Chasing greatness requires sacrifice, but does it require torturous conditions? Damien Chazelle wrote and directed a film that’s so hard to watch sometimes, but you can’t look away. J.K. Simmons plays the demented instructor of protege drummer Andrew, played by Miles Teller. What is the movie trying to say? Is it a maddening endorsement of maniacal leadership? Or is it a warning?
From brothers Jonathan and Christopher Nolan comes the show-stopping sci-fi adventure Interstellar (2014). With so many takes on time travel and inter-dimensional travel out there, where does this one rank? Jim and A.Ron tackle the threads of this epic from the science to the fiction. Where does this rank for you in Nolan’s catalog?
The Raid 2, directed by Gareth Evans, is a stomach-churning follow up to The Raid: Redemption (2011). Jim and A.Ron chat about their relationship with this franchise and their impressions on this sequel. It features Indonesian martial arts, a great cast, and every single action trope. Viewers are warned that the violence in this film is brutal.
The Guest is nothing like the movie I thought it’d be. It’s one of those movies where the name is so generically boring that someone asks you “Have you seen The Guest?” and you respond “Sure”, thinking you’ve seen it but you’re actually thinking of The Others, The Nun, The Grudge, The Delivery, or The . I actually just made up those last two, that’s how boring the title of this movie is. The premise isn’t that exciting either. A man shows up at a house claiming to be a friend of their son who died in war, but he’s weird.
That said, this movie is way more fun than the title or the premise would indicate. When it breaks the sidewalls of its mediocre horror mold and spills messily out into other genres, it becomes a ton of fun. Dan Stevens and Maika Monroe are excellent as well.
Thanks to Maggie for commissioning this unique movie. Join us on the podcast for our full review.
A big thank you to Ann Merin for commissioning this podcast on Chaos on the Bridge, William Shatner’s 2014 documentary that peeks behind the scenes of the first few years of Star Trek: The Next Generation with cast interviews describing tumultuous power dynamics both in and out of the writers room. Frankly, it’s a must-see movie for fans of TNG and now we’ve finally seen it. Give the podcast a listen to find out what we thought.
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Merry McAllister McClanemas 2: Christmas Harder! In this installment, Jim and A.Ron discuss the classic holiday sequel, Jingle All the Way 2, starring Larry the Cable Guy and WWE’s Santino Marella.
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In this installment of McAllister McClanemas 2: Christmas Harder, Jim and A.Ron watch LIVE the classic sequel, Jingle All the Way 2, starring Larry the Cable Guy and WWE’s Santino Marella.
Today’s commission is courtesy the kind support of Sean Ray, a five time commissioner! He selected It Follows, an extremely clever and inventive horror flick written and directed by David Robert Mitchell. It has big ideas, and while it struggles to live up to them in places, the concept and performance of the plucky cast of likable yet relatively obscure young actors really makes the film shine. It’s fun to watch, it’s fun to think about, and it’s fun to talk about. How would you survive being hunted by “It”? That and a few beers is a topic that can easily kill a whole evening of hanging with your friends.
Julie Webster of “Teeth” commissioning fame/infamy is back again with another movie to bend our noodles. This one a criminally overlooked Ryan Reynolds movie, “The Voices”. Under the direction of Academy Award winner Marjane Satrapi, and joined by co-star Anna Kendrick, Reynolds really comes out swinging as a poorly understood young man with non-existant social skills just trying to find happiness in life. Unfortunately, for reasons both nature and nurture, his search is in vain, and the movie spirals down an ever increasing dark path. An impressive movie, and one worth watching if you don’t think Ryan Reynolds is capable of any kind of nuanced, interesting work. Just be warned, this movie is pitch black, and very uncomfortable in places.
Special thanks to Adele McDonough who commissioned a podcast on the 2014 documentary film “Cowspiracy”, available on Netflix and most other streaming services. Produced and directed by Kip Anderson, it alleges a vast conspiracy among big business, politicians, and even environmental special interests groups to bury the severe negative impact the consumption of meat has on our global climate and water supply. Jim and A.Ron check the facts and try to answer some tough moral and ethical questions as we debate the facts, figures, and philosophy of where individual rights and personal choices come into conflict with the greater good and our duties to posterity.