increasingly, the court of public opinion through social media has the power to make or break a film. and the ubiquitous exposure of artists' personal foibles now serves as a legitimate form of film criticism. "Bad" people, so the argument goes, are not deserving of our attention, regardless of the quality of the work.  Some questions that arise in this discussion are:

-is it fair or right to equate the artist with the art?

-Does the art stand on its own, despite the biography of the artist?

-Can a film that has ideologically questionable aspects, still be a worthwhile work of art? 

-Is the censoring of artists, because of their personal flaws,  a form of social control, limiting what we can see, enjoy or find meaningful, or is it a necessary corrective to toxic masculinity, racism and cis conformity that has been allowed to run rampant for many decades?

Azed & Tom, discuss these questions and more, while focusing in on two specific films, Louis C.K. unreleased I Love You, Daddy and Andrew Dominik's much maligned, Blonde.  In Louis C.K.'s case his movie was cancelled following the news that- without consent-he exposed himself to numerous women.  Dominik's Blonde, a surreal meditation on Marilyn Monroe, was perhaps the most derided film from 2022, citing it's apparent misogyny, social media mobs ripped the film to shreds.  

Listen in and join the conversation or don't and just cancel us based on Azed's continued defense of The Dukes of Hazzard and their Confederate flag topped car named The General Lee. Just leave Tom Wopat alone!!

For our second episode of Out There in the Dark, Azed & Tom take a look at the films honoured by this year’s Academy Awards. Yeah, we know it’s months after they aired but hey, this is largely a vanity project for Azed and Tom, so shut it! 

As much as we find the Oscar’s an increasingly cringe-inducing affair, we figure if you’re going to do a movie podcast, you can’t avoid talking about them at some point. Everyone seems to have a love / hate relationship with the Oscars, and Azed & Tom are no exception. From an industry perspective, they have an incalculable effect on box office, peer recognition and they can make or break careers; from a cineaste’s perspective, they invite endless debate and controversy around the films that win, lose or are completely neglected.

Listen in and take a deep dive into why these films were honoured this year; if they deserved their awards or not; and what made them connect with audiences: the level of excess in Everything Everywhere All At Once, the pointed narcissism of the titular character of Tar, the empty pleasures of Top Gun: Maverick, the polarizing profundity of Triangle of Sadness, problematic representation in The Whale and the beauty and intelligence behind The Banshees of Inishirin - think on all of these as well as many other films and ideas. The Oscars are and always will be a cracked mirror, giving us a skewed, shattered reflection of cinema both as an industry and as an art form.

Note: Tom slapped Azed during the recording of this episode, in honour of last year’s best Oscar moment.

Welcome to the inaugural episode of Out There in the Dark.  In this episode, Azed & Tom discuss Sight & Sound's decennial poll of the Greatest Films of All Time and the seemingly out of nowhere elevation of a little known, 1970's experimental French feminist film to the number one spot.  Chantal Akerman's Jeanne Dielman, 23 quai du Commerce, 1080 Bruxelles, was released in 1975 to quiet acclaim within the halls of critical film discourse. A comfortable in-crowd of elite cineastes wrote, discussed and championed the 3+ hour film as a major artistic breakthrough in feminist cinema.  But whereas previous S&S top spot films, The Bicycle Thief, Citizen Kane and Vertigo are all accessible narratives, Akerman's film is not.  A 3+ hour film where there is very little dialogue, the camera is mostly still and the "story" unfolds through a highly structured look at the domestic chores of a largely inscrutable protagonist isn't necessarily going to appeal to the Marvel crowd. While the synopsis of Jeanne Dielman may make it sound like a chore, it really isn't.  Akerman's masterpiece holds the viewer in a state of hypnotic suspense.  it is almost impossible to make a film that captures the audience's attention to this degree, it is a miracle when it is achieved by a 24 year old female artist.

As Jessica Winter wrote in the New Yorker, "The Sight and Sound tabulations are a striking turn of events, representing a consensus that one of the pinnacle films ever produced in an overwhelmingly male-dominated art form was made by a young woman, with a crew mostly made up of women, starring a middle-aged woman, about women’s work."