Voices & Visions

https://tinyurl.com/1989retro PART TWO: Cross-posted with Director’s Club as well. You can follow the list from 1989 that we cover linked above. Ladies and gentlemen, let's go back thirty years to when three film critics were first falling in love with movies. The mid-80s informed a lot of our taste, and much like previous years' retrospectives, it's always a blast to go back and see what holds up and what we each consider to be favorites and least favorites from a particular year. Joined once again by Erik Childress and Collin Souter we return for what is officially a yearly tradition that started thanks to original podcast creator Jim Laczkowski. We started with 1985 and plan to do this yearly tradition all the way up until 1999 as a bonus excursion for reflection, nostalgia, and to celebrate those 80s and 90s kids that adored film as much as we did. We go through the entire year chronologically covering titles that range from FIELD OF DREAMS to DO THE RIGHT THING and everything in between (HEATHERS, BATMAN

https://tinyurl.com/1989retro PART ONE: Cross-posted with Director's Club as well. You can follow the list from 1989 that we cover linked above. Ladies and gentlemen, let's go back thirty years to when three film critics were first falling in love with movies. The mid-80s informed a lot of our taste, and much like previous years' retrospectives, it's always a blast to go back and see what holds up and what we each consider to be favorites and least favorites from a particular year. Joined once again by Erik Childress and Collin Souter we return for what is officially a yearly tradition that started thanks to original podcast creator Jim Laczkowski. We started with 1985 and plan to do this yearly tradition all the way up until 1999 as a bonus excursion for reflection, nostalgia, and to celebrate those 80s and 90s kids that adored film as much as we did. We go through the entire year chronologically covering titles that range from FIELD OF DREAMS to DO THE RIGHT THING and everything in between (HEATHERS, BATMAN

Today's guest is one of the reasons why I fell in love with movies and started working on solving the mysteries behind my own mental health. As many of you know, PUMP UP THE VOLUME had a monumental impact on me and shed some light on the depression I experienced as a teenager. Seeing it gave me hope, and a couple years ago, I was lucky enough to express my gratitude to the writer/director Allan Moyle. Samantha Mathis played Nora in that film, but her entire catalog of performances throughout the years is beyond impressive. And boy, does she share some great stories. She's worked with a wide array of talented actors, writers, and directors too numerous to list here. We did our very best to cover as much as we could including THE THING CALLED LOVE, THE AMERICAN PRESIDENT, BROKEN ARROW, AMERICAN PSYCHO, and so much more. She's also appeared on several TV shows including LOST, THE STRAIN, CURB YOUR ENTHUSIASM and you can soon see her as Sara Hammon in the latest season of BILLIONS starting in March. I can't say

For the last episode of 2018, I present to you a delightful conversation with filmmaker Meredith Danluck. Her latest film is STATE LIKE SLEEP, starring two of my favorite actors working today: Katherine Waterston and Michael Shannon. The story surrounds grief with a central mystery about a widow trying to uncover secrets from her husband's past. Meredith was kind enough to talk for 20 minutes about her process, influences, and what it's like directing great talent while keeping it all together. The film opens this Friday, January 4th on VOD so please do seek it out. Happy New Year to all and see you next year! 00:00 - 12:59 - Introduction / 2018 Reflection 13:00 - 36:50 - Interview With Meredith Danluck For more about Meredith: https://www.freethebid.com/directors/meredith-danluck/  

Before an official new interview episode arrives next week, I wanted to treat my listeners to a Christmas treat. I love Christmas music and always love finding hidden treasures out there. Back in the days of the 365 Day Project presented by WFMU, I did my fair share of sharing the truly bizarre thrift store finds from various sources. Everything from weird commercials, cassette tape recordings, and anything that people uncovered that were considered lost then found. Well, there are definitely a few obvious picks from the Christmas catalog that the Internet has to offer included here, but a few that you've probably never heard before. This was inspired by what friend and podcaster Patrick Ripoll did with Halloween and the great Andy Cirzan. Some songs are presented in their entirety, while most are just random snippets. It was done rather spontaneously without cataloging each individual track included. It's meant to be listened to as a whole weird collage. You'll find the brief delights of "Honky The Christma

