Podcasts about The Criterion Collection

Send us Fan MailAccording to the American Academy of Pediatrics, more than 50% of transgender boys have attempted suicide. Directors Lexie and Logan travel across the United States, trying to understand their own trans boyhood through the legacies of two young men and exploring what community healing means. From World preimere Berlinale (winning two awards incl the Amnesty International Film Award for best human rights project) to UK Premiere at BFI Flare (named amongst top films to watch from Time Out London, Criterion Collection, Pink News, and Buzzfeed)top indie fests in Asia and other notable LGBT fests around Europe, just winning the Audience Award in SwitzerlandIn lead up to North American screenings Inside Out (Canada's largest queer fest) and bring in Pride Month with deadCenter in Oklahoma CityLexie Bean (they/he) Perigee Vitz-WongWebsite | Rotten Tomatoes | Linktree | Youtube | Twitter | Instagram 

'Poooooooooddss out... for... SUMMER!!!' - Extremely Alice Cooper voice. We try and hang in for one final episode before taking a week off to celebrate the start of summer. With our high priest of cinema Stephen Spielberg returning to the holy theater of Summer Blockbusters this weekend for Disclosure Day, we figured what the heck, let's finally cover one we've talked about for years, Minority Report. Boy is this a movie. We're joined by the host of the podcast Channels, Peter Kafka and make a mad dash out as the bell rings.Chapters Introduction (00:00:00) Hatch News (00:19:17) Minority Report Roundtable (00:24:01) Your Letters (01:17:14) Notes and Links Check out Escape Hatch Merch! Our all new collection of swag is available now and every order includes a free Cameo style shoutout from Haitch or Jason. Browse our collection now. Join the Escape Hatch Discord Server! Hang out with Haitch, Jason, and other friends of the pod. Check out the invite here. Escape Hatch is a TAPEDECK Podcasts Jawn! Escape Hatch is a member of TAPEDECK Podcasts, alongside: 70mm (a podcast for film lovers), Bat & Spider (low rent horror and exploitation films), The Letterboxd Show (Official Podcast from Letterboxd), Cinenauts (exploring the Criterion Collection), Lost Light (Transformers, wrestling, and more), and Will Run For (obsessed with running). Check these pods out!. See the movies we've watched and are going to watch on Letterboxd Escape Hatch's Breaking Dune News Twitter list Rate and review the podcast to help others discover it, and let us know what you think of the show at letters@escapehatchpod.com or leave us a voicemail at +1-415-534-5211. Follow @escapehatchpod on Bluesky,Instagram, and TikTok. Music by Scott Fritz and Who'z the Boss Music. Cover art by ctcher. Edited and produced by Haitch. Escape Hatch is a production of Haitch Industries.

David and Trevor discuss LOVE LETTER and THE MOON HAS RISEN, the first of three episodes reviewing KINUYO TANAKA DIRECTS, new from the Eclipse Series from the Criterion Collection.

This one is something special. We have absolute legend of the animation and comicbook world, who has written episodes of Flash Gordon, Dungeons & Dragons, He-Man, Transformers, Star Wars: Ewoks, Tiny Toon Adventures, Animaniacs, Batman: The Animated Series, Batman: Mask of the Phantasm, Superman: The Animated Series, Batman Beyond, Justice League, Lost, Batman: Arkham Asylum and Arkham City, PAUL DINI!Paul gives us the story of his career from starting at Filmation straight out of college, being one of the only people in the world working on Star Wars when it was dormant in 1986, all the way to inventing Harley Quinn. Just unreal stuff. Then we talk about the dark 1982 animated feature that launched Don Bluth's challenge to Disney, The Secret of NIMH. Do not miss this very special episode.Chapters Introduction (00:00:00) Hatch News (00:37:34) The Secret of NIMH Roundtable (00:50:54) Your Letters (01:37:31) Notes and Links Check out Escape Hatch Merch! Our all new collection of swag is available now and every order includes a free Cameo style shoutout from Haitch or Jason. Browse our collection now. Join the Escape Hatch Discord Server! Hang out with Haitch, Jason, and other friends of the pod. Check out the invite here. Escape Hatch is a TAPEDECK Podcasts Jawn! Escape Hatch is a member of TAPEDECK Podcasts, alongside: 70mm (a podcast for film lovers), Bat & Spider (low rent horror and exploitation films), The Letterboxd Show (Official Podcast from Letterboxd), Cinenauts (exploring the Criterion Collection), Lost Light (Transformers, wrestling, and more), and Will Run For (obsessed with running). Check these pods out!. See the movies we've watched and are going to watch on Letterboxd Escape Hatch's Breaking Dune News Twitter list Rate and review the podcast to help others discover it, and let us know what you think of the show at letters@escapehatchpod.com or leave us a voicemail at +1-415-534-5211. Follow @escapehatchpod on Bluesky,Instagram, and TikTok. Music by Scott Fritz and Who'z the Boss Music. Cover art by ctcher. Edited and produced by Haitch. Escape Hatch is a production of Haitch Industries.

The brilliant and soulful Roxana Hadadi returns with this episode devoted to one of her current favorite actors, the great Riz Ahmed. Similar to past conversations focused on terrific character actors like Tom Wilkinson and Edward Norton, this week, we explore Ahmed's filmography at large, discuss his evolution as an actor, and what sets him apart in the films THE RELUCTANT FUNDAMENTALIST, NIGHTCRAWLER, and SOUND OF METAL.Guest Bio: A TV critic with Vulture, who also writes about film & pop culture, Roxana was previously the film editor & a critic with Pajiba, & her reviews, essays, recaps, and other writing have also been published by The AV Club, Polygon, RogerEbert.com, The L.A. Times, Crooked Marquee, The Playlist, Fox Digital, The Criterion Collection, GQ, & Inverse.Originally Posted on Patreon (6/7/26) here: https://www.patreon.com/posts/160446279Donate to the Pod via Ko-fi & PayPal Shop Watch With Jen logo Merchandise in Logo Designer Kate Gabrielle's Threadless ShopTheme Music: Solo Acoustic Guitar by Jason Shaw, Free Music Archive

Let's talk about sex. At long last, we tackle the final movie from the master, Stanley Kubrick. Tom Cruise and Nicole Kidman's sexual drama Eyes Wide Shut. Joining us for the conversation is New York Times bestselling fantasy author of The School for Good and Evil and the new hit novel Young World, Soman Chainani. We cover how today's youth are going to save us and the dream that is this masterpiece movie.Chapters Introduction (00:00:00) Hatch News (00:16:13) Eyes Wide Shut Roundtable (00:25:41) Your Letters (01:29:58) Notes and Links Check out Escape Hatch Merch! Our all new collection of swag is available now and every order includes a free Cameo style shoutout from Haitch or Jason. Browse our collection now. Join the Escape Hatch Discord Server! Hang out with Haitch, Jason, and other friends of the pod. Check out the invite here. Escape Hatch is a TAPEDECK Podcasts Jawn! Escape Hatch is a member of TAPEDECK Podcasts, alongside: 70mm (a podcast for film lovers), Bat & Spider (low rent horror and exploitation films), The Letterboxd Show (Official Podcast from Letterboxd), Cinenauts (exploring the Criterion Collection), Lost Light (Transformers, wrestling, and more), and Will Run For (obsessed with running). Check these pods out!. See the movies we've watched and are going to watch on Letterboxd Escape Hatch's Breaking Dune News Twitter list Rate and review the podcast to help others discover it, and let us know what you think of the show at letters@escapehatchpod.com or leave us a voicemail at +1-415-534-5211. Follow @escapehatchpod on Bluesky,Instagram, and TikTok. Music by Scott Fritz and Who'z the Boss Music. Cover art by ctcher. Edited and produced by Haitch. Escape Hatch is a production of Haitch Industries.

“Making movies is really hard. It's the hardest thing I've ever done.” – MadonnaIn this episode, we dive into Madonna's bold stint behind the camera with her two feature films: FILTH AND WISDOM and W.E. From the chaotic bohemian dreamers of London to the doomed romance of Wallis Simpson and Edward VIII, the Queen of Pop takes herself, and the rest of us, to film school. We discuss the influence of Christopher Flynn, the shadow of her divorce from Guy Ritchie, and why these films might deserve a second look.Grab your fishnets, Criterion Collection, and a bucket of popcorn because the previews are starting!Email us: TheCelebrationCelebration@gmail.comFollow us on Instagram: @TheCelebrationCelebrationPick up a copy of Eric's book: The Dancerhttps://a.co/d/0gAi3bePick up a copy of John's book: Baked! Sex, Drugs, and Alternative Comedy:https://amzn.to/3tUbvOMFor autographed copies:https://www.johnflynncomedian.com/bakedEdited by: John FlynnArtwork by Dyna Moe:https://www.nobodyssweetheart.com/ Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

LOCK THE GATES! The SUMMER OF JASON rolls on, as we welcome Jason's former co-worker, President Biden's US Ambassador to ASEAN (the Association of Southeast Asian Nations), Yohannes Abraham. We catch up on Trump's China Summit, his wholesale pillaging of the US Government with his new slush fund, and Jason's new project The Center for Shared AI Prosperity. Then we talk about Cameron Crowe's 2000 rock-and-roll memoir, Almost Famous.Chapters Introduction (00:00:00) Hatch News (00:19:56) Almost Famous Roundtable (00:25:46) Your Letters (01:26:04) Notes and Links Check out Escape Hatch Merch! Our all new collection of swag is available now and every order includes a free Cameo style shoutout from Haitch or Jason. Browse our collection now. Join the Escape Hatch Discord Server! Hang out with Haitch, Jason, and other friends of the pod. Check out the invite here. Escape Hatch is a TAPEDECK Podcasts Jawn! Escape Hatch is a member of TAPEDECK Podcasts, alongside: 70mm (a podcast for film lovers), Bat & Spider (low rent horror and exploitation films), The Letterboxd Show (Official Podcast from Letterboxd), Cinenauts (exploring the Criterion Collection), Lost Light (Transformers, wrestling, and more), and Will Run For (obsessed with running). Check these pods out!. See the movies we've watched and are going to watch on Letterboxd Escape Hatch's Breaking Dune News Twitter list Rate and review the podcast to help others discover it, and let us know what you think of the show at letters@escapehatchpod.com or leave us a voicemail at +1-415-534-5211. Follow @escapehatchpod on Bluesky,Instagram, and TikTok. Music by Scott Fritz and Who'z the Boss Music. Cover art by ctcher. Edited and produced by Haitch. Escape Hatch is a production of Haitch Industries.

