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

There"s Sometimes a Buggy

Join Dave and Elise every week for a buggy-ride of cinematic exploration. A bilingual Montreal native and a Prairies hayseed gravitate to Toronto for the film culture, meet on OK Cupid, and spur on each other"s movie-love, culminating in this podcast. Expect in-depth discussion of their old favourites (mostly studio-era Hollywood) and their latest frontiers (courtesy of the TIFF Cinematheque and various Toronto rep houses and festivals). The podcast will be comprised of several potentially

tv & film philosophy

All Episodes

50:38

Acteurist Oeuvre-view – Gloria Grahame – Part 2: IT...

There"s Sometimes a Buggy ·

2025/05/30

Our second Gloria Grahame Acteur-Oeuvre-view episode includes a curious under-use of our acteur in the all-around baffling musical comedy It Happened in Brooklyn (nevertheless memorable for the chemistry between Frank Sinatra and Jimmy Durante), and a judicious use of her by RKO in Edward Dmytryk's anti-fascist noir Crossfire (also 1947). We try to work out just what Grahame's ongoing avant-garde skit with Paul Kelly (as "The Man") brings to Dmytryk's portrait of a dysfunctional post-war America

en

01:09:45

Hollywood Studios Year-by-Year – MGM – 1931: THE...

There"s Sometimes a Buggy ·

2025/05/23

For this MGM 1931 episode we watched The Easiest Way, a feminist subversion of melodrama tropes by director Jack Conway and screenwriter Edith Ellis, starring Constance Bennett as the fallen woman and a young Clark Gable, verging on stardom, as her judgemental brother-in-law; and possibly the most sentimental movie ever made, King Vidor's The Champ, starring Wallace Beery as a ne'er-do-well ex-boxing champ dad and Jackie Cooper as his passionately devoted son. MGM delivers again in this new round

en

01:32:39

Special Subject - Farrow vs. Allen – Part 3:...

There"s Sometimes a Buggy ·

2025/05/16

Our Farrow v Allen series continues with four more collaborations: September (1987), Another Woman (1988), Oedipus Wrecks (1989, part of the anthology movie New York Stories), and Crimes and Misdemeanors (1989). We count the ways in which Allen mashes up his favourite playwrights, filmmakers, and Russian novelists, trace the development of Allen's "survivor" theme through these movies, and discuss the different flavours of invisible that Farrow brings to them. And in Fear and Moviegoing in

en

01:11:56

Acteurist Oeuvre-view – Gloria Grahame – Part 1:...

There"s Sometimes a Buggy ·

2025/05/09

Welcome to our inaugural Gloria Grahame episode, which is also our final Acteurist Oeuvre-view! In this episode we consider Gloria's first significant movie role, as the cause of Blonde Fever (1944), in which she and Philip Dorn confuse each other and provide occasion for Mary Astor's multiple levels of irony. We then turn to Gloria's breakthrough role in one of our very favourite movies, It's a Wonderful Life (1946), examining it through the lens of Gloria's iconic character, Violet Bick. We

en

01:10:15

Hollywood Studios Year-by-Year – Paramount – 1931: 24...

There"s Sometimes a Buggy ·

2025/05/02

Our streak of finding gynocentric crime film gems continues with our second Paramount 1931 episode, featuring two movies directed by Sylvia Sidney specialist Marion Gering. 24 Hours pairs a despairing Clive Brook and Miriam Hopkins, haunted by marriages they can't escape in one way or another. And Ladies of the Big House, starring a radiant Sidney as a hapless shopgirl who (like Hopkins' nightclub singer) becomes the target of a gangster's obsession, depicts life in prison as a curious quasi-utopia

en

01:23:20

Acteurist Oeuvre-view - Diana Wynyard – Part 7:AN...

There"s Sometimes a Buggy ·

2025/04/25

Our final Diana Wynyard episode has arrived all too soon! We look at her two final key roles, in Alexander Korda's film of Oscar Wilde's An Ideal Husband (1947) and The Feminine Touch (1956), a nurse drama that's better than its silly title. And in Fear and Moviegoing in Toronto, we cover the 2025 Toronto Silent Film Festival, focusing on three films built around miraculous performances, Victor Sjostrom's The Wind (1928), starring Lillian Gish, Victor Fleming's Mantrap (1926), starring Clara Bow,

en

02:44:46

Retro Re-issue [August 23, 2019] - Ethan Mordden’s...

