We continue our focus on crime films with a look at Dog Day Afternoon . John Cazale and Al Pacino star in this look at a bank robbery that goes both comically and tragically wrong. Based on a true story but filled with impressive improvised scenes, the movie represents Pacino at the height of his movie star powers. Jason Kruger joins us to watch the film and he knows, basically, nothing about it at all. If you are like Jason, it is time for you to give this movie a look! Next up, we will finally...
Dec 18, 2017•39 min
Semi-regular guest newbie Barb Lind is back and this week, we are watching The Sting with Robert Redford and Paul Newman! The film has lots of twists and turns and if you enjoy that sort of thing, we’d recommend watching the movie before you listen to the second half of the podcast. We actually always recommend that but in this case, you may well be sorry if you decide to skip into the spoiler filled portion of the episode without taking the time to watch the movie first. This Oscar winner for b...
Nov 15, 2017•47 min
Our next series of films is going to be the crime series and we start with one of the most classic movies about American gangsters you can find, The Godfather ! Marlon Brando, Al Pacino, Talia Shire, James Caan, Robert Duvall and…you get the idea. Directed by Francis Ford Coppola, this film is genuinely iconic. Even if you haven’t seen this movie, you’ve probably seen several dozen parodies of the film. Our newbie and sometime regular Barb Lind had somehow never seen the movie so we treat her to...
Nov 01, 2017•1 hr 2 min
We have reached the end of our James Bond Odyssey as we take a look at the film that is, effectively, Daniel Craig’s audition for the role. Layer Cake is a movie clearly influenced with the works of Guy Richie and Quentin Tarantino. It makes sense, of course, because director Matthew Vaughn produced some of Guy Richie’s earlier work. Barb Lind joins us to delve into this film that has a few problems but is a heck of a lot of fun. Next up, Barb will return to watch The Godfather Layer Cake (2004)...
Oct 15, 2017•39 min
Our Bond cycle is now complete as we watch the first outing for Daniel Craig. Casino Royale was the first re-boot of the Bond franchise although it held over Dame Judi Dench as M. Craig takes over James Bond and pulls the franchise in a direction that helps us understand a little bit about why Bond is the way we all expect him to be. Chrys VanDerKamp joins us one last time to see if Mr. Craig can rock the suit and the Walther PPK as well as the actors who have come before him. Spoiler alert: The...
Oct 01, 2017•43 min
Hey there! We said our 100th episode was going to be Star Wars but it isn’t. That’s a long story and we’ll tell it to you someday. Instead, we are joined by Barb Lind to watch The Matador featuring Pierce Brosnan! Brosnan took on this role shortly after his final Bond film and it is a nearly perfect deconstruction of the Bond persona. The film also features Greg Kinnear as a perfect foil for Brosnan’s foul mouthed assassin. The soundtrack is also pretty fantastic. So we’re sorry about Star Wars ...
Sep 15, 2017•42 min
We are back on the James Bond train as we introduce our guest Chrys VanDerKamp to the Pierce Brosnan film, Goldeneye ! This was Brosnan’s first outing as Bond and may be one of the most enjoyable Bond films of the storied franchise. There are better Bond films but this one is an awful lot of fun. It is also the first Bond film to be set after the collapse of the Soviet Union so there are some interesting shifts in tone when it comes to the relationship with Russia. Bresnan would go on to make th...
Aug 15, 2017•52 min
This episode, we are following Timothy Dalton from James Bond to the Edgar Wright/Simon Pegg comedy Hot Fuzz ! Bob Alberti joins us as our unsuspecting victim. While he has co-written a play that features a character obsessed with Hot Fuzz, he has, until now, never seen it! The film is a clever parody and homage to buddy cop movies that is delightfully over the top. Timothy Dalton seems to be loving his role in this film and the film is packed with many well known British character actors. You s...
Aug 01, 2017•41 min
We return to our James Bond series with the first of only two Bond outings by Timothy Dalton – The Living Daylights ! Chrys VanDerKamp returns as our guest to decide for herself where Dalton falls in the “who is the best Bond” debate. Tim and Melissa are both Dalton apologists as he is frequently viewed as one of the worst actors to play the role (but he’s no George Lazenby). We talk about why we think Dalton is underrated in the role and also why everyone disagrees on which Dalton film is the b...
Jul 15, 2017•53 min
This episode, we follow the late Sir Roger Moore from his first turn as James Bond to a film where he basically plays himself playing James Bond. Cannonball Run is a film by Hal Needham starring Burt Reynolds and Farrah Fawcett and – honestly – almost every other actor from the seventies you’ve ever heard of. Also, there are actors from before the seventies. And there’s also Jackie Chan. Because why the hell not? The film is a crazy mess of silly fun filled with some embarrassingly dated racial ...
