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Explore every episode of the podcast A Century in Cinema

Dive into the complete episode list for A Century in Cinema. Each episode is cataloged with detailed descriptions, making it easy to find and explore specific topics. Keep track of all episodes from your favorite podcast and never miss a moment of insightful content.

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TitlePub. DateDuration
THE END27 Dec 202201:57:44

Join our Patreon for bonus episodes, and thank you to our Patreon subscribers for supporting the show! This week we talk about Avatar The Way of Water.

We say goodbye to our wonderful listeners and revisit some of our past opinions and favorite episodes. We also thank all of our guests and talk about what we got out of this project.

2019 A HIDDEN LIFE22 Nov 202201:33:38

With violent right-wing movements around the world in the 2010s, there's never been a better time to visit Terrence Malick's A Hidden Life.  In proper Malick fashion, we jump from point to point, ranging from the director's career, his unique filming style, the Disney-Fox merger, and the end of our podcast. Join us for our last official film discussion of A Century in Cinema.

2010 CERTIFIED COPY20 Sep 202200:56:25

Abbas Kiarostami's Certified Copy inspires a variety of discussions about hyperreality, film festival bubbles, and why Iran banned a film directed by one of their greatest filmmakers.

1921 THE PHANTOM CARRIAGE10 Oct 202000:34:25

Victor Sjöström’s Swedish film The Phantom Carriage inspires discussions about early visual effects, the prohibition movement, and the horror of working a job for over 36,000 years.

1920 WITHIN OUR GATES09 Oct 202000:50:14

After a World War, a flu pandemic,  and a series of race riots in the United States... Oscar Micheaux’s independently produced Within Our Gates premiered in 1920. Known for being the oldest surviving film from an African-American director, it is also seen as a response to the racial climate in America at the time, as well as D.W. Griffith’s The Birth of a Nation (1915). We discuss all these topics, as well as early silent cinema.

2009 DOGTOOTH13 Sep 202201:00:21

As the events of the Great Recession play out, we turn to Greece where the country's debt crisis is (or isn't) showcased in the dark allegory of Yorgos Lanthimos' Dogtooth.


2008 TWILIGHT06 Sep 202201:02:20

Twilight and the mania surrounding the franchise at the time offers us an opportunity to talk about fandoms, romance, (Cronenberg,) modern gothic-horror, and how volatile criticism is thrown at media made for women versus media made for men.

2007 PERSEPOLIS (feat. Élise Hanson)30 Aug 202201:02:40

In the wake of 9/11, anti-Muslim bigotry swept across the western world. Artists like Marjane Satrapi push against the hatred with her graphic novel turned animated film, Persepolis, showing audiences what it was really like to live through the Iranian revolution and war with Iraq. Local playwriter Élise Hanson joins us to talk about how films can help us empathize with other cultures and gain a deeper understanding of the people around the world.

2006 VOLVER23 Aug 202200:56:09

We talk about the Spanish film Volver  and the life of its esteemed director Pedro Almodóvar.

2005 A HISTORY OF VIOLENCE16 Aug 202201:02:18

A History of Violence inspires discussions of the American psyche in a post-9/11 world and survival of the fittest within the human species. We talk about how this film fits into the careers of David Cronenberg and Viggo Mortensen.

2004 SAW09 Aug 202200:52:23

While the Saw franchise would later go on to be defined by blood and guts and 3D gimmicks, Arthur and Andrew really admire the genuine tension and horror of the first film. We discuss the successful career of James Wan, how horror films have changed since Saw, and the "gamification" of watching films.

2003 SPRING, SUMMER, FALL, WINTER... AND SPRING02 Aug 202200:54:27

While the US launches a second war with Iraq, we turn to talk about the burgeoning Korean film industry and Kim Ki-Duk's Spring, Summer, Fall, Winter... and Spring. We discuss movies that tackle adult topics, how we relate to the philosophy in this movie, the life of the director, and The Passion of the Christ. Also, do arthouse films have to be boring?

2002 DEVDAS26 Jul 202200:57:13

Arthur and Andrew venture to the grandiose world of Bollywood to discuss Devdas. We talk about the major differences between the films we've come to expect in the west and the melodrama of the masala musical genre. We also talk about the state of musicals in the American film landscape.

*Mandy Moore, not Marilyn Monroe

2001 NO MAN'S LAND19 Jul 202200:48:34

For Arthur and Andrew, the Bosnian War of the 1990s may have been overshadowed by the 9/11 terrorists attacks in 2001,  but it's certainly still worth exploring in a film like No Man's Land. This week we discuss how this movie subverts the expectations of war films set up by Saving Private Ryan a few years earlier, and we also attempt to wrap our heads around the Bosnian War (we do not do a good job).


