Episodes
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Twilight of the Ice Nymphs feat. Caroline Golum
**Come see WTO/99 at The Balboa Theater SF on Sunday, April 26th 7:30pm, hosted by Hit Factory featuring a post-screening Q&A w/ director Ian Bell. Tickets are available here.** Filmmaker Caroline Golum joins Aaron to discuss her singular, stunning new feature Revelations of Divine Love (now...
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Splendor feat. Alice Maio Mackay
**Come see WTO/99 at The Balboa Theater SF on Sunday, April 26th 7:30pm, hosted by Hit Factory featuring a post-screening Q&A w/ director Ian Bell. Tickets are available here.** Prolific filmmaker Alice Maio Mackay joins us to discuss her newest feature The Serpent's Skin (expanding this week to...
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Highway Patrolman feat. Pod Casty For Me *TEASER*
Get access to this entire episode as well as all of our premium episodes and bonus content by becoming a Hit Factory Patron for just $5/month. Jake Serwin and Ian Rhine of the illustrious Pod Casty for Me join to discuss Alex Cox's 1991 crime drama Highway Patrolman. Made during a period of exile...
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Charisma feat. Robert Rubsam
Writer and critic Robert Rubsam returns to the show to discuss Kiyoshi Kurosawa's enigmatic, unclassifiable thriller Charisma, the story of a failed hotage negotiator torn between factions of scientists, government agents, and madmen all fighting to decide the fate of a very unique tree in a...
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The Quick and the Dead *TEASER*
Get access to this entire episode as well as all of our premium episodes and bonus content by becoming a Hit Factory Patron for just $5/month. Sam Raimi's new film Send Help is in theaters, so we decided to look back at the director's undersung maximalist Western pastiche The Quick and the Dead.…
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"What Have You Watched with Me Lately?" (Hit Factory's Month in Movies - January 2026) *TEASER*
Get access to this entire episode as well as all of our premium episodes and bonus content by becoming a Hit Factory Patron for just $5/month. Something new for our faithful Patrons - A conversation about all the movies, new and old, that we've been enjoying this month not covered elsewhere on…
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BONUS: WTO/99 Interview w/ Ian Bell & Alex Megaro
WTO/99 is a new, immersive archival documentary that depicts the four-day clash between the then-emerging World Trade Organization (WTO) and the 40,000+ people who took to the streets of Seattle in 1999 to protest the WTO Conference and the WTO’s impact on human rights, labor, and the future...
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Hyenas
This week, we're discussing the winner of our latest Patreon poll, Senegalese auteur Djibril Diop Mambéty's Hyenas. Adapting Swiss-German playwright Friedrich Dürrenmatt's 1956 satirical tragicomedy The Visit and transposing its story onto post-colonial Senegal, the film tells the story of…
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Hit Factory's 2025 Digestif
The party is nearing its end, the food has been consumed, and now it's time to pour yourself a rich, spicy, herbaceous(?) after-dinner drink to aid in the digestion of all your elsewhere and elsewhile 2025 year-end content... It's the Hit Factory 2025 Digestif: A rundown of some of our favorite...
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DENZEMBER 2 VOL. V - The Siege feat. Séamus Malekafzali
Denzember concludes as Journalist and host of the Turbulence podcast Séamus Malekafzali returns to the show to discuss Edward Zwick's 1998 geopolitical thriller The Siege, a film about a Muslim terrorist cell wreaking havoc on New York City, the resultant fear it stokes, and the vidictive results...
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DENZEMBER 2 VOL. IV - He Got Game feat. Robert Daniels *TEASER*
Get access to this entire episode, the entire Denzember catalog, and all of our premium episodes by becoming a Hit Factory Patron for just $5/month. Roger Ebert Associate Editor Robert Daniels returns to the show to once again discuss the work of Denzel Washington and Spike Lee, this time…
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DENZEMBER 2 VOL. III - Much Ado About Nothing feat. Bobbi Miller
Denzember continues with Culture Kitsch host Bobbi Miller joining us to discuss Kenneth Branagh's 1993 Shakespeare adaptation Much Ado About Nothing. Following his successful Henry V adaptation, Branagh returned to Shakespeare for a much airier, light-hearted affair, fashioning the classic play...
