Jason and the Movienauts

Shawn and Paul are back again to continue out look at the Aliens series of films, this time to look at Aliens3 and Aliens: Resurrection. Knowing what a fan the guys are of the movies, it's no surprise they have a lot of praise for these two films. But do they stand up to rewatch? And what do we think of the alien baby in Resurrection anyway?

Michelle is back for yet another fantastic discussion of films directed by the great Billy Wilder. This time she and Jason discuss two woefully underrated films in Wilder's auspicious filmography, Five Graves to Cairo and A Foreign Affair. The friends discuss the excellent way Wilder portrays gender, the depiction of history as it happens, why sometimes it's better to cast relative unknowns, and much, much more.

Paul and Shawn are back to start a new series, this time examining the Aliens franchise. And what better films to start with than two of the greatest science fiction films ever, Alien and Aliens. As usual the guys dig deep into the films for a sometimes wild and always freewheeling chat about some brilliant moments on the screen.

Fans often sleep on the late films of Hiroshi Teshigahara, the man who directed Woman in the Dunes and The Face of Another. But, as guest Eric reminds us, Teshigahara's late films are equally as powerful. Rikyu and Basara: The Princess Goh represent a magnificent and unexpected late career peak from the master filmmaker. They are the kinds of masterful films one would expect from a Kurosawa and are startling to watch as delivered by a formalist like Teshigahara. Jason also especially liked the pseudo-documentary Summer Soldiers, a morally ambiguous story about Americans stationed in Japan during the Vietnam War. This obscure film crystallizes everything likes about this director: a constant quest for innovation, a drive for deep moral truths, and an exploration of the transience of ego and identity.Great films and a great discussion -- as always.

Michele joins Jason again for a new project: a look at the films of the great Billy Wilder. This week the pair discuss several films Wilder co-wrote before he took up the directing reigns: Ball of Fire, Arise My Love, Ninotchka and more -- and find them to all be pretty special films. We think you'll enjoy the insight the pair bring, and have fun thinking through your own watch of these sublime films!

Eric is back and this time he and Jason are talking about the brilliant short films of Hiroshi Teshigahara (or at least the ones which are actually available). Teshigahara⁠ may be best known for his features like The Face of Another and Woman in the Dunes, but his short subjects are beautiful meditations on art and the power of the arts.As usual, Jason and Eric connect the dots and really bring the director's obsessions and power to life in this chat.

Michelle is back to conclude our conversation about the remarkable films of Michael Powell & Emeric Pressburger, this time with looks at the brilliant A Matter of Life and Death and Thief of Bagdad.Then it's time for the really good stuff as each of us rate the P&P films - and agree on our top choice.As always, we think this is a fun and interesting listen.

Eric is back again. He and Jason got to chatting about David Lynch and his brilliant legacy, and got on the topic of how Lynch's Lost Highway is an examination of the legacy of the OJ trial. They got onto the idea of other films which discuss the Simpson story and talked about Natural Born Killers as well. Turns out the two movies created a fascinating contrast and a good conversation about two fascinating films.

Paul and Shawn are back again, ready to conclude our look at Twin Peaks: the Return. If you've been following our discussions, you know these pods have been in-depth, thoughful and long. This episode might set our record in all three categories: the guys go deep into the conclusion, tie many pieces together and spend lots of time considering the details and implications of what we watched. We crossed the two-hour milestone with this one, but whether you listen to a few minutes or to the whole episode, we think you'll find a lot of interesting content here.

Shawn and Paul are back to talk to Jason about their mutual love for David Lynch and his vastly wonderful body of work. Then the guys sit down for a nearly two-hour discussion of Twin Peaks the Return episodes 13, 14 and 15. They chat aboiut the films with their usual mix of awe and irreverence, mixed with a bunch of insights and even more laughs.

Blaize is back to get close to the end of our conversations aout the films directed by Paul Schrader. This time we're looking at two of his most recent films, Master Gardener and The Card Counter. These are part of his "lonely man in a room" trilogy with First Reformed, but are they are fulfilling and poweful as that previous film? The guys debate the films' complexity and power, and how influential Luc Bresson's Pickpocket is on Schrader's whole career.

Eric is back for a continuation of the exhaustive look at the films of Masahiro Shinoda. We've gone some 20-plus films deep on Shinoda's filmography, and are still finding hidden gems in his catalog. This time, Shinoda's "island" films, with Island of the Evil Spirits and Captive's Island, two films with excellent cinematography and a mixed bag on story.... listen in and discover which film we highly recommend and which one you can happily skip.

