Cinema Junkie: Recent Episodes
Beth Accomando
Satisfy your celluloid addiction with the "Cinema Junkie" podcast, where you can mainline film 24/7. This film and entertainment series is run by KPBS Film Critic Beth Accomando. So if you need a film fix, want to hear what filmmakers have to say about their work, or just want to know what's worth seeing this weekend, then you've come to the right place.
Cinema Junkie Beth Accomando speaks with musician Ben Model who has written a book defining the cinematic language of "The Silent Film Universe."
Cinema Junkie joins Midday Movies to celebrate San Diego's last indie art house cinema.
Ryan Coogler’s "Sinners" has been dominating the box office the last two weeks. One of the reasons is that people don't just want to see it once, they want to see it multiple times. That’s because the film is not just an action packed vampire tale but it is also a deeply personal film for Coogler and it is packed with both history about his Southern roots and with Black culture. To unpack the film Cinema Junkie has combined Midday Movies with interviews featuring authors John Jennings and David F. Walker. Get ready for an illuminating look at "Sinners." You can watch the video podcast here: https://youtu.be/eYli1Y-G1-w
Cinema Junkie celebrates Walpurgisnacht with Joe Bob Briggs, host of Shudder's "The Last Drive-In."
Cinema Junkie Beth Accomando speaks with PacArts artistic Brian Hu and filmmaker Jota Mun about some Asian cinema classics as well as bold new work.
Cinema Junkie once again hosts Midday Movies. Hit the dark alleys of film noir with the usual suspects from the Midday Movies gang to find some Dark City Dames to die for. With KPBS Cinema Junkie Beth Accomando, Moviewallas' podcaster Yazdi Pithavala, and Midday Edition's Andrew Bracken.
To close out Black History Month, Cinema Junkie presents Midday Movies as critics create a suggested viewing list to celebrate Black women on screen and behind the camera. AND to remind people that celebrating Black film does not have to end on February 28th. Once again KPBS Midday Edition host Jade Hindmon welcomes KPBS Cinema Junkie Beth Accomando and Moviewallas’ podcaster Yazdi Pithavala. WARNING: Clips contain explicit language and violence.
Cinema Junkie welcomes back David F. Walker but this time to discuss his new graphic novel "Big Jim and the White Boy," a clever reimagining of Mark Twain's "The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn."
Check out what our critics and San Diego Cinephiles think about the 97th Academy Award nominations plus what to look forward to in 2025.
Check out what our critics and San Diego Cinephiles think about the 97th Academy Award nominations plus what to look forward to in 2025.
Cinema Junkie presents a Christmas Smackdown between KPBS Midday Movies critics Beth Accomando and Yazdi Pithavala. They face off in a battle between Christmas action/horror and feel good holiday fare. The Christmas Smackdown is refereed by KPBS Midday Edition host Jade Hindmon. You can also watch the video podcast: https://youtu.be/vAeH9g34gis.
Film programmers Matt Rotman of Bonkers Ass Cinema and Eddie Gurrola of Popcorn Reef join Cinema Junkie to sing the praises of grindhouse cinema.
A cinephile's dilemma of having two film festivals happening at the same time: TCM Film Festival and San Diego Asian Film Festival's Spring Showcase.
Cinema Junkie is doing another Crew Call edition, this time to speak with Laurent Sénéchal whose fine work on 'Anatomy of a Fall' just garnered him a Best Film Editing Oscar nomination. He’ll explain what a film editor actually does and discuss the fine art of building tension, suspense, and a sly sense of ambiguity.
Cinema Junkie's Beth Accomando and Moviewallas' Yazdi Pithavala go shopping for the best films to watch this holiday season... and the lumps of coal to avoid.
Apple TV Plus recently launched Season 3 of Slow Horses starring Gary Oldman as the disheveled, flatulent, and often drunk Jackson Lamb. It is also midway through its Monarch Legacy of Monsters show that expands Legendary’s Monsterverse. I had an opportunity to speak with some of the creative folks behind both shows. First, I’ll be speaking to Oldman and co-star Jack Lowden about where their characters are in this latest season of Mick Herron’s espionage tale. Then I will talk to the people behind the camera who are bringing Godzilla to the small screen.
Cinema Junkie speaks with Fil-Am filmmaker H. P. Mendoza about human flight, ghosts on the set, and 'grief release.'
Cinema Junkie wants to extend the spooky season to 365 days a year with some home haunting and scary movies.
Cinema Junkie speaks with filmmaker Errol Morris about his new documentary "The Pigeon Tunnel," which explores the life and work of David Cornwell, better known by his pen name of John Le Carré.
Cinema Junkie invites Moises Esparza to look back on ten years of programming for the San Diego Latino Film Festival and Digital Gym Cinema to curate a list of film recommendations for Hispanic Heritage Month.
In the early Twentieth Century, Anna May Wong was deemed too Chinese to play white roles and too American to play Chinese roles but that did not stop her from becoming an international icon. Cinema Junkie speaks with Yunte Huang, author of a new biography on the Asian American Actress.
Get ready for some intoxicating cocktails as well as hard drinking as TCM Noir Alley host Eddie Muller invites you to the Noir Bar on the latest Cinema Junkie.
Ben Model has dedicated himself to creating music scores to bring silent films back to glorious life. This month marks a special anniversary for Model since it was ten years ago that he created Undercrank Productions to produce and distribute quality DVD and now Blu-ray releases of rare silent films featuring scores he has created. He discusses the process to creating these scores and his passion to save these films and share them with new audiences.
Cinema Junkie takes a film noir road trip to Shanghai and the Old West by way of the Arthur Lyons Film Noir Festival in Palm Springs. Can't make it? Then just use this as a roadmap for your own noir journey.
Former TCM programmer Millie DeChirico talks about her new book, "TCM Underground: 50 Must-See Films from the World of Classic Cult and Late-Night Cinema."
In the final episode of Cinema Junkie's three-part series focused on Black Com!x Day's Get Shooked! New Masters of Horror panel, Kevin Grevioux talks about his latest projects, owning your own IPs, and monsters.
Cinema Junkie continues its three-part series talking with the Get Shooked panelists coming for Black Comix Day. In this episode, John Jennings talks about cosmic superheroes, a crowd-funded horror anthology, and getting hooked on comics.
Cinema Junkie speaks with three of the new masters of horror contributing stories to the new comics anthology "Shook." In Part One, Rodney Barnes talks about vampires, real world horror and juggling a career in TV, film and comics.
At 68, Japan's Godzilla is nowhere near ready for retirement. Toho's iconic monster was born out of an atomic blast in 1954 and now is poised for a live action series called "Godzilla and the Titans" as well as a cinematic rematch with Kong set for 2024 . Plus the famous kaiju is the topic of a new coffee table book that makes a perfect gift. Cinema Junkie talks with author Graham Skipper about "Godzilla: The Official Guide to the King of the Monsters."
Author Luis Reyes explores the legacy of Latin and Hispanic artists in American film in his new TCM book "Viva Hollywood."
For Thanksgiving Moviewallas' Yazdi Pithavala joins Cinema Junkie to give thanks for the film "TÁR."
What makes someone feel driven to tour around with a film projector in tow and screen films on 16mm? Find out on this Bonus edition of Cinema Junkie.
Get ready for slow burn horror of "Speak No Evil.” I got to see “Speak No Evil” at virtual Sundance earlier this year. It was my favorite film of the festival and it’s in my top ten for 2022. It’s intense and anxiety inducing but executed with such an elegant, subdued style that I was completely riveted from opening frame to last. It takes a left turn that shocked me in a way similar to Bone Tomahawk and it made me uncomfortable in the same way Michael Haneke’s films make me feel. So I can’t wait to dive into the horrors of “Speak No Evil.”
VICE TV’s Icons Unearthed Star Wars and Disney Plus’ Light and Magic serve up a wealth of interviews and behind the scenes materials that will dazzle and delight not just Star Wars fans but anybody who loves movies and the creative process. Icons Unearthed boasts the first on camera interview with Lucas’s ex-wife and the Oscar winning editor of A New Hope, Marcia Lucas, while Light and Magic was made by Lawrence Kasdan with the full support of Lucasfilm and access to its archives. Both shows take a deep dive into the Star Wars franchise and into what Lucas had to do to get his vision on the screen.
Get ready for a bonkers ass ride through the wildest and most extreme horror and exploitation cinema as Greg Dohler and author Matt Rotman take the wheel to kick a new season of Cinema Junkie into high gear.
Cinema Junkie is on a season break but serves up this Bonus Podcast on the bold visionaries behind "Mad God" and "Neptune Frost."
TCM Classic Film Festival is back in person in Hollywood. TCM host Alicia Malone and TCM programmer Scott McGee will both be at the festival to sign copies of their new books. Cinema Junkie speaks with both authors.
Cinema Junkie speaks with actors Gary Oldman, Kristin Scott Thomas and Jack Lowden as well as director James Hawes about bringing Micke Herron's acclaimed spy novel "Slow Horses" to the small screen. The Apple Original series is currently streaming.
This year marks the 50th anniversary of Francis Ford Coppola's "The Godfather." Actor Robert Duvall played Tom Hagen and talks about working on the classic film.
