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PODCAST

Film Trace

We trace the Life of a Film from conception to production all the way to its release and reception. You know when you dive into a film"s wikipedia and imdb after watching it? Then the director"s page, then the actor"s page. Our show does that for you. We use our nerd superpowers to obsessively tell the story of a movie: how it came to be, how it played out, and what it means today. It is a crash course on a single film filled with primary documents, lovely asides, and frequent guest voices. It is an

tv & film film history

All Episodes

45:24

Cherry (2021)

Film Trace ·

2021/03/24

The Russo Brothers set fire to their MCU millions with a bombastic and experimental drug drama starring Spiderman himself, Tom Holland. Based on a gonzo novel, Cherry is a deep trip to the dystopia of Cleveland, Ohio. Holland gladly grins his way through this strung-out odyssey of suburban malaise and mania. Love leads to heartbreak to Iraq to heroin to bank robbery to prison. The Russo brothers shove the plot through a kaleidoscope of tone and out pops a shattered confection of mental illness and

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57:26

Memento (2001)

Film Trace ·

2021/02/28

Before Nolan became a film bro deity, he made a little neo-noir film about a guy who can't remember anything. Well, as Nolan would say, it's a lot more complicated than that. Memento is a milestone for many reasons. It kickstarted Nolan's career. It is one of the best noir films made outside the golden age. Memento was also a huge triumph for indie filmmaking. Shot for under 5 million and produced for under 10 million in total by a complete nobody, Memento sat next to Fight Club in every

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48:26

Barb and Star Go to Vista Del Mar (2021)

Film Trace ·

2021/02/18

Getaway to never never land with two 40-something Middle America chatty uppers called Barb and Star. Their final destination is the sunny and surreal Vista Del Mar somewhere on the gulf coast of Florida. We haven't seen an absurdist comedy like this in many moons with only a faint lineage traced to Hot Rod (2007) and a smidge of Austin Powers (1997). Otherwise, this movie is an exercise and experiment in a decades-long inside joke between two improv stars: Kristen Wiig and Annie Mumolo. Toss in

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53:07

Thief (1981)

Film Trace ·

2021/02/12

Mann is born. James Caan cruises through the black mirror of Chicago's rain-soaked streets in Micheal Mann's masterful film debut, Thief. This 1980s neo-noir is a rote one-more-caper film at its root, but its eccentric flourishes grow into bountiful and rich foliage: the ethereal soundtrack from Tangerine Dream, the searing ambition of Caan, and the corrupted spine of Chicago itself. Way behind the genre films of the time, Thief remains a riveting, ambitious, and wonderful film. Special Guest: Mike

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49:04

The Little Things (2021)

Film Trace ·

2021/02/04

Take a walk on the trite side with this 1990s LA Boir period-piece new to HBO Max, The Little Things. This bromidic concoction comes from the Hollywood journeyman John Lee Hancock who is responsible for The Blind Side and more recently the Netflix AARP hit The Highwaymen. Denzel Washington plays the haunted lead detective opposite Rami Maleck and walking freakshow Jared Leto plays the heavy in this inconspicuous crime thriller. How did a script written in 1993 with Steven Spielberg attached end up

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58:50

Swingers (1996)

Film Trace ·

2021/01/27

Plumbing the depths of our virile past, we uncover the distinct and indecipherable artifact of Swingers, a 90s hipster flick that Gen X refuses to disavow. Before Youtube and TikTok, the aimless youth took to indie filmmaking to express their angst, opinion, and sociopathy. Using discarded film and refuse from his own life, Jon Favreau joined forces with Doug Liman and Vince Vaughn to spawn this down and out EL Lay hangout movie that mysteriously led to a swing music revival. The past ain't dead,

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50:08

Promising Young Woman (2020)

Film Trace ·

2021/01/19

We start Season 3 with the opening salvo of Promising Young Woman, a genre confection spiked with razors that rides the line between pitch-black comedy, exploitation rape-revenge, and 90s romcom. Carey Mulligan plays a down and out con artist who reaps revenge on date rapists and anyone associated with a life-altering crime that took her best friend. A saccharine sheen is mixed with catastrophic trauma, and the die feels cast in the opening scenes of slurred pink and runny red. Join us as we trace

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44:20

Rare Exports: A Christmas Tale (2010)

Film Trace ·

2020/12/18

Merry Christmas from Finland! Chris shares this wonderful little gem from the great north and the land of Soviet crushers. Rare Exports is clearly a labor of love, and it became Finland's first breakthrough film export, ironically. It started as two very gonzo film shorts made in the early to mid-2000s and culminated in one of the most bizarre and enjoyable holiday films of the 21st century. Santa is a massive monster, and his elves are Crazies. It's fun, weird, perfectly paced, and full of holiday

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52:39

Possessor (2020)

Film Trace ·

2020/12/10

Have you ever felt like a stranger inside of your own head? Brandon Cronenberg takes you on a dissociative bender in his second feature, Possessor. This cyber noir freak show is just as unsettling as the work of Brandon's father, the body horror king himself, David Cronenberg. A mind-jumping hitwoman is sent by the nebulous company to take out soft targets for big dollars. Both disgusting and riveting, Possessor is elevated horror that may leave you nauseous and ponderous or perhaps sick and

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50:01

V for Vendetta (2005)

Film Trace ·

2020/12/04

Get out your MAGA hat (made in China) and your Bernie 2016 organic cotton t-shirt (made in Vietnam), it's time for everyone's favorite middlebrow polemic, V For Vendetta (2005). Chris decides to punish Dan and himself in the process by revisiting our mid-20s and this sloppy attempt to adapt Alan Moore's pretty awesome graphic novel about a coming dystopia. Spoiler alert: Dystopia is already here, but instead of Norsefire and Fingermen, we have Alexa, Covid, and the Republican party. Dan rants while