Carlos is back after a long break. This time rather than talk about the latest MCU movie which makes him sad, Carlos and Jason talk about the Brad Pitt/George Clooney movieWolfs.Jason is initially skeptical of the film, but Carlos fell hard for the fun ideas behind this film and the clockwork way the plot starts to fall into place. In fact, this is a movie which might persuade Carlos to watch more movies!Come hear if you feel the same way...

Michelle is back to continue her exploration with Jason of the films of Michael Powell - this time without his longtime partner Emeric Pressburger. What sorts of things does Powell create without his longtime partner? One of the things he delivers is the deeply upsetting and strange Peeping Tom, a movie much scathed when it was first released but which has re-emerged into public esteem. Jason ercently had a change to see Peeping Tom in a rapt theatre, and has a great chat with Michelle about the uncanny, fascinating nature of the film. Then they get over to talking about Age of Consent, which on the surface feels like it might be a pervy excuse for James Mason to stare at a much-too-young Helen Mirren (who spends much of the film naked). The movie actually has surprising depth, especially in the larger context of all of Powell's career, so that is an interesting thread for our hosts to pull on.

Michelle is back again to continue our discussion of the beautiful films of Michael Powell and Emeric Pressburger. This time we look at perhaps P&P at their most exquisite, as we discuss how The Red Shoes, The Tales of Hoffmann and Bluebeard's Ghost all appeal to us, who aren't opera or ballet fans but who love a beautiful film. The big surprise for us was Bluebeard's Ghost, a short film for German TV that's rarely seen today. We tracked down a copy and found the film gorgeous in its minimalism - well, hey, listen to the pod to hear what we thought of it in detail!

Shawn, Paul and Jason got together before the untimely passing of David Lynch for their latest discussion of his final major project: Twin Peaks the Return. This time the guys talk episodes 10, 11 and 12. I think you can hear our love for the film master in every word we say on the pod, as we celebrate Lynch's unique genius for sound, script, video and collaboration. We will sorely miss him and hope this small tribute will get you to start watching as well.

Jason is a huge Bob Dylan fan and is wrestling with his complicated feelings after watching A Complete Unknown. Keith heard Jason's hand-wringing about the film and suggested that he and Jason discuss this film in conjunction with another Mangold biopic, Walk the Line, and try to find some kind of truth in the way untruths are shown on the screen. This ended up being a fascinating discussion, deep on theory, passion and practice, a complex look at a complex subject. Oh, and Keith is an incredibly smart man and an amazing interviewer!

Eric is back this week and the guys are delving deep again into some wildly existentialist Japanese police films. This week: A Man Vanishes and The Man without a Map, two films which as fascinating and complex questions about the nature of reality and fiction, about truth and artifice, and about Japanese society in the 60s. As always when Jason and Eric talk for Movienauts, the conversation gets deep and interesting. It was a pleasure to record this episode and we think it will be a pleasure to listen to, too.

Michelle is back to hang out again with Jason and discuss the amazing films of Michael Powell and Emeric Pressburger. This time they look at a great combination of classic and obscure P&P films, all of which have to do in some way with war and its impact on people: 49th Parallel, The Life and Death of Colonel Blimp and The Small Back Room. The pair get into a discussion of the complex ways P&P think about war, their flawed lead characters, and the basic humanity of these characters. It's a great listen and we hope you enjoy this week's show!

Paul, Shawn and Jason have masde it to perhaps the greatest episode of TV ever created, specifically Twin Peaks the Return episode 8. The guys go deep into the analysis of this episode, and Jason, at least, had his mind blown by a few of the ideas and insights Shawn shared. As if that's not enough, the guys go deep into all these episodes, with some really intriguing textual and metatextual analysis which makes this yet another great episode from the podcast team supreme.

The Schradercast has walked some interesting ground in its previous 9 episodes, but this time Blaize and Jason have hit the most interesting ground so far, with two diametrically opposite films which provide a fascinating contrast for each other. First, Dog Eat Dog a hyperkinetic nihilistic Nic Cage/Willem Dafoe crime thriller. Next, First Reformed, a highly considered and deeply fascinating Ethan Hawke/Amanda Seyfred journey into the complex darkness of one man's soul. Whatever the mismatched nature is of these films, the resulting discussion ends up being one of the most intense and often moving conversations we've ever done on Jason and the Movienauts. We hope you enjoy it too.

