, exploring why unresolved mysteries continue to fascinate us. Whether you're a skeptic, a believer, or simply curious about the unknown, join us for a conversation about what happens when certainty remains just out of reach.

For our third journey into cinematic exile, we venture into truly strange territory with Death to Smoochy, Yesterday, and A Dirty Shame. These are films that have been dismissed as disasters, frustrations, or outright assaults on good taste, but are they really unwatchable, or simply misunderstood? Join John and Miles as they explore failed masterpieces, wasted premises, weaponized bad taste, and the thin line between a cult classic and a cinematic train wreck.

Miles and John wander into the strange world of Hokum to unpack haunted houses, Celtic folklore horror, and why some places feel haunted long before anything supernatural arrives. Along the way, they explore the uncanny, folk horror, and the unsettling feeling that a house may not be haunted at all, but simply built too close to something old.

Three Spielberg films. No easy emotions.

With filmmaker Sam Coale, we dive into 1941, A.I., and Empire of the Sun—the moments where Spielberg’s control slips and something deeper emerges. 

In this episode, we're celebrating the 20th anniversary of a film that took over conversations, quotes, and everyday life. Which film? Listen and find out.