Rotten Rewind

There are only a handful of directors whose films feel like events. From the 90's class of directors, there's Quentin Tarantino, Paul Thomas Anderson and Wes Anderson. The latter Anderson's films have only grown in popularity and mainstream appeal. For better or worse, along with Tarantino, Wes Anderson has a built a brand around his name. In 2004, Anderson experienced his first flop with his $50 million Disney swan song, "The Life Aquatic with Steve Zissou." Co-written by Noah Baumbach, the film remains his most divisive with its stoner vibes, curmudgeonly hero, and violent pirate shootouts.

Certified Wes Stan Nick Laskin returns to the podcast to show love to one of his all time guys and the underrated "Life Aquatic." Join us as we discuss the growing popularity of Wes Anderson's aesthetic, his early collaborations with Owen Wilson and Baumbach, the low-key beauty of Willem Dafoe's performance, accent debates, that great Seu Jorge soundtrack, and the influence Anderson has had on future generations of filmmakers.

James Gray has quietly made a name for himself as one of the most underrated modern filmmakers of the 21st century. From his 2000 breakout "The Yards" to last years "Armageddon Time," Gray's films have often been festival and critical darlings, but rarely had crossover appeal. After a 7 year hiatus, Gray reunited with Joaquin Phoenix and Mark Wahlberg for his first studio film, "We Own the Night." Unfortunately, the film once again failed to give Gray the crossover hit that some of his peers experienced, while leaving critics divided. Australian director John Hillcoat had a similar fate in the 2000's, adapting big literary works and garnering the support of some of our most beloved actors, without ever fully connecting with mainstream audiences. His 2016 dirty cop thriller "Triple 9" gave Hillcoat his biggest ensemble yet, led by Casey Affleck, Chiwetel Ejiofor, Anthony Mackie, Woody Harrelson, Aaron Paul and Kate Winslet auditioning to be Natasha in "Rocky and Bullwinkle." Like Gray's cop thriller, "Triple 9" failed to find crossover appeal.

Two certified Gray heads William Breen and Nick Laskin join the podcast this week to show love to Hollywood's best kept secret. We break down Gray's relationship with muse Joaquin Phoenix, the golden era of Mark Wahlberg as a legitimate actor, Anthony Mackie as one of our best shit-talkers, typecasting Aaron Paul post-Breaking Bad, Clifton Collins Jr.'s little ponytail, and Kate Winslet's misguided era of wacky accents.

Spike Lee tackles disco and serial killers in his 1999 flop “Summer of Sam.”

1999 was a landmark year for cinema with directors like Paul Thomas Anderson, David Fincher, Spike Jonze, Stanley Kubrick, David Lynch, Michael Mann and Martin Scorsese releasing new films. Often forgotten is Spike Lee’s kaleidoscopic vision of the Son of Sam’s 1977 summer of terror, “Summer of Sam.” Featuring an ensemble led by John Leguizamo, Adrien Brody and Mira Sorvino, Lee’s film captured a volatile, frightening moment in America with his usual chaotic flare.

Critic and co-host of The Good, the Bad and the What, Ryan Oliver, joins the podcast to break down Lee’s sweatiest film since “Do the Right Thing.” Did critics have a bone to pick with Lee after his hot streak in the early 90s? Why didn’t Leguizamo get the leading man career he deserved? Was the story’s lack of focus on the Son of Sam a detriment to the films success? Is the Son of Sam the most relatable serial killer? Find out now in our latest edition of Auteur Misfires.

In the mid-90s, Tim Burton and Steven Spielberg were two of the most beloved directors in Hollywood. Spielberg was coming off his first Oscar for "Schindler's List" while Burton was riding the hot streak of Batman movies, "Edward Scissorhands," "Beetlejuice" and the Oscar-winning "Ed Wood." Burton's luck ran out with his first critical and financial bomb, "Mars Attacks!" featuring a stacked ensemble of actors like Jack Nicholson, Glenn Close, Natalie Portman, Pierce Brosnan and Sarah Jessica Parker. Meanwhile, Spielberg followed up the massive success of "Jurassic Park" with his first sequel "The Lost World," bringing Jeff Goldblum back to the franchise with rising stars Vince Vaughn and Julianne Moore in tow.

Musician and writer Devon Hansen joins the podcast for the first time to discuss the nostalgia of "Mars Attacks!" and Burton's fall from grace. In the second half of the episode, cinematographer Matthew Hayes returns to the podcast for a look back at Spielberg's 50 year career and how he phoned it in with "The Lost World."

Buckle your fucking seatbelts because it's time to go ballistic as Auteur Misfires enters the 90's.

Kicking things off, it's Clint Eastwood's return to the podcast with one of his forgotten cop thrillers, "The Rookie" starring Eastwood, Charlie Sheen and Raul Julia. After that, we're headed into the Wooniverse with John Woo's second American feature, "Broken Arrow" starring John Travolta, Christian Slater and Samantha Mathis.

Cinematographer and resident 9/11 correspondent Jake Ures returns to the podcast to unpack the complicated politics of Eastwood, the balletic action of Woo, Travolta as a virile American superstar, Eastwood getting raped(?) by Sonia Braga, and the failed action career of Howie Long.

Just in time for the 4th of July, it's Alex Cox's radical, career-killing satire, "Walker."

It's hard to imagine a more radical film being made in the studio system than Alex Cox's "Walker." Shot on location in Nicaragua with a predominately Nicaraguan crew, "Walker" was Cox's scathing satire on William Walker, the man who colonized and attempted to rule over Nicaragua in 1853. Featuring a career-best performance by Ed Harris, "Walker" was nearly forgotten to time just as the real-life Walker was, until Criterion introduced it into its collection 20 years after Universal buried the film in a handful of theaters.

