Back in 2020, J. McVay and Joe Virgillito did a regular series of discussions on the previous incarnation of this podcast, leading up to that year’s election between Joe Biden and Donald Trump. Now that the looming specter of a depressing rematch between those two is behind us, they’re now embarking on hopefully the first of a new series of chats leading up to this November’s election. So, here;s the state of the race so far: 1) Joe Biden did terribly in his June debate with Donald Trump; 2) Trump was shot at a rally; 3) JD Vance was announced as Trump’s running mate; 4) The Republican National Convention happened; 5) Democrats managed to convince Biden to drop out of the race and Vice President Harris immediately became the heir to the nomination; 6) Tim Walz was picked to be Harris’ running mate. With all of that as table setting, along with the looming possibilities of Project 2025 if Trump is elected, and the “uncommitted” movement showing Biden’s weakness in Democratic primaries earlier in the year, Joe and J tackle the following questions… How surprising was Vice President Harris’ quick ascension as Biden dropped out of the race, and how does she seem as a candidate now as compared to 2020? Where does JD Vance fall on the Palin Scale – is he more or less of a drag on the Trump ticket than Palin was for McCain in 2008? How does Tim Walz stack up as a running mate for Harris as compared to Pennsylvania Governor Josh Shaprio and Arizona Senator Mark Kelly? With Democrats adopting the messaging that the GOP is “weird,” and the Harris/Walz team seemingly presenting themselves as something like a “return to normalcy,” what are their prospects as they head into a Democratic National Convention where they’re probably going to be largely selling the idea of “Normcore 2024?”===Episode Credits:Producer/Host - J. McVayGuests - Joe VirgillitoMusic - Hansdale HsuProduced by Stereoactive Media

J. McVay reviews George Miller’s 'Furiosa: A Mad Max Saga,' distributed by Warner Bros. Pictures.Since its release in 2015, Mad Max: Fury Road has moved close to the top of many, if not most, lists of the greatest action films ever made. So, it was never going to be an easy feat to create a film that could be viewed as a worthy follow up to such an accomplishment.Of course, throughout his career, director George Miller has proven that he is anything but averse to challenges. After all, it took him two or three decades to finally get Fury Road made, depending on which point in the early gestation of the project you start counting from. So, at least as far as time is concerned, bringing Furiosa: A Mad Max Saga to screens less than a decade after the previous film could be viewed as a sign the process was at least a bit smoother this go-round.That said, reports on the production of Fury Road make it pretty clear that it would be hard to outdo the difficulty of that past endeavor. Again, though, Miller is anything but averse to challenges and in Furiosa, against the odds, he has managed to create a work that rivals his masterpiece.In terms of story and theme, Furiosa vastly deepens Fury Road. Part of the way it does this is that it takes a sort of incidental, yet incredibly important, element of previous entries in the franchise and moves it more front and center, thematically, than it's ever been before. As much as Furiosa is about the backstory of its title character, previously played by Charlize Theron – played here by Anya Taylor Joy and Alyla Browne – it’s also about the importance of storytelling itself.With that in mind, it makes a certain sense that, unlike other Mad Max films, this one features delineated chapters with titles telegraphing what’s to come and imbuing the internal plotting and characters with a sense of thoughtful importance. The key to this meta-element of the film’s storytelling about storytelling is a climactic scene between Furiosa and her antagonist, Dementus, played expertly against type by Chris Hemsworth.“Do you have it in you to make it epic?” he goads her.And perhaps this is an oblique comparison, but it immediately made me think of the scene in Steven Spielberg’s The Fablemans when that film’s protagonist got this sage advice from one of his filmmaking heroes, John Ford, about how to frame a shot:“When the horizon’s at the bottom, it’s interesting. When the horizon’s at the top, it’s interesting. When the horizon’s in the middle, it’s boring as shit.”The point of both, within the context of their respective films, is that approaching something straight on may get the job done, but it’s often not the most fulfilling way to go. In the world of Mad Max, especially as envisioned in Furiosa and Fury Road, self-mythology is a means of survival. For the big bads of this post-apocalyptic world, self-mythology helps them to maintain power by giving their underlings something to strive toward and buy into. For the tentative heroes, though, it offers some small yet crucial avenue toward freedom. If, as the so-called History Man tells Furiosa early on in the movie, making yourself invaluable to those you are forced to serve is important for self-preservation, the message she receives from Dementus about making it “epic” is her key to becoming invaluable. It’s her way of tapping into the power of self-mythology that her vicious boss, Immortan Joe has fostered. If she can build herself into an epic figure, so good at her given job that she must be relied on regardless of how much incidental trouble she may carry with her, then she can survive her current low status long enough to find a way toward her inevitable goals, as depicted in Fury Road.But the History Man is not only a giver of sage advice; he is also the narrator of the story we’re seeing on screen. In this way, we the audience are made a part of the film, essentially cast as silent listeners taking in his tale from some future time. This is not the first time the franchise has used this trope, but it’s arguably the most self-reflexive and effective.Ultimately, what we’re left with is perhaps the most thematically, emotionally, and dramatically complicated Mad Max film of all. This is not to say it either is or isn’t better than Fury Road. But just as that film’s standing and reputation only grew over time, almost certainly, the same will happen for Furiosa – even if it, disappointingly, hasn’t found its full audience yet, as unfortunately evidenced by its relative box office revenue so far.===Episode Credits:Producer/Host - J. McVayMusic - Hansdale HsuProduced by Stereoactive Media https://www.stereoactivemedia.com/===Watch on YouTube: https://youtu.be/hF0CffGCWqY

