Leeds-based film journalist and podcaster Amber T. (@hornbloodfire) joins for a double feature discussion of bad vibes connoisseur Kiyoshi Kurosawa's V-Cinema revenge thrillers 'Serpent's Path' and 'Eyes of the Spider'. Written in collaboration with 'Ringu' screenwriter Hiroshi Takahashi and directed back-to-back within an incredibly short producti…

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. Political reporter David Weigel joins to discuss the work of director Hal Hartley and his 1997 feature, 'Henry Fool'. The film, written and directed by one of the great undersung auteurs of American indie ci…

Writer and podcaster Jake Tropila returns for a dive into the dusty, hard-nosed pleasures of John Dahl's 1993 neo-noir western 'Red Rock West'. The film has been newly restored and released on blu-ray in a great edition courtesy of Cinématographe, a new sub-label from the folks behind Vinegar Syndrome. We start with a discussion of the career of Jo…

Writer and Senior Vice President at The Black List Kate Hagen joins to discuss Nancy Savoca's 'Household Saints', a generational tale of Italian women in New York and the shifting influences of faith, divinity, and family in their day to day lives. Long unavailable and thought lost to time, an original print of the film was discovered by the filmma…

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. Unofficial Hit Factory Sci-Fi Correspondent Aaron Thorpe is back to discuss the time traveling eccentricities of Terry Gilliam's '12 Monkeys' - a sort of quasi-remake of Chris Marker's 'La Jatée' (1963) feat…

Writer and resident Gilbert & Sullivan expert Julia Sirmons joins to discuss Mike Leigh's 'Topsy-Turvy', a story of the aforementioned musical duo and the production of one of their most popular shows, 'The Mikado'. It's a film that feels at once like an outliler in Leigh's career up to that point (his first film not set in contemporary working-cla…

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 & Ian Rhine, hosts of the preeminent Clint Eastwood podcast Pod Casty For Me return to discuss one of the finest studio comedies of the 90s, "Austin Powers: International Man of Mystery" starring…

New York-based filmmaker and producer Chadd Harbold joins to discuss the 1994 Tim Burton biopic 'Ed Wood', a sincere, loving portrait of the titular filmmaker and his band of Hollywood misfits coming together to make oddball, outsider B-movies that remain enduring works to this day. We discuss Tim Burton as filmmaker, the increasingly diminishing r…

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. Matt Bors & Ben Clarkson, creators of the excellent sci-fi/action satire graphic novel 'Justice Warriors' join to talk about one of our main guys - Paul Verhoeven (aka Pauly V) and his landmark sci-fi/action…

Just in time for Sundance festivities and a whole new cycle of 'May December' discourse, we're back to discuss Todd Hayne's 1991 debut feature 'Poison'. Both the winner of the Best Feature Award at the aforementioned Park City festival and a characteristically controversial release from the filmmaker, 'Poison', based in part on the works of queer a…

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. Aaron is joined by Jordan Fish and Ray Tintori of the preeminent Coen Bros. podcast, To The White Sea, to discuss the chilly, snow-capped neo-noir 'A Simple Plan', directed with uncharacteristic restraint by…

It's officially 2024...Happy New Year? We're not getting our hopes up! While everyone nursed their hangovers and tried desperately to get back to "normal" everyday life, we decided to take a look back at all the things we watched in the past year and talk about some stuff that falls outside the usual scope of the show. Join us as we each count down…

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. Universally beloved Vulture critic and Hit Factory all-star Roxana Hadadi returns to close out Denzember with a hefty chat about Mira Nair's 1991 romantic drama 'Mississippi Masala', a story of identit…

New York-based writer Ashley Reese joins us for our a very special Christmas installment of Denzember as we discuss Penny Marshall's 1996 romantic comedy 'The Preachers Wife'. We discuss the film as a metatextual exploration of Denzel Washington's celebrity image as well as part of Whitney's second leg as an international superstar and actress. We …

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 continues with GQ Senior Editor Frazier Tharpe II joining us to discuss Jonathan Demme's 'Philadelphia', one of the first major Hollywood films to take on the AIDS crisis. Far from a simple "…

