x

75% of people globally want unbiased news (Pew Research) but are concerned they're not getting that.

Get balanced coverage with Symby. See how stories are covered across diverse outlets and spot when one side covers a story the other skips.

PODCAST

Director"s Club

A monthly show that reviews one film director per episode with the occasional bonus episode. Episodes 123-172 were hosted by Brad & Al. As of 2022, new episodes will be hosted by Jim and/or Bill. directorsclub.substack.com

tv & film visual arts

All Episodes

06:24:19

Episode 222: 1994 - The Year In Review

Director"s Club ·

2024/03/07

The epic yearly retrospectives continue as we travel back 30 years to rewatch, reconsider and share favorites along with many memories too! Join me on this 6-hour plus journey alongside Chicago critics Erik Childress and Collin Souter. Many laughs, songs, clips, trailers, excerpts and so much more! Thank you so much for the support and for listening. And of course, thank you so much to Collin & Erik for spending time nerding out about a wide range of titles. For all the retrospective episodes click

en

02:21:25

Episode 221: Alain Resnais (feat. Kate Blair)

Director"s Club ·

2024/02/01

When I first saw Hiroshima Mon Amour, this particular director went on the long list of names I wanted to cover. Alain Resnais is an internationally acclaimed film director, associated with both the Left Bank Group and the Nouvelle Vague. His preoccupation with the themes of time, memory and history, and his dazzling exploration of cinematographic technique, made him one of France’s most distinctive and influential filmmakers for over 60 years, inspiring the likes of David Lynch & Michel Gondry. For

en

04:29:01

Episode 220: Favorite Films Of 2023 (feat. Bill...

Director"s Club ·

2024/01/08

The title of this episode says it all. Over four hours of nerdy movie conversations and recommendations all about the year 2023. Two Director's Club mainstays return. Bill Ackerman (host of Supporting Characters and guest host of this show) along with Patrick Ripoll (co-host of 96 Greers) join me as well all share their favorite films of 2023. No categories this year (like Best Actor, etc.) but plenty of reflection, surprising disagreement and even a wild story about what happened when Patrick tried

en

02:21:11

Episode 219: Charlie Kaufman (feat. Sharon Gissy)

Director"s Club ·

2024/01/02

Happy New Year! This is a podcast. The Director’s Club Podcast. Maybe you should get a coffee first before listening. A coffee and a muffin might help. Gosh I’m so tired. But what a way to start the new year. Podcasting with a wonderful person like Sharon. Then editing it. Then writing these show notes. The thing that you’re reading right now. Or maybe you’re not reading this, you’re listening to the podcast. Wouldn’t it be weird if suddenly you were on the podcast? You the listener? Sometimes it

en

03:07:32

Episode 218: Frank Oz (feat. Ross Bratin & Tripp Burton)

Director"s Club ·

2023/11/21

Just in time for turkey day, in which we have a lot to be thankful for, comes this delightful discussion with plenty of fixins. Fresh from their excellent new podcast, A Tripp Through Comedy, two new guests join me but I've been following them ever since we all met during Triviaspotting. Ross Bratin and Tripp Burton join me to talk all about the filmography of Frank Oz, someone each of us love and grew up with - whether as a Muppet or as a director, his achievements and talent are immeasurable. We

en

02:21:34

Episode 217: James Wan (feat. Chloe Waryan)

Director"s Club ·

2023/10/24

This episode is about the same running time as The Conjuring 2! Why does a horror movie need to be well over two hours? One might inquire to breakthrough horror filmmaker James Wan and that's exactly what I set out to do for this Halloween spooktacular! This is my favorite month of the year for a reason! Well, actually we have another delightful episode due in large part to a very special guest making her Director's Club debut. Joining me is librarian and Instagram sensation Chloe Waryan to talk all

en

02:20:59

Episode 216: Don Bluth (feat. Billy Ray Brewton &...

