2000's Born Romantic is a little seen British comedy about dating in the Y2k era.  Chock a block with UK stars including Craig Ferguson, Catherine McCormack, Jimi Mistry, Adrian Lester, Olivia Williams, David Morrissey and Jane Horrocks, the film follows a group of lonely hearts finding love and laughter with a London salsa club as the center of their romantic universe. 

Dan and Vicky discuss the rarely seen film and how we find love and romance in the modern world.  They also talk about some recently seen items like The Rule of Jenny Penn, Freaky Tales, Hell of a Summer, The Amateur and MAX's medical drama The Pitt. 

Listen for their thoughts on finding community at the movies, remembering 9/11, and King Lear in Delaware!

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Based on the Stephen King short story, Oz Perkins The Monkey tells the story of a wind up toy monkey that haunts the lives of twin brothers Hal and Bill.  Christian Convery plays the twins as teen boys and Theo James plays them as adults.  Produced by James Wan, the film also stars Tatiana Maslany, Sarah Levy, Adam Scott, Elijah Wood and Perkins himself in the role of the boys' eccentric uncle.

Usually dipping back in time to find films, Dan and Vicky choose a Hot Date from 2025 to offer a look at a recent release.  They also discuss lots of recently seen like The Penguin Lessons, Snow White, Death of a Unicorn, Opus, Peacock series The Americas, the TCM series The Power of Film, and Dan's poignant reaction to Ru Paul's Drag Race. 

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The 2002 film Home Room imagines the unlikely friendship between two survivors of a school shooting - women from very different backgrounds united in tragedy.  Busy Philipps and Erika Christensen play Alicia and Deanna respectively and Victor Garber is the police investigator hoping the two will help answer questions about the deceased shooter.  With Columbine fresh in the world's memory, director/writer Paul F. Ryan attempts to examine the effect a mass shooting can have on the community and the people in it. 

Dan and Vicky discuss the little seen Home Room along with lots of recently seen like Salem's Lot 2024, The Wild Robot, Rosemary's Baby prequel Apartment 7A, Joker: Folie a Deux, Exhibiting Forgiveness, Civil War and The Substance.

Watch, like and subscribe to the pilot for Dan's web series West 40s below.  

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The Me First Decade.  The Decade of Greed.  The Yuppie Decade.  There are many names for the 1980's.  But the decade also represented an eclectic one for movies.  It was the decade that Hollywood really leaned in to the blockbuster after the successes of Jaws and Star Wars in the 70's.  It was the decade of bad hair and bad fashion.  It was the decade the film tastes of your Hot Date podcast hosts took hold.  

So for their next Top Ten episode, Dan and Vicky countdown their lists of their favorite movies of the 1980's.  No surprise, Dan's list is horror heavy and Vicky's list is heavy on nostalgia for 80's music, fashion and style.  

Have a listen and leave us some feedback or star rating.  Check out our website at www.hotdatepod.com.

For 1972's Baron Blood, director Mario Bava brought together the talents of some of the era's greatest genre stars and designers.  German actress Elke Sommer played the female lead and would do so again in Bava's Lisa and the Devil.  Future Oscar winner Carlo Rambaldi provided the gory make-up.  Bava fave Stelvio Cipriani composed the sometimes jaunty, sometimes dramatic music.  And American Joseph Cotten stepped in when Vincent Price turned down the pivotal role of Alfred Becker. 

Dan and Vicky discuss the 1972 campy Italian horror film along with lots of recently seen like Hamilton on Disney+; docs I'll Be Gone in the Dark and Scream, Queen; films Eurovision Song Contest, Blow Up, The Yakuza, The Alphabet Murders, Come to Daddy and The Hunt.  

Listen to Hot Date 109: Baron Blood and leave us some feedback.  Check out www.hotdatepod.com. 

For it's assured visual style and performances from Ray Liotta and Jason Patric, Joe Carnahan's Narc was the talk of the 2002 Sundance Film Festival, winning the Dramatic Grand Jury Prize and putting Carnahan securely on Hollywood's radar.  The film, co-produced by Liotta and his wife and snapped up by Tom Cruise and partner Paula Wagner for distribution, was set in Detroit but shot mostly in Toronto.  

Dan and Vicky look at the gritty procedural along with an eclectic mix of recently seen including Soylent Green, Lady Sings the Blues, 2019 slasher Haunt, 1937's Topper, Saturn 3, Amicus thriller And Now the Screaming Starts and a whole bunch of early Hitchcock. 

Give Hot Date 108: Narc a listen and leave us some feedback.  Check out our website at www.hotdatepod.com. 

Our original episode 107 was lost to the sound gods so we've kept the Hot Date chosen at the end of that podcast and move forward with the Vanity Fair adaptation Becky Sharp from 1935 starring Miriam Hopkins and directed by Rouben Mamoulian.  The film was the very first to employ the three strip Technicolor process which allowed for the full spectrum of color to be represented on film. 

Your podcast hosts, recording remotely after weeks of sound issues, check in on each other during the continued pandemic and recent social uprisings.  In addition to Becky Sharp, they share their thoughts on things they've been watching including the Young Vic production of Streetcar Named Desire with Gillian Andersen, documentaries on Roger Vadim and Jane Fonda, and films including Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde, Get In, League of Gentleman, The Crimson Kimono, Tea and Sympathy, and The Lovebirds.

Hot Date 107: Becky Sharp.  Have a listen and leave us feedback on our social media.  Check out our website at hotdatepod.com.

Please excuse our sound issues during this episode.  We hope it doesn't detract from your enjoyment of it.

Not your typical romantic comedy, director Goran Dukic's Wristcutters: A Love Story, based on Etgar Keret's short story "Kneller's Happy Campers," imagines an afterlife reserved for suicide victims trying to find meaning and acceptance.  Starring Patrick Fugit, Shea Whigham, Shannyn Sossaman and Tom Waits, the film was the darling of the 2006 Sundance Film Festival and was released nationwide in October of 2007.