Writer and critic Olivia Willke joins the podcast to examine the film that effectively ended Cox's short-lived career as a filmmaker in the studio system. It was no surprise audiences didn't respond to a film this strange and uncompromising, but why did so many critics despise Cox's anti-biopic? Join us for a look back at Alex Cox's brilliant "Walker."

Ever listen to Simon & Garfunkel and wonder what Art Garfunkel's balls look like? Curious what an Austrian/Brooklyn accent would sound like? Then we have the perfect double feature for you.

Like so many other directors in the first part of this series, Nicolas Roeg had an incredible run of films in the 1970's. From the critically acclaimed "Don't Look Now" and "Walkabout" to the David Bowie-starring cult hit "The Man Who Fell to Earth," Roeg had prominently secured himself as the best cinematographer turned director of his time. Roeg's 80's output was far more divisive and obscure though. Today on the podcast, we're diving into two of Roeg's most controversial and critically maligned films with the Art Garfunkel/Theresa Russell meditation on obsession and possession, "Bad Timing," followed by the epic true story "Eureka," featuring Russell, Gene Hackman, Joe Pesci, Mickey Rourke and Rutger Hauer.

Writer and director Alex Kolpan joins us to unpack these X-rated thrillers and all things Roeg. We'll dive into his longtime creative and romantic partnership with Russell, the reason we keep returning to Roeg's work, Yassified Harvey Keitel, voodoo orgies, and the acting career of Art Garfunkel and his balls.

It's rare that both the original and remake of a film are critically maligned, but that's exactly what happened to Lina Wertmüller's 1974 class satire "Swept Away." Wertmüller's 70's run with muse Giancarlo Giannini culminated in her becoming the first woman ever nominated for directing at the Academy Awards in 1977, but "Swept Away" was a rare critical misfire for the auteur. So what happens when the biggest popstar in the world and her in demand director husband decide to remake it nearly 30 years later? Well, it results in the lowest rated film we've ever covered on the podcast. Guy Ritchie and Madonna made what was essentially the CliffsNotes adaptation of Wertmüller's film, almost completely removing any political context, turning it into more of a standard romcom, but keeping many elements of the original that turned so many critics off at the time. What alienated American critics from the 1974 original and how could a Madonna-starring remake have gone so, so wrong? There's only one place to find out.

On this week's double feature, we're taking on a pair of 1960's psychosexual thrillers featuring Elizabeth Taylor in the prime of her career. First up, it's the aforementioned "Reflections of a Golden Eye" featuring a pre-Godfather Marlo Brando as a repressed army captain who's being publicly cucked by his horny wife (Taylor) as he quietly longs for the mysterious new cadet riding riding horses naked on the base (a very young Robert Forster). After that, it's Joseph Losey's 1968 tale of two freaky women using each other to overcome their individual grief with "Secret Ceremony." Featuring Taylor alongside Mia Farrow and Robert Mitchum at his absolute filthiest, "Ceremony" was akin to a modern day A24 horror movie at the time, written off as another pseudo-horror film operating under a "Psycho" facade. Join us as we travel back the Hollywood in the late 60's for a pair of freaky Elizabeth Taylor thrillers from two Hollywood legends.

In 1999, Time Magazine compiled a list of The 100 Worst Ideas of the 20th Century. "Ishtar" was on the list. So was Michael Cimino's career-derailing, studio-bankrupting "Heaven's Gate." Both films became synonymous with financial disasters. While Cimino continued to work, albeit not on the same scale as his previous features, Elaine May never directed another film again. And while "Ishtar" didn't bankrupt Columbia Pictures, it did result in the studio being sold to Sony after the $50 million dollar "Ishtar" crashed at the box office. The film became a punchline. A cautionary tale. It's commonly referred to as one of the worst films ever made. But is "Ishtar" really that bad? (Spoiler Alert: "Ishtar" is actually good.)

Filmmaker Andrew Jacobson returns to the podcast for a deep-dive on the most notorious bomb of the 20th century. We recount the red flags leading up to the torturous production, leaked stories of on-set turmoil, Warren Beatty's wavering commitment to May's vision, and the short, but brilliant directorial career of one of our finest directors.

Twenty-five years after Peter Bogdanovich's self-distributed critical failure "They All Laughed" was quietly released in a handful of theaters, Quentin Tarantino declared it one of his top ten favorite films of all time. Soon after, fellow 90's auteurs like Wes Anderson and Noah Baumbach reclaimed it as one of Bogdanovich's very best. Today, it's been mostly reappraised as an underrated entry in the prolific director's long career. But in 1981, the film was marred by controversy after the tragic death of one of its breakout leads, Dorothy Stratten. Like Coppola's "One From the Heart" (also barely released in 1981), the film caused its director to spiral both mentally and financially.

Podcast regular, writer and critic Nick Laskin, helps us unpack the complicated life and career of Bogdanovich, including his stellar early 70's run, his infidelity, and his broken streak after his divorce from Polly Platt. We also dive into Stratten's all too brief career, Audrey Hepburn being brought out of semi-retirement to act in a story that closely resembled her own off-screen affair with Ben Gazzara, and the criminally underrated scene-stealer, Colleen Camp.

The Godfather. The Godfather Part II. The Conversation. Apocalypse Now.

It's hard to think of a director with a better consecutive run than Francis Ford Coppola in the 70's. The winner of five Academy Awards and nominee of 7 more during the decade, Coppola was quickly being hailed as the greatest American filmmaker of his generation. Sure, the "Apocalypse Now" shoot was notoriously troubled and nearly killed the director, but he was in the lucrative position to make whatever the hell he wanted in 1981.

Based on a desire to work within a controlled environment after the unwieldy "Apocalypse Now" shoot and to boost his burgeoning Zoetrope Studios, Coppola set his sights on the musical "One From the Heart." But what was supposed to be a $12 million love story shot exclusively on sound stages, soon became a $26 million fiasco that saw Coppola selling his beloved Zoetrope Studios and spending the next decade on studio hired jobs trying to pay back to his debts.

