Category Archives: Podcast
CCU15: Code Unknown & the Career of Michael Haneke
Aaron, Mark and Doug McCambridge from the Good Times, Great Movies podcast discuss this early work of Michael Haneke’s recently released on The Criterion Collection. We discuss the famous tracking shot, the way he explores culture, and of course the incomparable Juliette Binoche. We also discuss Haneke’s body of work, exploring how he works as a filmmaker, what he is trying to say, and why he is so often provocative. #ParisIsAboutLife
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Show notes:
Outline:
0:00 – Intro, Housekeeping
20:00 – News
38:40 – Code Unknown
1:22:50 – Michael Haneke
Intro
News
Ryan Gallagher’s tweet about The Manchurian Candidate
Dont Look Back packaging from Criterion Forum
The Rainer Werner Fassbinder Collection from Arrow
Code Unknown
Where to Find Us:
Mark Hurne: Twitter | Blog | Letterboxd
Aaron West: Twitter | Blog | Letterboxd
Criterion Close-Up: Facebook | Twitter | Email
Short Cuts 3: Night and the City, 1950, Jules Dassin
Aaron and Dave Eves kick off Noirvember with a discussion about Jules Dassin’s last Hollywood film before being blacklisted and out of work. We talk about the fascinating characters of Harry, Gregorius, and many of the other supporting actors. We also discuss the actual blacklisting experience and how that materialized on the screen.
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Show notes:
Special guest:
Night & the City
Dave’s Essay on Unlikeable characters and Night and the City.
Where to Find Us:
Mark Hurne: Twitter | Blog | Letterboxd
Aaron West: Twitter | Blog | Letterboxd
Criterion Close-Up: Facebook | Twitter | Email
CCU14: Blind Chance (1981) & Mulholland Drive Aftermath
Aaron and Mark first talk about the aftermath of a monumentally popular Mulholland Drive episode, which may or may not have had a guest. We also have an extended intro and news section before delving into Krzysztof Kieślowski’s 1981 (or 1987) Blind Chance. It is a product of a volatile political time, very much a product and statement about that time, while also being an important work in the career of a respected international auteur.
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Show notes:
Outline:
0:00 – Intro, Mulholland Drive Aftermath, Housekeeping
25:00 – News
45:40 – Blind Chance
Intro
Criterion Blogathon – Schedule
News
Julien Duvivier in the Thirties
Blind Chance
Where to Find Us:
Mark Hurne: Twitter | Blog | Letterboxd
Aaron West: Twitter | Blog | Letterboxd
Criterion Close-Up: Facebook | Twitter | Email
CCU13: Mulholland Drive (2001) & Unraveling the Mystery
Aaron and Mark talk about David Lynch’s recent Criterion Collection release of Mulholland Drive. We talk about the nature of the production, from pilot to feature, the randomness, the allure of Naomi Watts, and why the film is so popular. We then turn the blue key and try to make sense of some of the reasonable and wild theories out there. Do we solve this possible? Maybe, maybe not, but we at least make some sense out of it.
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Or direct download/listen to the MP3.
Show notes:
Outline:
0:00 – Intro, Housekeeping
3:40 – News
12:25 – Mulholland Drive
46:00 – Unraveling the Mystery
News
Only Angels Have Wings – likely coming to Criterion.
“Most if not all of the Almodovar catalog is coming to Criterion.”
Hou Hsiao Hsien on Criterion Current.
Mulholland Drive
Unraveling the Mystery
Everything you were afraid to ask about Mulholland Drive
Film Crit Hulk on Mulholland Drive
What’s Real About Mulholland Drive?
Memory, Identity and Desire: A Psychoanalytic Reading of David Lynch’s Mulholland Drive – Psychological abstract
The Perils of Fantasy: Memory and Desire in David Lynch’s Mulholland Drive
Where to Find Us:
Mark Hurne: Twitter | Blog | Letterboxd
Aaron West: Twitter | Blog | Letterboxd
Criterion Close-Up: Facebook | Twitter | Email
CCU12: The Brood (1979) & Early David Cronenberg
Aaron, Mark and Brian Saur talk about David Croneberg’s recent Criterion Collection release of The Brood. We talk about the intense acting, the pseudo-science that goes into the film, and we delve into spoiler territory. Don’t worry — we give plenty of warning. We also talk about the early body horror of Cronenberg and how he integrated science and sexuality into his films, which would continue throughout his career.
