The Magic Lantern

Watership Down (Rosen, 1978) is, without a doubt, one of the pivotal cinematic experiences in my life. It captivated me at a very young age with its danger and darkness. It also taught me a number of valuable lessons, things I have thought about ever since. Fortune favoring the bold… The post Episode 172 – Watership Down appeared first on The Magic Lantern.

Seven Samurai (Kurosawa, 1954) is truly a foundational film, not just of Japanese cinema, but of world cinema. Because it is has become a touchstone for so many tropes and devices that we recognize today, you might think that it is a stuffy film, or a hard slog because of… The post Episode 171 – Seven Samurai appeared first on The Magic Lantern.

It's that most wonderful time of the year again! In this episode, The Magic Jack O'Lantern 2021, we once again bring you our list of viewing tricks and treats to celebrate the season. We watched one Halloween inspired title every day in October and now pass the list and our… The post Episode 170 – The Magic Jack O'Lantern 2021 appeared first on The Magic Lantern.

The Cole-o-ween festivities roll on here at Lantern HQ! This time around we are discussing one of our favorite underappreciated zombie classics, Let Sleeping Corpses Lie (Grau, 1974). This one has it all – beautiful locations, social commentary, hideous reanimated dead, and genuine scares. It acts as a bit of… The post Episode 169 – Let Sleeping Corpses Lie appeared first on The Magic Lantern.

Is there anything you find impossible to watch? Or how about just very difficult? For me, The Invisible Man (Whannell, 2020) is that film. I do have some personal history that makes what Cecelia is going through exceptionally poignant, but even without that sort of connection, I suspect a lot… The post Episode 168 – The Invisible Man appeared first on The Magic Lantern.

Gray's Anatomy (Soderbergh, 1996) is the last proper cinematic monologue we have from Spalding Gray. That's a little ironic. Here, he navigates neuroses, a serious eye injury, and what he terms the Bermuda Triangle of health to come out the other side a little wiser, more experienced, and with his… The post Episode 167 – Gray's Anatomy appeared first on The Magic Lantern.

Harlan County, USA (Kopple, 1976) is still a gut punch some fifty years later. Watching the violent and bloody events unfold as miners strike to be recognized for their union organization, for better wages and more safety measures, and simply to live by the end of their shift, their voices… The post Episode 166 – Harlan County, USA appeared first on The Magic Lantern.

Shadow of a Doubt (Hitchcock, 1943) was a turning point in the career of the master of suspense. It was reportedly Alfred Hitchcock's favorite film he ever made. It is also what I consider to be his first truly American film. Once he looked into small town America's heart of… The post Episode 165 – Shadow of a Doubt appeared first on The Magic Lantern.

Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid (Hill, 1969) is a delight to watch time and again, a true piece of entertainment that seems to hit all the right notes. Surprisingly, the film was not an immediate hit with some critics or with directors like John Boorman who were confounded by… The post Episode 164 – Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid appeared first on The Magic Lantern.

The Last Picture Show (Bogdanovich, 1971) will break your heart in a million different ways, all of them Texan. As an expatriate from a town very much like this, it hits me where I live. I've seen those fights on Main Street between guys who were best friends and will… The post Episode 163 – The Last Picture Show appeared first on The Magic Lantern.

When we first see Mona, she is already dead. In Vagabond (1985), Agnès Varda then sets about to reconstruct the last days and weeks of this young woman's life, as witnessed and retold through the eyes of others. We learn that none of these people really seemed to know Mona,… The post Episode 162 – Vagabond appeared first on The Magic Lantern.

Gillian Armstrong's My Brilliant Career (1979) belongs to a special category of films in my personal canon. Sometimes a movie hits you like a bolt out of the blue and you know it is going to be a permanent fixture on your list of favorite films of all time. The… The post Episode 161 – My Brilliant Career appeared first on The Magic Lantern.

Is Rushmore (1998) your favorite Wes Anderson film? It is certainly mine. When I first saw it in the theater when I was about 22, it hit me where I lived. This rich vein of the blackest comedy combined with pathos of a young man's singular saga delighted and moved… The post Episode 160 – Rushmore appeared first on The Magic Lantern.

