Hit Factory (Hit Factory)

Get access to this entire episode as well as all of our premium episodes and bonus content by becoming a Hit Factory Patron for just $5/month.

Artist and podcaster Kayte Terry joins from Philadelphia to discuss David Lynch's 1990 Palme d'Or winner 'Wild at Heart' starring Nicolas Cage and Laura Dern as starcrossed lovers on the run in an oddball road movie that showcases the director at his most earnest and emotionally frank.

We discuss what people get wrong about Lynch, his style and tone, and why pervasiveness of the the term "Lynchian" robs it of meaning. Next, we talk about the incredible ensemble that brings Lynch's romance to life, praising especially the brilliance of its leads Nicolas Cage and Laura Dern as well as supporting performers like Diane Ladd (Laura Dern's real life mother, who netted an Oscar nod for her work in the film) and Willem Dafoe as one of Lynch's most memorable villains. Finally, we key into the political textures of Lynch's career-long preoccupations, and how he interrogates the parameters of society, forcing us to conceive of existences liberated from the confines of the quotidian.

Follow Kayte Terry on Twitter.

Listen and Subscribe to Kayte's podcasts, Fangs For The Memories and Tender Subject.

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Our theme song is "Mirror" by Chris Fish

Renegade economist and host of Upstream Podcast Della Duncan joins us to discuss the Wachowskis' groundbreaking sci-fi action benchmark 'The Matrix'. We illuminate the film's bracing anti-capitalist critique, explore its undertheorized collectivist leanings, and reclaim the Red Pill as an emblem of left political action.
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Our them song is 'Mirror' by Chris Fish

Get access to this entire episode as well as all of our premium episodes and bonus content by becoming a Hit Factory Patron for just $5/month.

An introduction to our monthlong celebration of our greatest living actor, Denzel Washington.

Get access to all forthcoming Denzember episodes as well as our entire back catalog and bonus content by becoming a Hit Factory Patron for just $5/month.
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Our Denzember theme song is "FUNK" by OPPO.

Writer, comedian, and Lydia Tár's former publicist Daniella Mazzio joins to discuss Gus Van Sant's sharp, pitch-black satire of media, true crime, and a patently American brand of late 20th Century celebrity, 'To Die For'. The film is based on the Joyce Maynard novel of the same name, itself inspired by the true life trial of Pamela Smart, who seduced a teenage boy and coerced him and a friend to murder Smart's husband. The film features an excellent ensemble cast, including Joaquin Phoenix, Matt Dillon, Illeana Douglas, and a career-best Nicole Kidman.

We discuss 'To Die For' as a nexus of many careers at compelling inflection points: Nicole Kidman breaking into leading woman roles while married to Tom Cruise, Gus Van Sant on the eve of his career skyrocketing to new heights with the success of the following year's 'Good Will Hunting', and the chance casting of Casey Affleck and Joaquin Phoenix who would later become in-laws and artistic collaborators. Then, we examine the brilliant, kaleidoscopic script by 'The Graduate' screenwriter Buck Henry and how the film's patchwork construction foregrounds it thematically rich details. Finally, we discuss the real life inspiration for the film as well as the way the movie's indictment of the American media landscape anticipated elements of the OJ Simpson trial, which was playing out during the film's production and concluded just days before its release. (Editor's Note: This episode was recorded before OJ Simpson's death on April 10th, 2024 at the age of 76).

Follow Daniella Mazzio on Twitter.

Read Daniella's Substack, 'Room Tone'.

Get access to all of our premium episodes and bonus content by becoming a Hit Factory Patron for just $5/month.
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Our theme song is "Mirror" by Chris Fish. 

Matt Belenky returns for another Carlee-less episode to discuss Steven Soderbergh's technical tour-de-force 'The Limey'. It's both a whip-smart, crackling crime film showcasing Steven Soderbergh at the height of his power and a mesmerizing, patiently observed rumination on memory, loss, and legacy.

We discuss the metatextual significance of leads Terence Stamp and Peter Fonda as mutual elegies for the British New Wave and the American films of the New Hollywood era, the film's brilliantly evocative formal techniques, and Steven Soderbergh's singular position as a prolific auteur in our current era of haphazard regurgitation.

Follow Matt Belenky on Twitter.

Get access to all of our premium episodes and bonus content by becoming a Hit Factory Patron for just $5/month.
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Our theme song is "Mirror" by Chris Fish. 

Meagan Day is a staff writer at Jacobin and the coauthor of 'Bigger than Bernie: How We Go from the Sanders Campaign to Democratic Socialism'. Meagan joins Aaron & Carlee in the Hit Factory to discuss the anti-politics of Nora Ephron's 1998 romantic-comedy 'You've Got Mail' and recast Clintonite Third Way centrism as political defeatism. Read Meagan's piece, "The Romance of American Clintonism" here: https://jacobinmag.com/2020/10/youve-got-mail-nineties-films-rom-coms-capitalism. Learn more about Labor Notes at: www.labornotes.org

UNLOCKED: Podcaster, writer, and Twitter's Most Wanted Man™ Aaron Thorpe joined us back in April to discuss Robert Zemeckis's 1997 science fiction masterpiece 'Contact' starring Jodie Foster and Matthew McConaughey. It's a thrilling, expansive film that explores Big Questions about science and faith while maintaining a profoundly moving sense of wonder throughout.

We discuss Contact's origins as both film treatement and eventual novel by the brilliant Carl Sagan and his wife Ann Druyan, explore the film's ideological opposition to the neoliberal hegemony of the mid-90s, and make a case for the necessity of a post-scarcity (perhaps even spiritual) perspective to the success of a humanist political project. 

Follow Aaron Thorpe on Twitter (while you can!).

Listen and Subscribe to Trillbilly Worker's Party and Support the show on Patreon.

Listen, Subscribe to, and Support Struggle Session.

Read Aaron Thorpe at his Substack Space + Light.

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Our theme song is "Mirror" by Chris Fish

Get access to this entire episode as well as all of our premium episodes and bonus content by becoming a Hit Factory Patron for just $5/month.

Unofficial Hit Factory Sci-Fi Correspondent Aaron Thorpe is back to discuss the time traveling eccentricities of Terry Gilliam's '12 Monkeys' - a sort of quasi-remake of Chris Marker's 'La Jatée' (1963) featuring Bruce Willis, Madeleine Stowe, and Brad Pitt

We unpack the career of Terry Gilliam, why he was seen as a studio liability in the early 90s, and how this film represents the very peak of his critical and commercial successes. Then we discuss the film's take on the messy narrative contrivance of time-travel, how it attends to its bleak vision of a futureless future, and how some modern time travel narratives help reveal a sliver of hope in the film's tragic determinism. 

Watch "George Carlin on The Environment".

Follow Aaron Thorpe on Twitter.

Listen & Subscribe to The Trillbilly Workers Party.

Listen & Subscribe to Struggle Session. 

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Our theme song is "Mirror" by Chris Fish.

We recently joined our friends Forrest Miller and J. Andrew World on their livestream podcast Movie Night Extravaganza to revisit the 'The Blair Witch Project'. 

In this audio of our livestream episode, we watch extensive media and interviews released near the film's 1999 Sundance and theatrical premieres, and expand upon some key points from our original 2020 episode, including the film's legacy as a vanguard of viral marketing and found-footage cinema, its appeal to a greater sense of millennial malaise and other concepts popularized by Adam Curtis's 'HyperNormalisation', and the intrinsic horror that lies in the origin stories of our nation's founding.

Listen to our original 2020 episode on The Blair Witch Project.

Watch the full video of our livestream HERE.

Support Movie Night Extravaganza on Patreon. 

Get access to this entire episode as well as all of our premium episodes and bonus content by becoming a Hit Factory Patron for just $5/month.

Get access to this entire episode as well as all of our premium episodes and bonus content by becoming a Hit Factory Patron for just $5/month.

Get access to this entire episode as well as all of our premium episodes and bonus content by becoming a Hit Factory Patron for just $5/month.

