Film School

I know what came over you: High Anxiety. You've still got it! Well, it turns out we couldn't quite get ol' Hitch out of our system, and neither could Mel Brooks. The king of satire does his signature send-up of the suspense film master, and it's starring Brooks himself! A first! This also, somehow, marks the first time we've watched a Books picture on this podcast, which reeks of high crime. Better late than never, we suppose. Enjoy!

53 films. 50 years. 6 decades. After watching every single movie Alfred Hitchcock ever made (minus one, lost in time), Josh and Ira reflect back on the past two years they spent with the legendary director. Beyond the topics of 'what did we learn about and from Hitch?', we attempt to answer a couple massive questions. First: is he the best director of all time? And second: what are the essential watches from his catalogue? We discuss!

Leave your crystal balls out of this, George... It's Hitchcock's final film. After 6 decades, 53 films, and 50 years, Alfred Hitchcock finally reached the end. His last feature is remarkably light fare, comedy over suspense, jokes over violence, a cozy old-school sensibility over the edginess that exploded in the 70s. So, how does it stack up? Did old Hitch still have it? We watch and find out.

When you're entering into a new chapter of life--any kind; moving, finishing a big project, marriage, divorce, kids, a breakthrough in therapy, new job...--how do you handle that? Is there anything you do, either external or internal, to aid yourself in the process of accepting the change and moving on? We discuss!  Also, Josh recommends Cloverfield, and Ira recommends Severance Season 2, which is on AppleTV, and Alone: Australia which is on Netflix.

Hitchcock's penultimate film!

Do you take naps? If you don't, why is that? And if you do, do you feel guilty about it? Or are they a regular part of your routine (at least when life allows it)? We discuss our stance on all the above (spoiler: we're pro nap), and how we fit such indulgences into our daily routine.  Also, Josh recommends Man of the Year which is currently on Tubi, and Ira recommends Mondovino, which is on Pluto TV.

Does the word "topaz" mean anything to you? The Cold War rages on in the world, and Hitchcock delivers a political/spy thriller centered on the lead-up to the Cuban Missile Crisis, apparently even based on real events. Is Hitch just replaying the old hits? Or does this one have any juice on its own? We watch to find out!

When making art like writing or telling a story, when do you compromise? Or DO you compromise? The word is so loaded with negative connotation, but its definition is so slippery, maybe even personal. So...what's an acceptable level of compromise? We discuss!  Also, Josh recommends re-watching Severance season 1 on Apple TV+, and Ira recommends SNL50: Beyond Saturday Night, which is on Peacock.

How would you like to live behind what you call the Iron Curtain...? It's the height of the cold war. Hitch swaps his nationless networks of mysterious criminals for a far more real-world one: East Germany and the Russians. It's also a different era of Hollywood that's starting to emerge, actors like Julie Andrews and Paul Newman who expect to have much more of a say on set than the contract actors of the past. So, will Al adapt with the times? We watch and find out!

"Ideas are like fish. If you want to catch little fish, you can stay in the shallow water. But if you want to catch the big fish, you've got to go deeper."  David Lynch pushed the boundaries of filmmaking. He was known for his surrealism, his expressionism, his images, and, much of the time, for not making sense. He certainly wasn't interested in explaining himself to the audience. But the genius of David might actually be how much, at his best, he really did make sense, he really did have something to say. So...how does one figure that out? WE DISCUSS! Also, Josh recommends Owning Mahoney, and Ira recommends Conclave, which is on Peacock. Rest In Peace, David. You will always be the best of us. Thanks for all the fish.

You, Freud. Me, Jane? Alfred takes on sex, lies, and money missing from the big safe at work. It's half trippy para-psychology Spellbound, part neo-noirish femme fatale Vertigo, this time with a returning Tippi Hedron as the slippery-with-the-truth title character and an up-and-coming Sean Connery as the guy who catches her...and falls in love with her? Does it all come together? We find out!

The Darkness is out there. Everyone can feel evil working in the shadows of the real world, however figurative or literal you want to attribute it. So, naturally, evil plays a big part in our stories; it behooves us storytellers to know how to effectively represent it. How do we do that? Josh and Ira talk through their own personal tips and tricks. Also, Josh recommends Hotel Hell, and Ira recommends The Batman, which is on Max.

It's the end of the world! Hitch backs up the classic Psycho with another horror film, but this time it's nature itself that's out for humanity rather than one of our own. What would happen if all the birds in the world suddenly turned against us? Would we stand a chance? That's the very simple question at the heart of this one that will have you looking at our feathered friends veerrryyy differently by the end of it. We watch and discuss!

