Episodes
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This week, as Gladiator II hits the theaters to repeat the same beats of its predecessor and prove that what we do in life truly does echo in eternity, we circle back to the original to cross a movie off of Hayley's list and get her hyped to see some hunks on the IMAX screen. It's 2000's Gladiator, directed by Ridley Scott, and starring Russell Crowe, Joaquin Phoenix, Connie Nielsen, Oliver Reed, Richard Harris, Derek Jacobi, Djimon Hounsou, Tommy Flanagan and Spencer Treat Clark. A somewhat controversial Best Picture winner at the time, it has remained one of Scott's most celebrated pictures despite hardly being his best. While it may not match the heights of his sci-fi output, it is unquestionably the high-water mark of his Medieval Mode, very much in line with subsequent efforts like Kingdom of Heaven, Robin Hood and The Last Duel, and is still a hugely entertaining sword-and-sandal revenge epic that lifted its two lead actors to another level of stardom. Plus: We get pissed off about the Coca-Cola AI Christmas commercial.
If you'd like to watch the movie before listening along to our discussion, Gladiator is currently streaming (in Canada at least) on both Netflix and Paramount+ at the time of publication.
Other works discussed on this episode include Past Lives, Stop Making Sense, Mission: Impossible - Fallout, Alien, Blade Runner, Prometheus, Alien: Covenant, Aliens, In Cold Water: The Shelter Bay Mystery, Dungeons & Dragons: Honor Among Thieves, The X-Files (S5E04 "Detour"), Good Bones, Super Mario Party Jamboree, The Holdovers, The Taking of Pelham 1-2-3, The Lord of the Rings trilogy, Red One, The Brave Little Toaster, Traffic, Erin Brockovich, Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon, Shadow of the Vampire and Crash, among others.
We'll be back next week to wrap up No-Theme-ber with our monthly canon consideration, as Hayley's got the keys to the vault this month and is using them to induct the Coen Brothers' 2007 crime classic No Country For Old Men, which is currently streaming north of the border on both Netflix and Amazon Prime. Until then, we'll see you at the movies!!
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This week, we're headed to Harvard Law (what, like it's hard?) as J Mo cashes in a recent thrift store pick-up so we'd have something light and breezy to discuss in the wake of recent events. It's 2001's Legally Blonde, directed by Robert Luketic, and starring Reese Witherspoon, Luke Wilson, Selma Blair, Matthew Davis, Victor Garber, Holland Taylor, Jennifer Coolidge, Ali Larter, Osgood Perkins, Raquel Welch and Linda Cardellini. A box office hit that spawned a sequel, a broadway musical (with accompanying talent search reality show), and apparently a forthcoming prequel TV series, and launched its charming lead as a certified household name Movie Star after winning turns in Pleasantville and Election.
Plus: both hosts have been to the theatre this week, and have field trips to report on for Conclave and Heretic. And we go deep into overtime after the end credits with a littany of thoughts on the first trailer for Mission: Impossible - The Final Reckoning.
If you'd like to watch the film before listening along to our discussion, Legally Blonde is currently streaming for free on Tubi in Canada at the time of publication, and is also available via MGM.
Other works referenced in this episode include The Saint, I Saw The TV Glow, The Transporter, I Know That Voice, Casa Bonita, Mi Amor!, Martha, Shawshank Redemption, My Old Ass, The Fallout, The Fog, Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King, A Perfect Circle's album Mer de Noms, cable TV, Longlegs, X-Men, Walk The Line, Walk Hard, Animal House, Cruel Intentions, The Time Machine, Olympus Has Fallen, It's Complicated, American Pie, Barbie, the entire Mission: Impossible series, No Time To Die, The Dark Knight Rises, North by Northwest, Interstellar, The Fast and the Furious franchise, and John Wick among others.
We'll be back next week as we've lined up the No-theme-ber schedule to coincide with the release of one of the last anticipated major release of the year. No, not Wicked. We're circling back to 2000's eventual Best Picture winner, Ridley Scott's Gladiator with Russell Crowe and Joaquin Phoenix, which can be found streaming north of the border currently on Netflix and Paramount+. Until then, we'll see you at the movies!! Hamburger.
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Missing episodes?
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This week, like the sand-people of Arrakis and Beetlejuice audiences before us, we're afraid of worms (worms!) as guest Rachel Hadaway (of Rachel's Chart Chat on The People Are The Enemy) goes for a steeply inclined stroll with us to breathe the mountain air in beautiful Nelson, Washington as circle back to the coziness of the Steve Martin rom-com. It's 1987's Roxanne, directed by Fred Schepisi, written by Steve Martin, and starring Martin opposite Daryl Hannah, Shelley Duvall, Rick Rossovich, John Kapelos, Fred Willard, Michael J. Pollard, Damon Wayans and of course Nelson, British Columbia, which almost played itself! A landmark 80s film for Canadians seeing their country onscreen, north of the border it seems more beloved for its locations than its clever reworking of Cyrano de Bergerac for a modern context. But this is a funny movie with a romance that works, brought to us from the dusty DVR box of a long-time booster of our show who we were happy to finally bring on! Plus: As we put Halloween season behind us, Justin goes deep on the truly terrible Blade: Trinity.
