EPISODE 029: DOUBLE FEATURES & TRILOGIES

Featuring: All About Eve (1950), Showgirls (1995)

On recommendation from MOViES4MANiACS’ Jesse Hawthorne Ficks, WR&P hosts Ryan and Kevin examine the narrative similarities of Joseph L. Mankiewicz’s classic Hollywood picture “All About Eve” and Paul Verhoeven’s raucous dark comedy “Showgirls.” They note how both these films leverage performance and cyclical narrative structure to comment on gender roles and the controlling nature of patriarchal systems.

EPISODE 028: BAY AREA FLICKS

Featuring: The Last Black Man in San Francisco (2019), The Pursuit of Happyness (2006)

In this special Bay Area double feature, Ryan and Kevin explore the differences between a locally-made San Francisco film and a Hollywood movie set in the same city. While Joe Talbot’s “The Last Black Man in San Francisco” boasts a heightened indie appeal with the support of Sundance and A24, the Will Smith-led “The Pursuit of Happyness” finds its roots in the studio system. How do these two perspectives affect and reflect in the story and visual design? Does production mode influence the authenticity of a film’s story or the credibility of its characters?

EPISODE 027: LESSONS IN FILM HISTORY (DIRECTORS & ACTORS)

Featuring: Le Petit Soldat (1963), Une Femme est une Femme (1961), Bande à part (1964), Alphaville (1965)

After introducing the Godard-Karina timeline with Vivre sa vie, Kevin takes Ryan deeper into the pairings’ cinematic universe. Ryan highlights how each film stands as unique cinematic experiences, both upholding promises of New Wave Cinema and trailblazing under Godard’s poetic visions and Karina’s powerhouse performances. The relationship between Godard and Karina becomes invariably forefronted in the construction of, the viewing of, and the discussion of these movies, emphasizing the ways reality and cinema blend into each other.

EPISODE 026: DOUBLE FEATURES & TRILOGIES

Featuring: Pink Flamingos (1972), The Adventures of Priscilla, Queen of the Desert (1994)

While centering the word “disgust”, Ryan and Kevin explore drag queen characters and the traditions of rage bait in a special double feature highlighting John Waters’ “Pink Flamingos” and Stephan Elliott’s “The Adventures of Priscilla, Queen of the Desert”. Ryan detests Waters’ deplorable Trash Cinema (probably as Waters intended), while Kevin vocalizes distaste for the inherent racism and transphobia laden in “Priscilla”. In search for cinematic context, Ryan and Kevin ultimately settle into a conversation about the similarities of Blaxploitation and Queer Exploitation cinema, and how “Pink Flamingos” relates to contemporary provocateurs such as Harmony Korine.

EPISODE 025: WEIRD @ WR&P

Standing firmly in its “mild cult following”, Ryan and Kevin aka Thing 1 and Thing 2 delve deep into the magical madness of 2003’s The Cat in the Hat. This Dr. Seuss adaptation certainly presents as a wacky wonderland full of jokes and hijinks, however, over the film’s 82-minute runtime, it slowly uncovers sweet-and-sour secrets. From director Bo Welch’s experience as a production designer for Tim Burton to the instilled playfulness of Seuss’ original work, The Cat in the Hat remains a walking contradiction continually pacing through our minds.

EPISODE 024: LESSONS IN FILM HISTORY

Featuring: The Student of Prague (1913), The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari (1920), Metropolis (1927), M (1931)

In an attempt to unravel this early 20th-century genre from its War World I context, Ryan presents German Expressionism as a convergence of several industry pressures. Coinciding with art movements from the same era, the cinematic version of Expressionism developed into one of history’s first film movements. While standing at the midpoint between the First and Second World Wars, Expressionism seemingly encapsulated the mistrust and anxiety coursing through Germany at the time. And yet, the dark social themes and intense chiaroscuro set the tone for American noirs and Hollywood monster movies and continue to influence contemporary filmmakers to this day.

EPISODE 022: BAY AREA FLICKS

Featuring: Big Trouble in Little China (1986), Hollywood Chinese (2007)

It’d be difficult to talk about the Bay Area without discussing the region’s prominent Asian American community and John Carpenter’s “Big Trouble in Little China” seemed like the perfect opportunity to start that conversation. Accompanied by Arthur Dong’s 2007 documentary “Hollywood Chinese”, Ryan and Kevin examine the ways “Little China” portrays its Asian American characters before diving into the goofiness of this Kurt Russell-led fantasy action thriller.