Shut Up And Watch This

DON’T TELL MOM THE BABYSITTER’S DEAD is perhaps a strange choice for a podcast that has covered such illustrious films as Notorious, Seven Samurai and Pan’s Labyrinth. It is very much a B movie, but there is just something about this film. Certainly part of it is Christina Applegate’s charming performance, and David Duchovny’s standout turn as a general slimeball. But also, this story subverts expectations again and again. Far from perfect, this is a fun, silly fable that has something to say about growing up, taking responsibility, and finding yourself in the process.  Also mentioned: DEAD TO ME (2019) - TV Series. Subscribe in iTunes, Android, or Spotify. Follow us on Facebook and Instagram. Visit our site: shutupwatchthis.wordpress.com Send your feedback to shutupwatchthis@gmail.com Please consider leaving a review or a star rating on iTunes, so other folks can find us. © 2020 Ashley Carr & Dave Wilson

We open on an unveiling ceremony. The genteel folk of the city are dedicating a monument to “peace and prosperity." Speeches are made, benefactors are thanked and the sculpture is revealed. A man lies sleeping in the lap of the central statue. He wakes to the sound of the disapproving crowd, tips his hat politely and begins to make his way down. This is our first glimpse of The Little Tramp in Dave’s pick, CITY LIGHTS (1931) directed by and starring Charlie Chaplin at the height of his career. This film is charming and bittersweet, and feels timeless despite its nearly 90 years. Subscribe in iTunes, Android, or Spotify. Follow us on Facebook and Instagram. Visit our site: shutupwatchthis.wordpress.com Send your feedback to shutupwatchthis@gmail.com Please consider leaving a review or a star rating on iTunes, so other folks can find us. © 2020 Ashley Carr & Dave Wilson

Have you ever found yourself in some remote place where you suddenly realize that you don’t know all the rules, or that the rules are different than you thought? Perhaps you felt unmoored and uneasy. (Perhaps this has lasted roughly 4 years?) In this week's pick, 70’s horror classic, THE WICKER MAN, we follow Officer Howie (Edward Woodward) as he tries to find his footing while investigating the disappearance of a child on a remote Scottish island. With Christopher Lee, some wacky pagan rituals, and a lot of fun folk music this is an unusual kind horror film, and a really fun conversation. Subscribe in iTunes, Android, or Spotify. Follow us on Facebook and Instagram. Visit our site: shutupwatchthis.wordpress.com Send your feedback to shutupwatchthis@gmail.com Please consider leaving a review or a star rating on iTunes, so other folks can find us. © 2020 Ashley Carr & Dave Wilson

Thirty-five years is a long time between viewings of a former hit TV show, especially one that leans heavily into “battle of the sexes,” as Dave discovered with his pick this week, the 80’s screwball detective series, MOONLIGHTING, which ran from 1985-1989 on ABC. Starring Cybill Shepherd and rising star Bruce Willis as bickering partners in the Blue Moon detective agency, Moonlighting was once must-see TV, but now is mostly forgotten. Will Ashley be able to see beyond the very dated gender politics to appreciate the weird charms of this very unusual show? Maybe. Links: 10 Episodes that Highlight Moonlighting's Eclectic, Boundary-Busting Brilliance (AV Club) Subscribe in iTunes, Android, or Spotify. Follow us on Facebook and Instagram. Visit our site: shutupwatchthis.wordpress.com Send your feedback to shutupwatchthis@gmail.com Please consider leaving a review or a star rating on iTunes, so other folks can find us. © 2020 Ashley Carr & Dave Wilson

Luminous, sumptuous, rich, devastating. If this already sounds like a list of overused words from literary book reviews, you’re right. But they also describe this week’s film, Ashley’s pick, THE WINGS OF THE DOVE (1997). Helena Bonham Carter gives one of her best performances while positively draped in rich velvets, silks and handmade lace. This film definitely has a look, and Dave and Ashley think it has performances to match. Subscribe in iTunes, Android, or Spotify. Follow us on Facebook and Instagram. Visit our site: shutupwatchthis.wordpress.com Send your feedback to shutupwatchthis@gmail.com Please consider leaving a review or a star rating on iTunes, so other folks can find us. © 2020 Ashley Carr & Dave Wilson

