Saturday, January 30, 2021

Rocky Horror: Episode Zero - It Came From Outer Space (1953)

Film critics William Bibbiani and Witney Seibold are working backwards through film history, and in Season 2, they're using THE ROCKY HORROR PICTURE SHOW as the starting point!  

This week, Bibbs and Witney find out if IT CAME FROM OUTER SPACE! Jack Arnold's sci-fi classic tells the story of an alien spacecraft that crashelands outside a small town in the desert, but are they here to take over the planet, or do they not give darn about humanity whatsoever? Big ideas, amazing visual effects!

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Friday, January 29, 2021

We've Got Mail #64 | Weird Things We Believed as Kids!

It's an all-new episode of WE'VE GOT MAIL, the podcast where film critics William Bibbiani and Witney Seibold answer YOUR letters!

This week, Bibbs and Witney talk about how important it is for Americans to watch international TV, the WEIRD things they believed as kids, strange head canons for CATS, how Hollywood tackled the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, and how natural it is to grow out of a subculture!

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Wednesday, January 27, 2021

The Iron List #14 | The Best Movies That Begin with the Letter B!

Every month on THE IRON LIST, the Patrons of the Critically Acclaimed Network get to pick a topic for a giant-sized episode!  

This month it's THE BEST MOVIES THAT BEGIN WITH THE LETTER B! 

A few months ago William Bibbiani and Witney Seibold presented THE BEST MOVIES THAT BEGIN WITH THE LETTER A, and now it's time to continue their cinematic journey through the alphabet, featuring classic films with only one thing in common... the letter B! 

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Monday, January 25, 2021

Critically Acclaimed #159 | Psycho Goreman, Our Friend, Identifying Features, The Marksman, Pixar Popcorn, Notturno, Coming Clean, MLK/FBI, In and Of Itself, One Night in Miami, Outside the Wire, The Dig, Godzilla vs. Mechagodzilla

It's January, but there are actually some danged good movies this week on CRITICALLY ACCLAIMED!  

William Bibbiani and Witney are back and reviewing the new releases PSYCHO GOREMAN, OUR FRIEND, IDENTIFYING FEATURES, THE MARKSMAN, PIXAR POPCORN, NOTTURNO, COMING CLEAN, MLK/FBI, IN AND OF ITSELF, ONE NIGHT IN MIAMI, OUTSIDE THE WIRE and THE DIG!  

And this week on THE CRITICALLY ACCLAIMED STREAMING CLUB, Bibbs and Witney get ready for GODZILLA VS. KONG with a look back at the original GODZILLA VS. MECHAGODZILLA!

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Sunday, January 24, 2021

Canceled Too Soon #203 | High Fidelity (2020)

Our annual SUDDENLY LAST SEASON event continues! William Bibbiani and Witney Seibold are exploring some of the biggest shows that lasted only one season (or less) within the last year on CANCELED TOO SOON!

This week, it's HIGH FIDELITY! It's a Hulu series based on the book by Nick Hornby, which was previously adapted into an acclaimed film starring John Cusack, about a record store owner who explores their history of romantic failures while listening to awesome music. Does the Zoe Kravitz version tell the same story better, or worse, or just different?  

And most importantly, we wanna know if HIGH FIDELITY was... CANCELED TOO SOON!

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Wednesday, January 20, 2021

We've Got Mail #63 | Can Pretentiousness Be a GOOD Thing?

It's an all-new episode of WE'VE GOT MAIL, the podcast where film critics William Bibbiani and Witney Seibold answer YOUR letters!

This week, Bibbs and Witney talk about how to balance watching new movies and old movies, the older movies they saw for the first time in 2020, why movie trailers should try harder, more of our listeners' picks for the best movies of last year, and why pretentiousness doesn't mean what most people think it does, and why it can be a good thing!

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Tuesday, January 19, 2021

Rocky Horror: Episode Zero - Faster, Pussycat! Kill! Kill! (1965)

Film critics William Bibbiani and Witney Seibold are working backwards through film history, and in Season 2, they're using THE ROCKY HORROR PICTURE SHOW as the starting point!  

This week on EPISODE ZERO, author M. Lopes da Silva joins Bibbs and Witney to go FASTER, PUSSYCAT! KILL! KILL! Russ Meyer's cult classic stars Tura Satana as the leader of a drag racing, kidnapping, murdering go go dancers who run afoul of a family of misogynistic creeps.  

Find out more about the unusual filmography of Russ Meyer, and how FASTER, PUSSYCAT! KILL! KILL! became one of the most celebrated, iconoclastic films of the 1960s! And follow M. Lopes da Silva on Twitter at @_MLopesdaSilva and buy her feminist, pro-queer, pro-sex work, retrowave 1980s vigilante/slasher novel HOOKER right now!

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Friday, January 15, 2021

Your Critically Acclaimed | The CATS Commentary Track!

Our Patrons have the power to sponsor an episode of their choice! We call it YOUR CRITICALLY ACCLAIMED!  

This week on YOUR CRITICALLY ACCLAIMED, William Bibbiani and Witney Seibold have been asked to record a free, downloadable commentary track for the notorious box office and critical dud, CATS! 

How the heck did one of the most beloved Broadway shows in history turn out like, well, CATS?! Synch up the film at home, or listen up like a regular podcast, to find out!

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Thursday, January 14, 2021

We've Got Mail #62 | Are We Bad Trekkies...?