Eric is back as he and Jason continue their look at the films of the Japanese master Teshigahara. This time, the lovely and lyrical Ako and the deeply complex The Face of Another. The guys really wrestle with Face and come out of the film with more questions than they went in with, but that kind of suits the film!

Shawn and Paul are back to continue our look into the void - or, at least, into the Black Lodge, as we continue our look at Twin Peaks the Return. This time the guys are looking into episodes 4, 5 and 6 and debating when to get tired of Dougie, how frightening EvilCoop feels, and what is Twin Peaks when most of the show doesn't take place in that small town? Oh, and much, much more...

Shawn and Paul are back for the latest blockbuster look at the films and TV shows of David Lynch. This time the guys start their bite of the biggest apple of Lynch's career as they start their review of Twin Peaks: the Return, covering episodes 1, 2 and 3. The guys discuss subverted expectations, meandering plot, and visual and audio brilliance.

Eric is back and this time he and Jason are starting their looks at the brilliant, mysterious fictional films of Hiroshi Teshigahara. This time they look at his first full-length features, Pitfall and Woman in the Dunes, two of the more fascinating films of any time period but especially the 1960s. Lots of interesting debate and perspectives in this episode!

Starting yet another series on Jason and the Movienauts, this time talking about the beautiful, transcendent films of Michael Powell and Emeric Pressburger. Michelle joins Jason and the duo talk about their deep appreciation for I Know Where I'm Going, A Canterbury Tale and Black Narcissus - three films which are all about travel in some way, and all of which find uniquely P&P insights into the idea of travel. It's a great conversation full of smart thoughts and we hope you enjoy!

I got together with a group of friends to discuss The Shining, Stanley Kubrick's 1980 horror classic. The resulting two-hour discussion of the film is fascinating listening, getting into many questions about acting, artifice, camera, the unknowability of evil, and the cosmic sublime. I think this is one of the best film discussions I've been part of, two hours of smart discussion which shed a tremendous amount of insight into this most perplexing of films.

The world of film fandom erupted into a small controversy recently when Criterion announced they'd be releasing a 40th anniversary boxset with 40 movies they selected. That got Jason, Bryant and Michelle talking: What would they include in their 40 movies in their boxset? So the group decided to get together and debate their selections, and slowly but surely build a collection which we believe is pretty dang interesting. Hear the results in the longest - but we think most fun - episode of Jason and the Movienauts episode so far!

Blaize is back with Jason to continue their look at the films of Paul Schrader, this time with perhaps Schrader's oddest career killing move. In 2014 Schrader was contracted to deliver a "geezer teaser" action thriller with Nicolas Cage called Dying of the Light. But the film was taken away from Schrader and edited without his consent. So Schrader created his own take on Dying and posted it to torrent sites as Dark. Are either of these films any good, or is this another example of the eternal oddball Schrader sabotaging his old career. Can the old man learn new tricks? Answer: well, it's complicated!

Eric is back to talk Masahiro Shinoda again with Jason, this time chatting about three of the master's movies centered around love: One Way Ticket to Love, Epitaph to My Love and Love, New and Old. These are early Shinodas, which means they're less experimental - but even in these early films, a lot of the genius of Shinoda shines through and makes these films well worth watching. Join us and find out why!

This week, Paul and Shawn join Jason as the trio discuss a pair of outlier films in the careers of two of their favorite directors: first, Fast Company, directed by David Cronenberg, divided the crew. Fast Company is a fairly by-the-numbers look at drag racing in western Canada in the late 1970s. Paul felt like the film didn't use its talent well enough, while Shawn and Jason fell into the film's vibe. Then they discuss The Straight Story, David Lynch's most experimental film (according to Mr Lynch). This time Paul disliked its meandering pace and pat insight into human nature while Shawn and Jason both liked the dark mysteries at the center of the film's lead characters. Disagreements make for good listening and we think you will enjoy this episode.

Now Eric and Jason come to an odd point in their look at the films of the great Masahiro Shinoda. Shinoda made one unabashedly commercial film, his look at the 1972 Sapporo Winter Olympics. So they had to look at that movie, but what to pair it with? They ended up deciding to look at perhaps the most critically acclaimed Olympics documentary ever made, Kon Ichikawa, 1965 Tokyo Olympiad. The films are almost in dialog with each other. Both take similar concepts and do different things with them, so what emerges from a watch of both is an intriguing compare and contrast: about these films, about the portrayal of sports on celluloid, and even about tthe way Japanese society changed in one short decade. It's a fun listen, and we'd love to hear your take on the same ideas.

