A Very Good Year
Subscribe
RSS
Archive
Episode 80: 1959 with Phillip Lopate
June 30, 2024
The essayist, poet, and film critic Phillip Lopate joins us to discuss his new collection My Affair with Art House Cinema: Essays and Reviews and the cinema...
Episode 79: 1924 with Marya E. Gates
June 23, 2024
Nobody we know knows more about silent cinema than film critic, historian, and social media mastermind Marya E. Gates. She joins us to talk about movies from...
Episode 78: 1961 with Larry Karaszewski
June 16, 2024
Larry Karaszewski isn’t just an award-winning screenwriter and producer — he’s also a serious cinephile, as evidenced by the fact that we asked him for a top...
Episode 77: 1967 with Mark Harris
June 9, 2024
Mark Harris has written three of the essential film books of our time, and one of them — Pictures at a Revolution — tells the story of Hollywood in flux by...
Episode 76: 1987 with Carrie Courogen
June 2, 2024
Writer, editor, and director Carrie Courogen is the author of the breathtakingly good new book Miss May Does Not Exist, and since it’s a biography of Elaine...
Episode 75: 1964 with Ben Mankiewicz
May 26, 2024
Film critic, historian, and TCM stalwart Ben Mankiewicz joins us, on the eve of a new season of his essential podcast The Plot Thickens (focusing on the life...
Episode 74: 1976 with Alexandra West
May 19, 2024
Film critic, podcaster, and historian Alexandra West joins us to talk about her new book Gore-Geous: Personal Essays on Beauty and Horror and the movies of...
Episode 73: 1983 with Richard Shepard
May 16, 2024
Screenwriter and director Richard Shepard’s new film is catnip to us (and probably you too, if you’re listening to this show): Film Geek, an essay film about...
Episode 72: 1991 with Alonso Duralde
May 12, 2024
Critic, podcaster, and author Alonso Duralde was just beginning his professional life in 1991, and witnessed the early pangs of what became known as the New...
Episode 71: 1954 with Glenn Kenny
May 5, 2024
Glenn Kenny is the author of the new book The World Is Yours: The Story of ‘Scarface,’ and is one of our favorite film critics and scholars in general. He’s...
Episode 70: 1990 with Kate Erbland
April 28, 2024
Indiewire’s Kate Erbland was a literal child in the year 1990, but she luckily had parents who put very few viewing boundaries on her, which was how she...
Episode 69: 1997 with Tomris Laffly
April 21, 2024
Film critic and journalist Tomris Laffly was just starting to figure out who she was as a filmgoer in 1997, so she joins us to share some of her favorite...
Episode 68: 2002 with John Early
April 18, 2024
In advance of Friday’s theatrical debut of his Sundance hit Stress Positions, comedian, actor, writer, and cinephile John Early joins us to discuss all...
Episode 67: 2013 with Siddhant Adlakha
April 14, 2024
Filmmaker, actor, TV writer, and film critic Siddhant Adlakha was in a moment of transition in 2013, and vowed to see as many new movies as possible for the...
Episode 66: 1979 with Scott Drebit
April 7, 2024
Daily Dead columnist Scott Drebit’s new book is A Cut Below: A Celebration of B Horror Movies, 1950s-1980s, so it shouldn’t come as a surprise that he picked...
Episode 65: 2017 with Alison Herman
March 31, 2024
Variety TV critic (and The Ringer’s founding TV critic) Alison Herman had just moved to Los Angeles in the year of our lord 2017, and she joins us to recall,...
Episode 64: 1994 with Bob Byington
March 28, 2024
It’s a special MID-WEEK EPISODE, in honor of Friday’s release of acclaimed director Bob Byington’s latest, Lousy Carter. Join us as we talk with Bob about...
Episode 63: 1965 with Robert Daniels
March 24, 2024
This week: For show number two from SXSW, we’re joined by the prolific film critic and RogerEbert.com Associate Editor Robert Daniels. He sings the praises...
Episode 62: 1989 with Jacob Knight
March 17, 2024
This week: Back at SXSW, we’re joined by Austin’s own Jacob Knight, co-host of the “Secret Handshake” podcast, and lover of great movies and great trash....
Episode 61: 1998 with Esther Zuckerman
March 10, 2024
This week: Esther Zuckerman is an appropriate guest for Oscar Sunday, as she is the author of the fabulous book Beyond the Best Dressed: A Cultural History...
Episode 60: 1968 with David Fear
March 3, 2024
This week: David Fear, chief film critic and senior editor at Rolling Stone, had not yet joined the living in the year 1968, but he’s always been fascinated...
Episode 59: 1978 with Katie Rife
February 25, 2024
This week: The whip-smart and hysterically funny Katie Rife joins us to talk about the movies of 1978 — from the terrifying precision to Halloween to the...
Episode 58: 1970 with Blake Howard
February 18, 2024
This week: Our Aussie invasion continues with this week’s guest, film critic and podcaster extraordinaire Blake Howard, the mastermind of One Heat Minute...
Episode 57: 1992 with Sam Adams
February 11, 2024
This week: Sam Adams, writer and senior editor for Slate, was in the midst of his cinephile awakening in 1992, when he was taking in new indies and other...
