The Projectors

We're back with a new extended format! We will no longer do multi-week individual movie eps. Instead we will do themed episodes once or twice a month that consist of multiple movie talks in one and we return today with a long ass episode talking about some new buzzworthy movies in the theaters, a few Gene Hackman selections, Kris Kristofferson's first feature, a 4k re-release of an Australian masterpiece, a Lynch flick we saw for the first time, a horror hit from last year & a handful of M. Night Shyamalan joints.

Our discussions are as follows:

SURPRISE!!! It’s a SPECIAL EDITION of The Projectors. We are still, technically, on a break and will be for a while but today the stars came together because a group of us went to our local independent theater and caught a flick and we saw a baseball movie. We like sports films like we enjoy many types of film but we haven’t really broken into that film sub-genre too much. So with the assist of Bob’s friend, baseball fanatic, former teammate and current local radio DJ: DREW, who was once a part of the cycle of co-hos...

We’re still going on a break but we wanted to hit up some 2025 Oscar predictions as well as discuss other movies we saw in 2024 and we rate several of them. A loose episode exploring all the buzz around the upcoming Academy Awards and guessing who’s going to win based off of only seeing, maybe, thirty precent of these movies. The Beekeeper got snubbed. That’s all that really matters. Several movies discussed and we got a little Oscar prediction sheet Angela made that you can print out from here: https://theprojectorspodcast.wordpress.com/oscars-2025/ we’re not sure wha...

After this episode we will be taking an extended break from the show (HUNDREDS of past episodes over the span of 2 and a half years at your disposal SUBSCRIBE NOW!) but we did make a promise to talk about all of M. Night Shyamalan’s filmography throughout the year AND WE’RE KEEPING THAT PROMISE! So it will probably be another M. Night joint when you hear from us again. Shyamalan’s movies have always been divisive amongst film fans but this particular discussion is of a movie that arrived, made it’s money and disappeared into the ether of cultu...

It’s our final stop for BODY & SOUL and our penultimate drop before our extended break. January of last year we discussed Carl Franklin’s “Devil in a Blue Dress” starring Denzel Washington and it was so good that we decided to revisit that director/lead pairing with Carl Franklin’s 2003 thriller “OUT OF TIME” starring Denzel, Eva Mendes & Sanaa Lathan. A police chief in the Florida keys (Denzel) got honeypotted so hard that he’s got his fingerprints all over a double murder with more than enough motive to put him away for multiple life sentences. His hottie soon-to-be ex wi...

We’re in our last stretch of BODY & SOUL and we’re discussing a bonafide BILLY of a movie. A “Billy” is a movie that made a billions dollars. There’s more than a few (20? 30something Billys out there?) and since today’s theme is all about Black Directors and Black Lead Actors there’s one prolific box office smash that catapulted a longstanding character into the mainstream pop culture zeitgeist. Only our third Marvel Studios movie discussion, we’re talking Ryan Coogler’s 2018 superhero film “BLACK PANTHER” starring the late Chadwick Boseman, Michael B. Jordan, Lupita Nyong’o, Danai Gurira and plenty...

BODY & SOUL month has given us a week of worthy modern noir and today is no exception in this discussion of British director Steve McQueen’s web of Chicago crime and politics. Three women are forced to pay back some money stolen by their husbands in a heist that led to them, and the money, going up in flames. The blackmail leads to them picking up where their men left off and plotting a heist that one’s husband mostly already laid out. They just gotta figure out where this money is before a month is done or they coul...

It’s Neo noir week for this month’s theme of BODY & SOUL (black directors, black leads) and we hit up a very stylish feature film that was popular amongst the teens and college aged crowd when Bob was a youngster so many years ago. Hype Williams only feature film was paved the way by a plethora of rap, hip-hop & R&B music videos that he directed throughout the 90s. Hype expanded all of his visual knowledge into a what is essentially a long rap video. That’s not a bad thing as it feels distinct amongst crime films to thi...

