Classic Movies Live!

This week on Classic Movies Live!, our hosts are talking about Stephen King! An unbelievably prolific writer, King has produced dozens of novels and even more short stories, several of which have gone on to become some of the most iconic films of all time. The Shining, The Shawshank Redemption, Stand By Me, and who could forget Gerald's Game? In the first half of the year of our lord 2025, two of the hottest directors working today have adapted some of King's yet-unadapted short stories, and the results, while fully in different genres, are shockingly similar. From the director of Longlegs, Osgoode Perkins, comes The Monkey, a horror-comedy about an evil -- or cursed -- toy monkey that brings death to a small town in Maine. And from Mike Flanagan, creator of series such as The Haunting of Hill House, Midnight Mass, and the film adaptation of Doctor Sleep, comes The Life of Chuck, a feel-good story about an accountant told in reverse -- and also the winner of TIFF 2024's People's Choice Award. While the films may not seem similar, both deal with themes of fate and making the most of life... though they may reach somewhat different conclusions. Join us today as we compare and contrast two by King. Should you check them out? What are the stories saying? And how does King think we should spend the time we have left? For more on The Monkey, check out this interview conducted by Zachary Lee!

It's Franchise Movie May, and our hosts are back with another absolute heater of a sequel! A movie 14 years in the making, Final Destination: Bloodlines resurrects the turn of the century horror series with another entry that will make you afraid of everything from trampolines to rotating doors! In Bloodlines, a woman avoids a deadly premonition, saving dozens -- maybe even hundreds -- of lives, only to discover that Death comes for everyone, anyway. Over fifty years later, Death has nearly balanced the books... all that's left is to take the rest of the woman's family. Bloodlines puts a unique spin on the classic Final Destination formula, but does it work? Tune in for our hosts' thoughts on the sixth Final Destination, and where it ranks among the series! Be warned: this is a full spoilers discussion!

This week on Classic Movies Live, our hosts talk about the latest Marvel movie, in which a lovable group of ne'er-do-wells team up to do good, instead of evil. Black Widow, The Sentry, Ghost, John Walker, Red Guardian, and Taskmaster: together, they're part of a team that shares a name with the in-universe president of the United States (but officially isn't named after him), the Thunderbolts*! But you might have heard of them by a different name... Our hosts break down the MCU's exciting crack at a Florence Pugh/Lewis Pullman-led supervillain movie. Is this justt The Suicide Squad with a new coat of paint? Or does it stand out as something truly special? Or at least... kind of special? Also in this episode: has spoiler-culture gotten out of hand? Note that there will be full spoilers for Thunderbolts* here, as we discuss the very nature of spoilers themselves! Jeff refers to a review by Darren Mooney in this episode, mistakenly attributing it to Stephen Gillespie. Both are fantastic reviewers you should check out!

This week on Classic Movies Live, our hosts lock in to talk about the latest from Ryan Coogler, the director of Black Panther: Wakanda Forever: Sinners! Set in the Mississippi Delta in 1932, Sinners has it all: Blues music! Irish jigs! War veterans! Vampires! It's part horror movie, part musical, part period drama. Michael B Jordan stars twice! Sinners is a movie truly filled to bursting with ideas, so much so that our hosts can only barely scratch the surface. How does Coogler present those ideas? Does it work? Tune in and find out on today's episode of Classic Movies Live! Are you interested in seeing Sinners, but want to know the best way to do so? Check out Ryan Coogler's breakdown of the different presentation formats of his latest movie here!

And we're back! After a well-deserved break, Pierre and Jeff are back to share their thoughts on the new Christopher Landon movie: Drop! In Drop, Meghann Fahy plays Violet, a widow on her first date in years with a handsome, mild-mannered photojournalist. But things quickly go sideways when Violet starts receiving threatening memes via DigiDrop (a legally-distinct AirDrop alternative). Someone has broken into Violet's home, and is going to hurt her son and sister unless she kills her date... or figures out who is sending the drops! It's rare to see a movie about evil memes, but it's always a blast! And there's certainly more to Landon's latest thriller than meets the eye! Could Drop, in fact, be a future classic? Tune in as our hosts break it down... live! ...and if you're not sold on the movie just yet, check out Jeff's 4-star review over on Contra Zoom Pod

There's only a few days left until the 97th Oscars, so on this special episode of Classic Movies Live!, our hosts are taking two more Best Picture nominees! From Brazil, I'm Still Here tells the story of Eunice Paiva, a human rights lawyer and mother of five whose husband is disappeared during the Brazilian dictatorship in 1970. Fernanda Torres gives a commanding performance as Paiva, whose memory of her husband persists long after all hope is gone that he may one day return. I'm Still Here is nominated for Best Picture, Best International Feature, and Best Actress for Torres. As you'll soon see, it's a powerhouse in each of those three! Nominated for Best Picture and Best Adapted Screenplay, Nickel Boys marks the narrative feature debut of RaMell Ross. Ross explodes onto the scene with one of the most politically poignant and visually powerful American films of the 21st century. Are we overselling it? Absolutely not! Nickel Boys may only be up for two awards, but it deserves a whole lot more than that! And finally on today's episode, our hosts wrap up their thoughts on 2024 in movies! What are Pierre's picks in each category? What about Jeff's? What's the final word before the Oscars? All this and more in today's episode of Classic Movies Live! If you'd like to read more about I'm Still Here, check out Jeff's review for ContraZoomPod!

This week on Classic Movies Live! we've got yet another Best Picture nominee, and Jeff's favourite film of the year: The Brutalist! An astonishingly big movie made on an astonishingly small budget, Brady Corbet's third feature is a towering film about the immigrant experience in turbulent post-WWII America. Following Laszlo Toth from the early 50s to the mid-70s, The Brutalist examines the nature of patronage, the interplay between art and commerce, xenophobia and antisemitism, and much more. It's a hard movie to pin down, but our hosts sure tried! The Brutalist is nominated for 10 Oscars, include Best Picture, Best Actor for Adrien Brody, Best Supporting Actor and Actress for Guy Pearce and Felicity Jones, Best Director for Brady Corbet, and a whole host of technical awards. We're going to talk about every one of those... live! If you'd like to read more about The Brutalist, check out this amazing piece by Corey Atad!

