Feb 10, 2021

This episode includes a discussion of suicide. If you are in crisis, you should call the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline at 1-800-273-TALK (8255), or text the Crisis Text Line (text HELLO to 741741). Both services are free and available 24 hours a day, seven days a week.

Last year brought a plethora of new...

Feb 3, 2021

Last year brought a bumper crop of new original films to streaming services. In July, Netflix released The Old Guard, based on the Image Comics series by Greg Rucka. Starring Mad Max: Fury Road’s Charlize Theron as the leader of a group of immortal mercenaries, this globe-trotting action movie reportedly drew 78...

Jan 28, 2021

From the 1988 film My Neighbor Totoro, best known to American audiences from the 2006 English-dub version released by Disney, the titular Totoro has become a brand icon for Studio Ghibli - a silent, imposing counterpart to Mickey Mouse. Written and directed by Hayao Miyazaki and based on his own childhood, My Neighbor...

Jan 20, 2021

We’re wrapping up our Kurosawa trilogy with 1958’s The Hidden Fortress. Cited often as one of George Lucas’s direct inspirations for Star Wars, The Hidden Fortress features two bumbling fools, a fugitive princess, a badass swordsman, and a scarred bad guy who carries a grudge but is ultimately redeemed by his good...

Jan 13, 2021

We’re continuing the month with Kurosawa’s 1954 film Seven Samurai. Released by Toho Studios the same year as the first Godzilla, Seven Samurai actually cost more than the monster flick and took three times as long to shoot, and though both would be remembered as two of the greatest films ever made, Seven Samurai...