With the busy holiday madness and awards season voting taking place, it's been hard to schedule an interview in the midst of it all. But I made an effort to make sure I could speak with today's delightful guest: an extremely talented young filmmaker named Bridey Elliott. You may have heard of her sister, Abby Elliott, or have had the pleasure of growing up with her dad, Chris Elliott, like I did. Bridey's feature-length debut, CLARA'S GHOST, opens on VOD today on December 7th, and I highly recommend giving it your time especially if you too have a wacky family. It's darkly comedic with a dash of the supernatural but showcases a real love for this gifted group of performers. Bridey cites some very cool influences during our conversation, two titles in particular that made me light up like a Christmas tree. In addition, we talk about crafting a character like Clara, working with the family in a familiar setting, the delights of Haley Joel Osmeont as an adult, and other topics of discussion. Listen to the inter

The New Romantic is a 2018 Canadian romantic dramedy, written and directed by one of today's guests, Carly Stone. It stars the luminous, lovely Jessica Barden and manages to deconstruct the dating scene in a very unexpected way. It was a pleasure to talk with the writer/director about how her personal experiences informed this story among many other topics of discussion. The Clovehitch Killer is a 2018 mystery thriller, written and directed by my other guest, Duncan Skiles. Like many of us, he developed a fascination with the horrors of the world, taking a cue from Zodiac to tell a Hardy Boys-like tale of a teenager who thinks his father may be up to no good. Charlie Plummer, Dylan McDermott, Samantha Mathis are among the excellent cast in a very unnerving tale of paranoia and obsession. Duncan has a lot of influences and favorite films that I certainly respect and agree with to boot! It was an honor to talk with two young, amicable and incredibly smart filmmakers making their debuts that will be playing ei

Cross-posted over at Director's Club too! Jim here! I've been in a horrible funk so I put out the call (or the "Pat" signal) to my dear old friend Patrick Ripoll to stop by for pizza, cannoli and some good old fashioned conversation. First we dealt with our dark thoughts surrounding jobs and then turned on the mics to do what we do best - ramble on about movies. This time we focus on two recent horror releases in particular. David Gordon Green's 2018 sequel HALLOWEEN and Luca Guadagnino's remake of SUSPIRIA. Fair warning, we spoil both so hopefully you've seen them by now, and you probably should. Along the way, we dive further into the Halloween franchise, conflicted thoughts about Argento, other horror remakes we like, and a whole slew of bizarre digressions towards the end including the idea of all remakes putting podcasters into their updated takes. What horror remakes would we like to see or can expect? Is Hollywood already as doomed as planet Earth to the point of not expecting greatness anymore? Is 2

I’ve had a lot of special guests that I consider to be personal heroes on this show before, and today’s is no exception. Yoni Wolf, frontman for the excellent band Why?, as well as the host of The Wandering Wolf podcast was kind enough to talk with me for a half hour before sound check. He is currently back on the road for the Alopecia 10th anniversary tour, playing that amazing record in its entirety. It remains a personal favorite of mine along with so many songs particularly “The Blackest Purse, Gemini (Birthday Song), Rubber Traits, Yo Yo Bye Bye,” and many more. I try to relay my enthusiasm as usual, but also get some insights to the man behind the curtain.

 Yoni’s songs have meant a lot to me over the years and hopefully this conversation will inspire you to check out his work, support the band while on tour, as well as learn more about how a touring songwriter manages to thrive and survive. Topics include social media cancer, maintaining one’s health, work/life balance and a whole lot more. Again, I

Happy Halloween! The only scary thing here is my rambling introduction, though I do briefly discuss my experience at this year's Chicago International Film Festival, including a couple of reviews. The majority of the content was done via writing from both myself and the talented Kate Blair. The real fun begins when returning guest Olivia Lilley joins me to talk all-things theater. We do discuss the differences between how film directors work as opposed to her own approach, which is unconventional but truly groundbreaking and special. Her latest play NEVERLAND opens this weekend at the Prop Theater, and I know I will be seeing it sooner than later. We had another great conversation about what makes her take on the material so special, in addition to how current events played into this particular adaptation. Next up will be a very special interview done live backstage with a huge inspirational songwriter for me. Until then please enjoy this treat of an episode with one of my favorite guests!  Tickets / info fo

