Random Acts of Cinema

Each week friends Mike and Charlie have Randy (the random number generator) select a film for them to watch from the Criterion Collection. Then they discuss and review it for your listening pleasure. It’s a podcast about the love of film, expanding horizons, painstakingly cataloging the duration of every long take, and friendship.

1282 - The French Dispatch of the Liberty, Kansas Evening Sun (2021) 03/23/2026

1282 - The French Dispatch of the Liberty, Kansas Evening Sun (2021) Who’s ready for an anthology movie about mostly Americans in France writing about mostly not Americans in France for an imagined audience of mostly Americans in America? And sometimes everyone speaks French. But mostly they don’t. Wes Anderson works with his ever-growing company of highest-profile players to construct this triptych of art and insanity, love and revolution, and food and crime. And a deep admiration for the talents and obsessions of midcentury American magazine writers. *Come support the podcast and get yourself or someone you love a random gift at our . T-shirts, hoodies, mugs, stickers, and more! If you’d like to watch ahead for next week’s film, we will be discussing and reviewing Martha Coolidge’s Not A Pretty Picture (1976). /episode/index/show/randomactsofcinema/id/40581365

23 - Robocop (1987) 03/17/2026

23 - Robocop (1987) Dead or alive, you’re listening to me. Paul Verhoeven somehow achieves both badass copaganda action movie and cutting satire of American violence, consumerism, corporate greed, and bad TV. *Come support the podcast and get yourself or someone you love a random gift at our . T-shirts, hoodies, mugs, stickers, and more! If you’d like to watch ahead for next week’s film, we will be discussing and reviewing Wes Anderson’s The French Dispatch of the Liberty, Kansas Evening Sun (2021). /episode/index/show/randomactsofcinema/id/40508055

268 - Youth of the Beast (1963) 03/10/2026

268 - Youth of the Beast (1963) Seijun Suzuki dreams up yet another ever-so-slightly-surreal Yakuza picture. Thank god. *Come support the podcast and get yourself or someone you love a random gift at our . T-shirts, hoodies, mugs, stickers, and more! If you’d like to watch ahead for next week’s film, we will be discussing and reviewing Paul Verhoeven’s Robocop (1987). /episode/index/show/randomactsofcinema/id/40384100

1186 - The Tall T (1957) 03/02/2026

1186 - The Tall T (1957) That Pat Brennan… what a man! Come listen to us face an ethical quandary when we stumble upon a real treasure of a western, that is still undeniably a 1950s western. What am I talking about? Let’s just say that it can be summed up in two words: Henry Silva. *Come support the podcast and get yourself or someone you love a random gift at our . T-shirts, hoodies, mugs, stickers, and more! If you’d like to watch ahead for next week’s film, we will be discussing and reviewing Seijun Suzuki’s Youth of the Beast (1963). /episode/index/show/randomactsofcinema/id/40267790

1264 - The Wiz (1978) 02/23/2026

1264 - The Wiz (1978) The more you learn about this movie, the more clear it becomes that what you’d think to be the good parts are the bad parts, and that the bad parts are really the good parts. Making movies is hard. Sidney Lumet directs a visually stunning reimagining of the Wizard of Oz and then some other stuff is in it too. *Come support the podcast and get yourself or someone you love a random gift at our . T-shirts, hoodies, mugs, stickers, and more! If you’d like to watch ahead for next week’s film, we will be discussing and reviewing Budd Boetticher‘s The Tall T (1957). /episode/index/show/randomactsofcinema/id/40199975

741 - My Winnipeg (2007) 02/18/2026

741 - My Winnipeg (2007) We know y’all are some nasty freaks out there who have been waiting a long time for this one to drop. Guy Madden comes back with an irreverently cinematic fake/real/fake documentary about his home town of Winnipeg. It’s black and white, it’s out of focus, the cuts are fast and many. It’s psycho-sexual. It’s arty AF. Is he going to vignette any shots? Uh, yeah. *Come support the podcast and get yourself or someone you love a random gift at our . T-shirts, hoodies, mugs, stickers, and more! If you’d like to watch ahead for next week’s film, we will be discussing and reviewing Sidney Lumet’s The Wiz (1978). /episode/index/show/randomactsofcinema/id/40147840

