Barred Movies

Hey hey movies lovers and fascism haters! In this episode, movie nerd extraordinaire Brice Puls joins Kelly and Brandon to discuss the 4K restoration of the 1971 movie The Devils, directed by Ken Russell. Generally considered one of the most controversial movies of all time, The Devils is adapted in part from the 1952 Aldous Huxley non-fiction book The Devils of Loudun which discusses the events of the alleged possessions in Loudon, France, in 1634. Basically, a priest named Urbain Grandier was accused of seducing an entire convent of nuns. He faced a tribunal and was acquitted; once he spoke out against Cardinal Richelieu, however, he was tortured, found guilty, and executed by being burned alive. The film initially garnered an X rating in the US and the UK due to its graphic portrayal of violence and sex in conjunction with religion. It was outright banned in several countries, and heavily edited in others. Warner Bros. recently released a 4K restoration of the director’s cut for theatrical release, which includes the infamous "r*pe of Jesus" scene, and this is the version we discuss. Topics include: Working with Ken Russell Oliver Reed's work ethicFather Grandier's magical dick Making the censors happy We paired our discussion with a cocktail called Devil's Margarita from liquor.com. It's bright, balanced, and if you get the float right, beautiful. Even if you don't (and I didn't quite nail it for this picture), it's still pretty damn tasty. Cheers! 

Hey hey movie lovers and fascism haters! Emmy-nominated filmmaker and fellow Chicagoan Melissa Fox joins us to discuss the 1982 Canadian short documentary film If You Love This Planet directed by Terre Nash. It features anti-nuclear war activist Dr. Helen Caldicott as she gives a lecture on the dangers of nuclear weapons. At the time, the Canadian Broadcasting Corporations didn't air the film because it "didn't give a balanced view of the topic." They couldn't find anyone to argue for the use of nukes, however. The US Department of Justice required the American distributors of the film to register as foreign agents. We also discuss the Oscar-nominated 1988 documentary Radio Bikini that covers the nuclear tests on Bikini Atoll. Listen in as we discuss: If You Love This Planet versus Radio BikiniWho gets nominated for awards and who gets essentially banned Whose stories get told, who gets to tell them, and whyThe inherent manipulativeness of stories versus intentional propaganda The political "pay to play" nature of major awardsThe dangers of allowing artificial intelligence control our nuclear arsenal Nolan fanboysSince a nuclear holocaust would devastate the Earth's natural resources, we paired our discussion with a tall glass of luxurious ice water. Cheers! 

Hey hey movie lovers and fascism haters! Listen in as Neighbor Sai and Neighbor Phil join Kelly and Brandon in discussing the infamously horrific movie A Serbian Film.TRIGGER WARNING TRIGGER WARNING TRIGGER WARNINGSeriously, before we go on, please know there aren't enough trigger warnings for this episode. Themes include sexual assault, femicide, pedophilia, necrophilia, and family annihilation. We actually can't recommend watching this one before you listen. And, honestly, if any of the themes bring up trauma for you, don't even listen. Now that that's out of the way ... A Serbian Film is a 2010 horror movie about an aging porn star that gets a job offer for a movie that will set up his family--and his son--for life. The catch? He can't see a script or know anything about the film before he commits. He loves his family and wants to be a provider, so he agrees. This goes about as well as you'd expect. This film has been banned in numerous countries, including Ireland, New Zealand, Australia, and Norway. In order to be released in the UK and US, the filmmakers had to remove 6 minutes of footage, and even then received an NC-17 rating. We had to buy a physical copy in order to watch it, and honestly? It's okay that it's hard to find and nearly impossible to stream. Buying it likely put us on a list somewhere, and you know what? That's fine by us. It should be hard to get your hands on this one. Because of the infamous nature of this movie, we recorded this episode in three parts: the intro is before watching the film, the middle section was recorded right after viewing, and the meat of the discussion was recorded ten days later. As such, we have 3 cocktail pairings. Part 1: a shot of Malort. Much like this movie, Malort is a one-time-only experience for a most people. Part 2: a shot of Navip Slivovitz, a Serbian plum brandy We felt it was important to highlight Serbia and toast using a classic drink from the region. Part 3: a riff on an Aviation subbing out the cherry liqueur with the Serbian plum brandy. 2 oz gin1 oz plum brandy1 oz lemon juice1/4 oz creme de violette (we tried a version with apricot liqueur, but we like the classic better)Shake all ingredients in a shaker tin with ice and pour into a chilled glass. Cheers! *Production note: the third section was recorded on a Hot Day In Chicago, and as such, we couldn't fully edit out the air conditioner noise ... so the first and last part of the third section is a bit choppy on the ears. Bear with us! **Musical interludes: "Industrial Beat (Reconnaissance)" by Dylan Kelk/SilverIllusionist (Freesound)