There"s Sometimes a Buggy ·

2025/04/19

**** [Retro Re-issue Alert!] **** Turns out it wasn't such a great idea to use Le Tigre's "What's Yr Take on Cassavetes?" as our podcast's theme song in 2019 and 2020! Anyway, Spotify (and presumably Le Tigre) don't seem to think so. Accordingly, please find the attached re-issue of one of our foundational episodes, minus the intro music + a couple of words of greeting from Elise. Consider it a fragment shored against our (Julie) Ruin. First issued: August 23, 2019 This week’s episode serves as

en

01:09:27

Special Subject - Farrow vs. Allen – Part 2: THE...

There"s Sometimes a Buggy ·

2025/04/18

In this Farrow vs. Allen Special Subject episode we dig into a strong set of films, The Purple Rose of Cairo (1985), Hannah and Her Sisters (1986), and Radio Days (1987), united by their examination of art, popular culture, and fantasy, the possibilities they offer for transcendence, and the conditions of that transcendence. We also, of course, particularly examine Mia Farrow's role in these films, from Allen avatar to intimidating enigma, wistful waif to materfamilias. Time Codes: 0h 00m

en

01:17:19

Hollywood Studios Year-by-Year – Universal – 1930:...

There"s Sometimes a Buggy ·

2025/04/11

We complete our second round of 1930 on Studios Year by Year with Universal. This time around we've got two auteur entries, Lewis Milestone's All Quiet on the Western Front, and a much deeper cut, Tod Browning's eccentric crime drama Outside the Law. We discuss All Quiet as emblematic of the Laemmele Jr. era before turning to Browning's tense, messy melodrama, with a powerhouse performance by the scandal-plagued Mary Nolan. A fine finale to another trip through 1930 with the Hollywood Studios!

en

01:25:01

Acteurist Oeuvre-view - Diana Wynyard – Part 6: THE...

There"s Sometimes a Buggy ·

2025/04/04

In our penultimate Diana Wynyard Acteurist Oeuvre-view episode, our acteur supports two of the greats of her age, John Gielgud as Benjamin Disraeli in Thorold Dickinson's The Prime Minister and Michael Redgrave as the titular innocent of Carol Reed's Kipps, based on the novel by H.G. Wells. We discuss 19th century British politics (enfranchisement vs. empire), Wells' hope and despair for humanity, and the qualities that suit Wynyard to play women who are motivated to improve their partners. And in

en

01:07:54

Hollywood Studios Year-by-Year – RKO – 1930: FRAMED &...

There"s Sometimes a Buggy ·

2025/03/28

In this week's RKO Studios Year by Year episode, we discuss our favourite movies from our first round with the studio and how that round shaped our impression of RKO, and then turn to two new 1930 movies: Framed (directed by George Archainbaud), a gangster movie focused on Evelyn Brent's tough/tender mixed-up moll, and The Runaway Bride (directed by Donald Crisp), a shaggy showcase for Mary Astor's affability. But wait, there's more! In Fear and Moviegoing in Toronto, we debate the meanings and

en

01:57:37

Special Subject – Stanning for Anna Sten: NANA...

There"s Sometimes a Buggy ·

2025/03/21

We've got a big one for you this week: four main movies plus four Fear and Moviegoing viewings. Our main feature is Stanning for Sten: Anna Sten's three movies for Samuel Goldwyn, Nana (1934), based on (more like inspired by) the Zola novel, We Live Again (1934), with a Tolstoy source, and The Wedding Night (1935), plus a glimpse at one of her later supporting roles in Let's Live a Little (1948), a Robert Cummings comedy vehicle. Goldwyn infamously brought Sten to Hollywood with the intention of

en

01:10:12

Acteurist Oeuvre-view - Diana Wynyard – Part 5:...

There"s Sometimes a Buggy ·

2025/03/14

In this Diana Wynyard Acteurist Oeuvre-view episode, we look at probably her best-known film, Gaslight (directed by Thorold Dickinson), and consider its pros and cons relative to the Cukor/Selznick Hollywood version of a few years later, as well as the question of how "gaslighting" became an internet meme and how well the source fits the popular meaning. Then we turn to an oddball film with an anti-nationalism message, Freedom Radio (Anthony Asquith), set in Nazi Germany but with a broader

en

01:10:21

Hollywood Studios Year-by-Year – Fox Film Corporation...