19 - Shock Corridor (1963) 02/10/2026

19 - Shock Corridor (1963) Samuel Fuller turns a critical eye on the state of mental health treatment in the United States to, uh… well, not really. Mostly he just uses a stage theater’s idea of a mental hospital as a narrative device for exploring three major American anxieties in the 1960s. Want to complain about nukes? Have a patient do a one-man show for a while about how we went insane after building them. And you know what, that’s the tame one of the three. For a B-movie about a reporter going undercover in a mental ward to solve a murder, things get wild. *Come support the podcast and get yourself or someone you love a random gift at our . T-shirts, hoodies, mugs, stickers, and more! If you’d like to watch ahead for next week’s film, we will be discussing and reviewing Guy Maddon’s My Winnipeg (12007). /episode/index/show/randomactsofcinema/id/40055630

752 - Vernon, Florida (1981) 02/02/2026

752 - Vernon, Florida (1981) Documentarian of the ages Errol Morris turns his gentle eye toward the old fellers of a small town in Florida and just sort of lets them do their thing. Talking about gobblers, wigglers, growing sand, ambidexterity, fake (or maybe real) jewels, seeing the perfection of God in nature, and the magical definition of the word “therefore.” *Come support the podcast and get yourself or someone you love a random gift at our . T-shirts, hoodies, mugs, stickers, and more! If you’d like to watch ahead for next week’s film, we will be discussing and reviewing Samuel Fuller’s Shock Corridor (1963). /episode/index/show/randomactsofcinema/id/39959710

LD99 - Burn! (1969) 01/28/2026

LD99 - Burn! (1969) Gillo Pontecorvo directs a cast of unknowns in his big swing on the historical action/drama about a British agent sent to use all of his cynical wile to foment a slave revolt on Portuguese colony island. Keep careful eye out for a blink-and-you’ll-miss-it cameo by Marlon Brando at his understated best. *Come support the podcast and get yourself or someone you love a random gift at our . T-shirts, hoodies, mugs, stickers, and more! If you’d like to watch ahead for next week’s film, we will be discussing and reviewing Errol Morris’ Vernon, Florida (1981). /episode/index/show/randomactsofcinema/id/39907335

498 - Paisan - War Trilogy (1946) 01/21/2026

498 - Paisan - War Trilogy (1946) Roberto Rossellini travels length of the Italian peninsula in the immediate aftermath of WWII to share 6 stories about the lives of Italian civilians and partisans and their relationships with foreign Allied troops. Love, tragedy, heroism, and sacrifice result from the difficulties of communicating purpose and need of individuals confronted with the inhumane machine of war. *Come support the podcast and get yourself or someone you love a random gift at our . T-shirts, hoodies, mugs, stickers, and more! If you’d like to watch ahead for next week’s film, we will be discussing and reviewing Gillo Pontecorvo’s Burn! (1969). /episode/index/show/randomactsofcinema/id/39807985

469 - The Hit (1984) 01/13/2026

469 - The Hit (1984) What does it mean to die? What does it mean to truly live… on a road trip across Spain with Terence Stamp, John Hurt, and Tim Roth in a giant white Mercedes Benz? Director Stephen Frears grabbles with these enduring questions in his sun-soaked take-down of the neo noir. Ten Years after snitching on his compatriots, a criminal in hiding is rousted from his dreamy Spanish village life by two hit men sent to exact retribution. But he seems oddly cool about it all. What gives? *Come support the podcast and get yourself or someone you love a random gift at our . T-shirts, hoodies, mugs, stickers, and more! If you’d like to watch ahead for next week’s film, we will be discussing and reviewing Roberto Rossellini’s Paisan - War Trilogy (1946). /episode/index/show/randomactsofcinema/id/39712800

1048 - Dos Monjes (1934) 01/05/2026

1048 - Dos Monjes (1934) One, two monks kneel before you That’s what I said now Monks, monks who adore you Just go ahead now One has diamonds in his pockets And that’s some bread now This one says he has tuberculosis It’s in his lungs now… Juan Bustillo Oro takes us on a Rashomon-esque journey into nightmarish memory in this 1930s Mexican classic. *Come support the podcast and get yourself or someone you love a random gift at our . T-shirts, hoodies, mugs, stickers, and more! If you’d like to watch ahead for next week’s film, we will be discussing and reviewing Stephen Frears’ The Hit (1984). /episode/index/show/randomactsofcinema/id/39590665

