Extra Milestone – Classic Film Reviews

Celebrating 55 years since its release in 1966, Au Hasard Balthazar is considered by many to be one of the greatest films of all time, and yes, we’ve been long overdue to tackle a film from the one and only Robert Bresson, whose work has influenced filmmakers of all stripes for over half a century. The film stars Anne Wiazemsky a young French woman who develops a striking bond with a donkey she’s known since its birth, and we see a chronicling of her hardships as they parallel the inhumane treatment of Balthazar, a creature representing innocence in its rawest form.

MUSIC IN THIS EPISODE: Franz Shubert’s Piano Sonata No. 20 in A major, D. 959, as heard in Au Hasard Balthazar.

LINKS:

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Our film anniversary this month belongs to the romantic drama Charlie Chaplin once called “the greatest movie ever made about America.” That’s right, we’re diving into A Place in the Sun, starring Montgomery Clift, Elizabeth Taylor, and Shelley Winters, with supporting turns from Anne Revere and Raymond Burr. Directed by George Stevens and written by Harry Brown and Michael Wilson, this awards-heavy favorite among classic film lovers celebrates 70 years since premiering at the Cannes Film Festival in 1951, and it was the second film adaptation of the 1925 novel An American Tragedy by Theodore Dreiser, which was also a place of the same name.

MUSIC IN THIS EPISODE: The opening theme of A Place in the Sun, composed by Franz Waxman and Daniele Amfitheatrof.

LINKS

• Follow us on Twitter: Jon Negroni, Julia Teti
• Check out our Cinemaholics Merch!
• Leave us a voicemail using The “Swell” App. We post new prompts every week or so.
• Check out our Patreon to support Cinemaholics!
• Email your feedback to cinemaholicspodcast [at] gmail.com.
• Connect with Cinemaholics on Facebook and Twitter.

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This month on Extra Milestone, we jump back in time 75 years to discuss Gilda, a cult classic film noir starring Rita Hayworth, Glenn Ford, and George Macready. Directed by Charles Vidor and co-written by Jo Eisinger and Marion Parsonnet (with an uncredited contribution from Ben Hecht), the story is adapted from the work of E.A. Ellington, and it centers around gambling con man Johnny Farrell (Ford), whose amoral casino boss Ballin (Macready) surprises him with the revelation of his new, striking wife Gilda (Hayworth). We discuss the film’s resonant themes all these years later, its impact on the noir genre, and how the film relates to other iconic dramas from the era.

MUSIC IN THIS EPISODE: The opening theme of Gilda.

LINKS

• Follow us on Twitter: Jon Negroni, Julia Teti
• Check out our Cinemaholics Merch!
• Leave us a voicemail using The “Swell” App. We post new prompts every week or so.
• Check out our Patreon to support Cinemaholics!
• Email your feedback to cinemaholicspodcast [at] gmail.com.
• Connect with Cinemaholics on Facebook and Twitter.

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This month’s Extra Milestone discussion is The Silence of the Lambs, which recently celebrated its 30th anniversary. We discuss the ongoing legacy of this perennial classic from director Jonathan Demme and screenwriter Ted Tally (adapted from the novel by Thomas Harris), including how it shaped the modern landscape of true crime filmmaking and left a lasting impact on perceptions of the transgender community. We also discuss the iconic performances of Jodie Foster, Anthony Hopkins, and Ted Levine, who portray Clarice Starling, Hannibal Lecter, and Buffalo Bill, respectively. Then finish with a deep dive on the film’s ending.

HOSTED BY:  Jon Negroni and Julia Teti

MUSIC IN THIS EPISODE: The opening theme of The Silence of the Lambs.

ADDITIONAL READING: 

• Harmony Colangelo's piece for the AV Club: "30 years in, The Silence of the Lambs' Jame Gumb still deserves better"
• Aja Romano's piece for Vox: "Understanding Silence of the Lambs’ complicated cultural legacy"

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For our first official milestone of 2021, we’re discussing Charlie Chaplin’s classic silent film City Lights, which this month celebrates its 90th anniversary since release. This long-celebrated romantic comedy was of course written, directed, and produced by Chaplin, who also stars in it as his iconic character, the Tramp. Along for the ride is Virginia Cherrill as the blind girl who wins the Tramp’s heart, Florence Lee as her grandmother, Harry Myers as the drunken millionaire, and plenty more.

