If you have a buck instead of a book you too can time travel with us back to 1999! The delightful ensemble of Sigourney Weaver, Alan Rickman, Sam Rockwell and who else? I'm forgetting someone. Oh, that's right! Justin Long also stars in GALAXY QUEST which graces the pages of our Movie Book Club in this chapter from the book BEST. MOVIE. YEAR. EVER.…

The Third Part in our Pressure of the Pedestal Trilogy In which Sofia Coppola's nepo baby status is questioned by one host and the other can't get over Josh Hartnett's hair. However that is the case even if we were discussing THE FACULTY. This episode is on THE VIRGIN SUICIDES. Though the hosts may prefer to rewatch THE FACULTY. Less suicide. Obvio…

The Second Part in our Pressure of the Pedestal Trilogy We Pick Flick for the second part in this month's trilogy with Reese Witherspoon in a star-making performance (sorry, she was merely the fuddy-duddy in CRUEL INTENTIONS) in Alexander Payne's ELECTION. Competing with the likes of a young Chris Klein at the height of his himbo powers we discuss …

The First Part in our Pressure of the Pedestal Trilogy In this episode we realize that WE... are the Max Fischer Players. God help us. And you! For we relive the glory days of our youth (and when we loved Wes Anderson) with 1998's RUSHMORE... as part of our look at the Best Movie Year Ever... of 1999. WHATEVER. We are very enthusiastic on this one!…

If you have a buck instead of a book you too can time travel with us back to 1999! Just two middle-aged men discussing the greatest Superman story to ever grace the silver screen as THE IRON GIANT graces the pages of our Movie Book Club in this chapter from the book BEST. MOVIE. YEAR. EVER. by Brian Raftery!. To listen to the full episode please co…

The Third Part in our Dealing with the Devil in 1997 Trilogy One host talks about what a GREAT ASS Connie Neilsen has and how Keanu Reeves has his head... ALL THE WAY UP IT. Or something to that effect. The other host presents a childhood memory of walking in on his parents watching THE DEVIL'S ADVOCATE and we wrap up our dealings with the underwor…

The Second Part in our Dealing with the Devil in 1997 Trilogy Dr. Alan Grant is at it again and THIS TIME IN SPACE as continue dealing with the devil of 1997 with the release of EVENT HORIZON. For one host this a pleasant first time watch of unpleasantness while the other host remembers fondly the teenage musing in a Hot Topic on the sick cruelty t…

The First Part in our Dealing with the Devil in 1997 Trilogy So it's come to this. We (and perhaps you, dear listener) needed a reprieve from the year of cinema in 1999 and we find ourselves a mere two years prior... watching and discussing SPAWN? Blame the need for superhero silliness after the serious business of VARSITY BLUES for our current pli…

If you have a buck instead of a book you too can time travel with us back to 1999! Just two guys attempting to relitigate the 2002 AFC Championship game and relive the moment Ali Larter walked out in a whipped cream bikini and Dawson was never the same. Neither was America as another "cult classic" box office hit in VARSITY BLUES graces the pages o…

The Third Part in our Taming of the 1999 Shrew Trilogy One host finds Julia Stiles AND Heath Ledger insufferable while the other is more bothered by the supposed nice guy act of Joseph-Gordon Levitt. Which is to say that maybe middle aged men should not sit in judgement of the charms of teen romcom hits from their youth. They do however really disl…

The Second Part in our Taming of the 1999 Shrew Trilogy One man faces down forty by watching CRUEL INTENTIONS for the first time. Then he moved on to the audio commentary track (which required finding a used DVD) AND THEN this man moved on to CRUEL INTENTIONS 2. Which was just a series of unaired television episodes continuing this porny universe s…

The First Part in our Taming of the 1999 Shrew Trilogy One host compares this early 1999 hit for the young adult crowd to the works of George Bernard Shaw and Spike Lee. Specifically Usher's appearance as the high school prom DJ as a callback to Samuel L. Jackson's work in DO THE RIGHT THING. It is at this point that I remind you that he has a very…

