Episodes

The sixth episode of our season on the awesome movie year of 2007 features Josh’s personal pick, Noah Baumbach’s Margot at the Wedding. Written and directed by Noah Baumbach and starring Nicole Kidman, Jennifer Jason Leigh, Jack Black and Zane Pais, Margot at the Wedding premiered at the 2007 Telluride Film Festival and went into limited release later that year.

The fifth episode of our season on the awesome movie year of 2007 features our pick for one of the year’s most notable documentaries, Seth Gordon’s The King of Kong. Directed by Seth Gordon and featuring video game champions Steve Wiebe and Billy Mitchell, The King of Kong premiered at the 2007 Slamdance Film Festival and went into limited release later that year.

The fourth episode of our season on the awesome movie year of 2007 features the Palme d’Or winner at the Cannes Film Festival, Cristian Mungiu’s 4 Months, 3 Weeks and 2 Days. Written and directed by Mungiu and starring Anamaria Marinca, Laura Vasiliu, Vlad Ivanov and Alexandru Potocean, 4 Months, 3 Weeks and 2 Days was a key building block in the Romanian New Wave.

The third episode of our season on the awesome movie year of 2007 features the year’s biggest flop, the Lindsay Lohan thriller I Know Who Killed Me. Directed by Chris Sivertson and starring Lohan, Julia Ormond, Neal McDonough, Brian Geraghty and Garcelle Beauvais, I Know Who Killed Me was a critical and commercial failure that basically ended Lohan’s career as a movie star.

The second episode of our season on the awesome movie year of 2007 features our pick for a notable filmmaking debut, Ben Affleck’s Gone Baby Gone. Directed and co-written by Ben Affleck and starring Casey Affleck, Michelle Monaghan, Ed Harris, Amy Ryan and Morgan Freeman, Gone Baby Gone was Affleck’s first feature film as a writer and director, launching a whole new phase of his career.

The first episode of our season on the awesome movie year of 2007 features the top-grossing film in North America, Sam Raimi’s Spider-Man 3. Directed and co-written by Raimi and starring Tobey Maguire, Kirsten Dunst, James Franco, Thomas Haden Church, Topher Grace and Bryce Dallas Howard, Spider-Man 3 was 2007’s number one movie at the North American box office and number three worldwide.

In this epilogue to our season on the awesome movie year of 1994, we talk about alternate movies we considered including in all of our different categories this season, and read suggestions from some listeners about which movies they hoped we would cover.

The finale of our season on the awesome movie year of 1994 features our audience choice winner, the Jim Carrey comedy The Mask, which prevailed over fellow 1994 Carrey comedies Ace Ventura: Pet Detective and Dumb and Dumber. Directed by Chuck Russell (based on the Dark Horse comic-book series) and starring Jim Carrey, Cameron Diaz, Peter Greene, Richard Jeni, Peter Riegert and Amy Yasbeck, The Mask was the fourth highest-grossing film of 1994 worldwide, and the most commercially and critically successful of Carrey’s 1994 films.

The eleventh episode of our season on the awesome movie year of 1994 features our pick for a future cult classic, Italian horror-comedy Cemetery Man. Directed and co-written by Michele Soavi (based on the novel by Tiziano Sclavi) and starring Rupert Everett, François Hadji-Lazaro and Anna Falchi, Cemetery Man was released in Italy (under the title Dellamorte Dellamore) in March 1994 and in the U.S. in April 1996.

The tenth episode of our season on the awesome movie year of 1994 features the Best Picture winner at the Academy Awards, Robert Zemeckis’ Forrest Gump. Written by Eric Roth (based on the novel by Winston Groom), directed by Robert Zemeckis and starring Tom Hanks, Robin Wright, Gary Sinise, Mykelti Williamson and Sally Field, Forrest Gump picked up six awards at the Oscars and was the highest grossing movie in North America in 1994.

The ninth episode of our season on the awesome movie year of 1994 features the Grand Jury Prize winner from the Sundance Film Festival, Tom Noonan’s What Happened Was. Written and directed by Tom Noonan (based on his stage play) and starring Noonan and Karen Sillas, What Happened Was picked up two awards at Sundance before going on to a limited theatrical release in September 1994.

The eighth episode of our season on the awesome movie year of 1994 features Jason’s personal pick, the Chris Elliott comedy Cabin Boy. Written and directed by Adam Resnick and starring Elliott, Ritch Brinkley, Melora Walters, Brian Doyle-Murray, Brion James and an uncredited David Letterman, Cabin Boy was a commercial and critical failure upon release but has since built a cult following.

The seventh episode of our season on the awesome movie year of 1994 features our foreign film pick, Wong Kar-wai’s romantic drama Chungking Express. Written and directed by Wong Kar-wai and starring Tony Leung, Faye Wong, Takeshi Kaneshiro and Brigitte Lin, Chungking Express was released in Hong Kong in July 1994 and eventually came to theaters in the U.S. in March 1996 thanks to Quentin Tarantino.

The sixth episode of our season on the awesome movie year of 1994 features Josh’s personal pick, Wes Craven’s meta-horror movie New Nightmare. Written and directed by Craven and starring Heather Langenkamp, Miko Hughes, Robert Englund, Tracy Middendorf, David Newsom and Craven himself, New Nightmare was the seventh film in the Nightmare on Elm Street franchise, and the first to be directed by Craven since the 1984 original.

The fifth episode of our season on the awesome movie year of 1994 features one of the year’s most notable documentaries (and one of the most acclaimed documentaries of all time), Terry Zwigoff’s Crumb. Directed by Zwigoff and featuring legendary cartoonist Robert Crumb and his eccentric family, Crumb premiered at the 1994 Toronto International Film Festival and went on to win the Documentary Grand Jury Prize at Sundance the next year.