Drinking Night with a Movie Problem

Stephen Chow's earlier film, The God of Cookery. Is it goodery?

Flying through Oscar nominations, we take a minute for 2 gems: Alexander Payne's Holdovers - a warming indie romp with an Oscar-worthy performance by Giamatti, and Robot Dreams, a shockingly charming indie animated film! Totally deserving of its nomination. We're rooting for these.

A poignant indie film about what could have been.  It's the Sunrise Trilogy meets Everything Everywhere All at Once. Four best picture nominations down, six to go, think we'll make it?

Adam Driver, an ex-marine, stars in a film that captures the events of gross misconduct by the CIA over the past decade. From torture to lying to Congress, we revisit the legacy of John Brennan and Diane Feinstein, who's actually quite competent in the bipartisan effort to reveal the truth. A great starting point for contemporary history, but ultimately a film that hopefully inspires people t...

Join Matt and Laura for a magical adventure through Japan!  Our titular heroine Suzume comes of age as she grapples with typical teenage things like getting a boyfriend, forging an identity independent of a parent figure, and releasing a giant worm from the otherworld through a magical door that will cause catastrophic earthquakes killing thousands if she can't convince her new cat to stop go...

Matt and Laura talk the American car culture of the 1970s, the loneliness and vulnerability of the empty American West, and attempted vehicular homicide.

Laura and Matt watch Don Siegel's 1971 Civil War film. Equally interesting and off-putting ... Matt and Laura both thought the first had had potential, but we both struggled to suspend our disbelief in the later. Because 12 is old enough for kisses?? 

Laura & Matt take a trip to Alamo Drafthouse to see the new Napoleon movie!  Laura has opinions on the awkward horse moments, Matt has opinions on the historical accuracy, but they both agree the Austerlitz sequence is crazy-well shot!

Peak 80s, peak hair, peak grunge, peak Kiefer Sutherland. He bleeds charisma. And this movie is the most excellent horror film we've seen this year.

It's spooky season! Criterion suggested the cult classic, House. It's 50% actual horror and 50% early internet cutout lolz random humor. But done in the 1970s! How time-consuming. Definitely worth watching over and over again.

A few weeks ago we podcasted about Sophia Coppola's Marie Antoinette in preparation for Priscilla, but alas, it was caught in my outbox for far too long!

The 1963 epic that supposedly takes place in 40 BC but feels a little anachronistic. It is the definitive epic, a scale to marvel all of cinema, and kind of makes you wonder if they had so much money for boats and goats, why didn't they write a more complex character study for Cleo and her loverboys? 

Tonight we watched the epic, 3 hour biopic. It's bold, it's dramatic, it's delicious. 

As Matt wraps up his Ulysses S. Grant biography, Laura insisted on the movie about "you know, when Simba was leading the first black soldiers."  The film holds up in some ways, but there are a few awkward "Pocahontas" moments.  Still, the soundtrack is outstanding, the cinematography compelling, and the battle scenes epic. 

Matt and Laura tackle the internet phenomenon that is the bomb! Our conclusions: Oppenheimer suffered from RDJ's framing device (controversial, I know), Barbie didn't take itself seriously for 30 seconds and you shouldn't either, and Elemental was surprisingly good for a complete flop at the box office. 

We broke our rule about 'no contemporary' because we've been slammed with personal. So here's to Nimona! An easy watch, absolutely adorable. 

Now is the spring of our greatest content with Ian McKellen in Richard the III. It's the right amount of camp, an ungodly amount of gloss, and very 90s special effects. But here's to  a movie about the 1400s, written in the 1590s, recontextualized in the 1930s, filmed in the 1990s, and analyzed in the 2020s!

Wes Anderson sums up his own aesthetic in his Magnum Opus: To be frank, I think his world vanished long before he ever entered it. But he certainly sustained the illusion with a marvelous grace.  SO! Matt & Laura watch the quintessential Wes Anderson movie, and Matt quietly plots to get her to watch I <3 Huckabees as a follow-up.

Argo! Best picture and an all-around great film that focused such a spotlight on the American effort, the Canadians felt understandably underrepresented. But the movie still shines with excellent editing and a great script. 

The year is 1992. Operation Desert Storm is greenlit. Dances With Wolves just won Best Picture. But the streets are their own battle as Woody Harrelson and Wesley Snipes exchange hoops and wit on the basketball court. This movie bleeds 90s culture, so in the world are they going to remake it for a 2023 audience? TBD .... 

Matt and Laura are back!  And so are Shrek and Donkey!  It's kind of a long story, but, well, now they're sexy! That is a donkey quote Matt got to put in when Laura let him write the description and now he insists on keeping it because the film revolves around Shrek getting a glow-up to try to fit in with his new human in-laws.  Please read as a film reference and not a sign that anyone...

The first of two (or more?) Devito & Schwarzenegger classic films, Twins! Wouldn't it be funny if those two were twins? Well now you don't have to guess, you can watch the 1988 hit, Twins! Does this movie have plot holes? Yes! Is it laugh out loud funny? Not really! But hey, it's charming when the muscle man and the chonky boy wear the same suit. 

I'm going to ask you a very pointed question: which movie has the worst knife fight? Are you team Matt with Saving Private Ryan, or team Laura with All Quiet? 

Tonight we watched the most excellent classic camp: Clue. We'd like to say, Tim Curry's greatest performance of his career, but it's Tim Curry, so it's one of a dozen brilliant acts.

Warlord! I mean Lord of War! A spectacularly cynical film about a gun-runner at the collapse of the Soviet Union. Spoiler, it's dark bro.