Movies That Matter

Stacy, Adam, Garret, Lexy, Justin and Nicole give a final send-off to the podcast. The hosts reflect on making the podcast, memorable moments on mic and off, and favorite episodes. We thank everyone who participated and everyone who listened along the way. We'll miss you.

Lexy, Garret, and Nicole discuss Wicked and how much of society still operates like status in high school. We rave about the movie from the performances, to the costumes, to the cinematography, and the utter triumph Jon Chu created. The social issues in the movie are presented through the lens of high school and the movie's most popular song, Popular, which is resonant to the way we seek status in...

Stacy, Lexy, Adam, Justin and Nicole discuss the Gladiator sequel and its cynical cash grab. Everyone disliked the movie although most were entertained mainly finding fault with shoddy writing and Paul Mescal and liking the fights and Denzel Washington. We talk about the legacy of sword and sandal movies and the first  Gladiator . We find the movie as a pretty cynical cash grab without any meaning...

Lexy, Garret, and Nicole discuss  Conclave and election and how we decide what our future should be. We praise the craft of the movie from the lighting to the cinematography to the costume design. We wrap our head around a movie about an election recording the day after our U.S. presidential election. We talk about how the decisions of the conclave between left and right mirrors the most recent U....

Justin, Stacy, and Lexy discuss The Wild  Robot and the trope of unexpected parenthood. We praise the movie's animation and emotional beats. We also discuss the time-honored trope of a childless loner finding themselves accidentally a parent. We find the movie still finds unexplored territory, surprising us with a more modern view of motherhood. The movie tackles the challenges of being a parent a...

Nicole, Adam, Garret, Justin, and Lexy discuss  Beetlejuice Beetlejuice  and the trend of capitalizing on nostalgia in movies. In part II, we discuss what we term "legacy sequels" or the sequel that comes decades afer the original. We explore whether the audiences are demanding these sequels or if the studios are pushing them. Website Store YouTube Facebook Group Page  

Nicole, Adam, Garret, Justin, and Lexy discuss  Beetlejuice Beetlejuice  and the trend of capitalizing on nostalgia in movies. In part I, we discuss the movie in comparison to the original. We mostly enjoyed the movied but found the script lacking.  Stay tuned for part II where we dive into selling audiences nostalgia and IP.   Website Store YouTube Facebook Group Page  

Garret and Nicole discuss IF  and how imaginary friends, and imagination in general, can help get us through the dark times. Unlike most critics, we both liked the movie and its exploration of coping through loss, lonelieness, aging, and the other trials life throws our ways. Yes. There's a lot of crying. Garret recommends self care and Dr. Seuss. Nicole recommends  Drop Dead Fred and  Hadestown ....

Stacy and Nicole discuss I Saw The TV Glow  and the beauty of using allegory to tell a trans story. Stacy relates to the suffocation of suburbia where Nicole enjoys a unique story told in a unique way. While enjoying the movie for different reasons, we discuss our alternate views on the ending. We discuss the setting of the late 90s and the understanding of transgenderism in that time period for m...

Lexy and Nicole discuss Challengers  and the dearth of fun sexiness in movies and tv. We disagree on the craft and entertaiment value of the film. We talk about how flirtiness and light-hearted sexy times have gone out of style and why people might want it back. Lexy recommends  Joy Ride. Nicole recommends  The Thinking Woman's Guide to Real Magic. Website Store YouTube Facebook Group Page  

Justin and Nicole discuss  The Ministry of Ungentlemanly Warfare and how we think about the morality of war. We find the movie entertaining but technically not particularly adept. We talk about the morality of war in general and of the world wars tackling what it means to have rules of war. Justin recommends Shogun and  X-Men '97 . Nicole recommends Brooklyn 99 and  Who Killed the Video Store . We...

Adam and Nicole discuss Civil War and the movie's meditation on war photojournalism. We appreciated all the technical aspects of the movie, editing, cinematography, soundtrack, and sound design. All of the elements worked together to create a nuanced, almost meditative view on the role of photojournalism in war reporting. The movie tackles the inherent contradiction in taking a great photo of some...

