Hi gang! Evan is on vacation so it’s just Megan and Dave holding down the fort. They start things off with the Nicolas Cage comedy THE UNBEARABLE WEIGHT OF MASSIVE TALENT (2:41), a very silly romp through a weekend in the star’s fictionalized life. Then it’s THE AVIARY (14:54), a tense psychological drama about two women trying to escape a cult. Finally, they talk about FIREBIRD (30:50), a based-on-a-true-story movie about a soulful young soldier who embarks on a clandestine affair with a charismatic fighter pilot on a Soviet Air Force Base at the height of 1970’s Communist rule. Over on the Patreon exclusive audio, Megan and Dave talk about the 1979 Disney cult classic (question mark?) THE BLACK HOLE.
Category Archives: Action
THE NORTHMAN, SPIDER-MAN: NO WAY HOME, and VIRUS: 32 on Episode #406
Megan and Dave start this week by reviewing the Robert Eggers Viking revenge tale THE NORTHMAN (1:55), which they disagree about in a lot of places. They can at least agree Nicole Kidman is amazing in it. Next everyone discusses Gustavo Hernández’s horror film VIRUS: 32 (23:31), which puts a very specific and interesting spin on its zombie narrative. Then we’re excited to finally cover Jon Watts’s SPIDER-MAN: NO WAY HOME (39:38), digging into everything that we love and everything we find annoying about it. And in this week’s Patreon exclusive audio, we review the 1992 Penelope Spheeris comedy WAYNE’S WORLD, starring Mike Meyers, Dana Carvey, Tia Carrere, and Rob Lowe.
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THE MATRIX RESURRECTIONS on Episode #390
We’re taking the red pill for our last show of 2021 so we can discuss THE MATRIX RESURRECTIONS! We had so much to say we felt that the movie deserved a whole episode worth of conversation. Lana Wachowski’s fourth entry in the franchise stars Keanu Reeves, Carrie-Anne Moss, Jessica Henwick, and Yahya Abdul-Mateen II. We delve deep into the sci-fi film’s themes, particularly its humorous meta commentary on its own existence; its continuation of the Matrix story as a trans allegory; its exploration of trauma, romance, control, and free will; and the many exciting ways it both builds on the Matrix mythology and takes a hammer to it. We also talk about how the movie fits into the context of the franchise as a whole and briefly talk about our experience revisiting the previous films as a primer for this one.
And on this week’s Patreon exclusive audio, we go a completely different direction by talking about the winner of our Christmas heist movie poll, Daryl Duke’s 1978 film THE SILENT PARTNER starring Elliott Gould and Christopher Plummer!
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SHANG-CHI AND THE LEGEND OF THE TEN RINGS, THE FEAST, and JULIA on Episode #384
This week we picked two VERY different movies about food to discuss. First, we cover Julie Cohen and Betsy West’s delightful documentary JULIA (2:12), about chef Julia Child, which is chock full of great interviews, insights, and shots of food. Next, we review Lee Haven Jones’s Welsh foreboding, slow-burn folk horror film THE FEAST (15:12), starring Annes Elwy, which features some gruesome moments that we have varying reactions to. To completely change gears, we close with Destin Daniel Cretton’s entertaining Marvel Asian American superhero movie SHANG-CHI AND THE LEGEND OF THE TEN RINGS (35:40), in honor of its arrival on Disney+, starring Simu Liu, Awkwafina, Tony Leung, and Michelle Yeoh. And in this week’s Patreon exclusive audio, we talk about David Fincher’s 2002 home-invasion thriller PANIC ROOM, starring Jodie Foster, Kristen Stewart, and Forest Whitaker.
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MADRES, SOUTH OF HEAVEN, and THE MANOR on Episode #380
Tenoch Huerta and Ariana Guerra are great as a married couple in MADRES
Welcome to the Blumhouse isn’t just a horror series on Amazon, it’s also a song Dave is singing on this week’s episode, because we’re discussing two more films from the series. First, we review Axelle Carolyn’s unsettling horror film THE MANOR (2:19), about a older woman (Barbara Hershey) who enters a nursing home, only to discover supernatural forces are killing off her fellow residents. Next, we cover Aharon Keshales’ incredibly tense crime thriller SOUTH OF HEAVEN (15:56), starting Jason Sudeikis as a recently released ex-con trying to do right by his cancer-stricken girlfriend (Evangeline Lilly). After that we review Ryan Zaragoza’s sharp and surprising horror film MADRES (33:08), about a Mexican couple expecting their first child, who find out terrifying things are happening to pregnant women in the town they just moved to. And in this week’s Patreon exclusive audio, we talk about Michael Dougherty’s 2007 horror anthology TRICK ‘R TREAT!
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EVERYBODY’S TALKING ABOUT JAMIE, KATE, and MARTYRS LANE on Episode #374
We loved the choreography, costumes, and cinematography as well as Max Harwood’s lead performance in EVERYBODY’S TALKING ABOUT JAMIE
We head over to MARTYRS LANE (2:14) to learn the meaning of the word “vicarage” and to discuss Ruth Platt’s eerie and allegorical horror film (now on Shudder), about a girl who visited nightly by another girl who slowly reveals shocking secrets about her family. Next, we delve into Cedric Nicolas-Troyan’s bloody and entertaining Netflix action film KATE (18:25), which stars Mary Elizabeth Winstead as poisoned assassin trying to get revenge on the gangsters who betrayed her before she dies. Lastly, we review Jonathan Butterell’s charming and glamorous Amazon musical EVERYBODY’S TALKING ABOUT JAMIE (35:26), a queer coming-of-age tale about a teenager who wants to be a drag queen. And in this week’s Patron exclusive audio, we cover Norman Jewison’s 1987 rom-com MOONSTRUCK starring Cher and Nicolas Cage!
