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Film Trace

Film Trace

Film Trace

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1 Creator

We trace the Life of a Film from conception to production all the way to its release and reception. You know when you dive into a film's wikipedia and imdb after watching it? Then the director's page, then the actor's page. Our show does that for you. We use our nerd superpowers to obsessively tell the story of a movie: how it came to be, how it played out, and what it means today. It is a crash course on a single film filled with primary documents, lovely asides, and frequent guest voices. It is an investigation and celebration of films both great and small.
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Top 10 Film Trace Episodes

Goodpods has curated a list of the 10 best Film Trace episodes, ranked by the number of listens and likes each episode have garnered from our listeners. If you are listening to Film Trace for the first time, there's no better place to start than with one of these standout episodes. If you are a fan of the show, vote for your favorite Film Trace episode by adding your comments to the episode page.

Film Trace - 28 Days Later (2002)
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04/09/22 • 58 min

The third film in our Self-Aware Horror cycle is 2002's zombie renaissance 28 Days Later

28 Days Later reanimated the zombie subgenre of horror, which had been left for dead and maligned where it always had been. Yes, technically speaking, the infected in the film are not zombies. But they might as well be. Zack Snyder's Dawn of the Dead remake came a couple of years later in 2004 and helped pushed the zombie genre fully into the mainstream where it stayed for the next 18 years. The highly popular tv series, The Walking Dead, is finally ending this year after twelve years on the air and two spin-off series with more to come. Zombies don't die.

While director Danny Boyle and writer Alex Garland have attempted to play down the zombie connection, 28 Days Later plays like an intricate and explosive hommage to George Romero's original Dead trilogy. Shot entirely on early digital video recorders, the film maintains a late 90s early 2000s look that is post analog but Pre HD. Even less appealing than the film's digital graininess is its cynical depiction of humanity as the last vestiges of the civilized world fall away. It is a nightmare that feels all too true and relevant to today's world.

Special Guest: Good friend of the show, Riley, who is our resident Wes Craven scholar.

For our chaser film, we have chosen 1997's Scream 2, the slasher thrill ride that came out less than a year after the original. Craven and Williamson are back here with the mainline cast and a tight story that somehow doesn't tarnish the first film. Often cited as one of the best horror sequels, Scream 2 is now 25 years old, so perhaps it is time to question its lauded status?

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Film Trace - High Fidelity (2000)
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11/09/20 • 49 min

Ian Mungall of the great CineSiblingsPod joins us to discuss the turn of the century maladapted-male classic, High Fidelity (2000). John Cusack plays a thirty-something music nerd who can't seem to find the right rhythm in his love life. Based on the once-beloved now belittled novel of the same name, High Fidelity is a pristine time capsule of how Gen X men translated their suppressed emotions through obsessions about how other people, mostly dead, expressed their emotions. Is the MCU fanboy a newer version of the 1990s vinyl snob? Listen and found out as three white males discuss a sacred text of casual chauvinism.

Join us as we trace the life of High Fidelity (2000) from conception (I wonder what men think?) to production (Chicago is cheaper to film than London) to release (I don't see a lot of money here) and reception (loved in its time but grown stale with age).

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Film Trace - Thief (1981)

Thief (1981)

Film Trace

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02/12/21 • 53 min

Mann is born. James Caan cruises through the black mirror of Chicago's rain-soaked streets in Micheal Mann's masterful film debut, Thief. This 1980s neo-noir is a rote one-more-caper film at its root, but its eccentric flourishes grow into bountiful and rich foliage: the ethereal soundtrack from Tangerine Dream, the searing ambition of Caan, and the corrupted spine of Chicago itself. Way behind the genre films of the time, Thief remains a riveting, ambitious, and wonderful film.

Special Guest: Mike Field of the fantastic Forgotten Cinema podcast.

Join us as we trace the life of Thief from conception (Mann cold selling) to production (18 hour days stalking Chicago) to release (muted and forgotten) and reception (Letterboxd catnip).

