Random Acts of Cinema

Documentarian of the ages Errol Morris turns his gentle eye toward the old fellers of a small town in Florida and just sort of lets them do their thing.  Talking about gobblers, wigglers, growing sand, ambidexterity, fake (or maybe real) jewels, seeing the perfection of God in nature, and the magical definition of the word "therefore." *Come support the podcast and get yourself or someone you love a random gift at our merch store.  T-shirts, hoodies, mugs, stickers, and more! If you'd like to watch ahead for next week's film, we will be discussing and reviewing Samuel Fuller's Shock Corridor (1963).

Gillo Pontecorvo directs a cast of unknowns in his big swing on the historical action/drama about a British agent sent to use all of his cynical wile to foment a slave revolt on Portuguese colony island. Keep careful eye out for a blink-and-you'll-miss-it cameo by Marlon Brando at his understated best. *Come support the podcast and get yourself or someone you love a random gift at our merch store.  T-shirts, hoodies, mugs, stickers, and more! If you'd like to watch ahead for next week's film, we will be discussing and reviewing Errol Morris' Vernon, Florida (1981).

Roberto Rossellini travels length of the Italian peninsula in the immediate aftermath of WWII to share 6 stories about the lives of Italian civilians and partisans and their relationships with foreign Allied troops.  Love, tragedy, heroism, and sacrifice result from the difficulties of communicating purpose and need of individuals confronted with the inhumane machine of war. *Come support the podcast and get yourself or someone you love a random gift at our merch store.  T-shirts, hoodies, mugs, stickers, and more! If you'd like to watch ahead for next week's film, we will be discussing and reviewing Gillo Pontecorvo's Burn! (1969).

What does it mean to die?  What does it mean to truly live… on a road trip across Spain with Terence Stamp, John Hurt, and Tim Roth in a giant white Mercedes Benz?  Director Stephen Frears grabbles with these enduring questions in his sun-soaked take-down of the neo noir.  Ten Years after snitching on his compatriots, a criminal in hiding is rousted from his dreamy Spanish village life by two hit men sent to exact retribution.  But he seems oddly cool about it all.  What gives? *Come support the podcast and get yourself or someone you love a random gift at our merch store.  T-shirts, hoodies, mugs, stickers, and more! If you'd like to watch ahead for next week's film, we will be discussing and reviewing Roberto Rossellini's Paisan - War Trilogy (1946). 

One, two monks kneel before you That's what I said now Monks, monks who adore you Just go ahead now One has diamonds in his pockets And that's some bread now This one says he has tuberculosis It's in his lungs now… Juan Bustillo Oro takes us on a Rashomon-esque journey into nightmarish memory in this 1930s Mexican classic. *Come support the podcast and get yourself or someone you love a random gift at our merch store.  T-shirts, hoodies, mugs, stickers, and more! If you'd like to watch ahead for next week's film, we will be discussing and reviewing Stephen Frears' The Hit (1984). 

Kubrick is on the podcast!  Or at least one of his films was finally randomly selected for the first time.  And he gives us a self-produced, time-zagging, bracingly-funny, bloody, homage-satire of hard-boiled noir. *Come support the podcast and get yourself or someone you love a random gift at our merch store.  T-shirts, hoodies, mugs, stickers, and more! If you'd like to watch ahead for next week's film, we will be discussing and reviewing Whit Stillman's Metropolitan (1990). 

We return once more to the Godzilla Showa-era films with Jun Fukuda's 1974 introduction of some kind of a… Robo-Godzilla!  I think that's what they call it.  And some aliens.  Oh, and there's a new  surprise secret monster called King Caesar also.  Join the Random Acts of Cinema Discord server here! *Come support the podcast and get yourself or someone you love a random gift at our merch store.  T-shirts, hoodies, mugs, stickers, and more! If you'd like to watch ahead for next week's film, we will be discussing and reviewing Stanley Kubrick's The Killing (1956). 

