Random Acts of Cinema

Jacques Demy’s dazzlingly colorful palette that is perhaps more symphonic than it’s grand romantic score, sets the stage for a musical about young love and the obstacles it must endure in modern France. Join our Patreon and support the podcast! Join the Random Acts of Cinema Discord server here! *Come support the podcast and get yourself or someone you love a random gift at our merch store. T-shirts, hoodies, mugs, stickers, and more! If you’d like to watch ahead for next week’s film, we will be discussing and reviewing Barbara Loden’s Wanda (1970).

Sweeping vistas! Dangerous men driven by greed, glory, honor, and obsession! Is this what acclaimed epic director David Lean has in store for us today? Well… it does feature some dramatically filmed trains. That’s one of his things, right? Join our Patreon and support the podcast! Join the Random Acts of Cinema Discord server here! *Come support the podcast and get yourself or someone you love a random gift at our merch store. T-shirts, hoodies, mugs, stickers, and more! If you’d like to watch ahead for next week’s film, we will be discussing and reviewing Jacques Demy’s The Umbrellas of Cherbourg (1964).

I can’t help it if I’m scarred from too many bad 1980s and 90s comic book movie adaptations that weren’t faithful to the source material. I know it shouldn’t matter. Especially if the movie was made in the 1940s, it’s directed by podcast-favorites Powell and Pressburger, and it’s actually excellent. Join our Patreon and support the podcast! Join the Random Acts of Cinema Discord server here! *Come support the podcast and get yourself or someone you love a random gift at our merch store. T-shirts, hoodies, mugs, stickers, and more! If you’d like to watch ahead for next week’s film, we will be discussing and reviewing David Lean’s Brief Encounter (1945).

Can we chalk this up as another Walter Matthau all-time slam-dunk that most people have never heard of? Or is this old man spy caper exactly what it looks like? We are joined by the duo Brad and Jake from the Never Did it podcast as we race across the globe in search of a potential antidote to Moonraker (which Charlie still thinks is a very good old man spy caper for some reason). Join our Patreon and support the podcast! Join the Random Acts of Cinema Discord server here! *Come support the podcast and get yourself or someone you love a random gift at our merch store. T-shirts, hoodies, mugs, stickers, and more! If you’d like to watch ahead for next week’s film, we will be discussing and reviewing Michael Powell and Emeric Pressburger’s The Life and Death of Colonel Blimp (1946).

Singular-voiced American comedic auteur Bobcat Goldthwait writes, directs, and stars in his absurdist satire of the 1980s stand-up comedy scene reimagined as a grimey city infested with infighting sub-castes of clowns whose insecurities, addictions, and lack of talent lock them in a perpetual rut of demeaning gigs, black-out benders, and petty jealousies. But one stands apart: Shakes. Perhaps the most talented and definitely the most alcoholic and self-sabotaging of them all. Join our Patreon and support the podcast! Join the Random Acts of Cinema Discord server here! *Come support the podcast and get yourself or someone you love a random gift at our merch store. T-shirts, hoodies, mugs, stickers, and more! If you’d like to watch ahead for next week’s film, we will be discussing and reviewing Ronald Neames’ Hopscotch (1980).

René Lalou’s timeless (well, maybe not exactly) hand drawn science fiction epic turns a skeptical eye on human systems of power in an unimaginable world of inhuman blue giants (that are somehow even more human). You know: it’s your basic Jack and the Beanstalk meets Avatar situation. With better (by which I mean funkier) music. Join our Patreon and support the podcast! Join the Random Acts of Cinema Discord server here! *Come support the podcast and get yourself or someone you love a random gift at our merch store. T-shirts, hoodies, mugs, stickers, and more! If you’d like to watch ahead for next week’s film, we will be discussing and reviewing Bobcat Goldthwait’s Shakes the Clown (1991).

The good days are long past for Chan and Leung, a couple slowly drifting apart, and losing themselves in the oncoming wave of modernity consisting of unemployment, debt, loneliness, and alienation. But since Edward Yang directed it, somehow it’s all beautiful. Join our Patreon and support the podcast! Join the Random Acts of Cinema Discord server here! *Come support the podcast and get yourself or someone you love a random gift at our merch store. T-shirts, hoodies, mugs, stickers, and more! If you’d like to watch ahead for next week’s film, we will be discussing and reviewing René Lalou’s Fantastic Planet (1973).

