The Oscars may have come and gone, the speeches have been made, and the dust has (mostly) settled—but here at Ticket Stubs, we’re not quite finished with 2025 just yet. A little late, perhaps, but right on time where it counts, we’re officially closing the book on the cinematic year that was with our 3rd Annual Harry Dean Awards—the true final word on awards season. Join us as we take one last affectionate look back at the highs, lows, and, above all else, the most memorable moments in film from the past year. From defining performances and standout directorial efforts to our favorite oddball distinctions, returning legends, and everything in between, we sort through a wide array of categories both heartfelt and slightly irreverent. As always, it all builds toward our ultimate honors: Filmmaker of the Year and Film of the Year. Awards season may have crowned its winners—but now it’s our turn to have the final say. As always, please like, subscribe, rate, and review us on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, YouTube, and wherever else you listen! Got thoughts or questions? Email us at huffmanbrothersproductions@gmail.com

Belated but better late than never: Ticket Stubs officially kicks off 2026 with a double feature of icy, unnerving thrillers. This time around, we pair Otto Preminger’s paranoid vanishing act Bunny Lake Is Missing (1965) with David Fincher’s bleak, meticulous adaptation of The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo (2011). Across decades and continents, both films ask the same quietly terrifying question: what happens when no one believes you? Join us as we unravel questions of identity, credibility, obsession, and the cold machinery of institutions that would rather look away than look closer. Before the mystery deepens, our Blue Plate Special returns with the usual cinematic smorgasbord. We share thoughts on new releases Send Help and Crime 101, take time to remember the lives and careers of Catherine O’Hara and Bud Cort, and hear Levi’s early-stage reflections on diving into David Foster Wallace's Infinite Jest. We also offer what are almost certainly already-outdated predictions for Super Bowl 60—because what’s a new year without at least one confidently incorrect take? Whether you’re here for missing children, hackers with dragons tattooed on their backs, or just the comfortable chaos of our opening chatter, we’re glad to be starting 2026 with you. As always, please like, subscribe, rate, and review us on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, YouTube, and wherever else you listen! Got thoughts or questions? Email us at huffmanbrothersproductions@gmail.com.

Join us on a journey through the synthetic dreamscape of artificial intelligence, where we delve into how robots not just mimic life but seek to understand the human heart with our double feature: Bicentennial Man and A.I. Artificial Intelligence. Before exploring these narratives of manufactured souls and their quests for earned humanity, we’re munching on a jar of digital cookies with our Blue Plate Special, chatting about Joaquin Phoenix's surprising departure from what sounded like a promising Todd Haynes project, reviewing new releases Trap and Cuckoo, and dissecting the trailer for the upcoming fall release Saturday Night. After logging out of these side discussions, we finally access the core of our episode, diving into Chris Columbus's messy yet heartwarming narrative alongside Spielberg's ethereal realization of a science fiction epic originally drafted by the late great Stanley Kubrick. As always, please like, subscribe, rate, and review us on all of our channels, which include Apple Podcasts, Spotify, and YouTube! Contact us at huffmanbrothersproductions@gmail.com with your questions, comments, and requests.

Order up! Our seventeenth episode finds us sorting through the wreckage of love, loss, and abandoned potential with Five Easy Pieces, one of New Hollywood's crown jewels. Join us as we dissect the mighty contributions of cinematic supernova Jack Nicholson, the qualified brilliance of director Bob Rafelson, and the iconic diner scene cemented into the memories of all who've seen the movie and the many more who likely haven't. Feel free to skip to 1:35:08 for the beginning of our audio commentary. As always, please like, subscribe, rate, and review us on all of our channels, which include Apple Podcasts, Spotify, and YouTube! Contact us at huffmanbrothersproductions@gmail.com with your questions, comments, and requests. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wK7TiA9qmuU https://www.esquire.com/entertainment/movies/a26454547/bob-rafelson-interview/

For our not-so-sweet sixteenth episode, the decision was made that a trip to Candyland was in order. Unfortunately, we saw less Lord Licorice than we did loquacious slave owners in Django Unchained, the much heralded revisionist western from cinematic provocateur Quentin Tarantino. Listen in as we discuss our least favorite film from a director whose work we otherwise love and the problems inherent in white artists attempting to tell black stories without the slightest bit of grace. Feel free to skip to 1:48:00 for the beginning of our audio commentary. As always, please like, subscribe, rate, and review us on all of our channels, which include Apple Podcasts, Spotify, and YouTube! Contact us at huffmanbrothersproductions@gmail.com with your questions, comments, and requests. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0IbC1Ve5kBM

Inspired in part by a precocious youth of the early 1970s who quite possibly may have been avian-themed serial killer, we take our own bold leap of faith in discussing Brewster McCloud, New Hollywood icon Robert Altman's 1970 follow-up to M*A*S*H! We do our best to string together some thoughts on one of the era's most fruitful auteurs while exploring the particulars of what made the end of the 1960s and the beginning of the 1970s among America's most maddening socio-cultural moments. Feel free to skip to 1:29:27 for the beginning of our audio commentary. As always, please like, subscribe, rate, and review us on all of our channels, which include Apple Podcasts, Spotify, and YouTube! Contact us at huffmanbrothersproductions@gmail.com with your questions, comments, and requests. http://mrpeelsardineliqueur.blogspot.com/2018/08/another-dream-would-be-lost.html

