After far too long, friend of the Spoiler Alert Podcast, Ellen, joins Mike to discuss one of their favorite movies from the weeks preceding Covid lockdown. Direcor and co-star Taika Waititi (Eagle vs. Shark), takes a satirical look at WWII Germany in this Oscar-winning comedy-drama, also starring Academy Award winner Sam Rockwell (Teenage Mutant Ni…

Jack Nicolson (Something’s Gotta Give) and Louise Fletcher (One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest) headline an Oscar-winning cast that is one of the few Best Pictures to also win the “big five”. This movie is on all kinds of “best of” lists, and is a long-awaited film for both of the co-hosts!By Movie Outsiders

Writer/Director Charlie Kaufman (Synecdoche, New York) delivers a purposefully baffling, frustratingly obtuse riff on David Lynchian themes of unease, mistrust, and strange dancing. This direct to Netflix film is sure to divide any audiences daring enough to sit through the entire thing.By Spoiler Alert Podcast

Christopher Nolan (Interstellar) returns to cinemas - at least those which are open right now - with Tenet, his new twisty, ultra-secretive thriller. Starring John David Washington (Monsters and Men), Robert Pattinson (Water for Elephants), Elizabeth Debicki (The Man From U.N.C.L.E.), and Kenneth Branagh (Wild Wild West), this film really puts the …

Disney (Song of the South) delivers a new live-action remake of a beloved animated film with Mulan. Starring Yifei Liu as the title character and minus the music, mischief, and family-friendly elements of the original, this film skews closer to a war epic with fantasy elements. It won’t be for everybody but there is a lot to like in this movie.…

Sidney Poitier (The Jackal) and Rod Steiger (End of Days) star in 1967’s Best Picture winning film In the Heat of the Night. The film features staggering racism, a crazy soundtrack, and the most bonkers gum chewing committed to celluloid.By Spoiler Alert Podcast

Writer/Director Spike Lee (Oldboy) delivers a blistering drama mixing middle age regret, wartime hell, and heist thriller with the Netflix-exclusive film Da 5 Bloods. Delroy Lindo (The Core), Chadwick Boseman (The Kill Hole), and Clarke Peters (Notting Hill) lead the impressive cast and help ground the film with terrific acting.…

Andy Samberg (Space Chimps) and Cristin Milioti (It had to be You) star in a fairly fresh telling of the Groundhog Day-Inifite Time Loop situation with Palm Springs. The film is worth signing up for Hulu to see. Or at least signing up for a free month and then bailing after you see it. Or stealing your parents’ log in to watch it on Hulu on their d…

Writer/Star Tom Hanks (A Hologram for the King) combines his love of WWII stories and green screen usage with the Apple TV-exclusive film Greyhound. Also starring Stephen Graham (Hellboy) and with a brief appearance by Elisabeth Shue (Piranha 3D), the film offers engaging sea warfare scenes and a solid performance - as always - by Hanks.…

The Great Ziefeld is a movie. It is a movie which, apparently, won the Academy Award for Best Picture in 1936. It is a movie with a running time just under THREE HOURS and includes multiple song & dance numbers. If that is your thing, you MAY like this movie. But, then again, maybe not.By Spoiler Alert Podcast

Somehow, for some reason, Academy Award voters were taken with Gigi back in 1958 and decided to award the film that year’s Best Picture Oscar. We recorded this episode more than a year ago in case we needed to release an episode but could not arrange to record or see film due to illness or vacations, etc. I think we might have just needed some spac…

Spaceship Earth, a documentary released VOD, on buildings in major metropolitan cities, and via a pizza place’s website, tells the story of Biosphere 2 - a long forgotten human experiment which drove local media ratings for a few months in the 1990s. Full of colorful characters and strange back stories, the trailer is AMAZING!!!…

Writer/Director Guy Ritchie (Swept Away) returns to his London criminal picture roots following the massive success of his live-action Aladdin adaptation. Starring Matthew McConaughey (Serenity), Charlie Hunnam (Pacific Rim), Colin Farrell (Dumbo), Jeremy Strong (Serenity), Michelle Dockery (Non-Stop), Henry Golding (A Simple Favor), and Hugh Grant…

