Random Acts of Cinema

856 - Buena Vista Social Club (1999)

04 Jul 2022

Contributed by Lukas

With his ensemble album smash hit Buena Vista Social Club musician Ry Cooder introduced the world to a generation of twentieth-century Cuban musicians...

4th Annual Rando Awards

27 Jun 2022

Contributed by Lukas

It's time for our annual review of the highs and lows of a bunch of movies picked by a random number generator.  And it turns out that this system re...

676 - I Married a Witch (1942)

20 Jun 2022

Contributed by Lukas

Briana and Maddy of the Chapter One: Take Two podcast join us this week to discuss director René Clair's screwball jaunt through the centuries as a m...

905 - The Breakfast Club (1985)

13 Jun 2022

Contributed by Lukas

This week we are joined by Michael Patrick Jann, director of the upcoming film Organ Trail and member of The State, to watch John Hughes' all-time cla...

1061 - Minding the Gap (2018)

06 Jun 2022

Contributed by Lukas

Dan Connell from the Cinderella Storiez podcast brings us a moving documentary that is - at first glance - about skateboarding in Rockford Illinois. B...

466 - In The Realm of the Senses (1976)

30 May 2022

Contributed by Lukas

Things get decidedly erotically unrestrained in Nagisa Oshimi's tale of a maid and her employer's headlong dive into sex and obsession in 1930s Tokyo....

157 - The Royal Tenenbaums (2001)

23 May 2022

Contributed by Lukas

We're joined this week by Richard and AJ of the Cult Popture podcast to try to wrap our heads around all things Wes Anderson: symmetrical framing, me...

LD136 - Arsenic & Old Lace (1944)

16 May 2022

Contributed by Lukas

Things aren't quite what they seem in the old childhood home of recently married ace reporter Mortimer Brewster's (Cary Grant) old house over in Brook...

844 - One-Eyed Jacks (1961)

09 May 2022

Contributed by Lukas

A Marlon Brando western?  Directed by… [checks notes]… Marlon Brando?!!  Get ready for a wild ride of betrayal, passion, quick-draw dive-jumps, ...

077 - And God Created Woman (1956)

02 May 2022

Contributed by Lukas

How many times do you think that Mike will bring up Serge Gainsbourg in an episode about a movie that has nothing to do with him?  The answer is one ...

370 - The Emperor Jones (1933)

25 Apr 2022

Contributed by Lukas

Dudley Murphy's adaptation of this Eugene O'Neill picaresque play follows the tumultuous rise of Pullman porter Brutus Jones, played by the peerless P...

720 - The Big Chill (1983)

18 Apr 2022

Contributed by Lukas

On this week's episode, [needle drop: classic Motown song about hanging out with friends] your hosts settle in with couple of old college friends (She...

LD226 - The Last Laugh (1924)

11 Apr 2022

Contributed by Lukas

Imagine a time in history where a film about a man losing his job - a job that defines him, giving him pride and respect in his community - explores t...

1119 - Hudson Hawk (1991)

04 Apr 2022

Contributed by Lukas

The Hawk is on the loose!  Michael Lehmann's heist-oriented comic action movie is a widely panned example of true 1990s Hollywood excess.  But, what...

868 - Tampopo (1985)

28 Mar 2022

Contributed by Lukas

We hope that you're hungry for this week's episode because we're watching Juzo Itami's great cinematic love letter to ramen.  Even more than that, th...

002 - Seven Samurai (1954)

21 Mar 2022

Contributed by Lukas

It goes without saying that this is a big one for us.  Akira Kurosawa's classic tale of peasants-seek-samurai/samurai-get-crew-together/samurai-kill-...

LD118 - Silverado (1985)

14 Mar 2022

Contributed by Lukas

This year, Mike has selected Lawerence Kasdan's star-studded, rollicking western update as his "gift" for the birthday boy Charlie.  Why?  That's st...

501 - Paris, Texas (1984)

07 Mar 2022

Contributed by Lukas

We've come stumbling out of the desert to share a pretty big episode this week - well, at least its a big one for your two hosts - as we dive back int...

657 - 3:10 To Yuma (1957)

28 Feb 2022

Contributed by Lukas

Delmer Daves' all-time classic follows a struggling rancher (Van Heflin) who is recruited to transport a dangerous prisoner (Glenn Ford) to a train st...

849 - His Girl Friday (1940)

21 Feb 2022

Contributed by Lukas

Take a deep breath and get ready for the break-neck paced day in the life of ace reporter Hildy Johnson (Rosalind Russell) and her conniving editor/ex...

