All the Film Things All the Film Things

On the eighteenth episode of ATFT, I am joined by filmmaker/ podcaster/ documentarian/ “all around badd-ass” Shane Kidd- Walker to talk about the incredible Creed franchise starring Michael B Jordan, Sylvester Stallone and Tessa Thompson!  This episode is explicit with spoilers. 

The Creed franchise is a continuation of the decades- spanning beloved Rocky franchise. Adonis Johnson (Jordan) is the son of Apollo Creed (Carl Weathers), the antagonist and later friend of Rocky in the Rocky franchise, but he never met his father. Like his late father he is a fighter who moves from LA to Philadelphia to fight full time and get help training from Rocky. From there he creates a strong bond with his “unc” Rocky and develops a relationship with Bianca (Thompson), a popular singer in Philly. So far, there are three Creed films with the first being released in 2015, the second in 2018, and the third in 2023. Each of the Creed films have parallels to the coinciding Rocky films. While the franchise is incredibly popular and beloved among long time fans, each of the films have received critical acclaim. 

The audio quality gets much better after the first fifteen minutes. I’m happy to say this is one of the best quality- sounding episodes so far!

This is Shane’s first guest appearance on ATFT! He has been one of the biggest champions of this podcast for which I am incredibly grateful. Shane is one of the hosts of Industry Shakedown, a pop culture podcast covering niche, interesting topics that always provoke great conversations amongst the hosts. Industry Shakedown is currently available to listen on the Pro Sports Fanatics (formerly Relevnt) app but will soon be available on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, and more platforms later this year. Stay updated by following both @industryshakedowninc and @iamskw on Instagram! Also, check out the Industry Shakedown magazine here: https://issuu.com/phantast1cproductionzp1p. This episode was recorded on April 13, 2024. 

In this analytical episode, Shane and I talk about the evolution of both Adonis and Bianca, if Creed should have taken the fight with Viktor Drago, and a potential Creed IV. Shane also shares his ranking of the current trilogy and how being a due hard Rocky fan initially made him hesitant to watch the first Creed film back in 2015. We also answer the big question: Should Sylvester Stallone have been in Creed III? All this and more on the latest episode of All the Film Things!







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On the seventeenth episode of ATFT, my friends philosopher pirate Daniel Carbonell- Sifontes and filmmaker/ video editor Max McBride join me on the second edition of the “fan- favorite” ATFT segment, #FilmTwitter Trends!  This episode is explicit with some sporadic spoilers. 

Towards the end of last year, there was this trend going around #FilmTwitter (with the platform now called X) where someone would post a decade and list their favorite film each year of that decade. Nearly every decade became a trend at the time and it became a fun thing to think about and then answer.

This episode does have some audio issues but the quality of the audio gets better later in the episode. I believe this episode is not only one of the best casual- format episodes of ATFT but one of the best episodes of this “wide release” so far so I hope despite the poor quality at times, you will all enjoy it! 

Both Daniel and Max have been guests on ATFT before but this is their debut on this "wide release" of the podcast! I told Daniel about this Twitter trend and asked which decades he’d be interested in doing an episode around and he said either the 70s or 90s (just as I had hoped!). The 90s was a great decade for cinema with some of the most original films since the 70s. Between the three of us, we have a very different interests in film which made for a wide range of films discussed from Reservoir Dogs to Fallen Angels to Romeo and Juliet. Daniel is an incredible photographer and has recently directed a few music videos for the band Velvet Meadow. Follow his photography Instagram account @allmynegativesarehere and subscribe to Max’s YouTube channel by clicking here! Max recently posted a documentary short as well as an action- packed short film Pools. This episode was recorded on March 15, 2024. 

In this episode, Daniel, Max, and I go through our list of 90s film favorites and discuss them briefly as well as talking about other 90s films. Daniel’s first pick, his favorite film of 1990, caught Max and I by surprise. Max, an anime fan, was very excited to share his 1997 pick. Two of my 90s favorites got an eye roll from Daniel but I stand by my choices! Some tangents include Pokémon video games, one- take films like 1917 and Birdman, and arguing over the quality of 1980s cinema. Later in the episode we have a quick debate over which Keanu Reeves franchise is better: The Matrix or John Wick. All this and more on the latest episode of All the Film Things!





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On the sixteenth episode of ATFT, I am joined by one of my good friends, musician Helena Amador to talk about iconic music moments in film!  In other words, moments in film where found music is featured or used to elevate a scene. This episode is explicit with some sporadic spoilers. 