There was a time, believe it or not, when the channel Bravo was willing to pay for some “celebrities” and a camera crew to get out of their comfort zones, go on various excursions around the world, and watch the sparks fly as they bicker, backstab, and try to make “reality” look fun for the audiences back home. That time was 1991. Those celebrities were John Lurie, Jim Jarmusch, Tom Waits, Matt Dillon, Willem Dafoe, and Dennis Hopper. They made 6 episodes. Bravo never explored this format further. Join our Patreon and support the podcast! Join the Random Acts of Cinema Discord server here! *Come support the podcast and get yourself or someone you love a random gift at our merch store. T-shirts, hoodies, mugs, stickers, and more! If you’d like to watch ahead for next week’s film, we will be discussing and reviewing Edward Yang’s Taipei Story (1985).

Brett Morgen's expressionistic documentary seeks to sidestep the question of "which is the real David Bowie?" and instead sees the creation of his personas as just one strategy used by the performer to craft a life of continuous artistic challenge and innovation. "Reinvention" isn't so much a gimmick used to promote album and ticket sales as it is the inevitable path of a creative life. Oh, and it's beautiful and the music is good. Freak out! Join our Patreon and support the podcast! Join the Random Acts of Cinema Discord server here! *Come support the podcast and get yourself or someone you love a random gift at our merch store. T-shirts, hoodies, mugs, stickers, and more! If you’d like to watch ahead for next week’s film, we will be discussing and reviewing John Lurie's Fishing With John (1991).

Director Jacques Becker's belle epoque period drama about gangsters sets their lives on such a delicate balance between honor death that the eponymous pretty blonde is all it takes to bring it crashing down. Would you say a "love quadrangle" or a "love square"? Join our Patreon and support the podcast! Join the Random Acts of Cinema Discord server here! *Come support the podcast and get yourself or someone you love a random gift at our merch store. T-shirts, hoodies, mugs, stickers, and more! If you’d like to watch ahead for next week’s film, we will be discussing and reviewing Brett Morgen’s Moonage Daydream (2020).

Indie director Melvin van Peebles’ one film for Columbia Pictures pointedly slams against the dictates and standards of studio filmmaking with his Godfrey Cambridge-starring vehicle about a white bigot who wakes up black and finds himself in a world that no longer tolerates his existence. Join our Patreon and support the podcast! Join the Random Acts of Cinema Discord server here! *Come support the podcast and get yourself or someone you love a random gift at our merch store. T-shirts, hoodies, mugs, stickers, and more! If you’d like to watch ahead for next week’s film, we will be discussing and reviewing Jacques Becker’s Casque d’Or (1952).

Just in time for February: it's... Random Acts of Cinema's Francis Ford Coppola's Bram Stoker's Dracula. Take me away from all of these possessives. Join our Patreon and support the podcast! Join the Random Acts of Cinema Discord server here! *Come support the podcast and get yourself or someone you love a random gift at our merch store. T-shirts, hoodies, mugs, stickers, and more! If you’d like to watch ahead for next week’s film, we will be discussing and reviewing Melvin van Peebles' Watermelon Man (1970).

An all-star who’s-who of mid-century Italian comedy (we assume) unite for a picture of staggering proportions! Our boys stumble and bumble their way through a meticulously planned robbery and end up stealing… our hearts. Director Mario Monicelli gives the world one of the great prototypes of the comedic heist. Join our Patreon and support the podcast! Join the Random Acts of Cinema Discord server here! *Come support the podcast and get yourself or someone you love a random gift at our merch store. T-shirts, hoodies, mugs, stickers, and more! If you’d like to watch ahead for next week’s film, we will be discussing and reviewing Francis Ford Corolla’s Bram Stoker’s Dracula (1992).