Still in social isolation, Dan and Vicky discuss this eccentric film along with plenty of recently seen including Penny Dreadful: City of Angels, The Rise of Skywalker, Sounder, The Mind's Eye, Swingers, Mad Love and The Act of Killing.  

Stay home and stay with us.  Listen to Hot Date 106: Wristcutters and leave us some feedback.  Check out our website at www.hotdatepod.com. 

Despite the success of his Daphne Du Maurier adaptation Rebecca, Alfred Hitchcock thought the film too sentimental and romantic and longed to return to the type of sharp thriller that had made his reputation around the world.  With 1940's he found that film in Foreign Correspondent, a globe hopping World War II adventure that starts with a horrifying murder on the steps of the Amsterdam Parliament and ends with one of the most visceral plane crashes ever captured on film.

Dan and Vicky get another crack at discussing one of their favorite directors and it's pretty much a love fest.  In addition to Foreign Correspondent our socially isolating hosts pick over some of their recently seen including Color Out of Space, Autopsy, Lisa and the Devil, The World, the Flesh and the Devil, Dragged Across Concrete, Solo: A Star Wars Story, Key Largo, The Platform and some Shudder horror exclusives.  

You can't go anywhere so travel with us to 1940's Europe with Hot Date 105: Foreign Correspondent.  Check out our website at www.hotdatepod.com and leave us some feedback on your favorite podcast feeds.

It's hard to imagine any cast being better than the one director Jean Cocteau eventually assembled for his 1950 loose film adaptation of the Orpheus myth.  But there are stories that Cocteau offered the part of the princess, played to icy perfection by Maria Casares, to Greta Garbo and Marlene Dietrich. Both turned him down.  French actor Jean-Pierre Aumont also claimed that Cocteau had him and his wife Maria Montez in mind for the leads, a claim that the director refutes.  And there must have been some question how the casting of Jean Marais as Orpheus and Edouard Dermit as Cegeste would work since they were, respectively, Cocteau's once and current lovers!  

Dan and Vicky discuss this classic of the French New Wave along with some of their social distance viewing including Star Wars movies on Disney +, Briarpatch on USA, lots of TCM movies like Badlands, Bullitt, All That Heaven Allows and Autumn Sonata and and the plays One Man, Two Govunors and Much Ado About Nothing.  

We're locked down for another Hot Date so let Episode 104: Orpheus transport you to the Underworld and beyond.  Leave us some feedback and check out our website at www.hotdatepod.com.

NOTE:  In trying to accommodate necessary social distancing, this week's podcast was recorded with Vicky calling in via Zoom.  We apologize in advance for the sound quality and hope to get better at remote recording!  Enjoy and stay safe everyone. 

The work of Daphne du Maurier has been adapted many times for the screen, most notably by Alfred Hitchcock in 1940's Rebecca and 1964's The Birds. Lesser known among her stories is My Cousin Rachel, which nonetheless has gotten two films adaptations and several TV productions.  Dan and Vicky discuss the 2017 version directed by Roger Michell (Enduring Love, Notting Hill) and starring Rachel Weisz, Sam Claflin, and Iain Glen.

Social distancing has kept our hosts inside so there's lots of recently seen to talk about too including The Hunt, Spenser Confidential, The Invisible Man, Murder By Decree, Images and the timely Marc Maron: End Times Fun.  

Stay inside and listen to Hot Date 103: My Cousin Rachel.  Leave us some feedback and have fun on our website www.hotdatepod.com. 

Please note that Hot Date 102 was recorded BEFORE the Covid-19 pandemic hit crisis levels. Our discussion of it reflects that moment in time.  We encourage all our listeners to follow the guidelines set forth by health officials about washing hands thoroughly and often, social distancing and staying home if you feel sick.  Safe and healthy listening everyone!

Based on a Japanese comic of the same name, Park Chan-wook's Oldboy is South Korean cinema at it's boldest, most visceral and most emotional.  Not for the faint of heart, it will nonetheless wrench it with it's story of vengeance and redemption.  Your Hot Date hosts Dan and Vicky discuss this superb film, starring Choi Min-sik, Yoo Ji-tae and Kang Hye-jung, and which Spike Lee remade with Josh Brolin in 2013. 

They also get into some recently seen films including Emma, Motherless Brooklyn, 1940's Rebecca, and The House that Jack Built and some fun TV, stand up and Broadway.   

Your hosts wanna throw some sunshine on dark times.  Listen to Hot Date 102: Oldboy and leave us some feedback.  Check out our website at hotdatepod.com.  Be well and support each other.

1941's Cottage To Let started life as a play in London's West End.  It was a huge hit and film director Anthony Asquith (Browning Version, Pygmalion, The Importance of Being Earnest) did well to cast young actor George Cole and former Scrooge Alistair Sim who had appeared in the play -- they're the two most interesting characters.  But the cast is full of British screen and theater pros including Leslie Banks, John Mills, Michael Wilding and Jeanne De Casalis.

Dan and Vicky share their love for this lost gem from the British film tradition as well as some of their recently seen.  Recent films include Harley Quinn, The Gentleman, The Turning, The Lodge and Gretel and Hansel.  Select TV includes When They See Us, High Fidelity and a slew of real life crime specials from Hulu. 

Also, Vicky catches us up on the latest from Funikijam and Dan tells us about his visit to Broadway to catch the new musical Tina, based on the life of Tina Turner. 

Take a listen to Hot Date 101:  Cottage to Let and leave us some feedback.  Check out our website at hotdatepod.com.

The 1990 Australian film Blood Oath (aka Prisoners of the Sun) is the harrowing true to life story of the military tribunal put together on the Indonesian island of Ambon to investigate the mass killings of Australian soldiers in a Japanese POW camp.  Leading the charge is Captain Cooper, played by stalwart Aussie actor Bryan Brown (FX, Cocktail, Anyone But You) and a whole battalion of great supporting turns from Deborah Unger, Terry O' Quinn, Russell Crowe, Toshi Shioya, Tetsu Watanabe, George Takei and John Polson. 

