Mar 29, 2025

Past from the Blast: Episodes 1 + 2

Bi-weekly feature – a look back at Director's Club, sharing memories and surprises upon revisiting an episode as well as updated thoughts on the director covered. Apologies in advance to Patrick.

Intro: Some people are vehemently against the idea of looking back. Nostalgia can be bittersweet; it can be painful. I happen to know that friend, writer, podcaster Patrick Ripoll never listens to previous episodes of the show that we started together. He’s not alone. For a lot of folks, once they record something, that’s the end of it. No need to revisit a previous conversation and/or they simply dread the sound of their own voice and the number of “likes, umms, ahhs".

I’m quite the opposite. Don’t ask why, maybe that’s something to bring up with my therapist. Perhaps it’s an ego thing or for me but it’s oddly comforting to go back. I grew up with a portable cassette recorder by my side. I would record my thoughts as an audio journal as well as conversations with family and friends and relive them later. Strangely enough, I found the sound of their voices soothing.

I listened to a lot of music, but my dad always had AM talk radio on in the background, whether in the garage or while making breakfast on the weekends. My initial plan for a podcast is quite different from what others aspire to. I simply wanted to archive and preserve the art of a rambling conversation, warts and all. It was never about making a professional talk radio-esque show. Now you might understand why some episodes go on as long as they do.

I have a fear of forgetting what was said but in the case of many others, including Patrick, it’s probably best to forget and move forward, especially since we are very different people than we were 14 years ago. Director’s Club began as this DIY project inspired by Film Junk, Row Three’s Cinecast, and The Movie Club that took the form of a “book of the month club” utilizing filmmakers instead of a particular author / specific title. I was excited to try out podcasting after being a freelance film critic for a several years. It remains a challenge to keep at it.

I wanted to capture / record my friends and I being complete and total nerds. Then it became something else entirely different. Later, I found myself getting burnt out. Then I came back. And despite loving the world of podcasting and continuing the endeavor, my first love and passion belongs to the written word.

Which brings us to this new feature (inspired by friend and commentator Bill Ackerman) in which I go back, listen, roll my eyes and share a few insights about what was said then and how I feel today. Again, maybe it’s to preserve my thoughts at this moment in time but it’ll also just be fun to make sure each page and episode is up to date and linked here on this platform too. Like a lot of things that I start, don’t always finish (thank you brain), we’ll see if I make it to end!

Episode 1: “I want to pet the puppy”

First of all, look at the running time and the show notes for this alone. I believe we recorded for well over an hour, but I edited it down to 45 mins. Clearly Patrick must’ve reviewed something for the first ever “what we watched” segment, but it’s on the cutting room floor. Don’t worry, that’s not the case at all for the second episode which contains one of our biggest and most notable arguments that became a running reference among listeners.

Secondly, do not listen to the version of me in Episode 1 here that dismisses what would ultimately become my favorite movie ever, Mullholland Drive. You can imagine my surprise going back and hearing me say, “I finally understood why there were David Lynch detractors when I saw Mulholland Drive.” Who the hell is this person? I actually got very mad at myself and yelled out loud while doing dishes.

Patrick and I sound so much younger and for me at least, a little dumber. But the original intention behind the first two recordings were for us to defend our taste a little bit. He hated Cameron Crowe; I was a fan (up unto a point). I hated Rob Zombie; Patrick was a fan. Hence, Director’s Club was born in both of our parents’ basements. I was 33, Patrick was a decade younger.

At age 46, I decided to rewatch Say Anything for the first time in about a decade, especially given the fact that Ione Syke’s new memoir is being talked about here, there and everywhere. Imagine my surprise that I actually cried when Diane & Lloyd first became intimate in the backseat of their car with the song, “In Your Eyes” playing in the background. Perhaps it’s because recently, my fiancée and I listened to that song together. Suffice to say, I still love everything about the film. Cusack’s Lloyd was even what I aspired to be, though instead of pursuing kickboxing, I wanted to be a writer/filmmaker.

Much like during the podcast recording, I have little to no critiques overall on the first few films of Cameron Crowe’s filmography. I wouldn’t say I love Almost Famous as much as everyone else; I’m weird in preferring Vanilla Sky. But as I said in the podcast, and still believe to this day, Crowe will never make a movie better than Say Anything. It is as good as a romantic dramedy can be outside of the works of James L. Brooks. Lastly, there’s no way in hell I will ever revisit Elizabethtown. Please don’t ask that of me. The use of music alone in that film is enough to stir a plethora of negative energy within me.

Much like The Devil’s Rejects, I simply check out at the use of “Freebird” in just about any way, shape or form. Also, who thought casting Orlando Bloom as the lead was a good idea and using “Come Pick Me Up” by Ryan Adams as a needle drop while two people are falling in love over the phone? But I digress since a lot of what I still feel is contained within the episode. If you want to go all the way back to the beginning and hear how this madness began, one host would encourage you to do so for kicks, the other would say, please please don’t. In the words of rap group Black Sheep, the choice is yours:

#1: Cameron Crowe (2011)

Episode 2: “You can smell this movie”

One of the reasons I’m doing this is to update each episode individually so the pages here on the new hosting platform all look similar. I’m a stickler for trying to keep things organized. Of course, I’m trying to find photos I’d like to include to give the page some flavor. There’s a reason why both photos I chose include Sid Haig as Captain Spaulding. He’s one of the only things I find even remotely entertaining about the films we discussed in Episode 2.

I’m never going to wake up one day and say, “Rob Zombie is a great director.” He has huge following and horror fans revere a lot of his work. Believe me, I’ve tried. I have watched The Devil’s Rejects a few times in my life and each time I say to myself, “We get it Rob, you love Tobe Hooper and the first two Texas Chainsaw Massacre movies.” TCM 2 took me a while to love but finally I have become huge fan of its lunacy and wild shift from the original. Hooper did it well, Zombie is a pale imitation.

Going back to this episode, it’s hard not to laugh at one of our biggest arguments regarding Sofia Coppola’s Somewhere, a film I’m not nearly as passionate about upon first viewing. My only defense revolved around finding its depiction of “nothingness to be hypnotic.” Nowadays, with my attention span not being as strong, I wonder if I’d find myself inclined to be on my phone throughout. We recently revisited it, and I definitely think it’s good, but not great. I sure enjoyed revisiting the argument and laughed quite a bit.

When it came to the director talk itself, I did my best to find enjoyment out of Zombie’s debut, perhaps because it’s got less screen time of his wife in it. Again, it’s fitting that two audio segments chosen include Sid Haig probably because he has such a unique screen presence throughout both films. However, once we get to The Devil’s Rejects, I just find the whole experience of watching the movie repugnant, derivative and surprisingly dull.

Though I admit that scene between the Marx Brothers-loving film critic and the sheriff is absolutely hilarious. Outside of finding most of The Lords of Salem visually interesting and the most successful, there’s not much I can say I find “fun” or original about the work of Rob Zombie. The episode concludes with my impression of Sheri Moon Zombie in Halloween and it’s worth going back to this episode for that alone. It also sums up the shrill, vulgar for vulgar’s sake tone that I find consistently grating through most of this filmmaker’s work. Patrick mounted a solid defense but again, I definitely take issue with moments where I capitulated. These days, I’d be a little bit more confident about my opinion. We’ll see what happens when I go back to us talking about other filmmakers and perhaps I’ll start a count of the number of times I cringe/roll my eyes/laugh.