Criterion by chance, criticism by chemistry.
Random Acts of Cinema follows Mike and Charlie through the Criterion Collection one randomly selected film at a time. The result is brisk movie talk with jokes, plot summaries, close reading, and the occasional hard turn into difficult subject matter.
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Random Acts of Cinema is a weekly film conversation organized around the Criterion Collection and the luck of a random pick. Mike and Charlie approach each title with spoilers on the table and a brief plot summary near the front. That structure gives the episodes a familiar frame, but the talk inside it rarely feels boxed in. A scene can prompt a joke, a childhood memory, a comparison to another filmmaker, or a small argument about why a performance works. The show is brisk. It has the energy of two friends who know each other well enough to interrupt, agree, revise, and keep moving without making the exchange feel staged. The film range is part of the pleasure. Recent and sampled discussions move from Joseph von Sternberg's Underworld to Martin Berman's A Weekend in the Country, Martha Coolidge's Not a Pretty Picture, Wes Anderson's The French Dispatch, Paul Verhoeven's Robocop, Seijun Suzuki's Youth of the Beast, The Tall T, and Godzilla vs. Mechagodzilla. That spread lets the show treat cinema as a messy continuum rather than a museum shelf. Silent-era style, western competence, kaiju spectacle, action, experimentation, and comedy timing can all sit in the same ongoing project. The criticism is not polished into essay form. It develops in the room. One friend floats a category like a certain kind of old-fashioned action romance or a rural ideal of competence, and the other helps test whether it actually explains the film. The show is also comfortable admitting uncertainty. In the Not a Pretty Picture episode, the discussion foregrounds the subject matter before proceeding, then works through discomfort, form, and intention with more care than swagger. The lighter episodes still have bite. A Weekend in the Country becomes a way to talk about jokes that land, jokes that miss, and the strange clash between gentle production values and harsher language. Underworld brings out the show's love of old Hollywood machinery, movie-star beauty, and storytelling details that feel specific without seeming strained. The result is warm, spoiler-rich film talk for people who enjoy analysis as a conversation rather than a verdict.
Made for: Best suited to film fans who like spoiler-friendly discussion, Criterion selections, genre detours, and criticism that sounds like a real conversation. It especially fits listeners who enjoy close reading without academic stiffness.
What sets it apart: The random Criterion premise creates a wide field, but the Mike-and-Charlie dynamic is the draw: quick jokes, working theories, corrections, and thoughtful pivots when a movie gets morally difficult.
Each week friends Mike and Charlie have Randy (the random number generator) select a film for them to watch from the Criterion Collection. Then they discuss and review it for your listening pleasure. It's a podcast about the love of film, expanding horizons, painstakingly cataloging the duration of every long take, and friendship.
Based on 6 episodes we listened to · September 2026
Random Acts of Cinema turns Criterion roulette into alert, funny film criticism grounded in craft, context, and candid disagreement.
Mike and Charlie let a random Criterion selection set the agenda, then meet each film with close attention, easy argument, and a healthy willingness to revise an opinion mid-conversation.
One random Criterion pick, and suddenly you're arguing about wet socks in a Western.
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Short reviews from the PlayNext desk, based on the episodes we processed.
A lively, spoiler-friendly discussion of Underworld's slick style, star appeal, and sharply observed details.
Charlie and Slick Mike use the mix-up between Len Wiseman's Underworld and Joseph von Sternberg's Underworld as an easy way into a lively, spoiler-friendly discussion of the older film's craft.
A Criterion oddity gets a sharp, friendly look at its comedy, tonal wobble, and surprisingly salty language.
Random Access Cinema takes on Criterion number 1306, Martin Berman's 1996 A Weekend in the Country, with an eye for a movie that seems to set up one comedy and then wander into another.
Mike and Charlie face a film that makes the ethics of filming rape impossible to keep at a safe distance.
Mike and Charlie treat Martha Coolidge's Not a Pretty Picture as both a film about rape and a film about the near-impossibility of staging rape for a camera.
A loose, spoiler-ready conversation about Youth of the Beast's crime scene, surreal violence, and rewatch rewards.
Random Acts of Cinema uses Seijun Suzuki's Youth of the Beast to explore how bold movie moments linger, blur, and get pieced back together in conversation.
A western rewatch where comic bravado gives way to pride, discomfort, and vile racism.
Random Acts of Cinema uses The Tall T's frontier setup to test a familiar movie figure: the rural man of excellence, the capable hired hand who makes city and suburb boys look helpless.
A Wizard of Oz rewatch that traces the film's magic back to its hazardous, deeply collaborative production.
This PlayNext review follows Criterion Laserdisc number 59, Victor Fleming's The Wizard of Oz, into a production history where familiar fantasy is bound up with risk, improvisation, and shared labor.
Invisible monsters, atomic confidence and Canadian suspicion animate this discussion of Arthur Crabtree's 1958 horror film.
Arthur Crabtree's 1958 horror film prompts a lively discussion of nuclear optimism, military secrecy and the patience demanded by a monster movie that keeps its creatures invisible until the final 15 minutes.
Three friends recap Daredevil, Fallout, and new releases scene by scene, in Spanish.
Slasher talk with sharp teeth.
Mike and Charlie review 'The Wizard of Oz' (1939) from the Criterion Collection, selected by their random number generator Randy.
Mike and Charlie review Criterion number 92, 'Fiend Without a Face' (1958), a low-budget British sci-fi horror film.
Two friends review the 1959 film Corridors of Blood from the Criterion Collection.
Two friends review the 1934 Mexican film Dos Monjes from the Criterion Collection.
Random Acts of Cinema episode 592 covers Joseph von Sternberg’s Underworld from 1927, while briefly noting Criterion number 529 and joking about Len Wiseman’s 2003 Underworld.
Random Acts of Cinema uses Criterion number 1306, Martin Berman’s A Weekend in the Country (1996), to revisit Temecula and the Balloon and Wine Festival where the hosts saw the production happen.
Mike and Charlie review Martha Coolidge’s 1975 Criterion entry, Not a Pretty Picture, and open with a content warning because the film is about rape and sexual assault.
Two friends review Wes Anderson's The French Dispatch (2021) from the Criterion Collection, discussing its structure and characters.
Two friends review Paul Verhoeven's 1987 film Robocop as part of their Criterion Collection podcast.
Random Acts of Cinema hosts Charlie and Mike review Seijun Suzuki's 1963 Yakuza film Youth of the Beast (Criterion #268), debating whether it deserves its place in the collection or whether Suzuki's reputation rests entirely on the later Branded to Kill.
Random Acts of Cinema hosts Mike and Charlie review Budd Boetticher's The Tall T (1957), Criterion Collection No.
Two friends review the 1974 Godzilla film 'Godzilla vs.
Two friends review the 1958 horror-sci-fi film 'Fiend Without A Face' from the Criterion Collection.
A podcast episode reviewing Charlie Chaplin's 1928 silent film 'The Circus' from the Criterion Collection.