326 - Metropolitan (1990) 12/30/2025

326 - Metropolitan (1990) Finally, a movie comes along with the guts to ask the question: can you be a Fourierist AND a Vebleninian at the same time? Explore this question and more at the Manhattan debutante ball season after parties of Whit Stillman’s career defining entrée about class, love, and pretentious discussion topics. *Come support the podcast and get yourself or someone you love a random gift at our . T-shirts, hoodies, mugs, stickers, and more! If you’d like to watch ahead for next week’s film, we will be discussing and reviewing Juan Bustillo Oro’s Dos Monjes (1934). /episode/index/show/randomactsofcinema/id/39563415

575 - The Killing (1956) 12/22/2025

575 - The Killing (1956) Kubrick is on the podcast! Or at least one of his films was finally randomly selected for the first time. And he gives us a self-produced, time-zagging, bracingly-funny, bloody, homage-satire of hard-boiled noir. *Come support the podcast and get yourself or someone you love a random gift at our . T-shirts, hoodies, mugs, stickers, and more! If you’d like to watch ahead for next week’s film, we will be discussing and reviewing Whit Stillman’s Metropolitan (1990). /episode/index/show/randomactsofcinema/id/39501245

1000 - Godzilla vs. Mechagodzilla (1974) 12/15/2025

1000 - Godzilla vs. Mechagodzilla (1974) We return once more to the Godzilla Showa-era films with Jun Fukuda’s 1974 introduction of some kind of a… Robo-Godzilla! I think that’s what they call it. And some aliens. Oh, and there’s a new surprise secret monster called King Caesar also. Join the Random Acts of Cinema Discord server ! *Come support the podcast and get yourself or someone you love a random gift at our . T-shirts, hoodies, mugs, stickers, and more! If you’d like to watch ahead for next week’s film, we will be discussing and reviewing Stanley Kubrick’s The Killing (1956). /episode/index/show/randomactsofcinema/id/39414900

92 - Fiend Without A Face (1958) 12/11/2025

92 - Fiend Without A Face (1958) Director Arthur Crabtree delves into the late 1950’s world of atomic, Cold War, body-snatching paranoia except that he kind of… doesn’t? Honestly this Canada-set, B-movie, Sci-fi, creature flick feels more like a proto-Cronenberg film where it really counts. Join the Random Acts of Cinema Discord server ! *Come support the podcast and get yourself or someone you love a random gift at our . T-shirts, hoodies, mugs, stickers, and more! If you’d like to watch ahead for next week’s film, we will be discussing and reviewing Jun Fukuda’s Godzilla vs. Mechagodzilla (1974). /episode/index/show/randomactsofcinema/id/39372750

340 - Koko: A Talking Gorilla (1978) 12/01/2025

340 - Koko: A Talking Gorilla (1978) Researchers at Stanford University conducted a decades-long experiment wherein Koko, a female gorilla, was taught American Sign Language. The findings and the ethics of this experiment were then (and remain today) controversial. Director Barbet Schroeder captures intimate footage of Koko, scholars, and her caretakers, leaving the viewer to be charmed by Koko and come to their own conclusions about whether a gorilla can and should be taught how to converse at a high level with humans. Join the Random Acts of Cinema Discord server ! *Come support the podcast and get yourself or someone you love a random gift at our . T-shirts, hoodies, mugs, stickers, and more! If you’d like to watch ahead for next week’s film, we will be discussing and reviewing Arthur Crabtree’s Fiend Without A Face (1958). /episode/index/show/randomactsofcinema/id/39216415

904 - Election (1999) 11/25/2025

904 - Election (1999) American masculinity is fully skewered. Finally. Actually, I guess everyone is skewered is Alexander Payne’s black-hearted comedy about a Midwest American high School student… election. Opinions are divided on this one. Join the Random Acts of Cinema Discord server ! *Come support the podcast and get yourself or someone you love a random gift at our . T-shirts, hoodies, mugs, stickers, and more! If you’d like to watch ahead for next week’s film, we will be discussing and reviewing Barbet Schroeder’s Koko: A Talking Gorilla (1978). /episode/index/show/randomactsofcinema/id/39159105

