In the Cold of the Night feat. Fred Barrett

Hit Factory

#Cinema #Aaron D. Casias #Hit Factory #Film #Movies #Film History #1990s #1990s Movies #90s Movies #Pop Culture #Movie Reviews #Politics #Arts #Film Review

1:14:43

Artificial intelligence is evolving at an unprecedented pace—what does that mean for the future of technology, venture capital, business, and even our understanding of ourselves? Award-winning journalist and writer Anil Ananthaswamy joins us for our latest episode to discuss his latest book Why Machines Learn: The Elegant Math Behind Modern AI . Anil helps us explore the journey and many breakthroughs that have propelled machine learning from simple perceptrons to the sophisticated algorithms shaping today’s AI revolution, powering GPT and other models. The discussion aims to demystify some of the underlying math that powers modern machine learning to help everyone grasp this technology impacting our lives, even if your last math class was in high school. Anil walks us through the power of scaling laws, the shift from training to inference optimization, and the debate among AI’s pioneers about the road to AGI—should we be concerned, or are we still missing key pieces of the puzzle? The conversation also delves into AI’s philosophical implications—could understanding how machines learn help us better understand ourselves? And what challenges remain before AI systems can truly operate with agency? If you enjoy this episode, please subscribe and leave us a review on your favorite podcast platform. Sign up for our newsletter at techsurgepodcast.com for exclusive insights and updates on upcoming TechSurge Live Summits. Links: Read Why Machines Learn, Anil’s latest book on the math behind AI https://www.amazon.com/Why-Machines-Learn-Elegant-Behind/dp/0593185749 Learn more about Anil Ananthaswamy’s work and writing https://anilananthaswamy.com/ Watch Anil Ananthaswamy’s TED Talk on AI and intelligence https://www.ted.com/speakers/anil_ananthaswamy Discover the MIT Knight Science Journalism Fellowship that shaped Anil’s AI research https://ksj.mit.edu/ Understand the Perceptron, the foundation of neural networks https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Perceptron Read about the Perceptron Convergence Theorem and its significance https://www.nature.com/articles/323533a0…

год назад 1:37:12

MP3•Главная эпизода

Writer, critic, and editor of the Electric Dreams newsletter Fred Barrett joins the show to discuss the neon-drenched, saxophone-laden, softcore erotic thrills of Nico Mastorakis' In the Cold of the Night. The film is a hazy, dreamlike cut of meathead De Palma references, prolonged sex scenes, and fascinating gestures toward deep state mind control conspiracies that make for a truly singular thriller punching well above its presumed weight.

We disucss the history of director Nico Mastorakis, and how his time working withing the Greek junta regime informs the film's intricate subplots. Then we examine at the movie's absorbing atmosphere, and how it steadily brings you into its elevated, uncanny rhythms. Finally, we look at the film's intriguing explorations of pleasure and eroticism and how it pushes past the boundaries of "good taste" to arrive at fascinating, titillating places courtesy of too-close close-ups, a well-utilized bowl of marbles, and more.

Follow Fred Barrett on Twitter.

Read & Subscribe to Fred's newsletter, Electric Dreams.

Read "A Fever All Through the Night", Fred's words on In the Cold of the Night at Electric Dream.

Get access to all of our premium episodes and bonus content by becoming a Hit Factory Patron for just $5/month.
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Our theme song is "Mirror" by Chris Fish.

227 эпизодов

In the Cold of the Night feat. Fred Barrett

Hit Factory

24 subscribers

published год назад

MP3•Главная эпизода

Follow Fred Barrett on Twitter.

Read & Subscribe to Fred's newsletter, Electric Dreams.

Read "A Fever All Through the Night", Fred's words on In the Cold of the Night at Electric Dream.

Get access to all of our premium episodes and bonus content by becoming a Hit Factory Patron for just $5/month.
.
.
.
.
Our theme song is "Mirror" by Chris Fish.