After last week's traverse through Sin City, we thought we'd put up our feet and stay awhile before the check bounces with Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas, Terry Gilliam's 1998 adaptation of Hunter S. Thompson's groundbreaking gonzo classic! We take our spin at the proverbial roulette wheel by diving into the complicated nature of adapting Thompson's signature prose, assessing where this fits in the pantheon of one J̶o̶h̶n̶n̶y̶ ̶D̶e̶p̶p̶ Jonathan Debt, what made Gilliam an uncanny choice to finally realize a project which had long resided in developmental Hell, and marvel at the glorious paunch of the just as glorious Benicio del Toro. Feel free to skip to 1:29:10 for the beginning of our audio commentary. As always, please like, subscribe, rate, and review us on all of our channels, which include Apple Podcasts, Spotify, and YouTube! Contact us at huffmanbrothersproductions@gmail.com with your questions, comments, and requests. https://www.rollingstone.com/feature/the-trouble-with-johnny-depp-666010/

We shut up and put our money where our mouth is: that's what we get for waking up in Vegas with Casino, Martin Scorsese's 1995 crime epic! Join the party as we delight in Marty's supersized take on Sin City, ponder where it fits into his legendary gangster canon, lovingly mock Joe Pesci's attempt at a Chicago accent, and take a stab at guessing what song on this episode's gonna get flagged by the fascists at YouTube. Let the chips fall where they may.

 

Feel free to skip to 1:22:40 for the beginning of our audio commentary. 

 

As always, please like, subscribe, rate, and review us on all of our channels, which include Apple Podcasts, Spotify, and YouTube! Contact us at huffmanbrothersproductions@gmail.com with your questions, comments, and requests.

 

https://www.theringer.com/movies/2020/11/19/21574457/casino-25th-anniversary-retrospective

We follow up last week's discussion of the beloved billiards classic The Hustler with its sequel, 1986's The Color of Money! Listen as we walk through our very first Martin Scorsese picture while admiring the aged wine that is Paul Newman, the burgeoning superstardom of Tom Cruise, the delights and dangers of life spent in smoke filled pool halls, and an appreciation of the reality that *all* roads eventually lead to Atlantic City. Feel free to skip to 55:59 for the beginning of our audio commentary. As always, please like, subscribe, rate, and review us on all of our channels, which include Apple Podcasts, Spotify, and YouTube! Contact us at huffmanbrothersproductions@gmail.com with your questions, comments, and requests.

We ride the cheese and settle all outstanding debts with our discussion of 1961's The Hustler! Listen as we gush over the inimitable Paul Newman, love to hate the steady villainy of George C. Scott, suppress our tears over Piper Laurie, deeply consider Murray Hamilton's Kentucky accent, and generally appreciate the very presence of Jackie Gleason. Actors: now more than ever! Feel free to skip to 49:54 for the beginning of our audio commentary. As always, please like, subscribe, rate, and review us on all of our channels, which include Apple Podcasts, Spotify, and YouTube! Contact us at huffmanbrothersproductions@gmail.com with your questions, comments, and requests.

We decided to take a brief break from the audio commentary racket to discuss some of our very favorite books, our own literary histories, and what literature means to us both as a means of escapism and as a larger art form. As always, please like, subscribe, rate, and review us on all of our channels, which include Apple Podcasts, Spotify, and YouTube! Contact us at huffmanbrothersproductions@gmail.com with your questions, comments, and requests.

Calling all dopers, flower children, and undercover operatives for your friendly neighborhood vice squad...tune in and drop out with our tenth and most special episode yet on 2014's Inherent Vice! Listen to us ramble our way for just over five minutes short of five hours through a whole host of questions: To what extent was Paul Thomas Anderson's adaptation of Thomas Pynchon's 2009 novel a success? What does the well-worn and in many ways exhausted shaggy dog LA (that's Los Angeles, *not* the Lenoir-Area) detective story have to tell us at this point that hasn't been expressed before? What are our impromptu takes on the trailer for Space Jam: A New Legacy? All these and many more pressing issues are (kinda, sorta??) answered by the episode's end! Feel free to skip to 2:04:27 for the beginning of our audio commentary. As always, please like, subscribe, rate, and review us on all of our channels, which include Apple Podcasts, Spotify, and YouTube! Contact us at huffmanbrothersproductions@gmail.com with your questions, comments, and requests. https://thepointmag.com/criticism/the-master-paul-thomas-anderson/

For our ninth episode, we nearly drowned in 2004’s gloriously self-indulgent marine romp The Life Aquatic with Steve Zissou. Listen as we consider the at once deep and narrow cinema of Wes Anderson, appreciate Bill Murray's transition from comedy superstar into indie drama darling, find joy in Seu Jorge's Portuguese renditions of David Bowie classics, and ever so briefly consider the presence of Dwayne Johnson in Anderson's oeuvre ("The Grand Smackdown Hotel?"). Feel free to skip to 58:30 for the beginning of our audio commentary. As always, please like, subscribe, rate, and review us on all of our channels, which include Apple Podcasts, Spotify, and YouTube! Contact us at huffmanbrothersproductions@gmail.com with your questions, comments, and requests.

When the night's quiet and you don't care anymore, come on in and stay awhile with a double feature dedicated to antiheroes looking to settle scores and perhaps stoically save their cities: Streets of Fire and The Crow. But before we get there, we work our way through a Blue Plate Special playlist of topics that has us questioning what exactly the collision between Michael Bay and Skibidi Toilet threaten to inflict upon audiences and talk about two new releases, Longlegs and Twisters. Upon finally arriving to our double feature, we find a lot to love in both films' excellent yet divergent exercises in style: listen as we discuss how Walter Hill's 1984 rock and roll fable fits into his larger cinematic oeuvre while celebrating and memorializing the late great star turn of Brandon Lee in Alex Proyas's 1994 gothic epic. As always, please like, subscribe, rate, and review us on all of our channels, which include Apple Podcasts, Spotify, and YouTube! Contact us at huffmanbrothersproductions@gmail.com with your questions, comments, and requests.

