The Movie Crew Podcast

Episode 317: The Crew’s plugging it up while watching Brian De Palma’s Carrie. This is the first published Stephen King book and the first film adaptation of his work. De Palma moves this story along quickly but doesn’t skip on character development. The cinematography and music perfectly communicate the loneliness of Carrie to the audience. Sissy Spacek and Piper Laurie earned Oscar nominations f...

Episode 316: The Crew’s dislodging metal probes from their butts while watching Jordan Peele’s Nope. Peele’s third film is his biggest and most ambitious to date. The themes are sometimes tough to understand but the plot is easy to digest and the entertainment value is high. The acting, visual effects, music, and photography are top notch perfect. The Crew discusses… If you like our music intro, h...

Episode 315: The Crew’s readying themselves for their kuhtaamia while watching Dan Trachtenberg’s Prey. This Predator prequel could have been a quick action packed cash grab, but this installment takes it’s time building characters we can relate to… causing the amazing action scenes to have more emotional effect. The Crew discusses… If you like our music intro, head over to Soundcloud and hear mor...

Episode 314: The Crew’s got no time to bleed, but they do have time to watch John McTiernan’s Predator. This 80’s hit gives the audience the over the top action before introducing the suspense as an alien picks off a group of soldiers one by one. McTiernan’s direction is top notch with a quick pace. Stan Winston’s makeup effects for the titular monster still holds up today. The Crew discusses… If...

Episode 313: The Crew’s ending their Jaws retrospective with Joseph Sargent’s Jaws: The Revenge. This time it’s personal… a shark decides to follow the Brody family to the Bahamas and pick em off one by one. Were the other sharks in the franchise related to this shark, or did this shark have enough of this speciesist family? Who knows, this film is more interested in a Lorraine Gary and Michael Ca...

Episode 312: The Crew’s singing Baby Shark while watching Joe Alves’ Jaws 3D. Joe Alves, the production designer on the first two Jaws films and 2nd unit director on Jaws 2, graduates to director for the first and only time. The 3D “gimmick” helped to make the film a box office success, but the critics ripped it apart, labeling it a “cheap cash-grab”. It’s easy to see why, the special effects are...

Episode 311: The Crew’s wondering how long it took for Amity island to get power back after the ending of Jeannot Szwarc’s Jaws 2. After the massive success of Jaws, a sequel was inevitable. This first follow up replaces the suspense with more shark action, like Jaws eating a helicopter and a water skier. The film works until the plot shifts away from Chief Brody and starts focusing on a group of...

Episode 310: The Crew’s never going into the water again after watching Steven Spielberg’s Jaws. The first summer blockbuster and the beginning of Spielberg's box-office dominance (and award wins). The Hitchcockian use of the shark helps build the suspense perfectly. And unlike most creature features, this one spends it’s non-monster time with the characters instead of sci-fi exposition. Jaws was...

Episode 308: The Crew’s picking their favorite Elvis cape while watching Baz Luhrmann’s Elvis. Austin Butler delivers a great performance as The King (only Kurt Russell has done as good), but Tom Hanks and his accent seem to be from a different film. All of the amazing Baz Luhrmann flourishes are here but the pace is a little slow. None of this will matter to Elvis’ fans cause the music, costumes,...

Episode 308: The Crew’s hanging with Edward Dinohands (the Therizinosaurus) and the OG T-Rex while watching Colin Trevorrow’s Jurassic World: Dominion. The final Jurassic World sequel unites the first trilogies cast with our new characters. Critics were savage to this film; complaining about the locust subplot and the film’s length. But Dinosaurs are eating people; it’s fun and exciting… what else...

Episode 307: The Crew’s feeling the need for speed (the only bit from the first film not revisited for this sequel) while watching Joseph Kosinski’s Top Gun: Maverick. Tom Cruise is back at the top of the box-office with the highest grossing opening weekend for a non-comic book film since the pandemic began. The flight scenes need to seen on an IMAX, they’re truly incredible and exciting. Most of...

Episode 306: The Crew’s watching Tony Scott’s Top Gun and wondering how many fighter pilots play volleyball. This was the #1 box-office hit of 1986, and made Tom Cruise a household name. And Tony Scott went from art house bum (with The Hunger) to one of the most in demand directors. So much of this film has permeated pop culture, regardless of the 80’s cheese. The Crew discusses… If you like our m...

Episode 305: The Crew’s realizing they don’t have any idea what Alex Garland’s Men is trying to say… except toxic masculinity is bad. Unpacking this film seems challenging, but it’s mostly variations of the same scene. The ending is shocking and has great makeup effects. The sound and cinematography are also impressive, all of the crew and cast do their best. It’s the story and jam-packed themes t...

