Citizen Dame
Episodes
3 days ago
Episode 329: The Wedding Banquet (2025)
3 days ago
3 days ago
We close out Pride Month this year with a brand-new film (that's technically a remake, but shhhh): The Wedding Banquet, from Fire Island director Andrew Ahn, and starring Bowen Yang, Han Gi-chan, Lily Gladstone, and Kelly Marie Tran as two gay couples who have to try to play it straight. The result is a beautiful (and hilarious) film about found family and queer identity.
We'll be on a break for the rest of July, returning in August with our annual Hitchcock coverage (starting with North by Northwest!), but our patrons can continue to listen our Alfred Hitchcock Presents bonus episodes all through July! To join their number (and get some other bonuses as well) you can go to Patreon!
Wednesday Jun 25, 2025
Episode 327: Hedwig and the Angry Inch (2001)
Wednesday Jun 25, 2025
Wednesday Jun 25, 2025
The Dames continue Pride Month with the seminal queercore punk-rock musical Hedwig and the Angry Inch, directed by and starring John Cameron Mitchell. While Lauren tries to explain Judith Butler, Karen wonders why Hedwig is kind of a dick?
Next week: D.E.B.S. and lesbians committing espionage!
Wednesday Jun 11, 2025
Episode 325: Faces Places (2017)
Wednesday Jun 11, 2025
Wednesday Jun 11, 2025
We close out our Varda series with her penultimate film Faces Places (2017), co-directed by visual artist JR, with whom Varda travels across France, meeting people, taking photographs, and discussing art, image, and the passage of time.
We also decide that Godard is a jerk.
Next week, we're moving into Pride month viewing with some queer classics and even a brand-new film! First up is The Adventures of Priscilla, Queen of the Desert (1994)!
Wednesday Jun 04, 2025
324: Jane B par Agnès V
Wednesday Jun 04, 2025
Wednesday Jun 04, 2025
This week, the Dames continue our Varda series with the surreal and unique Jane B par Agnès V. Is it a documentary? Is it an essay film? What is this movie? In another inventive film from Agnès Varda, she sets out to help her friend Jane Birkin experience the film roles she never got to play and her fears about turning 40.
Wednesday May 21, 2025
Episode 323: Le Bonheur (1965)
Wednesday May 21, 2025
Wednesday May 21, 2025
Our Agnès Varda month continues with a discussion of Le Bonheur (Happiness), following the lives of a happy little nuclear family whose happiness gets challenged (or does it?) when the father begins an affair. Deeply feminist and gorgeously filmed, Le Bonheur fools you into thinking its one thing and then becomes another.
We do recommend watching the film before listening to the podcast!
Next week, we'll be chatting some of Varda's documentaries, starting with Jane B. par Agnès V.
Wednesday May 07, 2025
Episode 321: Roxanne (1987)
Wednesday May 07, 2025
Wednesday May 07, 2025
We close out 1987 with a quirky one: Steve Martin's adaptation of Cyrano de Bergerac: Roxanne, starring Daryl Hannah as the titular intellectual love interest of C.D. (Martin), a small-town fire chief with a brilliant mind and a prominent proboscis. This is a really fun way to end this series!
Next up we'll have an entire month of Agnes Varda, starting with her first feature Cleo from 5 to 7, so start watching!
Wednesday Apr 30, 2025
320: The Princess Bride
Wednesday Apr 30, 2025
Wednesday Apr 30, 2025
This week, the Dames are talking about love, true love as we discuss the beloved 1987 fairy tale classic, The Princess Bride. William Goldman adapted the script from his own novel. Rob Reiner directs the film which stars Cary Elwes, Robin Wright, Mandy Patinkin, Andre the Giant, Chris Sarandon, Christopher Guest, Wallace Shawn and so many more.
Be sure to come back next week when we finish out our 1987 romantic movie series with Steve Martin and Daryl Hannah in Roxanne.
Tuesday Apr 22, 2025
Episode 319: Maurice (1987)
Tuesday Apr 22, 2025
Tuesday Apr 22, 2025
And we're back! This week, we're talking about Maurice (1987), the Merchant-Ivory adaptation of E.M. Forster's startlingly progressive story of homosexual love in Edwardian England. The more things change, the more they stay the same, it seems.
Next week, we'll be discussing The Princess Bride, so Gen-Xers and Millennials should get real excited!
Friday Apr 11, 2025
318: Moonstruck (1987)
Friday Apr 11, 2025
Friday Apr 11, 2025
This month we're traveling back to 1987, starting with the Academy Award-winning romance, Moonstruck.
Plot: Loretta Castorini, a bookkeeper from Brooklyn, New York, finds herself in a difficult situation when she falls for the brother of the man she has agreed to marry.
Directed by: Norman JewisonWritten by: John Patrick ShanleyStarring: Cher, Nicolas Cage, Olympia Dukakis, Danny Aiello, Vincent Gardenia
Wednesday Apr 02, 2025
Episode 317: Wayne's World (1992)
Wednesday Apr 02, 2025
Wednesday Apr 02, 2025
We close out our Women's History Month discussion of Penelope Spheeris with THE movie of the 1990s: Wayne's World, starring Mike Myers and Dana Carvey! Hear about the film that introduced a generation to "Bohemian Rhapsody" and maybe sort of formed Lauren's entire psyche.