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Film Trace - Nightcrawler (2014)
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08/25/20 • 42 min

Dan Gilroy's anti-capitalist polemic is one of the most beautiful and horrific films of the 2010s. Jake Gyllenhaal masterfully plays Lou, a lone wolf who stalks human tragedy in the headlight glow of LA nights. His relentless drive for action, money, and success leaves us both nauseous and enthralled. Mostly ignored by the masses upon release, Nightcrawler has had many second lives being spread through online forums via the praise of young men. A true cult classic.

We trace the life of Nightcrawler from conception (the antihero wins) to production (location scouting at 3am) to release (a TIFF success that didn't take) and reception (Critical raves, B- CinemaScore)

Join us as we trace the life of Nightcrawler...

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Film Trace - Bullet Train (2022)
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08/27/22 • 57 min

A New Cycle Begins! The first film in our Absurdist Action cycle is the rock 'em sock 'em 2022 release, Bullet Train.

The action comedy is a delicate balance. Too much comedy and the stakes feel too low. Too little and the tone becomes muddled. Bullet Train attempts to walk this fine line and stumbles into an abyss of tedium right from the start. Brad Pitt is a loosey-goosey hitman who is tasked with finding a briefcase amongst other assassins aboard a high-speed train in Japan. Former stuntman, David Leitch, takes the helm and the results are decidedly mixed. While some sequences sparkle with visual pizzazz and charm, much of the incessant bombast falls flat and the final result is a drowsy affair.

For our chaser film, we revisit the highly successful 21 Jump Street (2012), the early 2010s Lord and Miller requel calling card.

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Film Trace - While the City Sleeps (1956) and M (1931)
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10/27/24 • 68 min

In the season finale of our Manhunt series, we trace the trajectory of Fritz Lang's exceptional beginnings with M (1931) to his wilting end in While the City Sleeps (1956).

Fritz Lang had already created two masterpieces, Metropolis (1927) and M (1931), by the time he reached middle age. He went on to direct twenty-three more films throughout his long career. While some of these subsequent films were great, it would be difficult to argue that any of them reached the heights of his early work. There is a clear reason for this. Lang, a vehement anti-Nazi, was forced into exile when the NSDAP took over Germany in the 1930s. Lang found work in the Hollywood system, which he persistently despised. This acrimonious relationship eventually soured beyond repair, and While the City Sleeps is a cynical swan song to the business side of filmmaking that Lang loathed.

M and While the City Sleeps serve as excellent bookends to Lang's career, as well as to our season of Manhunt. While M delves deeply into the underbelly of Berlin and the moral abyss of the protagonist, While the City Sleeps gingerly skips along a similarly dark story with overly light interiors and day drunk actors. Lang transformed from an experimental and deeply probing artist into one who seemed more interested in cashing-in checks endorsed by the era's big movie stars. M represents a high point in the true crime, thriller, and manhunt genres. While the City Sleeps, on the other hand, exemplifies the erosion of originality we often see in this popular genre. The farther the story gets from the minds of the hunter and hunted, the less thrilling it all becomes.

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Film Trace - The Devil All the Time (2020)
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09/23/20 • 41 min

Season 2 is here! Dan and Chris along with special guest Molly dissect the latest Oscar-bait offering from Netflix, The Devil All the Time. With a cast stacked like flapjacks and a plot overflowing the brim, this Antonio Campos film is satiating and gluttonous. The story follows non-American actors playing poor Americans who lead desperate lives in the American South or Midwest or maybe Appalachia (it is not very clear). Despite the implicit pretentiousness, the acting is superb and the cinematography is gorgeous. But what does it all add up to?

Find out as we trace the life of The Devil All the Time from conception (guy reads a book) to production (celebrities in rural Alabama) to release (Netflix awards chum) and reception (Number 1 in USA)

Join us as we trace the life of The Devil All the Time...