Dan and Vicky look at the film along with a bevy of recently seen items like Max's Penguin, AMC's Breaking Bad, Strange Darling, My Old Ass, Humane, The Deliverance, 2024's Speak No Evil and Blumhouse's Afraid.

Watch, like and subscribe to the pilot for Dan's web series West 40s below.  

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Hot Date with Dan and Vicky hits it's 100th episode with a look back at the podcasts that made us.  Your hosts choose their ten favorite films discovered (or rediscovered) doing the podcast for the last almost five years!  It's a trip down memory lane with some amazing titles from filmmakers like J. Lee Thompson, Akira Kurosawa and Sidney Lumet!  Also on hand are two VERY special guests, Hot Date super fans, to tell us their favorite selections from the roughly 99 films we've covered.  As an added bonus, try and guess the soundtrack music sprinkled throughout the episode!

As usual, you'll also get a dose of some things Dan and Vicky have been watching lately including lots of Oscar nominated films, classic comedies, and exciting television. 

But Hot Date Episode 100 is really all about the randomly chosen films we've chosen over the years that have thrilled us, moved us, and made us laugh.  Leave us some feedback on social media and check out all our shows at hotdatepod.com.  

French provocateur Francois Ozon's uses the frame work of fairy tale Hansel and Gretel to tell his violent and twisted story of Luc and Alice, a young murderous couple on the run who find more than they bargained for in an isolated cabin in the woods.  The homophonically named Natacha Regnier and Jeremy Renier play the doomed lovers.

Dan and Vicky discuss the intense and difficult Criminal Lovers as their final film before episode 100!  In the recently seen section of the podcast, they discuss Ford v Ferrari, Bombshell, Cold War, We Have Always Lived in a Castle, Patterson, and TV's Kominsky Method and The Moodys Christmas.  

Dan also tells us about his frustrating jury duty service and Vicky recounts the day a snake lead her to beat up her own father!  Don't mess with our Vicky.

We say goodbye and Happy Hot-idays to 2019 with Hot Date 99:  Criminal Lovers!  Stay tuned for our big 100 and please check out our website at hotdatepod.com. 

There were so many variables in bringing the nearly two hour Marx Brothers classic A Day At The Races to the screen -- translating tried and tested vaudevillian acts while maintaining a satisfying story arc, shooting on a real racetrack with real horses, keeping the peace between novice comedy director Sam Wood and the cast -- that lawsuits were almost a given.  The one that actually went to court was the case of a Marx Brothers fan who suggested in a fan letter that the Brothers should run a hospital in their next film and when that storyline showed up in this film, the fan sued!

Dan and Vicky discuss their history with the Marx Brothers and their reactions to this classic comedy.  Along they way you'll also hear about some recently seen including Doctor Sleep, The Lighthouse, Frozen 2, Knives Out, JoJo Rabbit, 1917 and Too Funny to Fail: The Dana Carvey Show.  

Horse around with your favorite podcast hosts on Hot Date 98: A Day at the Races.  Check out our website at hotdatepod.com and leave us some feedback on our many social media outlets.

Ernst Lubitsch left his native Germany in 1922 as an ambitious 30 year old looking to make his mark in American movies.  With the help of Hollywood royalty like Mary Pickford, he was soon embarking on an eclectic career directing everything from musicals to serious dramas.  With the comedy To Be Or Not To Be, Lubitsch had a chance to comment on the horrors of Nazism in his homeland while making people laugh.  He did both perhaps too well.  Audiences had a hard time reconciling their feelings about the film and it was a box office disappointment.  Today, with the help of adroit performances from Jack Benny and Carole Lombard, the film's considered a comedy classic. 

Your Hot Date hosts discuss the film as well as some of their recently seen including Parasite, The Honeymoon Killers, Terminator: Dark Fate, Harriet, Apple+'s The Morning Show, Godfather of Harlem and Years and Years.  They also give us their thoughts on phone etiquette at the movies, horror anthologies and new streaming site Disney+.

Check out Hot Date 97: To Be Or Not To Be and leave us some feedback.  Puruse our website at hotdatepod.com.

Young actress Royalty Hightower had never acted before being cast in director Anna Rose Holmer's drama The Fits.  She was, however, an experienced dancer; a skill she then had to unlearn to play the tomboy Toni who discovers a love of dance in the film.  Director Holmer was also taking on a new skill; The Fits was her narrative storytelling debut although her extensive background in documentary film no doubt helped in making the film feel so spontaneous and captured in the moment.

Dan and Vicky heap praise on The Fits and it's young stars. Vicky also catches us up on her trip to Florida, her efforts to tan, and the employee fight she had to break up!  Dan tells us about the NY premiere of his web series 5A5B, the release of The Great Immensity Cast album, and the annoyance of losing his wallet!

In the recently seen section, they discuss Zombieland: Double Tap, The Lighthouse, The Current War, Shudder's Creepshow series, Amazon's Modern Love, 2019's Child's Play, doc Scream, Queen: My Nightmare on Elm Street, and Vincenzo Natali's In The Tall Grass among others.

Check out Hot Date 96:  The Fits and leave us some feedback. Visit our website at hotdatepod.com.

1951's The Strange Door had the talents of Charles Laughton in the lead but Universal hung their hopes on Boris Karloff to bring audiences in despite Karloff's smaller supporting role.  His name and photo appear prominently in all the advertising as does Robert Louis Stevenson, who wrote the short story the film is based on.  Stevenson and Karloff had had a previous success in 1945 with the film The Body Snatcher.  

Your hosts Dan and Vicky discuss the Joseph Pevney directed horror thriller but also on tap are some recently seen films including Downtown Abbey, Joker, Horror Noire, Blood on Satan's Claw, and Pain and Glory.  TV shows include The Unicorn, Eastsiders, and American Horror Story.

