Trash, Art, And The Movies
The podcast that pits arthouse cinema against brainless entertainment—and then declares a victor.

Erin and Paul review two movies about the Phantom of the Opera, neither of them containing songs by Andrew Lloyd Webber. First: THE PHANTOM OF THE OPERA, the 1925 silent classic starring Lon Chaney as a disfigured, romantically obsessed man who lives in the catacombs beneath the Paris Opera House, periodically surfacing to offer casting advice to the company's management; then, PHANTOM OF THE PARADISE, Brian de Palma's 1974 cult musical starring Paul Williams as a demonic, babyfaced record-company magnate who swindles a brilliant young composer into providing the score for a garish new rock spectacular. Pipe organs or chest-mounted vocoders: which will prevail?

Plus, quick takes on THE HOBBIT: THE DESOLATION OF SMAUG, PUELLA MAGI MADOKA MAGICA THE MOVIE: REBELLION, THE HUNGER GAMES: CATCHING FIRE, I'M SO EXCITED!, and IS THE MAN WHO IS TALL HAPPY?

Direct download: TAATM_88__The_Phantom_Of_The_Opera_vs._The_Phantom_Of_The_Paradise.mp3
Category:TV and Film -- posted at: 10:17pm EDT

Heather Noel returns to the podcast to talk about two movies inspired by the Kennedy assassination and the many conspiracy theories that try to explain it. First: JFK, Oliver Stone's 1991 epic starring Kevin Costner as a New Orleans district attorney whose obsessive pursuit of Kennedy's killers threatens to destroy his reputation and his marriage; then, WINTER KILLS, William Richert's offbeat 1979 thriller starring Jeff Bridges as the younger brother of an assassinated president who stumbles across new evidence which suggests a vast (and very confusing) conspiracy might have been behind his brother's murder. Secret sex parties with Tommy Lee Jones, or secret sex parties with John Huston: which will prevail?

Plus: a Heather Noel update, and quick takes on TRUST, THE BAD SEED, BLUE JASMINE, AIN'T THEM BODIES SAINTS, and POST TENEBRAS LUX.

Direct download: TAATM_87__JFK_vs._Winter_Kills.mp3
Category:TV and Film -- posted at: 10:54pm EDT

Paul and Erin grip their bloody hands around the steering wheel as they discuss two films about murderous couples on the road, both inspired by the 1958 Charles Starkweather/Caril Ann Fugate case. First: BADLANDS, Terrence Malick's 1973 New Hollywood classic starring Martin Sheen and Sissy Spacek as a sociopathic James Dean lookalike and his affectless teenaged girlfriend; then, NATURAL BORN KILLERS, Oliver Stone's 1994 exercise in sensory overload starring Woody Harrelson and Juliette Lewis as a pair of mass murderers whose bloody exploits make them the biggest celebrities in America. Warren Oates getting shot in the back, or Rodney Dangerfield getting drowned in an aquarium: which will prevail?

Plus: quick takes on FROZEN, VIC AND FLO SAW A BEAR, COMPUTER CHESS, and PRINCE AVALANCHE.

Direct download: TAATM_86__Badlands_vs._Natural_Born_Killers.mp3
Category:TV and Film -- posted at: 3:10am EDT