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Show notes:
Special Guest: Brian Saur from Rupert Pupkin Speaks and Criterion Cast’s Off the Shelf. You can find him on Twitter.
Outline:
0:00 – Intro, Welcome, Housekeeping
10:20 – News
22:00 – The Brood
45:45 – Spoiler section
52:15 – Ratings. Spoilers over.
1:02:40 – Early Cronenberg
Intro
Criterion Blogathon – Schedule Coming Soon
Weekend – second Criterion Short Cuts episode.
News
Is this coming to Costco?
Wenders Looking Back – confirms these titles are coming to the collection.
Ron Benson, founder of Eureka passes away.
The Brood
The incomparable Oliver Reed:
Early Cronenberg
Where to Find Us:
Mark Hurne: Twitter | Letterboxd
Aaron West: Twitter | Blog | Letterboxd
Criterion Close-Up: Facebook | Twitter | Email
Short Cuts 2: Weekend, 1967, Jean-Luc Godard
Aaron West does another solo cast looking at one of the later Godard works, as well as one of the most inflammatory, and one of the strangest. That’s saying something for Godard. He talks about the tracking shot, the political message, the references to film, and whether Godard was serious or just toying with the audience.
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Or direct download/listen to the MP3.
Weekend
Where to Find Us:
Mark Hurne: Twitter | Letterboxd
Aaron West: Twitter | Blog | Letterboxd
Criterion Close-Up: Facebook | Twitter | Email
Episode 11: January 2016 Releases and the Classic Film Blogosphere
Aaron, Mark and Kristina Dijan talk about the just announced January 2016 Criterion Collection releases. We also delve into the film blogosphere. There is a huge blogging community that spans across multiple platforms, social or technological, and Kristina is at the heart of that community.
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Or direct download/listen to the MP3.
Show notes:
Special Guest: Kristina Dijan from Speakeasy. You can find her on Twitter.
Outline:
0:00 – Intro, Welcome, Housekeeping
17:25 – News
27:30 – January 2016 Releases
52:15 – The Film Blogosphere
Intro
Criterion Blogathon – Deadline for submissions this Friday, 10/23.
Alambrista – first Criterion Short Cuts episode.
InSession Film: 99 Homes, The Third Man
New header image at Criterion Blues. Thanks, Aaron Bird.
Jean Grémillon During the Occupation – giveaway. Listen for details.
News
Criterion Current: Guy Maddin and Evan Johnson – The Graduate mention.
Cohen Media Acquires Merchant-Ivory.
Nerdist – More on new Wes Anderson project.
January 2016 Releases
The Complete Lady Snowblood
Bitter Rice
The American Friend
Inside Llewyn Davis
Gilda
The Film Blogosphere
Movie Musings and Podcastings – Mark’s new blog.
Reader Programs: WordPress, Feedly, Reeder
Classic Movie Hub’s Blogathon page.
Blogathon Info:
My The Blob contribution to the Great Villain ‘thon.
Classic Movie History Blogathon
Last year’s O Canada Blogathon.
Veteran Bloggers:
Classic Film & TV Cafe
Shroud of Thoughts
Greenbriar Picture Shows
Laura’s Misc Musings
Self-styled Siren
The Stop Button
Blogs Mentioned:
Mike’s Take on Movies
Blonde at the Film
Movies Silently
Now Voyaging
House of Self Indulgence
Wonders in the Dark
Interested in Sophisticated Fun
Criterion Reflections
Rupert Pupkin Speaks
Pre-Code.com
Outspoken and Freckled
Aurora’s Gin Joint
Cinematically Insane
Blogger Groups:
Classic Movie Blog Association – eBook here and here.
Classic Movie Hub
Where to Find Us:
Mark Hurne: Twitter | Letterboxd
Aaron West: Twitter | Blog | Letterboxd
Criterion Close-Up: Facebook | Twitter | Email
Short Cuts Episode 1: Alambrista!
Aaron West starts out this new, shorter series with a solo cast about The Criterion Collection’s release of Robert M. Young’s Alambrista. In this short episode, he explores the low budget “guerrilla” filmmaking, the neo-realism, nature of the immigrant, and evaluates the film and Criterion release.