If you'd like to watch the movie before listening along, Roxanne is not currently available to stream in Canada, but can be found on Amazon Prime in America at the time of publication.
Other works referenced on this episode include Saturday Night, Challengers, Wicked, Blade, Blade II, Hellboy II: The Golden Army, The Witches of Eastwick, Practical Magic, V/H/S/94, So I Married An Axe Murderer, A Serious Man, The Creature From The Black Lagoon, The Reality Show Show, 8 Mile, The Lonely Guy, Review, Police Academy, The Muppet Babies, Set It Up, and Looney Tunes among others.
We'll be back next week as No-Theme-ber continues... with what? We don't actually know yet. So keep it locked here to find out. Until then, we'll see you at the movies!!
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Games? Must we? This week we're leaving Spooktober behind us and kicking off No-Theme-ber with a bang, as King Bob frontman and Roxy Fever host Jackson McDonald returns with our second Hitchcock in just three weeks as he redeems himself by bringing a cross-country spy thriller to the table that set the template for summer thrills for everything that's come after it. Yes, it's 1959's North by Northwest, directed by Alfred Hitchcock, written by Ernest Lehman, and starring Cary Grant, Eva Marie Saint, James Mason, Leo G. Carroll and Martin Landau. A classic mistaken identity thriller, Hitchcock is recombining story elements from a number of spy films of his past, leaving one final stamp on the genre before turning his focus back to horror. The end result is a movie that has its fingerprints all over not just the Mission: Impossible franchise, but what we expect from blockbuster entertainment period. Plus: Jackson and JMo combine for theatrical field trips to The Wild Robot and Venom 3: The Last Dance, while Hayley's still buzzing over a visit to the Video Stop in Watrous, Saskatchewan.
Listen to King Bob's new album, Rookie: linktr.ee/allhailkingbob
Other works referenced in this episode include The Birds, The Stand, Longlegs, Us, Shutter Island, Malignant, The Thing, Star Wars, Fargo, High Fidelity, The Black Phone, Invitation to Hell, Casa Bonita Mi Amor, 6 Days to Air, Where We Call Home, Super Mario Party Jamboree, Vertigo, Rear Window, Secret Window, Trap, Koyaanisqatsi, Family Guy, Mad Men, Rope, Charade, Big Trouble in Little China, Total Recall, Hail Caesar!, Burn After Reading, Mission: Impossible - Dead Reckoning Part One, The Maltese Falcon, Jaws, Rebecca, and The 39 Steps, among others.
We'll be back next week as No-Theme-ber continues with the Steve Martin rom-com Roxanne, famously filmed in Nelson, BC (or at least famously in this part of the world), a selection brought to us by beloved guest Rachel Hadaway, who will be joining us for that one. Until then, we'll see you at the movies!!
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It's the end of Spooktober... nobody trusts anybody now and we're all very tired, as we chill out with the original prince of podcasting RJ MacReady and John Carpenter's frozen freakfest takes its rightful place in the pod pantheon. It's 1982's The Thing, directed by John Carpenter, written by Bill Lancaster, and starring Kurt Russell, Wilford Brimley, Keith David and Donald Moffat. An absolute masterclass in the art of practical make-up and on-camera special effects, it's a movie that still looks outstanding to this day, now 42 years after it hit the screen. Critics hated the film upon its release, accusing Carpenter of only being interested in pushing the limits of technical achievement, and slacking on character and story. While I'd take issue with the latter critique, the former is exactly what has made the movie an enduring favourite. As for its story, this is a scenario so rife with paranoia that it has since gone on to become a successful board game.
Sadly, The Thing is not available to stream in Canada at the time of publication, but you can nab it on Blu-ray for $5 most places and it's well worth owning on physical media.
Other works discussed in this episode include the Venom franchise, Invaders From Mars, Poltergeist, Transformers, Lover, Stalker, Killer, Sweet Bobby: My Catfish Nightmare, Paranormal Activity 2, Cloverfield, 10 Cloverfield Lane, Poltergeist III, Truth or Dare (2017), Death Becomes Her, Gladiator II, The X-Files, Lost, Severance, Clear and Present Danger, and Escape From New York.