No need to knock.  Come on in to Hot Date: The Strange Door.  Leave us some feedback and visit our website at hotdatepod.com

Re-imagined to the American South during the post war era, the film version of Oscar Hammerstein's Broadway musical Carmen Jones was revolutionary to audiences, particularly white audiences, who had never seen a film completely populated by African-American actors.  Director Otto Preminger wanted to use this rare opportunity to convey to a racially divided country that the African-American experience was a relatable and important one to display on movie screens.  With stars Dorothy Dandridge, Harry Belafonte, Pearl Bailey, Joe Adams and Olga James on board, the film became a hit to the tune of nearly 10 million dollars.  

Dan and Vicky discuss this controversial film and their thoughts on it's place in movie history.  They also let us in on some recently seen including films It Chapter Two, Belzebuth, Hustlers, Alone With Her and Ginger Snaps and TV shows Picnic at Hanging Rock, Netflix's Criminal and Unbelievable and French thriller Marianne.  

Check out Hot Date 94: Carmen Jones and leave us some feedback.  Our website is hotdatepod.com.  

From the fertile imagination of Terry Gilliam comes The Adventures of Baron Munchausen from 1989 but it wasn't without it's share of near catastrophes. A Ballooning budget, dangerous working situations and a regime change at Columbia Pictures nearly scuttled Gilliam's attempt to put the much embellished exploits of German adventurer Hieronymus Karl Friedrich Freiherr von Münchhausen on screen.  After completing the film, Columbia released it in Germany first and then dumped it into a few US theaters.  It barely made a dent at the box office but was championed by critics, recognized at the Academy Awards and has since enjoyed a strong cult following.  

Dan and Vicky discuss the fantasy epic along with some of the things they've been seeing and reading recently.  Notably, Ready Or Not, Lawrence of Arabia, John Wick 3, It Stains the Sand Red, Big Little Lies, Euphoria, Aladdin 2019 and Escape Room.  Vicky tells us all about her Florida getaway and Dan regales us with tales of herniated discs and backstage shenanigans.  

Get schwept away with Hot Date 93: The Adventures of Baron Munchausen and leave us some feedback.  Check out our website at hotdatepod.com

Robert Bresson, director of this week's Pickpocket and numerous films that helped define the French New Wave, was known to be a task master on set.  In his search for absolute separation of art from artifice, he demanded his actors strip away all affectation and just deliver their lines simply and rotely.  This often required as many as fifty takes of a single shot or scene!

Dan and Vicky discuss the film that inspired a generation of filmmakers from Schrader to Scorsese to Soderbergh.  Our hosts, hint hint, weren't AS inspired.  In the recently seen section, there's talk of films Scary Stories to Tell in the Dark, 1984's Savage Streets, Hotel Artemis, The Exorcist III, Friday the 13th doc Crystal Lake Memories, and comedy from Sebastian Maniscalco, Tiffany Hadish, and Julio Torres.   

Dan tells us why he made his first ER visit, his further adventures with MoviePass and the drama off and on stage in his new play Caesar & Cleopatra while Vicky talks about her late summer vacation plans!

Check out the sleight of hand of Hot Date 92: Pickpocket and leave us feedback.  Go to our website at hotdatepod.com.

Director Walter Hill had his hands full on the set of his 1975 directorial debut Hard Times.  He had cast Charles Bronson in the lead role of Chaney, a boxer who says little but can knock a man out with one punch, only to find that the actor could be angry and reclusive on set. James Coburn took the part of Speed, Chaney's manager, but resented playing second fiddle to Bronson and showed it on set.  And third starring Strother Martin also tested Hill's patience by playing the eccentric doctor Poe comically over the top.  

Dan and Vicky discuss what many consider to be one of the best fighting movies ever made with and the definitive Charles Bronson performance. They also talk about their recently seen including Once Upon a Time in Hollywood, Midsommar, Hobbs and Shaw, 1939's The Women, After Hours, Crawl, HBO's Chernobyl, Amazon's The Boys and Netflix's Kim's Convenience.  

Episode 91: Hard Times will knock you out!  Leave us some feedback and check out our website at hotdatepod.com.

Joan Bennett and James Mason, in only his third US film, play blackmailee and blackmailer respectively in director Max Ophuls' The Reckless Moment - his tale of a harried housewife whose life is turned upside down when her daughter accidentally kills a cad boyfriend and Bennett tries to cover it up.  After directing only five American films, German born Ophuls returned to France, where he was a citizen, and continued to direct until his untimely death at age 54.  Despite a relatively small output, Ophuls is nonetheless considered a true auteur.

Dan and Vicky discuss the film along with lots of recently seen including the new Crow, Caitlin Cronenberg's Humane, Alien: Romulus, Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny, The Killer and Shudder series Horror's Greatest. 

Watch, like and subscribe to the pilot for Dan's web series West 40s below.  

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West 40s

Hot Date has reached episode 90 and that means hosts Dan and Vicky come up with another Top Ten movie list.  This time, the topic is psychological thrillers and it's scary how many great films your hosts dig up. You'll hear about movies from classic thriller directors from Hitchcock to Polanski to Fincher and international white knucklers from France, Mexico and England.  Movies guaranteed to send a chill up your spine and get your heartbeat racing.  

It's been almost two months since Dan and Vicky recorded last so  there's plenty of catching up.  Massachusetts is all over episode 90 as Dan tells us about his show on Nantucket and Vicky talks about visiting Boston.  And there's two months of recently seen to discuss so stay tuned for thoughts on Fleabag, NOS4A2, Los Espookys, Booksmart, Godzilla, King of the Monsters, Brightburn, 1953's Ugetsu, Ma, and Knife + Heart among many others. 

Take a listen to Hot Date 90: Psychological Thrillers and leave us some feedback.  Check out our website at hotdatepod.com

Even before director George Sidney and stars Judy Garland, John Hodiak and Angela Lansbury finished shooting 1946's The Harvey Girls, it's signature song, On The Atchison, Topeka and the Santa Fe, was burning up the music charts in the summer and fall of 1945. No fewer than six artists recorded the song, the most successful being the version created by Johnny Mercer and the Pied Pipers.  It's no wonder than that the scene in the film that introduces the song is one of the longest and most complex musical numbers in motion picture history. 