This week on Classic Movies Live! we're talking about more music! This time, a story about a real musician: Bob Dylan! In A Complete Unknown, James Mangold directs Timothee Chalamet as Bob Dylan in the lead up to the folk singer-songwriter doing the unthinkable: going electric. Also starring Monica Barbaro as Joan Baez and Edward Norton as Pete Seeger, Unknown shows the effect Dylan has on the people around him, and the way that times were a-changin' in the mid-60s. A Complete Unknown is nominated for 8 Oscars, including Best Picture, Best Actor for Chalamet, Best Supporting Actress for Barbaro, Best Supporting Actor for Norton, and Best Director for Mangold. Does it deserve all the praise? Can art change the world? Tune in today and find out... live!

This week on Classic Movies Live, we're next in line to talk about the buzziest film of this Oscar season! From director Jacques Audiard, Emilia Perez is an epic crime-thriller narco-musical about a transgender druglord coming face to face with the crimes of her past. From the day it premiered at Cannes, Emilia Perez has stunned and polarized audiences and critics alike. It took home Best Actress at Cannes for all four of its lead actresses, with Jury president Greta Gerwig praising the bold performances, but would go on to be reviled by many trans and Mexican critics for what many consider an offensive, stereotype laden portrayal of communities Audiard admits to knowing little about. Of course, no community is a monolith, and Emilia Perez certainly has plenty of defenders, most notably in the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, which saw fit to nominate the film for an astounding 13 Oscars. In today's bonus-sized episode, Jeff and guest host Ben intend to talk at least a little bit about each of those 13 nominations, as well as how the film works as a film and as a musical. And of course, because it's unavoidable, our hosts break down the most recent controversies surrounding the film and its star, Karla Sofia Gascon. Pierre is absent this episode, but will be back for the next one! If you'd like to hear more from Ben, you can check out his last appearance on the show just one week ago, when he joined to talk about Wicked! You can also check out his YouTube channel, where he talks about movies, TV, and musicals. Note: Late into this episode, Jeff mentions a tweet by Karla Sofia Gascon disparaging Selena Gomez. While Gascon's Twitter account has plenty of controversial takes, this one is apparently fake., or at least hasn't been verified.

It's our first episode post-Oscar nominations, and we're starting off by talking about one of the biggest movies up for awards. The cinematic event of 2024, a movie nearly 30 years in the making, Wicked! Directed by John M. Chu, Wicked adapts the first act of the smash hit Broadway musical prequel to The Wizard of Oz! Long before the arrival of Dorothy, a young, green-skinned woman named Elphaba Thropp (Cynthia Erivo) meets Galinda Upland (Ariana Grande) at Shiz University. Though Galinda aspires to become a sorceress, it's Elphaba who harbours the talent for magic. The two form a tense rivalry that blossoms into an uneven friendship, all the while living through the rise of the wannabe-fascist huckster The Wizard of Oz (Jeff Goldbum). Joining us on this episode is everyone's favourite guest, Ben! Our resident Broadway Boy was last heard on Classic Movies Live – Season 5, Episode 2: Maestro almost a year ago! For this episode, Ben's come ready to talk about one of his favourite musicals, and how it made the jump from stage to screen. Ben has lots of connections to Wicked, not the least of which is this recent series of interviews he conducted with many of the behind-the-scenes talent! You can see more of Ben over on his Youtube Channel! And of course, he'll be back next week...

This week on Classic Movies Live, we're talking about another big winner from 2024's Cannes Film Festival! From director Coralie Fargeat, The Substance tells the story of Elisabeth Sparkle, an aging Hollywood star who, after being dismissed from a popular exercise show, begins taking a black market experimental drug called the Substance in a desperate bid to regain her former glory. Intoxicated by fame after the Substance gives her a second chance at youth, Elisabeth soon finds herself at odds with the younger persona granted to her by the experimental drug... The Substance is a brilliant showcase for Demi Moore, Margaret Qualley, and Dennis Quaid, who all shine in Fargeat's award-winning screenplay. Part body-horror, part comedy, part poignant social commentary, The Substance is a blunt instrument with a little bit of something for everybody. So which parts did our hosts latch onto? Tune in today as Pierre and Jeff discuss another prospective Best Picture nominee... live! This episode features a brief discussion of the LA fires. If you'd like to learn more about how to donate to those in need, check out this article from the LA Times. This episode is dedicated to the memory of Julie Wisehart.

Welcome back to the sixth season of Classic Movies Live! We're starting 2025 off strong by talking about the Palme d'Or winner from Cannes 2024! Sean Baker's Anora follows the titular sex worker played by Mikey Madison as she's swept up in a whirlwind romance with Vanya Zakharov (Mark Eydelshteyn). But what at first seems a modern Cinderella story quickly becomes something much more frustrating when Vanya runs away to evade his Russian oligarch parents. Reluctantly paired with Vanya's godfather Toros and his henchmen Garnik and Igor, Anora sets out to find Vanya before his parents arrive in the US. Anora is a spin on the classic screwball comedy that sets up all the classic tropes. But can it deliver on them in a satisfying way? In this episode, our hosts discuss their first Best Picture nominee of 2025! For more about Anora, check out this article on Vulture: https://www.vulture.com/article/anoras-ending-is-no-fairy-tale.html

Another New Year, another new Year In Review on Classic Movies Live! In 2024, we've talked about everything from indies to blockbusters, sequels we thought would never get made to timeless classics that have been remade again and again. We talked about Oscar winners, Oscar hopefuls, and movies that got passed over entirely. And over the year, we've seen some absolutely fantastic contributions to film that deserve their own shoutouts! In this episode, our hosts discuss their favourite films from 2024 over five categories: Best Screenplay, Best Direction, Best Supporting Performance, Best Lead Performance, and Best Film! Have you seen all our picks? Tune in for our thoughts on some of the best in cinema 2024 had to offer, and check out our Twitter in the coming days for Pierre and Jeff's Top 10 lists of the year! We'll be back in 2025 to talk about more Classic Movies... Live!