Jul 01, 2017•47 min
This week, we return to our James Bond series with the first installment of the Roger Moore era, Live and Let Die ! Moore was the longest tenured actor to play Bond (this is the first of seven films featuring him as the British super spy). Chrys VanDerKamp joins us once again to unpack a film featuring some really fun action and some really problematic racism and sexism. We also take a look at some less than spectacular science and explore the strange rules of psychic sexual contact exhibited in...
Jun 15, 2017•1 hr 7 min
Our next episode in the Bond series follows Lois Maxwell (Miss Moneypenny) because George Lazenby really didn’t make any other films of note after his turn as Bond. Because of that, we used Maxwell’s small role as an excuse to watch The Haunting ! We are joined by returning guest Lana Rosario to watch this extremely creepy ghost story that doesn’t need to resort to anything as cheesy as jump scares to creep you out. The film is helmed by the great and versatile Robert Wise and stars a group of c...
Jun 01, 2017•52 min
We continue our exploration of James Bond and the actors who played him with On Her Majesty’s Secret Service , the first and only film featuring George Lazenby as Bond. Our guest is once again Chrys VanDerKamp, who will be joining us for every bond film as the only two she has seen is Quantum of Solace (which is unfortunate) and Goldfinger ( which we showed her .) On Her Majesty’s Secret Service is a fascinating Bond film as it establishes the premise that Bond can be played by another actor but...
May 15, 2017•51 min
Having watched Sean Connery play James Bond, we move on to watching Sean Connery in the only role that earned him an Oscar. Alex Wick joins us for The Untouchables , a Brian De Palma directed crime drama about Chicago and Al Capone. The movie features some fantastic set piece action as well as several truly riveting performances including Connery’s Oscar winning turn. We also gush all over Ennio Morricone’s score because how can you not? Next up, we take a look at the only George Lazenby Bond fi...
May 01, 2017•51 min
Our Bond project officially begins! Over the next several episodes, we will be watching Bond movies featuring each of the actors who have played this film icon as well as other movies featuring the same actor! We begin with what many consider the best of the Bond films, Goldfinger ! Our companion for this film was Chrys VanDerKamp, who has limited Bond knowledge and leaves our Educational podcast anxious to learn more about the film series. Don’t worry – we gave her a list. Up next, we will watc...
Apr 15, 2017•40 min
This episode, we tackle the 2017 Oscar winner for Best Picture: Moonlight ! After the crazy ending to this year’s Oscar ceremony, this film was crowned Best Picture. We’re guessing you haven’t seen it. In fact, neither Melissa or Tim had seen it either. Still, we brought in Pat Wick, who also hadn’t seen it, to be our guest. The film is notable for a lot of reasons, not the least of which is the fact it is the first film featuring an all black cast to win Best Picture. It gave us a lot to think ...
Apr 01, 2017•50 min
For our newest episode, we take a look at a project that was something of a dream project for John Wayne – The Quiet Man ! Directed by John Ford and featuring Wayne and Maureen O’Hara, this film is surprisingly unlike what most would expect from names like John Wayne and John Ford. We are re-joined by Noel Thingvall, who has a better experience with us than he did when we watched La Dolce Vita. We hope you sit back and enjoy this classic love story about a man, a woman, and a whole lot of tradit...
Mar 15, 2017•50 min
This week we have two special guests who join us for the Disney classic Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs . Lana Rosario and David Tyler McKay join us with little more than childhood memories of orange soda. After a viewing of the film, we discuss all the ways it might not work for some modern audiences but also all the ways this film changed the movie industry forever. It is also important to note that we are talking about dwarfs. Not dwarves. Next up, we will watch The Quiet Man ! Snow White and...
Mar 01, 2017•54 min
On this episode, we take a look at the oldest existing feature length animated film – The Adventures of Prince Achmed . Our friend Cetius joins us to discuss this silent film created using silhouette. It is remarkable to watch the film and recognize how much influence it has had on cinema over the years. We highly recommend taking a look at this film. You won’t be disappointed! Next up, we will take a look at another groundbreaking animated film, Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs ! The Adventures ...
Feb 15, 2017•34 min
Our latest episode features the guest stylings of Bob Alberti! Bob joins us to talk about The Man Who Would be King . The film features a post Bond Sean Connery and a pre Jaws 4 Michael Caine as two ex soldiers looking to make a fortune by making themselves kings. We don’t want to spoil the movie so we won’t tell you how it works out for them. If you watch the first ten minutes of the movie, however, you’ll probably be able to guess. As if the two big name actors weren’t enough, this film was di...