HOSTED BY:  Jon Negroni and Will Ashton

MUSIC IN THIS EPISODE: The opening music of City Lights and music from the final scene. All composed by Charlie Chaplin himself!

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To officially conclude this year's Extra Milestone lineup, Jon Negroni and Will Ashton of the Cinemaholics podcast joined forces with me one last time to discuss two distinct (and oddly holiday-centric) auteur-driven classics. We start our conversation by digging through the muck of Terry Gilliam's Brazil, a bureaucratic odyssey of madness often regarded as one of the greatest films of all time. After that, we jump forward to Edward Scissorhands, an intensely personal story from Tim Burton that is both lighthearted and melancholy, and which has affected us all at one point or another.

SHOW NOTES:

• 00:02:06 – Brazil
• 01:04:16 – Edward Scissorhands

HOSTED BY: Sam Noland, Jon Negroni, and Will Ashton

MUSIC IN THIS EPISODE: "Office Theme" from Brazil composed by Michael Kamen and based off Ary Barroso's "Aquarela do Brasil," music from Edward Scissorhands composed by Danny Elfman

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Welcome to (perhaps) the largest Extra Milestone yet! In an Anyway, That’s All I Got reunion for the ages, I’m joined by Anthony Battaglia, Guy Simons Jr., and Jason Read to discuss three of the biggest epics of the 21st century! First up is Barry Lyndon, the passion project of Stanley Kubrick released in 1975, and a film that’s quite well-loved among hardcore cinephiles. After that, we circle back to Spartacus, an earlier Kubrick film that is rarely discussed in the context of his filmography, and perhaps for just reason! Finally, we jump forward to another one of the great directors with Ran, Akira Kurosawa’s massive and operatic masterpiece from 1985, and which only one of us had seen!

SHOW NOTES:

• 00:05:54 – Barry Lyndon
• 01:06:33 – Spartacus
• 01:48:21 – Ran

HOSTED BY: Sam Noland, Anthony Battaglia, Guy Simons Jr., and Jason Read

MUSIC IN THIS EPISODE: Music from Barry Lyndon composed by Georg Friedrich Händel and performed by The Gold Rush Studio Orchestra, music from Ran composed by Tóru Takemitsu

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Emily Kubincanek makes her welcomed and triumphant return to Extra Milestone, and this week's selections are among the most varied yet! We begin by celebrating the 95-year anniversary of Sergei Eisenstein's magnum opus Battleship Potemkin, a film more fundamentally significant than almost any other when it comes to the art form of editing and propaganda storytelling. After that, we take a lighthearted and melancholy stroll into the world of Henry Koster's Harvey, a rich and complex comedy featuring one of the best performances by the great James Stewart. Finally, we get to the bottom of Jonathan Lynn's Clue, a cult-classic murder mystery that neither of us had seen before, and were delighted to discover was great!

SHOW NOTES:

• 00:02:26 – Battleship Potemkin
• 00:38:22 – Harvey
• 01:14:01 – Clue

HOSTED BY: Sam Noland and Emily Kubincanek

MUSIC IN THIS EPISODE: Music from Harvey composed by Frank Skinner, music from Clue composed by John Morris

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This week on Extra Milestone, I'm joined by returning guest and fellow cinephile Andrew McMahon to break down an enticing double feature spanning numerous decades and genres. First up is a cinematic and musical appetizer in the form of Gimme Shelter, the iconic Rolling Stones documentary directed by Charlotte Zwerin and the Maysles Brothers, chronicling the doomed Altamont Speedway concert outside of San Francisco in December of 1969, a tragic failure that swiftly signaled the downfall of the Counterculture Movement. After that, we jump forward to Michael Mann's Heat, a stylish and captivating crime drama featuring the first onscreen collaboration between Al Pacino and Robert De Niro, and which has maintained its legacy as one of the best films of its kind.

NOTE: Andrew mistakenly refers to the late Brian Jones as 'Brian Taylor' early in the show due to a confusion with Mick Taylor, Jones's replacement band member.

