Chungking Express (1994)

There are always spoilers. Listen as we march down a hill next to Timothee Chalamet while screaming about how much we love Little Women. We discuss what we've been watching (Godard, anyone?), and then we get into which is our favorite March sister, why their mother's name was Marmee, and which husband was the hottest. Oh, and how unbelievably strange it is to be alive and a woman at any time in history ever. Intro and outro music by Bodyman.

There are always spoilers. We don't like Rise of Skywalker. It's coarse and rough and irritating and it isn't very satisfying.  This one's loose on format, heavy on disappointment. Hold on to your butts. Intro and outro music by Bodyman.

For episode 5 of The Parallax Review, we discuss Rian Johnson's latest movie, Knives Out with our mouths full of donut holes.  But first, we talk about what we've been watching: Marriage Story, Easy Rider, Honeyboy, You've Got Mail, King of New York, Ocean's Twelve, Eureka.  Then, we bring the knives out and talk Knives Out. Was it a successful update of the ensemble cozy mystery oeuvre?  Later, we spoil the hell out of the first four episodes of The Mandalorian. Spoiler alert: the show's not good, y'all! There are always spoilers. Shownotes: Maria recommends visiting Phoenix, AZ. Charles recommends a blog, New Economic Perspectives.

What a difference a movie makes. After watching Chungking Express, we became instant Wong Kar-wai fans. We talk about the finesse required to capture the intangibility of dreams, "Dreams" by The Cranberries, and how Wong Kar-wai uses repetition to define a character's inner life. There are always spoilers. Shownotes: Spoilers for Takeshi Kitano's Sonatine - (1:03:33 to 1:04:10) (1:40:06) Anki flashcards app (1:41:35) Radio Rentals podcast

We recorded this episode while running down ten flights of stairs in the pouring rain. We talk about what it means to be a #goodperson, the thing people actually hate about gentrification but can never name, spoons, and, you know, capitalism and stuff.  There are always spoilers.  Our intro + outro music is by Bodyman.  Shownotes: (00:27:36) No Such Thing as a Free Gift: The Gates Foundation and the Price of Philanthropy by Linsey McGoey (00:48:57) NYT article: 'Parasite' and South Korea's Income Gap (01:06:02) 80s horror movie Society (1:08:20) Jordan Peele’s Us vs. The Twilight Zone "Mirror Image" episode (1:24:05) The War on Cars podcast (1:26:10) Deng Xiaoping: A Revolutionary Life audiobook  

Would that it were so simple! We get hot and sweaty with Joel and Ethan Coen's first film, Blood Simple.  We discuss what the term "general audience" really means and try to figure out why the same old Four Tops song plays repeatedly in the film and what it means. What makes a movie seem "constructed" or not? What ideas are the Coen brother's trying to get us to buy into, if any? How you gonna leave your lighter under the fish, Visser?! There are always spoilers. Our intro + outro music is by Bodyman. Shownotes: Maria was too lazy to look up whether or not Tom Cruise likes to say the name of the movie he is in during the movie. But she's almost positive that never happens and Charles is full of hot Texas air. Salon article about Blood Simple: https://www.salon.com/2016/06/28/secrets_of_blood_simple_the_devious_neo_noir_classic_is_more_complicated_than_it_looks/ Charlie's recommendation: The Higher Brothers album Five Stars Maria's recommendation: Zebras In America podcast + Pinnland Empire blog

In the first episode of The Parallax Review, we drag ourselves out of the alley in which we were just beaten to a pulp to ask: why is this Joker so serious? We discuss Todd Phillips' amazing sense of humor,  give Conner O'Malley the praise he deserves, and try to figure out whether or not Joker soup would actually be good. Our intro + outro music is by Bodyman. There are always spoilers.