227 эпизодов

#Cinema #Aaron D. Casias #Hit Factory #Film #Movies #Film History #1990s #1990s Movies #90s Movies #Pop Culture #Movie Reviews #Politics #Arts #Film Review

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1
BONUS: Babygirl TEASER 15:52

13 дней назад15:52

15:52

Get access to this entire episode as well as all of our premium episodes and bonus content by becoming a Hit Factory Patron for just $5/month. We're back talking about the recently-released Babygirl , directed by Dutch actor-turned-director Halina Reijn. Despite some initial apprehensions based on the discourse and reviews from trusted sources, we both found the film to be a stylish, funny, and intelligent examination of desire, kink, and the ways that the patriarchy suppresses and rejects expressions of female pleasure that are incongruent with the capitalist guardrails of our culture. We begin by discussing the film's nimble balancing of aesthetic impulses which heighten the proceeding's with a sense of hyperreality without sacrificing the story's emotional core. Then, we praise the magnetic work of Nicole Kidman, and the nuances of her performance and character: a high-powered woman caught in the ideological trap of patriarchy that grants her material success while demanding that she stifle her corporeal desires, judging them as aberrant, even wicked. Finally, we explore the film's thoughtful approach to the nature of sexuality and erotic experience, finding compelling layers of meaning and understanding often missing from today's films. Read Justine Peres Smith on Babygirl for Cult MTL. Read Jourdain Searles on Babygirl for the Los Angeles Review of Books . Pre-Order Xuanlin Tham's Revolutionary Desires from 404Ink . . . . . Our theme song is "Mirror" by Chris Fish .…

1
Affliction feat. Hard Mike & Syd Bricks 1:36:49

20 дней назад1:36:49

1:36:49

Fan favorite Hard Mike returns to the show alongside newcomer Syd Bricks to discuss Paul Schrader's Affliction , one of the filmmaker's most well-observed explorations of addiction and the generational cycles of suffering that manifest as a result of leaving personal trauma and pain unresolved. The film follows Nick Nolte's Wade Whitehouse, an alcohlic, washed-up cop in a small New Hampshire town whose maladies put him at odds with his community as he circles the drain, falling deeper into his own delusions of murder, conspiracy, and betrayal. The film also stars a monstrous James Coburn as the Whitehouse patriarch, in a role that would earn him an Oscar for Best Supporting Actor. Together, we discuss our personal experiences with alcoholism and why the film is one of the very best about the subject in its dizzying, unmooring evocation of being caught in the chaos of addiction, both as the afflicted and as someone who loves them. Then we discuss the film's novel use of the neo-noir format as a subversive element of narrative to capture us in the dragnet of delusion meticulously architected by the film's unreliable protagonist. Finally, we praise the exemplary work of the film's cast, especially Nolte and Coburn, and how their screen personas function perfectly as characters filled with unmanageable woe, malice, and hurt. Follow Hard Mike on Twitter. Follow Syd Bricks on Twitter. Get access to all of our premium episodes and bonus content by becoming a Hit Factory Patron for just $5/month. . . . . Our theme song is "Mirror" by Chris Fish .…

1
Cliffhanger feat. Eamon Tracy TEASER 13:29

5 weeks назад13:29

13:29

Get access to this entire episode as well as all of our premium episodes and bonus content by becoming a Hit Factory Patron for just $5/month. Film critic Eamon Tracy returns to the show to discuss Renny Harlin's mountain-bound Die Hard riff Cliffhanger starring Sylvester Stallone, John Lithgow, and Michael Rooker. A taut, well-staged action thriller that served as a revitalization effort for Stallone's leading man bonafides in the early 90s after a rough patch of box office and critical bombs, the film sports a refreshingly lean premise and a host of jaw-dropping setpieces that were rewarded with a massive $255 million worldwide box office haul and a quietly outsized influence on the past three decades of action cinema. We begin with a discussion of Stallone and how the film makes use of both the actor's surprising capacity for subtlety in performance as well as his much more conspicuous and impressive physique. Then, we pull apart the film's broadly apolitical plot mechanics, including the intricate ways the script navigates around giving John Lithgow's Eric Qualen an explicitly partisan or geopolitical motive. Finally, we talk broadly about the sport of mountain climbing, the colonial ideology perpetuated by notions of conquering forbidding terrain, and the ways that indigenous communities are seeking to problematize imperialist narratives and perspectives within arenas of outdoor sport and recreation. Read Eamon's recent reviews for Jesse Eisenberg's A Real Pain and Seijun Suzuki's Underworld Beauty at Irish Film Critic. Follow Eamon Tracy on Twitter. . . . . Our theme song is "Mirror" by Chris Fish…

