Tim and Jen weeb out over an overlooked-in-its-time tale of an outsider navigating a closed and unforgiving society, The Yakuza.Tip us at our Ko-Fi!Jen oversimplifies the origins of the yakuza here, plus she just plain doesn’t know a hell of a lot about Japanese culture! A YouTuber going by ANIKI has an entire playlist of deep dives on yakuza and their history that will leave you better informed.Read an archived version of Paul Schrader’s primer on yakuza-eiga (gangster films) from 1974.From the Alienated in Vancouver blog: Allan MacInnis interviews author AJ Devlin about, among other things, Leonard Schrader and The Yakuza. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Jen solos for a conversation with gangster expert God’s Own Monster (@scabbyscribe.bsky.social) about a weirdly clammy biopic, Josh Trank’s Capone.Tip us at Ko-Fi!The Hollywood Reporter had some dirt on the Fox/Trank spat, including intel claiming that the filmmaker’s dogs damaged a rental property in Baton Rouge to the tune of $100,000 (Jesus Christ).Trank attempted to smooth things over in an LA Times interview, and claimed that he definitely did not melt down on 4Chan:As for rumors that he was behind an angry, defensive rant that surfaced last week on the anonymous Internet bulletin board 4Chan, Trank said that was simply a bizarre hoax someone perpetrated at his expense. “Everybody wanted to go out there and say, ‘Josh has lost his mind,’” he said. “It’s just been an avalanche of things.”This YouTube essayist covers the alleged Josh Trank 4Chan post in his exhaustive coverage of the director’s career trajectory (clicking through will take you directly to the relevant section). Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Jen and Tim invite comedian Kath Barbadoro back to the show to puzzle over Brady Corbet’s weird stab at pop mythmaking, Vox Lux.Tip us at Ko-Fi!Brady Corbet and Natalie Portman chat about the film on some kind of Yahoo offshoot called Build. Maybe they explain themselves. I dunno, I’m not gonna watch it.The Variety critic actually liked the movie. He’s entitled to his opinion! Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Tim and Jen marvel at an overlooked Sean Connery performance in Sidney Lumet’s similarly overlooked police procedural, The Offence.Tip us at Ko-Fi!See some of the existing locations from The Offence, via the BFI.This representative example of a John Hopkins-penned episode of Z Cars features a young and almost unrecognizable Brian Blessed as a uniformed cop. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Jen and Tim go back to the roots of the New German Cinema and find much that’s still relevant in Volker Schlöndorff’s bleak character study, Young Törless.See video of Schlöndorff introducing a screening of Young Törless at a 2018 conference at Notre Dame.Jen hasn’t finished Klaus Theweleit’s Male Fantasies yet (it’s two volumes, plus she can’t read) but she’s gonna go ahead and recommend it to you if you’re at all interested in the psychology of fascism. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Tim and Jen allow their favorite radio personality Jennifer Miller Hammel to settle her beef with the biggest fan disappointment since The Star Wars Holiday special, The X-Files: I Want to Believe.Back in 1998, the MST3k crew riffed the first X-Files movie in their 2nd Summer Blockbuster Reviewfor the Sci-Fi Channel (sorry to deadname).Trace some X-Files history with us by listening to our episodes on The Adventures of Brisco County Jr. and The Night Stalker!Is that a weed?! Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Jen and Tim throw a pool party and invite Charles of the No Homework podcast to talk about the enervating suburban world of The Swimmer!Here is a representative sample of the “Hi, Guy!” series of Right Guard ads starring Bill Fiore, aka Mr. Hunsacker in The Swimmer. And here’s Jan Miner, aka Mrs. Hunsacker, as Madge the Palmolive lady.Cheever was indeed only adapted once for the big screen, but there have been a scattering of TV adaptations. This one, The Sorrows of Gin from 1979, stars Sigourney Weaver and Edward Herrmann! Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Tim patiently walks Jen through a compilation of philosophies of art, life, and everything: the Cate Blanchett-starring installation film Manifesto.Manifesto is free with ads on Tubi, but you can also watch each segment at director Julian Rosefeldt’s website.If you don’t know the name Nigel Cheese and you love learning about internet lunatics, watch this video from the Down the Rabbit Hole series by Frederik Knudsen. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Jen and Tim enlist Aftermath’s Chris Person to talk about a strange technical footnote in cinema, the moody and trés European fantasy Julia and Julia.Chris expands on the infuriating quality of IMDb reviews in this piece for Aftermath.Crave more pioneering and historical HD video? Stop by Reely Interesting on YouTube! There’s something for everybody, especially if you’re the kind of person who gets excited when they hear the word “encoding.”If you were curious about Morning Patrol, the Greek Philip K. Dick adaptation Chris mentioned, someone has helpfully put it up on YouTube. Also, it’s directed by the same guy who gave us one of our most memorable selections, Singapore Sling! Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Jen and Tim receive a remarkable package from returning guest Darren Herczeg, a Breakin’-meets-Porky’s B picture called Delivery Boys!For whatever reason, Darren confidently named “Scorpion Records” as the company that released the blu-ray of Delivery Boys and we ran with it. As you may have guessed, it’s actually “Scorpion Releasing.” They may or may not still exist, as their Facebook page hasn’t been updated since 2023 and if you try to visit their website your ISP will block it and tell you your personal info is at risk, soooooooooooJacqui Shine wrote an article on Ken Handler and the making of Delivery Boys, which confirms that Ken was known to solicit sexual favors in return for parts in his film. Let’s hope the cast had access to therapy.The New Beverly website has a blog post by Marc Edward Heuck about Delivery Boys executive producer Chuck Vincent, a prolific B-movie and skin flick maven. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.