Episodes
With her latest feature Are You There God? It's Me, Margaret gaining momentum on the awards circuit, writer-director Kelly Fremon Craig takes a moment to celebrate the decade-spanning accomplishments of Julie Delpy, Ethan Hawke and Richard Linklater in Before Sunrise and Before Sunset ... and that third one, too. Your genial host Norm Wilner apologizes for mixing up "seven" and "nine" early in the conversation.
Published 12/12/23
With her debut feature My Animal in theaters across Canada (and available on digital in the US), director Jacqueline Castel shares her love for the landmark 1942 thriller Cat People -- the one where Val Lewton and Jacques Tourneur kept the real horrors offscreen. Your genial host Norm Wilner swears he's never been afraid of shadows .
Published 12/05/23
With his new film Dream Scenario spreading like a virus across the US and Canada, writer-director Kristoffer Borgli steps up for The Idiots, Lars Von Trier’s 1998 drama about a group of people who choose to embrace provocation to shatter the veneer of polite society. Your genial host Norm Wilner is just too genial to do that sort of thing.
Published 11/28/23
With her new short Cold making its world premiere at Toronto's Blood in the Snow film festival this Saturday, actor and filmmaker Liz Whitmere opens up Yorgos Lanthimos' absurdist 2017 tragedy The Killing of a Sacred Deer to see what makes it tick. Your genial host Norm Wilner knows better than to offend Barry Keoghan.
Published 11/21/23
With her new feature We Will Be Brave playing the Regent Park Film Festival next Friday, November 24th, documentary filmmaker Chrisann Hessing celebrates the bloody good time that is Jemaine Clement and Taika Waititi’s delightful 2014 vampire mockumentary What We Do in the Shadows. Your genial host Norm Wilner has never needed a chore wheel.
Published 11/14/23
With his new film Hands That Bind in theaters and on digital in the US and Canada, writer-director Kyle Armstrong digs into Lodge Kerrigan's excruciating 2004 drama Keane, which stars Damian Lewis as a man in a profound state of crisis. Your genial host Norm Wilner is braced and ready.
Published 11/07/23
Happy horny Halloween! With his first feature Verona opening theatrically in Toronto this Friday, November 3rd, and screening in Landmark theaters across Canada on Monday the 6th, writer-director Sebastian Back tackles Walerian Borowczyk's 1975 art-house erotic fantasy horror film La Bete. Your genial host Norm Wilner strongly advises listener discretion.
Published 10/31/23
Sure, Halloween is just around the corner but Dicks! The Musical co-creators and co-stars Joshua Sharp and Aaron Jackson are here to spread the joy of another season, celebrating the 2020 Netflix musical Dolly Parton's Christmas on the Square. Your genial host Norm Wilner is ... surprisingly into it.
Published 10/24/23
Casting director turned writer-director Jennifer Cram, whose first feature Sick Girl is in theaters and on demand this Friday, October 20th, tackles Reality Bites, the 1994 comedy that asked Winona Ryder, Ethan Hawke, Janeane Garofalo, Steve Zahn and director Ben Stiller to represent all of Generation X. Your genial host Norm Wilner was there too.
Published 10/17/23
With her new web series How to Fail As a Popstar premiering on CBC Gem this Friday, October 13th, multimedia polymath Vivek Shraya is here to discuss the movie that had a profound impact on her younger self: The Bodyguard, Mick Jackson's 1992 thriller-slash-romance starring Whitney Houston as a megastar who hires Kevin Costner as her protection -- only for them to realize their relationship is much more than just professional. Your genial host Norm Wilner always wondered about that rule.
Published 10/10/23
With her reality comedy I Have Nothing now streaming on Crave, Baroness Von Sketch Show's Carolyn Taylor is here to tackle Colin Higgins' 9 to 5, the 1980 workplace comedy smash that pitted office workers Jane Fonda, Lily Tomlin and Dolly Parton against Dabney Coleman's swaggering jerk of a boss. Your genial host Norm Wilner really wanted to sing the song.
Published 10/03/23
With their first feature Tenzin now streaming on CBC Gem, directors Michael LeBlanc and Josh Reichmann share their love for Adrian Lyne's 1990 thriller Jacob's Ladder -- you know, the one where Tim Robbins plays a Vietnam veteran who finds life back home even more hellish than it was in country. Your genial host Norm Wilner has some thoughts.
Published 09/26/23
With his first feature Relax, I'm From the Future opening in the US this Friday, September 22nd -- and having a preview screening in Toronto at the Carlton Cinemas ahead of its official release October 6th -- filmmaker Luke Higginson takes 24 Hour Party People for a spin, celebrating the perfect casting of Steve Coogan as '70s TV presenter Tony Wilson, and pretty much everything else about Michael Winterbottom's 2002 dramedy. Your genial host Norm Wilner is still coming down from TIFF, to be...
