Ticket Stubs

Just when you thought it was safe to turn the page, Ticket Stubs returns for another edition of our annual Spooktober Spooktacular with a double feature of literary nightmares and the terrifying consequences of fiction bleeding into reality: Rob Reiner's Misery (1990) and John Carpenter's In the Mouth of Madness (1994). Join us as we descend into the twisted minds of obsessive fans, tormented writers, and perhaps a few unspeakable cosmic horrors, exploring how these two wildly different takes on literary anxieties turn the creative process into a waking nightmare. But before we lose ourselves between the pages, our Blue Plate Special offers a frightfully packed assortment of cinematic treats, including discussions of new releases Primetime, Digger, The Social Reckoning, Teenage Sex and Death at Camp Miasma, The Devils, and You Can See Everything. We also take a moment to remember the life and career of the late Tom Skerritt. Whether you're spending Halloween trapped in a snowbound Colorado cabin or wandering the streets of a New England town that may or may not exist, we hope you'll join us for another helping of seasonal cinematic madness! As always, please like, subscribe, rate, and review us on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, YouTube, and wherever else you listen! Got thoughts or questions? Email us at [email protected].

This week, Ticket Stubs descends into the shadowy underbelly of late-20th-century America with a double feature of two provocative, deeply uneasy journeys into worlds hidden just beneath the surface: Paul Schrader’s Hardcore (1979) and William Friedkin’s Cruising*(1980). Join us as we follow two very different men venturing far outside the boundaries of their familiar lives, examining how Schrader and Friedkin turn their respective trips through sexual subcultures into unsettling explorations of obsession, repression, and identity. But before heading underground, our Blue Plate Special keeps us firmly planted in the here and now with a particularly packed assortment of movie chatter. We discuss Tony and the long, strange journey of Coyote vs. Acme, before turning our attention toward two recent horror-actioners in Onslaught and Resident Evil. Finally, we look beyond the big screen with some thoughts on the upcoming television adaptation of Bret Easton Ellis’s The Shards. As always, please like, subscribe, rate, and review us on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, YouTube, and wherever else you listen! Got thoughts or questions? Email us at [email protected].

This week, Ticket Stubs turns its gaze toward the American past with a double feature of two recent films determined to look at history from decidedly unconventional angles: RaMell Ross’s formally audacious Nickel Boys and Kelly Reichardt’s quietly offbeat The Mastermind. Join us as we consider the radically different ways these filmmakers look at only recently bygone eras of American life. But first, our Blue Plate Special hits the road as we recount our recent pilgrimage to Phoenixville, Pennsylvania for Blobfest, celebrating all things The Blob amid one of the great gatherings of cult movie fandom, before heading west to the Monroeville Mall outside Pittsburgh to wander the hallowed shopping grounds where George A. Romero filmed his 1978 zombie classic Dawn of the Dead. From there, we return to the present, and venture a little further into the future, with thoughts on The Odyssey before cracking open the release calendar to preview some of the movies we're most anticipating throughout the remainder of the year. As always, please like, subscribe, rate, and review us on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, YouTube, and wherever else you listen! Got thoughts or questions? Email us at [email protected].

With this episode's double feature, we decided to pair two revisionist genre masterworks from opposite sides of the globe: Kihachi Okamoto’s The Sword of Doom (1966) and Sam Peckinpah’s The Wild Bunch (1969). Though separated by culture, setting, and weaponry, both films offer blistering end-of-an-era commentaries that dismantle the myths surrounding their respective genres. Join us as we examine doomed antiheroes, collapsing moral codes, and the violent reckonings that emerge when old worlds refuse to quietly fade away. Before crossing paths with nihilistic ronin and aging outlaws, our Blue Plate Special returns with a fresh helping of cinematic and otherwise timely discussion. We share some thoughts on the ongoing World Cup, unpack Quentin Tarantino’s recent comments on the current state of Hollywood cinema, and offer reviews of several new releases, including Backrooms, I Love Boosters, and Disclosure Day. As always, please like, subscribe, rate, and review us on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, YouTube, and wherever else you listen! Got thoughts or questions? Email us at [email protected]. https://thebigwblog.wordpress.com/2026/06/01/__trashed/ https://thebigwblog.wordpress.com/2026/06/07/check-those-corners-parsing-out-kane-parsonss-backrooms/ https://thebigwblog.wordpress.com/2026/06/15/mundo-trasho-world-cup-2026-report-week-1-rip-the-script/

Ahead of Memorial Day weekend, Ticket Stubs heads to the front lines with a towering double feature of modern war epics: Steven Spielberg’s Saving Private Ryan (1998) and Terrence Malick’s The Thin Red Line (1998). Though released within months of one another, the two films approach warfare from radically different angles: one through visceral spectacle and brotherhood under fire, the other through meditative existential reflection and the fragile relationship between man and nature. Join us as we examine how these companion pieces helped redefine the modern war film while wrestling with memory, sacrifice, violence, and the impossibility of making sense of the defining conflict of the 20th century. Before storming the beaches and wandering the tall grass, our Blue Plate Special returns with a fresh batch of cinematic chatter. This time around, we share thoughts on a slate of recent releases, including Maggie Gyllenhaal’s long-awaited The Bride!, Lee Cronin’s new take on The Mummy, the mysterious romantic drama The Drama, the music-fueled fever dream Mother Mary, and the psychological horror thriller Obsession. Whether you’re spending Memorial Day revisiting war movie classics or simply looking for a thoughtful cinematic pairing to kick off the summer season, we’re glad to have you with us. As always, please like, subscribe, rate, and review us on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, YouTube, and wherever else you listen! Got thoughts or questions? Email us at [email protected].