If you're listening on the day this episode releases, Merry Christmas! On this year's very special Christmas Day episode of Classic Movies Live, our hosts discuss the most important Christmas classic movie of all time: It's A Wonderful Life. Starring James Stewart and directed by Frank Capra, It's A Wonderful Life tells the entire history of George Bailey, a banker from Bedford Falls who repeatedly falls on hard times. Like a 20th Century Ebenezer Scrooge, Bailey is hardened by a difficult life, but unlike the Dickensian character, he refuses to let it affect his ability to do the right thing. When Bailey finally reaches his breaking point, he wishes in a moment of weakness that he was never born, and experiences a terrifying vision of a world without his guiding hand. Though far from universally loved in its day, It's A Wonderful Life has become inseparable from the Christmas season, and broadly re-evaluated as one of the greatest films of all time. So this year, our hosts are going to take a look. Is it a classic? Obviously yes! What do Pierre and Jeff think about it? Tune in to find out!

Merry Christmas yet again, dear listeners! This week on Classic Movies Live!, it's our second Christmas episode of 2024! In this episode, Pierre and Jeff discuss A Christmas Carol, but not just any version: The 1992 adaptation by Brian Henson featuring Michael Caine as Ebenezer Scrooge! The first Muppets film produced after the death of the visionary Jim Henson, The Muppet Christmas Carol puts a comedic spin on Charles Dickens' classic tale of the miserable miser Scrooge. But despite the presence of Henson's iconic puppets, this version of A Christmas Carol is earnest and full of heart. It's not just A Christmas Carol with Muppets; it's a brilliantly-written novel musical presentation of a story so often adapted there shouldn't even be room for more. So what makes the Muppets and their take on Scrooge so special? Tune in as our hosts dissect Brian Henson's directorial feature debut!

Classic Movies Live! is a Canadian podcast, so sometimes we talk about Canadian movies! In today's episode, our hosts discuss the sophomore feature from Ontario-based writer/director Megan Park, My Old Ass! In the last week of her summer vacation before she moves to Toronto to attend U of T, Elliot (Maisy Stella) takes mushrooms with her friends and meets her future self (Aubrey Plaza). But the kicker? After she's sobered up the next morning, she can still contact her future self over the phone under the contact "My Old Ass". My Old Ass explores ideas we've all thought about: if you could talk to your younger self, what would you say? If your older self told you something, how seriously would you take it? Can you change the past at all, because if not, does any of that even matter? These questions are all at the centre of My Old Ass, a deceptively touching coming of age movie. And with that summary out of the way, you'll probably want to know if Pierre and Jeff thought it was any good? Tune in to find out!

Merry Christmas! This week on Classic Movies Live!, Pierre and Jeff usher in the Holiday Season with a new Christmas classic from one Mr. Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson. In Red One, Santa Claus (J. K. Simmons) has been kidnapped. With the fate of the holiday on the line -- since no one can do what Santa does, and no one's ever been able to do what Santa does -- the big man's head of security Callum Drift must team up with Jack O'Malley, a hacker with a heart of gold, to put the yuletide back on track. From the director of Walk Hard: The Dewey Cox Story, Red One is the most expensive Christmas film released in years. The Rock is on record saying that seeing Red One on an IMAX screen is "Game Over"... So is that a good thing? Our hosts investigate on today's episode of Classic Movies Live!

This week on Classic Movies Live! our hosts conduct their yearly Ridley Scott check-in! 24 years after the original, Scott returns to Rome for Gladiator II! In this iteration, Denzel Washington joins Pedro Pascal and Paul Mescal in a bread-and-circuses plott that threatens to unravel the city of Rome itself! Could Mescal in this film go toe-to-toe with Russel Crowe in Gladiator? How evil are the villains of this movie? Is Denzel the best actor of this or any other generation? All these questions and more in today's episode of Classic Movies Live!

It's time for episode six of Director Showdown! In this series, we pit 64 of the biggest directors to debut since 1998 against each other in an elimination bracket to determine who will walk away the greatest director of the last 26 years! In the last episode, we looked at forbidden summer love, and the impact that a whirlwind romance can have on a person. By way of Todd Field's In the Bedroom and Luca Guadagnino's Call Me By Your Name, we examined the ways a skilled director can convey the rise and sudden fall of a relationship. In a hotly-debated match, Guadagnino ultimately emerged the victor! This week, we're setting out to find his next opponent... Born in 1960 in London England, Joanna Hogg made her feature directorial debut in 2007 with Unrelated, introducing the world to a then-unknown actor named Tom Hiddleston. Hogg and Hiddleston would continue to work closely together for 2010's Archipelago and 2013's Exhibition. After a six-year hiatus, Hogg would return to film with a trilogy of films for A24: The Souvenir, The Souvenir Part II, and The Eternal Daughter. The Souvenir duology would earn Hogg widespread recognition outside of the UK, along with several nominations at the British Independent Film Awards. Hogg's opponent in this episode is Canadian comedy royalty, the son of Ivan Reitman, Montreal's own Jason Reitman! Reitman would make his debut in 2005 with Thank You for Smoking, before directing the one-two punch of Juno and Up In The Air (starring Anna Kendrick), both of which earned him Academy Award nominations for Best Director. His filmography since has been varied -- as has its critical reception -- but it all culminates in 2024's Telluride-premiering film Saturday Night, a tense, almost-real-time comedy about the making of the very first episode of Saturday Night Live! In this episode, we examine art and the impact it has on an artist. The Souvenir duology draws heavily from Hogg's own past as she reflects and reinterprets her own journey as a filmmaker. Meanwhile, Saturday Night examines the legacy of the longest-running variety show on television through the eyes of the people who made it -- and directed by someone pretty close to the real people he depicts! Joining us on today's episode is Dakota of Contra Zoom Pod! Dakota is a frequent guest who was last heard on the second-ever episode of Director Showdown. On his own site, he's also written about Saturday Night, which he rated 4.5/5 after it's TIFF premiere! Contra Zoom Pod also has a running series on A24 films, which Pierre and Jeff recently joined to discuss The Souvenir duology in more length. This episode was inspired by Rotten Tomatoes' Best Director Showdown, which was conducted among RT users over the summer of 2023. The results of that competition are summarized in this article. Special thanks this week to our good friend Cris, who made the cover art for this episode! Follow her on Instagram, Twitter, and Letterboxd to see more of her artwork, film opinions/reviews, or both!

