The B-Side: A Film Stage Podcast The Film Stage

Ep. 129 – In Conversation with: Andrew Davis by The Film Stage

Welcome to The B-Side from The Film Stage. Here we usually talk about movie stars! Not the movies that made them famous or kept them famous, but the ones that they made in between. Today, we talk to a great film writer about a great film sub-genre! Brian Raftery! Vietnam War Movie B-Sides!

Brian (author of the wonderful Best. Movie. Year. Ever. How 1999 Blew Up the Big Screen) released a wonderful podcast mini-series for The Ringer called Do We Get to Win This Time? this past summer. It examines the evolution of the American Vietnam War movie through the decades. Raftery speaks with everybody for this thing, from Oliver Stone to Dale Dye.

Our B-Sides today are: Hearts and Minds, The Little Girl of Hanoi, and Hamburger Hill.

We cover plenty more, dissecting movies made by both American and Vietnamese filmmakers. From when we first became aware of Vietnam as a war, to our favorite Vietnam war films, to highlighting additional underrated B-Sides in this sub-genre.

Be sure to give us a follow on Twitter and Facebook at @TFSBSide. Also enter our giveaways, get access to our private Slack channel, and support new episodes by becoming a Patreon contributor. Enjoy!

Welcome to The B-Side from The Film Stage. Here we usually talk about movie stars! Not the movies that made them famous or kept them famous, but the ones that they made in between. Today, we talk to a music supervisor! And one of the great music supervisors! Randall Poster!

We discuss his new film Priscilla, how working with Sofia Coppola compares to working with someone like Wes Anderson, and - most importantly - how they chose what music would be in the movie.

There’s also talk of Poster’s early career. There’s the film he co-wrote (A Matter of Degrees) in 1990 and the early indies he made with Christine Vachon (including Office Killer). There’s also Maid in Manhattan, directed by past guest Wayne Wang. Finally, Poster worked on the criminally-underrated indie Diggers, which you should watch.

This is a fun, special episode about the kind of crew member who rarely get the credit they deserve. Poster is at the top of his craft, with premier work in theaters now (Priscilla and also Killers of the Flower Moon).

Be sure to give us a follow on Twitter and Facebook at @TFSBSide. Also enter our giveaways, get access to our private Slack channel, and support new episodes by becoming a Patreon contributor. Enjoy!

Welcome to The B-Side from The Film Stage. Here we talk about movie stars! Not the movies that made them famous or kept them famous, but the ones that they made in between.

Happy Halloween! This year we discuss a legend: Roger Corman! As is tradition, our dear friend Gavin Mevius, talented editor and co-host of the incredible The Mixed Reviews Podcast. Be sure to listen to their podcast and support them on Patreon if you see fit!

Today we tackle three B-Sides: Not of This Earth, The Intruder, and Frankenstein Unbound.

We discuss Corman’s influence on New Hollywood and his enduring influence to this day, his indelible eye for talent both in front of (actors like Nicholson and De Niro got their starts in Corman films) and behind (Jonathan Demme, James Cameron, Peter Bogdanovich), and the directing career that could’ve been had The Intruder been a hit.
There’s talk of the other Mary Shelley-adjacent film adaptations of the late '80s/early ‘90s (Gothic, Haunted Summer, Rowing with the Wind), how great Raul Julia was, that Kenneth Branagh Frankenstein movie, and Camel Spiders.

Be sure to give us a follow on Twitter and Facebook at @TFSBSide. Also enter our giveaways, get access to our private Slack channel, and support new episodes by becoming a Patreon contributor. Enjoy!

Welcome to The B-Side, from The Film Stage. Here we talk about movie stars! Not the movies that made them famous or kept them famous, but the ones that they made in between. But sometimes we talk to filmmakers! About filmmakers!

Today we talk to up-and-coming writer/director Andrew Adams whose debut feature American Meltdown is making a robust festival run as we speak!

He joins us to spearhead our first incarnation of “The First Frame:” a B-Side segment in which we examine the first films of legendary filmmakers. The three pictures we focus on today are My Best Friend’s Birthday by Quentin Tarantino, Sour Grapes by Larry David, and Barking Dogs Never Bite by Bong Joon-ho.

We discuss our love for these three masters, the seeds of their genius in each of their debuts (as well as each piece’s shortcomings), and the strange connection between all three of them. We also dive into the burgeoning “No-Budget Era” of indie filmmaking and what it means for the future.

There’s talk of Jerry Seinfeld’s upcoming Pop-Tarts movie Unfrosted, the making of Tarantino’s seminal Reservoir Dogs, and the immediate impressiveness of Bong Joon-ho’s films.

Additional things that come up include the underrated indie noir Cold Weather by Aaron Katz, the great debut book from George Orwell, Down and Out in Paris and London, and how Craig Bierko turned down the role of Chandler on Friends.

Be sure to give us a follow on Twitter and Facebook at @TFSBSide. Also enter our giveaways, get access to our private Slack channel, and support new episodes by becoming a Patreon contributor.

Welcome to The B-Side, from The Film Stage. Here we talk about movie stars! Not the movies that made them famous or kept them famous, but the ones they made in between.

Today we go back to celebrate Pittsburgh’s first son - Michael Keaton. Our B-Sides today are: Clean and Sober, The Dream Team, One Good Cop, and My Life. Our guest is official five-timer Cory Everett, creator of Cinephile: A Card Game. 

We dive deep into analyzing how the actor took boring lead roles and made them sing. We marvel at the surprisingly small filmography of model-turned-movie star Rene Russo. We lament the early-90s politics of One Good Cop and we celebrate the fact that The Dream Team has basically aged okay! Which is a near-miracle. Finally, Cory and I describe the difficulty of even finishing watching My Life as fathers with young kids. Perhaps more importantly, does My Life has a premise that is far more famous than the movie itself? Yes! What are other movies like that?

Additionally, we mention how 1990 mega-hit is great actually despite its cultural ridicule, and Tony Goldwyn (Ghost co-star) is underrated, and Keaton has a new directorial effort that just premiered at TIFF. There’s also his early history as a funny stand-up comedian, his amazing voice work in Porco Rosso, and every moment in the comedy The Other Guys.

Be sure to give us a follow on Twitter and Facebook at @TFSBSide. Also enter our giveaways, get access to our private Slack channel, and support new episodes by becoming a Patreon contributor. We are also now on Spotify and Stitcher. Enjoy!