Shows
The Silver Nitrate Witches' Movie Review BrewSleeping Draught #2: Legally Blonde (2001), RevistedReese Witherspoon, Victor Garbo, and Bette Davis, oh my! You can find your Silver Nitrate Witches, Laura Valenza and Isabelle Lang, on various online platforms @ljvalenza and @bellang303. Thanks so much to Fine Motor for the use of their music. You can check out more about the band at finemotormusic.com. 2025-07-2304 min
The Silver Nitrate Witches' Movie Review BrewWhiplash (2014)Your Silver Nitrate Witches don't miss a beat in this episode on Damien Chazelle's iconic jazz world movie from the 2010s, starring Miles Teller and JK Simmons. We cover what it means to be an artist, if success and ambition are gendered, homophobia and racial representation, and whether movies need to have clear morals and likeable characters (hint, hint: they don't!).You can find your Silver Nitrate Witches, Laura Valenza and Isabelle Lang, on various online platforms @ljvalenza and @bellang303. You can check out more about Fine Motor at finemotormusic.com.2025-07-161h 57
The Silver Nitrate Witches' Movie Review BrewFun Fact: Star Wars: The Force Awakens (2015)Who knew bread could be so fascinating?2025-07-0904 min
The Silver Nitrate Witches' Movie Review BrewFun Fact: Oppenheimer (2023)Your Silver Nitrate Witch Laura Valenza brings you a charming anecdote and fun film fact. Come back soon for full length episodes with (Isabelle Lang as well) on Whiplash, School of Rock, Finding Forrester, and more!Thank you to Fine Motor for the use of their song "Highway Moon."2025-07-0304 min
The Silver Nitrate Witches' Movie Review BrewSleeping Draught #1: Educating Rita (1983)This week we don’t have a whole witches’ brew, but just a little sleeping draught for you: a minisode looking into the Siskel & Ebert reception of the 1983 film Educating Rita, with one of your Silver Nitrate Witches, Isabelle Lang. Let’s talk education as granting choice, alcoholic academics, and our shared annoyance with Roger Ebert’s thoughts on literature movies.You can find your Silver Nitrate Witches, Laura Valenza and Isabelle Lang, on various online platforms @ljvalenza and @bellang303. You can check out more about Fine Motor at finemotormusic.com.2025-06-2524 min
The Silver Nitrate Witches' Movie Review BrewDead Poets Society (1989)This episode, your Silver Nitrate Witches head off to boarding school, despite Laura's protests that they're super scary, and take a look at the reception to the 1989 Robin Williams movie that's not quite a Robin Williams movie, Dead Poets Society.You can find your Silver Nitrate Witches, Laura Valenza and Isabelle Lang, on various online platforms @ljvalenza and @bellang303. You can check out more about Fine Motor at finemotormusic.com.2025-06-181h 31
The Silver Nitrate Witches' Movie Review BrewLegally Blonde (2001)Your Silver Nitrate Witches (Laura Valenza and Isabelle Lang) are brewing pink potions with a touch of peroxide this week. The competition for dye jobs and law jobs proves steep at Harvard where we're rooting for Elle Woods to succeed in Legally Blonde (2001). We cover women's empowerment and sisterhood, the early 2000s and their weird obsession with dumb blonde jokes, and contemporary fascism. Plus, ChatGPT helps us recreate MGM's "The Blonde Translator."BTW, the Yale professor who was interviewed on American Hysteria and has some great books on understanding fascism? His name's Jason Stanley.You...2025-06-122h 08
The Silver Nitrate Witches' Movie Review BrewSeason 2: Summer School Grimoire AnnouncementWelcome to the Silver Nitrate Witches’ Movie Review Brew. Laura Valenza and Isabelle Lang explore the way we review movies! From experienced critics to posts from casual viewers, we want to talk about how we talk about movies, how that’s changed over time, what directions we see it going in, and more. Announcing the theme of Season 2!2025-06-0501 min
The Silver Nitrate Witches' Movie Review BrewPotion Vial #1: The EdisodeDid you ever wonder how Hollywood came to be? Did you ever wonder how Thomas Edison was a part of that? Did you even know there was a connection there? We did! The Silver Nitrate Witches give you a special episode today on how Hollywood was almost New Jersey. You can find your Silver Nitrate Witches, Laura Valenza and Isabelle Lang, on various online platforms @ljvalenza and @bellang303. You can check out more about Fine Motor at finemotormusic.com.2025-05-281h 15
