Author: James Ruzicka

Popcorn Counter: What is Plaguing Today’s Biggest Movies?

We’ve got to stop reading, it’s just making us mad. This week at the popcorn counter we’ve been looking at Namwali Serpell’s article in the recent New Yorker about ‘The New Literalism’, and boy do we have something to say. Serpell’s been to the multiplex a lot lately, and frankly if we’d just come out […]

Popcorn Counter: Netflix’s Old Movie Problem

You may have read as we did recently in The Hollywood Reporter about ‘Netflix’s Old Movie Problem’. But is there really a problem? Does it matter if old movies aren’t available on Netflix? Join us at the popcorn counter where we’ll talk about discoverability, Quentin Tarantino, algorithms and the BBC Moviedrome. Which country has the […]

Popcorn Counter: Small Gold Man

We’re sending our tuxedos back to the dry cleaners once again now that awards season is over. But did the Oscars thrill or disappoint this year? And more importantly, did we get it right? Which gong did we cheer at home, and which left us shrugging our shoulders? What do we think about the screenplay […]

September 5 vs Munich: September in Munich

We’re taking a trip back to the 1970s this episode, as we watch the new Oscar-nominated, Munich Olympics-based reconstruction-drama September 5, and compare it to Steven Spielberg’s film about the aftermath of those same events, 2006’s Munich. Two tense movies about truthfulness, integrity and violence. But which one features accountants chasing accountants? Which one takes […]

Popcorn Counter: Guillermo’s Labyrinth

After spending the week in Mexico last episode, we’re drinking a Corona at the Popcorn Counter and reflecting on Mexican cinema as a whole. Is there more to Mexican movies than Día de Muertos and narco-gangsters? Which Mexican director used to hang out with Andres at the coffee shop all the time? Which movie made […]

Emilia Pérez vs Touch of Evil: Evil Emilia

We’re heading to Tijuana this episode, as we watch two films set in Mexico made nearly seventy years apart. Emilia Pérez, the new Netflix transgender narco-gangster musical, has thirteen Oscar nominations and a whole lot of bad press. But does it deserve the controversy and the opprobrium, or were audiences just expecting something different? We’re […]

Popcorn Counter: David Lynch

We’re mourning one of the most unique voices in modern cinema at the Popcorn Counter this week, as we discuss the career of David Lynch and his impact both on the world in general and on our own lives in particular. What happens when you pitch a film as ‘Lynchian’? What does Ronald Reagan have […]