BODY & SOUL all February. Black directors with black leads and today’s discussion is of a dripping Neo noir that is sometimes insane and funny but always entertaining. Actor/Director Bill Duke dropped this crime drama in the wake of the success of films like “Boyz in the Hood”. While not as prolific as those, Duke’s 1992 film “DEEP COVER” starring Laurence Fishburne, Jeff Goldblum & Clarence Williams III has earned it’s place among film appreciators as a worthy Neo-noir full of style and all the hard boiled film tropes that still hit. Fishburne goes by “John” he’s a cop deep undercove...

Happy Valentines Day, folks! Hope you’re out there getting freaked now if not sooner. Today’s lovely selection is a silky smooth flick about generational flaws made easier by very attractive people getting together.   Stella Meghie’s 2020 romance “THE PHOTOGRAPH” starring Issa Rae, Lakeith Stanfield & Chanté Adams has the feeling despite it being a story about emotional unavailability. But you know that emotional unavailability is gonna break right? It’s valentines Day! Sure, it would not be unusual if Bob picked some fucked up shit on the holiday but, nah, we want to feel the love. Also, this film is remark...

Today’s discussion for February’s theme, BODY & SOUL (black directors black leads), comes from France by way of Senegal and was available in the US in 2020 on Netflix until several very well known and high ranking pedophiles in government decided that this film belonged in the culture war sphere of nonsense. Maimouna Doucouré’s coming of age film “CUTIES (MIGNONNES)” is an obvious critique of the oversexualization of young people through online & social media in particular. It’s obvious if you’re not stupid or some ultracynical political ghoul. That’s not to say that Doucouré’s film doesn’t provoke. She...

Black Directors & Black Leads for February’s theme we call “BODY & SOUL” and today we hit up a movie that has the distinction of being the highest budgeted movie by a black female director. While the movie did break even, it didn’t give Disney the sign to drain this property of all life ad nauseam. Ava DuVernay, director of “Selma” and the documentary “13th” has her praise out there but her 2018 adaptation of the Madeline L’Engle kids novel “A WRINKLE IN TIME” is a bizarre and stumbling feature film. We don’t mean bizarre in the way you might expect from th...

BODY & SOUL. Black Directors & Black Leads and today’s discussion is among the early works for full length feature films directed by a black woman or at least the first in a while. There is a lot of Black Hollywood history lost to time as we discuss in this conversation about Kathleen Collins true life inspired independent film about the dissolving of a relationship. What the 1982 film “LOSING GROUND” lacks in budget it makes up for in great characterization and some nice experimentation. A convincing look at the personalities & lives in the orbit of arts and academia. Sadly, Kathle...

February is BODY & SOUL. That means Black Directors and Black Leads and we’re anxious to get back into it after last week’s “white Jamaican” debacle with an influential independent comedy featuring the beginnings of certain writers, directors and actors in prominent black comedies over the years. After maxing out credits cards and timing out film equipment rentals just right over the span of two and a half years, Robert Townsend hit independent success upon the release of his 1987 directorial debut “HOLLYWOOD SHUFFLE”. A comedy that examines the pitfalls of trying to be a working black actor in Hollywood. T...

NOTE: yeah we forgot to cut out the clip between deciding our rating and and adding it to our list. So you hear some "click clack" and the sound of Angela blowing her nose. It's about a minute long of extra RAW material. We're leaving it in. Fuck it. We were a mess on this one. But that's not the only mistake...

OK we fucked up. When picking films for February’s theme, BODY AND SOUL, we aimed for Black Directors and Black Leads. We actually don’t have too much blacksploitation era movies on the docket as m...

BODY & SOUL this month. That means Black Directors and Black Leads and we follow up our kickoff with another actor/director movie. We couldn’t get through this month without puffing a Spike Lee joint so it’s time to discuss one of his most essential works and Spike Lee’s most significant lead performance in one of his own films is, of course, 1989’s “DO THE RIGHT THING”. This rich ensemble includes Ossie Davis, Danny Aiello, Ruby Dee, Giancarlo Esposito, Rosie Perez, Bill Nunn and John Turturro. Bed-Stuy, Brooklyn might have some tension but it’s represented here with a genuine...