We swore we would never cover this movie. I mean just Haitch, really. Jason never cared either way - until our discord waged a multi-year campaign to break Haitch down. Now, we're joined by literal rabble rouser, comic writer, and co-host of the X-Ray Vision podcast, the incomparable Rosie Knight, to finally cover Joel Schumacher's infamous 1997 superhero disaster, Batman and Robin. We also tackle Euphoria S3, sex workers rights, the comics that informed us, and whether camp can be good? You decide.Chapters Introduction (00:00:00) Hatch News (00:16:17) Batman & Robin Roundtable (00:27:33) Your Letters (01:30:49) Notes and Links Check out Escape Hatch Merch! Our all new collection of swag is available now and every order includes a free Cameo style shoutout from Haitch or Jason. Browse our collection now. Join the Escape Hatch Discord Server! Hang out with Haitch, Jason, and other friends of the pod. Check out the invite here. Escape Hatch is a TAPEDECK Podcasts Jawn! Escape Hatch is a member of TAPEDECK Podcasts, alongside: 70mm (a podcast for film lovers), Bat & Spider (low rent horror and exploitation films), The Letterboxd Show (Official Podcast from Letterboxd), Cinenauts (exploring the Criterion Collection), Lost Light (Transformers, wrestling, and more), and Will Run For (obsessed with running). Check these pods out!. See the movies we've watched and are going to watch on Letterboxd Escape Hatch's Breaking Dune News Twitter list Rate and review the podcast to help others discover it, and let us know what you think of the show at letters@escapehatchpod.com or leave us a voicemail at +1-415-534-5211. Follow @escapehatchpod on Bluesky,Instagram, and TikTok. Music by Scott Fritz and Who'z the Boss Music. Cover art by ctcher. Edited and produced by Haitch. Escape Hatch is a production of Haitch Industries.

Kondo wa kondo, ima wa ima.Hirayama wakes at dawn to the sound of a broom sweeping the streets outside his modest flat east of the Sumida River. He makes his bed, marks the page on his book, and goes downstairs to brush his teeth, water his plants, and grab his keys and some spare change before going outside to look at the sky, breathe in, and smile. He grabs a coffee from a nearby vending machine, climbs into his van, and gets his music cassette ready. After a quick swig from his can humorously labelled 'BOSS', Hirayama drives off to begin his day as a cleaner of public toilets in Shibuya.Wim Wenders' modern masterpiece, Perfect Days, is a complex meditation on work, routine, and meaning. It touches on a vast array of topics such as capitalism and class, existentialism and relationships, and estrangement and grief. Rarely do films feel so well-rounded in their nuanced exploration of context, politics, and aesthetics, while also being piercingly poignant in what they have to say about transcending the limits of the body and spirit.Perfect Days is undoubtedly one of the great films of the twenty-first century; we could not help but watch it time and again to see and feel everything it has to offer. It is also one that is and will be important in the years to come, owing in no small measure to its thoughtful tone and sublime message, relevant more than ever in a world of growing alienation and individualism.This latest episode is in two parts: this one on Perfect Days, and the other (right before), on a surprisingly similar film by Akira Kurosawa: Ikiru. We had a fantastic time thinking through both stories' impact, and hope you gain as much from our discussion as we did from the films! As always, we would love to hear your thoughts, so please don't hesitate to reach out to us on Instagram, e-mail, or using a voice note on Spotify!References:1) Criterion Collection article by Bilge Ebiri, on Wim Wenders' filmography.2) Reddit comment on abject loneliness in Perfect Days.3) Article on the importance of Lou Reed to Wim Wenders and the former's presence in Perfect Days - Wim Wenders' Life Was Saved by Rock and Roll: Lou Reed is a mighty voice in my new film.4) Dewansh mentions an article about how Perfect Days is a sanitized film. We are not able to link the source here (yet).5) Dewansh reads something about the person experiencing homelessness. We are not able to link the source here (yet).6) Aoi Yamada.

The Criterion Collection just added the K-ON movie to their catalogue, cementing it as a classic anime film for the ages. That said, they only have 5 anime titles in the collection, so we'll take it with a grain of salt lol.However, it's a great excuse for us to revisit an iconic Cute Girls Doing Cute Things (CGDCT) anime from the early 2000's!So, does K-On hold up to current audience expectations? Or does its meandering, slice of life pacing made it harder for current audiences to enjoy? Join us as we share our thoughts, dig into the series history and explain why the series ended despite its huge popularity.Also, BIG apologies on the delayed recording and release - illnesses, travel for work and scheduling conflicts made this episode a real struggle to get out. Our next 2 releases may see delays due to Kyle travelling extensively for work over the next 6 weeks, but we'll keep you in the loop! SUPPORT USPatreon: Patreon.com/KawaiiFiBuy us a Coffee: Ko-fi.com/kawaiifi NEWS ITEMSBlack Clover manga comes to an endOne Piece anime remake updateKagurabachi Gets TV Anime in April 2027H.P. Lovecraft's The Case of Charles Dexter Ward gets manga adaptation VIDEOS!Kawaii-Fi YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/KawaiiFiKyle's YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@KyleinOrbitTifa's YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/thetkennedy JOIN THE KAWAII-FI COMMUNITYFacebook: https://www.facebook.com/KawaiiFiAnime/Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/kawaiifianime/Threads: https://www.threads.net/@kawaiifianimeTikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@kawaiifianimeDiscord: https://discord.gg/p9ccFx8vTQ LISTEN ELSEWHERE?Spotify: https://bit.ly/Kawaii-FiSpotifyApple: https://bit.ly/Kawaii-FiAppleYT Music: https://bit.ly/Kawaii-Fi-YMCastbox: https://bit.ly/Kawaii-FiCastboxGoodpod: https://bit.ly/Kawaii-fiGoodpodAmazon Music: https://bit.ly/Kawaii-FiAmazonPocket Casts: https://bit.ly/Kawaii-FiPocket EPISODE SEGMENTS00:00:00 – Show Opener00:04:22 – What We're Watching00:35:12 – Back Catalogue: K-On00:59:43 – Anime Communique01:30:22 – All You Need is Kill, blame game, and “He can really run”. Tags:Anime,Manga,Anime Podcast,podcast,Anime Recommendations,,anime reviews,New anime,top 10 anime,Best anime,anime news,K-On,My Ribdiculous Reincarnation,Ribsekai,Ichi the Witch,Madan no Ichi,Daemons of the Shadow Realm,Yomi no Tsugai,The Ramparts of Ice,Koori no Jouheki,You and I are Polar Opposites,Seihantai,Black Clover,One Piece,Kagurabachi,Gou Tanabe,H.P.Lovecraft,Charles Dexter Ward.

In the summer of 1998, Hollywood delivered two versions of the apocalypse within eight weeks of each other, and the story of how that happened is almost as dramatic as either film.Deep Impact, directed by Mimi Leder and released on 8th May, had been in development since the late 1970s, tracing its origins to producers Richard Zanuck and David Brown's desire to remake the 1951 sci-fi film When Worlds Collide. The project was ultimately merged with Steven Spielberg's adaptation of Arthur C. Clarke's The Hammer of God, before Spielberg, occupied with Amistad, handed the director's chair to Leder.What emerged was a deliberately restrained disaster film, one less interested in the mechanics of impact than in the texture of grief: how ordinary people, politicians, astronauts, and estranged families face the end with or without dignity. With scientific consultants including comet co-discoverers Carolyn and Gene Shoemaker, and ILM's groundbreaking digital tsunami, the film earned genuine respect from the astronomical community and grossed a respectable $349 million worldwide on an $80 million budget.Armageddon, released on 1st July under Disney's Touchstone Pictures banner, was a different creature entirely, and was, by most accounts, a direct competitive response to Deep Impact.Michael Bay's film was shot in just sixteen weeks, with unprecedented government and military access, under enormous studio pressure. Where Deep Impact depicted skilled astronomers, Armageddon hired oil drillers and sent them to space. Where Leder's film earned praise for plausibility, Bay's is famously scientifically inaccurate in many ways. Despite this, Armageddon grossed $553 million worldwide, topped the year's global box office, eventually received a Criterion Collection release and four Oscar nominations. Deep Impact did not.Both hinge on sacrifice, on families torn apart by cosmic indifference, on the question of who gets saved and who doesn't. Both were shaped by real cosmic events, which shook the scientific community and governments into action and Hollywood into a race to dramatise the unthinkable. One film aimed for the gut; the other aimed for the conscience.That Armageddon won commercially while Deep Impact won critically, and that Mimi Leder's career faltered, while Michael Bay built a franchise empire, tells you not just about the summer of 1998, but about which kinds of spectacle Hollywood, and audiences, are willing to reward.Everything wrong with Armageddon – Everyday Science StuffSupport Verbal DioramaLoved this episode? Here's how you can help:⭐ Leave a 5-star review on your podcast app

I love The Criterion Collection, but something is not quite cutting it at the moment and it's time to have a look at some rather troubling recent releases.Subscribehttps://www.youtube.com/@DamnFoolIdealisticCrusaderhttps://www.youtube.com/@moviecollectorBFCC

Brian and Dan celebrate TWO HUNDRED FIFTY episodes of The Goods with a big-time double-whammy of two oft-mentioned but never-reviewed films: Armageddon, the Michael Bay space-disaster blockbuster, and Amadeus, the Best Picture-winning story of competing classical music composers. Join as they discuss The Criterion Collection, laser discs, the critical merits of "Bayhem," the goofy charms and demerits of Armageddon, the long shadow of Amadeus, Opera Saturday, sexual frustration, obsession, God, and what comes next on The Goods' hazy, winding path forward. Dan's movie reviews: http://thegoodsreviews.com/ Subscribe, join the Discord, and find us on Letterboxd: http://thegoodsfilmpodcast.com/  

It's the return of the host of the movie prop podcast, The Stuff Dreams Are Made Of, and showrunner of Veep, Dave Mandel! We start out with a quick pass around the wheel of where things stand politically as mid-term primary contests start and look forward to 2028 and beyond. Then, we officially kick off the SUMMER OF JASON - where Jason gets to pick all the movies we cover, with his longstanding request for the 1984 cult sci-fi classic, The Last Starfighter!Chapters Introduction (00:00:00) Hatch News (00:19:59) The Last Starfighter Roundtable (00:40:57) Your Letters (01:35:57) Notes and Links Check out Escape Hatch Merch! Our all new collection of swag is available now and every order includes a free Cameo style shoutout from Haitch or Jason. Browse our collection now. Join the Escape Hatch Discord Server! Hang out with Haitch, Jason, and other friends of the pod. Check out the invite here. Escape Hatch is a TAPEDECK Podcasts Jawn! Escape Hatch is a member of TAPEDECK Podcasts, alongside: 70mm (a podcast for film lovers), Bat & Spider (low rent horror and exploitation films), The Letterboxd Show (Official Podcast from Letterboxd), Cinenauts (exploring the Criterion Collection), Lost Light (Transformers, wrestling, and more), and Will Run For (obsessed with running). Check these pods out!. See the movies we've watched and are going to watch on Letterboxd Escape Hatch's Breaking Dune News Twitter list Rate and review the podcast to help others discover it, and let us know what you think of the show at letters@escapehatchpod.com or leave us a voicemail at +1-415-534-5211. Follow @escapehatchpod on Bluesky,Instagram, and TikTok. Music by Scott Fritz and Who'z the Boss Music. Cover art by ctcher. Edited and produced by Haitch. Escape Hatch is a production of Haitch Industries.

