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Stereoactive Presents

Stereoactive Presents

Stereoactive Media

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Dive into culture with interviews, discussions, stories, and other items of interest. Consider this the clubhouse (or salon) for Stereoactive Media, where we keep connected with familiar folks while also meeting new and interesting people and featuring projects relevant to our community.

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Top 10 Stereoactive Presents Episodes

Goodpods has curated a list of the 10 best Stereoactive Presents episodes, ranked by the number of listens and likes each episode have garnered from our listeners. If you are listening to Stereoactive Presents 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 Stereoactive Presents episode by adding your comments to the episode page.

J. McVay and Charles Hinshaw discuss the latest – and, most likely, final – installment in the Indiana Jones series. Directed by James Mangold, ‘Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny’ stars Harrison Ford, Phoebe Waller-Bridge, Antonio Banderas, John Rhys-Davies, Toby Jones, Boyd Holbrook, Ethann Isidore, and Mads Mikkelsen. It’s now available to watch on Disney+.

Back in 2005, J. McVay went to a midnight screening of ‘Raider of the Lost Ark’ at the Paris Theater in New York City. Karen Allen was there and talked about a fourth Indiana Jones movie was finally about to happen and she'd heard that Natalie Portman was in talks to play the daughter of Indy and Marion.

A few years later, the movie she seemed to describe was out, but with Shia as their son, instead of anyone as their daughter. And now we have a fifth movie in which Indy has a daughter figure. Perhaps this was a course correction to whatever developments Karen Allen spoke of... or perhaps not. Who knows?

‘Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny’ is more than capably directed by James Mangold. That said, Spielberg’s absence is somehow felt throughout. After all, it seems a bit odd that a film that almost certainly will be the last in the series due to its star’s age doesn’t doesn’t just... have the same director as the four that came before it.

Harrison Ford is reasonably believable as an octogenarian action star, and the film does embrace his aging, but it’s all an odd choice for a character that, River Phoenix and Young Indy aside, seemed in some ways ageless. In the end, it’s hard to see this as a necessary installment in the franchise.

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Episode Credits:

Producer/Host: J. McVay

Guests: Charles Hinshaw

Music: Hansdale Hsu

Produced by Stereoactive Media

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Stereoactive Presents - ‘Fight Club’ // a 1999 film retrospective
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07/19/19 • 47 min

With this, their second episode in a series, J. McVay, Jacqueline Soller, and Charles Hinshaw continue to look back on movies released in 1999, discussing how they stand up 20 years on...

Based on the novel by Chuck Palahniuk (“Paula-nick”) and directed by David Fincher, ‘Fight Club’ stars Edward Norton as a never named narrator who’s more or less fed up with his life and suffering from severe insomnia as he travels from place to place examining auto-accidents. He begins to find cathartic solace through attending support groups for people suffering from various ailments and conditions, before his routine is interrupted by a woman named Marla Singer (Helena Boham Carter), who is also attending these groups for less-than-honest purposes. Eventually, Norton’s character meets Tyler Durden on one of his flights. Played by Brad Pitt, Durden seems to be as free of conformist societal pressures as the Narrator is bound by them. Immediately after this seemingly chance encounter, the Narrator’s high rise condo is destroyed by an explosion, leaving him with nowhere to turn but his new acquaintance. After an evening of bonding and trading personal philosophies, the two decide to have a fist fight free of animus just to see what it feels like. High on the resultant feeling, they end up founding a club of men looking for the same experience. This balloons first into a secret underground network of similar clubs that extends to an unknown size, then to the beginning of Project Mayhem in which men dedicate their entire lives to following Durden’s call to upset the materialist, corporate nature of the society around them.

The movie premiered at the Venice Film Festival on September 10th, 1999. It drew both praise and criticism, with many referencing ‘A Clockwork Orange’ as a precedent case of a film that both portrays violence and, it was worried, could also inspire violence. It opened commercially in the US on October 15th and came in first in box office rankings with just over $11 million. Despite this, the film was considered a bit of a financial disappointment by its studio, Fox. However, it was such a popular DVD release that it went on to become one of the studio’s top selling home media items and eventually turned a profit.

