First Blood and Commando - these two films became the blueprint for the modern action movie. While these films have completely different tones, they share the same core: they're built around the concept of the one-man-army while yielding two of the most recognizable and iconic action stars to ever grace the big screen. Want access to bonus content, interviews with legendary filmmakers, and Host Q and A's? Click here to become a Movie Wars Patreon Supporter! This helps keep the show ad-free, and ...
Jan 06, 2022•1 hr 16 min•Ep. 20
What started as the Movie Wars Christmas episode turned into a battle of deadbeat dads. Tune in as Kyle, Drew, and Phil determine who made Santa's naughty list. Or better yet, who gets the Turboman? Click here to become a Movie Wars Patron! Support Movie Wars for the price of a latte’ a month. A $7 contribution helps us make more content(eventual bonus features), grow the show, and feed our children. And isn’t that what it’s about? The children. Jingle All The Way Workaholic Howard Langston (Arn...
Dec 24, 2021•1 hr 2 min•Ep. 19
It’s hard to argue that Star Wars and Star Trek have two of the most dedicated fan bases in film history. JJ Abrams took on the challenge of reviving these two beloved franchises with Star Wars: The Force Awakens and Star Trek (2009). Traverse the galaxies with the Movie Wars crew as they examine these intergalactic giants. Want access to bonus content, interviews with legendary filmmakers, and Host Q and A's? Click here to become a Movie Wars Patreon Supporter! T his helps keep the show ad-free...
Dec 08, 2021•1 hr 22 min•Ep. 18
Phillip K. Dick wrote two incredibly prophetic stories of technophobia with The Minority Report(1956) and We Can Remember it For You Wholesale(1966). It doesn’t hurt that they also led to two Sci-Fi classics carried by leading men Arnold Schwarzenegger and Tom Cruise. Get paranoid and get weird with the Movie Wars crew as we discuss Total Recall and Minority Report. Want access to bonus content, interviews with legendary filmmakers, and Host Q and A's? Click here to become a Movie Wars Patreon S...
Nov 22, 2021•1 hr 28 min•Ep. 17
Kyle, Drew, and Phil decided to take on two psychological icons for the scary October episode of Movie Wars. Hannibal Lector is a cinema-defining character while Se7en is considered one of the most innovative, creative, and daunting thrillers of all time. Get a break from the slashers and listen to the MWP as they get psychological. Want access to bonus content, interviews with legendary filmmakers, and Host Q and A's? Click here to become a Movie Wars Patreon Supporter! This helps keep the show...
Oct 29, 2021•1 hr 20 min•Ep. 16
Only on Movie Wars can we go from discussing pimps and franchised anarchy one week and then Rom-Coms the next week. When you watch a good Rom-Com, you can taste it. The taste of Fall or Christmas against the backdrop of a romanticized New York, Chicago, or Seattle. Grab a latte, take a stroll with your soulmate, and laugh along with the Movie Wars crew as we Love and War. Film Summary Sleepless In Seattle After the death of his wife, Sam Baldwin (Tom Hanks) moves to Seattle with his son, Jonah (...
Oct 01, 2021•58 min•Ep. 15
Kyle, Drew, and Phil tackle two giants of cinema in episode 0014. Taxi Driver and Fight Club explore the depths of the mind and its impact on society as a whole. Both films show their respective directors and actors growing into their craft. Hail a cab with the Movie Wars crew as we dissect the layers of morality in Taxi Driver and Fight Club. Film Summaries: Taxi Driver Suffering from insomnia, disturbed loner Travis Bickle (Robert De Niro) takes a job as a New York City cabbie, haunting the st...
Sep 16, 2021•1 hr 19 min•Ep. 14
The Movie Wars crew has sports on the brain as the NFL, college football, and baseball are in full bloom. Sports films are the perfect vehicle for tackling heavy subject matter. It only felt right to tackle two juggernauts of the sports films sub-genre: Field Of Dreams and The Natural. Field Of Dreams When Iowa farmer Ray (Kevin Costner) hears a mysterious voice one night in his cornfield saying "If you build it, he will come," he feels the need to act. Despite taunts of lunacy, Ray builds a bas...
Sep 07, 2021•1 hr 21 min•Ep. 13
Great films are often the result of an evolution in narratives and storytelling. Die Hard and Speed were refreshing representations of a new wave in action films. Containerized environments, lovable and relatable action stars, and touches of comedy. Kyle, Drew, and Phil didn’t let this podcast go below 50 MPH. SPEED FIlm Summary: Los Angeles police officer Jack (Keanu Reeves) angers retired bomb squad member Howard Payne (Dennis Hopper) by foiling his attempt at taking hostages. In revenge, Payn...
Aug 19, 2021•1 hr 9 min•Ep. 12
Episode Summary: One could argue that films like Gladiator and Braveheart are basic examples of why movies exist. To transport the audience to a different time and place. These two films do that in a huge way. Gladiator and Braveheart are larger-than-life epics that set new standards for scale and grandiosity in a movie. Join the guys as they break down these two historical epics. Film Summaries Gladiator : Commodus (Joaquin Phoenix) takes power and strips rank from Maximus (Russell Crowe), one ...
