Podcast
Cinebuds
Hosted by Radio Milwaukee · EN
Every week, Radio Milwaukee's Dori Zori and Milwaukee Film’s Kristopher Pollard talk about movies in theaters, streaming at home or wherever they might be, as well as Milwaukee's film scene.
38episodes
Episodes
Newest firstAll episodes
'The Odyssey' and its 70MM journey to the big screen
3w ago00:34:25Tap to summarizeMusic has vinyl. Literature has hardcover editions. Movies have the 70MM format.Used in decades past for sweeping epics like Lawrence of Arabia and 2001: A Space Odyssey, the preferred presentation of film purists has found modern boosters in luminaries like Quentin Tarantino and — more relevant for this episode of Cinebuds — Christopher Nolan.Booking the British-American director wasn’t really an option for a little-podcast-that-could like ours. So when we decided to combine our review of The Odyssey with some insight to the 70MM format, we tracked down two ideal local guests: Milwaukee Film technical manager Kelsey Parks and projectionist Spencer Tye.The organization’s Oriental Theatre is one of just two locations in the state of Wisconsin capable of unspooling a 70MM film (the other is the Marcus Majestic Cinema of Brookfield), and our guests revealed exactly how big of an undertaking that is — literally. The Odyssey requires five reels to cover its 172 minutes, with the heaviest one tipping the scales at nearly 50 pounds.Aside from the technical calisthenics, we get into the quality of the movie itself, including the director’s aesthetic choices (like the giant animatronic cyclops) and several standout performances (John Leguizamo’s in particular). If you want to catch The Odyssey in 70MM, the Oriental Theatre is showing it through Aug. 5.#####Cinebuds is sponsored by Joe Wilde Garage Doors.
Transcribe →UPDATED: 'Ueck' with director Steve Farr
3w ago00:32:07Tap to summarizeWe heard from a few Spotify users who didn't receive the correct audio for this episode, so we uploaded and republished it in an effort to correct the issues. Apologies for any inconvenience this may have caused.#####Boiling down a person’s nearly 91 years on the planet into 94 minutes is a tremendous feat. But what about when that person is someone your entire audience has, in a matter of speaking, invited into their homes for decades? Someone they already feel like they know and, more importantly, love?Directors Steve Farr and Michael Vollmann didn’t just take on that impossible task; they sought it out.What eventually became the Ueck documentary started back in 2023 at the pair’s production company, September Club, as they searched for an idea that was Milwaukee down to its core — something they could film here and would give back to the community in some way. The first name that came up? Bob Uecker.Farr, who joined us for this episode of Cinebuds, had worked with the Baseball Hall-of-Famer a few years prior and reached out to see if the idea could turn into something more. That led to an epic lunch — nearly five hours long, according to Farr — where Uecker regaled the directors with stories, clearly signaling that he was on board with the project.Filming began a few months later and continued for a couple years, culminating with the premiere of Ueck at the Milwaukee Film Festival this past April and the theatrical release that starts this Friday at select Marcus locations before hitting more theaters in early August (more details are available on the documentary's website).In this episode, Farr shares even more behind-the-scenes details about how the film went from brainstorm to big screens, what it was like working with a legend in the last years of his life and the unexpected things waiting for audiences — even the biggest fans of Uecker — when they catch Ueck in theaters.#####Cinebuds is sponsored by Joe Wilde Garage Doors.
Transcribe →'Ueck' with director Steve Farr
4w ago00:32:07Tap to summarizeBoiling down a person’s nearly 91 years on the planet into 94 minutes is a tremendous feat. But what about when that person is someone your entire audience has, in a matter of speaking, invited into their homes for decades? Someone they already feel like they know and, more importantly, love?Directors Steve Farr and Michael Vollmann didn’t just take on that impossible task; they sought it out.What eventually became the Ueck documentary started back in 2023 at the pair’s production company, September Club, as they searched for an idea that was Milwaukee down to its core — something they could film here and would give back to the community in some way. The first name that came up? Bob Uecker.Farr, who joined us for this episode of Cinebuds, had worked with the Baseball Hall-of-Famer a few years prior and reached out to see if the idea could turn into something more. That led to an epic lunch — nearly five hours long, according to Farr — where Uecker regaled the directors with stories, clearly signaling that he was on board with the project.Filming began a few months later and continued for a couple years, culminating with the premiere of Ueck at the Milwaukee Film Festival this past April and the theatrical release that starts this Friday at select Marcus locations before hitting more theaters in early August (more details are available on the documentary's website).In this episode, Farr shares even more behind-the-scenes details about how the film went from brainstorm to big screens, what it was like working with a legend in the last years of his life and the unexpected things waiting for audiences — even the biggest fans of Uecker — when they catch Ueck in theaters.#####Cinebuds is sponsored by Joe Wilde Garage Doors.
