Ciara Moloney Podcast

Friday Film Showcased, Episode 1: The Heartbreak Kid (1972) | Love’s Labour’s Lost (2000)

A brand new podcast, hot and fresh out the kitchen, hosted by Ciara Moloney and Conor Hogan.

For many years, with regard to their film-watching, Ciara and Conor have been theming their months. For instance:

  • Elaine May May (sic) – films starring, written by, or directed by Elaine May.
  • Darling works (?) of May – William Shakespeare Films.
  • Cartoon June – you know, animated.
  • Soviet (J)Un(e)(ion) – Films from countries that were once in the USSR.

Sometimes the titles of these months are puns, sometimes alliterative. Sometimes, it is awful strained altogether (see above). But it has always been fun. Or at least I hope so. They’ve been doing it long enough!

In the inaugural (that means first) episode of FFS, Ciara and Conor discuss their May film seasons (Elaine May and William Shakespeare), and Showcase two in particular.

Spoiler: It’s the two films in the title of this episode. Watchlist:

Elaine May: https://letterboxd.com/hoganassasin/list/elaine-may-may-sic/

William Shakespeare: https://letterboxd.com/hoganassasin/list/darling-works-of-may-shakespeare-watched/

You can listen to it here:

Episode 1: The Heartbreak Kid (1972) | Love's Labour's Lost (2000) – Friday Film Showcased

And you can even listen to it accompanied by the soothing sounds of a Crackling Fireplace. Relaxing!

Crackling Fireplace Edition – Episode 1: The Heartbreak Kid (1972) | Love's Labour's Lost (2000) – Friday Film Showcased

Listen and subscribe on: Spotify (with fireplace) || Apple Podcasts (with fireplace) || Amazon Music (with fireplace) || Castbox (with fireplace) || Pocketcasts (with fireplace)

Mentioned in the podcast

Jeffrey Salkin article on The Heartbreak Kid: https://religionnews.com/2021/05/20/charles-grodin/

Michael Sragow on Tootsie: https://www.criterion.com/current/posts/3404-tootsie-one-great-dame

Kenneth Branagh and Love’s Labour’s Lost cast on Charlie Rose: https://charlierose.com/videos/19196

Ciara’s article in Ishtar: https://thesundae.net/2019/10/28/you-should-watch-ishtar/

Scenes from a Mall (1991): https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0102849/

Ciara Moloney and Dean Buckley Podcast

Ishtar: Love at Worst Sight Episode 2

Ciara and Dean co-host The Sundae Presents, a podcast in which they each make the other watch films they haven’t seen. Specifically, films considered among the worst of all time, for a new miniseries called Love at Worst Sight. In episode two, Ciara finally makes Dean watch Elaine May’s iconic comic flop Ishtar. They talk about its legendarily troubled production, how it became a punchline and why it deserves to be reclaimed.

Ishtar – The Sundae Presents

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Ciara Moloney Film

You Should Watch Ishtar

I am a big fan of Wikipedia’s List of Films Considered The Worst. A big part of that is finding “list of films considered the worst” an amusing phrase, but the other part is that it’s fascinating as an alternate path through the history of cinema. It’s so easy to think of film history through the lens of what’s successful – the rise of auteur directors in Hollywood in the late 1960s giving way to blockbusters after the popularity of Jaws and Star Wars, for example – that Wikipedia’s List of Films Considered The Worst feels like getting to see everything from a new angle. It’s got everything from B-movie trash and weird vanity projects to big-budget Hollywood flops and failed sequels that contradict everything in the preceding movie.

Some of the films on it, I’m sure, are unwatchable. Many are merely mediocre. But at least a few are misunderstood, unfairly maligned masterpieces. I am excited to watch pretty much any film on there that I’ve seen someone sincerely champion. I can’t wait to watch I Spit on Your Grave and Mommie Dearest and Showgirls. Martin Scorsese says The Exorcist II is good and I’m willing to roll those dice. The films that I love that are on that list are films that I love with all the fire in my belly, that I love all the more to make up for everyone who hated them. I think Heaven’s Gate is astonishingly beautiful and I will fight anyone who blames it for the death of director-driven Hollywood filmmaking. I think Freddy Got Fingered is a surrealist masterwork and hilarious besides.

And I fucking love Ishtar.

Continue reading “You Should Watch Ishtar” →