A podcast that on paper sounds like it’s right up my alley!
The Gist
With weekly episodes clocking in at around an hour The AuteurCast focuses on directors. The premise of the podcast is pretty simple, the hosts choose a director and they spend a series of episodes talking about the works of that director. Each film gets an episode, and when they have gone through the entire filmography of a director they spend one episode giving their general thoughts about the director. The AuteurCast has only been around for a little under a year, the hosts are West Anthony and Rudie Obias.
Episodes Listened To
#38: Cameron Crowe’s “Jerry Maguire“
#39: Cameron Crowe’s “Almost Famous“
#40: Cameron Crowe’s “Vanilla Sky“
My Thoughts
I’ve been familiar with The AuteurCast for some time now, mainly thanks to the shows connections to The Criterion Cast. West Anthony has guested on that show before, while Rudie Obias I do believe used to be a regular host of The Criterion Cast (if I’m mistaken in this area feel free to let me know as I’m not one hundred percent sure my information is correct). The general idea behind The AuteurCast greatly intrigued me. On the surface the premise is exactly what I am looking for in my film talk. I love the idea of tackling the complete work of a director and thoroughly looking over his filmography. I was never scared of The AuteurCast not delivering on its premise because if nothing else West Anthony has shown a impressive attention to detail in all of his appearances on The Criterion Cast and Battleship Pretension. The real question was whether that detail would be complimented by Rudie Obias, and whether the show would have a true quality of depth to it.
I’m happy to report that The AuteurCast ended up being a great podcast to listen to. The two hosts live up to the premise and thoroughly explore the works of the director in question. They offer their thoughts on each individual movie they look at, but they also offer a longer reaching view on the director’s entire body of work. It was enjoyable to listen to The AuteurCast and felt like I was with a group of hardcore film fans taking a truly deep look at a director. I didn’t always agree with what Mr. Anthony or Mr. Obias had to say, but that didn’t matter, the enjoyment of the conversations is what mattered.
From a technical standpoint The AuteurCast is top notch, it’s not a podcast that has any audio issues or anything of that ilk. With that being the case it allowed me to focus on the discussion, the easy going and questioning nature of the hosts. I also like the format of the show because it allows me to pick and choose what I want to listen to. For instance they already covered the careers of Christopher Nolan and Quentin Tarantino, and I know I can avoid those discussions because I’m not interested in entire episodes devoted to two of my least favorite directors. The general format of the show allows an ease of access that is refreshing and creates an atmosphere that is a piece of cake to get into.
If you’re looking for some good discussion about directors from a pair of hosts who know their stuff, then you need to subscribe to The AuteurCast. It’s a podcast with a simple premise that is easy to get into and have fun with. The AuteurCast is such a good podcast that I have nothing ill to say about it, give it a listen and enjoy the quality discussions on a bevy of directors that await you.
The Bottom Line
Subscribe
Cheers,
Bill
