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PODCAST

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Meetinghouse Productions, Inc.

Proudly independent and ad-free since 2018, the [ indistinct chatter ] podcast (formerly Full Cast and Crew Podcast) stands out in a crowded field by focusing on emotional reactions to films as much as it shares the entertaining anecdotes behind their making and seeks to place movies in context with our shared experiences as filmgoers coming of age in the 70s, 80s, and beyond.

tv & film visual arts

All Episodes

01:13:08

298. Die Hard (1988)

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2026/09/29

In this installment of Sacred Cows, I take a fresh and possibly first look at 'Die Hard', John McTiernan's action classic that I can't remember if I ever actually saw before. It turns out there is plenty of subversive stuff going on beneath all the action, and it's no wonder that the film did such boffo box office...and also all the more disappointing that it went on to spawn such apparently uninspired sequels; something all the more ironic given the original film's general distaste for

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01:43:41

297. Exorcist II: The Heretic (1977)

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2026/09/16

SEQUELS... In this episode, I take a look at one of the most infamous film debacles of all time: John Boorman's ill-advised, poorly conceived, crowd-displeasing follow-up to one of the greatest and most popular horror films ever made. How could it go wrong? From the start, throughout, and even after release. Let me count the ways. Also, a bit on our current moment of performative reclamation of movies that are just demonstrably awful. Resist!

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01:29:13

296. Michael Keaton, Glenn Close & Robert Duvall in...

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2026/09/04

One of the great newspaper movies, a great NYC location movie, a great set-dressing movie, a great acting movie...on and on. The Paper deserves more recognition; it's aged particularly well as a love letter to and from a very particular time in the media business.

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31:39

295. Dolly Parton & UK Crime Show Recs

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2026/08/28

Summer's rapidly ending and it's time to get back to the FCAC rhythm and routine. Some thoughts on the passing of Dolly Parton and some UK crime shows I've been watching of late, notably the Apple TV series 'Criminal Record'.

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01:28:29

294. 'Crossing Delancey' (1988)

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2026/07/28

Joan Micklin Silver's 1988 NYC love-letter/romantic comedy Crossing Delancey is one of the superlative NYC films of all time. And watching it today, it's hard not to mourn the loss of the sense of collective experience as New Yorkers she puts onscreen, given our current situation in the City of so much divisive rhetoric and violence. And this film righteously upends the conventions of its genre and allows a fantastic collage of actors to shine in roles as notable for their refusal to stereotype as

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28:30

293. Christopher Nolan's 'The Odyssey' (2026)

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2026/07/21

Go and see 'The Odyssey' in the biggest and best theater you can. You won't regret it. A rollicking great epic cinematic event. Historian Tom Holland interviews Actor Tom Holland on The Rest is History. The Rest Is History does The Odyssey (the poem).

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01:38:59

292. Robert Redford in 'The Candidate' (1972)

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2026/07/17

Michael Ritchie and Redford's still-searingly satiric and spot-on takedown of political operatives and image crafting, peddling, and pandering in the modern campaign-industrial complex speaks louder than ever, given recent events in our body politic.

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01:08:31

291. Listening to The Beatles in Ireland

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2026/07/08

On a recent trip through Ireland with my daughter, I unexpectedly got back into The Beatles...this is the story.

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01:10:58

290. 'Dogfight' (1991)

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2026/07/02

Nancy Savoca & Bob Comfort's wonderful jewel-box gem of an American independent film from 1991.

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01:22:51

289. 'Running On Empty' (1988)

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2026/06/23

Sidney Lumet and Naomi Foner (and Executive Producers Griffin Dunne and Lisa Robinson) took what in lesser hands would be a family melodrama and allowed it to become an incredibly mature, layered, complicated story resting entirely on the capable shoulders of its cast of wonderful actors...not least 17-year-olds Martha Plimpton and River Phoenix, a couple off-screen and on.