It seems incredible that we’ve made it to episode 59 without featuring a David Lynch film. Dave is a documented super fan of Twin Peaks, after all. But Ashley had already seen most of his major works, excepting WILD AT HEART, which had the potential to invoke a Naked-type reaction (see episode 8). But the time has come. Join us for a winding discussion of dream logic, terrifying mother figures, unexplained side characters, 50’s style crooning and, as always, the magic of Laura Dern. Subscribe in iTunes, Android, or Spotify. Follow us on Facebook and Instagram. Visit our site: shutupwatchthis.wordpress.com Send your feedback to shutupwatchthis@gmail.com Please consider leaving a review or a star rating on iTunes, so other folks can find us. © 2020 Ashley Carr & Dave Wilson

This one’s for the millennials raised by Nickelodeon, and anyone else who enjoys good things like songs with unintelligible lyrics, golden autumn light, endless summers, and personal superheroes. This week Ashley’s pick is 90’s television series THE ADVENTURES OF PETE & PETE. Dave is struck by the wonderful oddness of the world inhabited by two brothers named Pete. Ashley is just happy to be able to share such an important part of her childhood. Subscribe in iTunes, Android, or Spotify. Follow us on Facebook and Instagram. Visit our site: shutupwatchthis.wordpress.com Send your feedback to shutupwatchthis@gmail.com Please consider leaving a review or a star rating on iTunes, so other folks can find us. © 2020 Ashley Carr & Dave Wilson  

That thing where you avoid seeing a film or films because the trailers and descriptions make them sound too sentimental and cliche. That. This is how Ashley felt about Terrence Malick’s films, and studiously avoided his work outside of a viewing of BADLANDS some 15 years ago. So it was with some trepidation that we approached this week’s film, Dave’s pick DAYS OF HEAVEN (1978). Will Ashley’s fears be founded or will she be drawn in? Subscribe in iTunes, Android, or Spotify. Follow us on Facebook and Instagram. Visit our site: shutupwatchthis.wordpress.com Send your feedback to shutupwatchthis@gmail.com Please consider leaving a review or a star rating on iTunes, so other folks can find us. © 2020 Ashley Carr & Dave Wilson

Let us hope that serial lateness with a podcast is not a homicide level offense. It might be for the hero (?) or villain, rather, of this week’s film, John Water’s SERIAL MOM (1994). Kathleen Turner stars as happy, unhinged homemaker Beverly Sutphin in one of Waters’ most mainstream films. This dark comedy parodies the rising obsession with true crime, and turned out to be astonishingly prescient in predicting crime-related media extravaganzas such as the one surrounding the OJ Simpson trial a year later. Weird, funny and dark, this is right up Ashley’s alley, but will Dave be similarly enthralled? Subscribe in iTunes, Android, or Spotify. Follow us on Facebook and Instagram. Visit our site: shutupwatchthis.wordpress.com Send your feedback to shutupwatchthis@gmail.com Please consider leaving a review or a star rating on iTunes, so other folks can find us. © 2020 Ashley Carr & Dave Wilson

This week we’re talking nuns, and not just any nuns, 1940s Himalayan nuns. The nun movie genre is kind of a mixed bag ranging from horror, to comedy, to drama, and is a genre that Ashley has largely been skeptical of, excepting Sister Act, of course. But BLACK NARCISSUS is singular among them all for its otherworldliness and veiled eroticism. The haunting use of Technicolor and incredible matte paintings that set the scene only enhance the beautiful strangeness of this fascinating film. Subscribe in iTunes, Android, or Spotify. Follow us on Facebook and Instagram. Visit our site: shutupwatchthis.wordpress.com Send your feedback to shutupwatchthis@gmail.com Please consider leaving a review or a star rating on iTunes, so other folks can find us. © 2020 Ashley Carr & Dave Wilson