Joel Coen’s "The Tragedy of Macbeth," currently streaming on Apple TV+, came in at number three on my ten best list for 2021. It’s breathtakingly cinematic and delivers Shakespeare’s play in a kind of stripped down, minimalist fashion that removes all excess props, scenery and even color. For a play whose language is soaked in blood, Coen boldly renders it in stark black and white. His adaptation is strikingly clean and crisp even as it is shrouded in fog and darkness.
Coen, making his solo directing debut sans his usual collaborator and brother Ethan, gives us a version of the play that feels surprisingly fresh. So I’m excited to dive into the making of the film with two of its actors: Corey Hawkins and Alex Hassell.
Cinema Junkie is on a season break but when something this good comes my way I will share a bonus podcast like this. I jumped at the opportunity to interview two actors from the film in part because Coen seems a bit of a mystery in terms of how he works. He doesn’t give a lot of interviews and when he does, I often feel like he’s pulling a con and can’t be trusted to be telling the truth.
But these actors offered some insights into Coen's process as a director and how he brought Shakespeare's play to vivid life on the screen.
"What he's done is pack these visual images into the film; they sort of scorch your retinas," Hassell said. "But they are all born out of this thematic or subconscious level of the play, in a way that folds constantly back into the play and the tension of the play and the interior world of the play or the story rather than the language in a way that I think just thrums with tension."
Cinema Junkie extends Noir-vember because one month was not enough time to explore the spectrum of women found on the shadowy streets of film noir.
Nora Fiore, the Nitrate Diva, returns for part two of Noir Dames, a look beyond the usual suspects of femme fatales to check out such intriguing female characters as the Lady Sleuth, The Glamorous Victim and the Good Girl. Yes, believe it or not film noir offers up some admirable dames who challenge expectations by providing, as Fiore says, "a guiding light for men in dark places."
Noir dames. None were sassier, sexier or more lethal than the women of film noir. They lied, stole, cheated, murdered and more importantly just refused to conform to any standard notions of femininity. They might not have been positive role models but they were fascinating and they had agency.
Cinema Junkie celebrates Noir-vember by continuing its discussion of film noir with a look to Noir Dames with Nora Fiore, The Nitrate Diva. We explore such favorite femme fatales as Jane Greer in "Out of the Past" and Lizabeth Scott in "Too Late for Tears" but also look past these usual suspects of film noir women to explore the diversity of female characters you can find in these seductive, shadowy tales.
In Part One of Noir Dames, we consider the femme fatale as well as The Self Reliant Performer. Then in Part Two we will continue to point out the wide spectrum of female roles and actresses as we consider The Lady Sleuth, The Long Suffering Wife and The Glamorous Victim.
Femme fatales, private dicks, wooden kimonoes... welcome to the world of film noir. The term was coined by French film critics to describe a style of cinema rooted in hard-boiled crime fiction of the 1940s. It revealed a darkness and cynicism that challenged audiences with something new — a world where women used sex to get what they wanted, where betrayal and deceit were to be expected, and murder was a given. Classic noir is usually defined as films made between 1941 and late 1950s. It’s marked by a visual style rich in shadows, cigarette smoke, and dimly lit streets. The term literally means black film and the darkness comes not just from the visual look but also from the dark motives of the characters. To explore this shadowy, treacherous terrain, Cinema Junkie has invited The Czar of Noir Eddie Muller, host of TCM’s Noir Alley and the founder and president of the Film Noir Foundation. He has just revised and expanded his book “Dark City: The Lost World of Film Noir” and we’ll be discussing that as well as all things noir as Cinema Junkie dives into Noirvember.
Cinema Junkie takes on another mission, this time to explore the world of spies presented in the film and television adaptations of John Le Carré's books.
Previously on Cinema Junkie we looked at the fantasy world of Ian Fleming’s James Bond and now we move on to the grittier, more realistic world of John Le Carré’s spies of the Cold War and beyond.
Joining Cinema Junkie once again are spy aficionados Gary Dexter and Jeff Quest, both are regular contributors to Shane Whaley's Spybrary Podcast . Quest also runs spywrite.com, which is dedicated to spy fiction and non-fiction.
We look to the early attempts of depicting what spies do in Hitchcock films such as "The 39 Steps" and later the film adaptations of Graham Greene's novels such as "Our Man in Havana." Then we discuss the many adaptations of Le Carré's books, and how he put his real world experiences working in intelligence to a different use than Fleming did.
Also listen to Cinema Junkie Bond. James Bond. Part One and Part Two.
Cinema Junkie speaks again with espionage aficionados and Spybrary Podcast contributors Gary Dexter and Jeff Quest (of spywrite.com) to look at the evolution of female characters across nearly six decades of films, and to assess what makes a good Bond and what each of the six actors in the Eon Productions' official 25 007 movies have brought to the role. We also discuss producer Barbara Broccoli's contribution to the franchise and where it might go after "No Time To Die."
Please check out part one of the podcast where we have a spoiler-free review of "No Time To Die."
And check out Cinema Junkie Presents Geeky Gourmet where you can learn how to make food themed to "No Time To Die" and cakes with the gun barrel logo. Plus download files for the perfect 007 party.
Cinema Junkie Beth Accomando goes on a special mission with spy aficionados Gary Dexter and Jeff Quest to explore the cinematic and literary universe of James Bond 007. Get a spoiler-free review of "No Time To Die" and then enjoy part one of an in-depth and geeky exploration of the fantasy spy world of Ian Fleming's James Bond.
Earlier this month Marvel delivered its first Asian superhero in its cinematic universe with "Shang Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings." But it’s been a long hard road getting to this point in Hollywood. For the latest episode of Cinema Junkie, I speak with Brian Hu, artistic director of the San Diego Asian Film Festival, about the evolution of Asian images on screen from the stereotypes of yellow peril to Shang Chi.
Hu will take us on a tour through early negative stereotypes of Fu Manchu to characters like Charlie Chan and Mr. Moto to the breakthrough stardom of Bruce Lee and finally to Shang Chi. I'll play lots of clips and Hu offers some exciting film recommendations to check out.
Plus enjoy the decidedly eccentric rants and raves of Awkward San Diego's Ryan Bradford and Horrible Imaginings' Miguel Rodriguez on the latest Cold Turkey and Share Your Addiction.
And check out the latest Geeky Gourmet video where I'll show you how to make Asian treats to eat with the films we discuss: https://bit.ly/CJGeekyGourmet
I’d like to acknowledge the talented folks who make Cinema Junkie happen: podcast coordinator Kinsee Morlan, technical director Rebecca Chacon, and director of sound design Emily Jankowski.
The new "Candyman" has a lot to unpack for a 90-minute horror film. It cleverly continues the story of the original 1992 film that boasted Tony Todd in the title role but it is also a stunning reimagining of the character through a Black lens. The new film was directed by Nia Da Costa and co-written by Da Costa and Jordan Peele.
I invited UC Riverside professor of media and cultural studies John Jennings to join me for a bonus podcast where we peel back just a few of the many layers of this amazing film.
The film opened in cinemas earlier this month and becomes available VOD on Sept. 17.
NOTE: This podcast has spoilers so if you haven't seen the film, correct that oversight right now and then come back to listen to the podcast. But if you have seen it, then let's dive into this film.
It's not often that I get to say that I was there when a filmmaker's career began but I can say that about Destin Cretton. Currently he is ushering in Marvel's first Asian superhero with "Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings" but two decades ago he was a student who had not yet even thought about being a filmmaker. But then he attended the student film festival I ran called Film School Confidential and met San Diego State University professor and filmmaker Greg Durbin and decided to enroll at the SDSU film program.
So for this podcast I delve into Cretton's origin story to see how he developed from a student filmmaker to indie darling to Marvel's latest director.
Cretton talks about community, challenging himself as an artist and about making "Shang-Chi" and directing Hong Kong cinema royalty like Tony Leung and Michelle Yeoh.
Plus I'll preview next month's spy theme with a Share Your Addiction and Cold Turkey about James Bond.
And check out the latest Geeky Gourmet video where I'll show you how to make the Chinese rice porridge Shang-Chi eats in the film: https://bit.ly/CJGeekyGourmet
Get ready for the Indian Macbeth, Mumbai noir, and Bollywood rap.
Cinema Junkie returns to India for Hooray For Bollywood, Part 2. This time we look to contemporary Bollywood cinema and redefine the term for India's film industry today. Joining me again are the podcasters of Moviewallas: Yazdi Pithavala, Rashmi Gandhi, and Joseph Djan.
And joining us for Share Your Addiction is Ryan Bradford of Awkward San Diego.
Plus, check out the latest Geeky Gourmet video where I will show you the perfect intermission snack.
Here's the Geeky Gourmet playlist on the KPBS YouTube Channel: https://bit.ly/CJGeekyGourmet
And if you'd like to contribute your own Share Your Addiction or Cold Turkey, then just email baccomando@kpbs.org and put Share Your Addiction in the subject line.
For a list of films discussed go to www.kpbs.org/cinemajunkie
There is nothing quite like a Bollywood film. It’s about impossibly gorgeous stars, deliciously overripe melodrama, spectacular production numbers, an explosion of colors, and music with such an irresistible beat that even someone with two left feet feels inspired to get up and dance.
This month, in honor of Indian Independence, I look to Bollywood cinema. In order to tackle the huge expanse of Bollywood film I decided to invite the trio of Moviewallas podcasters --Yazdi Pithavala, Rashmi Gandhi, and Joseph Djan -- onto the show.
