On this fearful episode of Oeuvre Busters, Liam and George discuss I Live in Fear (1954), directed by Akira Kurosawa and starring Toshiro Mifune. Topics discussed: Vigo the Carpathian; the anxiety of modern life; the late, great James Gandolfini does Shakespeare; radioactive rainstorms; erotic Liam. Also, so many good people are dead! Topics not discussed: The Tarnac 9. Make sure to listen and subscribe to Michael Carroll's excellent podcast, Judgement Day: T2 Vs Cinema! It can be found here:...

On this seventh-heaven of an episode, Liam and George welcome Blake Howard, the hardest-working man in podcasting, to discuss The Seven Samurai (1954), directed by Akira Kurosawa and starring Toshiro Mifune, Takashi Shimura and Keio Tsushima. Topics discussed: Michael Mann Google alerts; Pauline Kael; high school Liam, film nerd; living French philosophers. Also, Radioactive Man, the Movie! Topic not discussed? The invention of the number zero. More about Blake Howard and his amazing stable...

This month we welcome Ben Affleck lover, Bostonian, and Liam's sister-in-law Rebecca Weiss to talk about all things Ben Affleck! It's a fun, chatty episode. Witness Liam and Rebecca's amazing Boston accents! Roll your eyes as George keeps trying to make Tarkovsky jokes. Be mildly annoyed that no one has ever seen the movies we're talking about!  Subscribe to the patreon at patreon.com/oeuvrebusters! Please, if you can, rate, review, and subscribe to Oeuvre Busters on Stitcher and iTunes and...

On this non-idiotic episode of Oeuvre Busters, Liam and George welcome A.S. Hamrah to the podcast to discuss Akira Kurosawa’s The Idiot (1951), starring Toshiro Mifune, Setsuko Hara, and Takashi Shimura. Topics discussed: America’s crumbling infrastructure; Draculaesque interiors; snow; human extremes. Also, Christ attacks the money lenders! Topics not discussed: Throwing the I Ching.  A.S. Hamrah was n+1’s film critic from 2008 to 2019, and was the editor of the magazine’s film review...

On this memory-laden episode, Liam and George welcome Alissa Wilkinson on to discuss Rashomon, directed by Akira Kurosawa and starring Toshiro Mifune, Takashi Shimura, Machiko Kyo and Masayuki Mori. Topics discussed: faith in humanity; deus ex baby; postmodern theories of narrative; deep fakes; the politics of the 60s. Also, you guys should kill each other! Topics not covered? Robert Frost’s genteel New England poetry. Alissa is Vox.com’s film critic and an associate professor of English and...

On this scandalous episode of Oeuvre Busters, Liam and George discuss Scandal (1950) starring Toshiro Mifune and directed, of course, by Akira Kurosawa. Topics discussed: Weezer, as always; amour; old-doddering dudes; Martin Jay’s glasses; snarky booksellers. Also, congrats to Mifune on the wedding! Topic not discussed? The monstrous waves of Nazaré, Portugal, where extreme surfers go to test their mettle. Hey, you all know we love you out there, right? But do you love us? If so, please...

A sneak peek look into our episode on the Dirty Dozen. Greek-American action cinema! The lie of Sleepless in Seattle! War sucks, Bronson rules. To listen to the entire episode, become a patron at https://www.patreon.com/oeuvrebusters! Join us. We love you. Well, George does. Liam likes you. Hey, you all know we love you out there, right? But do you love us? If so, please consider subscribing to our new Patreon! https://www.patreon.com/oeuvrebusters For only $3 dollars a month, you’ll get a...

On this doggish episode of Oeuvre Busters, Liam and George invite Joyce Wu to discuss Stray Dog (1949), directed by Akira Kurosawa and starring, of course, Toshiro Mifune. Topics discuss? Horniness; isolation, alienation, AND ennui; the shadow-self; people are bad; ACAB, have a beer; sucking popsicles. Also, Kurosawa can direct the shit out of anything. Topics not discussed? The origins of the bicameral mind. Joyce Wu is a writer and director based in Los Angeles. She was an inaugural member...