This week’s pick is Sofia Coppola’s 2006 history and period-defying MARIE ANTOINETTE. Ashley fought choosing this cream puff of a film for a long time because, though it is delightful, it just didn’t stick with her the way other films by Coppola have. A story of a privileged woman seemingly oblivious to the pain and suffering of a nation. What does it mean? Does it mean anything? Is it all frivolity, pretty shoes, and macarons or is there some substance after all? Dave and Ashley try to figure it out. Subscribe in iTunes, Android, or Spotify. Follow us on Facebook and Instagram. Visit our site: shutupwatchthis.wordpress.com Send your feedback to shutupwatchthis@gmail.com Please consider leaving a review or a star rating on iTunes, so other folks can find us. © 2020 Ashley Carr & Dave Wilson

Stephen Frears’ MY BEAUTIFUL LAUNDRETTE is an odd film. Set in South London during the Thatcher Era, our main character Omar, son of an immigrant from Pakistan, is working for his uncle to make a run-down coin-op laundry profitable again. He enlists his childhood friend Johnny (Daniel Day-Lewis), a recovering fascist punk to help out. Together Omar and Johnny find humor, danger, and improbably, love. It is an interesting ride, join us. Subscribe in iTunes, Android, or Spotify. Follow us on Facebook and Instagram. Visit our site: shutupwatchthis.wordpress.com Send your feedback to shutupwatchthis@gmail.com Please consider leaving a review or a star rating on iTunes, so other folks can find us. © 2020 Ashley Carr & Dave Wilson

Can a podcast have an existential crisis? In this case, yes. Spurred by a viewing of 1987’s truly dreadful, sexist Overboard, Ashley decided that the original concept just wasn’t working for her anymore. So we decided to watch a film that both had seen before, but not together, and some balance was restored to the universe. This week we talk Michel Gondry and Charlie Kaufman’s ETERNAL SUNSHINE OF THE SPOTLESS MIND, a film that is beautiful and melancholy and hilarious and thought-provoking. And frankly, blows Overboard out of the water, despite a luminous Goldie Hawn. Subscribe in iTunes, Android, or Spotify. Follow us on Facebook and Instagram. Visit our site: shutupwatchthis.wordpress.com Send your feedback to shutupwatchthis@gmail.com Please consider leaving a review or a star rating on iTunes, so other folks can find us. © 2020 Ashley Carr & Dave Wilson  

Good things come to those who work hard, we’re told. Those who’ll do anything to accomplish their goals will surely succeed because that is the promise of America; freedom, success and a new car. 12-year-old orphan Ale has a plan to earn a life for himself and his sister Izzy in Willets Point, Queens in this week’s pick, CHOP SHOP by director Ramin Bahrani. Symbolizing freedom for Ale is a beat up old food truck he hopes will lead him and Izzy to a better life. Life is a struggle every day, but somehow Ale finds hope, joy, and a reason to keep trying. Subscribe in iTunes, Android, or Spotify. Follow us on Facebook and Instagram. Visit our site: shutupwatchthis.wordpress.com Send your feedback to shutupwatchthis@gmail.com Please consider leaving a review or a star rating on iTunes, so other folks can find us. © 2020 Ashley Carr & Dave Wilson

Our 50th episode just happened to fall during a global pandemic that has upended everything everywhere, so we decided to talk about what brings us comfort, hope, and a little laughter in scary times. We’re listing our top five(ish) comforting things, which are *mostly* movies. Spanning from the 1930’s to last Tuesday, Film Noir to YouTube, we hope at least one will soothe your troubled mind, or at least distract you for a while. Subscribe in iTunes, Android, or Spotify. Follow us on Facebook and Instagram. Visit our site: shutupwatchthis.wordpress.com Send your feedback to shutupwatchthis@gmail.com Please consider leaving a review or a star rating on iTunes, so other folks can find us. © 2020 Ashley Carr & Dave Wilson

