One of the best home invasion movies ever - Adam Wingard and Simon Barrett, the creative team from THE GUEST, bring their trademark dark humor, biting edge, and genre thrills to a movie that is as much a great slasher as it is a great dark comedy. Featuring an ensemble cast of other genre filmmakers and actors (Barbara Crampton, Larry Fessenden, Ti West, Joe Swanberg), and a star turn by Sharni Vinson, this is genre fun for genre enthusiasts. Dean Movshovitz, author of an Amazon bestselling book...
Mar 26, 2021•34 min•Season 1Ep. 74
Three very accomplished producers of THE SKELETON TWINS, Jared Goldman (PALMER, THE DEVIL ALL THE TIME), Stephanie Langhoff (SAFETY NOT GUARANTEED) and Jennifer Lee (also an editor, she edited this film and has edited on RAMY), had a mini-reunion on the show. Much as the film is a loving celebration of family, it's clear that making the film was a family affair, in terms of how close the cast and crew were. Kristin Wiig and Bill Hader make this maybe the best movie about brothers and sisters eve...
Mar 20, 2021•44 min•Season 1Ep. 73
Breaking the rules of the show, I'm having on our first non-industry guest, my sister. Why? Because we watched ROBIN HOOD: MEN IN TIGHTS, at least a hundred times since we were kids. This movie has been quoted within our family for literal decades. We try and unpack why this film, generally considered a lesser entry in the Mel Brooks oeuvre, is our favorite of his movies, and the one we rewatch the most. Featuring Cary Elwes, Dave Chappelle, Richard Lewis, Patrick Stewart, and Brooks himself, th...
Mar 12, 2021•32 min•Season 1Ep. 72
Big guest this week! Top screenwriter Matt Cook - the writer of TRIPLE NINE, PATRIOTS DAY, ANGEL HAS FALLEN and THE INFORMER. Matt joins us to talk about his film TRIPLE NINE, which has legitimately one of the best casts of any movie ever period. Casey Affleck, Anthony Mackie, Chiwetel Ejiofor, Clifton Collins Jr., Woody Harrelson, Aaron Paul, Kate Winslet, Gal Gadot, Norman Reedus, Teresa Palmer and Michael K. Williams. On top of that, it's directed by John Hillcoat, director of the stellar wes...
Mar 05, 2021•39 min•Season 1Ep. 71
Screenwriter James Madejski joins the show to discuss the Justin Timberlake, Anton Yelchin, Emile Hirsch film ALPHA DOG. Our experiences with these actors have changed so much over the years that watching this movie is a different experience. That also goes for Ben Foster, whose stardom was arguably birthed with his scene-stealing role in this movie. A film that divided critics and was perhaps unfairly appraised because of the story world it takes place in, this is a GREAT movie, and one that is...
Feb 26, 2021•39 min•Season 1Ep. 70
Development executive, writer and producer Cam Cannon joins the show to unleash hell in one of the best man-on-a-mission movies ever, absurdly maligned by critics, and one of the most successful DVD releases ever. Peak Denzel, peak Tony Scott, somehow also peak Dakota Fanning. This is a stellar film, not just a guilty pleasure, but a legitimately great movie.
Feb 19, 2021•35 min•Season 1Ep. 69
Former Korean resident, Jason Rogers, a screenwriter who had a pen-pal relationship with the real-life serial killer who inspired this film, is my guest. The movie is THE CHASER, by master filmmaker Na Hong Jin, who also directed THE YELLOW SEA and THE WAILING. An intense thriller you won’t be able to stop watching, without the guardrails for the audience of Western cinema.
Feb 13, 2021•37 min•Season 1Ep. 68
Screenwriter Andrew Henderson joins the show to talk about a Movies I Love That No One Talks About all-star, the prototype for the show, KILL LIST. This is a movie people don't look for, they hear about it, in awed whispers. It's a movie that will make you shout profanities at your television in shock, and (depending on your taste) unhinged glee at the madness and audacity of the storytelling. It's weirdly funny at times, nerve-shatteringly-tense at times, and a true original. If you're looking ...
Feb 04, 2021•31 min•Season 1Ep. 67
Patrick Stewart plays a Neo-Nazi in GREEN ROOM, Jeremy Saulnier's no-holds-barred punk rock thriller. Also featuring Anton Yelchin, this movie is impossible to tear yourself away from once it locks in its macabre premise. Producer Nick Oleksiw returns to the show to discuss this unnervingly tense film.
Jan 28, 2021•33 min•Season 1Ep. 66
Two of our coolest guests ever join the show for this very special TV-centric episode, call it TV SHOWS I LOVE THAT NO ONE TALKS ABOUT. We're talking about QUARRY, the fantastic Cinemax series, with the creators of the show, Michael Fuller and Graham Gordy. A unique fusion of post-Vietnam social commentary, pulpy thriller, and psychological drama, this show is one of a kind. Logan Marshall Green is hypnotic in the lead, with Jodi Balfour, Damon Herriman, and Peter Mullan absolutely owning their ...