1
Hit Factory's In/Out List 2025 TEASER 14:06

9 weeks назад14:06

14:06

Get access to this entire episode as well as all of our premium episodes and bonus content by becoming a Hit Factory Patron for just $5/month. It's a New Year and we don't feel any different! In typical Hit Factory fashion, the simple task of creating an "In/Out" list for 2025 became a discussion about the infantilization of culture, embracing cinephilia beyond marketing cycles, and how the current state of art reflects an empire in decline. If you've ever wanted to hear a movie podcast tell you that you "have an ethical and spiritual imperative to seek out better films...you're in the right place! Other topics include the reign of filmmaker Alan Rudolph, how autonomous vehicles are definitely surveiling you, whether Doechii will be at the Met Gala, and our eager anticipation of Den of Thieves 2: Pantera. . . . . Our theme song is "Mirror" by Chris Fish .…

1
The Long Day Closes feat. Robert Rubsam 1:56:00

10 weeks назад1:56:00

1:56:00

Brooklyn-based writer and editor Robert Rubsam joins to discuss the work of Terence of Davies and his 1992 masterwork, The Long Day Closes . An impressionistic evocation of memory and sensation, the film is the culmination of Davies' early autobiographical period, exploring the roughly 5 year period between when the filmmaker's abusive father died and when he began his time in primary school, which Davies has called "the happiest years of [his] life." We discuss the films distinctive formal approach to autibiography, forgoing concrete scenes in favor of a densely-woven, ellipticap tapestry of music, sounds, and images that give the impression of searching memory in real time. Then, we explore how the film reckons with the concept of nostalgia, offering reverence for and criticism of the social values of Liverpool in the 1950s in equal measure. Finally, we explore the life and work of Davies beyond The Long Day Closes, how the filmmaker's irresolute feelings about his own identity informed his later works, and why he may never be en vogue with cinematic tastemakers. Follow Rob Rubsam on Twitter and visit Rob's website to read his work. Get access to all of our premium episodes and bonus content by becoming a Hit Factory Patron for just $5/month. . . . . Our theme song is "Mirror" by Chris Fish .…

1
The Match Factory Girl TEASER 10:07

11 weeks назад10:07

10:07

Get access to this entire episode as well as all of our premium episodes and bonus content by becoming a Hit Factory Patron for just $5/month. We discuss the winner of our latest Patreon poll: Aki Kaurismäki's The Match Factory Girl , the story of a young working class woman, Iris, looking for love and a sense of belonging in industrialized Helsinki. The final installment of Kaurismäki's 'Proletariat Trilogy', the film resembles that of a fable that takes an unexpected and comically violent turn as Iris seeks revenge on those who have done her wrong. We describe the film's sparse formal elements - an abbreviated runtime, minimal dialogue, nominal use of diegetic music, and austere mise en scène - and how it employs these components to reflect Iris' profound subjugation. Then, we examine the film's narrative and how it functions, briefly, as a mechanized process, mirroring its opening assembly line sequence and asking us to connect modes of production with an atomized social structure. Last, we discuss the film's final act, and how constant reminder of our own unfreedom often results in unexpected, volatile response. . . . . Our theme song is "Mirror" by Chris Fish…

1
Sling Blade feat. Adam Nayman 1:51:25

13 weeks назад1:51:25

1:51:25

Toronto-based critic, lecturer, and author Adam Nayman joins us to look back at Billy Bob Thornton's directorial debut and acting showcase Sling Blade . Once considered a high-water mark of 90s American indie cinema success within popular culture and the awards circuit, Thornton's film is now often relegated to 'curio' status; a fascinating time capsule of the mid-90s with very little (if any) cultural purchase among today's cinephiles. We discuss the work of Billy Bob Thornton, the evolution of Sling Blade (from one man show to short film to feature), and suggest some reasons for its breakout success. Then, we discuss the film's fascinating hodgepodge of elements and inspirations, combining the social economy of Southern American Gothic, the moralism of Christian parable, and formal qualities of independent cinema to make something at once distinctive and comfortably inessential. Finally, we ask if movies like Sling Blade can still gain the same level of critical and commercial cachet in today's film environment and what some of this fall's box office hits and awards front-runners might indicate about where we're headed. Follow Adam Nayman on Twitter. Get access to all of our premium episodes and bonus content by becoming a Hit Factory Patron for just $5/month. . . . . Our theme song is "Mirror" by Chris Fish .…

