Episode Collection: Year 5

Sex-fueld southern movies with racial components of varying degrees. Hip hop stars. What Double Feature can give you. Finally, the Double Feature secret. Who is this Craig Brewer guy? How do you describe Black Snake Moan? Not a tribute, not a throwback. Deceptive marketing that’s unexpected for not being THAT kind of deceptive. Morality, where’s the goddamn morality. Terriers died too quickly. Chaining your white ladies up in the house. Christina Ricci and the sex. What are the racial issues? Are there racial issues? Is the issues that Eric can’t see the racism? The infamous electric guitar thunderstorm scene. Why people have actually seen Monster’s Ball. The thing no one wants to admin to. Strip ’em naked! Marc Forster has made films. Terrible father movies. Letting it all roll off. Death row films (unfairly) support pacifism. Racial overtones. Undertones? Overtones? The ending of Monster’s Ball is so fucking cool. Continue reading →

One-off slasher films. Horror movie comfort food. Additional content! Maniac. The old HGL blood feel. The first person look into a killer’s mind. Waking up in the bedroom of a murderer. Psychology, the real killer! The long con and a lengthy disguise. Behind the scenes as Tom Savini does it again. In a world of terrible 80s slasher films ending, a defense of Maniac’s final act. Intruder. Scott Spiegel. The Sam Raimi relationship. Influence. Things Ted Raimi tells you without telling you anything. Deaths in style! The first girl, the final girl. Something you never see anywhere else. Continue reading →

Groups of kids who have no business kicking ass. Can you dig it is sampled on the song “The Rape” by the hip hop artist Cubbiebear. Warriors, come out and play! The all gang truce. Cops, troublemakers, and the DJ. The Baseball Furies and vest-infused dance-offs. Double Feature talks about the chase scene. What does The Warriors have to say about women in their universe? An excuse for violence and a reminder about romanticization. Red Dawn wastes no time. Why post-apocalyptica? Gorilla warfare. World War 2, the Cold War, and the fictional war. Do the toughest kids on the block really have to fight? Lack of close-ups. Continue reading →

The friends you take on journeys through solitude. Moon, a film by Duncan Jones. David Bowie’s secret son. A look at Clint Mansell’s past. Accessible, catch pop scores. Moon as a tiny personal space film. Doing space differently. Space is fucking bright! The whatever device leads to enigmatic science fiction. Unraveling the twists. Sam Rockwell’s acting range. Siri, HAL, and the growing public interest in artificial intelligence. The HAL problem. What actors bring to a film before the first frame. Gerty, another example of a different take to a familiar sci-fi convention. The Trip invokes a culture shock on Double Feature. Unfairly lumping all british films together as if that’s helpful in the slightest. Starting at the surface. More than impressions. The treatment of food and life in The Trip vs food and life in Sideways. Returning home. Continue reading →

Two sides of the same coin. Kickstarter incentives. Shame. One sheets! Aesthetics, subtlety and subtext. Sex clubs and violence. Speculate on all the things! Acting challenges. Differing accounts of what may have happened. The facts. Sissy and Brandon. Interpretation of characters and conflicts. Reading into it too much. Family and companionship. New York and The Standard. I Saw the Devil shows the killer. Blood in the snow. Contrast. Kim and Jang. What makes a monster? Moral ambiguity. Conditioning. Capital punishment. Alive enough to kill again. What are the important differences between a man out for revenge and the killer who wronged him in the first place? The spectrum of monsters. Humanism’s take on revenge and murder. Murder and rape are both terrible, but people will still argue about which is worse. Who saw the devil? Did revenge satisfy? Continue reading →

Stand up comedians turned directors! An update on All the Boys Love Mandy Lane. Have people actually seen these films? Cliches that disappeared from popular consciousness. Note to self: you get raped in prison. Christopher MacDonald won’t leave Double Feature alone. Who or what is Norm MacDonald? The marketplace of sketch comedy. Chris Farley, Chevy Chase, and a strange new premise. Norm MacDonald Reacts to Things. Bob Saget completes dirty works. Heavy realizations. Fear of coping out in a dark comedy. Another idea for a Dirty Work double feature. Pootie Tang: Sine Your Pitty on the Runny Kine. Understanding Pootie Tang. Starting in accessibility. Who made Pootie Tang and why? Getting harder before it gets easier. Louis CK background, including a primer on Louie. What the studio did to the movie in editing. What’s Chris Rock all about? Satirization without mimicry. Where did the idea come from? Ebonics, Jivetalk, and none of that. What we can learn from Pootie Tangs’ silent song. What a movie in jibberish shows us about language and communication. Anti-Comedy, anti-humor, and the death of the punchline. Eric tells the Shaggy Dog joke. Continue reading →

