The Stacks

Episode 88 - Flatliners + Bio-Zombie

This week on The Stacks, Shana and j. explore the boundaries of life and death with Joel Schumacher's 1990 morality play Flatliners (0:00-1:45:08) and Wilson Yip's 1998 Hong Kong mall zombie apocalypse picture Bio-Zombie (1:45:08-3:07:20), followed as always by discussion of all the other stuff we've watched on physical media since last week, and we decide on what we'll be covering next week.

The live list of The Stacks is online at https://letterboxd.com/jshopa/list/the-stacks/

Episode 87 - Gamera vs Guiron + Fast Five

This week on The Stacks we return to our coverage of the classic kaiju series Gamera with its fifth entry, Noriaki Yuasa's 1969 picture Gamera vs Guiron (0:00-1:24:31) featuring cannibal ladies from space and a big knife-headed monster who shoots shurikens out of his nose, followed by Justin Lin's 2011 film Fast Five, the fifth in the Fast & Furious superhero / action figure / carsploitation franchise (1:24:31-3:03:16).

The live list of The Stacks is online at https://letterboxd.com/jshopa/list/the-stacks/

Episode 86 - The Tall T + The Chooper

This week on The Stacks we're spending some time in desolate arid western landscapes with Budd Boetticher's 1957 noir western The Tall T (0:00-1:17:13) and Ray Dennis Steckler's exploitation slow cinema proto-slasher The Chooper (aka Blood Shack, 1:17:13-2:49:34), as always concluding with discussion of the other physical media stuff we've watched since last time and deciding on what we're covering next.

The live list of The Stacks is online at https://letterboxd.com/jshopa/list/the-stacks/

Episode 85 - Fucking Åmål + Alien: Covenant

This week on The Stacks, Shana and j. discuss the 1997 Swedish coming-of-age LGBT romance Fucking Åmål (directed by Lukas Moodysson, discussion running to 1:28:46) and the most recent entry in the Alien franchise, 2017's Alien: Covenant (directed by Ridley Scott, discussion continuing to 2:47:59), as usual concluding with a run-through of all the other boutique blu-ray stuff we've watched this week and decision-making on what we'll cover next week.

The live list of The Stacks is online at https://letterboxd.com/jshopa/list/the-stacks/

Episode 84 - Rope + Trainspotting

This week on The Stacks, we're continuing our coverage of classic Alfred Hitchcock with his ambitious 1948 film Rope, loosely based on the Leopold & Loeb true crime case (0:00-1:40:33), followed by Danny Boyle's landmark 1996 film about heroin addicts in Scotland, Trainspotting (1:40:33-3:10:35), and concluding as always with The Watched Stacks, discussing additional movies watched this week and deciding what to cover next.

The live list of The Stacks is online at https://letterboxd.com/jshopa/list/the-stacks/

Episode 83 - Black Sabbath + Freeway

This week on The Stacks, we're talking some fundamental stylish horror with 1963's Black Sabbath, directed by Mario Bava (discussion running to 1:33:45), followed by the 1996 black comedy / crime thriller Freeway, directed by Matthew Bright (discussion continuing to 2:32:25), as always concluding with some talk about other movies we've watched this week and decisions on what we'll cover next week.

The live list of The Stacks is online at https://letterboxd.com/jshopa/list/the-stacks/

Episode 82 - Stroszek + Prometheus

This week on The Stacks, Shana and j. make a foray into the filmography of Werner Herzog with 1977's melancholy masterpiece Stroszek (discussion running to 1:20:27), followed by Ridley Scott's unfairly maligned 2012 quasi-prequel to Alien, Prometheus (discussion continuing to 3:06:46), which we come to praise, not to bury.

Apologies for some audio issues in the first fifteen minutes and dropouts during the Watched Stacks discussion of part three, they did not make themselves known until the edit.

The live list of The Stacks is online at https://letterboxd.com/jshopa/list/the-stacks/

Episode 81 - The Godfather + Quai des Orfevres

This week on The Stacks, continuing our January resolutions month, Shana and j. go long on Francis Ford Coppolla's 1971 landmark The Godfather (discussion running to 2:14:46), followed by Henri-George Clouzot's also classic but very different 1947 crime film Quai des Orfevres (discussion continuing to 3:35:21), concluding as usual with some capsule reviews of other films we've watched in the past week and decisions on what we'll be covering next week.

The live list of The Stacks is online at https://letterboxd.com/jshopa/list/the-stacks/

Episode 80 - F for Fake + The Mephisto Waltz

This week in The Stacks, we're discussing Orson Welles' essay film on forgery and expertise, F for Fake (1973, discussion running to 1:36:55), followed by the early Satansploitation oddity The Mephisto Waltz (1971, directed by Paul Wendkos, discussion continuing to 2:59:31), followed as always by discussion of other movies we've watched during the week, and decisions on what we'll be covering next.

The live list of The Stacks is online at https://letterboxd.com/jshopa/list/the-stacks/

Episode 79 - Shogun’s Shadow + Black Christmas

We kick off 2023's Resolutions Month in The Stacks with the high-octane 1989 jidaigeki Shogun's Shadow (directed by Yasuo Furuhata, discussion running to 1:12:53), followed by the original slasher, 1974's Black Christmas (directed by Bob Clark, discussion continuing to 2:47:37), as always concluding with discussion of various other movies watched in the previous week.

The live list of The Stacks is online at https://letterboxd.com/jshopa/list/the-stacks/