The Weekly Movie Throwdown

This week on the show, it's a Rewatch & Reconsider episode, where Mike and Steven revisit a film that is generally considered a clunker, and re-evaluate it to see if it's still bad or if it got better with time. This time around the guys are watching Wildcats , the Goldie Hawn-starring high school football film from 1986. With the first on-screen appearance of Wesley Snipes and Woody Harrelson...

Stories From the Gridiron Month 🏈 continues this week with 2000's The Replacements , directed by Howard Deutch. Mike and Steven called an audible this week, replacing John Frankenheimer's terror-at-the-Super-Bowl thriller Black Sunday with this bit of lighter fare. It's a familiar story of a rag-tag group of talented players, assembled from different walks of life, to come together and grow as a...

This week Mike and Steven kick off Stories of the Gridiron Month (see what we did there?) with 1993's The Program . This film, directed by David S. Ward, is one of only a few that turns its lens to college football instead of the pros, and shines a light on the pressure the student-players and coaches feel to succeed. The guys discuss the crazy actions these young men take, James Caan's acting, th...

This week on the podcast, Mike and Steven close out Physical Media Appreciation Month with a deep dive into John Landis’s horror classic An American Werewolf in London (1981). They're joined by horror aficionado and friend of the show, Andy Remondino, for a fun and detailed discussion on the film’s legacy and practical effects mastery. Points of discussion: John Landis’s long journey to bring An A...

This week, we continue Physical Media Appreciation Month with a real mind-bender of a film. Christopher Nolan's Memento from 2000 is an exercise in manipulation, identity, and the reliability of memory. Told both forward and backward, it's a head-scratcher that you'll want to watch again and again. Mike and Steven each watched it on their own DVD and Blu-ray editions, which provided for two very i...

Physical Media Appreciation Month kicks off this week with Sorcerer from 1977. This forgotten masterpiece from Exorcist director William Friedkin is newly available as an excellent 4K release through The Criterion Collection, filled with killer special features. In this episode Mike and Steven look at the film's storied production, its poor theatrical reception, and the newfound appreciation film...

This week on the podcast, Mike and Steven wrap up Stories of Summer month with a deep dive into Spike Lee’s 1994 coming-of-age classic, Crooklyn . Set in 1970s Brooklyn and co-written by Spike Lee, his sister Joie, and brother Cinqué, this heartfelt film offers an intimate, stylized portrait of a Black family navigating life, love, and loss during one unforgettable summer. The guys have a lot to s...

This week on the show, Stories of Summer Month continues, as Mike and Steven explore the 2023 comedy Theater Camp , directed by Nick Lieberman and Molly Gordon. Tune in as they break down the film’s hilarious improvised dialogue, its clever mockumentary style, and the emotional depth that gives Theater Camp its big heart. Plus, they discuss what they watched over the past week, including One Crazy...

On this week's episode, Mike and Steven continue Stories of Summer Month with The Way Way Back from 2013. They discuss how the film's humor and heart make it stand out among other coming-of age stories, what a narcissistic jerk Trent (Steve Carell) is, how writers/directors Jim Rash and Nat Faxon made this right after winning an Oscar for The Descendants , and much more. And in the news segment th...

Crank up the AC! This week Mike and Steven kick off Summer Stories Month with a classic eighties comedy that has a heart of gold: Summer School from 1987. They discuss the film's place amongst its teens-gone-wild contemporaries like Fast Times at Ridgemont High , what this film led to for the cast, and the importance of its director, Carl Reiner. And in the news segment this week: Blumhouse's swin...

This week on the podcast, we wrap up One Crazy Night Month with a deep dive into Michael Mann’s gripping 2004 crime thriller, Collateral . Starring Tom Cruise as a chilling hitman and Jamie Foxx as the unsuspecting cab driver caught in his path, Collateral delivers a unique blend of suspense, action, and moody L.A. nightlife. We had a blast breaking it all down! And in our news segment: A new Jame...

Critically panned and sitting at a lowly 51% on Rotten Tomatoes, James Mangold’s Knight and Day has long been dismissed as a box office misfire. Even with A-listers Tom Cruise and Cameron Diaz, the action-comedy-romance couldn’t escape harsh reviews. But in this episode of our Rewatch & Reconsider series, we ask the big question: does Knight and Day deserve the hate? Join us as we dive deep in...