Writer, researcher, and fellow podcaster John Semley joins the program to discuss Buffalo '66, directed, written by, and starring the ever-controversial Vincent Gallo and co-starring Christina Ricci, Anjelica Huston, and Ben Gazzara. It's a film of profound beauty, humor and humanity, and although Gallo claims the movie is non-autobiographical, it nonetheless draws from deep reservoirs of personal experience in its depiction of alienation and the grace that can bring broken people back from the precipice.

We discuss the career of Vincent Gallo and his status as perpetual provocateur, often exchanging barbs with fellow flimmakers and critics alike, including a notorious saga with the late Roger Ebert. Then, we talk about the film's depthful exploration of its thoroughly unlikable character as portrayed by Gallo, and how he manages to make Billy Brown a remarkably captivating misanthrope through his particular manner and distinctive speaking cadence. Finally, we discuss Gallo's recent foray into the MAGA movement and adjacent vestiges of the right, and why his work's portrayal of ecstatic revelation feels antithetical to the politics of resentment that defines the modern conservative movement.

Follow John Semley on Twitter. 

Read John's piece on Gallo's work with The Daily Wire, "Can Conservatices Make a Real Movie?" at The New Republic.

Watch Vincent Gallo's infamous 2003 interview with Hikari Takano.

Watch Vincent Gallo confront critics on a 1998 episode of Sky TV's Movietalk.

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Our theme song is "Mirror" by Chris Fish.

We're guestless first the first time in a while to discuss Wes Anderson's feature directorial debut, 'Bottle Rocket'. We detail the film's turbulent origins from a 16mm short film that played Sundance to a DOA box office dud, praise the breakout performances from fledgling stars Owen & Luke Wilson, and position the movie adjacent to other 90s indie breakouts about the listlessness of youth at The End of History. Then, we briefly consider the case of Anderson's staunchest detractors and try to articulate a case in defense of those left cold by the director's storytelling.

Consider becoming a Hit Factory Patron to get access to all of our premium episodes and bonus content for just $5/month.
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Our theme song is "Mirror" by Chris Fish

Into the jungle we both wade // Another film from a bygone decade // First - Dr. discourse of a sort // is granted some undue import // For movie talk you'll have to wait // Until we cover the M4A debate // On to Jumanji. The Game. The status quo // And what our next roll will bestow

Also, Aaron was sort of right about The Thief & The Cobbler. Subscribe to Hit Factory on Patreon.

SCOTTEMBER concludes with Tony's brilliant naval submarine action thriller 'Crimson Tide' featuring near-best performances from two titanic actors: Gene Hackman & Denzel Washington. Film writer Zach Vasquez returns to discuss the real-world geopolitics that inform the film's ideology, the script's racial undertones (and how much we might have Tarantino to thank), and why this might be our favorite Tony of them all. Plus - we finally give our definitive Top 5 Tony's.

Follow Zach Vasquez on Twitter.

Read Zach's Crooked Marquee pieces:

Crimson Tide at 25: A Muscular Action Masterpiece for Bleeding Hearts

I Hate Everybody: An Ode to the Racially-Charged Action Movie

Hit Factory Patrons have exclusive access to every episode of SCOTTEMBER along with our back catalog of premium episodes and bonus content. Consider subscribing for just $5 today.

Chicago-based academic and horror obsessive Peter Raleigh joins to discuss reliable journeyman director Peter Hyams and his 1997 creature feature, 'The Relic'. Maligned critically and a failure at the box office upon its initial release, the film has endured as an example of the tactile, sturdy genre work of the 90s with capable hands on both sides of the camera, including brilliant creature designs from legendary special effects guru Stan Winston.

We discuss the film's impressive balancing act, managing to glide over a host ludicrous genre tropes and plot holes with ease while maintining a keen pacing and immersion. Then, we praise the excellent directorial work of Hyams, who serves here as his own cinematographer and generates a mesmerizing, impressionistic array of horror imagery in stark, dimly lit spaces galore. Finally, we discuss the delights of the monster movie, its flattening of distinctions among people that make for compelling survival thrills, and why the sensibilities of the decade were uniquely attuned to the subgenre.

Watch the 35mm trailer for The Relic.

Follow Peter Raleigh on Twitter

Get access to all of our premium episodes and bonus content by becoming a Hit Factory Patron for just $5/month.
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Our theme song is "Mirror" by Chris Fish. 

We venture into the near future of 1999 to take a look at the VR cyberpunk action spectacular 'Virtuosity' starring Denzel Washington and a then-unknown Russell Crowe in what Carlee argues is his best performance (with a few asterisks).

We discuss the film's early arrival at the forefront of virtual reality stories that would become a lynchpin of late 90s science-fiction cinema, its impressive mixture of practical and digital special effects, and why the decade's middleweight movies often reveal the most about the culture of the era. 

Get access to all of our premium episodes and bonus content by becoming a Hit Factory Patron for just $5/month.
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Our theme song is "Mirror" by Chris Fish. 

Filmmaker, producer, writer, and podcast guest extraordinaire Jared Bailey joins to discuss one of the iconic texts of 90s popular cinema, 'Forrest Gump' directed by Robert Zemeckis and winner of the 1994 Academy Award for Best Picture (among many others). For all its swings at grandeur, the film is a deceptively simple one in premise: An ordinary man reflects on his life, regaling passersby with his stories about coming of age in America from the 1950's onward and detailing the instances in which he became a passive observer of - or coincidental participant in - many of the generation's noteworthy events. One of the greatest box office successes of the decade, the movie is also one that perfectly encapsulates the deeply cynical politics (or the posited apoliticism) of The End of History.

We discuss the film's curious flattening of the historical record, papering over the thornier details of post-war America for an audience seeking to make sense of the decades of conflict that preceded the 90s and its erasure of the material context for monumental touchstones such as the Vietnam War and the Civil Rights Movement. Then, we explore filmmaker Robert Zemeckis and his seemingly pathological need to embed bizarre racial elements into his most popular features, often commenting in ways that become more problematic than the surface-level prejudices of his contemporaries. Finally, we discuss the long-gestating (and ultimately cancelled) sequel to the film, which would have seen Forrest involved in even more historically resonant instances such as the OJ Simpson Bronco chase and the 1995 bombing of the Murrah Federal Building in Oklahoma City.

Follow Jared Bailey on Twitter.

Get access to all of our premium episodes and bonus content by becoming a Hit Factory Patron for just $5/month.
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Our theme song is "Mirror" by Chris Fish. 

Writer and filmmaker Jeremy Herbert joins us to discuss the fascinatingly flawed 1991 action thriller, 'Out For Justice' and its star Steven Seagal, a singularly minted Hollywood asshole. We examine the film's lofty ambitions to transcend the limitations of both its genre and star with weighty monologues and largely ornamental subplots and characters, explore the bizzare, brief rise of Seagal's star power (and its equally quick descent) through the 90s, and consider the deeper implications of how someone like Seagal got famous in the first place. 

Follow Jeremy Herbert on Twitter.

Consider becoming a Hit Factory Patron for just $5/month to get access to all of our premium episodes and bonus content.
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Our theme song is "Mirror" by Chris Fish

"Who's ever written the great work about the immense effort required not to create?"

Robert Raymond of Upstream Podcast joins us to discuss Richard Linklater's breakout indie hit 'Slacker'. We go long on the film's radically impressionistic narrative form, the tepid nature of modern political cinema, and slacker culture's demise at the hands of the neoliberal project.

Consider supporting the podcast by becoming a Hit Factory Patron for access to all of our premium episodes and bonus content.

Listen and subscribe to Upstream Podcast.

Follow Robert Raymond on Twitter.
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Our theme song is "Mirror" Chris Fish

Get access to this entire episode as well as all of our premium episodes and bonus content by becoming a Hit Factory Patron for just $5/month.

Writer and professional shit-talker Nadine Smith joins to discuss the mesmerizing wuxia masterpiece 'Green Snake'.

We explain the storied career of the film's remarkable director Tsui Hark, often referred to in the west as "the Spielberg of Hong Kong". Then, we talk about the transcendental beauty of Green Snake - its dreamlike and transfixing aesthetic, and it's tantalizing stars Joey Wong and Maggie Cheung. We also focus in on the movie's universally resonant story, which champions difference and asks its viewers to challenge dogmas of intolerance.

