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Kofi, Blake and Rich are three guys who grew up without dads in their lives. On each podcast, we watch a movie, talk about the themes and moments that stick with us, and try to figure out how they speak to our own experiences as fathers, husbands and friends. From heart-racing action to heart-breaking drama, from nail-biting suspense to gut-busting comedy... we cover it all. Yeah, we hit on some heavy stuff, but we also laugh – a lot. There's a new podcast every other Friday.
With "Top Gun: Maverick" topping the box office, we're taking a look at the original - the movie that became a phenomenon. Rich, Kofi & Blake discuss the appeal of Tom Cruise, the talents and flaws of his character Maverick, and the difference between rivals and adversaries. We also share some trivia about the film, unpack the mystique of fighter p…
Kofi, Blake & Rich take their first look at an animated movie with 1995 Toy Story - the first collaboration between Pixar and Disney. Aside from its pure entertainment and keen storytelling, Toy Story is a surprisingly profound film that raises questions about purpose, isolation and abandonment - concerns that are relevant to both children and pare…
On the morning after an historic election in Northern Ireland, we discuss Kenneth Branagh's childhood remembrance of the start of The Troubles - with filmmaker and professor Cahal McLaughlin of Queen's University, Belfast. As a child, Dr. McLaughlin lived only a few streets away from the street portrayed in the film. As an adult he works to bridge …
Anthony Hopkins and Olivia Colman star in Florian Zeller's masterful drama about the struggles of a man suffering from Alzheimer's disease and the daughter who cares for him. The film earned five Oscar nominations and two awards - including Best Actor for Hopkins and Best Adapted Screenplay for Zeller and Christopher Hampton). Blake, Kofi & Rich wr…
For this conversation about the latest big-screen take on the Dark Knight, we've called in a bit of an expert. Dr. Brandon Bosch teaches in the Sociology and Political Science Departments at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln. He's published scholarly works looking at authoritarianism and the role of women in the Batman films. Blake, Kofi & Rich ta…
Benedict Cumberbatch, Jesse Plemons, Kirsten Dunst and Kodi Smit-McPhee star in Jane Campion's much-lauded slow-burn thriller set in the American West. Kofi, Blake & Rich wade through the story's themes of loneliness, isolation, toxic masculinity and damage. We talk about bullying and being bullied, about the savage criticism levelled at both the f…
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The Atticus Journals - "Do you think about race?"
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It's Spring Break, so we're taking a little respite from our full-length episodes and sharing two smaller conversations this week. In the first, Kofi poses a provocative question. While discussing the Oscar-nominated "King Richard," Kofi asked Rich and Blake if race had ever factored into a decision they've made while parenting. The answers are bot…
George Clooney and Brad Pitt head up a band of lovable rogues in Steven Soderburgh's master class in "cool." Blake, Kofi & Rich talk about what makes this movie so rewatchable, why law-abiding citizens such as us love a good heist movie and why George Clooney is such an icon of modern manhood. Rich also shares a bunch of trivia and inside info surr…
Will Smith turns in a sensitive and nuanced performance as the ambitious and complicated Richard Williams - father to not one, but two of the greatest players in the history of women's tennis. The movie follows the remarkable rise of Venus and Serena Williams from the gang-infested hard courts of Compton, California to Venus's debut on the pro tour…
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The Atticus Journals - "Safe Sport" with Allison Forsyth
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Rich talks with former World Cup ski racer Allison Forsyth about how to coach athletes and hold them accountable without crossing the line into outdated abusive behaviour. The conversation sprouts from our podcast on the movie "Miracle" - based on the true story of the US Olympic hockey team's upset victory over the USSR and subsequent gold medal a…
With the Winter Olympics underway, Blake, Kofi & Rich take a look at Miracle - the story of the greatest upset in sports history, when an unsung team of American college hockey players beat the mighty Soviet Union at the 1980 Olympics in Lake Placid, NY on their way to winning the gold medal. The movie features the best hockey cinematography ever. …
