This week on The First Run, Chris and Matt put the pedal to the metal and discuss the latest film in the fast car go boom franchise with ‘F9: The Fast Saga’. What shenanigans can Vin and the family get into on behalf of America? And wait…there’s a long-lost brother?!? What about “family”?!? Then it’s on to the monster who-dun-it, ‘Werewolves Within’, featuring Sam Richardson and Milana Vayntrub. How many people could a werewolf kill if the werewolf could kill people? All of them I guess. But who...
Jul 02, 2021•55 min
This week on The First Run, Chris and Matt discuss the surprise sequel, ‘The Hitman’s Wife’s Bodyguard’. All your favorites return, Ryan Reynolds, Sam Jackson, & Salma Hayek! We can only go up from here! Right…right? [Insert Anakin & Padme meme]. Then it’s on to the sci-fi thriller, ‘Prospect’, featuring First Run Favorite, Pedro Pascal. He’s a not-so-nice guy that ends up teamed with a young woman as they try and find their way home. In space. There’s the rundown of the big releases in ...
Jun 25, 2021•57 min
This week on The First Run, Matt takes another week off, sunning in the Riviera. So The Lady Wan takes pity on Chris and joins him to discuss ‘In The Heights’. Can a musical save Hollywood, the theatrical experience, and America itself? Then The Lady Wan and Chris discuss adaption of the hit novel, ‘The Woman In The Window’. Just how many times can we remake ‘Rear Window’? This time, it’s Joe Wright’s turn, director of one of the best films of the aughts, ‘Atonement’. There’s the big releases on...
Jun 18, 2021•54 min
This week on The First Run, Chris and Matt spend a couple hours in Chris’s favorite decade, the 80’s. It’s 1981 specifically Start Me Up, Stop Dragging My Heart Around, Who’s Crying Now are on the radio. The theaters feature Time Bandits, Escape From New York, The Evil Dead, Stripes. And some whack job gets possessed and kills his landlord, sparking the trial the shocked America. That’s right, it’s The Conjuring: The Devil Made Me Do It. The latest entry in the wildly successful, but extremely h...
Jun 11, 2021•49 min
This week on The First Run, Chris and Matt discuss John Krasinski’s sequel to the surprise horror hit with ‘A Quiet Place Part II’. This time the Abbott family venture out from their hidden-away home to find any survivors while doing their darndest to be as quiet as possible. But what if those survivors are no longer good people…? Then it’s on to Netflix’s ‘The Mitchells Vs. The Machines’. A struggling family on a road trip end up having to save the world from a robot apocalypse in this animated...
Jun 04, 2021•58 min
This week on The First Run, Chris and Matt catch up with their old buddy Zack Snyder, fresh of his global smash hit, ‘Justice League’, Snyder returns to his roots with his remake of ‘Aliens’. Sorry, sorry, ‘Army Of The Dead’. Teaming with Dave Bautista as the leader of a group infiltrating the zombie held territory that is Las Vegas to pull off a heist that would make Danny Ocean poop himself. Then it’s on to the Danish import, ‘Riders of Justice’. TFR favorite Mads Mikkelsen plays a soldier bro...
May 28, 2021•57 min
This week on The First Run, Chris and Matt discuss ‘Spiral: From The Book of Saw’. Chris Rock stars and co-wrote this spin-off that breathes new life into a tired franchise by examining police brutality while capitalizing on the opportunity to have Rock and Sam Jackson play a father/son cop duo. Or maybe it doesn’t do that at all. Then it’s on to Tyler Sheridan’s latest, ‘Those Who Wish Me Dead’. A film that features a rock solid cast from a director know for his adult (non-porn) dramatic thrill...
May 21, 2021•55 min
This week on The First Run, Matt is away, so Chris is joined by his ScreenRun colleague, The Lady Wan , to discuss Guy Ritchie’s and Jason Statham’s latest team-up, the revenge/heist/actioner ‘Wrath Of Man’. Statham plays a bank truck driver who may be more than he appears. Expect lots of bodies, blood, and nastiness. But is it a fun watch? Then it’s the Russell Crowe led thriller, ‘Unhinged’. Crowe does his version of the Michael Douglas/’Falling Down’ thing. But is the cranked-up-to-11 nastine...
May 14, 2021•58 min
This week on The First Run, Chris and Matt set ‘em up and knock ‘em down as they discuss this year’s Best International Feature winner at The Oscars, ‘Another Round’. TFR favorite Mads Mikkelson stars as one of four teachers that experiment with alcohol to improve their lives as they face a mid-life crisis. Ahhh, sweet, sweet booze. Then Chris spends 10 minutes or so completely naïve of the different definitions of “shiva” as he and Matt review the indie cringe comedy of the decade, ‘Shiva Baby’...
May 07, 2021•59 min
This week on The First Run, Chris and Matt try to discover their arcana and prepare to FIGHT as they discuss the ‘Mortal Kombat’ reboot. Most of your favorites are here. With the appropriate representation this time! So do we finally have a TOASTY video game adaptation that’s a FLAWLESS VICTORY? Or is it just another BRUTALITY? We’re hoping for a FRIENDSHIP. (Listen, Chris said there would be no Mortal Kombat puns during their discussion. Write-ups are a whole different story). Then the Studio G...