Follow Nadine on Twitter.

Read and subscribe to Nadine's Substack.
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Our theme song is "Mirror" by Chris Fish.

Vancouver-based filmmaker, educator, and podcaster Devan Scott joins to discuss Street Fighter: The Movie, based on the hugely popular Capcom video game franchise. Dismissed by both critics and fans of the game at the time of its release as a disaster, the film has since found a small but vocal faction of champions nearly 30 years later.

We discuss the film as an example of what Devan calls "The Anti-Masterpiece": A film that through no fault of its author becomes an astonishing work, either in spite or because of a distinct lack of conventional competence. Then, we discuss the pleasure of watching a film featuring a massive ensemble cast, none of whom can seem to agree on what kind of movie is being made - from Jean-Claude Van Damme's incidentially self-referential Colonel Guile to Raul Julia's genuinely great, Shakespearean take on despotic warlord General M. Bison. Finally, we discuss the film's inadvertantly prescient take on the American imperial project of the 21st century, and how its caroonishness and brazen stupidity feel right at home in a post-Trump America. 

Follow Devan Scott on Twitter.

Read Brandon Streussnig's "Wrapped In Plastic: JCVD's Street Fighter" for Secret Handshake.

Read Chris Plante's "Street Fighter: The Movie - What Went Wrong" for Polygon.

Get access to all of our premium episodes and bonus content by becoming a Hit Factory Patron for just $5/month.
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Our theme song is "Mirror" by Chris Fish. 

For $5/month, Hit Factory Patrons have exclusive access to every episode of SCOTTEMBER, along with our back catalog of premium episodes and bonus content.

**Our April Fools Episode** A special advance preview of Aaron & Carlee's new limited series, Secs, Guys, and Videotapes: an exploration of Steven Soderbergh's 1998 crime thriller 'Out Of Sight'...one second at a time. On this episode, the Hit Factory hosts are joined by Chris Woodward and Kurt Schiller of the excellent Parents Just Don't Understand Podcast to explore second number 63. It's a wide-ranging discussion that advances the theory of the Soviet Second (an interval roughly one half longer than the standard western equivalent), the direct lineage from 1971 cult classic 'Vanishing Point' to Dave Matthews Band, and a celebration of the rare "Split" Second in which a cut falls directly in the middle of a one-second interval.

Follow Secs, Guys and Videotapes on Twitter.

Follow Chris Woodward on Twitter

Follow Kurt Schiller on Twitter

Listen to and subscribe to Parents Just Don't Understand
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Series artwork by Hindle

Subscribe today for access to all of our premium episodes and bonus content. www.patreon.com/hitfactorypod

Get access to this entire episode as well as all of our premium episodes and bonus content by becoming a Hit Factory Patron for just $5/month.

Twitter-banished Brazilian Gus Lanzetta makes a long-awaited and triumphant return to discuss Iain Softley's sexy, stylish Hackers. Impressively researched and committed to creating a dazzling, expressionistic visual style to evoke the sensations of exploring the uncharted corners of the world wide web, the film is both an ode to the young, brilliant minds at the forefrunt of cyberspace and an anthropological time capsule of a subcutlure that would aesthetically inform the way the burgeoning landscape of the internet and its denizens were depicted on film throughout the rest of the decade and beyond.

We discuss the film's impressive layers of authenticity, as elicited by screenwriter Rafael Moreu alongside real-life hacker consultants (including then-teenager Nicholas Jarecki, who would later become a filmmaker himself). Then, we discuss Hollywood's attempts to visualize the unconquered, uncharted landscape of the fledgling internet, and how the film paints its protagonists as intrepid trailblazers in the same spirit as classic character motifs from the American western. Finally, we discuss the noteworthy landmark design of the film, from its production and sets, to its immaculate fashion, and its pitch-perfect, multi-volume soundtracks of contemporary electronic music.

Brazil isn't on Twitter anymore, so follow Gus Lanzetta on Bluesky.

Check out Gus's latest podcast adventure The Boku Diaries.

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Our theme song is "Mirror" by Chris Fish.

Fiction writer and editor A.A. de Levine joins to discuss Mary Harron's debut feature, 'I Shot Andy Warhol', featuring a seismic performace from Lili Taylor as the infamous feminist writer Valerie Solanas as well as Jared Harris as the late pop artist, and a moving turn from Stephen Dorff as trans icon Candy Darling. The film is a fascinating, frightening view into the life and experiences of Solanas that led her to an increased state of anger, paranoia, and aggression which eventually resulted in the film's titular act of violence.

We take a look at the real life Solanas and her most enduring work, The SCUM Manifesto; its aims, its limitations, and its intentions as a furious feminist screed, a work of biting satire, or something in the middle. Then, we discuss the film's portrayal of New York's art scene in the 1960s and its nuanced examination of the ways Warhol and his Factory cohort offer a contradiction of the avant-garde as filtered through highly palatable standards of beauty and taste. Finally, we talk about the career of Mary Harron, who would go on to achieve her greatest acclaim with her sophomore feature, the teriffic 'American Psycho', before having her films relegated to a place of relative obscurity for the next two decades.

Follow A.A. de Levine on Twitter.

Get access to all of our premium episodes and bonus content by becoming a Hit Factory Patron for just $5/month.
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Our theme song is "Mirror" by Chris Fish. 

What's your favorite scary movie? Culture writer Lindsay Lee Wallace joins us to revisit Wes Craven's slasher-reinvention "SCREAM" as it nears its 25th anniversary. We discuss the film's sensational cast of rising stars, its brilliant subversion of well-worn (and fundamentally conservative) slasher tropes, and the distinctively personal meditation on grief and loss that elevate the film beyond its genre constraints. We also talk the most recent developments in the ongoing IATSE negotiations and the recent tragedy on the set of "Rust".

Follow Lindsay Lee Wallace on Twitter.

Read Lindsay's piece "Why Women Watch Horror" for Blood Knife Mag

Read Lindsay's piece "Culture of Fear: 10 TV and Film Workers Call Out Hollywood Exploitation" for Bitch Media

Some Resources to support IATSE and its members (courtesy of Lindsay):

- Fundraiser for Halyna Hutchins’ family, from IATSE Local 600: https://gofund.me/4ed44435

- The Halyna Hutchins Memorial Scholarship Fund at the American Film Institute: https://afi.com/halyna-hutchins-scholarship-fund/…

- Aggregated petitions related to IATSE worker issues: https://iatse.net/take-action/

- IATSE Safety Hotline: If you are on a film set, you can call to report unsafe conduct on any set with an IATSE contract, even if you’re not a union worker: 844-422-9273 (IATSE safety hotline also has an app, IATSE Safety Info, available for Apple and android devices)

- Follow the @ia_stories Instagram account to read firsthand accounts of experiences people have had working in the industry

For the month of October, we are donating all of our Patreon proceeds to the UAWD Reform fund for John Deere workers on strike. Please also consider donating to the fund directly. John Deere workers are already being arrested, going without health insurance, medical care & need picket line provisions. Solidarity with all workers!
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Our theme song is "Mirror" by Chris Fish

Musician and film writer Soraya Sebghati joins from Los Angeles to venture into the lurid, strange world of...Toronto, ON, Canada and its mesmerizing underbelly of desire, longing, and grief in Atom Egoyan's 1994 breakout feature, 'Exotica'.

We discuss Atom Egoyan as director - his keen sense for the uncanny amongst the mundane, and the ways 'Exotica' plays with artificiality, performance, and facade. Then, we discuss the film's musings on routine and the rippling effects of grief, and praise Egoyan's (relatively) non-judgemental curiosity with regard to the habits we all adopt as a means of coping with loss and alienation. Finally, we consider the film's much-mulled over ending and how it offers both a quietly devastating moment of catharsis and a hopeful message of emotional solidarity.

Follow Soraya Sebghati on Twitter.

Read and subscribe to Soraya's Substack.

Listen to and support Night Talks on Bandcamp.

Get access to all of our premium episodes and bonus content by becoming a Hit Factory Patron for just $5/month.
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Our theme song is "Mirror" by Chris Fish. 

