Sound On Sight / Sordid Cinema

Are there any mainstream American filmmakers who have carved out as distinctive a niche as David Fincher? His subject matter may vary from time to time, but he tends to keep one topic close at hand: serial killers. His breakout feature, Seven (or Se7en if you prefer) started the thematic throughline back in 1995, and it continues all the way through to his adaptation of Stieg Larsson's The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo, starring Daniel Craig and Rooney Mara. Ricky D, Justine Smith, and newly minted co-host Julian Carrington are here to assess the carnage.

It seemed appropriate to kick off Sound on Sight's third year of podcasting with a Montreal-born filmmaker - even if he's more or less associated with Toronto. Jason Reitman's been slowly getting more serious over the years, progressing from 2005's light DC-centric satire Thank You For Smoking, all the way to his latest, the pitch-black sorta-comedy Young Adult, starring Charlize Theron as a successful-but-bitter writer. Ricky D, Justine Smith and Simon Howell are here to talk about both films, and Reitman's career as a whole.

300 episodes. If that sounds like an insane number to you, that’s because it damn well is. Since the inception of the radio show roughly four years ago, we’ve reviewed roughly 750 films (if not more), undergone loads of changes in lineup, format, and recording setup, and had our share of trials. With 2011 coming to an end, Ricky D, Simon Howell and Justine Smith count down their respective Top 10s, ring in the forthcoming year and get progressively more belligerent. Salut!

300 episodes. If that sounds like an insane number to you, that's because it damn well is. Since the inception of the radio show roughly four years ago, we've reviewed roughly 750 films (if not more), undergone loads of changes in lineup, format, and recording setup, and had our share of trials. With 2011 coming to an end, Ricky D, Simon Howell and Justine Smith count down their respective Top 10s, ring in the forthcoming year, get progressively more belligerent, and find time in between to review the year's last blockbuster, Brad Bird's Mission Impossible: Ghost Protocol. Salut!

He's probably the most consistently popular filmmaker in history, as well as one of the most divisive - and he's also got two new movies out this Christmas. Steven Spielberg's patented blend of awed faces, childlike wonder, and daddy issues come roaring back to the big screen for the first time since Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull with the equine WWI adventure War Horse and the long-gestating Hergé adaptation The Adventures of Tintin. We scored early looks at both films, and SOS contributor and resident Spielberg superfan Michael Ryan joins us to measure the Spielbergocity.

Tomas Alfredson's long-awaited, star-studded adaptation of John le Carré's famed Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy has begun to creep into North American theaters a couple of months following its UK debut, bringing with it heaps of awards buzz and the hope that it will live up to Alfredson's breakout feature, Let the Right One In. We're joined by UK correspondent John McEntee, with whom we'll also discuss the 1960s film version of another le Carré book, The Spy Who Came In From the Cold.

The “Sound On Sight” radio show has also been consistently shortlisted one of the best film podcasts 2007-2010. It is marketed principally towards students and genre enthusiasts, and typically features in-depth discussion and debate on contemporary film.

The Walking Dead's fall finale, "Pretty Much Dead Already," aired this week, and the 'nets were abuzz with discussion over the episode's dramatic, bloody conclusion, in which the mythical barnful o' walkers was emptied the old-fashioned way. But did the ending manage to please all of us? Ricky, Kate and Simon discuss the episode, and ponder the future of the show when it returns in February.

We've got two big-hitter family films to discuss this week - first up is Jason Segal's long-awaited reboot of the Muppet franchise, appropriately titled The Muppets. Next up is Martin Scorsese's first-ever family film, the ambitious 'Hugo.' Joining us for both takes is SOS contributor Michael Ryan.

This week, we turn our focus to Spanish auteur Pedro Almodóvar, who has reunited with former collaborator Antonio Banderas for The Skin I Live In, which finds the acclaimed director wading further into the depths of genre than perhaps ever before, folding in aspects of the mad-doctor subgenre and even...torture porn? We'll also rewind to talk about Bad Education, the writer-director's 2004 effort.

The “Sound On Sight” radio show has also been consistently shortlisted one of the best film podcasts 2007-2010. It is marketed principally towards students and genre enthusiasts, and typically features in-depth discussion and debate on contemporary film.

Ricky D scored an interview with Sean Durkin, the writer-director of one of the year's most acclaimed films, Martha Marcy May Marlene. In this episode, we included the whole conversation, as well as a review of Afterschool, the Durkin-produced 2008 feature from director Antonio Campos (who, in turn, produced MMMM). Finally, in case you missed it, there's also a reprise of our TIFF review of MMMM, just so you know what all the hubbub's about.

Hoop Dreams might very well be the most acclaimed documentary of the 1990s, but its co-director, Chicago-based documentarian Steve James, has continued to create distinctive, relevant films in the near-20 year interval since that film's release. His latest, The Interrupters, screened at Cinema Politica here in Montreal and so impressed the SOSers who witnessed it that we made sure to request a screener, with the express purpose of putting a James spotlight together - and now, with the help of special guests Derek Gladu and Michael Waldman, we finally got 'er done. (Special thanks to Kartemquin.)

Season two of The Walking Dead continues to impress most of us. On episode twelve one of the three hosts will express their disappointment with the most recent episode while the other two will disapprove. Find out who is wrong on this week's podcast.

We've been waiting a long time to do this one, folks - writer-director Lucky McKee is one of the most interesting horror filmmakers out there, and his latest, the very dark comedy / satire / feminist tract The Woman is currently making the rounds on VOD and in select theaters. We'll be discussing McKee's latest, along with his 2002 breakthrough debut, May.