If you have a buck instead of a book you too can time travel with us back to 1999! Listen to us debate how taking the red pill has aged (yikes) in both a Mike Judge comedy and the Wachowskis very successfull attempt to never paint another house if you subscribe to our Patreon for the full episode on the book BEST. MOVIE. YEAR. EVER. by Brian Rafter…

The Third Part in our Follow the Non-Linear 90s Trilogy The best way to educate young people in their pursuit of the German language is to watch Franks Potente run. And run some more. Preferably with cool red hair. That's about all that one host remembers from his high school foreign language class while the other host is still airing grievances ab…

The Second Part in our Follow the Non-Linear 90s Trilogy Back in 1999 one host was trying to convince his buddies to go see John August and Doug Liman's GO instead of seeing THE MATRIX for a third time while the other lesser host was somehow privy to stars of the adult entertainment world... but had no respect for the work of Canadian great Sarah P…

The First Part in our Follow the Non-Linear 90s Trilogy Christopher Nolan is like a bad penny on this podcast which is to say that he's good for the numbers (or at least he used to be before we constantly negged him) but also manages to crash the first episode of a year where we will primarily focus on the film of 1999... with a film from 1998. Suc…

If you have a buck instead of a book you too can time travel with us back to 1999! One host somehow avoided THE BLAIR WITCH PROJECT until twenty-five years had passed and the other in his senile years is starting to blame this happy pop culture craze of his youth for the Snyderverse. Or something like that. At least a shot at JJ Abrams is taken if …

If you have a buck instead of a book you too can time travel with us back to 1999! For 2024 our Movie Book Club episodes will be celebrating 25 years of the films of 1999 with Brian Raftery's BEST. MOVIE. YEAR. EVER. Here's a small introduction of what our Patreon supporters will receive once a month as well as our subscribers on the made theme wit…

The Third Part in our Stuck at School Trilogy Our 2023 holiday episode features an "instant Christmas classic" (if such a thing exists other than the mighty ELF) in Alexander Payne's THE HOLDOVERS. What does the future hold for this film in future shopping seasons? Repeated airings on Freeform? No! It will reside on Peacock! And thus we must promot…

If you have a buck instead of a book... we read so you don't have to. Our final chapter on Quentin Tarantino's CINEMA SPECULATION is a simple story about a boy in a Frankenstein mask who meets an older lady over a romantic business transaction and the peeping tom teenagers who trespass in his shame for their own amusement. As do we. We hope you hav…

The Second Part in our Stuck at School Trilogy In which revisiting HAPPY DEATH DAY (again and again) causes us to be both perplexed and increasingly distressed that star Jessica Rothe does not star in EVERYTHING after her charming (and farting) performance in this slasher comedy take on GROUNDHOG DAY. We are simple men with simple pleasures AS LONG…

If you have a buck instead of a book... we read so you don't have to. We scout out the adult film talent with George C. Scott and get tickled. What else is there to say in these show notes? That's the podcast. Enjoy and keep reading along with us from Quentin Tarantino's CINEMA SPECULATION! Follow along at our Patreon page as once a month (alt…

The First Part in our Stuck at School Trilogy High above the mucky-muck, castle made of cloudsThere sits Tobey boy sitting oh so proudlyNot much to say when you're high above the mucky-muck. I'd like to continue the show notes in such a fashion but it would be disrespectful to Curtis Hanson's impressive followup to the all-time classic L.A. CONFIDE…

If you have a buck instead of a book... we read so you don't have to. Even MORE practical knowledge is gained by reading Quentin Tarantino's Cinema Speculation: if you are Clint Eastwood all you need is an accordion and some paper mache to break out of Alcatraz. And some other things too. What you don't need is one host being a killjoy. Did we ment…

The Third Part in our Obsessed Behind the Wheel Trilogy We pat ourselves on the back for going with international cinema in our finale for this trilogy on drivers instead of THE OBVIOUS CHOICE of Mel Gibson in the Richer Donner classic CONSPIRACY THEORY. Look this is no PACIFIC HEIGHTS starring Michael Keaton episode. This one has crying! And drivi…

