The Movies That Made Me

In case you haven't noticed, we've been off the last couple of weeks! We've been working double-time for a while, often bringing you two episodes a week as we plowed through this amazing recent awards season. Hosts Josh Olson and Joe Dante will return in TWO WEEKS with brand-new episodes of The Movies That Made Me, starting with a supercool video episode April 7! Until then, see you at the movies... Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Highlighted trailers for movies discussed with THE UGLY STEPSISTER writer/director Emilie Blichfeldt on the latest episode of our podcast The Movies That Made Me! Watch the full episode ⁠here⁠. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

THE UGLY STEPSISTER writer/director Emilie Blichfeldt unwraps her favorite movies with hosts Josh Olson and Joe Dante! Show Notes: Movies Referenced In This Episode Grimm’s Fairy Tales for Adults (1969) The Ugly Stepsister (2025) Hollywood Boulevard (1976) The Secret Agent (2025) Marty Supreme (2025) Amelie (2001) The City of Lost Children (1995) Delicatessen (1992) Sleepless in Seattle (1993) Dogville (2003) Involuntary (2008) Play (2011) The Square (2017) Fat Girl (2001) Enter the Void (2009) Crash (1996) Crash (2005) A History of Violence (2005) Videodrome (1983) Dead Ringers (1988) eXistenZ (1999) The Fly (1986) Jurassic Park (1993) The Dead Zone (1983) Raw (2016) Midsommar (2019) Titane (2021) ​​Immoral Tales (1973) The Beast (1975) Babygirl (2025) Wuthering Heights (2026) On The Waterfront (1954) Husbands and Wives (1992) The Godfather (1972) The Sweet East (2023) Good Time (2017) Funny Pages (2022) Tess (1979) Chinatown (1974) Total Recall (1990) Alien (1979) Point Break (1991) The Fellowship of the Ring (2001) The Two Towers (2002) The Return of the King (2003) Titanic (1997) Other Notable Items Our Patreon!  The Hollywood  Food Coalition The Academy Awards Rolfe Thiele Our Kleber Mendonça Filho podcast episode Our Josh Safdie podcast episode Jean-Pierre Jeunet Marc Caro David Cronenberg Olivier Asayas Gaspar Noé Nicole Kidman Lars von Trier Stellan Skarsgaard Ruben Östlund Andrea Arnold Lynne Ramsay Claire Denis Catherine Breillat Carl Theodor Dryer Jeff Goldblum Julia Ducournau The Cannes Film Festival Walerian Borowczyk Film Grab Rod Steiger Marlon Brando Marie Antoinette Kylie Jenner Kim Kardashian Sean Price Williams Alice's Adventures in Wonderland novel by Lewis Carroll (1865) Talia Ryder Kim’s Video in New York Roman Polanski Stanley Kubrick Sharon Tate Paul Verhoeven Ridley Scott Jane Campion Kathryn Bigelow Keanu Reeves Patrick Swayze Shudder Disney+ Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Highlighted trailers for movies discussed with BUGONIA writer Will Tracy on the latest episode of The Movies That Made Me! Watch the full episode here. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Will Tracy, screenwriter of Bugonia known for tightly contained, captive-themed stories. He walks through his favorite held-captive films. Short, sharp takes on siege, psychological imprisonment, bizarre allegory, and movies that turn captivity into character study. Conversation hits influences, formats, and how confinement shapes storytelling.

A fast-paced trailer reel walks through Spielberg classics and E.T.-style isolation. Family conflict and custody drama get a Kramer vs. Kramer spotlight. Vintage creature-feature and Gremlins-era showmanship add monster-movie flair. Pulp Fiction beats, Ferris Bueller cheek, and hustling-for-success montages keep the energy sharp and nostalgic.

Josh Safdie, writer-director known for gritty, kinetic films, shares the movies that shaped him. He talks about childhood favorites like E.T., The Shining, and Pulp Fiction. He recalls filmmaking rituals, casting Abel Ferrara, and how games, ADHD, and early cinema taught him tension and character-driven storytelling.

A trailer roundup dives into mystery and tense, suspenseful setups. Clips explore amnesia-driven thrillers and grieving men turned vigilantes. Scenes span crime escapes, supernatural nightmares, western frontier justice, and multiverse-fueled revenge. The collection highlights obsession, repeated violence, and late-night dread in compact, mood-setting snippets.

Kevin McManus, filmmaker and half of the McManus Brothers duo, chats about their film Redux Redux and its roots. He discusses writing processes and the multiverse trend. Conversation explores revenge cinema from Memento and Blue Ruin to Tarantino, Oldboy, Drive, and the ethics of violent storytelling.

Óliver Laxe, a writer-director known for meditative, image-driven films rooted in spirituality and landscape. He discusses Tarkovsky, Bresson and Kiarostami as touchstones. Conversations drift from faith-testing sequences and poetic montage to 1970s genre grit, Sufi-influenced intuition, and the disciplined craft behind shooting and editing Sirat.