Hit Factory posts
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BONUS: Red Rooms
Following our conversation with the film's director Pascal Plante, we dive into one of the year's best films, Red Rooms: a thriller tailor made for our disaffected, hyper-mediated moment that asks many unsettling questions about the way emerging technologies sever us from empathy, create parasocial complexes, a...
Thesis feat. Pascal Plante
Filmmaker Pascal Plante (director of Red Rooms, one of our favorite movies of the year) joins to discuss Spanish filmmaker Alejandro Amenábar's 1996 debut, Thesis.While riveting simply at the topical level of its tense genre thrills, the movie also metatextually concerns itself with the moving image as a mediated ...
JFK feat. Sami Gold
George Washington University ungergrad and Liberal Currents contributor Sami Gold just informed us that there's an election coming up in the good ol' US of A, so we decided to discuss a foundational text of presidential cinema - Oliver Stone’s brilliant, frenetic JFK. Meticulously composed on several differe...
Wes Craven's New Nightmare
An impromptu decision to do something "Halloween-y" led us to 1994 meta-slasher Wes Craven's New Nightmare, the seventh installment in the long-running A Nightmare on Elm Streetfranchise, which sees Craven returning to the director's chair for the first time since the original installment and OG Nightma...
The Jackal feat. Ben Clarkson
Justice Warrior Ben Clarkson returns to discuss the 1997 action thriller The Jackal, starring Bruce Willis, Richard Gere, and Sidney Poitier in his final film role. Ostensibly a remake of the the 1973 Fred Zinneman film The Day of the Jackal(itself an adaptation of Fred Forsyth's 1971 debut novel of the same name),...
Vive L'Amour feat. Xuanlin Tham
Writer, curator, and author of the upcoming book Revolutionary Desires: The Political Power of the Sex Scene,Xuanlin Tham joins us to discuss the work of Taiwanese New Wave director Tsai Ming-liang and his 1994 film Vive L'Amour.It's a quietly devastating exploration of longing, desire, and urban alienation abo...
BONUS: The Substance
We take a moment away from the 90s to share our thoughts on Coralie Fargeat's latest brash body-horror festival darling The Substance, starring Demi Moore and Margaret Qualley. It's a stylish, blunt provocation ostensibly targeting the oppressive brutality of patriarchal beauty standards that feels completely a...
Buffalo '66 feat. John Semley
Writer, researcher, and fellow podcaster John Semley joins the program to discuss Buffalo '66, directed, written by, and starring the ever-controversial Vincent Gallo and co-starring Christina Ricci, Anjelica Huston, and Ben Gazzara. It's a film of profound beauty, humor and humanity, and although Gallo claims ...
Hackers feat. Gus Lanzetta
Twitter-banished Brazilian Gus Lanzetta makes a long-awaited and triumphant return to discuss Iain Softley's sexy, stylish Hackers. Impressively researched and committed to creating a dazzling, expressionistic visual style to evoke the sensations of exploring the uncharted corners of the world wide web, the film is...
Mod Fuck Explosion feat. Zach Clark
Independent filmmaker Zach Clark joins to discuss the work of punk auteur legend Jon Moritsugu and his 1994 cult favorite Mod Fuck Explosion.A riff on classic Hollywood tales like West Side Story, the film is brash, outrageous, occasionally reprehensible, and is (in Zach's words) less about teen angst so much as it...
Johnny Mnemonic feat. Séamus Malekafzali
Journalist and writer Séamus Malekafzali returns to the program to discuss Johnny Mnemonic. Directed by artist Robert Longo and adapted by William Gibson from his own short story, the film was met with lukewarm box office reception and critical derision upon initial release, but has since endured as a classic of 90s c...
The Double Life of Veronique
You voted for it, we watched it. We discuss the winner of our Patron Poll, Krzysztof Kieślowski’s The Double Life of Veronique -Anew film to both Hit Factory hosts, and one that has become an instant favorite. Enigmatic, ethereal, and steeped in a gentle magical realism, the film finds ways to make grand the quotidi...
PATRON POLL - Choose Our Next Film!
Hey Hit Factory Patrons, We've got a Premium patron-exclusive episode dropping next week on 8/30/2024, and we'd like you all to decide what film we'll be discussing on said episode. We went a little off the beaten path here, but are excited about every one of these choices. Another fun thing - whichever fil...
Cruel Intentions feat. Vera Drew
Director, co-writer, and star of The People's Joker (one of ourfavorite films of the year), Vera Drew joins for a discussion of the sexy, taboo-breaking, teen thriller CruelIntentions. A 90s update of the 18th century Peirre Choderlos de Laclos novel 'Les Liaisons dangereuses' (aka Dangerous Liaisons), the ...
BONUS: Upstream Podcast - Sex, Desire, and the Neoliberal Subject
No new episode this week, but we do have a special BONUS episode from our friends at Upstream Podcastwho recently covered Carlee's piece "The Puritanical Eye: Hyper-mediation, Sex on Film, and the Disavowal of Desire" forLo Specchio Scuro as part of their Patreon reading series. Enjoy! What do sex scenes in...
