Episodes
Monday Sep 06, 2021
Monday Sep 06, 2021
The Suicide Squad Podcast Review
This week on the Sordid Cinema Podcast, we discuss James Gunn’s The Suicide Squad, a movie that’s not only edgy, sharp, and funny but directed with so much style and verve, it’s one of the most entertaining comic book movies ever made. With The Suicide Squad, Gunn shows that there are ways to keep things edgy while offering enough humor and action to reach a wide audience and unlike most blockbusters, everyone here is a huge fan including Patrick Murphy, who usually dislikes superhero films. In fact, we are such big fans, we all watched the movie twice this week and we’re to tell you who our favourite characters are and explain why The Suicide Squad stands on its own in a way superhero movies often don’t. All this and more!
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Wednesday Aug 18, 2021
Sordid Cinema Podcast #592: To Live And Die In L.A. — The Quintessential L.A. Crime Film
Wednesday Aug 18, 2021
Wednesday Aug 18, 2021
To Live and Die in L.A. Review
We continue our informal, intermittent series on grimy cops vs crooks genre movies (see also: Drug War, King of New York, Hard Boiled) with William Friedkin’s slick-but-gritty 1985 thriller To Live and Die in L.A. With its amoral characters, full-frontal nudity, and wildly epic car chase, this is one we (mostly) find lots to rave about.
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Tuesday Aug 10, 2021
Sordid Cinema Podcast #591: M. Night Shyamalan’s Old
Tuesday Aug 10, 2021
Tuesday Aug 10, 2021
It shouldn’t come as a surprise that Old, the latest thriller from the endlessly inventive — if not always successful — director M. Night Shyamalan, has critics divided. Some argue the film features an intriguing concept, but its execution is extremely flawed. Others call it an entertaining thought exercise from one of Hollywood’s most invigorating filmmakers that is never, not fun. Love him or hate him, as cinephiles, we can at least admire how Shyamalan has adjusted to the ebb and flow of his career by self-financing when the money isn’t there. Old is in every respect, an M. Night film— written, directed, funded, and produced by the man himself— and that folks, is enough reason to spend 60 minutes discussing the movie, even if some of us absolutely hate it.
Friday Jul 30, 2021
Friday Jul 30, 2021
A Quiet Place: Part II Review
New movie! Remember new movies? Those still come out on occasion. Simon decided it was time to treat the Sordid Cinema audience to something a little more contemporary than usual, so it’s time to dissect John Krasinski’s A Quiet Place: Part II, which swaps out Office Jim in favor of a very haunted Cillian Murphy. We take this as an opportunity to look at the Quiet Place Cinematic Universe and ponder its future as one of the few major movie series (soon to have its own spinoff!) to not be based on pre-existing intellectual property. Also discussed: the influence of video games, the blessing of short runtimes, and the enduring appeal of family stories set in apocalyptic hellscapes.
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Tuesday Jul 27, 2021
Sordid Cinema Podcast #588: Sleepaway Camp Serves A Helping Of Summer Slaughter
Tuesday Jul 27, 2021
Tuesday Jul 27, 2021
Sleepaway Camp Review
This week on the Sordid Cinema Podcast, Ricky D, Patrick Murphy, and Simon Howell travel back to 1983 and review Richard Hiltzik’s deeply gay-coded Sleepaway Camp. The crew discusses the many different interpretations of the film and breaks down the very famous theory citing two killers, not one. Meanwhile, Ricky explains why Ricky is one of his all-time favourite characters in a slasher film. Of course, we couldn’t review the seminal 80s classic without addressing the controversial, shocking, and some would say brilliant twist ending. All this and more!
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Monday Jul 19, 2021
Monday Jul 19, 2021
Babe: Pig in the City Podcast Review
Originally dismissed by most critics and audiences as too dour and scary for children, George Miller’s Babe: Pig in the City holds up today as a beautiful, haunting portrait of the toll an urban existence can take on both human and hog. This week, the Sordid Cinema Podcast dives into the anachronistic, unwelcoming canals of this fantastical Metropolis, looking for a little decency in a cinematic world of cynicism. Join Rick, Simon, and Patrick as we break down Babe’s almost-certain annihilation at the hands of a pit bull, marvel at the incredible effects and ability of the star animals to hit their marks, and have a good laugh at Ferdinand the Duck’s expense.
So what exactly is ‘sordid’ about Babe: Pig in the City? One of our hosts was (at first) asking that same question – until a certain stretch where George Miller puts audiences through the emotional wringer. Though the story revolves around a talking sheep-pig on a wholesome mission to save his farm, there are moments of dread, suspense, action, and horror as a little pig’s innocence and empathy are tested. There is also a bizarre cameo by Mickey Rooney, a drug bust at an airport, a Thunderdome-like ballroom sequence, and a monkey with a gun. Thank you, Pig, for delivering this crazy feast for the eyes and ears, and for more on Babe: Pig in the City, have a listen!