In Part 1 we define what makes a Bollywood film and look to its golden era. For a list of all the films discussed, go to bit.ly/CJBollywood1.
And joining us for Share Your Addiction and Cold Turkey is Nora Fiore, the Nitrate Diva.
Plus, check out the latest Geeky Gourmet video where you can learn how to make Bollywood popcorn as you watch some Indian films.
Here's the Geeky Gourmet playlist on the KPBS YouTube Channel: https://bit.ly/CJGeekyGourmet
And if you'd like to contribute your own Share Your Addiction or Cold Turkey, then just email baccomando@kpbs.org and put Share Your Addiction in the subject line.
When Brad Martin goes into work there’s a very real possibility his boss could ask to set him on fire. That's because he’s a stunt man.
Comic-Con just wrapped up another virtual edition and I’ll be wrapping up July’s theme of celebrating pop culture by highlighting Brad Martin and Mickey Faccinello, who have both worked on the wildly successful Marvel franchise. They share stories about how you can become a stunt person and what the job entails from being set on fire to wire work to motion capture.
Join me in paying tribute to the people who often take your breath away and make your jaw drop down in awe.
And check out the latest Geeky Gourmet video where you can learn how to make delicious edible blood that can also enhance any stunt work you might do at home.
Here's the Geeky Gourmet playlist on the KPBS YouTube Channel: https://bit.ly/CJGeekyGourmet
And if you'd like to contribute your own Share Your Addiction or Cold Turkey, then just email baccomando@kpbs.org and put Share Your Addiction in the subject line.
Cinema Junkie has been on a quarantine break but I decided that July, the month of Comic-Con, would be a great time to make a comeback. My first guest is someone who not only fits the spirit of Comic-Con, but also is a longtime friend and frequent Cinema Junkie guest and that is Dr. Arnold T. Blumberg, a.k.a. Doctor of the Dead. We've bonded over zombies in the past and now I want to tap into a different side of his expertise to talk about comic book movies.
Blumberg has the distinction of teaching the first of its kind course on the Marvel Cinematic Universe. Back in 2015 at the University of Baltimore. The class was called Media Genres, Media Marvels.
"There’s something to be said for the fact that the Marvel cinematic universe that they started building was just so incredibly successful and cohesive and fascinating," Blumberg said. These film can also be great tools to teach students about critical thinking and media literacy.
Follow Cinema Junkie online at www.kpbs.org/cinemajunkie or on Facebook (www.facebook.com/cinemajunkieblog). Follow Beth Accomando on Instagram and Twitter as Cinebeth.
If you would like to be considered for a Share Your Addiction or Cold Turkey segment then send an email to baccomando@kpbs.org and put Share Your Addiction in the subject line.
Cinema Junkie was created and written by Beth Accomando with help from Kinsee Morlan, Emily Jankowski and Rebecca Chacon.
"Cinema Junkie" has been on a quarantine break, but returns healthier than ever on July 14.
It will be a leaner, 30-minute format, but will still feature in-depth interviews with filmmakers, scholars and cinephiles.
Hosted by KPBS film critic Beth Accomando, the new format will also feature new segments. Guests and listeners will share their rants and raves about movies through fun segments called "Share Your Addiction" and "Cold Turkey."
Plus, Beth is adding a companion video for each podcast called "Geeky Gourmet." She'll demonstrate how to make drinks, desserts and food themed to the films discussed in each episode.
The videos will be available on the KPBS YouTube Channel, look for the Geeky Gourmet playlist or go here: https://bit.ly/GeekyGourmet
If you’d like to share your addiction or rant about something that needs to stop cold turkey, you can call (619) 452-0228 to leave a message or email Beth your thoughts at podcasts@kpbs.org. Please put "Cinema Junkie" in the subject line.
To close out Black History Month I will be speaking with Caroline Collins, a post doctoral fellow in the department of Communication at UC San Diego, about films that look to Black people and a sense of place.
We discuss films such as "Daughters of the Dust," "Eve’s Bayou," "Get Out," "Sorry To Bother You," "Last Black Man in San Francisco," and "Black Panther," and look to how each of those films defines a connection to the land or a place.
She says, "There's just so much that we learn about ourselves and each other through the medium of film and through popular culture. [I hope you] watch films that you might not feel are something you would normally watch and really think about 'How are these films helping to shape your understanding of your rootedness or disconnectivity to a place?' And how might you be able to rethink your own relationship to your place through the films that you're watching?"
My celebration of Black History Month continues with Part Two of my interview with David F. Walker, author of the new graphic novel "The Black Panther Party." We finish our discussion about the Black Panthers with a focus on their social programs and how the FBI infiltrated the organization from its very beginning in order to bring it down. This leads into our discussion of the new film "Judas and the Black Messiah" that just started streaming on HBO Max. The film looks to Black Panther member Fred Hampton, his murder, and FBI informant William O'Neal.
For Black History Month I am dedicating a two-part podcast to the Black Panthers and speaking with author David F. Walker ("Bitter Root," "Shaft," "The Life of Frederick Douglas") about his new graphic novel "The Black Panther Party." In Part One, we discuss what inspired the book, about historical context (including the Kerner Commission Report), and about Marcus Kwame Anderson who illustrated the book. In Part Two we extend the conversation to the new film "Judas and the Black Messiah."
The final episode in Cinema Junkie's Giving Thanks to Film Editors trilogy. This time I speak with Oscar-nominated film editor Paul Machliss. He has had a wildly creative and innovative partnership with director Edgar Wright on films such as "Baby Driver" and "Scott Pilgrim Vs. the World." He talks about having to edit on the set for "Baby Driver" and then has some surprising recommendations for films that highlight diverse editing styles.
On the last episode of Cinema Junkie I kicked off a trio of podcasts that give thanks to film editors. I started with an interview with Tatiana S Riegel, the Oscar-nominated film editor of "I, Tonya." Now I speak with Stephen Mirrione who has worked repeatedly with Steven Soderbergh and Alejandro Gonzales Innaritu, and won an Oscar for his editing on "Traffic." He provides insights into the craft of film editing and recommends what films you need to watch to appreciate how an editor can impact cinematic storytelling.
Join me in a three-part tribute to film editors. Most people can name a film's director and maybe even its writer, cinematographer or composer but far fewer can name editors. But film editors can alter performances, determine pace, and affect cinematic storytelling in so many ways. To kick off this three-part series is Tatiana S. Riegel, Oscar-nominated editor of "I, Tonya."
This episode of Cinema Junkie serves up a Halloween Double Dare, playwright Michael Mizerany and I dare you to listen to a pair of his one-act horror plays. So turn out the lights, put on some headphones and enjoy an audio treat while sheltering at home this Halloween.
Please note the plays contain explicit language and mature content.
"Johnny and Babs Versus the Apocalypse" by Michael Mizerany Babs: Sydney Joyner Johnny: Marc Caro Stage Directions: David Janisch
Inspired by the film "Night Of The Living Dead," "Johnny and Babs Versus the Apocalypse" chronicles a terror-filled evening replete with COVID chaos, civil unrest, flesh eating zombies. and sibling bickering.
"Die Already!" by Michael Mizerany Branigan: Tyler Lloyd Chase: Quincy Bazen Jordan: Kevin Phan Gary: SeeJay Lewis Stage Directions: David Janisch
A spoof of every horror film ever made where the killer just won’t stay dead, "Die Already!" tells the bloody tale of a one-night stand gone horribly, horribly wrong.
Music for both plays was composed by Phil Nenna, who also created the Cinema Junkie theme music.
San Diego Asian Film Festival's artistic director Brian Hu gives Cinema Junkie a preview of the most exciting films from Johnnie To's new boxing romance to Lav Diaz' epic Philippine melodrama to zombies in the Taiwan parliament. Festival runs Oct. 23 through 31 with Mystery Kung Fu Theater streaming live on Twitch!
Can films help us remember history so that we don't repeat it? That's the question Cinema Junkie poses to Kimber Quinney, professor of history at Cal State San Marcos, and Antonio Iannotta, artistic director of the San Diego Italian Film Festival. We look at the rise of fascism in Italy in the 1920s, 30s and 40s to see what lessons we might be able to learn that might apply to the U.S. right now. We discuss films such as "Rome, Open City," "Anni Difficilli," "The Garden of the Finzi-Continis," and "Christ Stopped at Eboli."
The 27th Annual San Diego Latino Film Festival streams its first virtual edition now through Sept. 27 and the film choices push the envelope in terms of diversity and cinematic styles. I speak with festival founder/executive director Ethan Van Thillo about the challenges of moving the event online and with exhibitions manager Moises Esparza about showcasing emerging filmmakers drawn to themes of unrest and revolution.
As the real world feels scarier each day with a pandemic in full swing, police brutality and people just behaving badly filling social media, and a president fanning the flames of hate and unrest, the horror genre has had to adjust.
This year's Horrible Imaginings Film Festival has had to move online for its annual showcase of horror, sci-fi and fantasy. Festival founder and executive director Miguel Rodriguez says that the films this year serve up less gore and tales of physical harm and instead focus on horror relating to undefined dread, to not being able to distinguish what's real from what's not, and to stories where you just can't figure out what it is that is trying to hurt you.
