The Sleepless Cinematic Podcast

For a bonus episode this week, Emilio goes solo for a (mostly) spoiler free talk about a film he really loves, Ang Lee's "The Wedding Banquet".  It was a successful and critically acclaimed independent film back when it was released in 1993, but has mostly stayed relevant as its esteemed director's international breakthrough.  Yet it's a timeless film full of humor, compassion,  and reflections on what we s...

Madeline, Julian, and Emilio continue their cycle of New York City movies with a "Suggestion Box" entry covering "Problemista," the film debut of director, writer, and actor Julio Torres, known previously for his writing on Saturday Night Live, HBO special "My Favorite Shapes," and co-creating and starring in the supernatural comedy "Los Espookys." Like other films the group have discussed in...

For this cycle's "Mise-Unseen" entry, Julian, Emilio and Madeline fire up 'Hester Street', Joan Micklin Silver's overlooked and under-appreciated film from 1975 depicting the struggles one Jewish family, recently immigrants to the United States, face while assimilating to life in their new homeland at the turn of the century.  The trio comment on the film's unique depiction of New York City (parti...

Emilio, Madeline, and Julian are joined again by freshly-minted New Yorker Maggie Hill, who helps them kick off a new episode cycle focusing on New York City movies. They begin with a "View-nanimous" entry on “Frances Ha”, Noah Baumbach’s 2012 film co-written by him and the film’s star, Greta Gerwig. The four New York residents praise the many accuracies of the film and share their own NYC-specific stories about living as...

Julian, Madeline, and Emilio are graced by the enthusiastic presence of Tony-nominated actor Rob McClure to finish off their episode cycle on Oscar-Winning Supporting Performances with a "Close-Up" about three classic comedic roles, which each garnered their performers the coveted trophies. The first of these would be Kevin Kline's role in "A Fish Called Wanda" (1988), the British-American, Monty Python-adj...

This week, Emilio, Madeline, and Julian have the privilege of speaking to Jess LeProtto, an accomplished Broadway performer whose triple threat talents earned him the role of the thorny yet memorable Jet "A-Rab" in Steven Spielberg's 2021 remake of 'West Side Story'.  Jess talks about his unusual first exposure to the music of West Side Story, the development and audition process, receiving character backst...

For our "Two Shot" episode of Best Supporting Acting Winners, Madeline, Julian and Emilio keep things local, and with the help of actor/teacher/fight director Ron Piretti, they dive into both film adaptations of the beloved musical 'West Side Story'.  Both the Jerome Robbins original and the Steven Spielberg remake have the distinction of earning the Best Supporting Actress Oscar in their respective years for th...

This week, Madeline, Emilio and Julian welcome back piano man extraordinaire and film aficionado Matt Friedman to discuss 'L.A. Confidential', the 1997 Neo-noir directed by Curtis Hanson and starring Russell Crowe, Guy Pearce, Kevin Spacey, and Kim Basinger in an Oscar-winning supporting role.  The group discusses how this movie hits differently if you knew who Crowe and Pearce were upon first watch, how depictions of cor...

Continuing their conversations about films featuring Best Supporting Acting Oscar winning performances, Madeline, Julian and Emilio dive into a film they had yet to see: 'Dreamgirls', the 2006 film adaptation of the Broadway musical, starring Jamie Foxx, Beyonce, Anika Noni Rose, Danny Glover, and Jennifer Hudson, whose portrayal of Effie White earned her an Academy Award in her film debut.  The group gets into its status...

Emilio, Madeline, and Julian are joined by drummer Rob Mitzner to begin a new episode cycle on films featuring winners of the Best Supporting Actor or Actress Oscars, with a "View-nanimous" entry on director Damien Chazelle's 2014 breakthrough film, "Whiplash." Starring Miles Teller and J.K. Simmons, the latter of whom won the requisite Oscar, the film memorably portrays student drummer Andrew Neiman's...

Emilio, Julian, and Madeline wrap up their “Holiday Suggestion/Gift Box” mini-cycle with Satoshi Kon’s penultimate work, “Tokyo Godfathers” (2003). Rather than gold, frankincense, and myrrh, our three hosts come bearing different personal histories with the art form of anime. They discuss the benefits and challenges of this storytelling medium, and dive into the burning questions: were the actions that ostracized our protagonists r...

For Round 2 of our "Holiday Gift/Suggestion Box" mini-cycle, Emilio selects 'Home Alone', the 1990 Christmas holiday classic directed by Chris Columbus and starring Macaulay Culkin, Catherine O'Hara, Joe Pesci and Daniel Stern.  It's a first watch for Julian, a rewatch for Madeline, and a welcome return visit from our pal Jamie Homs, a musician extraordinaire and social media savvy film enthusiast.  Th...

For a bonus episode this week, Madeline, Emilio and Julian call on some buddies to help them process and deepen their initial appreciation of the highly anticipated, record breaking movie of the moment, 'Wicked'!  After sharing their first reactions to the film, the group welcomes pals and Oz experts EmKay and Tara from Down the Yellow Brick Pod to get their thoughts, assessments of what worked best, how the fanbase is re...

Julian, Madeline, and Emilio kick off their "Holiday Suggestion Box" episode cycle by discussing "Carol" (2015), the great Christmastime-set queer romance directed by Todd Haynes, holding up his title as the most-covered director on the podcast. A re-watch for Madeline and Julian and a first-time viewing for Emilio, the group discuss such topics as the film's status as an adaptation (of Patricia Highsmith&a...

To end their "Politics" cycle, Madeline, Julian and Emilio put a different spin on their Close Up episode format by looking at three different actors' portrayal of one real-life political figure, former President Richard M. Nixon.  The group welcomes in another Richard - Madeline's dad! - a retired history teacher and Watergate buff, to give these films and performances some important historical context.  They d...

Madeline, Julian, and Emilio welcome NYC-based comedian, writer, and actress Sydney Duncan to continue their "Politics" episode cycle with a "Two-Shot" discussion on 1969's "Medium Cool" (dir. Haskell Wexler) and 1975's "Shampoo" (dir. Hal Ashby). Though differing on surface level, the two films bear striking similarities in their portrayals of apathy to politics in the face of the ...

For their Politics-related "Suggestion Box", Madeline, Emilio, and Julian invite social media professional and film lover Maggie Hill to a conversation about Elia Kazan's 'A Face In The Crowd', a film from 1957 whose observations about television, mass persuasion, and political ambition seem more relevant today than ever.  Emilio starts the discussion with how the filmmakers' personal and professional ...

Madeline, Julian, and Emilio mark this year's Halloween season with a bonus conversation on George A. Romero's genre-defining 1968 Horror film "Night of the Living Dead." A first-time viewing for each of them, the group trace the details of the film that have made far-reaching ripples in the Horror genre and Zombie subgenre ever since, aided by Madeline's comprehensive walkthrough of the history of zombies ...

Emilio, Madeline, and Julian continue their "Politics" episode cycle with a "Mise-Unseen" entry on Barry Levinson's 1997 film "Wag the Dog," and are joined to do so by special guest Idris Goodwin - a playwright, educator, fellow cinephile, and significant role model from Emilio's Chicago upbringing. The group get into the movie by discussing its place in the canon of mid-budget 90s studio fil...