Get access to this entire episode as well as all of our premium episodes and bonus content by becoming a Hit Factory Patron for just $5/month.

For $5/month, Hit Factory Patrons have exclusive access to every episode of SCOTTEMBER, along with our back catalog of premium episodes and bonus content.

Get access to this entire episode as well as all of our premium episodes and bonus content by becoming a Hit Factory Patron for just $5/month.

This month, we are donating all of our Patreon proceeds to Hotels Not Hospitals, a project of organizers and activists working for the rights of unhoused people in San Francisco. This is an organization spun out of the DSA SF Homelessness Working Group (Democratic Socialists of America, San Francisco Chapter) and is endorsed by DSA SF. We sat down with organizer Edna Kozikaro to discuss the project and how people can get involved. Donate directly to Hotels not Hospitals here. Follow Hotels not Hospitals on Twitter, Instagram, and Facebook. 

Writer, critic, and editor of the Electric Dreams newsletter Fred Barrett joins the show to discuss the neon-drenched, saxophone-laden, softcore erotic thrills of Nico Mastorakis' In the Cold of the Night. The film is a hazy, dreamlike cut of meathead De Palma references, prolonged sex scenes, and fascinating gestures toward deep state mind control conspiracies that make for a truly singular thriller punching well above its presumed weight.

We disucss the history of director Nico Mastorakis, and how his time working withing the Greek junta regime informs the film's intricate subplots. Then we examine at the movie's absorbing atmosphere, and how it steadily brings you into its elevated, uncanny rhythms. Finally, we look at the film's intriguing explorations of pleasure and eroticism and how it pushes past the boundaries of "good taste" to arrive at fascinating, titillating places courtesy of too-close close-ups, a well-utilized bowl of marbles, and more.

Follow Fred Barrett on Twitter.

Read & Subscribe to Fred's newsletter, Electric Dreams.

Read "A Fever All Through the Night", Fred's words on In the Cold of the Night at Electric Dream.

Get access to all of our premium episodes and bonus content by becoming a Hit Factory Patron for just $5/month.
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Our theme song is "Mirror" by Chris Fish. 

Get access to this entire episode as well as all of our premium episodes and bonus content by becoming a Hit Factory Patron for just $5/month.

Aaron is joined by Jordan Fish and Ray Tintori of the preeminent Coen Bros. podcast, To The White Sea, to discuss the chilly, snow-capped neo-noir 'A Simple Plan', directed with uncharacteristic restraint by master stylist and Coen Brothers collaborator Sam Raimi.

We discuss the career of Sam Raimi and the techniques he employs here to generate the unsettling, stern tone of the film. Then, we talk about the long gestation period of the project, and its many iterations attached to various directors (including Mike Nichols, John Dahl, and Ben Stiller!). Finally, we unpack the similarities and differences between Raimi's vision of the snowbound, Midwestern morality tale and that of his pals Joel & Ethan Coen in their 1996 landmark 'Fargo'.

Listen & Subscribe to To The White Sea 

Follow Jordan Fish on Twitter

Follow Ray Tintori on Twitter

Follow To The White Sea on Twitter

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Our theme song is "Mirror" by Chris Fish

Toronto-based writer, filmmaker, and host of Junk Filter podcast Jesse Hawken joins us to discuss Curtis Hanson's thrilling 1997 crime epic "L.A. Confidential". We go long on the near-flawless narrative and aesthetic choices of the film's creators, its complex indictment of modern policing, and the complicated politics of the story's original architect, novelist James Ellroy. We also make the case for the film as a seminal "Dudes Rock" text.

Consider supporting the podcast by becoming a Hit Factory Patron for access to all of our premium episodes and bonus content.

Listen and subscribe to Junk Filter.

Follow Jesse Hawken on Twitter.
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Our theme song is "Mirror" Chris Fish

Sarah Jaffe is a reporting fellow at Type Media Center and the author of 'Work Won't Love You Back: How Devotion to Our Jobs Keeps Us Exploited, Exhausted, and Alone'. She joins us in our den-of-slack to discuss 'Reality Bites' directed by Ben Stiller and starring some of your all-time 90s faves Winona Ryder, Ethan Hawke, Janeane Garofalo, Steve Zahn, and Stiller himself. Topics include the flattening of class dynamics within the story's central love triangle, the myth of the "labor of love", and the film's position within the 90s neoliberal imaginary.

Follow Sarah Jaffe on Twitter.

Consider supporting the podcast by becoming a Hit Factory Patron for access to all of our premium episodes and bonus content.
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Our theme song is "Mirror" Chris Fish

Get access to this entire episode as well as all of our premium episodes and bonus content by becoming a Hit Factory Patron for just $5/month.

Get access to this entire episode as well as all of our premium episodes and bonus content by becoming a Hit Factory Patron for just $5/month.

Los Angeles-based literary manager Jarrod Murray returns to the show to discuss Robert Redford's 'Quiz Show', a true story of the massive 1950s scandal that revealed to the American public for the first time that the burgeoning television industry and the levers of power that control media were capable of profound deceit. 

We discuss the film's many iterations, possible directors, and might-have-been performances as well as the incredibly deep bench of performers the film ultimately wound up with (including great character actors like David Paymer, Hank Azaria, Griffin Dunne, and even a wonderful turn from director Martin Scorsese). Then we discuss the real story behind the film, and the ways director Robert Redford and screenwriter Paul Attanasio grapple with the quiz show scandal's multifaceted ramifications in the era after the post-war boom. Finally, we discuss the film's legacy, or lack thereof, and why this film may not have found its deserved purchase with viewers in the 90s and why there's still room for it to be reclaimed in 2023. 

Follow Jarrod Murray on Twitter.

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Our theme song is "Mirror" by Chris Fish 

Leeds-based film journalist and podcaster Amber T. (@hornbloodfire) joins for a double feature discussion of bad vibes connoisseur Kiyoshi Kurosawa's V-Cinema revenge thrillers 'Serpent's Path' and 'Eyes of the Spider'. Written in collaboration with 'Ringu' screenwriter Hiroshi Takahashi and directed back-to-back within an incredibly short production period of mere weeks, the films sidestep Kurosawa's customary supernatural impulses seen in hits like 'Cure' and 'Pulse' in favor of stripped-down genre thrills that keep the director's oppressive modern landscapes and bleak explorations of societal alienation intact.

We begin by discussing the origins of the two films as well as Kurosawa's history with V-Cinema productions, a direct-to-video market in Japan that carries few of the pejorative connotations associated with DTV films produced in western markets. Then, we unpack each of the films' takes on the revenge thriller - 'Serpent's Path' explores the ugly spiral of dehumanization that occurs as conviction gives way to the reality of doling out violence and asks if there is any justice to be found at the end of vindictive pursuit. On the other hand, 'Eyes of the Spider' explores the aftermath of revenge and the hollowness of life once the fleeting satisfaction of vengeance has been achieved. Finally, we look forward to this year, where Kurosawa is preparing a French-language remake of 'Serpent's Path', with a likely debut at the Festival de Cannes.

Follow Amber T. on Twitter. 

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Our theme song is "Mirror" by Chris Fish. 

Get access to this entire episode as well as all of our premium episodes and bonus content by becoming a Hit Factory Patron for just $5/month.

Creator of the "eventually, forever" newsletter and film twitter heavy Adam Sullivan joins us to discuss the brilliant Hayao Miyazaki and his 1992 film 'Porco Rosso'. Initially conceived as a short film exclusively for in-flight guests of Japan Airlines, the film eventually grew in ambition and scope and now stands as one of Miyazaki's most underrated, visually transcendent masterpieces. 

We discuss the film's many classic Hollywood touchpoints, including the films of Howard Hawks, Victor Fleming, and John Ford and how these influences create a sense of fantasy more grounded that other Miyazaki works. Then, we discuss the film's setting amidst the rising tide of fascism in the Adriatic and its connection to the moving character portrait at its core. Finally, we discuss how 'Porco Rosso' (perhaps more than any other film) suggests some of the director's late period affinities in works like 'The Wind Rises'.