Feb 02, 2017•58 min
This episode is a return to the world of Federico Fellini with two guests as we all try to determine if Melissa’s hatred of the film is misplaced. La Dolce Vita is considered one of Fellini’s masterpieces. But is it? We watch the film and do our best to appreciate it as film geeks. You can decide for yourself how well we do Please note: this episode was hacked. The episode is fine but the post itself was meddled with. Sorry about that. Our next episode will be about The Man Who Would be King ! L...
Jan 15, 2017•52 min
It is a new year and we celebrate with a ridiculous movie that may not be great but is way better than it had any right to be. Kelvin Hatle joins us to watch Josie and the Pussycats , a subversive comedy about product placement and corporate greed. It is also exceptionally silly and features an absolutely amazing performance by Parker Posey. You have probably never watched this movie and while it is surprisingly dated for a film only fifteen years old, it is still a lot better than anyone could ...
Jan 02, 2017•46 min
We have a first this week – it is the first episode of our podcast that doesn’t feature Tim at all! Instead, Melissa is joined by Lauren Haven and John Youker. They are present to watch the classic Beatles Film, A Hard Day’s Night ! This rather light and frothy mixture of Beatles music and a rather limited plot proved to be far more popular than the producers had dreamed. John, Lauren, and Melissa discuss reactions to the film as well as spending some time talking about Christmas movies! Our nex...
Dec 27, 2016•40 min
For our latest episode, we watched Purple Rain with our good friend and podcasting mega – star , Matt Allex . In spite of being from Minneapolis, Matt has somehow never seen the film and we were able to enjoy him trying to unpack everything that is going on. For such an iconic film, it is surprisingly clunky whenever Prince and the Revolution are not on stage performing. We talk about the dichotomy between what takes place on stage at First Avenue and what takes place off stage in the steam tunn...
Dec 01, 2016•1 hr 8 min
For this episode, we are joined by Kyle Dekker from Hot Chocolate Media . He joins us to watch the Talking Heads concert film Stop Making Sense ! Directed by Jonathan Demme of Silence of the Lambs fame, this bare bones concert film is considered to be one of the best in the genre. We talk a bit about the film itself, the band featured, and our personal experiences with the film in the late 80’s and the early 90’s. Then we all go out and listen to the soundtrack. Next up, we’ll still with some 80...
Nov 15, 2016•40 min
Today, we return to the world of Stanley Kubrick to experience 2001: A Space Odyssey in 70mm glory. We are joined by a panel of guests including regular Allee Ellingsburg, Scott Keever, and Richard Brantley. Almost everyone had seen the film before but this was the first time most had seen it in a theater. Few other movies are as transformed by sitting in a movie theater as 2001. We talk about a lot of things but one thing we didn’t record is a pre-movie segment. We just dive right into the film...
Nov 02, 2016•1 hr
As we continue with our October horror theme, we take journey to the Overlook hotel to watch Stanley Kubrick’s adaptation of Stephen King’s The Shining ! Our newcomer to this journey is Sean O’Loughlin, who joined us a while back to watch Hugo! Once you’ve watched this film, we suggest you watch the documentary Room 237 , this video by Imagine Dragons , and a trailer for the film cut to make it look like a romantic comedy ! Next up, we’ll be sticking with Stanley Kubrick as we watch 2001: A Spac...
Oct 18, 2016•39 min
This week, Susanne Becker joins us to watch the horror classic Halloween ! Jamie Lee Curtis and Donald Pleasence star in a movie that pretty much served as the source for every masked killer horror trope from the 1980’s. Make no mistake, though, this film did them all first and, in many ways, it is still the best. While the film may not have aged as well as some of the other classic titles we’ve watched, it is still some very impressive work by Horror virtuoso John Carpenter. Next up, we will be...
Oct 01, 2016•52 min
This episode focuses on one of the best films of the 1990’s (or any decade): The Shawshank Redemption ! Alee Ellingsburg returns to watch this prison drama that is structured about as well as a movie can be structured. Tim Robbins and Morgan Freeman star in this movie that was one of the first true home video phenomenons. Tim pretty much takes over this episode because he really loves the film. You’ll have to forgive him for that. Our next film will be Bringing Up Baby. The Shawshank Redemption ...
Sep 01, 2016•50 min
This week, we take a look at one of the most iconic films of the 70’s, Taxi Driver ! We are joined by movie know nothing Salsa Sterling as we explore Martin Scorsese’s dark masterpiece. We follow Jody Foster from The Silence of the Lambs to her breakout role more than decade prior. This film also established Robert DeNiro on the A list where he has remained there ever since. And, of course, it features one of the most iconic scenes in film. It is so well known, the odds are you have seen dozens ...
Aug 15, 2016•46 min