J. McVay reviews Dev Patel's debut as a director, 'Monkey Man,' distributed by Universal Pictures.The backstory of Dev Patel’s directorial debut, Monkey Man, is nearly as compelling as the film itself. The film was first announced back in 2018 and was set to begin production in early 2020, though it had to be postponed once the COVID-19 pandemic shut the world down.By March of the following year, filming was complete and Netflix acquired it. But the subject matter apparently made them squeamish and they nearly canceled its release. Eventually, though, Jordan Peele saw the film and convinced Universal Pictures to buy it and give it a theatrical run.For that, we’re lucky.It’s an impressive looking film that plays great on a big screen. The action, along with the film’s production design, cinematography, and editing make for a truly visceral experience that becomes overwhelming in a theater, in the best way.Patel has been a welcome big screen presence since his debut in Danny Boyle’s Slumdog Millionare back in 2008 – even in films that never quite lived up to his own appeal and talent as an actor. And Monkey Man proves that, if he likes, he can create his own path now that he’s a distinguished and capable multi-hyphenate: a writer-director-producer-star. But he’s more than just capable. The story he’s crafted with his co-screenwriters is a solid revenge tale that touches on the corruption often inherent at the intersection of religion, politics, and industry. Overall, they’re smart to let those elements live around the margins and bleed into the main thrust of the plot just enough to elevate the stakes and offer a sense of higher purpose to Patel’s central character. That said, the villains he’s after are drawn a bit too faintly, leaving the climactic moments feeling just a bit underwhelming. But the previously mentioned viscerality of the filmmaking does a surprisingly good job of making the journey of the 2 hour runtime feel satisfying enough to overcome a good deal of that let-down of the climax. And that’s a feat in itself, as so many films with underwhelming climaxes feel retroactively deflated once the credits roll.===Episode Credits:Producer/Host - J. McVayMusic - Hansdale HsuProduced by Stereoactive Media

J. McVay and Charles Hinshaw discuss How to Blow Up a Pipeline, which is directed by Daniel Goldhaber, and is available on Hulu.How to Blow Up a Pipeline essentially plays like a heist movie where the object of the heist is a future that otherwise seems so futile and bleak that to not successfully execute the caper is simply not an option. Propelled along by a bustling, plaintive, largely electronic score composed by Gavin Brivik, we follow our cast of characters from several walks of life as they converge on the representative object of their derision. That object is the titular pipeline – somewhere in arid West Texas. And the relative isolation only aids in the film’s success at making the viewer feel immersed in the microworld the group of characters have chosen to now exist in, away from a society that may judge their actions separate from their meaning and, at least as far as they’re concerned, necessity. This immersion through isolation makes it all that much easier for us to feel as if we’re a part of the plot ourselves.The result is a vital commentary on the state of our world – a world where the idea that we may actually be able to make a difference for the sake of humanity’s very future can seem not only daunting, but often impossible.===Episode Credits:Producer/Host - J. McVayGuests - Charles HinshawMusic - Hansdale HsuProduced by Stereoactive Media