Director Kathryn Bigelow (Point Break) became the first woman to ever win the Best Director Academy Award with her 2009 war film The Hurt Locker. Starring Jeremy Rener (Hansel & Gretel) and Anthony Mackie (The Gangster Squad), this film holds the record for the lowest-grossing Best Picture winner of the modern age. We are joined by friend of the sh…

Margot Robbie (Focus) stars in the DC Cinematic Universe sorta-sequeal/sort-reboot/kinda-apology for Suicide Squad Birds of Prey: and the fantabulous Emancipation of One Harley Quinn. The title is a good indication for how this film is going to go. Complete with winking voice over, conspicuous editing and possibly the weakest villain in a comic boo…

Ben-Hur, winner of ELEVEN Academy Awards including Best Picture 1959, is huge. Really. It is YUUUUUUGE. Big. Grand. Vast. Epic. There is a LOT going on here. Charlton Heston (Waynes World 2) stars as Judah Ben Hur, the Forrest Gump of Biblical times. Check out the episode!By Spoiler Alert Podcast

Disney (Song of the South) and Pixar (The Good Dinosaur) weave a tale of fantasy, adventure, and brotherly love with Onward. Starring Chris Pratt (Passengers) and Tom Holland (Dolittle) lead another great voice cast on a sweet, silly, Dungeons & Dragons-themed adventure to spend time with their deceased father. A “lesser work” by Pixar is still mor…

For all of us doing our part by doing nothing at all - here is a special DOUBLE FEATURE episode in which the guys watch and discuss 1995’s Outbreak starring Dustin Hoffman (Little Fockers) and Rene Russo (Freejack), and 2011’s Contagion which stars Matt Damon (The Brothers Grimm), Jude Law (Sky Captain and the World of Tomorrow), and a TON of other…

Everyone’s favorite Elisabeth Moss (Escape to Witch Mountain - TV version) stars in this slight update of Universal’s Invisible Man. If you’ve never seen a movie like this, you could watch this one. If you’ve ever seen a movie like this, you do not need to see this one.By Spoiler Alert Podcast

Hollywood superstar Ray Milland (The Thing With Two Heads) stars in this riotous Best Picture winner from 1945. The Lost Weekend was a Billy Wilder hit and, apparently, taught a young America about the newly discovered dangers of alcoholism (heretofore unknown on American soil).By Spoiler Alert Podcast

Co-writer/Director Sam Mendes (Jarhead) takes the audience into the trenches and through the hellscape of WWI in 1917. Nominated for 10 Academy Awards and the winner of the BAFTA, PGA, and Golden Globe for Best Picture, 1917 is a technical trick to be sure, but a harrowing emotional journey as well. Co-hosted by Ellen, this episode (recorded weeks …

Writer J.J. Abrams (Gone Fishin’), who also directed this film, returns to close out the mega-opus Skywalker saga with Star Wars Episode IX: The Rise of Skywalker. Coming off the stinkbomb of The Last Jedi, Abrams had quite a hole to dig out of. Rather than claw his way towards the light, the filmmakers plumbed new depths. A posthumous turn from Ca…

Writer/Director Rian Johnson (Star Wars: The Last Jedi) delivers a funny, fast, and wry whodunnit packed with character actors, has-beens, and Daniel Craig (Cowboys & Aliens). Don Johnson (Machete), Jamie Lee Curtis (Beverly Hills Chihuahua), Chris Evans (Fantastic 4: Rise of the Silver Surfer), and Michael Shannon (Jonah Hex) add color and crazy t…

Director Martin Scorsese (Boxcar Bertha) teams with screenwriter Steve Zaillian (Exodus: Gods and Kings) to deliver a thrilling, sad, contemplative mobster movie with The Irishman. Starring Robert DeNiro (Dirty Grandpa), Al Pacino (Jack and Jill), and Joe Pesci (Gone Fishin’), along with a strong supporting cast, great editing, and a killer soundtr…