Critic and writer Logan Kenny rejoins the podcast for a look back at Coppola's first major disaster. Featuring an ensemble cast headlined by Teri Garr, Raul Julia, Natassja Kinski, and most forgettably, character actor Frederic Forrest in the leading role, "One From the Heart" was a near career-ending disaster at the time, but has been reappraised ever since its re-release in 2003. Was Coppola's love story overshadowed by his desire to push technical boundaries? Does Dean Tavoularis' ingenious set design and Tom Waits' gorgeous score salvage a paper thin love story? Is Frederic Forrest a leading man? Did anybody look better on screen during the 80's than Natassja Kinski? Join us now for a melancholic trip back to the artificial Las Vegas of Coppola's dreams.

The male and female gaze clash in this week's Gaslight/Gatekeep/Girlboss double feature as we look back on two critically trashed stories of female empowerment and revenge. Illustrator Ella Talkin returns to the podcast to break down the opposing visions of Annette Haywood-Carter's 1996 adaptation of Joyce Carol Oates's "Foxfire" and Zack Snyder's ultimate blank check fantasy "Sucker Punch." One is a sensitive portrayal of young women united by their abuse in 90's grunge-era Portland starring Angelina Jolie in a star-making performance. The other is a teenage boy's wet dream where institutionalized women work through their collected traumas by engaging in fantastical battles against steampunk nazis scored to hip-hop remixes of Queen.

Did the botched release date of "Foxfire" sink its chances of reaching a broader teen audience? Was Angelina Jolie ever not going to be a movie star? Hey, is that pre-Rilo Kiley Jenny Lewis in her big screen debut?! Is "Sucker Punch" Zack Snyder's misunderstood take-down of the male-dominated comic book culture or does it just become the very thing it's critiquing? Why is Jon Hamm here? Why is Emily Browning covering "Where is My Mind?" and "White Rabbit" in one movie? When is Scott Glenn going to play Robert Durst? We're answering all your burning questions with a special podcast shout-out to Dash Mihok and Peter Facinelli.

It's Rotten history on the podcast today as we go all the way back to 1969 and 1971 for the two oldest films ever covered on the podcast. Generally it's hard to find many Rotten films made before 1980, so we're lucky we were able to find the perfect pair of gaslighting thrillers from the New Hollywood era.

First up, it's Robert Altman's sophomore feature "That Cold Day in the Park" starring Sandy Dennis as a lonely spinster who develops an unhealthy fixation with a mute teenage boy. After that it's the early 70's cult favorite "Let's Scare Jessica to Death" starring Zohra Lampert as the titular Jessica. Critic and writer Olivia Willke returns to the podcast to unpack the enduring horror of "Let's Scare Jessica to Death" and the prolific, versatile career of Robert Altman. 

We also explore the origins of Rotten Tomatoes, the pornification of "spinsters," hippie communes, what 30-something men looked like in the 70's, and the counter culture's transitionary period in the late 60's.

For our Gaslight/Gatekeep/Girlboss finale, we're paying tribute to our Rotten Queen Sandra Bullock and two of her most unhinged romantic comedies. First up it's the 90's sleepover cult favorite "Practical Magic" directed by Griffin Dunne (yes, that Griffin Dunnen), featuring Bullock and Nicole Kidman in purple shades as a pair of witchy sisters who use their powers to find love and murder a Bulgarian cowboy (twice). After that, it's Bullock's oft-forgotten pairing with Ben Affleck in "Forces of Nature." Directed like a Danny Boyle trip-hop video by Bronwen Hughes, the rom-com update of "Planes, Trains and Automobiles" saw Bullock as a free spirited party girl on an unexpected road trip with Affleck as a straight-laced husband-to-be.

Jean Yannarell joins us to unpack Bullock's late 90's run and why "Practical Magic" makes up at least 42% of her personality today. Have two studio comedies ever been so beautifully or daringly photographed? Did "Practical Magic's" jarring tonal shifts throw off critics and audiences at the time? Was Affleck fatally miscast in "Forces?" Has any actor-turned-director ever had a weirder filmography than Griffin Dunne? Does anybody remember Bran Van 3000? And can anyone ever replicate the magic of Sandra Bullock? Find out right here on our Gaslight/Gatekeep/Girlboss miniseries finale.

Do you remember when Angelina Jolie and Brad Pitt spent their honeymoon making a movie about the disintegration of a married couple on the island of Malta? According to the movies box office and 35% score on Rotten Tomatoes, you probably don't. But in 2015, the couple formerly known as Brangelina quietly released the slow burn marital drama "By the Sea." 

Dismissed by critics as an indulgent vanity project for the most beautiful celebrity couple alive, "By the Sea" has drifted into obscurity over the years, but has always kicked around in the back of your beloved hosts minds. Moving at an often catatonic pace with a whispery Angelina Jolie performance that mostly consists of her doing her make-up and lounging morosely in her gorgeous seaside villa, the film is hardly without its flaws, but there's a lingering sensation to its opaque meta-romance that's impossible to deny.

So join us for a trip down tabloid memory lane for the couple's last hurrah, as well as a rundown of the podcast's most obscure movies according to Letterboxd, as well as another special podcast shout-out to the 1999 air traffic control romance, "Pushing Tin."

"No more wire hangers!" "Tina! Bring me the ax." "I'm not mad at you. I'm mad at the dirt." "She doesn't need an ambulance... She's drunk."

Can a movie this quotable be that bad? In 1981, yes. Maybe. We're still not sure honestly. What we do know is that our deep dive on Frank Perry's infamous "Mommie Dearest" left us with a new appreciation for the trashy cult classic and its notoriously difficult star, Faye Dunaway.