It's the return of technologist and writer of Spyglass, M.G. Siegler. M.G.'s one of the pre-eminent experts on Apple, so we start with The Trial of Tim Cook™, with his analysis on how Tim Apple will be remembered. Then we look at where John Ternus might begin taking Apple in the future. We announce THE SUMMER OF JASON, where Jason finally gets to make all the picks for what movies we cover! Then we tackle Christopher Nolan's magical thriller masterpiece starring Hugh Jackman and Christian Bale, The Prestige. Don't miss the trick!Chapters Introduction (00:00:00) Hatch News (00:17:51) The Prestige Roundtable (00:29:29) Your Letters (01:14:42) Notes and Links Check out Escape Hatch Merch! Our all new collection of swag is available now and every order includes a free Cameo style shoutout from Haitch or Jason. Browse our collection now. Join the Escape Hatch Discord Server! Hang out with Haitch, Jason, and other friends of the pod. Check out the invite here. Escape Hatch is a TAPEDECK Podcasts Jawn! Escape Hatch is a member of TAPEDECK Podcasts, alongside: 70mm (a podcast for film lovers), Bat & Spider (low rent horror and exploitation films), The Letterboxd Show (Official Podcast from Letterboxd), Cinenauts (exploring the Criterion Collection), Lost Light (Transformers, wrestling, and more), and Will Run For (obsessed with running). Check these pods out!. See the movies we've watched and are going to watch on Letterboxd Escape Hatch's Breaking Dune News Twitter list Rate and review the podcast to help others discover it, and let us know what you think of the show at letters@escapehatchpod.com or leave us a voicemail at +1-415-534-5211. Follow @escapehatchpod on Bluesky,Instagram, and TikTok. Music by Scott Fritz and Who'z the Boss Music. Cover art by ctcher. Edited and produced by Haitch. Escape Hatch is a production of Haitch Industries.

It's becoming increasingly obvious that the World Cinema Project is Martin Scorsese's plot to smuggle openly Marxist films into the Criterion Collection, and Metin Erksan's Dry Summer (1963) continues the trend. Erksan imagines a world where one rich man can enclose those common goods that sustain life, where one man's greed can choke his community and his own family. Surely not a world that could exist outside of film. 

Support Night Clerk Radio on Patreon Hey, do you know how many days are in April? Because Birk sure doesn't! So, we're putting the “night” in Night Clerk Radio with a special evening release. In this episode, it's time for some April new music! But first, we start with some of our most out-of-touch shout-outs ever! Specialty coffee subscriptions? Criterion Commentary Tracks? Get real! Don't worry, however, as we then get into two very different but very excellent albums. We discuss the slushy and hypnagogic ロービット from vaporwave artist Eccosystem and then dig into the endless future funk bangers on Superwave from Kouek. We hope you join us and check out these albums! Shout Outs Passenger CoffeeStrange Buildings by UketsuEmpire Of The Dark on Blu-RayWhy was I invited to Beast Studios?Support Roge Corp/i2k/VaporVA!Bad Day at Black Rock on Criterion Albums Discussed ロービット by EccosystemSuperwave by Kouek Additional Links A Commentary That's Better Than Film SchoolRondò Veneziano - La Serenissima Credits Music by: 2MelloArtwork by: Patsy McDowellNight Clerk Radio on Bluesky

Set Condition 1 Throughout the Fleet: it's the return of technologist, founder and CEO of Particle News, Sara Beykpour. We announce our new hire producer of Escape Hatch, get excited about CinemaCon's previews of Dune Part Three and Avengers Doomsday, and have a real conversation about our relationships with our AI agents. Then we finally tackle one of the greatest reboots in television history, the 2003 Battlestar Galactica Miniseries. So say we all.Chapters Introduction (00:00:00) Hatch News (00:24:30) Battlestar Galactica Roundtable (00:32:24) Your Letters (01:31:37) Notes and Links Check out Escape Hatch Merch! Our all new collection of swag is available now and every order includes a free Cameo style shoutout from Haitch or Jason. Browse our collection now. Join the Escape Hatch Discord Server! Hang out with Haitch, Jason, and other friends of the pod. Check out the invite here. Escape Hatch is a TAPEDECK Podcasts Jawn! Escape Hatch is a member of TAPEDECK Podcasts, alongside: 70mm (a podcast for film lovers), Bat & Spider (low rent horror and exploitation films), The Letterboxd Show (Official Podcast from Letterboxd), Cinenauts (exploring the Criterion Collection), Lost Light (Transformers, wrestling, and more), and Will Run For (obsessed with running). Check these pods out!. See the movies we've watched and are going to watch on Letterboxd Escape Hatch's Breaking Dune News Twitter list Rate and review the podcast to help others discover it, and let us know what you think of the show at letters@escapehatchpod.com or leave us a voicemail at +1-415-534-5211. Follow @escapehatchpod on Bluesky,Instagram, and TikTok. Music by Scott Fritz and Who'z the Boss Music. Cover art by ctcher. Edited and produced by Haitch. Escape Hatch is a production of Haitch Industries.

Our most-requested movie is celebrating its 30th anniversary! It's the kind of movie where a cable car inextricably flies straight up into air out of nowhere... A scene so amazing that Isaac Slade calls in to premiere a sequel to his Fray hit "Over My Head (Cable Car)" right here on this episode! We also have a brand new segment called "When was the last time David Hallgren watched this movie?" that we think will really go places. What if Quentin Tarantino wrote the Nicolas Cage parts, Aaron Sorkin wrote the government scenes, Sean Connery hired British writers and basically just played James Bond, and somehow it all came together into the only Michael Bay film in the Criterion Collection? The Rock absolutely should not work — and absolutely does.If you'd like to advertise with us or sponsor us, please e-mail greatbadmoviesshow@gmail.comSubscribe to Great Bad Movies wherever you listen to podcastsMore Great Bad Movies online:InstagramGreat Bad Movies WebsiteYouTubeEmail us at greatbadmoviesshow@gmail.com Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Movie of the Year: 1971Straw Dogs (feat. Erik from the Cradle to the Grave pod!)The Straw Dogs Podcast: Peckinpah's Most Dangerous FilmThe Straw Dogs podcast episode of Movie of the Year confronts one of 1971's most debated, disturbing, and relentlessly provocative films — Sam Peckinpah's psychological siege thriller starring Dustin Hoffman and Susan George. Ryan, Mike, and Greg are joined by Erik Hanson of the Cradle to the Grave podcast. Together, they examine the film's violence, its contested rape scene, and the gender dynamics at the heart of Peckinpah's vision. Consequently, no other episode this season demands more from its hosts — or from its audience.Moreover, the 1971 film Straw Dogs arrived in remarkable company. A Clockwork Orange, Dirty Harry, and The French Connection all hit theaters the same year — forming a cluster of films that fundamentally altered what Hollywood was willing to show. Furthermore, Straw Dogs distinguished itself from all of them. Filmed entirely in a Cornish village, it replaced the city's noise with something quieter and more suffocating. Ultimately, it is a film that has never stopped demanding conversation — and that is exactly what the Taste Buds deliver.About the FilmSam Peckinpah directed Straw Dogs (1971), starring Dustin Hoffman as David Sumner, a mild-mannered American mathematician who relocates with his English wife Amy (Susan George) to her rural hometown in Cornwall. David hires local men to repair their farmhouse. Almost immediately, however, the couple faces escalating harassment, intimidation, and violence from the villagers — including Amy's former boyfriend Charlie (Del Henney).Peckinpah and screenwriter David Zelag Goodman adapted the film from Gordon M. Williams's 1969 novel The Siege of Trencher's Farm. Peckinpah famously dismissed the source material. The film builds to a harrowing siege in which David, pushed past every limit, defends his home with escalating brutality. Additionally, the title derives from the Tao Te Ching, which describes straw dogs as ceremonial objects — used briefly, then discarded without feeling. The Criterion Collection edition includes a discussion of this symbolism in its supplemental materials.Released theatrically in the UK in November 1971, the film earned a nomination for the Academy Award for Best Original Score. It was later issued as a Criterion Collection release featuring new critical scholarship. The British Film Institute also maintains an entry on the film. The British Board of Film Classification banned it for home video release for years after its UK theatrical run.Guest Panelist: Erik HansonJoining the Taste Buds for this Sam Peckinpah film discussion is Erik Hanson, the creator and host of Cradle to the Grave — a horror movie podcast built around a distinctive structural premise. Starting with 1971, his own birth year, Erik ranks and discusses his Top 10 horror films from every year of his life, covering each in depth with rotating guests. The show has developed a devoted following for Erik's knowledgeable, laid-back, and genuinely funny approach to the genre.In addition to podcasting, Erik is the author of Death Machine, a debut horror novel set in 1987 Northern California that reimagines the Zodiac Killer returning to terrorize a group of kids. Based in Sacramento, California, Erik is also a musician. His work across fiction and podcasting reflects a lifelong relationship with horror that goes well beyond fandom and into genuine craft. Notably, the fact that Cradle to the Grave begins precisely with 1971 makes Erik an especially fitting guest for a deep dive into one of that year's most unsettling films. You can pick up Death Machine on Amazon.Peckinpah and Violence: A Director Pushed to the EdgeBy 1971, Sam Peckinpah had already established himself as Hollywood's most uncompromising chronicler of violence. The Wild Bunch (1969) had rewritten the grammar of the Western, deploying slow-motion carnage in a way that made violence impossible to process cleanly. Straw Dogs, however, moved in a very different direction. Furthermore, Warner Bros. had effectively exiled Peckinpah from Hollywood following a chaotic falling out, which is why he filmed this Straw Dogs 1971 production entirely in England, far from his natural terrain.The violence in Straw Dogs is not operatic like The Wild Bunch. Instead, it is domestic, intimate, and deeply uncomfortable. Peckinpah builds menace through accumulation — small humiliations, loaded glances, minor intrusions — before releasing it all in the siege. Additionally, the film implicates the audience in David's rampage by making it feel, at least in the moment, cathartic. That troubling catharsis is entirely the point. As a result, the Straw Dogs podcast discussion centers on Peckinpah's central question: whether violence is ever truly civilized, or whether it simply waits beneath the surface of every man who believes he is better than it. Roger Ebert, writing for the Chicago Sun-Times in 1971, gave the film two stars and called it a film committed to the pornography of violence while laying on moral outrage with a shovel — a dissent worth hearing even for those who disagree.The Rape Scene: Context, Controversy, and CriticismNo discussion of Straw Dogs is complete without addressing its most contested sequence. Charlie, her former boyfriend, first assaults Amy — then a second attacker follows. What makes the scene so difficult to analyze is the way Peckinpah films the first assault. Many critics interpreted Amy's shifting emotional response during the rape as suggesting consent or complicity. That reading fueled decades of fierce feminist criticism of the Sam Peckinpah film.Moreover, the British Board of Film Classification rejected the film for home video release for years, specifically over this content. The studio cut the scene for the US release to secure an R rating. Susan George has spoken in interviews about her complex relationship to the role and the sequence. Notably, film scholar Linda Williams frames the film within the longer history of misogynistic representation in cinema. Her analysis appears in the Criterion Collection release. She argues that Straw Dogs belongs in conversation with works that are technically significant but ethically compromised. Consequently, the scene is not a matter of simple condemnation or simple defense. It is the central wound around which the entire film's meaning turns, and the Taste Buds treat it accordingly.David, Amy, and Gender in Straw Dogs 1971At its core, Straw Dogs is a film about masculinity in crisis. David Sumner is an intellectual — passive, avoidant, and seemingly incapable of the physical authority the Cornish village treats as natural male behavior. The film, however, refuses to position his bookishness as a virtue. Dustin Hoffman understood his character as a man who unconsciously provokes the violence around him — a pacifist whose repressed aggression the siege finally unlocks.Amy occupies an equally impossible position. The film's gaze codes her as provocative — bare feet, no bra, conspicuous in the village — while simultaneously punishing her for that very visibility. Nevertheless, Susan George's performance introduces ambiguity and depth that the script does not always earn on its own. The dynamic between David and Amy is as much a source of tension as the men gathering outside. They seem genuinely ill-suited and miscommunicate constantly. Above all, Straw Dogs asks what gender roles cost everyone involved. Specifically, the film suggests that masculinity, however dormant, will ultimately assert itself through violence. That is Peckinpah's most unsettling argument — and one that the A Clockwork Orange episode of Movie of the Year covers from a very different angle.Career Retrospective: Dustin HoffmanBy the time the Straw Dogs podcast era film was released in 1971, Dustin Hoffman had already fundamentally changed what a movie star could look like. His breakthrough in The Graduate (1967) — neurotic, unhandsome, deeply searching — made him a voice for a generation that distrusted certainty. Midnight Cowboy (1969) proved he could disappear entirely into character, earning his first Academy Award nomination. Little Big Man (1970) demonstrated his ability to age through an entire life on screen. Straw Dogs, therefore, marks something different in his catalog: not charm or pathos, but something colder and harder to forgive.Hoffman's Career After...