Chapo Trap House and Movie Mindset's very own Will Menaker stops by to help celebrate Denzember and discuss Carl Franklin's 'Devil in a Blue Dress', based on the inaugural Easy Rawlins mystery novel of the same name by author Walter Mosley. It's a stylish period noir made by a filmmaker and team seemingly uninterested in reproducing the aesthetic t…

Writer, editor and podcaster Edward Ongweso Jr. returns to the show to kick off Denzember, a monthlong celebration of our greatest living actor, with a conversation about Spike Lee's seminal 1992 biopic 'Malcolm X'. It stands as one of Lee's most triumphant achievements and one of Denzel Washington's very best performances as one of the most signif…

An introduction to our monthlong celebration of our greatest living actor, Denzel Washington. Get access to all forthcoming Denzember episodes as well as our entire back catalog and bonus content by becoming a Hit Factory Patron for just $5/month. . . . . Our Denzember theme song is "FUNK" by OPPO.Hit Factory által

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. Creator of the "eventually, forever" newsletter and film twitter heavy Adam Sullivan joins us to discuss the brilliant Hayao Miyazaki and his 1992 film 'Porco Rosso'. Initially conceived as a short film excl…

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 contracted the services of Jake Serwin, co-host of America's premier Clint Eastwood podcast Pod Casty For Me, to take on a pair of films about a professional assassin having a crisis of conscience after b…

Journalist and writer Séamus Malekafzali returns to the program for a lengthy conversation about Martin Scorsese's 1995 crime epic 'Casino'. Initially viewed by critics and audiences as a retread of Scorsese's masterful crime saga 'Goodfellas', the film has since been reevaluated as a masterpiece in its own right - one enriched by the director's la…

Chicago-based academic and horror obsessive Peter Raleigh joins to discuss reliable journeyman director Peter Hyams and his 1997 creature feature, 'The Relic'. Maligned critically and a failure at the box office upon its initial release, the film has endured as an example of the tactile, sturdy genre work of the 90s with capable hands on both sides…

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. Loose film critic and host of Marvelous! Or, the Death of Cinema podcast Nicole Veneto joins from Boston to discuss Alex Winter and Tom Stern's irreverent, gag-filled 1993 monster comedy 'Freaked'. The film …

Vancouver-based filmmaker, educator, and podcaster Devan Scott joins to discuss Street Fighter: The Movie, based on the hugely popular Capcom video game franchise. Dismissed by both critics and fans of the game at the time of its release as a disaster, the film has since found a small but vocal faction of champions nearly 30 years later. We discuss…

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. Artist and podcaster Kayte Terry joins from Philadelphia to discuss David Lynch's 1990 Palme d'Or winner 'Wild at Heart' starring Nicolas Cage and Laura Dern as starcrossed lovers on the run in an oddball ro…

This week we're joined by our good friends Ian Rhine and Jake Serwin of the teriffic Clint Eastwood podcast Pod Casty For Me to discuss the Italian director Nanni Moretti and his 1993 personal essay/anthology film 'Caro Diario', awarded Best Director at the Cannes Film Festival in 1994 when Clint served as the Jury President. We discuss Moretti as …

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. Another solo episode this week as we discuss Michael Mann's thriller 'The Insider', based on the true story of whistleblower Jeffrey Wigand and his explosive 1996 interview with 60 Minutes that exposed secre…

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 solo for the first time in a while to talk about the romantic comedy '10 Things I Hate About You', a take on William Shakespeare's 'The Taming of the Shrew' updated for the 1990s and set at a Pacific N…

Musician and film writer Soraya Sebghati joins from Los Angeles to venture into the lurid, strange world of...Toronto, ON, Canada and its mesmerizing underbelly of desire, longing, and grief in Atom Egoyan's 1994 breakout feature, 'Exotica'. We discuss Atom Egoyan as director - his keen sense for the uncanny amongst the mundane, and the ways 'Exoti…

New York-based musician and America's Sweetheart Nick Miller joins to discuss the underseen 150-minute Extended Cut of Tom Hanks's directorial debut, 'That Thing You Do!'. It's a meandering, expansive version of the film that takes the original cut's effervescent (if slight) shot of pop nostalgia and, at its best, aims for comparisons to great surv…

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. Friend of show Comrade Yui returns to discuss John Carpenter's 'Escape From L.A.', his raucous and acidic sequel to 1981's 'Escape From New York'. Derided by both audiences and critics, we offer a defense of…

