Uncut Gems Podcast in 2022, so far

I haven’t posted about Uncut Gems Podcast in here in a long while, which is mostly a result of the show finding its permanent new home at its own dedicated website HQ (uncutgemspodcast.com); and I do believe I may have mentioned it before (here) when I was still grappling with massive changes to my schedule (with which I am still grappling, in case you haven’t noticed). However, I thought I might as well going forward re-introduce some form of coverage for the show, especially because working on it has become my main focus this year and – owing to the show still being extremely niche and tiny – any and all coverage could potentially make a difference.

Therefore, I think I’ll write up short monthly dumps with relevant links and a few words of extra commentary, but before I get to that, I decided to dedicate this little post to catching up with everything we have done on the show thus far, both on the main show and on the Patreon where we have recorded a whole bunch of bonus podcasts, which included Bonus Tie-in episodes where we take classic movies and connect them to the films discussed on the main show, mini-retrospectives where we pick three (or four) movies around a specific theme, as well as a comprehensive journey through the cinema of David Lynch.

January

Episode 50 (Angel Heart)

Episode 51 (Sorcerer)

Bonus Tie-in 01 (The Wages of Fear) (full episode on Patreon)

In this bonus recording we tied into our Sorcerer episode by talking about the original adaptation of The Wages of Fear.

Episode 52 (City on Fire)

In this episode we celebrated the 30th anniversary of the Sundance premier of Reservoir Dogs by talking about one of the movies that inspired it.

Retrospective 01 (Go, The Boondock Saints, The Way of the Gun) (full episode on Patreon FOR FREE!)

In this inaugural mini-retrospective we talked about three movies from the post-Tarantino era of late 90s/early 2000s indie revival. This show is also available to listen without the need for subscribing!

Episode 53 (Hollow Man)

David Lynch Marathon 01 (Eraserhead) (full episode on Patreon)

February

Episode 54 (Con Air)

Episode 55 (Somewhere)

Bonus Tie-in 02 (Sunset Boulevard) (full episode on Patreon)

In this bonus tie-in we accompanied our Somewhere episode with a conversation about Sunset Boulevard, a classic take on the woes of celebrity and stardom.

Mini-series on musicals

Episode 56 (Mamma Mia and Mamma Mia: Here We Go Again)

Episode 57 (Cats)

Retrospective 02 (All That Jazz, Dancer in the Dark, Sweeney Todd) (full episode on Patreon)

David Lynch Marathon 02 (The Elephant Man) (full episode on Patreon)

March

Episode 58 (Showgirls)

DEPALMARCH aka 4 Decades of De Palma series

We dedicated this series to Brian De Palma and decided to pick one of his movies from the 70s, 80s, 90s, and 00s. In addition we devoted a bonus tie-in episode to Blow Out, a movie which used to be underrated before Quentin Tarantino inspired its reappraisal. We also tied into this series with a mini-retrospective where we talked about three movies by Dario Argento, a filmmaker whose work clearly inspired De Palma’s own output as well.

Bonus Tie-in 03 (Blow Out) (full episode on Patreon)

Episode 59 (Phantom of the Paradise)

Episode 60 (Dressed to Kill)

Episode 61 (Snake Eyes)

Episode 62 (The Black Dahlia)

Retrospective 03 (Deep Red, Tenebrae, Phenomena) (full episode on Patreon)

David Lynch Marathon 03 (Dune) (full episode on Patreon)

April

Episode 63 (Red Dawn and Invasion USA)

Cosmatos v Cosmatos: Father-Son Double Bill

We recorded a short series of two episodes devoted to George P Cosmatos and the work of his son Panos.

Episode 64 (Cobra)

Episode 65 (Mandy)

Celebrating Hitchcock’s Legacy Series

To mark the anniversary of Sir Alfred Hitchcock’s passing, we devoted an episode of the main show to talk about Lifeboat, an arguably underrated single-location thriller infused with complex wartime rhetoric. In addition, we paired this episode up with a Bonus Tie-in podcast about Rear Window and a mini-retrospective about three movies inspired by this Hitchcock classic, i.e. Number 37, Disturbia, and Body Double.

Episode 66 (Lifeboat)

Bonus Tie-in 04 (Read Window) (full episode on Patreon)

Retrospective 04 (Number 37, Disturbia, Body Double) (full episode on Patreon)

David Lynch Marathon 04 (Blue Velvet) (full episode on Patreon)

May-June

Episode 67 (Battle Beyond the Stars)

In this episode of the show we marked May the 4th by talking about Battle Beyond the Stars, a Roger Corman-produced Star Wars knock-off with a distinct allure of its own.

David Lynch Marathon 05 (Wild at Heart) (full episode on Patreon)

Body Snatchers and Shapeshifters Marathon

In this series of episodes we decided to celebrate the impending 40th anniversary of the premiere of John Carpenter’s The Thingby devoting a number of recordings to movies about shapeshifting and body-snatching aliens. On our main show we focused more squarely on more underrated features and we filled in with some classics in our bonus recordings, which also included a discussion on The Thing itself (which is available to listen on our Patreon without the need to subscribe).

Bonus Tie-in 05 (Invasion of the Body Snatchers) (full episode on Patreon)

Retrospective 05 (Shivers, Invaders from Mars, The Body Snatchers) (full episode on Patreon)

Episode 68 (The Thing from Another World)

Episode 69 (Species)

Episode 70 (The Faculty)

Episode 71 (The Thing 2011)

Episode 72 (The Hidden)

Bonus Tie-in 06 (The Thing 1982) (full episode on Patreon FOR FREE!!)

Retrospective 06 (Navajo Joe, The Mercenary, The Great Silence) (full episode on Patreon)

We dedicated the June mini-retrospective to spaghetti westerns as we decided to talk about three movies directed by Sergio Corbucci (aka “The Other Sergio”) which were all scored by the great Ennio Morricone.

Episode 73 (House of the Dead and Postal)

Episode 74 (Judgment Night)

Twin Peaks

Our David Lynch Marathon reached its arguable apex as we came to discuss Twin Peaks with its two original seasons as well as Twin Peaks: Fire Walk With Me over the course of three in-depth and wildly unhinged conversations.

David Lynch Marathon 06 (Twin Peaks Season 1) (full episode on Patreon)

David Lynch Marathon 07 (Twin Peaks Season 2) (full episode on Patreon)

David Lynch Marathon 08 (Twin Peaks: Fire Walk with Me) (full episode on Patreon FREE UNTIL SEPTEMBER)

July

Animal Attack Summer

We decided to devote the month of July to animal attack movies and we chose to talk about crocs, snakes, piranhas and sharks (all in multiple bill format). In addition, because closed the month of July with a conversation about Deep Impact, we chose the original Godzilla as a bonus tie-in show because it is both a creature feature and a disaster movie.