Citizen Dame

A trifle late, but happy Independence Day! This month we're talking alien invasion films, beginning with the ultimate July 4 movie, Roland Emmerich's Independence Day (1996). Will Smith was cool, Jeff Goldblum was hot, blockbusters were big, and we hoped for truly inspirational presidents! Next week, everyone who wasn't in ID4 appears in Mars Attacks!.

This week we're finishing up our month of supposedly straight movies that are very gay, by talking all about the 2002 film, Bend it Like Beckham. from director Gurinder Chadha. Parminder Nagra and Keira Knightley star as two soccer players, one from a traditional Sikh family and the other with an overbearing, gender-enforcing mother, who connect through a women's team coached by Jonathan Rhys Meyers. They're supposedly fighting over him, but we can all see the truth.

Our month of "straight movies that are totally gay" continues with the 1954 western, Johnny Guitar. Joan Crawford stars as saloon owner Vienna in a small southwestern town. When a heist leaves a man dead, his sister Emma (Mercedes McCambridge) declares war on Vienna and local gang leader the Dancin' Kid (Scott Grady). But Johnny Guitar (Sterling Hayden) is there to...help? This definitely totally straight western from Nicholas Ray subverts the western genre with its swapping of traditionally masculine and feminine roles, its thinly-veiled critique of McCarthyism, and the brightest red lipstick in the west.

Welcome to our next Pride Month episode, Vera Cruz or: Westerns Are Totally Gay! This week we discuss the 1954 Western Vera Cruz, starring Burt Lancaster and Gary Cooper as best frenemies who head off to fight in the Franco-Mexican War together, just can't stop betraying each other, and spend a lot of time comparing guns. Next up, the women get in on the queer-coded action in Johnny Guitar!

Happy Pride! This Pride Month, we're talking movies that involve the love that dare not speak its name...but come really, really close. First up in our homoerotic quartet is Kathryn Bigelow's Point Break (1991), starring Keanu Reeves and Patrick Swayze as two dudes from opposite sides (one an undercover FBI agent, the other a surfer and possible criminal) who come together over their love of adrenaline and increasingly intense (but largely unspoken) passion for each other. Way fewer people would've died if these dudes had just kissed. Next up: Westerns are totally gay, and Vera Cruz among the gayest.

We bring our first Bad Movies We Love series to a close with the best - and by that we mean worst - of the bunch, 2019's Replicas. Keanu Reeves stars as William Foster, a neuroscientist working on a project to transfer the minds of recently deceased soldiers into synthetic brains. Why? Who knows! It's all about science or something! But then tragedy strikes and William, along with his twitchy but faithful sidekick Ed (Thomas Middleditch) have to try to save his family. It will make sense when you watch it. And by that we mean, it makes no sense and it's all a convoluted mess of a movie. And that's what makes it great.

Next up in our Terrible Movies We Love month is the Wachowskis' divisively weird Jupiter Ascending, starring Mila Kunis as Jupiter Jones, a Russian immigrant who discovers she's the reincarnation of the matriarch of an intergalactic family who happens to own Earth, and she's being protected by sky-rollerblading space werewolf Caine Wise (Channing Tatum). And that's just the first twenty minutes. But is Jupiter Ascending really a terrible movie? Does it have merits as an original sci-fi epic? Does Sean Bean die?! Listen to know. Next week, we conclude our month with Replicas, Karen's favorite film ever.

This week, we continue our favorite "bad" action movies with a visit to the Hotel Artemis, a near-future dystopian flick with a convoluted plot, varying levels of quality in its action sequences, and cheesy dialogue. Plus a stacked cast that includes Sterling K. Brown, Jodie Foster, Dave Bautista, Brian Tyree Henry, Sofia Boutella, Charlie Day, Zachary Quinto, and Jeff Goldblum. Hotel Artemis was written and directed by Drew Pearce.

