The First Run

This week on The First Run, the MCU experience returns for Chris and Matt as they discuss ‘Black Widow’.  After 22 films, 7 of which she is featured, 1 of which she dies, Scarlett Johannsson’s Natasha Romanoff finally gets her own film.  Or does she?  Then our domination by Disney continues with Pixar’s latest, debuting exclusively on Disney+, ‘Luca’.  Sea monsters, kids, Italy...

This week on The First Run, it’s EXTREME-casting.  Tropical storm/Hurricane Elsa is bearing down on Florida and JC of Screenfix is here to once again drive Chris insane. First up, it’s the Twitter thread come to life black comedy road trip epic that is ‘Zola’.  Primarily shot locally here in Tampa, Chris hopes to identify all the local spots and see if this whole thing actually works, bu...

This week on The First Run, Chris and Matt put the pedal to the metal and discuss the latest film in the fast car go boom franchise with ‘F9: The Fast Saga’.  What shenanigans can Vin and the family get into on behalf of America?  And wait…there’s a long-lost brother?!?  What about “family”?!?  Then it’s on to the monster who-dun-it, ‘Werewolves Within’, fea...

This week on The First Run, Chris and Matt discuss the surprise sequel, ‘The Hitman’s Wife’s Bodyguard’. All your favorites return, Ryan Reynolds, Sam Jackson, & Salma Hayek!  We can only go up from here!  Right…right? [Insert Anakin & Padme meme].  Then it’s on to the sci-fi thriller, ‘Prospect’, featuring First Run Favorite, Pedro Pascal.  He’s a n...

This week on The First Run, Matt takes another week off, sunning in the Riviera.  So The Lady Wan takes pity on Chris and joins him to discuss ‘In The Heights’.  Can a musical save Hollywood, the theatrical experience, and America itself?  Then The Lady Wan and Chris discuss adaption of the hit novel, ‘The Woman In The Window’.  Just how many times can we re...

This week on The First Run, Chris and Matt spend a couple hours in Chris’s favorite decade, the 80’s.  It’s 1981 specifically Start Me Up, Stop Dragging My Heart Around, Who’s Crying Now are on the radio.  The theaters feature Time Bandits, Escape From New York, The Evil Dead, Stripes.  And some whack job gets possessed and kills his landlord, sparking the trial the shocked America....

This week on The First Run, Chris and Matt discuss John Krasinski’s sequel to the surprise horror hit with ‘A Quiet Place Part II’.  This time the Abbott family venture out from their hidden-away home to find any survivors while doing their darndest to be as quiet as possible.  But what if those survivors are no longer good people…?  Then it’s on to Netflix’s ‘The Mit...

This week on The First Run, Chris and Matt catch up with their old buddy Zack Snyder, fresh of his global smash hit, ‘Justice League’, Snyder returns to his roots with his remake of ‘Aliens’.  Sorry, sorry, ‘Army Of The Dead’.  Teaming with Dave Bautista as the leader of a group infiltrating the zombie held territory that is Las Vegas to pull off a heist that would make Danny Ocean poop...

This week on The First Run, Chris and Matt discuss ‘Spiral: From The Book of Saw’.  Chris Rock stars and co-wrote this spin-off that breathes new life into a tired franchise by examining police brutality while capitalizing on the opportunity to have Rock and Sam Jackson play a father/son cop duo.  Or maybe it doesn’t do that at all.  Then it’s on to Tyler Sheridan’s latest, ‘Those W...

This week on The First Run, Matt is away, so Chris is joined by his ScreenRun colleague, The Lady Wan , to discuss Guy Ritchie’s and Jason Statham’s latest team-up, the revenge/heist/actioner ‘Wrath Of Man’.  Statham plays a bank truck driver who may be more than he appears.  Expect lots of bodies, blood, and nastiness.  But is it a fun watch?  Then it’s the...

This week on The First Run, Chris and Matt set ‘em up and knock ‘em down as they discuss this year’s Best International Feature winner at The Oscars, ‘Another Round’.  TFR favorite Mads Mikkelson stars as one of four teachers that experiment with alcohol to improve their lives as they face a mid-life crisis.  Ahhh, sweet, sweet booze.  Then Chris spends 10 minutes or...

This week on The First Run, Chris and Matt try to discover their arcana and prepare to FIGHT as they discuss the ‘Mortal Kombat’ reboot.  Most of your favorites are here.  With the appropriate representation this time!  So do we finally have a TOASTY video game adaptation that’s a FLAWLESS VICTORY?  Or is it just another BRUTALITY?  We’re hoping for a FRIENDSHIP. (Listen,...

