Jason and the Movienauts

Shawn and Paul join Jason once again to discuss the biggie of all the David Lynch films: Mulholland Drive. Ofte called one of the best - if not the best - film of the century - the guys attempt to examine why the film is so well loved, what the heck it's all about, and just who was lying dead in that bed anyway? --- Send in a voice message: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/jason-sacks/message

Shawn and Paul are back once again to help Jason make sense of David Lynch's most massive and often overwhelming film: Inland Empire. Just what is it about this film that resists analysis and compels a myriad of YouTube users to create hour long breakdowns of this film? And why is does the film still compel us to stare into the abyss and try to add a rational plot to a fundamentally irrational story? Listen as the guys try to puzzle it all out. --- Send in a voice message: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/jason-sacks/message

Eric and Jason are back talking about the films of Masahiro Shinoda, this time discussing three films with bizarre emotional triangles of a sort: Our Marriage, Gonza the Spearman and The Petrified Forest. The guys are surprised how emotionally satisfying Our Marriage is despite its brief 66-minute running length. The film captures a specific moment in Japanese history with a brilliant sort of all-encompassing eye... hopefully a listen to this pod will convince you to check out this vastly under-known film. Which is not to say that Gonza and Forest are not excellent films. As Eric and Jason explore, they both are satisying in that particular sort of massive dark way Shinoda often delivers. Each is a fascinating, deep insight into human nature and well worth a listen and a watch. --- Send in a voice message: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/jason-sacks/message

Blaize and Jason are now getting towards the later section of Paul Schrader's complex career. This time they get to a couple of really pretty intriguing films by him. Dominion: Prequel to The Exorcist is one of those films which has a backstory as compelling as what viewers see up on the screen. Blaize gets into all of the amazing backstory here, exploring how Schrader opted to go back to work for the studios, how his Exorcist prequel was taken away from him, and how that prequel was ultimately released. Even with all that backstory, Dominion is a complex, fairly interesting film with a surprising amount of depth, and the guys find a lot in the fulm to make it compelling. The Walker, Blaize and Jason agree, is kind of a lost classic. It features a fantastic performance by Woody Harrelson in an excellent character study that adroitly explores late 00s Washington DC, full of decadence and betrayal and even murder. Both films are worth searching for and we think you'll enjoy this discussion. --- Send in a voice message: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/jason-sacks/message

Keith and Jason have been wanting to discuss a pair of films for a long time, a pair of films which seem perfectly in dialogue with each other: Jean-Pierre Melville's brilliant Le Samouraï (1967), the story of a lone assassin, and David Fincher's great The Killer (2023), the, umm, story of a lone assassin. Keith and Jason compare and contrast, considering which protagonist is cooler, the differerence between French and American films, and whether being an assassin for hire is an inherently corrupting job. Lots to consider in this one! --- Send in a voice message: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/jason-sacks/message

So Eric and Jason got to talking about Steven Spielberg's movie The Fablemans and they got to pondering... is this the finest movie ever directed by th film master? Okay, probably not, but where does it rank in his films, and what makes it so compelling? Join the guys as they discuss these interesting topics. --- Send in a voice message: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/jason-sacks/message

Shawn and Paul are back to talk David Lynch films with Jason. This time they have a split decision on Wild at Heart and dig deep into possible meanings in Lost Highway. The Lost Highway discussion goes deep and complex, which means this is a long, wonderful listen we hope you will enjoy. --- Send in a voice message: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/jason-sacks/message

Eric and Jason are back to continue their looks at the brilliant films of Masahiro Shinoda. This time they look at two films which present intriguing, contrasting views of childhood in wartime and post-War Japan, MacArthur's Children and Takeshi: Childhood Days. The films are a great pair for each other and for any study of Japanese post-War cinema, and we think the discussion of them makes for a great listen! --- Send in a voice message: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/jason-sacks/message

Blaize and Jason are back to continue their look at the films of the great Paul Schrader. This time in their chronological review, they're looking at the justifiably obscure Forever Mine and the fascinating, odd, kinda brilliant Auto Focus. --- Send in a voice message: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/jason-sacks/message

Seijun Suzuki was one of the finest directors of the Japanese New Wave. Eric and Jason thought this was a good time to look at perhaps Suzuki's most famous works, Tokyo Drifter and Branded to Kill, and have a great time talking about why these are such special and fantastic films. --- Send in a voice message: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/jason-sacks/message

