Second Cut

Second Cut
  • 5.0 (3)
  • FILM REVIEWS
  • UPDATED WEEKLY

Jacob, Kieran, and Sam explore topics in film history, criticism, and theory through weekly movie reviews!

  1. 6D AGO

    John Waters, Divine, Multiple Maniacs, and Cry-Baby

    John Waters built a career out of bad taste, queer counterculture, and the glamour of outsiders. We discuss Multiple Maniacs, Divine, the Dreamlanders, underground shock cinema, and Waters’ move toward the mainstream with Cry-Baby. Along the way: Catholic blasphemy, Johnny Depp, Hairspray, camp, class, teen rebellion, and why the Pope of Trash still matters. Follow Second Cut: YouTube: @SecondCutPod Substack: ⁠https://secondcutpod.substack.com⁠ Socials: @SecondCutPod Email: ⁠secondcutpod@gmail.com⁠ Chapters 00:00 Intro 00:44 The Pope of Trash 01:12 Waters, Baltimore, and queerness 03:24 The Dreamlanders and Divine 06:04 Camp, bad taste, and outsiders 07:04 First Waters experiences 08:42 Revulsion as applause 11:36 Early budgets and DIY filmmaking 13:25 Waters as carnival showman 14:45 Multiple Maniacs begins 15:34 The Cavalcade of Perversion 17:00 Divine as criminal star 18:10 Divine’s performance style 19:46 The lobster scene 21:03 Catholic blasphemy 24:11 Waters vs. organized religion 25:55 Why “Pope of Trash” fits 26:27 Plot, murder, and Manson echoes 28:47 Queer counterculture history 30:14 Criterion and restoration 31:03 Visual style and the New Wave 33:14 Moving toward Cry-Baby 34:19 Hairspray, Cry-Baby, and mainstream Waters 35:34 Cry-Baby’s wild cast 36:08 Casting Johnny Depp 37:19 Waters’ teen-idol musical 38:34 Greasers, squares, and sincerity 42:45 1950s style, 1990s politics 44:46 Hatchetface 46:32 Polio, tears, and grotesque comedy 48:44 Parents, Patty Hearst, and control 51:00 The courtroom scene 52:43 Iggy Pop and celebrity cameos 54:54 Melodrama and jailhouse music 56:47 Music, lip-syncing, and production value 59:15 Traci Lords and set stories 01:00:33 New Line and production chaos 01:02:52 Waters after Divine 01:04:28 Johnny Depp as pure movie star 01:06:06 The chicken finale 01:07:00 Ed Wood, Depp, and weird directors 01:08:03 Waters’ career arc 01:10:24 Divine, Ricky Lake, and what’s next 01:11:31 Plugs and outro Music: Awakening (Instrumental) by Wataboi⁠ https://soundcloud.com/wataboi⁠ Creative Commons — Attribution 3.0 Unported — CC BY-SA 3.0 Music promoted by FDL Music⁠ https://youtu.be/X2oQNUOmk2k

