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PODCAST

On the BiTTE

On the BiTTE delivers an alternative take on film reviews, uncovering everything from arthouse to mainstream cinema (without taking ourselves too seriously). Self-confessed cinephiles: Anthropologist Laura and Filmmaker Ryan expose the films brave enough to have their actors bare all.

tv & film film reviews

All Episodes

01:09:10

Flesh + Blood

On the BiTTE ·

2025/02/14

DA DUM DA DUM DA DUM! Heed the sound of the Valentine's drums for the ultimate date night movie!Not really. We're slap bang in the middle of 16th Century Europe where violence and assault run rampant across these lawless lands. Mercenaries are storming castles and war is rife in the region. This is the landscape of Paul Verhoeven's fantasy/romance/drama: FLESH + BLOOD.It's definitely an oddly placed film that's home is undetermined for an audience. Its lack of success when it was released is

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01:01:42

The Worst Person in the World

On the BiTTE ·

2025/01/31

"Oh my God! You're the absolute worst for that!"Yeah. Have you ever heard that before? Maybe a bit too much? Well, this film will test your moral compass (somewhat) into whether you think any of these people deserve that title. We don't believe so, by today's messy standards, when there is some true evil out there in the world presently but Joachim Trier's highly successful THE WORST PERSON IN THE WORLD that trail-blazed to the Oscars is upon us, and in your lug-holes.So, sit back, feel therapeutic,

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01:09:54

Breathless

On the BiTTE ·

2025/01/17

What's cool, full of vibrant colors, gets pretty sexy but also is a bit annoying to the point where you question the integrity of the central relationship? That's probably Jim McBride's remake of the 1960 Nouvelle Vague classic À BOUT DE SOUFLE (in English): BREATHLESS.You might have thought: the most stringent of cinephiles would not touch a remake of this film with the longest of barge poles! It's a classic for a reason; however, this modern, pop-culture-filled, punky injection of 80's Neo-Noir

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00:58:36

American Reunion

On the BiTTE ·

2025/01/03

A new year. A new us.Well, not really. It's the same show basically, just a little older and tired. We're the podcast equivalent of just wanting to go to your bed and having a lie-down. Kinda like the old saps in this fourth (and final) mainline installment of the AMERICAN PIE film series (we're not counting all the straight-to-DVD films either).This is AMERICAN REUNION! And we're back with this bunch of reprobates as they've hit full adulthood and struggling with the woes that come with that

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01:02:12

Man Bites Dog (w/ Josh of Uncomfortable Brunch)

On the BiTTE ·

2024/12/20

In the second part of our seasonally titled "DESCENDING INTO DARKNESS", we take you on a trip into a very whimsical murder. A faux documentary crew who follow a serial killer as he maims, murders, assaults, and offends his way through Belgium.The blackest of black comedies and not for the faint of heart, actors and principal crew Remy Belvaux, Andre Bonzel and Benoit Poelvoorde's MAN BITES DOG embodies the very meaning of a cult classic even if you don't (and really shouldn't) agree with the

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01:03:18

Breaking the Waves

On the BiTTE ·

2024/12/06

Ho Ho Ho Ho-ello there!It has come upon us once again: the Christmas season. And as was aforementioned, its getting darker. We must let you know that this was not planned... or our tolerance levels are so out of whack that we've blackened our souls and have detached ourselves from societal norms...Annnnyyyywwwaaaayyyyyy, there's nothing more Christmas-sy than Lars Von Trier! And this film; starring Stellan Skarsgård and Emily Watson, in her first film role, lets us know that we're in for a rough

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00:50:40

Stuart: A Life Backwards

On the BiTTE ·

2024/11/22

Oh boy. Looks like we inadvertently put a bunch of sad (but good) films in a row to wrap up 2024. But honestly, it makes sense.In David Attwood's film, based on the true story of the troubled homeless man called Stuart who meets a writer to detail the intricacies of his life, we are treated to another masterclass from Tom Hardy. In the final part of "Tomsgiving" bit of a tearjerker but it's a good tearjerker. Everyone likes a good cry. It's very therapeutic. Or something.Anyway, get your tissues you

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01:05:43

Bronson

On the BiTTE ·

2024/11/08

Whit ye sayin'?! (We can't actually write what he says without getting reported).Yeah, that's right, SIT DOWN! Charlie Bronson is here and he's looking to cause some trouble. We're doing something quite majestic this November. A veritable TOM'S -GIVING! We're doing a Tom Hardy double-bill!We're starting with Nicholas Winding Refn's BRONSON, the "true-ish" story of Britain's Most Violent Prisoner. What we have come to discover is that this breaks the ratio from the 90+ films we've covered so far

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01:00:17

Basket Case

On the BiTTE ·

2024/10/25

Do you hear that? Do you hear that piercing scream in the darkness of the night? No, it's not Wilhelm. It's Belial! The freakishly deformed twin that is intent on murdering the very people that separated him from his loving brother Duane!My goodness! We're so excited! It's finally here! In closing our Spooky Penis Month 2024, we're covering Henenlotter's BASKET CASE; the down-and-dirty video nasty that was inducted into the MOMA Collection for Film Preservation. This is one episode you do not want

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01:05:20

The Stepfather

On the BiTTE ·

2024/10/11

It's that time again! Tis the season, many say! And no, it's October fool! Not Christmas! That's in December, duh!I'm talking about "Spooky Penis Month!" What did you think I was talking about? No matter, we start this Halloween doubler with a real bang. A real bang of overly obsessive nuclear family perfection. All THE STEPFATHER wants is a family. A real family. A family that just "needs some order". "We need some order around here!" This is a horror film about a flannel shirt wearing dad (boomer)