The Oscars may have come and gone, the speeches have been made, and the dust has (mostly) settled—but here at Ticket Stubs, we’re not quite finished with 2025 just yet. A little late, perhaps, but right on time where it counts, we’re officially closing the book on the cinematic year that was with our 3rd Annual Harry Dean Awards—the true final word on awards season. Join us as we take one last affectionate look back at the highs, lows, and, above all else, the most memorable moments in film from the past year. From defining performances and standout directorial efforts to our favorite oddball distinctions, returning legends, and everything in between, we sort through a wide array of categories both heartfelt and slightly irreverent. As always, it all builds toward our ultimate honors: Filmmaker of the Year and Film of the Year. Awards season may have crowned its winners—but now it’s our turn to have the final say. As always, please like, subscribe, rate, and review us on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, YouTube, and wherever else you listen! Got thoughts or questions? Email us at [email protected]

Belated but better late than never: Ticket Stubs officially kicks off 2026 with a double feature of icy, unnerving thrillers. This time around, we pair Otto Preminger’s paranoid vanishing act Bunny Lake Is Missing (1965) with David Fincher’s bleak, meticulous adaptation of The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo (2011). Across decades and continents, both films ask the same quietly terrifying question: what happens when no one believes you? Join us as we unravel questions of identity, credibility, obsession, and the cold machinery of institutions that would rather look away than look closer. Before the mystery deepens, our Blue Plate Special returns with the usual cinematic smorgasbord. We share thoughts on new releases Send Help and Crime 101, take time to remember the lives and careers of Catherine O’Hara and Bud Cort, and hear Levi’s early-stage reflections on diving into David Foster Wallace's Infinite Jest. We also offer what are almost certainly already-outdated predictions for Super Bowl 60—because what’s a new year without at least one confidently incorrect take? Whether you’re here for missing children, hackers with dragons tattooed on their backs, or just the comfortable chaos of our opening chatter, we’re glad to be starting 2026 with you. As always, please like, subscribe, rate, and review us on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, YouTube, and wherever else you listen! Got thoughts or questions? Email us at [email protected].

As the year winds down and the calendar flips over, we’re ringing in the New Year with a special bonus episode dedicated to one of our favorite—and most elusive—writers: Thomas Pynchon. In this New Year’s Eve edition of Ticket Stubs, we gather to talk about what Pynchon’s work has meant to us over the years, why his voice remains so singular in modern literature, and how his obsessions with paranoia, the past, and slapstick continue to resonate. From there, we dive into One Battle After Another, the recent adaptation of Vineland from director Paul Thomas Anderson, another favorite of ours. Then, we share our thoughts on Pynchon’s long-awaited new novel, Shadow Ticket, before closing things out by putting our cards on the table with our own personal rankings of his novels. Whether you’re a longtime Pynchon devotee, a curious newcomer, or just looking to close out the year with a little chaos and conspiratorial joy, we hope you’ll spend what's left of 2025, or perhaps even the earliest part of 2026...or actually anytime in the foreseeable (or not?) future...with us. Any and all digressions are welcome when it comes to discussing this artist and his work. And believe me, we take digressions aplenty! As always, please like, subscribe, rate, and review us on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, YouTube, and wherever else you listen. Got thoughts or questions? Email us at [email protected].

It’s that time of year again—when we gather by the fire, sip something warm, and queue up… movies that *technically* take place at Christmas. This week, we’re unwrapping two not-quite-but-definitely-set-during-the-holidays classics: Stanley Kubrick’s eerie yuletide odyssey Eyes Wide Shut (1999) and Steven Spielberg’s breezy cat-and-mouse charmer Catch Me If You Can (2002). While neither film is exactly “festive,” both use the holiday season to cast their stories in a glow equal parts melancholic and mischievous. Before diving into our gift-wrap-adjacent double feature, our Blue Plate Special is packed with plenty of cinematic goodies waiting under the tree. We break down the eyebrow-raising possibility of Warner Bros. being sold to either Netflix or Paramount/Skydance—and what such a shake-up could mean for the future of the film industry. We also share our thoughts on several recent releases we’ve caught (Sentimental Value, The History of Sound, Jay Kelly, and Pavements), react to Quentin Tarantino’s recent comments about Paul Dano and 21st-century cinema, relive our theatrical experience seeing Kill Bill: The Whole Bloody Affair, and pay tribute to the recent losses of Cary-Hiroyuki Tagawa, Jim Ward, Jeff Garcia, Peter Greene, and the legendary Rob Reiner. As always, please like, subscribe, rate, and review us on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, YouTube, and wherever else you listen! Got thoughts or questions? Email us at [email protected].

New name, same show! Overlapping Dialogue is now Ticket Stubs—your go-to stop for double features, deep dives, and all things cinema. This week, we’re celebrating Noirvember in style with a pairing that bridges the past and present of the crime genre: John Boorman’s cold-blooded, acid-tinged revenge saga Point Blank (1967) and Steve McQueen’s taut, politically charged heist thriller Widows (2018). Listen as we dissect their hardboiled aesthetics, fractured moral codes, and the surprisingly emotional depths lurking beneath their genre trappings. But first, on this week’s Blue Plate Special, we take a moment to review the brand-new reimagining of The Running Man and share a rundown of upcoming fall releases we're most excited to catch—just in time for awards season. To all our listeners: we’re thankful for your continued support and wish everyone a very happy Thanksgiving! As always, please like, subscribe, rate, and review us on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, YouTube, and wherever else you listen! Got thoughts or questions? Email us at [email protected].