It's the most wonderful time of the beginning of the year! The title of this episode says it all and I'm so grateful to my two guests for joining me for this epic reflection on the film year that was 2022! Now I'll be going back to 1993 for February's retrospective episode so until then enjoy 6 hours of nerding out. Please be sure to check out the two new podcasts soon to be added to the Now Playing Network! Thank you so much for listening to a yearly tradition that is always a complete joy!

Guest host Bill Ackerman invites author, film historian and Twitch Of The Death Nerve co-host Samm Deighan to discuss the work of Ken Russell, the visionary talent who directed groundbreaking profiles of artists for the BBC before attaining international acclaim and notoriety through bold, often controversial films like WOMEN IN LOVE, THE MUSIC LOVERS, THE DEVILS, THE BOY FRIEND, MAHLER, TOMMY and ALTERED STATES.

So you may have heard of this list going around as of 12/01/22 courtesy of Sight & Sound called "The Greatest Films Of All Time." Every ten years, a selected group of film critics and filmmakers select ten films resulting in a definitive list. As they summarize, "The Sight and Sound poll is now a major bellwether of critical opinion on cinema and this year’s edition (its eighth) is the largest ever, with 1,639 participating critics, programmers, curators, archivists and academics each submitting their top ten ballot." I certainly had thoughts especially regarding the number one choice but most importantly, I wanted to know what past guest and film scholar Kate Blair thought about this list (and ranking art in general).

Been awhile since we offered exclusive bonus content here but I had an idea: why not ask a patron what movie they would like to hear us talk about? Certainly it could be me monologing again but that's not nearly as much fun as having guest co-host / host of Supporting Characters Bill Ackerman return for a delicious discussion of a beloved Danish film called BABETTE'S FEAST! Which is celebrating its 35th anniversary! We are both very appreciative of listener and patron Matt Strauss for giving us this suggestion!

Mindframes hosts Michael Cockerill and Dave Canfield join me for this special tribute to honor our dear friend Sergio Mims. Several years ago, I did an episode on one of his favorite directors, Michael Curtiz. Of course you are encouraged to listen to that. But I asked Mike & Dave to join me to revisit two titles in particular from Curtiz as well as recommend several others as a way of honoring the memory of Sergio. Perhaps one of these films is an all-time classic called CASABLANCA? In addition, we review a couple of recent titles like RRR and AFTERSUN. Here’s looking at you, kids!

As Erik wrote: Sergio Mims, our noted film scholar and friend, was well on his way to becoming “King Commentary” with all his official contributions to Blu-rays for Kino, Vinegar Syndrome and others. During the pandemic at the peak of lockdown, Collin Souter of Christmas Movies Actually, suggested that our good friend record one for Disney’s controversial 1940 film, Song of the South. Sergio did not hesitate and delivered something for his friends. Some of them are here to again pay brief tribute to the man who was a regular part of the Movie Madness podcast. Jim Laczkowski is joined by both Collin and the Movie Madness host, Erik Childress, to introduce this track that can now be experienced by everyone. Whether you have a version of the film to sync up with or not it doesn’t matter, because you can just sit back and soak in the words of a film lover who left us way too soon.

There's something strange... in your podcast feed... but don't call me. I have no idea how it got there. Perhaps the devil? Maybe an alternate version of me came here from a different universe and placed it here? Regardless, I think a few years back I strung together some scary songs and weird sounds but I added a little bit extra to accompany it. Better live up to the title of being "craaaazy!" Can you make it thru these 40 minutes?

Hopefully the title alone is enough to get you intrigued to check out the title I’m focusing on for this conversation. Philip Józef Brubaker is my guest today and a multi-talented one at that. He’s hitting the festival circuit with a personal, often very funny and meta-layered essay-memoir-experimental feature in which the title says a lot - HOW TO EXPLAIN YOUR MENTAL ILLNESS TO STANLEY KUBRICK now streaming for a couple of more weeks via The Mental Filmness Film Festival that I truly hope you’ll make time for.

What an episode in many ways that it’s hard to know where to begin in even writing an introduction. The first ten minutes are mostly about me remembering a friend and film critic near and dear to many of us along with promoting and supporting an upcoming film festival as well. Of course the bulk of this episode surrounds the work of a filmmaker that also means a lot to me personally: Allan Moyle - a name I’m sure you know by now due to how many times I’ve mentioned the film PUMP UP THE VOLUME on this podcast. But what about his other work as well? My guests today are recurring co-host and Supporting Characters host Bill Ackerman and a delightful and accomplished newcomer, co-host of The Important Cinema Club Podcast, Justin Decloux.

