Writer Emma Berquist joins us to explore the eugenic dystopia of Andrew Niccol's 'Gattaca', a film that the smart folks at NASA once placed at the very top of a list of the most plausible realities depicted in sci-fi movies.
We discuss the film's breathtaking retrofuturist production design, its disregard for societal critique in favor of an admittedly effective story about the triu...
2021-12-01 17:34:14 +0000 UTC View Post
We're joined by film writer and filmmaker Jonah Koslofsky to go long on the 1997 neo-noir mindbender Lost Highway, a turning point in the career of David Lynch which would lay the stylistic groundwork that would come to define his output through the next 20+ years. We discuss the filmmaker's singular (and unexpectedly humanist) aesthetic, the futile endeavor of talking about David Lynch literal...
2021-11-26 04:43:38 +0000 UTC View Post
Toronto-based writer/filmmaker and host of Junk Filter Podcast Jesse Hawken returns to discuss Alan J. Pakula's 1993 John Grisham adaptation 'The Pelican Brief'. We defend the film as an enjoyable, all-too-rare 90's star vehicle with Pakula running solidly on autopilot, discuss the script's often laugh-worthy dramatics, and dig into Hollywood's brief, idiosyncratic love affair with Grisham as a...
2021-11-19 04:16:06 +0000 UTC View Post
We're guestless first the first time in a while to discuss Wes Anderson's feature directorial debut, 'Bottle Rocket'. We detail the film's turbulent origins from a 16mm short film that played Sundance to a DOA box office dud, praise the breakout performances from fledgling stars Owen & Luke Wilson, and position the movie adjacent to other 90s indie breakouts about the listlessness of youth ...
2021-11-12 14:10:44 +0000 UTC View Post
Author and writer Jacob Bacharach enters the Hit Factory to discuss James Cameron's spy thriller-cum-screwball comedy 'True Lies' starring Arnold Schwarzenegger, Jamie Lee Curtis, Bill Paxton and a slew of other fantastic supporting performances.
We discuss the film's tandem on- and offscreen problematic legacies, its position as a pro-military outlier in Cameron's oeuvre, and offer...
2021-11-04 06:42:17 +0000 UTC View Post
What's your favorite scary movie? Culture writer Lindsay Lee Wallace joins us to revisit Wes Craven's slasher-reinvention "SCREAM" as it nears its 25th anniversary. We discuss the film's sensational cast of rising stars, its brilliant subversion of well-worn (and fundamentally conservative) slasher tropes, and the distinctively personal meditation on grief and loss that elevate the film beyond ...
2021-10-26 16:51:24 +0000 UTC View Post
We recently joined our friends Forrest Miller and J. Andrew World on their livestream podcast Movie Night Extravaganza to revisit the 'The Blair Witch Project'.
In this audio of our livestream episode, we watch extensive media and interviews released near the film's 1999 Sundance and theatrical premieres, and expand upon some key points from our original 2020 episode, including the ...
2021-10-23 18:01:55 +0000 UTC View Post
Writer Bill Ryan joins us to discuss William Peter Blatty's underappreciated masterpiece 'The Exorcist III' starring George C. Scott, Brad Dourif, Jason Miller, and Ed Flanders. We discuss the film's ensemble of spectacular performances, the most effective jump-scare of all time (you know the one), and the enduring hope at the core of Blatty's best storytelling.
Read Bill's piece,
Mattie Lewis is a St. Louis-based writer and co-host of The PodHand - a podcast delving into Kentaro Miura's Berserk, dark fantasy, horror and all things grimdark. She joins us to discuss a singular work in the sci-fi/horror canon, Paul W.S. Anderson's 'Event Horizon'. We chart the film's troubled production history, extol the virtues of Anderson's workmanlike approach to his craft, and explain...
2021-10-14 05:43:13 +0000 UTC View Post
Writer and host of Podside Picnic Karlo Yeager Rodríguez returns for a Spooky Season™ Double Feature to discuss Barry Sonnenfeld's twin forays into the lives of the altogether ooky family - 'The Addams Family' and 'Addams Family Values'.
We don our witches shawls and broomsticks to dive deep into the complex history of the characters, originally the creations of New Yorker cartoo...
2021-10-07 14:31:35 +0000 UTC View Post
SCOTTEMBER concludes with Tony's brilliant naval submarine action thriller 'Crimson Tide' featuring near-best performances from two titanic actors: Gene Hackman & Denzel Washington. Film writer Zach Vasquez returns to discuss the real-world geopolitics that inform the film's ideology, the script's racial undertones (and how much we might have Tarantino to thank), and why this might be our f...
2021-09-30 06:12:11 +0000 UTC View Post
SCOTTEMBER continues with Trevor and Ted from We Need to Talk About Kevin joining us to discuss the Tony-directed, Shane Black-penned buddy action thriller 'The Last Boy Scout'. We discuss the merits of squibs, the tumultuous too-many-cooks production, and why this might just be the most Shane Black movie of them all.