Brad Gullickson (Comic Book Couples Counseling Podcast) and David Harper (SKTCHD, Off-Panel Podcast) join me for the second annual "Hyperspecific Comic Book Fantasy Draft", a celebration about the niche and esoteric things in comics and comic culture that we can't get enough of (like Dollar-Bin competition, themed sketchbooks, and Marvel Superhero Island) . We also chat about comic journalism's print resurgence, CBCC's new YT series: The Stacks (aka the Criterion Collection for comics), and David's new SKTCHD Book 2025Watch the uncut video version of this episode on YouTubeLINKS: Join our Patreon Community, and get access to bonus episodes, free comics, and other rewards! Try a FREE 7-day trial: HERETake your comic shopping experience to the limit, by shopping online at Gotham City Limit!The Schiller Kessler GroupClick here to text us Fan Mail!Proudly sponsored by IDW ComicsProudly sponsored by Gotham City LimitDisclaimer: This post contains affiliate links. If you make a purchase, I may receive a commission at no extra cost to you.Support the showREACH OUT AND FOLLOW FOR MORE

It's the return of New York Times Bestseller Dave Itzkoff. We kick off with a Spring Break update including reviews of Virginia rollercoasters, Icelandic ice caves, cleaning up absolute adorable dog s#!t for a week. Then we tackle the 80's buddy classic, Midnight Run.Chapters Introduction (00:00:00) Hatch News (00:15:37) Midnight Run Roundtable (00:32:45) Your Letters (01:13:45) Notes and Links Check out Escape Hatch Merch! Our all new collection of swag is available now and every order includes a free Cameo style shoutout from Haitch or Jason. Browse our collection now. Join the Escape Hatch Discord Server! Hang out with Haitch, Jason, and other friends of the pod. Check out the invite here. Escape Hatch is a TAPEDECK Podcasts Jawn! Escape Hatch is a member of TAPEDECK Podcasts, alongside: 70mm (a podcast for film lovers), Bat & Spider (low rent horror and exploitation films), The Letterboxd Show (Official Podcast from Letterboxd), Cinenauts (exploring the Criterion Collection), Lost Light (Transformers, wrestling, and more), and Will Run For (obsessed with running). Check these pods out!. See the movies we've watched and are going to watch on Letterboxd Escape Hatch's Breaking Dune News Twitter list Rate and review the podcast to help others discover it, and let us know what you think of the show at letters@escapehatchpod.com or leave us a voicemail at +1-415-534-5211. Follow @escapehatchpod on Bluesky,Instagram, and TikTok. Music by Scott Fritz and Who'z the Boss Music. Cover art by ctcher. Edited and produced by Haitch. Escape Hatch is a production of Haitch Industries.

We continue through the World Cinema Project Vol 1 boxset with a 1936 film from Mexico, though with a rather international production crew, that presages Italian neorealism probably. Redes is among the more openly Marxist films the Criterion Collection has shown us, though I have a feeling that's going to be true for a lot of what we see from the World Cinema Project. It began life as a documentary about a fishing community near Veracruz sponsored by Mexico's Secretariat of Public Education, but collaborators Fred Zinnemann (co-directing), Emilio Gómez Muriel (co-directing), Paul Strand (cinematography), the non-professional cast performing their daily lives, and a myriad of others behind and in front of the camera grew it into a semi-documentary tale organizing against the oppression of capitalism.

Movie of the Year: 1971Sweet Sweetback's Baadasssss SongThe Sweet Sweetback's Baadasssss Song PodcastThe Sweet Sweetback's Baadasssss Song podcast brings Ryan, Mike, and Greg to one of 1971's most radical and uncompromising films. Melvin Van Peebles wrote, directed, produced, scored, edited, and starred in this landmark independent work — entirely outside the Hollywood system. The result is a film unlike any other in the bracket. Above all, it challenges every assumption about who gets to make movies, and why.This week, the Taste Buds dig into three major threads: the film as a revolutionary political act, its polarizing form and style, and its complex treatment of sex and gender. Furthermore, they induct a film into the PopFilter Hall of Fame and take on Recast the Podcast. It is a wide-ranging, debate-heavy episode from first minute to last. The Movie of the Year 1971 bracket has produced bold conversations — and this one may be the boldest yet.About the FilmSweet Sweetback's Baadasssss Song follows Sweetback (Van Peebles), a Black sex-show performer raised in a brothel. When police use him as a convenient patsy, he fights back — killing two racist cops and becoming a fugitive. He runs south toward the Mexican border. Along the way, the Black community shelters him. Bikers, revolutionaries, and sex workers cross his path. Consequently, the film becomes less a conventional chase narrative and more an odyssey of Black survival and defiance.Van Peebles privately funded the film after walking away from a studio deal at Columbia Pictures. He served as one-man auteur across every department. The film opened in just two theaters in March 1971 — Detroit and Atlanta. Nevertheless, it broke box office records on opening night and went on to gross over $15 million. The MPAA assigned it an X rating. Van Peebles turned that into the defiant tagline: "Rated X by an all-white jury." The Black Panther Party declared it required viewing for all members.Learn more at the Wikipedia entry for Sweet Sweetback's Baadasssss Song and the IMDb listing. The Criterion Collection has released a definitive edition of the film — explore it at Criterion.com. The American Film Institute has also recognized the film's landmark status — read the AFI Movie Club entry here.A Movie Revolution: Van Peebles and the Politics of IndependenceVan Peebles did not simply make a film — he staged a full act of defiance. Studio backing, the ratings system, and traditional distribution were all refused outright. Moreover, he financed part of the production by borrowing $50,000 from Bill Cosby, keeping total creative control throughout. The result was a film the industry could not co-opt, contain, or dismiss. For listeners of any Melvin Van Peebles podcast or documentary, the story of how this film got made is as remarkable as the film itself.The release strategy was equally radical. Van Peebles released the soundtrack before the film — an unusual move at the time — to build word-of-mouth in Black communities without spending money on traditional advertising. The score featured a very young Earth, Wind & Fire. By contrast, Hollywood in 1971 was still releasing social-problem films that sought respectability over truth. Sweetback rejected that approach entirely. Notably, its commercial success proved that Black-led, Black-financed films could find a massive audience without white institutional gatekeepers.Ryan, Mike, and Greg debate what Van Peebles' revolution actually accomplished. Was it the birth of a genuinely new Black cinema? Or did it also open the door for the blaxploitation genre — a category Hollywood quickly co-opted and stripped of its radical politics? Additionally, the Taste Buds ask whether the DIY model Van Peebles pioneered holds lessons for independent filmmakers working today. As a blaxploitation film podcast discussion, this episode goes deeper than genre classification — it asks what political filmmaking actually costs.Form, Style, and Watchability: A Sweet Sweetback's Baadasssss Song Podcast Deep DiveThe film's style is not subtle. Van Peebles employs jagged jump cuts, kaleidoscopic superimpositions, and psychedelic sound design throughout. These choices feel closer to Jean-Luc Godard than to anything playing at an American theater in 1971. However, they also produce a film that polarizes audiences to this day. The Sweet Sweetback's Baadasssss Song podcast tackles this polarization head-on.Some viewers find the style exhilarating — a sustained howl of rage rendered in pure cinematic form. Others find the loose structure and repetitive sequences frustrating. The Taste Buds confront this tension directly. Furthermore, they ask whether "watchability" is even the right standard for a film that never set out to be comfortable or conventional.The soundtrack adds another dimension entirely. Van Peebles composed and performed the score himself, with Earth, Wind & Fire providing the instrumental backing. The music pulses through the film like a second heartbeat. Consequently, sound and image work together to create a sensory experience unlike any other 1971 film in the bracket. Ryan, Mike, and Greg weigh in on whether Van Peebles' formal choices ultimately serve the film's political goals — or occasionally work against them.Sex, Gender, and ControversySweetback's sexuality is central to the film's identity. His sexual power is his primary weapon and his means of survival. Van Peebles frames this as a form of liberation — a radical Black body asserting itself against a system designed to destroy it. However, the film's treatment of women and of queer characters draws sharp criticism from contemporary audiences.Women in the film exist largely in relation to Sweetback's desires. The film includes graphic sexual content, some of it deeply uncomfortable by any modern standard. Moreover, the film's portrayal of lesbian characters is explicitly homophobic. The Taste Buds wrestle with how to hold these contradictions honestly. A film can be genuinely revolutionary and genuinely problematic at the same time. In fact, Sweet Sweetback's Baadasssss Song may be the most complex example of that tension in the entire 1971 bracket.Additionally, the film's opening sequence — depicting a child's sexual initiation — has unsettled audiences for over fifty years. Van Peebles cast his own son Mario in the role. That decision raises serious ethical questions that Ryan, Mike, and Greg do not avoid. Ultimately, the conversation around sex and gender in this film is not a comfortable one — and that discomfort is precisely what makes it essential. This is one of the most challenging discussions in the 1971 film podcast series to date.PopFilter Hall of FameEach season of Movie of the Year, the Taste Buds set aside the bracket to recognize films that define an era. The PopFilter Hall of Fame is not about winning a head-to-head matchup. It honors the films that changed cinema itself — the ones that opened doors, broke rules, and made everything that came after possible.The Hall of Fame carries special weight in this episode. Sweet Sweetback's Baadasssss Song raises the question of what "greatness" means for films that operate outside mainstream critical frameworks. A film does not need to be comfortable, polished, or widely loved to be important. The Hall of Fame exists precisely to honor that distinction. This week, the hosts make their cases for a 1971 inductee. Tune in to hear which film earns the honor — and whether all three Taste Buds can agree on the pick.Recast the PodcastIn Recast the Podcast, Ryan, Mike, and Greg take on one of cinema's great thought experiments. They choose a film and rebuild the cast from scratch — drawing on actors from any era, any genre, any corner of film history. Each host makes their picks. Then the debate begins.Sweet Sweetback's Baadasssss Song presents a unique challenge for Recast the Podcast. The film was defined by Van Peebles' decision to cast himself. Sweetback's blank-faced, nearly wordless presence was a deliberate choice — not a performance in the conventional sense, but a statement. Who could step into that role today? Who has the gravity, the physicality, and the political weight to carry the film's central conceit? The Taste Buds bring their full range of cinematic knowledge to the question. Listen in to hear their picks, the reasoning behind each choice, and where the three hosts inevitably disagree.Why Sweet Sweetback's Baadasssss Song Still MattersSweet Sweetback's Baadasssss Song was never meant to be easy. Van Peebles built it as a provocation — a film that demanded a response. More than fifty years later, it still gets one. The film's influence runs through Spike Lee, John Singleton, Ava DuVernay, and virtually every Black filmmaker who followed. However, its importance is not only historical. The questions it raises about representation, power, and who controls the means of production are still urgent today.Furthermore, the film's DIY model anticipated the independent film movement by decades. Van Peebles proved that a filmmaker could retain complete creative control, bypass the studio system entirely, and still reach an enormous audience. That lesson has...