Helena is to music what I am to film. We are coming up on ten years of friendship and, for as long as I’ve known her, she has always loved music and listens to a wide variety of music. It has been very cool to combine our passions for this episode and we made sure to go in "professional mode" for our talk. Even though this is Helena’s first appearance on this wide release, she is actually now tied as the second most frequent guest on ATFT! This episode marks her seventh guest appearance on the show and I have been excited to bring one of our episodes to this wide release! As previously stated, Helena is a musician and DJ- you can occasionally find her doing a live set on Twitch where the comment section is always active. Helena plans on releasing her own music hopefully later this year and continues to be booked for DJ gigs. Follow Helena and check out her mixes on SoundCloud and by clicking here: ⁠https://on.soundcloud.com/sokHybkUtMNh7Fwc7⁠. This episode was recorded on March 14, 2024. 



In this episode, Helena and I share our picks for our favorite music moments in film while also focusing on specific directors like Quentin Tarantino who famously use found music in their films to elevate a scene. We both share some hot takes where I talk about how found music is usually better used in 70s films rather than in 80s films and Helena’s pet peeve of Baz Luhrmann’s use of popular music. All this and more on the latest episode of All the Film Things!





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The Oscars countdown has come to a close on All the Film Things! On the fifteenth  episode of ATFT, my friends photojournalist/ unofficial ATFT co- host Cole Echevarria, director Craig Pedroza, and actress Lina Smith join this year’s panel to discuss the Oscar nominated films and share our predicted winners!  This episode is explicit and spoiler- filled.



2023 was a great year for film… making this year’s Oscars very exciting! This year’s awards season has become the most competitive since the 2020 awards season, with competing films that included Parasite, Once Upon a Time... in Hollywood, and Joker. For the 2024 Academy Awards, Christopher Nolan’s Oppenheimer earned the most nominations (13) this year while Poor Things came in second, earning 11 nominations. Other films that received many nominations are Killers of the Flower Moon, Barbie, Maestro, and American Fiction. Even though Oppenheimer is predicted to sweep this year, many categories are have become incredibly competitive, leaving audiences torn on who will win. Will it be Cillian Murphy or Paul Giamatti who will take home the Best Actor Oscar (a strong debate between Cole and I)? How about who will win Best Actress: Lily Gladstone or Emma Stone? These are just two of the widely debated categories. We will soon learn the answer on Sunday, March 10!



Every one of this year’s Oscar panelists are returning guests. This is Cole’s fifteenth appearance on ATFT (fifth on this wide release). This is both Craig and Lina’s fourth appearance each on the show while also having one episode each released on the wide release (Episode 12 for Craig and Episode 6 for Lina). Cole and I recorded an Oscars special for the 2023 Oscars via the Relevnt app. We enjoyed it so much that we wanted to make it a big yearly event for the show! Since the Oscars is the “Super Bowl for film fans”, this episode is in a more Sports Center- format. This episode was recorded exactly one month before the Oscars on February 10, 2024. 



In this episode, Cole, Craig, Lina, and I go through each category and discuss our predicted winners. Cole and I have very strong favorites, his being The Holdovers and mine being Oppenheimer. We agree that our banter in this episode is the best and most entertaining yet. There are few categories we unanimously agree on. Lina compares the brilliant aging hair and makeup in Oppenheimer and Maestro. Craig thinks that even though Oppenheimer is predicted to be the Best Picture winner, there could definitely be an upset. In addition to sharing our predictions, we talked about snubs and surprises, our ranging thoughts on Wes Anderson's work, films like Saltburn and May December that fizzled out from Oscar buzz over time, and more!



ATFT Announcement!: Due to recent production assistant opportunities, there will be no episode on March 13. All the Film Things will be back on March 27! Stay updated by following @all.the.film.things on Instagram! 







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The Oscars countdown is coming to a close! On the fourteenth episode of All the Film Things, my friend and writer/ director Samy El- Kamel is back to discuss my favorite film of the year, the latest masterpiece by Christopher Nolan: Oppenheimer! This episode is explicit and spoiler- filled.



Oppenheimer, a film that many have considered Christopher Nolan’s “magnum opus”, is an epic biographical drama film based on a true story following J. Robert Oppenheimer, the head of the Manhattan Project, from the making of the atomic bomb to the world he created after making the atomic bomb. While the description of the film makes it seem like a straight biopic, it is very much a Nolan film. This film is based on the book American Prometheus by Kai Bird and Martin J. Sherwin. After collaborating on six films together over the past twenty years, this is the first time Nolan cast Murphy in a lead role. The film has an all- star cast, including in addition to Murphy, Robert Downey Jr, Emily Blunt, Matt Damon, Josh Hartnett, Jason Clarke, and Rami Malek. Oppenheimer received the most nominations (with ten) at this year’s upcoming Oscars, including the award for “Best Picture”. We are a little over a month away to learning how many Oscars Oppenheimer will take home!