J. McVay and Charles Hinshaw discuss the second film written and directed by Emerald Fennell. Saltburn stars Barry Keoghan, Jacob Elordi, Rosamund Pike, Richard E. Grant, Alison Oliver, and Archie Madekwe and is distributed by Amazon MGM Studios and available on Prime Video.Since we’re recording this a couple of months after the film’s release and even longer since it first began playing at festivals and reviews of it started coming out, it may be worth mentioning that there seem to be a lot of critics who do not like Saltburn. In fact, I pretty much avoided watching the film until now because so many critics I follow had so little good to say about it. So, perhaps my low expectations played a part in this, but I found it mostly pretty compelling to watch. I mean, it’s pure pop melodrama trash playing at being deep and sophisticated, and I think another couple of passes on the screenplay may have leveled it up from that to either the true satire or social commentary it strives to be – something more along the lines of The Talented Mr. Ripley, The Rules of the Game, Gosford Park, A Place in the Sun, or something more recent like Parasite. But the talent and craft brought to the film from other quarters certainly elevate it into something more than it would be otherwise.Barry Keoghan not only swings for the fences as the class interloper at the heart of the film, but he also more than proves his ability to lead a high profile movie with a top notch cast. And whether some of his choices pull you in or make you cringe, it’s impossible to deny his commitment to his character and the themes of the film.For his part, between this and Sofia Coppola’s Priscilla, Jacob Elordi is fast becoming an actor whose presence in a project is going to make me more interested in checking it out. That said, I do wish he had more to do at times in Saltburn – especially after his character, Felix, first shows Keoghan’s Oliver around the estate and introduces him to the other residents, then seems to melt into the background or wholly disappear for quite some time. Richard E. Grant and Rosamund Pike, as Felix’s staggeringly British parents, are both bright spots when the film allows them space to shine and Archie Madekwe, as Felix’s cousin Farleigh, certainly does all he can to make his character as unlikable as the script requires.Add to all that, the striking visuals delivered by the cinematography and production design, and I’m honestly more excited now to see director Emerald Fennell’s next film, than I was after I had mixed feelings about her last one, Promising Young Woman.===Episode Credits:Producer/Host - J. McVayGuests - Charles HinshawMusic - Hansdale HsuProduced by Stereoactive Media

J. McVay and Charles Hinshaw discuss Bradley Cooper’s second film as a director and co-writer. Maestro stars Cooper as conductor and composer Leonard Bernstein, Carey Mulligan as his wife Felicia, and is available on Netflix.Before 2012’s Silver Linings Playbook, Bradley Cooper may have seemed like he was destined to be in nothing but pulpy movies like Limitless or bro-flicks like The Hangover – at the time, both fairly recent hits for him that had already changed his career and made him a more bankable leading man. But Silver Linings Playbook put him into that different category of quote-unquote “serious actor” seemingly destined to one day win an Academy Award. And 2018’s A Star Is Born proved him also a serious prospect as a writer and director. So anticipation for his second film as a triple hyphenate actor-writer-director, Maestro, was obviously highly anticipated.Unfortunately, there’s also been a certain narrative building up around Cooper – at least with the very-online portion of the film commentariat – that his supposed thirst to prove himself by winning an Oscar and being taken seriously as not only an actor, but an all around filmmaker is cringey and unseemly. But if you can deliver the goods, maybe you deserve a bit of allowance in that regard.And ultimately, Cooper has the goods. Between Maestro and A Star Is Born, he’s clearly proven himself to be a great director. As far as acting goes, I don’t think the jury was still out on that one. Really, the only real problem with Maestro, which portrays the relationship between famed conductor and composer Leonard Bernstein and his wife Felicia, is its screenplay… which, counter-intuitively, is not to say the writing is bad, necessarily. Each scene is internally impressive on its own, but the film as a whole lacks a solid throughline and feels disjointed and unfocused. Perhaps this can at least be partly attributed to the decision to position the film as if it’s actually more about Felicia (wonderfully played by Carey Mulligan, by the way) than it is about Bernstein himself. It’s a perplexing decision because it leaves Bernstein feeling inadequately explored, while the centering of Felicia seems forced and, itself, inadequately justified.All that said, it’s not everyday we get a movie as otherwise beautifully shot, crafted, and performed as Maestro, so here’s hoping the next screenplay Cooper co-writes is up to his skills as a director and performer, as well as the skills of the excellent crew and cast he surrounds himself with.===Mentioned in the episode:Stereoactive Presents: Oscars Nomination Reactions for 2023 Filmshttps://www.stereoactivemedia.com/stereoactive-presents-oscars-nomination-reactions-for-2023-films/===Episode Credits:Producer/Host: J. McVayGuests: Charles HinshawMusic: Hansdale HsuProduced by Stereoactive Media

