A Dilettante TV & Film Review
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A Dilettante TV & Film Review
This podcast uses widely accessible works of art in film and television to discover truths about the human condition that are symbolically reflected in the culture captured within each work. This podcast also reviews the quality of the work in creating its symbolism and in the truth it attempts to c...
Recent Episodes
100 episodes#114 50/50 Movie Review
Available on Netflix. An otherwise healthy twentysomething has a comically early midlife crisis when he gets slapped with a cancer diagnosis -- and a...
#113 Before I Disappear Movie Review
Available on Netflix. As he's about to commit suicide, downcast Richie is interrupted by his estranged sister asking him to babysit her daughter. When...
#112 The Revenant Movie Review
Available in Theatres. A frontiersman on a fur trading expedition in the 1820s fights for survival after being mauled by a bear and left for dead by m...
#111 Sling Blade Movie Review
Available on Netflix. Simpleminded Karl has just been released from a psychiatric hospital, where he'd been confined since age 12 for murdering his mo...
#110 Steve Jobs Movie Review
Now available in select theatres. Steve Jobs takes us behind the scenes of the digital revolution, to paint a portrait of the man at its epicenter. Th...
#109 Foxcatcher Movie Review
Available on Netflix. Preparing for the 1988 Olympics, two sibling wrestlers cross paths with a paranoid schizophrenic millionaire in this drama based...
#108 Lincoln Movie Review
Available on Netflix. Director Steven Spielberg takes on the towering legacy of Abraham Lincoln, focusing on his stewardship of the Union during the C...
#107 American Sniper Movie Review
Available on Netflix. Based on his memoir of the same name, this military biopic centers on legendary sniper Chris Kyle, who amassed a record number o...
#106 Red Flag Movie Review
Available on Netflix. In Red Flag, a filmmaker takes hi independent film on tour hoping to escape the pain of his recent breakup.
Grade...
#105 To the Wonder Movie Review
Available on Netflix. Soon after returning to his native Oklahoma with a beautiful woman he met in Paris, Neil finds himself drifting toward an old fr...
#104 Nightcrawler Movie Review
Available on Netflix. Eager for any work that will make ends meet, Lou Bloom joins the flock of camera crews prowling the nighttime streets of Los Ang...
#103 Blue Velvet Movie Review
Available on Netflix. In this surreal independent thriller from writer-director David Lynch, an innocent man gets mixed up in a small-town murder myst...
#102 They Came Together Movie Review
Available on Netflix. In this semi-spoof of romantic comedies, candy company exec Joel falls for Molly, who owns a corner candy store he's tasked with...
#101 Castaway Movie Review
Available on Netflix. After FedEx systems engineer Chuck Noland's (Tom Hanks) plane crashes in the Pacific Ocean, he finds himself fighting to survive...
#100 Nymphomaniac Movie Review
Available on Netflix. A self-diagnosed nymphomaniac reveals a lifetime of sexual experiences to a man who saves her from being beaten in an alley. As...
#99 Togetherness TV Review
Available on HBO. Togetherness follows two couples living under the same roof who struggle to keep their relationships alive while pursuing their indi...
#98 The Conversation Movie Review
Available on Netflix. Francis Ford Coppola follows The Godfather with this intimate film about an audio surveillance expert who faces a moral quandary...
#97 Frank Movie Review
Available on Netflix. An aspiring musician joins a band of eccentrics led by an enigmatic singer -- who wears a fake head -- and his unstable girlfrie...
#96 The Two Faces of January Movie Review
Available on Netflix. A tour guide and part-time con artist finds himself caught in a dangerous arrangement when he meets a wealthy couple sightseeing...
#95 The Verdict Movie Review
Available on Netflix. A washed-up, ambulance-chasing attorney gets a chance at redemption when his friend tosses him an open-and-shut medical malpract...
#94 It's Such a Beautiful Day Movie Review
Available on Netflix. Award-winning animator Don Hertzfeldt unites three short films about a hapless guy named Bill with new material to create this f...
#93 Copenhagen Movie Review
Available on Netflix. Philandering his way across Europe to find the grandfather he's never met, William unexpectedly befriends a 14-year-old who chan...
#92 Bird People Movie Review
Available on Netflix. When two strangers yearning to escape their discontented lives eventually cross paths in a Paris airport hotel, neither of them...
#91 Wetlands Movie Review
Available on Netflix. An unapologetically sexy and vulgar romantic comedy based on the best-selling novel by Charlotte Roche. When an embarrassing sha...
#90 Why Stop Now Movie Review
Available on Netflix. On the day piano prodigy Eli is to audition for a famous conservatory, he gets sidetracked by an attempt to stash his cocaine-ad...
#89 A Coffee In Berlin Movie Review
Available on Netflix. Nothing seems to go right for Niko Fischer: His girlfriend dumps him, he loses his driver's license, and his father cuts him off...
#88 The Station Agent Movie Review
Available on Netflix. When his only friend dies, a man with dwarfism relocates to an abandoned train station in rural New Jersey, intent on living the...
#87 Get Low Movie Review
Available on Netflix streaming. Oscar winners Robert Duvall and Sissy Spacek team up to tell the true story of irascible Felix Bush, a backwoods Tenne...
#86 Snowpiercer Movie Review
Available on Netflix streaming. The Earth's remaining inhabitants are confined to a single train circling the globe as revolution brews among the clas...
#85 Election Movie Review
Available on Netflix streaming. Tracy Flick (Reese Witherspoon) appears to have the election for student council president sewn up until one of her te...
#84 The Immigrant Movie Review
After arriving in New York, Polish immigrant Ewa must provide for her ill sister -- and soon falls under the thumb of charming thug Bruno, who forces...
#83 Blue Ruin Movie Review
Available on Netflix Streaming. Bad news from the past unhinges vagabond Dwight Evans, sending him on a mission of bloody retribution that takes him t...
#82 The One I Love Movie Review
Available on Netflix streaming. Confronted with the potential end of their marriage, Ethan and Sophie take off for a weekend together, hoping to negot...
#81 The Hustler Movie Review
Paul Newman scores as pool shark "Fast Eddie" Felson, who tours the country hustling games -- even challenging reigning champion Minnesota Fats -- in...
#80 Frequencies Movie Review
Available on Netflix Streaming. In an alternate reality where "frequencies" determine one's level of success in life, low-end Zak falls for Marie, who...
#79 Venus in Fur Movie Review
Available on Netflix Streaming. After a long search, a Parisian writer-director has found the perfect woman to play the lead in a provocative play abo...
#78 Somewhere Movie Review
Available on Netflix Streaming. This atmospheric dramedy centers on hard-living actor Johnny, whose life is thrown for a loop when his 11-year-old dau...
#77 Antichrist Movie Review
Available on Netflix streaming. After their child dies, a therapist and his wife flee to their cabin in the woods, where they hope to mend their emoti...
#76 Beginners Movie Review
Available on Netflix Streaming. Oliver, a graphic artist, is coming to grips with the imminent death of his father, who, at 75, has one last secret: H...
#75 The Virgin Suicides Movie Review
Available on Netflix Streaming. Ronald and Sara Lisbon are raising five alluring, adolescent daughters on a short leash in 1970s suburbia. When the yo...