What better way to celebrate our contemporary era of avatars, ghosting, and the crippling realization that we'll all die alone  than with 1966's own portrait of prolonged emotional crisis?! Listen to our eighth episode for a discussion on John Frankenheimer and the place his trilogy of paranoid thrillers had in the opening and middle years of a tumultuous decade, the many symbols and precedents Seconds signaled for the forthcoming New Hollywood era, and the endlessly exquisite camera work of the great James Wong Howe.

Feel free to skip to 1:00:57 for the beginning of our audio commentary. 

As always, please like, subscribe, rate, and review us on all of our channels, which include Apple Podcasts, Spotify, and YouTube! Contact us at huffmanbrothersproductions@gmail.com with your questions, comments, and requests.

In our lucky number sleventh episode, we decided to throw a lackluster surprise party with Sixteen Candles, 80s icon John Hughes's directorial debut. We discuss the highs and lows of Hughes here and elsewhere, touch on the experience of viewing older art with contemporary eyes, weigh what exactly mainstream 80s American cinema was aiming to accomplish, and generally suffer through the experience known as Long Duk Dong. Feel free to skip to 51:21 for the beginning of our audio commentary. As always, please like, subscribe, rate, and review us on all of our channels, which include Apple Podcasts, Spotify, and YouTube! Contact us at huffmanbrothersproductions@gmail.com with your questions, comments, and requests. https://www.newyorker.com/culture/personal-history/what-about-the-breakfast-club-molly-ringwald-metoo-john-hughes-pretty-in-pink

For our sixth episode, we decided to dive right into perhaps the quintessential example of 2000s hyperlink cinema: 2005's Syriana. We explore the genre's function as both entertainment and journalism, puzzle over what the heck happened to the career of Stephen Gaghan, gaze longingly at the paunch of George Clooney, and take general delight in a cinematic work of profound, unrepentant cynicism! Feel free to skip to 1:02:20 for the beginning of our audio commentary. As always, please like, subscribe, rate, and review us on all of our channels, which include Apple Podcasts, Spotify, and YouTube! Contact us at huffmanbrothersproductions@gmail.com with your questions, comments, and requests.

We're back (not a dinosaur story) with our fifth and longest episode yet on 2019's Waves, the latest film from writer-director Trey Edwards Shults! Our conversation explores the ins and outs of one of the most exciting films of recent years, what exactly the presence and success of A24 says about the health of contemporary American cinema, parse the meaning of "the drama" in the context of an ever-shifting industry, and every so briefly address the artistry of one Kanye West.

Feel free to skip to 54:15 for the beginning of our audio commentary. 

As always, please like, subscribe, rate, and review us on all of our channels, which include Apple Podcasts, Spotify, and YouTube! Contact us at huffmanbrothersproductions@gmail.com with your questions, comments, and requests.

Strap-on the longjohns and lace up your winter boots...we're fixing to have ourselves a Snow Day! Listen to two dumb blondes talk about 90s and 00s children's entertainment, the many joys of Chris Elliott, the even greater failures of Chevy Chase, and Iggy Pop's mysterious love of Al Martino, all while struggling to come up with a convincing enough reason for why they're revisiting a mediocre and largely forgettable kids comedy from the early 00s. Maybe one day we'll get around to Max Keeble's Big Move... Feel free to skip to 48:28 for the beginning of our audio commentary. As always, please like, subscribe, rate, and review us on all of our channels, which include Apple Podcasts, Spotify, and YouTube! Contact us at huffmanbrothersproductions@gmail.com with your questions, comments, and requests.

For our third episode, we decided to go full incognito (#fiendmode) with an audio commentary of The Invisible Man, James Whale's 1933 addition to the Universal Monsters movie canon. We explore Levi's love and passion for the studio's influential slate of horror films, take delight in the talkie debut of the great Claude Rains, and parse the relative worth of driving yourself and those around you mad thanks to your seemingly useless invisibility potion. (Dude was born to be a Twitter reply guy/thought leader, Lamborghini lurkin' in the shadows, but alas...) Feel free to skip to 49:17 for the beginning of our audio commentary. As always, please like, subscribe, rate, and review us on all of our channels, which include Apple Podcasts, Spotify, and YouTube! Contact us at huffmanbrothersproductions@gmail.com with your questions, comments, and requests. Boo short film: https://youtu.be/7Ql2FNcJBqQ Finally, check out Levi's Letterboxd ranking of the Universal Monsters movie canon, as well as some insightful and hilarious musings regarding each. https://letterboxd.com/lhuff98/list/universal-monsters-films-ranked/

We spared no expense with our very first episode of Overlapping Dialogue. Up first is Steven Spielberg's 1993 adaptation of Michael Crichton's dinosaur epic, Jurassic Park! Feel free to skip to 24:47 to hear the beginning of our commentary track. Finally, like, subscribe, rate, leave a review, share, and tell everyone you know about our Apple Podcast, Spotify, and YouTube channels! Email us at huffmanbrothersproductions@gmail.com for any comments or requests.

A little get-to-know-us with two brothers who love movies and talking about them! This is a show dedicated to the inelegant art of audio commentaries. We're just fans on the sidelines, minding our own business, hoping to add the smallest dose of entertainment we can while discussing an artform we adore.