We'll be back next week to kick off No-Theme-ber, a lawless month where anything goes, as Roxy Fever's Jackson McDonald returns to the show with a redemption pick from his own collection, and to promote the new King Bob album Rookie available now wherever you get your music. He's making us circle back to Hitchcock with a classic mistaken identity thriller, 1959's North by Northwest, with Cary Grant and Eva Marie Saint. Until then, we'll see you at the movies!!
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This week, Spooktober continues with what is widely regarded as one of the most frightening films of all time, as a British master of cinema scares turns his sights to the skies with an eco-horror story that dares to ask... what if birds were jerks? It's 1963's The Birds, directed by Alfred Hitchcock, based on a short story by Daphne du Maurier, and starring Tippi Hedren, Rod Taylor, Jessica Tandy, Suzanne Plechet and a young Veronica Cartwright. Time has not been the kindest to this old girl, as a number of sequences that shocked and frightened audiences back in the day now play as laughably funny a lot of the time. Being a Hitchcock film, there are a handful of transcendently great scenes, but few of them involve dive-bombing birds if we're being honest. I guess you can probably tell we didn't love it. Tune in to hear us justify those feelings! Plus: J Mo's been on a trashy horror kick to get in the Spooky Season mood, and Hayley's got a theatrical field report on the Jason Reitman SNL origin picture Saturday Night.
If you'd like to watch the movie before listening us discuss it, The Birds is not currently streaming in Canada at the time of publication, but can likely be rented for free at your nearest public library.
Other works discussed in this episode include Scream, Barbarian, Frankie Freako, Psycho Goreman, Hundreds of Beavers, Love and Monsters, Mission: Impossible - Dead Reckoning: Part One, The Bugs Bunny/Road Runner Movie, Friday the 13th Part III, Freddy vs. Jason, Clue, The Nice Guys, Kiss Kiss Bang Bang, Tucker and Dale vs. Evil, Breaker High, The Black Phone, They/Them, The Deliverance, The First Purge, The Time Machine (1960), Singin' in the Rain, The Happening, The Last Voyage of the Demeter, The Mummy (1999), Trap, The Lady in the Water, Old, Shaun of the Dead, and The Mist among others.
We'll be back next week to wrap up Spooktober with this month's nomination for canon consideration: John Carpenter's The Thing (1982), an absolute Halloween classic with timeless and immaculate creature make-up and practical effects, not to mention an iconic lead performance from the king of cool himself, Kurt Russell. The Thing is not currently streaming in Canada, which really goes to show how much the streaming dream is dead. But you can find it in discount bins at your local retailer I'm sure. Until then, we'll see you at the movies!!
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This week, we're checking in to the heartbreak hotel and taking the express checkout to Hell as Spooktober continues with a minor forgotbuster based on a story by Stephen King. It's 2007's 1408, directed by Mikael Håfström, and starring John Cusack, Samuel L. Jackson, Mary McCormack, Jasmine Jessica Anthony, Tony Shaloub, Isiah Whitlock Jr. and Len Cariou. The movie is not nearly scary enough to really leave a lasting impression, but it's not bad either, as its Swedish director injects a good amount of visual flair into a one-location concept, and Cusack is more than capable of carrying the load in what is largely a one-man show. Plus: We've got a mixed bag of theatrical field reports, as our intrepid hosts have combined to see The Wild Robot and Megalopolis!
If you'd like to watch the movie before listening along to our discussion, 1408 is currently streaming on Hollywood Suite north of the border at the time this episode was released. You can probably also find it at your local library.
Other works discussed in this episode include the Netflix Fear Street trilogy, Who Invited Them?, Late Night With The Devil, V/H/S/2, V/H/S: Viral, Cloverfield, The Blair Witch Project, [·REC], Quarantine, Searching, Paranormal Activity, The Mist, Scream, Talk To Me, Night of the Living Dead, Resident Evil, Dawn of the Dead (2004), 28 Days Later, Shaun of the Dead, Friday the 13th Part 2, The Babadook, Malignant, Barbarian, Terrifier, Star Trek (2009), Star Wars Episode VII: The Force Awakens, Mr. McMahon, Morbius, Poltergeist, The Shining, Room 104, Planet Terror, Death Proof, Halloween (2007), The Devil's Rejects, and Black Sheep.
We'll be back next week as Spooktober continues with a well-regarded horror classic from one of the original masters of the genre, as we finally catch up with Alfred Hitchcock's The Birds, currently streaming in Canada on Netflix at the time of publication. Until then, we'll see you at the movies!