SHOW NOTES:

• 00:02:02 – Gimme Shelter
• 00:45:26 – Heat

HOSTED BY: Sam Noland and Andrew McMahon

MUSIC IN THIS EPISODE: "Gimme Shelter" by The Rolling Stones, "God Moving Over the Face of the Waters" by Moby

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This week on Extra Milestone, I'm joined once more by my good friend Guy Simons Jr. to dissect a pair of (relatively) recent classics that have garnered acclaim over the years, and which have almost nothing whatsoever to do with each other! First up is Pixar's groundbreaking debut feature Toy Story, the first-ever wholly computer animated movie that has gained a reputation as an indispensable landmark in special effects and storytelling. After that, we jump ahead to M. Night Shyamalan's unconventional superhero story Unbreakable, a grounded deconstruction of the genre that arrived before cinema as a whole had become swept up in comic book storytelling, and which has amassed a sizable (and well-earned) cult following.

SHOW NOTES:

• 00:05:27 - Toy Story
• 00:56:15 - Unbreakable

NOTE: The final 5 minutes of my audio track were lost, so I had to use a backup recording that sounds slightly different.

HOSTED BY: Sam Noland and Guy Simons Jr.

MUSIC IN THIS EPISODE: Music from Toy Story composed by Randy Newman, music from Unbreakable composed by James Newton Howard

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Even in the midst of a year as hectic and unconventional as this one, Oscar season is still in full swing when it comes to this week’s selection of heavy hitters. Joining me once again for the first time in nearly three years is Maria Garcia, my former partner in crime from such shows as Now Conspiring and Part-Time Characters, and we’re discussing two films often hailed as being among the greatest of all time! We begin with Raging Bull, the morally complex sports biopic that saved Martin Scorsese’s life and has developed a widely varied legacy, and which one of us isn’t especially fond of! From there, we rewind the clock to visit Miloš Forman’s award season darling One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest, a wholly unique classic within film history that holds up wonderfully to this day! What is the nature of tragedy? How far can sympathy and empathy take us? Has Sam become completely unrecognizable in the past three years? Which actor’s appearance in Cuckoo’s Nest has traumatized Maria on more than one occasion, and who emerges as the unexpected MVP of the film? Tune in to this week’s Extra Milestone for all of those answers and more.

NOTE: Due to an unfortunate (and ultimately miraculously avoided) technical error, the final 15~ minutes of the episode were slightly distorted. Sorry about that!

SHOW NOTES:

• 00:01:55 – Raging Bull
• 00:57:30 – One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest

HOSTED BY: Sam Noland and Maria Garcia

MUSIC IN THIS EPISODE: Music from Raging Bull composed by Pietro Mascagni, music from One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest composed by Jack Nitzsche

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To close out the month of October, we're reviewing two of the best films of the 1950s, and also trying out a new format for the show! First up is my conversation with Rob Wilkinson on Joseph L. Mankiewicz's All About Eve, an all-star drama with a record-breaking number of Oscar nominations, and which happens to be a fantastic exploration of the unforgiving theater world. After that, I chat with my Anyway, That's All I Got cohost Anthony Battaglia about Nicholas Ray's Rebel Without A Cause, a landmark teen drama featuring an indelible posthumous performance by James Dean, and which is also fantastic!

SHOW NOTES:

• 0:00:00 – All About Eve
• 00:42:50 – Rebel Without A Cause

CINEMAHOLICS IN THIS EPISODE: Sam Noland, Rob Wilkinson, and Anthony Battaglia

MUSIC IN THIS EPISODE: Music from All About Eve composed by Alfred Newman, music from Rebel Without A Cause composed by Leonard Rosenman

Next Week: I'll be joined by my Maria Garcia, my former collaborator on Now Conspiring and Part-Time Characters, to discuss Martin Scorsese's Raging Bull and Miloš Forman's One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest!

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Adonis Gonzalez, my cohost on A Nice Place to Visit and Game Over, Man!, is back on the show to discuss a trio of movies that have nothing to do with each other…or do they? Tune in to hear our conversation on Kevin Costner’s Oscar-Winning epic Dances With Wolves, John Sturges’ iconic western remake The Magnificent Seven, and Charles Burnett’s engrossing family drama To Sleep With Anger!

SHOW NOTES:

• 00:04:50 – Dances With Wolves
• 00:39:55 – The Magnificent Seven
• 01:03:45 – To Sleep With Anger

CINEMAHOLICS IN THIS EPISODE: Sam Noland and Adonis Gonzalez

MUSIC IN THIS EPISODE: Music from Dances With Wolves composed by John Barry, Music from The Magnificent Seven composed by Elmer Bernstein

Next Week: Returning guests Rob Wilkinson and Anthony Battaglia are helping me close out the month of October by discussing (respectively) Joseph L. Mankiewicz’s All About Eve and Nicholas Ray’s Rebel Without A Cause!

