Afleveringen
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This week, the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences announced some new rule changes regarding eligibility and voting for the Oscars.
The main change? Oscar voters are, as of this season, REQUIRED to watch all nominees in each category they vote in. Why this wasn't a rule beforehand is beyond me, but y'know, if the best time to throw water at a burning house is at the start, the second best time is now.
Along with this is some language regarding generative AI, new submission deadlines, updates to the voting process for the Animated Short Film and Cinematography categories, and the rule reveal for how the new category for Best Casting will be decided.
I was fully ready to let this Oscars news be the full episode, but Thierry Fremaux and his band of merry folx had different plans. Part deux of the 2025 Cannes Film Festival lineup dropped yesterday, adding 16 films to the official selection, including Kristen Stewart's directorial debut THE CHRONOLOGY OF WATER and Lynne Ramsay's DIE MY LOVE (which will be featured In Competition).
How can I pass up an opportunity to talk about even more potentially kickass movies? Do you SEE the name of this podcast?---
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Zijn er afleveringen die ontbreken?
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This week, the Cannes Film Festival announced its lineup for their 78th edition. Taking place in the beachside town of Cannes, France from May 13-24, the festival opens up the movie lover's summer to the widest swath of exceptional global cinema, blockbuster premieres and the first glimpses of next year's Oscars contenders.
This episode sees me fumbling through pronunciations to share the movies announced and highlight the ones that look most rad (Ari Aster! Spike Lee! Julia Ducournau!). Pop a squat and let's look forward to the summer movie season!
For more information on the festival, click here!---
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Just because ANORA wears the Oscars' Best Picture crown doesn't mean the movies nominated turn to dust. In fact, as the Best Picture nominees slowly trickle out to home video, discussing them feels more pertinent. A movie's lifespan isn't limited to the awards calendar, especially when it comes to WICKED.
Jon M. Chu's fantasy musical, based on the Broadway show, vacuumed up the world's cash to the tune of nearly $750 million, a testament to the musical's 20+ year success. This thing's been around long enough on its own to discuss it in generational terms.
But WICKED owes it all to THE WIZARD OF OZ, being a prequel exploring the college years of Elphaba (Cynthia Erivo) and Galinda (Ariana Grande), who will be known later in life as the Wicked Witch and Good Witch, respectively.
Grande's lovably bubbly narcissism makes me laugh. Even the camera can't stop following her hair flips and flighty trots across the sets. Erivo seems incapable of playing a false note. They carry years worth of pain behind a restrictive, poised demeanor, presenting confidence as a defense tower.
Our technicolor understanding of the land of Oz is muted by a change in perspective. We're not from Kansas anymore, Toto. Director of photography and frequent Chu collaborator Alice Brooks gives Oz a more tactile, European feel, at times flooding the background with natural light that gives the sets a lived-in presence. This isn't a Marvel Studios CGI nightmare (for the most part).
But this idea of a realistic Oz, marked by more serious ventures into ANIMAL FARM-esque allegories for fascist subjugations within a caste system, doesn't always gel with the magic or whimsy WIZARD OF OZ is known for. It feels as though each creative grabbed their own idea of what WICKED should be and stretched it in said direction. The result is something that doesn't coalesce but I'll be damned if I say I didn't have fun with it.
Though I'm still stunned Chu got a Critics' Choice Award for Best Director. Go home; y'all are drunk.
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THE LUCKIEST MAN IN AMERICA stars Paul Walter Hauser as Michael Larson, an ice cream truck driver who travels from Ohio to California with hopes of contesting for the Big Bucks on PRESS YOUR LUCK.
What follows is a lucky streak that'll put Larson in the history books...that is, if the game show execs don't discover his secret and pull the plug.