Tinseltown beckons as we delight in two modern classics poised to define for audiences the breadth of America's cinematic history: Once Upon a Time in Hollywood and Babylon. But before we pontificate on these recent epics, we enjoy a light Blue Plate Special sampling discussing new releases Kinds of Kindness, Horizon: An American Saga- Chapter 1, and MaXXXine, as well as paying tribute to the late screen legend Shelley Duvall. We eventually shuffle in to see the two splashy films located atop our glittering marquee: listen as we situate Quentin Tarantino's look at TV cowboys squaring off against hippies in 1969 Hollywood towards the top of his filmography, puzzle over where Damien Chazelle's boozy Jazz Age saga leaves him at this stage of his still young career, and generally revel in both films' literal and figurative rages against the dying of the light. As always, please like, subscribe, rate, and review us on all of our channels, which include Apple Podcasts, Spotify, and YouTube! Contact us at huffmanbrothersproductions@gmail.com with your questions, comments, and requests. https://thebigwblog.wordpress.com/2024/06/28/isnt-it-wonderful-kinds-of-kindness-the-wide-release-miracle/ https://thebigwblog.wordpress.com/2024/07/03/the-last-great-open-spaces-applying-the-fat-in-horizon-an-american-saga-chapter-1/ https://thebigwblog.wordpress.com/2024/07/07/a-lost-ball-in-tall-weeds-some-thoughts-on-ti-wests-x-pearl-and-maxxxine/

If you're looking for a bigger podcast, you came to the right place. This Independence Day, Overlapping Dialogue commemorates with a special bonus audio commentary episode celebrating one of not only America's greatest contributions to cinema but one that will undoubtedly rank among the medium's finest works: Jaws! Join us as we dive into Steven Spielberg's seminal 1975 classic, which set in motion both a masterful directorial career and a re-conception of how popular movies themselves function with the emergence of the modern blockbuster. Feel free to skip to 1:20:25 for the beginning of our audio commentary. As always, please like, subscribe, rate, and review us on all of our channels, which include Apple Podcasts, Spotify, and YouTube! Contact us at huffmanbrothersproductions@gmail.com with your questions, comments, and requests.

In this episode of Overlapping Dialogue, we take a look at two well-crafted antiques of cinematic yesteryear, one being a genuine article of the past and another as a vibrant reinvention of a dead artform, with 1939's The Four Feathers and 2015's The Forbidden Room. But before we dig into our double feature, we recognize there's no time like the present to indulge in a Blue Plate Special slate that celebrates the life and legacy of Donald Sutherland, speculates on what exactly the prospects of the "experiential attractions" Netflix House intends to offer, catches up on X and Pearl ahead of the trilogy-capping MaXXXine's release, warms up the half-baked yet edible tastes of Unfrosted, and takes comfort in the subtle pleasures of the newly released The Bikeriders. After ascending to hog heaven, we delight in our retro double feature: listen as we place Zoltan Korda's film into the larger canon of British adventure stories and marvel at Guy Maddin and Evan Johnson's truly transformational experiment in the lost craft, beauty, and perversity of silent cinema. As always, please like, subscribe, rate, and review us on all of our channels, which include Apple Podcasts, Spotify, and YouTube! Contact us at huffmanbrothersproductions@gmail.com with your questions, comments, and requests. https://thebigwblog.wordpress.com/2024/06/22/talkin-bout-my-generation-the-bikeriders-is-passing-through-your-town/

In this episode of Overlapping Dialogue, we eagerly head full speed into the danger zone with two thrilling disaster pictures intent on traumatizing their characters and relentlessly entertaining their audiences: Black Sunday and Twister! But before we masochistically chase storms of both the physical and emotional variety, we stock up on a Blue Plate Special selection focusing on some new releases (In a Violent Nature) and filmmakers (Jane Schoenbrun, director of We're All Going to the World's Fair and I Saw the TV Glow) that hopefully suggest that maybe the spirit of cinema isn't dead after all. Eventually, we abandon all decorum and good sense by embracing the chaos of our double feature: join us as we delight in the unabashed 70s-ness of John Frankenheimer's B-movie epic (we also take the opportunity to induct not one but *two* members into our Hall of Fame, the Immune) and celebrate Jan de Bont's fabulous piece of 90s nonsense, filled with more of its era's character actors than any act of nature could every whisk away. As always, please like, subscribe, rate, and review us on all of our channels, which include Apple Podcasts, Spotify, and YouTube! Contact us at huffmanbrothersproductions@gmail.com with your questions, comments, and requests. https://thebigwblog.wordpress.com/2024/06/05/chapters-skipped-over-on-a-dvd-i-saw-the-tv-glow-review/

In this episode of Overlapping Dialogue, we dive into the overwhelming abyss of past, present, and future techno sci-fi horror with THX 1138 and Possessor. Listen as we assess the ability, or lack thereof, to judge George Lucas's brilliant 1971 debut feature on its own terms and the also weighty pedigree inherent to any discussion of Brandon Cronenberg's 2020 messy assassin thriller. As always, please like, subscribe, rate, and review us on all of our channels, which include Apple Podcasts, Spotify, and YouTube! Contact us at huffmanbrothersproductions@gmail.com with your questions, comments, and requests.