This week on Classic Movies Live! our hosts discuss the election... of a new Pope! Based on the 2016 novel by Robert Harris, Conclave is a political thriller centred around the selection of the Bishop of Rome. After the death of the pope, Thomas Cardinal Lawrence (Ralph Fiennes) organizes a conclave to determine his successor. While a few popular candidates for the position emerge right away, it's not long before troubling information about several of the cardinals comes to light. It's enough to shake one's faith in the Church... an institution Lawrence has already begun to doubt. This is a spoiler-filled episode without a spoiler warning, so if you want to see Conclave, find the fullest theatre you can and see it with the biggest crowd, then come back and hear Jeff and Pierre discuss this soon-to-be-classic... live! Note: In this episode, Jeff mistakenly claims that John Lithgow was in The Two Popes. This is not true. The actor in The Two Popes was Anthony Hopkins.

This week on Classic Movies Live!, our hosts give you one last dance before you hit the ground! The epic conclusion to Sony's superhero trilogy starring Tom Hardy is out, and our hosts are spending an hour checking in with our good friend Venom! Writer of the previous films Kelly Marcel emerges to pull double-duty on The Last Dance, making her directorial debut to close out the stories of Venom, Eddie Brock, and Mrs. Chen, while opening the door for more exciting (?) avenues for the Sony Universe of Marvel Characters! We covered the second movie in the series, Let There Be Carnage, all the way back in Season 3, so it's an understatement to say we were looking forward to this one! So how does The Last Dance hold up? Can Marcel and Hardy stick the landing on their symbiote series? Find out in this week's episode of Classic Movies Live!

This week on Classic Movies Live! our hosts discuss the sequel to one of Pierre's Top movies of 2022, Smile! Smile 2 stars Naomi Scott as Skye Riley, a popstar preparing for her comeback tour a year after a horrific car crash takes the life of her boyfriend Paul Hudson (Ray Nicholson). Only days before the first show, Riley witnesses the suicide of Lewis Frigoli (Lukas Gage), who bludgeons himself to death while smiling. If you've seen the first movie, you'll know that's a classic case of "Tag! You're cursed!" The border between reality and fantasy fade as Riley reckons with her past, and the crushing responsibility of putting on the greatest show of her life. Now additionally afflicted with a demon that feeds on her insecurities, can Riley overcome the Smile Demon? Audiences and critics have raved about Smile 2, but what do our audiences and critics have to say about it? Find out this week on Classic Movies Live!

This week on Classic Movies Live!, our hosts are excited to break down the latest from visionary animator Chris Sanders. Probably best known for Lilo & Stitch (one of Jeff's favourite movies), and How to Train Your Dragon (widely regarded as one of Dreamworks' best films), Chris Sanders returns to Dreamworks in 2024 for his fifth directorial effort: The Wild Robot! Based on the children's book of the same name by Peter Brown, The Wild Robot stars Lupita Nyong'o as Roz, a robot who takes on a maternal role after finding an orphaned gosling on a strange island. As Roz adapts to her environment, so too does her environment adapt to her, her empathy and compassion gradually spreading across the island. The Wild Robot is a heartwarming story of found family, and, in a way, what it means to be a person. Our hosts have thoughts on the movie! And also thoughts on Sanders, fellow animation director Brad Bird, perpetual wildcard Neil Blomkamp, and much more in today's episode of Classic Movies Live!

Way back in our first season, we covered the original Todd Phillips DC villain origin story, Joker. In 2024, Lady Gaga's Lee Quinzel joins Joaquin Phoenix's Arthur Fleck in the sequel, Joker: Folie à Deux! The second Joker movie is anything but more of the first. Where the first was a straightforward riff on Taxi Driver and The King of Comedy, the sequel is part musical, part courtroom drama, part fever dream, and if it's derivative, it pulls from enough sources that it's hard to call it a riff on anything. But with so many moving parts, does the followup to Phillips' Oscar-winning Venice-darling work? In this episode, Pierre and Jeff reflect on the original Joker, and discuss the merits of its sequel. Hot off the heels of Megalopolis, is it possible we've got another controversial arthouse hit on our hands?

This week on Classic Movies Live!, it's the return of a classic director! Saying Francis Ford Coppola is best known for The Godfather isn't wrong, but it neglects his absurd run of some of the best films ever made. Apocalypse Now, The Conversation, One From the Heart, and of course the other two Godfather films. Not to mention he's the first of many amazing filmmakers to carry the last name Coppola. We've talked about plenty of Coppolas on the show, including Francis' daughter Sofia and nephew Nic Cage, but only in a single episode did we touch on the man himself. But in 2024, Francis Ford returned to theatres with an astoundingly ambitious and confounding opus: Megalopolis. First conceived over 30 years ago, Megalopolis is a passion project Coppola has been trying to figure out how to make ever since. Giancarlo Esposito, who appears in the finished film as Franklyn Cicero, was cast , first read for the film over two decades ago. This year, with a hefty loan and after a frankly nightmarish production, Coppola finally managed to bring his vision to the screen. So is that vision good? Critics have been mixed, but you have yet to hear Jeff and Pierre's takes! Today, our hosts sit down to talk about the experience of seeing Megalopolis in a crowded theatre on opening night. You don't want to miss this episode: clocking in at an hour and a half, our hosts could have gone on for hours with their thoughts about this movie!

This week on Classic Movies Live!, trailer-sensation Speak No Evil! Based on the 2022 Danish film of the same name, Speak No Evil follows an American family as they visit a British family they met at a resort. But the British family -- featuring James McAvoy, Aisling Franciosi, and Dan Hough as a boy without a tongue -- becomes increasingly pushy and uncomfortable to be around. At what point will the Americans say enough is enough and finally leave? And what could be McAvoy's ultimate goal? In this episode, our hosts break down the American version directed by James Watkins, the Danish version directed by Christian Tafdrup, and the idea of remakes in general. Which version is better? Maybe more interestingly: what's actually the difference?

