Episodes

  • Episode 12: It's the Pictures That Got Small

    Episode 12: It's the Pictures That Got Small
    May 30 2024
    This episode, my last episode, we wrap up the series with a few of the Music Box’s world-famous weeks of programming: the 70mm Festival and the Christmas Double Feature & Alternative Xmas series, all a testament to the lasting power of celluloid, and to the filmmakers who still shoot on film and then send their work straight to Southport. I also take a dive into the film that takes me full-circle to the Music Box, the first I ever saw here – 2001: A Space Odyssey, the gem of their 70mm crown. I talk with Organ Maestro Extraordinaire Dennis Scott, Assistant Technical Director & Programmer Rebecca Lyon, General Manager Ryan Oestreich, film projectionist & historian Tim O'Neill, and my friend Nick Currie for this supersized final episode.
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    1 hr and 58 mins
  • Episode 11: Difficult Films

    Episode 11: Difficult Films
    Jan 6 2024
    I’ve long felt the Music Box is the premier environment for films that are harrowing, challenging, gross, abstract, or just plain lengthy - you’ve bought your ticket and there’s an audience with a shared stubbornness to see it through. This episode is dedicated to Difficult Films, movies I personally felt exhausted by, that poked and prodded me into submission, including a look at the auteurs oft endured: Lars Von Trier, Catherine Breillat, Claire Denis, and Gaspar Noé; as well as a look at the Music Box’s new “Who Gives an F” series. I speak with Ryan Oestreich and Rebecca Lyon from the Music Box, as well as Tim O’Neill and my friend James Conley, who I cajoled into rewatching that notorious centerpiece of Difficult Films with me: Irréversible.
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    1 hr and 13 mins
  • Episode 10: ArtFlop Era

    Episode 10: ArtFlop Era
    Sep 19 2023
    On this episode, we enter our ArtFlop Era. I speak again with my friends Michael Elias and Nick Currie about the newest iteration of our film club: ArtFlop, a series dedicated to visiting movies that reached for the moon but were not a financial or critical hit at the time, from BOOM! to CAN'T STOP THE MUSIC, from POPEYE to THE PAPERBOY. I also dedicate some space to my personal patron saints of ArtFlop & two of my all-time favorite maverick filmmakers: the Wachowski Sisters.
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    1 hr and 21 mins
  • Episode 9: The Disney Dilemma

    Episode 9: The Disney Dilemma
    Jul 13 2023
    The overgrown kid in me still likes Marvel & Star Wars, I just can’t help it. But as Admiral Ackbar warns us, it’s a trap! On this episode, we dive into the discussion du jour, what I like to call The Disney Dilemma. I rope in my friends over at A Piece of Pie: The Queer Film Podcast for a crossover episode – I speak with creator & host Brian Rowe and my fellow contributors Lauren Emily Whalen, Rob Cameron, and Matthew Jackson. We have the Music Box in Chicago, but what happens if everything else becomes content IP oatmeal boosted by brainless online listicles, when everything gets sent straight to streaming in our living rooms all owned by the same company? That’s the heart of the Disney Dilemma.
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    1 hr and 26 mins
  • Episode 8: Church of the Sunday Matinee

    Episode 8: Church of the Sunday Matinee
    Apr 10 2023
    On this episode, I discuss with friends and family the films that feel spiritual to them - everything from MAGNOLIA to CONTACT, to ORIGINAL CAST ALBUM: COMPANY to BABE: PIG IN THE CITY - and the Music Box’s legendary weekend matinees series, including months dedicated to the icons Marlene Dietrich and Bette Davis. And I speak with Steve Prokopy, film critic & PR Manager for the Music Box and curator of the wildly popular Billy Wilder 'Nobody's Perfect' matinee series, with Part 2 to come later this year.
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    1 hr and 27 mins
  • Episode 7: Rated Q for Queer Content

    Episode 7: Rated Q for Queer Content
    Dec 23 2022
    Let's talk about films that are Rated Q for Queer Content. The Music Box plays host to showings of new queer cult classics of all kinds, from LITTLE SHOP OF HORRORS to MEAN GIRLS. I’ll discuss the wonderful drag show/film hybrid series Rated Q with its outrageous & indispensable host, Ramona Slick, Chicago’s top movie-loving bad girl. I’m also joined by a bevy of my friends to discuss their favorite films that were formative at a young queer age, including REBECCA, IN & OUT, VELVET GOLDMINE, ALL ABOUT EVE, and MY OWN PRIVATE IDAHO.
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    1 hr and 7 mins
  • Episode 6: Music Box of Horrors

    Episode 6: Music Box of Horrors
    Oct 20 2022
    On this episode, we dive into the spectacular Music Box of Horrors, the legendary 24-hour horror movie festival which I’ve attended seven times, soon to be eight, and at most survived only nine films in one sitting. I speak with Will Morris, curator of the Music Box of Horrors, as well as film critic & writer Katie Rife, who helped program this year’s month-long Scared Stupid Festival. I also have a quick chat with Matt Kasin (DJ Gaudy God) on his favorite scary movie. We’ll look at the marathon’s evolution, how the Music Box remains the premiere venue to experience horror films, and how watching scary stuff together – no matter good, bad, gory, or boring – is much better with a sold-out crowd.
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    1 hr and 12 mins
  • Episode 5: Kind Hearts & Criterion Clubs

    Episode 5: Kind Hearts & Criterion Clubs
    Sep 5 2022
    The Music Box has long provided a home base for friendships steeped in film, a comfy cozy place to meet up and enjoy an engaging chat with a drink in the lounge afterwards. It also serves as inspiration, a place that curates its picks for engaged and excited crowds - it’s hard to not want to play projectionist and replicate this experience with your own friends. I talk with Michael Elias, my frequent companion to the Music Box and the co-creator of our Criterion Club, now seven years running, about how we mimicked our own arthouse theatre model at home, showing everything from BELLE DU JOUR to EYES WITHOUT A FACE, from FREEWAY to PARIS, TEXAS, or BIRTH to KABOOM.
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    1 hr and 9 mins