Have no fear, we're back! Overlapping Dialogue returns after an extended spring break with a special Memorial Day Blue Plate Special Buy One Pay Double Buffet Extravaganza! Ahead of a proper episode with our usual format later this week, we kick back and relax with a survey of a great many things that have occupied our attention over the past month and a half. Topics range from thoughts on the bankruptcy of Red Lobster, the Mad Men cameos in Unfrosted, the buzz from this year's Cannes Film Festival, and Ryan Reynolds's disgraceful christening of our new Hall of Shame, the Enemies of the State. Then, we remember the lives of some noteworthy talents who our culture recently lost: Roger Corman, Dabney Coleman, Steve Albini, Paul Auster, and the notorious O.J. Simpson (don't worry, he's our second Enemy of the State). After that, we discuss some notable new releases with Civil War, Challengers, The Fall Guy, Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes, and Furiosa: A Mad Max Saga. Finally, we wrap things up with a preview of this year's summer movie season by highlighting some of the titles we're most excited about. In case you couldn't tell, it's a jam packed episode that we're so happy to share with you this holiday weekend! As always, please like, subscribe, rate, and review us on all of our channels, which include Apple Podcasts, Spotify, and YouTube! Contact us at huffmanbrothersproductions@gmail.com with your questions, comments, and requests. https://thebigwblog.wordpress.com/2024/04/14/acoustic-shadows-cacophony-and-carnage-in-civil-war/

Pull over and keep your hands where we can see 'em: this episode, we take a look at two films' explorations of the dehumanizing nature law enforcement has on both its practitioners and recipients with RoboCop and Highway Patrolman. But before we throw the book at ya, we take a little joy ride through a Blue Plate Special discussion on pair of new releases- both of which act as extended homages to past eras of genre cinema- with Love Lies Bleeding and Late Night with the Devil. We eventually get around to our spotlighted double feature: listen as we dissect the extent to which director Paul Verhoeven either glorifies or satirizes the real life and cinematic violence of 1980s America (likely both!) and situate Alex Cox's earnest Mexican cop drama into his wild, volatile filmography. As always, please like, subscribe, rate, and review us on all of our channels, which include Apple Podcasts, Spotify, and YouTube! Contact us at huffmanbrothersproductions@gmail.com with your questions, comments, and requests.

Don't touch that dial, dedicated listener! On this edition of Overlapping Dialogue, we take a look at a pair of zany explorations of the state of filmmaking and television circa 1987 with Hollywood Shuffle and Amazon Women on the Moon. Prior to that, we dine out on a Blue Plate Special discussion of Dune: Part Two, the follow-up to 2021's adaptation of Frank Herbert's expansive science fiction epic. Upon arriving to this week's double feature, we delight in both films' contemptuous obsessions with the daily programming which dominates our lives: join us as we find a lot to like about director and star Robert Townsend's satiric takedown of the industry's use of African American talents before we adjust the volume to a high pitched endeavor (from a whole host of 1980s genre filmmakers) to recreate the pleasurable, and in some cases downright bizarre, joys of late night channel surfing. As always, please like, subscribe, rate, and review us on all of our channels, which include Apple Podcasts, Spotify, and YouTube! Contact us at huffmanbrothersproductions@gmail.com with your questions, comments, and requests.

As the year winds down and the calendar flips over, we’re ringing in the New Year with a special bonus episode dedicated to one of our favorite—and most elusive—writers: Thomas Pynchon. In this New Year’s Eve edition of Ticket Stubs, we gather to talk about what Pynchon’s work has meant to us over the years, why his voice remains so singular in modern literature, and how his obsessions with paranoia, the past, and slapstick continue to resonate. From there, we dive into One Battle After Another, the recent adaptation of Vineland from director Paul Thomas Anderson, another favorite of ours. Then, we share our thoughts on Pynchon’s long-awaited new novel, Shadow Ticket, before closing things out by putting our cards on the table with our own personal rankings of his novels. Whether you’re a longtime Pynchon devotee, a curious newcomer, or just looking to close out the year with a little chaos and conspiratorial joy, we hope you’ll spend what's left of 2025, or perhaps even the earliest part of 2026...or actually anytime in the foreseeable (or not?) future...with us. Any and all digressions are welcome when it comes to discussing this artist and his work. And believe me, we take digressions aplenty! As always, please like, subscribe, rate, and review us on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, YouTube, and wherever else you listen. Got thoughts or questions? Email us at huffmanbrothersproductions@gmail.com.

In honor of Black History month, we decided to examine two disparate, albeit excellent, depictions of the African American experience with Mo' Better Blues and If Beale Street Could Talk. Ahead of our subjects, we sort through a premium selection of Blue Plate Special items, including our thoughts on the recently announced Sam Mendes' series of films on The Beatles, a pair of new releases in Bob Marley: One Love and Lisa Frankenstein, and the complicated legacy of departed country music superstar Toby Keith. We eventually turn the radio on over to the highest quality jazz station imaginable with our double feature: listen as we dive into the careers of auteurs Spike Lee and Barry Jenkins, discuss how their visions of blackness are translated into their respective films, situate the extent to which the former's 1990 work fit into his larger narrative and aesthetic interests, and question what the latter's future looks like in an age where personally expressive commercial cinema is harder and harder to come by. As always, please like, subscribe, rate, and review us on all of our channels, which include Apple Podcasts, Spotify, and YouTube! Contact us at huffmanbrothersproductions@gmail.com with your questions, comments, and requests.