The four Marx brothers. The difference HD actually makes. The iconography of Groucho Marx. Where did the musical comedy go? The modern comedy troupe. The infamous face. Playing off Groucho. The influence of Duck Soup on comedy. Moments paid tribute to countless times. Why fixate on war? Indie Game: The Movie and digital distribution. The gaming economy. What’s exciting about small teams. Distinct art styles foster buzz and name recognition. The C Word. Sincere emotional connection to pixel art. Multiple roles you wouldn’t expect one individual to carry. Art in a vacuum, revisited. Great films aren’t the same as Favorite Films. The anxiety and stress that goes with small team development. The greatest feeling imaginable. Success and the inevitable return. Continue reading →

Double Feature faces women in cult film, sci-fi and exploitation. The final hours of Michael’s Kickstarter. Monster or Humanoids from the Deep? Re-release and cash in! Dead dogs and dead humans. How to ruin a party, fill time, and get fucked. Ventriloquism as an aphrodisiac. The mysterious harp score. Keeping your audience in the dark. Barbara Peters, female director! Justifying a serious conversation about women for a movie that shouldn’t be taken seriously. How a target audience informs film analysis. The Bechdel test. What criteria do you use? The message is: Mars Needs Women. Larry Buchanan. Similarities and differences between the films of Edward D Wood Jr. Stock fucking footage. Ed Wood’s flower shop. A serious drama. What does Mars Needs Women think about Earth’s most desirable women? Coming for your women. Having sex with your women. Making babies with your women. What is this genre really talking about? Continue reading →

Arnold Schwarzenegger. Ivan Reitman produces every film, and Linda Hunt isn’t really in any of them. The humor of Arnold Schwarzenegger in Kindergarten Cop. Weird Arnold faces. Cullen Crisp. 90s moms, up to no good. Mommy and daddy issues. Who is you daddy and what does he do? A PG-13 take on R rated subject matter. The moral responsibility of Hollywood. If You Seek Amy. Detective John Kimball’s Ferret. Revisiting twenty year old franchises. Stop! Or My Mom Will Shoot! An action comedy with action. A bit of Golden Girls History. Demasculinizing the Man’s Man. Standing up for a movie that’s no one’s favorite. THE THREE POINT SCALE. Before films could talk about gangs as more complex than simple monsters. Double Feature tries to figure out a real man. Mocking your role model. As I say, not as I do. The evolving role of masculinity in film and television. Continue reading →

A spontaneous Phillip K Dick double feature looks into the past and into the future. Podcasting in an artistic vacuum. Back at Chicago’s Edgewater Beach Hotel. An all-star cast for what could have been a sci-fi blockbuster. Ben Affleck runs from a puzzle. John Woo and Hong Kong action films. HAMSTER DANCE. Buying into the objects. Positive looks at film continues with a potential future direction for Double Feature. Silly Hong Kong meets American Tech-Heavy Sci Fi. The influence of Minority Report. The lesser emphasized Phillip K Dick themes. Are you guilty before you commit a crime? Fixed destiny time travel. The Sacco and Vanzetti case. How you pitch Next to your friends. Going nuclear. Las Vegas magicians. Is next for you? The point of no return. At the heart of Next. Revisiting how long you can spend in a dream. An FBI agent in the real world. Designed to cop-out. Continue reading →

Live music that causes things to explode. This Is Spinal Tap as a Christopher Guest cult film. Faux-Documentary-Epic. All your bass are belong to us. Big bottom. Live Spinal Tap shows. Rob Reiner. it’s just like where you work! Band experience. Making it up, for real. Theories on born artists. Industry backed rock. The Ramones relationship with punk rock. Rock N Roll High School, accessibility and exploitation. The KKK took my baby away. A precursors to 80s scoundrel comedy. Whatever happened to P.J. Soles? Continue reading →