This week we start the first Martin Scorcese's World Cinema Project boxset, a growing sub-collection - currently at 5 volumes - containing films from regions under-represented from the broader Criterion Collection. Or unrepresented at all elsewise. Volume 1, for instance, contains our first two Criterion films made in Africa by African directors. Our first film is one of them comes from Senegal, Touki bouki (1973) directed by Djibril Diop Mambéty. If you must find analogues it's sort of Easy Rider via Jean Cocteau, but the film is one of the most unique we've experienced.

Movie of the Year: 1971Harold and Maude (feat. Van from the Gaymer Girls pod!)The Harold and Maude podcast episode is here — and the Taste Buds are diving deep into one of 1971's most subversive and life-affirming films. Hal Ashby's Harold and Maude (1971) has been a cult touchstone for over fifty years. This episode gives it the full PopFilter treatment. Ryan, Mike, and Greg welcome guest panelist Van Baumann from the Gaymer Girls podcast for a conversation about this singular film. It baffled studios, bombed at the box office, and somehow became a defining work of American cinema. Furthermore, this episode features a Rushmore segment on the most iconic May-December romances in movie history, plus a Shopping Spree. Consequently, this is one of the most spirited episodes of the Movie of the Year: 1971 series. About the Harold and Maude FilmDirected by Hal Ashby, Harold and Maude arrived in December 1971 as one of the most unusual films Paramount Pictures had ever released. The screenplay, written by Colin Higgins, began as his master's thesis at UCLA film school. It follows Harold Chasen (Bud Cort), a wealthy young man obsessed with death. Harold stages elaborate fake suicides to shock his emotionally absent mother. Moreover, he fills his days with funerals, hearses, and junkyards — searching for something authentic in a world of suffocating privilege. At one such funeral, he meets Maude (Ruth Gordon), a 79-year-old woman. Her boundless appetite for life stands in complete contrast to his morbid worldview. Above all, their unlikely friendship — and eventual romance — challenges every social convention the Hal Ashby 1971 film can find.The Harold and Maude film bombed on initial release. Critics were baffled, and audiences didn't know what to make of it. Nevertheless, it found its audience through midnight screenings and college campuses, eventually becoming one of cinema's defining 1971 cult classics. The Cat Stevens Harold and Maude soundtrack became inseparable from the film's identity. Notably, the Criterion Collection released a full restoration on Blu-ray in 2012. That cemented its status as a genuine classic. You can explore the full credits at its IMDb page. Guest Panelist: Van BaumannVan Baumann joins the Taste Buds for this Harold and Maude podcast episode. She co-hosts Gaymer Girls — a weekly podcast covering gaming, queer culture, and pop culture. Van and co-host Sana cover topics ranging from Baldur's Gate 3 to LGBTQ+ representation in gaming. Their wit and expertise extend to the cultural politics of the industry as well. Moreover, the show specializes in IP deep-dives for newcomers. Long-running franchises get broken down in ways that are accessible, funny, and genuinely informative.Van's perspective on the Harold and Maude film is a particularly fitting one. The 1971 cult classic resonates strongly with queer audiences for its anti-establishment energy and rejection of conventional romance. Additionally, her background in gaming culture and media criticism brings a fresh lens to Ashby's film. It is a perspective the Taste Buds couldn't provide on their own.Harold and Maude as Characters: An Unlikely Mirror in a Harold and Maude Podcast DiscussionAt the heart of the Harold and Maude film are two characters who could not appear more different on paper. Harold is young, wealthy, and surrounded by privilege — yet profoundly miserable. Maude is elderly and owns almost nothing. She has lived through extraordinary hardship. The film subtly implies she is a Holocaust survivor. However, both characters share a fundamental rejection of the life society has scripted for them. Harold's fake suicides are acts of rebellion against his mother's indifference. Meanwhile, Maude steals cars and uproots city trees without malice. She acts from a deep belief that the world belongs to everyone equally.Ruth Gordon's performance is magnetic. Gordon plays Maude not as a quirky old woman. Rather, she portrays someone who earned every ounce of joy through survival and deliberate choice. Bud Cort embodies Harold's blankness with quiet precision. His deadpan delivery makes every small shift in the character feel earned. Consequently, the chemistry between them feels less like a conventional romance and more like a transmission. Maude passes something essential to Harold before her time runs out. The Taste Buds and Van explore what makes these characters so enduring. Both discuss why the film still resonates more than fifty years later. Life and Philosophy: What the Harold and Maude 1971 Film Actually TeachesHarold and Maude is, at its core, a film about choosing to live. Specifically, it argues that joy is not something handed to you — it is something you practice, steal, nurture, and defend. Maude embodies this philosophy in every scene. She makes art and plays music with equal passion. Furthermore, she transplants a struggling tree from a concrete sidewalk to the open forest. She believes living things deserve better conditions than city concrete. Above all, she treats every encounter as an opportunity rather than an obligation.The Hal Ashby 1971 film engages with existentialism in a remarkably accessible way. It never lectures. Instead, it dramatizes the tension between Harold's death drive and Maude's life force. The audience feels the shift as the film progresses. In addition, Harold and Maude is bracingly anti-authoritarian — Harold's priest, his psychiatrist, and his militaristic uncle are all buffoons. Authority, Ashby and Higgins suggest, is part of what kills the spirit. Therefore, the film's philosophy is ultimately about sovereignty: the right to live, love, and die on your own terms. The Taste Buds unpack all of it across this Harold and Maude podcast episode.Legacy: How the Harold and Maude 1971 Podcast Goes Deep on a Cult IconFew films have had a stranger journey from flop to icon. The Harold and Maude film opened to near-universal bewilderment in 1971. Paramount barely knew how to market it. Nevertheless, word of mouth — particularly among countercultural and college audiences — kept it alive. By the late 1970s, it was a staple of midnight movie circuits. By the 1980s, it had influenced a generation of filmmakers. Notably, Wes Anderson has cited it as a key influence on his film Rushmore. Both films center on unlikely intergenerational bonds.Moreover, the 1971 cult classic has always commanded a substantial queer following. Its rejection of normative romance, its celebration of chosen family, and Maude's radical individuality have made it a touchstone for LGBTQ+ audiences for decades. Additionally, the Cat Stevens Harold and Maude soundtrack is among cinema's most celebrated. Stevens later converted to Islam and stepped back from this earlier work. Above all, Harold and Maude endures because it offers something rare: a film that insists life is worth living, and actually means it. For a bracket-style podcast covering the greatest films of 1971, this Hal Ashby film demands serious consideration.Rushmore: The Most Iconic May-December Romances in Movie HistoryIn this week's Rushmore segment, each panelist makes their case for the most iconic May-December romance in movie history. The prompt is inspired by the film itself — cinema's most famous age-gap romance. However, the Taste Buds range far beyond 1971 for their nominations. Furthermore, the debate gets heated fast as the panel navigates decades of Hollywood romance to crown their personal MVPs. Tune in to find out who made the cut — and whose picks got laughed out of the room.Shopping SpreeThe Taste Buds and Van also sit down for a Shopping Spree segment, one of PopFilter's beloved recurring features. Each participant brings a recommendation that pairs well with the episode's themes. Films, media, and cultural artifacts are all fair game. In addition, the segment is a chance for the panel to let their enthusiasms run free outside the main discussion. Notably, the Harold and Maude Shopping Spree delivers some particularly inspired picks. Listen in to find out what made the list.Why Harold and Maude Still MattersMore than fifty years after its release, the Harold and Maude film remains one of the most emotionally honest ever made. It refuses to sentimentalize death or romanticize youth. Instead, it argues that wisdom, joy, and love have no age limit. Choosing to be fully alive, it suggests, is the most radical act of all. Moreover, in an era of increasing conformity and algorithmic culture, Maude's anarchic embrace of experience feels more urgent than ever.The 1971 cult classic also matters as a document of its moment. 1971 was a year of profound cultural friction. The counterculture was fading, the Vietnam War continued, and a deep national anxiety had taken hold. Harold and Maude absorbed all of that tension and responded with something unexpected: grace. Consequently, it stands as one of 1971's most essential films and a worthy contender in PopFilter's Movie of the Year bracket. Additionally, Van Baumann's perspective adds a dimension the Taste Buds alone couldn't provide. This Harold and Maude podcast episode is a must-listen for fans of film and philosophy.Related Episodes from Movie of the Year: 1971

It's the return of the Senior Editor of Engadget and co-host of The Filmcast, Devindra Hardawar. We finally tackle John Woo's final Hong Kong action masterpiece, starring the coolest motherf#%*ers in the world - Chow Yun-fat and Tony Leung, in Hard Boiled. Plus, Haitch gets puppies!Chapters Introduction (00:00:00) Hatch News (00:12:14) Hard Boiled Roundtable (00:15:10) Your Letters (01:12:58) Notes and Links Check out Escape Hatch Merch! Our all new collection of swag is available now and every order includes a free Cameo style shoutout from Haitch or Jason. Browse our collection now. Join the Escape Hatch Discord Server! Hang out with Haitch, Jason, and other friends of the pod. Check out the invite here. Escape Hatch is a TAPEDECK Podcasts Jawn! Escape Hatch is a member of TAPEDECK Podcasts, alongside: 70mm (a podcast for film lovers), Bat & Spider (low rent horror and exploitation films), The Letterboxd Show (Official Podcast from Letterboxd), Cinenauts (exploring the Criterion Collection), Lost Light (Transformers, wrestling, and more), and Will Run For (obsessed with running). Check these pods out!. See the movies we've watched and are going to watch on Letterboxd Escape Hatch's Breaking Dune News Twitter list Rate and review the podcast to help others discover it, and let us know what you think of the show at letters@escapehatchpod.com or leave us a voicemail at +1-415-534-5211. Follow @escapehatchpod on Bluesky,Instagram, and TikTok. Music by Scott Fritz and Who'z the Boss Music. Cover art by ctcher. Edited and produced by Haitch. Escape Hatch is a production of Haitch Industries.

