One of the biggest hits of 1992, Basic Instinct was sold as Michael Douglas’s return to Fatal Attraction territory, but its success owed to an alchemy of three other creatives: a writer (Joe Eszterhas) who was driven to become the highest-paid scribe in movies; a director (Paul Verhoeven) who was determined to redefine the amount of sex considered acceptable ... Show More
May 23
Presenting Cautionary Tales | Lights, Camera, Tax Break
If you like You Must Remember This, you might also enjoy Cautionary Tales with Tim Harford, a podcast about stories of historic human error, catastrophes, and heists, and the lessons we can learn from such mishaps. In this episode of Cautionary Tales, Tim examines what happens wh ... Show More
46m 48s
May 2
Welcome to Hollywoodland: John Waters: Subversion, Shock, and the Ultimate Outsider
If you’ve finished all episodes of The Old Man is Still Alive, I’ve got another treat for you from Jake Brennan at Hollywoodland. Have a listen to this episode of Hollywoodland about John Waters, from his beginnings in X-rated art films to cult classics like Hairspray and Crybaby ... Show More
41m 10s
Apr 24
John Huston, Part Two: 1975-1987 (The Old Man is Still Alive, Part 15)
In part two of our season finale, we explore the final decade of John Huston’s life and career. As he was slowly dying of emphysema and undergoing massive turmoil in his personal life, Huston continued to work almost compulsively on both passion projects (The Man Who Would Be Kin ... Show More
54m 59s
Sep 2021
Basic Instinct (1992) - Randy's Recs
After surviving the Hollywood horrors within Scream 3, the Halloweenies are heading upstate to San Francisco to solve a string of murderers. Make no mistake, these are grisly crimes, sure, but they're also familiar, especially for readers of crime novelist Catherine Tramell. You ... Show More
2h 47m
Oct 2023
Why We Need Sex Scenes in Movies and ‘Fair Play’
Sean and Amanda review a trio of movies—‘Fair Play’ (1:00), ‘The Royal Hotel’ (30:00), and ‘Cat Person’ (40:00)—before having a wider conversation about the current role of sex in cinema (52:00). Then, Sean is joined by ‘Fair Play’ writer-director Chloe Domont to discuss her debu ... Show More
1h 47m
Jan 2024
Filmmaker Ava DuVernay’s New Hollywood Framework
Over the past 15 years, filmmaker Ava DuVernay (Selma, Queen Sugar) has become something of an institution in Hollywood. As a writer, director, and producer she’s worked to make our industry more just and diverse—creating opportunities for voices that have historically been under ... Show More
1h 8m
Jun 2024
Hollywood Is Broken. Let’s Start a Movie Studio.
With no new movies hitting the box office this weekend, Sean and Amanda are instead building their own fantasy movie studio from scratch—directors, stars, writers, IP, studio locations, and more (1:00). Later in the show, Chris Ryan joins to help explain the uniqueness of ‘In a V ... Show More
2h 5m
Feb 2024
The Best Super Bowl Trailers, ‘Bob Marley: One Love,’ ‘The Taste of Things,’ and Top Five Food Movies
Sean and Amanda open by discussing the movie trailers that debuted at the Super Bowl (1:00), before digging into this past weekend’s biggest release: ‘Bob Marley: One Love’ (29:00). Then, they discuss one of their favorite movies of last year, the French cooking romance ‘The Tast ... Show More
1h 49m