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This week, we kick off Spooktober with the original horror anthology film, a collaboration between two titans of the genre from two different mediums as the king of horror movies brings to life a script from the King of horror fiction to create a loving homage to the creepy comic books they both grew up reading. It's 1982's Creepshow, directed by George A. Romero, written by Stephen King, and starring Hal Holbrook, Adrienne Barbeau, Fritz Weaver, Leslie Nielsen, Ted Danson, Ed Harris and Bingo O'Malley. As an anthology film it's a bit uneven, and King probably should have recused himself from acting in the movie. But it's undeniably charming, working off a formula that I must lament we don't get more of still to this day. Plus: Giving the fans what they want, we've got more Diet Root Beer discussion.
If you'd like to watch the movie before listening to our discussion, Creepshow is not currently streaming anywhere north of the border but can be rented on YouTube and Cineplex.
Other works discussed on this episode include Beverly Hills Cop, Hook, Rebel Ridge, First Blood, Will & Harper, Star Trek: First Contact, Smile, The Ring, It Follows, Alien, Trick 'r Treat, Creepshow 2, Creepshow (2019), The Outer Limits (1995), The Stand (1994), IT Chapter Two, Hulk, Decision To Leave, Cheers, Black Mirror, American Horror Stories, From Dusk Til Dawn, Planet Terror and Dawn of the Dead, among others.
We'll be back next week as Spooktober continues with a prolonged stay in the King's court, as we check in with the 2007 John Cusack and Samuel L. Jackson hotel horror 1408! That one is available to stream in Canada on Hollywood Suite at the moment. Until then, we'll see you at the movies!!
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This week, SepTIMEber concludes with another charming British time travel rom-com that segues into fam-dram territory before it reaches the finish line. It's 2013's About Time, written and directed by Richard Curtis, and starring Domhnall Gleason, Rachel McAdams, Bill Nighy, Tom Hollander, Margot Robbie, Lydia Wilson, Vanessa Kirby and an uncredited Richard E. Grant. It's once again the final Friday of the month, as even this theme month can not stop the inexorable march of time, and Hayley's got the keys to the vault this time around, as she's chosen to nominate a cozy comfort film that's come to mean a great deal to her over the last decade. It's a cute movie with a sharp premise that plays a bit like if Edge of Tomorrow was a romantic comedy -- at least as far as it's interested in being a romantic comedy, anyway. We debate, as always.
If you'd like to watch the movie before listening along to our conversation, About Time is not currently available to stream in Canada at the time of publication, but is rentable on YouTube, Cineplex and Amazon. And you can nab it for $5 on DVD at your local Sunrise Records.
Other works discussed on this episode include Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home, Star Trek V: The Final Frontier, Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country, Star Trek: Insurrection, Star Trek: Lower Decks, Star Trek: Strange New Worlds, Star Trek: Discovery, Star Trek (2009), Spider-Man: Far From Home, San Andreas, Lost, Super 8, Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker, Star Wars: The Force Awakens, Arrested Development, Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest, Early Edition, Phantom Thread, Saltburn and Love, Actually..., among others.
We'll be back next week to kick off a new theme month as we put SepTIMEber in the past and move on to four weeks of frights, as Spooktober begins with a meeting of the minds from George A. Romero and Stephen King: 1982's Creepshow, which is currently streaming north of the border on Hollywood Suite. The rest of the Spooktober schedule includes 1408, The Birds, and our October canon consideration The Thing! It's gonna be a great month, so come on back, and until then, we'll see you at the movies!!
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This week, we're chasing Jack The Ripper through time from 19th century London to 1970s San Francisco and falling in love along the way as SepTIMEber continues with one of the goofier movies we've ever watched for the show. It's 1979's Time After Time, written and directed by Nicholas Meyer and starring Malcolm McDowell, David Warner and Mary Steenburgen. It's a film J Mo torrented more than 15 years ago while searching for an MP3 of the Cyndi Lauper song of the same, it's a tenuous application of our podcast criteria but we'll allow it when the film is this fun. The debut picture from a man who would go on to direct Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan -- with writing and directing credits on several other notable Trek films as well -- it is a great showcase for the energy he can bring to a movie, and the film's clumsier moments lend it a boyish charm befitting of McDowell's portrayal H.G. Wells. It's not a great movie but there's something about it that is worth tracking down.
If you'd like to watch the movie before listening along this week, you may have a difficult time doing so because Time After Time is not available anywhere on streaming, but is currently rentable on YouTube at the time of publication.
Other works discussed on this episode include The Leftovers, Devs, Lost, Evil, The Fall Guy, Speak No Evil, The Fabelmans, Licorice Pizza, Jurassic Park III, Step-Brothers, Will & Harper, Talladega Nights, Anchorman, Backspot, Timeline, The Time Machine, A Clockwork Orange, Star Trek Generations, Wayne's World, Primer, Zodiac, Back to the Future Part III, Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home, Bones and In Time.
