Crit Club Crit Club

If a Yakuza has ever threatened you into free lasagna, then this week’s Crit Club is up your alley. We watched the 1992 dark comedy The Gentle Art of Japanese Extortion (aka Minbo) from director Juzo Itami. It tells the story of a group of hotel employees dedicated to ridding their hotel of Yakuza bullies, led by one fearless lawyer. Come listen to what we thought and how much protection money we had to pay!

Next week, we’re having an Angela pick! She’s chosen Spike Lee’s 1988 joint School Daze. Watch it along with us!

You can follow the whole of our podcast, aided by ⁠this helpful spreadsheet⁠ which documents all the scores we gave to the movies we have watched.

And drop us a line! You can email us at critclubpodcast@gmail.com or find us on Instagram, Threads, or Bluesky with the handle @critclubpodcast.

Crit Club's theme song and art were made by co-host ⁠⁠Peter Allen Clark⁠⁠.

This week the Crit Club is slowing things down a little with Kelly Reichardt’s 2016 movie Certain Women. This film tells three moderately overlapping stories of women in various stages of life going through their motions in rural Montana. It’s small and quiet, like Reichardt’s other films, and we had a lot to say about it. Like what, you ask? Come listen!

And join us next week for a Wizard Pick™! We’ll be watching the 1993 satire The Gentle Art of Japanese Extortion. Join us for that!

You can follow the whole of our podcast, aided by ⁠this helpful spreadsheet⁠ which documents all the scores we gave to the movies we have watched.

And drop us a line! You can email us at critclubpodcast@gmail.com or find us on social media with the handle @critclubpodcast.

Crit Club's theme song and art were made by co-host ⁠Peter Allen Clark⁠.

Never one to shy away from masochism, this week the Crit Club is watching the 1985 Soviet anti-war movie Come and See. This film, directed and co-written by Elem Klimov, follows a young boy as he is swept up into the hell that is war, specifically rural Belarus during the Nazi invasion of 1943. While it borders on surrealism, the dogged pace and devoted honesty of Come and See never lets a viewer have too much distance from the horrors humans can unleash. If that didn’t scare you away, then you should listen to the Crit Club’s full discussion!



Next week, we’re slowing things down a bit (a LOT), by watching Kelly Reichardt’s 2016 drama Certain Women. Watch along and join us!



You can follow the whole of our podcast, aided by ⁠this helpful spreadsheet⁠ which documents all the scores we gave to the movies we have watched.



And drop us a line! You can email us at critclubpodcast@gmail.com or find us on Instagram or Threads with the handle @critclubpodcast.



Crit Club's theme song and art were made by co-host ⁠Peter Allen Clark⁠.

Surprise, surprise, the Crit Club is watching a French movie this week. The 1973 post-new wave drama The Mother and the Whore follows a young man named Alexandre as he talks, meets women, talks to them, and meets more. Written and directed by Jean Eustache, this movie is highly regarded as one of the best films of the 1970s and a unique meditation on youth, romance, and relationships. Come and hear what we thought!

Join us next week for a Coire pick, where we’ll watch the 1985 anti-war drama Come and See, directed by Elem Klimov.

You can follow the whole of our podcast with ⁠this helpful spreadsheet⁠, which documents all the scores we gave to the movies we have watched.

And drop us a line! You can email us at critclubpodcast@gmail.com or find us on Instagram or Threads with the handle @critclubpodcast.

Crit Club's theme song and art were made by co-host ⁠Peter Allen Clark⁠.

This week the Crit Club is traveling way back, and way forward, in time as we watch the 1936 science fiction film Things to Come. This early special effect juggernaut is looked decades into the future with a script by H.G. Wells, and posits questions about humanity, progress, and peace. Were we left wishing for futuristic art deco toga clothes, or did this movie make us want to be shot out of the space gun? Listen and find out!

Join us next week for an Angela pick! We’ll go back to France with 1973’s The Mother and the Whore.

You can follow the whole of our podcast, aided by ⁠this helpful spreadsheet⁠ which documents all the scores we gave to the movies we have watched.

And drop us a line! You can email us at critclubpodcast@gmail.com or find us on Instagram or Threads with the handle @critclubpodcast.

Crit Club's theme song and art were made by co-host ⁠Peter Allen Clark⁠.

The Crit Club is a brave bunch, no stranger to tackling any movie, whatever its reputation. To prove our courage, this week we’re watching the notorious 1987 box office bomb Ishtar, written and directed by Elaine May. Its plot is a goofy buddy comedy starring Warren Beatty and Dustin Hoffman as aspiring songwriters who somehow find themselves a gig in Morocco. But the film’s legacy is one of reported mismanagement, studio interference, and deep-seated grudges, which led to a reputation as being one of the worst movies ever made. Did we buy into that hype, or was there an oasis to find in the desert of Ishtar? Listen and find out. 

And join us next week for a Wizard Pick™, where we’ll watch the 1936 British science fiction film Things to Come.

You can follow the whole of our podcast, aided by ⁠this helpful spreadsheet⁠ which documents all the scores we gave to the movies we have watched.

And drop us a line! You can email us at critclubpodcast@gmail.com or find us on Instagram or Threads with the handle @critclubpodcast.

Crit Club's theme song and art were made by co-host ⁠Peter Allen Clark⁠.