Content and Spoiler Warning: This film dramatizes bullying, violence, against children, and a school shooting. Those who may not want to listen to this episode should skip this one and join us next week. Can an all-boys boarding school serve as a microcosm of an entire nation's fractured state of values? More importantly: should it? Director Lindsay Anderson subverts the slice-of-life routines and indignities of British school life with deft surrealist touches and a Malcom MacDowell-starring cast embracing nihilism and revenge. Join our Patreon and support the podcast! Join the Random Acts of Cinema Discord server here! *Come support the podcast and get yourself or someone you love a random gift at our merch store. T-shirts, hoodies, mugs, stickers, and more! If you’d like to watch ahead for next week’s film, we will be discussing and reviewing Mario Monicelli's Big Deal on Madonna Street (1958).

He lost his job. He got his draft notice. The only path forward for this cinefile is clear: alienate everyone in his life and fracture his sanity by filming a progressively more erratic week of his life. Is he really searching for truth? Is film even the right way to capture truth? Does he really care about truth at all? Director Jim McBride fake documentary is about how everything filmed is a lie. Join our Patreon and support the podcast! Join the Random Acts of Cinema Discord server here! *Come support the podcast and get yourself or someone you love a random gift at our merch store. T-shirts, hoodies, mugs, stickers, and more! If you’d like to watch ahead for next week’s film, we will be discussing and reviewing Lindsay Anderson's If.... (1968)

In the darkest of night, standing solitary vigil against the forces of evil: there stands the city’s only hope for justice, for vengeance, for truth. There stands… The Cameraman! Director Buster Keaton mines the depths of obsession and action in this late silent-era masterpiece Join our Patreon and support the podcast! Join the Random Acts of Cinema Discord server here! *Come support the podcast and get yourself or someone you love a random gift at our merch store. T-shirts, hoodies, mugs, stickers, and more! If you’d like to watch ahead for next week’s film, we will be discussing and reviewing Jim McBride’s David Holzman’s Diary (1967).

Director Frank Capra returns to the podcast with his Oscar-hording smash hit romantic comedy starring Clark Gable and Claudette Colbert. A glamorous heiress is on the run from her father as she embarks on a cross-country trek to get back to her playboy husband. But a hard on his luck newspaperman knows a good story when he sees one, and takes her under his wing. And wouldn't you know it? These two hate each other! Which is to say: they desperately love each other and just don't know it yet. Join our Patreon and support the podcast! Join the Random Acts of Cinema Discord server here! *Come support the podcast and get yourself or someone you love a random gift at our merch store. T-shirts, hoodies, mugs, stickers, and more! If you’d like to watch ahead for next week’s film, we will be discussing and reviewing Buster Keaton's The Cameraman (1928).

Director Spike Jonze upends Hollywood conventions in this mind-bending Malkovich. Can Malkovich Malkovich before Malkovich Malkovich? Join our Patreon and support the podcast! Join the Random Acts of Cinema Discord server here! *Come support the podcast and get yourself or someone you love a random gift at our merch store. T-shirts, hoodies, mugs, stickers, and more! If you’d like to watch ahead for next week’s film, we will be discussing and reviewing Frank Capra's It Happened Once Night (1934).

This time, Mira Nair unleashes her penchant for a romance-set-among-a-sprawling-family-drama on the nation of India as a wedding is organized, threatened, and celebrated amidst the intensity of a rainy season that I guess is probably a metaphor for something. Join our Patreon and support the podcast! Join the Random Acts of Cinema Discord server here! *Come support the podcast and get yourself or someone you love a random gift at our merch store. T-shirts, hoodies, mugs, stickers, and more! If you’d like to watch ahead for next week’s film, we will be discussing and reviewing Spike Jonze’s Being John Malkovitch (1999).

Hitch is back! Or rather, here he is just as he’s starting to become THE Alfred Hitchcock. His first thriller blurs the boundaries between guilt, loss, obsession, and paranoia as a bloodthirsty killer of women stalks the London streets… on Tuesdays. Join our Patreon and support the podcast! Join the Random Acts of Cinema Discord server here! *Come support the podcast and get yourself or someone you love a random gift at our merch store. T-shirts, hoodies, mugs, stickers, and more! If you’d like to watch ahead for next week’s film, we will be discussing and reviewing Mira Nair’s Monsoon Wedding (2001).