With #TIFF24 now behind us, our hosts are back to talk about the 49th Toronto International Film Festival! On today's episode of Classic Movies Live! Pierre interviews Jeff about his experience at the first TIFF sponsored by Rogers. In particular, our hosts focus in on the movies Dullsvillle and the Doodleverse, It Doesn't Get Any Better Than This, Presence, Saturday Night, Friendship, and Piece By Piece! Tune in to hear (spoiler-free) breakdowns of each of those movies, along with general impressions of this year's festivals, and some teasers of films you might hear about on the show later in the year! If you're interested in seeing It Doesn't Get Any Better Than This, check out the filmmakers' official website for upcoming screenings, or to request a screening near you! After you've listened to this episode, check out some of Jeff's reviews over on Contra Zoom, including Heretic, The Substance, and The Return. Also, Jeff was just featured on the Contra Zoom Pod's own TIFF Wrap-Up, where you can hear him talk about a set of films almost entirely undiscussed on this episode!

You're listening to episode five of Director Showdown! In this series, we pit 64 of the biggest directors to debut since 1998 against each other in an elimination bracket to determine who will walk away the greatest director of the last 26 years! In the last episode we examined two relationships in flux, and what they can tell us about our wider world at large. In the battle between Darren Aronofsky's mother! and Sarah Polley's Take This Waltz, Polley came away the first victor to deviate from the Rotten Tomatoes bracket that inspired ours! Moving on, we're taking another look at relationships from a different angle... Californian director Todd Field, has only three films to his name, but an astounding number of Oscar nominations. Notably, each of his films has managed a Best Actress nomination for its leading lady, though none yet have won. Fittingly, Field's films include complex characters (male and female), the screenplays filled with poignant dialogue and juicy roles. This is perhaps most exemplified in his phenomenal debut In The Bedroom, in which a small-town couple struggles to put their lives back together after tragedy strikes. Squaring up against Field is one of Italy's best living directors, Luca Guadagnino! Hailing from Palermo, Guadagnino has over 10 films under his belt as a director, splitting his time between narrative features and documentaries. In recent years, films like Bones and All, Suspiria, and Challengers have made him a formidable and exciting name in cinema. But the film that really put him on the map was 2017's Call Me By Your Name, which would go on to be nominated for four Academy Awards including Best Picture and Best Actor, finally winning for Best Adapted Screenplay. In this episode, we look at how relationships, particularly taboo relationships, are approached by both directors through In The Bedroom and Call Me By Your Name. How do Field and Guadagnino approach the inner lives of their characters? Joining us on today's episode is film critic Jericho Tadeo! Jericho makes his Classic Movies Live! debut here, and what a debut it is! Jericho's work can be seen at The Asian Cut, as well as over on MovieWeb. Jericho was recently at TIFF, where he got to see and review a film by his favourite director, which you can read here! This episode was inspired by Rotten Tomatoes' Best Director Showdown, which was conducted among RT users over the summer of 2023. The results of that competition are summarized in this article. Special thanks this week to our good friend Cris, who made the cover art for this episode! Follow her on Instagram, Twitter, and Letterboxd to see more of her artwork, film opinions/reviews, or both!

This week on Classic Movies Live, we're talking about a movie that was at the Toronto International Film Festival! As TIFF 2024 rages, we look back to TIFF 2023 to discuss Richard Linklater's Hit Man, starring everyone's favourite actor Glenn Powell. In Hit Man, Powell plays Gary Johnson, a psychology professor who moonlights as a fake hitman in police sting operations. When one of the stings goes differently than expected, Johnson becomes romantically involved with the unhappily married Madison Masters (Adria Arjona). But having met Masters as "Ron the Hitman", Johnson is forced to live a double life, adopting the charismatic persona of Ron permanently around Masters, while continuing his life as Gary everywhere else. Mostly a romantic comedy, Hit Man hits on themes that go deeper, talking about issues with the American legal system, and examining the kind of person who would order a hit man in the first place. It's an immensely fun movie, with plenty under the surface. Join our hosts today as we discuss our thoughts on Linklater's latest... live!

This week on Classic Movies Live, the directorial debut of Zoë Kravitz! Originally titled Pussy Island, Blink Twice satirizes the Epstein Island scandal and tech billionaires in an unflichingly dark, but witty thriller. When tech-mogul Slater King (Channing Tatum) invites Frida and Jess (Naomi Ackie and Alia Shawkat) to a getaway on his private island, the two enthusiastically agree. An all-expenses paid vacation to a luxurious tropical paradise? How could you not? But as the two spend more time there, they begin to realize none of the women can ever remember the previous evenings, while the men are never willing to talk about them. Furthermore, some of the groundskeepers seem to know Frida... A director's first film is a big deal, especially when that director is an established actor! Does Kravitz deliver the goods? Tune in for our hosts opinions... live!

This week on Classic Movies Live, we return to Ridley Scott's Alien franchise for the latest entry directed by Fede Alvarez! Set between Alien and Aliens, Alien: Romulus follows a new cast of characters as they board an abandoned space station in search of cryopods, and get more than they bargained for when it turns out the space station is filled with Xenomorphs. Romulus is billed as a return to form for the franchise after Prometheus and Alien: Covenant divided audiences. Is Alvarez the right fight to bring the franchise into the roaring 20s? On this episode, our hosts talk about their thoughts on the Alien franchise, franchises in general, Alien vs. Predator (remember those?), and of course Romulus. If you watched Romulus in space, would anyone hear you scream? Tune in to find out!