There"s Sometimes a Buggy ·

2025/03/07

The first episode of our second Studios Year by Year round with Fox, the "Rube" according to Ethan Mordden, is a real ridiculous/sublime contrast: the sci-fi musical comedy Just Imagine (directed by David Butler), a vehicle for vaudevillian El Brendel, in whom Dave may have found his comedy bête noir; and the F. W. Murnau masterpiece City Girl, which reworks Sunrise with (we speculate) a Borzagean twist. Come for the idiotic, stay for the profound? Time Codes: 0h 00m 25s: Fox Recap 0h 12m 41s:

en

01:24:16

Acteurist Oeuvre-view - Diana Wynyard – Part 4: ONE...

There"s Sometimes a Buggy ·

2025/02/28

In this Diana Wynyard Acteurist Oeuvre-view episode we finally come to the source, James Whale's One More River (1934), the movie that inspired Dave to schedule this series, and don't worry, we still think it's a masterpiece. We recap how we've watched the Wynyard onscreen persona evolve and how Whale's new context for it gives it an unforgettable impact. And then we watch Wynyard discard that persona in On the Night of the Fire (1939), playing the supportive but stymied wife of Ralph Richardson's

en

01:08:44

Hollywood Studios Year-by-Year – Warner Brothers –...

There"s Sometimes a Buggy ·

2025/02/21

For the first episode of our second round of Warner Brothers 1930, we've got a thoughtful, ambitious gangster movie from the mind of little-known auteur Rowland Brown, The Doorway to Hell (directed by Archie Mayo), and a truly dismal melodrama, A Notorious Affair (directed by Lloyd Bacon), rescued from total worthlessness by Kay Francis's turn as a maneating countess. (Doorway to Hell is also notable for a very early appearance by another rising star, James Cagney, who, however, doesn't steal his

en

01:36:46

Valentine’s Day 2025 – My Conceptual Valentine - HER...

There"s Sometimes a Buggy ·

2025/02/14

For our Valentine's Day 2025 episode, we plunge deep into the nature of relationships by discussing two films whose romantic pairings are arguably not relationships at all: Spike Jonze's Her (2013) and his sometime collaborator, Charlie Kaufman's I'm Thinking of Ending Things (2020). Isolation, loss, misogyny, male fantasies, hope and despair: we've got all of the Valentine's goodness for you. And it continues with our Fear and Moviegoing discussion of Mike Leigh's Hard Truths (2024). Time

en

01:07:16

Hollywood Studios Year-by-Year - MGM – 1930: THE...

There"s Sometimes a Buggy ·

2025/02/07

We start off our second round of MGM Studio Year by Year episodes with these 1930 films: the Marion Davies comedy vehicle The Florodora Girl (directed by Harry Beaumount) and Cecil B. DeMille's Madam Satan, which Elise decides is something like Eyes Wide Shut if it was made by James Cameron (but, alas, not as interesting as that sounds). (It's still pretty interesting, though, if only for the Art Deco Lightning Dancers. Yes, you read that right.) Plus, we give our impressions of MGM based on our

en

01:03:59

Acteurist Oeuvre-view - Diana Wynyard – Part 3 WHERE...

There"s Sometimes a Buggy ·

2025/01/31

For this episode of our Diana Wynyard Acteurist Oeuvre-view series, our featured acteur plays a disillusioned modern woman in two 1934 movies, Where Sinners Meet and Let's Try Again, that are cynical about marriage in a way that (we argue) screwball comedy would soon render archaic. And in Fear and Moviegoing in Toronto we give our impressions of three more Marco Bellocchio films, Devil in the Flesh, Vincere, and the especially enigmatic Blood of My Blood. Time Codes: 0h 00m 25s: Where

en

01:06:38

Special Subject - Farrow vs. Allen – Part 1:...

There"s Sometimes a Buggy ·

2025/01/24

Our Special Subject this month is the start of a series on the cinematic collaboration of Mia Farrow and Woody Allen. In this first episode we look at A Midsummer Night's Sex Comedy (1982), Zelig (1983), and Broadway Danny Rose (1984), paying particular attention to the relationship between the Allen and Farrow characters and to the question of what each partner in the collaboration brings to the other's career. Both of these areas of inquiry yielded some surprises for us; plus, Dave gets to wax

en

373 results

Similar Podcasts

Scoop Viewfinder

Gene Viewfinder

IGN Movie Reviews

IGN

The Adam Friedland Show Podcast

The Adam Friedland Show

BEHIND THE VELVET ROPE

David Yontef

Love Island: The Morning After

Lifted Entertainment part of ITV Studios