Published 09/19/23
With her new documentary Analogue Revolution: How Feminist Media Changed the World premiering Friday at the Atlantic International Film Festival (and playing the Toronto Independent Film Festival on Sunday), professor and filmmaker Marusya Bociurkiw salutes Laura Poitras' Nan Goldin documentary ALL THE BEAUTY AND THE BLOODSHED -- for obvious reasons. Your genial host Norm Wilner is glad she did.
Published 09/13/23
Writer-director M.H. Murray -- whose first feature I Don’t Know Who You Are has its world premiere at TIFF this Thursday, September 7th -- salutes Three Colours: Blue, the first film in Krzysztof Kieślowski’s brilliant trilogy of dramas inspired by the themes of the French flag. Your genial host Norm Wilner is just here to be amazed by Juliette Binoche.
Published 09/05/23
TIFF is coming, but you know what else is? Children Ruin Everything, the second season of which is about to air on The CW in the US for the very first time! And that lets your genial host Norm Wilner reissue the very second episode of this podcast, in which actor, screenwriter and future sitcom star Aaron Abrams attests to the comic perfection of Bill Murray and Howard Franklin's 1990 classic heist comedy Quick Change. Totally holds up.
Published 08/29/23
Calgary filmmaker Berkley Brady, whose first feature Dark Nature is now streaming on Hollywood Suite, professes a lifelong love for Garry Marshall’s Beaches -- the beloved 1988 melodrama starring Bette Midler and Barbara Hershey as lifelong friends who are the wind beneath each other's wings. Your genial host Norm Wilner has something in his eye, okay?
Published 08/22/23
With her first dramatic feature The Unknown Country now in U.S. theaters and dropping on digital next month, filmmaker Morrisa Maltz discusses Abbas Kiarostami's 1987 breakout Where Is the Friend's House?, the observational drama that introduced the Iranian director to the world -- even though he'd been making movies since the '70s. Your genial host Norm Wilner is moving this week, so please keep him in your prayers.
Published 08/15/23
With his time-travel drama Aporia opening in theaters across North America this Friday, writer-director Jared Moshé is here to salute Peter Cattaneo’s The Full Monty – the 1997 international smash that made Robert Carlyle sexy instead of scary. Your genial host Norm Wilner knew the guy had it in him.
Published 08/08/23
With his new thriller The Channel now available on digital and on demand, writer-director William Kaufman drops us into the urban nightmare of Michael Mann's Collateral, the one where Jamie Foxx and Tom Cruise drive around Los Angeles in a murder cab. Your genial host Norm Wilner reminds you: Always tip your driver. Or else.
Published 08/01/23
With her new film North of Normal opening across Canada this week, filmmaker Carly Stone is here to support another new release, Celine Song's stunning drama Past Lives. Your genial host Norm Wilner hopes he and Carly will see you at the 6:30pm screening of North of Normal this Friday, July 28th, at the TIFF Bell Lightbox. Sarah Gadon will be there too!
Published 07/25/23
Actor and comedy dynamo Emma Hunter -- who co-stars in the CBC dramedy Moonshine, now in its third season -- has loved Penny Marshall's 1992 grand slam A League of Their Own since she was a kid. Now she gets to love it on a podcast. Your genial host Norm Wilner is here to supply the stats.
Published 07/18/23
This week, Mel Eslyn -- whose first feature Biosphere, starring Mark Duplass and Sterling K. Brown, is now playing in the US and available to rent on digital across North America -- celebrates Todd Rohal's The Catechism Cataclysm, another weird comedy about two guys going through some stuff. Your genial host Norm Wilner has been waiting twelve years to talk about this movie with somebody.
Published 07/11/23
Veteran genre director Chuck Russell (Nightmare on Elm Street III: Dream Warriors, The Blob, The Mask, Eraser and the new Paradise City) picks Robert Clouse's martial-arts classic Enter the Dragon, leading to a conversation about how Bruce Lee changed action movies in general -- and Chuck's, specifically. Your genial host Norm Wilner has been sitting on this one since last fall, and he's so glad you finally get to hear it.
Published 07/04/23
Author and actor Priya Guns -- who co-stars opposite Devery Jacobs in V.T. Nayani's This Place, returning to the TIFF Bell Lightbox in Toronto next Friday, July 7th -- throws down for the genius of Boots Riley's 2018 debut Sorry to Bother You, a movie that doesn't get anywhere near the respect it deserves. Your genial host Norm Wilner has Priya's back on this one.
Published 06/27/23