091 - The Blob (1958)

14 Feb 2022

Contributed by Lukas

This movie has a very accurate title. Director Irvin Yeaworth deserves some credit for this. If you'd like to watch ahead for next week's film, we wil...

467 - Empire of Passion (1978)

07 Feb 2022

Contributed by Lukas

We return to the films of Nagisa Ōshima with a surprising erotic/crime thriller/ghost story set in… 19th-century Japan?  Sounds pretty awesome, ri...

787 - Jellyfish Eyes (2013)

31 Jan 2022

Contributed by Lukas

What happens when the high-art/low-art contemporary artist Takashi Murakami tackles the high-art/low-art film genre of…outcast kid moves to a new to...

891 - La Poison (1951)

24 Jan 2022

Contributed by Lukas

Following last week's randomly-selected film, we are surprised that Randy has chosen for us another French absurdist comedy addressing the arbitrary a...

290 - Phantom of Liberty (1974)

17 Jan 2022

Contributed by Lukas

We're heading back into the biting, social satire of Luis Buñuel with this absurdist comedy Phantom of Liberty.  One scene blends into the next in t...

865 - Blow-Up (1966)

10 Jan 2022

Contributed by Lukas

Are you ready for a tight, psychosexual thriller?  Well instead, how about a movie that everyone claims to be one of those while it's really mostly a...

855 - Women on the Verge of a Nervous Breakdown (1988)

03 Jan 2022

Contributed by Lukas

Want to listen to two straight guys stumble their way through a reading of Pedro Almodóvar's classic film about a group of strong-willed Spanish wome...

LD120 - Raging Bull (1980)

27 Dec 2021

Contributed by Lukas

It turns out that well-regarded film preservationist and historian Martin Scorsese also makes movies!  And you know what? Some of them are surprising...

LD018 - It's A Wonderful Life (1946)

20 Dec 2021

Contributed by Lukas

Hee haw!  It's time to cash in with a guaranteed shot at commercial appeal with a Christmas classic!  But can Frank Capra and James Stewart's hearts...

615 - The Gold Rush (1925 & 1942)

13 Dec 2021

Contributed by Lukas

Come to think of it, we actually did watch an unofficial "snowy mining trilogy" with last week's McCabe & Mrs. Millerand Gold Rush. Because we ended u...

827 - McCabe and Mrs. Miller (1971)

06 Dec 2021

Contributed by Lukas

… [mumble]… [murmur]… robert… [murmur]… altman… [mumble]… [glasses clinking]… [distant laughter]… brothel… [fiddle tuning] western...

LD151 - Akira (1988)

29 Nov 2021

Contributed by Lukas

This movie is about so much more than a rad futuristic red motorcycle ridden by a guy in a rad futuristic red leather jacket.  But don't worry, Katsu...

746 - A Day in the Country

22 Nov 2021

Contributed by Lukas

Ten years after having abandoned a incomplete film, associates of director Jean Renoir gathered the footage and put together this less-than-feature-le...

277 - My Own Private Idaho (1991)

15 Nov 2021

Contributed by Lukas

Gus, River, and Keanu.  Barns falling from the sky, narcolepsy, and Shakespeare.  We know what you're thinking: it sounds like we're describing a m...

542 - Antichrist (2009)

08 Nov 2021

Contributed by Lukas

This film, and consequently this episode and our discussion, demands a disclaimer up top about its troubling content.  As designed, Lars von Trier's ...

338 - Equinox (1970)

31 Oct 2021

Contributed by Lukas

It's a Halloween miracle!  The kind where one of your favorite podcasts decides to release an episode about a spooky movie a day early so it comes ou...

888 - Stalker (1979) with Chapter One: Take Two

25 Oct 2021

Contributed by Lukas

A movie AND the book that it's based on?  What is this, an episode of Random Acts of Cinema or an episode of Chapter One: Take Two, amiright?  Well,...

761 - Valerie and Her Week of Wonders (1970)

18 Oct 2021

Contributed by Lukas

A historical-psycho-erotic surrealist film exploring themes of womanhood, Christianity, and Freudian-infused takedowns of family and cultural identity...

202 - Indiscretion of an American Wife (1953) and Terminal Station (1953)

11 Oct 2021

Contributed by Lukas

This movie has some killer credits: Jennifer Jones and Montgomery Clift star in a Vittorio de Sica directed, David Selznick produced, Christian Dior c...

779 - Mulholland Drive (2001)

04 Oct 2021

Contributed by Lukas

It's always a special, if troubling, time on this podcast when another David Lynch film is randomly selected.  And this week we have his hotly-debate...