Should I stay or should I go now? It takes SO MUCH EFFORT to reach a plateau--a new level--it can be absolutely daunting to consider doing it all over again to reach the NEXT plateau--the next level. So...how long is it okay to sit back and rest on one's laurels? How long is it okay to stay on one level before mustering up the courage and energy to take on the next? We discuss! Also, Josh recommends Ink, which is on Tubi, and Ira (tentatively) recommends Arcane Season One, which is on Netflix.

We all go a little mad sometimes... Welcome to the birth (debatedly) of the slasher film! Hitch might not have been the absolute FIRST to dive into the mind of a twisted serial killer, but he arguably is the most influential to have ever done it. This movie is...well, quite simply: one of the best films ever made. Anthony Perkins is spectacular, as is the music, the black and white photography, the twists, everything. What a pleasure to go back and watch this one again, and what an ending for what is possibly the greatest three-year-run for any director in history.

Happy New Year!!! With the holidays now in the rear view, our thoughts turn to the year ahead: 2025. What do you have planned for this coming year? What do you want to get done? Where do you want to go? What do you want to accomplish? Josh and Ira answer those questions for themselves, and we invite you to do the same!

Another year gone! 2024, we hardly knew thee... What will you remember this year for? What's going to come to mind when you think of 2024? What were the victories and the defeats? The adventures? The high points and the low points? Josh and Ira answer those questions for themselves, and invite you to consider and answer for yourself. Here's to 2024!

Buddy the Elf--what's your favorite color? Will Ferrel brings us a modern holiday classic as the man who was raised by elves up in the North Pole and has just found out he was adopted...so off he goes to meet his real father in the land of humans: New York City. It's Ferrel at his best, the fish out of water, the giant fool with a heart of gold and innocent wisdom...which is also perfect for Christmas. We watch and discuss!

I've seen what we could be like together... Nicholas Cage has it all! The penthouse apartment, the eight-figure bank account, and all the solitude in the world. What else could a man want? Well, he's about to fin dout. A mysterious Don Cheadle plops him into the middle of what his life would have been like had he chosen love and family instead. It's A Christmas Carol meets It's A Wonderful Life. Nic Cages it up. Tea Leoni is spectacular. The kids are to die for. Does it all come together? We watch and find out.

You gentlemen aren't REALLY trying to kill my son, are you...? Might be Ira's favorite Hitchcock. It's the prototypical spy film, predates even James Bond, except that this spy is actually just a regular dude. Handsome Cary Grant, of course, but he's pulled into an international conspiracy entirely by mistake. Chock full of some of the most iconic sequences ever put to film. What a time '59 must have been! We're (again) watching...North By Northwest!

Finishing something can make a lot of things suddenly become clear. There are revelations about our work that can literally only be gained by seeing something through and marking it as "done" in our own heads. So...what have we learned, Josh and Ira, in finishing our own projects? We discuss. Also, Josh recommends Annihilation which is playing on Pluto TV, and Ira recommends Succession with is on HBO and Max.

You shouldn't keep souvenirs of a killing... We're back to Vertigo! The last time we watched this one, it was late summer of 2021, deep in the AFI's Top 100 list. Top ten, in fact. Seems like an age ago, and yet, the movie took us right back there. It's still great, undeniably one of Hitch's absolute best; probably the closest he ever got to a proper film noir, stunningly shot in San Francisco, a spectacular sound track, some neat camera work, A-list cast, and a screenplay the zips and zig-zags. A true classic. Enjoy!

Josh calls DVD Extras his film school. The interviews, commentaries, documentaries, featurettes, and other bonus material has been as valuable in his filmmaker education as any class or study. We talk about the benefits of all this extra material around movie making that you might not be tapping into. Also, Josh recommends Kitchen Nightmares, and Ira recommends the original Star Trek movies, and Grand Designs.

An innocent man has nothing to fear... Alfred is doing something new this time: he's telling a true story, every word of it, top to bottom. Henry Fonda plays Manny Balestrero, bass player at the famous Stork Club and father of two, just scraping by to support them. And then he's fingered for being the hold-up man terrorizing the neighborhood shops and offices. But he didn't do it. Except the police think he did. Will he go down for a crime he didn't commit, or will the justice system to him and his family right? We watch and find out.

Harold Bloom defined 'strangeness' as a mark of originality that is endemic and absolutely required for any work of literary art to be considered a masterpiece or a classic. Dan Simmons goes further to define it as a quality in the writing or storytelling that indicates to us, the reader (or viewer for Film/TV), are in the presence of an intelligence that is unique or different enough to be able to teach us something about ourselves. So...how does one achieve 'strangeness?' Is it something that can be taught? Practiced? Or is it something you either have or you don't? We discuss! Also, Josh recommends Men which is on HBO Max, and Ira recommends It Follows which is on Prime.

