Jeremy and Paco discuss 1991's Backdraft, directed by Ron Howard. We also talk to Music Box Assistant Technical Director and Repertory Programmer Rebecca Lyon about 70mm film and the Music Box's 70mm Festival.

Backdraft will be screening at the Music Box on 70mm on August 17 at 2:30pm and August 18 at 7:30. Buy your tickets here. Jeremy will be introducing the movie on the August 17 screening.

Art by ⁠⁠⁠Lily Bacon⁠⁠⁠

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Suggestions, comments, complaints, hate mail, and all other correspondence can be sent to chicagopodfilmcast@gmail.com

Further reading and sources

• Chicago Gets Hot as a Site for Film Making | Isabel Wilkerson, The New York Times
• Kurt Russell is fired up about Backdraft | Lawrence Grobel, Entertainment Weekly
• Chicago Goes for the Burn | William E. Schmidt, The New York Times
• ‘Backdraft’ at 30: Ron Howard Reflects on Harrowing Special Effects and the Dangers of Filming With Fire | Steve Chagollan, Hollywood Reporter
• N.Y. Labor Disputes Drive Filmmakers to Chicago | Mark Caro, Chicago Tribune
• Cicero's Own `gulf War Battle' Investigated | Andrew Fegelman and John O'Brien, Chicago Tribune
• 37 sanitation employees are swept out of `2-hour' jobs | Fran Spielman, Chicago Sun-Times
• Park-ride system - for CTA brass only | Michael Brown and Mark Gillis, Chicago Sun-Times

Jeremy and Paco interview actor Joe Farina, the son of legendary Chicago actor Dennis Farina. Joe talks about growing up in Chicago, his memories of visiting his father on set, and his father's legacy in the city.

Art by ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Lily Bacon⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠

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Suggestions, comments, complaints, hate mail, and all other correspondence can be sent to chicagopodfilmcast@gmail.com.

You can watch Crime Story on Xumo Play.

Jeremy and Paco return to Wicker Park to discuss 2004's Wicker Park, directed by Paul McGuigan.

Art by ⁠⁠⁠⁠Lily Bacon⁠⁠⁠⁠

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Suggestions, comments, complaints, hate mail, and all other correspondence can be sent to chicagopodfilmcast@gmail.com

Further reading and sources

• ⁠ Reluctant Heartthrob ; Hartnett Downplays His Pretty-Boy Sex Appeal | Miki Turner, RedEye
• Wicker Park Sellout? ; Upscale Replaces Grunge but Fringe Factor Remains | Alison Neumer, RedEye
• Will the real Wicker Park please take a bow?. | Mike Thomas, Chicago Sun-Times
• What the #$*! is going on in ‘Wicker Park’? | Roger Ebert, RogerEbert.com
• Figure in Alleged Bribery Case Dies ; Firm Paid City Officials, Son Says | Gary Washburn, Chicago Tribune
• Fugitive in Silver Shovel Captured ; 1st to be Charged in 1990s Probe Held in Mexico | Matt O'Connor and Ray Gibson, Chicago Tribune
• Former Fugitive Gets 7 Years for Old Drug Case: Ex-City Contractor Part of Corruption Case in 1990s. | Cynthia Dizikes, Chicago Tribune
• Gov rips Keyes' slap at gays: 'Got his feet in 13th century' // Brother-in-law of lesbian says remark will bolster Obama. | Chris Fusco, Chicago Sun-Times
• The History of Bucktown | Bucktown Community Organization
• Chipotle commercial featuring Willie Nelson covering Coldplay's "The Scientist"

Jeremy and Paco are joined by film critic Keith Phipps to talk about High Fidelity (2000), directed by Stephen Frears.

Keith Phipps is a Chicago-based writer focusing on film. His primary outlet is The Reveal, a newsletter he co-writes with his longtime collaborator Scott Tobias. Keith also contributes to Vulture, The Ringer, TV Guide and other outlets and previously served as an editor at The A.V. Club and The Dissolve. He co-hosts The Next Picture Show, a biweekly podcast connecting classic and contemporary films.

He’s also the author of Age of Cage, a book about Nicolas Cage movies.

Art by ⁠⁠⁠Lily Bacon⁠⁠⁠

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Suggestions, comments, complaints, hate mail, and all other correspondence can be sent to chicagopodfilmcast@gmail.com

Further reading and sources

• High Fidelity Turns 20, and the Chicago It Imagined Is Gone⁠ | Keith Phipps, Chicago magazine
• Another Windy City, Not My Own | Keith Phipps, The Reveal

• Top Five: How ‘High Fidelity’ Found Its Rhythm and Became a Cult Movie Classic | Andrew Buss
• Edgy In Chicago | Margy Rochlin, New York Times
• Baby Got Going: Longing and Leaving in High Fidelity | Erin Langner, Bright Wall/Dark Room
• Review of High Fidelity | Jonathan Rosenbaum, Chicago Reader
• The Complexities of Cultural Change: An Interview with Stephen Frears | Cynthia Lucia, Cineaste
• JAILED ALDERMAN CHARGES BIAS IN JURY SELECTION | Virginia Groark, Chicago Tribune
• Just Their Luck | Cate Plys, Chicago Reader
• The Ex Files | Graham Meyer, Chicago magazine
• Tenacious D in Chicago, 6-13-99 House Of Blues [check out 1:00:00]

Jeremy and Paco are joined by Alex Gomez, one of the hosts of Music Box Movie Trivia, ⁠to talk about 1996’s Primal Fear, directed by Gregory Hoblit.

