In this episode of the show, our December retrospective of Ben Affleck's directorial efforts comes to a close. It also puts a bow on the entire year of going through a Director Zodiac of sorts and sets the stage for the next year as well. But more on that later. In this conversation you will hear us talk about Air, the 2023 brand-o-pic about the creation of the iconic shoe for Michael Jordan and his signing a contract with Nike. We discuss the vagaries of independent financing in the age of streaming, the idea of staging a biopic with an iconic character lurking in the shadows and essentially making a movie about a bunch of guys who went to work on a weekend. We also discuss old NBA trivia, nuances of working for different-sized companies, and using the setting of the 80's as a character.
Tune in and enjoy!
Hosts: Jakub Flasz & Randy Burrows
Featuring: Nicolo Grasso & Rich Foster
Intro: Infraction - Cassette
Outro: Infraction - Daydream
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In this final episode of our 2025 series in which we explored some of the most iconic movies from 1975 and 1995 we are finally rolling the dice with Martin Scorsese's Casino. Over the course of our conversation, which (expectedly) is just as sprawling and widespread as the movie itself, you will hear us talk about the ways in which Casino capitalizes on the success of Goodfellas, how it differs from it in many ways and how it informs one of the most persistent thematic angles present in Martin Scorsese's filmmaking career. We also talk about Las Vegas as a character, Robert De Niro's glitzy wardrobe, that opening explosion shot, Joe Pesci owning the frame and much, much more!
Tune in and enjoy!
Hosts: Jakub Flasz & Randy Burrows
Featuring: Tony Larder
THIS PODCAST IS AVAILABLE IN FULL FOR FREE ON OUR PATREON!!! (patreon.com/uncutgemspod)
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In this episode of the show our December retrospective of Ben Affleck's works behind the camera continues with Live by Night. Over the course of our conversation you will hear us discuss the challenges of adapting Dennis Lehane's sprawling gangster epic, the possibility that Affleck might have bitten more than he could chew at the time and that imitating Scorsese is much more difficult than meets the eye. We also talk about Affleck's physical transformation and why he might not look his best in baggy period-accurate suits, the problem of following a dense story without a good hook or a compelling protagonist, the criminal underuse of many great character actors and much more!
Tune in and enjoy!
Hosts: Jakub Flasz & Randy Burrows
Featuring: Nicolo Grasso
Intro: Infraction - Cassette
Outro: Infraction - Daydream
Head over to uncutgemspodcast.com to find all of our archival episodes and more!
Follow us on Twitter (@UncutGemsPod), IG (@UncutGemsPod) and Facebook (@UncutGemsPod)
THIS PODCAST IS AVAILABLE IN FULL FOR FREE ON OUR PATREON!!! (patreon.com/uncutgemspod)
In this last bonus tie-in podcast of the year we are discussing Ben Affleck's most acclaimed movie Argo. Over the course of our conversation you will hear us talk about where Argo ranks among Affleck's directorial efforts, how it stacks up against other prominent movies of its year, how many historical inaccuracies it sports and whether it even matters at all. We also talk about Affleck directing himself in an internalized performance, the alluring idea of making movies about movies and how movies save the world, and that sometimes embellishing reality in service of emotional realism may triumph over factually correct screenwriting. Finally, we spare a few precious thoughts on John Goodman and Alan Arkin's performances and how they serve to comment on Hollywood, and we also find time to relitigate a few old arguments regarding our opinions on Bryan Cranston and the way one should pronounce Warren Beatty's surname.
Tune in and enjoy!
Hosts: Jakub Flasz & Randy Burrows
Featuring: Tony Larder
THIS PODCAST IS AVAILABLE IN FULL FOR FREE ON OUR PATREON!!! (patreon.com/uncutgemspod)
Subscribe to our patreon at patreon.com/uncutgemspod (3$/month) and support us by gaining access to ALL of our exclusive podcasts, such as bonus tie-ins, themed retrospectives and director marathons!