Kofi, Blake & Rich pay tribute to the late Sidney Poitier with a look at one of his most iconic roles: homicide detective Virgil Tibbs in Norman Jewison's "In the Heat of the Night." The film is a murder mystery laced with the racial intensity of the Deep South, featuring some crackling exchanges between Tibbs and the good ol' boy police chief play…
Denzel Washington wins the Best Actor Oscar and Ethan Hawke earns a Supporting Actor nomination in the portrayal of what has to be the worst "first day on the new job" of all time. Directed by Antoine Fuqua and written by David Ayer, Training Day is a tense thriller that tells the story of a young cop (Hawke) eager to earn a spot on the LAPD narcot…
New York cop John McClane (Bruce Willis) ruins a perfectly good Christmas Eve in Los Angeles for Hans Gruber and his friends (Alan Rickman, Alexander Godunov & Al Leong among others) - at least that's how director John McTiernan is said to have approached this Christmas classic. Rich, Blake & Kofi discuss why Die Hard IS a Christmas movie; how inte…
"For me, the holidays aren't complete without..." Kofi, Blake & Rich each offer a Top 5 list of movies, TV, music & books that get us in the spirit of the season. Some will be familiar. Others might spark a new tradition. Share your Christmas must-haves with us on Facebook and Instagram - @searchingforatticus.…
Will Ferrell's infectious enthusiasm delights in Jon Favreau's Christmas classic about a fully-grown man - raised as one of Santa's elves - who heads to New York in search of his birth father. Elf treads through some familiar Christmas tropes, but as Blake points out, the themes at the heart of this movie would be relevant at any time of year. Budd…
Even if we weren't enormous James Bond fans, we'd be talking about Daniel Craig's last turn in the role. No Time to Die presents a very different Bond from even the man we talked about a few episodes ago in Skyfall. This is a James Bond who's in and out of love, betrayed and hurt - maybe even disposable. How does that reflect our times? Does it mak…
Niki Caro's heartfelt story of love, tradition and inspiration is one of our favourites. Whale Rider follows the complicated relationship between village elder Koro (Rawiri Paretene) and his granddaughter Paikea (Keisha Castle-Hughes). Despairing over the decline of the Maori people he leads, Koro seeks a successor among the village's first-born so…
It's Hallowe'en - so we HAVE to talk about a scary movie. But Jordan Peele's 2017 masterpiece is no run-of-the-mill horror flick. Get Out takes the casual racism and stereotyping that people of colour experience every day and turns it into a provocative "social thriller." Blake and Rich are full of questions for Kofi about how we interact about rac…
Blake, Kofi & Rich set out to tackle Wes Anderson's offbeat comedic tale of a disbarred, disgraced and despicable father who sets out to con his way back into the lives of his grown-up genius children - and somehow ends up connecting with them. Along the way, Blake shares some very personal details of his childhood that some listeners may find dist…
There's no hiding our excitement at the upcoming release of the new James Bond movie, No Time To Die. But as we anticipate the next appearance of 007, Rich, Kofi & Blake are talking about Skyfall - the movie that reset the Bond franchise. Well, Skyfall is where we start... More than anything, this is a conversation about who Bond is, what he repres…
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Truth & Reconciliation Special - Revisiting Troy Hill
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Following our conversation about the movie Big Fish, Blake reached to Troy Hill - an Indigenous educator, a father and a son to a larger-than-life man whose stories, like those portrayed in the movie, seemed to defy authenticity. The conversation was supposed to be about how one reconciles such tall tales with reality. But Blake and Troy ended up t…
Matt Damon's latest film is the thought-provoking story of Bill Baker, an Oklahoma oil rig worker who travels to France to visit his estranged daughter (Abigail Breslin), who's been convicted of killing her girlfriend. When she passes him a note with new information that might exonerate her, Bill begins to seek out the real killer. Along the way, h…
Brad Pitt, Craig Sheffer and Tom Skerritt star in Robert Redford's masterful screen adaptation of Norman Maclean's beloved short story about two brothers growing up in Montana in the early 20th century. A River Runs Through It poses some challenging questions, namely: How do we help those who don't want our help? And how do we love those whom we do…