As the world prepares to enter an ultra charged Super Bowl weekend, we kick off the festivities with the most special of appetizers, a pair of French New Wave classics from the late Jean-Luc Godard with Contempt and Pierrot le Fou! But before we explore the auteur's signature brand of cinematic nihilism, we preview the upcoming big game, try and make sense of the WWE's #WeWantCody phenomenon, get excited about the prospects of a contemporary-set Paul Thomas Anderson movie, and cautiously sort through our thought on the latest Jonathan Glazer film, The Zone of Interest. Have no fear though, we give Jean-Luc plenty of time and attention: listen as we celebrate his at once beautiful yet apocalyptic cinema, one that remains every but as vibrant as it did six decades ago. As always, please like, subscribe, rate, and review us on all of our channels, which include Apple Podcasts, Spotify, and YouTube! Contact us at huffmanbrothersproductions@gmail.com with your questions, comments, and requests.

Toss up the glitter and dust off that harmonica: that's right, we're celebrating two of Todd Haynes's most iconic films, a pair of musical dramas with Velvet Goldmine and I'm Not There. We do wade into the relatively shallow yet agreeable enough waters of the new horror flick Night Swim but primarily dedicate this episode to Haynes's explorations of fame, musicianship, fandom, the divergent yet similarly heavy legacies of glam rock and folk music, find joy in Velvet Goldmine's opaque approximation of David Bowie before puzzling over I'm Not There's narratively muddled yet aesthetically exceptional approach to adapting the Troubadour of Conscience. Come for some hot takes on the wildcard round of the NFL playoffs and predictions about the forthcoming Royal Rumble, stay for above average Bob Dylan impressions. As always, please like, subscribe, rate, and review us on all of our channels, which include Apple Podcasts, Spotify, and YouTube! Contact us at huffmanbrothersproductions@gmail.com with your questions, comments, and requests.

Another year gone, another year awaits...The team here at Overlapping Dialogue decided to ring in 2024 with an affectionate look back at the highs, lows, and above all else memorable moments of 2023 with our inaugural Harry Dean Awards! Listen as we discuss the many noteworthy performances of Oppenheimer, highlight our favorite aspects of Barbie, decide on the year's best use of Tilda Swinton, christen our Comeback Player of the Year, and dive into a great many more categories and distinctions, culminating in our recognizing of the Filmmaker and Film of the Year. The Academy "Awards" only grow all the more irrelevant with the arrival of the only film awards you'll ever have to pay attention to from here on out! As always, please like, subscribe, rate, and review us on all of our channels, which include Apple Podcasts, Spotify, and YouTube! Contact us at huffmanbrothersproductions@gmail.com with your questions, comments, and requests.

This holiday season, cozy up to the fire, feast on some figgy pudding, and join Overlapping Dialogue as we deliver a special bonus audio commentary for one of our very favorite Christmas movies, Home Alone! Listen as we dissect the endless entertainment value inherent to Chris Columbus and John Hughes's family comedy without the family, complete with discussions of the McCallister's stately suburban Chicago estate, appreciations of the downright genius of pairing Joe Pesci with Daniel Stern, and a general agnosticism on the question of polka as a worthwhile art form. As always, please like, subscribe, rate, and review us on all of our channels, which include Apple Podcasts, Spotify, and YouTube! Contact us at huffmanbrothersproductions@gmail.com with your questions, comments, and requests. https://www.nytimes.com/2023/12/20/movies/home-alone-mccallisters-wealth.html

As you sort through your Thanksgiving leftovers and start your Christmas shopping, let Overlapping Dialogue serve the role of comforting holiday companion. We ring in the series of occasions with a pair of football movies that tug on the heartstrings- albeit in wildly different ways- with Heaven Can Wait and Friday Night Lights. But before they settle their respective differences on the gridiron, we as humble color commentators devour a full fledged meal with a Blue Plate Special lineup: listen as we discuss the latest edition of the Call of Duty franchise (Modern Warfare 3...again) and ponder what the yet-to-be-released Coyote vs. Acme and its stalled fate means for the future of the motion picture industry, as well as find theatrical solace with an unlikely trio of satisfying new releases in Anatomy of a Fall, The Holdovers, and Thanksgiving. Upon finally arriving to our pigskin-themed main event, we delight in the multi-hyphenate nature of the 1978 romantic comedy fantasy sports yarn and try and catch our breathes from the insistent, stifling DRAMA in all caps (no cap, fr fr) of the 2004 high school sports saga. Appropriately, we even enshrine one of this episode's subjects into our very own Hall of Fame, the Immune. As always, please like, subscribe, rate, and review us on all of our channels, which include Apple Podcasts, Spotify, and YouTube! Contact us at huffmanbrothersproductions@gmail.com with your questions, comments, and requests. https://thebigwblog.wordpress.com/2023/11/19/update-makarov-goes-nuclear-call-of-duty-modern-warfare-iii-why-are-you/

Light your cigs and scout the blotter: it's Noirvember, sugar bumps! This episode's pair of films, dedicated to one of classic Hollywood's richest legacies, celebrates the waning years of the legendary Orson Welles's time in the States with The Stranger and The Lady from Shanghai. But before we get lost in the shadows of postwar American ennui, our Blue Plate Special segment finds us diving ever so briefly back into the domain of bloody baboons with a discussion of the teaser trailer for Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes. We eventually trade in our computer generated fur for some proper money suits with a double feature of Welles noirs, one which subtly makes a case that fascism wasn't totally extinguished at the conclusion of the Second World War and another that stylishly crashes and burns with the intensity of a cinematic volcano. As always, please like, subscribe, rate, and review us on all of our channels, which include Apple Podcasts, Spotify, and YouTube! Contact us at huffmanbrothersproductions@gmail.com with your questions, comments, and requests.

