Currently out on Blu-ray is not one, but two different movies that hit theaters last year and deal with, in no small part, movies. Yes, now available are Steven Spielberg's "The Fabelmans" and Sam Mendes' "Empire of Light." While both movies are beautiful to look at, only one touches the soul. Which goes right and which goes wrong? Let's discuss.
Sometimes it is quite easy to pinpoint what is true and what is a lie. Sometimes it is far more complicated. And perhaps--just perhaps--sometimes it might not matter at all. This week's episode looks at the new film, "Emily," which focuses on the life on Emily Brontë as it may have been but probably wasn't but could have been anyway. Just where is the truth and does it matter if there's a lie?
How do we move from the past to the future? How do we take what has come before, show it reverence (when appropriate), and still manage to create something new and wonderful? This week we're discussing two new Blu-ray releases, "Black Panther: Wakanda Forever" and "Mickey & Minnie 10 Classic Shorts - Volume 1," that, maybe, help guide us on that path.
For this final podcast of 2022, we are going to discuss "Amsterdam," at least a little, one last time. That's because this last episode of the year is going to focus on two other comedies that do work -- "Ticket to Paradise," and "The Banshees of Inisherin." What can we learn from them about why they succeed where that other film fails? What if we decided that an answer was in the clothing... or at the very least is divulged by the clothing?
Last time we were on about how the pacing for Amsterdam is just awful, how it fails to allow the jokes to hit, how it has some sort of faux gravitas that makes it deadly dull. You want an example of how to do it right with a film that also came out on 4K last week? Look no further than Quentin Tarantino's "Pulp Fiction." This week we discuss how it goes right and the one place where it makes a misstep that bothers Josh to this day. Take a listen and enjoy!
It may have the best of intentions, but "Amsterdam" is a film which crumbles under its own weight. It is a movie that offers the sense that it desperately wishes to be Important and in pushing for that added weight, that added meaning, that added depth, it undercuts everything that works about the film. Oh, there are most certainly some great aspects to "Amdsterdam," chiefly the performances, but it simply cannot get out of its own way.
Not every movie has to be the biggest and the best, the funniest and most clever, the loudest and most spectacular. It is okay sometimes for a movie to just, you know, be a movie. That is preceisely what we encounter today with the Bryan Cranston and Annette Bening-starring "Jerry and Marge go Large." The now available on Blu-ray and digital comedy is... fine, and that's quite enough.
Some movies make us stop and wonder what exactly it is that we're seeing. This can be either a good thing or it can be a bad thing. With "Honk for Jesus. Save Your Soul." we're definitely looking at either one or the other. Which? Why? What does/doesn't work about this satire? Only one way to find out -- open your hearts (and ears) to this podcast.
Out now on digital is the movie "See How They Run." Rather than being a filmic adaptation of Agatha's Christie long-running play, "The Mousetrap," it is a comedic mystery surrounding a fictional murder taking place near the start of that show's historic run. This leaves Josh with any numerable of imponderables to ponder and ponder he does.
"Thor: Love and Thunder" is now out on DVD and Blu-ray and that makes this the perfect time to talk about the fourth entry in the "Thor" saga... or, as we put it, the second best "Thor" movie in the MCU. Thinking of it that way, it is both admirable and a disappointment and it's something we need to look at a little more closely.
Starring Sandra Bullock and Channing Tatum, the new film "The Lost City" is rather reminiscent of "Jewel of the Nile," but maybe that's only because we've seen "Jewel of the Nile." Maybe there are a half-dozen (or more) other movies which it echoes... maybe there are a half-dozen (or more) books which it echoes. What do we find when we go in to watch "The Lost City?" Let's discuss.
Some things are obligations, but that doesn't mean that they have to feel that way. For instance, Josh may have Covid currently, but that doesn't remove his need to talk to you about the new "Downton Abbey" movie. So, despite a halting voice, he has given it his all this week. On the other hand, he's not convinced that the minds behind "A New Era" did the same when putting this second film together.
With "Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness" out on digital now and Blu-ray at the end of the month, we have finally hit the moment where we must talk about the film. As with all things MCU, however, it doesn't exist by itself. No, it exists in conversation with a myriad of other projects. How then are we to understand this movie and the series and the larger universe?
After sinking an incredible number of hours into the game "Elden Ring," Josh's adventure with the title has come to a close. As much as he loved the game--and he did--he is sad for it to be done. Where does that leave him? Why does he not wish to just play it again? What is next on his plate?
Out now on 4K UHD is the classic revisionist western "The Man who Shot Liberty Valance" and the reception for the film didn't go over in Josh's house as he may have hoped. Let's discuss just why members of his family were wrong.
The brilliant "Turning Red" is now available on Blu-ray and streaming and that makes this the perfect opportunity to talk about one of the absolute dummest controversies to come up in a long time.
Guess what? You don't like the content of a PG movie? Well, in the case of this one, not only are you wrong, but you're not actually obligated to watch.
Kenneth Branagh's second Hercule Poirot movie, "Death on the Nile," is now out on Blu-ray and streaming and that makes this the perfect moment to discuss just how wonderful the films are.
Josh has some very complicated feelings surroudning Robert Redford's "Ordinary People." Brewing for decades, they are things he has grappled with more than once. With the new Blu-ray release, he has sat down to watch the film again and, while he's not sure it's better, he has decided that maybe the problems don't lie where he initially thought.
The third movie in the "Kingsman" franchise is now out on Blu-ray and digital. It's a prequel, and one that almost seems to be content keeping things afloat until a fourth film can be made. That kind of makes us--ME--the problem, doesn't it?
You know those episodes where Josh gets a little excited and talks too fast? The one's where he's uber-engaged and gets angry about something and rather than yelling speeds up?
Well, that's what happens today with "Resident Evil: Welcome to Raccoon City," a movie which he likes but still manages to get angry about anyway. Take a listen.