We return this week to kick off our "Terrible Movies We Love" month, which is exactly as it says on the tin. We begin with Van Helsing, Stephen Sommers' bizarre attempt to bring Universal monsters into the franchise era. Starring Hugh Jackman in the TITULAR ROLE as monster-hunter Gabriel Van Helsing, with Richard Roxburgh chewing the scenery as Count Dracula and Kate Beckinsale's inexplicable accent as Anna Valarious, Van Helsing is both one of the worst films of the 00s, and wonderfully entertaining. Next week is Hotel Artemis, which I'm reliably informed has Jeff Goldblum in it.

This week, the Dames are finishing up our Month of Meg with one of Meg Ryan's directorial achievements: What Happens Later. Ryan stars alongside David Duchovny as Willa Davis and Bill Davis, two long ago lovers who unexpectedly reunite while trapped in a regional airport during a snowstorm. Over the course of one very long night, they talk about their erstwhile relationship, where they are now in life, and their hopes for the future. It's a different kind of romantic comedy but Ryan is as charming as ever, thanks in part to a disembodied Airport Voice that may or may not belong to one Tom Hanks. We're also wrapping up this month with a special bonus F-M-K, so don't miss it.

This week, we discuss a major change of genre and focus for Meg Ryan: Jane Campion's divisive erotic thriller In the Cut (2003), in which Ryan plays a repressed English teacher who gets involved with an NYPD officer (Mark Ruffalo) investigating a brutal murder that took place in her own back garden. The film marked a break from Ryan's quirky rom-com image, and its quality is still debated more than twenty years on. TW for discussions of sexual violence. Next week, we close out our Meg Ryan month with What Happens Later (2023)!

We continue Meg Ryan month with the 1995 romantic comedy, French Kiss. For the first time, Ryan added a new job to her resume: producer. Directed by Lawrence Kasdan (The Big Chill) and written by Adam Brooks (Practical Magic), Meg Ryan stars as Kate, an American teacher living in Canada when her fiancé Charlie (Timothy Hutton) heads off to Paris for a medical conference and winds up breaking up with her when he meets an exotic French "goddesse." Though she is not supposed to leave the country and is terrified of flying, Kate hops on a plane to reclaim her love. But then she meets Luc Teyssier (Kevin Kline), a French vigneron and criminal who agrees to help her for his own nefarious purposes.  

We kick off a month of films starring Meg Ryan with her first rom-com pairing with Tom Hanks: the existential romantic-comedy Joe vs. the Volcano, about a man who gains a new lease on life by planning to jump into a volcano. Ryan actually plays three very distinct roles in this one! Next week: the criminally underrated French Kiss!

This week we're concluding Women's History Month with the historical fiction, Belle. Amma Asante directed this 2013 film about Dido Elizabeth Belle Lindsey, a young, biracial orphan in 18th century England who is raised by her uncle, Lord Mansfield, the Chief Judge who presided over an insurance fraud case that would eventually be one of the steps to ending England's slave trade. The film stars Gugu Mbatha-Raw, Tom Wilkinson, Emily Watson, Penelope Wilton, Sarah Gadon, Sam Reid and Tom Felton.

We carry on our Women's History Month films with Kasi Lemmons' remarkable Harriet Tubman biopic Harriet, starring Cynthia Erivo. While the film received mixed reviews on release, it is more than worth seeing it for yourself, as it explores the life and history of one of the most famous conductors on the Underground Railroad and the psychological and generational trauma of slavery. TW for discussions of violence. Next up: Belle (2013), directed by Amma Asante and starring Gugu Mbatha-Raw.

This week we kick off a Women's History series with The Woman King, the 2022 film directed by Gina Prince-Bythewood. Viola Davis stars as Nanisca, an Agoije warrior in the Kingdom of Dahomey, a powerful African kingdom in the 19th century. The film also stars Lashana Lynch, Thuso Mbedu, John Boyega, Sheila Atim, Jordan Bolger, and Hero Fiennes Tiffin. *Clip from The Woman King courtesy of Sony Pictures Releasing.

We wrap up our Black History Month discussions with the most nominated film in Oscars history: Ryan Coogler's brilliant Sinners, starring Michael B. Jordan as twin brothers Smoke and Stack, who return to their hometown of Clarksdale, Mississippi, to open a juke joint...only to have it invaded by vampires hungry for the blues. A searing, joyful, and blood-soaked film, Sinners really does have to be seen and heard. But we try to do justice to it. We're taking a brief break at the start of March, but we'll be back for some Women's History Month films later on!