If you have a buck instead of a book... we read so you don't have to. Finally some practical knowledge is gained by reading Quentin Tarantino's Cinema Speculation: if you need a man you can count on in a brothel, Tommy Lee Jones is your guy. QT calls this the greatest combination of character study and action movie ever made and we try to keep up w…

The Second Part in our Obsession Behind the Wheel Trilogy We get behind the wheel for the first time (!!) with a John Carpenter flick in the Stephen King film adaptation of CHRISTINE. One host is revisiting a favorite of his youth while his co-host was horrified at a small dorky teenager making out with a tall beautiful woman and in turn getting hi…

If you have a buck instead of a book... we read so you don't have to. Finally some practical knowledge is gained by reading Quentin Tarantino's Cinema Speculation: if you need a man you can count on in a brothel, Tommy Lee Jones is your guy. QT calls this the greatest combination of character study and action movie ever made and we try to keep up w…

The First Part in our Obsession Behind the Wheel Trilogy We tackle one of the Mt. Rushmore of college dorm room poster movies by throwing a book at those dumb kids for our episode on TAXI DRIVER. Cinema Speculation by Quentin Tarantino to be precise as this is a FULL episode of what we've been covering all year long on our Patreon page. So... welco…

If you have a buck instead of a book... we read so you don't have to. We resume our reading of Quentin Tarantino's book of essays and this time it's the shortest chapter on Peter Bogdanovich's blissfully short DAISY MILLER. In keeping with the brevity of both the book and film to be discussed we have a brief chat providing a modest amount of sound …

The Third Part of our Building a Better Monster Trilogy PROMETHEUS asked all the questions and answered none. So in the followup Sir Ridley Scott decided to give us some rather dumb answers. SUCH AS: Do androids desire a need for haircuts? Do mere humans need a commentary track to explain the clumsiness and pratfalls as the humans on screen fend of…

The Second Part of our Building a Better Monster Trilogy We are back to talking Christopher Nolan joints (but still no TENET) in a dueling banjos of dorks between Hugh Jackman and Christian Bale as magicians with a grudge. And vengeance! Plenty of vengeance unlike that DiCaprio bear movie! Because this movie is fun. Perhaps the most fun we've had w…

The First Part in our Building a Better Monster Trilogy We welcome M. Night Shyamalan's work to the TiT club with the film where it all started to go wrong for "The Next Spielberg." But you know what (show notes author's note here that nothing subtle ever followed a sentence that starts with YOU KNOW WHAT) we actually like this movie. Just go ahead…

If you have a buck instead of a book... we read so you don't have to. We try not to be a peeping tom like the hero in SISTERS (though at heart that's all we are) by throwing in a couple of extra chapters from Quentin Tarantino's CINEMA SPECULATION. One on secondary cinema's greatest fan in Los Angeles Times film critic Kevin Thomas. Along the way o…

The Third Part in our Dolls in Different Worlds Trilogy What began with Greta Gerwig and Margot Robbie reinventing BARBIE for the modern age ends with Jennifer Tilly domesticating a tiny ginger-haired twerp. One host sees this as a seminal work in his moviegoing journey and the other feels like his film travels must have ended in failure to get to …

The Second Part in our Dolls in Different Worlds Trilogy One host introduces his child to horror and the other is horrified to pay Fathom Event pricing for the re-release of CORALINE. However that's about the only thing we find scary in our lovefest for Henry Selick and Neil Gaiman's film about a girl who dares to like a bit of rain and a good supp…

The First Part in our Dolls in Different Worlds Trilogy The second part of Barbenheimer is the first part of our trilogy playing with dolls at the movies. And before you accuse us of being creepy... EVERYONE IS DOING IT as Greta Gerwig's BARBIE will go on to reign as The Savior of Cinema (sorry, Tom Cruise.) And while we may just be a couple of Mic…