Writer and astrologer Kaycee Felton-Lui joins us to explore the tumultuous production and aftermath, as well as her own experience growing up with the film and even writing a 7th grade paper on the films equally controversial subject, Joan Crawford. Can a film about child abuse be considered camp? Could anyone else have embodied the contradictory madness of Crawford as well as Faye Dunaway? How many careers did the movie end up killing? Why is that little boy strapped down in his bed at night? We're answering all that and more in our latest installment of Gaslight/Gatekeep/Girlboss.

Spike Lee is back on the podcast after a three year absence following our very first episode ever on his controversial satire "Bamboozled." Lee was riding a near-unanimous wave of critical praise in the early 90's following his mainstream breakthrough, "Do the Right Thing." But in 1996, Lee had his first real flop with the Suzan-Lori Parks penned comedy "Girl 6." Telling the story of a struggling actress turned phone sex operator, Lee's episodic comedy is headlined by a fantastic Theresa Randle performance, and chalk-full of cameos from John Turturro, Debi Mazar, Naomi Campbell, Madonna and most famously, Quentin Tarantino.

Actress Mariko Enkoji-Busch joins us to break down Lee's first critical misfire, as well as the thin line between acting and phone sex work, that famous Prince soundtrack, and of course the infamous beef between Lee and Tarantino.

Before the "Saw" franchise staked their claim to the Halloween release slot, Dark Castle was delivering its annual nu-metal take on classic horror movies. Ah yes, that blissful period in between the 90's slasher wave and the post-9/11 torture porn/J-horror remake craze. During that brief window, we got movies like "House on Haunted Hill" and "Ghost Ship," but their last hurrah was the 2003 supernatural thriller "Gothika" starring a post-Oscar win Halle Berry, Penelope Cruz and Robert Downey, Jr. in his first comeback role. A minor box office success, but a critical disaster at 14%, Matheiu Kassovitz's American debut was the first in a string of post-Oscar win bombs from Berry and is mostly forgotten today. But is it really as bad as its reputation suggests?

Another relic of cinema's past is the big budget adult thriller starring bonafide movie stars. In the summer of 2000, Robert Zemeckis delivered a box office success with "What Lies Beneath," starring Michelle Pfieffer and Harrison Ford in a sort of supernatural erotic thriller. Written off as silly schlock by most critics at the time of its release, we can't help but feel like this movie be embraced with open arms by the same critics today.

So join us for this nostalgic look back at a pair of 2000's comfort watches as we discuss the last era of movie stars, bad bangs, unexpected Limp Bizkit needle drops, the underrated careers of John Carroll Lynch and Joe Morton, and white women seances. How many times can Max say the word "shlock?" Does Harrison Ford eat pussy? And most importantly, can you get fingered to these movies? Find out now!

It’s a sleazy, neon/cum drenched double feature today on the podcast as we dive into a pair of darkly comedic thrillers set in two very different LA worlds.

First up, it’s Ken Russell’s 1984 X-rated tale of sexual repression and desire in “Crimes of Passion,” starring Kathleen Turner as a fashion designer moonlighting as a sex worker by night and Anthony Perkins as the unhinged, perpetually sweaty reverend who wants to save her whorish soul from the life she’s chosen. After that, it’s the podcast return of Nicolas Winding Refn with his 2016 body horror satire on the world of high-end modeling, “The Neon Demon” starring Elle Fanning, Jena Malone and Keanu Reeves as a scummy motel operator who might also be a sex trafficker!

When did Elle Fanning eclipse her big sister? Can Keanu play a villain? Why didn’t Anthony Perkins get the post-Psycho career he deserved? Has Alessandro Nivola quietly become one of our best character actors? Is there anything better than hearing Anthony Perkins scream “Kill me, you worthless cunt!”? Join us for all these answers and more!

This week, we're reminding you that Jennifer Lawrence once starred in a failed franchise starter called "Red Sparrow" in which she plays an impoverished ballerina who is recruited to become a spy for the Russian government. But before that, we're taking you all back to the halcyon days of 1997 for one of Ridley Scott's rare box office misfires, "G.I. Jane." A movie that was once prominently known for being the movie in which Demi Moore shaved her head before disappearing into obscurity, has found a second life courtesy of a now infamous slap.

Are these girlboss thrillers better than their muted reputation suggests? Will a major studio ever make another big budget adult spy thriller with a bonafide movie star? When will Demi Moore get a comeback vehicle worthy of her talents? Was music video veteran Francis Lawrence too tame of a choice to tackle the inherently sleazy world of "Red Sparrow?" And most importantly, when will somebody make some nice Whore School merch we can wear?

Comedian and co-host of The Toni Awards, Samantha Prosser, joins us to unpack the discourse surrounding Andrew Dominik's polarizing adaptation of Joyce Carol Oates' "Blonde." Starring Ana De Armas in an Oscar-nominated performance as Marilyn Monroe, "Blonde" has been stirring up controversy ever since its first trailer dropped last year featuring De Armas with her native Cuban accent. Things didn't get any better when the film premiered to scathing reviews at the Venice Film Festival, before launching a million think pieces. Dominik's blunt candor on the press tour only made matters worse, adding more fuel to the Blonde-haters fire.

So what are we to make of "Blonde?" Is it an ambitious swing for the fences? A tedious exercise in resurrecting a dead woman's trauma? Torture porn masquerading as a fictional biopic? Accidental pro-life propaganda? A future camp classic? An unflinching dissection of celebrity and the cult we built around our stars? "Blonde" is many things and a movie worthy of a good-faith discourse in today's increasingly sanitized cinematic landscape. It's long and punishing and difficult, but maybe we need more movies to challenge and divide us.