1
M. Butterfly feat. Esmé Holden 1:47:10

15 weeks назад1:47:10

1:47:10

London-based film writer Esmé Holden joins us to discuss David Cronenberg's M. Butterfly. Based on the Tony Award-winning David Henry Hwang play - itself based on the the real life relationship between Bernard Boursicot and Shi Pei Pu, a Beijing opera singer - Cronenberg's film embraces the conventions of melodrama while thoughtfully exploring gender & queernes and weaving a complex romance tragically undone by the conventions and bigotries of the colonial-capitalist order. We begin by discussing the films explorations of gender, queerness, and transness, and how Cronenberg showcases an exceptionally forward-thinking and nuanced portrayal of these concepts in an era of films content with caricature, stereotype, and parody. Then, we consider how M. Butterfly presents a ground-zero for further explorations of the body, its presentation within societal perfrormance, and the fluidity of sexual expression that would become hallmarks of Cronenberg's signature style throughout the next few decades. Finally, explore the complicated ideological stictures that confine the film's protagonists and how capitalism's myopic definitions of identity continue to hinder self-actualization in its subjects. Follow Esmé Holden on Twitter. Read Cinema Year Zero . Get access to all of our premium episodes and bonus content by becoming a Hit Factory Patron for just $5/month. . . . . Our theme song is "Mirror" by Chris Fish .…

1
BONUS: Red Rooms TEASER 12:18

16 weeks назад12:18

12:18

Get access to this entire episode as well as all of our premium episodes and bonus content by becoming a Hit Factory Patron for just $5/month. Following our conversation with the film's director Pascal Plante , we dive into one of the year's best films, Red Rooms: a thriller tailor made for our disaffected, hyper-mediated moment that asks many unsettling questions about the way emerging technologies sever us from empathy, create parasocial complexes, and push toward frightening new modes of nonconsensual connectivity and surveilance. We continue our contemplations on Haneke's "Violence and the Media" , and how Red Rooms explores notions of equivalency amongst the images on our screens. Then, we praise Plante's formal control and ethics, how he constructs his 21st century milieu, what he chooses to show and how he shows it. Finally, we caution against passivity when engaging with mediated forms and why our moment demands that we make meaning of our realities, even as powerful forces work toward our mindless complicity in ever-expanding horrors. Red Rooms is available now on VOD and on Region A Blu Ray from Vinegar Syndrome . . . . . Our theme song is "Mirror" by Chris Fish .…

1
Thesis feat. Pascal Plante 1:22:28

16 weeks назад1:22:28

1:22:28

Filmmaker Pascal Plante (director of Red Rooms , one of our favorite movies of the year) joins to discuss Spanish filmmaker Alejandro Amenábar's 1996 debut, Thesis. While riveting simply at the topical level of its tense genre thrills, the movie also metatextually concerns itself with the moving image as a mediated reflection of our corporeal realities, the push-pull of commercialism and artistry, and the ethics of satisfying a violent culture's sublimated desires for shocking, exploitative imagery. We discuss Amenábar's preternatural capacity behind the camera; how his ability to mystify with the language of cinema allows viewers to recognize their complicity in the film's graphic scenarios as spectators while never sacrificing the raw thrills of moviegoing. Then, citing Michael Haneke's writing, we discuss the nature of violence in media, the responsibilites of the artist, and the morbid concept of mindless entertainment. Finally, we connect the film's subject matter to that of Pascal's latest, discussing parallels, distinctions, and the reward of watching films that assume their audience's intelligence. Red Rooms is available now on VOD and on Region A Blu Ray from Vinegar Syndrome . Get access to all of our premium episodes and bonus content by becoming a Hit Factory Patron for just $5/month. . . . . Our theme song is "Mirror" by Chris Fish .…

1
JFK feat. Sami Gold TEASER 10:38

17 weeks назад10:38

10:38

Get access to this entire episode as well as all of our premium episodes and bonus content by becoming a Hit Factory Patron for just $5/month. George Washington University ungergrad and Liberal Currents contributor Sami Gold just informed us that there's an election coming up in the good ol' US of A, so we decided to discuss a foundational text of presidential cinema - Oliver Stone’s brilliant, frenetic JFK. Meticulously composed on several different film formats, masterfully edited in a radical, experimental style, and structured as a steady unraveling of institutional footings, the film stands as one of the finest formal evocations of political radicalization ever made for the silver screen. We discuss the film's groundbreaking formalism, how it creates an unmooring effect on behalf of its viewers, and charts the cacophonous frenzy of conspiracy thinking. Then, we talk about where Stone sits in relation to the film's protagonist Jim Garrison, what the film gets very wrong, and why the minutiae doesn't ultimately matter in the borader context of its critique of empire. Finally we look to the upcoming election, share our personal thoughts on the outcomes, and what it means for Palestinian resistance and political movements in our own country. Follow Sami Gold on Twitter. . . . . Our theme song is "Mirror" by Chris Fish .…