This week on The First Run, Chris and Matt saddle up with some cowhands in the streets of…northern Philadelphia(?!?) in ‘Concrete Cowboy’.  Idris Elba appears along-side Caleb McLaughlin in this family, coming of age drama.  Are horses the key to growth, or is there something deeper going on?  Then the end of our Studio Ghibli Marathon is in sight with our penultimate film, ‘My Neig...

This week on The First Run, Chris and Matt catch up with the last Best Picture nominee they hadn’t seen.  Anthony Hopkins and Olivia Colman star in ‘The Father’.  Up for a ton of awards and is slowly becoming the dark horse for its nominations, can the film turn Matt around on his disdain for play adaptations?  Then the Studio Ghibli Marathon continues with ‘Howl...

This week on The First Run, Chris and Matt catch up with the 4th film in the new Monster-verse series, and it’s all been building to this.  The Avengers: Endgame of modern Godzilla films is here with Godzilla Vs. Kong.  Massive kaiju fights, poor characterization, loud!  But is it good?  Then the Studio Ghibli Marathon continues with ‘Princess Mononoke’. More woke ideology...

This week on The First Run, Chris and Matt discuss the film that shall not be named.  After years of social media pressure and a streaming service’s need for attention grabbing content, it’s actually a thing. It’s time to breakdown ‘Zack Snyder’s Justice League’.  After that it’s a review of the DCEU’s next steps, if any. Plus all of the films are ranked.  There’s still ti...

It’s monster week on The First Run! Chris and Matt prepare to do battle, or simply just survive a triumvirate of monster movies.  The first beast unleashed is ‘Psycho Goreman’, a film that has the bacony stink of Canada all over it as a ruthless alien bad ass comes under the thrall of an entirely too bossy tween girl.  Then power couple Milla Jovovich and Paul WS Anderson returns with an...

This week on The First Run, Chris and Matt discuss the sequel to one of the more beloved comedies of the 80’s,’Coming 2 America’.  Can the film possibly recapture what made the original so beloved?  Or is the sequel not only too late, but unwarranted?  Then Gerard Butler and Morena Baccarin star in the disaster film, ‘Greenland’.  But when is a disaster film...

This week on The First Run, Chris and Matt finally leave it all behind and head out to Arkansas to start a new life as farmers and see how the Yi family is doing in ‘Minari’.  Critically acclaimed with some controversy.  Just what we like to hear.  Then after spending some time with a potentially heart-warming family drama, it’s back to New England as I attempt to get Matt confined...

This week on The First Run, Chris and Matt settle in with a nice, steaming bowl of hot dog soup and checked out two powerful stories about 3 dynamic women dealing with challenges in their own, unique ways.  First up, Chloe Zhao brings us ‘Nomadland’, featuring Frances McDormand.  McDormand plays a person on the outskirts of life, struggling to survive and connect with a world she no long...

This week on The First Run, Chris and Matt discuss a couple films that may indeed stick with you for a long time to come.  First up, Shaka King tells the story of Fred Hampton, chairman of the Illinois Black Panther Party, and his shocking assassination assisted by a member of his organization with ‘Judas And The Black Messiah’.  Then from Chicago to an unnamed English seaside town, we s...

This week on The First Run, Chris and Matt settle in and wrap themselves up in a comfy blanket that is the Denzel thriller.  This time out its ‘The Little Things’, Denzel plays a semi-retired cop who’s brought back to his former city and dragged into a mystery that reminds him of a case that’s haunted him for years.  Plus Rami Malek and Jared Leto!  Then it’s on to the Irish animate...

This week on The First Run, Chris and Matt, clearly flush with cash, buy their way into the Sundance Film Festival!  Chris and Matt settle in to the great white, West (?) and checked out ‘Censor’, ‘Eight For Silver’, and ‘Prisoners Of The Ghostland’.  But the fun doesn’t stop there!  Matt also saw ‘John And the Hole’, ‘In the Earth’, ‘Wild Indian’, ‘Strawberry Mansion’, ‘First Date’...

This week on The First Run, Chris and Matt take head down to southern Florida and spend ‘One Night In Miami’.  Regina King’s adaption of the play brings Malcom X, Muhammad Ali, Sam Cooke, and James Brown together to tackle the lives and obligations to the struggle.  Can Matt be won over  after expressing last week his disdain for play adaptations?  Then it’s...

This week on The First Run, Chris and Matt continue their 2020 catch up with a discussion of Emerald Fennell’s ‘Promising Young Woman’, featuring Carey Mulligan and Bo Burnham.  One of Chris’ most anticipated films of last year, Is Promising Young Woman a thin, overly preachy melodrama?  Or an artistic work that demands potentially uncomfortable conversations. Then it’s on to Chadwick Bo...