Music Box Movie Trivia is every Sunday from 4pm to 6pm in the Music Box Lounge. Reservations are strongly encouraged, but not required. Walk-ins welcome once the lounge opens at 3pm, but we cannot guarantee your team a table. Follow this link to make a reservation: CLICK HERE

Art by ⁠⁠Lily Bacon⁠⁠

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Suggestions, comments, complaints, hate mail, and all other correspondence can be sent to chicagopodfilmcast@gmail.com

Further reading and sources

• Primal Fear | William Diehl
• The Shaky Future of the CTA | Chicago Tribune
• FBI SAYS BOMB PARTS FOUND UNABOMBER SUSPECT CHARGED AS AGENTS FIND CHEMICALS | Wes Smith, Charles M. Madigan, Chicago Tribune
• A MOST UNLIKELY HOMETOWN FOR A RADICAL: EVERGREEN PARK WAS TRADITIONAL IN THE '50S AND REMAINS SO TODAY | Bob Secter, Dionne Searcey, Chicago Tribune
• WHO IS EDWARD NORTON? | Michael Wilmington, Chicago Tribune
• Maxwell Street cop HQ closing | Ernest Tucker, Chicago Sun-Times
• MAKING MOVIES | Bill Zwecker, Chicago Sun-Times
• `Primal Fear' Guilty Of Being Offensive | Richard Roeper, Chicago Sun-Times
• The many faces of Edward Norton | Cindy Pearlman, Chicago Sun-Times
• UIC campus gets its closeups on TV, in films | UIC Blog

• Getting Out of My Head: An Interview with Edward Norton | Graham Fuller, Cinéaste

Jeremy and Paco talk about 2011's Source Code, directed by Duncan Jones. Featuring a clip from the first unreleased iteration of this podcast in 2021, where filmmaker Caitlyn Johnson joined us to talk about the movie.

Art by ⁠⁠⁠Lily Bacon⁠⁠⁠

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Suggestions, comments, complaints, hate mail, and all other correspondence can be sent to chicagopodfilmcast@gmail.com

You can watch Tony Scott's Deja Vu (2006) on Starz, or rent it on Apple or Amazon.

Further reading and sources:

• Gyllenhaal says the 'Bean' could be metaphor for 'Source Code' |Dean Richards, Chicago Tribune

• Like Something Out Of A Movie: Alleged Shakedown On Metra Film Location |CBS News and Better Government Association

• Bean sculptor reflects pride on Chicagoans |Neil Steinberg, Chicago Sun-Times

• With Chicago fans, everything just Jake |Cindy Pearlman, Chicago Sun-Times

• Metra Train Stars in Movie “Source Code” with Jake Gyllenhaal ⁠ |Better Magazine

• Secret of her success: Michelle Monaghan's Midwestern roots help versatile actress stay grounded |Michael Phillips, Chicago Tribune

• How Jake Gyllenhaal Wooed Duncan Jones to Direct ‘Source Code’, |Lindsay Powers, Kim Messina, Hollywood Reporter

• Temporality and Surveillance I: Terrorism Narratives and the Melancholic Security State| From Surveillance Cinema by Catherine Zimmer

• Speculative Finance and Network Temporality in Duncan Jones's Moon and Source Code, | David P. Pierson, CR: The New Centennial Review
  

Jeremy and Paco talk about A Working Man (2025), directed by David Ayer.

First Impressions is a new episode format where we talk about recently released Chicago movies. Let us know any that are coming up!

Suggestions, comments, complaints, hate mail, and all other correspondence can be sent to chicagopodfilmcast@gmail.com

Art by ⁠⁠⁠Lily Bacon⁠⁠⁠

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Further reading and sources:

• ⁠‘I’ll Do What I Have to Do to Survive’: David Ayer faced a “dark night of the soul” after the controversy of Suicide Squad. It changed his career.⁠ | Bilge Ebiri, Vulture
• "A Working Man" review⁠ | Robert Daniels, RogerEbert.com
• ⁠Harsh Times, Ayer's first film, is available on Tubi

Jeremy and Paco are joined by author Noah Gittell to talk about Eight Men Out (1988), directed by John Sayles.

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Eight Men Out is screening at the Music Box on 35mm on March 23, introduced by Noah! You can buy your tickets here.

Further reading and sources:

• Baseball: The Movie | Noah Gittell
• Eight Men Out | Eliot Asinof
• The Betrayal | Charles Fountain
• “It Ain’t So, Kid, It Just Ain’t So:” History’s Apology to “Shoeless” Joe Jackson, Charles Comiskey and Chicago’s Black Sox | Daniel J. Voelker and Paul A. Duffy, originally in Chicago Lawyer magazine
• `Eight Men Out' - Film gets a fix on the real story behind the 1919 Black Sox scandal | Dave Hoekstra, Sun-Times, November 29, 1987

• Decency and Muck: The Visions of John Sayles and Oliver Stone
  
• 
  “Sports Films, History, and Identity.” | Aaron Baker, Journal of Sport History 25, no. 2 (1998): 217–33.
• “Trades Sink Sox to Lowest Payroll.” | Dave Van Dyck, Chicago Sun-Times, September 2, 1988
• "A Conversation Between Eric Foner and John Sayles,” from Past Imperfect: History according to the movies | Edited by Ted Mico, John Miller₋Monzon, and David Rubel