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01:04:34

A Night in Heaven

On the BiTTE ·

2024/09/27

Welcome to another edition of "THE MOST LITERAL FILM TITLE EVER"! Yeah, it is really that literal. It happens one night in a bar called "Heaven". Watching this film, you'd think every chain bar/restaurant opens its doors to male strippers every weeknight but in Florida, that seems to be the case.You'd never believe that the guy who made ROCKY 5 made this honestly... Oh, and THE KARATE KID. And THE KARATE KID PART II. Oh, and ROCKY, can't forget that one. Yeah, strap in, it's one weird and wild ride

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00:57:21

The Name of the Rose

On the BiTTE ·

2024/09/13

INSERT LATIN PHRASE TO EXPRESS HOW INTELLIGENT WE ARE!This film is a bit of a treat, honestly. There's a lot to like here, the most of which is a Sean Connery really hammering it out of the park with a riveting performance to remind us of how much range he had. Yeah, this also has some rich cinematography, some impressive set design, and some stellar makeup that transforms Ron Perlman into a hunchback. Yeah, we are congratulating this film a fair amount. But not of faith and religion (as we rip the

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01:05:21

Young Adam

On the BiTTE ·

2024/08/30

Ah, we're back. We're back in Scotland. I don't remember it being so "blue". Not only that, it's really dark, and moderately attractive men are acting like right twats to very attractive ladies. We're back on the "Ewan Train" with David Mackenzie's YOUNG ADAM. The "erotic" (?) drama about a bunch of folk on a barge and the lives Ewan McGregor's character basically ruins for the sake of creative inspiration. Yeah, doesn't make the most endearing of central characters but that's kinda the point. The

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01:04:45

The Man Who Fell To Earth

On the BiTTE ·

2024/08/16

Like Schwarzenegger after him, he just needed to find the role he was born to play. Following the career track of Nicholas Roeg, we come to one of his seminal films, THE MAN WHO FELL TO EARTH. It's a head-scratcher and we say that with an understanding of Roeg's work being a little disjointed and a heavy use of visual metaphors and match cutting BUT... It would have been nice to get a better through-line in the story. But no one hates this movie at OTB HQ, certainly not when Rip Torn is tearing

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01:11:14

Pleasure

On the BiTTE ·

2024/08/02

At OTB HQ we're ALL business! But some times, just some times, we like to do a little bit in the name of PLEASURE. Depending on who you speak to (particularly Laura) they will let you know that anything we do is for "pleasure" but before this analogy begins to lose its muster, let's look at the Ninja Thyberg's debut, PLEASURE, based on the short of the same name. It's an in-depth, behind-the-curtain look at the American Adult Entertainment Industry, following a Swedish woman from a small town

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00:54:02

High Life

On the BiTTE ·

2024/07/19

Who thought putting criminals in space would be a great idea? I mean, if everyone was kind and everything was successful, would it make a great story? Who can tell but that's the basis of the Claire Denis film HIGH LIFE. Starring Robert Pattison, Mia Goth, Juliette Binoche, André "3000" Benjamin, and Ewan Mitchell, we follow a doomed space mission to a Black Hole and the obvious antics that ensue from locking a bunch of criminals on a spaceship and expecting them to produce offspring. What could go

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01:05:57

Virtual Sexuality

On the BiTTE ·

2024/07/05

Ryan felt we needed to lighten things up and dive back into some digestible fluff that he could get into his snarling teeth. But kinda what we found was that he's been tamed slightly. No longer has the pretentiousness of cinema's past enveloped his dark soul now that he's found the work of Nick Hurran. Yes. Nick. Oh, sweet Nick. This man knows what he's doing with this (one of his many "body swap" films in his filmography). This happens to be one of the better examples. Now, it's no BIG. It's no

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01:05:48

Blue is the Warmest Colour

On the BiTTE ·

2024/06/21

That train keeps chugging and by pure accidental bliss, we have another film up here with some stark similarities! Would I go on to say this film is "controversial"? Probably. We have some issues with it. As you'll gather, we don't talk about the film much but rather the way the film was made. There's some questionable behavior happening here, and we're not a podcast to let that slide. The two leads however, Léa Seydoux and Adèle Exarchopoulos are exceptional. Honestly, they knock this film out of

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01:08:14

Stranger by the Lake

On the BiTTE ·

2024/06/07

June has rolled 'round and you know what that means?! It's Pride and we get to cover some LGBTQ+ films. This time, we're dipping into Gay Cinema with one of the best examples of the category. Number 22 in the BFI best LGBT film of all time is Alain Guiraudie's STRANGER BY THE LAKE. A masterful and nuanced take on the mystery genre, this minimalist, intimate, and insular film focuses on the shenanigans of a popular cruising area by the lake and the craziness that ensues over a collection of

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01:12:04

The Piano

On the BiTTE ·

2024/05/24

You knew this day would come. It was inevitable. We're covering Jane Campion's THE PIANO. How does Ryan feel about this one? This was the one film of the filmography that he remembered quite fondly but now, decades later and now a co-host of an alternative film review podcast, with an active dislike for the other films we have covered of this particular filmmaker, how will it fare? I guess you're going to have to find out if this classic and most revered film of the time passes that gauntlet. (Don't

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