This month the Criterion Channel curated a series of corporate thrillers, from "Wall Street" to "The Firm" to "Michael Clayton." Criterion curator Clyde Folley discusses some of the films in this series, and listeners share their favorite corporate thrillers. Image courtesy of the Criterion Collection

What is the worst thing you've ever done?This week, hosts Laura Gommans and Elliot Bloom watched Kristoffer Borgli's The Drama — and neither of them could stop thinking about it. No spoilers, just their honest reaction to Zendaya and Robert Pattinson's wedding spiralling wonderfully out of control, and what it says about how quickly we judge other people's secrets while sitting on a few of our own.From there: why do the biggest stars on the planet — the ones who are Twilight, Harry Potter, The Hunger Games — keep choosing the strangest roles the moment nobody's watching? Robert Pattinson in sewers. Daniel Radcliffe with a gun for a hand. Kristen Stewart dismantling her own image frame by frame. Is it rebellion, artistic hunger, or is weird the only honest thing left after you've played a hero for a decade?And we're launching something new — Hot Takes, our listener segment where you get to say the thing nobody else will. This week: K-Pop deserves a place in the Criterion Collection. You might be surprised where we land.Get tickets to The Drama @ LAB111Send your hot takes to celebratingcinema@lab111.nlFollow LAB111 on Letterboxd

Dreams really can come true,but only if you make them happen. We are thrilled to be joined by the co-host of The Midnight Boys (PEW PEW!!) and Higher Learning, Van Lathan! We have a wide ranging discussion on comics, cinema, and tech policy. Then we cover Lord and Miller's hopecore miracle of a movie starring the incredible Ryan Gosling, Project Hail Mary!Chapters Introduction (00:00:00) Hatch News (00:21:58) Project Hail Mary Roundtable (00:46:19) Your Letters (01:51:05) Notes and Links Check out Escape Hatch Merch! Our all new collection of swag is available now and every order includes a free Cameo style shoutout from Haitch or Jason. Browse our collection now. Join the Escape Hatch Discord Server! Hang out with Haitch, Jason, and other friends of the pod. Check out the invite here. Escape Hatch is a TAPEDECK Podcasts Jawn! Escape Hatch is a member of TAPEDECK Podcasts, alongside: 70mm (a podcast for film lovers), Bat & Spider (low rent horror and exploitation films), The Letterboxd Show (Official Podcast from Letterboxd), Cinenauts (exploring the Criterion Collection), Lost Light (Transformers, wrestling, and more), and Will Run For (obsessed with running). Check these pods out!. See the movies we've watched and are going to watch on Letterboxd Escape Hatch's Breaking Dune News Twitter list Rate and review the podcast to help others discover it, and let us know what you think of the show at letters@escapehatchpod.com or leave us a voicemail at +1-415-534-5211. Follow @escapehatchpod on Bluesky,Instagram, and TikTok. Music by Scott Fritz and Who'z the Boss Music. Cover art by ctcher. Edited and produced by Haitch. Escape Hatch is a production of Haitch Industries.

What if all the people in charge were actually criminals, but so insulated by power that no amount of clear evidence could lead to them being investigated? Crazy right? Investigation of a Citizen Above Suspicion (1970) is our only film from Elio Petri in the Criterion Collection, which is disappointing because from what we can tell his work is like if Pier Paolo Pasolini only did mass market genre stuff. Of course it's also just impeccable mass market genre stuff filled with radical politics, which Petri termed PolPop, political popular film. It's right up our alley.

On episode 146 of the Director Watch Podcast, co-hosts Ryan McQuade and Jay Ledbetter are joined by AwardsWatch Associate Editor Sophia Ciminello to discuss the latest film in their Powell and Pressburger series, The Red Shoes (1948). Welcome back to Director Watch! On this AwardsWatch podcast, the boys attempt to break down, analyze, and ultimately, get inside the mind of some of cinema's greatest auteurs. In doing so, they will look at their filmographies, explore what drives them artistically and what makes their decision making process so fascinating. Add in a few silly tangents and a fun game at the end of the episode and you've got yourself a podcast we truly hope you love. In their most popular, acclaimed film of their career, Powell and Pressburger take a look into the competitive, obsessive world of ballet and the personal scarifies it takes to make real art. With The Red Shoes, they created another lasting masterpiece, one with a trio of incredible performances, expert dialogue, a twisted ending, and one of the greatest sequences in film history involving the titular film's ballet. Ryan, Jay, and Sophia break down their admiration for the film, the price it takes Victoria Page to become the best dancer in the world, the jealousy of Boris Lermontov, the naiveté of Julian Craster, how the duo behind the camera were able to pull off that miraculous sequence, the food, the clothing, the mixture of location shooting and sets, the process it took to preserve this film via the Criterion Collection and Martin Scorsese, and one of the biggest, longest weekly recommendations in the history of Director Watch. You can listen to the Director Watch Podcast wherever you stream podcasts, from iTunes, iHeartRadio, Soundcloud, Stitcher, Spotify, Audible, Amazon Music and more. This podcast runs 2h55m. The guys will be back next week to continue their series on the films of Michael Powell and Emeric Pressburger with a review of their next film, The Tales of Hoffmann. You can rent it via iTunes and Amazon Prime rental in preparation for the next episode of Director Watch. Till then, let's get into it. Music: MUSICALIFE, from Pond5 (intro) and "B-3" from BoxCat Games Nameless: The Hackers RPG Soundtrack (outro).

It's all been leading to this. Episode 300. The BIG one. The Dune Part Three trailer dropped 3 hours before we started recording. THEY KNEW. Plus It's the return of the co-hosts of the movie prop podcast, The Stuff Dreams Are Made Of, show-runner of House of the Dragon Ryan Condal and the showrunner of Veep, Dave Mandel! And we're going as big into The Big Ones as you can get…Stanley Kubrick's The Shining. Also, be sure to stick around for the end of the letter segment. Our incredible voicemail cast created a 10 minute radio play that is just dynamite! Thank you to everyone who's listened to us over the last 6(!) years.Chapters Introduction (00:00:00) Hatch News (00:25:23) The Shining Roundtable (00:35:17) Your Letters (02:04:14) Notes and Links Check out Escape Hatch Merch! Our all new collection of swag is available now and every order includes a free Cameo style shoutout from Haitch or Jason. Browse our collection now. Join the Escape Hatch Discord Server! Hang out with Haitch, Jason, and other friends of the pod. Check out the invite here. Escape Hatch is a TAPEDECK Podcasts Jawn! Escape Hatch is a member of TAPEDECK Podcasts, alongside: 70mm (a podcast for film lovers), Bat & Spider (low rent horror and exploitation films), The Letterboxd Show (Official Podcast from Letterboxd), Cinenauts (exploring the Criterion Collection), Lost Light (Transformers, wrestling, and more), and Will Run For (obsessed with running). Check these pods out!. See the movies we've watched and are going to watch on Letterboxd Escape Hatch's Breaking Dune News Twitter list Rate and review the podcast to help others discover it, and let us know what you think of the show at letters@escapehatchpod.com or leave us a voicemail at +1-415-534-5211. Follow @escapehatchpod on Bluesky,Instagram, and TikTok. Music by Scott Fritz and Who'z the Boss Music. Cover art by ctcher. Edited and produced by Haitch. Escape Hatch is a production of Haitch Industries.

Listen, we are all trying to make sense of our being led into another war, this time in Iran, and SHOCKINGLY have the complete imbeciles who run our country be woefully unprepared for the repercussions. Well, when former Deputy National Security Adviser and co-host of Pod Save the World, Ben Rhodes called us up and asked to come talk about it with us, we jumped at the chance! Plus we talk the Oscar winning Ben Affleck Iranian conflict classic, Argo. Do not miss this ep.Chapters Introduction (00:00:00) Hatch News (00:28:32) Argo Roundtable (00:36:49) Your Letters (01:52:28) Notes and Links Check out Escape Hatch Merch! Our all new collection of swag is available now and every order includes a free Cameo style shoutout from Haitch or Jason. Browse our collection now. Join the Escape Hatch Discord Server! Hang out with Haitch, Jason, and other friends of the pod. Check out the invite here. Escape Hatch is a TAPEDECK Podcasts Jawn! Escape Hatch is a member of TAPEDECK Podcasts, alongside: 70mm (a podcast for film lovers), Bat & Spider (low rent horror and exploitation films), The Letterboxd Show (Official Podcast from Letterboxd), Cinenauts (exploring the Criterion Collection), Lost Light (Transformers, wrestling, and more), and Will Run For (obsessed with running). Check these pods out!. See the movies we've watched and are going to watch on Letterboxd Escape Hatch's Breaking Dune News Twitter list Rate and review the podcast to help others discover it, and let us know what you think of the show at letters@escapehatchpod.com or leave us a voicemail at +1-415-534-5211. Follow @escapehatchpod on Bluesky,Instagram, and TikTok. Music by Scott Fritz and Who'z the Boss Music. Cover art by ctcher. Edited and produced by Haitch. Escape Hatch is a production of Haitch Industries.

This week's French Connection podcast episode covers one of the most thrilling and morally complicated films of 1971. Ryan, Mike, and Greg revisit The French Connection on Movie of the Year. William Friedkin's Best Picture winner changed what American cinema thought a hero could look like. In addition, this episode features a special Gene Hackman career retrospective.Released in 1971, the film follows New York City detective Jimmy "Popeye" Doyle — based on real NYPD detective Eddie Egan, with partner Sonny Grosso inspiring the character of Russo. Doyle pursues a massive heroin operation with little regard for the law or the people around him. As a result, the film won five Academy Awards, including Best Picture, Best Director, and Best Actor. It remains one of the defining films of the New Hollywood era.This Movie of the Year podcast episode is one of the most anticipated of the 1971 season. Before diving in, check out our recent episodes on The Last Picture Show and A Clockwork Orange.Joining the Taste Buds for this episode is special guest C. Craig Patterson A screenwriter, director, and filmmaker based in Los Angeles. An alum of Columbia University, NYU's Tisch School of the Arts, and USC's School of Cinematic Arts, Patterson brings serious cinematic credentials to the table. His short film Fathead won the Cannes Film Festival Best Student Short Award and earned an NAACP Image Award nomination. His scripts have been recognized by the Sundance Screenwriters Lab, The Black List, and the Academy's Nicholl Fellowship. Patterson also directed the critically acclaimed Roy Wood Jr. comedy special Imperfect Messenger for Paramount+. With projects currently in development at Paramount and Epic Games, he is one of the most exciting emerging filmmakers working today — and exactly the kind of guest who makes a film like The French Connection worth revisiting.The French Connection 1971 Podcast: Popeye Doyle — Hero, Antihero, or Something Worse?The central tension of this French Connection 1971 podcast discussion is what to make of Popeye Doyle. Gene Hackman plays him as a force of nature — relentless, racist, reckless, and completely compelling. He is not a good man, and he is barely a good cop. Nevertheless, the film frames his obsession as heroic, his instincts as genius, and his victory as worth celebrating.Ryan, Mike, and Greg dig into what Friedkin and screenwriter Ernest Tidyman were doing with Doyle. Is the film a critique of the kind of law enforcement he represents? Or is it simply in love with him? The answer is probably both. Ultimately, that ambiguity is what makes the character so difficult and so fascinating fifty years later.The Real Detectives Behind the StoryThe real detectives, Eddie Egan and Sonny Grosso, consulted on the film and even appear in small roles. Consequently, knowing the story is grounded in a real investigation makes Doyle's behavior harder to dismiss. These were not fictional excesses invented for dramatic effect, and the panel takes that seriously.Gene Hackman won the Academy Award for Best Actor for this role, beating out Peter Finch, Walter Matthau, George C. Scott, and Topol. Furthermore, it remains one of the most celebrated performances of the 1970s. The panel uses this episode to look back at Hackman's broader career and make the case for where he stands in the pantheon.For more on Gene Hackman's career, visit the Internet Movie Database.William Friedkin and the New Hollywood Crime FilmDirector William Friedkin approached The French Connection as a documentary-style thriller. He shot on location in New York City with handheld cameras and natural light, refusing to glamorize either the city or its characters. As a result, the film feels unlike almost anything else from 1971 — raw, kinetic, and deeply uncomfortable.The Taste Buds explore how Friedkin's direction shaped the film's identity. Most notably, the legendary car chase under the elevated train tracks in Brooklyn is widely considered one of the greatest action sequences ever filmed. Friedkin shot it on live New York City streets without fully stopping traffic, with a camera mounted to the front of the car. For critical analysis of the chase, the Criterion Collection offers essential reading.Friedkin After The French ConnectionJust two years later, Friedkin directed The Exorcist, cementing his place as one of the defining filmmakers of the decade. The panel discusses what the two films share and what The French Connection reveals about Friedkin's sensibility. In both cases, his camera feels like it is barely keeping up with reality — and that is entirely by design.For more on Friedkin's influence on American cinema, visit the American Film Institute.The French Connection Podcast Discussion: Justice and Its LimitsAt its core, The French Connection is about the gap between justice and the law. Popeye Doyle operates outside the rules, endangers civilians, shoots an unarmed man in the back, and ultimately fails to bring the main target to justice. Despite all of this, the film presents his pursuit not as tragedy but as the cost of doing business.Ryan, Mike, and Greg examine what the film says about the American justice system in 1971 — a moment of profound national disillusionment. Vietnam, the civil rights movement, and the early signs of Watergate were all in the air. Meanwhile, the "good guys" in this film are not good, the "bad guys" are not caught, and the audience is asked to root for the pursuit anyway.Race and Policing in The French ConnectionMoreover, the film's racial politics are impossible to ignore. Doyle's racism is presented as character texture rather than moral failing, and the film never fully grapples with the implications of the policing it depicts. That discomfort is an important part of the conversation this week.For historical context on the real case, visit the DEA's history of the French Connection.Gene Hackman Best Performances: A Career RetrospectiveThis episode includes a special segment on Gene Hackman's best performances. The Taste Buds make their case for the defining Hackman roles and debate his greatest work. In particular, they discuss what made him such an unusual screen presence: his everyman quality, his capacity for rage, and his refusal to tell the audience how to feel about his characters.His breakthrough came in Bonnie and Clyde in 1967, and his Oscar followed here in The French Connection. Subsequently, classics like The Conversation, Mississippi Burning, Unforgiven, and The Royal Tenenbaums cemented one of the most extraordinary bodies of work in American cinema. This segment celebrates an actor who never got quite enough credit for how good he really was.Why The French Connection 1971 Still MattersMore than fifty years later, The French Connection remains essential viewing. Beyond its technical achievements, it functions as a moral document — capturing a specific American mood: exhausted, suspicious, and uncertain about its own institutions.Ultimately, this French Connection podcast episode revisits the film as a living argument about power, obsession, and the stories we tell about law enforcement. It asks hard questions, and this episode doesn't let them off the hook.Related Episodes from Movie of the Year: 1971If you enjoyed this episode, check out the rest of the Movie of the Year 1971 series:The Last Picture Show — Bogdanovich, nostalgia, and a dying Texas townA Clockwork Orange — Kubrick, free will, and the limits of the stateBrowse all Movie of the Year episodesFAQ: The French Connection Podcast and FilmWhat is The French Connection podcast episode about?Ryan, Mike, and Greg discuss William Friedkin's 1971 Best Picture winner. Topics include Popeye Doyle, Friedkin's direction, justice, and a Gene Hackman career retrospective.What is The French Connection about?It follows NYPD detective Popeye Doyle, based on real detective Eddie Egan, as he pursues a massive heroin smuggling operation using methods that are often illegal and always reckless.Who directed The French Connection?William Friedkin directed the 1971...

