Taste of Cherry (1997; Dir.: Abbas Kiarostami) Canon Fodder Episode 16 On this week’s episode, Daniel and Corky drive through the streets of Sacramento looking for someone to help them unlock the secrets of Abbas Kiarostami’s Palme d’Or winner. But will your hosts cherish their Taste of Cherry or decide that it’s the pits? TASTES OF CHERRY FACTS & FIGURES Sight & Sound  2022 Critics Poll Ranking: #243 (tied) World premiere: May 16, 1997 (Cannes Film Festival) IMDB synopsis: “An...

The Life and Death of Colonel Blimp (1943; Dir.: Michael Powell and Emeric Pressburger) Canon Fodder Episode 15 On this week’s episode, old battle axes Daniel and Corky trade war stories with The Life and Death of Colonel Blimp. But does this decades-spanning intimate epic from The Archers hit its target or miss the mark? THE LIFE AND DEATH OF COLONEL BLIMP FACTS & FIGURES Sight & Sound  2022 Critics Poll Ranking: #196 (tied) UK theatrical debut: June 10, 1943 IMDB synopsis:...

The Passion of Joan of Arc (1928; Dir.: Carl Theodor Dreyer) Canon Fodder Episode 14 Daniel and Corky revisit Danish dandy Carl Dreyer with this review of his 1928 silent masterpiece. But do your hosts have a passion for Joan of Arc, or are they passin’ on Joan of Arc? THE PASSION OF JOAN OF ARC FACTS & FIGURES Sight & Sound  2022 Critics List Ranking: #21 (tied) Danish theatrical debut: April 21, 1928 IMDB synopsis:“In 1431, Jeanne d’Arc is placed on trial on charges of heresy....

Do the Right Thing (1989; Dir.: Spike Lee) Canon Fodder Episode 13 On a temperate day on separate streets in various sections of Sacramento, Corky and Daniel’s agreement about the brilliance of Do the Right Thing smolders and builds until it explodes into canon fire. DO THE RIGHT THING FACTS & FIGURES Sight & Sound  2022 Critics List Ranking: #24 U.S. theatrical debut: June 30, 1989 IMDB synopsis: “On the hottest day of the year on a street in the Bedford-Stuyvesant section of...

Los Olvidados (1950; Dir.: Luis Buñuel) Canon Fodder Episode 12 Your hardly young but certainly damned hosts Daniel and Corky review Luis Buñuel’s surrealistic neo-Realist classic. LOS OLVIDADOS FACTS & FIGURES Sight & Sound  2022 Critics List Ranking: #157 (tied) Mexican theatrical debut: Nov. 9, 1950 IMDB synopsis: “A group of juvenile delinquents live a violent and crime-filled life in the festering slums of Mexico City, as the morals of young Pedro are gradually corrupted...

Pickpocket (1959; Dir.: Robert Bresson) Canon Fodder Episode 11 We wish we knew how to quit you, Robert Bresson! Daniel and Corky get their Bresson on with a review of the French master’s 1959 masterpiece Pickpocket. Will the film steal your host’s hearts, or will it leave them feeling ripped off? PICKPOCKET FACTS & FIGURES Sight & Sound  2022 Critics List Ranking: #136 (tied) French theatrical debut: Dec. 16, 1959 IMDB synopsis: “Michel passes the time by picking pockets,...

Ordet (1955; Dir.: Carl Theodor Dreyer) Canon Fodder Episode 10 We’ve got Danes on our brains this week on the Canon Fodder podcast! Daniel and Corky review Danish master Carl Dreyer’s acclaimed Ordet, a story of spiritual schisms both internal and external. But can anyone repair the schism between Daniel and Corky after this episode? ORDET FACTS & FIGURES Sight & Sound  2022 Critics List Ranking: #48 (tied) Danish theatrical debut: Jan. 10, 1955 IMDB synopsis: “Follows the...

PlayTime (1967; Dir.: Jacques Tati) Canon Fodder Episode 9 After a string of thematically heavy films, the Random Number Generator Gods decided Daniel and Corky were due for a little playtime. French auteur Jacques Tati’s landmark comedy epic PlayTime, that is! But will your hosts swing PlayTime into the Canon Fodder canon, or will it slide into oblivion? PLAYTIME FACTS & FIGURES Sight & Sound  2022 Critics List Ranking: #23 French Theatrical debut: Dec. 16, 1967 IMDB synopsis:...

