With another film festival in the books, we look back on a season of cooks, dishes, and legendary screen performances. Plus: Hot Topic, 4DX, crowning Top Chef, and announcing the next thrilling season of Film Fest! Film Fest is brought to you by wig-wag: personal essays on movies.
In the pantheon of bad movie haircuts (wigs??), one film rises above. We reach the end of another great festival with a new comfort classic, the double biopic Julie & Julia. Is the Julie half really all that bad? Is Chris Messina so hot it excuses his rude behavior? Does this movie hit different in a Substack's America? We get into all of it, plus a lot of Adam and Streep talk, with food reporter Madeline Wells! Read Madeline's reporting at SF Gate here. Film Fest is brought to you by wig...
Bonjour madames et monsieurs et bienvenue a le cinema du Sexy Chocolatiers hon hon hon! It's time to get down and dirty with Swede king Lasse Hallstrom's ode to all things cocoa: the great (?) 2000s time capsule Chocolat. Marie Sicola joins us to help break down the careers of Binoche, Dench, Molina, and oui, le sigh, un petit Johnny Depp, as well as the wacky ins and outs of post-war provincial France. This one's a little darker than you might remember! Film Fest if brought to you by wig-wa...
Ayyyy I'm making pizza heah! Journey with us to the world's most famous Italian neighborhood: Little Italy, Toronto, with one of the world's famous famous Italo-Americans: Tara Giancaspro. We try our hardest to get into a truly wild movie, from the great Danny Aiello to frappuccinos and figs, and try not to have a total breakdown in the process. Visit and subscribe to xoxo Gossip Giancaspro here. Film Fest is brought to you by wig-wag: personal essays on film.
If you've ever wondered what it would feel like to live inside a Renaissance painting, today's episode is for you. We all fall head over heels in love with Peter Greenaway's lush and disgusting 1989 confusingly titled classic The Cook, the Thief, His Wife & Her Lover, thanks to pastry chef and internet icon Sadie. The very long and British careers of James Gambon and Helen Mirren...Michael Nyman's perfect score...the myriad uses for a merkin...we leave no bustier laced and no plate unclea...
The Loeb Boathouse...Katz's Deli...Cafe Luxembourg...grapes and paprikash and dressing on the side... Who says When Harry Met Sally's not a food movie?? Certainly not the great Hooman Yazdanian, who brought the iconic Reiner/Ephron collab to Film Festatouille so that we could go on and on about a perfect movie. More importantly, if pesto is the quiche of the eighties, then what's the pesto of right now? Don't worry: we get into it! Film Fest is brought to you by wig-wag: personal essays on ...
Remember when Bradley Cooper trained to be a professional chef so he could play Anthony Bourdain on TV, and then when his TV show bombed he was like wait...what am I supposed to do with all of these chef skills now? We certainly do! The great Kyra Kaufer returns to Film Fest to chat all things Bradley, plus Sienna Miller's iconic Architectural Digest house tour and Matthew Rhys with a nasty goatee: it's time to get BURNT. Subscribe to The Clove here. Film Fest is brought to you by wig-wag: ...
Nicolas Cage goes to Portland in search of his pignapped best friend: a logline that kind of sells itself. Underground sous chef fight clubs, Alex Wolff's little mustache, a beautiful swine named Brandy...we get into it all with librarian and recipe writer Taylor Hunsberger, plus the deep dive into the Naked Brothers Band you've all been waiting for(?). It's time to talk Michael Sarnoski's PIG. Subscribe to Taylor's food and culture substack, Go Crisp Girl, here. Film Fest is brought to you...
Welcome to FILM FESTATOUILLE: a celebration of movies about food!! 🍽 The long-awaited fourth season of Film Fest is officially here, and what better way to kick things off than with iconic baker and James Beard Award winning (!) cookbook author Abi Balingit, who brings the lost but not forgotten 1999 Sarah Michelle Gellar gem Simply Irresistible to the table. In Simply Irresistible, a young chef struggles to keep her Tribeca restaurant afloat in the wake of her mother's death, until a myste...