Guest host Bill Ackerman invites writer Gianna D’Emilio to discuss the work of Mia Hansen-Løve, the acclaimed writer/director of films like THINGS TO COME, BERGMAN ISLAND, EDEN and GOODBYE FIRST LOVE. In anticipation of her latest effort, ONE FINE MORNING, they take a close look at her first seven features.

Guest host Bill Ackerman invites film/culture writer Heather Drain and writer/programmer Justine Smith to discuss the films of Stephen Sayadian (aka Rinse Dream), the singular talent behind films like NIGHTDREAMS, CAFÉ FLESH and DR. CALIGARI. As an added bonus, Bill also includes a new interview with writer/historian/film preservationist Daniel Bird, who produced the 2021 4K restoration of DR. CALIGARI and is presently working on an upcoming restoration of CAFÉ FLESH.

Mary is truly an accomplished, multi-talented human being in so many ways. I was honored to spend 30 minutes with her over the phone to talk about her experiences working with Lynch and also to promote the upcoming 4K Restoration of LOST HIGHWAY, which is showing at The Music Box Theatre on August 6th featuring a Q&A after the film with Mary Sweeney in-person. Do give our short-but-sweet conversation a listen especially if you love David Lynch as much as I do. Thank you to Steve Prokopy & The Music Box Theatre for making this happen.

One of my favorite cinephiles on the planet joins me today to talk about a director they were thrilled to discuss. Film writer and podcaster extraordinare Mitchell Beaupre is a regular at Filmspotting Trivia which is where our paths first crossed and I have been following their work ever since. We get to know a little more about Mitchell during the intro but mainly sing the praises of most (if not all) of the work of James Gray starting with his debut leading all the way up to AD ASTRA!

Michael Glover Smith loves movies so much, it was inevitable that he would go on to make some of his own. Not only that, he writes about movies, teaches film classes, and has even written a book on Chicago film history. I had the immense pleasure of finally catching up with MERCURY IN RETROGRADE and shared my reaction to a casting choice during our interview here, but the bulk of the conversation surrounds his latest film, the empathic family dramedy RELATIVE.

Several of these you may have heard of, but the reason I enjoy doing this is to hear Keith Gordon’s thoughts on titles such as SECONDS, POINT BLANK, THE INNOCENTS and several more! He's been on Director's Club a half dozen times which is truly an honor and a pleasure. We continue a yearly tradition where we check in and take the opportunity to nerd out about the cinema of years past. We go back to talk about a particular decade in film citing some under-seen titles that may have been underappreciated at the time.

Once again, I’m joined by Chicago film critic Erik Childress of the Movie Madness podcast as well as co-host of The Friendship Dilemma to record a full-length feature commentary track of yet another film from 1984. The first one we did together was for another film my dad and I bonded over, THE LAST STARFIGHTER. This time, thanks to a glorious 4K release from Vinegar Syndrome, we decided to finally follow-up with another commentary for CLOAK & DAGGER. It’s a movie that means a lot to me.

For this retrospective, writers and friends Dan Solomon and Jason Simpson and myself curate a new list of ten favorite records from that year, playing snippets of certain songs and discussing our feelings about music in general. Much like the tradition of going back 30 years to reflect on a year in film, this is every bit as special for me for the conversations, the bands and sometimes new discoveries of my other favorite art form.

For those who don't know, my favorite way to exercise has always been swimming. I'm slowly getting back into it as a regular part of my daily routine. Not only that, Frank Perry's THE SWIMMER is becoming an all-time favorite of mine with every viewing and I wanted to talk to a true film historian about it. Sergio Mims returns to the show for another bonus discussion on this fascinating Burt Lancaster picture from 1968 that audiences were probably not ready for at the time.

Jay Cheel is a writer/director/editor as well as a co-host of the podcast responsible for turning me into a podcaster, Film Junk.
His series, Cursed Films II covers new titles. The show explores the myths and legends behind some of Hollywood's notoriously cursed horror film productions and even tackles how the filmmakers and actors have been affected by being a part of films such as Stalker, The Wizard Of Oz, Rosemary's Baby, The Serpent & The Rainbow and ending this season with Cannibal Holocaust.

Episode 200 is here (technically this is the 300th episode if you include bonus episodes). Of course, I had to invite my original co-host and dear friend Patrick Ripoll back to the show since it all began with him and I talking about Cameron Crowe in front of microphones back in January 2011. This serves as not only a celebration of the podcast but as an early birthday treat. So why not talk about two of my favorite directors over the course of two entire films they’ve made.