Director Arthur Crabtree delves into the late 1950's world of atomic, Cold War, body-snatching paranoia except that he kind of… doesn't?  Honestly this Canada-set, B-movie, Sci-fi, creature flick feels more like a proto-Cronenberg film where it really counts. Join the Random Acts of Cinema Discord server here! *Come support the podcast and get yourself or someone you love a random gift at our merch store.  T-shirts, hoodies, mugs, stickers, and more! If you'd like to watch ahead for next week's film, we will be discussing and reviewing Jun Fukuda's Godzilla vs. Mechagodzilla (1974). 

Researchers at Stanford University conducted a decades-long experiment wherein Koko, a female gorilla, was taught American Sign Language.  The findings and the ethics of this experiment were then (and remain today) controversial.  Director Barbet Schroeder captures intimate footage of Koko, scholars, and her caretakers, leaving the viewer to be charmed by Koko and come to their own conclusions about whether a gorilla can and should be taught how to converse at a high level with humans. Join the Random Acts of Cinema Discord server here! *Come support the podcast and get yourself or someone you love a random gift at our merch store.  T-shirts, hoodies, mugs, stickers, and more! If you'd like to watch ahead for next week's film, we will be discussing and reviewing Arthur Crabtree's Fiend Without A Face (1958). 

American masculinity is fully skewered.  Finally.  Actually, I guess everyone is skewered is Alexander Payne's black-hearted comedy about a Midwest American high School student… election. Opinions are divided on this one. Join the Random Acts of Cinema Discord server here! *Come support the podcast and get yourself or someone you love a random gift at our merch store.  T-shirts, hoodies, mugs, stickers, and more! If you'd like to watch ahead for next week's film, we will be discussing and reviewing Barbet Schroeder's Koko: A Talking Gorilla (1978). 

Wong Kar Wai brings us - way back - to lovelorn Hong Kong.  Upon discovering that their spouses are having an affair with with one another, two neighbors strike up a sad acquaintance that soon blossoms into an unrequited affair of their own.  Of course, this makes no sense because who would ever cheat on Tony Leung and Maggie Cheung?  But that's not really the point.  The point is cigarette smoke and silk dresses. Join the Random Acts of Cinema Discord server here! *Come support the podcast and get yourself or someone you love a random gift at our merch store.  T-shirts, hoodies, mugs, stickers, and more! If you'd like to watch ahead for next week's film, we will be discussing and reviewing Alexander Payne's Election (1999). 

I don't think we're in the standard spine numbers anymore, Toto… Because we're returning to the Laser Disc collection with this all-timer. Are we doing this in honor of the upcoming release of the second Wicked movie?  No.  No we are not. Join the Random Acts of Cinema Discord server here! *Come support the podcast and get yourself or someone you love a random gift at our merch store.  T-shirts, hoodies, mugs, stickers, and more! If you'd like to watch ahead for next week's film, we will be discussing and reviewing Wong Kar Wai's In the Mood for Love (2000). 

The most accurate description of this episode is that we review 6 Short Films starring W.C. Fields. The idea is that he's arrogant jerk. That's pretty much it.  Join the Random Acts of Cinema Discord server here! *Come support the podcast and get yourself or someone you love a random gift at our merch store.  T-shirts, hoodies, mugs, stickers, and more! If you'd like to watch ahead for next week's film, we will be discussing and reviewing Victor Fleming's The Wizard of Oz (1939). 

In 1989 the Berlin Wall fell.  3 months before this, in an act of desperate love, a sex-reassignment surgery was planned and subsequently botched.  And a punk/drag icon was born.  John Cameron Mitchell's Hedwig croons, screams, and stage-banters her way into our hearts.  Don't let the fact that this is TECHNICALLY a rock opera (ugh) dissuade you from putting on your foam wig and experiencing this all-time indie classic. Join the Random Acts of Cinema Discord server here! *Come support the podcast and get yourself or someone you love a random gift at our merch store.  T-shirts, hoodies, mugs, stickers, and more! If you'd like to watch ahead for next week's film, we will be discussing and reviewing W.C. Fields - 6 Short Films (1933). 