A Man Escaped (1956; Dir.: Robert Bresson) Canon Fodder Episode 8 Daniel and Corky continue their world tour through the masterpieces of cinema by reviewing French auteur Robert Bresson’s gripping prison drama. Will your hosts man up and Canon-ize the film, or will its appeal escape them? A MAN ESCAPED FACTS & FIGURES Sight & Sound  2022 Critics List Ranking: #95 (tied) Theatrical debut: Nov. 11, 1956 IMDB synopsis: “A captured French Resistance fighter during WWII engineers a...

Dare Daniel Presents: Canon Fodder – Episode 7 Ali: Fear Eats the Soul (1974; Dir.: Rainer Werner Fassbinder) Mismatched duo Daniel and Corky buck all society’s rules by putting schnitzel on their strudel  to review German wunderkind Rainer Werner Fassbinder’s Ali: Fear Eats the Soul.  But will your hosts Canon-ize this 1974 classic, or will they throw sauerkraut in its bauernbrot? ALI: FEAR EATS THE SOUL FACTS & FIGURES Sight & Sound  2022 Critics List Ranking: #52 (tied) West...

Dare Daniel Presents: Canon Fodder – Episode 6 By the Bluest of Seas (1936; Dir.: Boris Barnet) Shipwrecked cinephiles Daniel and Corky are whisked away to a collectivist paradise by Boris Barnet’s ebullient musical comedy. But will your hosts deem this enchantingly effervescent slice of vile Communist propaganda Canon-worthy, or will they blast it out of the water? BY THE BLUEST OF SEAS  FACTS & FIGURES Sight & Sound  2022 Critics List Ranking: #211 (tied) IMDB synopsis: “Two...

Dare Daniel Presents: Canon Fodder – Episode 5 Battleship Potemkin (1925; Dir.: Sergei Eisenstein) Daniel and Corky talk montages, meat, maggots, mutinies and more in their review of the iconic Soviet silent masterpiece Battleship Potemkin. BATTLESHIP POTEMKIN  FACTS & FIGURES Theatrical debut: Dec. 21, 1925 Sight & Sound  2022 Critics List Ranking: #54 (tied) IMDB synopsis: “In the midst of the Russian Revolution of 1905, the crew of the battleship Potemkin mutiny against the...

Dare Daniel Presents: Canon Fodder – Episode 4 Bicycle Thieves (1948; Dir.: Vittorio De Sica) Daniel and Corky walk the streets of Sacramento in a futile search for a film more achingly beautiful than the Italian Neo-Realist masterpiece Bicycle Thieves. BICYCLE THIEVES  FACTS & FIGURES Theatrical debut: Nov. 24, 1948 Sight & Sound  2022 Critics List Ranking: #41 (tied) IMDB synopsis: “In post-war Italy, a working-class man’s bicycle is stolen, endangering his efforts to find...

Dare Daniel Presents: Canon Fodder – Episode 3 The Exterminating Angel (1962; Dir.: Luis Buñuel) Daniel and Corky enjoy their descent into madness and despair courtesy of Luis Buñuel’s surrealist satire The Exterminating Angel. THE EXTERMINATING ANGEL (1962) FACTS & FIGURES Cannes Film Festival debut: May 16, 1962 Sight & Sound  2022 Critics List Ranking: #169 [tied] IMDB synopsis: “The guests at an upper-class dinner party find themselves unable to leave.” CLIPS AND...

Dare Daniel Presents: Canon Fodder – Episode 2 Limite (1931; Dir.: Mário Peixoto) Daniel and Corky sail out to the edges of cinema history to review the legendary and influential Brazilian silent film Limite. This eerie and experimental movie was long thought lost, but a relatively recent restoration has exposed it to a new generation of cinephiles. But is this challenging story of castaways something to cast away, or will it get canon-ized by Daniel and Corky? LIMITE (1931) FACTS &...

Dare Daniel Presents: Canon Fodder – Episode 1 Rashomon (1950; Dir.: Akira Kurosawa) From the heroes who brought you Dare Daniel…welcome to Canon Fodder! In the coming months, years, decades and lifetimes, friends and fellow cinephiles Daniel Barnes and Corky McDonnell will be randomly working their way through the cinematic canon. For their pilot episode, Daniel and Corky review Akira Kurosawa’s highly influential 1950 masterpiece Rashomon. Or do they? There are a few different takes...

