A Very Good Year

In advance of Friday’s theatrical debut of his Sundance hit “Stress Positions,” comedian, actor, writer, and cinephile John Early joins us to discuss all things 2002, from the earnestness of “Crossroads” to the sexiness of “Unfaithful” to the status of his Toni Collette website. 

Filmmaker, actor, TV writer, and film critic Siddhant Adlakha was in a moment of transition in 2013, and vowed to see as many new movies as possible for the sake of career clarity. He walks us through some of those discoveries, from the spectacle of “Ram-Leela” to the melancholy of “Inside Llewyn Davis” to the intimacy of “Short Term 12.”

Daily Dead columnist Scott Drebit’s new book is “A Cut Below: A Celebration of B Horror Movies, 1950s-1980s,” so it shouldn’t come as a surprise that he picked 1979, a banner year for horror. He joins us to discuss the working-class scares of “Alien,” the insanity of “Zombie,” the inexplicable PG rating of “Tourist Trap,” and more. 

“Variety” TV critic Alison Herman had just moved to Los Angeles in the year of our lord 2017, and she joins us to recall, with fondness, the cockeyed comedy of “Phantom Thread,” the deft commentary of “Get Out,” and the totally not-divisive pleasures of “Star Wars: The Last Jedi.”

It’s a special MID-WEEK EPISODE, in honor of Friday’s release of acclaimed director Bob Byington’s latest, “Lousy Carter.” Join us as we talk with Bob about the current indie landscape and the films of 1994, from the art of “Red” to the commerce of “Speed” to the pleasures of “The Hudsucker Proxy.”

For show number two from SXSW, we’re joined by the prolific film critic and RogerEbert.com Associate Editor Robert Daniels. He sings the praises of 1965, from the devastation of “The Pawnbroker” to the thrills of “Flight of the Phoenix” to the sweep of “Doctor Zhivago.”

Back at SXSW, we’re joined by Austin’s own Jacob Knight, co-host of the “Secret Handshake” podcast, and lover of great movies and great trash. 1989 offered plenty of both, from the power of “The Abyss” to the inanity of “Jason Takes Manhattan” to the coke-dusted earnestness of “Road House.”

Esther Zuckerman is an appropriate guest for Oscar Sunday, as she is the author of the fabulous book “Beyond the Best Dressed; A Cultural History of the Most Glamorous, Radical, and Scandalous Oscar Fashion.” She joins us to talk about famous Oscar spoiler “Shakespeare in Love,” the wildly underrated “Velvet Goldmine,” the one and only “Big Lebowski,” and more of the movies of 1998.  

David Fear, chief film critic and senior editor at “Rolling Stone,” had not yet joined the living in the year 1968, but he’s always been fascinated by its contradictions and commentaries. He joins us to discuss the genius of “2001: A Space Odyssey,” the majesty of “Once Upon a Time in the West,” and the stickiness of “Rosemary’s Baby.”