Steve Carell & Tina Fey play suburban couple Phil & Claire Foster, whose special night out in New York City goes completely sideways when they impersonate another couple in order to snag a prized reservation at an exclusive restaurant. The film's a crazy romp, but its underpinnings are good fodder for discussion. Kofi, Blake and Rich talk about the…
Matt Damon & Christian Bale star in James Mangold's rollicking tale of legendary designer Carroll Shelby & driver Ken Miles' effort to win the 24 Hours of LeMans car race in the 1960's. It's an odd feat to create a story in which the Ford Motor Co. is an underdog (up against the dominant Ferrari), but this movie pulls it off. However, this is far m…
Kevin Hart makes his dramatic debut as Matt Logelin, whose wife dies within days of giving birth to their first child. When his strong-willed mother-in-law (Alfre Woodard) insists that Matt and his daughter Maddy move back home to Minnesota, Matt refuses - remaining in Boston to raise the baby on his own. For Blake, Rich & Kofi, watching Matt strug…
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The Atticus Journals - "Imposing our own ambitions & beliefs"
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When we discussed Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2, there was a question Blake posed that left all three of us a bit stumped for a comfortable answer: If Ego is wrong to impose his own ambition onto Peter, then is there anything we see in our own parenting for which we might be similarly criticized? The ensuing conversation with Kofi & Rich doesn't l…
In normal times, Blake, Kofi & Rich would be heading out this weekend for the debut of Marvel's Black Widow. We're all vaxxed up, but the theatres in our part of the world (Ontario, Canada) aren't open just yet. Still, we're excited about the latest Marvel movie - Hello, Disney+ - and that got us thinking about all the other movies in the MCU. Afte…
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Father's Day Special Cont'd - Parenthood - Part 2
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Our conversation about Ron Howard's "Parenthood" continues with a look at the storylines and themes surrounding the extended Buckman family: single-mom Helen (Dianne Wiest), her son Garry (Joaquin Phoenix) & slacker Tod (Keanu Reeves); hyper-parent Nathan (Rick Moranis); and patriarch Frank (Jason Robards) & deadbeat dad Larry (Tom Hulce). Rich, Ko…
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Father's Day Special - Parenthood Part 1
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The Steve Martin/Ron Howard collaboration "Parenthood" is so full of themes and moments that resonate with fathers and sons (and really, kids and parents of all genders) that we couldn't possibly tackle it all in one podcast. Instead, we're talking this week about the storylines that surround Gil Buckman (Martin), his wife (Mary Steenburgen) and th…
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The Atticus Journals - "Seeing Empire for the First Time"
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For a lot of young men in the 70's. and a lot of boys and girls since then, seeing your first Star Wars film was more than a movie-going experience. It was an EVENT that inspires memories of anticipation, excitement and inclusion even decades later. Kofi, Blake & Rich share their stories of seeing Empire for the first time and also recount their ef…
Well, here we go! Since we started this podcast, we've been taking flak over the fact that we placed Darth Vader at the bottom end of our Finch-o-meter rating scale for movie dads. In this podcast, Blake, Rich & Kofi talk about Darth, but we also talk about the other key mentors in Luke Skywalker's life in a galaxy far, far away: Obi-Wan Kenobi and…
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The Atticus Journals - "Fathers, Tall Tales & Forgiveness"
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21:25
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In the movie Big Fish, the character of William struggles to reconcile with his father Edward since all he really knows of him is through the tall tales Edward spins. Blake was wondering what it would be like to grow up with a father like that, so he called up Troy Hill. Troy is an indigenous educator, a father and the son of a man who had a fair t…
Tim Burton's lush and delightful tall tale about a father's tall tales and the challenges they pose to his son. The cast is magnificent: Albert Finney, Ewan McGregor, Billy Crudup, Jessica Lange and Marion Cotillard, just for starters. There are too many tales to analyze individually, but this movie inspires Blake, Kofi & Rich to talk about the dad…
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The Atticus Journals - "What would Mum say?"