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Episode Credits:

Producer/Host: J. McVay

Guests: Jacqueline Soller, Charles Hinshaw

Music: Hansdale Hsu

Originally released as part of a previous podcast on 7/19/19

Now released and distributed by Stereoactive Media

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Stereoactive Presents - Oscars Nomination Reactions for 2023 Films
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01/24/24 • 58 min

J. McVay and Charles Hinshaw discuss the Oscar nominations for films released in 2023, which were announced yesterday, sharing their reactions on everything from the lack of directing and acting nominations for Greta Gerwig and Margot Robbie, respectively, to the seemingly inevitable sweep by Christopher Nolan's Oppenheimer that is expected when the Academy Awards are handed out on March 10th.

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Mentioned in the Episode:

Stereoactive Presents: 'The Killer' // a movie discussion /// https://www.stereoactivemedia.com/stereoactive-presents-the-killer-a-movie-discussion/

Stereoactive Presents: ‘Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny’ // a movie discussion /// https://www.stereoactivemedia.com/stereoactive-presents-indiana-jones-and-the-dial-of-destiny-a-movie-discussion/

Stereoactive Presents: 'Oppenheimer' // a movie discussion /// https://www.stereoactivemedia.com/stereoactive-presents-oppenheimer-a-movie-discussion/

===

Episode Credits:

Producer/Host: J. McVay

Guests: Charles Hinshaw

Music: Hansdale Hsu

Produced by Stereoactive Media

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Stereoactive Presents - Scotty Walker  on a Career in Music & Education
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05/31/23 • 74 min

J. McVay chats with Mr. Scotty Walker about his career in music and education. Mr. Walker is/was a high school band director for three decades at Lafayette High School, in Lafayette, Louisiana. During his time there, he built a music program that grew to be recognized across the state, the region, and the nation. Not only did the band perform on important stages and fields in Louisiana, but it traveled several times to New York City to play at Carnegie Hall and the Macy’s Thanksgiving Parade – and just recently, toward the end of what was his final school year as director, the band traveled to Hawaii to perform at Pearl Harbor. As a result of his long tenure and dedication, he’s come into contact with hundreds and hundreds – probably thousands – of students. On Saturday June 3rd, there will be a retirement banquet to celebrate his time as an educator and the impact he’s had on so many people, and through them, not only the community of Lafayette, but really any community his students have moved to, joined, or built up around themselves as they’ve gone out into the world. That banquet will be at the Atchafalaya Ballroom at the Student Union on the University of Louisiana campus in Lafayette.

===

Episode Credits:

Producer/Host: J. McVay

Guest: Scotty Walker

Music: Hansdale Hsu

Produced by Stereoactive Media

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J. McVay and Charles Hinshaw discuss ‘'Mission: Impossible - Dead Reckoning Part One' – directed by Christopher McQuarrie and starring Tom Cruise, Hayley Atwell, Ving Rhames, Simon Pegg, Rebecca Ferguson, Vanessa Kirby, Esai Morales, and Pom Klementieff.

They also discuss the current strikes by the WGA and SAG-AFTRA, the unions representing writers and actors who work in film and television – including Charles’ perspective as a member of SAG-AFTRA.

===

Episode Credits:

Producer/Host: J. McVay

Guests: Charles Hinshaw

Music: Hansdale Hsu

Produced by Stereoactive Media

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Stereoactive Presents - 'Oppenheimer' // a movie discussion
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08/25/23 • 46 min

How does one reconcile great achievement with a resultant aftermath that includes a massive death toll and perhaps the eventual death of the world? Can anything with those actual results and possible further outcomes even be considered a success at all? And how should we either celebrate or punish the people responsible for such things? These questions, along with plenty of others, are at the heart of Christopher Nolan’s Oppenheimer, a film with a relentlessly intense pace and swirling collection of talents flexing almost ridiculous levels of craftsmanship.

At the center of the swirl is Cillian Murphy as J. Robert Oppenheimer. Murphy's portrayal of a complicated genius who sees the world and its constituent parts in ways others don't or can’t, and who seems to feel he deserves both praise and punishment for what he's accomplished, is in the mold of Peter O'Toole's turn in Lawrence of Arabia.

Playing the counterweight, as Lewis Strauss, Robert Downey Jr. gives what is certainly one of his best performances of recent years, and quite possibly also of his career. Each actor holds the screen in transfixing ways, while together providing something of a balancing act across the film. On one side we have the rare person whose thoughts can change the world in irreversible ways, while on the other we have the epitome of a bureaucrat. Friction was inevitable.

The multi-layered, non-linear narrative and stylized cinematic theatrics are, in their way, surprisingly reminiscent of Oliver Stone’s work, especially ‘JFK.’ That said, the themes of the story and the styles employed in its telling are at once very much in line with Nolan’s previous work, even while representing a major leap of maturity. His interest in playing with time and chronology has never worked so well and his exploration of the often blurred lines between heroic and villainous figures has never been put to such perfect use. The ultimate result is one of the best movies of recent years.