Hey hey movies lovers and fascism haters! Filmmaker, writer, and all around great guy Bryan Young joins co-hosts Kelly Swails and Brandon Wilhelm to discuss a few movies directed by and featuring two silent-era giants: Mabel Normand and Charlie Chaplin. Topics include: How fast the movie industry changed during the silent eraHow without Normand, we wouldn't have ChaplinWhy each of these filmmakers saw their movies get banned during their careerWho gets to be forgiven and who gets to have a legacy (hint: it's usually not women creatives)The last time Kelly bought sloe gin On that note, let's discuss the cocktail we paired with our discussion. When Charlie Chaplin exploded onto the Hollywood scene, the famed Waldorf-Astoria hotel in New York City created his namesake cocktail. It's surprisingly light, refreshing, not too sweet, and fairly low-ABV as cocktails go. We would totally batch this for a silent movie viewing party. We may rename it The Mabel Normand when and if we do that. You know what? There are no rules. This cocktail is called the Mabel Normand now. The Mabel Normand1 oz sloe gin1 oz apricot liqueur1 oz lime juiceAdd all ingredients to a shaker tin with ice. Shake until frosty and pour into a chilled glass. Garnish with a dried lime wheel or a lime twist, if you like. 

Hey movie lovers and fascism haters! Our latest episode of Barred Movies isn't a movie at all but an episode of the original Twilight Zone series. Join hosts Brandon Wilhelm and Kelly Swails and guest Dacey Arashiba as they discuss "The Encounter." This episode first aired on May 1st, 1964 and features Neville Brand as a WWII veteran, George Takei as a Japanese-American man looking for landscaping work, and a stolen katana that may or may not be out for revenge. We paired our chat with a bottle of Moon on the Water sake; we chose this one because it was brewed using water from Hiroshima. Cheers! Also, a production note: we recently upgraded our audio equipment (yay!) but the new microphones are quite sensitive, which resulted in interference when we hit the table for emphasis. Please be patient as we work out the kinks. 

Hey hey movie lovers and fascism haters!! Our latest Barred Movies episode features Kelly Swails, Brandon Wilhelm, and movie nerd extraordinaire Brice Puls discussing the not-banned-but-very-controversial 80's movie Twilight Zone: the Movie, including the tragic helicopter accident that killed two children and one adult during filming. Highlights include:Cocaine-fueled New Hollywood directorsAuteur theoryThe genius of the original Twilight Zone seriesPowerful rich men getting away with literal murderWe paired this one with two cocktails. In "honor" of John Landis and the rampant cocaine use in 1980s Hollywood, we chose a cocktail called California Cocaine. We left out the pineapple juice and poured it as a shot. It's terrible and we can't recommend it.1/2 oz blue curacao1/2 oz light rum1/2 oz Southern Comfort1/2 oz amarettoShake over ice and pour into a shot glass. Drink at your own peril.And since caffeine is our current stimulant of choice now, we went with an Espresso Martini. There are literally dozens of recipes for this out there in cocktail land, but ours is as follows:1 oz espresso (decaf is fine here!)1 oz Mr. Black coffee liquer1 oz vodkadash of chocolate bittersShake over ice and pour into a chilled coupe glass. This can be endlessly modified. Want a bit more body? Add 1/2 oz amaro. Sweetness? Add a bit of simple syrup. Into licorice? Sub out the vodka with ouzo and use orange bitters instead of chocolate. Don't have an espresso machine? Use strong cold brew. You get the idea. 

Welcome, friends, to our discussion of Scorsese's The Last Temptation of Christ. Join Brandon Wilhelm, Kelly Swails, and guest Bartender Riley as we dissect the story of Christ. Discussion points include (but are not limited to): Judas: friend or foe?Mary Magdalene: whore, disciple, or somewhere in between? Jesus's carpentry work for the Romans Harvey Keitel's Brooklyn accentand more! Oh, and if you'd like to drink with us, Bartender Riley created a drink! It's a riff on the Corpse Reviver no. 2 (heh heh) dubbed The Resurrection. If you can't source the Koval, you can likely sub in another ginger liqueur. And if you can't find Malort, near you, never fear: you can order it straight from the source. London dry gin will absolutely work, but if you have a gin with citrus/grapefruit notes, use that. The Resurrection1 oz gin 1 oz Malort (trust us)1 oz Koval Ginger1/4 oz demerara syrupAdd all ingredients to a shaker tin filled with ice; shake until the tin is frosty. Strain into a chilled coupe glass and enjoy. 

Hello world! The first Banned Movies podcast is here. Our guest is alcohol professional Ambrosia Borowski, and the movie is Birth of a Nation. If you'd like to make the cocktail we've paired with this discussion to drink along with us, here it is. White LadyThe Savoy Cocktail Book version:1/4 part lemon juice1/4 part Cointreau1/2 part dry ginShake well and strain into a cocktail glass. The Barred Movies version:1/2 ounce of lemon juice 3/4 ounce of Cointreau1-1/2 ounces of dry ginShake well and strain (double strain, if you're particular about lemon pulp) into a chilled Nick and Nora and garnish with a lemon peel. Take a sip, kick back, and listen to our wide-ranging discussion about this racist-as-fuck movie.