FIFTEEN MINUTE FILM FANATICS

Everybody knows some George Bailey, Kevin, and John McClane help to make the season bright--but Mike and Dan urge everyone to take a look at Mitchell Leissen's 1940 comedy Remember the Night, written by Preston Sturges and starring Fred MacMurray and Barbara Stanwyck.  So watch the film (it's free on Peacock and TCM), pour some eggnog, and listen to this short bonus episode.  Merry Christmas! 

Not having seen it in decades, Mike and Dan revisit Philip Kaufman's 1978 Invasion of the Body Snatchers, his terrific remake of the 1956 classic.  They praise the film's soundscape with many examples, from the famous screech to the sound of Donald Sutherland's scissors.  Dan mentions the terrific use of garbage trucks and Mike talk about the uncanny valley as applied to the pod-people.  Of course, they talk about the ending--an ending that works so well because "it hurts."  They also talk about the strange experience of watching this film in our time of COVID.  After you listen, please check out the Twitter feed @15MinFilm--thanks!

Remember the commercials for The Ring where we saw audiences' reactions to the jump scares?  Does the film hold up almost 20 years later?  Mike and Dan talk about Gore Verbinski’s 2002 hit and discuss improbability in films vs. novels, television as a “vast wasteland,”  the Momo Challenge (remember that?) and Ringu, the 1998 film upon which The Ring is based.  So adjust that tracking and give us a listen.

In a season dedicated to horror movies, William Freidkin's The Exorcist (1973) seems a natural--practically a requirement.  So why aren't the guys--who admire this film--doing an episode on it?  Check out this bonus 5-minute episode.  

"They don't make 'em like this anymore" is Mike's take on Robert Wise's The Haunting (1963).  He and Dan talk about whether this is the case and how this terrific film hovers between Poltergeist and The Turn of the Screw.  Mike makes a claim to which Dan responds, "One hundred percent!  One hundred percent!  One hundred percent!" and the two talk about how a modern film would have treated the spiral staircase scene.  Of course, The Shining is mentioned--but so is Bringing Up Baby.  Give it a listen and check us out on Twitter @15minfilm. 

What makes a rewatchable thriller?  Mike and Dan discuss H. G. Clouzot's Diabolique (1955) as a great example of world-building that makes a fun murder plot even better.   Mike talks about how Clouzot's emphasizing  "unbearable normalcy" adds to the mystery; Dan compares the film to Rope, Notorious, and the novels of Elmore Leonard.  Mike uses his favorite word ("diachronically") and Dan reads a quotation about the film from the Book of Ebert.   Remember that Clouzot's film contains a famous spoiler alert at the end--here's ours at the beginning!  

Follow us on Twitter @15minfilm and let us know what to watch next!  

Mike and Dan respond to a listener who urges them to watch and discuss Seconds (1966), John Frankenheimer's thriller about a man who attempts to remake his identity.  They talk about what constitutes a person and how we build our identities in ways that defy simple lists of characteristics.  Dan brings up Hamlet and Citizen Kane; Mike brings up Hereditary.   Finally, the two are joined in a bonus segment by Tim, the very listener who suggested the movie, to see what he thinks of their conversation.  So let us know what you'd like us to watch and maybe we'll have you on the show! 

The 50th episode arrives!  Everyone remembers Roman Polanski's 1968 Rosemary's Baby as "the devil baby movie," but it's so much more.  Mike and Dan talk about how much the film resembles Parasite in terms of "Zillo porn" and its portrayal of people who would do anything for a good breakfast nook.  It's also like Vertigo with its midway-through reveal which sets up the viewer for the final, more troubling image.  All this and more in an episode where the guys can't stop talking about how every aspect of the film is perfect--even the international Satanists. 

Mike and Dan discuss Drew Goddard's The Cabin in the Woods (2011) as an antidote to the horror films that Hollywood churns out year after year.  Mike talks about how much the film resembles other work by Joss Whedon as well as (thanks to Bradley Whitford) The West Wing; Dan praises the film as something other than a simple parody.  Both contend that wem the viewers, are the Ancient Ones, eager for the same sacrifices and tropes that keep the world turning.

