Ask the average person what they think of when they hear the name Rambo and they’ll probably say something about an over-muscled rageaholic murdering dozens of people with weapons meant to be mounted on vehicles. Even if they know better, they’ll probably agree that this first movie in the franchise is called “Rambo”. Neither of those things is entirely accurate, so we’re setting the record straight in a podcast covering one of Sylvester Stallone’s best movies.
Road to Perdition is the only movie we could think of that features Tom Hanks as anything other than a wholesome heroic type. It turns out he’s an honest-to-goodness actor and he can absolutely pull off the Irish gangster dead set on avenging his murdered family, especially when he’s sharing the screen with other talented actors such as Paul Newman and Daniel Craig. Who knew!
Our belated obsession with The Queen’s Gambit has lead us back to our formative years to cover a movie that also has a young chess prodigy at its center, Searching for Bobby Fischer. It’s an under-celebrated classic about being successful without losing your decency in the process.
80s movies don’t get much more classic than this! Join us for The Breakfast Club, the genre-defining teenage drama from John Hughes. We talk about the pressures of being a teenager, how the movie explores those pressures, our own teenage years, and whether this movie holds up in 2021.
I didn’t know much about “The Troubles” in Ireland going into this movie and, to be honest, I don’t feel like I know any more coming out of it. History lessons aside, The Boxer includes some excellent performances from the entire cast in a movie that is more of a meditation on borrowed resentment than a traditional boxing story.
It’s been 10 years since Sorkin and Fincher released The Social Network, a movie about the origins of Facebook. So how has it aged? Join us on the podcast as we discuss this, and many other questions.
Join us for a discussion of Steven Spielberg’s incredibly breezy, semi-biographical movie based on the life of a high-school-aged 1960’s check forger who collected over $4m in cash before being caught by the FBI.
It has been over 20 years since an unknown filmmaker named M. Night Shyamalan somehow got $40m dollars to write, direct, and produce a movie that would forever change the horror genre. Does it still hold up today? Find out as we discuss our feelings on all things “The Sixth Sense” two decades later.
This week we debate the Best Drama category and re-run our review of Arrival.
It’s almost time for our 6th annual Baldies Awards. To celebrate, we’re running back the past 5 years of the Baldies to pick an ultimate winner; a Baldy of Baldies, if you will. Each episode features an intro where we debate a previous Baldies category to crown an overall winner and then our full spoiler review of a previous Best Movie Baldy category winner, culminating in our pick for the best winner from the past 5 years.
Gather round the campfire to hear us tell the tale of the gunfight at the box office corral where Kevin Costner and Kurt Russell dueled to settle which of them could create the better Wyatt Earp film. Though Costner started with his hand on the script, it was the faster, wilier Russell who prevailed in the end, buying up all the cowboy gear in Hollywood and raking in the dough while Costner’s “Wyatt Earp” lay dead in the street.
Seriously, that’s exactly how it happened. The production of Tombstone is a tale for the ages and we’re here to tell it. Join us on the podcast. It’s a good one!
Thanks again to Brent for this fantastic commission, without which I never would have gotten around to watching this classic western.