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In this episode of the show, our Ben Affleck mini-retrospective continues with The Town. Over the course of our chat you will hear us talk about whether The Town is a herald of filmmaking growth from Affleck, how he directs his own performance and how the ideas of organic authenticity explored in Gone Baby Gone translate to a different genre. We comment on Affleck's directorial style, Jeremy Renner's powerhouse performance and the many flourishes connecting The Town to such filmmakers as Michael Mann, Ridley Scott and John Frankenheimer. We also chuckle at a few shots here and there, wonder if FBI agents rehearse their PowerPoint presentations and show gratitude that these bank robbers had a habit of raiding barber shops for DNA with which they could use to contaminate crime scenes and not other establishments where DNA is also found.
Tune in and enjoy!
Hosts: Jakub Flasz & Randy Burrows
Featuring: Rich Foster
Intro: Infraction - Cassette
Outro: Infraction - Daydream
Head over to uncutgemspodcast.com to find all of our archival episodes and more!
Follow us on Twitter (@UncutGemsPod), IG (@UncutGemsPod) and Facebook (@UncutGemsPod)
In this episode of our Mike Nichols Marathon, the last of the year, we are ankle-deep in the auteur's 90's output as we discuss the 1991 film Regarding Henry. Over the course of our conversation you will hear us debate whether Nichols abandoned or lost his subversive edge over the course of two decades since his most iconic work or if his early masterpieces were an anomaly in a catalogue of safe movies about relationships. We talk about this movie functioning as an attempt at a Frank Capra film or an antidote to Wall Street and how the film's overt clichés make it look like a Hallmark production. We also point out that Bill Nunn's character is a walking and talking HR liability, that brain trauma can apparently be cured with hot sauce and place a few comments against J.J. Abrams's screenwriting output as well.
Tune in enjoy!
Subscribe to our patreon at patreon.com/uncutgemspod (3$/month) and support us by gaining access to ALL of our exclusive podcasts, such as bonus tie-ins, themed retrospectives and director marathons!
Hosts: Jakub Flasz & Randy Burrows
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In this episode of the show we are embarking on the last of our 2025 director series, in which we will take a close look at the directorial efforts of one Ben Affleck and discuss all of his movies, one by one. Thus, we shall begin with Affleck's debut feature Gone Baby Gone. Over the course of our conversation you will hear us talk about Affleck's transition to directing that felt both like a natural extension of his interests and a career comeback, his unique positioning as a Bostonian to adapt Dennis Lehane's novel with requisite emotional realism and authenticity and how the casting of his brother Casey in the lead was an incredibly inspired choice. We also talk about Affleck's 70's inspirations and film IQ, the movie's central moral question that splits the audience in two and whether some of the more manufactured elements of the plot serve to underscore or undermine the narrative as a whole.
Tune in and enjoy!
Hosts: Jakub Flasz & Randy Burrows
Intro: Infraction - Cassette
Outro: Infraction - Daydream
Head over to uncutgemspodcast.com to find all of our archival episodes and more!
Follow us on Twitter (@UncutGemsPod), IG (@UncutGemsPod) and Facebook (@UncutGemsPod)
In this episode of the show we are finishing John Dahl Fall with a conversation about his 1998 effort Rounders. Over the course of our chat you will hear us wonder how this movie was dumped unceremoniously and how Miramax decided to have more faith in Shakespeare in Love, how it fits (or doesn't) in John Dahl's creative catalogue and how it also gained second life on home video in the following years. We also talk about how cinematic or uncinematic portrayal of poker is on screen, how the movie is a de facto story of addiction, and how the script treats poker the way six-year-old boys talk about dinosaurs. Finally, we spare a precious few words on what we think about Matt Damon and Edward Norton as rising stars of the time and John Malkovich's dialect work, which is clearly unforgettable and perhaps iconic in its own way.
Tune in and enjoy!