Plus: We talk Miyazaki's latest work 'The Boy & The Heron', which we have all had the chance to see ahead of its wide release in the US Friday, 12/8/23. 

Follow Adam Sullivan on Twitter.

Read and subscribe to Adam's newsletter "eventually, forever".

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Our theme song is "Mirror" by Chris Fish 

To celebrate Valentine's Day, we watched the most romantic film we could think of - David Fincher's grisly neo-noir thriller 'Se7en'. Aaron & Carlee discuss the false promise of 'The Middle' from last weekend's Bruce Springsteen Super Bowl ad, the immaculate precision of David Fincher's directorial approach, and the reactionary core at the center of the film's subversive aesthetics. Reminder that we are donating all of our Patreon proceeds for the month of February to the amazing organization Hotels Not Hospitals. Please consider subscribing or donating directly to help support our unhoused neighbors in San Francisco.
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Our new intro tune is 'Mirror' by our good friend Chris Fish. Outro tune is 'Brightest Sunrise' by Patricia Taxxon.

Hit Factory's Chief Canadian Correspondent and host of Junk Filter Podcast Jesse Hawken is back to discuss the work of French genre provocateur Claude Chabrol and his 1995 thriller 'La Cérémonie' starring Sandrine Bonnaire and Isabelle Huppert. Inspired by the true story of Christine and Lea Papin - two French sisters who, as live-in maids, were convicted of murdering their employer's wife and daughter in 1933 - the film follows Sophie (Bonnaire) a housekeeper for a wealthy family in Brittany who befriends Jeanne (Huppert), the local postal clerk. Together, the two slowly begin to form a shared psychosis, sharing a collective fantasy of paranoia, resentment, and eventually explosive violence. One of Chabrol's most championed works, the film was a key influence and inspiration for Korean director Bong Joon-ho's Oscar-winning 2019 film 'Parasite'.

We unpack Chabrol's prolific career as filmmaker, beginning with his origins in the Nouvelle Vague, before leaning into more commercial tendencies during his "Golden Era" of the late 60s through the 70s, and culminating in some of his most accomplished and acclaimed work in the 1990s. Then, we discuss La Cérémonie as genre exercise and how it yields further reward with repeat viewings. Finally, we attempt to make meaning of Chabrol's joke that the movie was "the last Marxist film" by unpacking its ideas about class resentment and the disaffected, uncaring attitudes of the rich toward working class anxieties.

Follow Jesse Hawken on Twitter.

Follow Junk Filter on Twitter

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Our theme song is "Mirror" by Chris Fish. 

Co-host of the We Need to Talk About Kevin podcast and contributor at Blood Knife digital magazine Trevor Drinkwater joins us to discuss James Mangold's 1997 police thriller 'Cop Land'. We discuss Sylvester Stallone's rutted career as a performer, the film's nearly-there indictment of policing, and place our bets on the upcoming bout between lizard and ape in 'Godzilla vs. Kong'.
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Our them song is 'Mirror' by Chris Fish.

Get access to this entire episode as well as all of our premium episodes and bonus content by becoming a Hit Factory Patron for just $5/month.

Writer and podcaster Gus Lanzetta joins us to discuss Tony Scott's prophetic surveillance technothriller 'Enemy of the State', starring Will Smith and Gene Hackman. We talk the who's-who ensemble of young 90s up and comers (including Jack Black, Jason Lee, and Seth Green), explore the film's libertarian-leaning (and liberal-indicting) perspective on national security, and make the case for Tony as the singular auteur capable of originating the visual language of surveillance cinema popularized in the post-9/11 era.

Follow Gus Lanzetta on Twitter.

Hit Factory Patrons have exclusive access to every episode of SCOTTEMBER, including an extended version of this episode where we discuss everything from Bolsonaro to Jon Hamm (along with our back catalog of premium episodes and bonus content). Consider subscribing for just $5 today.

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Mad Max maestro George Miller has a new film in theaters, so writer/producer/co-creator of Fox's 'Sleepy Hollow' & co-host of Podcast Like It's... Phil Iscove joins to discuss the work of the visionary director and his brilliant, underseen sequel to everyone's favorite talking pig movie, 'Babe: Pig in the City'. Following the breakout success of 1995's 'Babe', Miller delivered a darker, more adventurous story that sees the titular pig braving a cold, indifferent Metropolis (featuring a fascinating assembly of familiar landmarks from cityscapes around the world) and winning the hearts of its embittered animal residents through his courage, cunning, and compassion. Gene Siskel's #1 film of 1998 and a favorite of musician and actor Tom Waits, the film has steadily found its faithful audience after an initially disappointing box office run, anticipating some of Miller's careerlong challenges with compelling audiences to gamble on his bold visions.

We discuss the film's narrative and thematic swings, how Miller takes the story in fascinating new directions, and why the filmmaker's insistence on never repeating himself becomes both the film's greatest asset and its toughest barrier for entry. Then, we assess the movie's incredible technical achievements, and why making this film feels like it might have been just as challenging as Miller's work on any of the Mad Max films. We also praise the film's willingness to embrace difficult emotions and never shy away from challenging its target audience of young viewers with harrowing and heartrending scenes of animals in extrememly human experiences of distress, opression, and danger.

Finally, we turn our eyes to George Miller's latest entry in his long-running action series, 'Furiosa: A Mad Max Saga'. Epic in scope, bold in vision, and featuring some of Miller's most ambitious storytelling, 'Furiosa' has been embraced critically, but is failing to find its audience, with disappointing box office returns and a near-guaruntee of a short theatrical run.

On the back half of this episode, we make the case for 'Furiosa', praise its grandeur as well as its nuance, and offer up some readings of the film that challenge many of the common criticisms we've seen so far.

Follow Phil Iscove on Twitter.

Listen to and support Podcast Like It's... on Patreon and wherever you stream podcasts.

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Our theme song is 'Mirror' by Chris Fish.

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New York-based musician and America's Sweetheart Nick Miller joins to discuss the underseen 150-minute Extended Cut of Tom Hanks's directorial debut, 'That Thing You Do!'. It's a meandering, expansive version of the film that takes the original cut's effervescent (if slight) shot of pop nostalgia and, at its best, aims for comparisons to great surveyors of cinematic Americana like Robert Altman & Jonathan Demme (who serves as producer on this film).

We discuss the two versions of the film, their differences, and how the Extended Cut showcases even further Tom Hanks's singular knowledge of the era and its musical landscape. Then, we talk about the eponymous tune, an infectious earworm written by the late Adam Schlesinger which took on a life of its own as a charting hit single and was nominated for the Best Original Song Oscar in 1997. We also discuss the film as part and parcel with Tom Hanks's decade-long fixation with postwar America and the Greatest Generation's sense of national purpose, how the movie gets right many of the intricacies of songwriting and band dynamics, and make a plea to the 300+ artists (including Squeeze and They Might Be Giants) who submitted versions of "That Thing You Do!" to finally release their recordings.

Follow Nick Miller on Twitter.

Listen to Nick Miller on Bandcamp.

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Our theme song is "Mirror" by Chris Fish. 

We discuss the 1993 box office sensation 'The Fugitive' a meticulously detailed and expertly crafted thriller without an ounce of fat on it. Topics include the film's unusual and effective narrative structure, the bravura performances by the film's two leads, Harrison Ford and Tommy Lee Jones, and the anxieties at the heart of man-on-the-run thrillers.

Get access to all of our premium episodes and bonus content by becoming a Hit Factory Patron for just $5/month.
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Our theme song is "Mirror" by Chris Fish

Writer and lifelong pro wrestling fan Zach Vasquez returns to discuss the 1996 Hulk Hogan holiday dud 'Santa with Muscles', executive produced by The Wolf of Wall Street himself, Jordan Belfort. Along with the film, we discuss the fractious history of the WWE, modern challengers to the promotion's hegemonic superiority, and the life and crimes of the man behind Hulkamania, Terry Eugene Bollea.

Follow Zach Vasquez on Twitter.
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Our theme song is "Mirror" by Chris Fish

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Returning guests Kurt Schiller and Chris Woodward join us to discuss James Bond's first foray into a post-Cold War world, 'GoldenEye' featuring two notable "firsts": Pierce Brosnan's debut as the international super spy and the first Bond film helmed by director Martin Campbell (who would return to update Bond again for a post-9/11 audience with 'Casino Royale').