We welcome author and former Magic the Gathering Lead Game Designer, Brian Schneider. Brian talks about how to create a Magic set and explores the surprising convergence between professional Magic and Poker players! Then wWe cover Gen X's apotheosis, John Cusack's 2000 classic, High Fidelity! Spoilers, Jason thinks the soundtrack kinda sucks.Chapters Introduction (00:00:00) Hatch News (00:21:02) High Fidelity Roundtable (00:22:59) Your Letters (01:15:38) Notes and Links Check out Escape Hatch Merch! Our all new collection of swag is available now and every order includes a free Cameo style shoutout from Haitch or Jason. Browse our collection now. Join the Escape Hatch Discord Server! Hang out with Haitch, Jason, and other friends of the pod. Check out the invite here. Escape Hatch is a TAPEDECK Podcasts Jawn! Escape Hatch is a member of TAPEDECK Podcasts, alongside: 70mm (a podcast for film lovers), Bat & Spider (low rent horror and exploitation films), The Letterboxd Show (Official Podcast from Letterboxd), Cinenauts (exploring the Criterion Collection), Lost Light (Transformers, wrestling, and more), and Will Run For (obsessed with running). Check these pods out!. See the movies we've watched and are going to watch on Letterboxd Escape Hatch's Breaking Dune News Twitter list Rate and review the podcast to help others discover it, and let us know what you think of the show at letters@escapehatchpod.com or leave us a voicemail at +1-415-534-5211. Follow @escapehatchpod on Bluesky,Instagram, and TikTok. Music by Scott Fritz and Who'z the Boss Music. Cover art by ctcher. Edited and produced by Haitch. Escape Hatch is a production of Haitch Industries.

Jim Hill and Drew Taylor kick off this week's show a little early to accommodate Drew's Palm Springs getaway, but that doesn't slow down the animation news. From Netflix making a rare physical media play with KPop Demon Hunters to Zootopia 2 quietly becoming 2025's biggest domestic hit, there's a lot to unpack. They also look at Smiling Friends stepping away at its peak, new anime headed to theaters, and a wave of animation-themed events happening coast to coast. HIGHLIGHTS • KPop Demon Hunters lands a rare Criterion Collection physical media release after sweeping major awards, signaling a big win for Netflix animation. • Zootopia 2 becomes 2025's top domestic release and sees strong demand for its 4K Steelbook on launch day. • Smiling Friends ends on its own terms, with two final episodes set to air April 12. • Crunchyroll dates the next That Time I Got Reincarnated as a Slime movie for May 2026 as Season Four arrives this spring. • Hulu's upcoming animated comedy Swap Meet begins development at 20th Television Animation and Sony Pictures Television. • Don Hahn's Huz: Drawn to Life spotlights Disney animator Ron Husband and his legacy. • Dana Terrace premieres The Knights of Guinevere pilot and plans a March panel and gallery event in Alhambra. • Drawing Magic: Walt Disney Feature Animation Florida opens in Orlando with a March 8 creators panel. HOSTS • Jim Hill - IG: @JimHillMedia | X: @JimHillMedia | Website: JimHillMedia.com• Drew Taylor - IG: @drewtailored | X: @DrewTailored | Website: drewtaylor.work FOLLOW • Facebook: JimHillMediaNews• Instagram: JimHillMedia• TikTok: JimHillMedia SUPPORT Support the show and access bonus episodes and additional content at Patreon.com/JimHillMedia. PRODUCTION CREDITS Edited by Dave GreyProduced by Eric Hersey - Strong Minded Agency SPONSOR Unlock MagicPlanning a Disney or Universal trip in 2026? Unlock Magic helps you secure the very best deals on theme park tickets, with expert support from people who truly know the parks. Visit unlockedmagic.com to start planning your next adventure. If you would like to sponsor a show on the Jim Hill Media Podcast Network, reach out today. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Burnie and Ashley discuss the Criterion Collection, Gordon McPhail, Kpop Demon Hunters, laserdiscs, Armageddon, Beyond The Valley Of The Dolls, Stepbros, Brewdogs, Hilary Clinton, and Spice Girls becoming a currency.

Jim Hill and Drew Taylor kick off this week's show a little early to accommodate Drew's Palm Springs getaway, but that doesn't slow down the animation news. From Netflix making a rare physical media play with KPop Demon Hunters to Zootopia 2 quietly becoming 2025's biggest domestic hit, there's a lot to unpack. They also look at Smiling Friends stepping away at its peak, new anime headed to theaters, and a wave of animation-themed events happening coast to coast. HIGHLIGHTS • KPop Demon Hunters lands a rare Criterion Collection physical media release after sweeping major awards, signaling a big win for Netflix animation. • Zootopia 2 becomes 2025's top domestic release and sees strong demand for its 4K Steelbook on launch day. • Smiling Friends ends on its own terms, with two final episodes set to air April 12. • Crunchyroll dates the next That Time I Got Reincarnated as a Slime movie for May 2026 as Season Four arrives this spring. • Hulu's upcoming animated comedy Swap Meet begins development at 20th Television Animation and Sony Pictures Television. • Don Hahn's Huz: Drawn to Life spotlights Disney animator Ron Husband and his legacy. • Dana Terrace premieres The Knights of Guinevere pilot and plans a March panel and gallery event in Alhambra. • Drawing Magic: Walt Disney Feature Animation Florida opens in Orlando with a March 8 creators panel. HOSTS • Jim Hill - IG: @JimHillMedia | X: @JimHillMedia | Website: JimHillMedia.com• Drew Taylor - IG: @drewtailored | X: @DrewTailored | Website: drewtaylor.work FOLLOW • Facebook: JimHillMediaNews• Instagram: JimHillMedia• TikTok: JimHillMedia SUPPORT Support the show and access bonus episodes and additional content at Patreon.com/JimHillMedia. PRODUCTION CREDITS Edited by Dave GreyProduced by Eric Hersey - Strong Minded Agency SPONSOR Unlock MagicPlanning a Disney or Universal trip in 2026? Unlock Magic helps you secure the very best deals on theme park tickets, with expert support from people who truly know the parks. Visit unlockedmagic.com to start planning your next adventure. If you would like to sponsor a show on the Jim Hill Media Podcast Network, reach out today. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

We're finally re-joined by our hero, the Silver Fox, the VP of Merch, the original Podcast BadBoy, and the co-host of the the co-host of the Bat and Spider podcast, dale_a. We tackle Ben Stiller's 1996 cult classic the broke out Jim Carrey's acting career, The Cable Guy. Plus we cover close-up magic, the Winter Olympics, looming military strikes in Iran, and whether Haitch committed m#*$er at gymnastics camp in 1984.Chapters Introduction (00:00:00) Hatch News (00:20:10) The Cable Guy Roundtable (00:34:32) Your Letters (01:17:08) Notes and Links Check out Escape Hatch Merch! Our all new collection of swag is available now and every order includes a free Cameo style shoutout from Haitch or Jason. Browse our collection now. Join the Escape Hatch Discord Server! Hang out with Haitch, Jason, and other friends of the pod. Check out the invite here. Escape Hatch is a TAPEDECK Podcasts Jawn! Escape Hatch is a member of TAPEDECK Podcasts, alongside: 70mm (a podcast for film lovers), Bat & Spider (low rent horror and exploitation films), The Letterboxd Show (Official Podcast from Letterboxd), Cinenauts (exploring the Criterion Collection), Lost Light (Transformers, wrestling, and more), and Will Run For (obsessed with running). Check these pods out!. See the movies we've watched and are going to watch on Letterboxd Escape Hatch's Breaking Dune News Twitter list Rate and review the podcast to help others discover it, and let us know what you think of the show at letters@escapehatchpod.com or leave us a voicemail at +1-415-534-5211. Follow @escapehatchpod on Bluesky,Instagram, and TikTok. Music by Scott Fritz and Who'z the Boss Music. Cover art by ctcher. Edited and produced by Haitch. Escape Hatch is a production of Haitch Industries.

