Explore every episode of the podcast Alternate Sides
| Title | Pub. Date | Duration | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1992: Scent of a Woman | 25 Jun 2024 | 00:46:43 | |
We close out Season Two of the podcast with Martin Brest’s drama Scent of a Woman, starring Al Pacino and Chris O’Donnell. | |||
| 1991: The Silence of the Lambs | 25 Jun 2024 | 00:39:11 | |
This week week we’re taking a bite out of Jonathan Demme’s classic serial-killer thriller The Silence of the Lambs, starring Jodie Foster and Anthony Hopkins. | |||
| Holiday Special: Elf | 20 Dec 2023 | 00:36:26 | |
It’s a special holiday episode! We’re deviating from our usual chronology to talk about Jon Favreau’s 2003 Christmas classic, Elf, starring Will Ferrell, Zooey Deschanel, and James Caan. And it turns out that neither of us had ever seen this movie before this week. | |||
| 1982: Fanny and Alexander | 11 Dec 2023 | 00:41:41 | |
This week we close out Season One of the podcast with a conversation about Ingmar Bergman’s family epic Fanny and Alexander, starring Bertil Guve, Ewa Fröling, and Jan Malmsjö. | |||
| 1981: Thief | 11 Dec 2023 | 00:39:03 | |
This week we discuss Michael Mann’s gritty debut feature, Thief, starring James Caan and Tuesday Weld. LINKS: | |||
| 1980: The Elephant Man | 11 Dec 2023 | 00:38:51 | |
This week we explore David Lynch’s black-and-white period drama The Elephant Man, starring Anthony Hopkins, John Hurt, and Anne Bancroft. | |||
| 1979: Being There and Life of Brian | 11 Dec 2023 | 00:40:29 | |
This week we tackle two movies. Hal Ashby’s American satire Being There, starring Peter Sellers; and Terry Jones’s biblical spoof Monty Python’s Life of Brian, starring the Pythons. | |||
| 1978: Days of Heaven | 11 Dec 2023 | 00:36:58 | |
This week we discuss Terence Malick’s luminous period drama Days of Heaven, starring Richard Gere, Brooke Adams, and Sam Shepard. LINKS: | |||
| 1977: Stroszek | 11 Dec 2023 | 00:38:44 | |
This week we discuss Werner Herzog’s black comedy Stroszek, starring Bruno S, Eva Mattes, and Clemens Scheitz. | |||
| 1976: Rocky | 11 Dec 2023 | 00:38:07 | |
This week we discuss John Avildsen’s rousing and immortal Rocky, starring Sylvester Stallone and Talia Shire. LINKS: | |||
| 1975: The Passenger | 11 Dec 2023 | 00:36:49 | |
This week we talk about Michelangelo Antonioni's existentialist thriller The Passenger, starring Jack Nicholson and Maria Schneider. Plus: What George Plimpton found at the top of the Brooklyn Bridge. | |||
| 1974: The Last Detail | 11 Dec 2023 | 00:34:02 | |
This week we talk about Hal Ashby's road movie The Last Detail, starring Jack Nicholson, Otis Young, and Randy Quaid. Plus: James shares a bedroom with Sam's parents. | |||
| 1990: An Angel at My Table | 25 Jun 2024 | 00:39:48 | |
This week we discuss the journey of author Janet Frame in Jane Campion’s biographical drama An Angel at My Table, starring Alexia Keogh, Karen Fergusson, and Kerry Fox. | |||
| 1973: Don't Look Now | 11 Dec 2023 | 00:34:07 | |
At Sam's suggestion, James starts his journey with Nicolas Roeg's 1973 horror-thriller Don't Look Now, starring Donald Sutherland and Julie Christie. | |||
| Series Intro | 11 Dec 2023 | 00:12:31 | |
James accepts that it's time to overcome his fears and watch some movies, but he'll need some guidance. Sam, stuck in his car thanks to New York's alternate-side-parking regulations, is only too happy to oblige. | |||
| 1989: Do the Right Thing | 25 Jun 2024 | 00:40:20 | |
This week we explore Spike Lee’s comedy-drama Do the Right Thing, starring Spike Lee, Danny Aiello, John Turturro and Rosie Perez. | |||
| 1988: Dangerous Liaisons | 25 Jun 2024 | 00:42:53 | |
This week we discuss Stephen Frears’s film-adapted-from-a-play-adapted-from-a-novel Dangerous Liaisons, starring Glenn Close, John Malkovich, and Michelle Pfeiffer. | |||
| 1987: Fatal Attraction | 25 Jun 2024 | 00:40:20 | |
This week we take a stab at Adrian Lyne’s classic romantic thriller Fatal Attraction, starring Glenn Close and Michael Douglas. | |||