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Sunday Jul 18, 2021
Sunday Jul 18, 2021
Terminator 2 Review
In 1984, director James Cameron created the Terminator franchise. His film of the same name explored a war between humanity and sentient machines, in which victory could only be assured by sending a naked bodybuilder back in time. Seven years later, he returned with Terminator 2: Judgement Day, replacing the original film’s lean, gritty action with the pyrotechnics of a swollen Meatloaf video. On episode #120 of the Sordid Cinema Podcast, the Sordid Cinema crew reviewed the entire grim sci-fi action series powered by the uncanny casting of Austrian muscleman Arnold Schwarzenegger as an unstoppable, monotonous killing machine. What follows is the portion of that episode in which we reviewed Terminator 2 just months before Cameron made his return to the big screen with his long-awaited return to sci-fi, Avatar. Present on this episode is hosts Ricky D, Simon Howell, Al Kratina, and Ali McKinnon. Enjoy!
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Tuesday Jul 13, 2021
Sordid Cinema Podcast #586: Universal Soldier: Day of Reckoning
Tuesday Jul 13, 2021
Tuesday Jul 13, 2021
Universal Soldier: Day of Reckoning Review
When is a direct-to-video beat-’em-up also a brutally dark meditation on mortality, identity, and the cyclical nature of violence? When it’s John Hyams’ Universal Soldier: Day of Reckoning! This hyperviolent action-horror-sci-fi hybrid divides us: is it a schlocky Z-grade knockoff or a compelling concoction all its own? The always-welcome JCVD and Dolph Lundgren are along for the ride as we hash it out.
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Friday Jul 09, 2021
Friday Jul 09, 2021
The Cable Guy Review
He came…He saw…He tormented…
There are plenty of overnight success stories in Hollywood, but none quite like Jim Carey’s rise to fame. After a stint on In Living Color, Carey transitioned to the big screen with Ace Ventura, which became a sleeper hit in the spring of 1994, grossing more than $100 million on a $15 million budget. Carrey followed that up with blockbusters like The Mask, Dumb and Dumber, Batman Forever, and Ace Ventura: When Nature Calls— all within a span of two years, helping him become the biggest box office draw in Hollywood. From there, the rubber-faced comic was hired to star in the 1996 black comedy The Cable Guy directed by Ben Stiller and co-starring Matthew Broderick, Leslie Mann, Jack Black. The film opened to a respectable $20 million but ultimately became a box office bomb, weighed down by toxic word of mouth from critics who called it a complete misfire. The bigger story, however, was how much money Carey was paid— the actor received $20 million from Columbia Pictures, as well as a 15% backend, and critics couldn’t wrap their head around why a studio would pay so much for any actor to star in a comedy. 25 years later, however, The Cable Guy has found a huge cult following and is now considered one of the best dark comedies of its time— a multi-faceted parody built around a multitude of movie and television-inspired set pieces and references along with an incredible performance by Jim Carey. And not only was The Cable Guy slightly ahead of its time, with its prophetic look on the future and the internet at large— but The Cable Guy was arguably the flashpoint for the next big generation of comedy, paving the way for the next generation of comedies. On this episode on the Sordid Cinema Podcast, we dive deep into what makes the film special, even after all these years.
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Thursday Jul 01, 2021
Sordid Cinema Podcast #584: Pull the Wool From Your Eyes to See The Parallax View
Thursday Jul 01, 2021
Thursday Jul 01, 2021
Powerful organizations shrouded in secrecy, pulling strings from the shadows, snuffing out all who would dare expose the truth to an unsuspecting populace… It’s hard not to love conspiracy thrillers, and 1970s movie theaters were chock full of them. This week, the Sordid Cinema crew is taking a look at one of the best, the second in director Alan Pakula’s ‘Paranoia’ trilogy, The Parallax View. Clearly taking inspiration from real-life political assassinations, the story features an intrepid reporter investigating a shadowy corporation that appears to be recruiting and training deadly operatives to ‘remove’ political obstacles. But don’t worry about getting bogged down in plot details — there are too many car chases, bar fights, bomb threats, and boat explosions to distract from what’s really happening.
Join Rick, Simon, and Patrick as they explain just what makes The Parallax View such a solid thriller, including the masterful cinematography, excellent staging, and overall likability of star Warren Beatty (even if someone thinks he should have been replaced). But can you trust a film that doesn’t answer all the questions? We may never know exactly what’s goin on, but there’s a lot of fun in trying to figure it out. For all this and more, have a listen!
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