While the rest of the US spent time cooking and eating with family and friends (quarantine permitting), Mike and Dan recorded this week's episode on An American Werewolf in London (1981), the John Landis horror-comedy that set the standard for transformation scenes.  Dan compares the film to Monty Python and the Holy Grail, Mike talks about why London is the perfect setting for an American Werewolf, and the two talk about pub scenes, British types, and the glories of pre-CGI special effects.  Stay off the moors and listen!  

After the grueling experience of Hereditary, Mike and Dan talk about something lighter: Tim Burton's Beetlejuice (1988).  Was Michael Keaton Jim Carrey before Jim Carrey?  Does the film stand up on its own and not simply as a "seasonal" TV rerun?  And is Tim Burton really like a blind squirrel who found a nut with this project?  Give it a listen!  

Mike and Dan gather the courage to talk about Ari Aster's terrifying and deeply unsettling Hereditary (2008).  After a conversation about whether or not Aster could be the next Kubrick, the guys get into an argument about the last thirty seconds of the film: are they necessary?  Or does the  "treehouse scene" undermine the tension and release some of the dread that the film has created over its first two hours?  The guys are as split on this as a set of drunken uncles at a Thanksgiving dinner arguing about the 2020 election, but their banter is more entertaining.  

For years, Mike has been urging Dan to see Robin Hardy's The Wicker Man (1973)--and Dan finally has.  Topics of discussion include Deliverance, the blessings of low-budgets, self-immolation, movie marketing, Santa Claus, Hitchcock, Dostoevsky, A Clockwork Orange, how phones work in movies, The Planet of the Apes, the 23rd Psalm, Full Metal Jacket, and the film's brilliant merging of a detective story with existential dread.  Dan sings a few bars and Mike offers the sobering thought that all of us need to have our ducks in a row, especially when they are in cages.   

Run away from the light!  Go into the light!  Whatever you do, check out this episode.  Mike arrives demanding an apology from Dan for what he complained about in It Chapter 1 but doesn't mind in Tobe Hooper's Poltergeist (1982) .  Dan meets him halfway.  The guys haven't seen this since they were 10 or 12 and talk about why the film holds up and how it's different to watch it as an adult.  Topics of discussion include Spielberg's fingerprints, Jaws with ghosts, the face-melting scene in Raiders of the Lost Ark, and, again, how characters should behave in horror movies (or monster movies).  

Is Andy Muschetti's It: Chapter 1 (2017) a monster movie or a horror movie--and why does that matter?  The guys talk about he absence of any good adults in Stephen King's world, the way that the film treats adolescence, the lack of genuine fear in movies, and the analogy Tim Curry: Bill Skarsgard:: Jack Nicholson: Heath Ledger.  Dan also mispronounces Hereditary as Heredity, but give him a break: he's still afraid of that one.  

Mike and Dan kick off season 3--one devoted to horror, suspense, and monsters--with Netflix's The Devil All the Time (2020).  One of the pair admires the performances;  the other argues (with a secret list) that the film contains everything wrong with contemporary movies.  Join Mike and Dan as they board the Netflix Original Movie bandwagon.  

Dan and Mike finish Season 2 with a Film Fanatic's Favorite: Jonathan Demme's 1991 The Silence of the Lambs.  What makes this movie so rewatchable--despite its having all of the elements of every other serial killer movie?  Mike offers his Theory of Three Villains, Dan points out something he noticed about camera placement, and the two of them talk about why Buffalo Bill is much more terrifying than Jason Voorhees, Michael Myers, Freddie Kruger, The Candyman, Chucky, and Saw all put together.    If you love the film, give it a listen.  If you don't love it, they don't know what to tell you. 

Dan and Mike talk about the Coen brothers' second film, Raising Arizona (1987).  Dan compares the opening to that of Up and Mike talks about H.I.'s attempt to sound dignified.  Are, as Dan claims, the light touches and moments funnier than the jokes?  Is, as Mike argues, the car chase one of the best in movie history?  And what about the letter grades that the guys give to each Coen brothers film?  Listen and let them know what you think!