J. McVay and Charles Hinshaw discuss the debut film written and directed by Celine Song. Past Lives stars Greta Lee, Teo Yoo, and John Magaro as the three sides of a romantic triangle that spans decades and continents.There are thin and thick lines running through every life. These may run through personal situations or society as a whole. Celine Song’s Past Lives explores the intersection of at least a few such lines. There’s the sometimes thin line between the platonic and the romantic, then there are the often thicker lines between times and places that separate moments by decades and people by continents and oceans.Greta Lee stars as Nora, an immigrant from South Korea to New York City by way of Toronto, who reconnects with an old friend from her youth named Hae Sung – played by Teo Yoo – who was coincidentally already trying to reconnect with her. Their early 2010s Skype calls seem to be drifting toward the romantic side of the aforementioned thin line before they’re paused for a reassessment that never comes and they both continue their lives outside of the bubble they’d constructed for themselves. Eventually, they meet up in person again, but Nora is now married to Arthur, played by John Magaro. A tension amongst all three ensues that raises questions about the nature of the trio’s internal interpersonal relationships, as well as their identities and how they’ve become the people they are.The strength of Past Lives comes from the way it deftly flirts with ideas such as fate, culture, ethnicity, and especially through its brief but essential opening scene, projection of self. Each idea or subject is teased in such a way that it naturally unravels in front of your eyes without ever seeming contrived – or, really, to even announce itself. Consequently, you’re already thinking about each idea before you realize you are, just as happens so often in life. The final result is a sublimely crafted story that only improves with subsequent viewings.===Episode Credits:Producer/Host: J. McVayGuests: Charles HinshawMusic: Hansdale HsuProduced by Stereoactive Media

J. McVay and Charles Hinshaw discuss the Oscar nominations for films released in 2023, which were announced yesterday, sharing their reactions on everything from the lack of directing and acting nominations for Greta Gerwig and Margot Robbie, respectively, to the seemingly inevitable sweep by Christopher Nolan's Oppenheimer that is expected when the Academy Awards are handed out on March 10th.===Mentioned in the Episode:Stereoactive Presents: 'The Killer' // a movie discussion /// https://www.stereoactivemedia.com/stereoactive-presents-the-killer-a-movie-discussion/Stereoactive Presents: ‘Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny’ // a movie discussion /// https://www.stereoactivemedia.com/stereoactive-presents-indiana-jones-and-the-dial-of-destiny-a-movie-discussion/Stereoactive Presents: 'Oppenheimer' // a movie discussion /// https://www.stereoactivemedia.com/stereoactive-presents-oppenheimer-a-movie-discussion/===Episode Credits:Producer/Host: J. McVayGuests: Charles HinshawMusic: Hansdale HsuProduced by Stereoactive Media