Fiction writer and editor A.A. de Levine joins to discuss Mary Harron's debut feature, 'I Shot Andy Warhol', featuring a seismic performace from Lili Taylor as the infamous feminist writer Valerie Solanas as well as Jared Harris as the late pop artist, and a moving turn from Stephen Dorff as trans icon Candy Darling. The film is a fascinating, frig…

Film writer, editor, and podcaster Jake Tropila joins from Los Angeles to discuss the Coen Brothers' 1998 comedy 'The Big Lebowski', starring Jeff Bridges, John Goodman, Julianne Moore, and Philip Seymour Hoffman. Though middlingly received both critically and commercially upon release, the film has gone on to become a genuine cult classic, launchi…

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. Los Angeles-based literary manager Jarrod Murray returns to the show to discuss Robert Redford's 'Quiz Show', a true story of the massive 1950s scandal that revealed to the American public for the first time…

New York-based film writer Jason Miller joins to discuss the strange, beautiful cinematic worlds of the unsung Alan Rudolph and his 1992 film 'Equinox' starring Matthew Modine as identical twin brothers separated at birth. We begin with a discussion of Rudolph's career, beginning as an assistant director to the great Robert Altman before branching …

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 professional shit-talker Nadine Smith joins to discuss the mesmerizing wuxia masterpiece 'Green Snake'. We explain the storied career of the film's remarkable director Tsui Hark, often referred to…

Jesse Hawken, host of Junk Filter Podcast, returns to the show to discuss 'Primal Fear'. The film is a taut piece of middlebrow entertainment which offers maximum reward as a cable classic. We discuss the film's two standout performances - one from aging handsome guy Richard Gere as a hotshot attorney looking for his next big break, the other from …

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. San Francisco-based Drafthouse programmer Jake Isgar stops by to discuss 'Dick Tracy', Warren Beatty's dazzling passion project released during a brief, bygone moment in big-budget filmmaking when artistic l…

It's Hit Factory's third birthday, and you're invited to celebrate along with us! Join us as we count down our baker's Top Ten films from past episodes. Links To Episodes Mentioned Here: The Blair With Project Ravenous feat. Matt Monagle Lost Highway feat. Jonah Koslofsky Safe feat. Catherine Liu The Bridges of Madison County feat. Comrade Yui Clos…

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. Returning Hit Factory favorites and fellow Neptune High Class on 1980 Sea Dogs Taylor Grimes and Hard Mike join for a testosterone-heavy conversation about Brian De Palma's 'Snake Eyes'. It's a throwback thr…

Writer Maggie Serota joins to discuss the 1993 comedy 'So I Married An Axe Murderer', a movie that takes inspiration from classic screwball comedies, Hitchcock thrillers, and SNL-style sketch comedy in equal measure. We discuss the rise of the film's star, Mike Myers, a gifted comedic performer who dedicated much of his 90s output to an evolving pa…

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Montreal-based film programmer, writer, and critic Justine Peres Smith joins us to discuss Catherine Breillat's 1999 film 'Romance'. It's a fascinating film that challenges patriarchal views of intimacy and desire, exploring the interiority of one woman's sexuality with a bracing level of nuance and honesty. We discuss the film's graphic depictions…

Cenephile and severe weather head @MatineeMode joins us to discuss 'Twister', one of the biggest hits of 1996. It's a film that takes several well-worn, sometimes quaint, and seemingly disparate cinematic tropes and combines them into a transcendent and irreplicable experience. We discuss the rise and fall of filmmaker Jan de Bont, from his time as…

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Journalist and writer Séamus Malekafzali joins us to discuss the 1996 Arnold Schwarzenegger vehicle 'Eraser'. It's an above average & satisfyingly self-aware film that represents the waning impact of a once-dependable action formula. We discuss the film's gleeful subversions of action movie tropes and the ways it challenges Arnold's well-cultivated…

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Matt Belenky returns for another Carlee-less episode to discuss Steven Soderbergh's technical tour-de-force 'The Limey'. It's both a whip-smart, crackling crime film showcasing Steven Soderbergh at the height of his power and a mesmerizing, patiently observed rumination on memory, loss, and legacy. We discuss the metatextual significance of leads T…

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.Hit Factory által

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.Hit Factory által