This week, we continue our journey through some recent horror films from Black directors, we discuss Nia DaCosta's 2021 sequel to the 1992 film, Candyman. Yahya Abdul Mateen II stars as Anthony McCoy, a Chicago artist who visits the gentrifying neighborhood of Cabrini-Green and learns about his connection to a decades-old urban legend. The film also stars Teyonah Parris, Colman Domingo, Vanessa Williams, Nathan Stewart-Jarrett, Kyle Kaminsky, Brian King, Rebecca Spence, Carl Clemons-Hopkins, and Michael Hargrove, with an appearance by Tony Todd.

It's Black History Month and the Dames return for a series of horror films focusing on the Black experience. We start with Jordan Peele's fantastic Get Out, starring Daniel Kaluuya as Chris, who goes home to meet his girlfriend's parents and discovers a sinister conspiracy in her white liberal enclave. Next up: Nia DaCosta's Candyman!

We complete our tribute to Rob Reiner with a look at his 1986 film Stand by Me. Raynold Gideon and Bruce A. Evans were nominated for the Academy Award for Best Adapted Screenplay and Reiner was nominated for the Golden Globe and DGA awards for this adaptation of Stephen King's 1982 novella, The Body. Wil Wheaton stars as 12-year-old Gordie Lachance, a boy in Castle Rock, Oregon in 1959. Along with his friends Chris (River Phoenix), Teddy (Corey Feldman), and Vern (Jerry O'Connell), the boys set off into the Oregon forest in search of the body of a missing boy. The film also stars Richard Dreyfuss as narrator and adult Gordie, as well as Kiefer Sutherland, Marshall Bell, Frances Lee McCain, and John Cusack. We will deeply miss Rob Reiner. May his memory be a blessing

We're carrying on our tribute to Rob Reiner this month with the one of the first (and certainly funniest) rockumentaries of all time: This is Spinal Tap, starring Michael McKean, Christopher Guest, and Harry Shearer as Britain's loudest and most punctual rock band. This is Spinal Tap was also Reiner's first feature film as a director. Next week, we'll be chatting Stephen King and Stand By Me!

It's a brand new year and we're starting off with a tribute to director Rob Reiner. And what better way to kick off both than with his enduring, perfect romantic comedy, When Harry Met Sally. Billy Crystal and Meg Ryan star as two strangers who gradually become friends and then eventually fall in love. Written by Nora Ephron and co-starring Carrie Fisher and Bruno Kirby, this classic had a successful box office run in 1989 and is still just as beloved nearly 40 years later

For our last episode of 2025, we talk about one of the best movies released in 2025: Wake Up Dead Man, the third film in Rian Johnson's Knives Out series. Benoit Blanc (Daniel Craig) is back to take on a locked-room mystery in the depths (literally and figuratively) of the Catholic Church. Come for the twisty plot, stay for the thematic grappling with faith and humanism, stay even longer for Josh O'Connor in a clerical collar. Thank you so much for joining us and for supporting us this year! We'll be on break for the holidays, but will return in January in a month-long tribute to Rob Reiner, starting with When Harry Met Sally. See you in 2026!

This week, Lauren picks the movie and it's the 2011 New Zealand rom com Love Birds, starring Rhys Darby and Sally Hawkins. After Doug's girlfriend leaves him, an injured paradise shelduck named Pierre helps him heal and to find new love with Holly, a veterinarian single mom. Featuring a soundtrack entirely by Queen, Love Birds also stars Bryan Brown, Craig Hall, David Fane, and Emily Barclay.

We wind down the year with some grab-bag faves that we just really want to watch, beginning with a Thanksgiving holiday classic: John Hughes's Planes, Trains, and Automobiles (1987), in which Neal (Steve Martin) is trapped on a holiday road trip from hell with the friendly, lovable, and disaster-prone Del (John Candy). A forty-five-minute flight to Chicago can sometimes take three days, it seems. Next week, Rhys Darby, Sally Hawkins, and a duck cause Lauren to have an existential crisis! We're talking Love Birds!