J. McVay and Charles Hinshaw discuss the latest film directed by David Fincher. The Killer stars Michael Fassbender as the meticulous hitman of the film’s title. Also in the film are Tilda Swinton, Charles Parnell, Sala Baker, Arliss Howard, and Kerry O’Malley.It's almost a cliche to talk about how filmmakers known as auteurs often make movies that are, in some way, seemingly about themselves. But in a year when Christopher Nolan made a film about a man whose groundbreaking work helped change the landscape of the world arguably for the worse and Wes Anderson made a film about locking a cast of characters into a tightly controlled environment in order to serve a narrative to the outside world, it's perhaps hard to dispute this sometimes does in fact happen. And now, David Fincher has made a film in which a cold, calculating professional must grapple with the resultant fallout from the failure of his usual perfectionist work ethic.In The Killer, Michael Fassbender stars as the titular character in a performance as precise and intentional as any Fincher has ever directed. And it can hardly be a coincidence that the director chose as his perhaps-avatar an actor whose work bringing an android to life was the best parts of both 2012's Prometheus and 2017's Alien: Covenant.The film is something of a rarity in its dedication to a mostly subjective point of view, as we experience the thoughts and actions of Fassbender's unnamed character through matter of fact voiceover, as well as sound design and cinematography that often allows us to see and hear the world through his eyes and ears. But for all the access we're given to the killer's interiority, he's still largely inscrutable in many ways. That said, what's compelling about both the character and the film are the small ways in which he reveals himself as human, by either accident or momentary surrender to circumstance. Any small moment of humanity presents as a nearly monumental display in the context of the otherwise methodical procedural the film pretends to be and, as a result, those small moments become incredibly satisfying.The Killer is now available on Netflix.===Mentioned in the episode:Stereoactive Presents… Fight Club and Mank.https://www.stereoactivemedia.com/stereoactive-presents-david-fincher/===Episode Credits:Producer/Host: J. McVayGuests: Charles HinshawMusic: Hansdale HsuProduced by Stereoactive Media

J. McVay and Charles Hinshaw discuss the latest – and, most likely, final – installment in the Indiana Jones series. Directed by James Mangold, ‘Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny’ stars Harrison Ford, Phoebe Waller-Bridge, Antonio Banderas, John Rhys-Davies, Toby Jones, Boyd Holbrook, Ethann Isidore, and Mads Mikkelsen. It’s now available to watch on Disney+.Back in 2005, J. McVay went to a midnight screening of ‘Raider of the Lost Ark’ at the Paris Theater in New York City. Karen Allen was there and talked about a fourth Indiana Jones movie was finally about to happen and she'd heard that Natalie Portman was in talks to play the daughter of Indy and Marion. A few years later, the movie she seemed to describe was out, but with Shia as their son, instead of anyone as their daughter. And now we have a fifth movie in which Indy has a daughter figure. Perhaps this was a course correction to whatever developments Karen Allen spoke of… or perhaps not. Who knows?‘Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny’ is more than capably directed by James Mangold. That said, Spielberg’s absence is somehow felt throughout. After all, it seems a bit odd that a film that almost certainly will be the last in the series due to its star’s age doesn’t doesn’t just… have the same director as the four that came before it.Harrison Ford is reasonably believable as an octogenarian action star, and the film does embrace his aging, but it’s all an odd choice for a character that, River Phoenix and Young Indy aside, seemed in some ways ageless. In the end, it’s hard to see this as a necessary installment in the franchise. ===Episode Credits:Producer/Host: J. McVayGuests: Charles HinshawMusic: Hansdale HsuProduced by Stereoactive Media