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BECKETT, THE SUICIDE SQUAD, and VIVO on Episode #370
Get ready for a singing animated kinkajou, a ragtag group of antiheroes blowing up a fake Latin American country, and a clueless American getting the crap kicked out of him in Greece! We start this week with Kirk DeMicco and Brandon Jeffords’s sweet but saccharine Netflix animated film VIVO (0:55), starring Lin-Manuel Miranda, Ynairaly Simo, Zoe Saldana, and Gloria Estefan. Next, we discuss James Gunn’s THE SUICIDE SQUAD (15:36), not to be confused with that other awful DC movie about a task force of supervillains, starring an ensemble cast including Margot Robbie, Idris Elba, John Cena, Joel Kinnaman, Daniela Melchior, Sylvester Stallone, and Viola Davis. Gunn’s adaptation is much better, but still has us split. And lastly we review Ferdinando Cito Filomarino’s Netflix thriller BECKETT (37:11) starring John David Washington, which has some strong action, yet weak writing. And in this week’s Patreon exclusive audio, we talk about Sam Raimi’s 2009 horror film DRAG ME TO HELL!
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JUNGLE CRUISE, NINE DAYS, and FEAR STREET: PART THREE – 1666 on Episode #368
Dwayne Johnson and Emily Blunt are fun to watch, but don’t have much chemistry in JUNGLE CRUISE
What if souls had to interview to be born? That’s the premise of the first film on our docket this week, Edson Oda’s moving drama NINE DAYS (1:59), starring Winston Duke and Zazie Beetz. Next, we review FEAR STREET: Part Three – 1666 (16:14), the satisfying conclusion to Leigh Janiak’s Netflix horror trilogy, which we’ve really enjoyed discussing over the past two episodes. We wrap up with Jaume Collet-Serra’s JUNGLE CRUISE (37:18), the latest Disney ride turned movie starring Emily Blunt and Dwayne Johnson that borrows too heavily from other adventure films, including some of Disney’s. And on this week’s Patreon exclusive audio, we discuss the winner of our video game movie poll: the 2006 Christophe Gans film SILENT HILL!
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FEAR STREET: PART TWO – 1978, OLD, SETTLERS, GUNPOWDER MILKSHAKE, and Our 7th Anniversary on Episode #367
Emily Rudd and Sadie Sink play sisters constantly at odds in FEAR STREET: PART TWO – 1978
Spoilerpiece celebrates its 7th anniversary this week! After we all offer a huge thank you to everyone who has supported us over the years, Megan leads off with a review of M. Night Shyamalan’s OLD (5:52), a horror movie about people aging rapidly, which is exactly what we expected in the worst way. Next, we talk about Navot Papushado’s GUNPOWDER MILKSHAKE (17:44), a stylized Netflix action film with a stacked cast (Karen Gillan, Lena Headey, Carla Gugino, Angela Bassett, and Michelle Yeoh), that isn’t used to its fullest. After that, we dig into SETTLERS (33:47), Wyatt Rockefeller’s brutal sci-fi Western that we struggled through. We wrap up with FEAR STREET: Part Two – 1978 (44:04), the second film in Leigh Janiak’s Netflix horror trilogy, which we were all excited to see (it doesn’t disappoint). And in this week’s Patreon exclusive audio, we talk about Robert Luketic’s 2001 rom-com LEGALLY BLONDE starring Reese Witherspoon! We have a blast talking about this movie, which recently marked its 20th anniversary.
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NO SUDDEN MOVE, FALSE POSITIVE, and THE ICE ROAD on Episode #365
In this week’s edition of “We Should Have Known Better,” we cover Liam Neeson’s latest Old Man Neeson actioner, THE ICE ROAD (3:05), this year’s early winner of the “It Wants to be ‘The Wages of Fear’ or even ‘Sorcerer’ but it’s Really Just a Turd” award. Perhaps that’s harsh, but as scary as Canadian ice roads are in April, even scarier is the prospect of a movie filled with half-baked ideas, crummy special effects, and a villain who has more lives than the Energizer bunny. It’s just wretched. But man, was it fun to talk about! Next is FALSE POSITIVE (19:12), which star Ilana Glazer wrote with its director, John Lee. Who doesn’t love pregnancy horror? (Actually, one of us loves pregnancy horror, but sadly, not this film.) In this case, two of us. As Dave puts it, this is a movie that offsets each good idea it has with a bad one. But one of us liked it! (And though he didn’t mention it in the episode, Dave likes Pierce Brosnan’s beard.) Lastly, it’s NO SUDDEN MOVE (40:20), the new Steven Soderbergh thriller starring lots of his favorite people, including Don Cheadle and Benicio Del Toro. It has a little bit of everything, and screenwriter Ed Solomon is a loooong way from Bill & Ted. And in this week’s Patreon exclusive audio, we talk about WHO’S AFRAID OF VIRGINIA WOOLF?
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