#103: Happy-Go-Lucky (2008)

This time, Ashley chooses HAPPY-GO-LUCKY and it’s a Mike Leigh rematch!

Long ago on Ep.8, Dave chose Leigh’s NAKED (1993), which featured male characters so repellent that Ashley found the entire viewing experience to be extremely unpleasant.

Now six years later, we discuss a Mike Leigh film she adores, longtime favorite HAPPY-GO-LUCKY, a seemingly lighthearted comedy simmering with tension and darkness. Sally Hawkins gives a brilliant, compulsively watchable performance as Poppy, a cheerful, free-spirited schoolteacher whose big heart and impulsive nature lead her straight into a series of unsettling encounters that her unshakeable sense of humor may not able to deliver her from.

Download mp3

Subscribe on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Podbean, and most other major platforms.

102: My So-Called Life (1994-1995)

Introducing our lost episode! Three years ago, we started prepwork for a rewatch podcast about the groundbreaking 90s teen series, MY SO-CALLED LIFE, which ran on ABC-TV from 1994 to 1995. The plan: record and bank a few episodes before committing to the launch. Then life happened…you can guess the rest.

Just in time for the 30th anniversary of the series, here is Episode 1 of our MY SO-CALLED LIFE rewatch. Join us as we dissect the Pilot, share our connections to the show, and get reacquainted with introspective 15-year-old Angela Chase (Claire Danes) as she navigates the ups and downs of adolescence and a painful crush on Jordan Catalano (Jared Leto). 

MY SO-CALLED LIFE was an anomaly in the mid-90s when glossy teen soaps like 90210 reigned. Quiet, introspective, and sometimes dark, MSCL was the first TV series to focus on the subjective experience of a teenage girl, and later in its run, the first primetime series to show a teen coming out on-screen.

Download mp3

Subscribe on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Google Podcasts, Podbean, and most other major platforms.

#101: Something Wild (1986)

We were going to introduce Jonathan Demme’s SOMETHING WILD by saying that not a lot of movies start with the kidnapping of the main character in the first five minutes, but according to Wikipedia’s “Films about Kidnapping” list, that isn’t true. And our main character, straitlaced banker Charlie Driggs (Jeff Daniels), isn’t exactly kicking and screaming when he’s picked up by Lulu (Melanie Griffith), an attractive Soho hipster with a Louise Brooks bob. What follows is a genre-defying film that is part road movie, part off-kilter rom-com, and part suburban nightmare crime thriller, featuring a truly terrifying debut performance by Ray Liotta.

Download mp3

Subscribe on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Google Podcasts, Podbean, and most other major platforms.

#100: The Big 100! Calm Down & Share This Edition

Five years ago on a drive back from Lubbock, we came up with the concept for this podcast. Here we are, celebrating 100 episodes, by switching it up, with patience and love.

Dave picks a movie Ashley adores, COLUMBUS (2017). Ashley chooses RASHOMON (1950) for Dave.

Are we in for a Kogonada/Kurosawa rap battle? Or just a kinder, more generous show? No enforced viewing this time. Just the gift of time and attention during Ashley’s recent visit home from grad school.

Download mp3

Subscribe on Apple Podcasts, Android, Podbean, or Spotify

#99: Joan Rivers: A Piece of Work (2010)

We’re back and it’s Ashley’s choice!

Joan Rivers was known in her later years for over the top plastic surgery and for participating in the celebrity bullying culture that was rampant in the early ‘00s.

The documentary, JOAN RIVERS: A PIECE OF WORK sought to look beyond this image to better understand River’s place as a groundbreaking comedian, and possibly the hardest working person in show business. The result is a compelling look at the effects of fame and the insecurity of trying to make a life and a living in the limelight.

Download mp3

Subscribe on Apple Podcasts, Android, Podbean, or Spotify

#98: Ikiru (1952)

In what is turning out to be a very existential few months for the podcast, this month we take a close look at Akira Kurosawa’s IKIRU, in which we follow a lifelong civil servant played by Kurosawa regular Takashi Shimura as he comes to terms with his impending death, and maybe, just maybe figures out what the point of all of this is. And in the third act, Kurosawa, ever the keen observer of humanity, gives us a glimpse of the man’s legacy to those left behind. And so, can the living ever really learn what the dead have to teach us?

Download mp3

Subscribe on Apple Podcasts, Android, Podbean, or Spotify

#97: Harvey (1950)

If you’re like Ashley and remember from the height of the blog era a Tumblr called “Sketchy Bunnies,” then you might be a little intimidated by the hero of this week’s pic, a 6 foot 3 and a half inch invisible rabbit named HARVEY. But it turns out that Harvey and his best friend Elwood P. Dowd have a lot to teach us about what is important in life: like being kind to others, finding joy in simple things, and making sure there are strong policies in place to limit the powers of private mental health institutions.

Check out John Green’s moving podcast episode about the impact of Harvey on his life:

• The Anthropocene Reviewed: “Velociraptors and Harvey”

Download mp3

Subscribe on Apple Podcasts, Android, Podbean, or Spotify

#96: La Dolce Vita (1960)

There are some who believe, and we’re among them, that the creative spark  is what makes us human, but making art is frequently hard, emotionally taxing and the results often fall short of our ideal. So is it any wonder that some would-be creators might lose themselves in hedonistic pleasure seeking, rather than doing the work to find meaning? This is perhaps the central question of Dave’s choice, Fellini’s LA DOLCE VITA. Rife with symbolism and references to Dante’s Inferno, the soul of our hero is at stake. What choice will he make: to make his own meaning or be lost?

Download mp3

Subscribe on Apple Podcasts, Android, Podbean, or Spotify

#95: Certified Copy (2010)

Intriguing, enthralling, enigmatic and ultimately moving, words that go some ways towards describing this month’s pick, CERTIFIED COPY (2010). Directed by Abbas Kiarostami and starring Juliette Binoche and William Shimmel, the film depicts two people with an undetermined relationship to one another as they spend the day in Tuscany. And so questions arise: What is the exact nature of their relationship? Does objective truth exist? And does it matter if it does?

Download mp3

Subscribe on Apple Podcasts, Android, Podbean, or Spotify

#94: Tootsie (1982)

We’re back from our hiatus with an all-new deep dive into Dave’s pick. This week we’re talking about TOOTSIE (1982) and we have questions: Can someone who disguises himself as another type of person really understand what it’s like to be that kind of person? And more importantly, did the screenwriters of Tootsie actually intend to convey a subtle message that indeed you can not understand what it is like to be a woman in a patriarchal society by disguising yourself as one? Is Michael Dorsey, a.k.a. Dorothy Michaels (Dustin Hoffman), actually an anti-hero here? And what was up with that ending? Justice for Sandy and Julie!

Download mp3

Subscribe on Apple Podcasts, Android, Podbean, or Spotify