Melissa Kaercher

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This Week’s Underappreciated Movies

Every Monday, each of us will suggest a film that we feel too few people have seen.

perfecthost

Melissa’s Pick of the Week: The Perfect Host

So, an easy way to get me to watch just about anything is to put David Hyde Pierce in it, which means that The Perfect Host was laser-aimed at the pleasure centers of my brain. The plot involves a thief who cons his way into a dinner party being hosted by an upscale foodie, played by Mr. Pierce. As the film progresses, the thief begins to be wary that things aren’t quite right with his consummate host, and soon David Hyde Pierce is chewing ALL of the scenery. Seriously. I think he may even have been chewing so much scenery, he ran out and started chewing on scenery in other movies. It’s a twisted delight.

hustleandflow

Windy’s Pick of the Week: Hustle and Flow

I’m not really a fan of rap music or rap culture.  And yet somehow this movie is still engaging.  A breakout performance by Terrence Howard anchors this film, but it’s the gritty and interesting details, along with the surrounding characters that gives his character something to bounce off of.  It’s a typical hero’s quest – but the hero is a pimp trying to be a rap star.  More inspiring and positive than it has any right to be.

Episode 28: Sexism, Screenwriting, and Scotch: Part 2

, with special guest:
Photo by Meghan Murphy

Photo by Meghan Murphy

This week, we have part two of our discussion with screenwriter, author, and film critic C. Robert Cargill, which we recorded a few days after our live podcast at CONvergence 2014. That’s right: if you were at our CONvergence panel, there is still more podcast to enjoy!

Once again, we apologize for the sound quality of this week’s episode. We recorded this session on the same night as our episode with Meghan Murphy, which means we were still recording with that damned Rock Band microphone. (Don’t ever think it’s a good idea to try to record a podcast with a Rock Band microphone. You’re probably better recording with an iPhone. Lesson learned.) Anyway, we cleaned up the audio as best as we could.

Show notes behind the cut!

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This Week’s Underappreciated Movies

Every Monday, each of us will suggest a film that we feel too few people have seen.

eileen

Windy’s Pick of the Week: My Sister Eileen

A series of autobiographical short stories by Ruth McKinney was turned into a play, a movie-non-musical, a Broadway musical (Wonderful Town), and the 1955 movie starring Betty Garrett and Janet Leigh. But who cares about the girls – the reason to watch this movie is the dancing! Specifically the challenge dance done by Tommy Rall and Bob Fosse! The story is about two midwestern girls moving to the big city – what more do you need to know? BOB FOSSE!

dambusters

Melissa’s Pick of the Week: The Dam Busters

You know how TV shows like Law & Order are called crime procedurals? Well, The Dam Busters is kind of a war procedural. The film tells the true story about how the British managed to attack German dams during WWII, from “hey, I have an impossible task,” to “hey, I’m a scientist and I have an idea” to “HEY, LET’S GO BOMB NAZIS.” Keen viewers will catch that Star Wars borrowed a lot of the starfighter action scenes from this movie, right down to flying low down a trench in order to thread a proverbial needle with a bomb. The film is smart and exciting and definitely worth tracking down. Bonus points for containing Michael Redgrave.

(A note of caution: this film contains a dog with an offensive name. In the film’s defense, the dog was a real dog owned by the real pilots, and that was his real name. The dog even has a Wikipedia page.)

Episode 27: Sexism, Screenwriting, and Scotch: Part 1

, with special guest:
Photo by J. Garth Wilcox

Photo by J. Garth Wilcox

This week, we have a very special thing for our fine listeners: our first two-part episode! In Part 1, you will hear us with screenwriter, author, and film critic C. Robert Cargill, in a discussion we recorded in front of a real live studio audience at CONvergence 2014. In this episode, we tackle the issues surrounding writing good feminist media and tackle a very nice bottle of Yamazaki 12 year single-malt scotch.

We only had an hour to talk about a very big subject, which is why the three of us got together a couple days later to record for another hour. You’ll hear that part next week!

We apologize for the sound quality of this week’s episode, which contains a lot of ambient noise from the room.

Show notes behind the cut!

Continue reading

This Week’s Underappreciated Movies

Every Monday, each of us will suggest a film that we feel too few people have seen.

sorcerer

Melissa’s Pick of the Week: Sorcerer

Whenever someone starts complaining about remakes being no good, I bring up Sorcerer. Sorcerer is a 1970’s remake of the French suspense classic The Wages of Fear, one of my favorite films of all time. Sorcerer is different enough from the original to be its own thing, and thus it is amazing in its own right as well as being a worthy heir to the Wages of Fear mantle.

Sorcerer is a film about a team of down-and-out foreigners in South America, whose luck turns when an oil well catches fire. The only way to extinguish the oil fire is an explosion that will smother the flames, and the only way to generate that explosion is to haul a couple trucks full of dynamite over the mountains. The problem is that the dynamite is leaking nitroglycerine, which will explode upon experiencing any physical shock. Thus, the team of men who drive these trucks very carefully over the dangerous mountain road must be both money-hungry and expendable, and so that’s where our protagonists come in.

The film is a master class in tension, and it would probably be a classic of the 1970s if it weren’t for the fact that it opened in theaters against a little movie called Star Wars. Did I mention it was directed by The French Connection‘s William Friedkin? And it has Roy Scheider. And a bizarro soundtrack by Tangerine Dream. And a brand-new, gorgeous Blu-Ray release. Yeah, you should see this one.

mainhoonna

Windy’s Pick of the Week: Main Hoon Na

Continuing with my Bollywood recommendations, this is an accessible film for a first time Bollywood viewer. Starring the incomparable Shah Rukh Khan, this is a spy/action/fish-out-of-water/prodigal son movie. It’s Bollywood, so it is ALL THE GENRES! Shah Rukh stars as the super spy sent undercover as a college student to protect a government muckety-muck’s daughter. The action scenes are beautifully over-the-top, some wonderful visual comedy (especially the violins!), plus Shah Rukh Khan cries more beautifully than any man ever.

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