Dan and Vicky jump on the Harvey Girls train to discuss the delightful musical that cemented Judy Garland as a bona fide musical movie star.  In the recently seen section of the podcast your hosts talk about the ABC special Live in Front of a Studio Audience: All in the Family and The Jeffersons, Dario Argento's Dracula, Long Shot, 2018's Mom & Dad, and the Lifetime TV's dud 2014 take on Flowers in the Attic.  

Have a listen to Hot Date 89: The Harvey Girls and leave us some feedback.  Visit our website at hotdatepod.com

When director Peter Medak (The Changeling, Romeo Is Bleeding) cast twins brothers Martin and Gary Kemp to play the infamous British gangster siblings Ronnie and Reggie Kray he had no idea that the Kemps already had a strong fan base as the musical duo Spandau Ballet, one of the biggest British new wave bands of all time!  The real life Krays twins, still alive at the time but serving long prison sentences, got paid 255,000 pounds for the rights to their story and brother Charlie acted as senior consultant during the making of the film.  Esteemed British stage actress Billie Whitelaw plays their domineering mother Violet.  

Dan and Vicky discuss the minor cult classic and it's relation to the real life events in the twins lives.  Also on tap is a discussion of recently seen including CBS's new Twilight Zone, 1975's Salo, Wine Country and The Silence on Netflix, Hitchcock's To Catch a Thief and The Assassination of Gianni Versace.  

Check out Hot Date 88: The Krays and leave us some feedback.  Check out our website at hotdatepod.com

After the success of his 1958 film The Defiant Ones, which confronted issues of racial division, director Stanley Kramer continued on a path of making films that were socially relevant and examined the issues of the time.  1959's On The Beach was no exception.  Based on the very successful novel by Australian Nevil Shute, which imagined his home country as the only place left on earth not yet suffocated by a cloud of deadly radioactive dust, On The Beach was the very first Hollywood film to shoot completely Down Under.  It stars Gregory Peck, Ava Gardner, Athony Perkins and Fred Astaire.  

Dan and Vicky discuss the classic anti-nuke film and the stars that lend it it's authenticity and heart -- albeit not with accurate accents.  They also talk about some recently seen including Avengers: End Game, Irish horror film The Hole in the Ground, 2019's Hellboy, Hulu series Into the Dark, Hannah and Her Sisters and Hitchcock's 1931 The Skin Game.  

Hear how Dan nearly lost an eye doing The Tempest off-broadway, how Vicky handles bathroom visits and listen to our first listener e-mail in a while extolling the virtues of Norwegian society! 

Check out Hot Date 87: On The Beach and leave us feedback.  Got to our website at hotdatepod.com.

Director Dick Maas can be arguably credited for putting The Netherlands on the horror map with his 1983 film Der Lift.  The film, about a high rise plagued with strange elevator accidents and deaths, was a reportedly difficult low budget shoot with a novice director, cast shakes ups and endless producer interference.  But when it premiered at Cannes, it was snapped up quickly by Warner Bros. and had successful runs in cities around the world throughout it's 1984-85 roll out.  It even inspired a remake 18 years later, also directed by Maas and filmed almost entirely in the Netherlands with American actors, alternately titled Down and The Shaft!

After last week's Norwegian film Elling, Dan and Vicky return once again to Scandinavia and to horror for Der Lift.  They discuss the campy minor classic and it's bigger budgeted remake from 2001.  They also discuss plenty of recently seen including Fosse/Verdon, Santa Clarita Diet, the Cary Grant films My Favorite Wife and Penny Serenade, Pet Sematary (2019), Curse of La Llorona, and Channel Zero: Dream Door.  Also hear about Vicky's adventures in cat sitting while allergic and Dan's Tempest-uous journey with the Shakespeare classic.  

Get a rise out of Hot Date 86: Der Lift, leave us some feedback and visit our website at www.hotdatepod.com. 

For episode 85 of Hot Date, Dan and Vicky take us to Scandinavia for the comedy Elling, starring Per Christian Ellefsen as the title character and Sven Nordin as his best frenemy Kjell.  Initially wary about their choice, our hosts found a lot to like in this gentle comedy from the performances of the two leads to the portrayal of the Norwegian social welfare system.  

Dan and Vicky also discuss the things they've been watching recently including FX's What We Do in the Shadows, Netflix's The Umbrella Academy, Joe Dante's Matinee, Captain Marvel, Shoplifters, Burning and an extensive look at Jordan Peele's new horror film Us.   

Dan gives us some insight into the Public Theater's Tempest Mobile Unit tour he's currently on and his visit to TAK Room, the very high end restaurant in NY's Hudson Yards.  And Vicky weighs in on her glorious weekend at home and her own visit to the Public to see Jake Gyllenhaal and Jim Sturridge in the play Sea Wall/A Life.

There's Nor Way you should miss Hot Date 85: Elling.  Have a listen, leave us some feedback and visit our website hotdatepod.com.  

The plot of 1939's Lady of the Tropics strangely mirrored the life of it's star Hedy Lamarr.  In the film Lamarr is a woman of mixed race living in pre-war Saigon trying to flee the advances of an oily, corrupt rubber tycoon.  She is half French and yearns to escape to France in search of her father.  In real life, the Czech born Lamarr fled her home country for Paris after marrying a domineering Austrian arms merchant with ties to Mussolini and Hitler!  From Paris she made her way to London where she was discovered by Louis B. Mayer and placed under contract with MGM.

Dan and Vicky discuss the film and the questionable way it depicts the life of a woman of mixed race.  Also on hand is some recently seen including King Lear on Broadway, Hulu's Shrill, HBO's The Case Against Adnan Syed, Halloween 2018, Gasper Noe's Climax, and Greta.  Get the latest on Funikijam and hear all about Dan's new foray into Shakespeare off-Broadway.

Check out Hot Date 84: Lady of the Tropics and leave us some feedback.  Don't forget our website at hotdatepod.com.

