We go full TBS Dinner and a Movie™ Mode to discuss Takeshi Kitano's 'Sonatine' a film that forgoes the traditional bombast of crime stories in favor of patiently observed aimlessness that lays bare the interior void of its yakuza boss protagonist (played by Kitano himself).
We discuss the...
2023-01-13 05:24:30 +0000 UTC View Post
Los Angeles-based literary manager and producer Jarrod Murray joins the crew of the USS Hit Factory to discuss 'Under Siege', the 1992 action thriller starring Steven Seagal.
We discuss the exemplary direction of journeyman Andrew Davis who would go on a year later to make his opus, 'The F...
Critic, writer, and film historian Nora MacIntyre joins Aaron to discuss John Waters's 1994 satire 'Serial Mom' starring Kathleen Turner as the titular murderous matriarch.
Topics include Waters's exploitation origins and the film's ties to splatter maven Herschell Gordon Lewis, the movie'...
Hello Hit Factory Patrons,
As many of you who have personal relationships with us or follow along with us on social media already know, we lost Carlee's father earlier this month. We have decided to take the remainder of the year to process and prioritize family and to give space to w...
2022-12-19 23:10:48 +0000 UTC View Post
Host of Kino Lefter Evan MacDonald returns to the show to discuss the 1993 animated Batman adventure 'Mask Of The Phantasm', a gorgeous, noirish take on the caped crusader that marks a mature, novel-for-its-time approach to the interiority of the tragic character.
We discuss the film's plac...
2022-11-23 19:31:12 +0000 UTC View Post
Co-host of My Rifle, My Podcast and Me Seamus Turner-Glennon joins us to discuss 'The Rock', a slam-bang action thriller that transcends its patchwork of familiar tropes by way of three pitch-perfect lead performances and the singularly brazen stylistic flourishes of its helmer, Michael Bay.
<... 2022-11-17 18:17:59 +0000 UTC View Post
Director/Programmer of Drunken Film Fest Oakland and co-host of Wiseman Podcast Arlin Golden joins Aaron to discuss Chris Smith's 1999 documentary 'American Movie', a story of artistic determination, male friendship, and one man's struggle to achieve The American Dream amidst the industrial decay...
2022-11-13 05:22:21 +0000 UTC View Post
Film writer, YouTuber, and quality poster Comrade Yui joins Aaron to discuss 'The Bridges of Madison County', Clint Eastwood's astonishing romantic drama that showcases the actor/director at his most sensuous, contemplative, and graceful.
We discuss the film's delicate moral ambiguity, our...
Writer, actor, and fellow vampire hunter Jamell Moses joins us to discuss 1998's 'Blade', a Marvel adaptation that succeeds where others have failed due to its vision, ingenuity, and an immaculate lead performance by Wesley Snipes.
We discuss the film's legacy as the first (and arguably be...
Vulture critic Roxana Hadadi returns to Hit Factory for her hat trick to discuss Robert Rodriguez's 'From Dusk Till Dawn', a rambunctious genre hybrid that blends elements of crime pictures, westerns, and gory exploitation horror to uproarious effect.
We discuss the ascendancy of Rodriguez...
We're back after a brief hiatus with a very special Spooky Season™ pick: Guillermo del Toro's debut feature 'Cronos', a magnificent modern vampire fable as indebted to Universal monster stories as it is to Cronenbergian body horror.
We discuss the film's various interpretations of vampir...
Film Twitter personality and fellow Mel Gibson stalwart Hard Mike joins Aaron to discuss Mel's 1995 Best Picture winner 'Braveheart' a sweeping epic about the legendary Scottish freedom fighter William Wallace.
The fellas discuss the film's extremely loose adherence to historical accuracy,...
Hello Hit Factory Family,
A brief update on the upcoming month and your membership to the Hit Factory Patreon.
We will be taking time off from the pod for the first half of October in order to rest, recharge, and return clear-headed to the factory floor with some great guests beginnin...
2022-09-30 21:01:24 +0000 UTC View Post
David Parsons from Nostalgia Trap Podcast joins us for a deep dive on Oliver Stone's maximalist 1994 thriller 'Natural Born Killers' starring Woody Harrelson and Juliette Lewis. We discuss the movie's complicated and controversial legacy, how it (sometimes) trancsends its cartoonish pastiche to p...
2022-09-23 15:02:17 +0000 UTC View Post
Molly Lambert, creator of HeidiWorld: The Heidi Fleiss Story, joins us to talk the 1990 romantic comedy 'Pretty Woman'. We discuss the film's origins as a gritty tale of sex and drugs on the streets of Hollywood Boulevard, how the story both confronts and conforms to the sexual politics of the er...