Hosts: Jakub Flasz & Randy Burrows
Intro: Infraction - Cassette
Outro: Infraction - Daydream
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Follow us on Twitter (@UncutGemsPod), IG (@UncutGemsPod) and Facebook (@UncutGemsPod)
In this bonus podcast we are tying into our Noir-vember conversation on John Dahl by talking about another influential 90's neo-noir, namely Bound. Over the course of our sprawling discussion you will hear us try to identify where exactly The Wachowskis came from, as they seemingly came out of nowhere, and how their directorial debut charted the course for them to eventually direct The Matrix. We also talk about warping and subverting noir staples by introducing a lesbian angle, Jennifer Tilly as a femme fatale and how through the use of decisive and sweeping visuals, the pair of directors managed to breathe a lot of fresh air into what essentially is a familiar genre template. Finally, we spare a few moments to wonder if it had been a good idea to hire a few extras to wander the set, what we think about Joe Pantoliano with hair and how the thin wall gimmick foreshadowed a key moment in The Matrix.
Tune in and enjoy!
Subscribe to our patreon at patreon.com/uncutgemspod (3$/month) and support us by gaining access to this show in full in addition to ALL of our exclusive podcasts, such as bonus tie-ins, themed retrospectives and director marathons!
Hosts: Jakub Flasz & Randy Burrows
Featuring: Jak-Luke Sharp
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In this episode of the show our November journey through the films of John Dahl continues with his 1996 Unforgettable. Over the course of our conversation you will hear us talk about the ways in which this movie continues Dahl's pet obsession with film noir and how it departs from it, how it fits into the 90s microtrend of thrillers with a sci-fi element like Strange Days or Flatliners and how it might have been partially inspired by the stunning success of The X-Files too. We also talk about the uncanny visage of Ray Liotta, the importance of staying in your lane as a medical examiner and just how much different this movie would have been if memory juice came not as an injectable but as a suppository.
Tune in and enjoy!
Hosts: Jakub Flasz & Randy Burrows
Intro: Infraction - Cassette
Outro: Infraction - Daydream
Head over to uncutgemspodcast.com to find all of our archival episodes and more!
Follow us on Twitter (@UncutGemsPod), IG (@UncutGemsPod) and Facebook (@UncutGemsPod)
In this episode of our 2025 series in which we discuss classics from 1975 and 1995 we are turning our attention to Night Moves directed by Arthur Penn. Over the course of our conversation you will hear us talk about how this movie executes on the film noir template with its convoluted plots and morally ambiguous characterizations and how it functions as its subversion. We debate the possible reasons why this movie was misunderstood and unsuccessful upon release, and why competing against Jaws for box office dollars might have had something to do with it. We also delve into the controversy surrounding explicit scenes featuring young Melanie Griffith and the equally problematic ways the studio wanted to 'solve' what they clearly identified as a moral issue. Finally, we wonder just how many times one has to watch Night Moves to begin to like its subversive new-wave commentary on noir.
Tune in and enjoy!
Hosts: Jakub Flasz & Randy Burrows
Featuring: Rich Foster
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In this episode of the show, our conversations about John Dahl noir-adjacent thrillers continues with The Last Seduction. Over the course of the recording you will hear us talk about the way in which this movie traverses between tropes of noir and the more 90s-specific erotic thriller, how Linda Fiorentino embodies and elevates the archetypal femme fatale and a project destined originally for TV ended up one of the year's critical darlings. We also discuss how the deleted scenes would have added some spice to the movie, how eventually the film does fall victim to the complexity of its plot and the many tiny moments of character comedy hidden within the script.
Tune in and enjoy!
Hosts: Jakub Flasz & Randy Burrows
Featuring: Tony Larder
Intro: Infraction - Cassette
Outro: Infraction - Daydream
Head over to uncutgemspodcast.com to find all of our archival episodes and more!