1991's Defending Your Life is the fourth film Albert Brooks' wrote, directed and starred in.  He would eventually serve in those capacities on a total of seven films, all bearing his distinctive gentle but incisive examination of love, death and relationships.  Brooks hoped to challenge the popular and Hollywood version of heaven and the afterlife as a fanciful, peaceful Utopia.  He imagines in Defending Your Life a heaven not dissimilar to our corporeal world -- one run much like a business, where the most prepared are rewarded with eternal salvation.  He had a strong cast (Meryl Street, Rip Torn, Lee Grant and Buck Henry) and skilled cinematographer (Allen Daviau) to help him.  

Dan and Vicky discuss their first Albert Brooks' film along with some recently seen including the Amazon docuseries Lorena, horror doc Horror Noire, Isn't It Romantic, Happy Death Day 2U, The 400 Blows, 10 to Midnight, 1968's Lion in Winter, and a whole trove of Netflix comedy specials.

There's also talk of Dan's recent acting gigs, the legacy of much hated MoviePass, the 2018 Academy Awards and a certain classic campfire song from 1980's Friday the 13th!

Cross over into comedy with Hot Date 83: Defending Your Life.  Check out our website at www.hotdatepod.com and leave us some feedback at your favorite social media outlet.  

To get an authentic pool hall feel for his second to last feature The Hustler (he would only make 1964's Lilith before passing away in 1966), director Robert Rossen shot in two actual pool halls in New York City.  New York also stood in for other parts of the country --everything from a Pittsburgh bar to a Kentucky mansion was shot in the city.  And when his lead Paul Newman couldn't master certain pool trick shots, he cut in the hands of pool technical advisor Willie Mosconi.  Though Jackie Gleason's character Minnesota Fats was created by Walter Tevis for the novel on which the movie is based, real life hustler Rudolf Wanderone adopted the persona and insisted that the character was based on him.  

Your Hot Date hosts discuss the classic 1961 film and it's towering performances from Newman, Gleason, Piper Laurie and George C. Scott.  They also give us their thoughts on some recently seen including The Wife, Green Book, Glass, Velvet Buzzsaw, The Prodigy, Cam, BlackkKlansman, Victor Crowley, Russian Doll and the Broadway adaptation of 1976's Network.    

Place your bets and enjoy Hot Date 82: The Hustler.  Please leave us some feedback and visit our website at www.hotdatepod.com.  

A documentary film gets the Hot Date treatment for the first time in the show's history.  And not just any documentary.  Dan and Vicky take a look at director Barry Shils' chronicle of the NY drag celebration Wigstock with 1995's Wigstock: The Movie.  Culled from footage taken at the 1993 and 1994 gatherings, Shils creates a portrait of the event and the incredible drag performers that bring it to life.  They include Lady Bunny (also a founder), Joey Arias, Mistress Formika, Candis Cane, Jackie Beat, Lypsinka, and RuPaul.  

Along with the film, your hosts also discuss some recently seen, including Bird Box, Death Wish 2018, Vice, A Star is Born 2018, 1981's Southern Comfort, Black Mirror: Bandersnatch and You Were Never Really Here.  Listen for Vicky's takedown of Lady Gaga and her incessant crying, Dan's butchering of politically sensitive gender pronouns and a tribute to the late, great Alexis Arquette.  

Don't wig out!  Tuck yourself in and enjoy Hot Date 81: Wigstock: The Movie.  Then leave us some feedback.  

Shot on location in New Orleans, blaxploitation horror film J.D.'s Revenge was the introduction of two of the hardest working and respected Black actors in the business - Glynn Turman and Louis Gossett.  Already established presences in lots of TV and film projects, J.D.'s Revenge gave them the opportunity to play leading roles.  With able support from Joan Pringle and Fred Pinkard, the movie, about a law student possessed by the spirit of a violent gangster, has become a cult favorite. 

Dan and Vicky discuss the film, along with lots of recently seen like Nicole Holofcener's You Hurt My Feelings, Cuckoo, Trap, I.S.S., Disney films The Emperor's New Groove, Elemental, Wish and 2017's Beauty and the Beast.

And watch, like and subscribe to the pilot for Dan's web series West 40s below.  

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West 40s

Dan and Vicky have reached their 80th Hot Date episode and that means more top tens!  This time your hosts discuss their favorite on- screen pairings.  Those movie couples you love, love to hate, or hate to love.  Films from Peter Bogdonavich, David Cronenberg, Robert Aldrich, Gus Meins, Billy Wilder, Ang Lee and Alan Pakula, to name a few, make the cut.  And since ten can never be enough, you'll also hear a wild and sexy list of alternates!

Your Hot Daters also discuss their recent holiday adventures, Vicky's two new streaming purchases and a whole gaggle of recently seen TV and movies including The Favourite, Aquaman, You Might Be the Killer, Anna and the Apocalypse, Ace in the Hole, The Predator, Tully, DePalma, and Won't You Be My Neighbor?

So listen to your two favorite peas in a podcast talk about their favorite on screen peas in a pod!  Happy 2019 with Hot Date 80!  Please leave us some feedback.  

Karel Reisz had never directed a feature before and was committed to capturing the gritty reality of living in working class Nottingham, England.  Not only did he shoot the film Saturday Night and Sunday Morning in actual Nottingham locations but he arrived several weeks before shooting with a small film crew to become acquainted with the town and it's denizens.  When famed cinematographer Freddie Francis and stars Albert Finney, Rachel Roberts, and Shirley Ann Field added their talents to the film, what emerged was the 14th greatest British film of all time out of 100 according to the British Film Institute.

Dan and Vicky discuss this seminal film in British history, their second starring Albert Finney (Under the Volcano).  They also catch us up on holiday plans, Christmas office parties, and the end of Dan's off-Broadway play.  Recently seen movies and TV include Bad Moms Christmas, 1959's Terror is a Man, Netflix documentary Gaga: Five Foot Two, Spanish horror film Veronica, 1977's Rolling Thunder and The Lodgers.  

Everybody's working for the weekend because Hot Date 79: Saturday Night and Sunday Morning is here.  Listen and leave us some feedback.   