Welcome back to the fourth episode of Director Showdown! In this series, we pit 64 of the biggest directors to debut since 1998 against each other in an elimination bracket to determine who will be crowned the greatest director of the last 26 years! In the last episode, we talked about ensemble films centred around crime, and the way a skilled director is able to bring large casts of characters to vivid life on screen. With Steve McQueen's Widows up against Alejandro González Iñárritu's Babel, it was Iñárritu who ultimately came out on top, earning his place in the second round of our Director Showdown! But who will he face in Round 2? Born in Toronto in 1979, Sarah Polley started as an actress before moving to directing, starring in the likes of The Sweet Hereafter, Go, and Zack Snyder's directorial debut Dawn of the Dead. In 2022, she wrote and directed Women Talking -- which we covered on the show back in Season 4, Episode 11 -- for which she won her first Oscar for Best Adapted Screenplay. Before Women Talking, Polley's last narrative feature was Take This Waltz, a drama set in Toronto's Little Portugal neighbourhood, featuring Michelle Williams and Seth Rogen as a couple in a rough spot in their relationship. Facing off against Polley is one of the boldest filmmakers alive, Darren Aronofsky! Making his debut with the film Pi, during our cutoff year of 1998, Aronofsky has gone on to widespread acclaim and awards attention, with a slew of provocative films including Requiem for a Dream, The Wrestler, Black Swan, and The Whale. His films have regularly been nominated for acting Oscars, with The Wrestler and The Whale in particular breathing new life into the careers of Mickey Rourke and Brendan Fraser (and Fraser taking home the statuette to boot). In 2017, hot off the heels of his biblical thriller Noah, Aronofsky would make another biblical horror film, mother!, starring Jennifer Lawrence and Javier Bardem as stewards of a house that becomes suddenly and inexplicably popular. Both Take This Waltz and mother! centre around relationships, though what those relationships say and symbolize is, in a few words, quite different. How do Polley and Aronofsky use these devices, and how do the films around them hold up? In this episode, we discuss the benefits of audacity and the merits of nuance in filmmaking. Tune in as we discuss Take This Waltz and mother! Joining us on today's episode is Mark Morgan, previously heard on Season 4, Episode 23: Alien. Mark is a part of the Academy of Death Racers, which hosts a yearly online film festival, as well as an awards show early in the year to correspond with the Oscars! While tickets for this year's festival aren't available yet, we encourage any listeners to follow aodr.net for news as it comes out! This episode was inspired by Rotten Tomatoes' Best Director Showdown, which was conducted among RT users over the summer of 2023. The results of that competition are summarized in this article. Special thanks this week to our good friend Cris, who made the cover art for this episode! Follow her on Instagram, Twitter, and Letterboxd to see more of her artwork, film opinions/reviews, or both!

This week's Classic Movies Live is for all the seniors in the audience! We're talking about Thelma, the action-comedy starring June Squibb and Richard Roundtree that took Sundance 2024 by storm! In Josh Margolin's feature directorial debut, Thelma (Squibb) teams up with her old friend Ben (Roundtree) to get $10.000 back from a phone scammer, in a bid to prove that she's perfectly capable of living independently at the ripe youngg age of 93. Thelma is a rare story about finding your way after nearly a century of life, almost a coming-of-age, but long after the age has already come. So how does it resonate with our much younger hosts? Tune in for our (spoiler-light) thoughts!

We're just over halfway through the year, and our hosts might have found the best film of 2024. This week on Classic Movies Live: Twisters! Directed by Lee Isaac Chung, Twisters is a legacy sequel -- but really more of a spiritual successor -- to 1996's Twister. If you haven't seen the first one, though, you can still watch this one! In Twisters, meteorologist Kate Carter (Daisy Edgar-Jones) returns to her home state of Oklahoma to help her former classmate, Javi (Anthony Ramos) gather data on tornadoes. While there, she meets "Tornado Wrangler" Tyler Owens (Glenn Powell), a YouTuber as passionate about tornadoes as she is, but with a bit less respect for Javi and his more clean-cut, college-educated crew. Twisters is an incredibly fun movie, with just the right blend of science, romance, and action to make the perfect summer blockbuster experience. It's also the poster child for the up-and-coming 4DX film format. Our hosts have seen the movie, experienced it in 4DX, and developed plenty of thoughts. So what makes Twisters so good? Tune in to find out on this week's episode of Classic Movies Live!

This week on Classic Movies Live, we're talking about the biggest movie in the world again! The 24th entry in the Marvel Cinematic Universe, Deadpool & Wolverine just took movie theatres by storm, taking up a colossal number of screens, and raking in hundreds of millions of dollars before the end of a single week! But is Deadpool & Wolverine really an MCU movie? Or is it the last gasp of the Fox/Marvel universe? Or, more intriguingly, is it some mix of the two? If you're seeing this episode, there's a good chance you already know the answer to that question. Tune in as Pierre and Jeff check in on the state of the Marvel Cinematic Universe, and talk about Ryan Reynolds' crowning achievement! Note for this episode: lots of spoilers for Deadpool & Wolverine! There are spoiler warnings, but even then, proceed with caution!

On this week's episode of Classic Movies Live, our hosts are the last people to finally talk about Longlegs! Starring Nicolas Cage as a serial killer and Maika Monroe as an FBI Agent, Oz Perkins' riff on The Silence of the Lambs took the world by storm with its committed viral marketing. Hailed as one of -- if not THE -- scariest movie of 2024 so far, Longlegs has gotten rave reviews praising the performances, theming, and tone. So is Longlegs Perkins' magnum opus? Is this another in a long series of wins for Cage? Tune in this week as our hosts break down the highest-grossing horror film of the year!

This week on Classic Movies Live, oue hosts finally devote an entire episode to A Quiet Place after briefly discussing the series as part of our Summer Round-Up all the way back in 2021! A Quiet Place: Day One has John Krasinski passing the directing reigns over to Michael Sarnoski, director of Pig, for a more intimate story in the immediate aftermath of an alien invasion. Lupita Nyong'o and Joseph Quinn star as Samira and Eric, two survivors left to fend for themselves in New York. When the world's ending, what do you do in the face of impossible odds? Walk to the Bronx to get a pizza, of course! Tune in for our hosts' thoughts on John Krasinski, Michael Sarnoski, Lupita Nyong'o, and of course, the latest Quiet Place movie! The claim in this episode that Some Good News was inspired by a video series out of Kelowna is unsubstantiated. As it happens, the truth may be the other way around.