Aug 05, 2021•1 hr 24 min•Ep. 11
Episode Summary: You cannot assess the history of cinema without assessing the history of mob films. Filmmakers discovering that crime offered a new narrative form changed the direction of movies to come. Today, the guys discuss two of the most celebrated mob movies in history. The Godfather is in the constant rotation of films that are considered “Best Of All Time”. Goodfellas builds on the modern formula that The Godfather builds by giving the “Behind The Music” of running an organized crime o...
Jul 23, 2021•1 hr 38 min•Ep. 10
Episode Summary: Cops and robbers are a sacrament of film. Once crime was introduced to cinema, filmmakers and writers uncovered its narrative power. Like any popular subject matter, it tends to get bland as films present watered-down versions and half-assed attempts at telling a compelling crime story. Fast forward to 1995’s Heat . Heat is art meets action in the form of cops and robbers. Instead of your standard crime drama, Michael Mann serves up a delicious character study that focuses on th...
Jul 08, 2021•1 hr 8 min•Ep. 9
Episode Summary: On episode 0008 of the Movie Wars Podcast, Kyle, Drew, and Phil dissect two modern masterpieces. These films duked it out for best film (No Country edged TWBB out) in 2008. Both qualify as American classics of masterful storytelling. These movies were even filmed in the same place. One of Kyle’s Rando’s covers how one film’s pyrotechnics halted the production of another. Kyle’s Randos cover original casting, pre-production mishaps with one of the film’s stars, notes from the boo...
Jun 24, 2021•1 hr 9 min•Ep. 8
Episode Summary : Rocky and Raging Bull are two of the greatest boxing films of all time. Although seen as two drastically different films, they make a great pairing for episode 0007 of the Movie Wars Podcast. Kyle, Drew, and Phil discuss the themes that tie these two films together. Although Rocky and Jake LaMotta are very different, Kyle surmises that they make up two sides of one coin. One is a naive optimist while the other is a gifted but insanely troubled person. This paradox is what makes...
Jun 09, 2021•1 hr•Ep. 7
Episode Summary: After the brain-searing, philosophically exhausting episode 0005(The Matrix Vs. Inception), the guys needed a week or two to catch their breath. For a change of pace, they give comedy a whirl. What better than quite possibly the best two buddy comedies of all time? Buddy comedy is its own subgenre of comedy. It appears throughout comedy in every decade. Dumb And Dumber and Tommy Boy are side-splitting films that take the audience on road trips through less than ideal situations....
May 27, 2021•57 min•Ep. 6
Episode Summary: Kyle, Drew, and Phil were asking for a brain bruising when they decided to do this matchup. The Matrix carries its equal weight in philosophy as it does innovative action and camerawork. The only film that comes close in recent years is Inception. Both require multiple watches to understand. Typically, the first viewing amazes with their visuals. However, you are left scratching your head at the meaning of it all. The guys do their most research to date in order to do these tita...
May 14, 2021•1 hr 21 min•Ep. 5
Episode Summary: Film is often a canvas that can be used for so many things. They reflect the politics of the time. They often reflect the issues that people faced. Artists embody those by reflecting them onto the big screen But you also have movies like Jaws and Jurrasic Park . Two movies that can only be described as downright adventures. In the heaviness of any time period, leisure can be had in the form of pure entertainment. At a base level, film exists to transport us. It transports us to ...
Apr 29, 2021•1 hr 24 min•Ep. 4
Episode Summary: How does a director develop a sequel to a masterpiece? Ask James Cameron. Cameron originally directed The Terminator in 1984 and created the sequel T2. He also took on the daunting tasks of developing the sequel to Ridley Scott’s 1979 masterpiece Alien. Hindsight is 20/20 now that we’ve seen Cameron make relevant and innovative films every decade since he came on the scene. At the time, Scott’s old crew from Alien wanted nothing to do with him. The visuals for T2 had never been ...
Apr 14, 2021•1 hr 17 min•Ep. 3
Episode Summary: Alien and Predator are two films that get mentioned in the same breath frequently. There are video games and the eventual fan-craved AvP series. At surface level, it seems that the only thing linking these two films are the extraterrestrials. There is a deeper thought there. In the estimation of the Movie Wars crew, what really links this film is a proliferation in how aliens are portrayed in films. Alien sci-fi really focused on the mystery of aliens. Maybe they probe you. Mayb...
Apr 08, 2021•1 hr 18 min•Ep. 2
Hear Kyle, Drew, and Phil as they navigate the "War Score" card for two of the greatest Sci-Fi Action films of all-time. Movie Wars starts off with a bang(an explosion?) by pitting two of the greatest heavyweights of all-time against one another. Can Arnold defeat Peter Weller in the top billed cast category? Who would win in an all out brawl? Have you ever wondered which Machine is more likely to get Malware? All this more on Ep. 0001 of Movie Wars! FIlm Summaries RoboCop: In a violent, near-ap...
Mar 25, 2021•1 hr 13 min•Ep. 1