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47:06

288. [indistinct chatter] 6/19

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2026/06/19

In this weeks [indistinct chatter] episode: Disclosure Day The Social Reckoning Clarkson's Farm Season 5 Next Week's Episode of Movies I I Haven't Seen. Musings, anecdotes, recriminations.

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01:32:17

287. 'Billy Jack' (1971)

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2026/06/09

GO AHEAD AND HATE YOUR NEIGHBOR/GO AHEAD AND CHEAT A FRIEND..... The dramatic and soaring vocals of Coven's Jinx Dawson are forever associated with Tom Laughlin's oddball, enduring, sometimes muddled statement on non-violence and the ways of the White Man and the Natives, 'Billy Jack'. How and why this film struck a nerve upon its director-assisted wide release in 1971 is the stuff of Hollywood legend. Upon rewatch, I found the more improvised scenes featuring non-actors surprisingly effective and

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01:46:29

286. 'The Times of Harvey Milk' (1984)

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2026/06/03

Rob Epstein and Richard Schmiechen's 1984 documentary about the life and shocking 1978 killing of San Francisco gay activist and Board of Supervisors member Harvey Milk is one of the great American documentaries and a still-vital example of the power of straightforward documentary filmmaking. Jon Else's brilliant feature on the film.

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01:48:44

285. 'Misery' Commentary Track

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2026/05/26

Watch-along by pressing play when I say, or simply enjoy the auditory delights of listening to me comment along with 'Misery' and fill in the anecdotes, line readings, thoughts and questions that arise.

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49:46

284. Movies I've Never Seen: 'Misery' (1990)

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2026/05/21

Yeah, so I never saw 'Misery'. Did I miss anything? Find out in this breezy, bubbly, downright Liberace-esque episode, where, in an admittedly hacky concept, I watch a movie I've never seen and then tell you all about what I thought.

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01:49:39

283. 'Dog Day Afternoon' (1975) Part 2: The Real Story

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2026/05/12

In the second of my two-parter on Dog Day Afternoon, we get out of the fictional universe of the film and explore the real people behind the characters shown onscreen. John Wojtowicz' life proved truly stranger and more depressingly pedestrian than fiction. So much so that he preferred the fictional version of himself and performed that role for the rest of his life after being released from prison in 1978 until his death in 2006. The LIFE Magazine article that caught the attention of Pacino's

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01:45:45

282. 'Dog Day Afternoon' (1975) Part 1: The Film

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2026/05/12

Sidney Lumet's 1975 masterpiece of naturalistic filmmaking is many things: a bank robbery procedural, a time capsule of 1970's NYC political and economic movements, a groundbreaking cinematic portrayal of a leading gay character, and maybe the most Brooklyn film of all time. In Episode 1 of my two-parter, I do the usual deep dive into the hows and whys of the ways in which the film still lands emotionally and experientially for viewers today. In Part 2, I'll delve into fact vs fiction, digging into

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40:19

281. [Indistinct Chatter] 5/8

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2026/05/08

[the week's collected thoughts] Climbing Docs I recommend: The Dark Wizard (HBO) Assault on El Capitan (Prime) Fine Lines (Prime) The Alpinist (Prime) Valley Uprising (Prime) The Summit (Prime) Meru (Prime) The White Mountain (Prime)

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01:16:19

280. Sacred Cows: The Star Wars Films

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2026/05/05

In the second of my infrequently recurring series, Sacred Cows, I'm taking a look anew at Star Wars, The Empire Strikes Back, and Return of the Jedi.

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55:32

279. 'Miami Vice' (2006)

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2026/04/28

Wrapping up the South Beach sojurn into the world of Miami Vice (at least until the Michael B Jordan/Austin Butler film 'Miami Vice 85' comes out next year) with a revisit of Michael Mann's 2006 film. Mann started from a place of "what if we did Miami Vice for real"...real grimy drug-dealing procedurals, real violence and treachery, the real cost of undercover work. And what if we filmed it during the summer in Miami, during Hurricane Season? All that and more went into the vibes. The pleasures of

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305 results

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