You may not recognize your Crit Club pals this week as we go undercover to take down the drug kingpins of LA and watch 1992's Deep Cover, directed by Bill Duke, starring Laurence née Larry Fishburne and Jeff Goldblum. Come listen and see if living a life of crime appealed to us, or sent us fleeing back towards society's rule of law. Join us next week for a Peter pick, where we're checking out the 1978 thriller The Shout. And drop us a line! You can email us at [email protected] or...

This week, the Crit Club (Club de Critique, en francais, I would assume) becomes a fly on the wall as we watch 1988’s Jane B. by Agnès V., in which legendary filmmaker Agnès Varda sets out to tell the life story of legendary pop icon Jane Birkin. What follows is an utter dreamscape of collaborative egos swirling around themselves in attempts at clarity, playfulness, and poignancy. Come listen to see if we were swept away in those dust devils.  Join us next week for a Coire pick, where we’ll...

This week, the Crit Clubbers were whisked away in time and place, like four Major Toms exploring a WWII prisoner of war camp in the Pacific Theater. We watched 1983’s Merry Christmas, Mr. Lawrence, a Nagisa Oshima movie about British POWs at the hands of Japanese captors on Java. Oh and it stars David Bowie. That’s why I said that Major Tom thing. It’s a unique movie that led us down a winding conversational path, talking about male bonding, colonial storytelling, war being hell, and David...

Hello Crit Clubbers! This week we’re watching 1990’s The Comfort of Strangers, directed by Paul Schrader, with a screenplay from Harold Pinter adapted from a book by Ian McEwan. It follows bored couple in a stagnant relationship trying to reignite the spark with a very laid back vacation to Venice. They stumble up a stolid Christopher Walken, who gives them a tour of the dark passageways of the soul. Listen in to see whether this story lifted us up, or caused us to drown in those Venetian...

Hello! Crit Club is back to take a look at 1982's Chan Is Missing. It's an ambitious amalgamation of a movie that's both a detective story about two men looking for a disappeared business partner, and a exploration/celebration of the many Asian-American communities in San Francisco's Chinatown. Listen in and hear what we thought of this groundbreaking movie and its place in film history. And don't forget to listen in next week, where we'll discuss Paul Schrader's 1990 erotic thriller The...

Aaaaand we're back! This time talking about Steven Okazaki's 1987's drama Living on Tokyo Time about a young Japanese woman trying to figure her life out in the U.S. and a disaffected Japanese-American young man doing the same. The two fall into an impromptu marriage exposing the buried desires within them both. Listen to this post-hiatus episode to see what we thought about it. Join us next week when we'll be talking about Wayne Wang's 1982 film Chan Is Missing!

The Crit Club doesn’t want to live on this planet anymore, so we’re reading the vibrations of the 1974 experimental jazz movie Space Is the Place. Following the music, the philosophy and the interstellar aspirations of Sun Ra, Space Is the Place unfolds a cosmic story about Black identity. Sun Ra plays a prophet of Black excellence and a shepherd to usher Black people into the heavens and away from systemic racism and institutional exclusion of white power structures. It’s a truly unique...

We’re back from holiday break in time to bring you a nice British romantic drama, aggressively titled Sunday Bloody Sunday. Sorry, The Edge fans, you won’t find any U2 here. Rather, it’s a contemplative, wry story about finding what we need from each other and from love. So basically, any U2 song. That’s a joke. U2 is bad. But what do the rest of the Crit Club think about U2, or this movie? Listen and find out. Other things we discussed: Jubilee Desert Hearts Multiple Maniacs Better...

That's not a rusty saxophone playing echoing through a dirty LA alleyway you hear, that's the Crit Club investigating the 1975 Dick Richards mystery movie Farewell, My Lovely. Based on the excellent Raymond Chandler book of the same name, Farewell, My Lovely follows rumpled private dick Phillip Marlowe who's found himself in league with the enormous Moose Mallow, a lost jade necklace and an awkward friendship with a newsie. Will we find enough evidence to love this film, or will the trail go...

Your beloved Crit Club rises from the dregs of the previous week's watch with 1966's Daisies. This Czechoslovakian funhouse mirror of a movie from director Věra Chytilová is filled to the brim with bohemian delight and nihilistic exhibitionism. Plot-wise, you might say it follows two women named Marie as they scrape together an existence in their Soviet paradise, but Daisies is not at all worried about plot. Did we find this deconstructed collage of surrealist reality compelling enough to...

Well, well, well, it seems like the Crit Club took their recent fascination with adult animation just a bit too far this week as we try to shake off the patina of slime that 1973's Belladonna of Sadness dipped us in. While we expected to watch an animated, mature-themed romp, fate had other, crueler plans. We're not even going to hide our attempt to tease you into listening for our opinions: this was a wretched movie and we talked about its wretchedness.  Other things (that were much...

We're celebrating (U.S.) Thanksgiving the right way: with quiet, sad, potentially boring family time. This week, the Crit Club watched Olivier Assayas' 2008 film Summer Hours, a contemplative movie about siblings dealing with the loss of their mother. With different priorities and different expectations of life, two brothers and a sister reckon with what will become of their family's legacy and what they will leave for their children. Will we find this film layered and complex like a well...

