Some movies are easy to describe and others are quite difficult. It isn't that the latter are necessarily better than the former, it's just that they require a paragraph or two or three before you can give an explanation that doesn't feel overly chintzy.
This week's podcast looks at one easy to describe film, "Sing," and one difficult one, "Elle." Over the course of the episode Josh tries, not in terribly deft fashion, to come up with a single sentence to describe each. Can he do it?
Yes, Lass is More is launching its first ever giveaway contest. We have two copies of Denzel Washington's "Fences" to give out and are looking for two different winners (one winner per copy). Enter here.
We are particularly happy to have this be our first giveaway as it's such a good, powerful, movie. So, listen to the podcast, learn why we like it and make sure to enter the contest.
Sometimes there is just too much going on. Such is the case with this week's "Lass is More." While the majority of the episode is devoted to an interview with director Ferne Pearlstein, whose movie "The Last Laugh" is currently showing in NY and will soon expand across the country, we would be remiss if we didn't mention the wonderful "Moana," which is now out on Blu-ray.
In fact though, when you stop and think about it, these two movies might have more in common than it initially appears.
Are we all on a journey in our lives? More specifically, are we all on an internal (or maybe spiritual) journey? Two movies arriving on home video this week offer up different sorts of internal journeys and do so with different results. This week, we're talking the Oscar-winning "Moonlight" and "Doctor Strange."
A significant number of movies use flashbacks, but that doesn't necessarily mean that they should. All too often, flashbacks are used as a crutch; a way to make a boring, or ill-considered, movie that much more interesting.
Today's podcast looks at two different films that utilize flashbacks, one where they prop up a problem film and one where they enhance an already great one.
On today's podcast, Josh learns that a quote is from the Bible. He would have guessed Shakespeare, but that would have been wrong.
The point though is not the quote being biblical, but rather the idea that maybe movies should just strive to be the best version of themselves rather than pretending that they're utterly unique. "The Edge of Seventeen" seems to subscribe to this notion and manages to be stellar coming of age tale.
What causes a movie to be a success. Ah, if we could only answer that question then we could ensure that every film was a success, couldn't we?
Whether or not it is answerable, it is a question worth asking and even if he comes up with no answers, Josh ruminates on it today as it relates to the 2016 movie "Arrival."
Jamal Joseph has done many things with his life from activism to teaching to filmmaking, and his latest movie, "Chapter & Verse" is about to hit theaters. Joseph, the director and co-writer of the movie, stops by the podcast this week to talk to us about how his documentary background helped influence this film and how it might be received differently today, in our post-Presidential election world, from when he initially filmed it.
Chess isn't what instantly springs to mind when one thinks of sports, but Mira Nair's "Queen of Katwe," which focuses on chess, is most definitely a sports film. It features all the expected rhythms of such a movie, with its underdog overcomes adversity tale.
Last Friday, January 20th, "Queen of Katwe" provided Josh with some much needed solace in this country that seems increasingly like an anti-underdog story.
The latest installment in the "Death Race" franchise, "Death Race 2050" is out on Blu-ray this week and we're taking a look at what it means to be that sort of a purposefully silly, intentionally over-the-top, movie. Is it sometimes used as a cover for mistakes, is it used to get a message in, or is it just all pretend?
As zombie apocalypse films go, "Train to Busan" is a solid one, a highly enjoyable gut-muncher but not one without logic flaws. In today's podcast we discuss one of these flaws and try to work out why it's there. Truth be told, we think politics may be involved.
The Frank Capra classic has been released to blu-ray once more and the transfer is certainly better than the one Josh has on DVD from 15 years ago. It is a movie that Josh watches every year and which continually impresses him. This year, however, he may have found new resonance in the tale's message.
audio clip credit: Paramount Home Entertainment
This week's podcast discusses two upcoming DVD/Blu-ray releases, one of which has caused Josh to go vaguely apoplectic. Listen as he offers up a political note which, all things being equal, he'd rather avoid having to give.
But, what if the movie that caused this political anger wasn't the one about Barack Obama and Michelle Robinson? What if it was the one where Meryl Streep pretends like she can't sing?
How do we pull ourselves out of our every day lives and every day problems? How do we go to sleep after staying up too late to buy tickets to a movie and having that process not go brilliantly?
The super-peppy "Secret Life of Pets" may not help calm one down, but it certainly removes the drudgery of every day life.
Alan Eustace decided that he was going to take a balloon into the stratosphere, detach himself from it, and plummet to Earth. Now, he didn't just decide to do it, he actually did it and lived to tell the tale.
Today, Eustace is here to promote "14 Minutes from Earth," the documentary that delves into the jump, how it came to together, and how Eustace was able to survive such an incredible plummet.
This year has featured an inordinate number of sequels for films that are a decade, or more, old. Some of these movies feel like bits of crass commercialism intended to do nothing more than make a buck off of nostalgia. Others, however, are genuinely enjoyable.
Case in point: "Finding Dory."
The lead characters in "Morris from America" and "Bad Moms" both make decisions to walk off the proverbial cliff -- to deviate from that which is acceptable, in pursuit of something different.
Today's podcast brings those decisions into stark relief, including looking at the ramifications of them. Minor spoilers, major fun.
"Star Trek Beyond" follows on the heels of "Into Darkness," a not very good entry in the franchise. Does the new film, helmed by Justin Lin, return to form or does it indicate a potential death spiral for this new crew?
There are movies that purport to impart a message, that supposedly want to offer up some sort of meaning as they close, something for the audience to walk away having learned. But, what of the movies like "Nerve," where the filmmakers only claim to have a message, but actually don't?
"Mr. Deeds Goes to Town" is a classic, an utter classic, and the newly restored Blu-ray is a solid (but not perfect) effort. Why though does Frank Capra hate New York? Why does he hate all cities? Why are the only nice places small towns whose name ends in "Falls?"
This week, "Lass is More" both celebrates and laments.
Is "Shin Godzilla" a horror movie? Is "The Thing?" What is it that defines horror and is that the same as what makes a movie truly scary?
This week, we look at two maybe-horror movies, see where they fit the tropes, where they differ, and try to draw some conclusions.
We don't always know what we're looking for in this world, but with any luck we know when we find it. In "Beauty and the Beast," Belle wants nothing more than adventure, while Ricky Baker in "Hunt for the Wilderpeople" just wants a family who loves him. Interestingly, by looking for one, each finds the other.
The movie "Warcraft" does so many things right. It looks gorgeous. It offers an epic scale. It offers a brilliant world (or worlds, really). And yet, it is not a good movie. Why? Because it utterly fails in the story department, offering up the worst sort of videogame cutscene storytelling.
Josh watched a lot of television when he was younger. A lot of television.
Some of the best days were snow days and various holidays when he was able to sit there in front of the TV for the day and absorb it in all its glory. Oh, he didn't just watch TV though, he watched movies as well, and now he's figured out just why sitting there for days in front of the TV is so important.
Some in our society would choose to denigrate experts; choose to deride genius. It is part of a strain of anti-intellectualism which we should all fight against, but that isn't to say that all genius is equal.
The very way in which we depict genius in films differs greatly as well -- look no further than "Now You See Me 2" and "Genius" for two exceptionally different viewpoints.