We discuss the troubled history of the series' 17th entry that saw the exit of previous two-time Bond Timothy Dalton, how Pierce Brosnan's take on the iconic character appeals to the 90s fetishization of the business class, and why the film's embrace of a post-Soviet setting- refreshingly- doesn't feel quite like a victory lap.

Follow Kurt Schiller on Twitter.

Follow Chris Woodward on Twitter.

Listen to Podside Picnic.

Read and support Blood Knife Magazine.

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Our theme song is "Mirror" by Chris Fish. 

Critic, writer, and film historian Nora MacIntyre joins Aaron to discuss John Waters's 1994 satire 'Serial Mom' starring Kathleen Turner as the titular murderous matriarch.

Topics include Waters's exploitation origins and the film's ties to splatter maven Herschell Gordon Lewis, the movie's brilliant send-up of the capitalist patriarchal structures of modernity, and the immediate prescience of the story's exploration of true crime obsession in the wake of the O.J. Simpson trial.

Follow Nora MacIntyre on Twitter.

Read Nora's work at her website, Notoriously Nora.
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Our theme song is "Mirror" by Chris Fish

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Hit Factory's heroic duo take on Johnnie To's 1993 Honk Kong action spectacular, 'The Heroic Trio'. It's a super hero origin story featuring three of Hong Kong cinema's most remarkable leading women - Anita Mui, Michelle Yeoh, & Maggie Cheung - and a wellspring of imagination & style unrivaled by western action movies of the era.

We discuss the dynamic burst of imagination at the center of Hong Kong's Golden Era of action cinema that birthed the talents of To, Tsui Hark, John Woo and countless others, the film's nuanced and progressively feminine approach to its storytelling, the brilliant costume design...and the movie's commendable contempt toward children. 

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Our theme song is "Mirror" by Chris Fish. 

Get access to this entire episode as well as all of our premium episodes and bonus content by becoming a Hit Factory Patron for just $5/month.

Writer, editor and podcaster Edward Ongweso Jr. returns to the show to kick off Denzember, a monthlong celebration of our greatest living actor, with a conversation about Spike Lee's seminal 1992 biopic 'Malcolm X'. It stands as one of Lee's most triumphant achievements and one of Denzel Washington's very best performances as one of the most significant figures of 20th century America.

We discuss the film's trouble gestation period, taking nearly 30 years to get to the big screen then courting controversy throughout its production. We also discuss the film's portrait of Malcolm X and offer our readings of Spike's ultimate intention - presenting a fractured portrait that embraces the many sides of the man and the many ideologies and sects that claim him. Finally, we talk about the film's noteworthy detractors, including social critic and theorist bell hooks, who makes a compelling case that the film ultimately fails to bring a meaningful portrait of Malcolm to the big screen.

Read bell hooks's review of Spike Lee's 'Malcolm X' at Artforum.

Edward's Top 5 Denzel Performances:
1. Malcolm X (1992)
2. Fences (2016)
3. Training Day (2001)
4. The Tragedy of Macbeth (2021)
5. Philadelphia (1993)/The Hurricane (1999)

Follow Edward Ongweso Jr. on Twitter.

Listen & Subscribe to This Machine Kills.

Read Edward's Substack The Tech Bubble.

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Our Denzember theme song is "FUNK" by OPPO.

We're joined by one of the hosts of Chapo Trap House, Matt Christman to discuss Michael Ritchie's highly entertaining con-man/sports movie mashup 'Diggstown'. We explore the film's distinct 70s throwback appeal, set aside personal politics to make the case for James Woods as one of the finest actors of his generation, and yearn for a time when studio movies still permitted excessive perspiration.

Follow Matt Christman on Twitter

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Our theme song is "Mirror" by Chris Fish. 

We're joined by Shawn Glinis, co-host of Wiseman Podcast, to discuss a defining nonfiction film of the 1990s - 'Hoop Dreams'. The film is a singular and heartbreaking portrait of urban living, the education system, race & class that also succeeds as an incredibly gripping sports movie told through the journeys of its two subjects - Arthur Agee and William Gates. Topics include the film's litany of fascinating subjects and secondary characters, filmmaker Steve James's masterful ability to elicit empathy for even his most challenging subjects, and the cruel irony of one of the decades most vivid and humanizing portraits of urban poverty being released in the midst of an era especially hostile toward it.

Follow Shawn Glinis on Twitter.

Listen & Subscribe to Wiseman Podcast

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Our theme song is "Mirror" by Chris Fish

Chicago-based critic and author of the new book "Talk 90s with Me: 23 Unpredictable Conversations with Stars of an Unforgettable Decade" Matt Pais joins us to discuss the kids cult classic 'Heavyweights'.

After a conversation about Matt's new book, we talk through the film's empathetic and nuanced portrayal of fatness (notably featuring an ensemble of actors of size), its place within the canon of 90s anti-conformity comedies, and why this might be Ben Stiller's most pitch-perfect performance.

Follow Matt Pais on Twitter.

Check out Matt's new book "Talk 90s with Me: 23 Unpredictable Conversations with Stars of an Unforgettable Decade".

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Our theme song is "Mirror" by Chris Fish. 

We close out 2020 with the cult favorite 'Dark City' - a film that definitely didn't influence The Wachowski's 'Matrix' films in any way whatsoever. Aaron & Carlee break down the film's genre-bending aesthetic charms, its relation to the late-90s trend of augmented reality narratives, and discuss the necessity of imagination in developing an alternative political project to neoliberal nostalgia.

University of Toronto PhD candidate and writer Alex Ross joins to discuss culture writer Chuck Klosterman's latest collection 'The Nineties'. The book is a confounding, myopic work that frequently reveals both the sociopolitical blind spots of its author & the greater failures of Gen X to understand the decade's ramifications. We talk through the frenzied, dizzying construction of the book around a hodgepodge of discrete cultural markers, the books troubling lack of anything approaching a worldview, and the writer's baffling defense against what he calls Clinton "revisionism".

Follow Alex Ross on Twitter

Read David Wallace-Wells's interview with Klosterman at Vulture

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Our theme song is "Mirror" by Chris Fish

Freelance film writer Brianna Zigler joins us to discuss David Cronenberg's 1999 VR body-horror extravaganza 'eXistenZ'. We talk the film's position in the cinematic landscape of the late nineties, its prescient sexual, social and technological anxieties, and briefly make the case for Comrade Cronenberg. Read and subscribe to Brianna's newsletter That's Weird.
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Our theme song is 'Mirror' by Chris Fish

Get access to this entire episode as well as all of our premium episodes and bonus content by becoming a Hit Factory Patron for just $5/month.

Molly Lambert, creator of HeidiWorld: The Heidi Fleiss Story, joins us to talk the 1990 romantic comedy 'Pretty Woman'. We discuss the film's origins as a gritty tale of sex and drugs on the streets of Hollywood Boulevard, how the story both confronts and conforms to the sexual politics of the era, and the blinding star power of lead Julia Roberts.

Later, we discuss Heidi Fleiss, her relationship to Hollywood in the era of Pretty Woman, and the frustrating trend of anti-sex discourse in film and media.

Follow Molly Lambert on Twitter.

Listen to HeidiWorld: The Heidi Fleiss Story 
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Our theme song is "Mirror" by Chris Fish

Writer, critic, and Hit Factory Discord all-star Jason Miller returns to the show to discuss Hong Kong director Stanley Kwan's 'Center Stage', an experimental biopic exploring the life and work of Chinese silent film star Ruan Lingyu who achieved an unprecedented celebrity before tragically taking her own life at only 24. Ruan is played magnificently by Maggie Cheung in one of her first "serious" (and arguably one of her very best) performances. The film brilliantly forgoes a traditional biopic structure, intercutting the filmic recreations with real footage of Ruan's handful of enduring film performances. From there, the film offers an additional layer of complexity by frequently inserting black & white interstitials of director Stanley Kwan and Maggie Cheung (as herself) discussing the life of Ruan Lingyu and the production of the film. As the film goes on, these distinct layers begin to fracture and smear, both emphasizing the unreality of the recreations and eliciting a deeper sense of truth to the real Ruan Lingyu that the film understands it can never fully capture.

