Stuff We’ve Seen

Never say never again; wise words from Sean Connery on playing James Bond after Diamonds Are Forever, which is the first time he came back to the role after vowing never to play the character again. Well, he did return for 1983's, Never Say Never Again, and the verdict's still out on if that was a wise idea or not. Still, just like Sean Connery, Jim and Teal vowed the show was over, well...okay, Jim did. But Teal had other plans, and here we are--back in action, and ready for another season of Stuff We've Seen. What's on tap for our first return episode? Well, first, Jim reveals what he's been doing while on break from the show. It turns out, he was finishing, and self-publishing his first novel. It's a YA look back at his high school days from the late 1980s. The book is, "Parental Guidance Suggested: A Wicked Awesome Tale Of High School In The Late 80s That's Totally Not Rated PG". It's available on Amazon for Kindle, Paperback, or Hardcover. Just search by the main title and James Kent, and you should find it. That announcement segues into a discussion on teens in trouble movies, where we spotlight two films: The River's Edge (1987), and Over the Edge (1979). These two films capture something real and true about teenagers that Jim and Teal feel is missing from today's films about youth.   Lots to enjoy this episode. And we're glad to be back at it. Never say never again!

The Stuff We've Seen podcast comes to a close after five successful years, hundreds of episodes, and loads of laughs. What better way to end the run, but with a recap of Jim's top ten films of 2023? Enjoy the list, and who knows? We may be back again someday.

Welcome to our annual nominations episode with all of this year's 2024 Oscar nominations. We got a super-packed episode where we cover all the categories. As always, Teal doesn't know what the nominations are when he hears them from me. To get this episode out quickly we didn't do the usual editing, but that means you get to hear every little bit. Enjoy!   Did your favorite films make the cut?

Get set for a huge heap full of filmic holiday leftovers as Jim and Teal bring you a large batch of movie recommendations from their last viewing week of 2023. Amongst the bounty of titles they discuss are Wonka, Ferrari, Poor Things, Maestro, Salt Burn, Dream Scenario, Anatomy of a Fall, and a low-fi sci-fi hidden gem called Lola. Looking for something to watch in the theater or stream at home? This episode covers all the basis. Take a listen, and then get to watching some stuff!

Priscilla and May December are two films now available to stream or watch on Netflix that share a strange bond. They both involve plotlines that deal with inappropriate relationships between adults and fourteen-year-olds. This week Jim and Teal take an inside look at Sofia Coppola's Priscilla, about the relationship between Priscilla Presley and Elvis. Jim notes some of the striking similarities between this film and Todd Haynes' May December. What else? Jim and Teal offer up an alternative holiday classic, the 1961 gritty noir, Blast of Silence. Finally, Jim and Teal gift each other by watching a film that the other one recommends. Teal watched a film from the BFI 250 list, the amazing The Ascent, and Jim watched this year's independent film, How to Blow Up a Pipeline.

Thanksgiving is over, but it brought moviegoers plenty of leftovers and The Holdovers for viewing. This week Teal and Jim discuss Napoleon, Thanksgiving, The Killer, The Wrath of Becky, The Creator, and Alexander Payne's The Holdovers.   Which films deserve second helpings, and which films get tossed out of the fridge? Take a listen and find out!

Stuff We've Seen hits the five-year mark this month, and to celebrate our 5th anniversary, we decided to take a look back to our humble beginnings. This episode is a remastered, re-edited version of our third podcast episode titled, Revenge of Peter Hyams. In this episode Teal and I continued our obsession with director Peter Hyams, and reviewed Bradley Cooper and Lady Ga Ga's A Star is Born. There's also a brief rant against Bohemian Rhapsody, which I think five years later people are ready to admit was horrible. And lastly, we turned our spotlight on to a hidden gem b-movie called Miracle Mile.   If you haven't heard this episode, we hope you enjoy it. If you did hear it back in 2018, then enjoy this upgraded sound version, and chuckle at how we sounded then vs. now. Enjoy!

This week on Stuff We've Seen, Jim and Teal break out of their typical pattern, jump on the mic a week early, and focus on Martin Scorsese's latest offering, Killers of the Flower Moon.   Killers of the Flower Moon is epic-sized and a complex look at the Osage Nation murders that occurred in Oklahoma in the early 1920s. Scorsese flips the script on how these procedural suspense films typically play out, giving us a more inside and detailed look at the people plotting the murders.    Have a listen to find out which one likes and respects Killers of the Flower Moon, and which one thinks it could be one of the best films of 2023.

The Sound of Freedom was on of the more unusual sleeper hits at the box office. Jim and Teal finally see the movie, and give their take. And then, Jim and Teal recommend a more satisfying rescue and revenge film, Man on Fire.   Also, Jim catches Taylor Swift's Era's Concert film, and recommends a new horror/comedy slasher flick on Amazon Prime, Totally Killer.

This week Jim and Teal give high recommendations for the new comedy Bottoms, from director Emma Seligman. It's a comedy that does the most important thing right, it's funny. Not so funny is Jim and Teal's quest to find some great new horror films to watch this season. They come across several duds, including Talk to Me, Heusera: The Bone Woman, Birth/Rebirth, and The Last Voyage of the Demeter. Who can save them? Well, perhaps a drive-in teen slasher film from the 70s and a surprise little Sci-Fi thriller gem offering from Hulu. 

