In The Heights

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In this episode we talk about the film adaptation of Lin-Manuel Miranda's first big Broadway hit and point out a few great performances (Jimmy Smits!) and some ingenious, character driven special effects. Subscribe on Apple Podcasts: Here Check out our Facebook page: www.facebook.com/actorandengineer and follow us on twitter @actorengineer

Spike Lee Pt 2

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This week we conclude our 300th episode focusing on Spike Lee by discussing 25th Hour and other films he directed but didn't write, his Four Little Girls documentary and how Bamboozled hit us. Subscribe on Apple Podcasts: Here Check out our Facebook page: www.facebook.com/actorandengineer and follow us on twitter @actorengineer

Spike Lee

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For our milestone 300th episode, we look at one of America's most prolific and important filmmakers, Spike Lee. In this first part of our episode we get into a few of his earlier films including Do The Right Thing, Crooklyn, She's Gotta Have It and Malcolm X with Part 2 coming next week! Subscribe on Apple Podcasts: Here Check out our Facebook page: www.facebook.com/actorandengineer and follow us on twitter @actorengineer

MASH

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This week we look back at MASH, Robert Altman's first big feature film. Set during the Korean War and released in 1970, we discuss how it uses comedy to comment on war, how particular scenes have aged and the massive impact that Altman's overlapping dialogue, editing choices and shot selections have had on directors like Paul Thomas Anderson and Steven Soderbergh. Subscribe on Apple Podcasts: Here Check out our Facebook page: www.facebook.com/actorandengineer and follow us on twitter @actorengineer

Top Ten of 2020 Part 1

We look back over a unique Oscars experience and start to dig in to our favorite movies of the extended 2020 film year. We each count down from 10 to 6 this episode, leading up to our favorites of the year next week! Subscribe on Apple Podcasts: Here Check out our Facebook page: www.facebook.com/actorandengineer and follow us on twitter @actorengineer

Oscarcast 2021

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This week we put on our prognosticator's hats to try to sift through the awards season and figure out who will win at the Academy Awards this year. We also talk about who we would love to win. Subscribe on Apple Podcasts: Here Check out our Facebook page: www.facebook.com/actorandengineer and follow us on twitter @actorengineer

The Father

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This week we talk about The Father where playwright Florian Zeller's feature debut drops us into the mental space of a man experiencing dementia. We get into Anthony Hopkins' powerful performance, why Olivia Colman is always great and some bold lighting choices by the new director. Subscribe on Apple Podcasts: Here Check out our Facebook page: www.facebook.com/actorandengineer and follow us on twitter @actorengineer

Another Round

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This week we talk about Thomas Vinterberg's Oscar-nominated directing of this Danish film starring Mads Mikkelsen. We get into the Dogme 95 movement and why it's hard to act drunk. Subscribe on Apple Podcasts: Here Check out our Facebook page: www.facebook.com/actorandengineer and follow us on twitter @actorengineer

Stalker

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This is the first Tarkovsky film for either of us and we get thrown into the deep end with Stalker. We talk about how the film hit each of us and talk through a few theories about The Zone, Tarkovsky working within the Soviet system and why there is so much water everywhere! Subscribe on Apple Podcasts: Here Check out our Facebook page: www.facebook.com/actorandengineer and follow us on twitter @actorengineer

Minari

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This Lee Isaac Chung film does what it does really well. It keeps its focus on a family and their journey. This week we talk about the editing, acting and some pretty emotional scenes in this film that is definitely in the Oscar conversation. Subscribe on Apple Podcasts: Here Check out our Facebook page: www.facebook.com/actorandengineer and follow us on twitter @actorengineer

Nomadland

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This week we talk about how Chloé Zhao captures the journey of Frances McDormand's Fern as she acclimates to a roving lifestyle brought on by the loss of her job and her partner. We also get into the use of non-professional actors and specifics on how the film was shot. Subscribe on Apple Podcasts: Here Check out our Facebook page: www.facebook.com/actorandengineer and follow us on twitter @actorengineer

Judas and the Black Messiah

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This Fred Hampton (Daniel Kaluuya) biopic includes an interesting hook that spends just as much time with the FBI informant (LaKeith Stanfield) who contributed to his death. We talk about their performances and the revelatory performance of Dominique Fishback as Hampton's fiancee. Subscribe on Apple Podcasts: Here Check out our Facebook page: www.facebook.com/actorandengineer and follow us on twitter @actorengineer

Malcolm & Marie

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This week we wade into the discourse on Malcolm & Marie, differentiating it from a play adaptation, talking about specific shots, music usage and two BIG performances by Zendaya and John David Washington. Is here where I say something about mac and cheese? Subscribe on Apple Podcasts: Here Check out our Facebook page: www.facebook.com/actorandengineer and follow us on twitter @actorengineer

Promising Young Woman

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Emerald Fennell's hyper-stylistic revenge tale has Carey Mulligan in a role that she can really sink her teeth into. We go through the film and analyze the shots, the music, the performances and the overall themes that this dense, but propelling film showed us. Subscribe on Apple Podcasts: https://itun.es/i6gB67Y Check out our Facebook page: www.facebook.com/actorandengineer and follow us on twitter @actorengineer

Tenet

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Armed with not enough time and way too many questions, we discuss Christopher Nolan's newest movie Tenet, how it's release may have affected movie-going in the future, what he expects out of his audiences, the mechanics of inversion and John David Washington's spin on a confident spy who is just trying to figure it all out. Subscribe on Apple Podcasts: https://itun.es/i6gB67Y Check out our Facebook page: www.facebook.com/actorandengineer and follow us on twitter @actorengineer

Wild Rose

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We are looking back a couple of years to a time before Jessie Buckley was in everything (I'm Thinking of Ending Things, Fargo, Judy, Chernobyl). Wild Rose puts her center-stage, literally, as a young mother struggling with family who has singing aspirations half a world away. Subscribe on Apple Podcasts: https://itun.es/i6gB67Y Check out our Facebook page: www.facebook.com/actorandengineer and follow us on twitter @actorengineer