2018 MANDY15 Nov 202200:59:15
What is the cult-classic Nicolas Cage film Mandy actually about? We discuss the masculinity and religious overtones of this insane film from director Panos Cosmatos.

2000 MISS CONGENIALITY12 Jul 202200:56:01

Arthur and Andrew are back and talking about the movies of the new millennium! Terrorists threaten the world AND the beauty pageants of San Antonio! Learn about screenplay tropes, contemporary Hollywood, and our opinions on Rotten Tomatoes as we watch and discuss Miss Congeniality! Also Sandra Bullock!!

1999 THE VIRGIN SUICIDES (feat. James Westervelt)31 May 202201:08:03

On the eve of the new millennium, Sofia Coppola's bold debut feature The Virgin Suicides premiered to critical acclaim. We're joined by James Westervelt as we take a look at the way the film uses the aesthetic of 90's independent film to tackle a challenging subject from within the Hollywood system. We also announce a short break before we head into the last two decades of A Century in Cinema.

1998 THE CELEBRATION24 May 202200:54:15

In 1995, a group of Danish filmmakers including Lars von Trier and Thomas Vinterberg railed against the state of modern movies and drafted the Dogme 95 manifesto. We take a look at Vinterberg's The Celebration, the first film of the Dogme 95 canon, to explore the ideas of the unique filmmaking movement and how well the rules can apply to directors today.


1997 FACE/OFF17 May 202200:46:46

Poetic cinema as Tarkovsky intended... We discuss John Woo's Face/Off! How this film came to be, 1990s cheese in this film versus Showgirls, and whether this film has established itself as a "classic".

1996 THE WATERMELON WOMAN10 May 202200:51:34

Before the 1990s, we wouldn't expect to see a film like The Watermelon Woman, a microbudget movie by a black queer filmmaker about black queer issues. But it's also a staple of 1990s independent cinema for its self-reflexivity: a film about filmmaking and film history. We tie together past episodes on Baby Face and A Page of Madness as we consider the canon of film that The Watermelon Woman challenges, and the way groups of people are buried by history. 

1995 SHOWGIRLS03 May 202201:06:59

Arthur and Andrew discuss a misunderstood masterpiece... the infamous NC-17 box office bomb... often cited as one of the worst films of all time... Paul Verhoeven's Showgirls.

1994 THREE COLORS: RED26 Apr 202201:07:02

This week: Krzysztof Kieślowski's Three Colors trilogy, in which the Polish director sets three stories of intimate human connection amidst the formation of the European Union. These films were celebrated upon their release and have gone on to become classics in the international independent film scene.

1993 SLEEPLESS IN SEATTLE19 Apr 202201:10:06

Arthur and Andrew discuss this round of Hollywood romanticism, our thoughts on rom-coms, and terrorist attacks. Nora Ephron's Sleepless in Seattle was a bold film at the time, where the leads don't meet until the end and the movie was released shortly after Jurassic Park. How does it hold up in 2022?

1992 EL MARIACHI12 Apr 202200:54:34

To highlight the burgeoning era of independent film, we take a look at El Mariachi and the filmography of Robert Rodriguez, who infamously produced this movie on a shoestring budget of $7000. How did he put his body on the line to obtain that money? What kind of tricks on set did he use to pull this off? And is this really a film that only cost $7000?

1991 POINT BREAK05 Apr 202200:54:21

Moving into the 1990s, we take a look at Point Break from director Kathryn Bigelow. How does the MTV aesthetic influence films of this era? How have action movies changed over the years since this movie? And how hot are Keanu Reeves and Patrick Swayze? All this and more.

2017 A GHOST STORY08 Nov 202201:23:00

A Ghost Story offers us a remedy to nihilistic thoughts as we discuss the isolation and depression of our modern age, we also talk about A24 as a brand, what a $100,000 film looks like, as well as Red Letter Media and film criticism on the internet, . We also talk about the #metoo movement that marks a cultural shift in the entertainment industry.

1990 AKIRA KUROSAWA'S DREAMS29 Mar 202200:52:52

Time just keeps on moving... We're in the 90s and we take a look at one of the last films from the legendary director Akira Kurosawa. Dreams is more like an autobiographical poem and we speak about how the different stories within the mosaic affected us, our favorite parts, and our own fears about the world.

1989 BATMAN22 Mar 202201:03:49

The Soviet Union collapses, Nintendo releases the Gameboy, and Batman dominates the summer box office. We talk about the Batman-mania the swept through Hollywood and the USA, stories from the set, Tim Burton, as well as comparing the various iterations of the caped crusader.


