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Horizon, Other Recent Movie Turkeys, and Recommended Alternatives – Episode 166

In this episode Dara is giving out about recent bad movies, and not the ‘so bad they’re good’ kind. Kevin Costner’s Western opus Horizon: An American Saga – Chapter 1 starts the party with its bloated scale, turgid pacing, and on-the-nose representations of archetypal stories and characters. Far too earnest and self-serious, Dara recommends at least half a dozen alternatives, including Michael Cimino’s Heaven’s Gate and Costner’s own Open Range.

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What Is a Man, Anyway? Part 2 – Episode 156

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Continuing his exploration of masculinity and maleness, Dara turns his gaze to movies and how men’s stories, especially but not exclusively, straight men’s stories have played out on screen. He looks at three totems of masculinity as the main discussion points – potency, violence, and morality.

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How To Make a Raspberry Cheesecake – From the Kitchen to a Religious Sect to 90s Hollywood Misogyny – Episode 152

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Dara begins this episode by sharing his go-to recipe for making cheesecake, raspberry cheesecake, specifically. Don’t ask why – it just felt like the right thing to do. Perhaps he was trying to flaunt his ‘new man’ credentials in advance of discussing male attitudes to high-profile, successful women in the not-so-distant past.

How To Make a Raspberry Cheesecake – From the Kitchen to a Religious Sect to 90s Hollywood Misogyny – Episode 152 Read More »

40 Years of Winning and Grinning – The Tom Cruise Episode! – Episode 150

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In this 150th episode, Dara decides not to lean into what makes the show what it is, but rather opts for the easy entertainment of the career of Tom Cruise. A recent rewatch of Top Gun Maverick prompted the question – what is it about Tom Cruise that audiences continue to buy? What is it about that smile, and that ever-young body?

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One Movie, One Concert, One Show – The Ineffable Magic of the Offer and the Receipt – Episode 142

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This episode does exactly what it says on the tin. Dara settles in to discuss a film he just watched, a concert he just attended, and a theatre production he recently saw.

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2023: The Year in Screentime – Fantastic Plastic and Artistic Brutality – Episode 137

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Dara reviews his year in watching on screens big and small over the last twelve months. Some of the obvious big 2023 releases are covered, including Oppenheimer, Barbie, Killers of the Flower Moon and Anatomy of a Fall, but also mentioned are older movies that were watched during the year at home – Anthony Minghella’s The Talented Mr.Ripley, for example, or Paul Schrader’s Hardcore.

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Maestro! Bradley Cooper’s Bravura Take on Bernstein – Episode 136

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Following the previous episode’s last-minute production, Dara does another late night recording, this time in the wind and rain, with at least two interruptions from a sleeping dog. He’s determined to maintain his line, and that means he refuses to put out another delayed episode.

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Don’t Turn Off the Lights! or, Have You Made Room for Romance? – Episode 129

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In this episode Dara reveals that he is unaccustomed to the comfort of pajamas. This fact is relevant to a very recent late-night incident that he shares. That same incident concluded with an inherent contradiction relating to the presence of both love and rejection.

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Stop Laughing, This Is Meant To Be Good For You! – Episode 117

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In this episode, Dara is perplexed by the moral ending of Jennifer Lawrence’s new comedy, No Hard Feelings. What is the purpose of such moralising? Does the audience benefit from the character’s personal edification? Should we care about a dissolute character’s redemptive arc? He compares the sexual politics of that movie to Billy Wilder’s Some Like It Hot.

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July Miscellany! Movies, Weddings, and Reading the Signs – Episode 114

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In this episode Dara reviews some recently watched movies, including William Friedkin’s To Live and Die in LA (1985), and Sidney Lumet’s Prince of the City (1981), two much-lauded cop thrillers that each have their strengths and weaknesses and are very much products of their time.

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movies

Horizon, Other Recent Movie Turkeys, and Recommended Alternatives – Episode 166

What Is a Man, Anyway? Part 2 – Episode 156

How To Make a Raspberry Cheesecake – From the Kitchen to a Religious Sect to 90s Hollywood Misogyny – Episode 152

40 Years of Winning and Grinning – The Tom Cruise Episode! – Episode 150

One Movie, One Concert, One Show – The Ineffable Magic of the Offer and the Receipt – Episode 142

2023: The Year in Screentime – Fantastic Plastic and Artistic Brutality – Episode 137

Maestro! Bradley Cooper’s Bravura Take on Bernstein – Episode 136

Don’t Turn Off the Lights! or, Have You Made Room for Romance? – Episode 129

Stop Laughing, This Is Meant To Be Good For You! – Episode 117

July Miscellany! Movies, Weddings, and Reading the Signs – Episode 114

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