Shows
Cinematix ProblematixMASH: Haughty Docs, Horrible Morals, and Hot Lips O'HoulihanThis week on Cinematix Problematix, we’re dissecting Robert Altman's 1970 war satire MASH*, the Vietnam-era movie that pretended to be about Korea so the studio wouldn’t panic. Join us as well to deconstruct this Robert Altman classic that has recently come under fire do to, well, a lot of things. Mostly having to do with Hot Lips. This film sports an incredible ensemble cast of Donald Sutherland (Hawkeye Pierce), Elliot Gould (Trapper John McIntyre), Robert Duvall (Major Frank Burns), Tom Skerritt (Duke Forrest), Sally Kellerman (Margaret “Hot Lips” Houlihan), and many others. This film has a run time...
2025-11-1451 min
Cinematix ProblematixSong of the South: Zip-a-Dee-Doo-Dah, Zip-a-Dee-WTF??!This week on Cinematix Problematix, we’re cracking open the Disney vault — the part they pretend doesn’t exist — to revisit the 1946 film Song of the South, a movie so controversial that even Disney+ is like, “Yeah, we’re good.” Join us as we eviscerate this Disney "classic," a movie that has the chutzpah to not only be racist, but boring. The film stars Ruth Warrick as Sally, Hattie McDaniel as Aunt Tempy, Bobby Discoll as lil’ Johnny, and Luanna Patton as Ginny, and the film has a brisk runtime of 1 hour and 34 minutes, and is still way too long.
2025-11-0747 min
Cinematix ProblematixGone with the Wind: Sass, Slavery, and Scorching ChemistryThis week on Cinematix Problematix, we tackle Gone With the Wind: Hollywood’s glamorous love letter to the Confederacy, complete with plantation nostalgia, enslaved people who “love” their captors, and a heroine who treats the Civil War like an inconvenient garden party. Scarlett O’Hara shines as a heroine who can charm her way out of starvation, while the film clings to a fantasy where slavery was mild inconvenience to a few people and that the Civil War was for States Rights.. It’s epic, it’s iconic, and it’s a three-hour denial of history wrapped in great costumes and mora...
2025-10-3152 min
Cinematix ProblematixShowgirls: Glitter, Greed, Gina Gershon, and Glorious CampToday, we’re talking about the 1995 Paul Verhoeven film Showgirls. The film tells the tale of Nomi - a bright-eyed but street smart dancer who makes it to Vegas with nothing but dance leggings, a knife, a penchant for thrashing wildly, and a dream. While auditioning for a Vegas show, she catches the eye of aging starlet Cristal Conners and her lover/casino Entertainment Director, Zack Carey, which results in a vicious yet sexy tug of war for who will become queen of the stage. The fighter that she is (literally), Nomi is determined to not be taken advantage of...
2025-10-2455 min
Cinematix ProblematixMilk Money: Hookers, Homework, and HijinksToday, we're talking about Richard Benjamin's 1994 film Milk Money. The film tells the tale of young Frank, who along with two adolescent friends of his, decide to hire a hooker named V to see what boobies look like. However, V has an abusive pimp and Frank offers to hide her in his treehouse, as young boys tend to do with prostitutes they just met. She then meets Frank's dad Tom who is immediately smitten, yet unaware that V is living in the treehouse. Long story short, a predictable love story develops between V and Tom with V's abusive pimp...
2025-10-1736 min
Cinematix ProblematixSt. Elmo's Fire: Good Looks, Booze, Credit Cards, and Garbage MoralsToday, we’re talking about Joel Schumacher’s 1985 film St. Elmo’s Fire about - as IMBd puts it - “A group of friends, just out of college, struggle with adulthood.” And that is putting it kindly. The film begins with Jules, Kirbo, Billy, Wendy, Alec, Leslie, and Kevin all graduating from Georgetown and diving head first into the deep end of adulthood with nothing but privilege, good looks, booze, credit cards, and penchant for being complete jerks. As a matter of fact, the film should receive an award for the sheer amount of atrocious behavior demonstrated by our fashionabl...