We discuss the diverse array of shorts, features and documentaries available through Sept. 7 as well as discuss the role horror can play in a world that makes us increasingly anxious.
Get a first look, I mean, listen, to Troma Entertainment's latest film "#Shakespeare's Sh--storm." Troma founder Lloyd Kaufman talks with me about finally being old enough to play Prospero in his 100% Troma-tized adaptation of the Bard's "The Tempest."
We also talk about being kicked off YouTube, starting a streaming channel, and surviving more than four decades outside Hollywood as a truly independent film studio. But be warned, this podcast contains potentially offensive material because, well, it's all about Troma, which specializes in gross-out, gore-filled, politically incorrect yet somehow endearing z-grade films. But if you don't know Troma, maybe don't listen. You've been warned!
As if the zombies knew a real pandemic was heading our way, there was a surge of undead films in 2019 with more than a dozen infecting cinemas. So as we deal with a real pandemic Cinema Junkie gets its annual check up with the Doctor of the Dead, Arnold T. Blumberg, whose diagnosis is that COVID is ruining the fun of the zombie apocalypse by giving us something far scarier in the willful ignorance of humans facing the coronavirus in the real world. So to celebrate the 200th episode of the podcast we discuss zombies in the time of coronavirus, and what we might learn from them. Blumberg has written books on zombies, film, and pop culture, and teaches courses using zombies as well as superheroes.
Everything you need to know you can learn from zombies. Author Max Brooks pretty much laid out a lot of what we're been dealing with during this coronavirus pandemic in his novel "World War Z" that came out in 2006. He will have a virtual panel at this year's Comic-Con@Home called "Zombies and Coronavirus: Planning for the Next Big Outbreak." Brooks says of his panel, "People can expect to hear us discuss this real plague that we're dealing with. But through the metaphor of zombies, because the best tool of education is pop culture." His panel is at noon on July 24 but the YouTube link will remain on the Comic-Con Channel even after the convention ends, which allows anyone to watch the discussion any time. We also discuss his new book "Devolution." I know this is not cinema but it is zombies, which I love, and Brooks is the son of filmmaker/comedian Mel Brooks and film actress Anne Bancroft so there is a cinema connection!
In addition to his writing, Brooks holds duel fellowships at the Atlantic Council’s Brent Scowcroft Center for Strategy and Security and the Modern War Institute. Check out a podcast that aims for the head.
While in quarantine I discovered the Apple TV show "Mythic Quest: Raven's Banquet" created by "It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia's" Rob McElhenney, Charlie Day and Megan Ganz. The show debuted in February but had a bonus quarantine episode released at the end of May. So for this podcast I wanted to look to the gaming world and creating a show about the dynamics of running a game design company. I also wanted to focus on the ingenious quarantine episode so I speak with two of the writers from that show Megan Ganz and actor David Hornsby (who you may remember as Cricket from "It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia").
David F. Walker, author of the upcoming "The Black Panther Party: A Graphic Novel," talks more about the research he's done for his book and I have my full interview with a member of the San Diego Original Black Panther Party, Henry Lee Wallace V. So I stray off the film path for this bonus or perhaps it's better titled a companion podcast to Black Films That Matter. Walker talks about the Black Panthers and their legacy while Wallace recounts how he joined the party as a teenager and now serves as chairman of the reactivated San Diego Black Panther Party. A little history rather than cinema for a change of pace. Check out the companion Black Films that Matter Podcast: https://www.kpbs.org/podcasts/cinema-junkie/2020/jul/03/black-films-matter/
David F. Walker (writer of "Shaft" and "Luke Cage" comics, and graphic novels on Frederick Douglas and The Black Panther Party) picks some Black films that matter to provide context for today's protests. We discuss the controversial 1973 film "The Spook Who Sat By The Door" that United Artists pulled from release; Melvin Van Peebles' "The Watermelon Man" in which Godfrey Cambridge plays a white man who wakes up Black one morning; "Cornbread, Earl and Me" about an innocent Black kid shot dead by police; and more. We explore why these films are still relevant and how that provide insight into race in America. WARNING: Contains explicit language and language that may be offensive.
This month and into July Shudder is hosting the Etheria Film Festival, a showcase of genre shorts by women filmmakers, and a Queer Horror Collection featuring the new documentary "Scream Queen! My Nightmare on Elm Street." I will highlight the best of Etheria and then speak with filmmakers Tyler Jensen and Roman Chimienti about making "Scream Queen!" and finally speak with Mark Patton (Jesse in "Nightmare on Elm Street 2") about how being in a film labeled "the gayest horror film ever made" impacted the career of a young actor in 1985 Hollywood when the AIDS pandemic was at its height. So join me as we go from the final girls of Etheria to the final boy of Elm Street. WARNING: Contains explicit language.
Matt Berry has given us a gallery of hilarious characters from the buffoonish Douglas Reynholm in "The IT Crowd" to full of himself actor Steven Toast in "Toast of London" to the Staten Island vampire Laszlo Cravensworth in "What We Do In The Shadows," which has its season finale on June 10, 2020. I had the pleasure of speaking with Berry about his career including such cult classics as "Snuff Box" and "Garth Marenghi's Darkplace." Plus I get to play some of his music. WARNING: This podcast contains explicit language and adult humor... because it contains Matt Berry.
Cinema Junkie has been exploring escapist films to distract you from our current coronavirus pandemic but as parts of the country and some businesses start to reopen I decided it was time to explore some unconventional pandemic films that raise issues beyond just the virus itself. I will be speaking with neuroscientist and emotion researcher Eric Leonardis who has been spending his quarantined time at home watching pandemic films but he has an interesting take on these movies because he wants to see how emotions like panic and fear can spread as readily as a virus and how words can be as dangerous as germs. We will consider silents to contemporary films as well as films from China, Cambodia, South Korea and the U.S. So wash your hands, put on a mask, and defy being infected by these pandemic movies.
Write, blogger, and classic film enthusiast Will McKinley will be your guide to becoming a more adventuresome digital explorer as you navigate the quarantine landscape. He suggest skip the entertainment fast food and pick more nourishing options from the digital buffet. We'll discuss everything from free services to boutique streaming services to bulking up on physical media. There really are so many choices!
April was to have been the month we got Bond 25, "No Time To Die" but the film has been postponed to November because of the current pandemic. So here's a discussion about the best and most outrageous Bond rip off spy films that provide perfect escapist fare while sheltering at home. To help guide us through this fun terrain is #Bond_age espionage aficionado James Patrick. We also pay tribute to Honor Blackman, Pussy Galore of "Goldfinger," who died earlier this month.
Cinema Junkie offers up some quarantine viewing options that provide escapism. First up, TCM Classic Film Festival had to cancel its Hollywood event but has moved it to its TCM cable channel for a Home Edition that anyone can enjoy while sheltering at home. Charles Tabesh, senior vice president in charge of programming at Turner Classic Movies, previews the festival. The Nora Fiore, author of the Nitrate Diva blog, highlights the best screwball comedies to take your mind off the coronavirus pandemic. She suggests some well-known classics as well as under-appreciated gems. Plus enjoy a rendition of "The Good Ship Lollipop" that will delight and surprise you.
UC San Diego professor Joel Wertheim uses the 2011 Steven Soderbergh film "Contagion" to teach a class every fall in epidemiology because it is so accurate in depicting a global pandemic. I talk to Wertheim about viruses and what we might be able learn from pop culture about dealing with the current coronavirus pandemic.
I became a fan of Benh Zeitlin after his first film "Beasts of the Southern Wild." Now almost eight years later he has a second film that once again captures the wonder of childhood through a young girl's eyes. For "Wendy" he has reimagined "Peter Pan" from her point of view and place the idea of motherhood front and center. I speak to him about shooting on 16mm, working with non-professional child actors, and keeping reality as part of the magical world he creates.
February is Women In Horror Month and Cinema Junkie checks in with the Twisted Twins Jen and Sylvia Soska. The Soskas have a new film currently streaming, it's the remake of fellow Canadian David Cronenberg's 70s cult favorite, "Rabid." I have been following the rise of the Twisted Twins since their feature debut "Dead Hooker in a Trunk" in 2009 and their brilliant and most personal project "American Mary" in 2012. The good news is that they are returning to another very personal horror project that I can't wait to see.
The Academy Award nominations always incite me to give out my own awards for best of the year. So here are the Cinema Junkie Awards to highlight the films that I loved this year, some of which I feel were severely under-appreciated.
Imagine a body as your canvas, a knife as your paintbrush, and blood as your medium. That in a nutshell is the Italian giallo film.
Cinema Junkie is on holiday break so I am serving up a tasty archive from 2017 when I looked to Italian giallo cinema. I’ll be back with a new episode in two weeks where I give out the Cinema Junkie Awards. But since I am co-hosting a film series in San Diego at Digital Gym Cinema focusing on Italian Genre Cinema, I decided to replay this podcast to whet your appetite for our latest Film Geeks SD program. If you don’t know what giallo is I have a pair of guests to enlighten you and if you already know the pleasures of this over-the-top Italian genre then you can delight in insights from Troy Howarth, author of the giallo study "So Deadly So Perverse;" and Rachael Nisbet, who runs a film blog dedicated to giallo and Italian genre cinema.