Director"s Club ·

2023/10/02

The new episode arrives a few days later than planned (since it was scheduled to be our September episode) but nevertheless, we have a delightfully animated episode on tap here featuring another two of my favorite podcasters. The talented, prolific Billy Ray Brewton (of The Incinerator Podcast & Movie Mixtapes) joins me alongside his good friend and co-host Ryan Verrill, who also has own podcast that I highly recommend called The Disc-Connected. We learn about their passion projects and their origin

en

02:06:34

Episode 215: Wendell B. Harris, Jr. (feat. Robert...

Director"s Club ·

2023/08/28

Wendell B. Harris Jr. is an American independent filmmaker trained in drama at Interlochen and Juilliard. His family founded Prismatic Images, a multi-award-winning film/video/audio production facility in Flint, Michigan, in 1979 and he broke onto the scene by making the breakthrough Sundance smash, Chameleon Street just one year after Steven Soderbergh broke with his debut film. One of my favorite film critics, Robert Daniels joins me to talk about Chameleon Street and the reason why it was

en

02:40:02

Episode 214: Carl Franklin (feat. Jack & Clay of...

Director"s Club ·

2023/07/10

Delightful guests Jack Draper and Clay Williams of a new favorite show of mine, Exiting Through The 2010s, make their debut to talk about a mutual favorite directors of theirs: Mr. Carl Franklin (ONE FALSE MOVE, DEVIL IN A BLUE DRESS). We focus on the five films he made all in a row, most of which are highly acclaimed and one of them should be far more acclaimed than it seems to be. Wondering which one that is? You'll have to listen! Before we launch into the filmography, Clay and Jack talk about

en

02:35:11

Bonus Episode: 1993 Review - The Year In Music

Director"s Club ·

2023/06/14

Soon enough Bill Ackerman will be bringing us an official director-centric episode soon and I will be discussing another in early July. For this excursion into something besides movies, in case you didn't know, I once hosted called Voices & Visions and I would recruit friend and Austin-based journalist Dan Solomon to go back 20 years to talk about a year in music - an art form that I love every bit much as film. For this retrospective, my guests and I curate a new list of ten favorite records from a

en

03:19:38

Episode 213: Tsai Ming-Liang

Director"s Club ·

2023/06/07

Two years ago Bill Ackerman and Patrick Ripoll joined forces to do a deep dive into the filmography of Wong Kar-wai, an Asian filmmaker who found great acclaim with his quirky tales of loneliness and longing set among a world of urban alienation in contemporary Hong Kong. Now they return to do a deep dive into the filmography of Tsai Ming-Liang, an Asian filmmaker who found great acclaim with his quirky tales of loneliness and longing set among the world of urban alienation in contemporary Taipei.

en

02:11:37

Bonus Episode: Jim's 45th Birthday Special Request...

Director"s Club ·

2023/05/04

Every year I ask my friend Patrick to provide me with something special in the form of a podcast gift. His friendship of course is the real gift but his presence for this episode is also a present. Not only does it celebrate my 45th birthday (May the 4th be with me) but we also decided to celebrate this here podcast! I asked Patrick this time to revisit the first two films we actively disagreed on going all the way back to Episode 2. What happens 12 years later when both him and I decide to re-watch

en

02:41:04

Episode 212: Joan Micklin Silver (feat. Marya Gates &...

Director"s Club ·

2023/04/20

For this episode I recruited two terrific and talented film writers and commentators especially since two of the movies we talk about happen to be all-time favorites for the both of them. Guest co-host and Supporting Characters host Bill Ackerman returns as well as Chicago film critic Marya Gates for a delightful discussion on the work of Joan Micklin Silver. She's responsible for a number of excellent films including HESTER STREET, CHILLY SCENES OF WINTER, BETWEEN THE LINES, CROSSING DELANCEY and

en

01:16:46

Bonus Episode: Favorite Food Movies (feat. Matt...