2022 was a banner year for unexpected critical misfires. Critical darlings like David O'Russell, Alejandro González Iñárritu, Sam Mendes, Noah Baumbach, and Darren Aronofsky saw their latest films either crash and burn on arrival or quickly disappear after a tepid response. It's hard to say which outcome is worse! But the movie that's endured the most polarizing response yet is undoubtedly Academy Award winning director Damien Chazelle's 189 minute epic "Babylon." And as our listeners know, we love a good trainwreck! So an expensive vanity project from a beloved director who cashed in his Oscar winning ticket to show us how much he loves "Singing in the Rain" and "Boogie Nights" sounded like the perfect introduction to a brand new season.

While "Babylon" might be a financial failure, it's shelf life is uncertain. It's already found itself a sizable fanbase in corners of the critical world and the discourse has been buzzing on Twitter and Letterboxd since its first screening. So what is "Babylon?" An expensive misfire from a wunderkind director? An ambitious, but noble failure? A future misunderstood masterpiece? "Boogie Nights" for virgins? Find out what we thought on our shit-piss-puke-filled season premiere!

On-set drama. Recasting. Divorce. COVID shutdowns. Bad accents. Spitgate. How do they shit??? These are just some of the many controversies that befell Olivia Wilde’s sophomore feature “Don’t Worry Darling.”

Podcast regular Johnny Langan makes his triumphant return to the show to unpack the slew of DWD controversies and neverending plot holes. Is it really as bad as the critics said it was? Is Harry Styles a leading man? Is Harry Styles even an actor? What’s with the earthquakes? The plane crash? Who was the dialect coach? Would Shia LaBeouf have improved the movie or was it doomed from the beginning? Seriously, how do they shit?! We attempt to answer all of your pressing DWD questions right here, right now.

In the mid-aughts, Tony Scott was written off by most film critics as a studio showman who valued style over substance. Ten years after his untimely death, Scott's legacy has been reclaimed by new generations of fans and critics as one of the most visionary filmmakers of his time. The 2000s were a transitional period for Scott as he evolved his trademark visual panache and hyper-kinetic action into something far more groundbreaking and experimental than any modern studio director. Scott's singular style would go on to inspire a whole new era of genre filmmaking.

Cinematographer and resident 9/11 stan Jake Ures returns to the podcast to discuss two of Scott's most maligned films: his 2004 re-teaming with Denzel Washington in "Man on Fire" and his Richard Kelly-penned media satire/true crime hybrid "Domino." Does Denzel have chemistry with everyone he shares the screen with? Was Keira Knightley the right fit for a British supermodel turned hardened bounty hunter? Can Scott do a modern media satire? Is Richard Kelly overdue for another Rotten banger? How many times does Keira Knightley say "My name is Domino Harvey" in the 120 minute runtime of "Domino?" Was "Man on Fire" the post-9/11 revenge thriller America needed to quench their bloodlust? There's only one podcast that has all those answers and more.

Is there a more versatile, prolific American director working today than Steven Soderbergh? In 1989, Soderbergh became the youngest American director to ever screen a film in competition at the Cannes Film Festival and changed independent film forever with his provocative debut "sex, lies and videotape." Since then, Soderbergh has directed over 35 films and several television series, working in nearly every genre imaginable, embracing multiple formats across a wide spectrum of mediums, making him impossible to pin down.

But what happens when the Oscar winning director is given the keys to his first major franchise in the wake of the unexpected success of his "Ocean's Eleven" remake? Instead of doubling down on the magic of his 2001 iteration, Soderbergh decided to switch gears and deliver a polarizing art-house rendition of a heist film on Warner Bros' dime, nearly destroying the budding franchise in the process.

Filmmaker Andrew Jacobson joins us to defend the 2004 sequel that's divided Soderbergh fans since its release. Was the vitriolic response to the film warranted? Were fans just looking for more of the same? What makes a good sequel in the first place? Should more directors step out of their comfort zone the way Soderbergh does? Has Matt Damon ever given a bad performance? Why do people hate the laser scene so much? Find out right here on our Rotten Vibes finale.

Art-House and Grindhouse join forces for part three of our Vulgar Vibes miniseries. Cinematographer Matthew Hayes joins the podcast this week to chop it up about a pair of ultra-violent meditations on masculinity and free will. First up, it's VOD maverick John Hyams's surrealist fourth entry in the Universal Soldier franchise with "Universal Soldier: Day of Reckoning" starring Scott Adkins, Dolph Lundgren and Jean-Claude Van Damme. After that, it's Nicolas Winding Refn and Ryan Gosling's much anticipated but far more divisive follow-up to "Drive" with 2013's "Only God Forgives."

Is John Hyams the most underrated action director working today? Why isn't Scott Adkins leading more mainstream action films? Was Refn leaning too hard into his edgelord sensibilities with "Only God Forgives?" Was anything going to be considered a disappointment after the zeitgeist-capturing "Drive?" Did anyone expect the fourth entry in a dying VOD franchise to be a straight up Lynchian body horror nightmare? Find out now on Vulgar Vibes Pt. 3...

Filmmaker and musician William Breen returns to the podcast to unpack the hot mess that is Baz Luhrmann's maximalist take on "The Great Gatsby." Headlined by Leonardo DiCaprio as the titular Gatsby, Luhrmann's adaptation divided critics at its Cannes premiere 10 years ago, but went on to clean up at the box office and build a small but vocal cult following. But what ultimately went wrong? Was it Jay-Z's extremely 2010's soundtrack? Was Carey Mulligan up for the task of playing such a beloved character that early in her career? Why does Isla Fisher sound like Betty Boop? Is the "I Can't Stop" needle drop the most unhinged moment of Baz's career? And most importantly, was at-the-time 38 year-old Tobey Maguire really the best choice for Nick Carraway? Join us for our Vulgar finale as we explore the pure, unfiltered vision that is Baz Luhrman's "The Great Gatsby."