We'll be back next week to wrap up SepTIMEber, as Hayley's got the keys to the vault yet again and has put forth the Rachel McAdams 2012 time-travel romance About Time as our monthly consideration for induction into the pod-canon. Similar to the last few movies we've covered, About Time is unfortunately not available to stream at the moment in Canada, though maybe in time that will change. Once again it is rentable on YouTube and via the Cineplex app. Until then, we'll see you at the movies!!
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This week, SepTIMEber continues as we head back to 14th century France to launch real fireballs out of real trebuchets alongside real Montreal LARPers in a rare misstep from a true master of the popcorn flick. It's 2003's Timeline, directed by Richard Donner, based on the book by Michael Crichton, and starring Paul Walker, Frances O'Connor, Gerard Butler, Billy Connolly, David Thewlis, Anna Friel, Neal McDonough, Ethan Embry, Matt Craven, Michael Sheen, Lambert Wilson, Marton Csokas and Rossif Sutherland. Two movies into this theme month and we already be down bad with Stockholm Syndrome, as the dire straits of The Time Machine made this film look like an oasis in the desert comparatively. Alas, it is a deeply flawed flick to be sure, and for the very first time one of our hosts could not make it over the finish line. Plus: a bit of listener mail makes Hayley finally explain her longstanding beef with Ted Lasso.
If you'd like to watch the movie before listening to our conversation, good luck! Despite being a Paramount movie, Timeline is not available on Paramount+ but is rentable on YouTube and the Cineplex app at the time of publication.
Other works discussed on this episode include Rebel Ridge, Green Room, Blue Ruin, Kinds of Kindness, Poor Things, The Favourite, The Ballad of Buster Scruggs, The Emperor's New Groove, Child's Play, M3GAN, English Teacher, The Lost World: Jurassic Park, Jurassic Park III, Almost Live!, Ready Player One, Backspot, I Like Movies, Sabrina Carpenter's album Short & Sweet, The Dana Carvey Show, Too Funny To Fail, 300, Terminator 2: Judgment Day, Midnight in Paris, Pushing Daisies, A.I.: Artificial Intelligence, Olympus Has Fallen, Greenland, Geostorm, Superman II, The Goonies, Lethal Weapon, Maverick, Radio Flyer, The 13th Warrior, Sky Captain & The World of Tomorrow, Paycheck and The Perfect Score.
We'll be back next week with a little ADHD-TPB, as SepTIMEber rolls on with a movie J Mo torrented off the internet roughly 15 years ago and never got around to actually watching: 1979's Time After Time, starring Malcolm McDowell and David Warner as H.G. Wells and Jack The Ripper respectively. Sounds like fun, right? Here's hoping! It is also not available on streaming, but once again is rentable on YouTube. Until then, we'll see you at the movies!!
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This week we're watching our fiancée die in increasingly hilarious ways, as we kick off our time-travel theme month SepTIMEber with an early 2000s forgotbuster that's better left in the past. It's 2002's The Time Machine, directed by Simon Wells, written by John Logan, and starring Guy Pearce, Jeremy Irons, Orlando Jones, Mark Addy, Samantha Mumba, Omero Mumba and Sienna Guillory. The story of a man driven mad by loss and the desire to change the past, it's a movie that was directed by H.G. Wells' great-grandson, a somewhat notable name in 90s animation tasked with making what would prove to be his one and only live-action feature. While there are a handful of technically impressive elements on display here, we're not gonna lie: this was a rough watch, a tough start for what we hope will be rip-roaring month of fun for the next three weeks.
If you'd like to watch the movie before listening along to our discussion, which this week we absolutely do not recommend, well... good luck, babe! The Time Machine is not streaming anywhere north of the border, and Hayley had to watch it on a weird Chinese pirate video website that undoubtedly loaded her computer with viruses.
Other works discussed in this episode include Adam Sandler: Love You, Adam Sandler: 100% Fresh, Don't Mess With The Zohan, The Wedding Singer, Strange Darling, Cuckoo, Beetlejuice, Beetlejuice Beetlejuice, Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, Alice in Wonderland (2010), Star Trek: Deep Space Nine, Conquest of the Planet of the Apes, Back to the Future 2, Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban, Avengers: Endgame, L.A. Confidential, Memento, Mars Needs Moms, and An American Tail: Fievel Goes West.
We'll be back next Friday as SepTIMEber continues with a rare misfire from the late great Richard Donner, as we finally catch up with 2003's Timeline, starring Paul Walker, Frances O'Connor and Gerard Butler. Timeline is not currently streaming in Canada, though perhaps our American listeners will have better luck with that. Until then, we'll see you at the movies!!