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Guy Simons Jr. (of Anyway, That's All I Got fame) joins me for the first time on Extra Milestone for a special Halloween episode devoted to two of the greatest serial killer movies of all time! Kicking off our conversation is Alfred Hitchcock's game-changing masterpiece Psycho, including the unique and revolutionary distribution of the film, the ways in which it insidiously sets itself apart from every other movie, whether or not it should be considered a 'slasher,' and more! After that, we jump forward to David Fincher's haunting detective thriller Se7en, a movie which one of us had somehow never seen until now! We also discuss the film's somewhat troubled legacy, the ways in which it has infiltrated the internet consciousness, and even some valuable insight on whether or not it should be viewed as an optimistic film!

SHOW NOTES:

• 00:04:05 – Psycho
• 01:01:35 – Se7en

MUSIC IN THIS EPISODE: "Prelude" by Bernard Herrman, "Closer (Precursor)" by Nine Inch Nails, trailers for Psycho and Se7en

CINEMAHOLICS IN THIS EPISODE: Sam Noland and Guy Simons Jr.

NEXT WEEK: Will Ashton returns to Extra Milestone to discuss three unique auteur projects from the end of the 20th Century: David Lynch's The Elephant Man, Martin Scorsese's After Hours, and Abbas Kiarostami's Close-Up!

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Cinemaholics host Jon Negroni returns to Extra Milestone for a double feature of two of the greatest films of all time! We start by discussing Sidney Lumet's 1975 crime thriller Dog Day Afternoon, a revolutionary and dynamic film that remains just as relevant 45 years later, if not even more so. From there, we move on to Martin Scorsese's career-defining classic Goodfellas, which we believe may potentially hold the title as the greatest gangster film of them all, in addition to being expertly crafted in every way.

SHOW NOTES:

• 00:02:35 – Dog Day Afternoon
• 00:53:00 – Goodfellas

MUSIC IN THIS EPISODE: "Amoreena" by Elton John, "Layla (Piano Exit)" by Derek and the Dominos, trailers for Dog Day Afternoon and Goodfellas

CINEMAHOLICS IN THIS EPISODE: Sam Noland and Jon Negroni

NEXT WEEK: I am joined for the first time on Extra Milestone by my longtime friend Guy Simons Jr. for a Halloween special discussing Alfred Hitchcock's Psycho and David Fincher's Se7en!

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Emily Kubincanek returns to Extra Milestone at last, and in no small fashion! We're diving headfirst into the most Classic of Cinema with two brilliant films that connect to the Silent Era! First up is Charlie Chaplin's The Gold Rush, a dramatic comedy featuring Chaplin's 'Little Tramp' that cemented many dramatic traditions while simultaneously telling a heartfelt and humorous story! From there, we jump forward to Billy Wilder's Sunset Boulevard, which examines the world of showbusiness, the remnants of the Silent Era, and the widespread sacrifices found in Hollywood living through a melancholy lens steeped in Film Noir tradition.

SHOW NOTES:

• 00:02:25 – The Gold Rush
• 00:28:44 – Sunset Boulevard
• 01:14:35 – Recommendations of similar films to seek out

MUSIC IN THIS EPISODE: "Dance of the Rolls/Auld Lang Syne" from The Gold Rush, "Interview with DeMille" from Sunset Boulevard composed by Franz Waxman, trailers for The Gold Rush and Sunset Boulevard

CINEMAHOLICS IN THIS EPISODE: Sam Noland and Emily Kubincanek

NEXT WEEK: Jon Negroni returns once again to discuss two enormous classics: Martin Scorsese's Goodfellas and Sidney Lumet's Dog Day Afternoon!

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The pairings keep getting stranger and stranger every week, and this week's show is no exception! Special guest Ryan Oliver joins Sam and Jon to tackle two very different classics, starting with Akira Kurosawa's massively influential 1950 arthouse classic Rashomon. We discuss everything from our differing experiences with the film, how multiple viewings have yielded different interpretations, and why the film has remained so meaningful even after 70 years. After that, we take a huge left turn toward Transylvania to examine the legacy and power of Jim Sharman's 1975 genre-defining cult classic The Rocky Horror Picture Show, which one of us doesn't like! It's another collection of varied experiences complete with a litany of recommendations to go along with both films!