As the sun slips away earlier and earlier, it's only natural for the Crit Club to spend this time imagining what it would be like to bound through sunny British meadows like rabbits. In aid of this, we watched the 1978 animated classic Watership Down, based on the 1972 Richard Adams novel of the same name. The surprisingly serious movie takes viewers on an adventure with a renegade group of rabbit wanderers as they look for a new home and safety. Will we find solace and comfort in the raw...

And Crit Club is back! We've returned from our extended summer vacation to rejoin the world of cinema, starting with Jacques Tati's 1967 spectacle of a film Playtime. Focusing on how the modern world buzzes and shines with its steel and glass, this very creative movie plays with how people clumsily bumble through it. Will the Crit Club be won over by its futuristic vision of modernity, or will nostalgia hold us back? Give a listen and find out! Other things we talked about:  - Star Trek:...

Welcome to another Wizard Pick™! On this week’s Crit Club, our dear co-host Wizard Chris takes us on something of an… uneven journey with the 1970 “horror” film Equinox. Eleven years before Evil Dead, Equinox follows four friends who venture into mysterious woods to discover an ominous book and an eternal evil. They are plagued by oddly designed claymation monsters and a park ranger named Asmodeus. Sigh. Who knows if it’s a movie worth watching, but it’s an episode worth listening to! Other...

No longer content with sitting in one country, this week the Crit Club joined icon Grace Jones in a trip around the world. We watched Sophie Fiennes’ Grace Jones: Bloodlight and Bami, which chronicles Jones recording her 2008 album Hurricane, its subsequent world tour and her visit to her family in Jamaica. Come listen to us discuss divas stripped down, musical documentaries, the benefits of confidence and the persistent force of Grace Jones. Other things we discussed: Don’t Look Back ...

This week we stayed in the '70s, but moved onto comedy with Elaine May's directorial debut, A New Leaf. This riches to rags film stars a young(er) Walter Matthau scheming to wed the bookish and oblivious Henrietta, played by May, in order to reclaim his wealth. The Crit Club was somewhat divided on this airy screwball comedy of sorts, so come hear who settled nicely into this comedy and who wanted to LEAF it behind. (sorrysorrysorry) Other things we mentioned:  - Mikey and Nicky -...

It was getting seriously embarrassing that the Crit Club has been around this long and still did not have a take on Cassavetes. Coire decided to right that wrong this week and picked John Cassaveses’ 1974 film A Woman Under the Influence, a true to life domestic story about mental illness, flailing attempts at emotional intelligence and traumatizing beach days. It led to a great and intense discussion, but we don’t want to give our thoughts away just yet. Come listen! Other things we...

Apparently not through with winter, the Crit Club has fled to the Great White North, home of Wizard Chris himself, to learn about Canadian history from Matthew Rankin's deeply weird film The Twentieth Century. Telling the story of former Canadian Prime Minister William Lyon Mackenzie King, who was apparently something of a weirdo himself, this surrealist acid trip lovingly chides the chilly country with humor, fetishes, and disappointment. Did we gain a greater appreciation of the world's...

As we emerge slowly from the dark doldrums of a cursed winter, the Crit Club is more than eager to take French director Clair Denis up on her offer to Let the Sunshine In. Starring the ever-wonderful Juliette Binoche, and told through a fragmented bits of a broken life, this movie follows a middle age painter in Paris desperately trying to find a connection or maybe herself. Will the Crit Club enjoy the journey or will we crawl back into our hole and wish for six more weeks of winter? Come...

After weeks of wrestling with some pretty weighty films, the Crit Club was glad to lighten things up a bit with Police Story, Jackie Chan's cartoonish 80s action flick that propelled him onto the international stage. While the stunts are stunning, the tonal shifts are jarring. Come see if we thought this movie stuck the landing or missed its mark.  Other things we discussed:  - Commando - Die Hard - Predator - Schitt's Creek - Letterkenny - Dune  - Zack Snyder's Justice...

This week the Crit Club watched Héctor Babenco's 1981 drama Pixote, about a group of children who fall through the wide cracks in an extremely broken system. It is decidedly not an easy watch, but it left us with a lot to chew on as we discussed both sheer systemic injustices and the filmmaking ethics of putting young actors in potentially harmful situations. Buckle up for a great discussion about how we wrestle with troubling art. Come listen! Other things we discussed:  - Full Metal...

Punk isn't dead to the Crit Club this week as we warp back to experience the intense angst of 1970s Britain with Derek Jarman's Jubilee. This fever dream roughly posits what Queen Elizabeth I would think of Queen Elizabeth II's reign, only to find the Commonwealth has become a lawless, nihilistic dystopia. Is there no future for this movie or will god save our opinion of it? You should listen and find out. Other things we discussed: - The Young Ones - Multiple Maniacs - Welcome II the...

Journey back to the turn of the 20th century with Crit Club this week as we sit quietly with Jan Troell's delicate 2008 film Everlasting Moments, a movie about a woman caught in the oppressive conventions of rugged Scandinavian society while exploring her pull towards creative expression. As Maria's attraction to photography blossoms, will her stalwart perseverance through multiple hardships bring her story into focus for us? Or will we find the film a bit blurry? Listen and find...

Tired of being shut in, the Crit Club has taken a virtual trip to the mountains of South Korea, but this idyllic hunting lodge we found has a pretty sinister aura. This week, we try to keep up with Kim Jee-woon's 1998 black comedy The Quiet Family, in which a new family business turns into an escalating series of unfortunate events. Give this episode a listen and see if we're won over by this madcap burst of late '90s dark energy, or if we're ready to check out as soon as possible.  Other...