Episode #45 - Stephanie Zacharek (Having A Wild Weekend)

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"I dont care how bad blockbusters get. You've gotta keep your finger on that pulse."

It often seems like writing for a large general audience and maintaining an idiosyncratic voice could be on polar opposite planes, but Village Voice critic Stephanize Zacharek has proven for many years they go hand-in-hand. In his final New York episode, Peter sits down with Stephanie to discuss her origins as a writer and learning from Pauline Kael, her entrance into the online world with Salon.Com and the challenges Internet criticism faces, as well as her interests in keeping up with contemporary film in each little aspect. Finally, the two dive into the Dave Clark Five movie, Having A Wild Weekend, and look at its success as a post-Beatles film that happens to critique its culture as much as celebrate.

0:00-3:10 Opening / Location Announcement

3:52-9:38 Establishing Shots - Chris Marker's Level Five

10:23-50:00 Deep Focus - Stephanie Zacharek

52:46-1:10:50 Double Exposure - Having A Wild Weekend (John Boorman)

1:10:54-1:12:33 Close

Read Stephanie Zacharek at The Village Voice, Movieline, and Salon.Com You can Follow Stephanie on Twitter here. 

Watch Having A Wild Weekend via Fox Archive on Amazon Instant.

Episode #2 - Matt Zoller Seitz (Born on the Fourth of July)

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“I’m a formalist in some ways and a humanist in others. Those two things don’t reconcile very easily. But ultimately, I don’t see my criticism as anything other than a personal response to what I happen to be writing about, and a lot of that is bound up in where you are in your life.”

Peter sits down with New York Magazine TV critic Matt Zoller Seitz to talk about the many different hats he has worn during his cinephile life, which have included film critic, pop culture journalist, filmmaker, video essayist, blogger, and more. Matt discusses growing up in Texas, discovering New York City, and dissecting some of his favorite filmmakers. The two explore his nature as both a film and TV critic, his discovery and love of video essays, and how The New World inspired one of the best film criticism blogs today. Finally, they dig into the Oliver Stone’s Born on the Fourth of July, which Matt explains as one of the quintessential great narratives about a man discovering his true self.

0:00-4:00 – Act One: Establishing Shots — Think Pieces on Aurora

4:10-52:30 – Act Two: Deep Focus – Matt Zoller Seitz

53:33-1:11:38 – Act Three: Double Exposure – Born on the Fourth of July (Oliver Stone)

Read Matt Zoller Setiz’s work at New York Magazine, Salon, Moving Image Source, L Magazine, NY Press, the New York Times, the Dallas Observer, Press Play, and The House Next Door.

Follow Matt on Twitter.