Transcribe →'The Invite'
Jul 1500:20:02Tap to summarizeTo make a good movie, you can take something expected (your standard romantic comedy, good vs. evil, etc.) and execute it at a high level, or you can take a familiar situation and keep tossing unexpected things at the audience to keep them on their toes.With that second scenario, it’s still necessary — and arguably more difficult — to do it well, which is what Olivia Wilde seems to have pulled off with her third directorial effort, The Invite.The nature of the project almost required Wilde and the cast (including herself) to tap into their crazier creative impulses. The setting is a single location. The centerpiece is a couples dinner party, which most grown-ups will tell you isn’t the place to go mining for high-quality entertainment. That all gets turned on its head pretty quickly, when the dinner-party invitation is reciprocated with a sex-party invitation.As you’ll hear Dori and Kpolly discuss in this episode, the very adventurous offer is only the start of what makes The Invite such a good watch. The tension shifts throughout, as discomfort ventures into curiosity. The single-location setting demands inventive cinematography that bounces shots off mirrors and uses clever camera angles to capture the action.And, yes, there is action — just not the shoot-em-up variety. The dialogue is sharp and paced in such a way that it manages to get your adrenaline pumping by building tension and then letting it release as the quartet of characters navigate a night that doesn’t go quite how anyone expected.The four-person cast hit just right, too, even though the original stars (including Amy Adams, Paul Rudd and Tessa Thompson) wound up giving way as the project was stuck in a holding pattern for a couple years. The on-screen group of Wilde, Seth Rogen, Penelope Cruz and Edward Norton fit together nicely, aided by touches like Rogen’s improv and the serious backstory Norton gave his character.Maybe the most unexpected thing that Dori and Kpolly found was the heart interlaced throughout the film, which balanced what could’ve been an uncomfortable snark-fest. You can hear them talk about all of that in the full episode available via the player at the top of the page.
Transcribe →Celebrating the Cinematic Sisterhood
Jul 100:28:33Tap to summarizeLast year, Milwaukee Film held its inaugural season of “Cinematic Sisterhood,” a series of films that brings well-deserved (and often overdue) attention to the work of women in the industry. Now in the midst of its second go-around, the series will bring Wildwood, NJ to the Oriental Theatre on July 11, which made this episode the perfect time to welcome the perfect guest to the podcast.Tracey Thomas is the co-founder of online service provider Exec-PC and was in the midst of her retirement when she embarked on a project titled My First and Last Film. Released in 2019, the documentary notably featured an all-female crew as Thomas tangled with questions about aging, with Milwaukee Film playing what she called a “very instrumental” role in making the project a reality.Thomas was in the audience for the first year of “Cinematic Sisterhood” and took it upon herself to get more involved this time around. In fact, she’s presenting the entire series, which started in June with a screening of Billie Jean King documentary Give Me the Ball!This episode keeps its focus on the documentary yet to come, which has become a classic since its initial 1994 release. Wildwood, NJ has a dream-like quality, courtesy of its heavy use of Super-8 film as it tells the story of “the last great American carnival town.” Like Thomas’s project, this is another one created by an all-female team, led by co-director Ruth Leitman, who will be at the Oriental Theatre for a Q&A when the movie screens July 11.#####Cinebuds is sponsored by Joe Wilde Garage Doors.
Transcribe →'Toy Story 5'
Jun 2400:32:53Tap to summarizeOur bold and adventurous podcast hosts will go to fairly reasonable lengths to see a good movie. To infinity? No. Beyond? Definitely not. Something they WILL do, though, is invite a new friend to join them for some general merriment with a few opinions thrown in for good measure. That’s what Dori and Kpolly did for this trip back to the playroom to review Toy Story 5 with special guest Heather Deaton — the winner of a “hotly contested” auction battle whose proceeds went to support Milwaukee Film.And if you think Heather just came along for the ride, prepare yourself for a true three-person analysis of the beloved Pixar franchise, with our guest providing some valuable perspective as a parent and general appreciator of Toy Story. She even did some hard-nosed research in advance, watching the third and fourth installments of the franchise in order to make some insightful comparisons between the new film and its predecessors.It's a great conversation about how far CGI has come since the original came out more than 30(!!!) years ago, how "inanimate" childhood companions leave an impression on us, and how we're all in the midst of a battle for imagination's very survival. OK, maybe not that last one, but it's a wonderful chat all the same.#####Cinebuds is sponsored by Joe Wilde Garage Doors.
