Cinematic Oblivion

Brothers and life-long cinephiles Nick and Harry Nordlinger explore the full spectrum of film history, with an eye for the esoteric, the strange and the sublime.

The October Boys V: no edits, no escape 10/30/2024

The October Boys V: no edits, no escape Where is that sinister, beautiful, liminal hospital of which I endlessly dream? Where can I get a can of frozen apple juice concentrate in this day and age? When will I stop getting election texts? Why won't the police stop ruining horror movies? And why did everyone in the early 2000s think they'd reached the peak of what CGI effects had to offer? Happy Halloween! I refuse to edit this one out of bitterness and haste. /episode/index/show/cinematicoblivion/id/33697152

Revenge of The October Boys 10/30/2023

Revenge of The October Boys Strange cutout anime, brooding resentment about the 00's, discourse on disturbing horror, nostalgia for the Universal classics, major creative output from our circle, welcome back to our cacophonous carnival of Halloween horrors, we've missed you. /episode/index/show/cinematicoblivion/id/28466642

October Boys III: Season of the Witch 10/31/2022

October Boys III: Season of the Witch Taste the fruits of Autumn Burn away the dead crops /episode/index/show/cinematicoblivion/id/24850929

Return of the October Boys 10/27/2021

Return of the October Boys Once a year, once a year, now it's here, now it's here. /episode/index/show/cinematicoblivion/id/20954849

The October Boys 10/28/2020

The October Boys Our last episode ever. Putting the final nail in the coffin on the original concept of Cinematic Oblivion. Happy Halloween, it's the season of change and death after all. Keep watching the screens. /episode/index/show/cinematicoblivion/id/16579928

grab bag: Quarantine 2020 04/30/2020

grab bag: Quarantine 2020 It's been a while. We discuss what's kept us entertained and sane in Shelter-In-Place including the gory, gutsy guerrilla action film Deadbeat at Dawn (1988) Guy Maddin's odes to his city and ours in My Winnipeg (2007) and The Green Fog (2017), Harry's pickaxe striking a mother lode of untapped 80's horror sleepers, Nick teaching Chris Marker's La Jetée (1962) to his AP English class, and our ever-returning to the town of Twin Peaks. Also we share our "to watch" quarantine lists. Enjoy, stay safe, wash your hands, we love you. Balboa Forever. /episode/index/show/cinematicoblivion/id/14213936

outings: Noir City 2020 02/18/2020

outings: Noir City 2020 You can find me in the back of the Castro theater drinking whiskey and cherry Coke yelling at people to get off their phones before the third Mexican noir starts. /episode/index/show/cinematicoblivion/id/13196123

Top Ten of the Twenty-Teens 01/16/2020

Top Ten of the Twenty-Teens We promise to only be this basic once every ten years. /episode/index/show/cinematicoblivion/id/12769802

grab bag: Halloween 2019 10/31/2019

grab bag: Halloween 2019 In this year's Halloween episode of Grab Bag Harry revisits some horror movies we didn't used to like very much and reveals that we were right about one of them and wrong about another, Nick discusses his new Giallo concept bar and cocktail menu, and we both revisit some childhood Halloween specials that warm our heart. Carve a Jack O' Lantern now before it's too late! /episode/index/show/cinematicoblivion/id/11852585

Barker's Books of Blood 10/30/2019

Barker's Books of Blood Sweets for the sweet, it's our official Halloween special. Listen as we discuss horror fantasy's finest imaginer, Clive Barker, and his brief career in film, as well as the trademarks of his work, including sadomasochistic inter-dimensional travelers, queer zombies, and ghosts of urban segregation. /episode/index/show/cinematicoblivion/id/11839121

Profecy of the Black Spider 10/20/2019

Profecy of the Black Spider The Earth shall tremble. Graves shall open. They shall come among the living as messengers of death and there shall be the "nigths" of terror. Continuing our October horror rituals, we examine the ineffable minimalism of Andrea Bianchi's zombie shadow play Burial Ground, a film that achieves unique style and effectiveness completely by accident. /episode/index/show/cinematicoblivion/id/11708372

