Celluloid Pudding – Details, episodes & analysis

Sam and Beth have pulled out all the stops for this Christmas Special EXTRAVAGANZA!

We take a meandering deep dive into the 1951 Christmas classic, and make our lists for some of the best versions of this time honored tale, as well as examine the ancient traditions celebrated during this time of year.

But wait, there’s more!

We have fashioned, by our own humble hands and feeble minds—Christmas gifts for you dear listeners, that await you, and that we lovingly tucked under the tree.

Please grab a cup of warming grog or nog, and sit with us by the fire, won’t you?

May all your holiday prayers and wishes be realized with the coming of the New Year.

Kids, it’s that time of year again. Who needs hunky bachelors decked out in flannel in some quaint little New England or Midwestern hamlet oozing Christmas drip?

Not us.

Sam picked out a nice alternative to the typical film faire for the Yuletide season. Dead End is a strange little film, but well crafted given its modest budget, and wonderfully acted by veterans Ray Wise and Lin Shaye.

The film plays with the gruesomeness possessed in one’s imagination. It doesn’t go for the cheap jump scares, but instead builds on atmosphere and the tension of the mundane, like getting lost on a never ending lonely two lane road, and wondering what will happen in the dark when the needle hits “E” .

For those of you who are purists about your Christmas scares, fear not, because we have a classic to follow up this episode, right before the fat man in the red suit arrives. Have fun this holiday season, be safe, and most of all, don’t take any shortcuts.

The year is 1976, America is busy finding new ways to celebrate their Bicentennial. Somewhere across the Atlantic, in a wine shop in Paris, a somewhat anonymous British wine merchant evolves a plan for a wine “showdown” — the great wines of France vs those young hippie upstarts of Napa and Sonoma, California in a head to head wine tasting, hosted in France. This event would later go down in history as the “Judgement of Paris” and from that day forward, it would have global and historic implications for wine commerce and wine enthusiasts.

Bottle Shock is an amusing and palatable little film for any oenophile. It is always a pleasure to have my friend Bill come on as a guest, but when he speaks on wine, it’s a heady and deep discussion on the subject. The man has a passion for what he does, and his knowledge on the subject of wine is expansive. This is a great episode to pair up with the episode Bill and I did for the film Sideways, and we think both films would pair well as a double feature and a nice Virginia, Petit Verdot and some Gruyère.

By the way, all 50 states now have at least one winery. I hear New Jersey makes a kickass Rose’

https://youtu.be/5CauYc4VSJU?si=-VTBLAcwMxQfCZAS

Join us later this week as we tackle Quentin Tarantino’s and Robert Rodriguez’s monster double feature and homage to low budget thriller exploitation cinema. “Planet Terror” and “Deathproof” are a perfect pair to wake us out of the doldrums on a hot summer night!

This 1999 Spike Lee film features a heatwave in New York in 1977, rolling blackouts, a deranged serial killer on the loose, disco & punk rock, orgies, infidelities, vigilantes, the Mob...and oh so much more! Did Spike Lee manage to cover all of those bases? Oh yes. Mad respect for Professor Lee. Please join us, but also please check out the film for yourself. Here is a terrific retrospective and dialogue Elvis Mitchel conducted with Spike Lee: https://youtu.be/pAkER9YPjaQ. Here’s a frank episode of Charlie Rose with Mira Sorvino and John Leguizamo. They are enchantingly down to earth. https://charlierose.com/videos/9425.

First there was Alien (1979), and it was meet and good. From its cells sprang forth a new species. Ridley Scott and Sigourney Weaver created a character as intriguing and formidable as the alien foe encountered on LV426. James Cameron and Gale Anne Hurd saw the greatness in “Ripley” so much so that despite hemming and hawing of studio execs they were determined to center their epic Sci Fi/Action major motion picture on a woman as the hero. There is a truth in “Aliens” that supersedes all arguments in our current political retrograde. Women are strong, capable, intelligent, and brave. Women have proven themselves. Women are downright HEROES.

This time it’s war. Coming to a podcast near you this Thursday, July 14, 2022. Don’t go into space alone!

Happy July! We are deep in summer—it’s a mood (especially if you have no air conditioning). We had a great time recording this episode on July 3rd with our dear friend and fellow movie lover Mr. Bill (Luckey). So get yourself a cold drink, your beach umbrella and most comfortable string bikini or baggies. Slap on some extra SPF 100 and dig those toes in the sand and listen to our latest ep. celebrating the original Summer Blockbuster— JAWS. Bonus: enjoy The Little Kintner Boys track “Same Old Life (Barroom)” —beach shanty mellow vibes abound. https://youtu.be/xBu0sdnaWDo

Join us and one of our bestest friends Mr. Bill (Luckey) as we celebrate the 4th and discuss the grandpappy of all Summer Blockbusters. Coming this Thursday! #July4 #JAWS

In light of recent events--yes, those events that just took away constitutional rights from women, we decided to do a flying lead change and cover the aptly-named Portrait of a Lady on Fire. The year is 1770, and a woman must make a decision about her body, her future and what she will do about it. But this is no grim tale of bloody hangers and sepsis (though the latter must surely have been a risk in these days and now *these* days), but a world where women are supportive of one another, do not flinch from the social or personal gaze in so private a choice, and take control without fanfare. This film is about many things, and we were hoping to save it for a rainy day, but alas that rainy day has come. It is an exquisite and relevant film about being a woman, an artist, a human being. A terrific article on the theme of abortion in Portrait of a Lady on Fire: https://www.bitchmedia.org/article/portrait-of-a-lady-on-fires-abortion-scene-was-radical. More about artist Hélène Delmaire https://www.criterion.com/current/posts/7084-the-brush-behind-the-film-how-painter-h-l-ne-delmaire-created-our-portrait-of-a-lady-on-fire-cover.