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DENZEMBER 2 VOL. II - Ricochet feat. Bilge Ebiri *TEASER*
Get access to this entire episode, the entire Denzember catalog, and all of our premium episodes by becoming a Hit Factory Patron for just $5/month. Denzember 2 continues with the return of Vulture Film Critic Bilge Ebiri and a spirited discussion of Russel Mulcahy's 1991 thriller Ricochet, a…
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DENZEMBER 2 VOL. I - Mo' Better Blues feat. Minnie Zondi
It's the most wonderful time of the year! Denzember 2 kicks off with a conversation about Spike Lee and Denzel Washington's first collaboration, 1990's Mo' Better Blues, a film about jazz, art-making, and the pursuit of greatness at the expense of personal relationships. The terrific Minnie Zondi...
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BONUS: One Battle After Another
Get access to this entire episode as well as all of our premium episodes and bonus content by becoming a Hit Factory Patron for just $5/month. Better late than never, we're back with a conversation about Paul Thomas Anderson's recent critical and box office sensation One Battle After Another. PTA...
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Eyes Wide Shut feat. David Hering *TEASER*
Get access to this entire episode as well as all of our premium episodes and bonus content by becoming a Hit Factory Patron for just $5/month. Writer and critic David Hering joins us from Liverpool to discuss the final film from the ingenious Stanley Kubrick, Eyes Wide Shut. Originally conceived…
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Benny's Video feat. Heather Landsman
Filmmaker Heather Landsman joins to discuss Michael Haneke's Benny's Video alongside a conversation about her latest film, the archival documentary The Best of Me, which chronicles Björk stalker Ricardo López through unvarnished, segments of his 1996 video diaries, created as a means of sharing…
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The Faculty feat. Trevor Strunk
It's Halloween, so we decided to do a "scary" one! Podcaster, author, and emissary from the City of Brotherly Love Trevor Strunk joins to discuss Robert Rodriguez's 1998 Breakfast-Club-Meets-Body-Snatchers riff The Faculty. Boasting a memorable cast of young up-and-comers and a script written by...
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After Life feat. Pod Casty for Me
The fine, upstanding gentlemen of Pod Casty for Me, Jake Serwin and Ian Rhine, return to discuss Hirokazu Kore-eda's After Life, which follows a group of recently deceased people entering a state of limbo where counselors (also deceased) help them locate their most important memory and then go...
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Carlito's Way feat. Travis Woods *TEASER*
Get access to this entire episode as well as all of our premium episodes and bonus content by becoming a Hit Factory Patron for just $5/month. Film writer and author of the upcoming book De Palma Does Hollywood Travis Woods joins us to discuss the exemplary filmmaker and his 1993 crime…
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Magnolia *TEASER*
Get access to this entire episode as well as all of our premium episodes and bonus content by becoming a Hit Factory Patron for just $5/month. On the occasion of Paul Thomas Anderson's latest film One Battle After Anotherin theaters, we look back at the director's ambitious, unwieldy, and...
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Moving
We inaugurate the late Japanese master Shinji Sōmai with a discussion of his beautiful, melancholy coming-of-age drama Moving. The film follows the young Ren as she navigates her parents' recent separation, balancing loyalties to both her mother and father, dealing with gossiping classmates, and...
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Saving Private Ryan feat. Brendan Hodges
Film writer and critic Brendan Hodges joins to discuss Steven Spielberg's Saving Private Ryan, a self-proclaimed love letter to the filmmaker's WWII veteran father and all the fighting men of the Second World War. Visceral, upsetting, and deeply conflicted, the film formally disavows many of...
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Perfect Blue feat. Lex Briscuso *TEASER*
Get access to this entire episode as well as all of our premium episodes and bonus content by becoming a Hit Factory Patron for just $5/month. CW: Discussions of cinematic sexual assault and violence. Film Critic Lex Briscuso joins us to discuss Satoshi Kon's masterful animated psychological...