We owe a debt of gratitude to Tremors (Underwood, 1990). Its arrival kicked off another boom cycle for one of our favorite subgenres – the creature feature! About every twenty years we get a new permutation of this subgenre and now it was the nineties' turn. It was time for… The post Episode 159 – Tremors appeared first on The Magic Lantern.

Is Diabolique (Clouzot, 1955) a film noir or a thriller? We firmly assert that it is one of the most delectable, and yes, diabolical noir masterpieces to come out of the 1950s. That it manages to be thrilling as well is a testament to the deft hand of Henri-Georges Clouzot,… The post Episode 158 – Diabolique appeared first on The Magic Lantern.

It's May again! And you know what that means around these parts – film noir. We are in our second year of the Noir City festival postponement in Austin due to COVID, but we are soldiering on with some of our favorite titles that fall under the broad heading of… The post Episode 157 – The Square appeared first on The Magic Lantern.

By special invitation from Mira Nair, we are guests at the raucous, glorious, marigold-covered Monsoon Wedding (2001). Delhi, its sights and sounds, its people, its rains, and its power outages are the setting for the traditional wedding ceremony set to consecrate the arranged marriage of Aditi Verma to Hemant Rai.… The post Episode 156 – Monsoon Wedding appeared first on The Magic Lantern.

Much like the electric light, telegraph, and motion pictures it chronicles, My Twentieth Century (Enyedi, 1989) is a marvel of its age. Luminous to the point of transcendence, it is quite simply one of the most beautiful things ever committed to film. The divergent paths of our twin protagonists Dóra… The post Episode 155 – My Twentieth Century appeared first on The Magic Lantern.

Rapturous. This word perfectly describes my feelings about A Room with a View (Ivory, 1985). You could also use this word to describe my feelings about the scenery, the performances, the score, the costuming, and Italy itself. I have been saving this gem since we started the podcast, and it… The post Episode 154 – A Room with a View appeared first on The Magic Lantern.

I carry a particular impression with me about Robert Bresson's L'Argent (1983). It strikes me as a stately and austere museum whose only exhibit is devoted to the artifacts of a tragic and deadly crime. As I wander its minimalist halls, I am met with object lessons and vivid displays… The post Episode 153 – L'Argent appeared first on The Magic Lantern.

Julie Dash's Daughters of the Dust (1991) is a groundbreaking and timeless film. It was the first feature film directed by an African-American woman distributed theatrically in the United States. It was a visual and artistic triumph, earning a Best Cinematography award at Sundance for Director of Photography Arthur Jafa.… The post Episode 152 – Daughters of the Dust appeared first on The Magic Lantern.

I have been waiting to talk about Charles Burnett's Killer of Sheep (1978) for a long time. I first recommended it all the way back in episode 005. In my estimation, it's one of the most important American films ever made, independent or otherwise. It's a moving document of a… The post Episode 151 – Killer of Sheep appeared first on The Magic Lantern.

Have you had anyone in your life like the title character from Toni Erdmann (Ade, 2016)? A family member, a friend's dad, a work colleague? And are you still traumatized? All kidding aside, writer/director Maren Ade, along with her actors Sandra Hüller and Peter Simonischek, delves deeply into the complexities of… The post Episode 150 – Toni Erdmann appeared first on The Magic Lantern.

It's our first show of 2021 and we want to wish everyone a happy new year! To get things off on the right foot, I wanted to choose something special for this first episode of the year. I hope you'll agree that I've found it. In the spirit of magic,… The post Episode 149 – Céline and Julie Go Boating appeared first on The Magic Lantern.

Welcome to Ants In Your Pants of 2020! It's our sixth annual episode in which we reflect on our favorite film discoveries of the past year. We are so glad you joined us for this episode, as it was certainly a very different year for cinema-watching adventures. As always, our… The post Episode 148 – Ants In Your Pants of 2020 appeared first on The Magic Lantern.

Spirited Away (Miyazaki, 2001) truly represents a vision of one person – its director, writer, producer, and animator Hayao Miyazaki. Miyazaki, the most prolific creator at Japan's Studio Ghibli, was inspired by the 10-year-old daughter of a friend to bring to life a young heroine whom other young girls could… The post Episode 147 – Spirited Away appeared first on The Magic Lantern.