LD141- Carrie (1976)

27 Sep 2021

Contributed by Lukas

Look: will we talk about the use of split screen?  Of course we will.  Will we talk about this early breakout supporting role for John Travolta?  Y...

857 - Before Sunrise (1995)

20 Sep 2021

Contributed by Lukas

This week we revel in the lo-octane ease of 90's independent filmmaking with Richard Linklater's love letter to love and travel, and discussions about...

811 - The Naked Island (1960)

14 Sep 2021

Contributed by Lukas

Sorry this episode is posting a little late this week, but we wanted to add a little extra no-dialogue silence to our discussion of Kaneto Shindo's si...

906 - The Lure (2015)

06 Sep 2021

Contributed by Lukas

This is a movie that sells itself.  Director Agnieszka Smoczyńska's musical is about flesh-eating mermaids working in a sleazy cabaret/strip club in...

204 - The Marriage of Maria Braun (1978)

30 Aug 2021

Contributed by Lukas

It's first episode for one of our theme song directors!  And one of your hosts went a little overboard getting up to speed with the works of Rainer ...

LD08 - Invasion of the Body Snatchers (1956)

23 Aug 2021

Contributed by Lukas

Boy oh boy, we really crack the nut of red scare allegories this time! Or we don't.  Hard to say which.  But we have a great time talking about rura...

46 - The Most Dangerous Game (1932)

16 Aug 2021

Contributed by Lukas

The word "game" has two meanings.  So that means that the title of director Ernest B. Schoedsack's The Most Dangerous Game can also mean…wait…oh...

692 - It's A Mad Mad Mad Mad World (1963)

09 Aug 2021

Contributed by Lukas

"All around me are familiar faces, worn out places, worn out faces." You know what rhymes with "faces"?  "Places".  Know what rhymes with "places"? ...

777 - The Brood (1979)

02 Aug 2021

Contributed by Lukas

Why not just jumpstart the sub-genre of body horror by inventing a whole new pseudoscience called psychoplasmic therapy that allows for the fears of d...

155 - Tokyo Olympiad (1965)

26 Jul 2021

Contributed by Lukas

It's that time of the…decade again. And we've got international amateur athletic competition fever! In honor of the return of the Olympic Games to J...

974 - The Heiress (1949)

19 Jul 2021

Contributed by Lukas

We're dipping back into the Henry James-adaptation pool with William Wyler's Olivia de Havilland vehicle The Heiress, based on Washington Square.  ...

44 - The Red Shoes (1948)

12 Jul 2021

Contributed by Lukas

We're back with directors Michael Powell and Emeric Pressburger (AKA "The Archers") for one of their all-time biggest pictures.  This time they rewor...

13 - The Silence of the Lambs (1991)

05 Jul 2021

Contributed by Lukas

We're back for a little welcome murder and mayhem with Jonathan Demme's genre-defining take on, well, not just serial killer procedurals, but Hannibal...

3rd Annual Rando Awards

28 Jun 2021

Contributed by Lukas

After months of campaigning and hype, constant drama and re-selection of the hosts, and hours of red carpet interviews, it's finally happening.  Look...

108 - The Rock (1996)

21 Jun 2021

Contributed by Lukas

Make no mistake gentlemen, we are in for the podcast of our lives. About one of the most notorious and successful action films of the 20th century, I ...

339 - Yi Yi (2000)

14 Jun 2021

Contributed by Lukas

Weddings! Funerals!  Business meetings!  But like, in a sweet and poignant way.  We are joined by Kevin Allison (of RISK! and The State) to discuss...

836 - Beyond the Valley of the Dolls (1970)

07 Jun 2021

Contributed by Lukas

You'd think we'd spend this episode reflecting thoughtfully about the degree of influence Carrie Nation had on the America female suffrage and tempera...

994 - Local Hero (1983)

31 May 2021

Contributed by Lukas

We are joined by comedian and director Michael Patrick Jann (of The State and Michael Patrick Jann Can't Direct Traffic) to discuss director Bill Fors...

100 - Beastie Boys Video Anthology (2000)

24 May 2021

Contributed by Lukas

It's a big one. It's our 100th episode so we're watching Criterion spine number 100. And we brought in our first 3-peat all-star guest and super fan S...

LD144 and 1017 - The Adventures of Baron Munchausen (1989) and The Fabulous Baron Munchausen (1962)

17 May 2021

Contributed by Lukas

As it turns out, the coexistence of two movies dedicated to the exploits of the fictionalized eighteenth-century German adventurer Baron Munchausen fa...

