A Good Story Well Told

It's the final episode of our Guilty Treasures season! Award-winning podcaster Austen Rachlis stops by to profess her affection for Hardball, in which Keanu Reeves coaches an inner-city little league baseball team, including a young Michael B. Jordan! Will we wholeheartedly endorse her choice?

Acclaimed children's author Kate Milford joins us to talk about one of her favorite movies, John Carpenter's cult classic Big Trouble in Little China. Will she be able to win us over to its charms?

Author and animator Benjamin Zelkowicz joins us to share his love of the 1990 Kevin Bacon creature-feature Tremors, and the three of us have a good old time mining it for story insights.

Master board game creator Peter C. Hayward joins us to sing the praises of the 2015 Nancy Meyers movie The Intern, but we have very different reactions. Who will join in the praise and who will say this movie just might be the death of America?

Acclaimed Novelist and Podcaster Keir Graff visits to make the case that Billy Wilder's first big flop, 1951's Ace in the Hole, might actually be his masterpiece. As it turns out, Jonathan and Matt don't need much convincing.

Jonathan and Matt welcome Matt's legendary wife Betsy to discuss one of the weirdest movies ever made, Disney's direct-to-video epic The Brave Little Toaster. Is it oddly great, or just greatly odd?

It's Old Home Week! Special Guest James Kennedy makes an impassioned case for Ari Aster's epic nightmare-fuel Beau is Afraid. Will Matt and Jonathan be won over?

Can a quickie movie adaptation of a song, which didn't even have the rights to use Cyndi Lauper's version, actually be a good movie?? Superstar author Grace Lin makes the case, and Jonathan and Matt are here for it!

We welcome our first ever guest, Lindsay Eager, to make the case for Hook, Steven Spielberg's 1991 movie about a grown-up Peter Pan! Will she be able to convince us that it's unfairly maligned?

We continue our Guilty Treasures series, where we (or guests) make the case for critically maligned works! This episode, can Jonathan convince Matt of the value of the Hugh Jackman robot-boxing movie Real Steel?

The second season begins! This season, Matt, Jonathan, and guests will be extolling the virtues of commercially unsuccessful or critically derided works, so Matt gets things going by making the case for The Rock's 2002 starring debut The Scorpion King. Will Jonathan see the hidden value?

We wrap up our first season with a bonus episode discussing KPop Demon Hunters and various things we've meant to discuss over the course of the season! Season 2 coming soon!

Matt got Jonathan to read a candidate for Great American Novel, so now Jonathan makes Matt read what might be the Great Canadian Novel, Lucy Maud Montgomery's Anne of Green Gables. Will Matt embrace his neighbors to the north?

Matt finally gets Jonathan to read the most acclaimed American novel of the last 50 years, Toni Morrison's Beloved, a deadly serious book about slavery but also a thrilling ghost story and a tender romance. Will Jonathan be won over?

Jonathan gets Matt to finally (and reluctantly) watch Kill Bill, Volumes 1 and 2. Will Matt fall in love, or will he feel entirely different emotions?

Matt shames Jonathan into finally watching The Good, The Bad and The Ugly! Note for clarity, since we use actor and character names interchangeably: Clint Eastwood plays Blondie (The Good), Lee Van Cleef plays Angel Eyes (The Bad) and Eli Wallach plays Tuco (The Ugly). Keep that in mind as you listen!

Jonathan shames Matt into finally reading Kazuo Ishiguro's 2005 novel Never Let Me Go, and they discuss many things, including the value of basing stories of conspiracy theories.

Matt forces Jonathan to finally read "Slaughterhouse-Five" by Kurt Vonnegut, and much discussion is had about whether or not it's okay to write a "dated" book.

Jonathan gets Matt to finally watch the infamous Disney flop Treasure Planet! Is it a secret masterpiece?

In our second full episode, Matt shames Jonathan into finally seeing Alfred Hitchcock's 1958 film Vertigo. The Sight and Sound Critics Poll ranks it as the second greatest film of all time...Will Jonathan agree?

Matt finally reads Lowis Lowry’s classic kids dystopia THE GIVER — and Jonathan reveals a surprisingly relevant war story from his Screenwriting days.

Welcome! In this episode, we talk about who we are, how we got to know each other, and what we'll be doing in this podcast!.