Citizen Dame

308: Catching Up With the Dames

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.

Episode 307: The Apartment (1960)

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!
 

306: Carol (2015)

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.

Episode 305: The Bishop's Wife (1947)/The Preacher's Wife (1996)

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.

304: L'assassinat du Père Noël/Who Killed Santa Claus? (1941)

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

Episode 303: The Naked Kiss (1964)

The Dames close out Noirvember in pulpy style with Samuel Fuller's still shocking The Naked Kiss, starring Constance Towers as a prostitute who moves to a small town and upends its social and sexual hierarchy by actually being a kind, ethical person.
(TW for discussions of sexual abuse.)

302 - Touch of Evil (1958)

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.

Episode 301: The Night of the Hunter (1955)

We kick off Noirvember 2024 in style with Charles Laughton's exceptional directorial effort: The Night of the Hunter, starring Robert Mitchum as a fire and brimstone "preacher" who preys on widows in Depression-era West Virginia, but meets his match in two small children hiding an expensive secret. The Night of the Hunter was Laughton's only film as a director, in which he employed a blend of silent film and stage techniques that make it one of the most unique and effective noirs in cinematic history.

Episode 300: The Babadook (2014)

For our 300th episode, we finally discuss Jennifer Kent's brilliant 2014 horror film, The Babadook.

299: Rosemary's Baby (1968)

The Dames interrogate one of the more controversial of the great horror films: 1968's Rosemary's Baby, starring Mia Farrow and John Cassavetes, and directed by Roman Polanski.
A complicated, multi-faceted film that's not always easy to talk about, both for its content and the feelings surrounding its director, there's no doubt that we have a lot to say about this one...including whether it might, maybe, be feminist (or not).
We'll be back next week with Episode 300, talking The Babadook with a special guest!

298: Interview With a Vampire (1994)

This week, we continue Spooky Movie Month with vampires! Specifically, the 1994 Neil Jordan horror adaptation, Interview With a Vampire. We're talking Tom Cruise, Anne Rice, Louis' incessant whining, and the way Kirsten Dunst would be unfairly branded for years to come.

Episode 297: Deep Red (Profondo Rosso)

Spooky season is upon us, which means SPOOKY MOVIES! We kick off this season with a legendary giallo: Dario Argento's 1975 film Deep Red, starring David Hemmings and the remarkable Daria Nicolodi. Murder has never been so weird.

296 - Jojo Rabbit (2019)

This week, the Dames wrap up Fall Festival season with Taika Waititi's Oscar-winning Jojo Rabbit. From (Fox) Searchlight, the film was nominated for six Academy Awards including Best Adapted Screenplay and Best Picture. With so much humor and heart, we explore the brilliance of this World War II film told through the perspective of a 10-year-old Nazi.

Episode 295: The Shape of Water

The Dames go deep (hehe) on Guillermo del Toro's glorious magical realist fable (and Best Picture winner) The Shape of Water, and its deceptively simple narrative that combines fairy tale, biblical allegory, and transcendental love into something that is truly unique. Is this just the "fish-fucking movie" or is it so much more?
Next week, we'll be discussing Taika Waititi's Jojo Rabbit, so get ready for that!

294: Gone Girl (2014)

This week, the Dames dive into the twisted thriller, Gone Girl. Gillian Flynn adapted her own novel into the screenplay of one of David Fincher's most popular and debated movies. In this episode, we're talking all about everything that is so good and so wrong about this movie, from Rosamund Pike's Oscar-nominated performance to Ben Affleck refusing to wear a Yankees cap. Join us!

Episode 293: Brokeback Mountain

We kick off fall festival season with a lineup of major films that had their premieres at festivals past. This week we begin with Ang Lee's seminal queer western Brokeback Mountain (2005). How far we've come (and how far we still have to go).
Next week will be David Fincher's Gone Girl!

292 — Rope (1948)

This week, the Dames discuss another Hitchcock masterpiece, the 1948 thriller Rope. Starring Farley Granger and John Dall, this single-location technical experiment also marks the first time Alfred Hitchcock worked with star James Stewart.

Episode 291: Vertigo

We continue with our Hitchcock month with one of the more controversial movies in his oeuvre: Vertigo, widely considered to be Hitchcock's masterpiece. But is there really a reason for that? What makes this film stand out? Why does everyone love Vertigo so much—and the most important question...do we?

290: Shadow of a Doubt

Welcome back, friends! After a very short break, the Dames return to celebrate the Master, Alfred Hitchcock's 125th birthday with his 1943 film, Shadow of a Doubt. Theresa Wright and Joseph Cotten star in this twisty, suspenseful tale set in California's wine country.

Episode 289: Shelley Duvall - 3 Dames

In honor of the great Shelley Duvall, the Dames discuss three films she made with Robert Altman: Nashville (1975), 3 Women (1977), and Popeye (1980). We maybe didn't know exactly what some of these meant, but man were they fascinating!
Our Criterion giveaway is still running, so let us know what one Criterion disc you would love to own! We'll pick a winner on July 25!