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This week, people always tell us we look like Han Solo as we're closing out P.T.August with one of Anderson's many five-star masterpieces, this time a classic rise-and-fall Hollywood story set in California's other film industry. It's 1997's Boogie Nights, written and directed by Paul Thomas Anderson, and starring Mark Wahlberg, Burt Reynolds, Julianne Moore, John C. Reilly, Heather Graham, Don Cheadle, Philip Seymour Hoffman, William H. Macy, Thomas Jane, Luis Guzmán, Ricky Jay, Philip Baker Hall, Nina Hartley, Robert Downey Sr., and Alfred Molina. Despite a pervasive undercurrent of darkness and dread, this is an often very funny comedy about the magic of The Movies and the pursuit of a dream, loaded with richly written characters and delightful performances. As our August canon consideration, it made for an enormously easy KA-CHUNK as a movie we both greatly enjoy. And to put a button on our month-long celebration, both hosts weigh in with a full PTA Power Ranking. Plus: Justin's back from the IMAX with a theatrical field report on Alien: Romulus!
If you'd like to watch the film before listening to our discussion, Boogie Nights is currently streaming in Canada on Crave and Starz at the time of publication.
Other works referenced on this episode include Edge of Tomorrow, Rogue One: A Star Wars Story, Don't Breathe, Alien, Aliens, Prometheus, The Mole, Derailed, Saw, Domino, Evil, Star Trek: The Next Generation, Lost, This Is 40, Twisters, Summer of Sam, 54, Normal People, and the entire P.T.A. catalog.
We'll be back next week to kick off SepTIMEber with 2002's The Time Machine, starring Guy Pearce and Jeremy Irons, and directed by H.G. Wells' grandson! It is... not streaming anywhere, and not even rentable north of the border, so good luck with that one. Until then, we'll see you at the movies!
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This week we are once again fumbling our way to the end of a mystery as we're joined by our noir-comedy correspondent, as the great "Wild Eyes" Travis Woloshyn (Boom Pro Wrestling, Percy Jackson & The Olympians) returns to the program to talk a movie that is thematically linked to the last movie he was here to discuss. It's 2014's Inherent Vice, written and directed by Paul Thomas Anderson from the novel by Thomas Pynchon, and starring Joaquin Phoenix, Josh Brolin, Owen Wilson, Katherine Waterston, Reese Witherspoon, Benicio Del Toro, Jena Malone, Hong Chau, Martin Short and Joanna Newsom. If it's not Anderson's funniest film it's certainly right up there, with two heavyweight comedy performances from Phoenix and Brolin, who are just as adept at character comedy as they are at broad slapstick.
If you'd like to watch the movie before listening to our conversation, you may be out of luck! Inherent Vice is not currently streaming in Canada at the time of publication. You may however be able to find it in stock at your local library.
Other works discussed on this episode include The Long Goodbye, Trap, The Sixth Sense, Unbreakable, Signs, Wrath of Man, The Usual Suspects, Fight Club, Don't Breathe, Gremlins, Batman ('89), Jurassic Park, Melvin and Howard, Aquaman & The Lost Kingdom, Twister, Twisters, Riverdale, The Big Lebowski, Mandy, Her, C'mon C'mon, You Were Never Really Here, Joker, Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas, Sleeping With Other People, Alien: Covenant, Tenet, The Candidate, A Talking Cat?!, and other entries in the PTA ouevre like Phantom Thread, Punch-Drunk Love, Licorice Pizza, Magnolia, and Hard Eight.
We'll be back next week to close out P.T.August with our monthly canon selection, as 1998's Boogie Nights is up for consideration this time. You can find that movie streaming in Canada on Crave, Starz and Hollywood Suite, so good luck to ya. Until then, we'll see you at the movies!!
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This week, P.T.August continues with P.T.A.'s most recent output, and for the second time this year we're joined once again by the people's champion Matt Pollock to talk about a movie he has been smitten with since its COVID-era theatrical release: it's 2021's Licorice Pizza, written and directed by Paul Thomas Anderson, and starring Alana Haim, Cooper Hoffman, Sean Penn, Tom Waits, Bradley Cooper, Benny Safdie, Skyler Gisondo, Mary Elizabeth Ellis, Harriet Sansom Harris, and the entire Haim family. A collection of mostly true stories from 1970s L.A. embued with the golden glow of Anderson's own That One Summer childhood nostalgia, its led by two extremely winning performances from a pair of actors both making their big screen debuts. While not without its controversies, it's a dreamlike hazy hangout movie we all loved quite a lot.
If you'd like to watch the film before listening along to our discussion, Licorice Pizza is currently streaming in Canada on Crave and across the globe on the Criterion Channel at the time of publication.