On this not-at-all regrettable episode Oeuvre Busters, Liam and George welcome Nancy Schwartzman to discuss Akira Kurosawa’s No Regrets for Our Youth (1946), starring Setsuko Hara. Topics discussed? Swingers; heroic university professors; bending the knee; fast-asleep cops; ignorant villagers. Also, proper farmer etiquette! Topics not discussed? Nothing. This episode is incredibly ambitious, and we pretty much cover everything there is to cover in a tight 1:02:31. You’re welcome! Nancy...

On this dueling-banjos episode of Oeuvre Busters, Liam and George discuss The Quiet Duel (1949), directed by Akira Kurosawa and starring Toshiro Mifune. Topics discussed: syphilis; f**k around and find out; Avengers: Endgame; Liam’s wicked sophistry. Also, can’t f**k, wanna f**k. Topics not discussed: The Situationists and the beach beneath the streets. Hey, you all know we love you out there, right? But do you love us? If so, please consider subscribing to our new...

Here's a little taste of this month's Patreon on BEFORE THE DEVIL KNOWS YOU'RE DEAD. Our guests are Joe and Michael Ranghelli. For $3 a month, you get one additional episode AND a little essay writen by George. Join us at patreon.com/oeuvrebusters! We appreciate the support. Thank you! See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

On this angelic episode of Oeuvre Busters, Liam and George welcome Stuart Galbraith IV, the man who literally wrote the book on the Kurosawa/Mifune relationship, The Emperor and the Wolf. Topics discussed: cynicism and hopefulness; curmudgeonly doctors; Yakuza feudalism; spiritual sickness. Also, Clint Eastwood is just a watered down version of Mifune, really. Topics not discussed: How Vladimir Nabokov’s translation of Pushkin’s Eugene Onegin lead to the ending of his friendship with Edmund...

On this dialectically-enhanced episode of Oeuvre Busters, Liam and George discuss two films for the price of one: Sanshiro Sugata (1943), directed by Akira Kurosawa, and Snow Trail (1947), starring Toshiro Mifune. Topics discussed on this episode: alpha and beta males; Babar, the colonialist; the shit and the mire; middle-brow literature. Plus, my god, that sandal! So quintessentially Kurosawa. Topics not discussed: anemones. Hey, you all know we love you out there, right? But do you love us?...

On this, the season-four premier of Oeuvre Busters, Liam and George return to their art-house roots to discuss the collaborative relationship between Akira Kurosawa and Toshiro Mifune! Topics discussed: double-decker VHS tapes; small republican towns; libraries, oases of culture; world cinema; men in crisis. Also, what the f**k is up with Grimace? Seriously?! Hey, you all know we love you out there, right? But do you love us? If so, please consider subscribing to our new Patreon!...

*Note:To celebrate HUSBANDS being available on the Criterion Channel, we’re re-releasing all of our HUSBANDS content. Believe it or not, this show started because of HUSBANDS.  The Dick Cavett episode is available below, as well as on the Criterion Channel. Watch, listen, and cringe!* Welcome to this bonus episode (you're welcome, America!) of Oeuvre Busters! On September 18, 1970, Cassavetes, Ben Gazzara, and Peter Falk appeared on the Dick Cavett Show to promote Husbands. The recording was,...

On this, the final episode of season three of Oeuvre Busters, Liam and George recap and rank ALL the Batman movies and Batmen. Topics discussed: stink lines; silence as the apotheosis of art; the Reagan administration; the funkiest man you've ever seen; RIP Joel Schumacher. Also, lots of Colin Farrell talk. Katie Stebbin's piece on 'Product as Synergy' can be found here: https://cinenthusiast.wordpress.com/2020/06/24/the-product-as-synergy-era-begins-hollywood-in-1990/ Topics not discussed?...

On this jokers-are-wild episode of Oeuvre Busters, Liam and George welcome Mark Pagan and Randy Wilkins to discuss Joker (2019), directed by Todd Phillips and starring Joaquin Phoenix, Robert De Niro, Zazie Beetz and Frances Conroy. Topics discussed: Sopranos avatars; cathartic dancing; Thomas Wayne: major a*****e; anticomedy. Also, Logan! Topics not discussed: Edward Said’s controversial lecture, Freud and the non-European, a talk actually banned by the Freud institute in Vienna. Those...