A man... a statesman... is to be killed... Hitchcock does his one and only remake! Twenty+ years earlier, back in his British period, he did this story once before, under the exact same name! So...does he mix it up? Does he IMPROVE on the original? We watch and find out!

Let's suck in the guts, guys. We're the Ghostbusters... Bustin' still makes us feel good! The boys are back and saving New York yet again from the spookies. It's been five years, everyone has done a bit of going their separate ways, but there are shenanigans afoot. Ghosts need busting! Can they capture some of the magic of the original? We watch and find out. HAPPY HALLOWEEN!

They're here... This movie is the perfect horror film for beginners; Spooky 101, if you will. It's not super violent, super scary, or super disturbing...but it DOES bring the noise. It IS scary, and unquestionably a horror movie that gets appropriate crazy by the end. It exists in that weird middle-ground between E.T. and Nightmare on Elm Street, and in that way, there's nothing out there quite like it. It's undeniably a classic. We watch, we scream, and we discuss!

Who you gonna call? It's hard to understate just how large of an impression this movie made on the kids who grew up in the 1980s (and 90s). This movie felt like it was EVERYONE'S favorite movie. Deadpanned Bill Murray, nerdy Harold Ramis, golden retriever Dan Akroyd, skeptical/wtf Ernie Banks, goofy Slimer, possessed Sigourney Weaver, that-neighbor Rick Moranis...it's alchemy. One of those films that captured magic. We're watching it!

What's it liked to get older? As Josh and Ira dip their toes into 'middle age,' things start to change. You're not old yet, but you're not young anymore. Some things improve. Some things get worse. Ya boys talk about it. Enjoy! Also, Josh recommends Seinfeld which is currently on Netflix, and Ira recommends Alien 3, which is currently on Disney+.

I think, Captain Wiles, we're tangled up in a murder... Old Al is trying his hand again at a comedy. This time, its a country community with a dead body on their hands, and they don't want anyone to know about it. Hitch's comedies have been hit and miss so far. How does this one stack up? We watch and discuss :)

How many drafts is the right number of drafts??? Is it okay to write the thing once and then call it done? Or do we need to write and rewrite and edit and write some more and more and more? Or...is it something in between? Josh and Ira discuss what works for them! Also, Josh again recommends Chernobyl on Max, and Ira recommends Mountain Queen which is on Netflix.

The cat has a new kitten... Hitch and Grace Kelly team up again, this time with Cary Grant swapped in for Jimmy Stewart, and the vast, gorgeous French Riviera rather than a single, confined apartment. Grant plays a jewel thief being framed for a robbery he didn't actually commit, and Grace is the woman he falls for. We watch and discuss!

Back in Ira's DJing days, he put together literally hundreds of sets. An interesting pattern developed during that time: no matter how much his skill increased as he went (and it did), some sets just worked better than others. Some were great, others weren't, and no amount of skill could make a set great that wasn't from the outset. So...just how much of greatness comes from the Muse? And how much is due to skill and within our control? We discuss! Also, Josh recommends Chernobyl on Max, and Ira recommends X-Men: The Animated Series which is on Disney+.

That's a secret, private world you're looking into out there... It's Hitchcock's first true classic. Jimmy Stewart and Grace Kelly star in one of the crime film concepts for the ages: a man is laid up with a broken leg and a view out his window into the apartment courtyards behind his building...and he thinks he witnesses a murder. What a delight to revisit this film and watch it again (the first time being back on the AFI's Top 100, of which this film ranked #56)! Join us!

The feedback loop is at the heart of developing any skill. But, the vast majority of the work we do as storytellers is done alone. So, where and when do you open yourself up for other people to comment on? And once get that feedback, what do we DO with it? We discuss! Also, Josh recommends some of his all-time favorite shows, The Office (UK), Arrested Development, Whites, W1A, and People Just Do Nothing, and Ira recommends Turning Point: The Bomb and the Cold War which is on Netflix.

Do you really believe in the perfect murder...? Hitchcock certainly does! This time, it's a man who wants to knock off his cheating wife. Can he get away with it??? Or can the old school, meticulous, quiet Scotland Yard inspector see through it all and figure it out? We watch and find out :)

Have you ever thought of your script, book, or film as a persuasive argument? It is. Drama quite literally arises from two (or several) characters with very different, very persuasive points of view clashing with each other. That's called rhetoric. And if our characters' rhetorical skill can only ever be as strong as the person who wrote that character...well, maybe we all of us writers need to work on our rhetoric, don't we? The better our rhetorical skills become, the more persuasive our characters become, the more compelling our stories become. We discuss that dynamic. Also, Josh recommends Top Chef on Peacock, and Ira recommends the Shrek series of movies, also on Peacock.