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Last Action Hero feat. Christopher Jason Bell
Filmmaker Christopher Jason Bell (Miss Me Yet, Attention Shoppers) joins us to discuss Last Action Hero, a meta action comedy featuring too many ideas, a healthy serving of great jokes, and a fascinating reckoning for its star Arnold Schwarzenegger as he was aging into the second act of his movie...
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BONUS: Highest 2 Lowest feat. Robert Daniels *TEASER*
Get access to this entire episode as well as all of our premium episodes and bonus content by becoming a Hit Factory Patron for just $5/month. Associate Editor at Roger Ebert Robert Daniels joins to discuss the latest Spike Lee joint Highest 2 Lowest, a loose reimagining of Akira Kurosawa's 1963...
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Guelwaar
We inaugurate (and conclude) our coverage of Senegalese master Ousmane Sembène with a discussion of his 1992 feature Guelwaar, the late filmmaker's only work of the decade. In essence a minor comedy of errors revolving around the misplaced body of a departed community leader and political…
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SLC Punk! feat. Julian Glander
3D artist, animator and director of the new film Boys Go to Jupiter Julian Glander joins us to discuss the live wire pleasures of SLC Punk! starring Matthew Lillard as a Stevo, a brash, blue-haired anarchist punk rocker who, alongside his best friend Bob, seeks meaning in the aimlessness of Salt...
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BONUS: Eddington *TEASER*
Get access to this entire episode as well as all of our premium episodes and bonus content by becoming a Hit Factory Patron for just $5/month. More new movie talk as we take on the most divisive film of the summer, Ari Aster's COVID-era neo-western Eddington. The film follows Joaquin Phoenix as…
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The Addiction feat. Peter Raleigh *TEASER*
Get access to this entire episode as well as all of our premium episodes and bonus content by becoming a Hit Factory Patron for just $5/month. Writer, academic, and prestigious poster Peter Raleigh earns his hat trick, returning to the Factory Floor to discuss Abel Ferrara's philosophical vampire...
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Jackie Brown feat. Jourdain Searles
We welcome the esteemed critic, journalist, and podcaster Jourdain Searles to the show to discuss Quentin Tarantino's seminal third feature Jackie Brown, an adaptation of the Elmore Leonard novel Rum Punch that also serves as Tarantino's love letter to Blaxploitation cinema and one of its…
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Little Buddha feat. Bilge Ebiri
Vulture and New York Magazine film critic Bilge Ebiri returns to discuss Bernardo Bertolucci's stunning mood piece Little Buddha, a rich and evocative story of an American family who travel to Bhutan after learning their son may be the reincarnation of the spiritual leader of a group of Tibetan...
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BONUS: 28 Years Later *TEASER*
Get access to this entire episode as well as all of our premium episodes and bonus content by becoming a Hit Factory Patron for just $5/month. We're back with more Danny Boyle coverage, this time discussing his latest film 28 Years Later, the long-awaited sequel to Boyle's own 28 Days Later (as...
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Shallow Grave feat. Brandon Streussnig
Film journalist and friend of the show Brandon Streussnig returns to discuss Danny Boyle's debut film Shallow Grave, a British riff on the 90s neo-noir template, self-described by Boyle and his collaborators as their take on the Coen's Blood Simple. The film chronicles a trifecta of beautiful,...
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Rosewood (+ Sinners) *TEASER*
Get access to this entire episode as well as all of our premium episodes and bonus content by becoming a Hit Factory Patron for just $5/month. We went exceptionally long on the late John Singleton’s undersung period western Rosewood, a film (and filmmaker) whose fingerprints are all over Ryan...
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Hands on a Hardbody
We stayed up for three consecutive days without sleep and kept at least one hand on a microphone at all times in order to test our mettle and discuss S.R. Bindler's 1997 "gawkumentary" Hands on a Hardbody, a story of 23 contenstants in Longview, Texas squaring off in a competition of stamina to…
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Re-Upload: Casino feat. Séamus Malekafzali
This is a re-upload for Spotify of a conversation originally held in November of 2023. Hit Factory wishes to extend our deepest gratitude and reverence to the National Music Publishers’ Association - tireless defenders of intellectual property, guardians of taste, and brave crusaders against...
