Drat Pack

An incomprehensible sci-fi plot, sex as an economic commodity, and an indie sensibility that just won't quit- take all these ingredients, throw in a winter sangria, and what do you have? Regrettably, you have the 2005 Hal Hartley movie The Girl from Monday. Harkening back to last year's Bunraku, Leigh puts forth this mopey mess for Brendan and Chris to make sense of. How could this Dutch-angled dy...

Sometimes, you want to get an episode in the can and so you record it before the Academy Awards. This is one of those times. In lieu of any discussion about that CRAZY Best Picture thing last night, here is the second part of our conversation about romantic comedies. Because really, what else can we talk about for March if not the Oscars? St. Patrick's Day movies? 45 minutes about Darby O'Gill and...

Back in 2011, there was just one question on everyone's lips: how many dudes have you fucked? Leigh, Brendan, and Chris take on What's Your Number?, a rom com that deals with the fallout from this very question with their special Valentine, Caitlin Crain. Is the movie actually slut shaming the main character? How much unclothed Chris Evans is too much unclothed Chris Evans? Will Leigh ever stop ta...

Love is in the air and rom coms are in your ears on our latest minisode! Leigh worked long and hard to break down romantic comedies into ten cloyingly-named categories for her, Brendan, and Chris to discuss: from Chance Encounters of the Third Kind to Rom Com Cons. Slip into something more comfortable as we reveal our special Valentine's Day romantic comedy movie and drink recipe, and rate us on i...

The wives of Stepford have a secret, and if that secret is how to remake The Stepford Wives as a dark comedy, they're certainly not sharing. Nonetheless, Leigh, Brendan, and Chris are as eager as a trophy wife is to clean her kitchen to tackle this half-baked coconut cake of a movie. Topics for the discussion group include a comparison to the original satirical thriller, what the hell happens to t...

It's a new year, and as is befitting the end of 2016 we are all very tired and / or sick. The entire Why Watch crew used text-to-speech apps to record this very short episode with no additional information other than our January movie and drink recipe. Enjoy the bleak and horrible future represented by this minisode, and rate us on iTunes and Stitcher, follow us @whywatchpodcast, like us at facebo...

Odds are, at some point you've had to sit through at least one amateur production of The Nutcracker. However terrible it may have been, the Why Watch crew will still guarantee that it's less inept and woefully executed than The Nutcracker in 3D. Curl up with your spiked hot cocoa as we discuss Tim Rice adding lyrics to Tchaikovsky's score, the casting of Nathan Lane as Albert Einstein as Dr. Dross...

With Toys but a fond memory [citation needed], the Why Watch crew turns to visions of sugar plums and mixed drinks with a discussion on holiday movies. Sit and drink your cocoa as Leigh, Brendan, and Chris talk about what makes a good holiday movie, what their favorites are, and how hard it is to come up with a pun-based drink name. Also as our special present, we tease our Christmas movie spectac...

As we approach the closing of the year, we take time to look back on a hotly-anticipated whimsical 1992 Robin Williams comedy. Yes, we are of course referring to the classic holiday (?) movie Toys. Not Aladdin. Sorry for the confusion. Pour yourself a shot and strap on your woozy helmet as the Why Watch crew and recurring special guest Brendan Nystedt tackle the movie's surprisingly sexual underto...

Join us in our latest discussion as Leigh ineloquently asks Brendan and Chris "How you watch?" After making sense of that, the Why Watch crew reflects on viewing habits in various settings and name drop movies or shows we've walked out on, fallen asleep to, or couldn't stop watching. We also announce the penultimate movie of 2016- this time, it's a movie that Leigh is looking forward to and Chris...

Pop in your glow-in-the-dark plastic fangs and pour yourself a glass of sangria as the Why Watch crew tackles their first Halloween feature! Rarely has the beloved vampire noise "BLEH" been more appropriate than as a descriptor for Francis Ford Coppola's Bram Stoker's Dracula, or at least as far as Brendan and Leigh are concerned. To serve as the oppositonal Van Helsing to their rubbery screaming...

They're coming to get you, Barbra! Join Leigh, Brendan, and Chris as they sit in front of the fireplace in an old, abandoned house they broke into and have a scarifying discussion about what makes a movie 2spooky. Listen, if you dare, to the Why Watch crew talk about the difference between supernatural and realistic threats, the effective use of a haunting atmosphere, and the strange beauty of a d...