It's been a long year. I know. So, with that in mind, we are spending the last couple of entries this year on beloved family favorites. We need to laugh and breathe a little easier. So, who better to help us with that than Jim Henson and company? The Great… The post Episode 146 – The Great Muppet Caper appeared first on The Magic Lantern.

How much do your surroundings affect you? Do they bring out your latent desires, amplify them, or inspire them? In Black Narcissus (Powell, Pressburger, 1947), each character seems to be escaping from a difficult past that they are ultimately unable to outrun. Their own hearts and souls are undiscovered countries.… The post Episode 145 – Black Narcissus appeared first on The Magic Lantern.

It's Día de Muertos today, The Day of the Dead, and we could think of no better way to observe the occasion than to sing the praises of Roberto Gavaldón's otherworldly parable, Macario (1960). Set against the backdrop of one of Mexico's most holy days, the titular character, Macario, wants… The post Episode 144 – Macario appeared first on The Magic Lantern.

It's that most wonderful time of the year again! In this episode, The Magic Jack O'Lantern 2020, we once again bring you our list of viewing tricks and treats to celebrate the season. We watched one Halloween inspired title every day in October and now pass the list and our… The post Episode 143 – The Magic Jack O'Lantern 2020 appeared first on The Magic Lantern.

In Halloween (Green, 2018), it is forty years after the 1978 babysitter murders that destroyed the peace of Haddonfield, Illinois, and shattered Laurie Strode's life. In this “recalibration” of the original, Laurie is now a grandmother and a self-described basket case. She is also a mother who raised her only… The post Episode 142 – Halloween appeared first on The Magic Lantern.

It's the best time of the year once again! Cole-o-ween 2020 is upon us and to kick off the proceedings I have chosen one of my favorite horror films from the last few years, A Dark Song (Gavin, 2016). This is a harrowing and incisive portrait of a woman consumed… The post Episode 141 – A Dark Song appeared first on The Magic Lantern.

The Princess Bride (Reiner, 1987) is having a bit of a resurgence in the popular culture these days. In late 2020, the cast reunited for a fun, virtual table read as a benefit. In addition to that, various actors who are fans of the film produced their own favorite scenes… The post Episode 140 – The Princess Bride appeared first on The Magic Lantern.

Kazuo Hara's The Emperor's Naked Army Marches On (1987) is a documentary like few others. Watching Kenzo Okuzaki cut a swath through his old squad mates in search of the truth is unsettling, especially as the process intensifies. Is that because he will resort to violence and deception to get… The post Episode 139 – The Emperor's Naked Army Marches On appeared first on The Magic Lantern.

Trouble in Paradise (Lubitsch, 1932) is a frothy, bubbly, and sumptuous perennial delight. With his famed “Lubitsch touch”, director Ernst Lubitsch brought a winking and earthy European sensibility to all his films. He reminded us to not be too serious about anything. Miriam Hopkins and Herbert Marshall are lovers and… The post Episode 138 – Trouble in Paradise appeared first on The Magic Lantern.

It's hard to believe it's been twenty-five years since Todd Solondz blessed us with the hero we didn't know we needed in Dawn Wiener as we meet her in Welcome to the Dollhouse (1995). Simply put, this changed what I thought was possible with movies about being a kid. I… The post Episode 137 – Welcome to the Dollhouse appeared first on The Magic Lantern.

Watching Boyhood (Linklater, 2014) in the theater was an ineffably special experience. The film itself is an astounding accomplishment, following the life of not just a boy, but also that of his mother, father, and sister. Time unfolds before us. It meanders like a river that we and the characters… The post Episode 136 – Boyhood appeared first on The Magic Lantern.

There have been very few films that blindsided me the way that Tetsuo: The Iron Man (Tsukamoto, 1989) did. I was just beginning to grasp how much there was out there to explore that fell outside the realm of multiplexes and the mainstream. Then this desperate missive from the fringes… The post Episode 135 – Tetsuo: The Iron Man appeared first on The Magic Lantern.