J. McVay and Charles Hinshaw discuss the latest film written and directed by Christopher Nolan.

Oppenheimer stars Cillian Murphy as J. Robert Oppenheimer, the theoretical theorist who led the team that created the first atomic bombs during WWII. Also in the film are Emily Blunt, Matt Damon, Robert Downey Jr., and plenty of others.

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Mentioned in the episode:

Stereoactive Movie Club Ep 21 // Hiroshima Mon Amour

https://www.stereoactivemedia.com/ep-21-hiroshima-mon-amour/

===

Episode Credits:

Producer/Host: J. McVay

Guests: Charles Hinshaw

Music: Hansdale Hsu

Produced by Stereoactive Media

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Stereoactive Presents - ‘The Blair Witch Project’ // a 1999 film retrospective
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09/27/19 • 55 min

With this, their seventh episode in a series, J. McVay, Jacqueline Soller, and Charles Hinshaw continue to look back on movies released in 1999, discussing how they stand up 20 years on...

Directed by Daniel Myrick and Eduardo Sánchez, ‘The Blair Witch Project’ presents itself as a documentary pieced together from video, 16mm film, and audio discovered in the woods near Burkittsville, Maryland, one year after three film students disappeared there while attempting to make a film about a local legend known as the Blair Witch, who supposedly haunts the area. The film, as presented, follows Heather, Josh and Mike as they first speak to citizens of the town about the legend, then trek into the woods to find evidence of the legend. Each night, they’re confronted with increasingly bizarre occurrences outside their campsite, while each day they become more and more unsure of their path forward. Eventually, this cycle leaves them both completely lost and at odds with each other.

The film premiered at Sundance in January of 1999 before being released commercially on July 14th, later that year. In advance of the opening, the filmmakers mounted a marketing campaign that called into question whether the events and circumstances depicted in the movie were actually real or contrived. This campaign, in conjunction with the film’s website, were largely credited for the cultural and financial success it earned at the time, resulting in a movie with a budget of only $60,000 ultimately earning more than $248 million at the box office.

The critical response was largely positive, though not unanimous, with most of the negative responses seeming to hinge largely on considering the premise of the film some version of gimmicky. In terms of awards, the film garnered what I would call a strange or interesting mix of nominations or wins from groups focused on either independent or popular films, which perhaps speaks to its crossover status. And, of course, the film is pretty generally considered to have popularized the concept of the “found footage” film, which has been done in various ways since then.

===

Episode Credits:

Producer/Host: J. McVay

Guests: Jacqueline Soller, Charles Hinshaw

Music: Hansdale Hsu

Originally released as part of a previous podcast on 9/27/19

Now released and distributed by Stereoactive Media

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Stereoactive Presents - ‘The Killer’ // a movie discussion
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12/14/23 • 45 min

J. McVay and Charles Hinshaw discuss the latest film directed by David Fincher. The Killer stars Michael Fassbender as the meticulous hitman of the film’s title. Also in the film are Tilda Swinton, Charles Parnell, Sala Baker, Arliss Howard, and Kerry O’Malley.

It's almost a cliche to talk about how filmmakers known as auteurs often make movies that are, in some way, seemingly about themselves. But in a year when Christopher Nolan made a film about a man whose groundbreaking work helped change the landscape of the world arguably for the worse and Wes Anderson made a film about locking a cast of characters into a tightly controlled environment in order to serve a narrative to the outside world, it's perhaps hard to dispute this sometimes does in fact happen. And now, David Fincher has made a film in which a cold, calculating professional must grapple with the resultant fallout from the failure of his usual perfectionist work ethic.

In The Killer, Michael Fassbender stars as the titular character in a performance as precise and intentional as any Fincher has ever directed. And it can hardly be a coincidence that the director chose as his perhaps-avatar an actor whose work bringing an android to life was the best parts of both 2012's Prometheus and 2017's Alien: Covenant.

The film is something of a rarity in its dedication to a mostly subjective point of view, as we experience the thoughts and actions of Fassbender's unnamed character through matter of fact voiceover, as well as sound design and cinematography that often allows us to see and hear the world through his eyes and ears. But for all the access we're given to the killer's interiority, he's still largely inscrutable in many ways. That said, what's compelling about both the character and the film are the small ways in which he reveals himself as human, by either accident or momentary surrender to circumstance. Any small moment of humanity presents as a nearly monumental display in the context of the otherwise methodical procedural the film pretends to be and, as a result, those small moments become incredibly satisfying.

