randolph scott

It's officially 2024...Happy New Year? We're not getting our hopes up! While everyone nursed their hangovers and tried desperately to get back to "normal" everyday life, we decided to take a look back at all the things we watched in the past year and talk about some stuff that falls outside the usual scope of the show. Join us as we each count down our individual top five new-to-us watches of the past year, take time to reflect on your own highs and lows, and add some new recommendations to your watchlist.

Lots of links to share from this episode:

Check out The Carlee Canon (Carlee's Top 20 Films of the 1990s)

Check out The Aaron Canon (Aaron's Top 20 Films of the 1990s)

Read Carlee's piece, 'The Puritanical Eye: Hyper-Mediation, Sex on Film, and the Disavowal of Desire' at Lo Specchio Scuro

Read benzostraydogs' Letterboxd Review of Sam Esmail's 'Leave the World Behind'

Listen to Our Junk Filter Episode on Jim McBride's 1983 Remake of 'Breathless'

Check Out Aaron's List of His Top 75 Non-2023 Watches of Last Year.

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Our theme song is "Mirror" by Chris Fish. 

The three sons of an old woman must return home by Christmas Eve in order to save her finances. Ashley, Matt and Will talk about 1947's Christmas Eve, in our penultimate 12 Days of Christmas episode. 

Jordan and Brooke are joined by Clay Keller (Screen Drafts) for Frank Capra's 1944 horror / dark (screwball) comedy / crime caper / rom-com. How do all these genres fit into one tight two-hour romp? How many wild looks does Cary Grant give straight to camera? Is it valid to poison men to give them peace in this life, actually? And is Peter Lorre the all-time best weird little guy?

Follow us on Twitter and IG! (And Jordan's Letterboxd / Brooke's Letterboxd)
Follow Clay on Twitter, and listen to Screen Drafts!

Jordan and Brooke are rejoined by Vanity Fair's David Canfield (Little Gold Men) for the film that launched Cary Grant into super stardom. We discuss Cary Grant's contentious personal life filled with gay rumors, our favorite sneaky ways around the Hays Code, the joy of screwball comedies and their subversive gender roles, a pitch perfect Irene Dunne performance, and Mr. Smith – a very good boy.

Follow us on Twitter and IG! (And Jordan's Letterboxd / Brooke's Letterboxd)
Follow David on Twitter and at Vanity Fair!

“Everybody wants to be Cary Grant. Even I want to be Cary Grant.” So, once said Cary Grant. Born Archibald Leach in Bristol, England, at nine his was abandoned by his father and told that his mother had died. (She hadn’t.) At 14 he ran away and joined the circus. (OK, an acrobat troop but you get the idea.) By 20 he was honing his public persona of Cary Grant, the world’s most elegant man. Best selling author Marc Eliot has delved deeply into the lives of 25 and counting fascinating subjects to write his celebrity bios. He joins us with fascinating backstories which help sort myth from man. Plus Fritz and Weezy are recommending, the Pete Souza doc, My Octopus Teacher, Boys State and Acorn’s A Place To Call Home.

Path Points of Interest:

The Way I See It
Pete Souza Documentary

Obama: An Intimate Portrait by Pete Souza

My Octopus Teacher

Acorn 

Mystery Road

A Place To Call Home

Boys State on Apple TV+ a film by Amanda McBaine and Jesse Moss. 

Marc Eliot

Cary Grant: A Biography

To The Limit: The Untold Story of The Eagles

Death of a Rebel: A Biography of Phil Ochs