Is Godfather 3 all that bad?  As Michael tries to redeem himself, can a viewer find anything redeemable in Coppola's 1990 conclusion to his trilogy?  Mike and Dan talk to their first guest: Professor Jon Lewis, author of Whom God Wishes to Destroy: Francis Ford Coppola and the New Hollywood.  They ask Professor Lewis about his take on the film and wether it suffers from what Mike calls a "lack of urgency."  There are also some interesting digressions about the career of Al Pacino, the 70s as the perfect decade in which Coppola could work, The Irishman, and the degree to which Godfather 3 pushes the postmodern envelope.  Special thanks to Professor Lewis for the visit!  

Yes, the episode goes long, but the subject is, after all, a masterpiece: Vertigo (1958).  Mike explains why it's the second-greatest time-travel film of all time, Dan argues that the film has the best kiss in movie history, and both talk about how the most convoluted plots can help great artists explore the most basic, recognizable emotions.  It takes one's whole life to watch Vertigo, so think of this episode as a signpost to navigate one of Hitchcock's best.  

Dan and Mike tackle Alexander Mackendrick's 1957 Sweet Smell of Success.  Mike gives his reasons why the film should not work on paper--but does beautifully--and Dan recalls previous episodes about character-driven suspense and how the film makes the seduction of a cigarette girl more suspenseful than any secret agent disarming a bomb.  How the film nails the culture of celebrity and how "we get the celebrities we deserve" are in here, too.  Match me, Sidney, and give it a listen!   

Mike and Dan go long on this one, but ask for your pardon--they are, after all, discussing Martin Scorsese's Taxi Driver (1976) and have a lot to say. Much of the episode is an argument about how the viewer is meant to regard Travis, part of which results in Mike asking, "Well, then why does Travis look in the rear-view mirror?" and Dan responding, "BECAUSE THAT'S WHAT YOU DO WHEN YOU DRIVE."  Is Travis a sociopath with a death wish who has decided to act before he's hired as a cabbie--or is he a frustrated searcher for meaning in a cesspool of a city?  Take a listen and let us know which one of us is the square.  

Mike and Dan square off in this episode about Terrence Malick's 1973 film Badlands.  Dan admits to never having seen it before Mike asked him to watch it for the podcast.  What follows is one of the few complete knock-down arguments in the show's history, all recorded here for your pleasure or infuriation, depending on how you regard the movie.  

Continuing with the concert-movie theme, Dan and Mike discuss Martin Scorsese's The Last Waltz (1978).  No arguments here: the two gush over the movie and how it serves as a fitting elegy of the Woodstock era.  They evaluate the guest stars, talk about their favorite songs, and carefully use the word "peak" when discussing Bob Dylan.  The show ends with some talk about Robbie Robertson's claim that the road is an "impossible way of life" and how the joy of the musicians seems to undermine that statement.  

Mike knew that Dan liked Talking Heads and Dan knew the same about Mike--but this is their first conversation about Jonathan Demme's 1984 concert film.  Mike analyzes "Naive Melody" as he compares David Byrne to a fun uncle showing you a magic trick and the two come up with a theory on why this is the best concert movie of all time.  (Note the lack of qualifiers and caveats in that last sentence.)  

A perfect quarantine film, Jeff Nichols's Take Shelter (2011) examines the struggles of a man trying to protect his family from an unspecified natural disaster.  Dan and Mike talk about how the film dramatizes the protagonist's struggle with schizophrenia--or the burden of being a prophet.  Either way, it's an impossible situation in a harrowing film.  

Mike and Dan have a secretly-recorded conversation about The Conversation, Francis Ford Coppola's 1974 examination of wiretapping, privacy, and conscience.  Dan notes that the film takes its spiritual themes seriously; Mike talks about Gene Hackman's remarkable performance.  Dan confesses to thinking there was a mistake in the screenplay but then realizing that what he first assumed was lazy writing turned out to be just the opposite.  Take a listen to our show about the film Coppola made between The Godfather and The Godfather Part II and why it deserves a  new screening in your home.  

Mike went through a period when he watched The Verdict (1982) on a loop and has now urged Dan to rewatch it for the good of the show.  Join them for a conversation about what makes The Verdict great for any viewer, the decisions that great writers and directors make, and a surprise question about courtroom drama.  