Samy is one of my very favorite ATFT guests and this is his sixth appearance on the show. Samy and I are both massive Christopher Nolan fans… which I think the audience will very much pick up on. So much so that we both made sure to see Oppenheimer four times in theaters. There was no one else I could have recorded this episode with. Check out Samy’s Youtube channel Barefoot Python Media to watch his videos including his ranking of Christopher Nolan’s films, the future of physical media, and his director/ cinematographer reel. Click here to watch and subscribe to the Barefoot Python Media Youtube channel: https://www.youtube.com/@BarefootPythonMedia/videos. We recorded this episode on January 21, 2024. Since I was editing the previous ATFT episode (on Killers of the Flower Moon), I couldn’t analyze Oppenheimer as extensively as I had hoped and tend to do with Christopher Nolan films so I didn’t talk about the film as much as I hoped but that is completely okay because the episode turned out incredible.



In this episode, Samy shares additional facts behind the true story of Oppenheimer’s life while also analyzing the man himself further. Since Oppenheimer is (only) three hours long, Christopher Nolan couldn’t portray everything in the true story. Through Samy, I learned the subtle ways in which Christopher Nolan captures the true Oppenheimer.  We also discuss the trademark Nolan qualities in Oppenheimer such as parallel editing, non- linearity, and how both of those qualities come together to play with time. While the film is mostly analytical, the last section is more of a casual conversation surrounding Nolan, recent videos Samy created for Barefoot Python Media that are available on Youtube, and a little prank Samy pulled that had me laughing so hard. 



The next episode will be the big Oscars special! Due to upcoming production assistant opportunities, this episode may not be released on February 28. Stay updated by following @all.the.film.things on Instagram! 







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The Oscars countdown continues! On the thirteenth episode of All the Film Things, I am joined by brothers, filmmaker Freddy Burgos and artist Bernardo Goya to talk about Martin Scorsese’s Killers of the Flower Moon! This episode is explicit and spoiler- filled.



Killers of the Flower Moon is an epic crime drama film based on a true story depicted in the book by David Grann, about the betrayal of the Osage Nation in 1920s Oklahoma. The film follows Ernest Burkhart (Leonardo DiCaprio) as he returns from war to live with his uncle William “King” Hale (Robert DeNiro). Hale sets Ernest up to be a driver which leads him to meeting Molly Kyle (Lily Gladstone). Ernest and Molly fall in love but Ernest is “under Hale’s spell” as they, with help from a few others, plot to kill her family in order to take their wealth. It’s a heartbreaking, brutal story focused on this plot while also giving a voice to a story that has been hidden in history for decades. Killers of the Flower Moon marks the first time Scorsese directed his two muses, DeNiro and DiCaprio, in a film. The film also stars Jesse Plemons, Tantoo Cardinal, Brendan Fraser, and John Lithgow. Just last week, Killers of the Flower Moon earned ten Oscar nominations, including the award for “Best Picture”. We are a little over a month away to learning if the film will take home a few Oscars!



This episode is both Freddy and Bernardo’s ATFT debut! We met on the set of our friend Craig Pedroza’s upcoming film We Dream of Eden in 2022. They truly saved this episode. My original guest became unavailable so I was scrambling to find a guest. I asked Bernardo if he’d be interested and he was (!!) so he brought along his brother and the three of us had a great conversation! I learned early on this was a perfect film for us to discuss since they are big Martin Scorsese fans… and it shows in the episode! They have a joint YouTube channel called Fresh Lad Collective where they post, according to their bio, "cinematic shenanigans" which includes short films, vlogs, and compilations. Check out their channel by clicking this link: https://www.youtube.com/@freshladcollective/featured

In this episode, Freddy, Bernardo, and I attempt to understand the complicated grey areas of the film such as the highly debated question, “Does Ernest really love Molly?”.  Bernardo gave this film high praise, regarding it as Scorsese’s “magnum opus”. Since Freddy and Bernardo are big fans of Scorsese, a lot of the episode focuses on him as they compare this film to previous films in Scorsese’s filmography such as Taxi Driver, Goodfellas, and The Departed. I spoke about the Scorsese film from the New Hollywood era that made me gain an even stronger respect for him. We also talked about the mafia- like parallel/ similarities, the dynamic between Leonardo DiCaprio and Robert DeNiro, Lily Gladstone’s powerful and moving performance, and much more!





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