Flixwise Podcast

On today's show Lady P welcomes back Carol (2015) screenwriter, Phyllis Nagy, for an in-depth discussion of Phyllis' all-time-favorite film, Billy Wilder's Sunset Boulevard (1950). Phyllis isn't the only one celebrating her glorious return to Flixwise. This is also the second appearance of one Norma Desmond, or rather Lady P's rather embarrassing imitation of the silent age film star. Norma first appeared on our original Sunset Boulevard episode, which features Professor Joseph McBride offering behind the scenes details of the filming of this Wilder classic.

Today we're paying another visit to that old familiar street with Phyllis' personal take on the depiction of 1950s Hollywood. Lady P and Phyllis discuss their reactions to Gloria Swanson's bold representation of an aged actress, and how William Holden serves as an important ballast to Swanson's electric performance. Then Phyllis sets out to debunk some popular interpretations of the film - namely that it's either satirical or Campy. Phyllis tells listeners why she thinks critics often confuse a lack of sentimentality with satire, and offers up evidence for why she thinks Wilder was completely sincere in his depiction of these characters. Plus, Lady P and Phyllis offer up comparisons to other films of this era including All About Eve (1950), Sudden Fear (1952), and What Ever Happened To Baby Jane (1962) and talk about why Sunset Boulevard is truly "the greatest of them all".

And if you haven't already please go back and listen to Phyllis' previous episode in which she goes into detail on the making of Carol. Plus she and Lady P offer up a couple of suggestions on Isabelle Huppert movies that all film buffs should seek out.

We have officially made it through the Top 50 of the Sight and Sound Greatest Films of All Time list! Let's all pat ourselveson the back and celebrate a job partially done. In all seriousness, this a proud moment for our show and we're excited to mark the occasion. Let us continue our commemoration of getting a 5th of the way through this seemingly endless list by raising a glass to one of Hollywood's most enduring and tenacious screen icons, Bette Davis.

Today's show is the second in our three-part Bette Davis marathon: All About Bette. In our first entry, we discussed Davis's career-defining turn in Joseph Mankiewicz's All About Eve (1950). This time we're tackling a less-widely seen Davis film, the 1941 adaptation of Lillian Hellman's play,The Little Foxes (1941). Lady P is joined once again by Kristen Sales and Anne Marie Kelly to talk about why The Little Foxes deserves greater recognition among Bette's filmography.

Talking points include Davis's relationship with the film's director, William Wyler, and the deep-focus cinematography courtesy of Director of Photography, Gregg Toland (which inevitably leads to comparisons with Citizen Kane). They also attempt to put the film in historical context and talk about why 1940s Hollywood was so into making turn-of-the-century family dramas (see also Meet Me in St. Louis and The Magnificent Ambersons). Finally, they decide whether or not The Little Foxes is worthy of the Flixwise Favorites list.

In this is episode Lady P conducts a one on one interview with her mentor, Professor Joseph McBride. McBride is an accomplished author, a journalist, and a film historian whom Lady P met as a student at San Francisco State University. It was an honor to have him on the show.

For the first segment, Lady P and McBride discuss the number 7 picture on the Sight and Sound Greatest Films of All Time List: John Ford's, THE SEARCHERS. McBride has written two books on John Ford including this one. In our interview, McBride offers a lot of interesting tidbits about the production, as well as insight about the major themes of the film.

And since McBride was a actual contributor to the Sight and Sound poll (we told you he was accomplished), Lady P took the opportunity to try to dig up some insider secrets about why the list shaped up the way it did. Is there a vast conspiracy among all British film journals to denigrate the legacy of Orson Welles? Has William Randolph Hearst come back from the dead and threatened all the world's film critics? How else to you explain the deposing of Citizen Kane? They address this dastardly plot, and they talk about how McBride went about choosing his personal submissions.

They finish off the episode with a little professorial advice. You wanna be a famous filmmaker or film critic? You better listen up!

Today's episode is another submission to the Flixwise Alternate Greatest Films of All Time List. This time, Gary Lampert pitches to the panel what he considers to be "The CITIZEN KANE of action movies." That's right ladies and gentleman, today we're talking about John McTiernan's 1988 Christmas classic DIE HARD. We're talkin' Bruce Willis, Bruce Willis' poor bloody feet, the calorie content of twinkies, and of course Alan Rickman's glorious German accent.

It is Gary's contention that silly action movies have been egregiously overlooked on the Sight and Sound Critics Poll, and that Flixwise needs to do what it can to rectify Sight and Sound's carelessness. Listen up to find out if the rest of the panel agrees, and inducts DIE HARD in the Flixwise Alternate List.

Inspired by last week's John Hughes discussion, we at Flixwise have decided to do a whole series of episodes focusing on teen movies. Each installment in the series will feature a Flixwise panelist pitching their favorite teen movie for inclusion list in the Flixwise Favorites List. Then the roundtable will carefully weigh the faults and merits of said film, to determine if it is worthy of inclusion in the rarefied collection of the Flixwise pantheon.

Participating in the panel are Lady P, Emma Guerard, and Andy Theiss (making his Flixwise debut.) Since the series was inspired by John Hughes, we felt it only appropriate that he should lead off the discussion. So for our first entry in our teen moviethon, Andy Theiss makes the case for why SIXTEEN CANDLES is the Greatest Teen Movie of All Time.

Let us know if you find Andy's argument persuasive. And stay tuned to see if your favorite teen flick makes the cut.