Last weekend, the box office report for new releases looked very different: it was glaringly empty. As with so much of the world, the pandemic has left its mark on film and for now, new theatrical releases are in a kind of holding pattern. Our latest guest on The Film Comment Podcast at Home series is regular contributor Nick Pinkerton, and he’s been wondering how this cinematic break is affecting film culture and the very idea of contemporary cinema. Nick has also been watching a ton of movies, everything from Luis Bunuel’s Simon of the Desert to Virtuosity. For this episode, FC Editor-in-Chief Nicolas Rapold and Assistant Editor Devika Girish spoke with Nick about his voracious viewing and what isolation means for all of us as moviegoers with no place to go. Other films discussed include John Ford’s Cheyenne Autumn, Robert Altman’s Beyond Therapy, Buñuel’s Diary of a Chambermaid, Mothra Vs. Godzilla and Ghidorah, the Three-Headed Monster, Ken Burns’s Baseball, Tony Buba’s Lightning Over Braddock, Surf Nazis Must Die, and more.

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