Jan 20, 2021•58 min•Season 1Ep. 65
Line producer Bart Lipton (JOHN WICK: CHAPTER 3, LA LA LAND) joins the show to discuss the Amazon film I'M YOUR WOMAN, starring Rachel Brosnahan of THE MARVELOUS MRS. MAISEL against-type in this gritty crime drama, told from a female perspective. The story features perhaps the best baby-acting performance of all-time. It also features stunning moments of unexpected violence, and the ambiguity and depth of dare-I-say THE GODFATHER: PART II. It's really great, and Bart helped me understand how the...
Jan 13, 2021•35 min•Season 1Ep. 64
Filmmaker Michael Steves joins the show to discuss Sam Raimi's delightfully deranged horror film, DRAG ME TO HELL. Just a damn good times at the movies, with a talking goat, the most brutal fight between a 20-something and an octogenarian ever captured on film, a nasty sense of humor, and more gross-out gags than you can shake a stick at. The movie equivalent of a horror theme park ride, this film has stood the test of time.
Jan 08, 2021•31 min•Season 1Ep. 63
Screenwriter and comic book writer Boaz Dror joins the show to talk about Frank Darabont's second-most-famous adaptation of a Stephen King novella, THE MIST. This film has one of the top holy shi*t ending in cinematic history. It's one of the boldest, most compellingly bleak pieces of monstrous horror that calls to mind early seasons of THE WALKING DEAD... which, not coincidentally, Frank Darabont also worked on. Featured a great cast of character actors, including Marcia Gay Harden as a villain...
Dec 31, 2020•41 min•Season 1Ep. 62
Creator of the Emmy-winning series #FREERAYSHAWN Marc Maurino joins the show to have a manic night out with Robert Pattinson and the Safdie brothers in GOOD TIME, the predecessor of UNCUT GEMS.
Dec 24, 2020•38 min•Season 1Ep. 61
JJ Abrams co-wrote this lean and mean thriller, directed by show favorite John Dahl (ROUNDERS) and starring Paul Walker and the always great Steve Zahn. At every step, this movie is five times better than it had to be. A legit minor classic of the genre. Producer Nick Oleksiw joins me to discuss the film, and our friendship that mirrors the central duo.
Dec 17, 2020•30 min•Season 1Ep. 60
Cinematographer and director David A. Armstrong (the SAW franchise) joins the show to talk about maybe the Hall of Fame cinematography movie of all time, CHILDREN OF MEN. Directed by Alfonso Cuaron (GRAVITY, ROMA), starring Clive Owen in maybe his best performance, with great supporting turns by Michael Caine, Julianne Moore, and Chiwetel Ejiofor. This stunning movie, incredibly, was not nominated for Best Picture or Best Director, and made only 35M in the United States. David helps me understan...
Dec 10, 2020•43 min•Season 1Ep. 59
Screenwriter Daniel Cameron joins the show to discuss this neo-Western/neo-noir, starring Nicolas Cage, Dennis Hopper, Lara Flynn Boyle and JT Walsh. Directed by one of my favorite filmmakers, John Dahl (ROUNDERS), this film was basically dumped by its distributor, but refused to die, and has gone on to have a cult following, for one reason - it's good. Incredibly well-structured, twisty, and engaging. Try to watch the first 25 minutes of this movie and stop watching.
Dec 04, 2020•36 min•Season 1Ep. 58
Veteran screenwriter Adam Gaines (FX's THE BRIDGE, NBC's STATE OF AFFAIRS, Hulu's INTO THE DARK) joins the show to talk about a thriller with one of the most brutal endings in recent film history, a film that put screenwriter Ehren Kruger on the map, a movie Adam literally had the poster of on his wall, one of the movies that made me want to get into screenwriting, ARLINGTON ROAD. Jeff Bridges and Tim Robbins square off in this nervy, paranoid thriller, which would be explosively timely if it ca...
Nov 26, 2020•23 min•Season 1Ep. 57
The director and co-writer of this film, Henry Alex Rubin, who also directed the acclaimed documentary MURDERBALL, comes on the show to talk about SEMPER FI. This movie quietly came and went, but unfairly so. It's a heartfelt, engaging, grounded, and compelling portrait of military life, friendship, loyalty, and the burden of brotherly love. Jai Courtney gives his best screen performance and shows he will have a career long after he stops doing action films as a straight-up dramatic actor. Nat W...
Nov 20, 2020•37 min•Season 1Ep. 56
The co-writer of this film, Erica Beeney, who also wrote the Project Greenlight film THE BATTLE OF SHAKER HEIGHTS with Shia LaBeouf, joins the show to discuss CAPTIVE STATE. This is the anti alien invasion movie, subverting all your expectations to deliver something closer to THE BATTLE OF ALGIERS and ARMY OF SHADOWS, a powerful resistance movie where the heroes are, basically, terrorists. Only instead of fighting the puppet government of Vichy France in World War II, they're fighting a human pu...
Nov 13, 2020•37 min•Season 1Ep. 55
Oscar-nominated screenwriter Nicholas Kazan joins the show to discuss his Denzel Washington supernatural thriller, FALLEN. One of the more underrated Denzel films, this movie features one of the best twists in cinematic history, for my money. It also has a sly sense of humor, and wall-to-wall great performances from an able supporting cast, including Donald Sutherland, James Gandolfini, Elias Koteas and John Goodman.