Director/co-writer Samir Oliveros has crafted a story for the outsiders, the people uncomfortable walking the tried-and-true paved paths to success. Michael's an anxious guy; he's got everything on the line and a history of increasingly risky methods of making it work. From the lighting to the sound design to Hauser's performance, the movie delves into Michael's interior, turning game show glitz against him, putting me in the perspective of a guy who sees his window of fame and quick cash shrinking by the second. The beast of a game board hums and growls, ready at any second to snap its jaws and send Michael back north. But much like an avid lion tamer, Michael's got some tricks up his sleeve and for once, the wild card has a foolproof plan, steeped in his authenticity. It makes for a brilliant character arc and gives THE LUCKIEST MAN IN AMERICA its tender, beating heart.
THE LUCKIEST MAN IN AMERICA is now available to watch at a theater near you. And when you return home, go catch Samir Oliveros' debut BAD LUCKY GOAT for free on Tubi. It's a goddamn gem.
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Samir Oliveros directs THE LUCKIEST MAN IN AMERICA, a comedy starring Paul Walter Hauser as a man who, in 1984, takes game show execs and a studio audience for the thrill of a lifetime as he aims to pocket the most money ever won on PRESS YOUR LUCK. The execs say he must be cheating. The audience cheers him on, a bumbling working-class zero given the opportunity of a lifetime.
I interviewed Oliveros about this kind of person, someone who doesn't wish to walk the safe, paved paths to success, instead carving out their own swath of the jungle. Where do the spirits of a guy chasing a game show streak and a Colombian filmmaker pursuing storytelling as a living with - limited - resources intersect? Let's find out.
THE LUCKIEST MAN IN AMERICA is available to watch on the big screen in a theater near you. Do your own spirit some good and give it a watch.
After you've returned, pop on Oliveros' debut, the quirky microbudget comedy BAD LUCKY GOAT, on Tubi. It's about a brother and sister who strike a goat with their dad's truck and have to scrounge up the money for the repair before he finds out. It plays a great balance of chilled-out island life against the desperation of someone who's seemingly going for broke to tell this story as if they'll never get another shot. Lots of playful camerawork, vibrant colors, and a bickering lead duo for the books. ---
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I missed Leigh Whannell's newest film, WOLF MAN, in theaters. Bit of a bummer since he's a director who's earned my highest personal honor of earning my view purely off of goodwill - no trailer, no social media post needed.
So what was I to do? Nothing, but that's where Universal Pictures stepped in and (thankfully) sent me a review copy of the WOLF MAN Blu-ray (Seriously, y'all. Thank you.)
WOLF MAN changes quite a bit from the original source material. The werewolf transformation develops not as a curse but rather, a disease, an infection. Instead of a fur-covered beast with extended snout, David Cronenberg's THE FLY inspires a look that stems from the idea of two separate genomes warring within the same body. It's more akin to the creatures in Alex Garland's ANNIHILATION.
But where WOLF MAN differs the most is in its family story. Christopher Abbott plays Blake, husband to Charlotte (the seriously-needs-a-goddamned-Oscar-as-of-like-yesterday Julia Garner) and father to Ginger - nickname Snaps? - (Matilda Firth). After his father's death, Blake inherits the remote Oregon farm in which he spent his childhood (complicated at best, emotionally abusive at worst).
Upon arrival, Blake and family are attacked by a mysterious creature. Blake sustains a scratch wound and if you've seen a werewolf movie, you know that in here lies the inevitable. It's just a matter of time.
But the real tragedy of WOLF MAN doesn't just lie in the creature of it, but rather the character. Blake desperately tries to be a kinder, less angry father and husband than the example he experienced. But old environments bring that nature-nurture battle back to a head. Some wounds may simply be too deep to overcome.
This movie may be paced a little wonky and some of the ideas are executed a little too silly for its own good, but goddamn, did this hit hard for this father of a 4 and 1.5 year old.
On the director's commentary, Whannell talks about the need to follow one's own barometer for success. If you laugh or cry or fear your own material, it'll translate. And I'm so happy to report Whannell, for me, at least, is 3 for 3.
