Christopher Nolan snuck into hollywood’s esteem with his own trojan horse promise to keep celluloid film alive, and deliver blockbuster event movies for the studios. Maintaining a strategic alliance with camera and theater licensor IMAX that began with his Batman trilogy, he’s anticipated an explosion in nostalgia for physical film and the big-scale exhibitions of the ‘50s and ‘60s, and he (and IMAX) have scored big by emphasizing the novelty of the format.

It’s hard to believe Nolan could win bigger than taking home Best Picture with Oppenheimer, but the gods have truly favored his adaptation of a western literature pillar, Homer’s Odyssey. We gather to discuss how Nolan ultimately spent his blank check, and what the film’s success suggests about audiences and the industry.

Next week: One Way or Another (1975) by Sara Gómez

Link to the mentioned episode of the Film Formally podcast on Large Format Myths

Link to the mentioned episode of Shelved by Genre about the history of epic literature

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Join us for a discussion of the life and work of one of Italy’s most well known and most controversial filmmakers, whether you’ve seen all his films or never even heard his name.

We touch on the history of italian cinema post-WWII, the nature of celebrity and scandal, and some of Pasolini’s films about pimps (Accattone), prophets (The Gospel According to Matthew), and the depraved (Salò, or the 120 Days of Sodom).

Next two weeks: One Way or Another (1975) by Sara Gómez, and then The Odyssey (2026) by Christopher Nolan

The mentioned review of Salò by Kyle Faulkner

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The ‘70s saw a new explosion of horror in the US, where the kinds of excessively violent and grotesque films previously restricted to small regional releases were seeing greater national success. The gulf was closing between a studio release like The Exorcist, and independent releases like The Texas Chain Saw Massacre and Dario Argento’s Deep Red, his first crossover success in the US in ‘76. His follow up, Suspiria, would be released in the US through an imprint by 20th Century Fox, and its reputation as an incomparable occult fantasia would place it in the company of oddities like The Holy Mountain and Eraserhead.

On this episode, we discuss our relationships to horror, giallo, and other strains of underground films. Afterwards 48:14 Zach shares his 5 albums from ‘77 to check out.

Next time: Salò (1975) by Pier Paolo Pasolini

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and Obsession (2025) from Curry Barker

Two horror films from first-time filmmakers are topping the box office, and we convened to compare them and discuss where contemporary horror succeeds and fails. Do we think Kane Parsons is poised to take over hollywood, or be a flash in the uncanny pan?

Spoilers for Backrooms throughout, spoilers for Obsession after 42:10

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When Sidney Lumet and Paddy Chayefsky were serving in WWII, television had yet to become the ubiquitous sight in every living room. Back home, folks were still going to the newsreel theaters to follow the war effort abroad, and in the UK, Chayefsky was putting on plays to entertain the fellow troops (Lumet had acted all through childhood but found himself stationed in SE Asia repairing radios instead of strutting the stage). In the years following the war, both men would find their showbiz breaks in the burgeoning TV broadcast industry, and both would translate that experience into filmmaking careers.

We find them in ‘76 joining forces to reflect on the medium they helped to legitimize, and on this episode, Zach and J Brooks are teaming up to interrogate the film’s reputation 50 years later. In the spirit of the movie, we also hash out our conflicted feelings about the podcast medium and internet media in general.

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Despite being a director phenom that won awards straight out of film school with her first film Heat (1963), Larisa Shepitko would soon learn that her conviction for telling grounded stories about ambivalent characters would not make her popular with state production committees and censorship boards in those soviet times. She was only in her early 30’s when she suffered a severe spinal injury and, while bedridden, read Vasil Bykaŭ’s WWII novel Sotnikov and felt a connection between the characters’ existential plight to survive the war physically and her own newfound spirituality when faced with her own mortality. Her final film, The Ascent, would be a harrowing reminder of what was lost in that war, and a universally applicable story of the search for solace in life and in death. Before she could begin shooting another film, Shepitko died in a car accident at 41 years old.

We discuss the ways the film upends expectation and we tackle its big questions about meaning, randomness, and moral judgement.

49:48 - And then we discuss Zach’s recommended albums to listen to from 1976!

Next week: Network (1976) by Sidney Lumet

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It’s time to talk about Travis Bickle. Paul Schrader, fresh out of film school and freshly divorced, wrote a script about what can happen to the isolated american man, and when paired with the maestro Martin Scorsese, this strange film about our assassination nation became a box office hit and a Best Picture nominee. We talk about the film’s cultural legacy, why it became canonized in the decades afterwards, and what it’s like to revisit such a ubiquitous film. Other topics include: porn theaters, composer Bernard Herrmann’s career, and why Quentin Tarantino takes issue with the film.

Next week: The Ascent (1976) by Larisa Shepitko, plus we’ll cover Zach’s 1976 album recommendations

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Heeeere’s Barry!

We last left Kubrick after his nuclear comedy blew critics and audiences away, and in the ‘70s we find him continuing to tackle hefty subjects with a devilish glee and a love of irony. His adaptation of a canonical English novel is garnering him critical focus and oscar nominations once again, but for decades after, Barry Lyndon will be one of his less acknowledged films.

On this episode, we take the opportunity to discuss the Barry legacy, both its influence and its reappreciation as of late, and find ourselves questioning how letterboxd (and a wider accessibility to films in general) changes our perspective on boys like Barry.

Next week: Taxi Driver (1976) by Martin Scorsese

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