1988 THE THIN BLUE LINE15 Mar 202201:01:20

Director Errol Morris reinvents the idea of documentary films with 1988's The Thin Blue Line. We talk about the film's innovative use of crime scene reenactments, human memory and eyewitness testimony, how that ties into the cinematic experience, and what "the truth" is.



1987 PREDATOR (feat. Stephane Glynn)08 Mar 202201:00:31

We welcome special guest Stephane Glynn who wrote his graduate thesis on American imperialism of foreign bodies. What does that mean in the context of Predator and 1980s action films? We talk about Arnold Schwarzenegger, Ronald Reagan, primitive CGI effects, and a whole lot more!

1986 BLUE VELVET01 Mar 202200:58:07

Blue Velvet presents an idyllic view of contemporary Americana, but confronts the culture's dark psychological underbelly. Blue Velvet may also be the key to understanding David Lynch's work. We talk about Dune (again), Roger Ebert's infamous review of the film, and the career of a truly unique filmmaker.

1985 MISHIMA: A LIFE IN FOUR CHAPTERS22 Feb 202200:58:48

A controversial film about a controversial public figure. In 1970, Yukio Mishima and members of his private army took a Japanese General hostage and attempted to inspire a coup against the government. Failing, Mishima then committed ritual suicide. How does a team of American filmmakers led by Paul Shrader tackle a story like this? We discuss music, art direction, and repressed homosexuality in Mishima: A Life in Four Chapters.

1984 AMADEUS (feat. Chandler Burns)15 Feb 202200:58:38

Amadeus sweeps the Oscars and we have Chandler Burns from behind-the-scenes at the Sundance Film Festival to tell us all about it. We discuss a range of topics, from the story's beginnings on Broadway to the production's tense moments in communist Czechoslovakia.

1983 SCARFACE08 Feb 202200:52:53

Scarface is radically violent for the time period, pushing boundaries with the US rating system, but what is the film's message? We wrestle with the film's viewpoints on immigration and the persistent popularity of a despicable main character in Tony Montana. Is this a story that glorifies a greedy 1980s lifestyle in American culture? Fear-mongering with Cuban immigrants? Or just anti-Florida propaganda?

1982 VERONIKA VOSS01 Feb 202200:48:38

From West Germany, reflecting on the country's relationship with its fascist past, we take a last-minute look at Veronika Voss. Andrew tells us about his problematic hero, director Rainer Werner Fassbinder, and the film's bold assessment of the post-war culture through the style of old Hollywood melodramas like Sunset Boulevard.

1981 ESCAPE FROM NEW YORK25 Jan 202200:55:48

John Carpenter and Kurt Russell team up to Escape from New York as a response to Watergate and the economic decline of New York City. We watch Siskel and Ebert give their television review of this film, and we ask why we really enjoy certain b-movies like this one.

2016 THE HANDMAIDEN01 Nov 202201:13:57

Worldwide political extremism has a lot of us turning to film and entertainment in 2016. We talk about Park Chan-wook's The Handmaiden, a South Korean film that Andrew has been looking forward to discussing since the beginning of the podcast. Topics include LGBTQ cinema, how to conduct sex scenes, and the Japanese colonization of Korea in the 1930s.

1980 KAGEMUSHA18 Jan 202200:53:20

While Ronald Reagan is elected President in the United States, we look to Japan where master filmmaker Akira Kurosawa rekindles his career with Kagemusha. Arthur and Andrew geek out and profess their love for all things Kurosawa, his use of color, and his attention to historical details. Find out how George Lucas and Francis Ford Coppola got involved in this film's production.

In our Patreon episode, we talk about our favorite and least favorite movies from Kurosawa's career and Arthur confronts the idea that Kurosawa actually did make bad films.

1979 MANHATTAN (feat. Noah Cannon)11 Jan 202200:58:52

New York City went through many infamous changes in the 1970s, but director Woody Allen held an affection for the city's past life. Arthur and Andrew welcome self-appointed Woody Allen expert Noah Cannon to the show to talk about Manhattan and the life of its director, writer, and star. We discuss why so many people hate Woody Allen and why Woody Allen hates himself. We also lavish praise on Gordon Willis' cinematography and look back on the decade to discuss our favorite and least favorite films we watched for the podcast.

And in our bonus episode available to Patreon subscribers, we ask the question: how would Manhattan fare in today's box office?



1978 THE DEER HUNTER04 Jan 202200:57:53

Three years after the US military evacuates from Saigon, Hollywood begins to tackle the Vietnam War with Michael Cimino's The Deer Hunter. We talk about the controversy surrounding this film upon its release, how the story holds a mirror to US society's attitude towards Vietnam, and Andrew's mom's reaction to The Deer Hunter. We also talk about Oscar bait as a concept.