How does one reconcile great achievement with a resultant aftermath that includes a massive death toll and perhaps the eventual death of the world? Can anything with those actual results and possible further outcomes even be considered a success at all? And how should we either celebrate or punish the people responsible for such things? These questions, along with plenty of others, are at the heart of Christopher Nolan’s Oppenheimer, a film with a relentlessly intense pace and swirling collection of talents flexing almost ridiculous levels of craftsmanship. At the center of the swirl is Cillian Murphy as J. Robert Oppenheimer. Murphy's portrayal of a complicated genius who sees the world and its constituent parts in ways others don't or can’t, and who seems to feel he deserves both praise and punishment for what he's accomplished, is in the mold of Peter O'Toole's turn in Lawrence of Arabia. Playing the counterweight, as Lewis Strauss, Robert Downey Jr. gives what is certainly one of his best performances of recent years, and quite possibly also of his career. Each actor holds the screen in transfixing ways, while together providing something of a balancing act across the film. On one side we have the rare person whose thoughts can change the world in irreversible ways, while on the other we have the epitome of a bureaucrat. Friction was inevitable.The multi-layered, non-linear narrative and stylized cinematic theatrics are, in their way, surprisingly reminiscent of Oliver Stone’s work, especially ‘JFK.’ That said, the themes of the story and the styles employed in its telling are at once very much in line with Nolan’s previous work, even while representing a major leap of maturity. His interest in playing with time and chronology has never worked so well and his exploration of the often blurred lines between heroic and villainous figures has never been put to such perfect use. The ultimate result is one of the best movies of recent years.J. McVay and Charles Hinshaw discuss the latest film written and directed by Christopher Nolan. Oppenheimer stars Cillian Murphy as J. Robert Oppenheimer, the theoretical theorist who led the team that created the first atomic bombs during WWII. Also in the film are Emily Blunt, Matt Damon, Robert Downey Jr., and plenty of others.===Mentioned in the episode:Stereoactive Movie Club Ep 21 // Hiroshima Mon Amourhttps://www.stereoactivemedia.com/ep-21-hiroshima-mon-amour/===Episode Credits:Producer/Host: J. McVayGuests: Charles HinshawMusic: Hansdale HsuProduced by Stereoactive Media

J. McVay and Charles Hinshaw discuss ‘'Mission: Impossible - Dead Reckoning Part One' – directed by Christopher McQuarrie and starring Tom Cruise, Hayley Atwell, Ving Rhames, Simon Pegg, Rebecca Ferguson, Vanessa Kirby, Esai Morales, and Pom Klementieff.They also discuss the current strikes by the WGA and SAG-AFTRA, the unions representing writers and actors who work in film and television – including Charles’ perspective as a member of SAG-AFTRA.===Episode Credits:Producer/Host: J. McVayGuests: Charles HinshawMusic: Hansdale HsuProduced by Stereoactive Media

J. McVay chats with Mr. Scotty Walker about his career in music and education. Mr. Walker is/was a high school band director for three decades at Lafayette High School, in Lafayette, Louisiana. During his time there, he built a music program that grew to be recognized across the state, the region, and the nation. Not only did the band perform on important stages and fields in Louisiana, but it traveled several times to New York City to play at Carnegie Hall and the Macy’s Thanksgiving Parade – and just recently, toward the end of what was his final school year as director, the band traveled to Hawaii to perform at Pearl Harbor. As a result of his long tenure and dedication, he’s come into contact with hundreds and hundreds – probably thousands – of students. On Saturday June 3rd, there will be a retirement banquet to celebrate his time as an educator and the impact he’s had on so many people, and through them, not only the community of Lafayette, but really any community his students have moved to, joined, or built up around themselves as they’ve gone out into the world. That banquet will be at the Atchafalaya Ballroom at the Student Union on the University of Louisiana campus in Lafayette.===Episode Credits:Producer/Host: J. McVayGuest: Scotty WalkerMusic: Hansdale HsuProduced by Stereoactive Media

J. McVay chats with Beat Radio’s Brian Sendrowitz and Totally Real Records’ Bryan Bruchman about the release of Beat Radio’s most recent album, Real Love. With the album out for just over 6 months now, the goal of the discussion is to bring further attention to the release outside of the normal window of promotion and to also explore how that window/model itself affects the life of an album and an artist.===Music included in the episode:“Protection Spells”“Dissociation Blues” “Family Name”“Weightless” “Lowlands”“We Rise From Fire===Episode Credits:Producer/Host: J. McVayGuests: Brian Sendrowitz, Bryan BruchmanMusic: Hansdale HsuProduced by Stereoactive Media