1
Wes Craven's New Nightmare 1:32:25

18 weeks назад1:32:25

1:32:25

An impromptu decision to do something "Halloween-y" led us to 1994 meta-slasher Wes Craven's New Nightmare , the seventh installment in the long-running A Nightmare on Elm Street franchise, which sees Craven returning to the director's chair for the first time since the original installment and OG Nightmare final girl Heather Langenkamp returning, playing a semi-fictionalized version of herself. Several layers more complex than the premise initially suggests, New Nightmare brings the franchise back to its roots, examining childhood trauma and ideation and offering thoughtful considerations about Craven's legacy as a storyteller and how his films have affected those who participate in bringing his nightmarish visions to life - a full two years before Craven's smash hit Scream would go on to mine similar thematic territory with its meta explorations of genre. We discuss the film's self-reflexive look at the Nightmare franchise, and how Craven attempts to ellicit new fears from purposefully identifiable rehashes of his work. Then, we discuss the film's surprisingly intricate exploration of Langenkamp as performer and icon - how the film reckons with audience expectations and seeks atonement for turning its star into curio for our own catharsis. Finally, we discuss reference, reflexivity, and homage and consider why Craven's self-quoting offers more than the empty nostaligia-laden iconography of so many current films. Get access to all of our premium episodes and bonus content by becoming a Hit Factory Patron for just $5/month. . . . . Our theme song is "Mirror" by Chris Fish .…

1
The Jackal feat. Ben Clarkson 1:59:32

19 weeks назад1:59:32

1:59:32

Justice Warrior Ben Clarkson returns to discuss the 1997 action thriller The Jackal, starring Bruce Willis, Richard Gere, and Sidney Poitier in his final film role. Ostensibly a remake of the the 1973 Fred Zinneman film The Day of the Jackal (itself an adaptation of Frederick Forsyth's 1971 debut novel of the same name), the film attempts to update the story of lethal methodology and intrigue to a contemporaneous post-Cold War, "End of History" milieu that sees a collaboration between US intelligence, Russian police, and a former IRA sniper to stop Bruce Willis's titular shapeshifting hitman from assassinating (spoilers) an analogue of Hillary Clinton. While there are some fun bells and whistles, and a heaping of Bruce Willis disguises, the movie ultimately represents diminishing returns on the promise of this type of movie, forsaking procedural thrills for something far more rote and predictable. We begin with an extended discussion of form and film language, why it's meaningful in the context of our current media landscape, and what an illiteracy toward formalism suggests about the way culture engages with everything we see via a screen. Then, we discuss the distinctions between Fred Zinneman's 1973 thriller and its 90s update: what it does well, and where it goes very, very wrong. Finally, we expound on the film's sociopolitcal moment, and what its moralizing of its most compelling character says about the broader cultural trends of nationalism in the mid-90s. Justice Warriors Vol. 2: Vote Harder is out now. Find your copy HERE. Follow Ben Clarkson on Twitter. Get access to all of our premium episodes and bonus content by becoming a Hit Factory Patron for just $5/month. . . . . Our theme song is "Mirror" by Chris Fish .…

1
Vive L'Amour feat. Xuanlin Tham 2:30:32

20 weeks назад2:30:32

2:30:32

Writer, curator, and author of the upcoming book Revolutionary Desires: The Political Power of the Sex Scene, Xuanlin Tham joins us to discuss the work of Taiwanese New Wave director Tsai Ming-liang and his 1994 film Vive L'Amour. It's a quietly devastating exploration of longing, desire, and urban alienation about a trio of young Tapei residents who, unbeknownst to one another, all occupy the same luxury model apartment. We discuss the context of early 90s Tapei, its status as a bustling center of rapid economic growth and a hub for global commerce, and how this unique urban setting coupled with Tsai's outsider status as a Malaysian-born transplant inform his cinema. Then we explore the distinctive formal components of Tsai's filmmaking, its radical underpinnings, and its rejection of commodifying language or labels. Finally, we look to Tsai's evolution across the decades since Vive L'Amour and how his self-referential and increasingly sparse approach has further liberated his cinema from the strictures of capitalist impulses. Follow Xuanlin Tham on Twitter Pre-Order Revolutionary Desires: The Political Power of the Sex Scene from 404 Ink Get access to all of our premium episodes and bonus content by becoming a Hit Factory Patron for just $5/month. . . . . Our theme song is "Mirror" by Chris Fish .…

1
BONUS: The Substance TEASER 8:15

20 weeks назад8:15