Furankenshutain tai Baragon 10/12/2019

Furankenshutain tai Baragon We turn our October attention to one of the least conventional iterations of the Frankenstein monster all in the interest of discussing Nick's favorite and most expensive toy. /episode/index/show/cinematicoblivion/id/11612597

Dude Bros at the Balboa: an interview with Michael Rousselet 10/03/2019

Dude Bros at the Balboa: an interview with Michael Rousselet The Dude Bros are coming to the Balboa Theater here in San Francisco on October 23rd for a Rewind Wednesday VHS screening of Cinematic Oblivion's favorite slasher comedy Dude Bro Party Massacre III! Two of the directors, Tomm Jacobsen and Michael Rousselet, will be in attendance, the latter of whom chats with Nick in this episode. Listen as they discuss the early comedy of USC's public access channel "Trojan Vision," the "Golden Age" of Five Second Films, the writing, scoring, and acting of Dude Bro Party Massacre III, and the town in the belly of the whale. And make sure you join us at the Balboa Theater on October 23rd to drink beer, eat popcorn, and bro out! /episode/index/show/cinematicoblivion/id/11501804

snippet: Remembering Sid Haig 09/30/2019

snippet: Remembering Sid Haig R.I.P. Sid Haig 1939-2019 /episode/index/show/cinematicoblivion/id/11442725

Soviet Sci-Fi part 3: post-Tarkovsky 04/28/2019

Soviet Sci-Fi part 3: post-Tarkovsky The third part of our three-part history and analysis of Soviet Science Fiction films. In this episode we focus on the science fiction films of the USSR's final years including grey, colorful, and silver tones all in the wake of Andrei Tarkovsky's influence. Chapter One: Grey Chapter Two: Color Chapter Three: Silver /episode/index/show/cinematicoblivion/id/9557339

outings: Unnamed Footage Festival 2019 03/11/2019

outings: Unnamed Footage Festival 2019 Our report from an oblivionated weekend at the historic Balboa theater under the curation of the Overlook Hour. We briefly review the history of found-footage and then discuss such diverse representatives of the subgenre as The Midnight Swim, La Llorona Investigation, The Moosehead on the Mantel, Hound Footage, and the film that may have killed us both; Antrum. /episode/index/show/cinematicoblivion/id/8953016

outings: Noir City 2019 02/20/2019

outings: Noir City 2019 We briefly review and analyze such classics as Pickup on South Street (1952) and Kiss Me Deadly (1955) from our recent outing to Noir City at the Castro Theater, during which we discovered that we are total amateurs at this whole "liking movies" thing. /episode/index/show/cinematicoblivion/id/8714411

Soviet Sci-Fi part 2: Tarkovsky 01/28/2019

Soviet Sci-Fi part 2: Tarkovsky The second part of our three-part history and analysis of Soviet Science Fiction films. In this episode we focus on the two science fiction contributions of Soviet auteur Andrei Tarkovsky, Solaris (1971) and Stalker (1979), and discuss how his contributions forever changed the landscape of Eastern genre cinema and film in general. Chapter 1: The Ocean (3:35) Chapter 2: The Zone (43:30) /episode/index/show/cinematicoblivion/id/8420936

grab bag: Midori Sour 01/13/2019

grab bag: Midori Sour A sickly sweet cocktail of various ingredients, Harry and Nick reunite after two weeks apart to discuss the 90's films of Brian De Palma, the video art of Jan Svankmajer, Ryan Trecartin, Alan Resnick, and the "wayward circus child" sub-genre, particularly Mira Nair's Salaam Bombay (1988) and Hiroshi Harada's Midori (1992). /episode/index/show/cinematicoblivion/id/8235389

Soviet Sci-Fi part 1: pre-Tarkovsky 12/09/2018

Soviet Sci-Fi part 1: pre-Tarkovsky The first part of our three-part history and analysis of Soviet Science Fiction films. /episode/index/show/cinematicoblivion/id/7855784

spotlight: Make Out With Violence and the Early Days of Netflix Streaming 11/29/2018

spotlight: Make Out With Violence and the Early Days of Netflix Streaming The first installment in a new series of mini episodes called spotlight, wherein Nick and/or Harry take a look at a particular theme (film/director/genre/etc.) that wouldn't otherwise be featured in a regular episode. In this inaugural episode Harry takes a look at the 2009 indie horror comedy Make Out With Violence, while also reflecting on the days when Netflix offered a bevvy of bizarre low budget indie films available to stream. /episode/index/show/cinematicoblivion/id/7727438

