Episodes
Tuesday May 04, 2021
Sordid Cinema Podcast #578: Excalibur and Arthurian Myth
Tuesday May 04, 2021
Tuesday May 04, 2021
The legend of King Arthur has never been lacking in cinematic retellings, but none can compare to John Boorman’s gorgeous and thematically faithful Excalibur. From the vast and tangled web of source material, the director of Point Blank and Deliverance distills the epic myth down to iconic imagery backed by theatrical performances from young actors destined to be stars. This week the Sordid Cinema Podcast discusses the fantastic (and fantastical) filmmaking, dives into the lore, and admires the vision of clunky knights and a wily wizard, all bound together by primeval landscapes and a magical sword.
Join Rick, Simon, and Patrick as they debate the effectiveness of green lighting and ADR, compare Excalibur to another movie involving a quest for the Holy Grail, enjoy Nicol Williamson’s sly (and often hilarious) turn as Merlin, mourn the character of Gawain, and show off their knowledge of one of the most famous tales ever told. Whether you think it’s glorious or a little goofy, there’s plenty to love about Excalibur, so have a listen!
Listen on LinkTree | Amazon | Spotify | iTunes | Podbean | YouTube | Listen Note | iHeartRadio | Pandora
Follow Sordid Cinema on Twitter
Monday Apr 19, 2021
Sordid Cinema Podcast #576: Ravenous is Hungry for Man Meat
Monday Apr 19, 2021
Monday Apr 19, 2021
Ravenous (1999) Review
In one of our most spirited episodes in recent memory, the gang unites with guest Mike Worby to sing the praises of Antonia Bird’s gonzo 1999 cannibal shocker Ravenous. Is it a horror movie, a western, a cannibalism drama, a homoerotic fable, a survival story, a historical epic, a black comedy, or a satire? The answer is yes. Also: lots of talk about Michael Nyman and Damon Albarn’s oddball score, the brilliant cast, Robert Carlyle’s demonic antics, and how to sell your friends on this one-of-a-kind movie.
Saturday Apr 17, 2021
Sordid Cinema Podcast Rewind: The Guest is a Stylish and Entertaining Thriller
Saturday Apr 17, 2021
Saturday Apr 17, 2021
The Guest Review
Way back in 2014, we sat down to discuss The Guest, a pretty crafty genre pastiche written by Simon Barrett and directed by Adam Wingard of You’re Next fame. The film follows a soldier who introduces himself to the Peterson family, claiming to be a friend of their son who died in action. After the young man is welcomed into their home, a series of accidental deaths seem to be connected to his presence leaving everyone questioning who he really is. Joining us for this review was Sound On Sight’s then managing editor, Deepayan Sengupta.
Friday Apr 16, 2021
Sordid Cinema Podcast Rewind: Mad Max Special Part 1
Friday Apr 16, 2021
Friday Apr 16, 2021
Max Max and The Road Warrior
The release of Mad Max: Fury Road, George Miller’s triumphant return to the franchise he created 36 years prior (!), prompted us to record a two-part extravaganza devoted to Miller’s series of post-apocalyptic thrillers. We get to Fury Road in the second half of this special; for now, former co-host Edgar Chaput rejoined us to discuss the original Mad Max, as well as its significantly more financially impactful sequel, 1981’s The Road Warrior.
Listen on LinkTree | Amazon | Spotify | iTunes | Podbean | YouTube | Listen Note | iHeartRadio | Pandora
Follow Sordid Cinema on Twitter
Monday Apr 12, 2021
Sordid Cinema Podcast #576 Apocalypto Has Action-Packed Heart and Balls
Monday Apr 12, 2021
Monday Apr 12, 2021
Apocalypto Review
This week the Sordid Cinema Podcast gets to the (ahem) heart of what makes Mel Gibson’s 2006 action-epic, Apocalypto, still such a thrilling watch. The simple story of a Mayan villager brutally kidnapped in order to be ritually sacrificed to appease the gods, who then escapes and must race home to retrieve his expectant wife and child from a flooding well, is filled with period detail, cruel violence, and intense action. Sure, there was a bit of controversy upon the film’s release [see: Mel Gibson], and debate about the authenticity of the depiction of the Mayan civilization, but Apocalypto also went on to win praise from the likes of Martin Scorsese, Quentin Tarantino, and Spike Lee, among others.
But it’s not all tapir-testicle-eating fun. Join Rick, Simon, and Patrick as they muse on the merits of Gibson’s direction, debate the clarity of the film’s messages, praise numerous performances as MVP-worthy, and touch on how the film relates to the rest of Gibson’s filmography. It’s a show packed with discussion about creepy little-girl prophets, similarities to The Passion of the Christ, and creative names for female characters. For all this and more, have a listen!
Listen on LinkTree | Amazon | Spotify | iTunes | Podbean | YouTube | Listen Note | iHeartRadio | Pandora
Follow Sordid Cinema on Twitter
Monday Apr 05, 2021
Monday Apr 05, 2021
Abel Ferrara’s King of New York wasn’t a hit with most critics back at the time of its release, but over the years it has gained a loyal, cult following and is now considered by many, one of the best gangster films of the ‘90s. Not only was the film a significant turning point in the director’s oeuvre but it helped launch the career of Christopher Walken, David Caruso, and Laurence Fishburne.