J. McVay, Jacqueline Soller, and Charles Hinshaw discuss their favorite movies of 2022 and the Oscar nominations in the major categories ahead of the Academy Awards ceremony this weekend. Also, since they haven’t been on mic together since August 2021, when thee old podcast they used to do ended, they catch up on some other movies release since then – and the state of movies/moviegoing in general. ===Episode Credits:Producer/Host: J. McVayGuests: Jacqueline Soller & Charles HinshawMusic: Hansdale HsuProduced by Stereoactive Media

J. McVay and Jacqueline Soller discuss On The Rocks, a film written and directed by Sofia Coppola and distributed by A24 and Apple TV+. On The Rocks stars Bill Murray, Rashida Jones, and Marlon Wayans.Laura and her husband Deane have hit a rough patch in their marriage. Dean is spending too much time away on work trips and leaving Laura to take care of their two young daughters alone. When Laura finds a woman's toiletry bag in Dean's luggage, suspicions arise. Laura's father, Felix, drawing from his own experience as an adulterer, is quick to assume that her husband is having an affair. The pair have fun playing private investigators, following Dean around to try to catch him in the act. At its heart, On the Rocks is a story about a father and daughter spending quality time together after a difficult past, which leads to perhaps a new understanding between the two about why her father did what he did and ultimately broke their family apart. It is a relationship that is rarely seen on screen, and despite the film being centered on an upper class family with access to enough wealth to use on frivolous things like a vintage convertible for a late night car chase through the streets of New York City and a last minute trip to a tropical resort, there's still the universal experience of a child wanting to turn to her parent for help and see him as a good person whom she can trust despite childhood scars. ===Episode Credits:Producer/Host: J. McVayGuests: Jacqueline SollerMusic: Hansdale HsuOriginally released as part of a previous podcast on 12/11/20Now released and distributed by Stereoactive Media

Mank tells the story of the writer behind arguably the best movie in cinematic history, Citizen Kane. Famous for his wit, Herman Mankiewicz was one of the highest paid screenwriters of the era. His charisma earned him invites to newspaper magnate William Randolph Hearst’s extravagant dinner parties, which gained him firsthand experience that he could draw upon when writing Hearts’s thinly veiled facsimile, Charles Foster Kane. Mankiewicz was a complex man with unrespectable habits and honorable values. Although he was an alcoholic and a gambler, he helped Jewish refugees escape Nazi persecution and was seemingly the only one at MGM to stand against the company's deceitful propaganda that influenced California's 1934 gubernatorial race. Although Mank is more than the making of Citizen Kane, it parallels the film in its non-linear portrayal of a tortured man who stood by his values till the end. It reveals the corruption within Golden Age Hollywood and acknowledges the still present abuse of power by the highly influential through the eyes of a man whose only capacity to fight was, in his words.J. McVay and Jacqueline Soller discuss Mank, a film directed by David Fincher and distributed by Netflix.Mank stars Gary Oldman, Amanda Seyfried, and Lily Collins.===Episode Credits:Producer/Host: J. McVayGuests: Jacqueline SollerMusic: Hansdale HsuOriginally released as part of a previous podcast on 12/11/20Now released and distributed by Stereoactive Media

With this, their seventh episode in a series, J. McVay, Jacqueline Soller, and Charles Hinshaw continue to look back on movies released in 1999, discussing how they stand up 20 years on…Directed by Daniel Myrick and Eduardo Sánchez, ‘The Blair Witch Project’ presents itself as a documentary pieced together from video, 16mm film, and audio discovered in the woods near Burkittsville, Maryland, one year after three film students disappeared there while attempting to make a film about a local legend known as the Blair Witch, who supposedly haunts the area. The film, as presented, follows Heather, Josh and Mike as they first speak to citizens of the town about the legend, then trek into the woods to find evidence of the legend. Each night, they’re confronted with increasingly bizarre occurrences outside their campsite, while each day they become more and more unsure of their path forward. Eventually, this cycle leaves them both completely lost and at odds with each other.The film premiered at Sundance in January of 1999 before being released commercially on July 14th, later that year. In advance of the opening, the filmmakers mounted a marketing campaign that called into question whether the events and circumstances depicted in the movie were actually real or contrived. This campaign, in conjunction with the film’s website, were largely credited for the cultural and financial success it earned at the time, resulting in a movie with a budget of only $60,000 ultimately earning more than $248 million at the box office.The critical response was largely positive, though not unanimous, with most of the negative responses seeming to hinge largely on considering the premise of the film some version of gimmicky. In terms of awards, the film garnered what I would call a strange or interesting mix of nominations or wins from groups focused on either independent or popular films, which perhaps speaks to its crossover status. And, of course, the film is pretty generally considered to have popularized the concept of the “found footage” film, which has been done in various ways since then.===Episode Credits:Producer/Host: J. McVayGuests: Jacqueline Soller, Charles HinshawMusic: Hansdale HsuOriginally released as part of a previous podcast on 9/27/19Now released and distributed by Stereoactive Media