LD133 - Bad Day at Black Rock

10 May 2021

Contributed by Lukas

Is it a western/film noir mash-up, a subtly coded red scare-era warning, or a a heart-on-its-sleeve anti-racism morality tale? It definitely has a lit...

724 - All That Jazz (1979)

03 May 2021

Contributed by Lukas

Can Roy Scheider (playing Joe Gideon - a gossamer thin veiled version of director Bob Fosse) keep his addictions and self-destructive inclinations in ...

835 - Valley of the Dolls (1967)

26 Apr 2021

Contributed by Lukas

"Dolls" mean pills.  There, now that we've gotten that out of the way... Mark Robson's epic movie about three women finding their ways through the ob...

LD271 - Pulp Fiction (1994)

19 Apr 2021

Contributed by Lukas

Criterion 25:17. The path of the righteous podcast is beset on all sides by the inequities of the tasteless and the incompetence of bad movies. Blesse...

926 - Manila in The Claws of Light (1975)

12 Apr 2021

Contributed by Lukas

It's been a while since Randy picked something from a nation's film output with which we have little-to-no familiarity.  And a little 1970s Filipino ...

254 - The Killing of a Chinese Bookie (1976)

05 Apr 2021

Contributed by Lukas

What's better than a 1970s, grimy, sun-baked, L.A.-based neo-noir about a well-intentioned stripclub owner (played with all of the nervous swagger of ...

620 - Kindergarten Cop (1990)

29 Mar 2021

Contributed by Lukas

Ivan Reitman, the master of the 1980s family-friendly action comedy, steps boldly into the 90s with a playful reinvention of one of the most singular ...

LD124 - Dr. No (1962)

22 Mar 2021

Contributed by Lukas

For Charlie's annual birthday episode, his very good friend Mike has chosen Terence Young's filmed adaptation of Ian Fleming's novel Dr. No.  That's ...

976 - Let the Sunshine In (2017)

15 Mar 2021

Contributed by Lukas

In a kind of alternate universe version of Trois Colours: Bleu, Juliette Binoche finds herself once more playing a Parisian woman, with an artistic be...

973 - My Brilliant Career (1979)

08 Mar 2021

Contributed by Lukas

This week we are joined by podcaster Alexei Toliopolous (@ThisisAlexei) of Total Reboot, Finding Desperado, and Finding Drago to discuss his pick: Au...

465 - Dodes'ka-den (1970)

01 Mar 2021

Contributed by Lukas

Three-peat!  Director Akira Kurosawa's first color feature finds the tragedies and human strength in a small shantytown, inhabited by an ensemble cas...

LD072 - West Side Story (1961)

22 Feb 2021

Contributed by Lukas

It's been a long time since we've had a musical on this podcast.  And this is a big one. Robert Wise and Jerome Robbins' adapt the stage musical (whi...

738 - Tootsie (1982)

15 Feb 2021

Contributed by Lukas

Acclaimed American director Sydney Pollack examines the lives of struggling New York City actors working on a competitive and fraught soap opera.  Du...

640 - Koyaanisqatsi (1982)

08 Feb 2021

Contributed by Lukas

Shots of headlights in traffic, people going down escalators, whirring machinery in a factory, the Hoover dam, a lady smoking a cigarette, and a contr...

725 - Eraserhead (1977)

01 Feb 2021

Contributed by Lukas

Get ready, Randy has picked another big one for us.  And he actually picked the first film by a celebrated director for once.  David Lynch's Eraserh...

25 - Alphaville (1965)

25 Jan 2021

Contributed by Lukas

This is a big one that we've been waiting for: Jean-Luc Godard's highly influential, widely lauded, experimental, sci-fi/noir mashup.  Hard bitten de...

843 - Punch Drunk Love (2002)

18 Jan 2021

Contributed by Lukas

What happens when two seemingly incompatible masters of their craft with nothing to prove get together to make an discomforting powder keg character s...

200 - The Honeymoon Killers (1970)

11 Jan 2021

Contributed by Lukas

A couple of lonely hearts (played by Shirley Stoler and Tony Lo Bianco) find true love in this affecting documentary-style romanctic drama directed by...

441 - The Small Back Room (1949)

04 Jan 2021

Contributed by Lukas

The back room boys are at it again!  That's right, we're jumping back into the endlessly charming (so far) films of Powell and Pressburger.  Sammy R...

587 - Three Colours: Blue

28 Dec 2020

Contributed by Lukas

Julliette Binoche deadpans.  Sudden fade to black! Dum dum da dummmmm..!  Repeat that about four more times and you have one of the most iconic piec...