    1h 14m

  2. MAY 7

    The Mummy Problem: Hammer Horror vs Brendan Fraser

    In this episode of Second Cut, Jacob and Sam dig into the history of mummy movies, from Universal’s Egyptomania and Boris Karloff’s original monster to Hammer’s The Mummy from 1959 and Stephen Sommers’s blockbuster The Mummy from 1999. We talk Peter Cushing, Christopher Lee, Terence Fisher, recycled Hammer sets, colonial grave-robbing, British museum logic, brownface casting, romantic monsters, Dracula parallels, Brendan Fraser, Rachel Weisz, Imhotep, scarab beetles, biblical plagues, bisexual awakenings, and whether shooting a mummy to death is really the best ending Hammer could come up with. We also touch on Lee Cronin’s new Mummy and why a possession-movie angle might be the thing that finally makes the monster frightening again. Follow Second Cut: YouTube: @SecondCutPod Substack: ⁠https://secondcutpod.substack.com ⁠Socials: @SecondCutPod Email: ⁠secondcutpod@gmail.com⁠Chapters 00:00 Intro 00:48 Why The Mummy this week? 01:50 Casting, representation, and Hollywood Egypt 04:49 Universal’s Mummy, Egyptomania, and the curse myth 09:31 The recurring Mummy formula 11:05 Dracula parallels and romantic monsters 14:22 Is the Mummy tragic, evil, or just unstoppable? 18:20 Lee Cronin’s scarier possession-mummy take 20:56 Hammer’s The Mummy (1959) begins 22:57 Plot: Peter Cushing, tombs, and the Book of Life 26:10 Colonialism, artifacts, and Hammer’s contradictions 34:22 Christopher Lee’s silent physical performance 37:39 Cheap sets, reused locations, and Hammer charm 39:36 The ending: can bullets stop a mummy? 41:16 Terence Fisher and Hammer’s dark fairy tales 44:30 The Mummy (1999): nostalgia, adventure, and tone 48:48 Stephen Sommers, Brendan Fraser, and blockbuster revival 54:21 Brendan Fraser, Rachel Weisz, and bisexual awakening 54:50 Plot: Rick, Evie, Imhotep, and Hamunaptra 57:54 Imhotep’s effects and “juicy” mummy horror 59:25 Biblical plagues, scarabs, and world-ending stakes 01:01:06 Comic relief: Jonathan, Beni, and side characters 01:06:23 Rick and Evie’s chemistry 01:10:34 The final act and The Mummy Returns setup 01:12:34 Production stories: Morocco, Clive Barker, and Fraser’s stunt 01:20:19 Jacob’s problems with the 1999 film 01:23:38 Family horror, action adventure, and what still works 01:25:53 Plugs and outro Music: Awakening (Instrumental) by Wataboi ⁠https://soundcloud.com/wataboi⁠ Creative Commons — Attribution 3.0 Unported — CC BY-SA 3.0 Music promoted by FDL Music⁠ https://youtu.be/X2oQNUOmk2k

    1h 29m

  3. APR 30

    David Lowery’s A24 Mythmaking | A Ghost Story & The Green Knight

    In this episode of Second Cut, Jacob and Sam look at the strange, mournful, mythic cinema of David Lowery, from his North Texas indie roots to his work with Disney, A24, and his new film Mother Mary. We talk about Lowery’s background outside the usual Austin/Los Angeles filmmaking pipeline, his recurring collaborators, his relationship to Terrence Malick-style imagery, and his ability to move between studio filmmaking and intimate personal projects. Then we dig into two of his most distinctive films: A Ghost Story and The Green Knight. In A Ghost Story, we discuss grief, time, Rooney Mara’s infamous pie scene, Casey Affleck under the sheet, the boxed-in aspect ratio, Daniel Hart’s music, and the film’s haunting vision of love, memory, and cosmic recurrence. Then we turn to The Green Knight, David Lowery’s atmospheric adaptation of the Arthurian legend, starring Dev Patel as a not-yet-knightly Gawain forced to confront honor, fear, temptation, and the stories men tell about themselves. Along the way, we also touch on Pete’s Dragon, Peter Pan & Wendy, Ain’t Them Bodies Saints, The Old Man & the Gun, and why Mother Mary feels like another step in Lowery’s career-long obsession with myth, longing, and haunted spaces. Subscribe for more film criticism, history, and theory-driven conversations.Follow Second Cut:YouTube: @SecondCutPodSubstack: ⁠https://secondcutpod.substack.com⁠Socials: @SecondCutPodEmail: ⁠secondcutpod@gmail.com⁠Chapters00:00 Intro 00:46 Why we’re talking about David Lowery 02:00 Lowery’s North Texas background 04:10 Early filmmaking and self-taught roots 07:06 Ain’t Them Bodies Saints and Lowery’s breakthrough 08:24 Malick comparisons and Lowery’s style 09:41 Recurring collaborators and creative team 12:32 Lowery as editor and hands-on filmmaker 14:40 Awards, recognition, and Mother Mary 15:43 Pete’s Dragon and Disney remakes 18:53 Peter Pan & Wendy and mythic storytelling 20:46 A Ghost Story begins 21:19 Is Casey Affleck really under the sheet? 22:36 Grief, death, and the emotional premise 25:25 Time loops, houses, and cosmic loneliness 27:36 The pie scene and Rooney Mara’s performance 31:00 The neighbor ghost and waiting for someone 34:45 The hidden note and the mystery of release 37:25 The prognosticator scene and cosmic meaning 41:13 Aspect ratio, marriage, and autobiography 43:30 Low-budget production and Lowery’s intent 45:38 Daniel Hart’s music and emotional overwhelm 49:10 Final thoughts on A Ghost Story 50:33 The Green Knight begins 51:02 Arthurian legend and Gawain/Gowan pronunciation 54:13 How Lowery changes Sir Gawain 57:42 Atmosphere, pacing, and mythic ambiguity 58:47 Jacob’s reaction to The Green Knight 1:00:14 Robert Eggers comparisons 1:04:12 Side quests, folklore, and structure 1:06:23 The temptation test and the green sash 1:08:45 The vision of Gawain’s future 1:10:27 What Lowery was trying to adapt 1:12:16 Looking ahead to Mother Mary 1:13:51 Final thoughts on David Lowery 1:14:40 Plugs and outro Music:Awakening (Instrumental) by Wataboi⁠https://soundcloud.com/wataboi⁠Creative Commons — Attribution 3.0 Unported — CC BY-SA 3.0Music promoted by FDL Music⁠https://youtu.be/X2oQNUOmk2k