147 - In The Mood For Love (2002) 11/17/2025

147 - In The Mood For Love (2002) Wong Kar Wai brings us - way back - to lovelorn Hong Kong. Upon discovering that their spouses are having an affair with with one another, two neighbors strike up a sad acquaintance that soon blossoms into an unrequited affair of their own. Of course, this makes no sense because who would ever cheat on Tony Leung and Maggie Cheung? But that’s not really the point. The point is cigarette smoke and silk dresses. Join the Random Acts of Cinema Discord server ! *Come support the podcast and get yourself or someone you love a random gift at our . T-shirts, hoodies, mugs, stickers, and more! If you’d like to watch ahead for next week’s film, we will be discussing and reviewing Alexander Payne’s Election (1999). /episode/index/show/randomactsofcinema/id/39059925

LD59 - The Wizard of Oz (1939) 11/10/2025

LD59 - The Wizard of Oz (1939) I don’t think we’re in the standard spine numbers anymore, Toto… Because we’re returning to the Laser Disc collection with this all-timer. Are we doing this in honor of the upcoming release of the second Wicked movie? No. No we are not. Join the Random Acts of Cinema Discord server ! *Come support the podcast and get yourself or someone you love a random gift at our . T-shirts, hoodies, mugs, stickers, and more! If you’d like to watch ahead for next week’s film, we will be discussing and reviewing Wong Kar Wai’s In the Mood for Love (2000). /episode/index/show/randomactsofcinema/id/38977975

79 - W.C. Fields: 6 Short Films (1915-1933) 11/04/2025

79 - W.C. Fields: 6 Short Films (1915-1933) The most accurate description of this episode is that we review 6 Short Films starring W.C. Fields. The idea is that he’s arrogant jerk. That’s pretty much it. Join the Random Acts of Cinema Discord server ! *Come support the podcast and get yourself or someone you love a random gift at our . T-shirts, hoodies, mugs, stickers, and more! If you’d like to watch ahead for next week’s film, we will be discussing and reviewing Victor Fleming’s The Wizard of Oz (1939). /episode/index/show/randomactsofcinema/id/38902075

982 - Hedwig and the Angry Inch (2001) 10/27/2025

982 - Hedwig and the Angry Inch (2001) In 1989 the Berlin Wall fell. 3 months before this, in an act of desperate love, a sex-reassignment surgery was planned and subsequently botched. And a punk/drag icon was born. John Cameron Mitchell's Hedwig croons, screams, and stage-banters her way into our hearts. Don't let the fact that this is TECHNICALLY a rock opera (ugh) dissuade you from putting on your foam wig and experiencing this all-time indie classic. Join the Random Acts of Cinema Discord server ! *Come support the podcast and get yourself or someone you love a random gift at our . T-shirts, hoodies, mugs, stickers, and more! If you’d like to watch ahead for next week’s film, we will be discussing and reviewing W.C. Fields - 6 Short Films (1933). /episode/index/show/randomactsofcinema/id/38789245

667 - Seconds (1966) 10/20/2025

667 - Seconds (1966) Frankenhiemer returns to podcast with a… weird art film? Sort of. All of the paranoia, threatened masculinity, mid-century gloss, and decaying middle-class domesticity of The Manchurian Candidate remain, but the potboiler-thriller plot is replaced with… vibes. Join the Random Acts of Cinema Discord server ! *Come support the podcast and get yourself or someone you love a random gift at our . T-shirts, hoodies, mugs, stickers, and more! If you’d like to watch ahead for next week’s film, we will be discussing and reviewing John Cameron Mitchell’s Hedwig and the Angry Inch (2001). /episode/index/show/randomactsofcinema/id/38647400

1277 - Born In Flames (1983) 10/14/2025

1277 - Born In Flames (1983) Director Lizzie Borden dares to imagine a world in which promised egalitarian reform is achieved, just not for women. Women from all backgrounds, walks of life, and lifestyles debate, struggle, and eventually unite to fight against male repression in this documentary-style dystopian action/drama. If that doesn’t sell this movie to you, then how about this? 1980s, queer, punk, radical feminist, New York City. Join the Random Acts of Cinema Discord server ! *Come support the podcast and get yourself or someone you love a random gift at our . T-shirts, hoodies, mugs, stickers, and more! If you’d like to watch ahead for next week’s film, we will be discussing and reviewing John Frankenheimer’s Seconds (1966). /episode/index/show/randomactsofcinema/id/38580810