The word “giallo” translates literally as “yellow” but it became synonymous with a particular style of literary thriller that got its name from the cheap yellow covers of the novels published in Italy in the ’50s and ’60s. The films that drew on these literary roots embellished the lurid tales with an audacious visual style and pulsating soundtrack that consumed you like a fever dream. Although murder is often at the center of these films don't waste your time trying to figure out whodunit because plot feels like an afterthought in these films that are drip with intoxicating style. The style IS the content so you can resist it or you can simply succumb to this assault on your senses and enjoy the perverse pleasures of Italian giallo cinema.
Fasten your seatbelts! Cinema Junkie is racing off on a vacation break and playing a favorite archive episode this week. I'll be back with new episodes in January. Since I will be co-hosting a yearlong Gearhead Cinema program at San Diego's Digital Gym Cinema in 2020 I am digging into the archives for my interview with stunt driver Steve Lepper who talks about the best car movies and car chases of all time. Lepper came to San Diego in late 2018 to see the Bullitt car at the San Diego Air and Space Museum. He will return to San Diego to introduce some of the classic car films in the Gearhead Cinema program.
At a time when much of Hollywood's award hopefuls feel familiar in their storytelling formula, it's refreshing to find films like "Waves" and the upcoming "A Hidden Life" from Terrence Malick that speak in an audaciously cinematic language that is pure visual poetry.
"Waves'" filmmaker Trey Edward Shults grabbed my attention two years ago for "It Comes At Night," an unconventional horror film that was poorly served by its misleading ad campaign. I had the opportunity to speak to Shults back in 2017 when "It Comes At Night" opened. With his new film in theaters I thought it would be fun to revisit his interview.
It's the holidays and I'm feeling sentimental. My dad died on Aug. 23 this year and he's the person responsible for making me fall in love with movies. So for my holiday edition of Cinema Junkie I give thanks to my dad for passing on his passion for movies to me and I highlight some of my favorite movie memories I shared with my dad. So it's a personal edition of the show and you'll get some insights into why I became a film critic.
It's crazy gearheads to crazy rich Asians as Cinema Junkie goes from the Le Mans track to debating the best in Asian American films from the past two decades. First up, director James Mangold discusses his new film "Ford v Ferrari," about the showdown between the two car icons in 1966 at the 24-hour Le Mans race. It may be called "Ford v Ferrari" but the story is really more about American car designer Carroll Shelby and driver Ken Miles who collaborated on designing and racing the car.
Then San Diego Asian Film Festival artistic director Brian Hu talks about the L.A. Times list he helped curate of the 20 best Asian American films of the past 20 years. "Better Luck Tomorrow" topped the list but you might be surprised by some of the other films in the canon.
Two films that will make my ten best list are arriving in theaters: "The Lighthouse" and "Jojo Rabbit" so I'm thrilled to be able to highlight both films with interviews. I speak with filmmaker Robert Eggers (who previously directed "The Witch") about his new film "The Lighthouse" starring Willem Dafoe and Robert Pattinson and set in an 1890s remote New England lighthouse. And then I talk with actor Stephen Merchant who enlightens us about how to tackle playing a Nazi for laughs in Takia Waititi's anti-hate satire "Jojo Rabbit."
Eddie Murphy stars in the Netflix film "Dolemite is My Name." The film introduces audiences to singer, musician, stand up comic, actor and film producer Rudy Ray Moore. Moore found success in the 1970s with a string of Blaxploitation films that began with the 1975 film "Dolemite."
I speak with award-winning comic book writer David Walker, who knew the real Rudy Ray Moore, as well as with independent filmmakers Sanns Dixon and Dante Moran about the dual legacies of Moore and Murphy.
This podcast includes explicit language.
With AMC's "NOS4A2" renewed for a second season Cinema Junkie digs into the archives for a 2013 interview with author Joe Hill at the KPBS studios. He talks about his best-selling novel, horror, and comics. Plus he reads a selection from his novel and we'll hear from fans about what they love about his writing.
John Waters' Odorama has inspired filmmaker JC Calciano to make his new film "Steam Room Stories: The Movie" in Cinema Scent. I talk with Calciano about scratch 'n' sniff cards, going from YouTube to feature films, and working with Traci Lords.
Horrible Imaginings Film Festival celebrates its tenth anniversary this Labor Day Weekend at the Frida Cinema so that is the perfect excuse to speak with the festival's founder and executive director Miguel Rodriguez about all things horror. We will discuss trends as well as some of the standout films from the festival.
The new horror film 'Ready or Not' was brought to the screen by a collaborative known as Radio Silence. Filmmakers and online pranksters Chad Villella, Matt Bettineli-Olpin, and Tyler Gillett have a very singular vision about how to make movies. They discuss how they went from online videos to making a film in Hollywood, and how a board game helped them seal the deal for "Ready or Not."
In honor of National Whistleblowers Appreciation Day Cinema Junkie speaks with director Gavin Hood. His new film "Official Secrets" tells the story of Katherine Gun (played by Keira Knightley), a British intelligence specialist who leaked a memo when she felt her government was lying to the people. The film has a special screening July 30 and opens in San Diego theaters on Sept. 12.
Comic-Con celebrated its 50th show and I celebrated my 41st. Join me as I speak with a trio of people who have attended all 50 shows plus some exhibitors who describe the changes they have seen over the years. I also pull out some archive footage from past Cons and visit Godzilla in his first Toho booth at Comic-Con.
Chinese-American filmmaker Lulu Wang talks about her film "The Farewell" that she says is based on an "actual lie." The Sundance hit draws on her own family and first came to life as an episode on "This American Life." She also reveals how a trip to Ikea led to her career in filmmaking.
In this two-part Cinema Junkie podcast I look to the female perspective in film. In part two, I explore the film "Ophelia," which reimagines Shakespeare’s "Hamlet" from Ophelia’s point of view. I will be speaking with director Claire McCarthy as well as with Lisa Klein, author of the novel the film is based on. The film stars Daisy Ridley (of "Star Wars" fame) as the title character.
In this two-part Cinema Junkie podcast I look to the female perspective in film. In this first part I speak with Heidi Honeycutt, director of programming for Etheria Film Night. Founded in 2014, Etheria Film Night is a showcase of horror, science fiction, fantasy, action, thriller, and dark comedy directed by women and for an audience that includes producers, managers, showrunners, distributors, and genre fans.
Etheria says its goal is to put the women directors who want to make genre films and TV in front of the people who want to hire them. Etheria is hosted by American Cinematheque and takes place at its Egyptian Theater.
African Americans and Hollywood have a long, troubled, and complicated past. I am going to explore that history with Donald Bogle author of the new book "Hollywood Black: The Stars, the Films, the Filmmakers" from Turner Classic Movies. His comprehensive exploration begins in the silent era and wraps up with 2018's "Black Panther." Bogle has been writing about blacks in Hollywood and on screen for decades and over a half dozen books.
Shakespeare has been dead for four centuries but this summer there is a film about his life called "All is True," an adaptation of the book "Ophelia" that looks at "Hamlet" from Ophelia's point of view, and a pair of his plays and a lecture about his work at the Old Globe Theatre. Cinema Junkie looks to the two new films, and then speaks with Globe artistic director and Shakespeare scholar Barry Edelstein
"John Wick: Chapter 3 -- Parabellum" finally arrives and stuntman-turned-director Chad Stahelski delivers an exhausting, exhilarating film. I have a review of the new film and have a 2017 interview with Stahelski where he explains exactly why John Wick raises the bar on action films. And learn the difference between having a star do action versus doing stunts.
J.R.R. Tolkien famously wrote "The Hobbit" and "Lord of the Rings" books that inspired Peter Jackson's recent films. Now a film biography about the author hits theaters. I'll discuss the allure of Tolkien's fellowship, have a review of the biopic "Tolkien" and speak with the film's director Dome Karukoski about making connections between the man and his books.
Reel Science returns with the San Diego Natural History Museum and Digital Gym Cinema pairing sci-fi films with real scientists to put the movie science into a broader context. Whether you want preview of the film series or if you can't make the films but want to watch sci-fi films with some questions to ask you'll want to hear entomologist Michael Wall and cognitive scientist Eric Leonardis dissect "Damnation Alley" and David Cronenberg's "The Fly."
I may hate the Academy for some of its Oscar choices but I have nothing but praise for the work it does to preserve film history. I speak with Josef Lindner, the preservation officer at the Academy Film Archive about the challenges of preserving and restoring films. As an example we discuss the pre-Code comedy naughtily titled Cock of the Air.
In part one of my look at the 10th Annual TCM Classic Film Festival I spoke with TCM Film Festival programmer Charles Tabesh. Now for part two, I speak with Fox archivist Schawn Belston about the studio's past, future, and exactly what it is an archivist does. He also discusses some of the strange places he has discovered film elements.
TCM Classic Film Festival is a four-day event held in Hollywood and showcasing films from the silents on up into the 1980s. In part one of this week's podcast I speak with TCM Film Festival programmer Charles Tabesh about what it takes to put on the festival and about the special Fox Appreciation presentation. In part two, I will speak with Fox archivist Schawn Belston about the studio's past and the challenges of restoring films.
This spoiler-filled episode examines the hidden meanings of Jordan Peele's latest box office hit with the help of a UC Riverside professor of media and cultural studies.
With Alfonso Cuaron’s recent multiple Oscar win and San Diego Latino Film Festival entering its second quarter century, I felt it was the perfect time to pull up an archive interview I did with Mexican director Guillermo del Toro.