    1h 17m

  4. APR 23

    Is Anne Hathaway a Great Movie Star?

    Anne Hathaway has been a Disney princess, a rom-com lead, Catwoman, an Oscar winner, and one of the most recognizable American movie stars of the 21st century. But what actually makes her work on screen? In this episode of Second Cut, Jacob and Kieran look at Hathaway through two very different performances: Andy Sachs in The Devil Wears Prada and Fantine in Les Misérables. Using James Naremore’s ideas about film acting as a loose framework, they ask what makes a performance readable, natural, expressive, and suited to the film around it. Along the way, they talk Meryl Streep’s Miranda Priestly, Emily Blunt and Stanley Tucci stealing scenes, whether The Devil Wears Prada is really about a woman becoming “bad” or just becoming good at her job, Tom Hooper’s sung-through approach to Les Misérables, Russell Crowe’s Javert, Victor Hugo, French revolutionary context, and whether Hathaway’s Oscar-winning Fantine is a great performance, a great Oscar clip, or both. Follow Second Cut:YouTube: @SecondCutPodSubstack: https://secondcutpod.substack.comSocials: @SecondCutPodEmail: secondcutpod@gmail.com Chapters 00:00 Intro00:49 Why Anne Hathaway now?02:08 First encounters with Hathaway05:48 Rom-coms, “movies for women,” and The Hustle07:25 Hathaway’s star power and theater background09:49 James Naremore and how to judge film acting14:03 The Devil Wears Prada17:32 What is The Devil Wears Prada really about?23:12 Andy Sachs, career success, and the boyfriend problem29:21 Miranda Priestly and the missing cost of ambition31:53 Emily Blunt, Stanley Tucci, and the supporting cast33:34 Anne Hathaway’s performance as Andy40:06 Does the film only feel deeper than it is?43:19 The Miranda movie we wish existed48:52 The Devil Wears Prada 2 speculation50:53 Les Misérables and Tom Hooper returns54:38 Les Misérables plot summary57:00 Sung-through musicals and pacing1:00:35 Valjean, Javert, and the French rebellion1:01:32 Anne Hathaway as Fantine1:04:57 The 2012 Supporting Actress race1:09:54 Hugh Jackman, Russell Crowe, and Javert1:12:53 Performance without dialogue1:14:07 I Dreamed a Dream1:14:47 Sweeney Todd energy and the innkeepers1:19:21 Why the revolution material drags1:24:55 French history and assumed context1:26:32 What Tom Hooper could have changed1:29:27 Final thoughts on Anne Hathaway1:30:27 Looking ahead to Hathaway’s upcoming films1:30:59 Plugs and outro Music:Awakening (Instrumental) by Wataboihttps://soundcloud.com/wataboiCreative Commons — Attribution 3.0 Unported — CC BY-SA 3.0Music promoted by FDL Musichttps://youtu.be/X2oQNUOmk2k