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Today on IN FOUR FILMS, we ask Tara Giancaspro: "Using only four films, who ARE you?" She's a New Jersey-based writer, poet, songsmith, pop culture muser, frequent podcaster, actress, production assistant, music video extra and doting mother to two cats, Simone & Lugosi. To call her a multi-hyphenate just feels like I'm underselling it.
Tara's four movies:
SLEEPING WITH OTHER PEOPLE (2015) dir. Leslye Headland
NETWORK (1976) dir. Sidney Lumet
ALL THAT JAZZ (1979) dir. Bob Fosse
BACK TO THE FUTURE (1985) dir. Robert Zemeckis
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Follow Tara on Twitter/Instagram: @sweatylamarr
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Ami Canaan Mann directs AUDREY'S CHILDREN, the story of Dr. Audrey Evans (Natalie Dormer), an oncologist whose staging system revolutionized the way we treat childhood cancers. Before the '70s, the pediatric neuroblastoma survival rate was 10%. After implementing her work, the survival rate is now over 80%.
I interview Canaan Mann about meeting Dr. Evans, her collaborations with Dormer & director of photography Jon Keng and the time spent on Robert Redford's set that helped shaped her path to become a director.
AUDREY'S CHILDREN premieres in theaters on March 28. Showtimes can be found here: https://www.audreyschildren.com/theaters---
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AUDREY'S CHILDREN stars Natalie Dormer as Dr. Audrey Evans, the oncologist whose staging system revolutionized how childhood cancers are treated. Before her work in the '70s, these cancers were handled with a sort of one-size-fits-all approach. The result of Evans' research was a categorization of cases, impacted by age, tumor location, length of time diagnosed with the disease and more. She advocated for more aggressive chemotherapy regiments, sometimes utilizing a combo of drugs. This wasn't a popular idea at the time, but given that era's survival rate for pediatric neuroblastoma patients was merely 10%, I think said situation couldn't hurt from tougher solutions. Nowadays, the survival rate's jumped up to over 80%.
Evans' work didn't just stop in the clinic; she recognized that a child's success with treatment depended on their family's ability to sustain the burden. If they couldn't afford the treatment or the housing required to be close to their kid, families would be forced to cut the help short. Unacceptable. As a result, Dr. Evans partnered with the Philadelphia Eagles football team and McDonald's to open the first Ronald McDonald Charity House.
Dr. Evans was indefatigable, which makes Dormer's portrayal that much more impressive. She's in almost every scene, carrying her gait with poise and purpose despite whatever setbacks. It's even a pain getting records with which to build a case study. Never mind trying to nab funding. Never mind having to look at nerve-shredded families in the eyes and update them on the state of their dying kids.
But the upside is that the lighting seems to be on Audrey's side. Canaan Mann and director of photography Jon Keng frame their characters against large, backlit windows, which suggest that, even in a dour-looking hospital, the sun and beauty of nature are desperate to break through, giving these kids hope. I mean, it can't ALL be up to Audrey, her full-faced smile and baby blue heels, right?
AUDREY'S CHILDREN premieres in theaters on March 28. Find showtimes here: https://www.audreyschildren.com/theaters---
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I interview HOOD WITCH writer/director Said Belktibia about his new thriller, which sees Golshifteh Farahani play the target of a literal witch hunt through urban France. She makes a living selling mystical products and alternative healing remedies and after one of her clients dies by suicide, is accused and then chased by the mob. Now, she, along with her teenage son, need to escape the city before it's too late.
Belktibia and I spoke, with the help of a translator, about our increasingly global society, the responsibility required of each individual to examine and critique the messages received in modern media, Farahani's brilliance as an actress and human, and much, much more.
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HOOD WITCH stars Golshifteh Farahani as Nour, a single mom living in urban France who makes her living selling supplies for alternative healing, witchcraft, spells, you name it. She sees herself akin to the ones who sold shovels during the Gold Rush. If people want to believe, she'll happily oblige them.
However, after one of her clients dies by suicide, she's accused of murder by the client's father. Suddenly, Nour, along with her teen son, is the target of a literal witch hunt, fueled by the instant transmission of social media and the viral nature of mob mentality and conviction.