Nov 06, 2020•28 min•Season 1Ep. 54
J.C. Chandor has quietly become one of the best filmmakers working today, with MARGIN CALL, ALL IS LOST, TRIPLE FRONTIER and A MOST VIOLENT YEAR, perhaps his least-seen, most-underrated film (not by critics, who loved it, but by the general public). Have you seen this movie? It is, in some ways, to the gangster film what UNFORGIVEN is to the western, a deconstruction of the foundational tropes of the genre. Oscar Isaac IS early Al Pacino, a conclusion widely-found in the critical response to the...
Nov 01, 2020•26 min•Season 1Ep. 53
The writer of this film, Tony Gayton, joins the podcast. Tony also created HELL ON WHEELS, and wrote FASTER and MURDER BY NUMBERS. This film, a wild, inventive, tonally adventurous neo-noir, stars Val Kilmer, Vincent D'Onofrio, Peter Sarsgaard and marked the directorial debut of DJ Caruso, who would go on to direct DISTURBIA and many other films. A true original, this film is as fresh and unpredictable today as it was when it first came out.
Oct 24, 2020•28 min•Season 1Ep. 52
Screenwriter Raul Inglis (AMERICAN HEIST w/Adrien Brody, SUDDENLY w/Ray Liotta) joins the show to discuss James Mangold's cop drama, COP LAND, featuring a cast so absurdly stacked it's tough to write all their names in this summary - Sylvester Stallone, Harvey Keitel, Ray Liotta, Robert DeNiro, Peter Berg, John Spencer, Malik Yoba, Janeane Garafolo, Noah Emmerich, Frank Vincent, Edie Falco, Annabella Sciorra and Michael Rapaport. As he's done at various points throughout his career, Stallone rem...
Oct 18, 2020•28 min•Season 1Ep. 51
The director, co-writer, and editor of this film, Oren Benamor, joins the show. Bloody Disgusting called INITIATION, "unusually thoughtful," and a, "well-crafted thriller." It's a death match movie, about a mysterious cult that kidnaps a group of strangers and makes them fight its recruits to the death as part of an initiation ceremony. You might notice that Oren and I have the same last name - he's my cousin, and I'm the other writer of the film. Listeners of the show know that I am brutally ho...
Oct 10, 2020•43 min•Season 1Ep. 50
Acclaimed screenwriter Ali Imran Zaidi joins the show to discuss Scott Frank's too-little-seen crime thriller, THE LOOKOUT, starring Joseph Gordon Levitt, Jeff Daniels, Isla Fisher and Matthew Goode. The type of intimate character study that's rarely made at this level anymore, full of richly-realized characters, and a great re-watch in 2020, especially for Chris Pratt.
Oct 04, 2020•30 min•Season 1Ep. 49
My biggest guests yet - all-universe writer and director Billy Ray (CAPTAIN PHILLIPS, THE HUNGER GAMES) and prolific producer Adam Merims (STRAIGHT OUTTA COMPTON, BRIGHT). They join the show to discuss BREACH, their film about Robert Hanssen, FBI agent, Soviet spy, and one of the worst intelligence disasters in US history. Chris Cooper plays Hanssen in one of his career best performances, opposite an excellent Ryan Phillippe. Released the same day as the premiere of THE COMEY RULE on Showtime, a...
Sep 27, 2020•53 min•Season 1Ep. 48
Christopher Nolan's best movie? Yes, it is. But bizarrely, it's one of the lowest scoring movies (from audience members) of any of his films. Screenwriter Tyler Burton Smith (the Chucky reboot CHILD'S PLAY, and upcoming KUNG FURY 2 w/Arnold Schwarzenegger) joins the show to puzzle out this staggeringly complex yet always crystal-clear dueling magicians film, starring Hugh Jackman, Christian Bale, Scarlett Johansson, Rebecca Hall and David Bowie. If you can't see TENET, go watch this movie right ...
Sep 21, 2020•46 min•Season 1Ep. 47
One of the movies that made me want to do this show - pop culture writer LaToya Ferguson (AV Club, IndieWire) joins the show to chat about Steve McQueen's heist drama film, working with writer Gillian Flynn (GONE GIRL), with an absurd cast, Viola Davis, Michelle Rodriguez, Elizabeth Debicki, Cynthia Erivo, Liam Neeson, Colin Farrell, Robert Duvall, Daniel Kaluuya, Brian Tyree, Jon Bernthal, and more. As great a popcorn heist movie as it is a thoughtful, artful, independent movie, this film has s...
Sep 14, 2020•44 min•Season 1Ep. 46
The co-writer/producer of the film, Wayne Rice, joins the podcast to discuss SUICIDE KINGS - one of the great career showcases of Christopher Walken, featuring early-days Jay Mohr, Johnny Galecki, Jeremy Sisto, Henry Thomas, Sean Patrick Flanery, and a tremendous, boot-wearing Denis Leary. Listen to the end for Wayne's wild announcement about a possible reunion!
Sep 07, 2020•38 min•Season 1Ep. 45