As All Hallows' Eve approaches with a creeping intensity, Spooktober Spooktacular continues with two iconic cinematic ghost stories that have left an indelible impact with audiences of every subsequent generation: Poltergeist and The Sixth Sense. But before we exercise these spirits, we unpack and sort through our thoughts on the latest Martin Scorsese's historical epic Killers of the Flower Moon, look for answers in the satisfying labyrinth of The Blair Witch Project, and muse over the highs and lows of Hulu's small screen comedy-mystery Only Murders in the Building. Join us as we enter a pair of old dark houses that is our double feature: listen as we try to suss out the Spielbergian elements within Tobe Hooper's 1982 supernatural horror before taking stock of the innumerable hallmarks that at once put Shyamalan on the map in 1999 and established a formula he's yet to ever succeed outside of. As always, please like, subscribe, rate, and review us on all of our channels, which include Apple Podcasts, Spotify, and YouTube! Contact us at huffmanbrothersproductions@gmail.com with your questions, comments, and requests. https://thebigwblog.wordpress.com/2023/10/21/our-blood-is-turning-white-killers-of-the-flower-moon-needed-more-and-less/

Bedazzle the cobwebs and yassify the cemetery: it's that time again, the third annual Overlapping Dialogue Spooktober Spooktacular! We dive into the Halloween spirit in with two black and white chillers from the 30s and 40s with Vampyr and Isle of the Dead. In addition to tangling with the undead, we get fat and happy with a Blue Plate Special bag of goodies, ranging from thoughts on the new Wes Anderson shorts adapting Roald Dahl on Netflix, predictions on what effects Swifties will have on theaters with the release of Taylor Swift: The Eras Tour, and puzzle our way through Rolling Stones Magazine's ranking of the "50 Worst Decisions in Movie History." It's a *scary* good episode that may or may not conclude with us chowing down on some General Mills monster cereal. But which one? You'll have to listen to the very end to find out. As always, please like, subscribe, rate, and review us on all of our channels, which include Apple Podcasts, Spotify, and YouTube! Contact us at huffmanbrothersproductions@gmail.com with your questions, comments, and requests.

In this edition of Overlapping Dialogue, we make off with a load of fat greenbacks that turn out to be counterfeit junk with 1987's The Untouchables and 2009's Public Enemies. Though both films have generated healthy followings over the years, we take issue with their approaches to and executions of the crime genre, a medium we have particular passions for. Also, there's no Blue Plate Special this time but have no fear, we made a whole meal out of the cinematic dumpsters we're highlighting. Feel free to lock us up after this one and throw away the key: it's our story and we're sticking to it. As always, please like, subscribe, rate, and review us on all of our channels, which include Apple Podcasts, Spotify, and YouTube! Contact us at huffmanbrothersproductions@gmail.com with your questions, comments, and requests.

It’s that time of year again—when we gather by the fire, sip something warm, and queue up… movies that *technically* take place at Christmas. This week, we’re unwrapping two not-quite-but-definitely-set-during-the-holidays classics: Stanley Kubrick’s eerie yuletide odyssey Eyes Wide Shut (1999) and Steven Spielberg’s breezy cat-and-mouse charmer Catch Me If You Can (2002). While neither film is exactly “festive,” both use the holiday season to cast their stories in a glow equal parts melancholic and mischievous. Before diving into our gift-wrap-adjacent double feature, our Blue Plate Special is packed with plenty of cinematic goodies waiting under the tree. We break down the eyebrow-raising possibility of Warner Bros. being sold to either Netflix or Paramount/Skydance—and what such a shake-up could mean for the future of the film industry. We also share our thoughts on several recent releases we’ve caught (Sentimental Value, The History of Sound, Jay Kelly, and Pavements), react to Quentin Tarantino’s recent comments about Paul Dano and 21st-century cinema, relive our theatrical experience seeing Kill Bill: The Whole Bloody Affair, and pay tribute to the recent losses of Cary-Hiroyuki Tagawa, Jim Ward, Jeff Garcia, Peter Greene, and the legendary Rob Reiner. As always, please like, subscribe, rate, and review us on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, YouTube, and wherever else you listen! Got thoughts or questions? Email us at huffmanbrothersproductions@gmail.com.

Marcel Proust once said, "The real voyage of discovery consists not in seeking new landscapes, but in having new eyes." Thankfully, legendary journalist and maestro of the mustache Geraldo Rivera took such advice to heart in the conception of his iconic, some might say infamous, television special The Mystery of Al Capone's Vaults. Join us as we provide our own commentary to Rivera's attempt to uncover secrets, loot, and- most importantly- anecdotes involving one of American gangland's most notorious figures. The ending may not exactly be what the Internal Revenue Service or sponsors of the special Budweiser and the Quaker Oats Company were hoping for. But hey, isn't it all about the friends and/or meaningless debris we found along the way? As always, please like, subscribe, rate, and review us on all of our channels, which include Apple Podcasts, Spotify, and YouTube! Contact us at huffmanbrothersproductions@gmail.com with your questions, comments, and requests.

Y2K looms large as Overlapping Dialogue concludes our series on the cinema of the 1990s with two satires situated deep in the Clinton years: Election and American Beauty. But before we celebrate the end of an era, we dive into a Blue Plate Special discussion involving our thoughts on some recent theatrical re-releases (American Graffiti and They Live) in the midst of the ongoing Hollywood strikes, puzzle over the impact of the "critical metric" site Rotten Tomatoes, and generally wrestle with the larger legacies left by the films of 1999 while also debating how it stacks up to other heralded movie years. Upon dispensing with the pleasantries, we dive into the muck generated by both of our spotlighted films: listen as we appreciate Alexander Payne and Tom Perrotta's vision of Middle American angst while objecting to the smug aperture through which Sam Mendes and Alan Ball forcefully demand we "look closer." As always, please like, subscribe, rate, and review us on all of our channels, which include Apple Podcasts, Spotify, and YouTube! Contact us at huffmanbrothersproductions@gmail.com with your questions, comments, and requests.

