More Than One Lesson

For five seasons, Jordan Peele and Keegan-Michael Key tackled any and all topics on their sketch comedy series Key & Peele. Over those 55 episodes, their love and encyclopedic knowledge of film- particularly horror movies- came through in several sketches, so it’s hardly surprising that Peele’s directorial debut is a horror film. What is surprising is that he displays a command and confidence that belies the fact that it is his directorial debut.

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In this episode, Tyler is joined by Jeff Newburg to discuss Elia Kazan’s A Face in the Crowd, and a lot of politics.

In this episode, Reed and Nathan discuss Stuart Gordon’s Re-Animator.

The best science fiction operates on two levels: limitations and possibilities. Mostly the limitations are human ones while the possibilities are scientific ones. Coherence is a film that has a strong handle on both. It largely takes place in one room… sort of… and yet, seemingly points to nearly endless differences between reality and understanding.

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In this minisode, Tyler discusses depression.

William Peter Blatty, the legendary author of The Exorcist, directed exactly two films. The most popular of those is The Exorcist III, but before that, he helmed the bizarre, reflective, often hysterical and often alarming oddity called “The Ninth Configuration”. Starring Stacy Keach and Scott Wilson, the story tells of an insane asylum which has just received a new director named Kane. What begins as an apparent adjustment period as director and patients get to know one another eventually shifts into unusually heavy and thought-provoking territory.

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In this episode, Reed and Nathan discuss James Whale’s Frankenstein.

They’re here. The biggest, most important movie awards ceremony on the planet that is named after a person whose name is a palindrome. There are no trophies, no red carpet, but there are Red Robin gift certificates that will arrive in the mail boxes of the winners sometime in the next four to six weeks.* My apologies to everyone from Mad Max: Fury Road last year for the non-existence of Red Robin in Australia. Please contact your local…whatever you call senators there; I can’t be bothered to look it up. I didn’t want them to go to waste so I just sent extra ones to a few of the Carol people. This is w- Wait. Where was I going with this? Oh, yes. The Bob Awards. The winners. They’re here. So read them. If ya wanna.

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I must confess that the style of the genre known as “mumblecore” is still something to which I’m adjusting. The sparse settings, the mostly improvised dialogue, and the naturalistic performances seem to be striving towards a deliberate reality, and as a result have their virtues and their detriments.

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In turbulent and uncertain times, heightened anxieties and tensions are often described by four metaphorical words: “Things are heating up.” Blind Sun, a recent French film from director Joyce Nashawati takes those words to heart and crafts a story around them that is challenging, reflective, and, at times, quite troubling.

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