Nicole, Lexy, and Stacy tackle the Oscars covering costume, production design, song and animated films. We share our thoughts on the nominees and the films we saw in 2023.  Website Store YouTube Facebook Group Page  

Nicole, Lexy, Justin, and Stacy tackles the Oscars covering the best performances-- supporting actor/actress and leading actor/actress. We share our thoughts on the nominees and the films we saw in 2023. 

Nicole, Lexy, Justin, and Stacy tackles the Oscars covering Best Screenplay, Best Cinematography, Best Director and Best Picture. We share our thoughts on the nominees and the films we saw in 2023.    Website Store YouTube Facebook Group Page  

Christopher and Nicole with special guest, Dan, discuss The Farewell and the issues that come along with generational conflicts that cross international boundaries as well. We disagree about the actual quality of the filmmaking particularly the bizarre score, Dan discusses the dissonance between what was considered funny by Asian vs non-Asian audiences, and the tension between the families who emi...

Nicole and Stacy talk with Sari about Get Out, the fear of being black in white spaces, white fragility, and horror movie tropes. Mentioned in the episode is a an interview with Jordan Peele on the Nerdist podcast . Recommendations this week: This Is Us and Tucker and Dale vs. Evil . Website Store YouTube Facebook Group Page  

Garret and Nicole gush over Wonka and the movie's whimisical and joyful pure imagination. We love the cast, the costumes, the sets, and the world the movie created. We literally tear up talking about getting enveloped by this movie. We talk about the value of having genuine emotional experiences at the movies without having to tackle all the world's ills. Garret recommends reading Charlie and the...

Adam and Nicole discuss Napoleon and what makes for a good war movie. We don't know what this movie was about and found it a failure of a narrative. Beyond that, the acting and casting choices didn't work, the soundtrack made no sense, and only the costumes were worthy of praise. We discuss what makes for a good war movie including having stakes, an understanding of the cause, and perspectives fro...

Garret, Stacy, and Nicole discuss the  Hunger Games:  Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes after also reading the book. As fans of the Hunger Games, we all enjoyed the movie and the look back at how Katniss and Peeta's games came to be. We praise the cast diversity, but disagree on the success of the rewind back to earlier times presented in the movie. We discuss what it means to play the Hunger Games a...

Justin and Nicole discuss  Rustin and the intricacies of putting together social moviements. We highly enjoyed the performances, particularly Colman Domingo who captured the charisma and passion of Bayard Rustin. We talk about the challenges, the infighting, and the varying approaches to building a social movement. Justin recommends Lawmen: Bass Reeves . Nicole recommends Nature's Premium aloe cre...

Justin and Nicole with special guest Rosebud Sioux tribe member Marietta discuss  Killers of the Flower Moon and American Indian stories that aren't getting told. We disagree on our enjoyment of a three and a half hour movie but praise the performances. We wish the story focused more on the Osage.  We have a wide ranging discussion on American Indian culture and history. We learn about  Maria Tall...

Adam and Lexy discuss  The Exorcist: Believer and whether being possessed by the devil still carries the same scare factor as it did when the original movie was made. Both hosts find the new movie fails to make good use of a legacy character and falls flat in the scare factor. We discuss if possession by the devil remains a timely fear versus other forms of possession. We find a known factor makes...

Lexy and Nicole discuss  Dumb Money and the difficulties most of us face running our investments. Lexy liked the movie better than Nicole who could not get past the central messaging of bad financial advice. We find the movie does a good job bringing audiences back into the world of the pandemic and describes the financial techniques and the basics of reddit well but some of the characters fell sh...

Picking up where they left in the discussion of the male backlash again  Barbie , Stacy and Nicole talk about how the movie stays away from using the word feminism but that the patriarchy is bad for both genders. We also discuss the consumerism aspect of Barbie.  Stacy recommends Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Mutant Mayhem and Nicole recommends season 16 of Business Wars: Hasbro vs Mattel .  Websi...