It’s a fresh month and we’re coming at you with the freshest theme that we’re calling “BODY & SOUL”. All month long is Black Directors and Black Leads and we’re gonna kick it off with the directorial debut of classic Black Hollywood royalty. When Sidney Poitier took over the director reigns for the 1972 western “BUCK AND THE PREACHER” he got bit by the director bug. Eighteen years later he directed “Ghost Dad” so it was definitely worth it. Buck (Poitier) is a wagon master helping some former slaves move out West to avoid some Bounty Hunters looking to scare the...

New year, new overarching director theme! Last year we discussed every Lars von Trier feature film (that wasn’t a documentary). The process had its ups and downs. We may not have come out of that as better people. Wiser? Maybe. More traumatized? Sure. This year we’re hitting up another director whose filmography we will tackle over the course of 2025 and he might even be more controversial than von Trier but definitely more lucrative. 2025 is the year of “GETTING IT TWISTED WITH M. NIGHT SHYAMALAN” and we’re kicking it off with the movie that put him on the map, b...

We’ve arrived at the end of January with an episode we actually recorded not long after the movie was released in theaters. This marks the end of a month of 5 DIRECTORS and the last of SIR RIDLEY SCOTT’S LAST FOUR and it stays historical with a sequel to his Oscar winning smash hit from over 20 years ago. Hanno, like anyone who isn’t Roman, hates Rome. They killed his wife and, as a child, pretty much abandoned him but just like a certain predecessor this natural leader finds himself on the slave end of a gladiator cage where...

We’re nearing the end of week 5 of our director theme for January and it’s time for the third of “SIR RIDLEY SCOTT’S LAST FOUR” and this historical biographical epic certainly seemed, on the surface, like a lay up for award bait. It made money but didn’t do much inspiring. Sure it’s weird as hell having English accents pretending to be French but we know how this Hollywood shit does. We didn’t dismiss Ridley Scott’s 2023 film “NAPOLEON” starring Joaquin Phoenix and Vanessa Kirby as much as many because we found it to be a fun time at the movi...

NOTE: this was published previously with most of it missing for some reason. Here is the full preview.

This February we discuss films made by Black Directors with Black Actors as leads. The theme is called "BODY & SOUL" (bed music for this recording by Robert Glasper for the film "THE PHOTOGRAPH")

Here's a link to a much more visual and entertaining version of this preview: https://youtu.be/DpM2KXOl4hY

the schedule:

2/3 - Buck and the Preacher (1972)

2/5 - Do the Right Thing (1989)

2/7 - The Harder They...

We’re closing down January’s 5th week of it’s directors event with “SIR RIDLEY SCOTT’S LAST FOUR” and it’s a lot of historical but we go more into the more recent fashion history / true crime territory. The kids love their fashion. Gucci is practically an institution with how successfully it has sold its version of class and wealth to the middle classes and under. Maybe some over the top character cartoonery can be expected. It both hinders and boosts it depending on the scene but Ridley Scott’s 2021 film “HOUSE OF GUCCI” did do well enough. It stars Lad...

What a fun month it’s been exploring some directors so for the final week we’re hitting up someone who is easily our most prolific, is very well known and has some beloved works under his belt. We’re talking about Tony Scott’s brother, Sir Ridley for week 5’s sub-theme “SIR RIDLEY SCOTT’S LAST FOUR”. The first of Ridley’s last four did not light up the box office and he was pretty sore about it. He blamed an entire generation and, yeah, it would be nice if millennials would move away from the franchise shlock a little more but...

We’re at the end of week four this January and that means the last discussion in what we’ve dubbed “NANCY SAVOCA’S ITALIAN HEARTS TRILOGY”. We’re discussing a film that got a 4K re-release in independent theaters last year and is available on DVD over at Kino-Lorber if you’re interested in such things. Nancy Savoca’s first three films didn’t incinerate the box office but it’s with great pleasure that we watch a reflect on some pretty detailed character pieces after all these years and they deserve to be seen and discussed. Today we talk “HOUSEHOLD S...