Apr 30, 2021•54 min
This week on The First Run, Chris and Matt saddle up with some cowhands in the streets of…northern Philadelphia(?!?) in ‘Concrete Cowboy’. Idris Elba appears along-side Caleb McLaughlin in this family, coming of age drama. Are horses the key to growth, or is there something deeper going on? Then the end of our Studio Ghibli Marathon is in sight with our penultimate film, ‘My Neighbor Tortoro’. The story of a family resettling after a family illness and the woodland spirits they befriend. There’s...
Apr 23, 2021•53 min
This week on The First Run, Chris and Matt catch up with the last Best Picture nominee they hadn’t seen. Anthony Hopkins and Olivia Colman star in ‘The Father’. Up for a ton of awards and is slowly becoming the dark horse for its nominations, can the film turn Matt around on his disdain for play adaptations? Then the Studio Ghibli Marathon continues with ‘Howl’s Moving Castle’, this time featuring the voice talents of Emily Mortimer, Lauren Bacall, and Christian Bale (much to the surprise of Mat...
Apr 16, 2021•1 hr 10 min
This week on The First Run, Chris and Matt catch up with the 4th film in the new Monster-verse series, and it’s all been building to this. The Avengers: Endgame of modern Godzilla films is here with Godzilla Vs. Kong. Massive kaiju fights, poor characterization, loud! But is it good? Then the Studio Ghibli Marathon continues with ‘Princess Mononoke’. More woke ideology about wolf kids and saving a forest. Plus demons and curses. Hail satan. A landmark animated film from 1997, surely put to shame...
Apr 09, 2021•56 min
This week on The First Run, Chris and Matt discuss the film that shall not be named. After years of social media pressure and a streaming service’s need for attention grabbing content, it’s actually a thing. It’s time to breakdown ‘Zack Snyder’s Justice League’. After that it’s a review of the DCEU’s next steps, if any. Plus all of the films are ranked. There’s still time to squeeze in the big releases on physical media, featuring the Straight to DVD and Streaming Picks of the Week. So after you...
Mar 26, 2021•1 hr 10 min
It’s monster week on The First Run! Chris and Matt prepare to do battle, or simply just survive a triumvirate of monster movies. The first beast unleashed is ‘Psycho Goreman’, a film that has the bacony stink of Canada all over it as a ruthless alien bad ass comes under the thrall of an entirely too bossy tween girl. Then power couple Milla Jovovich and Paul WS Anderson returns with another video game adaptation, ‘Monster Hunter’. This time Milla and her military unit get transported to another ...
Mar 19, 2021•1 hr 1 min
This week on The First Run, Chris and Matt discuss the sequel to one of the more beloved comedies of the 80’s,’Coming 2 America’. Can the film possibly recapture what made the original so beloved? Or is the sequel not only too late, but unwarranted? Then Gerard Butler and Morena Baccarin star in the disaster film, ‘Greenland’. But when is a disaster film not just a disaster film? There’s the ridiculously entertaining rundown of the big releases on Physical Media, featuring the Straight to DVD an...
Mar 12, 2021•49 min
This week on The First Run, Chris and Matt finally leave it all behind and head out to Arkansas to start a new life as farmers and see how the Yi family is doing in ‘Minari’. Critically acclaimed with some controversy. Just what we like to hear. Then after spending some time with a potentially heart-warming family drama, it’s back to New England as I attempt to get Matt confined to an assisted living facility to take over his assets, some could say ‘steal’, with my new best gal pal, Rosamund Pik...
Mar 05, 2021•1 hr 2 min
This week on The First Run, Chris and Matt settle in with a nice, steaming bowl of hot dog soup and checked out two powerful stories about 3 dynamic women dealing with challenges in their own, unique ways. First up, Chloe Zhao brings us ‘Nomadland’, featuring Frances McDormand. McDormand plays a person on the outskirts of life, struggling to survive and connect with a world she no longer feels a part of. But does she even want that connection? Then it’s on to Florida via Nebraska with Barb and S...
Feb 26, 2021•52 min
This week on The First Run, Chris and Matt discuss a couple films that may indeed stick with you for a long time to come. First up, Shaka King tells the story of Fred Hampton, chairman of the Illinois Black Panther Party, and his shocking assassination assisted by a member of his organization with ‘Judas And The Black Messiah’. Then from Chicago to an unnamed English seaside town, we spend time with Maud, a private care nurse who has an unreasonable affection for the Lord, and is ready to save y...
Feb 19, 2021•58 min
This week on The First Run, Chris and Matt settle in and wrap themselves up in a comfy blanket that is the Denzel thriller. This time out its ‘The Little Things’, Denzel plays a semi-retired cop who’s brought back to his former city and dragged into a mystery that reminds him of a case that’s haunted him for years. Plus Rami Malek and Jared Leto! Then it’s on to the Irish animated folktale, ‘Wolfwalkers’. It’s 1650 in Ireland and Sean Bean (who may or may not die in this one) and his daughter ar...