Take one part Glee, stir in a liberal helping of Mamma Mia!, mix with a drunken night at a Los Angeles karaoke bar, and what do you get? Something probably more entertaining than Rock of Ages, Adam Shankman's ill-fated attempt to make a movie that 12-year-old girls, soccer moms, and heterosexual dudes can all see together. Rock out with the appropriately drunk Why Watch crew as they tackle two dul...

How do you do, fellow kids? Grab your packs (both snack and back) and join Leigh, Brendan, and Chris as they travel way back (well, slightly back) in time to discuss teen / high school movies. Topics for today's lesson will include the reality of the genre, the asexuality of Jughead, and a pitch from Leigh for a youth movie of our very own, as we are hip and happening! Prepare for an even greater...

Go back to school with the Why Watch crew and the unfortunately irrepressible Lola (masterfully brought to life by Lindsay Lohan) in the schizophrenic 2004 teen comedy / musical / travesty Confessions of a Teenage Drama Queen! Join Leigh, Brendan, and Chris as they discuss likability, fashion, and a spectacular musical version of Pygmalion that will have you saying "My Fair Lady? I've never heard...

This week, sit in with two-thirds of the Why Watchers (thoughts and prayers to the absent Chris) as they see if they have the same dynamic while functioning at 66%! Banter with Brendan and Leigh as they muse about the gaps in their personal film histories and why they don't really care about seeing Quentin Tarantino movies. A light minisode gives way to an even lighter and frothier movie to come,...

What a bleak and horrible present we live in! Whatever happened to the optimistic vision of the future the Disney company promised us back in the 1950s? Well, very small parts of it are alive but not necessarily well in Brad Bird's 2015 movie Tomorrowland. Join all of us at Why Watch and our special guest Brendan Nystedt as we discuss the evils of pessimism, the confusing history of Tomorrowland,...

This week the Why Watch crew gets down and dirty (ew, not like that) with women in movies. Join as we talk about the good, the bad, and the future of women in film. And who knows, as we reveal our next movie, that future might be here sooner than we think... TOMORROW, perhaps? As always, we very politely ask that you please rate us on iTunes or Stitcher, like us at facebook.com/whywatchpodcast, fo...

Celebrate the birth of America with the most confusing and apocalyptic vision of its end! Richard Kelly's sprawling 2006 saga Southland Tales is perhaps the most bizarre and challenging film the Why Watch crew has seen so far, but we stayed up until 1 AM diagramming it on a big white board just so we could make sense of it all. If you enjoy discussions of morality, Biblical allusions, and SNL acto...

Ugh, those HOLLYWOOD HACKS can't stop with these remakes, are we right? Leigh, Brendan, and Chris get together over drinks this week to discuss the nature of remakes and put forward those that we think have different sorts of worth. We also reveal the movie chosen to celebrate America for our Fourth of July extravaganza (hint: it is the craziest movie we have seen in a very long time) and put fort...

This week the Why Watch crew is joined by an old friend and guest from the west Meghan Coyne as we tackle Jack the Giant Slayer, a film from 2013 featuring CGI from 1993. Our hang up with dual protagonists comes back with a vengeance in this almost-perfect execution of that Holy Grail. Speaking of holy, monks worship beanstalks?! Also, Albion is England?! Listen to find out, or more likely be just...

Do you fear change? Well, apparently Leigh, Brendan, and Chris are at least okay with it, as they decide to try something slightly different with this mini episode. After introducing what their their new movie will be, Leigh prompts a discussion about how movies make you feel certain emotions and whether or not this means a movie is doing something well. Join us as we attempt to answer this improm...

In our third episode, we tackle the big questions, like "What went wrong with Bunraku?" and "Why did you make us sit through Bunraku?" and "What is this movie you keep calling Bunraku?" Listen to Leigh defend this East meets West martial arts mash-up singlehandedly over the voices of Brendan, Chris, and our special guest Matt Zazzarino. Also included: two drinks to help you get through the movie a...

This mini episode introduces a bad movie you've probably never heard of, despite featuring a large cast of names you probably have heard of. To help get us through our next movie, we'll provide the recipes for two drinks, one for each main character. Trust us, you should drink both before you attempt a viewing. As always, you can also find us @whywatchpodcast on Twitter, facebook.com/whywatchpodca...

We return from the depths of 1990s nostalgia to discuss Hook, the 1991 Steven Spielberg "classic." Be prepared for endless discussions about childhood, flights of fancy, and why this movie does neither well. Cap it off with a bunch of twenty-somethings trying to fix a movie that their entire generation seems to have a blind spot for, and baby, you got yourself our second episode. Additionally, you...