The Killer is now available on Netflix.

===

Mentioned in the episode:

Stereoactive Presents... Fight Club and Mank.

https://www.stereoactivemedia.com/stereoactive-presents-david-fincher/

===

Episode Credits:

Producer/Host: J. McVay

Guests: Charles Hinshaw

Music: Hansdale Hsu

Produced by Stereoactive Media

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Stereoactive Presents - ‘Maestro’ // a movie discussion
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02/05/24 • 26 min

J. McVay and Charles Hinshaw discuss Bradley Cooper’s second film as a director and co-writer. Maestro stars Cooper as conductor and composer Leonard Bernstein, Carey Mulligan as his wife Felicia, and is available on Netflix.

Before 2012’s Silver Linings Playbook, Bradley Cooper may have seemed like he was destined to be in nothing but pulpy movies like Limitless or bro-flicks like The Hangover – at the time, both fairly recent hits for him that had already changed his career and made him a more bankable leading man. But Silver Linings Playbook put him into that different category of quote-unquote “serious actor” seemingly destined to one day win an Academy Award. And 2018’s A Star Is Born proved him also a serious prospect as a writer and director. So anticipation for his second film as a triple hyphenate actor-writer-director, Maestro, was obviously highly anticipated.

Unfortunately, there’s also been a certain narrative building up around Cooper – at least with the very-online portion of the film commentariat – that his supposed thirst to prove himself by winning an Oscar and being taken seriously as not only an actor, but an all around filmmaker is cringey and unseemly. But if you can deliver the goods, maybe you deserve a bit of allowance in that regard.

And ultimately, Cooper has the goods. Between Maestro and A Star Is Born, he’s clearly proven himself to be a great director. As far as acting goes, I don’t think the jury was still out on that one.

Really, the only real problem with Maestro, which portrays the relationship between famed conductor and composer Leonard Bernstein and his wife Felicia, is its screenplay... which, counter-intuitively, is not to say the writing is bad, necessarily. Each scene is internally impressive on its own, but the film as a whole lacks a solid throughline and feels disjointed and unfocused. Perhaps this can at least be partly attributed to the decision to position the film as if it’s actually more about Felicia (wonderfully played by Carey Mulligan, by the way) than it is about Bernstein himself. It’s a perplexing decision because it leaves Bernstein feeling inadequately explored, while the centering of Felicia seems forced and, itself, inadequately justified.

All that said, it’s not everyday we get a movie as otherwise beautifully shot, crafted, and performed as Maestro, so here’s hoping the next screenplay Cooper co-writes is up to his skills as a director and performer, as well as the skills of the excellent crew and cast he surrounds himself with.

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Mentioned in the episode:

Stereoactive Presents: Oscars Nomination Reactions for 2023 Films

https://www.stereoactivemedia.com/stereoactive-presents-oscars-nomination-reactions-for-2023-films/

===

Episode Credits:

Producer/Host: J. McVay

Guests: Charles Hinshaw

Music: Hansdale Hsu

Produced by Stereoactive Media

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Stereoactive Presents - An Oscar Preview & Our Favorite Films of 2022
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03/08/23 • 121 min

J. McVay, Jacqueline Soller, and Charles Hinshaw discuss their favorite movies of 2022 and the Oscar nominations in the major categories ahead of the Academy Awards ceremony this weekend. Also, since they haven’t been on mic together since August 2021, when thee old podcast they used to do ended, they catch up on some other movies release since then – and the state of movies/moviegoing in general.

===

Episode Credits:

Producer/Host: J. McVay

Guests: Jacqueline Soller & Charles Hinshaw

Music: Hansdale Hsu

Produced by Stereoactive Media

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FAQ

How many episodes does Stereoactive Presents have?

Stereoactive Presents currently has 29 episodes available.

What topics does Stereoactive Presents cover?

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

What is the most popular episode on Stereoactive Presents?

The episode title '‘Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny’ // a movie discussion' is the most popular.

What is the average episode length on Stereoactive Presents?

The average episode length on Stereoactive Presents is 37 minutes.

How often are episodes of Stereoactive Presents released?

Episodes of Stereoactive Presents are typically released every 34 days, 19 hours.

When was the first episode of Stereoactive Presents?

The first episode of Stereoactive Presents was released on Jul 1, 2017.

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