Another awards cycle comes around as we draw this season of nightmares to a close - goodnight, Scaredy Cats of the world! Find out who's taking home the gold and which of this season's spoooooky movies is crowned Scariest. Plus: what Miya, Brad, and Adam are most afraid of, and an update on season 4 (...maybe...kind of)! Follow Film Fest @filmfestpod Film Fest is brought to you by wig-wag: personal essays about movies
Grab your Reese's Pieces and your red hoodie because it's E.T. time, baby -- and who better to talk about Spielberg's paean to California families with than Miya's own California family, Kimi Singer! Is E.T. scary? Is E.T. real? Is this the only time someone's called their brother "penis breath" on film? We're covering all our bases! Follow Kimi @japajew Follow Film Fest @filmfestpod Film Fest is brought to you by wig-wag: personal essays about movies
Fire up pizza dot net and order your favorite pie: it's time to talk The Net with early internet enthusiast Brian Oliu! Could anyone touch Sandra Bullock on her '90s hot streak? What happened to online culture? Will we ever learn to touch grass again? Be careful who you give your info too - it's Net time! Follow Brian @BrianOliu Follow Film Fest @filmfestpod Film Fest is brought to you by wig-wag: personal essays about movies
Sometimes it seems like you can't walk down the street without coming across a kid whose dad died and was reincarnated as a snowman thanks to a magic harmonica and the snowman didn't look like George Clooney when he was a man but definitely does as a snowman. Today the great Meggie Gates joins us to talk about the most common, everyday movie in the world that's definitely not weird or upsetting at all: Jack Frost! Check out more of Meggie's work here Follow Film Fest @filmfestpod Film Fest...
Hop on our comically beautiful bicycle and take a ride with us back to a time when Tim Burton was just a weirdo animation school grad with something to prove and an SNL reject named Paul Reubens suddenly had the keys to the Hollywood kingdom. We're talking Large Marge, studio backlots, and Pee-Wee's Big Adventure with critic and playwright Sarah Jae Leiber! Explore Sarah's work at sarahjaeleiber.com Follow Film Fest @filmfestpod Film Fest is brought to you by wig-wag: personal essays abou...
Barbie, eat your heart out. Nothing says the spirit of Halloween quite like camp queen Jennifer Tilly, except maybe Brad Dourif being a little prick - and guess what? This movie's got both! We're talking all things Chucky with the great Sarah Scannell, sole reason for your copy of Cain's Jawbone still being on back order. What would Martha Stewart say about this podcast?? Follow Sarah on TikTok @saruuuuuuugh Follow Film Fest @filmfestpod Film Fest is brought to you by wig-wag: personal ess...
In 2002, nothing was scarier than an unmarked VHS, a sickly green filter, and Brian Cox wrapped in extension cords. We're talking all things THE RING with the great Erin O'Brien—from Halloween Horror Nights to flop queen Naomi Watts to the creepiness of dead-eyed children and so much more! Follow Erin "@er0b" O'Brien Follow Film Fest @filmfestpod Film Fest is brought to you by wig-wag: personal essays about movies
From the day we arrive on the planet and, blinking, step into the sun, we dream of a podcast brave enough to discuss the movie that defined one billion Millennial childhoods. Well, dream no more: we're talking The Lion King with writer and reporter Joshua Bote! Come for the discovery of why this movie scared Joshua so much (it's not what you think) and be prepared for more Disney deep-dive talk than you ever thought you'd need. Follow Film Fest @filmfestpod Film Fest is brought to you by wi...
Get lost with us and our new best friend Hoggle in an impossible maze of imagination and puberty - we're taking on Labyrinth! Polite bescarfed worms, giant gentle beasts, gloved hands with minds of their own...we leave no stone unturned on the way to rescue our baby brother from David Bowie's leotard bulge. Elena Passarello - author, teacher, actor, Live Wire announcer, and first guest with a Wikipedia page - joins us on our journey through the sweet and terrifying mind of Jim Henson! ...
What's that? On the wind? An unfamiliar scent...a nip in the air...the birds are flying in an odd formation...it must be a new FILM FEST! Our third (!) season, Scaredy Cat Film Fest - movies that kept you up at night - kicks off with a bang and a funny accent as we tackle the scariest movie of all: Steven Spielberg's The Terminal. Is this Stevie's worst movie? Is anyone good in it? Is it even ethical? We're joined by our pal, poet and editor Summer Farah, to ask the big questions a...
From Robsten to Paunifer (still workshopping), today we're looking back on all of the power couples we were gifted throughout this season of Film Fest. We can't honor them all, but we do our best to award our favorite performances, romantic duos, and much more as this festival comes to an end. Plus, an update on Film Fest season 3! Follow Film Fest @filmfestpod Film Fest is brought to you by wig-wag: personal essays about movies