When Martha Coolidge was brought in to direct Valley Girl (1983), she knew there were some key elements she needed to bring to the film. Andrew Lane and Wayne Crawford had written a teen comedy romp in about ten days to capitalize on the valley girl fad, and the producers… The post Episode 134 – Valley Girl appeared first on The Magic Lantern.

There's a strange alchemy at work in Rolling Thunder (Flynn, 1977). We start with two subgenres that really flourished in the seventies – the Vietnam homecoming and the revenge mission. William Devane turns up that tension by giving as tightly controlled a performance as we've seen from him. Tommy Lee… The post Episode 133 – Rolling Thunder appeared first on The Magic Lantern.

What a treat it is to come back again and again to Raising Arizona (Coen, 1987). I have seen the film at least 20 times, and I laugh just as hard at each viewing. The Coen Brothers (Joel as director, along with Ethan as co-writer) have crafted a surreal, insane,… The post Episode 132 – Raising Arizona appeared first on The Magic Lantern.

We are keeping the film noir train rolling this month, literally, with The Narrow Margin (Fleischer, 1952). This is one of my all time favorites, without a doubt. If they ever made a noir Mount Rushmore, this should be on it. It stars two fixtures of the genre, Charles McGraw… The post Episode 131 – The Narrow Margin appeared first on The Magic Lantern.

We decided to continue our annual tradition of highlighting our favorite films noir during the month of May, even though this year's Noir City Austin film festival is sadly postponed. I chose my very first film noir, Laura (Preminger, 1944), which weaves a magic, dreamy spell in its stylish, inimitable… The post Episode 130 – Laura appeared first on The Magic Lantern.

Losing Ground (Collins, 1982) should have been a lot of things. It should have been the foundation of a long career and important filmography. Instead, what it was was almost lost and mostly forgotten for three decades. It also turned out to be Kathleen Collins' valediction, as we lost her… The post Episode 129 – Losing Ground appeared first on The Magic Lantern.

There is a question I pose during the episode: if anyone who disparaged the French New Wave started with Cléo from 5 to 7 (Varda, 1962), might they feel differently about the movement? I think so. If you are looking for a place to begin pretty much any film journey,… The post Episode 128 – Cléo from 5 to 7 appeared first on The Magic Lantern.

I had the pleasure of seeing Rainer Werner Fassbinder's World on a Wire (1973) for the first time on the big screen. Being able to experience it in the theater as one whole, instead of on television in two parts, made for a much more immersive experience. It enveloped me… The post Episode 127 – World on a Wire appeared first on The Magic Lantern.

The day after I saw The Matrix (Lana and Lilly Wachowski, 1999), I proclaimed to anyone within shouting distance that the film changed my life. I was 23, and I meant it. I felt energized, bowled over, and ready to deliver some flying kicks to the establishment. Certainly, the visual… The post Episode 126 – The Matrix appeared first on The Magic Lantern.

It's taken 125 episodes and almost five years of doing the show, but I'm finally ready to talk about John Cassavetes' A Woman Under the Influence (1974). This film puts me through the ringer in a way that no other film comes close to. Gena Rowlands' high wire act as… The post Episode 125 – A Woman Under the Influence appeared first on The Magic Lantern.

Whom do you trust? Mattie Do's Dearest Sister (2016) plays on our expectations of trust and seeks to upend them at every turn. Just as Ana may not be able to trust her failing vision that seems to bring with it visitations from ghosts, we may not be able to… The post Episode 124 – Dearest Sister appeared first on The Magic Lantern.

Věra Chytilová's Daisies (1966) has been called a lot of things – confrontational, subversive, empty-headed, wanton. The elusive nature of the film means you can call its protagonists, the Maries, a lot of things. Just don't call them late for dinner. For what it's worth, I call it magnificent. From… The post Episode 123 – Daisies appeared first on The Magic Lantern.

In A New Leaf (1971), Elaine May's screenwriting and directorial debut, I think you will see the legacy of her indelible comedy partnership with Mike Nichols even though they had disbanded the act ten years before. It is in the daft sensibility, the timing, and what seems to be overall… The post Episode 122 – A New Leaf appeared first on The Magic Lantern.