Feb 12, 2021•47 min
This week on The First Run, Chris and Matt, clearly flush with cash, buy their way into the Sundance Film Festival! Chris and Matt settle in to the great white, West (?) and checked out ‘Censor’, ‘Eight For Silver’, and ‘Prisoners Of The Ghostland’. But the fun doesn’t stop there! Matt also saw ‘John And the Hole’, ‘In the Earth’, ‘Wild Indian’, ‘Strawberry Mansion’, ‘First Date’, and ‘The Blazing World’. Wow. There’s the truly wonderful and extensive rundown of the big releases on home video, f...
Feb 05, 2021•1 hr 5 min
This week on The First Run, Chris and Matt take head down to southern Florida and spend ‘One Night In Miami’. Regina King’s adaption of the play brings Malcom X, Muhammad Ali, Sam Cooke, and James Brown together to tackle the lives and obligations to the struggle. Can Matt be won over after expressing last week his disdain for play adaptations? Then it’s over to NYC in the early 60’s for ‘Sylvie’s Love’. Tessa Thompson stars in this throwback to the romance films of that era. But can any of us f...
Jan 29, 2021•49 min
This week on The First Run, Chris and Matt continue their 2020 catch up with a discussion of Emerald Fennell’s ‘Promising Young Woman’, featuring Carey Mulligan and Bo Burnham. One of Chris’ most anticipated films of last year, Is Promising Young Woman a thin, overly preachy melodrama? Or an artistic work that demands potentially uncomfortable conversations. Then it’s on to Chadwick Boseman and Viola Davis in George Wolfe’s ‘Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom’. The adaptation of August Wilson’s play featu...
Jan 22, 2021•48 min
This week on The First Run, Chris and Matt discuss Radha Blank’s ‘The 40 Year Old Version’, now on Netflix. The story of a struggling playwright in New York City as she deals with the loss of her mother, considers selling out, until she is spared by a possible new endeavor. Then Matt and Chris jet on down to Brazil and visit the small village of Bacarau, where something truly strange is afoot. There’s the fun AND informative rundown of the major releases on physical media, featuring the Straight...
Jan 15, 2021•50 min
This week on The First Run, Chris and Matt celebrate the New Year with some ‘Soul’ and some Clooney. First up, Pixar’s latest film ‘Soul’ is live on Disney+ without an additional fee. Joe Gardner is a middle school music teacher who meets a fortunate not-quite end. Is he able to force a second chance or is he destined to burn in the pits of hell for all eternity? Something like that. Then Matt and Chris discuss the George Clooney helmed picture, ‘The Midnight Sky’. Clooney is possibly the only s...
Jan 08, 2021•28 sec
This week on The First Run, Chris and Matt discuss a pair of films about corruption, one potentially full of fun in a time not so long past, and the other being Wonder Woman 1984. Yep, our banned marathon concludes with Salo. A film with one of the worst reputations ever. Does it live up to its infamy? There will be the short review of the big releases on physical media, featuring the Straight to DVD and Streaming Picks of the Week. The show then closes with our Banned Marathon “Awards”, such as...
Jan 01, 2021•55 min
This week on The First Run, Chris and Matt discuss possibly the greatest double feature of all time. First up, Disney’s live action adaptation of the classic animated film ‘Mulan’. Initially available on Disney+ at a premium price of $29.99 on top of the required membership, it’s now included at that base $7/$8 price tag. Was it worth the wait or were we smart to pocket those $30 for other, more inappropriate expenses? Then, we take a sharp left turn into the green inferno that is Ruggero Dedato...
Dec 25, 2020•58 min
This week on The First Run, Chris and Matt rock out with their podcast out as they discuss Riz Ahmed and his turn in ‘Sound Of Metal’. This Amazon Prime original about a drummer quickly losing his hearing and possibly having to give up the life he loves is getting a lot of buzz on the interwebs, but is the film truly Oscar worthy? Then the banned marathon continues with John Waters’ debut film, ‘Pink Flamingos’. Just when you thought it was safe to watch someone eat a little bit of dog poo. Clea...
Dec 18, 2020•1 hr 8 min
On this episode of The First Run, it’s true-ish stories week! Chris and Matt discuss David Fincher’s ‘Mank’. Fincher’s film focuses on Herman J. Mankiewicz, the screenwriter of what some consider the greatest film ever made, ‘Citizen Kane’. A brilliant writer and drunk, we ride along with Mank has he traverses the highs and pitfalls of old Hollywood and his own personal demons, while writing the classing film. Then the Banned Marathon continues with more sacrilegious cinema. This time, it’s Ken ...
Dec 11, 2020•1 hr 5 min
This week on The First Run, Chris and Matt take an oath to tell you the truth, and mostly just the truth, about Aaron Sorkin’s adaptation of ‘The Trial Of The Chicago 7’. Court room dramas are a staple of the drama genre and Sorkin’s scripts are typically filled with those rousing moments. Is this a winner, or are we all guilty. Then the Banned Marathon begins with Martin Scorsese’s ‘The Last Temptation Of Christ’. Banned and censored in numerous countries, how offensive and blasphemous is the a...
Dec 04, 2020•52 min