You may not know Milicent Patrick's name and that's precisely why filmmaker, monster lover, and author Mallory O'Meara decided to write "The Lady From the Black Lagoon." It reveals the lost legacy of this woman who created one of Hollywood's most iconic monsters.
Cinema Junkie celebrates Black History Month by speaking with Keithan Jones, founder of Black Comix Day, about black comics and movies, and professor John Jennings about a new collective called Scary Black Folks.
Films made between 1930 and 1934 have come to be known as pre-Code and display defiance of the self-censorship rules Hollywood laid down for itself. I will talk about the delicious naughtiness and sensational social realism of these films with Danny Reid of Pre-Code.com.
Oscar nominations come out Jan. 22 and, since many people may not know a lot about what a film editor does, here is an archive edition of Cinema Junkie that will enlighten you about the art and craft of film editing.
Cinema Junkie is technically on holiday break but here's something old and something new to start the year: an archive of my Reel Science episode plus my picks for the best films of 2018.
Holy archives! Cinema Junkie is on holiday break but enjoy this popular episode dedicated to the 1960s Batman TV show and movie, which are the subject of The Hollywood Museum's exhibit that runs through the end of the year.
Cinema Junkie is taking a holiday break and will be re-posting popular podcasts in the interim. This week I pull up an archive show appropriate for the Christmas season but with some perverse holiday cheer and that means revisiting "Christmas Smackdown" with Mark Nutter and Cynthia Carle. Proceed with caution.
Stunt driver Steve Lepper picks his favorite car movies as well as the best car chases ever put on film.
Legendary Hong Kong producer Raymond Chow died earlier this month. This podcast pays tribute to his legacy with San Diego Asian Film Festival artistic director Brian Hu. Plus we get a preview of the 19th annual festival.
A discussion of witches through history and on film from ancient Rome to "Rosemary's Baby" and Monty Python.
Cinema Junkie asks people about the first film they remember scaring them. Listen to memories from horror fans and some famous horror celebrities.
The Doctor of the Dead, Arnold T. Blumberg, uses zombies to teach media literacy and critical thinking. He has also just written a geeky, well-researched history of the zombie, "Journey of the Living Dead."
William Shakespeare's plays are more than four centuries old yet they can still captivate an audience and deliver themes that resonate. On today's podcast, I speak with theater and film artists about how to bring the Bard to life for modern audiences. Plus a review at the top of "Puppet Master: The Littlest Reich."
Aug. 20 will mark the 128th anniversary of H.P. Lovecraft’s birth. But how did this man who was born in Providence Rhode Island come to create a body of horror fiction that continues to influence the public consciousness and other artists? Explore that question with the latest podcast.
Last month actor and golden boy Tab Hunter died of cardiac arrest at the age of 86. I got to interview him in 2015. Here's a podcast dedicated to him.
Comic-Con, my home away from home, is this week and I wanted to provide a little insight into why it gives me such joy.
Time to geek out about two very different things: James Bond and the directorial debut of rapper Boots Riley.
If you do not know the name William Castle then it's time for you to discover the master showman who invented Illusion-O, Fright Break, Coward's Corner, Percepto, Emergo and much more. And if you already know this cinematic genius then come share some love with his daughter.
Cinema Junkie Podcast goes Mad About Musicals as Turner Classic Movies launches new online film class.
Since San Diego’s LGBTQ film festival FilmOut celebrates its 20th anniversary this year I thought it would be a good time to reflect on the state of LGBTQ cinema and what a festival focusing on that community might need to look like moving forward.
Author Sloan De Forest talks about the challenges and agonies of compiling a list of films for her new book, "TCM Must-See Sci-Fi: 50 Movies That Are Out Of This World."
My apologies for getting this podcast out a week late, but I had the TCM Classic Film Festival and Reel Science 2.0 to cover!
Death. No one likes to talk about it and no one likes to think about how he or she might actually exit this world. But the Hemlock Society of San Diego has some film suggestions that might change your mind.
If you are a geek like I am, then the news that Comic-Con is going to open a museum was something to be excited about. Cinema Junkie sits down with executive director Adam Smith to discuss what the museum might be like and if the term is even appropriate to describe what's coming.
Armando Iannucci, creator of "Thick of It" and "Veep," makes his feature film writing and directing debut with "The Death of Stalin." I talk with the comic genius about the challenges of doing political satire at a time when the real world is crazier than anything he can imagine.
WARNING: This podcast contains explicit, Malcolm Tucker language.
The 90th Academy Awards are Sunday and one of the most misunderstood and least appreciated of the craft categories is film editing. So here is a trio of brilliant film editors to talk about their work on this year's Oscar-nominated films and to provide insights into just what film editors do.
My idea of a good date movie is "Shaun of the Dead." So maybe I'm not the best person to be making Valentine's Day recommendations. But there's one contemporary filmmaker who consistently tackles love with such lush romanticism that even I swoon at his movies. That filmmaker is Wong Kar-Wai. So as much as I hate Cupid's silly holiday, here's a Valentine to Wong Kar-Wai.
Fifty-two years ago ABC launched the TV show "Batman" and forever changed the pop culture landscape.
Noirchaelogist, Czar of noir, host of TCM's Noir Alley, founder and president of the Film Noir Foundation... whatever title you want to refer to him by, Eddie Muller is simply the man to go to when you want to know anything about film noir.
The holidays are upon us so what better time to think about spirituality. For some, movie theaters are like churches and the movies they screen can teach about how to live life.
For this podcast, Arts & Culture Reporter Beth Accomando turns to her archives for an interview with David Cronenberg about his 1996 film "Crash," adapted from J.G. Ballard's controversial 1973 novel revolving around people with symphorophilia, in this case, car-crash sexual fetishism.
It's Thanksgiving and I have a pair of films that I am feeling very thankful for right now: "Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri" and "The Shape of Water." Filmmaker Martin McDonagh talks about writing a film for Frances McDormand and Doug Jones talks about "suit acting" for Guillermo Del Toro.
Maverick filmmaker Larry Cohen died on March 23, 2019 at the age of 77. His schlocky B-movies won him a devout cult following and Cinema Junkie had a chance to speak with him in 2017 about his long and wild career.
"Ash Vs. Evil Dead" season three opener has been postponed to February! So if you want your Bruce Campbell fix in October, check out this podcast and his new book, "Hail to the Chin."
You all know about the final girl in horror, that feisty possibly virginal heroine who’s the last one left standing after some serial killer goes on a rampage. But are you familiar with the final boy?
Italian giallo cinema is something everyone needs to experience at least once. It consumes you like a fever dream and assaults your senses with an audacious excess of style. Soak up some glorious giallo elegance with this podcast.
Horrible Imaginings Film Festival wrapped up earlier this month, and it was another great year embracing the darkness. Here's a reflection on the event and a look at the radio drama created specifically to debut at the festival.
The Old Globe has a bold new production of “Hamlet” on stage now. It is directed by Barry Edelstein and it made me see the play with new eyes. This podcast is dedicated to Shakespeare’s great play and to understanding it better through film and an interview with Edelstein.
George A. Romero died on July 16. The zombie community paid tribute to him during Comic-Con, and I gather some of those memories and an archive interview with him for this remembrance.
Alfred Hitchcock, the master of suspense, Hitch — however you want to refer to him — is a filmmaker who has left an indelible mark on cinema. His career spanned the silents and talkies, black and white, Technicolor, and 3-D, plus film industries on both side of the pond.
Edgar Wright has a new film out and that is cause for celebration. I speak with the director about "Baby Driver."
San Diego's Old Globe Theatre has an eight decade history of performing Shakespeare on stage. Now its artistic director Barry Edelstein wants to highlight the Bard on film.
Found footage is a tired trope in horror but those films all manufacture their supposed found footage. That kind of fakery holds no interest for filmmaker Bill Morrison. He is interested in the real deal, genuine footage that has been unearthed, uncovered or just waiting to be found and brought to light. His latest film, "Dawson City: Frozen Time," finds treasures in the arctic ice.
FilmOut San Diego is hosting its first-ever block of gay horror shorts and it highlights how LGBT filmmakers are turning more and more to genre filmmaking. So I felt it was time to pay tribute to queer cinema and talk to some filmmakers about why they choose to work in the genre.
With the return of "Twin Peaks" and a revival screening of "Fire Walk With Me," I decided it was time to dig into the archives for an interview with David Lynch.
For almost a century nitrate base film was the standard for motion pictures and for good reason. The image looked stunning on the huge screens of movie palaces. But now only a handful of theaters can project the film stock, which has a reputation for spontaneous combustion.
You must remember this … after 75 years, the film “Casablanca” still maintains an iconic place in pop culture. A new book explores the life, legend and afterlife of Hollywood’s most beloved film.
Forty years ago, Stuart Gordon adapted Kurt Vonnegut’s novel “The Sirens of Titan” to the stage. Now, Sacred Fools Theater Company in Los Angeles is reviving that adaptation and finding it surprisingly topical.
It is that time of year for classic film zealots to make the pilgrimage to the mecca known as the TCM Film Festival, running April 6 through 9 in Los Angeles.