This week we finish out our LA neo-noir series with the revolutionary Who Framed Roger Rabbit? Robert Zemeckis directed this adaptation of Gary K. Wolf's 1981 novel, Who Censored Roger Rabbit?, a hilariously smart satire that leads hard-boiled private detective Eddie Valiant (Bob Hoskins) on a journey to prove one of Toon Town's biggest stars, Roger Rabbit (voice of Charles Fleischer) is not guilty of murder. Together they must clear Roger's name and save him from the dreadful Judge Doom (Christopher Lloyd). Nominated for 6 Academy Awards and winning 3, the film was an astonishing blend of live-action and animation, creating new technology along the way. It is also the only film to include characters from both Disney and Warner Bros. together onscreen. We're off next week, but we'll be back with some holiday cheer in December!

This week we grapple with the problematics of Chinatown (1974), arguably one of the greatest neo-noirs, with a fraught and complicated history thanks to its director, Roman Polanski. Starring Jack Nicholson and Faye Dunaway, Chinatown represents the bleakness of noir amid the sunniness of LA, with a hefty dose of political and sexual corruption. Oof. TW for discussions of sexual assault and incest. Next week, we conclude Noirvember with a far happier entry: Who Framed Roger Rabbit?

We continue our look at Los Angeles-set neo-noir films, this time with the 1997 Academy Award-winning L.A. Confidential. Russell Crowe, Guy Pearce, and Kevin Spacey star as three very different LAPD detectives in a changing city where some cops embrace the corruption, some look the other way, and some are determined to root it out. An investigation into a series of murders in 1950s Los Angeles threatens to expose what's really going on beneath the sunny, shiny surface. Based on the novel by James Ellroy, L.A. Confidential was directed by Curtis Hanson and also stars Kim Basinger, James Cromwell, Danny DeVito, David Strathairn, and Ron Rifkin. It was nominated for 9 Oscars including Best Picture, winning two: Best Supporting Actress, Kim Basinger; and Best Adapted Screenplay, Brian Helgeland and Curtis Hanson.

The Dames are back with Halloween hangovers and the start of Noirvember! This month, we're looking at neo-noirs set in 40s/50s LA. We begin with Devil in a Blue Dress, starring peak Denzel Washington as Easy Rawlins, an out-of-work machinist who gets caught up in the search for a missing woman, leading him into the seedy underworld and racist high society of the City of Angels. Next week, we'll go into even more sun-soaked political corruption and police brutality with LA Confidential!

It's Halloween week! And what better way to celebrate than with the ultimate spooky movie season movie: HALLOWEEN! John Carpenter and Debra Hill's 1978 slasher is a must for fans of the season. But we only recognize the original as the One True Halloween movie. Jamie Lee Curtis stars as Laurie Strode, a 17-year-old babysitter whose night is ruined by 21-year-old mask-wearing, knife-wielding hospital escapee Michael Myers. Happy Halloween from the Dames!

Spooky Movie Month continues as the Dames discuss the 1986 horror film The Fly. Directed by David Cronenberg, this adaptation of the 1957 film stars Jeff Goldblum as Seth Grundle, an eccentric scientist whose teleportation experiment goes horribly wrong when he splices himself with a fly. The film also stars Geena Davis and John Getz. Clip from THE FLY courtesy of 20th Century Studios.

Spooky Movie Month continues as we look back at the zany 1980 Disney horror movie, The Watcher in the Woods. Adapted from Florence Engel Randall's 1976 novel, John Hough directed the film that was widely panned by critics, pulled from theaters, and given a new ending. The film stars Bette Davis, Carroll Baker, Lynn-Holly Johnson, Kyle Richards, David McCallum, Richard Pasco, and Ian Bannen.