2022-09-19 14:31:01 +0000 UTC View Post
We're back to talk about the peerless Jackie Chan in Lau Kar-leung's 1994 martial arts masterpiece 'Drunken Master II' released in the United States as 'The Legend of Drunken Master'.
Topics include the film's troubled production which ultimately resulted in Lau's departure from the d...
2022-09-13 00:30:11 +0000 UTC View Post
Film writer Veronica Phillips joins Aaron to discuss 'Trainspotting' Danny Boyle's restless adaptation of Irvine Welsh's tale of heroin addiction, reluctant camaraderie, and a generation's failure to reject the principles of a post-Thatcher UK.
We discuss the film's breakout performance fr...
We ascend to persicope depth for a conversation about 'The Hunt For Red October', John McTiernan's adaptation of Tom Clancy's debut Jack Ryan novel about a CIA analyst tasked with deciphering the intentions of a rogue Soviet submarine commander in the waning years of the Cold War.
We ...
2022-08-27 21:34:20 +0000 UTC View Post
It's our 100th episode of Hit Factory! To celebrate, we recruit New York-based filmmaker Donald Borenstein to discuss one of the undersung greatest films of the 1990s, Martin Scorsese's 'Bringing Out The Dead' written by the brilliant Paul Schrader. It's a frenzied, vividly-lensed story of death ...
2022-08-21 04:24:26 +0000 UTC View PostHelp us pick our theme for November by voting. We are at an impasse in terms of which direction we want to go with it. Vote early, vote often.
Writer Matt Belenky joins us from New York in the midst of a heat wave to discuss Spike Lee's 'Summer of Sam', an exuberant survey of Outer Boroughs New York in the late 1970s as well as a chilling study of working class anxiety, paranoia, and scapegoating of the Other.
We discuss the many ...
2022-08-12 15:08:24 +0000 UTC View Post
There's a new Predator movie getting dumped staright to Hulu this weekend. In anticipation of the franchise's dimishing returns, we revisit the overlooked sequel to the 1987 action classic, 'Predator 2' - a film that brilliantly turns the imperialist anxieties of its predecessor inward to explore...
2022-08-05 15:27:44 +0000 UTC View Post
We're back after a week off to discuss Anthony Minghella's 'The Talented Mr. Ripley' - another entry in the canon of 1999 films interrogating the myth of American prosperity at The End of History™.
We talk through the film's singular exploration of the tension between modernism and postmo...
2022-07-28 14:58:11 +0000 UTC View Post
Film writer and host of The Film Stage's Intermission Podcast joins us to discuss Nicolas Winding Refn's debut feature 'Pusher', a gritty, drug-addled urban crime thriller set against the backdrop of Copenhagen's seediest bars, backrooms, and alleyways.
We discuss Refn's relentless, kinetic...
2022-07-15 16:48:02 +0000 UTC View Post
Prestigious podcaster and poster Grimm joins us to discuss two documentaries chronicling the 1992 presidential election cycle from very different perspectives.
First, we discuss Chris Hegedus and D.A. Pennebaker's lionizing character study 'The War Room', chronicling the efforts of Bill Cl...
Chicago-based academic and film lover Peter Raleigh joins us to discuss 'The Lost World', Steven Spielberg's oft-maligned, misunderstood sequel to smash hit 'Jurassic Park'. It's a movie with a bracing mean streak that marks a turning point for the director into a new phase of daringly conflicted...
2022-06-30 00:18:40 +0000 UTC View Post
Writer Brandon Streussnig joins us to discuss Olivier Assayas's 1996 postmodern masterpiece 'Irma Vep'. It's a revelatory metatextual exploration of creation, capitalism, and cinema - past, present & future.
We discuss the indelible magnetism of star Maggie Cheung (playing a version of...
Writer Lindsay Lee Wallace returns to discuss the underseen 1996 queer romantic comedy 'Late Bloomers'. It's a sweet lesbian love story about coming of age in middle age in a small Texas town.
We discuss the film's many subversions within its narratively conventional mode (including t...
2022-06-19 02:13:02 +0000 UTC View Post
We discuss the 1993 box office sensation 'The Fugitive' a meticulously detailed and expertly crafted thriller without an ounce of fat on it. Topics include the film's unusual and effective narrative structure, the bravura performances by the film's two leads, Harrison Ford and Tommy Lee Jones, an...
2022-06-10 13:53:09 +0000 UTC View Post
We take a look at the brilliant 1992 thriller 'Unlawful Entry', starring Kurt Russell, Madeleine Stowe, and the recently departed Ray Liotta (RIP). We discuss the film's deceptively thoughtful scripting and taught "no-frills" construction (thanks to stellar work by journeyman director Jonathan Ka...
2022-06-02 23:19:19 +0000 UTC View Post