Follow us on Twitter (@UncutGemsPod), IG (@UncutGemsPod) and Facebook (@UncutGemsPod)
In this episode of the show we are joined by Jak and Carson to celebrate the show's 250th episode. In this show we spare a few minutes reminiscing and we also engage in a brief game of Uncut Gems trivia before talking about the movie of the day, John Dahl's Red Rock West. In this part of our show we discuss the film's difficult fate, cult resurrection and universal critical acclaim. We talk about Dahl banking on a great story and the cast plucked out of David Lynch's closet, Nic Cage at his most subdued and nuanced and the unwieldy Dennis Hopper as the film's agent of chaos. We also talk about how noir films tend to emerge on the fringes of the mainstream, whether we admire Cage's skill of doing one-armed pushups and if Dahl's choice of aspect ratio is enough to send at least some of us into a tailspin.
Tune in and enjoy!
Hosts: Jakub Flasz & Randy Burrows
Featuring: Jak-Luke Sharp & Carson Timar
Intro: Infraction - Cassette
Outro: Infraction - Daydream
Head over to uncutgemspodcast.com to find all of our archival episodes and more!
Follow us on Twitter (@UncutGemsPod), IG (@UncutGemsPod) and Facebook (@UncutGemsPod)
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In this episode of our Mike Nichols Marathon we enter the 90s with a conversation about Postcards from the Edge. In this show you will hear us talk about the challenge of adapting a seemingly unfilmable material and how it was a task for its first-time author Carrie Fisher. We talk about the many facets of mirroring reality this movie allows, how it thinly veils its relationship with Carrie Fisher and her mother Debbie Reynolds and how it pulls no punches when it comes to describing the rotten core of Hollywood. We also spare a few comments on the way Postcards from the Edge poaches both from All that Jazz and Terms of Endearment, how Mike Nichols repaid an old debt to Gene Hackman and how Carrie Fisher's writing acumen remains thoroughly underrated.
Tune in and enjoy!
Subscribe to our patreon at patreon.com/uncutgemspod (3$/month) and support us by gaining access to ALL of our exclusive podcasts, such as bonus tie-ins, themed retrospectives and director marathons!
Hosts: Jakub Flasz & Randy Burrows
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In this episode of the show we are embarking on the 11th mini-run of the year and we are contributing to the tradition of observing Noir-Vember. On this occasion, we will spend the entire month talking about films directed by John Dahl - The John Dahl Fall, so to speak. And we begin our deliberations with Dahl's 1989 debut Kill Me Again. Over the course of our conversation you will hear us talk about the ways in which Dahl's movie adds to the noir tradition, how it executes on the genre playbook and whether it attempts to subvert any of its staples. We also position the film within the wave of neo-noir sweeping the medium at the time, if the movie had enough star power to stand out in the busy release slate and if it needed some extra oomph to become more noticeable.
Tune in and enjoy!
Hosts: Jakub Flasz & Randy Burrows
Featuring: Rich Foster
Intro: Infraction - Cassette
Outro: Infraction - Daydream
Head over to uncutgemspodcast.com to find all of our archival episodes and more!
Follow us on Twitter (@UncutGemsPod), IG (@UncutGemsPod) and Facebook (@UncutGemsPod)
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In this episode of the show we are parting ways with Stuart Gordon-Tober as we are discussing his 1991 The Pit and the Pendulum. Over the course of our conversation you will hear us talk about Gordon moving from adapting Lovecraft to another challenging godfather of horror, Edgar Allan Poe, how challenging it must have been to essentially have to invent a story to wrap around a sparse narrative and whether this exercise bore any fruit. We also talk about the place of violence in this movie, its intersection with humour, swashbuckling while wielding soup ladles and - of course - Lance Henriksen's hair.
Tune in and enjoy!
Hosts: Jakub Flasz & Randy Burrows
Intro: Infraction - Cassette
Outro: Infraction - Daydream
Head over to uncutgemspodcast.com to find all of our archival episodes and more!