Welcome back to the third episode of Director Showdown! In this series, we pit 64 of the biggest directors to debut since 1998 against each other in an elimination bracket to determine who will be crowned the greatest director of the last 26 years! In the last episode we examined juvenile tragedy through the lens of Denis Villeneuve's Polytechnique and Lynne Ramsay's We Need to Talk About Kevin, with Villeneuve advancing to Round 2! With our first Round 2 matchup determined, we turn our attention to the third matchup of Round 1. Hailing from London, England, Sir Steve Rodney McQueen, CBE is a British filmmaker best known as the first black filmmaker to win the Academy Award for Best Picture with his film 12 Years a Slave. After winning the Oscar in 2013, it would be 5 years before McQueen assemble a host of big-name collaborators forhis next film, Widows. In the opposite corner, we have one of the most prominent Mexican filmmakers working in Hollywood, a member of the Three Amigos alongside Alfonso Cuarón and Guillermo del Toro, the man who would take the next two Best Picture wins after McQueen: Alejandro González Iñárritu! Iñárritu would burst onto the scene in 2000 with his debut Amores Perros, gain more renown with his followup 21 Grams, and win the Best Director award at Cannes with his opus Babel, which would be nominated for 7 Academy Awards, including Best Picture. Babel is well-known for its enormous ensemble, and non-linear approach to storytelling surrounding a crime and its consequences. Consequences and ensemble are two major features of Widows as well, which our hosts will break down as we discuss early-career Iñárritu vs. recent McQueen! This episode was inspired by Rotten Tomatoes' Best Director Showdown, which was conducted among RT users over the summer of 2023. The results of that competition are summarized in this article. Special thanks this week to our good friend Cris, who made the cover art for this episode! Follow her on Instagram, Twitter, and Letterboxd to see more of her artwork, film opinions/reviews, or both!

On this week's episode of Classic Movies Live!, our hosts talk about the second Yorgos Lanthimos film in just as many years! Starring Emma Stone, Jesse Plemmons, and Willem Dafoe, alongside an ensemble supporting cast, Kinds of Kindness is a "triptych fable", an anthology spanning three unique stories loosely related via theme and the mysterious initials "RMF." Described by some as Lanthimos' "meanest" work, Kindness was already divisive when it premiered at Cannes and won Plemmons the Best Actor award. With Lanthimos' latest now out in the wild, which side of the fence do our hosts land on? And what exactly are the thematic links between the various stories of RMF? The answers to all these questions and more in today's episode of Classic Movies Live!

This week on Classic Movies Live!, our hosts talk about a new Pixar movie for the first time since Onward! A sequel to the 2015 instant-classic about the emotional inner life of a young girl, Inside Out 2 introduces new emotions as Riley goes through puberty. During a weekend at hockey camp in her summer before high school, Riley's head is hijacked by new emotion Anxiety (Maya Hawke), whose crew of more complex emotions including Envy, Ennui, and Embarrassment, quickly supplants Joy, Anger, Sadness, Fear, and Disgust. The new characters have notable parallels to the existing ones, the journey through Riley's head mirrors that from the first movie, but that said, is Inside Out 2 just more of the same? Tune in today to hear Pierre and Jeff discuss Pixar as a studio, Inside Out as a franchise, and of course, the highest-grossing movie of the year so far!

This week on Classic Movies Live!, our hosts talk about a Canadian Film! Billed as a slasher film from the perspective of the killer, In a Violent Nature is a meditative experience somewhere between a depraved horror flick and an ASMR video. The film follows Johnny, a terrifying force of nature, as he walks through the woods, stalks dumb teenagers, and commits acts of debauchery that would make Michael Myers squirm. So how does Johnny's adventure work on screen? Tune in as Pierre and Jeff discuss In a Violent Nature! In the background of this episode, nature sounds from minither 2 on YouTube.

Welcome back to Director Showdown! In this series, we pit 64 of the biggest directors to debut since 1998 against each other in an elimination bracket to determine who will be crowned the greatest director of the last 26 years! In the first episode, we looked at how Antoine Fuqua and Pete Docter handled institutional corruption with Training Day and Monsters, Inc., with Pete Docter advancing to the next round. In this episode, we're about to determine who Docter will face off against in Round 2! From Glasgow, Scotland, Lynne Ramsa erupted onto the scene with her 1999 debut Ratcatcher, which screened at Cannes' Un Certain Regard section. In 2011, she'd return to Cannes to compete for thee Palme d'Or with Tilda Swinton-starrer We Need to Talk About Kevin. Facing off against Ramsay is Gentilly, Quebec's own Denis Villeneuve! One of the most acclaimed Canadian directors working today, his debut feature August 32nd on Earth was selected as the Canadian entry for Best Foreign Language Film at the 71st Academy Awards, though it would not ultimately be nominated. Just over 10 years later, in 2009, Villeneuve would sweep the Genie Awards with his dramatisation of the 1989 École Polytechnique massacre, Polytechnique. In this week's episode, we discuss tragedy in educational institutions, and the themes and resonance of Polytechnique and Kevin, as we debate Ramsay vs. Villeneuve! Joining us today is Dakota Arsenault of Contra Zoom Pod, last heard on Classic Movies Live – Season 4, Episode 15: Do Do-Over: The Hidden Fortress/Star Wars. You can find more of Dakota over on Twitter, Instagram, and Threads, or on any of your favourite podcasting services! Jeff recently guested on Contra Zoom as well to talk about the Canadian Screen Awards, which you can hear more about here. Also check out the other most recent episode, in which Dakota and Rachel Ho discuss their most anticipated movies of 2024. This episode was inspired by Rotten Tomatoes' Best Director Showdown, which was conducted among RT users over the summer of 2023. The results of that competition are summarized in this article. Special thanks this week to our good friend Cris, who made the cover art for this episode! Follow her on Instagram, Twitter, and Letterboxd to see more of her artwork, film opinions/reviews, or both!

