Grierson & Leitch

The Oscars are less than a week away, and if you want to win your office Oscar pool, we have you covered. We go through every category and predict winners, and then argue who SHOULD have won. We don't even require a commission. OK, only a small one. Then we dig into the Chinese production "The Great Wall," in which Matt Damon has insane hair and there are dragons, sort of. Then, in our Reboot segm...

After a meager first month of the movie release calendar, we finally have a full slate of three new releases this week. Sure, all three of them are sequels, but new movies are new movies: At least we don't have to pretend to care about "The Bye Bye Man." So! New movies! First, we discuss "The LEGO Batman Movie," technically a spinoff of the most popular character from "The LEGO Movie" and, oh yeah...

There are no major releases this week -- sorry, "The Comedian" and "Rings" -- so we decided on a special show. Inspired by an email from a reader asking why our show had taken on more a political tone of late, we are steering into the curve, talking about movies that particularly inform our understanding of this specific political moment. Tim's picks: "Singin' in the Rain," "JFK" and "Dogville." W...

America may be in turmoil and chaos, but there's one thing you can always count on: Beautiful actors trying to make themselves look ugly on screen. Thus, this week, we discuss Matthew McConaughey's "Gold," in which Wooderson is bald and has a gut. Good for him. Then, in our reboot section, we dig into Christopher Nolan's breakthrough "Memento," a movie that is obsessively rewatchable. Also, in our...

The surprise twist ending of this podcast is that there is no twist ending: It turns out everything happened in Philadelphia and there was some sort of supernatural element and M. Night Shyamalan makes a cameo. Yep, this week, Tim and Will discuss Shayamalan's "Split," which is probably his best movie in 15 years and, undeniably, his first big hit in a while. Then Grierson talks about his time in...

Hello, fellow humans! The Oscar nominations come out on Tuesday, January 24, so this week, we decided to make our predictions for the six major categories (sorry, screenwriters) and mention films we wish would be nominated even though they have no chance. Tuesday should be a good day for "La La Land," "Manchester by the Sea," "Moonlight" ... and maybe even Mel Gibson? We also have two Reboots. We...

Welcome! It's our first show of 2017, and our very special 50th episode. So once a year, we answer a ton of questions from you, our lovely, wonderful listeners, because there are no interesting new movies being released (sorry, "Monster Trucks") and because it's not time for Oscar nominations yet. Thus! We answer your questions about what's acceptable to snack on in a movie theater, what we'll rem...

It was quite the year, 2016, and now that it's (almost) over, it's time, at last, for our Top Ten Movies of 2016. This is the podcast version of Dorkfest, an annual discussion (and revealing) of both Will's and Tim's top-10 lists, which they've been doing since 1991. Though for the first time, you can listen. Our lists have a surprising amount of crossover, and far more than last year's. One thing...

Special Star Wars show alert! Special Star Wars show alert! Usually we look at several movies on each show, but the week that a Star Wars movie comes out, we focus just on that Star Wars movie. Thus: Rogue One discussion! Of all the episodes of this podcast, this might be the most contentious, because Grierson and Leitch are on opposite sides on Rogue One: One of them thinks it's "magnificent," th...

It's down to the nit and the grit, folks: We have only three shows left in 2016, and we have a LOT of movies to get to. So we kick off our show this week with a deep-dive discussion of early Oscar favorite "La La Land," the new musical from "Whiplash" director Damien Chazelle starring Ryan Gosling and Emma Stone. We both think it's great and, yes, it reminds us of vintage Woody Allen. In our Reboo...

We are hitting the home stretch of the 2016 movie year, with the year-end critics awards coming out and Oscar predictions all over the place. We have just three shows left in 2016, which we'll finish off with our Top 10 movies of 2016. But there's plenty to dig through until then. So, we kick off this week with Pablo Larrain's haunting, intense "Jackie," which shows that American tragedy in a whol...

We hope you all had a grand Thanksgiving! May your harvests be bountiful! We are back looking at a rather uninspired couple of new releases. First, it's Robert Zemeckis' World War II drama "Allied," with Brad Pitt and Marion Cotillard. And it's old directors week here, apparently, with Warren Beatty's long-awaited, and nearly entirely ignored, "Rules Don't Apply." At least he finally got to play H...

Hey, early show this week! It's Thanksgiving Week, so we wanted to get the show to you as quickly as possible so you've got plenty of time before you go over the river and through the woods to Grandmother's house you go. We do this because we love you. So, this week, we discuss two major new releases. First, it's the new Harry Potter spinoff "Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them," which launche...

