Director"s Club

Happy Bonus Episode to all and to all a good listen. Here are some of my favorite songs of 2025 that you can enjoy as an 80-minute playlist here in the feed. YouTube and Spotify won't likely keep it up for long (if at all) but it'll be here in the official feed for now as a gift to the listeners who want to hear some new tunes that I really enjoyed in a stellar year for new music. Support these artists! Happy holidays and thank you for your kindness and support this past year.2025 SongsPretrial (let

Side note: In the midst of the migration from Substack to Ghost, this episode got lost in the shuffle somehow so it's back in the feed now. Apologies for the confusion / repost. There may be bugs but hopefully few and far between. Thanks again for the support, all!Returning guest, Chicago film critic, and regular contributor to the Movie Madness podcast is back for a long overdue third appearance. His most memorable one being well over a decade ago when he took the pro-side on the infamous Brian De

In addition to the monthly movie talk regarding directors (for Director’s Club), I am happy to present the latest episode of the music version of that same format! Only this time - all about bands/musicians that we think are worth discussing. Along w/co-host Sharon Gissy, we both can’t wait for you to listen to us nerd out about music each month. This time, it's all about the remarkably talented Fiona Apple! Without further ado, here is the 3rd episode of B-Side Me.The format is simple: each of us

Returning guest, writer, librarian, Instagram superstar and host of the Not Scared Podcast, the great Chloe Waryan, returns for her yearly visit to talk about a horror filmmaker! This time it’s all about the beloved Mike Flanagan. Do we love him as much as the rest of the horror community? You’ll have to listen to find out not just our thoughts, but former co-host and horror enthusiast Patrick Ripoll makes a cameo as well. Thank you so much Chloe for coming back and stay tuned for a new episode of

Spoilers spoilers spoilers! If you haven’t seen One Battle After Another (and you should) then wait to dive into this month’s bonus conversation featuring friends Bill Ackerman (of Supporting Characters) and Patrick Ripoll (of 96 Greers) as we have an impromptu talk about the latest PTA film, One Battle After Another and how it is conversation with his other work as well. In addition, I talk about my first viewing of the film (and how unique it was) as well Bill’s thoughts on what he’s seen at the

Not too big of a summary this time around since the title says it all and there’s a lot to get to in terms of the episode proper. Every year around late February / early March, I call upon my Chicago film critic buddies Collin Souter & Erik Childress to join me for an epic episode discussing as many movies as we possibly can, traveling back in time to cover an entire year.In the midst of the joyful conversation are lots of clips, songs excerpts, trailers, sound effects and general weirdness from

Let’s forget all about inauguration day (since this comes out on January 20th, 2025) by focusing on someone who truly matters, the legendary comedic mind of Elaine May, pioneer of improv sketch comedy and so much more! We focus on all four of her directorial films and sing the praises of nearly all of them. Yes, that MAY include her last feature from 1987 that does not deserve the reputation or the critical bashing that it received upon its release. Thank you so much to Sharon for being a delightful

Have you been waiting for the Mann? Well it's been over a decade since we last discussed his work back when Patrick and I mainly covered our love for both Heat & The Insider. Cut to present time, I have recruited two of my favorite returning guests to touch upon nearly every title by Michael Mann focusing on his post-Collateral output since it wasn't covered last time.  Grateful to both Ryan Verrill (The Disc-Connected) and Brian Tallerico (RogerEbert.com) for joining me for a delightful