Episode 43: 1986 with Ty Burr
A podcast about the great movie years.
Ty Burr was the film critic for the Boston Globe for two decades, before departing that post to start up the must-read Substack newsletter Ty Burr’s Watchlist. He was also a senior writer for Entertainment Weekly from 1990 to 2002 —aka that publication’s glory years—but before that, he worked as a film selector and advisor for HBO and Cinemax (particularly the latter’s, ahem, late night programming). He was working that gig in 1986, a killer year for mainstream movies and the blossoming indie movie scene.
Here’s the Vulture piece Jason mentioned about Hands Across America, published when Us came out a couple of years back. If you’d like to read Ty’s books—and you should—here are links to Gods Like Us: On Movie Stars and Modern Fame and The Best Old Movies for Families: A Guide to Watching Together. And, again, you should subscribe to and read the wonderful Ty Burr’s Watchlist.
Aliens is currently streaming on Hulu, and is available for digital rental or purchase.
Blue Velvet is streaming on HBO Max, and is also available for digital rental or purchase, but man, get that Criterion Blu-ray.
Manhunter is available for digital rental or purchase.
She’s Gotta Have It was streaming on Netflix until very recently, but now appears to only be available from Apple, and only as a purchase? What the fuck? Or you can buy a used DVD? Good lord.
Something Wild is streaming on the Criterion Channel and MGM+, and is available for digital rental or purchase.
And for our picks, Caravaggio is on MUBI, Kanopy, and Metrograph; True Stories is available for digital rental or purchase, and on Criterion Blu-ray.
As always, if you’d like to log and review these yourself, head on over to our list page on Letterboxd.
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