Much has been both said and written about the time that F. Scott Fitzgerald spent working in Hollywood. And much of it has been negative. English professor and F. Scott Fitzgerald scholar Tom Cerasulo has a different opinion. The author of Authors Out Here: Fitzgerald, West, Parker and Schulberg in Hollywood Cerasulo and I discuss the possibility that Fitzgerald’s experience in Hollywood was not only not negative but was very positive and fruitful. Click on the title above to purchase through Amazon.

While Michigan Congresswoman Rashida Tlaib was knocking on doors in the 13th district of Detroit during her congressional campaign, Michael Moore was working on his next film - Fahrenheit 11/9. He wanted her to be a part of his movie so he joined her for an afternoon of door knocking in Detroit. Recorded in January of 2019, Congresswoman Tlaib and I discuss that afternoon with Michael, their friendship, her contribution to his movie and her plans to take a group of Washington insiders to Palestine.

In this episode I speak with former elementary school film teacher Steven LaVigne about his favorite musicals to both screen and teach. Many musicals are mentioned but our focus is on three classic Hollywood musicals - The Wizard of Oz (1939), Meet Me in St. Louis (1944), and Gigi (1958).

Run Lola Run (1998) is an independent German film from the late 1990s which features an almost entirely techno soundtrack. Cornelius Harris, the current label manager for and former musical member of the iconic Detroit techno group Underground Resistance joins me to discuss the film, its soundtrack and the musical bond between Berlin and Detroit.

Rap, hip-hop and graffiti grew up tied together on the streets of New York and legendary, New York DJ Rob Swift was there to witness it. In this episode we discuss the iconic hip-hop movie Wild Style (1983) which Swift says captures a very specific moment in the early history of rap and hip-hop. Click on the title above to view on Amazon.

Jerry Carlson was my first film professor at the City College of New York. A mentor and friend he is an encyclopedia of film knowledge. I was thrilled to finally have him on the show to discuss one of my favorite genres - Film Noir. Our discussion covers not just the classic Film Noir movies but the history of Film Noir as a genre and a technique.

Duane Ferguson and I talk about the most influential and impactful movies and directors of our childhood. From Steven Spielberg to Jim Henson to Spike Lee. Focus is on movies of the 1970s and 1980s but we also move into the present to discuss what we find most relevant today.

Side Note: This episode was to be a discussion with Jason Zumwalt on the connection between Horror and Comedy. However, we had to reschedule. That episode now appears as the second episode of season 2.

Dr. Victoria Amador is a British and American Gothic film and literature scholar, who has published numerous articles on the gothic in film and literature. She is the author of The Gothic Portal: An Online Resource for Academics and Aficionados of Gothic Cultural Productions From 1976-2008. In this episode, we discuss the character of the female vampire in cinema. Our focus is on four female-centric vampire films. Dracula's Daughter (1936), The Vampire Lovers (1970), Only Lovers Left Alive (2013), and A Girl Walks Home Alone at Night (2014).

This is the first episode of The Reel Woman, a podcast focused on all things cinematic: past, present and future.