In 1994, Quentin Tarantino was on top of the film world. He had just won Cannes with "Pulp Fiction." He was riding the cult success of "Reservoir Dogs" and the Tony Scott-directed "True Romance." At the same time, Oscar-winning provocateur Oliver Stone desperately needed a hit after the box office failure of "Heaven and Earth." Months before "Pulp Fiction" premiered theatrically, Stone and Tarantino's "Natural Born Killers" debuted in dog days of summer amidst a torrent of controversy. Not only was there a heated critical debate taking place surrounding the artistic merits of the film, but the screenwriter himself was publicly disowning the film after claims that Stone had butchered his original vision.

Nearly 30 years later, "Natural Born Killers" remains a polarizing work. Years before films like "Fight Club" and "The Matrix" dominated the conversation of gun violence in the media, "Natural Born Killers" was the one of the tip of every conservative politician's tongue. Has the film endured as a satirical takedown of 90's media or is just a fascinating cultural artifact? Is it possible to make an intelligent or important satire in our social media saturated world today? Is Woody Harrelson one of our best, most underappreciated actors? Why won't Robert Downey, Jr. return to gonzo performances like this?

Filmmaker and writer Alex Kolpan returns to the podcast to answer all these questions and more, right here on America's #1 podcast.

What makes a foundational movie experience? For critic and podcast regular Logan Kenny, it was seeing Joseph Kosinski's meditative tech opera "TRON: Legacy" in IMAX 3D when he was 9 years old.

Logan returns to us for an episode discussing two Vulgar Maximalist cult classics that polarized anti-digital critics at the time of their releases over 10 years ago. First up, it's The Wachowski's fever dream cartoon come to life "Speed Racer" starring Emile Hirsch, Susan Sarandon, Christina Ricci and John Goodman. After that, we'll break down the most expensive first feature of all time with the aforementioned "TRON: Legacy" starring Garrett Hedlund, Olivia Wilde and a pre-Irishman de-aged Jeff Bridges reprising his role nearly 30 years later.

Has time been kind to both of these films? Is "Speed Racer" a Letterbox approved cult classic? Did Emile Hirsch's cultural cache peak in 2008? Is John Goodman actually America's Dad? Do people really hate Matthew Fox? Is Garrett Hedlund a leading man? How often do you piss during movies? These are the questions on everybody's minds this holiday season and there's only one place to get the answers.

In 2003, Vincent Gallo brought his second feature "The Brown Bunny" to the Cannes Film Festival. The rest is history.

The so-called controversy surrounding Gallo's film became bigger than the film itself. It was called indulgent. Embarrassingly sincere. Most famously, in the words of Roger Ebert, it was "the worst film in the history of the Cannes Film Festival." And that didn't even touch on the infamous unsimulated blowjob. But what qualifies a failure? Is indulgence always a bad thing? Is the blowjob even the most disturbing part of Gallo's sophomore feature? And more importantly, in the age of PornHub, is an unsimulated blowjob that crazy to see on screen?

Critic and filmmaker Alex Kolpan joins us for an in-depth look back at Gallo's deeply personal and disturbing meditation on loneliness, trauma, and the fractured male psyche. After that, we'll be switching gears for a different kind of road trip romance for Wong Kar-wai's first and only American film, "My Blueberry Nights." Starring a beautiful ensemble of stars like Jude Law, Natalie Portman and Rachel Weisz, the film sees Kar-wai meshing his signature style with the twee sensibilities infused in American indie films of the mid-2000s. Is the film a forgotten gem or more of a curiosity for Wong Kar-wai completists? Are both of these films tailor-made for this podcast? Is Vincent Gallo trolling all of us, or is he far more sincere in his convictions than modern day shit stirrers like Kanye West and Bret Easton Ellis? Find out right here on America's #1 podcast.

Hell is what you make it. Or maybe it's just an alternate reality created by a prolific Lovecraftian author.
For our penultimate installment in the Vulgar Horror series, we're taking listeners back to the mid-90's for a pair of unhinged bangers starring Sam Neill. First up, it's John Carpenter's meta take on a Stephen King-esque horror writer with 1994's "In the Mouth of Madness," starring Neill as a skeptical insurance investigator slowly unraveling. After that, we're boarding Paul W.S. Anderson's 1997 haunted spacecraft nightmare "Event Horizon," which saw Neill square off against current Thick King Laurence Fishburne.

Writer/critic Nick Laskin and filmmaker/animator Shawn Chiesa join the podcast to reflect on both films' initial failure and current cult status amongst hardcore horror fans. Was "Jurassic Park" actually the anomaly in Neill's versatile filmography? Is Laurence Fishburne one of our most undervalued leading men? Has any director in the Vulgar Auteurist canon received as much of a reappraisal as Paul W.S. Anderson? How many 90's kids suffered nightmares from "Event Horizon?" Is Orgy one of the only enduring nu-metal bands? There's only one place to find out.

Director Robert Zemeckis could have never predicted that his 1992 box office disappointment "Death Becomes Her" would endure 30 years later as an essential entry in the queer cult classic canon. Pitting Meryl Streep and Goldie Hawn against one another as frenemies in a quest for eternal youth and casting Bruce Willis as the hapless alcoholic they're fighting over, Zemeckis created an inspired piece of camp with groundbreaking VFX work and pitch-perfect offbeat casting. The co-host of Gay Wine, Kae Whalen, returns to the podcast to talk about a childhood favorite and how the film has endured as a 90s sleepover staple and iconic queer classic.
Follow Kae on Instagram @gaewhalen where you can find their fantastic podcast, Gay Wine.

