Framed & Bound

For the 27th episode of Framed + Bound, we're joined by author Paula Bomer (The Stalker, Nine Months) to discuss the 2006 ensemble drama Even Money, in which Kim Basinger plays a novelist whose writers block turns into a dangerous gambling addiction. Discussed: the career of Mark Rydell, the influence of Robert Altman, the excellence of Forest Whittaker, the excellence of The Long Goodbye, Anthony Jeselnik's blurbs, the absurdly good cast here, and more. If you'd like to know more about Even Money, this interview with director Mark Rydell is well worth checking out. You can find Paula Bomer online here; her latest novel, recently released in paperback, is The Stalker.

On this week's episode of Framed and Bound, South Brooklyn Exterminating author Ian S. Maloney joins host Tobias Carroll to unravel the twisty conspiracies of David Fincher's 1997 film The Game — and explain what it has to do with the publishing industry. The Criterion Collection's page for the film has some terrific analysis of the film's themes and images. (Apparently it's a favorite of both Ty Segall and Brie Larson, so that's cool.) We also referenced an earlier episode about Wolf, which you can listen to here. You can find Ian S. Maloney online here.

On episode 13 of Framed & Bound, host Tobias Carroll and guest Dmitry Samarov discussed the 2018 film Can You Ever Forgive Me? In 2008, Julie Bosman at The New York Times wrote about the publication of the memoir that inspired the film — and what some of the real-life buyers of author Lee Israel's forged letters felt about her years after the fact. Dmitry Samarov's latest book is Making Pictures Is How I Talk to the World. He's also the co-host of the podcast That Horrorcast and publishes a regular newsletter. You can read his 2018 review of this film at the Chicago Reader's website.

For episode 11 of Framed & Bound, Mairead Case (Tiny, See You in the Morning) joins host Tobias Carroll to discuss Irish Wish, a movie in which an editor played by Lindsay Lohan creates a parallel universe where she's engaged to the rakish author whose book she made a bestseller. The essay Mairead mentioned at episode's end can be found here. Discussed in this episode: Irish saints, parallel universes, David Bowie, and whether the editor/author working progress in this film bears any resemblance to editor/author working progress in real life.

On this episode, Tobias Carroll and Arianna Reiche discuss the 2002 film adaptation of A.S. Byatt's Possession. Arianna Reiche is the author of the acclaimed novel At the End of Every Day, available wherever books are sold. You can read her short story "Potassium" here, too! Possession is about a pair of academics researching the possible connection between two poets who lived decades earlier — two parallel storylines that trace the growing attraction between each pair of characters. Discussed in this episode: what the ideal way to adapt A.S. Byatt's novel would actually be, whether "Jennifer Ehle is the best part of the movie" is a universal truth, the sheet amount of corduroy on screen here, and the film's action-packed denouement. If you're seeking a contrary perspective to our take on this movie, it's probably worth noting that Roger Ebert liked this film a lot.

Welcome to the seventh episode of Framed & Bound! This week, my guest is Matthew Specktor, author of Always Crashing in the Same Car and American Dream Machine. We discussed the 1994 film Wolf, directed by Mike Nichols and written by Jim Harrison and Wesley Strick. It's available to rent or purchase digitally, and there are several Blu-Ray editions out there as well. Discussed in this episode: Wolf's weird use of locations; the very odd plotting at work here; Jim Harrison cinematic adaptations; the ubiquity of Richard Jenkins; the charm of David Hyde Pierce; and slow-motion werewolves.

In this episode, writer and editor Katharine Coldiron visits Framed & Bound to discuss the 2011 adaptation of Stephen King's novel Bag of Bones, about a writer dealing with grief, writer's block, and ghosts. She's the author of the books Ceremonials and Junk Film: Why Bad Movies Matter — as well as the forthcoming collection Wire Mothers: Stories. Discussed in this episode: Canadian locations, the very unsettling implications of this miniseries's climax, refrigerator magnets, whether or not ghosts can make cars explode, and several other films that have nothing to do with writers or ghosts, but are pretty entertaining. Bag of Bones features one of the most memorable onscreen depictions of writer's block ever. You can purchase it via Apple TV. Bag of Bones director Mick Garris is among the writers and directors interviewed in the documentary King on Screen, which I wrote about in late 2022.

Bell, Book and Candle has it all: a high-powered book publisher! New York's magical underground! Jack Lemmon playing the bongos! And it's (kind of) a Christmas movie! Publicist Lauren Cerand joins host Tobias Carroll for this episode of Framed & Bound. Bell, Book and Candle is available to watch on the Criterion Channel and Tubi. It stars Kim Novak, James Stewart, Jack Lemmon, Ernie Kovacs, Hermione Gingold, and Elsa Lanchester. The film was directed by Richard Quine. The screenplay was written by Daniel Taradash and adapts John Van Druten's play.