The Sixth Sense (+ TRAP) feat. Juan Barquin
Writer, programmer, and filmmaker Juan Barquin joins to explore the work of M. Night Shyamalan and his breakout feature, The Sixth Sense.Now somehwat underrated in Shyamalan's impressive oeuvre, even and especially by M. Night die-hards, the film is a patient, startling, and deeply human ghost story that also funct...
In the Cold of the Night feat. Fred Barrett
Writer, critic, and editor of the Electric Dreams newsletter Fred Barrett joins the show to discuss the neon-drenched, saxophone-laden, softcore erotic thrills of Nico Mastorakis' In the Cold of the Night. The film is a hazy, dreamlike cut of meathead De Palma references, prolonged sex scenes, and fascinating gestu...
Presumed Innocent feat. Katie Stebbins
Film lover and zine-er Katie Stebbins joins to discuss Alan J. Pakula's smart, understated legal thriller Presumed Innocent featuring Harrison Ford in one of his finest performances. Taut, richly detailed, and featuring a considerable bench of "that guy" character actors (including John Spencer, Joe Grifasi...
BONUS: A Conversation with Repo Man Director Alex Cox
We sat down for a brief conversation with Alex Cox, the director of Repo Man, Sid & Nancy, Walker, and many more to talk about the state of filmmaking today, the sensations Alex hopes one feels when watching his films, and the sanctity of digital media and curation in an era of endless, decontextualized content streams...
The Thin Red Line feat. Chadd Harbold
Producer and filmmaker Chadd Harbold returns to the show to discuss Terrence Malick's awe-inspiring WWII epic The Thin Red Line. The film marked Malick's return to the director's chair after a 20 year absence from filmmaking and features an ensemble cast of dozens of recognizable faces, including many massi...
Dream Lover
Another solo Aaron & Carlee episode as we dig into an oft-forgotten erotic thriller of the early 90s, Nicholas Kazan's Dream Lover,starring James Spader and a post-Twin Peaks Mädchen Amick. A story of love, lust, and betrayal, the film exhibits a disorienting, fragmented editing style that adds fascinating dimensi...
La Cérémonie feat. Jesse Hawken
Hit Factory's Chief Canadian Correspondent and host of Junk Filter Podcast Jesse Hawken is back to discuss the work of French genre provocateur Claude Chabrol and his 1995 thriller 'La Cérémonie' starring Sandrine Bonnaire and Isabelle Huppert. Inspired by the true story of Christine and Lea Papin - two F...
Hit Factory's Mid-Year Review
We've reached the halfway point of 2024, which means it's time to sit down with the joint CEOs of Hit Factory LLC and discuss some of the best films of the year, recent finds, and new additions to the CarleeCore™ Canon.Sit back as Carlee (the preeminent online authority on horny movies) shares her read on Luc...
Breaking the Waves feat. Liam Billingham
Producer and co-host of Die Hard On A Blank Podcast and recovering Lars Von Trier superfan Liam Billingham joins to discuss enigmatic Danish provocateur Lars Von Trier and his breakout Cannes award-winning feature 'Breaking the Waves' starring then-newcomer Emily Watson, Stellan Skarsgård, and the late Katrin ...
Black Robe feat. Scout Tafoya
Filmmaker, critic, video essayist and author Scout Tafoya joins the show to discuss the work of undersung journeyman Bruce Beresford and his brilliant 1991 film 'Black Robe', a story of faith, the frontier, and the church as a pernicious vestige of the European colonial project. Set amidst the 17th Century Fren...
Forrest Gump feat. Jared Bailey
Filmmaker, producer, writer, and podcast guest extraordinaire Jared Bailey joins to discuss one of the iconic texts of 90s popular cinema, 'Forrest Gump' directed by Robert Zemeckis and winner of the 1994 Academy Award for Best Picture (among many others). For all its swings at grandeur, the film is a deceptive...
Babe: Pig in the City (+ Furiosa: A Mad Max Saga) feat. Phil Iscove
Mad Max maestro George Miller has a new film in theaters, so writer/producer/co-creator of Fox's 'Sleepy Hollow' & co-host of Podcast Like It's... Phil Iscove joins to discuss the work of the visionary director and his brilliant, underseen sequel to everyone's favorite talking pig movie, 'Babe: ...
Star Wars: Episode I - The Phantom Menace feat. Neil Bahadur
Filmmaker, writer, and dude with an insanely high midi-chlorian count Neil Bahadur joins to discuss George Lucas's return to the Star Wars saga with the prequel trilogy kickoff 'Star Wars: Episode I - The Phantom Menace'. Met with ambivalence by most, genuine revulsion by others upon its initial release in ...
Center Stage feat. Jason Miller
Writer, critic, and Hit Factory Discord all-star Jason Miller returns to the show to discuss Hong Kong director Stanley Kwan's 'Center Stage', an experimental biopic exploring the life and work of Chinese silent film star Ruan Lingyu who achieved an unprecedented celebrity before tragically taking her own l...
To Die For feat. Daniella Mazzio
Writer, comedian, and Lydia Tár's former publicist Daniella Mazzio joins to discuss Gus Van Sant's sharp, pitch-black satire of media, true crime, and a patently American brand of late 20th Century celebrity, 'To Die For'. The film is based on the Joyce Maynard novel of the same name, itself inspired b...