Double Feature returns to space! Galaxy Quest. Star Trek. Fandom. The human advantage. Michael appreciates humanity. I am not Spock. When skepticism brushes against cynicism. An appeal to excitement. My people make crazy choices in movies. Happenstance fame. The mind of Will Wheton. Irwin Allen’s Rock n Roll. The Adventures of Buckaroo Banzai Across the 8th Dimension. Buckaroo Bonzai isn’t a real person. THE SAND BEETLE. Using the new JEFF GOLDBLUM SANITY METER to rate Jeff Goldblum in Buckaroo Bonzai. The end credits / the trailer. Who’s in on the joke? Continue reading →

Two horror films of the same era using children to incite fear. The magic that is Orphan. Piano moms. Scenes from the arthouse. Some people don’t like eye balls being squished…Eric doesn’t like children. Genuine relationships. Ghost cold and the skeptical father. Alcoholics Anonymous. The world’s most beautiful house. Bathroom mirrors. Defying expectation. Paintings. Esther is amazing. Sexuality and youth. Manipulating children. Using maturity to dodge cliches. A discussion on twists. Insidious and the sideshow. Patrick Wilson. Hammer Horror. Tongue-in-cheek-score. Coming back to scare shots! Yer kid is haunted. Mixing a mythos. Wide angle, wide shots. The visual of Insidious. EVP and modern technology. Continue reading →

Old school…Canadian horror? Jack Brooks Monster Slayer and the Music Box Massacre. The meaning of “Canadian-American” film. The jungles of Canada. First time director Jon Knautz. Robert England could do anything, and he does horror. Foreshadowing via an actor’s known work. Score, for jokes and mysterious adventure! Eating the heart. Using practical effects to pay tribute. A unique distribution of action. Alan Tudyk as Tucker in Tucker and Dale vs Evil. Real tales from the south. The most interesting place in a scene. Confirmatory evidence. EVIL TEA. Cinematic elements that make a slasher movie scary. Why some people see a cabin and think vacation homes, while others see the same cabin and fear their lives. Continue reading →

Trapped in a place. Micro budgets, micro titles. Different takes on the immersion of Buried. Film making exercises. How anyone can make a 90 minute film. The Buried title sequence. Getting the audience to tell the story. The tools. What is the root of the cynicism? Questioning motives. Pontypool. Stephen McHattie as Grant Mazzy. Shock Jocks. Sydney Briar is alive. The love of memes. Rebecca Black and the power of exploitation. Missing cat. Alternate takes post-viewing. Things that could be clues. Are you meant to solve Pontypool? Practical skepticism in real time. Breaking down. It’s terrifying, and it has to get worse before it gets better. THE MORPHEOUS EFFECT. Language. Continue reading →

Double Feature barley makes it. Last minute from a tiny closet in the historic Edgewater Beach Hotel. The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari, a silent film. German Expressionism through the eyes of Time Buton. Surreal, gravity defying sets. Explaining the Mystery Spot. An asylum for the cartoonishly insane. The origins of the twist, and the lesser cited origins of bookends. The mundane work environment of Cabin in the Woods. The physical layers of the film and what they represent. Dark art wolf make out party games. Mythology and roles. Joss Whedon’s refusal to throw away characters. Playing What-If. The bike looks like something it’s not. Commenting on the cynicism. Breaking the perfect ten, over and over. Nine Inch Nails’ Last. Continue reading →

Fantasy worlds that use giant friends to different means. Brad Bird and The Iron Giant. Trends in animation over time. A call for more interesting animation. Eric somehow thinks it’s a good idea to credit David Fincher for all 2:35:1 movies. Why you always end up following the Hogarth character. The family unit. Not just a stand-in for dad. The government doesn’t know everything. Alarmism throughout the decades. The lessons from a terrifying death robot. Rallying behind Vin Disel. Studio Ghibli, Hayao Miyazaki, and Toho films. Tromo’s involvement in My Neighbor Totoro. Revisiting dubbing. What makes Totoro Eric’s favorite Miyazaki. Sickness in animation. The girls’ reality. Conventions of escapism. A fantasy world without conflict. Totoros, the Catbus, and various other creatures. Deconstructing the allure of the King Totoro. Continue reading →

Starting year five with two films you can’t see! It’s true – All the Boys Love Many Lane. Why wasn’t this released? What would the boys do for Mandy Lane? Out of the closet atheist actor Amber Heard. Using the blunt force of a gun as your weapon. When no one else is around. When do you know? Manipulation. A found footage film that actually does what we always just pretend found footage films do. Predicting the financial success and critical reaction of The Poughkeepsie Tapes based on nothing but wild speculation. Characteristics of the water street butcher. B-stories. Continue reading →