| 1986: Sid & Nancy and Round Midnight | 25 Jun 2024 | 00:40:22 | |
It’s a double-feature this week as we riff on two movies about musicians: Bertrand Tavernier’s Round Midnight and Alex Cox’s Sid and Nancy. | |||
| 1985: Ran | 25 Jun 2024 | 00:42:09 | |
This week we survey the expanses of Ran, Akira Kurosawa’s epic adaptation of Shakespeare’s King Lear. | |||
| 1984: Blood Simple | 25 Jun 2024 | 00:40:47 | |
This week we tackle the Coen Brothers’ gritty debut feature, Blood Simple, starring Frances McDormand, John Getz, and M. Emmet Walsh. | |||
| 1983: Eureka | 25 Jun 2024 | 00:39:34 | |
This week we discuss Nicolas Roeg’s period drama Eureka, starring Gene Hackman, Theresa Russell, and Rutger Hauer. | |||
| 2002: Minority Report | 29 Jul 2025 | 00:41:32 | |
We close out season three with Steven Spielberg’s dystopian thriller Minority Report, starring Tom Cruise, Colin Farrell, Samantha Morton and Max von Sydow. Plus: the seeming immortality of Tom Cruise, Sam’s first feature, and yet another award nomination – but this time, it’s not for Sam. LINKS: Will Ferrell takes one in the jugular in OId School Tom Cruise as Les Grossman in Tropic Thunder | |||
| 2001: Mulholland Dr | 29 Jul 2025 | 00:42:58 | |
This week we take a slow, spiraling ride down Mulholland Dr, David Lynch’s puzzle-box fever dream starring Naomi Watts, Laura Harring, and Justin Theroux. Plus: Transcendental Meditation, Adolescence, and the time James was up against Angelo Badalamenti for a film-scoring job. LINKS: Bob climbs over the sofa in Twin Peaks | |||
| 2000: American Psycho | 29 Jul 2025 | 00:39:55 | |
This week we slash our way through Mary Harron’s satirical horror-thriller American Psycho, starring Christian Bale, Chloe Sevigny, and Willem Dafoe. Plus: The Picard Maneuver! And Sam gets stalked by his auto mechanic. LINKS: | |||
| 1999: The Wind Will Carry Us | 29 Jul 2025 | 00:45:17 | |
This week we explore Abbas Kiarostami’s meditative drama The Wind Will Carry Us, starring Behzad Dorani. Plus: Iranian hospitality, Marjie’s Broadway debut, and the movie that led to Sam and James meeting each other. LINKS: Trailer for The Wind Will Carry Us Trailer for Joe Gould's Secret | |||
| 1998: Buffalo '66 & The Celebration | 29 Jul 2025 | 00:54:22 | |
A double-bill! Vincent Gallo’s Buffalo ‘66, starring Gallo and Christina Ricci; and Thomas Vinterberg’s Festen, or The Celebration, starring Ulrich Thomsen, Paprika Steen and Thomas Bo Larsen. One of them became an instant classic for James. Plus: Dogme 95 and the “vow of chastity.” LINKS: Trailer (a terrible and misleading one) for The Celebration | |||
| 1997: Boogie Nights | 29 Jul 2025 | 00:39:29 | |
This week we get into Paul Thomas Anderson’s 1997 kaleidoscopic end-of-an-era drama Boogie Nights, starring Mark Wahlberg, Julianne Moore, and Burt Reynolds. Plus: James’s psilocybin adventure! LINKS: | |||
| 1996: Lone Star | 29 Jul 2025 | 00:38:18 | |
This week we explore John Sayles’s 1996 bordertown drama Lone Star, starring Chris Cooper, Matthew McConaughey, and Kris Kristofferson. Plus: Sam goes to the Emmys! LINKS: | |||
| 1995: Safe | 29 Jul 2025 | 00:40:59 | |
This week we explore Todd Haynes’s prescient 1995 environmental-illness drama Safe, starring Julianne Moore. Plus: Emmy nominations, James’s upcoming psilocybin journey, and how bad Sam is at running. LINKS: | |||
| 1994: Shallow Grave | 29 Jul 2025 | 00:41:36 | |
This week we dig up Danny Boyle’s suitcase-full-of-cash thriller Shallow Grave, starring Ewan McGregor, Kerry Fox, and Christopher Eccleston. Plus: Ripley, the frustrations of tourism, and the European Cup. LINKS: | |||
| 1993: Carlito's Way | 29 Jul 2025 | 00:42:17 | |
We kick off Season Three of the podcast with Brian De Palma’s crime drama Carlito’s Way, starring Al Pacino, Penelope Ann Miller, and Sean Penn. Plus: offensive accents, an update on Sam’s car, and the time we almost paid someone $10,000 to read a script. LINKS: The Globe and Shakespeare’s “anti-literalism” Trailer for Bonnie, a documentary about casting director Bonnie Timmermann | |||