After the usual rambly intro about heavy thoughts, things lighten up with a great conversation featuring two members of The Pauses, a band I've grown to truly love. Tierney + Jason are the main songwriters alongside drummer Nathan, and I was happy to learn more about their history, process, and influences. We touch upon a lot of the inspiration that Tierney + Jason had while writing their excellent new record, Unbuilding, which I encourage everyone to buy ASAP.  00:00 - 10:20 - Introduction 10:21 - 57:27 - Conversation w/ Tierney + Jason 57:28 - 58:22 - Outro Buy Unbuilding Here: https://www.thepauses.com/ Bandcamp: https://thepauses.bandcamp.com/ Daytrotter Session: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P6dkOeMwxP0 Voices + Visions Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/nowplayingjim  

Once upon a time in the mid-90s, I worked for a video store chain in Northwest Indiana. A couple years in to my time as a customer service clerk at Box Office Video, a new chain opened up down the road called Family Video.  Despite being able to rent movies for free, every now and again, I ventured down to the competition and really enjoyed the experience of renting from them.  Cut to many years later in the age of streaming, Netflix, and RedBox, and that same video store chain, Family Video, is alive and kicking.  Inspired by a recent article by Matt Fagerholm, I was able to correspond and interview the Regional Vice President.  Bill Mohler joins me today for a half hour to talk about the history of the video store, how Family Video has managed to stay open all these years, and their upcoming 40th anniversary celebration! Thank you so much to Bill and for listening.  Please stay subscribed - as the fall draws closer, so does the opportunity for more great interviews!  You can also help me out by donating /

Hi everyone. Jim here. Returning for a very personal 40-minute outpouring of emotion about how hard things have been regarding depression + anxiety, some recent realizations, and slowly being able to reach out with honesty.  It might be a bit long-winded and indulgent, but I wanted to share my truest thoughts and feelings as of late, as I've struggled more than usual but trying to find light at the end of a long, dark tunnel.  A tunnel I've been stuck in most of my life.  Hope you get something out of this and do feel free to reach out with support, questions or suggestions:  voices.visions.jim@gmail.com Traditional V+V interview episodes will be forthcoming very soon, and I'm excited to keep this show going with a more consistent schedule.  All the best to you and thank you so much for listening to this monologue.  Special pop-culture shout-outs to the film MADELINE'S MADELINE and songwriter Julien Baker.

Cross-posted with Director's Club One of my favorite guests returns for a special conversation! This is our third time talking and likely not to be our last.  Keith Gordon who you might remember from such films as CHRISTINE, DRESSED TO KILL, BACK TO SCHOOL and many more, decided to focus primarily on directing in the late 80s / early 90s.  I wanted to have him back on to discuss the experience of directing one of my favorite shows on TV, LEGION, since I couldn't have been more excited about his work on the recent (and divisive) season 2 finale.  We then transition into a thorough conversation on overlooked films from the decade of the 90s as well as a brief foray into Keith's favorite Coen Brothers film.  It's a must-hear for fans of Keith's past podcast appearences as well as cinephiles looking to add some titles to their queue.  Thank you so much for listening and again, thank you to the great Keith Gordon for his third appearence on the podcast(s).   http://voicesvisions.net http://nowplayingnetwork.net

Catching up here with a couple of really great conversations I had with two independent filmmakers as well as a producer!  Director Matthew Ross worked with actors like Michael Shannon on FRANK & LOLA previously, which captured the attention of Keanu Reeves who saught him out to work on a script by A SIMPLE PLAN's Scott Smith entitled SIBERIA.  It's part thriller, part diamond heist story, mostly character study highlighted by an understated Reeves performance and a memorable setting.  I talked with Matthew about what it's like working with Keanu Reeves, Scott Smith's screenplay, as well as some of the hurdles of the filmmaking process.  Immediately after, you'll hear some Cinepocalypse coverage since I was able to snag an interview with director Johnny Kervorkian as well as producer Jack Tarling about their terrific Christmas sci-fi horror tale AWAIT FURTHER INSTRUCTIONS, which has been compared to both Black Mirror & THE THING.  You'll be surprised to discover the source of inspiration for the stor

