Hit Factory

No new episode this week, so enjoy this unlocked Patreon epsiode...We explore a fascinating critical and commercial dud from the great William Friedkin: 1995's erotic thriller 'Jade'. Topics include the pitch perfect performance from Linda Fiorentino, the film's brilliant "bare essentials" approach to its genres, and its thematic relationship to a classic of the 70s neo-noir canon. We also talk some recent critical misreads of onscreen eroticism and explore a new paradigm of cultural myopia we like to call "The Smoothening".Read "The Sex Scene is Dead. Long Live the Sex Scene" from The New Yorker.Get access to this entire episode as well as all of our premium episodes and bonus content by becoming a Hit Factory Patron for just $5/month.....Our theme song is "Mirror" by Chris Fish 

For the first time in Hit Factory history, we're recording from separate locales to discuss Terry Gilliam's 1991 fantasy drama 'The Fisher King'. We discuss the bevy of brilliant performances (including an Oscar-winning turn from the great Mercedes Ruehl), Gilliam's singular ability to effortlessly navigate his film's disparate tones, and the subversive empathy the film employs in its consideration of people who occupy the margins of society.Get access to all of our premium episodes and bonus content by becoming a Hit Factory Patron for just $5/month.....Our theme song is "Mirror" by Chris Fish

Get access to this entire episode as well as all of our premium episodes and bonus content by becoming a Hit Factory Patron for just $5/month.

Masters of the Middlebrow and hosts of Dadcore Cinema Club Podcast, Brandon & Charlie, join us to discuss the Space Race drama 'Apollo 13', a technically masterful ode to the patriotism & resolve of Cold War America released as Boomers were forced to reckon with the ideological drift of the 90s - Helmed by one of our most proficient journeyman, Ron Howard. The crew take to the LEM and avoid gimbal lock while discussing the film's blend of distinctive Dadcore characteristics, the invisible pleasures of a true journeyman director operating at peak performance, and Tom Hanks's career-long fascination with the act of urinating. Listen and subscribe to Dadcore Cinema ClubFollow Dadcore Cinema Club on TwitterFollow Brandon on TwitterFollow Charlie on Twitter.....Our theme song is "Mirror" by Chris Fish

Get access to this entire episode as well as all of our premium episodes and bonus content by becoming a Hit Factory Patron for just $5/month.

**Our April Fools Episode** A special advance preview of Aaron & Carlee's new limited series, Secs, Guys, and Videotapes: an exploration of Steven Soderbergh's 1998 crime thriller 'Out Of Sight'...one second at a time. On this episode, the Hit Factory hosts are joined by Chris Woodward and Kurt Schiller of the excellent Parents Just Don't Understand Podcast to explore second number 63. It's a wide-ranging discussion that advances the theory of the Soviet Second (an interval roughly one half longer than the standard western equivalent), the direct lineage from 1971 cult classic 'Vanishing Point' to Dave Matthews Band, and a celebration of the rare "Split" Second in which a cut falls directly in the middle of a one-second interval.Follow Secs, Guys and Videotapes on Twitter.Follow Chris Woodward on TwitterFollow Kurt Schiller on TwitterListen to and subscribe to Parents Just Don't Understand....Series artwork by Hindle

Get access to this entire episode as well as all of our premium episodes and bonus content by becoming a Hit Factory Patron for just $5/month.

Writer and filmmaker Jeremy Herbert joins us to discuss the fascinatingly flawed 1991 action thriller, 'Out For Justice' and its star Steven Seagal, a singularly minted Hollywood asshole. We examine the film's lofty ambitions to transcend the limitations of both its genre and star with weighty monologues and largely ornamental subplots and characters, explore the bizzare, brief rise of Seagal's star power (and its equally quick descent) through the 90s, and consider the deeper implications of how someone like Seagal got famous in the first place.  Follow Jeremy Herbert on Twitter.Consider becoming a Hit Factory Patron for just $5/month to get access to all of our premium episodes and bonus content.....Our theme song is "Mirror" by Chris Fish

Get access to this entire episode as well as all of our premium episodes and bonus content by becoming a Hit Factory Patron for just $5/month.

University of Toronto PhD candidate and writer Alex Ross joins to discuss culture writer Chuck Klosterman's latest collection 'The Nineties'. The book is a confounding, myopic work that frequently reveals both the sociopolitical blind spots of its author & the greater failures of Gen X to understand the decade's ramifications. We talk through the frenzied, dizzying construction of the book around a hodgepodge of discrete cultural markers, the books troubling lack of anything approaching a worldview, and the writer's baffling defense against what he calls Clinton "revisionism". Follow Alex Ross on TwitterRead David Wallace-Wells's interview with Klosterman at VultureConsider becoming a Hit Factory Patron for just $5/month to get access to all of our premium episodes and bonus content.....Our theme song is "Mirror" by Chris Fish