SHOW NOTES:

• 0:04:05 – Rashomon
• 01:12:40 – The Rocky Horror Picture Show

MUSIC IN THIS EPISODE: "A Ghastly Discovery" by Fumio Hayasaka, "Sweet Transvestite" by Richard O'Brien, trailers for Rashomon and The Rocky Horror Picture Show

CINEMAHOLICS IN THIS EPISODE: Sam Noland, Jon Negroni, and Ryan Oliver

NEXT WEEK: Emily Kubincanek is back again! This time, we're taking a look at both the Silent Era and its legacy with Billy Wilder's Sunset Boulevard and Charlie Chaplin's The Gold Rush!

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To officially commence the Milestone month of August, Will Ashton and Andrew McMahon make their long-awaited returns to help break down a unique and unexpected triple feature, the likes of which the podcast world may have never seen before. We begin with an analysis of Barbara Loden’s Wanda, the first film to be written, directed, and led by a female filmmaker. We follow this up with a look back at Pee-Wee’s Big Adventure, the iconic feature debut of Tim Burton. Finally, we dive into the work of the great Agnès Varda with an observational look at her acclaimed and influential film Vagabond.

SHOW NOTES:

• 00:03:45 – Wanda
• 00:37:20 – Pee-Wee’s Big Adventure
• 00:57:00 – Vagabond
• 01:20:00 – Recommendations of similar films to seek out

NEXT WEEK: Jon Negroni returns yet again to examine Akira Kurosawa’s 1950 masterpiece Rashomon!

MUSIC IN THIS EPISODE: Score for Pee-Wee’s Big Adventure composed by Danny Elfman, trailers for Wanda and Pee-Wee’s Big Adventure, interview for “Observations on Film Art” with Prof. David Bordwell on Vagabond.

CINEMAHOLICS IN THIS EPISODE: Sam Noland, Will Ashton, and Andrew McMahon

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Things are getting real heavy this week, because Adonis Gonzalez is here to talk about the two best movies of 1985, which happen to be radically different from one another! We start with a harrowing exploration of Elem Klimov's Come and See, an anti-war film depicting the Nazi invasion of Belorussia through the eyes of a young boy. We discuss the history of the film's reputation, the drama associated with the production, the way that it emerges as (potentially) the only War movie that actually matters, and why we find it so difficult to even recommend. After that, we were happy to cleanse our palate with a discussion on Robert Zemeckis's iconic Sci-Fi Family Comedy Back to the Future, covering its deft narrative construction, effective antagonist, and curious soundtrack decisions, as well as a deserved commendation for the recently deceased Ron Cobb.

SHOW NOTES:

• 00:05:10 - Come and See
• 00:37:35 - Come and See (Spoilers)
• 00:55:00 - Back to the Future

NEXT WEEK: Will Ashton and Andrew McMahon are both returning to Extra Milestone to cover the triple feature to end all triple features: Barbara Loden's Wanda (1970), Tim Burton's Pee-Wee's Big Adventure (1985), and Agnès Varda's Vagabond (1985).

Music in this Episode: "Lacrimosa" by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, "Johnny B. Goode" by Chuck Berry, music from the trailers for Come and See and Back to the Future.

Cinemaholics in this Episode: Sam Noland and Adonis Gonzalez

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Sam Noland is back on Extra Milestone after a week's respite to take on, along with friend and coworker Robert Wilkinson, two radically different classics. First up is Charles Laughton's gothic thriller The Night of the Hunter, which stars Robert Mitchum as a psychopathic priest hunting down two children during the Great Depression. Next up on our itinerary is the landmark spoof comedy Airplane!, the laugh-a-minute lampooning of pop cinema celebrating 40 years of making the world howl with laughter.

SHOW NOTES:

• 00:05:00 - The Night of the Hunter
• 00:46:25 - Airplane!

NEXT WEEK: Adonis Gonzalez returns to discuss two immense classics from the year 1985: Robert Zemeckis's Back to the Future and Elem Klimov's Come and See!

Music in this episode: Theme from The Night of the Hunter by Walter Schumann, "Stayin' Alive" by the Bee Gees, music from the trailers for The Night of the Hunter and Airplane!

Cinemaholics in this episode: Sam Noland and Robert Wilkinson

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