This time in our look at the films of Paul Schrader, Blaize and Jason get obscure and controversial. First they look at Schrader's decidedly different Adam Interrupted, which stars Jeff Goldblum as a former popular German entertainer who is sent to a Nazi concentration camp - and the trauma that camp visits upon him. It's a very Goldblum type of performance, as the guys discuss. Then they get to the notorious The Canyons, a kickstarter-funded LA noir starring rehabbing Lindsay Lohan and abusive porn star James Deen. It's an odd film for all those reasons, and many more which the guys argue and debate about in detail - this is one of the episodes in which the guys disagree the most. We think this is a very interesting 100 minute (!) chat and well worth your time! --- Send in a voice message: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/jason-sacks/message

This week Carl Smith of Becoming Valiant: A Valiant Comics Podcast joins Jason to talk about one of the more oddball intriguing stories of comics-to-film. You might never have heard of Valiant Comics, but it's possible that if COVID had never happened, Valiant would be a household name these days. See, their big-screen debut, Bloodshot, hit just as Coronavirus shutdowns hit the world. That means nobody ended up seeing the film and that caused the Valiant Cinematic Universe to die before it was ever born. Carl and Jason talk Bloodshot along with a fan-produced Valiant film, and try to decide which one is better: the ultra-cheap YouTube vid or the longform, expensive Vin Diesel film from Sony. Umm, we might have telegraphed the answer to that question, but we think you'll enjoy this episode. --- Send in a voice message: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/jason-sacks/message

For the last two weeks on this podcast, we've been discussing David Lynch films. So what better topic to discuss to follow up on the Lynch analysis than to talk about a director whose work reminds many of Lynch? Chris joins Jason again as the guys try to make sense of Beau is Afraid, Hereditary and Midsommar - and they come up with some interesting conclusions. We think you'll enjoy this one on the day after Mother's Day as Chris and Jason dig into dysfuctional families, subjective vs objective storytelling, and the bizarre acting skills of one Joaquin Phoenix. --- Send in a voice message: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/jason-sacks/message

Shawn and Paul join Jason once again to discuss the biggie of all the David Lynch films: Mulholland Drive. Ofte called one of the best - if not the best - film of the century - the guys attempt to examine why the film is so well loved, what the heck it's all about, and just who was lying dead in that bed anyway? --- Send in a voice message: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/jason-sacks/message

Shawn and Paul are back once again to help Jason make sense of David Lynch's most massive and often overwhelming film: Inland Empire. Just what is it about this film that resists analysis and compels a myriad of YouTube users to create hour long breakdowns of this film? And why is does the film still compel us to stare into the abyss and try to add a rational plot to a fundamentally irrational story? Listen as the guys try to puzzle it all out. --- Send in a voice message: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/jason-sacks/message

Eric and Jason are back talking about the films of Masahiro Shinoda, this time discussing three films with bizarre emotional triangles of a sort: Our Marriage, Gonza the Spearman and The Petrified Forest. The guys are surprised how emotionally satisfying Our Marriage is despite its brief 66-minute running length. The film captures a specific moment in Japanese history with a brilliant sort of all-encompassing eye... hopefully a listen to this pod will convince you to check out this vastly under-known film. Which is not to say that Gonza and Forest are not excellent films. As Eric and Jason explore, they both are satisying in that particular sort of massive dark way Shinoda often delivers. Each is a fascinating, deep insight into human nature and well worth a listen and a watch. --- Send in a voice message: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/jason-sacks/message

Blaize and Jason are now getting towards the later section of Paul Schrader's complex career. This time they get to a couple of really pretty intriguing films by him. Dominion: Prequel to The Exorcist is one of those films which has a backstory as compelling as what viewers see up on the screen. Blaize gets into all of the amazing backstory here, exploring how Schrader opted to go back to work for the studios, how his Exorcist prequel was taken away from him, and how that prequel was ultimately released. Even with all that backstory, Dominion is a complex, fairly interesting film with a surprising amount of depth, and the guys find a lot in the fulm to make it compelling. The Walker, Blaize and Jason agree, is kind of a lost classic. It features a fantastic performance by Woody Harrelson in an excellent character study that adroitly explores late 00s Washington DC, full of decadence and betrayal and even murder. Both films are worth searching for and we think you'll enjoy this discussion. --- Send in a voice message: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/jason-sacks/message