In the previous episode, Mike doubled-down his Pacino bet and challenged Dan to watch Heat (1995) for the first time in 25 years.  Dan did and surprises Mike with his reaction.  Dan talks about the cleanliness of the film, Mike explains why it could be renamed Oceans 1 and Dan asks why we sometimes qualify our praise with phrases like, "a great crime movie."  Is Heat a good movie, period?  Listen to find out!

Mike suggested that they cover Pacino's 1989 thriller Sea of Love.  Before he watched it, Dan texted Mike everything he remembered about the film, based on the last time he saw it 31 years ago.  Of the seven things he remembered, one became a source of debate.  So is Sea of Love a great "popcorn movie?"  Or is it a cringefest of Pacino missing the mark for 90 minutes?  Does playing a detective involve more than loosening one's tie?  Listen and choose your side.  

In a quarantine in which long, depressing movies are mana from Heaven, Mike and Dan discuss Prince of the City (1981), Sidney Lumet's sprawling morality play about a corrupt cop who flips and tries to have his moral cake and eat it, too.  Dan applies one of Mike's remarks on Lawrence of Arabia to this film, which they both heartily recommend as a movie that reminds the viewer of The Shield and countless late 70s movies in which money in manilla envelopes is slid across restaurant tables.  

Mike comes out swinging, stating his "fierce loyalty" to David Lean's 1962 epic.  Dan throws some softballs: is it too long?  Does Lean insist upon his hero's greatness more than he dramatizes it?  And is Lean unable to really articulate what the story of Lawrence is "about?"  Mike responds to all of these and more while carrying a man across the Sun's Anvil!  

Dan and Mike kick off season 2 with a look at the Coen Brothers' True Grit (2010).  They talk about the greatness of Charles Portis, why this version of the novel is better than the 1969 adaptation with John Wayne, and the subject of remakes in general.  They end by theorizing about why the Coens reversed the last two lines of the novel.  Fill your hand!  

Mike and Dan practically burst into song about Singin' in the Rain (1952).  Dan asks why it's different from so many other--perhaps all other--Hollywood musicals and Mike offers that the movie does what only movies can do.  So say, "Good Morning!" and give it a listen!  

Dan and Mike talk about going to the movies: what they like about movie theaters and what drives them up the wall: trailers, noises, and other people.  Trigger warning: opinions pile up faster than empty soda cups.  

Mike and Dan talk about Peter Jackson's 2018 documentary They Shall Not Grow Old.   They discuss what colorizing footage from World War I does for the viewer, Jackson's admirable restraint, and the significance of the film's haunting title.  

Mike and Dan agree that Godfather II is a perfect film by any measure and wish they had more than 15 minutes in which to do it justice.   After Dan proposes they just do every future episode about Godfather II, they talk about Hyman Roth as a perfect villain, Michael losing his soul, and the brilliance and dramatic puzzle of the film's final image.  

Mike and Dan discuss Pawel Pawlikowski's Cold War (2018).  How is falling in love like entering another country?  What kind of man thinks he can corral a woman like Zula?  And what happens in the film's final moments?  Listen to Mike and Dan have their first big argument about the film's final images.  

Dan and Mike gush over what may be one of the funniest films ever made: Arthur Heller's The In-Laws (1979).  After Dan compares the film to Seinfeld, Mike notes a cast member who appears in both works.  They also talk about who is the true straight man and how the film doubles down just when one would expect it to fizzle.  This was Marlon Brando's favorite comedy and it's one of theirs, too.  

In anticipation of No Time to Die, Dan and Mike look back to the second Bond film, From Russia with Love (1963).  Dan gives Mike a Bond Rorschach test, the two share their favorite Bond moments from the film, and Mike offers a theory about why the 007 movies are better than the novels.

Dan and Mike discuss Rian Johnson's Knives Out (2019).  They tackle what separates a good mystery from a great one, Daniel Craig in his soon-to-be serial role, and a surprise of the film not related to the plot.   Warning: spoilers abound for many other films and mystery novels.