Writer and podcaster Guz Lanzetta joins us to discuss Tony Scott's prophetic surveillance technothriller 'Enemy of the State', starring Will Smith and Gene Hackman. We talk the who's-who ensemble of young 90s up and comers (including Jack Black, Jason Lee, and Seth Green), explore the film's libertarian-leaning (and liberal-indicting) perspective on national security, and make the case for Tony...
2021-09-16 03:33:11 +0000 UTC View Post
SCOTTEMBER continues with Tony's take on the dark side of America's favorite pastime, 'The Fan' starring Robert De Niro and Wesley Snipes. Valerie Faye joins us to discuss the movie's take on toxic celebrity culture and white working class resentment, the pleasures of getting lost in the film's aural landscape, and why Cameron Crowe is the anti-Tony Scott.
We kick off SCOTTEMBER with "the 'Chinatown' of racecar movies," and one of Tony's first films of the 1990s, 'Days of Thunder'. Taylor Grimes returns for his hat trick as we talk about the persistent popularity of NASCAR, Cole Trickle as a continuation of Tom Cruise's career-long delineation of the meritocratic mindset, and relish Robert Duvall dirty-talking a chassis. We also begin to sketch o...
2021-09-01 15:32:19 +0000 UTC View Post
Our conversation with Owen Morawitz from our latest free episode on Roland Emmerich's 'Stargate' ran nearly 3 hours before the final cut! Here are some extra snippets, anecdotes, and asides from our discussion. Enjoy!
2021-08-25 19:12:02 +0000 UTC View Post
Sarah Jaffe is a reporting fellow at Type Media Center and the author of 'Work Won't Love You Back: How Devotion to Our Jobs Keeps Us Exploited, Exhausted, and Alone'. She joins us in our den-of-slack to discuss 'Reality Bites' directed by Ben Stiller and starring some...
2021-08-15 16:28:02 +0000 UTC View Post
Apropos of "nothing", we revisited the 1997 Harland Williams vehicle RocketMan (not the Elton John biopic), to discuss legendary buffoons going to space. Hijinks ensue!
2021-07-30 01:15:33 +0000 UTC View Post
Neo-noir is in the air! To commemorate, we watched John Dahl's sultry, erotic thriller, 'The Last Seduction' starring Linda Fiorentino as the ultimate femme fatale. We discuss the film's rare, unapologetic feminism, the impeccable craft necessary to make its protagonist sympathetic, and lament the injustices faced by Hollywood's "difficult women".
2021-07-17 03:12:22 +0000 UTC View Post
It's our Hit Factiversary! We celebrate by cobbling together an episode following technological catastrophe. We briefly praise the new Soderbergh film "No Sudden Move", before examining the career of box office behemoth Adam Sandler, his prismatic ability to project our societal ennui, and go long on his two 1998 films "The Wedding Singer" and "The Waterboy".
2021-07-03 18:09:25 +0000 UTC View Post
Some more thoughts on The Matrix following our conversation with Della Duncan of Upstream Podcast.
Read Emily VanDerWerff's piece "How The Matrix universalized a trans experience —...
2021-06-22 21:57:13 +0000 UTC View Post
Renegade economist and host of Upstream Podcast Della Duncan joins us to discuss the Wachowskis' groundbreaking sci-fi action benchmark 'The Matrix'. We illuminate the film's bracing anti-capitalist critique, explore its undertheorized collectivist leanings, and reclaim the Red Pill as an emblem of left political action.
Kurt Schiller and Chris Woodward from the Parents Just Don't Understand podcast join us to discuss the 90s bro-comedy classic 'Encino Man' starring Sean Astin, Pauly Shor...
2021-06-04 01:18:31 +0000 UTC View Post
We assembled an emergency panel of friends Chris Clayman, Brianna Zigler, and Chris Woodward to discuss one of our favorite films starring the late Charles Grodin (RIP), 'Clifford', also starring Martin Short as a miscreant 10-year-old boy who may o...
2021-05-27 04:17:56 +0000 UTC View Post
Film writer Zach Vasquez joins Hit Factory to discuss the David Mamet-penned wilderness survival thriller 'The Edge' starring Anthony Hopkins and Alec Baldwin. Topics include the film's relationship to classic mythology, the frustrating politics of one of America's great storytellers, and praise for the exemplary performance of Bart the Bear.
2021-05-21 14:02:12 +0000 UTC View Post
A special birthday episode for Aaron means Carlee finally had to watch Hayao Miyazaki's 'Princess Mononoke' alongside friend of the pod Rasheed Allahar. The gang discuss their early adventures in anime, the film's binary-subverting, modern mythmaking, and the absence of western auxiliaries in the realm of earnest animated fare. Then, we read a special report from The Intercept about the Motion ...
2021-05-08 07:26:30 +0000 UTC View PostVote for the movie you'd like for us do as our first episode in June. The poll is open to the public, but this episode will be for patrons only!
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2021-05-05 18:55:25 +0000 UTC View Post
We had some bad pizza at the company retreat, stayed up all night, and rewatched Cameron Crowe's gooey, one-liner-riddled love letter to neoliberalism 'Jerry Maguire'. Topics include the evolution of American "care capitalism", the film's favoring of the transactional over the romantic, and what to expect when you friend request Jonathan Lipnicki on Facebook.
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