Director"s Club ·

2023/03/28

Yep, more bonus content to close out the month before Bill comes aboard in April with an epic series on Jean-Luc Godard. For this delicious treat of an episode, up front you get a delightful conversation featuring Matt Strauss from Tao Group Hospitality who oversees a number of New York restaurants and food + beverage venues in and around NYC. He has a lot to say about his exciting feast planned for this week which was inspired by his love of the film Babette's Feast which Bill and I discussed for

en

02:17:31

Bonus Episode: Ethan Warren (The Cinema Of Paul...

Director"s Club ·

2023/03/27

As if 2 hours plus for PTA Part II wasn't enough, you are about to get even more content all about my favorite filmmaker. This time I interview author/writer extraordinaire Ethan Warren about his recently released book, The Cinema of Paul Thomas Anderson: American Apocrypha that I highly recommend. We talked for 40 mins about what inspired him to write it, along with thoughts on PTA in general. Soon after that, you'll get to hear more conversation from my former co-host Patrick Ripoll. About a year

en

02:13:14

Episode 211: Paul Thomas Anderson Part II (feat. Nick...

Director"s Club ·

2023/03/21

Way back in 2012 before THE MASTER had come out, for Episode 35, my former co-host Patrick and I enlisted Steve Prokopy to talk about my favorite director of all time. There were some disagreements here and there but it was a memorable discussion back then. Now that PTA has released four fascinating movies since the last time we recorded, it’s about time I recruit one of the people responsible for turning me into a movie freak: Mr. Nick Digilio of The Nick D Podcast. We catch up with Nick, talk

en

37:49

Bonus Episode: Alex Heller (THE YEAR BETWEEN)

Director"s Club ·

2023/03/20

One of my favorite films of the year so far is Alex Heller's THE YEAR BETWEEN, now available on VOD. The reason for that is detailed further in my review during the first ten minutes but after that, stay tuned for guest correspondent (and Mental Filmness film festival founder) Sharon Gissy as she speaks with the writer/director and star of this excellent, insightful look at Bipolar disorder and so much more. It'll be playing on March 30th at the Music Box Theatre so I encourage you to come that

en

06:38:44

Episode 210: 1993 - The Year In Movies (feat. Collin...

Director"s Club ·

2023/02/28

We found… a way. You may be wondering why there hasn’t been an official new episode for a while? Well, I’ve been spending the past six weeks binging on movies from 1993 for an annual tradition that has taken place for the past 8 years! Yes it’s that time folks. The yearly retrospectives continue as we travel back 30 years to rewatch, reconsider and share favorites along with many memories too! Join me on this 6-hour plus journey alongside Chicago critics Erik Childress and Collin Souter. Stay

en

43:45

Bonus Episode: Lukas Dhont (CLOSE) + Mia Hansen-Løve...

Director"s Club ·

2023/01/27

Hosts Bill Ackerman and Jim Laczkowski were asked to talk with two filmmakers about their latest work - both of which has received awards consideration and acclaim. First up, Jim speaks with Lukas Dhont about his coming-of-age tale CLOSE which is opening on February 3rd here in Chicago. Then, Bill had the opportunity to interview Mia Hansen-Løve about her latest drama ONE FINE MORNING. Incredibly grateful to both directors for taking the time to talk with us. 00:00 - 02:39 - Intro 02:40 - 16:45 -

en

06:03:44

Episode 209: Favorite Films Of 2022 (feat. Bill...

Director"s Club ·

2023/01/04

It's the most wonderful time of the beginning of the year! The title of this episode says it all and I'm so grateful to my two guests for joining me for this epic reflection on the film year that was 2022! Now I'll be going back to 1993 for February's retrospective episode so until then enjoy 6 hours of nerding out. Also please be sure to check out the two new podcasts soon to be added to the Now Playing Network! Thank you so much for listening to a yearly tradition that is always a complete joy

en

355 results

Similar Podcasts

BEHIND THE VELVET ROPE

David Yontef

Nerd Culture - A Gamekings Podcast

Blammo Media

UPodcast

UPodcast

The Writers Hangout

Sandy Adomaitis

The Sarah Fraser Show

Sarah Fraser