Out of the Blue is a little-seen film from 1980. Starring Linda Manz and directed by Dennis Hopper, Out of the Blue gained cult status over the years. Still, it was a difficult film to find outside of a VHS copy kicking around. Thanks to Chloe Sevigny and Natasha Lyonne, the film received a restoration a couple of years ago, and Jim and Teal watched the movie for the first time. It's dark subject matter, for sure, but Out of the Blue offers amazing performances by Manz and Hopper, who also co-stars. Why should you consider checking it out? Jim and Teal will tell you. What else? Hopping Vampires from Hong Kong anyone? Jim finds himself quite taken with Criterion Channel's latest offering with a 5-film series focused on those lovable hopping vampires that swept Hong Kong cinema in the 1980s.  Break out your chicken blood, and your anti-hopping-vampire spells, and get ready for this thrilling, and enlightening episode.

After a few weeks off, Jim and Teal return to discuss two film from recent months, the Netflix film, They Cloned Tyrone, and the Jennifer Lawrence comedy, No Hard Feelings.

Barbenheimer is more than a mashup word; it's a cultural phenomenon. Jim took the challenge and saw both Oppenheimer and then Barbie. Did he survive? It's a battle of the unruly teens vs. old man Jimmy. Will texting and watching videos during a movie ruin Jim's good time seeing Barbie? You'll have to tune in to find out. And while Barbie was probably the last film on Teal's radar screen at the beginning of the summer, he too checked out the pop-culture sensation and was surprised by the depth and layers the movie had in store. Right-wing crybabies like Ben Shapiro, beware; this film may contain scenes of intense positivity towards women. Seek your nearest theater exit for safety. 

This week Jim and Teal bring on the good films at theaters and streaming this summer with Wes Anderson's Asteroid City, a hidden gem from Norway, Sick of Myself, and Ari Aster's Beau is Afraid. Are Jim and Teal afraid of Ari Aster's three hour fever dream? Of course not. They took it on, and there is a lot to say. Teal finds interesting comparisons to Lindsey Anderson's O Lucky Man, and Jim agrees. What else? Jim dials up some destiny with the latest Indiana Jones movie, and guess what's currently filming in Jim's state of Vermont? Jim fills Teal in on his excursion to East Corinth, VT to check out the exterior town sets for Beetlejuice 2. Enjoy!

The Flash, the latest comic book summer tent movie arrived and imploded. What went wrong? Why did audiences turn away in droves? Jim saw the movie, and he provided Teal with a report. Also, why did Disney seemingly cut six second from the Academy Award-winning French Connection? And why is Discovery Warner Brothers CEO, David Zaslav bent on proving how much he hates movies by chopping the heads off the brain trust at TCM (Turner Classic Movies)?  This week Jim and Teal cover all this, poorly constructed deep-sea submersibles, and Hungarian cinematic master, Bela Tarr. Strap in, there's a lot of stuff to cover.

Stuff We've Seen's Jim and Teal hit the cinema to see Spiderman: Across the Spider-Verse. Both Jim and Teal were huge fans for the first Spider-Verse installment. What will they think of this second chapter? Also on this episode, J&T look at two other comic-book adjacent and related films from the 1980s, Disney's Condorman (1981) and Flash Gordon (1980.) 

It's tit-for-tat on this week's Stuff We've Seen as Jim chooses two films from the 2022 BFI Sight and Sound Critics Poll of the 264 greatest films of all time that he believes should not be on the list. In their place, Jim finds two suitable replacements.  One film that Jim targets for demotion is Antonioni's 1962 film, L'Eclisse. While Jim didn't feel the film, as a whole, warranted a place on a list of the greatest films of all time, it was one ten-minute sequence during the first portion of the movie that shocked and upset him, and led Jim to determine that L'Eclisse must be re-evaluated.  What did Teal think? L'Eclisse left him so angry that he is now a confirmed Antonioni hater. What??? Tune in to this episode and find out what made Teal so angry, and shocked Jim so bad. What film is Jim subbing in for L'Eclisse, and what's the other movie on the list targeted for demotion and why? All answers will be revealed in this episode of Stuff We've Seen.

Cornish filmmaker Mark Jenkin puts the film back in movie making with his latest offering, Enys Men. This 16mm environmental horror/ filmic poetry tomb is a visual feast for those looking for something further afield. Jim and Teal explore Jenkin's two features, Enys Men, and his 2019 feature debut, Bait. Both movies create an atmosphere all their own, with a look unlike anything else out there. Also, to start off this episode, Jim gives Teal a report on seeing Med Hondo's 1977 film, West Indies: The Fugitive Slaves of Liberty, which he caught at a rare screening at the Harvard Film Archive.

BFI 250 list, we just can quit you. Jim is still on his mission to see all 264 films on the 2022 Sight & Sound Critics Poll of the Greatest Films of All Time List. On this episode, Teal quizzes Jim on some of his least favorite selections from the list. While they are not all bad films in Jim's opinion, he found it difficult to reconcile the motives behind their inclusion on a critic's list of ten of the greatest films to include.

That's right, all your Easter favorites, from Ben-Hur and The King of Kings, to Passion of the Christ and The Last Temptation of Christ, Jim and Teal cover the films that make springtime, springtime. Get ready for J&T's version of Sunday school where minister Jim teaches Teal a thing or two about the New Testament.