This week on the podcast, we continue One Crazy Night Month with a deep dive into the hit 2018 comedy Game Night , directed by John Francis Daley and Jonathan Goldstein. This dark comedy-mystery blends sharp humor, clever plot twists, and stylish cinematography. Starring Jason Bateman and Rachel McAdams , Game Night delivers one of the most entertaining comedy films of the 2010s. _________________...

This week on the podcast, One Crazy Night Month rolls on with a deep dive into Martin Scorsese’s 1985 cult classic After Hours —the film he credits with rekindling his love for directing. Mike and Steven are joined by special guest Ben Tanzer , author of the new book After Hours: Scorsese, Grief and the Language of Cinema , to discuss the film’s surreal storytelling, its place in Scorsese’s filmog...

This week on the podcast, we kick off One Crazy Night Month —a series celebrating movies where the action unfolds over the course of a single wild night. First up: Go (1999), Doug Liman’s fast-paced tale of a drug deal gone wrong. Often compared to Pulp Fiction , Go takes the multi-perspective narrative popularized by Tarantino and runs with it—arguably delivering one of the best takes on the form...

21st-Century Westerns Month wraps up this week with a real gem. We dig into Joel and Ethan Coen's No Country for Old Men , adapted from Cormac McCarthy's novel of the same name. With three fantastic performances, beautiful direction, and stunning cinematography, this film was a big hit at the Oscars, taking home four statues including Best Picture. Joining us to discuss the film is author David Tr...

This week 21st-Century Westerns Month continues with a double shot of 3:10 to Yuma . We compare and contrast the original 1957 version—directed by Delmer Daves—and the 2007 James Mangold remake. There's a lot of shared DNA that carries through from Elmore Leonard's short story, as well as quite a few original ideas in both. We also discuss the loss of Joe Don Baker last week, and a few other news...

On the show this week we discuss Wind River from 2017. This is the directorial debut of writer/actor/Paramount+ benefactor Taylor Sheridan. It's the third in his trilogy about the modern American frontier (along with Sicario and Hell or High Water ), which makes it perfect for this month's 21st-Century Westerns theme. With a compelling story and pitch-perfect cast, we had a lot of fun talking abou...

This week we kick off 21st Century Westerns Month, where we'll discuss the similarities and difference between modern films in this genre and their predecessors from the early days of Hollywood. Kicking things off, 2015's Bone Tomahawk, a throwback to early westerns with a very contemporary sensibility. It's the first film from writer/director S. Craig Zahler, and features an unbelievable cast. It...

This week we wrap up Baseball Month with one of the best films about the sport in the modern era. David S. Ward's Major League is a screwball comedy with a lot of the tropes we saw in Bad News Bears earlier in the month, and along with its hard R antics, it also sports a lot of heart in the writing. It's fun, funny, and inspiring. Join us as we discuss it along with some movie news about Sinners ,...

Baseball Month continues this week with 2002's The Rookie , directed by John Lee Hancock. This story based on the life of pitcher Jim Morris fits the Disney template for inspiring sports films perfectly with its underdog themes and uplifting conclusion. Steven is nuts about this one, and Mike is on board too. ____________________ STILL TO COME DURING BASEBALL MONTH: 4/28: Major League (1989, direc...

This week we're staying in 1976 with a look at The Bingo Long Traveling All-Stars & Motor Kings , a somewhat forgotten comedy that looks at the obstacles faced by players in the Negro League in the 1940s. Its heavy-hitting cast includes Billy Dee Williams, James Earl Jones, and Richard Pryor, and it tackles some serious issues while bringing nonstop comedy. ____________________ STILL TO COME D...

After our Bad News Bears episode we thought it'd be fun to stay on the mics and have a conversation about A Working Man, the new film from director David Ayer. It stars Jason Statham, the unofficial mascot of our show (see our first month of episodes from 2024 for more on him), as a construction worker with a dangerous past—much like The Beekeeper , the actor's other film with Ayer. Bonus: this wa...

April is upon us and that means it's time for a new monthly theme. Since spring is in the air we've decided to talk baseball this month on the show. Some of these films are a little off the beaten path, and a couple of them are beloved. But whether you know them or not, we can attest that they're all a lot of fun, starting with this week's exciting double feature. We're discussing both versions of...

This week we wrap up Fictional American Presidents Month with some high-octane fun. 1997's Air Force One , directed by Wolfgang Petersen, pits President Harrison Ford against terrorist Gary Oldman . . . on an airplane. It's peak dad action that preceded a whole rash of kick-ass Commander-In-Chief films in the years that followed. We're excited to talk about the one that started it all, so please j...