    1h 33m

  5. APR 8

    Seeing Double: The Art of Playing Multiple Roles

    In this episode of Second Cut, we talk about one of cinema’s coolest tricks: watching a single actor become multiple people. Because of Michael B. Jordan’s Oscar-winning twin performance in Sinners, we get into what makes multi-role acting so compelling, why it so often leans comic, and what separates a gimmick from a real performance. Then we dive into Alec Guinness playing nearly an entire murderous aristocratic family in Kind Hearts and Coronets, Peter Sellers splitting himself across the madness of Dr. Strangelove, and Jordan’s physically and emotionally distinct twins in Sinners. Along the way, we talk class satire, Cold War absurdity, vampire assimilation, and the filmmaking tricks that make one actor seem to exist twice on screen. Chapters00:00 Intro 00:52 The phenomenon of actors playing multiple roles 14:32 Kind Hearts and Coronets 44:51 Dr. Strangelove 1:15:53 Sinners and the Oscar context 1:20:35 Getting into Sinners proper 1:31:56 Why Michael B. Jordan’s performance works 1:34:19 How the twin shots are pulled off 1:37:46 The vampires, assimilation, and cultural memory 1:46:13 The climax and final Sinners thoughts 1:48:44 OutroMusic: Awakening (Instrumental) by Wataboi https://soundcloud.com/wataboiCreative Commons — Attribution 3.0 Unported — CC BY-SA 3.0Music promoted by FDL Music https://youtu.be/X2oQNUOmk2k

    1h 51m

  6. MAR 27

    Did Frankenstein Movies Forget Mary Shelley?

    Mary Shelley wrote Frankenstein, but a lot of Frankenstein movies spend surprisingly little time letting women matter inside that story. In this episode of Second Cut, Jacob, Sam, and Kieran dig into Bride of Frankenstein (1935), Frankenstein Created Woman (1967), and Lisa Frankenstein (2024) to ask what happens when “female-focused Frankenstein” movies are still mostly about male creators, male desire, and male control. They get into James Whale’s camp classic, Peter Cushing’s Hammer mad scientist, Diablo Cody and Zelda Williams’ coming-of-rage monster romance, Mary Shelley’s goth legacy, queer readings, Hammer excess, and why Lisa Frankenstein feels closest to a version of Frankenstein cinema that actually remembers its author. Chapters 00:00 Intro01:22 What even counts as a “female-focused Frankenstein” movie?04:08 Mary Shelley, teenage goth genius11:42 Del Toro, stage versions, and better female presence20:13 Bride of Frankenstein37:50 Where is the bride, actually?43:58 Transition to Frankenstein Created Woman1:00:48 Hammer takes Frankenstein back1:32:29 Lisa Frankenstein1:38:28 Why the movie doesn’t fully connect1:47:09 Burton, Reiniger, and the visual lineage1:53:45 Final thoughts on Lisa Frankenstein2:00:00 Plugs and outro Music: Awakening (Instrumental) by Wataboi https://soundcloud.com/wataboiCreative Commons — Attribution 3.0 Unported — CC BY-SA 3.0Music promoted by FDL Music https://youtu.be/X2oQNUOmk2k