We don't know whether to dance or weep on this edition of Overlapping Dialogue, which once again continues our journey through the 90s with a pairing that would leave even the hardiest party animal crying in the club: The Last Days of Disco and American History X. But before we put on our dancing shoes, we dig into a Blue Plate Special slate celebrating the lives of Terry Funk, Bray Wyatt, and Bob Barker; mull over the status of the ongoing Hollywood strikes; and offer up some thoughts on the latest chiller from Universal Studios, The Last Voyage of the Demeter. Upon surviving the Count's subpar attempts to subdue us, we tackle two striking portraits of American whiteness while considering their traditions within the yuppie coming-of-age story and the trial-by-fire political drama respectively. As always, please like, subscribe, rate, and review us on all of our channels, which include Apple Podcasts, Spotify, and YouTube! Contact us at huffmanbrothersproductions@gmail.com with your questions, comments, and requests. https://thebigwblog.wordpress.com/2023/08/13/bright-wall-bright-room-movie-theaters-are-in-disrepair-but-isnt-it-great/?fbclid=IwAR1NQvmm3qeXAMi6ti5vI4fgePamuQiN0S4OgHEj0lRtVQYq32P-WySREZo_aem_AZh6XfSOJTuUbATiXoRJSS6Lh8vLbnwT-9R5sfOO4lLZ0CSQ7tLPl9OXflqZG1znr2o

Sometimes odd couples have the ability to go the long haul. In the spirit of labored cooperation, Overlapping Dialogue pairs two disparate 1997 darlings together for an episode you'll never forget: My Best Friend's Wedding and Face/Off! As always, we kick off the proceedings with a Blue Plate Special slate dedicated to celebrating the lives and legacies of William Friedkin and Robbie Robertson, burying once and for all the rote Airport franchise with The Concorde...Airport '79, praise the new release Past Lives, and attempt to assign coherence to a reluctant participant in Reflections of Evil. We eventually arrive to this episode's double feature, where we judge the extent to which John Travolta and Nicholas Cage's scorched earth tête-à-tête is as deranged and manic as Julia Roberts's sabotage of a lovely wedding of her dear friend and potential lover. As always, please like, subscribe, rate, and review us on all of our channels, which include Apple Podcasts, Spotify, and YouTube! Contact us at huffmanbrothersproductions@gmail.com with your questions, comments, and requests. https://thebigwblog.wordpress.com/2023/07/29/take-your-sister-by-the-hand-the-unchecked-ambition-of-reflections-of-evil/

After stepping out for a bit with a month-long hiatus, Overlapping Dialogue is back with our continued journey through 90s cinema, one that has us sorting out a pair of 1996 films riddled with daddy issues: Hamlet and Lone Star. But before we account for the sins of the father(s), we devour a Blue Plate Special slate sure to offer something for everyone as we assess some of this summer's most talked about releases with Mission: Impossible- Dead Reckoning Part 1, Oppenheimer, and Barbie. And yes, we do spend time unpacking the larger Barbenheimer phenomenon. Once the smoke clears and the glitter fades away, we dive into this edition's double feature: listen as we admire Kenneth Branagh's reverent adaptation of one of the Bard's most iconic works and marvel at the economical mastery present in John Sayles's small town neo-noir western. As always, please like, subscribe, rate, and review us on all of our channels, which include Apple Podcasts, Spotify, and YouTube! Contact us at huffmanbrothersproductions@gmail.com with your questions, comments, and requests.

As Overlapping Dialogue continues its quest through the cinema of the 1990s, we pair our most unlikely duo yet with the "edgy" coming-of-age drama Kids and the wildly popular entry in the James Bond franchise GoldenEye, both from 1995. But before we careen between the two widely disparate works, this edition's Blue Plate Special sees us tackling the reshuffling of Turner Classic Movies and pontificating on what it might mean for the future of the beloved institution; sorting through three recent releases in Asteroid City, No Hard Feelings, and Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny; and celebrating the life and legacy of screen legend Alan Arkin. We eventually get around to trying to classify what exactly Kids is all about and marvel at how GoldenEye successfully retooled 007 for a new generation. As always, please like, subscribe, rate, and review us on all of our channels, which include Apple Podcasts, Spotify, and YouTube! Contact us at huffmanbrothersproductions@gmail.com with your questions, comments, and requests.

What better way to honor not only our continued cruise through the cinema of the 1990s but of our nation's 247th birthday than with a surprise, holiday-edition commentary of Roland Emmerich's 1996 disaster epic, Independence Day?! Listen as we situate the film's place in the larger cinematic landscape of the decade, admire the unconventional "love" triangle conflict grounding the otherwise weightless action, question the general presence of Randy Quaid, and genuinely delight in Judd Hirsch's casual granting of fast-pass national security clearance through Area 51. Above all else, Overlapping Dialogue wishes you a happy July 4th vacation! Feel free to skip to 45:29 for the beginning of our audio commentary. As always, please like, subscribe, rate, and review us on all of our channels, which include Apple Podcasts, Spotify, and YouTube! Contact us at huffmanbrothersproductions@gmail.com with your questions, comments, and requests.