Blockbusters and Birdwalks
At Blockbusters and Birdwalks, you’ll listen to reviews and conversations about all kinds of movies, from Academy Award winners to exploitation masterpieces with a mix of commercial hits and obscure favorites thrown in for good measure. The point is recognizing that movies present our culture with the building blocks of social memory, enabling each of us to enjoy ourselves because movies are fun.
Blockbusters and Birdwalks
GATEWAY CINEMA, a conversation – Episode 19: EXTRA CREDIT: “The Death of Stalin”
GATEWAY CINEMA is a multi-part series of conversations centered on key ideas in film studies. In these conversations, we interpret and celebrate a set of eclectic feature films from across generations and from around the world, including “La Haine”, “Drum”, “Alien 3 (Assembly Cut)”, “Come and See”, “Perfect Days”, “Sweet Smell of Success”, “The Swimmer”, “Amadeus (Director’s Cut)”, “Bring Me the Head of Alfredo Garcia”, “Friday”, “Marie Antoinette”, “The Night of the Hunter”, “Crank” and “Crank 2: High Voltage”, “Portrait of a Lady Fire”, “The Fabulous Baron Munchausen”, “Joker: Folie à Deux”, “Welcome to the Dollhouse”, “Heathers”, and “The Death of Stalin”.
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Referenced media in GATEWAY CINEMA, Episode 19:
- “Wicked: For Good” (Jon M. Chu, 2025)
- “Dumb and Dumber” (Peter Farrelly, 1994)
- “Monty Python’s Flying Circus” (Graham Chapman, John Cleese, Eric Idle, Terry Jones, Michael Palin, and Terry Gilliam, 1969-1974)
- “Knowing Me, Knowing You with Alan Patridge” (Steve Coogan, Armando Iannucci, and Patrick Marber, 1994-1995)
- “I’m Alan Patridge” (Peter Baynham, Steven Coogan, and Armando Iannucci, 1997-2002)
- “The Thick of It” (Armando Iannucci, 2005-2012)
- “In the Loop” (Armando Iannucci, 2009)
- “Veep” (Armando Iannucci, 2012-2019)
- “Star Trek Generations” (David Carson, 1994)
- “Black Widow” (Cate Shortland, 2021)
- “Dr. Zhivago” (David Lean, 1965)
- “Nineteen Eight-Four” (1949) by George Orwell
- “Annihilation” (Alex Garland, 2018)
- “Black Panther” (Ryan Coogler, 2018)
- “A Quiet Place” (John Krasinski, 2018)
- “Avengers: Infinity War” (Anthony Russo and Joe Russo, 2018)
- “The Lost Patrol” (John Ford, 1934)
- “Syriana” (Stephen Gaghan, 2005)
Audio quotation in GATEWAY CINEMA, Episode 19:
- “Star Trek Generations” (David Carson, 1994), including the song “Star Trek Generations Overture” by Dennis McCarthy, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FBdmVGGaJEE&list=RDFBdmVGGaJEE&start_radio=1
- “The Death of Stalin” (Armando Iannucci, 2017), including the songs “Moscow, 1953”, “Special Delivery”, “Politburo”, “A Comedy of Terrors (End Titles)”, and “End Credits” by Christopher Willis, https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PL2gbFqcZhpb3kOAAT1Qyp_4rlt4hwbUiT