Beer and a Movie

241: Of Communists and Creativity - Tetris/Man with a Movie Camera

We take on Apple TV's latest feature film, Tetris, which dramatizes the surprising yet telling story of how one of the most popular video games of all time came from out of the waning moments of the Soviet Union to become the global phenomenon that it is now. The timing is perfect for us to do one more film on the 2022 Sight and Sound list, Man with a Movie Camera, an experimental documentary that despite receiving mixed reviews upon its release in 1928 has come to be seen as a trailblazing and foundational piece of filmmaking in the 95 years since its arrival. It's cinematic creativity meets communism this week on Beer and a Movie!

240: Choreography in the Rain - John Wick Chapter 4/Singin’ in the Rain

After numerous delays, the 4th chapter of the John Wick series has finally arrived on the screens of our multiplexes, and we offer our thoughts on this latest installment and the franchise overall. Our second film is the one currently sitting in the 10th spot of the 2022 Sight & Sound poll, the classical Hollywood musical, Singin' in the Rain. It's a week of glorious cinematography, rain-drenched sets, stunning choreography, and, of course, some (hopefully) delicious beers, this week on Beer and a Movie!

239: I Had a Dream About This Place - Twin Peaks: Fire Walk with Me/Mulholland Drive

This week finds us delving back into the singularly visionary mind of David Lynch as we approach Mulholland Drive, a film that wasn't initially intended to be a film but that nonetheless is now ranked as the 8th best of all time in the 2022 Sight & Sound poll, and we pair it with an earlier film that also had its origins in televisual storytelling. Playing with tropes of soap opera, police procedurals, and horror, these  aren't always the easiest for casual viewers to digest, but your intrepid hosts - along with returning guest Harold Ramos - do their best to parse through these thorny and often cryptic films tinged with sly humor and indelible sights and sounds.

238: Djibouti Shorts - Both Sides of the Blade/Beau Travail

Claire Denis had wowed us back in episode 45 when we reviewed her then-new-release, High Life, but it has taken our Sight & Sound catch-up journey to get us back to the writer/director's unique cinematic perspectives. To pair with her 1999 film Beau Travail (#7 on the 2022 poll), we look at one(!) of her two features from 2022, Both Sides of the Blade, starring BaaM faves Juliette Binoche (High Life) and Vincent Lindon (Titane) as well as Gregoire Colin, who also appears in Beau Travail. Its all about grown-up drama and cinematic style this week on BaaM, but you may want to put on your dancing shoes, just to be safe.

237: Observing Humanity - EO/Tokyo Story

With the streaming arrival of 2022 critical favorite EO, we took the opportunity to look at this rather unorthodox Polish film which provides glimpses of the range of human behavior, especially as pertains to treatment of animals, through the eyes of the titular donkey at its center. As our companion film, we review our fifth overall from the top ten of the 2022 Sight and Sound critics poll, Yasujiro Ozu's Tokyo Story from 1953, a classic of Japanese cinema that offers a methodical and patient peek at a dispersed family, tapping into some very relatable themes of generational drift and disconnect. Helping Dave and Joe wade through all this are returning guest Kyle Ferguson, our first proper Czech beer (sorry, Poland!), and a return visit to Hitachino Nest to see if can overcome the spoiled offering we had tried waaaaaay back in episode 5. It's a packed episode. Do it up! 

236: The Platonic Ideal of Cinema - Cocaine Bear/In the Mood for Love

Forget Wong Kar-Wai's whip pans, this episode may cause some whiplash with its shifting between its A- and B-pictures. First up is the horror comedy of Cocaine Bear, currently burning up the box office during a relative lull in new releases. We follow it with our first review in a series that has us playing catch-up with the top ten films of the newest iteration of the Sight & Sound critics' list that we had not already addressed on past episodes. That has us looking at Wong's In the Mood for Love, a romantic drama that has impressed critics and (niche) audiences alike since its initial arrival in the year 2000 (yes, read that in LaBamba's voice). All this with beers from a new-to-us brewery, Family Business Brewing, and our returning guest, Anthony Zoccolillo. Cheers!

235: It’s BaaMies Time!

It's that time of year again! Your hosts have done their level best to take in as many films released in 2022 as they possibly could and to look back at the beers they had reviewed in that year as well. They are now ready to share their personal preferences and other assorted thoughts on the year, along with some fun diversions. It's a jam-packed episode with none other than BaaM's former producer/host Carlos returning for all the fun!

234: Netflix Noms - All Quiet on the Western Front (2022)/Bardo, False Chronicle of a Handful of Truths

In our final episode before our 2022 year end wrap-up, The BaaMies, we look at two films that are in the mix for Academy Awards. The (anti-)war film All Quiet on the Western Front has 9 nods, mostly focused on more technical aspects of filmmaking, but also including Best Picture - an award that the 1930 adaptation of the same novel had received long ago. The harder to classify Bardo, from Alejandro Iñárritu, is in the mix for Best Cinematography. With returning guest Josh Deleon we offer our thoughts on these films that might still be able to sneak onto our end of the year lists.

233: Collective Power - Women Talking/She Said

Sarah Polley's latest effort, Women Talking, is currently in limited release as a nominee for Best Picture and Best Adapted Screenplay. BaaM invited a crackerjack panel of returning guests - Emily Suggs (Episode 205) and Kailey Diaz (Episodes 216 and 228) - along with one new guest, psychologist Dr. Pam Brouillard, to discuss it over, you guessed it, some beer. As a second film, we look at She Said, a dramatization of the investigative reporting that led to the downfall of Harvey Weinstein, that is now streaming on Peacock. 

232: Vacation, Had to Get Away - Infinity Pool/Aftersun

We go on holiday this week with two films with resorts as their settings. Brandon Cronenberg's latest, Infinity Pool, is a speculative horror trip that charts the experience of a struggling writer who stumbles into a sort of tourism that goes beyond any we've ever before seen on screen. Aftersun is the debut feature of Charlotte Wells, offering a semi-autobiographical look at a moment in a father-daughter relationship that takes on more gravity as the daughter looks back at it many years in the future. Lots to discuss and some fine beers to sip, so get on your cabana wear and settle in with us by the pool, won't you?