We're kicking off our 3rd Annual Rotten Horrors™ with two podcast favorites! Writer and one of our in-house Queer Cinema commentators Kaycee Felton-Lui joins us for a look back at Tony Scott's feature debut "The Hunger," starring David Bowie, Catherine Deneuve and Susan Sarandon. At the time of its release in 1983, Scott's debut was panned and written off as a lurid exercise in style over substance. Today, it's regarded as a midnight classic and one of the most important debuts of the 20th century. Featuring the iconic pairing of Bowie and Deneuve, haunting cinematography by Stephen Goldblatt, impossibly cool vibes, and one of the most unforgettable sex scenes in Hollywood history, "The Hunger" is a queer horror classic that announced Scott as one of the definitive voices in American cinema.

Our five week descent into the grotesque madness of Vulgar Horror comes to an end today on the podcast. For our special Halloween send-off, we're finally diving into the 100% rotten career of musician, filmmaker and certified Wife Guy, Rob Zombie. Over the last 20 years, Zombie has amassed one of the most singular horror filmographies in the canon. Critics have almost unanimously given his work the cold shoulder, dubbing his specific brand of the genre as "Hixploitation." Today on the podcast, we're unpacking two Zombie sequels that, for better or worse, best represent the spirit of Zombie's style.

First up, it's his 2005 love letter to 70's horror and lovers on the run thrillers, "The Devil's Rejects" starring his beloved wife Sheri Moon-Zombie, Bill Moseley and the late, great Sig Haig as the unforgettable Captain Spaulding. After that, we're heading to the late aughts for Zombie's notoriously divisive sequel "Halloween II" featuring Scout Taylor-Compton as Laurie Strode and Malcolm McDowell playing the famous Dr. Loomis as a grifting scumbag.
Zombie loyalists Nick Laskin and Lindsay Theirl join us to discuss their unabashed love for Zombie and how hard it can be defending the cult filmmaker in an age of "elevated horror." Why is Zombie so alienating for even the most die-hard of horror fans? Why are horror fans becoming Marvel-esque gatekeepers with 40 year old franchises? Are audiences turned off by genre entries that reckon with our enjoyment of watching innocent people murdered before our eyes? Is "Halloween II" the "Fire Walk with Me" of the franchise? There's only one place to find out.

For our final Vulgar Female Gaze installment, we're looking back at a pair of underseen 90s dark comedies. First up, it's photographer Cindy Sherman's first and only foray into directing with the 1997 horror comedy "Office Killer" starring Carol Kane, Jeanne Tripplehorn and Molly Ringwald. After that, we're switching gears for the late, great Adrienne Shelly's sophomore feature, "I'll Take You There" starring Ally Sheedy.
Filmmaker Giselle Bonilla joins us to discuss her surprising connection to Adrienne Shelly, the tonal whiplash of Shelly's low budget take on the romcom and the indie filmmaking climate of the 90s versus today. Why did critics hate the clear and obvious MVP of "Office Killer" so much? Why did Cindy Sherman never return to filmmaking? Does "I'll Take You There" work better with Parker Posey and John Cusack? We're talking all that and more in our farewell to the Vulgar Female Gaze.

TW: This episode contains discussion of rape and sexual assault.

Some filmmakers court controversy wherever they go, but few have been as polarizing as Catherine Breillat and Lena Dunham. For our third installment in the Rotten Female Gaze miniseries, we'll be dissecting two films from Breillat and Dunham that offered an uncompromising and often uncomfortable look at the complexity of female sexuality.

Beginning in 1999 with Breillat's visceral and painful "Romance," a film that shocked audiences during its initial festival run and continues to divide critics and fans of the French auteur to this day with its bleak vision of one woman's sexual unravelling. After that, we'll move onto Dunham's thematically thorny and tonally messy comedy, "Sharp Stick" starring Kristine Froseth, Jon Bernthal, Taylour Paige, Jennifer Jason Leigh, and Scott Speedman as a feminist porn star.

Is the backlash Dunham received over the last decade harsher because she's a young, female filmmaker? Are we so desensitized that seeing unsimulated sex in a film feels tame today? Does Dunham double down on her racial blind spots in "Sharp Stick?" Is the Scott Speedman Revival Tour the hottest ticket in town you never saw coming? Find out right now on the hottest podcast on Patreon.

For our second installment in the Vulgar Female Gaze miniseries, we're interrogating the often polarizing sub-genre of women doing crime. Writer Jaime Bolker joins us for a look back at two ripped from the headlines comedies: the 2001 cheerleaders turned bank robbers comedy "Sugar & Spice" and Sofia Coppola's pivot into the true crime genre with 2013's "The Bling Ring."

Coming on the heels of "Bring It On" and "But I'm a Cheerleader," Francine McDougall's midwestern crime satire "Sugar & Spice" was met with a critical shrug, but managed to find enduring success as a future sleepover classic for 90s kids. Coppola, usually a critical darling, was met with a more divisive reaction than usual for her muted look at the true story of a group of San Fernando Valley teens who loved to rob tabloid celebrities in the late 2000s.

How did "Sugar & Spice" go from the hot title every young actress wanted to be in to the tonally erratic January release it was doomed to become? Was 1999-2002 the golden era for Mena Suvari? Has James Marsden ever given a bad performance? Was Sofia Coppola the right choice for a ripped from the headlines true crime romp? Did "The Bling Ring" help set the stage for the "A24 brand?" Is Emma Watson's accent more Valley Girl or Canadian? Do dads get horny? Join us for a conversation on all this and more!

When looking at the canon of "Vulgar Auteurism," you'll notice that most of the directors mentioned are... surprise... men! Specifically, white men. But because the very concept of "Vulgar Auteurism" is so loose and open to interpretation, we decided to dedicate the next month to female filmmakers that have, at one point or another, directed a critical misfire that honors the "Vulgar Female Gaze."