Episode 304: The Crew’s taking inventory of their Nicolas Cage props while watching Tom Gormican’s The Unbearable Weight of Massive Talent. This meta comedy is a career celebration of Nicolas Cage, but it’s Pedro Pascal who steals the show. Pedro’s facial expressions are heartwarming and goofy fun. And director Tom Gormican sets the tone perfectly, it’s even more impressive when you realize it’s o...

Episode 303: The Crew’s farting to prove they’re human while watching Robert Egger’s The Northman. Egger graduates from indie filmmaker to big budget epic filmmaker in his third directorial effort. This brutal Viking revenge film is also his most accessible, even if the film is struggling to recoup its $90 million budget. The Northman is in theaters, go see it before listening… cause of those spoi...

Episode 302: The Crew’s readying their third googly eye while watching Daniels’ Everything Everywhere All at Once. This multiverse film has so much energy and heart its easy to forgive most of its shortcomings. The cast is fantastic and the script gives all of them their moment. Some of us liked it more than others. The Crew discusses… If you like our music intro, head over to Soundcloud and hear...

Episode 301: The Crew’s spinning records for a psycho while watching Clint Eastwood’s Play Misty for Me. Eastwood’s directorial debut was released the same year as one of his most iconic roles, Dirty Harry. And the director of Dirty Harry (Don Siegel) has a small part in this film as a bartender. Eastwood shows the promise of the director he would become; infusing Misty with lots of energy and som...

Episode 300: The Crew’s renting their masks and capes for the cult orgy while watching Stanley Kubrick’s Eyes Wide Shut. The film was called an erotic thriller when it was released, but the sex isn’t sexy and the thriller/suspense plot isn’t resolved… which is the point. Real life couple at the time, Tom Cruise and Nicole Kidman caused quite the publicity storm when cast. The nudity and orgy scene...

Episode 299: The Crew’s disturbed by the clown driving around Miami while watching Lawrence Kasdan’s Body Heat. William Hurt and Kathleen Turner became stars with their seedy lawyer and femme fatale performances. And Kasdan comes out of the gate strong with his directorial debut, after writing some of the biggest blockbusters of the early 80’s. John Barry’s score is great and the cinematography ha...

Episode 298: The Crew’s sharpening their ice picks while watching Paul Verhoeven’s Basic Instinct. This steamy thriller was a huge box-office hit in 1992…. everyone was talking about the vagina shot and all the sex scenes. But the sex scenes build suspense, cause when people do it, they get stabbed in the face with an ice pick. Sharon Stone steals every scene and redefines the role of a femme fata...

Episode 297: The Crew’s wearing their best sexy nurse outfits while watching Brian De Palma’s Dressed to Kill. Put your Hitchcock comparisons aside and marvel at one the 80’s best erotic thrillers (or slasher film - it’s a fine line here). De Palma makes good use of his trademark visuals, adding splitscreens and split diopters to help sell the suspense and tell the story visually. There’s a 6 minu...

Episode 296: The Crew’s eating rabbit stew while watching Adrian Lyne’s Fatal Attraction. This sexy thriller made every man in the 80’s think twice before cheating. And was a huge box-office success that exploded all over pop culture. The performances, the cinematography, and the editing are picture perfect. The Crew discusses… If you like our music intro, head over to Soundcloud and hear more ama...

Episode 295: The Crew’s licking each others bio-ports while watching David Cronenberg’s eXistenZ. This $15 million production was a box-office bomb, grossing less than $3 million. The film was released 4 weeks after The Matrix, and while both films share similar themes, The Matrix was a lot more crowd-pleasing. Regardless of money, Cronenberg milks this concept for every weird body horror moment....

Episode 294: The Crew’s so impressed with Michael Mann’s Heat. Writer/Director Mann got Al Pacino and Robert De Niro to face off in an explosive cops & robbers heist film. And while the mid-film shootout is a highlight, it’s the character moments that make this simple plot carry so much emotional weight. Every actor gets their moment and does a phenomenal job. The cinematography, music, sound effe...

Episode 293: The Crew’s searching for the perfect dozen while watching Kevin Smith’s Clerks. This was the 90’s indie that launched Kevin Smith’s career and a universe of characters and sequels. The film has loads of low budget issues but the audience and critics overlook all of them; instead focusing on the fantastic dialogue and relatable comedic situations. Listen to the Crew discuss this indie...