Podcast Archives - Bright Wall/Dark Room

For our B-Movies issue–just in time for spooky season–we’re casting an eye back toward RKO darling Val Lewton and director Jacques Tourneur’s Cat People (1942), one of the studio’s most successful forays into low-budget, low-runtime horror, with film critic and curator Miriam Bale.

Episode #20: Vanilla Sky (2001)

Bright Wall/Dark Room·

Issue 114: Romantic Comedies Podcast

December means one thing: Happy Cruisemas, from our home to yours. This month we welcome back special Cruise correspondent Elizabeth Cantwell to discuss Cameron Crowe’s Vanilla Sky. Surrealist rom com or indulgent puzzle film? Flop or parable?

Episode #12: Amadeus (1984)

Bright Wall/Dark Room·

Issue 107: Sex, Drugs, and Rock & Roll Podcast

To salute our May theme, Chad sits down with deputy cohost Fran Hoepfner and movie and music writer Sydney Urbanek, to discuss the greatest initially-PG-rated movie of all time(?): Miloš Forman’s 1984 Amadeus.

Episode #21: Aftersun (2022)

Bright Wall/Dark Room·

Issue 115: Best of 2022 Podcast

For our annual fashionably late “Best Of” issue, we’re looking at a 2022 highlight: Charlotte Wells’s staggering debut feature Aftersun, with film critic, author, and educator Adam Nayman.

Elaine May's ISHTAR (1987) | original poster by Tony Stella

Episode #15: Ishtar (1987)

Bright Wall/Dark Room·

Issue 110: 1987 Podcast

This month, we're waxing ecstatic about the humor and humanism at the heart of Elaine May's Ishtar. We match May’s compassion for the brashly stupid Chuck and Lyle (Dustin Hoffman and Warren Beatty, respectively) with special guest Frank Falisi, who lays out his theory that Ishtar is actually a high musical à la Vincente Minnelli.

Episode #22: Moneyball (2011)

Bright Wall/Dark Room·

Issue 116: Sports Podcast

On the latest episode of the podcast, we’re joined by ace writer and admitted baseball enthusiast Frank Falisi to run the numbers on Bennett Miller’s Oscar-nominated ode to analytics, Moneyball (2011).

Episode #8: The Power of the Dog (2021)

Bright Wall/Dark Room·

Issue 103: Best of 2021 Podcast

This month on the show, we’re diving deep into Jane Campion’s The Power of the Dog with film critic and Quorum (Film Quarterly) editor Girish Shambu.

Episode #19: Pain and Glory (2019)

Bright Wall/Dark Room·

Issue 113: Recovery Podcast

Veronica and Chad are joined by writer and Powell's Books managing editor Kelsey Ford to talk about Pedro Almodóvar’s "wildly tender" exploration of autobiography and artistic process, Pain and Glory.

Episode #13: I Am Love (2009)

Bright Wall/Dark Room·

Issue 108: Melodrama Podcast

This month on the podcast, we discuss Luca Guadagnino’s 2009 melodrama I Am Love with author, critic, and Wesleyan film professor Lisa Dombrowski.

Episode #11: Cat on a Hot Tin Roof (1958)

Bright Wall/Dark Room·

Issue 106: Paul Newman Podcast

Lock the door: for our April devotional to Paul Newman, we’re revisiting Cat on a Hot Tin Roof with Vulture critic Roxana Hadadi.

Episode #14: The Conversation (1974)

Bright Wall/Dark Room·

Issue 109: Voyeur Podcast

This month on the show we’re talking one-on-one about Francis Ford Coppola’s The Conversation through the lenses of surveillance and seclusion, Gene Hackman and Walter Murch, Catholic guilt and cool jazz.

Episode #9: Down With Love (2003)

Bright Wall/Dark Room·

Issue 104: Opulence Podcast

This month on the podcast, we’re at the juncture of maximalism and mid-century modern, tackling Peyton Reed’s rom-com Down With Love with special guest Fran Hoepfner.