Eric is back, and he and Jason are in for a marathon session discussing the film work of one of the most underrated, popular directors of the 1970s - George Roy Hill. Hill is best known for his work on such smashes as Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid, The Sting and Slap Shot, but the guys dig deep into his catalog to find a few more interesting works - can you say Funny Farm? --- Send in a voice message: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/jason-sacks/message

Frederico Fellini's 8½ seems to have dropped off of many lists of the greatest films of all time. Is that a sign of its lack of quality or of something else? Keith and Jason discuss this amazing film and say - it's the audience and not the film because this is a brilliant, kaleidoscopic, recursive masterpiece in which the truth about people slowly seems to emerge from a structure that leaves the viewer breathless. Join us for an hour-plus chat about one of the most transcendent films of all time! --- Send in a voice message: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/jason-sacks/message

If there's one project David Lynch is best known for, one project that's emerged into legendary status, it has to be Twin Peaks. So Paul, Shawn and Jason take on the daunting task of looking at the show in a mere 90 minute timeslot. And yeah, despite their best efforts and despite a whole lot of great insights, it's 90 fun minutes of scratching the surface. But it's a fun listen and the guys have unique takes on the show, and we think it will add to your love of the show. Please be sure to add your comments! --- Send in a voice message: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/jason-sacks/message

This week Blaize and Jason continue their look at the films of the singular Paul Schader with a look at two films by him which are adapted from novels. And what opposites they are. Touch, adapted from an Elmore Leonard novel, feels listless and unfocused. But Affliction, adapted from the Russell Banks novel, continues Schrader's focused on the Lonely Man archetype, getting deep inside the heads of a family whose toxic masculinity becomes a generational trauma. --- Send in a voice message: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/jason-sacks/message

As Eric and Jason are learning, Masahiro Shinoda is a director who delivered many sui generis works. And though his second movie, the rebel-without-a-clue Youth in Fury is pretty straightforward (though complex, for reasons we get into), Shinoda's third movie, Killers on Parade is an odd surrealistic semi-masterpiece, semi-WTF exploration of... what in particular, we're just not sure. --- Send in a voice message: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/jason-sacks/message

Chris and Jason felt it was time to pay tribute to one of the true film masters, Fritz Lang, with a look at two of the most well-filmed and transcendent films ever made, M and Metropolis. The guys struggle at times to find the words for these films, particularly the amazing sound design of M. If you haven't seen either or both of these, they are so worth a watch before listening to our pod! --- Send in a voice message: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/jason-sacks/message

Paul, Shawn and Jason get together again to talk about the films of David Lynch, this time chatting about perhaps the craziest pair of back-to-back releases ever to hit cinemas. Dune is a giant WTF film, and although it can be enjoyed as spectacle and a grant attempt at something great, it's a big swing and a miss. Blue Velvet, OTOH, is a perfect film - a point all three guys agree about - and so they geek out over what makes Blue Velvet so special. "I Don't Know If You're A Detective Or A Pervert" --- Send in a voice message: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/jason-sacks/message

Blaize and Jason are back on their Schader watchlist with movies 9 and 10 Schrader directed. And you couldn't ask for a more diverse pair of films. Light Sleeper is a potent, powerful instance of the Schrader lonely man lead, while Witch Hunt is a charming little goof of a film. But both are actually pretty great, and well worth celebrating. --- Send in a voice message: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/jason-sacks/message

You might think there's not a ton of similarities between one of Robert Altman's earliest, most anarchic films (Brewster McCloud) and his final, magesterial film (A Prairie Home Companion ), but Jason and Eric find a surprising amount to compare and contrast in these two fascinating films. --- Send in a voice message: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/jason-sacks/message

John Cassavettes' films are unlike the films of any other movie maker. They're raw, feel real, explore deep and complex human emotions in the way no other films do. Eric and Jason are both fans of the man's films, so they felt like it was about time for them to review a couple for this podcast. So for this week' show they reviewed Opening Night and Love Streams. Both are amazing films, featuring astounding perfomances by Gena Rowlands in films which lacerate, bruise and provide deep insight into humanity. Join us as we dig deep into the complex contradictions of the human soul and wonder... what does it take to make an actor truly great? --- Send in a voice message: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/jason-sacks/message