Blockbusters and Birdwalks
At Blockbusters and Birdwalks, you’ll listen to reviews and conversations about all kinds of movies, from Academy Award winners to exploitation masterpieces with a mix of commercial hits and obscure favorites thrown in for good measure. The point is recognizing that movies present our culture with the building blocks of social memory, enabling each of us to enjoy ourselves because movies are fun.
Episodes
126 episodes since 2020
1971, a conversation – “Carnal Knowledge”
This is part of a series about movies from 1971. ***Referenced media:“The Big Doll House” (Jack Hill, 1971)“A Beautiful Mind” (Ron Howard, 2001)“Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf?” (Mike Nichols, 19...
September 18, 2024
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25:52
1971, a conversation – “The Beguiled”
This is part of a series about movies from 1971. ***Referenced media:“The Big Doll House” (Jack Hill, 1971)“Song of the South” (Harve Foster and Wilfred Jackson, 1946)“The Birth of a Nation” (D.W...
September 05, 2024
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25:29
1971, a conversation – “Duck, You Sucker!”
This is part of a series about movies from 1971. ***Referenced media:“The Big Doll House” (Jack Hill, 1971)“The Wild Bunch” (Sam Peckinpah, 1969)“Jules and Jim” (Francois Truffaut, 1962)...
August 16, 2024
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21:30
1971, a conversation – “The Decameron”
This is part of a series about movies from 1971. ***Referenced media:“The Big Doll House” (Jack Hill, 1971)“The Devils” (Ken Russell, 1971)“Salò, or the 120 Days of Sodom” (Pier Paolo Pasolini, 1...
August 01, 2024
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22:01
1971, a conversation – “Punishment Park”
This is part of a series about movies from 1971. ***Referenced media:“The Big Doll House” (Jack Hill, 1971)“The Omega Man” (Boris Sagal, 1971)“The Last Movie” (Dennis Hopper, 1971)“The F...
July 19, 2024
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28:46
1971, a conversation – “The Devils”
This is part of a series about movies from 1971. ***Referenced media:“The Big Doll House” (Jack Hill, 1971)“Crimes of Passion” (Ken Russell, 1984)“Deep Throat” (Gerard Damiano, 1972)“Beh...
July 02, 2024
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27:27
1971, a conversation – “McCabe & Mrs. Miller”
This is part of a series about movies from 1971. ***Referenced media:“The Big Doll House” (Jack Hill, 1971)“Benson” (Susan Harris, 1979-1986)“First Cow” (Kelly Reichardt, 2019)“Dances wi...
June 17, 2024
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29:43
1971, a conversation – “Klute”
This is part of a series about movies from 1971. ***Referenced media:“The Big Doll House” (Jack Hill, 1971)“The Deuce” (George Pelecanos and David Simon, 2017-2019)“Halloween” (John Carpenter, 19...
May 31, 2024
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25:58
1971, a conversation – “Bananas”
This is part of a series about movies from 1971. ***Referenced media:“The Big Doll House” (Jack Hill, 1971)“The Muppet Show” (Jim Henson, 1976-1981)“The Benny Hill Show” (Benny Hill, 1955-1989)
May 16, 2024
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16:36
1971, a conversation – “The Andromeda Strain”
This is part of a series about movies from 1971. ***Referenced media:“The Big Doll House” (Jack Hill, 1971)“Jurassic Park” (Steven Spielberg, 1993)“The X-Files” (Chris Carter, 1993-2002, 2016-2018)<...
May 03, 2024
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25:07
“Mom and Dad” (1945), a conversation about a Blockbuster
Garrett Chaffin-Quiray and Ed Rosa learn something new about the birds and the bees: avoid “the Great Imitator”.***Referenced media:“Johnny Dangerously” (Amy Heckerling, 1984)“Gone with the Wind” (Victor Flemi...