    1h 54m

  7. MAR 18

    The Razzies and the Spectacle of Failure

    What are the Razzies actually for? In this episode, we use the Golden Raspberry Awards to talk about bad-movie culture, awards as spectacle, and why so many infamous flops are really stories about ego, stardom, and show business. Using Showgirls, All About Steve, and Hurry Up Tomorrow, we ask whether the Razzies are a useful counterweight to prestige culture or just another way Hollywood turns failure into entertainment. Along the way, we get into Paul Verhoeven, Sandra Bullock’s bizarre Razzie/Oscar weekend, The Weeknd’s self-mythologizing, and the difference between a movie that is trash, a movie that is fascinatingly broken, and a movie that is simply unbearable. Chapters 00:00 Introduction 00:56 What are the Razzies actually for? 04:00 Razzie origins and how they started 09:52 Membership, voting, and repeat offenders 12:42 Why these three films 13:50 Showgirls and Razzie infamy 15:15 Verhoeven, Joe Eszterhas, and the film’s setup 21:56 Is Showgirls misunderstood or just bad? 36:49 Showgirls at the Razzies 42:55 Final thoughts on Showgirls 43:57 The real link between all three films: stardom and show business 45:14 All About Steve and Sandra Bullock’s Razzie/Oscar weekend 51:07 All About Steve plot recap 01:04:17 Why All About Steve fails 01:08:20 All About Steve Razzie results 01:12:56 Hurry Up Tomorrow and this year’s Razzies 01:16:23 How Hurry Up Tomorrow got made 01:20:23 Symbolism, fandom, and the ego problem 01:31:37 Why the film’s themes feel thin 01:36:20 Ending and interpretation 01:41:41 Ranking the three: bad, entertaining, or unbearable? 01:51:38 Our own Razzie ballot 01:53:54 Outro Music: Awakening (Instrumental) by Wataboi https://soundcloud.com/wataboiCreative Commons — Attribution 3.0 Unported — CC BY-SA 3.0Music promoted by FDL Music https://youtu.be/X2oQNUOmk2k

    1h 56m

  8. MAR 13

    Why Robert Duvall Was One of America’s Greatest Actors

    In this episode of Second Cut, we remember Robert Duvall by looking at three performances across three different decades: his brief but unforgettable debut as Boo Radley in To Kill a Mockingbird, his Oscar-winning turn in Tender Mercies, and his late-career western authority in Open Range. We talk about what made Duvall such a singular screen presence: the restraint, the stillness, the emotional precision, and the way he could dominate a film without ever seeming to push for attention. Along the way, we get into Gregory Peck and Atticus Finch, why Tender Mercies feels strangely forgotten, Kevin Costner’s pacing in Open Range, and the kind of actor Duvall was in both epics and intimate dramas. Chapters 00:00 Robert Duvall memorial intro 01:07 Career overview and why Duvall mattered 05:37 The art of underplaying 14:42 To Kill a Mockingbird 24:24 Gregory Peck and the Atticus Finch debate 36:00 Boo Radley and Duvall’s debut 42:44 Tender Mercies 49:04 Oscar context and the Pacino question 59:26 Why Tender Mercies faded from memory 1:05:05 Open Range 1:08:38 Costner’s pacing and the film’s setup 1:13:39 Why Duvall anchors the western 1:22:42 Final thoughts on Open Range 1:25:39 Other great Duvall roles 1:28:45 Outro Music:Awakening (Instrumental) by Wataboi https://soundcloud.com/wataboiCreative Commons — Attribution 3.0 Unported — CC BY-SA 3.0Music promoted by FDL Music https://youtu.be/X2oQNUOmk2k

    1h 30m
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Ratings & Reviews

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About

Jacob, Kieran, and Sam explore topics in film history, criticism, and theory through weekly movie reviews!

Information

  • Creator
    Second Cut
  • Years Active
    2021 - 2026
  • Episodes
    96
  • Rating
    Explicit
  • Copyright
    © Second Cut
  • Show Website
    Second Cut