This week on the Sordid Cinema podcast, we discuss the hard-edged crime thriller along with Ferrara’s career and why King of New York stands the test of time. All this and more!
Listen on LinkTree | Amazon | Spotify | iTunes | Podbean | YouTube | Listen Note | iHeartRadio | Pandora
Monday Mar 29, 2021
Sordid Cinema Podcast #574: 'The Silent Partner' is a Hidden Gem
Monday Mar 29, 2021
Monday Mar 29, 2021
Modern thrillers getting you down? Head back to the late 1970s and indulge in Daryl Duke’s The Silent Partner, a nasty, funny neo-noir driven by Elliott Gould and Christopher Plummer’s deadly game of cat and mouse. Loaded with gags, twists, and tons of real Toronto landmarks, the film was a critical and commercial hit at the time, but has since evolved into a cult item beloved by critics and connoisseurs of edgy Canadiana. Ricky, Simon, and Patrick offer their perspectives on the twisted characters and ponder how 21st-century audiences might take to this brutal-but-hilarious caper.
Sunday Mar 21, 2021
Sunday Mar 21, 2021
Alex Proyas’ Dark City Review
While The Matrix grabbed more attention the following year from sci-fi fans and moviegoing audiences, 1998’s Dark City still holds up as a fantastically imagined search for what it means to be human in a neo-noir city set on a spaceship hurtling through the cosmos. Alex Proyas’ story of a man without a memory, who is trapped in a waking nightmare perpetrated by Nosferatu-looking aliens who swap memories in and out of citizens as if they were positioning pieces of an unsolvable jigsaw puzzle, moves at a breakneck pace while still managing an intoxicating atmosphere. This week Rick, Simon, and Patrick dive deep into the psyche of this great work of imagination, and while they may not resurface with all the answers, the journey is still a great one.
Join us as we break down John Murdoch’s path from a wanted serial killer to mankind’s redeemer, marvel at the impressive production design, muse on Jennifer Connelly’s nightclub singer character (or lack thereof), and try to parse out that ending. And just why does Christopher Nolan’s name keep coming up? For all this and more, have a listen!
Listen on LinkTree | Amazon | Spotify | iTunes | Podbean | YouTube | Listen Note | iHeartRadio | Pandora
Follow Sordid Cinema on Twitter
Sunday Feb 21, 2021
Sunday Feb 21, 2021
Brawl in Cell Block 99 Review
After his gritty/dreamy horror western Bone Tomahawk, writer-director S. Craig Zahler established himself as a genre talent to watch. His sophomore effort, a prison flick about a bruiser of a man slugging his way into the bowels of a maximum security facility in order to kill an inmate and save his wife, only bolstered that assessment. Brawl in Cell Block 99 is an immersive, raw, visceral experience with a knockout performance from Vince Vaughn that (depending on who you ask) might just be the quickest 132 minutes you’ve spent watching a movie. Or it might be bone-crunching hell.
This week sees Patrick Murphy and Simon Howell tackling Zahler’s off-beat world, guessing at his socio-political leanings, marveling at the hands-on destruction of a car that surely did nothing to deserve it, and making as many references to Dragged Across Concrete as we possibly can. Along the way we cover Vaughn’s terrifically physical performance, go into some of the themes common to Zahler’s work, and chuckle over some great practical effects that may not look ‘real,’ but certainly get the job done. What are our favorite scenes? What would we change if we could? And just what sort of movie watcher will Brawl in Cell Block 99 appeal to? For all this and more, have a listen!
You can also listen to our show on Stitcher | iTunes | Podbean | Spotify | Listen Notes | iHeartRadio| Player FM | Amazon Audible
Sunday Jan 24, 2021
Sordid Cinema Podcast #567: The Hunt is Killer Thriller Entertainment
Sunday Jan 24, 2021
Sunday Jan 24, 2021
After much controversy surrounding its premise and the timing of its original release, Craig Zobel’s The Hunt finally dropped into theaters before suffering an unceremonious death due to pandemic closures. But did this tongue-in-cheek story of rednecks being hunted by elitists deserve better? Was misleading marketing a factor in its ultimate demise? This week, Rick and Patrick are joined by returning Sordid Cinema Podcast host Simon Howell to give this entertaining genre film its due. Sure, the satire might be toothless, but it’s hard not to appreciate all the humor and bloody kills that The Hunt does so well.
From gleefully dispatching expected protagonists to a knockdown brawl in a rustic manor, there is a lot to love here. Perhaps more than anything else, however, fans of this type of film will want to savor a fantastically restrained, physical performance by Betty Gilpin (GLOW) as a reticent former soldier who finds being tracked down by self-righteous psychos as a form of stress relief from her daily life as a car rental agent. Streamlined and more mainstream than many of the ads and rhetoric would have suggested, The Hunt should be on the radar for anyone looking for a fun movie night where a guy gets stabbed by a stiletto heel, a woman is doubly impaled by a spiked pit, and a pig names Orwell runs rampant (at least for a while). For a discussion on all this and more, have a listen!