Keith and Jason have been wanting to discuss a pair of films for a long time, a pair of films which seem perfectly in dialogue with each other: Jean-Pierre Melville's brilliant Le Samouraï (1967), the story of a lone assassin, and David Fincher's great The Killer (2023), the, umm, story of a lone assassin. Keith and Jason compare and contrast, considering which protagonist is cooler, the differerence between French and American films, and whether being an assassin for hire is an inherently corrupting job. Lots to consider in this one! --- Send in a voice message: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/jason-sacks/message

So Eric and Jason got to talking about Steven Spielberg's movie The Fablemans and they got to pondering... is this the finest movie ever directed by th film master? Okay, probably not, but where does it rank in his films, and what makes it so compelling? Join the guys as they discuss these interesting topics. --- Send in a voice message: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/jason-sacks/message

Shawn and Paul are back to talk David Lynch films with Jason. This time they have a split decision on Wild at Heart and dig deep into possible meanings in Lost Highway. The Lost Highway discussion goes deep and complex, which means this is a long, wonderful listen we hope you will enjoy. --- Send in a voice message: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/jason-sacks/message

Eric and Jason are back to continue their looks at the brilliant films of Masahiro Shinoda. This time they look at two films which present intriguing, contrasting views of childhood in wartime and post-War Japan, MacArthur's Children and Takeshi: Childhood Days. The films are a great pair for each other and for any study of Japanese post-War cinema, and we think the discussion of them makes for a great listen! --- Send in a voice message: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/jason-sacks/message

Blaize and Jason are back to continue their look at the films of the great Paul Schrader. This time in their chronological review, they're looking at the justifiably obscure Forever Mine and the fascinating, odd, kinda brilliant Auto Focus. --- Send in a voice message: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/jason-sacks/message

Seijun Suzuki was one of the finest directors of the Japanese New Wave. Eric and Jason thought this was a good time to look at perhaps Suzuki's most famous works, Tokyo Drifter and Branded to Kill, and have a great time talking about why these are such special and fantastic films. --- Send in a voice message: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/jason-sacks/message

Eric is back, and he and Jason are in for a marathon session discussing the film work of one of the most underrated, popular directors of the 1970s - George Roy Hill. Hill is best known for his work on such smashes as Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid, The Sting and Slap Shot, but the guys dig deep into his catalog to find a few more interesting works - can you say Funny Farm? --- Send in a voice message: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/jason-sacks/message

Frederico Fellini's 8½ seems to have dropped off of many lists of the greatest films of all time. Is that a sign of its lack of quality or of something else? Keith and Jason discuss this amazing film and say - it's the audience and not the film because this is a brilliant, kaleidoscopic, recursive masterpiece in which the truth about people slowly seems to emerge from a structure that leaves the viewer breathless. Join us for an hour-plus chat about one of the most transcendent films of all time! --- Send in a voice message: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/jason-sacks/message

If there's one project David Lynch is best known for, one project that's emerged into legendary status, it has to be Twin Peaks. So Paul, Shawn and Jason take on the daunting task of looking at the show in a mere 90 minute timeslot. And yeah, despite their best efforts and despite a whole lot of great insights, it's 90 fun minutes of scratching the surface. But it's a fun listen and the guys have unique takes on the show, and we think it will add to your love of the show. Please be sure to add your comments! --- Send in a voice message: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/jason-sacks/message

This week Blaize and Jason continue their look at the films of the singular Paul Schader with a look at two films by him which are adapted from novels. And what opposites they are. Touch, adapted from an Elmore Leonard novel, feels listless and unfocused. But Affliction, adapted from the Russell Banks novel, continues Schrader's focused on the Lonely Man archetype, getting deep inside the heads of a family whose toxic masculinity becomes a generational trauma. --- Send in a voice message: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/jason-sacks/message

As Eric and Jason are learning, Masahiro Shinoda is a director who delivered many sui generis works. And though his second movie, the rebel-without-a-clue Youth in Fury is pretty straightforward (though complex, for reasons we get into), Shinoda's third movie, Killers on Parade is an odd surrealistic semi-masterpiece, semi-WTF exploration of... what in particular, we're just not sure. --- Send in a voice message: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/jason-sacks/message

Chris and Jason felt it was time to pay tribute to one of the true film masters, Fritz Lang, with a look at two of the most well-filmed and transcendent films ever made, M and Metropolis. The guys struggle at times to find the words for these films, particularly the amazing sound design of M. If you haven't seen either or both of these, they are so worth a watch before listening to our pod! --- Send in a voice message: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/jason-sacks/message