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Notes From the Back Row: The Substance Inside of You
Jenna & Veronica defy the haters and sign up for a weekly dose of The Substance – listen as they pick apart the strengths and weaknesses of the movie and themselves
Double Feature: Trapped and Bothered (Certain Women & All the World is Sleeping)
In this double feature, we follow a whole variety of stories about trapped women, and get to see just how universal the feeling of “where do I go from here?” really is across genders.
Double Feature: Of Love and Anxiety (Audition & Possession)
Veronica serves up an anxiety-riddled double feature for you to watch with your romantic partners with Audition (1999) and Possession (1981). Enjoy the pain!
Life Without a Parachute: A Review of Anne at 13,000 Ft.
If the past two years of societal upheaval hasn't been enough drama for you, Kazik Radwanski's Anne at 13,000 Ft. is here to whip you right back into another panic attack. Or really, take you on a leisurely walk through one woman's frenetic downward spiral as a meditation on the concept of control.
'Together Together' in the Loneliest Generation
Nikole Beckwith's platonic-romantic comedy Together Together, about a single dad and his surrogate pregnancy, is surprisingly meditative – honing in on social pressures, generational struggles and the inherent loneliness of navigating both.
Criticism, Critiques, People & Perfection: A Discussion with Jenna & Veronica
Jenna & Veronica discuss an essay by Pauline Kael reflecting on people's hostile responses to her writing while they reflect on their own experiences as female film critics. They touch upon multiple topics–from hate mail, the concept of perfection and how to give and receive criticisms–so stop NAGGING us already GOD retweet sideye #lame
Female Anxiety Films: Women's History Month Edition
Anxiety is what bonds us women together, even more than that sisterhood junk or whichever biological grossness, because it exists inside every type of woman there is. If you’ve spent a minute of your life as a woman, you’ve experienced female anxiety. That’s just the way it goes.
All of Them Witches: Female Anxiety in the Supernatural
Witch movies making a comeback speaks to a larger trend of people wanting more control over how they’re seen. With all of the discussion right now about who has power, who gets power, and what power means to society in general, it’s a natural fit for the Female Anxiety genre.
Happily Ever After Without All the Fairy Tale Crap: Spinster Starring Chelsea Peretti
Between women still being inundated with toxic ideals and Chelsea Peretti’s trademark style of acting, Spinster becomes a lovely and funny movie about how much better we can be when we stop trying to be better for others.
Amy Seimetz's She Dies Tomorrow Explores the Terror of Anticipation
The brilliance of She Dies Tomorrow is in how it weaponizes the anxiety of anticipation. The finality of death, in comparison, feels far less terrifying than having to live in fear of its inevitability.
Noah Hawley's Lucy in the Sky Loses the Cosmos for the Stars
Picture yourself on a truck on a lawn, with a general unease and an outer space high. Lucy in the Sky indulges in tired tropes and gimmicks, but its most egregious mistake is focusing on space when the drama’s down here on earth.
Male Anxiety Movies That Fear the Future is Female
In this day of blurred lines between gender, sexual orientation, and what those words even mean, the axiom of the “every man” is fading away. Veronica looks at three movies that anticipated this inevitable sea change with varying degrees of male tears.
This Halloween, Watch These Alternative Horror Picks
In the spirit of the Halloween season, Dan’s whipped up some recommendations for alternative horror picks to slide into your rotation with the regular year-after-year classics we all know and love.
Double Feature: Female Anxiety, Tinseltown Edition (Play It As It Lays & Ingrid Goes West)
You can dress it up in stars and glamour but at some point you’ll realize the sunny dream of Los Angeles is really just made of plaster and plyboard like the rest of it. Play It As It Lays and Ingrid Goes West both feature protagonists who figure that out a little too late.
I Watched It So You Don't Have To: Martyrs
The charges against Martyrs range from misogyny, to torture porn, to support for getting what you want by any means necessary. It’s an unsettling and rightfully polarizing film, but I'd like to take a closer look at what exactly it is saying, and how many (if any) of these claims have validity.
Double Feature: Capitalism Kills (Thoroughbreds & Cheap Thrills)
We’re killing Capitalism before it kills us with a double feature of Thoroughbreds and Cheap Thrills, both of which skewer, roast, and serve up the worst parts of capitalism on a metal spike.
Double Feature: Female Anxiety, Celebrity Edition (I, Tonya & Amy)
Veronica takes a look at I, Tonya and Amy in this latest double feature with a focus on celebrity female anxiety as its theme.
Repulsion at Catherine Deneuve and Roman Polanski
In light of Deneuve's comments on #MeToo, Jenna muses on how it is that somebody so close to Repulsion could somehow miss this point of the movie entirely.
Double Feature: Female Anxiety, Christmas Edition (Black Christmas & Elves)
Veronica looks at Black Christmas and Elves – movies about female anxiety, loss of autonomy, murder, and, oh, Christmas.
Darren Aronofsky's "mother!" is an Allegory for the Obvious
It's fun, it's bluntly obvious, it's absurd, it's grating, it will make you want to sit down somewhere quiet by the end because your ears are kinda ringing from the sound of incoherent voices, broken glass and explosions.