Other works referenced in this episode include Twisters, Targets, Scanners, Kim's Video, Michael Clayton, Saturday Night, The Ladies Man, Coneheads, It's Pat, Rebel Ridge, Hold The Dark, Green Room, Blue Ruin, Clueless, Dazed and Confused, Wild Wild West, An Evening With Kevin Smith, A Star Is Born, Maestro, Warrior, Are You There God? It's Me, Margaret, The Curse, Good Time, Coffee and Cigarettes, Down By Law, Rumble Fish, The Outsiders, The Ballad of Buster Scruggs, Mystery Men, Domino, Seven Psychopaths, Special When Lit, Pinball: The Man Who Saved The Game, and Once Upon a Time in Hollywood..., among countless others.
We'll be back next week with more P.T.August as Travis Woloshyn joins the two-timer club, returning to talk another fumblingly comic detective noir as we watch Joaquin Phoenix and Katherine Waterston in 2014's Inherent Vice! Which is shockingly not currently streaming, at least not in Canada, so... good luck. Try the library! Until then, we'll see you at the movies!!
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P.T.August rolls on with the only PTA movie neither host had seen before embarking on this month-long odyssey, a 1950s period piece set in the London fashion world that seems on the outside like a stuffy Oscar drama but packs some hidden humour in its dramatic depths. It's 2017's Phantom Thread, written and directed by Paul Thomas Anderson and starring Daniel Day-Lewis, Vicky Krieps and Lesley Manville. While most folks would might work their way through a filmography in chronological order, we've fallen into an accidental cosmic alignment as this feels more in line with The Master than almost any other movie Anderson has made, boasting another terrific Jonny Greenwood score. Plus: Hayley's fired up to welcome her little niece into the world, while J Mo's got a theatrical field report on Deadpool & Wolverine.
If you'd like to watch the movie before listening to our discussion, Phantom Thread is currently streaming on Amazon Prime at the time of publication.
Other works discussed in this episode include The Hangover, The O.C., Deadpool 2, X-Men Origins: Wolverine, X-Men, X-2: X-Men United, X-Men: First Class, Ghostbusters: Frozen Empire, Alias, Maestro, The Crown and Old.
We'll be back next week with returning favourite Matt Pollock as P.T.August continues with a much more youthful and funny film: 2021's Licorice Pizza, starring Alana Haim and Cooper Hoffman, which can currently be found streaming on Crave and the Criterion Channel. Until then, we'll see you at the movies!!
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This week, it's the first week of P.T.August as we're set to spend the next five Fridays indulging in the works of Paul Thomas Anderson, beginning with a Blu-ray J Mo's been carting around for 11 years now without having ever actually watched before now. It's 2012's The Master, written and directed by P.T. Anderson, and starring Joaquin Phoenix, Philip Seymour Hoffman, Amy Adams, Rami Malek, Laura Dern, Jesse Plemons, Ambyr Childers and Kevin J. O'Connor. Watching it now, it feels like PTA was a good four years ahead of the culture in exploring the dynamics of cults, how they operate and why people get sucked in to them -- a subject on which there are now countless documentary series, but must have felt cutting edge in 2012. Loaded with visual flair and anchored by a trio of tremendous lead performances, it's Anderson's own personal favourite of his films. Will our hosts agree? Plus: Hayley's still boiling over the cut kiss from the end of Twisters.
If you'd like to watch the film along with us this week, The Master can be found streaming in Canada on Amazon Prime, Hoopla and the Criterion Channel at the time of publication, the latter of which is also celebrating P.T.August with an August collection of Anderson's work.
Other works discussed in this episode include The Fabelmans, Deadpool, Deadpool 2, Species, Species II, Under The Skin, Evil, Plane, There Will Be Blood, Arrival, Night Bitch, Nocturnal Animals, Ren Faire, Fight Club and many more.
P.T.August continues next week as we get back at it with an unseen film-on-disc from Hayley's collection, as we watch Daniel Day-Lewis and Vicky Krieps in 2017's Phantom Thread, also available to stream at the moment on Amazon Prime. Until then, we'll see you at the movies!!
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This week, it wouldn't be the final episode of July if we weren't talking about a huge new theatrical release, but we're doing it a bit differently this time around as for the very first time (officially anyway) we review two movies at the same time! July's canon consideration is 1996's Twister, directed by Jan de Bont and starring Helen Hunt, Bill Paxton, Jami Gertz, Cary Elwes, Lois Smith, Philip Seymour Hoffman, Alan Ruck, Todd Field, Joey Slotnick, Jeremy Davies and Zach Grenier, but we spend just as much if not more time discussing 2024's Twisters, directed Lee Isaac Chung and starring Daisy Edgar-Jones, Glen Powell, Anthony Ramos, Brandon Perea, Maura Tierney, Sasha Lane, Katy O'Brian, Kiernan Shipka, David Corenswet and Paul Scheer. And we're joined to discuss both by returning favourite / girlfriend of the show Ashley Olson, a self-confessed "weather girlie" for whom the original film has been a lifelong fave. It's a delightful chat as two prairie girls roast an ignorant city boy for knowing nothing about storm tracking.