Like many of you, we're still trying to process everything that has happened since we last did a podcast. Movies work best when they are a distraction from life that can also help illuminate life: When you write about movies, you are really writing about life. That's all sorts of Super Serious Pablum that ultimately just adds up to: We're not going to let the horror that Tuesday night has conjured...

Hey, look, check it out: Another Marvel movie! We dig into the 14th MCU movie, "Doctor Strange," but then go in the total opposite direction and try to figure out just how much Mel Gibson understands basic story structure with "Hacksaw Ridge." Vince Vaughn plays a drill sergeant. Ten. Hut. Then, in our Reboot section, we try to figure out the Guy Ritchie conundrum with 2000's "Snatch." If you can...

There's only one major release this week, and frankly, that's being kind: Ron Howard's and Tom Hanks' "Inferno" is dumb, even aggressively so. It's kind of amazing that Tyler Perry's new movie has outgrossed Tom Cruise's and Tom Hanks' new movies in consecutive weeks. Anyway, we spend more time thinking about "Inferno" than we suspect anyone involved with working on it did. Then, in our Reboot sec...

Barry Jenkins' "Moonlight" is one of the best movies of the year, and we have a fantastic time discussing it this week. We also try to figure out what Tom Cruise is trying to do with his "Jack Reacher" franchise and break down the sisyphean task Ewan McGregor gave himself by trying to adapt a Philip Roth novel. But mostly we talk about "Moonlight." Then, in our reboot section, we discuss a movie t...

Your accountant might not have "high-functioning autism," he might not be able to take out cantaloupes with anti-aircraft weaponry from a mile out and he might not be able to take out an entire squadron of assassins while never dropping his pocket protector. (Your accountant also might not look like Ben Affleck.) This is why they don't make movies about your accountant. They do make movies about "...

One of the most controversial, and widely discussed (for a wide variety of reasons), movies of 2016 is Nate Parker's "The Birth of a Nation," so we dig in deep into that one. Then, we try to make heads or tails of Tate Taylor's "The Girl on the Train." Grierson hasn't seen "Newtown," but Leitch has, so he gives us the lowdown on the Sandy Hook documentary. Then, in our Reboot section, we discuss "...

It's a busy movie week, and we're just getting warmed up: The Fall Movie Season is upon us, and there are big releases one right after another. And we kick off our podcast with "American Honey," which Tim says is one of the best movies of the year. (Will hasn't seen it, embarrassingly.) Then we dig into Peter Berg's "Deepwater Horizon," and, dabbling briefly in TV land, Woody Allen's "Crisis in Si...

Denzel Washington is one of the most charismatic actors on the planet. But in the new "Magnificent Seven" remake, he looks extremely bored. It's a problem! Our keynote review this week is Antoine Fuqua's uninspired "The Magnificent Seven." Then, in our reboot section, we look at two movies about alcoholic children's performers. Exciting, right? First, we look at Robert Zemeckis' "Who Framed Roger...

Hey, look, Oliver Stone has a movie about nefarious deeds from the American government, and there's a found footage horror film about the Blair Witch. It's a very '90s episode of the Grierson & Leitch podcast as Will and Tim discuss the two big releases of the week: "Snowden," starring Joseph Gordon-Levitt and Shailene Woodley, and "Blair Witch," Adam Wingard's sequel to the 1999 film. They also d...

"Sully" is not an "Angry Birds" sequel. It is about Sully Sullenberger: Airport Pilot. This week on the Grierson & Leitch podcast, Will and Tim discuss Clint Eastwood's "Sully," and whether you can make a movie about a flight that lasts 208 seconds. Then, in our Reboot section, we take a look at two hits from the '80s. First, from 1981, Lawrence Kasdan's "Body Heat," starring William Hurt, Kathlee...

The surest sign that the summer movie season is over and that Movies Are About To Get Serious is the Toronto Film Festival, the biggest American film festival and the unofficial start of the Oscar season. Grierson is about to leave for his ninth straight festival, so he talks to Will about the festival's strengths and weaknesses, the best films he's seen at the festival and what he's looking forwa...

Was this the worst summer movie season of the last decade, or longer? Signs point to yes! Will and Tim attempt to make sense of a dreary few months of movies with their End of Summer podcast, talking about their most and least favorite movies, their favorite performances, their biggest surprises and the great indies you missed. They also look forward to next summer, which ... might be better? Then...