Terrible! Unreal! No passion! Husbands is back, baby! Recently released by Criterion, available TODAY on The Criterion Channel, and selected as Indiewire's streamer of the day, what better time to release our episode on the movie that inspired this entire podcast! Cassavetes' film on toxic men features one of the all-time great performances from Ben Gazzara. This movie is painful, long, incredible, and an essential film. We hope you enjoy this early episode from the show! See...

On this legotastic episode of Oeuvre Busters, Liam and George invite good friend Matthew Krol, from The Only Podcast About Movies, to discuss Lego Batman, starring Will Arnett, Zach Galifianakis, Michael Cera, Rosario Dawson and Ralph Fiennes, and is directed by Chris McKay. Topics discussed: kissing cousins; Batman: angry dude and tax dodger; Platonic friends; the politics of vigilantism; and f**k Clayface. Also, Dunkirk! Where are the fascists?!? Topics not discussed: Allen Ginsberg’s...

On this justifiably awesome episode of Oeuvre Busters, Liam and George discuss 2017’s Justice League, directed by Zack Snyder and starring Ben Affleck, Henry Cavill, Gal Gadot, Ezra Miller, and Jason Momoa. Topics discussed: mother boxes; Armond White: to troll or not to troll?; brown cinematic sludge; manly men. And the worse people in the world got what they wanted! Topics not discussed? C.L.R James’s revolutionary reappraisal of the Haitian Revolution, The Black Jacobins. A must read,...

On this very antagonistic episode of Oeuvre Busters, Liam and George welcome Michael Carroll to discuss Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice (2016), directed by Zach Snyder and starring Ben Affleck, Henry Cavill, Amy Adams, Jesse Eisenberg, and Gal Gadot. Topics discussed: corporate art vs. non-corporate art; Ben Affleck’s body vs. Henry Cavill’s body vs. Gal Gadot's body; visionary style vs. style style; studio product vs. Cassavetes product; Schumacher vs. Snyder. Also, crisis...

This week, based on a question from a listener, we sat down with filmmaker pal Shaun Seneviratne to talk about Manny Farber's influential theory of White Elephant Art and Termite Art. We talk about what the theory means, whether one type is good or bad, and whether Batman films are an elephant or termite. Finally, we discuss Liam's solo record, Neon Elephant. Shaun Seneviratne is a Sri Lankan-American filmmaker and educator in Brooklyn, NY. His past work has screened at festivals such as...

On this raisable episode of Oeuvre Busters, Liam and George welcome friends Nicole and Shawn to discuss the final instalment of the Nolan trilogy, "The Dark Knight Rises," starring Christian Bale, Tom Hardy, Anne Hathaway, and Gary Oldman. Topics discussed: Marcel Proust, secret fascist; blood transfusions; Bruce Wayne in rehab; the political imaginary. Also, by the grace of god, more show trials and executions! And so many Bane impressions! Topics not discussed? Engels's contributions to...

WHAT? ANOTHER EPISODE! YOU GUYS ARE SO PROLIFIC - you, talking to us. Liam and George grace your feeds with a new podcast within a podcast called Message to a Buster! The premise is simple. One of us records a message. The other responds. This week, we've decided to talk about the inaugural issue of the new series, Batman The Adventure Continues. This new series, written by Paul Dini and Alan Burnett, dropped in early April. You can learn more here:...

On this knightish episode of Oeuvre Busters, George and Liam invite Blake Howard from the One Heat Minute podcast to discuss 2008’s The Dark Knight, directed by Christopher Nolan and starring Christian Bale, Heath Ledger, Gary Oldman, Aaron Eckhart, and Maggie Gyllenhaal. Topics discussed: David Fincher’s movies for children; the three Batmen; 24-hour Zodiac; Jim Gordon is Brutus; Bane tattoos. Plus, who is the better villain: the Joker or Bruce, the shark from Jaws? Topics not discussed:...