This week on Classic Movies Live!, the highly-awaited prequel to Mad Max: Fury Road! In this episode, Pierre and Jeff dissect George Miller's latest tale from the Wasteland, Furiosa: A Mad Max Saga. Starring Anya Taylor-Joy in the titular role, Furiosa shows the backstory of the breakout star of Fury Road. From her early days in the Green Place to her ascension to praetorian of the Citadel, Furiosa is an adrenaline-fueled epic spanning 15 years. Joining Taylor-Joy are Chris Hemsworth, playing the hilarious and terrifying Wasteland Warlord Dementus, Lord Protector of Gastown, and Tom Burke -- in what is sure to be his breakout role -- as Furiosa's mentor, Praetorian Jack. Furiosa takes what Fury Road built and expands on it, but does it succeed? Can Anya Taylor-Joy match Charlize Theron's unforgettable portrayal of Imperator Furiosa? How does Chris Hemsworth fare as a villain? Tune in to hear our thoughts on all these questions and more! And if you'd like to hear what our hosts thought of Fury Road, have we got an treat for you! Check out our episode on Fury Road, featuring Bhavna Sharma of The Bloody Broads!

This week on Classic Movies Live!, our hosts take a look at a soft-reboot of a hard-reboot of an older series. From Maze Runner director Wes Ball, it's Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes! In this mostly spoiler-free episode, Pierre and Jeff discuss the religious undertones of the latest Apes movie, as well as their experiences with the Matt Reeves movies, and hopes for the series going forward.

This week on Classic Movies Live!, our hosts discuss another film re-releasing in celebration of an important anniversary! Twenty-five years ago, the world finally got to lay eyes on George Lucas' grand vision of the backstory for his blockbuster series Star Wars. Starting with The Phantom Menace, Lucas presented a new vision of a Galaxy Far Far Away, which would prove controversial among fans of the original series, but unquestionably influential to the landscape of cinema going forward. Fully self-funded, The Phantom Menace afforded Lucas full creative control over his universe. The film would be filled with memorable and quirky characters, an ambitious (if uneven) story, innovative film techniques never before seen at that scale, and career-making performances for its top-billed cast. It would go on to become the highest-grossing film of 1999, and be nominated for three Academy Awards. It would also divide critics and fans for years, with its legacy in a constant state of eternal re-evaluation. And speaking of re-evaluation, neither of our hosts had seen this movie since they were much younger. So this week, you'll get to hear Pierre and Jeff re-evaluate their own feelings on The Phantom Menace... live!

100 years ago, Harry and Jack Cohn, along with Joe Brandt, founded Columbia Pictures. 20 years ago, Columbia Pictures would be responsible for distributing Spider-Man 2, the sequel to Evil Dead director Sam Raimi's movie about the Marvel superhero that would be hailed as one of the greatest superhero movies of all time. Just this year, Sony, the parent company of Columbia and license-holder for the Spider-Man character would re-release all the live action Spider-Man movies in theatres for an event called Spider-Mondays. Now four weeks in, our hosts give their thoughts not just on the event, but on the whole Raimi series! In this extra-special, bonus-sized episode, Pierre and Jeff break down Sam Raimi's influential movies about a kid (no older than my son!) who can do whatever a spider can! How does Raimi's vision hold up 20 years later? Our hosts discuss Spider-Man, Spider-Man 2, and Spider-Man 3!

On October 31st, 1992, BBC1 aired a special news program about a haunting. It would air only once. Ghostwatch is often held up alongside War of the Worlds as one of the most successful pranks in the history of broadcast entertainment. An hour and a half television movie starring famous newscasters aired as a special report, Ghostwatch successfully fooled many in the UK into believing they'd just witnessed a real haunting. How did it work? Would it still work today? Was it a morally ok thing to do in the first place? This week on Classic Movies Live!, our hosts break down Ghostwatch! Joining us today is Calum Macnab of Scaretroducing! Calum was most recently heard on Season 4, Episode 48: Year in Review 2023, and before that all the way back in 2022 on Kickin' It With Kendrick, Episode 25: The Day Shall Come. For more of Calum, check out Scaretroducing on Twitter, Instagram, and Spotify, among other places!

This week on Classic Movies Live!, our hosts get apolitical talking about the second American Civil War! The fourth directed feature from Alex Garland, Civil War stars Kirsten Dunst, Wagner Moura, Cailee Spaeny and Steven McKinley Henderson as journalists in a near-future documenting the final days of a second American Civil War. Is the war a possible future for the United States? In a bold move, Civil War provides no easy answers, even about its own world. But does the film's ambiguity work in its favour, or leave Garland's latest feeling hollow? Tune in as our hosts discuss this modern classic, live!

This week on Classic Movies Live!, our hosts discuss Dev Patel's directorial debut, Monkey Man! Drawing inspiration from Korean action movies, John Wick, and most importantly the myth of Hanuman, Monkey Man stars Patel as n underground boxer intent on getting revenge on the man who stole his childhood. But more than a simple revenge thriller, Monkey Man is a political statement on the state of modern India from a member of the diaspora. Does it work? Tune in to hear our white hosts discuss! For another perspective on Monkey Man check out Siddhant Adlakha's review for IGN

This week on Classic Movies Live!, our hosts take a more detailed look at one of Jeff's favourite movies of 2023, Late Night With the Devil! Centred around the fictional talk show "Night Owls with Jack Delroy", Late Night stars David Dastmalchian as one of the only variety show hosts ever to give Johnny Carson a run for his money. With his show at risk of getting cancelled, Jack Delroy devises a TV event that will "shock the nation", involving a showcase of the supernatural on live cable television during Sweeps Week! But as the show progresses, it quickly becomes clear that Jack has bitten off more than he can chew when it comes to the occult. After debuting at festivals to rave reviews, Late Night has enjoyed a spirited theatrical run, and is soon to be available on Shudder. Our hosts both saw it in theatres, and we're excited to advise you to do the same! Tune in as Pierre and Jeff break down the directorial debut of Colin and Cameron Cairnes! Jeff reviewed this movie after its Canadian premiere back at Toronto After Dark Film Festival. You can check out that review over on Contra Zoom!