With this, their second episode in a series, J. McVay, Jacqueline Soller, and Charles Hinshaw continue to look back on movies released in 1999, discussing how they stand up 20 years on…Based on the novel by Chuck Palahniuk (“Paula-nick”) and directed by David Fincher, ‘Fight Club’ stars Edward Norton as a never named narrator who’s more or less fed up with his life and suffering from severe insomnia as he travels from place to place examining auto-accidents. He begins to find cathartic solace through attending support groups for people suffering from various ailments and conditions, before his routine is interrupted by a woman named Marla Singer (Helena Boham Carter), who is also attending these groups for less-than-honest purposes. Eventually, Norton’s character meets Tyler Durden on one of his flights. Played by Brad Pitt, Durden seems to be as free of conformist societal pressures as the Narrator is bound by them. Immediately after this seemingly chance encounter, the Narrator’s high rise condo is destroyed by an explosion, leaving him with nowhere to turn but his new acquaintance. After an evening of bonding and trading personal philosophies, the two decide to have a fist fight free of animus just to see what it feels like. High on the resultant feeling, they end up founding a club of men looking for the same experience. This balloons first into a secret underground network of similar clubs that extends to an unknown size, then to the beginning of Project Mayhem in which men dedicate their entire lives to following Durden’s call to upset the materialist, corporate nature of the society around them. The movie premiered at the Venice Film Festival on September 10th, 1999. It drew both praise and criticism, with many referencing ‘A Clockwork Orange’ as a precedent case of a film that both portrays violence and, it was worried, could also inspire violence. It opened commercially in the US on October 15th and came in first in box office rankings with just over $11 million. Despite this, the film was considered a bit of a financial disappointment by its studio, Fox. However, it was such a popular DVD release that it went on to become one of the studio’s top selling home media items and eventually turned a profit.===Episode Credits:Producer/Host: J. McVayGuests: Jacqueline Soller, Charles HinshawMusic: Hansdale HsuOriginally released as part of a previous podcast on 7/19/19Now released and distributed by Stereoactive Media

US is Jordan Peele's sophomore directorial effort. Adelaide Wilson and her family visit their summer home in Santa Cruz. Although the boardwalk is a popular spot in the area, Adelaide has reservations about going because she had a traumatic experience there as a child. Although she relents and the family makes their way to the beach, Adelaide's fears escalate when her son seems to go missing.Despite quickly finding him, the family decides to return home. Later that night, an eerie occurrence happens. A family dressed all in red stands in their driveway, holding hands, unmoving. What follows is an anxiety ridden nightmare straight out of a Twilight Zone episode. Peele once again deftly balances horror and comedy. The film's high intensity is cut with moments of levity to help ease the tension for the viewer.While Peele's first film, Get Out, found its horrors in an all too familiar situation, playing on the friction that can arise amongst the racially mixed group, US garners its attention from something entirely unusual. Being afraid of the other when the other is us.J. McVay and Jacqueline discuss the 2nd film by writer and director Jordan Peele, distributed by Universal Pictures. Us stars Lupita Nyong'o, Winston Duke, Elisabeth Moss, Tim Heidecker, Shahadi Wright Joseph, Evan Alex, and Madison Curry.===Episode Credits:Producer/Host: J. McVayGuests: Jacqueline SollerMusic: Hansdale HsuOriginally released as part of a previous podcast on 3/29/19Now released and distributed by Stereoactive Media