As many of you know, the film BACK TO THE FUTURE is responsible for turning me into a film fanatic at the age of 7.  It was also the first movie that my dad and I equally adored and rewatched countless times. Aside from the fact that today's guest is a gifted actress that starred in the BTTF trilogy, among many other classics, the great Lea Thompson has just directed her first feature film entitled THE YEAR OF SPECTACULAR MEN!  Written by and starring her daughter Madelyn Deutch, it's a very personal story about being in your 20s and searching for direction as a young woman.  It's also a great story about family and sibling connection, since the extremely talented Zoey Deutch is also in the film, who happens to be Lea's other daughter!  We talk a lot about family, women in the industry, the inception of the film and much more.  It was truly a delightful discussion and I am honored to have talked to someone whose work I have cherished for three decades and counting.  During the introduction, I get a bit "heav

One of the greatest joys to experience in the fine city of Chicago is seeing a screening of a classic film at The Music Box Theater.  It has been my favorite movie theater for quite some time and when the opportunity came to talk to the general manager of this theater, I could not have been more thrilled.  Ryan Oestreich has a long history with the film industry, particularly film festival programming and theater management.  He is now able to combine both of his passions alongside Josh Goldbloom, to put together a film festival that I can't wait to cover this summer:  The Cinepocalypse!  Ryan and I briefly cover his past experience and then we launch into our endless excitement for the many films and special events happening from June 21st to the 28th.  You can listen to us passionately talk about some of the titles we're looking forward to of course, but also be sure to visit the links below to buy a festival badge or tickets to any number of screenings coming up in about a month.  Ryan is a hard-working,

It's been... one year since we did this.  Every year, I make sure to do a retrospective going back 30 years for movies and 20 years for music.  Earlier in February, I had two friends on to discuss our favorite 1988 movies.  This time it's all about records from 1998. A lot of it does stem from my nostalgic tendencies, but it’s also to deconstruct my two favorite art forms to see what holds up, what doesn’t, and how pop culture has changed over a span of a couple decades.  It’s also a chance for you to see where my taste lies, for better or worse, as well as to get to know a close friend of mine. He’s joined me for the past couple of years on Pop Culture Club (which is what this show was called in its inception) and once again, Austin-based journalist Dan Solomon is back to discuss our favorite records from 1998.  We also share memories, talk about the year in general, and have some laughs.  Included are several song clips and hopefully a surprise or two along the way! Thanks as always to Dan for joining me o

Well, I can't believe, This is 40?  One day in and I can already say that it's nothing like that overlong Judd Apatow movie.  While waiting for my midlife crisis to commence, I invited my old compadre over to the recording studio for a conversation in the tradition of our old-school bonus episodes!  This time, we even play a round of Score Bits, inspired by the one and only Film Junk Podcast.  At the top, you'll hear me introduce this joyful birthday present, bookended by songs from my favorite band, The New Pornographers.  First up, we catch you all up on how things have been for the two of us, then we review two movies that we assigned to one another.  Patrick assigned MANJI for me and I assigned one of my all-time favorites, TAKE SHELTER.  After that, Score Bits begins after a brief intermission and that is definitely a highlight for the both of us.  We challenge our sense memory, musical knowledge, and more with this wild take on "Name That Tune" revised as "Name That Movie!"  As a birthday present for o

I decided to offer up a special bonus treat here for both Director's Club + Voices and Visions alike.  I had the pleasure of seeing a very good new film called AND THEN I GO, directed by my first guest Vincent Grashaw.  We had a great talk about the inspiration behind the film and his process.  Then, I was absolutely honored and thrilled to talk to one of my all-time favorite actresses, Melanie Lynskey (HEAVENLY CREATURES, SHATTERED GLASS, THE INFORMANT!).  It was a short but sweet interview with a lot of great insights about being an actress, as well as singing the praises of her incredible career.  I can't encourage you enough to give this episode your time and attention! 00:00 - 12:34 - Introduction 12:35 - 25:25 - Interview with Vincent Grashaw 25:26 - 40:15 - Interview with Melanie Lynskey For more on AND THEN I GO: https://www.imdb.com/title/tt2018111/ https://play.google.com/store/movies/details?id=2j1rD5YHnjo