Author: James Ruzicka

Please be seated, the Court of the Popcorn Counter is now in session. We’re hosting a constitutional controversy of our own this episode, as we accuse Legal Dramas of the crime of being a bit boring and fundamentally uncinematic. And in true legal tradition, we flipped a coin beforehand to decide which one of us […]

It’s double anatomy at the Two Reel Cinema Club this episode, as we catch up on the last of the Oscar nominees with Anatomy of a Fall, the French courtroom drama that ended up with the Best Screenplay Academy Award this year. It’s a bloody and nuanced multilingual piece with a couple of dynamite performances, […]

Join us at the Popcorn Counter this episode for some late-to-the-party Oscars chat. Which nominated film was hit with plagiarism claims? Which film was like getting struck by a steamroller? What exactly is Barbie ‘adapted’ from? When is sound crucial? What are short films actually for? And how much controversy can we generate over the […]

Again? Seriously? Yes, welcome to our third podcast in a row to feature Nazis. These guys will just not go away. This episode we have watched the new Ava DuVernay docudrama Origin, and read the book it’s based on – Isabel Wilkerson’s non-fiction best seller Caste. We’re comparing it to what may be the first […]

Join us at the Popcorn Counter this week as we ask: why are Nazis such commonly used villains in movies? Films and shows discussed include Hogan’s Heroes, Indiana Jones, Schindler’s List, Star Wars, Starship Troopers, Saving Private Ryan, The Producers, Das Schreckliche Mädchen, Germany Year Zero, and They Saved Hitler’s Brain. Give yourself a bonus […]

Oh, dear, what have we gotten ourselves into this episode? Join us for a look at some of the most evil people in history as we watch the new Oscar nominated Auschwitz movie The Zone of Interest and compare it to the Nazi’s own 1935 propaganda epic, Triumph of the Will. Light hearted fun is […]

Sometimes at the Popcorn Counter we just go off on one. We have no idea how it happens, we try to plan these things out, but there it is. So join us this week for a high speed tour that takes in intermittent fasting, mind reading, Woody Allen, feral cats, raccoon families, French cinema’s tribute […]

We enjoy a clever and ironical look at black cinema this episode as we watch the hilarious and heartfelt Oscar-nominated feature American Fiction, and then compare it to the 1961 Chicago drama A Raisin in the Sun. Plus we see the return of the Two Reel Book Club, as we’ve also read the book and […]

As George W Bush famously once asked, ‘Is our children learning?’ Join us in the specially commissioned TRCC Popcorn Counter Lecture Theatre as we celebrate our 100th episode. There we try to distill the lessons we’ve garnered from recording two years of podcasts into ten condensed nuggets of insight. Has all that viewing and talking […]

After watching Dogtooth recently, we’re convinced that endings are hard. Or are they? Join us at the Popcorn Counter as we take a look at movie endings good and bad from the history of cinema, Including: John Sayles’ Limbo, Birdman, The Long Good Friday, North by Northwest, Planet of the Apes, Fight Club, Top Gun […]