Said Belktibia, HOOD WITCH's writer/director, crafts a story in constant conflict, both physical and ideological. Does Nour actually have powers? Can illnesses be cured via spiritual means? What constitutes an individual's responsibility for critically thinking through the messages and calls to action bombarded their way on an instant, increasingly global basis?
These questions persist throughout the film, kept thrilling and moving by Farahani's ferocious performance and Belktibia's pulse-pounding sensibilities.
HOOD WITCH is now available to watch in select theaters and VOD. ---
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THERE'S STILL TOMORROW eclipsed BARBIE at the Italian box office, earned six
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In Abby Brenker and Ellyn Vander Wyden's VOICES CARRY, which premiered last Saturday, March 15 at the 2025 Cinequest Film Festival in San Jose, California, a woman (Gia Crovatin) returns to her lakefront childhood home, confronting the difficult memories of her mother's untimely death.
Discovering an old diary in the shed, she's shocked to discover that not only did her mother write in it shortly before her death, but also did a slew of women, spanning back to the 1700s. What starts as historical intrigue devolves into potentially supernatural obsession as the history of trauma and secrets within the diary's pages leave her swearing she can hear the voices of these women calling to her from across the lake.
VOICES CARRY is, at times, too tepidly paced for its own good. Are these voices real? Are they hallucinations of a stressed mind? This tightrope requires a delicate balance to get right but the movie almost goes too delicate, leaving the mystery up to expository dumps and a flurry of beautifully shot scenes that leave me cold.
Don't get me wrong. I love Mauricio Vasquez's cinematography, mainly its voyeuristic approach and techniques that help translate the protagonist's state of mind. This lakefront property looks like a travel ad at times, it's so pristine.
I think with this movie, the mileage may vary depending on where expectations lie. For those interested in how woman's mental health difficulties are misdiagnosed throughout history - witchcraft, hysteria, possession, etc. - this story may provide a valuable perspective. I just wish the movie also provided a propulsive quality.
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In 1990, millions of dollars worth of art was robbed from Boston's Isabella Stewart Gardner museum. The crime remains unsolved but provides a backdrop for ANY DAY NOW to explore a story of an insecure 20-something to learn the value of self-respect and the confidence that comes with exercising such respect.
Steve (Taylor Gray) is the 20-something in question and he, by all metrics, should be cool. He's good-looking with a healthy beard. He's a guitarist for a band who's earned major-label interest. He works as a night shift guard for the museum, getting paid to absorb the work of hundreds of artists every night, all to himself. No one's robbing museums like gas stations; it's a quiet gig.
But Steve's Achilles heel is that he's simply a doormat. He pines for his roommate/bandmate's girlfriend. Said roommate is months behind on rent and Steve's lack of spine makes this guy comfortable with blowing off any conversation about it. Steve's boss punks him for swiping a candy bar from the vending machine (which in most cases, is owned by an independent entity and therefore, out of this guy's jurisdiction, so fuck off, copper).
But it's when art thief Marty Lyons (Paul Guilfoyle) approaches Steve in a bar with a proposition to cut him in on the profits of a robbery if he'll look the other way that Steve's prospects start to change. Marty does what he wants, with no qualms or boss to answer to. He loves art, music, a good time. He's lived three lifetimes' worth and ends up taking Steve on as a mentee. I mean, sure, he's a guy who robs museums and sells the art on the market, but is that really worse than living an entire life as an unsatisfied guy without the courage to spend his remaining days on this floating rock in pursuit of what he values and desires? Life's too short to waste it for other people.
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I interview Paul Guilfoyle, star of the new coming-of-age-meets-heist-film ANY DAY NOW about his relationship to Boston as one of its sons, the Dropkick Murphys, classism, the eternal struggle of discovering (or uncovering) one's authentic self & the delicate balance of being both vulnerable and tough on screen.