651 - Badlands (1973) 10/06/2025

651 - Badlands (1973) Our odd run of road movies continues with a classic from an American master. Terrence Mallick turns the couple-on-a-crime-spree sub genre into a deadpan fairy-tale with stirring visuals, iconic performances, and a meditative tone. Join the Random Acts of Cinema Discord server ! *Come support the podcast and get yourself or someone you love a random gift at our . T-shirts, hoodies, mugs, stickers, and more! If you’d like to watch ahead for next week’s film, we will be discussing and reviewing Lizzie Borden's Born in Flames (1983). /episode/index/show/randomactsofcinema/id/38478975

41 - Two-Lane Blacktop (1971) 10/01/2025

41 - Two-Lane Blacktop (1971) We return to Monte Hellman’s examination of American masculinity with a James Taylor and Dennis Wilson-starring road movie. Two nearly silent racers ramble across the American southwest, acquiring a disreputable father-figure, a notably underage girl, and a supporting cast of American weirdos. Vroom. Also join us for a bonus follow-up discussion now that Mike has finally watched Highest To Lowest (2025)! Join the Random Acts of Cinema Discord server ! *Come support the podcast and get yourself or someone you love a random gift at our . T-shirts, hoodies, mugs, stickers, and more! If you’d like to watch ahead for next week’s film, we will be discussing and reviewing Terrence Malick’s Badlands (1973). /episode/index/show/randomactsofcinema/id/38418940

24 - High and Low (1963) 09/23/2025

24 - High and Low (1963) In honor of Spike Lee’s… interesting… new adaptation, we return to the surprisingly satisfying sub genre of Akira-Kurosawa-crime-thriller with his two-movies-for-the-price-of-one kidnapping procedural. Join the Random Acts of Cinema Discord server ! *Come support the podcast and get yourself or someone you love a random gift at our . T-shirts, hoodies, mugs, stickers, and more! If you’d like to watch ahead for next week’s film, we will be discussing and reviewing Monte Hellman’s Two-Lane Blacktop (1971). /episode/index/show/randomactsofcinema/id/38323500

106 - Coup de Torchon (1981) 09/15/2025

106 - Coup de Torchon (1981) Bertrand Tavernier builds a lushly realized foundation around which to topple the poisonous heart of European colonialism. Whether our hapless police chief chooses deliberate inaction, working towards everyone’s best interests, or succumbing to his own selfish impulses, everything and everyone around him rots due to the fundamental moral corruption of racism. But, like, its a comedy. Join the Random Acts of Cinema Discord server ! *Come support the podcast and get yourself or someone you love a random gift at our . T-shirts, hoodies, mugs, stickers, and more! If you’d like to watch ahead for next week’s film, we will be discussing and reviewing Akira Kurosawa’s High and Low (1963). /episode/index/show/randomactsofcinema/id/38209475

679 - The Tale of Zatoichi (1962) 09/09/2025

679 - The Tale of Zatoichi (1962) Edo Japan. A town swarming with warring yakuza. And one detached, unstoppable blind swordsman caught in the middle. And Tate. Don’t forget about Tate. The legend of Tate starts here. Kenji Misumi brings Zatoichi to the screen, with beautiful staging, and soapy twists and turns. Long-time guest Max joins us to put it all into a historical perspective and to make an exciting podcast announcement! Join the Random Acts of Cinema Discord server ! *Come support the podcast and get yourself or someone you love a random gift at our . T-shirts, hoodies, mugs, stickers, and more! If you’d like to watch ahead for next week’s film, we will be discussing and reviewing Bertrand Tavernier’s Coup de Torchon (1981). /episode/index/show/randomactsofcinema/id/38138315

1115 - Adoption (1975) 09/01/2025

1115 - Adoption (1975) Hungarian director Marta Meszaros adds unprecedented depth, humanity, and a whole other meaning to the question asked in countless groan-worthy bumper stickers: “Who adopted who?” A lonely middle-aged widow is picked by a teenage girl from a nearby state-run home for children as a kindred spirit and unlikely ally. Identities like mother, daughter, friend, sister, confident, and advocate are intentionally and unintentionally tried on for size as both struggle against the constrictive demands of the well-meaning, but institutionally-bound men in their lives. Join the Random Acts of Cinema Discord server ! *Come support the podcast and get yourself or someone you love a random gift at our . T-shirts, hoodies, mugs, stickers, and more! If you’d like to watch ahead for next week’s film, we will be discussing and reviewing Kinjji Misumi’s The Tale of Zatoichi (1962). /episode/index/show/randomactsofcinema/id/38038675

Random Acts of Cinema

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