Disney (Song of the South) looks to add to their record-breaking box office year with a sequel one of the biggest animated hits ever. Frozen 2 hits a lot of the beats that made the first film so enjoyable and brings back the entertaining cast on an exciting adventure.By Spoiler Alert Podcast

Writer/Director Bong Joon Ho (Snowpiercer) delivers a brilliantly complex, richly rewarding, and thoroughly entertaining film with Parasite. The Winner of the Palme d’Or at the 2019 Cannes Film Festival, look for this knockout to make a dent come awards season. This week we welcome a special co-host to the show!…

Writer/Director Robert Eggers (The Witch) provides a bleak, haunting, and confounding film experience with The Lighthouse starring Willem Dafoe (Aquaman) and Robert Pattinson (Water for Elephants). The dark, dreary, sad, and scary film is really something very different. Check it out.By Spoiler Alert Podcast

Renee Zellwegger (Me, Myself, and Irene) plays screen and stage legend Judy Garland in Judy. Spanning a few weeks late in the legend’s life, Judy hits the highs and lows of an impressive Hollywood career.By Spoiler Alert Podcast

Writer/Director Todd Phillips (Road Trip) and star Joaquin Phoenix (SpaceCamp) offer a gritty, ugly, sad take on DC Comic’s legendary villain with Joker. With nary a hero in sight, this film takes the “comic book universe” idea to a new level giving audiences a bleak, dark, scary peek into a troubled mind lost in a chaotic world.…

Director Cecil B. DeMille (The Ten Commandments) delivers a divisive Best Picture Winner with The Greatest Show on Earth. Starring Charlton Heston (True Lies) and Jimmy Stewart (Airpot ‘77), the film tracks a traveling circus on their season around the country delighting and bewildering suit-wearing audiences who haven’t learned how to eat ice crea…

Brittany Runs A Marathon is sweet, funny, tart, challenging, and a great film for any runners or would-be runners out there. Any amateur athletes should be able to identify with the selfish, spiteful, insecure, paranoid lead character and her journey towards health and having her life on track.By Spoiler Alert Podcast

Director Andy Muschietti (It) returns to conclude his six-hour horror film opus based on the monstrous, 1,000 page plus horror opus written by Stephen King. The story ping pongs around time through flashbacks and parallel stories. Jessica Chastain (Dark Phoenix), James McAvoy (Dark Phoenix), and Bill Hader (Power Rangers) headline the adult cast in…

Ready or Not is a comedic thriller, or a humorous horror movie, or a tense date film with Satanic overtones…you know what? Don’t worry about trying to categorize it. It’s one of the most fun movies we’ve seen this year. It’s just fresh enough to keep you on the edge of your seat with impressive production values and plenty of dark laughs. Be sure t…

Special guest host Dan, a serious Bruce Springsteen fan, joins us to discuss the well-reviewed but little-seen film Blinded by the Light. Directed by Gurinder Chadha (Bend it Like Beckham), this film is a love letter to Springsteen and the power of his prose to cross cultural divides and shine a light on the common human experience. Or something. A…

Once upon a time a new film from Quentin Tarantino (Death Proof) was a big deal. Love him or hate him, Tarantino (writer of True Romance) was never boring. That is, until he decided to give us his newest film Once Upon a Time in… Hollywood starring Leonardo DiCaprio (Celebrity), Brad Pitt (The Devil’s Own), and Margot Robbie (Whiskey Tango Foxtrot)…

1933’s Cavalcade packs in decades of drama, melodrama, intrigue, war, love, drama, more melodrama, overacting, Stiff Upper Lips, and a pinch of drama. It’s a lot.By Spoiler Alert Podcast

Director Jon Favreau (Zathura) delivers his second Walt Disney “re-imagining” with an updated animated version of The Lion King. The cast includes Donald Glover (The Muppets), Beyonce (Austin Powers: Goldmember), James Earl Jones (Scary Movie 4), and Chiwetel Ejiofor (2012). Blurring the line between animation and photorealism, this film will confo…

