Sara Clements

For Episode 410, Sara Clements, Dan Bayer, Tom O’Brien, and I are here to discuss the start of the 2024 New York Film Festival (NYFF) and go over some other news in the world of awards season. We go over the winners of last week’s poll, asking, “Which Films Are You Most Looking Forward To From The 2024 New York Film Festival?” ask this week’s poll question, “Which Is Your Favorite Saoirse Ronan Performance?” We also give our reactions to the trailers for “Maria,” “From The World Of John Wick:...

For this week’s main podcast review, I am joined by Sara Clements, Josh Parham, Alyssa Christian, Dan Bayer & Tom O’Brien to review and discuss Edward Berger’s latest film “Conclave,” starring Ralph Fiennes, Stanley Tucci, John Lithgow, Lucian Msamati, Carlos Diehz, Sergio Castellitto & Isabella Rossellini. Following up his Academy Award-winning film, “All Quiet On The Western Front,” Edward Berger takes us behind the closed doors of the Vatican into the election process for a new Pope in thi...

For this week’s main podcast review, I am joined by Sara Clements, Dan Bayer, Daniel Howat & Will Mavity to review and discuss the new animated film from Dreamworks Animation, “The Wild Robot” starring Lupita Nyong’o, Pedro Pascal, Kit Connor, Bill Nighy, Stephanie Hsu, Mark Hamill, Catherine O’Hara, Matt Berry & Ving Rhames. Directed by Academy Award-nominee Chris Sanders (“How To Train Your Dragon”), it’s the final film to be animated entirely in-house at DreamWorks and has received univers...

The Garvey sisters are back — and in even deeper hot water. Bad Sisters season two begins with an opening scene that indicates they will be covering something up again, and just like the first season, we won’t know how the show’s events fully play out until the very end. It’s unfortunate that Bad Sisters is on Apple TV+ because it feels like most shows on that streamer go unnoticed, but if there’s one to sink into, it’s this one. Season two, much like the first,...

The scene begins at a funeral. In black and white footage, familiar faces begin to appear: Marlene Dietrich, Gregory Peck, Lauren Bacall, and more. As the somber attendees arrive, we hear a voice say, “Funny, I never considered myself particularly well-liked. I never really knew before just how many friends I did have.” The voice belongs to Humphrey Bogart as though commenting on the footage from the grave. This is not only a great bit of editing but speaks to how special this film will be. While the star passed away in 1957, Kathryn Ferguson’s “Bogart: Life Comes in Flashes” brings the...

The second season of Arcane begins seconds after its celebrated first season ended. The city’s leadership is shattered after Jinx (Ella Purnell) launches her fury on Piltover. Jayce (Kevin Alejandro) and Mel (Toks Olagundoye) emerge from the rubble in shock at the destruction and death around them. The characters of Christian Linke and Alex Yee’s series, based on League of Legends, are broken; some physically, while others are broken in spirit. Every aspect of the awe-inspiring world that the...

For many years, with films like Notting Hill and Bridget Jones’s Diary, Hugh Grant was the charming, romantic leading man. In recent years, though, he has shifted away from leading roles, playing against type in supporting turns that have quietly established him as one of the great character actors working today. He has offered scene-stealing turns in films like Paddington 2, The Gentleman, and Dungeons & Dragons. We have come to realize that whenever there’s a Hugh Grant cameo, we’ll be ...

Nordic historical films tend to focus primarily on Viking history. And, of course, they do. Viking politics and war make for some great entertainment, as seen in films, TV, and even video games. But other films in recent years like “Sisu” and “The Promised Land” show that there’s still so much Nordic ground to explore – and that they can be just as thrilling in action and compelling in drama as the history of ancient Norsemen. Enter Mikael Håfström’s “Stockholm Bloodbath,” titled after the trial of the same name that led to a series of executions in Stockholm in 1520...

Julia Fuhr Mann’s “Life Is Not a Competition, But I’m Winning“ opens with a shot of a running track. Only two lanes are shown at first, separated by a white line. This separation represents the gender binary dominating sports until the track expands to full view to explain that you can’t put people in two boxes. We are in the Panathenaic Stadium, the birthplace of the Olympics in Athens. A group of queer athletes or athletes of color make up the documentary’s cast, and they are stepping on a track that they wouldn’t have been allowed to compete on in antiquity.

The cast of athletes speaks...

“What a Feeling” is such an apt title for a film that makes you feel absolute bliss after watching it. Clever, romantic, and entertaining from start to finish, Kat Rohrer’s rom-com is about two middle-aged women who fall in love when they least expect it. Set in one of the world’s most romantic cities, Vienna, creating the tone is easy, but it surprises you with how poignant and heartfelt it becomes. This is the kind of rom-com of which queer audiences need more.

Fa (Proschat Madani) and Marie Theres (Caroline Peters) are strangers. Their paths have never crossed. How could they...

Throughout his career, Sean Baker has focused his lens on characters often left out of the mainstream, providing intimate looks at the lives of those marginalized or considered outsiders. Sex workers are some of his main subjects, and the independent filmmaker doesn’t stray away from that with his latest work. Anora continues to see Baker destigmatizing sex work and telling a story in an honest yet nonjudgemental and non-exploitative way. He creates stirring pictures...

Alice Maio Mackay may only be 20 years old, but she has already proven to be a quintessential voice in modern horror filmmaking. The Australian filmmaker imbues all her stories with queer characters and themes. And as a trans woman, she’s reclaiming a genre that in the past would have otherwise portrayed her and other queer people as monstrous. All five of her feature films incorporate various horror subgenres and elements, like vampires, cults, and the slasher, to not only add her own unique spin to the genre itself but to highlight real-world horrors affecting the trans community...

For over a decade, as Anna Kendrick’s directorial debut Woman of the Hour explains, serial killer Rodney Alcala had been reported to law enforcement by survivors and other citizens without consequence. If you don’t know him by his name, you have certainly heard him referred to as the Dating Game Killer after appearing on national television to find his next potential victim. On a year-long murder spree, he brutalized women from coast to coast, ultimately being linked to eight murders ...

Lara Croft is a British archaeologist whose adventures take her to ancient tombs and hazardous ruins, often running against the clock with nefarious antagonists hot on her heels or at the end of her fists. If you don’t know that name, you’ll surely recognize her other moniker: Tomb Raider. First appearing in 1996, the video game character is one of the medium’s most influential. With more than 20 video games, Tomb Raider is one of the best-selling video game series of all time. Lara Croft’s p...

True crime is undoubtedly a fascinating genre, but why audiences are so fascinated by it isn’t easily defined. Why we are attracted to stories about people doing the worst things imaginable could lead to any number of answers. Is it curiosity or a desire to understand why these crimes are committed? Is it an educational tool to help you feel more prepared to avoid becoming a victim? Is it the thrill of attempting to solve the mystery ourselves? Or is it all three? No matter the answer, we’ve always been interested in the macabre and the secrets these kinds of grim stories hide. And, with...