635 - Weekend (1967)

21 Dec 2020

Contributed by Lukas

If you are celebrated auteur Jean-Luc Godard, it's the 1960s, and your cranking out about 7 movies a year, the odds are strong that there's going to b...

739 - The American Friend (1977)

14 Dec 2020

Contributed by Lukas

When you imagine the lead character in the Talented Mr. Ripley, do you picture a wild-eyed Dennis Hopper in coveralls and a cowboy hat wandering aroun...

890 - Meantime (1984)

07 Dec 2020

Contributed by Lukas

Who is up for a largely improvised drama set in poverty-stricken Thatcher-era London?  Anyone?  Ok, we get it, but what if we told you it was direct...

405 - The Threepenny Opera (1931)

30 Nov 2020

Contributed by Lukas

Come join us as we discuss director G. W. Pabst's adaptation of Bertholt Brecht and Kurt Weill's legendary musical set in the London underwold.  Gang...

929 - Female Trouble (1974)

23 Nov 2020

Contributed by Lukas

[Insert eye-rolling pun about dipping our toes back into familiar Waters here]... That's right, we're once more spending the day with the Dreamland Pl...

281 - Jules And Jim (1962)

16 Nov 2020

Contributed by Lukas

Francois Truffaut (clearly famous mostly because he's mentioned in our theme song) crafts an oddly gentle love-triangle period piece, full of joy, fri...

LD54 - Zulu (1964)

09 Nov 2020

Contributed by Lukas

It looks like Randy finally decided to pick for us a good, old-fashioned, big-budget, mid-century, historical war epic.  Michael Caine plays Peter O'...

119 - Withnail & I (1987)

02 Nov 2020

Contributed by Lukas

Hey maaaan... remember the 60s?  Doesn't matter, because this isn't really that movie.  Unless your idea of the decade is an hilariously acerbic Ric...

124 - Haxan or Witchcraft Through the Ages (1922)

26 Oct 2020

Contributed by Lukas

As the spookiest of holidays approaches, Randy (the random number generator) has selected an appropriately themed film for us to watch.  That is, if ...

546 - Five Easy Pieces (1970)

18 Oct 2020

Contributed by Lukas

Will we be doing the entire episode doing our best Jack Nicholson impressions, or will we give this very serious movie the very serious attention it d...

LD335 - Shine (1996)

12 Oct 2020

Contributed by Lukas

Oh boy.  Here's a blast from the not-so-nostalgic past.  Geoffrey Rush plays piano virtuoso David Helfgott, in Scott Hick's most 90s biopic of all 9...

440 - Brand Upon The Brain! (2006)

05 Oct 2020

Contributed by Lukas

Oh! The past! The past! Now we've done it.  We've made mother cross.  Imagine that sort of text and occasional narration over a feature length, blac...

233 - Stray Dog (1949)

28 Sep 2020

Contributed by Lukas

With Akira Kurosawa's (ever heard of him?) seminal detective procedural, rookie detective Murakami (Toshiro Mifune - ever heard of him?) and worldly b...

LD024 - Young And Innocent (1937)

21 Sep 2020

Contributed by Lukas

We're running from the law again with our boy Hitch(cock).  This time with an earlier film in his esteemed oeuvre as we join two equally young and eq...

210 - Winter Light (1963)

14 Sep 2020

Contributed by Lukas

We've been dancing around this subject long enough.  And how could we not when the Criterion Collection is our subject of inquiry? But we've finally ...

172 - Pépé Le Moko (1937)

07 Sep 2020

Contributed by Lukas

Our first Jean Gabin film!  He plays the eponymous thief, clever and charming, hiding out in the maze-like Casbah of Algiers - a hive of scum and vil...

698 - King of the Hill (1993)

31 Aug 2020

Contributed by Lukas

Steven Soderbergh really surprised us with this 1993 coming-of-age story set on the mean streets of 1930s St. Louis.  Because we had never heard of i...

663 - Shoah (1985)

24 Aug 2020

Contributed by Lukas

Note: This episode's discussion and the film we are discussing, explicitly recounts the brutal methods, unimaginable suffering, and lingering trauma o...

333 - Fists in the Pocket (1965)

17 Aug 2020

Contributed by Lukas

Dissatisfied youth, repressed sexuality, and nihilism running rampant in the dysfunctional Italian family unit is the theme of the week on Random Acts...

066 - The Orphic Trilogy (1930, 1950, and 1959)

10 Aug 2020

Contributed by Lukas

With his nearly 30-years-in-the-making thematic trilogy, director/poet Jean Cocteau uses innovative film techniques and diverse strategies steeped in ...