1977 THE ASCENT28 Dec 202100:53:03

One film overshadows the box office and pop culture in 1977, so do not worry, we speak about the importance of Star Wars before getting to our main topic: The Ascent by director Larisa Shepitko from the Soviet Union. We talk about this film's victory against the Soviet censors and our experience taking in challenging anti-war films like this one.

For our Patreon bonus episode we talk about the future we'd like to see for the Star Wars franchise.

1976 ALL THE PRESIDENT'S MEN21 Dec 202100:49:50

Government conspiracies and sinister secrets are on the public's mind in the wake of Watergate. We start with a discussion of All the President's Men, but Arthur and Andrew meander through various conspiracy theories, Alan J. Pakula's paranoia trilogy, the intricacies of the Watergate scandal, and what on Earth a split diopter is.

For our Patreon bonus episode, we get into the holiday spirit and discuss gift giving, Christmas films, and the new movie Spencer!

1975 NASHVILLE14 Dec 202100:59:51

What does Nashville have to say about the American psyche? What is the public's response to so many recent and unprecedented political events? How does director Robert Altman achieve such an epic scope to explore these themes? While Jaws dominated the box office in 1975, Nashville became a critical and award-winning film that defined the era in a different way.

For our Patreon bonus episode, Andrew compares the new West Side Story (2021) to the 1961 version we watched for the podcast.

1974 PHANTOM OF THE PARADISE (feat. Kagan Breitenbach)07 Dec 202101:04:46

With the Watergate scandal and the worldwide recession continuing through 1974, you could blink and miss a true cult-classic from director Brian De Palma: Phantom of the Paradise. Composer Kagan Breitenbach joins us to talk about this underground rock-opera, how the music subtly highlights dark themes, and the many influences in pop culture that were clearly inspired by this film.

In our Patreon episode for premium listeners, we talk about Halloween Kills and its place in the Halloween franchise.

1973 THE HOLY MOUNTAIN30 Nov 202100:56:06

Internationally, the early 1970s are filled with political upheavals and economic recessions around the world, so filmmakers capture the dizzying mood with bold and controversial films. We continue our exploration of cult cinema with Alejandro Jodorowsky's The Holy Mountain, one of the strangest but most unique and exciting films on our list. Among our topics of discussion you can expect us to interpret religious symbolism, debate animal deaths on film, and sort through the wild [alleged] life story of director Jodorowsky.

In our Patreon episode for premium listeners, we talk about Jodorowsky's Dune and our thoughts before going into the new 2021 adaptation.

1972 PINK FLAMINGOS23 Nov 202100:51:39

** EXPLICIT CONTENT AHEAD **

At midnight screenings in the 1970s, new films push up against societal norms. In this shocking new episode... Arthur and Andrew take a look at Pink Flamingos from director John Waters and starring Divine. We talk about our initial reactions to this movie, how the public reacted to it in 1972, the state of independent cinema at the time, and we consider what makes a cult film a "cult film".

1971 A NEW LEAF16 Nov 202100:49:45

The next generation of filmmakers and their nostalgia for early Hollywood genres begins to influence a new wave of films in Hollywood. Arthur and Andrew take a look at A New Leaf from writer, director, and star Elaine May. We discuss the controversies between May and Paramount upon the film's release. Then we compare this film to an earlier movie on our list.

2015 BONE TOMAHAWK25 Oct 202201:09:00

According to the NYT, the racial politics of Bone Tomahawk are "abysmal", and it may not be a film we enjoyed, but it makes for an episode packed with great discussions. We talk about what role western films have in contemporary Hollywood, the digital look of modern films, how we try to watch a movie we don't like, as well as the career and potential problems you might have with the director, S. Craig Zahler.

1970 WANDA09 Nov 202100:58:00

Welcome back to Season 2 of A Century in Cinema!

We continue our exploration of independent cinema from the new Hollywood era with Wanda. We discuss how difficult it is to finance films, even when they're smaller in scale, and the challenges that come with leading a project like this. We also speak on the life and career of Barbara Loden as this film's star, writer, director, and producer. How does her filmmaking style compare with Dennis Hopper, the director of Easy Rider?

INTERMISSION12 Oct 202101:42:20

Arthur and Andrew have taken a short break. But we're recording new episodes and we're coming back soon.

In the intermission, we make a few announcements... before giving you a rare free jazz episode... reflecting on the successes of the podcast... talking about our favorite films in the first 50 years of the lineup... which ones have not stood the test of time... and what we've personally gained from doing this project week-by-week.

Of course, we want to thank our lovely listeners and hope you've been enjoying A Century in Cinema!

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