Didn't ever think we'd cover a Criterion Collection release on Certified Forgotten, didja? That's what makes our podcast so special, and why we love these guest episodes. Journalist and Brooklyn Horror's own Tori Potenza returns with a 1960s Czechoslovak "dark comedy" that too succinctly predicted today's alt-right basement-bro uprising. Juraj Herz's "dark comedy" (emphasis on DARK), The Cremator, is a phenomenal look not only into the horrors of Nazi occupations, but also how easily these genocidal movements sway the most manipulatable, spineless schlubs. Promise the right person power, and they'll turn into a monster. Is it any coincidence we recorded this episode during Trump's most recent State of the Union?

Ashley Clark is the curatorial director of the Criterion Collection, and he is now also the author of the new book, The World of Black Film: A Journey Through Cinematic Blackness in 100 Films. He discusses the new book and spotlights some of his favorite Black films from around the world. Cover art courtesy of Laurence King

We're on winter break, so in this special Best of episode, we start with the current state of Dems trying to appeal to the youths, Jason tells us all about vibecoding some incredible new tools for the pod, and then we go all the way back to Episode 6(!) of Dune Pod. Relive how we were dealing with deeeep COVID and Jason's nervousness about whether Dune Part 2 would even get made. Plus we're joined by Ian De Borja as we tackle one of the GOATs, The Coen Brothers' No Country for Old Men!Chapters Introduction (00:00:00) Best of Escape Hatch: No Country for Old Men (00:23:03) Notes and Links Check out Escape Hatch Merch! Our all new collection of swag is available now and every order includes a free Cameo style shoutout from Haitch or Jason. Browse our collection now. Join the Escape Hatch Discord Server! Hang out with Haitch, Jason, and other friends of the pod. Check out the invite here. Escape Hatch is a TAPEDECK Podcasts Jawn! Escape Hatch is a member of TAPEDECK Podcasts, alongside: 70mm (a podcast for film lovers), Bat & Spider (low rent horror and exploitation films), The Letterboxd Show (Official Podcast from Letterboxd), Cinenauts (exploring the Criterion Collection), Lost Light (Transformers, wrestling, and more), and Will Run For (obsessed with running). Check these pods out!. See the movies we've watched and are going to watch on Letterboxd Escape Hatch's Breaking Dune News Twitter list Rate and review the podcast to help others discover it, and let us know what you think of the show at letters@escapehatchpod.com or leave us a voicemail at +1-415-534-5211. Follow @escapehatchpod on Bluesky,Instagram, and TikTok. Music by Scott Fritz and Who'z the Boss Music. Cover art by ctcher. Edited and produced by Haitch. Escape Hatch is a production of Haitch Industries.

What if Dinner for Schmucks was an artsy love story? Yes, that change would suck the fun out of the film, but, in exchange, it would get it some cred with film critics. And that's how DOGFIGHT ended up with a fresh 87% Tomatometer score - and a pretty recent Criterion Collection induction to boot. Listen to Alex & Julio as they try to figure out if River Phoenix and Lili Taylor have any actual chemistry, and if tying stories into the JFK assassination will ever get old!TIMELINE00:01:24 Dogfight00:11:50 Contrarians Corner- Wanna know how we really feel about DOGFIGHT? Check out the Real Talk (RT) episode, on your feed RIGHT NOW! (or pretty soon — Spotify can be a pain when it comes to refreshing the feed)- Interested in more Contrarians goodness? Join THE CONTRARIANS SUPPLEMENTS on our Patreon Page! Deleted clips, extended plugs, bonus episodes free from the Tomatometer shackles… It's everything a Contrarians devotee would want!- Our YouTube page is live! Get some visual Contrarians delight with our Contrarians Warm-Ups and other fun videos!- Contrarians Merch is finally here! Check out our RED BUBBLE MERCH PAGE and buy yourself something nice that's emblazoned with one of our four different designs!- THE FESTIVE YEARS have been letting us use their music for years now and they are amazing. You can check out their work on Spotify, on Facebook or on their very own website.- Our buddy Cory Ahre is being kind enough to lend a hand with the editing of some of our videos. If you like his style, wait until you see what he does over on his YouTube Channel.- THE LATE NIGHT GRIN isn't just a show about wrestling: it's a brand, a lifestyle. And they're very supportive of our Contrarian endeavors, so we'd like to return the favor. Check out their YouTube Channel! You might even spot Alex there from time to time.- Hans Rothgiesser, the man behind our logo, can be reached at @mildemoniospe on Instagram or you can email him at mildemonios@hotmail.com in case you ever need a logo (or comics) produced. And you can listen to him talk about economy on his new TV show, VALOR AGREGADO. Aaaaand you can also check out all the stuff he's written on his own website. He has a new book: a sort of Economics For Dummies called MARGINAL. Ask him about it!

We're joined by the host of the podcast Channels, Peter Kafka, as we go back to 1982's Los Angeles, with Cameron Crowe and Amy Heckerling's teenage masterpiece starring Sean Penn, Jennifer Jason Leigh, and Phoebe Cates, Fast Times at Ridgemont High. We cover how The Pool Scene changed a generation, the first time Haitch got blue balls (after making out all night at a church lock in), why the Super Bowl sucked so hard, and just how sweet all those conservative tears taste right about now.Chapters Introduction (00:00:00) Hatch News (00:25:11) Fast Times at Ridgemont High Roundtable (00:34:28) Your Letters (01:16:39) Notes and Links Check out Escape Hatch Merch! Our all new collection of swag is available now and every order includes a free Cameo style shoutout from Haitch or Jason. Browse our collection now. Join the Escape Hatch Discord Server! Hang out with Haitch, Jason, and other friends of the pod. Check out the invite here. Escape Hatch is a TAPEDECK Podcasts Jawn! Escape Hatch is a member of TAPEDECK Podcasts, alongside: 70mm (a podcast for film lovers), Bat & Spider (low rent horror and exploitation films), The Letterboxd Show (Official Podcast from Letterboxd), Cinenauts (exploring the Criterion Collection), Lost Light (Transformers, wrestling, and more), and Will Run For (obsessed with running). Check these pods out!. See the movies we've watched and are going to watch on Letterboxd Escape Hatch's Breaking Dune News Twitter list Rate and review the podcast to help others discover it, and let us know what you think of the show at letters@escapehatchpod.com or leave us a voicemail at +1-415-534-5211. Follow @escapehatchpod on Bluesky,Instagram, and TikTok. Music by Scott Fritz and Who'z the Boss Music. Cover art by ctcher. Edited and produced by Haitch. Escape Hatch is a production of Haitch Industries.

Across his contributions to Film Comment and other publications, and his programming as the Curatorial Director of the Criterion Collection, Ashley Clark has established himself as one of the smartest, sharpest taste-makers in the film scene in New York and beyond—particularly through his championing of underseen films by people of color. So we were very excited by the announcement of his new book, The World of Black Film, which comes out this week. The beautifully designed volume is a historical survey of a hundred significant films made by Black filmmakers or centering Black life. It adopts a rigorously critical and curatorial approach, taking care to define what a “Black cinema” can mean, and assembling a series of titles, accompanied by deft appreciations, that capture its breadth, depth, and diversity.  Film Comment Editor Devika Girish invited Ashley on the Podcast to discuss his methods in researching and shortlisting films, titles that he discovered while writing the book, and what it meant for him to have legendary Black filmmaker Sir John Akomfrah write the book's introduction.

This is a wild one. We're joined by House of the Dragon S3 director Loni Peristere and the creator of John Wick, Derek Kolstad! We cover Lee Marvin's 1967 classic, Point Blank! Other topics include a S3 HotD update, that one time when Loni REINVENTED modern sci-fi visual effects with his revolutionary approach on Firefly (and then Battlestar Galactica!), and creating a legendary modern action hero.Chapters Introduction (00:00:00) Hatch News (00:18:00) Point Blank Roundtable (00:30:21) Your Letters (01:28:02) Notes and Links Check out Escape Hatch Merch! Our all new collection of swag is available now and every order includes a free Cameo style shoutout from Haitch or Jason. Browse our collection now. Join the Escape Hatch Discord Server! Hang out with Haitch, Jason, and other friends of the pod. Check out the invite here. Escape Hatch is a TAPEDECK Podcasts Jawn! Escape Hatch is a member of TAPEDECK Podcasts, alongside: 70mm (a podcast for film lovers), Bat & Spider (low rent horror and exploitation films), The Letterboxd Show (Official Podcast from Letterboxd), Cinenauts (exploring the Criterion Collection), Lost Light (Transformers, wrestling, and more), and Will Run For (obsessed with running). Check these pods out!. See the movies we've watched and are going to watch on Letterboxd Escape Hatch's Breaking Dune News Twitter list Rate and review the podcast to help others discover it, and let us know what you think of the show at letters@escapehatchpod.com or leave us a voicemail at +1-415-534-5211. Follow @escapehatchpod on Bluesky,Instagram, and TikTok. Music by Scott Fritz and Who'z the Boss Music. Cover art by ctcher. Edited and produced by Haitch. Escape Hatch is a production of Haitch Industries.

t's always a great time when we're joined by the co-host of the X-Ray Vision podcast, the incomparable Rosie Knight! We tackle David Fincher's 2002 taut thriller starring Jodie Foster, Forrest Whitaker, and Dwight Yoakim(?!), Panic Room. Other topics include how the Dems and ordinary citizens in Minnesota are effectively fighting back, and of course #hogtalk (on both Knight of the Seven Kingdoms and The Pitt)!Chapters Introduction (00:00:00) Hatch News (00:23:13) Panic Room Roundtable (00:41:17) Your Letters (01:38:17) Notes and Links Check out Escape Hatch Merch! Our all new collection of swag is available now and every order includes a free Cameo style shoutout from Haitch or Jason. Browse our collection now. Join the Escape Hatch Discord Server! Hang out with Haitch, Jason, and other friends of the pod. Check out the invite here. Escape Hatch is a TAPEDECK Podcasts Jawn! Escape Hatch is a member of TAPEDECK Podcasts, alongside: 70mm (a podcast for film lovers), Bat & Spider (low rent horror and exploitation films), The Letterboxd Show (Official Podcast from Letterboxd), Cinenauts (exploring the Criterion Collection), Lost Light (Transformers, wrestling, and more), and Will Run For (obsessed with running). Check these pods out!. See the movies we've watched and are going to watch on Letterboxd Escape Hatch's Breaking Dune News Twitter list Rate and review the podcast to help others discover it, and let us know what you think of the show at letters@escapehatchpod.com or leave us a voicemail at +1-415-534-5211. Follow @escapehatchpod on Bluesky,Instagram, and TikTok. Music by Scott Fritz and Who'z the Boss Music. Cover art by ctcher. Edited and produced by Haitch. Escape Hatch is a production of Haitch Industries.

Subscribe to Throwing Fits on Patreon. Sex bot don't know ball. This week, Larry is finally back after being stranded in Paris to hit the stu with James to talk German Timberlands and Japanese gaiters, trying to rebook your flight through a travel agent, losing your wallet in the back of a Parisian cab, another McDonald's international incident, getting humbled at the ssstein fitting, Jeff Bezos is now a fashion bro, waiting for the TikTok algorithm to reset, spending your Criterion Collection class action lawsuit money on OnlyFans, the incest drama on Vanderpump Rules has now set the bar for reality television, Traitors is as good as advertised, Sydney Sweeney's oddly named lingerie brand sold out, Mamdani popped out in custom Carhartt and the internet went crazy, NYC's snow hot tubs, building the perfect peptides stack, and much more.