Cannibal films — in which people mindlessly slaughter and eat others or where carnage soaks the screen — are a dime a dozen. But films in which great care is taken with both the filmmaking and the preparation of human flesh for consumption are more rare. And that's what we are going to be talking about on this gourmet cannibal podcast.
This week, the 24th annual San Diego Latino Film Festival kicks off, and that is a perfect excuse to look at Latin cinema — so good it’s scary.
The wait is finally over. After 13 years "Samurai Jack" is back for his fifth and final season and I speak with Phil LaMarr, the voice actor who has brought Jack to life since his debut in 2001.
February is Women in Horror Month and just before the month closes I want to pay tribute to some wickedly talented filmmakers, Jen and Sylvia Soska and their second feature, "American Mary."
With "John Wick: Chapter 2," stuntman-turned-director Chad Stahelski proves that he knows what's best for American action films.
Cinema Junkie podcast celebrates Black History Month by speaking with filmmaker Raoul Peck about his Oscar-nominated documentary, "I Am Not Your Negro" (opening Feb. 10 at Landmark's Hillcrest Cinemas), based on the writings of James Baldwin.
Martin Scorsese's Oscar-winning editor Thelma Schoonmaker and Emmy-winning editor Janet Ashikaga received Career Achievement Honors at the American Cinema Editors (ACE) Eddie Awards. They talk about the art of editing.
John Carpenter celebrated his 69th birthday on Jan. 16 so it is the perfect time to pay tribute to the filmmaker and launch a film series dedicated to his work.
Who was the first woman in the Directors Guild of America? What was the first X-rated film to win a Best Picture Oscar? What was the first film Martin Scorsese and Robert DeNiro worked on? Get the answers with a discussion of famous film firsts.
Cinema Junkie Podcast is back from holiday break with a show all about real scientists talking about reel science.
Cinema Junkie closes out 2016 with a tribute to the irreverent and hilarious musical revue "Christmas Smackdown." Warning: What follows pushes the boundaries of good taste to the breaking point ... and beyond.
"1948: Creation and Catastrophe" looks to the pivotal year that David Ben-Gurion, the head of the Jewish Agency, proclaimed the establishment of the state of Israel and how that impacted the Middle East.
It’s Thanksgiving and I have a special holiday episode all about the films people are thankful for. I speak to some famous people and some who are just diehard cinephiles.
Cinema Junkie Podcast pays tribute to Jackie Chan by way of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences and a stuntman who grew up worshipping the Hong Kong Action star.
The 17th annual San Diego Asian Film Festival runs through Nov. 12 at multiple venues with its home base at the UltraStar Mission Valley.
Turner Classic Movies host Ben Mankiewicz talks about films that highlights the best and worst in American politics.
It's time for my annual check up with the Doctor of the Dead. Last year he diagnosed the self-aware zombie, this year he talks about Zombies for Humanity or zombies whose hearts have grown bigger than their brains.
"Shin Godzilla" is the first Japanese film in 12 years to feature Toho's famous monster icon. On this podcast, I speak with professor Ramie Tateishi about the legacy of Big G and how this new film revisits the past and defines a potential new future.
Another podcast from Horrible Imaginings Film Festival, this time checking in with horror authors about how to translate books to film and on what the written word can do that movies can't.
FilmOut screens Clive Barker's "Nightbreed" on Oct. 12 at Landmark's Hillcrest Cinemas. So for this podcast I spoke with Mark Alan Miller, who produced the Director's Cut and was key in locating footage that had been thought lost.
I'm in the mood for Italian horror thanks to composer Fabio Frizzi coming to San Diego to perform scores from his films. So let's talk about Frizzi, Fulci and the fever dream of Italian horror.
Sometimes there’s just too much good stuff to cover so this week I am going to talk with a pair of filmmakers from wildly divergent films but what makes them fun to combine into one podcast is that one is a real documentary — "For the Love of Spock" — and one is a fake documentary — "Operation Avalanche."
The seventh annual Horrible Imaginings Film Festival wrapped this past Sunday. Here are interviews with filmmakers from around the globe who came.
Something wicked this way comes! It is time for the seventh annual Horrible Imaginings Film Festival, which runs Sept. 7 through 11 at the Museum of Photographic Arts in Balboa Park.
The comic-turned-playwright's latest work, "Meteor Shower," has its world premiere at the Old Globe.
"Hell or High Water" is a throwback to 1970s indie films. Director David Mackenzie and actor Gil Birmingham talk about making a contemporary Western that delivers social commentary.
There are less than three months until Halloween. Spirit stores are already posting signs looking for employees and I am still trying to track down tentacles for my Lovecraft haunt this year. So basically it’s panic mode. Fortunately, I spent this past weekend at ScareLA where my sense of panic was understood by fellow Halloween enthusiasts.
Mike Birbiglia's new film "Don't Think Twice" looks to an improv group experiencing some growing pains.
If Mickey Rooney and Judy Garland were geeks, they would be putting on a "Hobbits" version of "Les Mis" or a "Star Wars" take on "The Phantom of the Opera." That's what Turning Tydes is doing at Comic-Con.
Olivia de Havilland, the loveliest of all Maid Marians, turns 100 years old this month and that's reason enough to screen "The Adventures of Robin Hood" and celebrate this 1938 Technicolor classic.
Since she was 17 years old, Tymisha Harris has idolized legendary dancer, singer and activist Josephine Baker. Now she pays tribute to the first international black superstar in a one-woman show called "Josephine" at the San Diego International Fringe Festival.
June 22 is Bruce Campbell's birthday. That's cause for celebration and I am calling this podcast Hail to the King, Bruce Campbell in his honor.
With the first folio in San Diego this month, Cinema Junkie returns to the Bard for an episode all about "Macbeth."
When you think of Africa on film, what comes to mind? Meryl Streep and Robert Redford in "Out of Africa"? Leonardo DiCaprio in "Blood Diamond"? If so, then here's a fresh take on Africa from a first-time filmmaker from Kenya.
FilmOut, San Diego’ LGBT film festival, kicks off its 18th year Friday and will showcase some 40 films in three days. Cinema Junkie highlights one dark gem, “Downriver.”
The First Folio — the book that gave us Shakespeare — is touring the U.S. so what better time to talk about Shakespeare on film.
Cinema Junkie travels to Egypt by way of an actor described as the "Egyptian Brad Pitt." In other words, he’s a big star even though most Americans don’t know his name, Khaled El Nabawy.
Cinema Junkie serves up two archive interviews featuring Steve Martin and George Takai, both of whom have musicals currently on Broadway that premiered at the Old Globe Theatre.
Monsterpalooza, a convention celebrating the art of movie monsters, has grown so big that it has moved from the Burbank Marriott to the Pasadena Convention Center. Cinema Junkie checks in with some of the people at the convention.
The 1922 murder of silent film director William Desmond Taylor inspired playwright Joe DiPietro to write "Hollywood," which has its world premiere at the La Jolla Playhouse in May. Cinema Junkie gets an early behind the scenes look at the play in progress.
Academy Award-winning film editor Alan Heim was at Groovy Like a Movie for a San Diego Filmmakers event on April 12. Cinema Junkie sits down with the veteran craftsman for a master class in how to cut a film.
FilmOut San Diego is screening John Waters' 1977 film "Desperate Living" at 3 p.m. Saturday at the Museum of Photographic Arts. The perfect excuse to dust off a 1997 archive interview.
Cinema Junkie speaks with a veteran filmmaker and a newcomer whose works were featured in this month's San Diego Latino Film Festival.
WonderCon 2016 took place over the weekend in Los Angeles, and KPBS' Beth Accomando took advantage of the event to talk with Seth Laderman of Comic-Con HQ and Ted Adams of IDW Publishing.
"Mad Max: Fury Road" was nominated for a Best Picture Oscar this year and took home more awards than any other film, but none of the stunt people received any recognition from the Academy. Stuntman Jeff Wolfe talks about a rally and petition to get an Oscar category for stunts.
Masked wrestlers, nunsploitation, monsters, and San Diego Latino Film Festival's Un Mundo Extraño — Cinema Junkie looks to extreme Latin cinema with Horrible Imaginings' Miguel Rodriguez.
Turner Classic Movies launches its March spotlight program, Condemned, a look at more than four decades of censorship, the Catholic Legion of Decency, and the film industry.
For almost two decades, starting in the late 1950s, you could count on Hammer Films for breathtakingly lurid Gothic horror tales that served up vampires, werewolves, monsters and luscious ladies. British author Antony Earnshaw talks about the studio and it legacy for the launch of a yearlong film series Get Hammered at the Digital Gym Cinema.
Filmmaker Joshua Oppenheimer talks about making documentaries from a subjective point of view in "The Act of Killing" and "The Look of Silence," which is up for a Best Documentary Oscar this Sunday.
This year is off to a good start with "Bone Tomahawk" and "The Witch" (now playing throughout San Diego) serving up well-crafted horror tales that challenge expectations about the genre.
"Bone Tomahawk" gets a one-time screening in San Diego on Feb. 21 at the Digital Gym Cinema. Writer-director S. Craig Zahler talks about ramping up his slow-burn horror western.
Film Struck is showcasing eight classics of Blaxploitation Cinema so it's time to revisit the Cinema Junkie Podcast featuring David Walker, writer of the "Shaft" comic books. Walker loves the Blaxploitation films of the 1970s and says we're due for Blaxploitation 2.0.