Dare Daniel Season 2/Episode 8 – Dare Daniel: Cage Match wrap-up RELATED CLIPS Follow Dare Daniel on Facebook and Instagram.  Be sure to listen, rate, review and subscribe to the show on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, PlayerFM, Listen Notes, Google Podcasts, Castbox and more.  New episodes come out every other Tuesday!  Help support the show by clicking the Donate button on the Dare Daniel homepage. Read more of Daniel’s movie reviews at Dare Daniel and Rotten Tomatoes.

Dare Daniel: Cage Match – Round 7 Dog Eat Dog (2016; Dir.: Paul Schrader) – Episode 130   DOG EAT DOG (2016) FACTS & FIGURES U.S. theatrical debut: Nov. 4, 2016 Worldwide box office: $~200,000 Critics scores: 50 on Rotten Tomatoes; 53 on Metacritic IMDB synopsis: “A crew of ex-cons are hired by a Cleveland mafioso to kidnap the baby of a rival mobster.” This week’s referenced movies: Taxi Driver; Raging Bull; Obsession; The Last Temptation of Christ; Hardcore; American...

Dare Daniel: Cage Match – Round 6 Captain Corelli’s Mandolin (2011; Dir.: John Madden) – Episode 129 “It’s a beautifully designed vehicle with no engine.” Daniel and Corky lose their zest for life after watching the badly miscast Nicolas Cage play the titular hero of Captain Corelli’s Mandolin. Despite the beautiful locale and an impressive cast, we’re never given a compelling reason to care about any element of this tedious and soulless awards-grubber. Even the mandolin doesn’t...

Dare Daniel: Cage Match – Round 5 Jiu Jitsu (2020; Dir.: Dimitri Legothetis) – Episode 128 “Get off my piano.” In their final Cage Match review, Nouveau Shamanic acolytes Daniel and Corky grapple with the un-gentle art of Jiu Jitsu. Cage goes Obi-Yawn Kenobi as a neo-hippie martial arts mentor, but cedes the lead to Canadian stuntman, martial artist and charisma black hole Alain Moussi. Jiu Jitsu comes up short on every level, especially the omnipresent fight scenes. Writer-director...

Dare Daniel: Cage Match – Round 4 Trespass (2011; Dir.: Joel Schumacher) – Episode 127 “You did it, kid! You hit the mother lode!” Rich jerk Daniel and diamond-dealer-on-the-edge Corky go fishing in a bottomless ocean of red herrings with their Cage Match review of Trespass. It’s a mindlessly perfunctory and progressively annoying 1A thriller that barrages you with standoffs, fake-outs, double-crosses and twists, twists, twists! Elsewhere, Daniel and Corky discuss flirty flashbacks,...

Dare Daniel: Cage Match – Round 3 Left Behind (2014; Dir.: Vic Armstrong) – Episode 126 “It’s just a bad trip!” Daniel “Dan” “Buck” Barnes and Corky Carpathia continue their Cage Match series with a Rapture-ous review of Left Behind (2014). Cage has little to do but somehow manages to do less with it, as the great ones so often do. His real-life quest for the Holy Grail led him to this, a paycheck movie in praise of a vengeful God. Elsewhere, Daniel and Corky discuss rapture fakeouts,...

Dare Daniel: Cage Match – Round 2 Sonny (2002; Dir.: Nicolas Cage) – Episode 125 “Now I know why Mother calls you ‘a natural born whore.'” Trained pod-stitutes Daniel and Corky continue their Cage Match series by reviewing Cage’s only directorial effort. Sonny is highlighted by a wildly over-the-top performance from Brenda Blethyn that took the hosts’ “Bleth” away. Elsewhere, Daniel and Corky discuss Horatio Alger prostitutes, cough syrup freakouts and Doonesbury drug designers. SONNY...

Dare Daniel: Cage Match Vampire’s Kiss (1989; Dir.: Robert Bierman) – Episode 124 “The tortures of the damned!” Your boys are back! Daniel and Corky kick off their Cage Match series of Nicolas Cage movies by reviewing the Nouveau Shamanic maestro as a cockroach-chugging would-be bloodsucker in the Easton Ellis-adjacent Vampire’s Kiss. Cage makes more choices than E-40, all of them “Yup,” and the result is a feature-length supercut of classic Cage freakouts. Elsewhere, Daniel and Corky...