In ANY DAY NOW, Guilfoyle plays art thief Marty Lyons. In his plan to rob Boston's Isabella Stewart Gardner museum (which is based off of a real though unsolved 1990 robbery), he marks 20-something night watchman Steve (Taylor Gray) as his potential inside man. What starts as strategy evolves into a mentor relationship as Marty's bold pursuits for what he desires allows Steve to build the confidence needed to abandon his identity as a professional doormat.
Guilfoyle brings the comedy, intensity and wisdom to ANY DAY NOW, making for an equally entertaining and thoughtful character study masked in heist film tropes.
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To describe Lior Geller's THE WORLD WILL TREMBLE as a rough watch seems an understatement.
This tells the story of two Jewish prisoners, played by Oliver Jackson-Cohen & Jeremy Neumark Jones, who escape a Polish Nazi death camp and end up providing the world's first eyewitness account of the Holocaust.
And god, what an account. This movie's less than two hours and for half of it, we're in the camp with these men, watching every indecency stack on top of each other. Humiliation, torture, extortion, you name it. Prisoners are forced to bear witness to the extermination of fellow Jews, walking in forced silence, listening to the shrieks of men, women and children rattle their skulls (and by proxy, us at home) like a hurricane howling against windows. They bury their brethren in mass graves, shoveling lime on top of the bodies to hide the stench.
This isn't spearheaded by the Nazis of Auschwitz or Dachau. This precedes the Final Solution. Watching these monsters fumble their way through genocide exposes the severity of their cruelty. They don't know how to efficiently kill, but by Satan's hand, they're determined.
And it's against this backdrop that these two escapees sprint and swim and drive their way to the closest town to get this message out to a local rabbi. Less than 30 minutes away from civilization, unspeakable atrocities are being committed; this might as well be taking place on a separate planet, the whiplash is so fierce.
Geller's movie serves as a devastatingly beautiful warning to the rest of us, living in times of ICE raids and political disappearances. If left unchecked, this can and will be us. Act accordingly.
THE WORLD WILL TREMBLE premieres in select theaters nationwide (including the Angelika in Dallas) on March 14.
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On this episode, director Lior Geller and actor Jeremy Neumark Jones join me to discuss their new film, THE WORLD WILL TREMBLE. Based on a true story, the film centers on two men, played by Jones and Oliver Jackson-Cohen, who escape a Polish Nazi death camp, delivering the world's first eyewitness account of the Holocaust.
This movie's a devastating, beautiful work, revitalizing the importance of defying tyranny and the need to, at the very fucking least, call it out for its abhorrence. In a time where Mahmoud Khalil is arrested for leading protests and the government tears parents from their wailing children for the crime of...not undergoing the designated process to enter and live in this country, stories like this ring clearer than ever: a warning to all that a cage is never built for just one use. There are no sides in genocide.
We discuss the weight telling this story left on the cast and crew, the meaning behind the movie's title, an actor's need to maintain a full emotional tank and much more.
THE WORLD WILL TREMBLE releases in select U.S. theaters (including Angelika Dallas, hell yes) on March 14th.
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EMILIA PEREZ, Jacques Audiard's audacious trilingual crime musical, is our next stop on the Best Picture Showcase! The most critically divisive of the nominees tells the story of a Mexican drug kingpin (Karla Sofia Gascon) who enlists a junior lawyer (Zoe Saldana) to help her transition into living life as a woman via securing gender-affirming surgery, faking her death, moving her wife (Selena Gomez) and kids to Switzerland. It's...a lot.
And it's weirdly not a spoiler to say this is only the first 40 or so minutes of the movie? This plan goes off without too many hitches. It's what follows when the kingpin, living now as the titular character, decides she can no longer live without her kids and needs them back in Mexico that leads to the film's culminating chaos.
This is a movie of bold choices, wild lighting and camera operation, larger-than-life performances that play like a neon-soaked Mexican telenovela. It doesn't always work, sometimes to derisive hilarity, but sue me, it makes me smile.
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