We discuss the way Kwan navigates his experimental form through the lens of classic melodrama (taking influence from the likes of Douglas Sirk) in order to create something that invites even as it antoginizes and provokes. Then, we consider the real Ruan Lingyu and some of her most well-known works (including 'The Goddess' directed by Wu Yonggang) and how the open construction of 'Center Stage' invites us to pursue further understanding rather than attempt to act as the final word on Ruan. Finally, we look at the state of the modern biopic and the furstrating lack on ingenuity and experiementation when approaching the titanic lives that these films consider.

Follow Jason Miller on Twitter and everywhere else.

Watch Wu Yonggang's 'The Goddess' starring Ruan Lingyu on YouTube.

Watch Cai Chusheng's 'New Women' starring Ruan Lingyu on YouTube.

Watch Maggie Cheung on her acting style alongside fellow Hong Kong actor Phillip Chan.

Read Jonathan Rosenbaum on 'Center Stage'.

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Our theme song is "Mirror" by Chris Fish. 

New York-based writer Ashley Reese joins us for our a very special Christmas installment of Denzember as we discuss Penny Marshall's 1996 romantic comedy 'The Preachers Wife'.

We discuss the film as a metatextual exploration of Denzel Washington's celebrity image as well as part of Whitney's second leg as an international superstar and actress. We also discuss the film's monumental soundtrack, sung by Whitney herself, an album that remains the best selling gospel record of all time. Finally we discuss the flattening effect of family films of the era (especially those produced by Touchstone/Disney) and how they tend to flirt with societal issues while reaffirming the system that causes them.

Follow Ashley Reese on Twitter

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Our Denzember theme song is "FUNK" by OPPO.

Culture writer Bailey Herdé joins us to discuss 'The Piano', Jane Campion's brilliant period drama about yearning, desire, & passion set against the lush yet foreboding New Zealand wilderness. We chat about the film's pair of (unusual, but well-deserved) Oscar-winning central performances, its potent examination of 19th century colonialism through its male characters, and praise Campion's latest awards contender 'The Power of the Dog'.

Follow Bailey Herdé on Twitter
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Our theme song is "Mirror" by Chris Fish

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Film writer, editor, and podcaster Jake Tropila joins from Los Angeles to discuss the Coen Brothers' 1998 comedy 'The Big Lebowski', starring Jeff Bridges, John Goodman, Julianne Moore, and Philip Seymour Hoffman. Though middlingly received both critically and commercially upon release, the film has gone on to become a genuine cult classic, launching a cottage industry of fan screenings, conventions, and even a religion.

We discuss the film's patchwork of influences, including larger-than-life characters withing the Coens' orbit and the works of author Raymond Chandler, especially as adapted by Robert Altman for his 1973 film 'The Long Goodbye'. Then we discuss the film's unrivaled cast, including a superb John Goodman, who turns in an awards-caliber performance as the gun-toting, militant bowling enthusiast Walter Sobchak. Finally, we discuss the film's windy, inarticulable plot, and the way that its mechanics might conceal a deeper level of criticism about the sociopolitical landscape of America on the eve of The End of History.

Watch the trailer for The Big Lebowski.

Watch Mortimer Young for Forever Young Films #1 - The Grand Lebowski.

Follow Jake Tropila on Twitter.

Read Film Inquiry.

Listen and Subscribe to Optimism Vaccine.

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Our theme song is "Mirror" by Chris Fish. 

Get access to this entire episode as well as all of our premium episodes and bonus content by becoming a Hit Factory Patron for just $5/month.

Subscribe today for access to all of our premium episodes and bonus content. www.patreon.com/hitfactorypod

Get access to this entire episode as well as all of our premium episodes and bonus content by becoming a Hit Factory Patron for just $5/month.

On our first episode of the new year, Owen Morawitz returns to discuss the 1994 action-thriller 'No Escape', a film set on the maximum security island prison of Absolom in the dystopian future of 2022. We discuss a few standout performances from the top-tier cast (including a rarely seen action hero version of Ray Liotta & best in show Stuart Wilson as the villainous Marek), how the film reflects contemporary liberalism's contradictory sympathies toward America's carceral system, and the novelty of watching an action movie with a little bit too much on its mind.

Follow Owen Morawitz on Twitter

Subscribe to Owen's Newsletter The Pitch of Discontent

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Our theme song is "Mirror" by Chris Fish.

Subscribe today for access to all of our premium episodes and bonus content. www.patreon.com/hitfactorypod

Subscribe today for access to all of our premium episodes and bonus content. www.patreon.com/hitfactorypod

Aaron & Carlee enter the Hit Factory to discuss Carl Franklin's riveting neo-noir crime saga 'One False Move'. Along the way we discuss the corporatization of sexual wellness, the awards season's bleak reflection of the zeitgeist, and the film's refreshingly complex portrayal of law enforcement, racial tensions and the cultural divide between urban sprawl and small-town America.
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Our theme song is 'Mirror' by Chris Fish. 

We sat down for a brief conversation with Alex Cox, the director of Repo Man, Sid & Nancy, Walker, and many more to talk about the state of filmmaking today, the sensations Alex hopes one feels when watching his films, and the sanctity of digital media and curation in an era of endless, decontextualized content streams.

Alex is currently crowdfunding what may be his last movie, a Western version of Nicolai Gogol's book Dead Souls. Please consider contributing to “My Last Movie” on Kickstarter here:

https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/alexcoxfilms/my-last-movie
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Our theme song is "Mirror" by Chris Fish.

Writer, curator, and author of the upcoming book Revolutionary Desires: The Political Power of the Sex Scene, Xuanlin Tham joins us to discuss the work of Taiwanese New Wave director Tsai Ming-liang and his 1994 film Vive L'Amour. It's a quietly devastating exploration of longing, desire, and urban alienation about a trio of young Tapei residents who, unbeknownst to one another, all occupy the same luxury model apartment.

We discuss the context of early 90s Tapei, its status as a bustling center of rapid economic growth and a hub for global commerce, and how this unique urban setting coupled with Tsai's outsider status as a Malaysian-born transplant inform his cinema. Then we explore the distinctive formal components of Tsai's filmmaking, its radical underpinnings, and its rejection of commodifying language or labels. Finally, we look to Tsai's evolution across the decades since Vive L'Amour and how his self-referential and increasingly sparse approach has further liberated his cinema from the strictures of capitalist impulses.

Follow Xuanlin Tham on Twitter

Pre-Order Revolutionary Desires: The Political Power of the Sex Scene from 404 Ink

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Our theme song is "Mirror" by Chris Fish. 

This week we're joined by our good friends Ian Rhine and Jake Serwin of the teriffic Clint Eastwood podcast Pod Casty For Me to discuss the Italian director Nanni Moretti and his 1993 personal essay/anthology film 'Caro Diario', awarded Best Director at the Cannes Film Festival in 1994 when Clint served as the Jury President.

We discuss Moretti as subject within his own films, and how his arch and effacing tone offers perhaps a more palatable substitute to the films of a once-prominent filmmaker (now mired in controversy) known for his neurotic, self-referential films. Then, we discuss the film's stylistic markers that place it in conversation with not just the legacy of the Italian film industry, but with cinema as a whole. Finally, we talk about family planning and the wonderful world of vasectomies. (*Editor's Note* Aaron's procedure is in November, not Feburary as stated on the show. He's not sure why he said that, but wants listeners to know that he's not planning out his recovery watchlist 4 months in advance like a loser).

Listen & Subscribe to Pod Casty For Me.

Follow Pod Casty For Me on Twitter

Follow Jake Serwin on Twitter.

Follow Ian Rhine on Twitter (if he lets you).

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Our theme song is "Mirror" by Chris Fish. 

Get access to this entire episode as well as all of our premium episodes and bonus content by becoming a Hit Factory Patron for just $5/month.