The Third Part in our Circles of Power Trilogy What more can be said about OPPENHEIMER? Did we see it in IMAX? 70mm? No and no. Emily Blunt? She's pretty good. Matt Damon? Better role than INTERSTELLER! Florence Pugh is naked? Tastefully done! So once we handle those easy questions we wrap up our trilogy on objects of terrible power by doing what J…

The Second Part in our Circles of Power Trilogy In which one host questions why the other needs more books when he's already seen the picture show. This is but the first of insults to the fans of Middle-earth in a podcast hoping that some of those very fans give this a click or two. We apologize by attacking the attempted allegorical nature of the …

The First Part in our Circles of Power Trilogy After 130 episodes we finally answer the burning question this little movie podcast has been building to: What happens when Jerry gets mad? And what happens when Samuel L. Jackson is really into a good book? And more importantly is Dustin Hoffman not a big believer in an honest LinkedIn profile? All of…

The Third Part in our Time Traveling with Dads Trilogy Given the box-office reception to THE FLASH perhaps it's appropriate that your hosts found a theme of failure to be the most fulfilling thing about this latest superhero comic book adaptation and we hope the legacy here is that it signals an end. A sweet merciful end to the capes and funny book…

The Second Part in our Time Traveling with Dads Trilogy We apologize (though not with much enthusiasm) to director Christopher Nolan for not being in the appropriate tax bracket to appreciate his appropriately entertaining INTERSTELLAR on our far from appropriate home theater setup. HOWEVER! One host credits this film for distracting him of the ill…

The First Part in our Time Traveling with Dads Trilogy In what is perhaps the most dour episode on the all-time classic film BACK TO THE FUTURE we go over the appropriation of black culture, nostalgia for a past that didn't really exist and aging with jowls. But we love this Robert Zemeckis film! LOVE IT. We just hate ourselves apparently. And our …

The Third Part in our On the Road with Ladies of Vengeance trilogy. You can't go wrong with Charlize Theron driving your movie. Unfortunately the prequel to MAD MAX: FURY ROAD does not take the above advice and while we wouldn't dare to advise the great George Miller on his filmmaking sequel choices (BABE: PIG IN THE CITY good and HAPPY FEET TWO no…

In which one man thinks he may have a PAYBACK: Director's Cut DVD on a shelf somewhere... Quentin Tarantino uses this chapter of CINEMA SPECULATION to settle some scores with an overzealous hack of a film critic from the 70s, the entire cinematic output of the 80s and lastly with a glancing blow to Mel Gibson in the 90s. The last one is relevant to…

The Second Part in our On the Road with Ladies of Vengeance trilogy. On the road with a backtracking Quentin Tarantino...for he apologized for his half of the failed GRINDHOUSE double feature BUT WE DON'T. After suffering through an hour of PLANET TERROR we loved nothing more than taking a ride with Zoë Bell (as The Great Zoë Bell, of course) and t…

A dumpster truck filled with love. We're a little late... but Steve McQueen is a forgiving man in Sam Peckinpah's THE GETAWAY. As long as the one being forgiven is Ali MacGraw. And even then it will take the runtime of a feature film and numerous escapes from the law, criminals and dumpster trucks before that grouch gives an inch. We expect more fr…

To tell the story of female empowerment we must turn to Sir Ridley Scott... ...and of course the talents of Susan Sarandon, TRILOGY IN THEORY favorite Geena Davis and most importantly screenwriter Callie Khouri. And while one host fails miserably at his attempt at a mini book club by starting (but not finishing) OFF THE CLIFF by Becky Aikman... he …

Floating along the river with QT and Lara Croft's father... In the spirit of Richard Linklater (our most popular filmmaker on the podcast) we present a hang movie. Just boys being boys. Except for Burt Reynolds who is, as always, the manliest man in a vest. Which leads into our episode primarily on masculinity. Something you can take to the bank co…

Meet a man who manages to hate both Michael Jordan and Toni Collette... ...and please (PLEASE) stick around for the other host who respects and admires both while also showing some love to the auteur Mr. Ben Affleck. This means it's time for another new release! Though it may be a throwback to popcorn dramas aimed at adults (and not children's movi…