There are undoubtedly things about the animated film "Strange World" that are, well, strange. However, you and I both know that there is a contigent of people out there who will watch the movie and get upset for bad reasons, that will view strangeness where there ought to be none. How do we think about these things? How do we judge? How do we move forward?
Forget the endless drudgery that is "awards season." Forget the hours that pople spend purposefully misunderstanding what is going on and why. Forget the mindless outpouring of "movie news" designed solely to get clicks and foment outrage. Do what we talk about this week -- sit down and watch the truly excellent feast that is "The Menu."
Zach Cregger's "Barbarian" plays out as two distinct halves. You might actually think that someone spliced the movie together incorrectly for a minute when the switch takes place. Separately the halves are quite good. Together they're even better.
Listen, no one wants to be the guy out there saying, "I told you so," but it happens. Well, honestly, maybe Josh doesn't mind being that guy so much. He gets in at least one good one this week as all six original crew "Star Trek" movies have now been released in a 4K boxed set, much like he said would happen last September after the first four got their own boxed set.
Other people out there might be tired of the Minions, with their silly speech and tendency to bash each other on the heads, but not Josh. No, Josh still thoroughly enjoys the little yellow guys. Of course, that's not the same as saying everything is perfect in terms of their second headling feature, "Minions: The Rise of Gru." Let's discuss.
Some movies don't work. They feel both ill-conceived and ill-executed. After a great start to the franchise and then even a promising opening of this particular trilogy within it, watching the (currently) final film, "Jurassic World: Dominion," feels like a chore. Ascribing motivation is tough, but we have plenty of thoughts about what went on here.
Pixar's "Lightyear" is now out on streaming and will arrive on DVD and Blu-ray in September. As the canon goes, this is meant to be the movie Andy saw that caused him to want a Buzz Lightyear doll in "Toy Story."
Andy must have been very undemanding because the characters in "Lightyear" are pretty dim bulbs.
For a long time we've wondered about how exactly it might hit someone if they dropped into an existing franchise in the middle. Although this has regularly been our rumination with the MCU, the existence of this movie, which is based on the long-running FOX sitcom, gave Josh the opportunity to play guinea pig for our own ideas.
There are a group of individuals out there who will tell you that "Grease 2" is the better of the films in the "Grease" series. Those people may be very nice and are certainly entitled to their opinion. They are also, we believe, not correct. Let's discuss.
Although Josh may have written fewer reviews of late, the number of films he has watched hasn't dropped and his enjoyment may have increased. Just what does that mean? Where does he go from here? What sort of multiverse of madness is he in?
"The Wolf of Wall Street" is now out on 4K UHD. It's a great movie, we can all admit this. The thing of it is though, the man it focuses on, Jordan Belfort, is shown to not be a good human being. The movie has no obligation to make him good, nor to yell that he's not good, but it is up to us to recognize the truth. It makes Josh sad that too many of us don't.
Halloween may have been last week, but we're squeezing in one last horror movie discussion, even if it is a tad late. "Scream" arrived in theaters 25 years ago and a new "Scream" will be in theaters next year. The new one isn't a remake but rather the fourth sequel. Let us discuss not just terrible naming conventions but the movie that started it all.
Does Josh speak a little quickly here? If so, it's only because he has a ton of thoughts about the complicated nature of the way so many movies are coming out these days, including "Raya and the Last Dragon." The movie is great, but should you pay $30 to get it on Diseny+ Premiere Access or the same to get it on iTunes? Prime Video? Blu-ray? There are so many options!
In 1980's "Urban Cowboy" we see John Travolta as a deplorable human being even if they don't use that word. In fact, the movie doesn't really seem to recognize him as such, but he is and the movie is the worse for not knowing it. "The Hunt" does use the word deplorable, but in a totally different context. Like "Urban Cowboy," the movie is brutal, but in completely different fashion. Let's discuss
There is nothing inherently wrong with Disney remaking every single animated film they've ever done as something closer to live action. What is wrong is their not being a new take on the movie except for "well, it's closer to live action now."
We compare and contrast 2019's "The Lion King" with the completely wonderful "Galaxy Quest" on today's podcast.
Sam Mendes, Dean-Charles Chapman, George MacKay, and Roger Deakins were at New York Comic-Con this year to talk about their upcoming World War I movie, "1917." We got the chance to talk to the four men about the process of preparing for and filming this movie meant to look like a single shot.
And, because this movie comes out on Christmas and we talked to these people at NYCC, we also throw in a good word for "Anna and the Apocalypse" which is newly out on DVD.
A remake of "Dirty Rotten Scoundrels" (itself a remake), 2019's "The Hustle" puts Anne Hathaway and Rebel Wilson front and center as con-women out for a big score and the humiliation of each other.
It may have a solid pedigree, but it isn't a good movie and on today's podcast we're going to talk about how maybe that's not so bad.
"What Men Want," the Taraji P. Henson starring spin on Mel Gibson's "What Women Want" is now out on Blu-ray. While the movie does some things very well, it does others in disappointing fashion. Not to worry, we're here to break it all down for you and help you decide whether you should bother putting in the time.
Rather than focusing on a movie or movies or a director or a writer or a star today, we're going to be tackling one of Josh's least favorite subjects -- running.
He claims it's one of his least favorite subjects anyway, but he does it a whole lot? Why exactly? Maybe he can tell us.
At one point or another, we have probably all taken an anti-adaptation/reboot/reimagining stance, we have all decided that "x" shouldn't be turned from a movie to a book or book to a movie or movie to a TV show.
It's an easy argument to make. It's also a bad one. The question has to be whether there is something worthwhile to be gleaned from the new version.
Listen as Josh rants about this and reminds you to enter our "Fences" and "Silence" blu-ray giveaways!
Today, Josh cogitates about "The Peanuts Movie" and "Zootopia." These two films are, as he sees it, almost exact opposites of one another. "Peanuts" depicts a stripped-down world, the distilled Charlie Brown story. "Zootopia" on the other band builds an incredible, exciting, amazing world.
Two films, two opposite approaches, but both wind up being brilliant.
Not every biopic does a great job of putting us inside a character, nor of appropriately selecting what portions of someone's life are worth telling and what can be left out. "Love & Mercy," however, is spectacular at both these things, offering an interesting way to give us the story and some wonderful acting.
Having a bunch of interesting things to say does not necessarily mean that you're going to make an interesting movie. The way you opt to say them--or not say them--is hugely important. The Tom Hardy movie "Child 44" fails because it can't be bothered with choosing what to prune back and what to keep. It is, in the simplest terms, a story told just as my son would tell it.
James McTeigue, whose first feature film as a director was "V for Vendetta," is back with his latest project, "Survivor." Starring Milla Jovovich and Pierce Brosnan, "Survivor" is the tale of one woman trying to stop a terrorist attack against the United States. Our discussion with the director centers on representations of 9/11, female protagonists, and McTeigue's view of the world.
On today's podcast, we have a talk with Joe Lynch, the director of "Everly." In fact though, Lynch is more than simply the director, he also helped develop the story itself. The movie, which stars Salma Hayek, is something of a brutal, bloody affair. Taking place almost entirely in a single location, it is different from many a traditional movie. Lynch explains to us where the idea came from and how it developed over time.