Bald Move Prestige - Holy Smoke (1999)

Many thanks to Em from the No Ship Network (purveyors of fine podcasts on Vikings, Spartacus, Penny Dreadful, and more) for commissioning this podcast, covering the 1999 psycho-sexual drama, “Holy Smoke”. Directed by Jane Campion (“The Piano”, Top of the Lake”) and starring Kate Winslet and Harvey Kietel, it starts off as an intriguing and campy telling of a young girl being deprogrammed from a cult experience, and then… turns into something else entirely. Lots of at times uncomfortable discussion about power imbalances in relationships, masculinity and femininity, and what we’re supposed to take away from the film, if anything. Thanks again, Em! It was an experience worth experiencing! If you’re curious about the film, it is available on Netflix, Amazon, and iTunes for streaming.

Bald Move Pulp - V: The Original Miniseries (1983)

Special thanks to Bobby Z for commissioning this 1983 classic piece of original televised cinematic history; V: The Miniseries. A.Ron had fond memories of this series from his childhood, while Jim experienced it for the first time. We discuss 80’s fashion, television tropes, heavy handed allegory, the plausibility of this as a first contact scenario, and the abject horror of prominent matte lines. Oh, and some pets get eaten and people get their faces torn off. That’s pretty scary too, I guess.

Bald Move Pulp - The Matrix (1999)

Thanks to Jefferson Betmarik for making us pull 1999’s The Matrix off our shelves and talk about it. This movie was directed by the Wachowski siblings, and stars Keanu Reeves, Lawerence Fishburne, and Carrie-Anne Moss among others. Jim and I have watched this movie so much, and spent so much time talking about it over the years, so it’s no surprise that we were able to easily fill 1:20 with our personal thoughts and observations. What surprised is was how many new thoughts and ideas we had from our latest watch. We had a lot of fun revisiting the movie, and I hope you get a kick out of listening.

Bald Move Prestige - Memento (2000)

Special thanks once again to Andrew “The Commissioner” Mount, for having us do the 2001 Christopher Nolan movie, “Memento”. Starring Guy Pierce and Carrie-Anne Moss, Memento is an engaging, cerebral, well crafted thriller mystery with an ingenious plot device that plays with our sense of memory and time. We both highly recommend you see this movie before listening to the podcast, as the first time viewing experience of this movie is hard to beat, and it’s an excellent film. If you can find it please give it a shot and then come back and see what we had to say about it.

Thanks, Andrew, that was fun and intellectually stimulating! Do you have something you’d like us to blab about on a special podcast just for you? Find out how you can commission your very own podcast right here.

Bald Move Prestige - The Station Agent (2003)

Thanks once again to Andrew “The Commissioner” Mount for ponying up for our coverage of the wonderful 2003 film, “The Station Agent”. Staring a murderer’s row of Bald Move stars; Peter Dinklage, John Slattery, and Bobby Canavale among others, and directed by The Wire alumnus Thomas McCarthy, it is many things… A slow burn, life affirming, a study of loneliness and isolation, and the effects on being truly different on your perception and interfacing with everyday life. I highly recommend everyone watching it, and it’s free on Netflix and Amazon Prime Instant!

Bald Move Prestige - A History of Violence (2005)

Special thanks to Keith Alejandro who pulled the trigger on this Commissioned Podcast, covering the 2005 David Cronenberg directed thriller, “A History of Violence”, starring everyone’s favorite ranger, Viggo Mortensen. Jim and A.Ron talk about the multiple meanings of the title, the human capacity for violence, survival of the fittest, the strong’s societal obligation to the weak, and how sea turtles make surprisingly effective, though extremely cruel, living refrigerators.

Bald Move Prestige - The Big Lebowski (1998)

This podcast was commissioned by Michael Johnston for his main main Dave in Philly, and what a podcast it is.  Jim and I have the sheer delight of watching the sublime Coen Brothers’ 1998 film, The Big Lebowski.  One of the forerunners of the “slacker noir” genre, Lebowski is hugely entertaining and surprisingly deep film.  We talk about Jeff Bridges magic, new shit coming to light, try to figure out Maude, gush about the late, great, Phillip Seymour Hoffman, the downfall of bowling, and much, much more.

Bald Move Pulp - Watchmen (2009)

Special thanks to two time Commissioner Andrew Mount for tasking us with the pleasure of watching Watchmen, a 2009 Zack Snyder adaptation of the classic comic book series by Alan Moore.  We both love the movie, and talk about our experiences with the comic and the movie, the metaphysical realities of being Doctor Manhattan, the philosophy of the Watchmen’s world view, and of course, giant glowing blue dongs.

The Imitation Game (2014)

This podcast for 2014’s “The Imitation Game” was commissioned on Subbable by a shadowy MI6 agent who for reasons of operational security, would prefer to remain anonymous.  We have seen the film, and we have very mixed feelings about it.  On the one hand, it is an artistic and emotional triumph, which really helped us empathize with Alan Turing’s life long struggle as a brilliant autistic homosexual man to be accepted and loved as he led the Allied war effort to break the “unbreakable” Nazi Enigma encryption system and save millions of lives.  On the other hand, the film takes so many personal and historical liberties with Turing’s very real life and the very real Project Ultra that we don’t know what to believe.