Episode 56: 1971 with Alexandra Heller-Nicholas
February 4, 2024
This week, film critic, author, Fangoria columnist, physical media mainstay, and recovering academic Alexandra Heller-Nicholas joins us for a jaunt through...
Episode 55: 1999 with Brian Raftery
January 28, 2024
Brian Raftery is the host of the excellent narrative podcasts Gene and Roger and Do We Get to Win This Time? for the Ringer and Spotify; he’s also SUCH an...
Episode 54: 1988 with Jen Johans
January 21, 2024
Guest Jen Johans and hosts Jason Bailey and Mike Hull. This week, we're talking about movies during the quiet time with the host of Watch with Jen and...
Episode 53: 1973 with Brian Sour
January 14, 2024
For season two, we’re wiping the slate clean and letting our guests pick any year they want, even if we covered it in season one. So first up, the very...
Bonus Episode: John and Janet Pierson's Fiji Year
January 7, 2024
For our last bonus episode before season two, we’re proud to welcome back one of season one’s most popular guests: indie guru John Pierson, who joined us...
Bonus Episode: 2023 with Alissa Wilkinson
December 31, 2023
New Bonus Episode: 2023 with Alissa Wilkinson Since she last joined us to talk about 2005 back in September, Alissa Wilkinson nabbed a new gig: she’s now a...
Substackers Against Nazis
December 14, 2023
Hi readers—Below is a letter to the Substack founders that I helped draft as part of a group of publishers seeking answers to questions about the platforming...
First Thoughts on 'Lagaan'
$ · December 8, 2023
John and Janet Pierson are our guests on this week’s show and they’re genuinely inspiring stalwarts of smart, weird, and (above all) independent cinema....
Bonus Episode: "John and Janet Pierson's Fiji Year"
$ · November 30, 2023
For the first of our hiatus bonus episodes, we’re proud to welcome back one of the season’s most popular guests: indie guru John Pierson, who joined us back...
Episode 52: A Very Good Year of "A Very Good Year"
November 5, 2023
We wrap up our first season — a full year of shows — in true season finale fashion: with a super-sized clip show, featuring some of our favorite segments...
Extra Credit Reading for 1935
$ · November 4, 2023
If you want to read more of Mr. Maltin, boy oh boy do you have options. Leonard Maltin’s Movie Guide stop publishing in 2015, but here’s the final edition;...
Bonus Episode: 1935 After Show
$ · November 3, 2023
In this week’s bonus episode, we continue to geek out about getting Leonard Maltin on the show, go long on the Marx Brothers, and do a bit of season wrap-up.
Headlines for 1935
$ · November 1, 2023
On January 12th, Amelia Earhart flew from Hawaii to California, the first person to make the flight solo. Maybe even more important - also in January the...
Episode 51: 1935 with Leonard Martin
October 29, 2023
When Jessie Maltin — Leonard’s daughter and the co-host of his “Maltin on Movies” podcast — mentioned to me in a DM that “you should have my dad on your...
Extra Credit Reading for 1984
$ · October 28, 2023
This week’s primary piece of recommended reading is, of course, our guest Matt Singer’s new book Opposable Thumbs: How Sickle & Ebert Changed Movies Forever,...
Bonus Episode: 1984 After Show
$ · October 27, 2023
This week, we follow up our Siskel & Ebert-centered episode with Jason’s memories of his introduction to Gene and Roger (and, through them, to film criticism...
Headlines for 1984
$ · October 25, 2023
January 10 - the United States and the Vatican establish diplomatic relations for the first time. Apparently the Catholics had been too anti-war for our...
Episode 50: 1984 with Matt Singer
October 22, 2023
Matt Singer is a film critic, entertainment journalist, and author — and his latest book is a real treat for all you nerds who listen to this nerdy show....
Extra Credit Reading for 1990
$ · October 21, 2023
I promise I didn't mean to make shit dark when I mentioned the Mandela Effect, but I realized it might come off like that if you don’t know about it. So...
Bonus Episode: 1990 After Show
October 19, 2023
We had to lose so much great stuff from this week's episode with guest Joe Lynch that we decided to lead off this week's bonus episode with a bunch of...
Headlines for 1990
$ · October 18, 2023
January 31 - Buchwald v. Paramount Pictures Corp. (the Coming to America lawsuit) is decided - a key case in the public awareness of “Hollywood accounting.”...
Episode 49: 1990 with Joe Lynch
October 15, 2023
Joe Lynch is a genre director extraordinaire - his credits include Wrong Turn 2, Everly, Mayhem, Point Blank, and his latest, the H.P. Lovecraft adaptation...
Extra Credit Reading for 1973
$ · October 14, 2023
If you’d like to know more about Secretariat - and really, why wouldn’t you? - here’s a nice overview on ESPN, though we shouldn’t be surprised to find that...
Bonus Episode: 1973 After Show
$ · October 12, 2023
On this week’s bonus episode - our longest to date! - we begin with a show outtake of guest Jason Diamond going long on his history with Long Goodbye star...
Headlines for 1973
$ · October 11, 2023
1973 got going straight away - January 20 Richard Nixon became the only person to ever be sworn in as both Vice President and President twice. Booooooo....
Episode 48: 1973 with Jason Diamond
October 7, 2023
Jason Diamond is one of our favorite writers, and not just because of his quality prose — it’s because he’s an expert and an enthusiast, about everything...
Older archives
Bluesky
Instagram