2025-10-101h 18
Cinematix ProblematixThe Toy: Daddy, I Want That Black Man!Today, we’re talking about the 1982 film The Toy starring Richard Pryor as Jack Brown - a struggling writer who gets hired by the affluent U.S. Bates to be a friend to his lonely but incredibly spoiled child, Eric. You see, Eric just wants to be loved and hugged, but he also wants a full grown black man to dress in Spider Man costumes that he can torment for his own amusement. So he’s also a little f$%@ing demon. The film centers around the growing and unlikely friendship between Jack and lil’ Eric, where Eric eventually comes t...
2025-10-0341 min
Cinematix ProblematixThe Blue Lagoon: Kissing Cousins, Coming of Age, and Constant CringeToday, we’ll be talking about the 1980 film The Blue Lagoon, which tells the story of children Emmeline and Richard who get shipwrecked on a desert island with an alcoholic yet incredibly handy cook named Paddy. Spoiler alert: Paddy dies after drinking an entire barrel full of rum, leaving these two completely clueless children alone, with nobody to tell them that getting it on with your first cousin is kinda gross. But that didn’t stop this film from TOTALLY going there. As the kids grow up, they figure out things about their bodies and learn the hard way (pun...
2025-09-2743 min
Cinematix ProblematixTrading Places: We Knew Wall Street Was Racist But DAMNAnd today, we’re talking about the 1983 classic Trading Places, which tells the tale of The extremely wealthy Wall Street executives Duke brothers who decide to place a friendly bet to see if nature beats nurture. They take the star employee at their financial firm, Louis Winthorpe III, and try to see if a destitute Black man, Billy Ray Valentine, can effectively take his place and learn the ropes of the finance world if he’s given all of the privileges of his predecessor. The Dukes' exercise their power to take away Winthorpe’s job, home, and wealth and transfer...
2025-09-2638 min
Cinematix ProblematixPurple Rain: Misogyny, Ego, and Abuse Meet Purple Pop PerfectionToday, we’re talking about the ICONIC 1984 film Purple Rain, which stars the legendary rock/pop/soul artist Prince. It tells the story of an incredibly cocky-yet-talented young Minneapolis artist with a standing residency at the popular club First Avenue, but who is also the product of a violent household. He has a long-standing rivalry with Morris Day’s The Time, and falls in love with a smoking hot but struggling “singer” named Apollonia. The film addresses issues of domestic violence, misogyny, ego, and of course, "what’s up with that one song shit!" But these are all trifling details bec...
2025-09-2440 min
Cinematix ProblematixSoul Man: Blackface, Blackface, Satire, Blackface, BlackfaceToday, we’re talking about the controversial 1986 film Soul Man, directed by Steve Miner. It tells the story of Mark Watson who is an affluent UCLA student who gets into Harvard Law School. The only problem is his father decides to not fund his education so that he can learn some responsibility. He tries to get loans, but can’t because his credit sucks. But then his friend tells him about a scholarship meant for Black applicants, so he buys some tanning pills and dons a jerry curl wig to get the scholarship. And hilariousness ensues! He falls in love...
2025-08-2751 min
Cinematix ProblematixRevenge of the Nerds: Frat Boys, Boobies, and the Horny UnderdogToday, we’re talking about the 1984 comedy Revenge of the Nerds directed by Jeff Kanew, which follows horny freshman nerds Lewis and Gilbert as they get into college, only to be bullied by the cool, jocular members of the Alpha Beta fraternity. In response to their humiliation and their sudden lack of housing at the hands of the Alpha Beta frat bullies, they not only form their own fraternity born out of the all-Black fraternity Lambda Lambda Lambda, but they challenge the jocks to various competitions at the Homecoming Carnival so that they can rule the Greek Council and ge...
2025-08-2654 min
Cinematix ProblematixSixteen Candles: Forgotten Birthdays, Underwear, and All Sense of DecencyToday, we’re talking about the 1984 John Hughes classic Sixteen Candles, which is about a girl who turns sweet 16 only to have her quirky family entirely forget it on the eve of her sister’s wedding. It all takes place in the span of 24 hours where we get to witness teen longing, horniness, general slapstick hijinks, and a TON of dialogue and plot points that would NEVER pass muster today.The film stars the 80’s teen icon Molly Ringwald as Sam; Anthony Michael Hall as The Geek/Farmer Ted (the scrawny teen that stalks Sam incessantly); Michael Schoef...
2025-08-2547 min