Spooky Season starts in earnest, and we're kicking it off with a movie that scared the hell out of four-year-old Lauren: Abbott and Costello Meet Frankenstein. Comedy team Abbott and Costello play baggage handlers who run into a bevy of Universal Monsters including Count Dracula (Bela Lugosi), the Wolf Man (Lon Chaney, Jr.), and the Frankenstein Monster (Glenn Strange), in a creepy castle in...Florida? The film would go on to become a template for horror comedies, and the most successful movie in the Frankenstein series since the original. Next week will be The Watcher in the Woods (1980), which is weirdly hard to get a hold of (but well worth the effort!).

This week, we're finishing up our first Cary Grant series AND welcoming Spooky Movie Season at the same time with the 1944 comedy, Arsenic and Old Lace. Adapted from the hit Broadway play, Frank Capra's classic was originally slated for release in 1942, but the stage production was such a big hit that the film was delayed two extra years. Grant stars as Mortimer Brewer, a playwright and confirmed bachelor who surprises even himself by marrying Elaine Harper (Priscilla Lane), the girl next door. After their city hall nuptials, the pair run home to Brooklyn to announce their big news, but Mortimer is shocked and dismayed to discover his sweet, elderly maiden aunts Abby (Josephine Hull) and Martha (Jean Adair) are serial murderers with a dozen bodies buried in the basement. And hilarity ensues! Arsenic and Old Lace also stars Raymond Massey, Peter Lorre, John Alexander, Grant Mitchell, Jack Carson, James Gleason, Gary Owen.

Get ready to cry! This week, we're discussing An Affair to Remember, director Leo McCarey's 1957 remake of his own film Love Affair, this time featuring Cary Grant and Deborah Kerr. Come for the mature love story, stay for the soap-operatic melodrama. It's the ultimate chick flick, but you will be sobbing by the end. We also chat a bit about the current state of media and what the Hollywood Blacklist has to do with our contemporary moment. Next week, we gear up for Spooky Season with our final Cary Grant film of the month: Arsenic and Old Lace!

Cary Grant month continues as we discuss THE quintessential screwball comedy, Bringing Up Baby. Howard Hawks directed the 1938 film which stars Cary Grant as engaged paleontologist David Huxley, who is trying to score a one million dollar grant for his museum when he crosses paths with Susan Vance (Katharine Hepburn), a wonderfully chaotic disruption to his plans. From a missing intercostal clavicle to a leopard named Baby (played by a charming cat named Neissa), Grant and Hepburn are delightful in this very funny classic. To read more about Neissa the leopard and her handler Olga Celeste, click here.

Happy September! It's Cary Grant month (because we say it is), so we're starting out with Suspicion, the first film that brought together Grant and Alfred Hitchcock. They would go on to work together on three more films, but Suspicion is probably the most contentious for casting Cary Grant as a maybe-murderer who falls under suspicion from his wife (Joan Fontaine, who won an Oscar for her portrayal). Next week, we'll be discussing one of Grant's most famous screwball comedies, Bringing Up Baby!

We conclude this Hitchcockian August with the 1967 film, Wait Until Dark. Audrey Hepburn was nominated for an Academy Award for her role as Suzy, a woman blinded in an accident who finds herself the accidental target of dangerous drug traffickers, one of whom is a particularly deadly menace. Directed by Terrence Young and based on Frederick Knott's 1966 play, the film also stars Samantha Jones, Alan Arkin, Richard Crenna, Jack Weston, and Efrem Zimbalist Jr.

Our Hitchcockian August continues with Michael Powell's 1960 film, Peeping Tom. Credited as one of the films that influenced the slasher genre, Powell's film tells the story of Mark Lewis (Karlheinz Böhm), a lonely London photographer who murders women, capturing their fear on film in hopes of creating his own documentary. Creepy, macabre, and bold, Powell's film was not well received upon its release in 1960, but has won over horror fans in recent decades as an essential work.

This week, we talk about the meaning of "gaslighting" with the film that originated the term: George Cukor's 1944 film Gaslight, starring Ingrid Bergman as a woman slowly driven to the brink of madness by her abusive husband (Charles Boyer). This film also featured the cinematic debut (and first Oscar nod!) for Angela Lansbury, who turned 18 during filming. TW for discussions of domestic abuse and abusive relationships. Next week, one of the most Hitchcockian of the films we're discussing: Michael Powell's psychothriller Peeping Tom, which premiered two weeks before Psycho in 1960.