The Silver Nitrate Witches' Movie Review BrewSalt of the Earth (1954), Part 3This week, the Silver Nitrate Witches travel to New Mexico to explore the reviews and reception of Salt of the Earth (1954), a film based on the historic 1951 strike against the Empire Zinc Company. This three-part series has everything: communists, Catholic newspapers, feminism, deportation, and even a prison full of women chanting “We want bathrooms!”You can find your Silver Nitrate Witches, Laura Valenza and Isabelle Lang, on various online platforms @ljvalenza and @bellang303. You can check out more about Fine Motor at finemotormusic.com.2025-05-211h 07
The Silver Nitrate Witches' Movie Review BrewSalt of the Earth (1954), Part 2This week, the Silver Nitrate Witches travel to New Mexico to explore the reviews and reception of Salt of the Earth (1954), a film based on the historic 1951 strike against the Empire Zinc Company. This three-part series (whoops, it got longer!) has everything: communists, Catholic newspapers, feminism, deportation, and even a prison full of women chanting “We want bathrooms!”You can find your Silver Nitrate Witches, Laura Valenza and Isabelle Lang, on various online platforms @ljvalenza and @bellang303. You can check out more about Fine Motor at finemotormusic.com.2025-05-141h 19
The Silver Nitrate Witches' Movie Review BrewIn This Our Life (1942)Today, the Silver Nitrate Witches pay homage to the baddest Head Bitch In Charge, Bette Davis, exploring the reviews and reception of In This Our Life (1942). The fall of the decadent South meets a fiery end, with lots of tragic turns on the highway to hell, piloted there by the monster femme fatale herself.You can find your Silver Nitrate Witches, Laura Valenza and Isabelle Lang, on various online platforms @ljvalenza and @bellang303. You can check out more about Fine Motor at finemotormusic.com.2025-05-071h 35
The Silver Nitrate Witches' Movie Review BrewSalt of the Earth (1954), Part 1This week, the Silver Nitrate Witches travel to New Mexico to explore the reviews and reception of Salt of the Earth (1954), a film based on the historic 1951 strike against the Empire Zinc Company. This two-part series has everything: communists, Catholic newspapers, feminism, deportation, and even a prison full of women chanting “We want bathrooms!”You can find your Silver Nitrate Witches, Laura Valenza and Isabelle Lang, on various online platforms @ljvalenza and @bellang303. You can check out more about Fine Motor at finemotormusic.com.2025-05-011h 15
The Silver Nitrate Witches' Movie Review BrewSalt of the Earth (1954), Part IThis week, the Silver Nitrate Witches travel to New Mexico to explore the reviews and reception of Salt of the Earth (1954), a film based on the historic 1951 strike against the Empire Zinc Company. This two-part series has everything: communists, Catholic newspapers, feminism, deportation, and even a prison full of women chanting “We want bathrooms!”You can find your Silver Nitrate Witches, Laura Valenza and Isabelle Lang, on various online platforms @ljvalenza and @bellang303. You can check out more about Fine Motor at finemotormusic.com.2025-04-301h 15
The Silver Nitrate Witches' Movie Review BrewShe Done Him Wrong (1933)The Silver Nitrate Witches attend a show by Lady Lou in the Bowery this week, exploring the reviews and reception of the film She Done Him Wrong (1933), starring Mae West and Cary Grant. From critics body-checking the leading lady to a history of the beer growler, of all things, this episode transports us to a pre-Code Hollywood salacious story.You can find your Silver Nitrate Witches, Laura Valenza and Isabelle Lang, on various online platforms @ljvalenza and @bellang303. You can check out more about Fine Motor at finemotormusic.com.2025-04-231h 39
The Silver Nitrate Witches' Movie Review BrewGrand Hotel (1932)This week, the Silver Nitrate Witches check in at the Grand Hotel (1932) to explore the reviews and reception around a film with one of the most star-studded casts of the era. We look at the predictions of catty leading ladies, the censorship of Joan Crawford, and even how technology like the typewriter and switchboard liberated women, both economically and in other ways…You can find your Silver Nitrate Witches, Laura Valenza and Isabelle Lang, on various online platforms @ljvalenza and @bellang303. You can check out more about Fine Motor at finemotormusic.com.2025-04-141h 34