With "Pride and Prejudice and Zombies" reanimating on screens this weekend, the time seems ripe to speak with Doctor of the Dead Arnold T. Blumberg about a recent strain of the undead — the self-aware zombie.
On the heels of Oscar snubbing black actors and filmmakers again, and on the eve of Black History Month, Cinema Junkie sits down with a pair of black San Diego independent filmmakers to talk about some under-appreciated African-American directors whose works are worth seeking out.
The San Diego Black Film Festival reveals the diversity of contemporary black filmmaking.
The screening of a documentary about the Black Panthers at the Human Rights Watch Film Festival this weekend seems oddly appropriate on the heels of the very white Academy Award nominations. Would the Black Panthers be boycotting the Oscars?
Cinema Junkie Podcast is back from a holiday break with a three-part show all about the Oscars.
Awards season is in full swing so it must be time to make a Ten Best List and hand out some awards.
For some, "Star Wars" is a way of life and the arrival of a new movie set in a galaxy far, far away is cause for both great excitement and great concern. A group of "Star Wars" fans rent a van and drive up to Los Angeles for the opening night of "Episode VII: The Force Awakens."
After much anticipation and build up, J.J. Abrams "Star Wars: The Force Awakens" has finally screened and fans can breathe a big sigh of relief.
Kent Jones dropped out of film school but then started working in Martin Scorsese's office. That led to a series of documentaries on movies. Now Jones talks about "Hitchcock/Truffaut" (opening at Landmark's Ken Cinema).
This year is turning out to be a good one for older actresses. Cynthia Nixon talks about her role in the new independent film “James White” (opened Dec. 4 at Arclight La Jolla).
John Waters – the self-proclaimed "Pope of Trash" and "People’s Pervert" – returns to San Diego (Nov. 30 at The Observatory North Park) for the John Waters Christmas Tour 2015.
Italian film composer Fabio Frizzi made his first tour of the U.S. this year with a tribute concert to director Lucio Fulci called Frizzi 2 Fulci. I saw the concert in L.A. last month and caught up with Frizzi in Wales for my first overseas Cinema Junkie podcast.
In a year when I was breathlessly awaiting a new Bond film and a promising "Star Wars" installment, "Trumbo" (opening Friday throughout San Diego) was the film that in some ways I was most excited about because it combined so many elements I love.
The San Diego Asian Film Festival celebrates its sweet 16 this year. Artistic director Brian Hu talked about programming the festival and highlights some festival offerings.
Bond. James Bond. My obsession with 007 began as a child and I continue to thrill at the new films, including the latest "SPECTRE."
Last week I gave you a tease of my Cinema Junkie podcast about the first film people remember scaring them, now listen to more memories including some horror celebrities.
Feminist western barely qualifies as a subgenre since there are so few entries but "The Keeping Room" offers a strong entry.
This week's horror-themed October Cinema Junkie podcast pays tribute to "Re-Animator The Musical."
It's all about obedience and madness with reviews of "The Experimenter" and National Theatre Live's "Hamlet" with Benedict Cumberbatch.
This week's horror-themed edition of the KPBS Cinema Junkie Podcast looks at "The Babadook" through the eyes of a psychoanalyst.
Guillermo del Toro returns to the realm of ghosts for his gothic romance, "Crimson Peak."
If you have ever had the secret desire to look through medical books with their explicit photos of disease, deformities and medical science, then I have the perfect thing for you.
This week's Cinema Junkie podcast looks to the new horror film "Goodnight Mommy" that hails from Austria.
All the hype this week is focused on "The Martian" (opening Oct. 2 throughout San Diego), but there are plenty of other film choices for this weekend.
An archive interview with Clive Barker from 2005 launches a month of horror themed podcasts on Cinema Junkie.
The 14th Annual San Diego Film Festival will hand out its tribute awards on Saturday, with Brit Marling receiving its Auteur Award.
A wrap-up from last weekend's Son of Monsterpalooza Convention in Burbank with a trio of interviews.
Let's talk anime. "Cowboy Bebop" is my all-time favorite anime and this Saturday the Ken Cinema is showing the movie as it’s midnight film. If you have never seen an anime before then make this the one to pop your cherry.
Tenor Rene Barbera talks about opera, breathing, and heavy metal as we take a field trip outside the world of film.
If you grew up in the 1980s then you probably saw a Cannon Film like “Lifeforce,” “Missing in Action,” or “Death Wish 2.” The new documentary “Electric Boogaloo: The Wild, Untold Story of Cannon Films” chronicles the crazy history of this indie film company.
Horrible Imaginings's lively panel for Edgar G. Ulmer's 'Bluebeard' (1944). On the panel are Ulmer's daughter Arianne Ulmer Cipes and his biographer Noah Isenberg. Panel was moderated by Miguel Rodriguez.
Two young filmmakers, Erick Msumanje and Gigi Saul Guererro, with wildly different films and styles talk about their work and how they define horror at the Horrible Imaginings Film Festival that took place over the weekend.
Yes! I just found out that "Hobo With a Shotgun" has been held over, and you will have at least one more shot at this grindhouse homage.
You may think you’ve seen bad movies but you haven’t seen anything quite as bad as “The Room." Listen to my radio feature about how a film’s badness is turning it into a cult hit on the midnight movie circuit. This is like a car crash that you cannot avoid looking at.
Horrible Imaginings Film Festival director Miguel Rodriguez discusses his upcoming horror fest.
Landmark’s Ken Cinema has found success with its classic film weeks and midnight movies. "They Live" pays tribute to the late Roddy Piper.
If you found "Turbo Kid" on a VHS tape in someone's garage you'd probably swear it was a movie from the 1980s and that's just part of its charm.
Tribute to horror master Wes Craven, who died on Sunday. I pull an archive interview from 2006 when he discussed the state of horror and how he thinks audiences arrive at his movies already in fear.
Unearth a Geek Roundtable with fellow podcaster and Horrible Imaginings Film Festival director Miguel Rodriguez to discuss Universal monsters and the continuing film series The Universal Suspects at the Digital Gym Cinema.
Oscar-winner George Chakiris talks about his career, Marilyn Monroe, and his dog Sammy.
"Drown" premiered in San Diego earlier this year at FilmOut where it won six awards including Best Narrative Feature, Best Actor, Best Cinematography, Best Soundtrack and Outstanding Artistic Achievement. "Drown" is a difficult film to watch but for all the right reasons.
In 1968, ABC News was trailing miserably in the ratings and to offset its inability to provide gavel-to-gavel coverage of the Republican and Democratic conventions it came up with the idea of offering a series of debates between William F. Buckley and Gore Vidal. The new documentary, "Best of Enemies" focuses on these debates.
Horror and science fiction frequently turn to bugs and the insect world to scare people and this podcast features theNAT's entomologist Dr. Michael Wall talking about the interplay of science and pop culture.
Giant bugs attack humanity in the new sci-fi horror film, "Stung" and meet TheNAT's curator of entomology.
ScareLA's Extreme Haunt Panel featuring McKamey Manor, Blackout, and Gates of Hell's Victim Experience. Each haunt brought along a "victim" to discuss the experience. Here's the audio from the panel.
David Foster Wallace won accolades for his 1,000-page tome “Infinite Jest” in 1996. Then he saddened fans by committing suicide just over a decade later. Actor Jason Segel talks about playing the late writer in the new film “End of the Tour."
With Simon Pegg returning in "Mission Impossible: Rogue Nation," I decided to reach into the archives for a 2007 interview with Pegg about "Hot Fuzz."
Spies are back in style as the "Mission Impossible" and 007 franchises serve up new entries, and "The Man From U.N.C.L.E." TV show gets a big screen reboot. The latest "Mission Impossible" film looks a lot like an old James Bond film.
“A Pigeon Sat on a Branch Reflecting on Existence,” which opened Friday at the Digital Gym Cinema, is the final part of a Swedish trilogy about being human.
A 4K restoration of "The Third Man" opens at the Ken Cinema and that's cause for celebration.
Actor Nicholas Hoult, of "Mad Max: Fury Road" and "Warm Bodies," was nineteen when I interviewed him. He was starring with Gabriel Byrne in Richard E. Grant autobiographical film about growing up in Swaziland, "Wah-Wah." Hoult has grown up on screen in starting with "About A Boy" and on through playing Hank/Beast in the "X-Men" films.
This week Sir Ian McKellan appears as Sherlock Holmes in a new film. So Cinema Junkie looks back to the archives for an interview with the actor about playing Richard III.
After more than a century, Sherlock Holmes’ popularity continues to rise with a play at the Globe, more of the BBC series in the wings, and now Sir Ian McKellan taking on the role of the great detective for the feature film, “Mr. Holmes."
"The Overnight” has been stirring buzz since its premiere at Sundance earlier this year. It's a raunchy comedy but with more than sex on its mind.
It’s summer so that means Shakespeare takes the stage at the Old Globe Theatre in Balboa Park. But for its 80th anniversary, the Globe is adding a twist to the Summer Shakespeare season — films.
In an era of fast food entertainment, “We Are Still Here” (opening June 25 at the Digital Gym Cinema) serves up a slow meal of haunted house horrors.
“Me and Earl and the Dying Girl” (opening June 19 in select San Diego theaters) won the Grand Jury Prize and the Audience Award at the Sundance Film Festival earlier this year.