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When watching the character of Grace struggle with raising her children in wartime London in Hope and Glory, Rich's thoughts drifted to the challenges his own late mother overcame in her life: growing up during the WW II; emigrating to Canada by herself; and finally, raising four children on her own after her marriage broke up. Rich thought What wo…
Director-writer John Boorman's ode to growing up in London during WW II has a remarkable relevance this week. Rich, Kofi & Blake look at the similarities and differences between a wartime childhood and what our children are facing during the current pandemic. What's worse: being able to play with your friends at a time when bombs rain down on you n…
Kevin Hart stars as an ex-con who's hired to care for a quadriplegic tycoon played by Bryan Cranston. Based on a true story, it's a tale of friendship that crosses boundaries of class, race and mobility. It's a perfect vehicle for Blake, Kofi & Rich to tackle some big (and not-so-big) questions. Where does friendship between guys begin? Beyond shar…
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The Atticus Journals - "Reconciling with our worst self"
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When we discussed "He Got Game," Blake asked if we should be judged by our worst transgression. In this journal, he talks with lawyer Rohan George about his own journey from serious crime to prison to eventually being called to the bar and practising law.By Knothole Media
Kevin Costner, Amy Madigan, Ray Liotta, James Earl Jones and Burt Lancaster in the much-beloved ode to baseball, magic and dreams. Rich, Blake & Kofi talk about flights of fancy, the support of a loving spouse, the value of home and how “having a catch” with your kid doesn’t always mean tossing a ball. Chime in with your thoughts on Ray Kinsella an…
Denzel Washington and NBA hall of famer Ray Allen star in a Spike Lee joint about a convict who's let out of prison for a week to convince his son - a hotshot hoops prodigy - to play for the governor's alma mater. It's a provocative film that's about far more than basketball. Blake, Kofi & Rich talk about the bitterness and rivalry that can exist b…
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The Atticus Journals - "Fathering a Gender-Diverse Child"
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In "Light of My Life," Dad and Rag go to great lengths to conceal the fact that she's a girl - even though in private, she strongly identifies as one. That got Blake thinking about a couple of friends who are parenting children whose gender identity is different from their sex, so he called up one of those dads ("Steve") to talk about his daughter …
Casey Affleck stars as man trying to keep his 11 year-old daughter safe about a decade after a pandemic kills more than 90 percent of the women on the planet. It’s hard to imagine a more appropriate movie for the moment. In this episode, we talk about the power of made-up bedtime stories and debate the ethics of saying “Because I said so.” We ask w…
Here's a bonus bit of our conversation about the movie Taken, starring Liam Neeson. Watching Neeson's character Bryan go to extremes to rescue his daughter Kim appeals to the protective instinct that's present in a lot of us dads. In this clip, Blake, Kofi and Rich start out asking "Just how protective should dads be?" We may fantasize about intimi…
Liam Neeson in what for many is a career-defining role: playing a retired special ops agent and divorced dad who employs a “very particular set of skills” when his teenaged daughter is kidnapped by sex traffickers. It’s the first of a trio of blockbuster movies, featuring plenty of revenge and violence. Beyond the action, there are some compelling …
From time to time, we'll post a bonus feature. Sometimes it will be a portion of our conversation that didn't quite fit into the main podcast. Sometimes it will be an interview with someone who shares experience or expertise well beyond our own. Sometimes it will be a reflection on something that's been eating at one of us since we recorded our cha…
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Talladega Nights: The Ballad of Ricky Bobby
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Will Ferrell and John C. Reilly in a ridiculous NASCAR spoof that provokes some surprisingly profound questions, such as: Where’s the line between spirited little boy and angry young man? Can a friendship be a friendship if you give more than you get? Can an absent dad work his way back into a child’s life, even with only one thing to offer? And of…
Will Smith and his son Jaden star in the inspiring real-life story of Chris Gardner, who went from being a homeless single father to a successful stockbroker in the early 1980s. It’s a story close to Kofi’s heart – having spent part of his childhood relying on shelters and food banks. Will spends much of this movie running, so we debate what he’s c…
Blake, Kofi and Rich are three guys who grew up without fathers in their lives. That’s put us all on a quest to better understand what it means to be a dad and a man. On each podcast, we watch a movie and discuss how its characters and themes relate to our own experiences as fathers, husbands and friends. The films we discuss cover all genres: from…