Week four of January’s theme of “5 DIRECTORS” is very heartfelt because we’re analyzing Nancy Savoca’s first three feature films in this week’s sub-theme that we’ve dubbed “NANCY SAVOCA’S ITALIAN HEARTS TRILOGY”. Criminally underrated in their time but film fans are re-evaluating Savoca’s movies today thanks to re-releases by Criterion and Kino-Lorber and are finding that their vibrant tenderness is holding up very nicely. Today we discuss the second of her films that, once again, showcases what a devastating loss to the film world it was when River Phoenix tragically passed away those many years ago. We’re...

We’re onto week four of January’s theme of “5 DIRECTORS” and we hit up another underrated filmmaker who has been getting more of her flowers in hindsight with some key film re-releases in the last few years but her first film we’re discussing did manage to beat our “Sex, Lies and Videotape” that year at Sundance. Today we’re discussing the first film of what we’re dubbing “NANCY SAVOCA’S ITALIAN HEARTS TRILOGY” (we’re really wanting that to take off) with her 1989 film “TRUE LOVE” starring Annabella Sciorra & Ron Eldard. Peeking into the lives of an engaged Italian couple in t...

Thanks for everything, David.

(Note: This discussion is also a part of our upcoming "True Love" episode that drops January 20th)

January’s theme is “5 DIRECTORS” in which we analyze films by a different director each week and we end Nicholas Ray week with a technical marvel that deals with something that isn’t often focused upon during the Hayes code. Addiction. James Mason produced and starred in this story based off of a true to life article from the New York Times in which a man is diagnosed with a fatal condition. Fortunately there’s a new miracle drug called Cortisone that can keep him alive so long as he doesn’t abuse it. Spoiler: He abuses it. Hide the bibles w...

It’s a loaded week of Nicholas Ray spanning the years 1952 to 1956. He actually made 6 films total at this time so we had to narrow out the fourth one between this deep cut film and a James Cagney western. We already discussed two genre bending Nicholas Ray Westerns this week so we turn our attention to what is easily the deepest cut film we will discuss all month. We couldn’t even find a trailer for it but this Gypsy romance goes its own way. We’re discussing Ray’s 1956 quasi-musical “HOT BLOOD” from 1956 starring Jane Russell, Cornel Wilde and Luther A...

The third week of January is devoted to Nicholas Ray movies from 1952 to 1956 and we’ve arrived at what is easily his most iconic and infamous movie and it might have been like other Nicholas Ray movies, acclaimed and retroactively appreciated on a cult film level, but in less than a month of it’s release it’s lead perished in a fatal car crash. Fates collide to make Nicholas Ray’s 1955 film “REBEL WITHOUT A CAUSE” a cornerstone in 50s cinema and would rocket the image of James Dean into the greater cultural zeitgeist of Americana. A much more tragic...

For January’s weekly director examinations we’re on week three with a loaded line up of Nicholas Ray Films spanning five years. Today it’s another standout western that stood out for being baffling to audiences when it initially released but history has grown kind to Ray’s 1954 film “JOHNNY GUITAR” for how unique it feels in any era. Joan Crawford owns the screen as Vienna, a hard nosed woman who just opened a casino saloon to nobody, but very soon the train tracks will be laid and she will live her life. She’s not the only woman in contr...

We’re examining 5 DIRECTORS for January and for the third week we’re loaded up with our theme “NICHOLAS RAY 1952 to 1956”. Ray released 6 movies in that time period and we’re covering five of them. We start it off with a unique contemporary western starring Robert Mitchum ( a 100% Certified Official DAWG© ) and Susan Hayward who has us going like that wolf in the old cartoons. We’re discussing “THE LUSTY MEN” from 1952, Nicholas Ray’s very informative rodeo film that is rather spicy by classic Hayes Code standards. Rodeo man Jeff (Mitchum) is injured out of the game and comes home to where...