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Film Trace - Swingers (1996)

Swingers (1996)

Film Trace

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01/27/21 • 58 min

Plumbing the depths of our virile past, we uncover the distinct and indecipherable artifact of Swingers, a 90s hipster flick that Gen X refuses to disavow. Before Youtube and TikTok, the aimless youth took to indie filmmaking to express their angst, opinion, and sociopathy. Using discarded film and refuse from his own life, Jon Favreau joined forces with Doug Liman and Vince Vaughn to spawn this down and out EL Lay hangout movie that mysteriously led to a swing music revival. The past ain't dead, but it certainly doesn't age well.

Joining us this week to dissect this 1996 bromedy are repeat guests Mark and Brigitte from the Screen Time: A Quarantine Podcast

Join us as we trace the life of Swingers from conception (Dad got you Final Draft) to production (what's a release form?) to release (only LA people got it) and reception (massive home video hit).

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Film Trace - Species (1995)

Species (1995)

Film Trace

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10/21/20 • 46 min

Chris and Dan along with special guest Evan from the great Spoilerpiece Theatre podcast discuss the finer points of 90s elevated schlock, Species. What starts out as a high concept alien invasion film quickly devolves into a dutch angle thriller with a syfy channel finale. Natasha Henstridge gets her infamous start flanked by a motley crew of thespians: Micheal Madsen, Marg Helgenberger, and Forest Whitaker. Ben Kingsley leads this ragtag team of alien hunters searching LA for a female model who wants to procreate in a plot that could have only be concocted by a frustrated middle-age man.

Join us as we trace the life of Species from conception (8 rewrites of the script) to production (HR Giger sending hate faxes) to release (good enough for 3 sequels) and reception (genrework as its best defense).

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In episode three of our Manhunt series, we delve into two films that helped redefine and revive the genre of pursuit. From South Korea, Memories of Murder (2003), a haunting and postmodern crime drama. From the United States, The Bourne Identity (2002), an adrenaline-fueled yet grounded spy thriller.

Special Guest: the talented John Brooks from the great 1999 Podcast which covers all the films from that seminal year of film.

Crime stories hinge on a denouement of justice. When that justice is denied, the audience is often left in suspended emotional agitation. We want to believe that violent crimes are always solved, and the villainous perpetrators are caught. That order is restored. Yet, reality dictates a much less clear cut finale to crime stories. Memories of Murder explores this ambiguity in its depiction of a real-life serial killer case, where answers are elusive, and the moral certainties dissolve in a haze of bureaucratic stagnation, intellectual flaccidity, and craven dispositions. Director Bong Joon-Ho crafts a deeply unsettling vibe where the boundary between good and evil fades, exposing the futility of the hunt and the flawed nature of those involved.

In contrast, The Bourne Identity is sleek, fast-paced, and decidedly straightforward. This chase movie skips across Europe with the hunter and hunted dichotomy awhirl. Director Doug Liman invokes the stacco precision of a spy thriller but interweaves melodrama with Jason Bourne's fractured psyche. In many ways, Bourne is more indebted to the dutch-angled noir tradition than its most obvious predecessor, James Bond. With its relentless action and tightly wound narrative, the film strips away the nuance of morality found in Memories of Murder while delivering a linear yet captivating tale of survival, deception, and revenge.

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FAQ

How many episodes does Film Trace have?

Film Trace currently has 121 episodes available.

What topics does Film Trace cover?

The podcast is about Film History, Podcasts, Tv & Film and Film Reviews.

What is the most popular episode on Film Trace?

The episode title '28 Days Later (2002)' is the most popular.

What is the average episode length on Film Trace?

The average episode length on Film Trace is 59 minutes.

How often are episodes of Film Trace released?

Episodes of Film Trace are typically released every 9 days, 5 hours.

When was the first episode of Film Trace?

The first episode of Film Trace was released on Jun 15, 2020.

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