Part of the magic of college is that you get to learn a bunch of new stuff, not just from your professors, but also all the weird stuff that you get introduced to from a jumble of friends, friends of friends, and friends of friends of friends that you meet. A visit to someone’s trashed out apartment can introduce you to something that could change the course of your life. For Ashley that something was David Cross and Bob Odenkirk’s MR. SHOW, which aired on HBO from 1995-1998. This influential comedy sketch show is a must watch for anyone who enjoys comedy. Can Dave and Ashley manage to talk about a sketch show without just summarizing the sketches? Find out on this week’s episode of Shut Up and Watch this. Terra-da-loo! Subscribe in iTunes, Android, or Spotify. Follow us on Facebook and Instagram. Visit our site: shutupwatchthis.wordpress.com Send your feedback to shutupwatchthis@gmail.com Please consider leaving a review or a star rating on iTunes, so other folks can find us. © 2020 Ashley Carr & D

We suddenly have a lot of time on our hands, so why not watch a few epic French films? Dave’s pick this week is Claude Berri’s JEAN DE FLORETTE, a tale of rural betrayal, drought, and broken dreams set in the beautiful Provençal region of France. Ashley is taken with what at first seems to be a simple story about a man who wants to grow flowers, but quickly takes on the weight of a Greek or Shakespearian tragedy. A man plans, and God (and farmers) laugh. Subscribe in iTunes, Android, or Spotify. Follow us on Facebook and Instagram. Visit our site: shutupwatchthis.wordpress.com Send your feedback to shutupwatchthis@gmail.com Please consider leaving a review or a star rating on iTunes, so other folks can find us. © 2020 Ashley Carr & Dave Wilson

Much like Titanic, we all know how this one is going to end. So as with most films based on real events, David Fincher’s ZODIAC (2007) is all about the journey. But also a little bit about the unreliability of handwriting analysis, how communication amongst law enforcement agencies is hard, and that the press isn’t always so good at supporting the public interest. Part police procedural, part journalism film, and part one of those films where a regular citizen is obsessed with uncovering the TRUTH, Zodiac offers a lot to discuss. Subscribe in iTunes, Android, or Spotify. Follow us on Facebook and Instagram. Visit our site: shutupwatchthis.wordpress.com Send your feedback to shutupwatchthis@gmail.com Please consider leaving a review or a star rating on iTunes, so other folks can find us. © 2020 Ashley Carr & Dave Wilson

Sometimes the marketing people get it all wrong and they do it on purpose. Case in point is this week's film, Atom Egoyan's EXOTICA (1994). No, it's not a grade B mid-nighties erotic thriller, but a quiet, introspective film about several emotionally damaged people, the tenouous threads that connect them, and the complicated ways in which they heal and hurt each other. This week Dave introduces Ashley to the beautiful, sad world of Canadian independent director Atom Egoyan, the exotic strains of Mychael Danna’s score, and the brilliant, understated performances by Bruce Greenwood, Mia Kirshner and Don McKellar. And for Dave, that haunting song “Everybody Knows” by Leonard Cohen will always be tangled up with this movie and that dark Toronto club that gives the film its name. Subscribe in iTunes, Android, or Spotify. Follow us on Facebook and Instagram. Visit our site: shutupwatchthis.wordpress.com Send your feedback to shutupwatchthis@gmail.com Please consider leaving a review or a star rating on iTunes,

Werner Herzog’s BAD LIEUTENANT: PORT OF CALL NEW ORLEANS, or BL:POCNO as we like to call it (no one calls it that), is a very weird movie. It is also a pretty good movie. A good-weird film that somehow Dave missed despite his film school education and fondness for New German Cinema directors. There is plenty for us to unpack here from the highs and lows of Nicolas Cage’s varied career to Herzog’s unique talent for portraying the darkness and folly of the human condition with a relatively light touch. All that, plus iguana cam (patent pending). Links: Of Walking in Ice (1978) by Werner Herzog. Werner Herzog: A Guide for the Perplexed (2014) by Paul Cronin. Herzog by Ebert (2017) by Roger Ebert Goodnight Moon Narrated by Werner Herzog (YouTube) - Ron Lechler Subscribe in iTunes, Android, or Spotify. Follow us on Facebook and Instagram. Visit our site: shutupwatchthis.wordpress.com Send your feedback to shutupwatchthis@gmail.com Please consider leaving a review or a star rating on iTunes, so other fol