Tales from the Crypt 10/29/2018

Tales from the Crypt Happy Halloween kiddies! We celebrate the season by paying tribute to EC comics, a horror brand as notorious as it was influential. We follow the brand's legacy from Amicus pictures, to Stephen King, to HBO. Come down into the Crypt of Terror with us. The morgue the merrier! Chapter 1: Low Culture (3:18) Chapter 2: Amicus (25:55) Chapter 3: King and Romero (49:30) Chapter 4: Little House on the Scary (1:16:45) /episode/index/show/cinematicoblivion/id/7360871

grab bag: Halloween 2018 10/29/2018

grab bag: Halloween 2018 In this special Halloween episode of Grab Bag we discuss Ruby (1977), Pin (1988), Don't Look Up (1996), The Curse of Frankenstein (1957) and the long awaited Terrifier (2017). We also discuss the rise and fall of J horror, the myriad Frankenstein adaptations and the complete lack of a great clown horror masterpiece. /episode/index/show/cinematicoblivion/id/7359983

Animated Tolkien 09/17/2018

Animated Tolkien In this episode we go back to some of the earliest adaptations of J.R.R. Tolkien's fantasy world and explore the evolving world of 1970's American animation. Chapter 1: There and Back Again (10:00) Chapter 2: Bakshi's Big Trip (37:00) Chapter 3: A Tale of the Hobbits (1:07:17) /episode/index/show/cinematicoblivion/id/7052957

grab bag: Deadly Trilogy of Hell 08/10/2018

grab bag: Deadly Trilogy of Hell In this grab bag episode Nick and Harry discuss Hell House LLC (2015), Trilogy of Terror (1975), Fragment of an Empire (1929), and suprise hit The Deadly Spawn (1983). /episode/index/show/cinematicoblivion/id/6909813

Lupino's Lens 08/01/2018

Lupino's Lens In this episode we study the films of Ida Lupino, the first woman to direct movies within the 1950's Hollywood system. We discuss both the ahead of its time feminism and decade representative conservatism that make up her work. Chapter 1: Mardis Gras (3:35) Chapter 2: Ida on the issues (11:50) Chapter 3: Morality Plays (48:06) /episode/index/show/cinematicoblivion/id/6873235

The plodding...the plodding...the plodding... 06/29/2018

The plodding...the plodding...the plodding... Get out the pálinka, the paprika, and the patience as we discuss long-take auteur Béla Tarr's 7 hour study of spiders, muddy walks, and tango, tango, tango! /episode/index/show/cinematicoblivion/id/6759662

Roeg's Psychedelia 05/31/2018

Roeg's Psychedelia We are fairly split in our discussion of British cinematographer turned director Nicolas Roeg, prompting the first official “cinematic showdown.” Listen as we debate and discuss some early seventies psychedelia and decide for yourself. Chapter 1: Performance (3:50) Chapter 2: Walkabout (37:15) Chapter 3: Don't Look Now (57:40) Chapter 4: The Man Who Fell To Earth (1:19:20) /episode/index/show/cinematicoblivion/id/6652927

soundbites: Unchained Melody 05/15/2018

soundbites: Unchained Melody In this episode of "soundbites" Nick covers the cinematic origins of an American soul standard, from Chino state prison to Demi Moore's pottery wheel. /episode/index/show/cinematicoblivion/id/6596148

Liquid Sky, The Key To Heaven 04/27/2018

Liquid Sky, The Key To Heaven In this episode we discuss the 1982 cult classic Liquid Sky. A hip New Wave masterpiece, drenched in neon, pulsing to the sound of wild synth beats and ripe with social criticism, literary depth and aesthetic perfection. Chapter 1: Me and My Rhythm Box (1:55) Chapter 2: Infrared and Neon (10:00) Chapter 3: Pleasure Victim (27:00) Chapter 4: Napoleon in Rags (42:00) /episode/index/show/cinematicoblivion/id/6528776

Cinematic Oblivion

TOPICS