Producer and co-host of Die Hard On A Blank Podcast and recovering Lars Von Trier superfan Liam Billingham joins to discuss enigmatic Danish provocateur Lars Von Trier and his breakout Cannes award-winning feature 'Breaking the Waves' starring then-newcomer Emily Watson, Stellan Skarsgård, and the late Katrin Cartlidge. The film, set in a small comminuty in the Scottish Highlands in the 1970s, tells the story of Bess McNeill, a simply, godly woman who marries outsider oil rig worker Jan. When Jan is paralyzed after a work accident, he compels Bess to take other lovers in order to "keep him alive"...a task which she steadily comes to believe has divine connotations. Shot in 35mm 'scope with the great Robby Muller behind the camera, the film is a visually staggering work broaching difficult subject matter in the realms of faith, sexuality, and patriarchy all rendered in Von Trier's singular tenor, equal parts brutal, earnest, and cheekily playful.

We discuss the career of Von Trier, his work as a founding member of the Dogme95 collective, and the later period evolution of his storytelling. Then, we wrestle with the film's themes and execution of its ideas. Does the movie hold up for a longtime devotee and a newcomer alike? Finally, we try to make sense of Von Trier's oeuvre, and what - if anything - could be considered the trademarks of his style.

Follow Liam Billingham on Twitter.

Listen and subscribe to Die Hard On A Blank Podcast.

Read & Subscribe to Peter Raleigh's Newsletter 'Long Library'. 
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Our theme song is "Mirror" by Chris Fish

Jesse Hawken, host of Junk Filter Podcast, returns to the show to discuss 'Primal Fear'. The film is a taut piece of middlebrow entertainment which offers maximum reward as a cable classic.

We discuss the film's two standout performances - one from aging handsome guy Richard Gere as a hotshot attorney looking for his next big break, the other from then-newcomer Edward Norton who took audiences by storm and wound up on the short list of actors nominate for an Academy Award for their very first film performance. Then, we talk the movie's famous twist ending, and the way that it betrays an uncomfortably reactionary streak that resonated with audiences in mid-90s America. Finally, we have some words about the death of the midbudget cable classic, and look at the current state of the industry vis-a-vis the tandem strike efforts from the WGA and SAG-AFTRA.

Listen & Subscribe to Junk Filter Podcast and support the show on Patreon.

Follow Jesse Hawken on Twitter.

Follow Junk Filter Podcast on Twitter

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Our theme song is "Mirror" by Chris Fish. 

Subscribe today for access to all of our premium episodes and bonus content. www.patreon.com/hitfactorypod

Cenephile and severe weather head @MatineeMode joins us to discuss 'Twister', one of the biggest hits of 1996. It's a film that takes several well-worn, sometimes quaint, and seemingly disparate cinematic tropes and combines them into a transcendent and irreplicable experience.

We discuss the rise and fall of filmmaker Jan de Bont, from his time as one of Paul Verhoeven and John McTiernan's key collaborators, to his work on back-to-back 90s action hits (this film and 1994's 'Speed'), to his gun-for-hire status for the 2003 'Tomb Raider' sequel that stands as his last film as director to date. Then, we talk about the film's host of influences, most notably its screwball comedy premise wrapped in a disaster movie's skin. Finally, we discuss the movie's groundbreaking special effects and champion the film as a state-of-the-art blockbuster spectacle.

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Our theme song is "Mirror" by Chris Fish. 

Get access to this entire episode as well as all of our premium episodes and bonus content by becoming a Hit Factory Patron for just $5/month.

Get access to this entire episode as well as all of our premium episodes and bonus content by becoming a Hit Factory Patron for just $5/month.

Prestigious podcaster and poster Grimm joins us to discuss two documentaries chronicling the 1992 presidential election cycle from very different perspectives.

First, we discuss Chris Hegedus and D.A. Pennebaker's lionizing character study 'The War Room', chronicling the efforts of Bill Clinton's campaign advisors, George Stephanopoulos and "Ragin' Cajun" James Carville. It's a hagiographic text owed a great deal of blame for the faux-proletarianization of democratic politics in the 90s.

Next, we cover the underseen, revelatory 'SPIN' by Brian Springer. It's a revealing look behind the scenes of 1992's biggest news items through the use of raw satellite footage that shows the multitude of ways the media surreptitiously flattens, omits, and outright fabricates the news to sell us the status quo.

Follow Grimm on Twitter.

Check out SPIN, available for free on YouTube.

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Our theme song is "Mirror" by Chris Fish

New York-based filmmaker and producer Chadd Harbold joins to discuss the 1994 Tim Burton biopic 'Ed Wood', a sincere, loving portrait of the titular filmmaker and his band of Hollywood misfits coming together to make oddball, outsider B-movies that remain enduring works to this day.

We discuss Tim Burton as filmmaker, the increasingly diminishing returns of his artistry, and why Ed Wood stands as perhaps his finest achievement. Then, we talk about Martin Landau's Oscar-winning turn as the horror legend Bela Lugosi, lovingly depicted in the film flaws and all. Finally, we ponder the current state of American filmmaking, and ask, 'Is there still a route by which an Ed Wood could make these movie on the outskirts today, and if so, would anybody be able to see them?'

Follow Chadd Harbold on Twitter.

Stream Chadd's film Private Property on Hulu.

Stream Colin West's Linoleum, produced by Chadd, on Hulu.

Get access to all of our premium episodes and bonus content by becoming a Hit Factory Patron for just $5/month.
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Our theme song is "Mirror" by Chris Fish. 

Film writer and co-founder of Certified Forgotten Matthew Monagle enters the Hit Factory to discuss the cannibal horror 'Ravenous'. We discuss the film's onerous origins, its breathtakingly subversive score, and the wonders of an outsider's perspective on American colonialism.
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Our theme song is 'Mirror; by Chris Fish

Writer Brandon Streussnig joins us to discuss Olivier Assayas's 1996 postmodern masterpiece 'Irma Vep'. It's a revelatory metatextual exploration of creation, capitalism, and cinema - past, present & future.

We discuss the indelible magnetism of star Maggie Cheung (playing a version of herself), the film's considerations of the shifting proclivities of audiences on the global stage in the mid-90s, and the ways in which modern moviemaking seems averse to asking big questions about itself and the ways people watch it. Then, we briefly discuss Assayas's return to the property in the form of a brand new HBO miniseries that loses none of the potency of the original a quarter century later.

Follow Brandon Streussnig on Twitter.

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Our theme song is "Mirror" by Chris Fish

Evan MacDonald from the Kino Lefter Podcast joins Aaron in the Hit Factory to discuss Whit Stillman's 1990 directorial debut 'Metropolitan'. We discuss the recent death knell for the movie theater experience, the utopian socialism of Charles Fourier, and the profound inferiority complex plaguing the elite class. Check out and subscribe to Kino Lefter for more awesome socialist movie content.

San Francisco District 5 Supervisor Dean Preston is the first Democratic Socialist elected to local office in over 40 years. He joins Hit Factory to discuss national and local developments within the labor movement as well as some noteworthy San Francisco political projects like free public transit and a first-of-its-kind public banking institution. Learn more about Dean and the initiatives he is supporting in San Francisco here.
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Support Hit Factory by subscribing at www.patreon.com/hitfactorypod

Director/Programmer of Drunken Film Fest Oakland and co-host of Wiseman Podcast Arlin Golden joins Aaron to discuss Chris Smith's 1999 documentary 'American Movie', a story of artistic determination, male friendship, and one man's struggle to achieve The American Dream amidst the industrial decay of the Rust Belt Midwest.

We discuss the fascinating once-in-a-lifetime dynamicism of Smith's subject Mark Borchardt, praise the film's brilliant examination the sociopolitical conditions of working class America, and investigate the ethical and artistic criticisms of the movie's construction.

Follow Arlin Golden on Twitter.

Read "American Movie at 20: why this portrait of a working-class Wisconsin auteur endures" by filmmaker Robert Greene.

Listen and Subscribe to Wiseman Podcast.

Check out Mike Ott's film 'Kid Icarus' on Tubi.

Get access to all of our premium episodes and bonus content by becoming a Hit Factory Patron for just $5/month.
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Our theme song is "Mirror" by Chris Fish.