The Magic Lantern

The Magic Lantern


Latest Episodes

Episode 129 – Losing Ground
April 20, 2020

Losing Ground (Collins, 1982) should have been a lot of things. It should have been the foundation of a long career and important filmography. Instead, what it was was almost lost and mostly forgotten for three decades.

Episode 128 – Cléo from 5 to 7
April 05, 2020

There is a question I pose during the episode: if anyone who disparaged the French New Wave started with Cléo from 5 to 7 (Varda, 1962), might they feel differently about the movement? I think so. If you are looking for a place to begin pretty much any...

Episode 127 – World on a Wire
March 22, 2020

I had the pleasure of seeing Rainer Werner Fassbinder’s World on a Wire (1973) for the first time on the big screen. Being able to experience it in the theater as one whole, instead of on television in two parts,

Episode 126 – The Matrix
March 08, 2020

The day after I saw The Matrix (Lana and Lilly Wachowski, 1999), I proclaimed to anyone within shouting distance that the film changed my life. I was 23, and I meant it. I felt energized, bowled over, and ready to deliver some flying kicks to the estab...

Episode 125 – A Woman Under the Influence
February 24, 2020

It’s taken 125 episodes and almost five years of doing the show, but I’m finally ready to talk about John Cassavetes’ A Woman Under the Influence (1974). This film puts me through the ringer in a way that no other film comes close to.

Episode 124 – Dearest Sister
February 10, 2020

Whom do you trust? Mattie Do’s Dearest Sister (2016) plays on our expectations of trust and seeks to upend them at every turn. Just as Ana may not be able to trust her failing vision that seems to bring with it visitations from ghosts,

Episode 123 – Daisies
January 26, 2020

Věra Chytilová’s Daisies (1966) has been called a lot of things – confrontational, subversive, empty-headed, wanton. The elusive nature of the film means you can call its protagonists, the Maries, a lot of things. Just don’t call them late for dinner.

Episode 122 – A New Leaf
January 12, 2020

In A New Leaf (1971), Elaine May’s screenwriting and directorial debut, I think you will see the legacy of her indelible comedy partnership with Mike Nichols even though they had disbanded the act ten years before. It is in the daft sensibility,

Episode 121 – Ants In Your Pants of 2019
December 29, 2019

Welcome to Ants In Your Pants of 2019! It’s our fifth annual episode in which we reflect on our favorite film discoveries of the past year. We are so glad you joined us for this episode, and hope that you also had great cinema-watching adventures.

Episode 120 – Tarkan Versus the Vikings
December 15, 2019

A few years back I was introduced to Mehmet Aslan’s Tarkan Versus the Vikings (1971) in the best way possible – at Fantastic Fest in an auditorium full of like minded genre film fans that were ready to have their minds blown.