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In this podcast we are tying into the Lovecraftian vibe of our Stuart Gordon October by talking about the Richard Stanley-directed Color Out of Space. Over the course of our conversation you will hear us talk about this movie as a cult classic and an exemplar of cosmic horror, how it treats Lovecraft's prose and adapts it for the modern viewer and how it attempts to mesh sensibilities of The Thing with an atmosphere of an ayahuasca ceremony. We also talk about raising alpacas and doing witchcraft in the woods as rich white people hobbies, Lovecraft's problematic views seeping through the narrative, how the filmmakers' choice to use magenta as the titular color out of space is a decision rooted in physics, how the word fuchsia doesn't make sense and much more!
Tune in and enjoy!
Subscribe to our patreon at patreon.com/uncutgemspod (3$/month) and support us by gaining access to this show in full in addition to ALL of our exclusive podcasts, such as bonus tie-ins, themed retrospectives and director marathons!
Hosts: Jakub Flasz & Randy Burrows
Featuring: Hillary White
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In this episode of the show our October series of Stuart Gordon's early movies continues with a conversation about the 1987 Dolls. Over the course of our chat you will hear us talk about Gordon's brief departure from adapting H.P. Lovecraft and directing what could easily look like a dark fairy tale in the vein of the Grimm Brothers. We talk about Gordon's time filming in Italy, the movie as a showcase of practical special effects and a cross between Gordon's own sensibilities and inspirations plucked from giallo and other masters of Italian horror. We also touch on the sublime camp in the acting department, logical conveniences, werewolf teddy bears and the fact that at under eighty minutes of running time, Dolls still looked padded out.
Tune in and enjoy!
Hosts: Jakub Flasz & Randy Burrows
Featuring: Tony Larder
Intro: Infraction - Cassette
Outro: Infraction - Daydream
Head over to uncutgemspodcast.com to find all of our archival episodes and more!
Follow us on Twitter (@UncutGemsPod), IG (@UncutGemsPod) and Facebook (@UncutGemsPod)
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In this tenth instalment of our 2025 series where we talk about iconic movies from 1995 and 1975, we finally take on the David Fincher-directed Se7en. Joined by the all-star guest Hillary White we leave no stone unturned as we talk about Se7en as a cultural touchstone, with a great tangent on how movies used to be cool and their cultural primacy has since been diminished, how it immediately entered the cultural conversation where it persists to this day and how it was a rebirth both for David Fincher and Brad Pitt, as the former needed a win after Alien 3 and the latter sought a rebrand from becoming a romantic leading man. We also talk about the film's incredible worldbuilding, its aesthetic anchoring to noir and serial killer thrillers, Kevin Spacey's overacting and the occasional heightened moments more at home in music videos than movies of the time.
Tune in and enjoy!
Hosts: Jakub Flasz & Randy Burrows
Featuring: Hillary White
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In this episode of the show, our Stuart Gordon-Tober continues with a great chat about his sophomore piece From Beyond. Joined by Kevin and Erin, the wonderful duo of hosts behind The Podcast That Wouldn't Die, we delve deep into the thick of things as we discuss how this movie came together, how it translates (or doesn't) the H.P. Lovecraft story to the screen and how it co-exists with other 80s horror movies, like The Thing or Prince of Darkness. We also talk about the movie's BDSM fetish and how it makes From Beyond look like a cousin of Hellraiser, Barbara Crampton as a cosmic horror dominatrix, the wonderful special effects and how everything gets better with more pineal gland action.
Tune in and enjoy!
Hosts: Jakub Flasz & Randy Burrows
Featuring: Kevin & Erin (The Podcast That Wouldn't Die)
Intro: Infraction - Cassette
Outro: Infraction - Daydream
Head over to uncutgemspodcast.com to find all of our archival episodes and more!
Follow us on Twitter (@UncutGemsPod), IG (@UncutGemsPod) and Facebook (@UncutGemsPod)
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