If you'd like to watch the films before listening along to our conversation, Twister is currently streaming on Crave and Starz in Canada at the time of publication, while Twisters can be found in theaters everywhere.
Oh, you thought we would be discussing other works this week as well? Well, we're not. Two movies is more than enough, you sickos.
We'll be back next week to kick off P.T.August, a month-long celebration of the works of Paul Thomas Anderson, beginning with 2012's The Master, a movie J Mo's been hauling around on Blu-ray for 11 years without ever having watched it. That all changes next Friday! So come on back now, as the rest of our PTA slate includes Phantom Thread, Inherent Vice, Licorice Pizza and concludes with our August canon entry Boogie Nights. Until then, we'll see you at the movies!!
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We're teeing up next week's big return of the MCU with Deadpool & Wolverine by looking back at the first collaboration between director Shawn Levy and the Huge Jacked Man, a futuristic underdog sports movie about robot boxing. Yes it's 2011's Real Steel, starring Hugh Jackman, Dakota Goyo, Evangeline Lilly, Anthony Mackie, Hope Davis, James Rebhorn and returning ADHD-DVD favourite Kevin Durand. While it's often described as Robot Rocky, it hues much closer to a Robot Over The Top. Based on a short story by Richard Matheson that was adapted into The Twilight Zone episode "Steel", produced by Spielberg and Zemeckis, and backed by a winning cast, all the ingredients are here to make a smart and affecting family-friendly action movie, but like its sadsack loser protagonist, it just can't put it together. Plus Justin's got theatrical field reports on Longlegs and A Quiet Place: Day One.
If you'd like to watch Real Steel before listening to the show, it is currently streaming in Canada on Netflix at the time of publication.
Other works discussed on this episode include The Last Voyage of the Demeter, 13 Hours, The X-Files, Gladiator II, Anyone But You, Ticket To Paradise, The Mask, Talladega Nights: The Ballad of Ricky Bobby, I Love You, Man, Succession, Speed Racer, Chappie, Australia, Les Miserables, Prisoners, The Last of Us, The Mandalorian, X-Men Origins: Wolverine, LOST, WALL-E, Transformers, The Simpsons, and Battleship.
We'll be back next week to welcome Twister into the podcast canon, and we'll be joined by Significant Other of the program Ashley Olson to discuss a film that is very near and dear to both her and Hayley's hearts. And of course you know we'll be talking Twisters as well, so come on back for what is sure to be a whirlwind episode you don't wanna miss. Until then, we'll see you at the movies!!
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This week, after a 40th anniversary sequel went straight to Netflix, we're winding it back to a 23-year-old Eddie Murphy's breakout smash as a capital-M Movie Star. It's 1984's Beverly Hills Cop, directed by Martin Brest, and starring Eddie Murphy, Judge Reinhold, John Ashton, Lisa Eilbacher, Ronny Cox, Steven Berkoff, Jonathan Banks, Bronson Pinchot, and Paul Reiser. This one comes from J Mo's collection as it's a movie he's strangely never seen before, having been burned by other overhyped Murphy comedies of the 80s? Is this one worthy of the hype? We'll find out together, but if you've seen it I think you know. Plus: Hayley's watched Axel F. to see where this franchise is at after 40 years, while Justin's staying hydrated in the heat.
If you'd like to watch the movie before listening to this discussion, Beverly Hills Cop is currently streaming on both Netflix and Paramount+ in Canada at the time of publication.
Other works referenced in this episode include Twisters, Gladiator II, The Last Duel, House of Gucci, Napoleon, Speed Racer, Miami Vice (2006), Hot Rod, Jeanne Dielman, 23 quai du Commerce, 1080 Bruxelles, Point Blank, Grosse Pointe Blank, High Fidelity, Charade, Driveaway Dolls, Maid, Blockers, Metro, Trading Places, Bowfinger, The Other Guys, The Santa Clause, True Romance, Scarface, Cobra and Tango & Cash among others.
We're back next week to tee up Deadpool & Wolverine by watching Hugh Jackman's previous collaboration with director Shawn Levy: a silly sci-fi rock-em sock-em robot boxing movie from 2011 called Real Steel, with Evangeline Lilly, Anthony Mackie and Kevin Durand, currently streaming in Canada on Netflix and free with ads on the CTV app. And of course, we'll close out the month of July by inducting Twister into the pod canon. Until then, we'll see you at the movies!!
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