1945's Scarlet Street reunited director Fritz Lang with stars Joan Bennett, Edward G. Robinson, and Dan Duryea and cinematographer Milton Krasner from the previous year's The Woman in the Window. Unlike that film however Scarlet Street ran afoul of censor board's across the country that objected to it's "obscenity," "indecency," "profanity," and "sordidness."  Despite that, the film did well at the box office making back nearly three times it's budget.  

Dan and Vicky discuss this lesser heralded noir film and it's provocative stars.  They also discuss the demise of Filmstruck, Dan's emotional visit to an immigration detention center and Vicky's Thanksgiving staycation.  Recently seen includes Latin History for Morons, Bohemian Rhapsody, the Suspiria remake, Overlord, 1968's The Devil Rides Out, Pacific Rim Uprising, and series The Haunting of Hill House among others.  

We'll meet you on Scarlet Street for Hot Date 78! Have a listen and leave us some feedback or a star rating. 

Coming off the success of 2010's Lionsgate thriller The Last Exorcism, director Daniel Stamm brought his script for 13 Sins, a remake of a Thai film, to the producers at Blumhouse.  The 4 million dollar film had the bad fortune, however, to be released by the Weinstein Bros. controlled Radius-TWC, which dumped the film in limited release and only made about $10,000 at the box office.  It stars Mark Webber, Rutina Wesley, Devon Graye, and Ron Perlman.

Dan and Vicky discuss the film as well some of their recently seen which include:  Big Mouth, The Haunting of Hill House, A Star is Born 2018, Rampage, Bad Times at the El Royale, Halloween 2018, Terrifier and PuppetMaster: The Littlest Reich.

Dan brings us up-to-date on his new off-broadway show Wild Goose Dreams and the cast album he's recording and Vicky talks about her Florida trip for some R&R with Mom and Dad.

Confess!  Bet you can't wait to listen to Hot Date 77: 13 Sins.  Leave us some feedback.  

For the first time in Hot Date history, an episode was lost to the computer gods as our original 76th show became a casualty of Dan's misguided efforts to clean off his desktop.  That film would have been 2014's indie B-extravaganza The Guest but instead Dan and Vicky cover a B movie from a different era, 1954's Killers From Space starring Peter Graves and directed by W. Lee Wilder, brother of Billy!

In addition to that sci-fi cheapie, your hosts discuss Dan's new show at the Public Theater in NY and Vicky's visit to South Carolina.  In the recently seen section, we hear about The Predator, The House with Clocks in its Walls, Star 80, The Towering Inferno, Ghost Stories and Mandy.  And as a special bonus, you even get a thumbnail review of The Guest!  

Blast off with Hot Date 76:Killers From Space and leave us some feedback.  

Director Taylor Hackford's (An Officer And A Gentleman, Dolores Clairborne) first cut of his Chicano epic Blood In Blood Out was nearly five hours long but distributor Disney, already skittish about the box office prospects of a hard hitting drama about Mexican gang culture with no stars, forced him to cut it down to three.  Disney also insisted on a title change.  Blood In Blood Out refers to the Chicano gang motto of death being the only way in and out of a gang.  Disney, fearing violence at movie theaters, changed the title to the safer Bound By Honor.  

Dan and Vicky discuss Blood In Blood Out, their second film with a primarily Latin cast behind The Mambo Kings from episode 73.  Also on deck are lots of recently seen including selections from the Film Society of Lincoln Center's Scary Movie Festival, Crazy Rich Asians, Red Christmas, Maps of the Stars, 1982's The Thing, and Vicky's first viewing of 2001.  

And don't miss talk of Vicky's further Funikijam adventures and Dan's first experience with a YouTube Live broadcast.  

Celebrate our diamond 75th show, Hot Date: Blood In Blood Out, and leave us some feedback on our social media accounts.

After a three month recording hiatus, Dan and Vicky are back to sink their teeth into the Hammer horror entry Scars of Dracula.  The 1970 British production was the sixth entry in the studio's Dracula films and noted for being the first R rated movie in the company's history.  The movie didn't get a warm reception in the States.  Warner Bros., the American studio responsible for bringing most of the early Hammer Dracula films to the US, refused to release Scars and critics savaged the movie as an exploitative retread of the earlier classier entries.  But Christopher Lee, who struggled with coming back time and time again to the character, returned for two more Hammer Dracula films.  

In addition to covering their first Hammer film, Dan and Vicky tell us what they did with their summer as well as what they've been watching.  For Vicky, that included Sponge Bob on Broadway, lots of TV (Pose, American Woman, Absentia, and Tokyo Vampire Hotel) and a fair share of movies (Cargo, Tag, Blindspotting, The Spy Who Dumped Me and Hereditary).  Dan took in the docs King Cohen, Wild, Wild Country, Three Identical Strangers, and Scotty and the Secret History of Hollywood and the films Mission Impossible: Fallout, Deadpool 2, Upgrade and John Carpenter's 1978 Elvis starring Kurt Russell.

Stake your claim on Hot Date 74: Scars of Dracula and leave us some feedback! 

Essentially an immigrant story set in the 1950's New York music scene, The Mambo Kings is also one of the few mainstream Hollywood films to highlight the Cuban/American experience, albeit without actual Cubans in the cast.  Leads Armand Assante and Antonio Banderas are Italian/Irish and Spanish respectively.  The female leads,  Cathy Moriarity and Maruschka Detmers, are American and Dutch.  The only cast members with any Cuban heritage are singer Celia Cruz and Desi Arnaz, Jr. but they each have small supporting roles in the film.  

Dan and Vicky discuss the movie, based on the Oscar Hijuelos' 1989 Pulitzer Prize-winning novel The Mambo Kings Play Songs of Love, and Vicky recalls seeing the film in 1992 after falling in love with the novel.  Your hosts also tell us what they've been watching recently including Showtime's Patrick Melrose, Netflix's Travelers, The Book Club, the new Leatherface movie and Hitchcock's forgotten gem I, Confess.  