Writer Kaycee Felton-Lui joins us for our first installment in the miniseries for a double feature about toxic women and female rage. First up, it's the 1989 dark comedy "She-Devil" starring Meryl Streep, Roseanne Barr and Ed Begley, Jr. After that, we're jumping to 2012 for Leslye Headland's debut feature and adaptation of her own stage play, "Bachelorette" starring Kirsten Dunst, Lizzy Caplan and Isla Fisher.

Is "She-Devil" really the career-ending bomb that it was made out to be in 1989? Was there really a time when Meryl Streep was told she could never be funny? Did "Bachelorette" come too soon after the success of "Bridesmaids?" Was it too dark for general audiences looking for another comedy where women shit in a sink? Is there anything Kirsten Dunst can't do? Was Roseanne ill-equipped to face off against Streep in "She-Devil?" Why haven't any of us seen "Sophie's Choice?" Why doesn't Max know what a Baja Blast is? There's only one place to find out.

The American Western experienced a resurgence in the 90s after the critical and financial success of "Dances with Wolves" and "Unforgiven." At that time, Sam Raimi was more known for his groundbreaking work in horror, making him an unlikely choice to spearhead a Western revisionist action film with genre heavyweight Gene Hackman. But that was the only director star and producer Sharon Stone wanted for the project. Stone used her post-"Basic Instinct" power to not only bring Raimi on board, but to land Russell Crowe his first American role, and personally pay a baby-faced Leonardo Di Caprio's salary after the studio nixed the idea of him co-starring. The result? A box office and critical failure that began the decline of Stone's thriving career and left Raimi feeling like he was all to blame.

Today on the podcast, we're taking a slight detour from Vulgar Neo-Noirs to Vulgar Western Noirs with Sam Raimi's "The Quick and the Dead" and Walter Hill's Prohibition-era thriller "Last Man Standing," starring current podcast favorite, Bruce Willis. Writer and cartoonist Michael Chau joins us to discuss the gonzo vision of Raimi and why critics must have hated fun in 1995. We're also unpacking the sexism that Stone experienced at the height of her fame, the comeback she so badly deserves, Leo's hold on teenage girls in the 90s, Gene Hackman's pussy eating skills, why Bruce Willis isn't a hat guy, stinky Western dicks, Sisqo's Shakedown, and our new spinoff series "Whores Next Door."

"For those that understand they're living the last days of the world, death acquires a different meaning. The extinction of all reality is a concept no resignation can encompass."
This week's guest, Michael Aghajanian, has described Ridley Scott's 2013 bomb "The Counselor" as a "flagship Rotten Rewind movie." This is, after all, a movie that opens with Michael Fassbender finger-fucking Penelope Cruz while telling her she has "the most luscious pussy in all of Christendom," and later features a now notorious scene where Cameron Diaz fucks the windshield of a Ferrari. Sadly, in 2013, critics and audiences weren't ready for 2 hours of beautiful actors reciting verbose monologues about the nature of violence and destiny in between scenes of graphic beheadings and Cameron Diaz fucking a car. Thankfully, it's been 9 years since Ridley Scott brought Cormac McCarthy's first produced original screenplay to the big screen and we, as a society, have accepted that we are living in the last days of the world.
So how does "The Counselor" stack up against podcast heavyweights like "In the Cut," "Bamboozled" and "Vanilla Sky?" Is this really one of the few Ridley Scott films that Tony Scott could have directed? Did Javier Bardem really base his look on mega producer Brian Grazer? Is Brad Pitt in the middle of a pussy-eating Renaissance? Could anyone have filled Cameron Diaz's shoes as a gold-toothed Machiavellian ice queen with tacky leopard tattoos? Is McCarthy's worldview too nihilistic or just right for our apocalyptic times? Does truth really have no temperature? Find out right now on America's most celebrated podcast.

Vulgar Neo-Noir continues this week with one of the most controversial and divisive films - and filmmakers - of their time. 1980s Hollywood was steeped in Orientalism, predominately seen in action films like "Flash Gordon" and "Big Trouble in Little China" and futuristic sci-fi landscapes like the iconic imagery of "Blade Runner." We're riding solo today for an in-depth conversation about the fetishization of Asian culture in Hollywood cinema, specifically in Michael Cimino's murky Chinatown crime thriller "Year of the Dragon" and Ridley Scott's neon-drenched Yakuza thriller "Black Rain."
Does "Year of the Dragon's" ambiguous morality stand in the way of it being the masterpiece it so badly wants to be? Has there ever been a more unsympathetic "hero" than Mickey Rourke's racist, Vietnam vet turned renegade cop, Stanley White? Is "Black Rain" unofficial dudes rock cinema? Can Michael Douglas play a bad boy? How hard does Jan de Bont go in "Black Rain?" Are you even boys if you don't call each other "babe?" Is this fucking Vietnam all over again?! There's only one place to find out...

"You don't have to lick my ass. Just fuck me."

It's hard to think of a better quote in the canon of genre master Brian De Palma. Today on the show, we finally get the opportunity to dive into one of our favorite directors' filmography by discussing two of De Palma's most divisive critical failures: the 1998 Nicolas Cage conspiracy thriller "Snake Eyes" and the 2002 erotic thriller "Femme Fatale" starring Antonio Banderas and Rebecca Romijn.

Filmmaker Andrew Jacobson joins us for the first time to pay tribute to the Horny King and his two favorite De Palma flicks. Is De Palma the most underrated of his 70s peers? Does a movie have to make sense to be good? Can anyone pull off the greasy ponytail look the way Antonio does in "Femme?" Is marrying Rebecca Romijn the greatest achievement of Jerry O'Connell's life? Why aren't more people talking about the statue of Luis Guzman in Puerto Rico??? Does anyone ever crave Gary Sinise in a movie? Is De Palma's upcoming take on the Harvey Weinstein scandal unnecessary, or is it the perfect movie for right now? Find out right now on America's horniest podcast.