I want to make a confession... Hitchcock has a nose for a character in a bind, and that's on full display with this one, where a priest takes confession from a murderer, then becomes the main suspect in that very same murder. Will he break his oath as a priest and tell the authorities the truth? Or will he hang for another man's crime? We watch and find out!

So, you've heard about a movie that has MULTIPLE endings. Maybe they're in the actual film, maybe they're extras on the DVD, or maybe they're just rumors and old scripts. What place do those hold in the context of good storytelling? Are they untapped goldmines, or are they the cast-offs of the perfecting process? We discuss! Also, Josh recommends X-Men '97 on Disney+, and Ira recommends Andor also on Disney+.

You do my murder, and I do yours... We might best know Patricia Highsmith from The Talented Mr. Ripley, but Strangers on a Train was her shocking debut novel, and folks: it slaps even as a movie, and ESPECIALLY in the hands of an Alfred Hitchcock who really feels like he's learned a thing or two about telling suspenseful stories. This one is a TRIP. Buckle up!

Off with their head! Sometimes, a character has to die. But, when are those times? When is it right for the audience or the reader to kill a character? Are there rules, or at least guidelines, around when to bump somebody off for the best effect on your story? We brainstorm from our own experience, and we use a wonderful write-up from onestopforwriters.com on the subject to answer those questions. Also, Josh again recommends Scavenger's Reign on Netflix, and Ira recommends The Hunt for Red October on Max.

Go or don't go, it's all the same. I thought you loved me... Hitchcock teams up with legend of the silent era Marlene Dietrich as a stage actress who's murdered her husband and enlisted her lover's help to try and cover it up. We're also back in the UK! After a couple flops, it certainly feels like Hitch is trying very hard to make a hit. Does it work? We watch and discuss!

What makes a great anti-hero?

In seventeen-hundred and seventy, Captain Cook discovered Australia... Hitchcock tries his hand at the high-brow romantic drama of a young man falling in love with a once-glorious woman now living in exile and the bottle. Certainly not what one thinks of when they're imagining a Hitch joint. Does it work? We watch and discuss!

Bestseller. Top of the Box Office. Hit TV show. Oscar. Millions...success will fix everything, right? I mean, it's literally what we're chasing so hard, the tippy top of our dreams, how could it possibly NOT fix us, right? RIGHT? Hmmm. So, what if it doesn't? What if success were only to make our personal issues WORSE? Oh, god. Perhaps the work on ourselves is actually something else entirely, and something we can start right here, right now. We talk about it. Also, Josh once again (is that a straight month, now?) recommends The Terror S1, and Ira recommends Remembering Gene Wilder on Netflix.

Murder can be an art, too... So, Hitchcock is doing some THINGS. He's out on his own away from Selznick for the first time in Hollywood, and he's come out with a big swing: can we shoot a movie with no cuts? All one take? Or, at least the illusion of that? And how would such a real-time filming method influence the drama that unfolds? Kinda blew our mind that--apparently--Hitch was the first director to ever try this. And he has ol' Jimmy Stewart along for the ride to add some gravitas. So, how did it work? We watch and discuss!

You've probably heard this before: there is no ONE WAY to be a writer. Or a filmmaker. Or an actor, or a painter, or a dancer, or a sculptor...the possibilities, personalities, and pathways are endless. Why is that? And if its true, how can I find my own way? We discuss and answer! Also, Josh recommends The Terror Season 1 (again!), and Ira recommends Scavenger's Reign which is currently on Netflix.

I loved Andre Latour, and you murdered him... It's the last rodeo for Alfred Hitchcock and David O. Selznick, the last time the two work together. And this time, it's written by the producer himself. We have ourselves a murder, a mysterious, beautiful woman accused, and a dashing young lawyer who's convinced she didn't do it. So, how does it all shake out? Do Hitch and Selznick find one last bit of magic? We watch and find out!

What's the best way to work: burst energy, get it out as hard and fast as you possibly can go go go don't stop...or slow and steady, this is a marathon not a sprint, and you can't just drop everything when life never stops, so drip drip it away, one brick at a time until you're finally done? Spoiler: it's not an either/or. It's BOTH. We talk about how we've applied both concepts to our own creativity. Also, Josh recommends The Terror Season 1 (again), and Ira recommends Welcome to Wrexham (again), which is on Hulu, AND Chernobyl, which is on HBO/Max.

Say it again, it keeps me awake. ...I love you... Ingrid Bergman and Hitchcock go back to back! This time its Cary Grant she teams up with, in a tale of international espionage, manipulation, uranium, and...love. All things Hitch has covered before, but not quite like this. Grant and Bergman heat up the silver screen. We watch and discuss!