Feel the beat and sway to the rhythm of Hot Date 73: The Mambo Kings and leave us some feedback.  Check out our website hotdatepod.com

Director Russ Meyer was a World War II newsreel cameraman and Playboy photographer before writing, producing and directing his own feature films. But his early work directly influenced the way he approached his exploitation film career.  He ran his Faster, Pussycat! Kill! Kill! set like a military operation, demanding efficiency and professionalism from all his creative partners.  And he drew on his experience at Playboy when it came time to cast the busty and beautiful women that populated the film.  Meyer had the good fortune to find Tura Satana, an exotic dancer and martial arts expert, to play his lead.  She also demanded residual points on the film and the rights to her own likeness -- the only actor in the film to strike such a deal. 

Dan and Vicky revel in this 1965 B movie classic and pay homage to it's gloriously enticing exploitation trappings.  Along the way they discuss some of their recently seen (The Disaster Artist, John Wick - Chapter 2, Kurosawa's High and Low, Kevin Smith: Silent But Deadly and the killer elevator movie Down).  You'll also hear about the latest Funikijam adventure, famous Jewish strippers and the acting award Dan got!

Discover what's new Pussycat when you listen to Hot Date 72!  Please leave us some feedback and check out our website hotdatepod.com.  

Gene Kelly, on loan to Columbia from MGM for 1944's Cover Girl, was finally able to put his talents to full use as the main choreographer for the film.  With assist from dancer friend Stanley Donen, Val Raset and Seymour Felix, Kelly was able to stage some thrilling sequences including the famous "Alter Ego" scene for himself and "Make Way For Tomorrow" for himself, Rita Hayworth, and Phil Silver.  The film was a huge hit and cemented for MGM and the rest of Hollywood that Kelly was a triple threat to be reckoned with.  

Dan and Vicky discuss this classic tuner along with some of their recently seen:  Black Panther, Avengers: Infinity War, The Killing of a Chinese Bookie, Girl on the Train, Z Channel: A Magnificent Obsession, and the Joel McHale Show.  Vicky also fills us in on her recent dental issues and Dan reveals where he's traveling next for work after closing a show in New York.  

Tap your toes and kick up your heels with a classical musical on Hot Date 71: Cover Girl.  Make sure to leave us some feedback or a star rating.  

Shot on location in foggy San Francisco, Blake Edwards' Experiment in Terror was his follow up to Breakfast at Tiffany's - again engaging a young sophisticated city girl with a handsome leading man but this time in a very different context.  Lee Remick plays Emily Sherwood, a bank teller menaced by a blackmailer and serial killer and Glenn Ford is the FBI agent assigned to protect her and capture the villain.  Ross Martin, known mostly for playing nice guys, is bad guy Red Lynch and was nominated for a best supporting actor Golden Globe.

Dan and Vicky discuss the stylish noir thriller along with plenty of recently seen: Deadpool and Wolverine, A Good Girl's Guide to Murder, Night Watch: Demons are Forever, Love Lies Bleeding, and Maxxxine.     

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Hot Date has reached 70 and you know what that means:  A Top Ten episode!  For this one, we take a shocking trip around the world for our favorite foreign horror films.  We'll make stops in France, Japan, Spain and Norway to name a few and play clips that'll make your skin crawl.  Get a dose of international zombies, slashers, monsters and ghosts and discover the film that Vicky chose that Dan has never seen!  

Your hosts also get into some recently seen including Amy Schumer's I Feel Pretty, Blumhouse's Truth or Dare, I Married A Witch with Veronica Lake, the Polanski doc Wanted and Desired, the original Thomas Crown Affair, and British horrors Voices and Symptoms.  Dan will also tell us about his first time seeing Friday the 13th Part 3 in 3-D on the big screen!    

Catch a flight with Hot Date 70 and get suggestions for some terrifying world cinema.  Don't forget to rate us and leave us some feedback.

In the late 80's, Pierce Brosnan was approached to assume the mantle of legendary British movie spy James Bond from Roger Moore.  But his contract with NBC and the TV show Remington Steele prohibited him from doing so.  When the part came available again in 1994, Brosnan was Eon Productions' and producer Albert Broccoli's first choice.  His run would be four films over seven years and Tomorrow Never Dies, his second film, would hold it's own against James Cameron's Titanic to become the second highest grossing film of the 1997 holiday season.

Dan and Vicky almost didn't get to cover their first official James Bond movie -- listen for the long and twisted journey to finding a Tomorrow Never Dies DVD!  On the recently watched front, they talk about films The Endless, A Quiet Place, Icarus, Molly's Game, Justice League, and Mrs. Miniver among others and TV shows Killing Eve and CBS' Elton John Tribute.  

You'll be shaken AND stirred by Hot Date 69: Tomorrow Never Dies.  Leave us feedback and make sure to visit our new website hotdatepod.com.

Star Warwick Davis was only eighteen when he was cast as the lead in the Ron Howard directed, George Lucas produced fantasy epic Willow. He gamely and charismatically carries the film, often stealing the heroic spotlight from his more classically handsome costar, Hollywood It boy Val Kilmer.  Davis also met the woman who would become his wife on the set of Willow -- she was an extra in the Nelwyn community scenes at the beginning of the film.  Initially a modest hit, the film went on to gain a cult following and springboard Davis into a varied and successful career.

Dan and Vicky enter the world of Willow for the first time and give their thoughts on it's effectiveness as a fantasy adventure film for kids with a dark undercurrent.  They also recap some of their recently seen including the horror films Veronica, Burnt Offerings, Unsane and Giallo, and the TV offerings Instinct on CBS and Zen Diaries of Gary Shandling on HBO.

We also hear about the Hot Date our hosts had on Broadway seeing the Glenda Jackson/Laurie Metcalf starring Three Tall Woman, Dan's new off-Broadway play The Enclave and, most exciting of all, the creation of Hot Date's new website, hotdatepod.com, where you can enjoy and stay current with all things Hot Date!

Get swept up in the journey of Hot Date 68: Willow!  Make sure to give us a star rating and leave some feedback.