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Crossing the border.
Family in Mexico.
“American” lessons.
Joe and Roberto, above the law.
Roberto hearing the preacher.
Roberto
Roberto at waitress’ house.
Roberto at sunset
Where to Find Us:
Mark Hurne: Twitter | Letterboxd
Aaron West: Twitter | Blog | Letterboxd
Criterion Close-Up: Facebook | Twitter | Email
Introducing Criterion Short Cuts
Why have one podcast when you can have two? We are announcing a second cast, Criterion Short Cuts. Okay, in reality it is still the same cast and will be on the same feed as Criterion Close-Up, which you can subscribe to at the links below. We will have a different numbering system, and these will be Short Cuts, literally. We will still watch the films, take notes, flesh out the themes and deconstruct the content, while also evaluating it as a piece of art and a Criterion release. The only difference with Short Cuts is we expect to do this within 20-30 minutes, focusing on one film at a time without a sub-topic. As we’ve found with our main cast, we will inevitably get caught up in a good conversation and go longer on occasion, but we will do our best to be concise.
Eventually we may have a separate page for Short Cuts, but for now we’ll list them over at the Podcast page, one-by-one as we record them.
Conveniently, (or maybe inconveniently) we had our first major technical glitch with the House & The Shining episode. I feel the episode still stands on its own, and I really appreciate Keith Silva and the conversation about The Shining. This new series might be a good excuse to have a “do over.” We’re going to try to lure Keith back with beer and other delights, and hopefully we can recapture that lightning. Short Cuts is a way to do that.
We will have guests. The constant will be me, Aaron, although occasionally Mark will join when he can. I already have guests lined up for other episodes. Fortunately our cast has had no shortage of people wanting to guest. There will be situations where I’ll have a title lined up and nobody is prepared, and on that occasion I will be prepared to go forward with a solo cast. That will be weird, but I think it is possible. I’m planning to do so for Alambrista!, which may or may not be the first episode.
We also are planning on doing Night and the City, A Master Builder, Videodrome, Monterey Pop maybe Godard’s Weekend, and plenty of other titles. For those who follow this blog and see my yearly lists, you may have noticed that I like to prepare for those lists by watching the respective Criterion releases. That will guide some of this project, as will trying to keep caught up on new releases. It also gives us flexibility to do an easy cast without having to do a big main episode.
More content is better, right? I am enthused about this new sub-project and I think it will be a worthy supplement to our main cast, which I feel is still improving as we go — provided we can keep the Gremlins away.
CCU 10: House/Hausu (1977) & The Shining
Aaron, Mark and Keith Silva talk about the Japanese cult, off-the-wall horror film House. This is a film that has to be seen and can hardly be described. We follow it up with a discussion of Stanley Kubrick’s The Shining, which we feel is the benchmark when it comes to haunted house films. Unfortunately we had some technical issues and lost a good bit of the House segment, but plan to re-record soon.
Or listen here to it here:
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Or direct download/listen to the MP3.
Show notes:
Special Guest: Keith Silva from Interested in Sophisticated Fun and Psycho Drive-In. You can find him on Twitter.
Outline:
0:00 – Message from Aaron about Technical Difficulties
1:40 – Intro, Welcome to Keith
15:00 – Housekeeping, Show Announcements including new splinter show.
19:20 – News
35:05 – House (abbreviated, tech issues)
44:35 – The Shining
Intro
Shout out to Criterion Confessions.
Thanks to David for Moonrise Kingdom episode!
Tweet about Wes Anderson’s new project from Peter Putzel.
Housekeeping
Updated Facebook Page. Please like it!
New Mini-Episodes coming soon. Criterion Short Cuts!
News
Chantal Akerman Tributes:
Flixwise Episode about Jeanne Dielman.
Whit Stillman tweet about Barcelona.
Costco:
No more replacement title cases on the Criterion site.
House
Full Hausu courtesy of Criterion
The Shining
Where to Find Us:
Mark Hurne: Twitter | Letterboxd
Aaron West: Twitter | Blog | Letterboxd
Criterion Close-Up: Facebook | Twitter | Email
Criterion Close-Up 