Each week in January is devoted to a different director at certain stages in their career but this discussion marks the end of Elaine May week as we have now discussed every film that Elaine May directed. This movie represents a much more dramatic direction but in typical Elaine May fashion, the humor is often in the tragic details. We have a very unique mob movie here starring two fellows that were prime in this era, Peter Falk and John Cassettes. They are the titular characters “MIKEY AND NICKY”, respectively in this film from 1976. Nicky robbed his gangster boss so n...

We’re examining the rest of Elaine May’s directed films this week and we’re into some deep cut quality comedies. Today’s discussion is darkly humorous in the sense that much of the humor Is centered around the self absorbed and deceitful nature of Lenny Cantor who sees greener grass everywhere he goes, especially after he’s gotten what he thinks he wants. Charles Grodin’s “Lenny” wants sex and he will get married to get it but when the dog catches the car it tends to not want much more to do with it. Lenny happens to meet who he t...

It’s the start of week 2 for January’s theme of “5 DIRECTORS” and we encountered this week’s director when we discussed “Ishtar” last April. An interesting story on film and behind the scenes. The director of that film would not direct another movie again. But before this, comedy writer, performer and producer Elaine May had three previous films under her belt so for week two we talk up the rest of Elaine May’s directorial filmography. Today we hit up a pretty delightful film debut written for the screen by her from a Jack Ritchie Story. Elaine May would find herse...

Week one of January’s theme of 5 DIRECTORS ends with our last of David Lynch’s first three films and it’s one that he sometimes disavows but also one that led to a long standing relationship with actor Kyle MacLachlan. It seemed like it was nothing less than a miracle to adapt Frank Herbert’s “DUNE” to film considering the brick wall that many directors encountered upon attempt. Denis Villeneuve finally pulled something off but for the longest time the lone attempt at adapting this imaginative science fiction story rested solely on the shoulders of David Lynch. Divisive in it’s time...

For January’s theme of 5 DIRECTORS, each week is pretty much its own subcategory. We’re halfway through “David Lynch’s First Three” with today’s discussion of one of his most accessible feature films that features and iconic performance by John Hurt as the infamously disfigured historical figure “John/Joseph Merrick”. It seems that Lynch’s follow up to his debut is also amongst his most universally acclaimed with the Academy creating an effects category after it seemed baffling to not have one amongst this film’s many award nominations. The 1980 biographical film “THE ELEPHANT MAN” also stars Anthony Hopkins, Anne Ba...

HAPPY NEW YEAR! Maybe we could use a break after the busy holiday months but we’re just so damned anxious to show off our new makeover that we gotta hit the ground running for January’s theme of 5 DIRECTORS and for week one’s director we got a fellow we are fairly familiar with on this show. Week one is DAVID LYNCH’S FIRST THREE and if you know a little bit then you know that David Lynch’s first film is the notorious ERASERHEAD from 1977 and it stands as a seminal work to this very day of an artists...

This is it! The final episode of 2024. Happy New Years! Goodbye to the title of MOVIEHUMPERS. For 2025 GOING forward we are THE PROJECTORS. We jump into next month’s theme as early as tomorrow but we close out a most wonderful time of the year with a New Year’s themed flick that we probably liked a little better in our youth. We were certainly the target age range in terms of “pitching coolness” with this ensemble featuring young stars who got their starts in the eighties and nineties. Ensembles can definitely be a challenge. You can’t deep dive into...

Christmas is in the can. New Years is just around the corner but it’s still that most wonderful time of the year and your soon to be permanently renamed movie talk feed/show/pod is here with another Christmas classic featuring one of our favorites, Robert Mitchum. A fairly strange tale for the Hayes code time as two men, one a rich niceboy and the other a broke swaggart, are after the same single mother. It’s a dirty game and Connie’s rascal kid has a preference real quick. You know where this will go but it’s an int...