April 04, 2024
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26:26
“She Done Him Wrong” (1933), a conversation
Garrett Chaffin-Quiray and Ed Rosa glory in Mae West as the avatar of Pre-Code Hollywood***Referenced media:“Looney Tunes” (Leon Schlesinger, Hugh Harman, and Rudolf Ising, 1930-now)“Angels with Dirty Face” (M...
March 21, 2024
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25:33
“Airport” (1970), a conversation about a Blockbuster
Garrett Chaffin-Quiray and Ed Rosa embrace a soap opera in the sky.***Referenced media:“Airplane!” (Jim Abrahams, David Zucker, and Jerry Zucker, 1980)“Zero Hour!” (Hall Bartlett, 1957)“One on Top of ...
March 06, 2024
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27:18
“An Officer and a Gentleman” (1982), a conversation about a Blockbuster
Garrett Chaffin-Quiray and Ed Rosa visit where the eagles cry, on a mountain high, far from the world we know, where the clear winds blow.***Referenced media:“Police Academy” (Hugh Wilson, 1984)“Top Gun” (Tony...
February 22, 2024
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30:46
“Cleopatra” (1963), a conversation about a Blockbuster
Garrett Chaffin-Quiray and Ed Rosa assess prestige kitsch and consider carrying a spathae to defend a London-born Egyptian matriarch.***Referenced media:“My Fair Lady” (George Cukor, 1964)“Who’s Afraid of Virg...
February 07, 2024
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29:34
“Walk the Line” (2005), a conversation about a Blockbuster
Garrett Chaffin-Quiray and Ed Rosa consider Johnny Cash, a man with many chapters in his book of life, and wonder if they got to see the right one get made into a movie.***Referenced media:“Terminator 2: Judgment Day” ...
January 24, 2024
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27:52
“Doctor Zhivago” (1965), a conversation about a Blockbuster
Garrett Chaffin-Quiray and Ed Rosa examine one middle brow entertainment that earned an inflation-adjusted box office gross of over $1,000,000,000 in North America.***Referenced media:“The Bridges of Madison County” (C...
January 11, 2024
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36:10
"Sound of Freedom” (2023), a conversation about a Blockbuster
Garrett Chaffin-Quiray and Ed Rosa analyze the sleeper hit of summer 2023.***Referenced media:“The Passion of the Christ” (Mel Gibson, 2004)“Law & Order: SVU” (Dick Wolf, 1999-now)“God’s Not Dead”...
December 21, 2023
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20:51
"The Mule" (2018), a conversation about a Blockbuster
Garrett Chaffin-Quiray and Ed Rosa consider whether it’s worth having the best-paid, part-time job in the history of movies.***Referenced media:“Saturday Night Live” (Lorne Michaels, 1975-now)“Gran Torino” (Cl...
December 15, 2023
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25:56
"Turn Me On, Goddammit!" (2011), a conversation
Garrett Chaffin-Quiray and Ed Rosa discuss Alma, a high school girl boiling over with sexual curiosity in a small Norwegian town.***Referenced media:“Top Gun” (Tony Scott, 1986)“The Hunger Games” (Gary Ross, 2...
October 20, 2023
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19:00
"Beau Travail" (1999), a conversation
Garrett Chaffin-Quiray and Ed Rosa consider how Herman Melville’s novella, “Billy Budd”, was translated into a movie that the 2022 “Sight and S...
October 11, 2023
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19:35
"Shoah, Part 2" (1985), a conversation
Garrett Chaffin-Quiray and Ed Rosa feel the weight of what really is the most intense horror story ever made.***Referenced media:“Band of Brothers” (Tom Hanks and Steven Spielberg, 2001)“Eddie Murphy Raw” (Rob...
September 27, 2023
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51:04
"Shoah, Part 1" (1985), a conversation
Garrett Chaffin-Quiray and Ed Rosa sink into the first half of what might be the “greatest” horror story ever made.***Referenced media:“Parks & Recreation” (Greg Daniels and Michael Schur, 2009-2015)“To Be...
September 11, 2023
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1:09:13