Director Lizzie Borden dares to imagine a world in which promised egalitarian reform is achieved, just not for women.  Women from all backgrounds, walks of life, and lifestyles debate, struggle, and eventually unite to fight against male repression in this documentary-style dystopian action/drama.  If that doesn't sell this movie to you, then how about this? 1980s, queer, punk, radical feminist, New York City. Join the Random Acts of Cinema Discord server here! *Come support the podcast and get yourself or someone you love a random gift at our merch store.  T-shirts, hoodies, mugs, stickers, and more! If you'd like to watch ahead for next week's film, we will be discussing and reviewing John Frankenheimer's Seconds (1966). 

Our odd run of road movies continues with a classic from an American master.  Terrence Mallick turns the couple-on-a-crime-spree sub genre into a deadpan fairy-tale with stirring visuals, iconic performances, and a meditative tone. Join the Random Acts of Cinema Discord server here! *Come support the podcast and get yourself or someone you love a random gift at our merch store.  T-shirts, hoodies, mugs, stickers, and more! If you'd like to watch ahead for next week's film, we will be discussing and reviewing Lizzie Borden's Born in Flames (1983).

We return to Monte Hellman's examination of American masculinity with a James Taylor and Dennis Wilson-starring road movie.  Two nearly silent racers ramble across the American southwest, acquiring a disreputable father-figure, a notably underage girl, and a supporting cast of American weirdos.  Vroom. Also join us for a bonus follow-up discussion now that Mike has finally watched Highest To Lowest (2025)! Join the Random Acts of Cinema Discord server here! *Come support the podcast and get yourself or someone you love a random gift at our merch store.  T-shirts, hoodies, mugs, stickers, and more! If you'd like to watch ahead for next week's film, we will be discussing and reviewing Terrence Malick's Badlands (1973).

In honor of Spike Lee's… interesting… new adaptation, we return to the surprisingly satisfying sub genre of Akira-Kurosawa-crime-thriller with his two-movies-for-the-price-of-one kidnapping procedural.  Join the Random Acts of Cinema Discord server here! *Come support the podcast and get yourself or someone you love a random gift at our merch store.  T-shirts, hoodies, mugs, stickers, and more! If you'd like to watch ahead for next week's film, we will be discussing and reviewing Monte Hellman's Two-Lane Blacktop (1971).

Bertrand Tavernier builds a lushly realized foundation around which to topple the poisonous heart of European colonialism.  Whether our hapless police chief chooses deliberate inaction, working towards everyone's best interests, or succumbing to his own selfish impulses, everything and everyone around him rots due to the fundamental moral corruption of racism.  But, like, its a comedy. Join the Random Acts of Cinema Discord server here! *Come support the podcast and get yourself or someone you love a random gift at our merch store.  T-shirts, hoodies, mugs, stickers, and more! If you'd like to watch ahead for next week's film, we will be discussing and reviewing Akira Kurosawa's High and Low (1963).

Edo Japan. A town swarming with warring yakuza. And one detached, unstoppable blind swordsman caught in the middle. And Tate. Don't forget about Tate. The legend of Tate starts here. Kenji Misumi brings Zatoichi to the screen, with beautiful staging, and soapy twists and turns. Long-time guest Max joins us to put it all into a historical perspective and to make an exciting podcast announcement! Join the Random Acts of Cinema Discord server here! *Come support the podcast and get yourself or someone you love a random gift at our merch store.  T-shirts, hoodies, mugs, stickers, and more! If you'd like to watch ahead for next week's film, we will be discussing and reviewing Bertrand Tavernier's Coup de Torchon (1981).