classic film

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

Support our show on Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/cinemaholics

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This week's Extra Milestone is so iconic that we may just need a bigger boat. Anthony Battaglia reunites with Sam to discuss two immensely significant blockbusters that have irreparably shaped the cinematic landscape. We start with a discussion on Steven Spielberg's Jaws, including our differing experiences with the movie, our appreciation for the writing and acting, differences from Peter Benchley's novel, a confession as to our shared fear of open water, and even an extremely hot take involving the infamous sequels! After we dry off from that conversation, we take an isolated look at Irvin Kershner's The Empire Strikes Back and how it changed Star Wars (and sequels in general) forever, why it maintains its effectiveness after dozens of viewings, why we can never view the Dagobah sequence the same way again, whether or not it contains the best lightsaber battle ever, and the dichotomy between good and evil that was solidified in this film.

SHOW NOTES:

• 00:03:30 – Jaws
• 01:04:35 – The Empire Strikes Back

NEXT WEEK: To close out the packed month of June, we're returning to the films of Billy Wilder with The Apartment, and we're assembling a generous handful of Cinemaholics alumni to do so!

Music in this Episode: "Theme from Jaws" by John Williams & the Boston Pops Orchestra, and "Imperial March" by John Williams.

Cinemaholics in this Episode: Sam Noland and Anthony Battaglia

Support our show on Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/cinemaholics

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Jon Negroni makes his long-awaited return to Extra Milestone to investigate Federico Fellini's La Dolce Vita, one of his very favorite films. For 60 years, the film has gained a reputation of being one of the most insightful and layered journeys of World Cinema, and I had a wonderful time learning about its many rich cinematic attributes from Jon. Tune in to hear the two of us break down the film's cinematography, the way it uses the city of Rome to help tell its story, the many exciting chapters that comprise the plot, and more!

NEXT WEEK: To kick off the month of June, I will be joined by my former coworker and very close friend Tyler Chambers to review Monty Python and the Holy Grail and The Blues Brothers, two all-time comedy classics!

MUSIC IN THIS EPISODE: "la dolce vita" by Nino Rota.

CINEMAHOLICS IN THIS EPISODE: Sam Noland and Jon Negroni

Support our show on Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/cinemaholics

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Vegas Film Critic (Jeffrey K Howard) speaks with Author and TCM host, Alicia Malone for Summer Under the Stars for 2020. 

Get ready for this ride into John Waters' classic film, "Pink Flamingos." This is a wild one, so get prepared as Andy and Lucas open this one up! 

Notorious Baltimore criminal and underground figure Divine goes up against a sleazy married couple who make a passionate attempt to humiliate her and seize her tabloid-given title as "The Filthiest Person Alive". Sleaze queen Divine lives in a caravan with her mad hippie son Crackers and her 250-pound mother Mama Edie, trying to rest quietly on their laurels as 'the filthiest people alive'. But competition is brewing in the form of Connie and Raymond Marble, who sell heroin to schoolchildren and kidnap and impregnate female hitchhikers, selling the babies to lesbian couples. Finally, they challenge Divine directly, and battle commences... Written by Michael Brooke. 

Special thanks to Ash St. John for the theme music. Find more about Ash through his Facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/AshStJohnMusic/ and his Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/ashstjohn/. Sound effects obtained from https://www.zapsplat.com. Original music used is copyright protected by owner.

The views expressed herein are the independent opinions of the authors of this podcast.

Follow @johnathon_forcedproximity for his cinnamon roll training regimen. (And a glimpse at our home gym.)

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We've been really into re-watching classic romantic comedies lately. I (Megan) have been particularly thrilled because until recently, Johnathon hasn't been a big fan of "my" movies, i.e. movies that are dialogue-heavy.

Moonstruck was a pretty big turn-around for our marriage, when I finally heard Johnathon say the words, "this movie has a great script." 

But, you'd have to be an A-level idiot not to recognize that Moonstruck has a one of the wittiest, fast-paced but still heavily character-driven, true to life scripts in all of Hollywood. So, SNAP OUT OF IT and watch it. Again. 

Let me explain. 
No, there is no time. Let me sum up. 

If you’re like us (meaning you grew up in the 80s/90s) the odds are good you’ve seen—and loved—the Rob Reiner classic, The Princess Bride. 

We had a lot of fun re-watching this AND recording this episode. If you haven’t seen the movie, pause this podcast and watch it first (bonus points for watching with closed captioning on—you get to read all the witty bits of dialogue you might have missed when you were a kid).