Transcribe →'Winter Hymns' with writer/director Nathan Deming
Jun 1700:26:32Tap to summarizeThe last time Wisconsin-born writer/director Nathan Deming stopped by for a podcast visit, he was coming off a big win that went beyond any single project. Now he’s back to focus a little more intently on one of his own creations — and talk a bit about that previous victory.Deming and his Action! Wisconsin cohorts had plenty to smile about when he joined us in November of 2025, a few months after Wisconsin legislators passed and Governor Tony Evers signed into law the creation of production incentives and a state film office. These days, Deming’s joy comes from promoting his gripping new movie, Winter Hymns, which takes an ambitiously creative approach to examining the world of palliative (or end-of-life) care.Shot in a single room at a hospital on a snowy Wisconsin day, the film captures a series of conversation-based “episodes” between a doctor (played by the wonderful Colleen Madden of the American Players Theatre in Spring Green) and her patients. A few days before a special screening and Q&A at Milwaukee's Oriental Theatre, Deming talked with us about being inspired by his father’s career as a hospice director, the importance of casting local talent and how the production choices resulted in an emotionally weighty film that paints an authentic picture of a difficult topic.#####Cinebuds is sponsored by Joe Wilde Garage Doors.
Transcribe →MKE Film presents 'Bleak Week'
Jun 1000:29:43Tap to summarizeGet ready to lean into the darkness! For this episode, we invited a special guest to help us celebrate the most wonderful (and miserable) time of the year: Bleak Week.Running from June 21-27 at the Oriental Theatre, Bleak Week is an international phenomenon featuring some of the greatest, saddest and most soul-crushing films from around the world. This year, the series delves into the theme of work, exploring how our jobs and labor can be a primary source of bleakness in our daily lives.Milwaukee Film programming director Kerstin Larson is back in the studio as we dive into the Bleak Week lineup, starting with a special Father’s Day screening of Béla Tarr’s The Turin Horse. We also discuss the high-stakes tension of Sorcerer, the psychological paranoia of the anime classic Perfect Blue and the minimum-wage struggles depicted in American Job, which includes a live Q&A with local lead actor Randy Russell.Whether it’s the gritty detective work of Se7en or the poignant social commentary of Black Girl, there's a flavor of misery for every cinephile to enjoy together in the beautiful, air-conditioned gloom of the theater. After all, misery loves company.####Cinebuds is sponsored by Joe Wilde Garage Doors.
Transcribe →Pride Month movies with Milwaukee Film!
Jun 300:27:30Tap to summarizeAll throughout June, Milwaukee Film is serving up three separate helpings of hand-picked movies for the organization’s Pride Month program. There’s the “Queerious” mini-series devoted to queer-coded selections, the “Summer Camp 2” mini-series featuring queer classics that lean into the outrageous, and a trio of bonus picks to round out the month.To help us navigate the four weekends of movies, we brought back the perfect guest: Milwaukee Film GenreQueer and Shorts programmer Jack Feria!Jack is a Cinebuds frequent flyer, having stepped into the studio with us several times to share all the cool stuff he does with Milwaukee Film. For this particular episode, he joins Dori and Kpolly to chat about the incredible range of LGBTQ+ fare coming to the Oriental and Downer Theatres — from Alfred Hitchcock’s subtext-laden Rope to gender-bending musical masterpiece Victor/Victoria.#####Cinebuds is sponsored by Joe Wilde Garage Doors.
Transcribe →'I Love Boosters'
May 2700:25:22Tap to summarizeFresh from the theater, we dive headfirst into Boots Riley’s latest, I Love Boosters.This colorful, high-fashion heist film follows a crew of shoplifters who resell designer gear, as they target a cutthroat fashion icon played by Demi Moore. We break down the incredible cast, from the great Kiki Palmer leading the charge to a nearly unrecognizable Don Cheadle.The film is a total feast for the senses, featuring a janky stop-motion aesthetic, a 17-degree tilted apartment set and a pulsing soundtrack by Tune-Yards. Beyond the fun, we discuss how Riley uses his signature stylized satire to take aim at the fashion industry and advocate for workers' rights.Then we wrap things up by teasing tease Riley’s next project, an adaptation of Mr. Burns, a Post-Electric Play, and share our latest obsessions, including the eerie comedy-drama Widow's Bay and the physical comedy of Chris Fleming.#####Cinebuds is sponsored by Joe Wilde Garage Door Company.
Transcribe →