Director Danny Boyle (28 Days Later) tries to inject his typical visual flair and kinetic energy but cannot keep up with the complete joy and immense power of the Beatles’ catalog. Himesh Patel (Aeronauts) and Lily James (Downtown Abbey) star in this fun film which could have been INCREDIBLE. Both guys liked it. Check out the episode below.…

Pixar returns to the characters who started it all with Toy Story 4. Adding a chapter to their nearly-perfect trilogy was either gutsy or an enormous act of hubris. Your call. The movie is fun, though your favorite character likely receives little screen time as old characters get pushed aside for new friends. Visually stunning and surprisingly phi…

Writer/star Mindy Kaling (Ocean’s 8) and co-star Emma Thompson (Junior) headline a comedy about a comedy legend who nobody finds funny who spent decades warming America’s hearts in hilarious interviews but who struggles to connect with almost any human on almost any level. Sound funny?By Spoiler Alert Podcast

Writer/Director Oliver Stone (U-Turn) won the Academy Award for Best Director and the award for Best Picture for his Vietnam nightmare Platoon. The films asks the audience to take Charlie Sheen seriously. Does it work? Does it hold up? Did the Academy get it right in 1986? Check out the episodes to hear what the guys thought.…

Director Guy Ritchie (Swept Away) brings yet another live action version of a beloved Disney classic to life. Featuring Will Smith (After Earth) filling the shoes of the late Robin Williams as the Genie, this one is actually a little more fun than you would expect.By Spoiler Alert Podcast

Director Chad Stahelski (John Wick) and star Keanu Reeves (Replicas) return to the shadowy, yet blood-soaked world of John Wick in John Wick Chapter 3: Parabellum. Starring Reeves, Halle Berry (Catwoman), Ian McShane (The Sorcerer’s Apprentice), Laurence Fishburne (TMNT), and Asia Kate Dillon (Hitting the Wall), this film packs a punch (and a kick,…

Mike couldn’t wait to see this one. It checks every box for him: Diane Keaton, retirement homes, evil Southern Belles, cheerleading, and Bruce McGill. This movie may have been perfectly engineered for him. Who else was supposed to like it is hard to imagine.By Spoiler Alert Podcast

Seth Rogen (The Green Hornet) and Charlize Theron (A Million Ways to Die In the West) star in Longshot, and improbable new romantic comedy which aims to please everyone in the theater - and maybe ends up pleasing none? Critics liked it, audiences largely missed it, what with Avengers and all. Check it out.…

The Russo Brothers deliver the ultimate capstone to 22 MCU films with Avengers: Endgame which is already a multiple record breaker for box office results with less than a week in theaters. This means that most of your friends and ALL of their friends on Instagram have already seen this movie at least once. You really should head out and see it righ…

Peter O’Toole (King Ralph) headlines David Lean’s epic tale Lawrence of Arabia which won the Academy Award for Best Picture in 1962. Starring Sir Alec Guinness (Murder by Death), Omar Sharif (The 13th Warrior), and Anthony Quinn (Last Action Hero), this film won 7 Oscars. Nearly every scene will take your breath away.…

DC comics ups the young-adult quotient and takes on the 1980s body-switching genre with Shazam! (the original Captain Marvel for all you purists out there) starring Zachary Levi (Thor: The Dark World) and Mark Strong (Green Lantern).By Spoiler Alert Podcast

Tim Burton (Planet of the Apes) takes another stab at a relatively unnecessary live-action Disney remake with Dumbo. Burton puts his own twist on things and brings Michael Keaton (Jack Frost), Danny DeVito (Death to Smoochy), Colin Farrell (Fright Night), and Eva Green (Sin City: A Dame to Kill For)to the mix.…

Academy Award winning writer/director Jordan Peele (Get Out) returns to deliver a new, original horror film with Us starring Lupita Nyong’o (Non-Stop) and Winston Duke (Black Panther). Filled with self-referential images and packed with subtext and meaning, Peele crams this thriller with a lot of extra weight to bear. Some viewers will marvel at th…