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The Virgin Suicides *TEASER*
Get access to this entire episode as well as all of our premium episodes and bonus content by becoming a Hit Factory Patron for just $5/month. We got our hands on Sofia Coppola's diary and read it to try and make sense of her dreamy, quietly devastating debut The Virgin Suicides. Adapted from the...
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U.S. Go Home
We finally bring the brilliant, indelible work of Claire Denis to the pod with a discussion of her 1994 TV movie U.S. Go Home. Produced as part of the anthology series Tous les garcons et les filles de leur age… alongside work from other French visionaries like Chantal Akerman, Olivier Assayas…
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BONUS: The Shrouds *TEASER*
Get access to this entire episode as well as all of our premium episodes and bonus content by becoming a Hit Factory Patron for just $5/month. David Cronenberg returns to the big screen this week with The Shrouds, perhaps his most autobiographical film to date. The film involves grieving tech...
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BONUS: Forever Roxie feat. Henry S. Rosenthal
The Roxie Theater, a San Francisco landmark in the Mission District, is one of the oldest continuously operated cinemas in the United States, with its history tracing back to the early 1900s. Recently, The Roxie kicked off the public phase of their fundraising campaing, Forever Roxie, in order to...
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A Confucian Confusion
We inaugurate the brilliant Taiwanese master Edward Yang with a conversation about his transcendent 1994 social satire A Confucian Confusion. Following up his staggering masterwork A Brighter Summer Day, Yang turned his attention to Taipei in the 1990s at the height of its rapid evolution into a...
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Bound feat. Xuanlin Tham *TEASER*
Get access to this entire episode as well as all of our premium episodes and bonus content by becoming a Hit Factory Patron for just $5/month. Xuanlin Tham, author of the new book Revolutionary Desires: The Political Power of the Sex Scene returns to the show to discuss the Wachowskis' debut...
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BONUS: A.I. Goes Hollywood feat. A.S. Hamrah
Film critic and author A.S. Hamrah joins for a conversation on his recent Fast Company piece "Hollywood’s obsession with AI-enabled ‘perfection’ is making movies less human", which details some alarming (and frankly, depressing) recent use cases of A.I. in both studio blockbuster fare and...
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Dark Angel: The Ascent feat. Comrade Yui
Returning friend of the show Comrade Yui swings by to discuss the 1994 Full Moon direct-to-video masterwork Dark Angel: The Ascent. The story follows the exploits of a bored, beautiful young demon Veronica Iscariot (Angela Featherstone) as she defies the orders of her parents and the rules of…
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BONUS: Babygirl *TEASER*
Get access to this entire episode as well as all of our premium episodes and bonus content by becoming a Hit Factory Patron for just $5/month. We're back talking about the recently-released Babygirl, directed by Dutch actor-turned-director Halina Reijn. Despite some initial apprehensions based on...
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Affliction feat. Hard Mike & Syd Bricks
Fan favorite Hard Mike returns to the show alongside newcomer Syd Bricks to discuss Paul Schrader's Affliction, one of the filmmaker's most well-observed explorations of addiction and the generational cycles of suffering that manifest as a result of leaving personal trauma and pain unresolved.…
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Cliffhanger feat. Eamon Tracy *TEASER*
Get access to this entire episode as well as all of our premium episodes and bonus content by becoming a Hit Factory Patron for just $5/month. Film critic Eamon Tracy returns to the show to discuss Renny Harlin's mountain-bound Die Hard riff Cliffhanger starring Sylvester Stallone, John Lithgow,...
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Hit Factory's In/Out List 2025 *TEASER*
Get access to this entire episode as well as all of our premium episodes and bonus content by becoming a Hit Factory Patron for just $5/month. It's a New Year and we don't feel any different! In typical Hit Factory fashion, the simple task of creating an "In/Out" list for 2025 became a discussion...