Author Archives: Alice Thirteen

Destroyer + You Were Never Really Here

Posted on February 25, 2021 by Alice Thirteen
Destroyer + You Were Never Really Here

Two emotionally damaged people go on the warpath. Creating a pitch for Destroyer. The marketing and presentation of Destroyer – which buttons to push? Not the first Karyn Kusama for Double Feature. Taboo sexual encounters for the record books. Elevated police procedurals, a twist on structure, and a different kind of Los Angeles. You Were Never Really Here gets another half-hearted pitch in an attempt to lure out it’s themes. Bizarre structure strikes again. You Were Never Really Here as a picture of toxic masculinity. Continue reading →

Killapalooza 40: Maniac Cop

Posted on February 18, 2021 by Alice Thirteen
Killapalooza 40: Maniac Cop

Maniac Cop films 1-3. A look at the entire Maniac Cop franchise, William Lustig, Larry Cohen, and Robert Z’Dar’s Maniac Cop! Trying to talk about killer cops after the popular conscious has realized that cops are a self-sorted bunch of killers. Can a killer cop franchise still be fun while we’re recognizing with ACAB? Surprisingly yes, and it might be thanks to the extra layer the conversation has added to otherwise deliciously-fluffy films of 80s VHS violence. The cop, the fire suit, and the ongoing attempt to find plot. Double Feature continues to write loglines, and for the first time, maybe the first loglines a film has ever had written. Continue reading →

Elle + The Piano Teacher

Posted on February 16, 2021 by Alice Thirteen
Elle + The Piano Teacher

Psychosexual arthouse films are not for everyone. Actually, it could be argued that they’re not for anyone. This is not the most important conversation in cinema – it’s what people who see too many weird movies discuss in the safety of arthouses. However, after nearly a year of arthouses being closed around the country (and everyone having seen too many weird movies at home), the arthouse is very much missed. This episode examines two films of Isabelle Huppert, giving space to these very provocative conversations spurned by the films of directors Paul Verhoeven and Michael Haneke. Is it for everyone? No. Is it for anyone? That remains to be seen. Are there merit to these films? Absolutely. Double Feature gives fair warning, then breaks down Elle and The Piano Teacher. Continue reading →

Bullitt + The Last Black Man in San Francisco

Posted on February 4, 2021 by Alice Thirteen
Bullitt + The Last Black Man in San Francisco

Double Feature takes a trip to San Francisco to welcome its newest resident. Two films taking place in the city by the bay. Taking on the plot of Bullitt instead of spending twenty minutes talking about the edit of that infamous chase scene. Flying over the SF hills. The bizarre people people Bullitt. What The Last Black Man in San Francisco says about the city. Gentrification as a universal human issue. The ever-changing face of the golden city. The Paris of the West! Fog City, Gay Mecca, The City that Knows How, seriously, how many more of these could one want? American cinema would have you believe all its citizens live on farms and honestly it’s garbage. Continue reading →

No Country for Old Men + Yellow Rose

Posted on January 28, 2021 by Alice Thirteen
No Country for Old Men + Yellow Rose

Double Feature says goodbye to Texas! Two films with differing takes on Texas. Keeping the film community together. No Country for Old Men and the ever changing world in which we live in. Yellow Rose is a very modern Austin. On the ground insight. While both films are set in Texas and feature strong performances, one is known for its intense atmosphere and sharp dialogue, while the explores themes of immigration, family, and the pursuit of dreams in a more emotionally driven manner. Dig deeper into the unique stylistic choices and themes present in both films and how they contribute to cinema both intimate and broad. Continue reading →

Grave of the Fireflies + Kubo and the Two Strings

Posted on January 21, 2021 by Alice Thirteen
Grave of the Fireflies + Kubo and the Two Strings

Studio Ghibli meet back up with stop motion! If you must blink, do it now. Pay careful attention to everything you see and hear, no matter how unusual it may seem. And please be warned, if you fidget, if you look away, if you forget any part of what I tell you, even for an instant, then our hero will surely perish. Seriously, stop looking at your phone. Goddamnit, did you hear none of that? Go back and re-read it. Ok, but you can’t let your eyes de-focus. Just one time, try to take in the words. One fucking time. Please. Continue reading →

Birdman + Punch-Drunk Love

Posted on January 14, 2021 by Alice Thirteen
Birdman + Punch-Drunk Love

Actors breaking free from their shackles. Keaton is back in the rumor mill, and this time it isn’t a Beetlejuice remake. Whether he’s going to play Batman again or not, he will certainly always be the Birdman. Michael Koester insists on calling the 2014 film Birdman “Birdman or (The Unexpected Virtue of Ignorance).” Why would you start the parenthetical after the word “or”? Shouldn’t it be Birdman (or The Unexpected Virtue of Ignorance)? The single take and how to solve the problem of scene tempo. Adam Sandler, also doing whatever the Adam Sandler version of Beetlejuice 2 is. Punch-Drunk Love is also a weird film for Paul Thomas Anderson. Continue reading →

Cooties + Little Monsters

Posted on January 7, 2021 by Alice Thirteen
Cooties + Little Monsters

Spontaneous tiny humans zombie double feature. The secret indie film pitch deck. How to see the lookbook for Cooties. The cast and that timing and the reaction. How films with kids can achieve an extra level of subversion. Jonathan Milott and Cary Murnion are HONEST. Little Monsters, but not the one that two people are expected to spend 20 minutes breaking down. What is Little Monsters actually about. The pandemic catches up to Double Feature. Being alive is still hard (and it’s not even 2020 anymore). Continue reading →

Horse Girl + Possessor

Posted on December 31, 2020 by Alice Thirteen
Horse Girl + Possessor

Sneaking in two final movies on the last day of 2020. Prepare for intense rides! It’s time to enter someone else’s mind, and it begins with Horse Girl. Determining how much is real and how much is artistic license. Using the performance of an actor as a tool to sell something in the plot that wouldn’t work otherwise. The level message at the fucked up end of Horse Girl. Possessor, a shock as seen by people who who are new to Brandon Cronenberg. The unexpected delivery. The highest compliment you can pay a film. Searching for an undiscovered sex act. Or really just anything in a film that no one has seen before. The surprising end to 2020: it only takes two movies to discover hope for a year many wrote off. Continue reading →

Mank + The Assistant

Posted on December 24, 2020 by Alice Thirteen
Mank + The Assistant

Time is running out for 2020. The invisible authority and the roman à clef. David Fincher and Netflix. What the film Mank says it’s about vs what it is actually about. Imagining the story of Mank just 25 years ago. A film torn from today’s headlines, masquerading as a story from the 30s. No one else wants to talk about how gross classic Hollywood was. Why are we still romanticizing this old way of thinking? Nine Inch Nails also released a Ghosts double album this year: [HALO 33] Ghosts V: Together and [HALO 34] Ghosts VI: Locusts. The Assistant as an example of film à clef. When social injustice becomes a cliche. Finding a unique vantage point into a story the audience knows. How long before the whistleblower can blow the whistle? Continue reading →