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44:49

The Wolf of Snow Hollow (2020)

Film Trace ·

2020/11/25

Let the Werewolf renaissance begin! Chris and Dan discuss the new "indie" horror film The Wolf of Snow Hollow from the director-writer-star, Jim Cummings. Wolf is a gumbo of tones and a buffet of horror tropes served piping hot. It is a fun movie, especially for horror nerds who enjoy their gore with a wink. More than anything, this film creates a unique and layered cinematic world without wasting anyone's time (sub 90 minute run time). That is quite a feat. This has been a long season of some

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49:16

High Fidelity (2000)

Film Trace ·

2020/11/09

Ian Mungall of the great CineSiblingsPod joins us to discuss the turn of the century maladapted-male classic, High Fidelity (2000). John Cusack plays a thirty-something music nerd who can't seem to find the right rhythm in his love life. Based on the once-beloved now belittled novel of the same name, High Fidelity is a pristine time capsule of how Gen X men translated their suppressed emotions through obsessions about how other people, mostly dead, expressed their emotions. Is the MCU fanboy a newer

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55:05

The Trial of the Chicago 7 (2020)

Film Trace ·

2020/10/28

Special guest, good friend Molly, joins us for a deep dive into Aaron Sorkin's attempt at storming the bastille, The Trial of the Chicago 7 (or 8 or 10 depending on who you ask). In 2006, Steven Spielberg tapped Sorkin to write this courtroom thriller about a pivotal moment in American history, a 1969 political show trial Nixon concocted to take out the leaders of the anti-war movement. Sorkin finished the script in a year, but the movie went through development purgatory for a decade before the

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46:25

Species (1995)

Film Trace ·

2020/10/21

Chris and Dan along with special guest Evan from the great Spoilerpiece Theatre podcast discuss the finer points of 90s elevated schlock, Species. What starts out as a high concept alien invasion film quickly devolves into a dutch angle thriller with a syfy channel finale. Natasha Henstridge gets her infamous start flanked by a motley crew of thespians: Micheal Madsen, Marg Helgenberger, and Forest Whitaker. Ben Kingsley leads this ragtag team of alien hunters searching LA for a female model who

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40:13

Hubie Halloween (2020)

Film Trace ·

2020/10/13

The Sandlerverse births another low-brow Netflix comedy that plays for background noise rather than laughs. Adam Sandler may be the most powerful person in comedy filmmaking, but he uses his clout to make this soft-serve swill that appeals to the indolent and ignorant alike. Hubie features an amazing array of SNL cutouts, bored and possibly broke celebrities, and newcomers who have wandered into Sandler's web. We traverse the Sandlerverse to discover the event horizon between art and commerce, a

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53:12

Desperate Hours (1990)

Film Trace ·

2020/09/29

Guests Mark and Brigitte from the Screen Time: A Quarantine Podcast join us for the second episode of season two where we dive into reclusive genius Micheal Cimino's bizarro attempt at a house invasion remake, Desperate Hours (1990). A year before Mickey Rourke temporarily dropped out of acting to become a pro boxer, he played the charismatic gang leader Micheal Bosworth in this genre film gone ham. The all-star cast mostly sits idly in the stands as Cimino and Rourke try to hit dingers in every

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41:17

The Devil All the Time (2020)

Film Trace ·

2020/09/23

Season 2 is here! Dan and Chris along with special guest Molly dissect the latest Oscar-bait offering from Netflix, The Devil All the Time. With a cast stacked like flapjacks and a plot overflowing the brim, this Antonio Campos film is satiating and gluttonous. The story follows non-American actors playing poor Americans who lead desperate lives in the American South or Midwest or maybe Appalachia (it is not very clear). Despite the implicit pretentiousness, the acting is superb and the

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42:19

Nightcrawler (2014)

Film Trace ·

2020/08/25

Dan Gilroy's anti-capitalist polemic is one of the most beautiful and horrific films of the 2010s. Jake Gyllenhaal masterfully plays Lou, a lone wolf who stalks human tragedy in the headlight glow of LA nights. His relentless drive for action, money, and success leaves us both nauseous and enthralled. Mostly ignored by the masses upon release, Nightcrawler has had many second lives being spread through online forums via the praise of young men. A true cult classic. We trace the life of Nightcrawler

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37:59

The Tax Collector (2020)

Film Trace ·

2020/08/18

David Ayer returns to his old haunts in this 30 million dollar low-rent crime film about the LA gangland. The violence is constant and grotesque. The emotional melody is either mute or cacophonous. Shia LaBeouf, tightrope walking a role as a gringo hitman called Creeper, tattooed his entire chest for a 2-minute grainy scene where he is relentlessly tortured. This film is a prime example of how the forces of commerce can overpower even the most resolute artistic impulse. We trace the life of The Tax

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38:01

Remember Me (2010)

Film Trace ·

2020/08/11

Robert Pattinson broods his way through Pre-9/11 New York City in this yappy genre gumbo: One part Nicholas Sparks, Two Parts 2005's Stay, Three Parts masturbatory memoir. It is less a movie and more a ride. The story arc is built by fiddlestix as young love blooms in the shadow of the twin towers. The ending makes it one of the worst movies of the 2010s. We trace the life of Remember Me from conception (they started with the ending!), production (Pattinson needed security to take a piss), release

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127 results

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