Next week, we'll be chatting about Moonstruck, so defo prep for that!
Party on!
Wednesday Mar 12, 2025
Episode 315: The Decline of Western Civilization (1981)
Wednesday Mar 12, 2025
Wednesday Mar 12, 2025
We're celebrating Women's History Month by discussing some of the best films of the severely underrated Penelope Spheeris, whose filmography is quite something. First up: Spheeris's first feature, The Decline of Western Civilization, an intense, enjoyable, wholly strange documentary about the LA hardcore punk scene in 1979/1980. Even if you're not a punk fan, this is a must-see.
We'll be on a brief break next week, but will return the week after to discuss Spheeris's Suburbia (1983), a fictionalized take on the punk lifestyle.
Wednesday Feb 26, 2025
Episode 313 - Twin Peaks: Fire Walk With Me (1992)
Wednesday Feb 26, 2025
Wednesday Feb 26, 2025
This week we continue our David Lynch series with Twin Peaks: Fire Walk With Me, the prequel film to the remarkable series.
Trigger warning for discussion of sexual abuse/incest.
Wednesday Feb 12, 2025
Episode 311: Blue Velvet (1986)
Wednesday Feb 12, 2025
Wednesday Feb 12, 2025
We're back and better than ever! After a brief hiatus while Karen was at Sundance, the Dames return to discuss some of the must-sees of the festival, followed by a deep dive into David Lynch's 1986 masterpiece Blue Velvet, starring Kyle MacLachlan, Isabella Rossellini, and Laura Dern.
Wednesday Jan 22, 2025
310 — A Face in the Crowd
Wednesday Jan 22, 2025
Wednesday Jan 22, 2025
This week, we're discussing Andy Griffith's first big screen role in A Face in the Crowd, the 1957 film from Elia Kazan. Griffith stars as Lonesome Rhodes, a wandering musician who is discovered in a small county jail and goes on to become an influential television star. It is a fascinating and timely examination of fame, influence, and the cult of personality.
Additional Reading:
Vulture Article: "There Is No Safe Word: How the Best-Selling Fantasy Author Neil Gaiman hid the darkest parts of himself for decades."
Wednesday Jan 08, 2025
308: Catching Up With the Dames
Wednesday Jan 08, 2025
Wednesday Jan 08, 2025
Welcome to 2025! As we gear up for a new year of exciting episodes and so many movies to talk about, we take a little look back at some of the films we have been watching lately, from Lauren's Hitchcock Year to Will & Harper and Wallace & Gromit, this wide-ranging conversation covers a lot of recent and upcoming releases as well as some of our favorite rewatches.
End clip: Demi Moore wins the Best Female Actor - Motion Picture Musical/Comedy award for The Substance at the 82nd Annual Golden Globes. Courtesy of the Golden Globes.
Check out Karen's interview with Wallace & Gromit: Vengeance Most Fowl directors Nick Park and Merlin Crossingham.
Tuesday Dec 31, 2024
Episode 307: The Apartment (1960)
Tuesday Dec 31, 2024
Tuesday Dec 31, 2024
Happy New Year from Citizen Dame! For our final episode of 2024, we talk about the hilarious and melancholic The Apartment, directed and written by Billy Wilder, starring Jack Lemmon as an office worker who lets executives use his apartment for extramarital affairs, and Shirley Maclaine as the elevator girl he develops feelings for (without knowing she's having an affair of her own). Come for the Billy Wilder dialogue, stay for Fred MacMurray being The Worst.
(Available to stream for free on Prime and Tubi. TW for discussion/depiction of attempted suicide.)
We hope you have a wonderful New Year and we'll talk to y'all in 2025!
Wednesday Dec 18, 2024
306: Carol (2015)
Wednesday Dec 18, 2024
Wednesday Dec 18, 2024
This week, we celebrate the season with Todd Haynes' 2015 holiday romance, Carol. Cate Blanchett and Rooney Mara star in this adaptation of the 1952 Patricia Highsmith novel.
Wednesday Dec 11, 2024
Episode 305: The Bishop's Wife (1947)/The Preacher's Wife (1996)
Wednesday Dec 11, 2024
Wednesday Dec 11, 2024
The Dames do a double-feature this week with The Bishop's Wife and The Preacher's Wife, in which we try to determine whether Cary or Denzel is the hottest angel committed to film.
Jury's still out.
Wednesday Dec 04, 2024
304: L'assassinat du Père Noël/Who Killed Santa Claus? (1941)
Wednesday Dec 04, 2024
Wednesday Dec 04, 2024
The Dames are kicking off a month of holiday movies, beginning with the 1941 French production, L'assassinat du Père Noël/Who Killed Santa Claus?
Directed by: Christian-JaqueWritten by: Charles Spaak; based on the novel by Pierre VéryStarring: Harry Baur, Renée Faure, Raymond Rouleau, Robert Le Vigan, Jean Brochard
Produced by Continental Films
Wednesday Nov 20, 2024
302 - Touch of Evil (1958)
Wednesday Nov 20, 2024
Wednesday Nov 20, 2024
This week, we discuss Orson Welles' noir classic, Touch of Evil. Charlton Heston and Janet Leigh star as a Mexican official and his wife who find themselves embroiled in a drug trafficking scandal that also involves an American detective (Welles) and his questionable methods of bringing people to justice.