For the first of our Hitchcockian films, we discuss the best "Hitchcock film not directed by Hitchcock": Stanley Donen's Charade (1963), a somewhat satirical, fantastically entertaining globe-trotting thriller with a stellar cast featuring Cary Grant, Audrey Hepburn, and Walter Matthau. Next week we'll be chatting about Gaslight (1944), which somehow Hitchcock also did not direct.

It's Alfred Hitchcock's birthday month and we're kicking off the celebration with one of his quintessential films: North by Northwest. Cary Grant stars alongside Eva Marie Saint and James Mason in this tale of mistaken identity, espionage, and intrigue. From an attempted assassination via crop duster to the face(s) of Mount Rushmore, one of Hitch's biggest and more iconic films is thrilling, romantic, and funny.

We close out Pride Month this year with a brand-new film (that's technically a remake, but shhhh): The Wedding Banquet, from Fire Island director Andrew Ahn, and starring Bowen Yang, Han Gi-chan, Lily Gladstone, and Kelly Marie Tran as two gay couples who have to try to play it straight. The result is a beautiful (and hilarious) film about found family and queer identity. We'll be on a break for the rest of July, returning in August with our annual Hitchcock coverage (starting with North by Northwest!), but our patrons can continue to listen our Alfred Hitchcock Presents bonus episodes all through July! To join their number (and get some other bonuses as well) you can go to Patreon!

We continue our Pride Month series with the 2005 lesbian spy rom-com, D.E.B.S. This gem of a movie, directed by Angela Robinson, is the story of a super hot super spy and a super hot super villain who meet and fall in love. Underrated in its time, but finding new popularity in recent years, D.E.B.S. is the kind of funny, silly girl movie we wish there were more of. How this didn't launch a whole subgenre is beyond us!

The Dames continue Pride Month with the seminal queercore punk-rock musical Hedwig and the Angry Inch, directed by and starring John Cameron Mitchell. While Lauren tries to explain Judith Butler, Karen wonders why Hedwig is kind of a dick? Next week: D.E.B.S. and lesbians committing espionage!

The Dames are celebrating Pride Month! And we're starting off with the 1994 road trip movie, The Adventures of Priscilla Queen of the Desert. Terrence Stamp, Hugo Weaving, and Guy Pierce star as a trans woman and two drag queens who embark on a road trip across Australia, encountering good, bad, and dangerous challenges along the way.

We close out our Varda series with her penultimate film Faces Places (2017), co-directed by visual artist JR, with whom Varda travels across France, meeting people, taking photographs, and discussing art, image, and the passage of time. We also decide that Godard is a jerk. Next week, we're moving into Pride month viewing with some queer classics and even a brand-new film! First up is The Adventures of Priscilla, Queen of the Desert (1994)!

This week, the Dames continue our Varda series with the surreal and unique Jane B par Agnès V. Is it a documentary? Is it an essay film? What is this movie? In another inventive film from Agnès Varda, she sets out to help her friend Jane Birkin experience the film roles she never got to play and her fears about turning 40.

Our Agnès Varda month continues with a discussion of Le Bonheur (Happiness), following the lives of a happy little nuclear family whose happiness gets challenged (or does it?) when the father begins an affair. Deeply feminist and gorgeously filmed, Le Bonheur fools you into thinking its one thing and then becomes another. We do recommend watching the film before listening to the podcast! Next week, we'll be chatting some of Varda's documentaries, starting with Jane B. par Agnès V.

This month we are (finally!) exploring some of the works of the great Agnès Varda, one of the pioneers of the French New Wave. First up, we're starting with one of her most widely seen: Cléo from 5 to 7. Corinne Marchand stars as the titular Cléo, a young singer waiting for important medical results. Over the course of 90 minutes, Cléo tries to distract herself from the agonizing wait, first among friends, and then on a winding route through Paris. The film screened at the 1962 Cannes Film Festival, currently ranks at 14 on Sight and Sound's list of greatest films of all time (only two spots behind The Godfather, just sayin'), and is part of the Criterion Collection.