It's an all-new episode of WE'VE GOT MAIL, the podcast where film critics William Bibbiani and Witney Seibold answer YOUR letters!

This week, Bibbs and Witney talk about which movies deserve shot-by-shot analysis, double features they'd like to schedule, why cinematographers deserve more credit, the much-debated ending of HAPPIEST SEASON, who they'd cast in THE MUPPET GREAT GATSBY, why they might not be great STAR TREK fans and more!

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Wednesday, January 13, 2021

Canceled Too Soon #202 | Marvel's Helstrom (2020)

Every year, dozens of new TV shows fail. And we're here to eulogize them! 

It's our yearly SUDDENLY LAST SEASON event on CANCELED TOO SOON, where William Bibbiani and Witney Seibold review the most recent crop of TV shows that lasted only one season or less! 

First up: HELSTROM, a Hulu series based on the Marvel comic book SON OF SATAN, which is all about the son of Satan... ish. Was Marvel's first foray into horror a devilishly good time, or should it go straight to h-e-double-hockey sticks? 

Let's find out if HELSTROM was... CANCELED TOO SOON!

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Tuesday, January 12, 2021

Critically Acclaimed #158 | The Best Movies of 2020!

It was one of the worst years ever. But the movies were pretty great!  

This week on CRITICALLY ACCLAIMED, William Bibbiani and Witney Seibold highlight their picks for the very best films that 2020 had to offer, including big budget action, daring horror, intimate dramas and hilarious comedies!

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Monday, January 11, 2021

Your Critically Acclaimed | Ghostwriter - Who is Max Mouse? (The Rally FC Podcast)

Our Patrons have the power to sponsor an episode of CRITICALLY ACCLAIMED of their choice, and we call it YOUR CRITICALLY ACCLAIMED!  

This week it's a special episode hosted by R Clay Johnson! But rather than join us on our show, R Clay Johnson invited Witney Seibold and William Bibbiani onto their own!  

 R Clay Johnson hosts the RALLY FC podcast on the podcast feed THE FLYING COW! It's a show dedicated entirely to the 1990s cult kids series GHOSTWRITER, about a group of kids who solve mysteries and learn vocabulary words with the help of a disembodied entity that loves language.  

Bibbs and Witney join R Clay Johnson to talk about the four-part episode WHO IS MAX MOUSE?, where the kids learn all about 1990s computer hacking, and a young Julia Stiles shames her fellow students for not having read William Gibson's NEUROMANCER yet.  

Follow R Clay Johnson on Twitter at @FlyingCow, and subscribe to the Flying Cow podcast feed for more Rally FC episodes and more! 

Give it a listen!

Saturday, January 9, 2021

Rocky Horror: Episode Zero - The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari (1920)

Film critics William Bibbiani and Witney Seibold are working backwards through film history, and in Season 2, they're using THE ROCKY HORROR PICTURE SHOW as the starting point!  

This week on EPISODE ZERO, Bibbs and Witney drop into THE CABINET OF DR. CALIGARI, the German Expressionist silent horror classic that critiqued the rise of authoritarianism in post-World War I Germany, helped usher in a new and influential genre, and just plain rules.  

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Friday, January 8, 2021

We've Got Mail #61 | What Weird Movies Our Parents Loved!

It's an all-new episode of WE'VE GOT MAIL, the podcast where film critics William Bibbiani and Witney Seibold answer YOUR letters!

This week, Bibbs and Witney re-litigate the controversial film CLIMAX, remind everyone that THE 100 LIVES OF BLACK JACK SAVAGE still exists, consider a brand new syllabus for the history of horror cinema, reveal which movies their parents surprisingly loved, start looking back at the best films of 2020, delve into one of the most disturbing scenes in WONDER WOMAN 1984, and encourage their listeners to make and promote their own podcasts!

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Tuesday, January 5, 2021

Critically Acclaimed #157 | Tenet, The New Mutants and Everything Else We Missed in 2020!

With 2020 behind us, it's time to play catch-up on CRITICALLY ACCLAIMED!   

This week, William Bibbiani and Witney Seibold review 15 of the biggest movies of the year that one or both them missed, starting with the major releases TENET and THE NEW MUTANTS, and moving on to the indies DRIVEWAYS, FIRST COW, MINARI, BACURAU, THE 40-YEAR-OLD VERSION, SWALLOW, NOMADLAND, NEVER RARELY SOMETIMES ALWAYS, THE ASSISTANT, SOUND OF METAL and BEANPOLE, and the horror films UNDERWATER and THE WOLF OF SNOW HOLLOW!  

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Sunday, January 3, 2021

Canceled Too Soon #200 | The Adventures of Brisco County Jr. (1993-1994)

It's the most requested CANCELED TOO SOON show in history, and it's finally here! William Bibbiani and Witney Seibold review the short-lived, critically acclaimed and extremely ambitious sci-fi western THE ADVENTURES OF BRISCO COUNTY JR.!  

It's the show that did steampunk before steampunk was cool, and gave cult icon Bruce Campbell his most superheroic role ever! Campbell stars alongside Julius Carry as a dashing bounty hunter investigating crimes involving anachronistic technology, time travel and... Elvis Presley?  

Was THE ADVENTURES OF BRISCO COUNTY JR. really, as they so often say, CANCELED TOO SOON?

Give it a listen!