The 1950s

For our 50th episode, we talk about films from the 1950s.  This decade saw the development of auteurs like writer/directors Billy Wilder and Akira Kurosawa, the master of suspense, Alfred Hitchcock and a young director named Stanley Kubrick.  The 50s also saw a shift in the art of performance with actors like Marlon Brando and James Dean.  We also go on a short tangent about Rodney Ascher's left-of-center documentary "Room 237" involving some extreme theories on the meaning of Kubrick's "The Shining".  Subscribe on iTunes:  https://itun.es/i6gB67Y  Check out our Facebook page:  www.facebook.com/actorandengineer and follow us on twitter @actorengineer.

The Babadook

We talk about a creepy Australian horror film that has been getting great reviews.  The movie has a couple great performances that we discuss, along with an off-the-wall theory about a particular character in the movie.  Subscribe on iTunes:  https://itun.es/i6gB67Y  Check out our Facebook page:  www.facebook.com/actorandengineer and follow us on twitter @actorengineer.

Avengers: Age of Ultron

We talk about the next film in the Marvel Cinematic Universe and how it is in the unenviable position of trying to set up what will come next in their series of films while itself being entertaining.  We spend time talking about Joss Whedon's crazy abilities as an auteur and superfan of this franchise.  Subscribe on iTunes:  https://itun.es/i6gB67Y  Check out our Facebook page:  www.facebook.com/actorandengineer and follow us on twitter @actorengineer.

Ex Machina

We talk about the directorial debut of 28 Days Later scribe Alex Garland.  He gives us an original screenplay that brings up a lot of questions and doesn't offer many answers.  With such a small cast, we can talk in-depth about the actors' performances and make some predictions about what may be in store for them.  Subscribe on iTunes:  https://itun.es/i6gB67Y  Check out our Facebook page:  www.facebook.com/actorandengineer and follow us on twitter @actorengineer.

Television Spotlight

We talk about three recent television shows that we consider to be like long-form movies.  We have made passing mention of House of Cards, True Detective and The Fall, but we delve deep into what we think makes each of these shows unique and exceptional.  Spoilers abound!  Subscribe on iTunes:  https://itun.es/i6gB67Y  Check out our Facebook page:  www.facebook.com/actorandengineer and follow us on twitter @actorengineer.

Music Biopics

We talk about our favorite biographical movies about famous musicians.  From Buddy Holly to James Brown, from Mozart to Johnny Cash, we go over what works and what doesn't work when telling a story in this specific subgenre of film.  Subscribe on iTunes:  https://itun.es/i6gB67Y  Check out our Facebook page:  www.facebook.com/actorandengineer and follow us on twitter @actorengineer.

Chris Rock's Top Five

We talk about Chris Rock's most recent, and possible most personal movie.  We also get into the state of  film criticism and stand up comedy today.  We begin the show talking about new trailers that have come out and our most anticipated upcoming movies.  Subscribe on iTunes:  https://itun.es/i6gB67Y  Check out our Facebook page:  www.facebook.com/actorandengineer and follow us on twitter @actorengineer.

The Coen Brothers and How We Experience Their Films

We talk about the phenomenon that we both experience when watching Coen Brothers movies where we don't fully enjoy/understand a Coen Brothers movie the first time around.  We are also in good company (Guillermo Del Toro).  The podcast turns into a lovefest of Coen Brothers movies and we try to figure out why they are so great on repeat viewings.  Subscribe on iTunes:  https://itun.es/i6gB67Y  Check out our Facebook page:  www.facebook.com/actorandengineer and follow us on twitter @actorengineer.

Tim's Vermeer and Side by Side

Paul and Josh talk about two documentaries that analyze the relationship between technology and art.  Side By Side talks about the film industry being at a technological crossroads between old and new (film and digital) and Tim's Vermeer is about a graphic designer that gets obsessed with the methodology of a 17th century painter.  Subscribe on iTunes:  https://itun.es/i6gB67Y  Check out our Facebook page:  www.facebook.com/actorandengineer and follow us on twitter @actorengineer.

Media Diary and Oscar Wrap Up

Paul and Josh reflect on the 2014 Oscars, the good and the bad.  We also took a cue from Steven Soderbergh and tracked what we have been watching (both television and movies) for the last month or so.  We talk about the movies and television programs that we watched and delve into one of those movies:  Jason Reitman's Men, Women and Children.  Subscribe on iTunes:  https://itun.es/i6gB67Y  Check out our Facebook page:  www.facebook.com/actorandengineer and follow us on twitter @actorengineer.

Wild and Selma

Paul and Josh discuss two movies that are getting a bit of Oscar buzz.  We focus on two movies that are both based on true stories and have centralized characters that are struggling with particular crossroads in their lives.  These movies have garnered Academy Award nominatoins for Best Actress (Reese Witherspoon) Best Supporting Actress (Laura Dern) and Best Picture and Best Song (Selma).  Subscribe on iTunes:  https://itun.es/i6gB67Y  Check out our Facebook page:  www.facebook.com/actorandengineer and follow us on twitter @actorengineer.

Best Directors

Paul and Josh talk about their favorite directors and somehow fail to mention Clint Eastwood, Akira Kurosawa and many more.  The episode is still packed with discussion of luminaries of filmmaking (Spielberg, Welles, Hitchcock, Scorcese, etc) and our personal creams of the crop (Fincher, PTA, Ang Lee, and the Coens).  Subscribe on iTunes:  https://itun.es/i6gB67Y  Check out our Facebook page:  www.facebook.com/actorandengineer and follow us on twitter @actorengineer.

Animated Movies

Paul and Josh talk about feature-length animated movies from Snow White to the Lego Movie.  We also talk about some animated movies that are not really kid friendly and some that are really sad, along with the movies that we all grew up with as children.  Subscribe on iTunes:  https://itun.es/i6gB67Y  Check out our Facebook page:  www.facebook.com/actorandengineer and follow us on twitter @actorengineer.