After the Hype

Here at Behind the Hype we've decided that it's time to take a deep dive into one of the more divisive filmmakers out there today: Zack Snyder. People either love his work or hate it, and no matter where you fall on that spectrum you can't deny that he is a visionary filmmaker. We're going to be discussing his "Snyder Cuts" this month, starting this week with his "director's cut" of Dawn of the De...

While we're sad to bring our month of Showa Era Godzilla films to a close, we're glad we picked Godzilla vs. Mechagodzilla as our last film to discuss. It's got ape-like aliens trying to conquer earth, interpol agents disguised as muckraking journalists, a musical number, and a monster named King Caesar who helps Godzilla kick the ever-loving ish out of the titular villain. Try not to grin like a...

The next film in our month of Showa Era Godzilla films is Destroy All Monsters, which features all your favorite monsters and then some as they terrorize all the major cities of the world. But what has caused them to go on such a unified rampage? Aliens. That's right, an all-women race of aliens called the Kilaaks have bent all the monsters to their will and it's up to a fearless space captain to...

We continue our delightful dive into the Showa Era Godzilla films this week with the energetic Son of Godzilla. It's a cheeseball film that delights in the silly antics of its titular character and only really manages to stumble when it comes to the human story. The costumes, props, puppets, and miniatures are in top form here and it's hard to not watch this with a grin on your face. This one goes...

Godzilla is such a pop culture icon that we thought it would be a great idea to dive into some of his more iconic outings this month on Behind the Hype, starting with the third film in the series: King Kong vs. Godzilla. Apart from one problem spot, the film is quite a delight and features everything fun you would expect from a showdown of two pop culture titans.

We've reached the end of our month on Sion Sono and to wrap things up we've picked quite the heavy film: Guilty of Romance. There's a lot to unpack with this film, about the role of women in Japanese society and the lengths they will go to break free from said pressures, or in some cases become consumed by them. As we were short a woman on this episode to give some perspective we tried to instead...

Due to some version confusion we had to push our review of Guilty of Romance to next week. In its place we're going to talk about the movie that put Sion Sono on the map for western audiences: Suicide Club. It's difficult to summarize the movie and do the horrific imagery and biting commentary justice, but we do our best. Just the opening few minutes of the movie should clue you in on the doozy of...

Our Sion Sono retrospective continues with the rap opera Tokyo Tribe, a doozy of a film that starts out rough and then ends with one hell of a punchline. It features a cast of fascinating and colorful characters that sing their way through bouts of ultra-violence. It features perhaps one of the most fun and over-the-top villains we've seen yet on this podcast. And if that weren't enough, it featur...

We're back from our break and we thought it would be a great idea to kick things off with a retrospective on director Sion Sono. You might remember him from our episode on Why Don't You Play In Hell . Yeah, that guy. Anyway, we're starting with his 2015 film Tag, featuring perhaps one of the most surprising openings to be put to film. Seriously, you might want to be sitting down for this one. Of c...

We close out our month of That Wasn't The F**king Plan with the best movie out of the four we talked about, although that's not saying much: The Emperor's New Groove. It's a strange film in the Disney archive, fraught with all kinds of production drama. We talk a bit about what the original plan was, and then try to figure out where things went wrong. We also note how the film has a great third ac...

You'd think that a movie about a filmmaker at war with himself that took ten years to make would be more interesting, but here we are. We're discussing Terry Gilliam's The Man Who Killed Don Quixote and let's just say that we had a lot of issues with it. Are we talking about an unwatchable dumpster fire of epic proportions? No. Not even close. It's just a very messy production that shows its seams...

This week in our month of "That Wasn't The F&#king Plan" we're talking about the David Ayer film Suicide Squad . The David Ayer film Suicide Squad is what we're talking about this week as we deep dive into films that weren't part of the F&#king Plan." As we dive into movies that didn't turn out the way they were planned, we thought it would be proper to talk about the David Ayer film Suicide Squad...

That wasn't the f**kin plan! This month is all about the screw ups, the garbage fires, the things that didn't turn out the way they were initially intended. We're kicking off this month with the garbage film Star Wars: Rise of Skywalker and diving into all the things that went wrong with it. Turns out there's a lot. Now, before you - a Rise of Skywalker fan - get all huffy, we had one or two thing...

Happy Thanksgiving! We know it's a bit tough this year around the holidays so we decided to invite you into our homes figuratively to talk about the last film in our Hugo Weaving retrospective: The Adventures of Priscilla, Queen of the Desert. It's a great film filled with amazing performances. There's a lot to love here and we talk about it all. The film does struggle to stick the landing with on...

We continue this roller coaster month of Hugo Weaving films with Last Ride , a father and son road trip movie that's as dour as it is excellent. Weaving gives a stellar performance here as Kev, an abusive father with almost no likeable or redeemable qualities. Almost. Somehow, despite an entire movie of being an absolute shit, you still feel bad for the guy and his situation. And Tom Russell is no...

Unfortunately we've got a bit of a downgrade this week as we talk about Mortal Engines for our month of Hugo Weaving. There are things to like here, the setting being the chief among them. It's an interesting world with some equally interesting lore, and it all looks absolutely gorgeous. Where the film loses us is with everything else. The plot is bland and at times nonsensical, and no one is givi...

Remember, remember! The Fifth of November...for it is the beginning of Hugo Weaving Month here at Behind the Hype. To kick things off we're starting with the flawed V For Vendetta , which boasts great performances from Weaving and others (see: Creedy), while not necessarily aging all that well. It's tough to root for a a character who gaslights and tortures the female protagonist (Evey, played by...

We decided to wrap up our Jamie Lee Curtis retrospective by reviewing the classic horror film Prom Night , the film that has inspired many horror movies since it was released and continues to inspire today. What did we think about it? Well, perhaps we should have watched Terror Train instead? There's some interesting stuff in Prom Night to be sure, but so much of it is either boring or just doesn'...

We continue our Jamie Lee Curtis retrospective with Halloween H20: 20 Years Later , her celebrated return to both the horror genre and this franchise in particular. We have a lot to say about the film as it's quite flawed and makes some odd choices throughout. The body count is low, and the mask changes partway through the film into something you might find at a pop up Halloween store. The film in...

We're traveling back in time to 1994 to talk about True Lies , James Cameron's take on Bond starring Arnold Schwarzenegger and our lady of the month Jamie Lee Curtis. It's quite the adventure, filled to the brim with action, humor, and fun performances from everyone involved. The only weak link is Tom Arnold, but he manages to hold on to the harrier jet, as it were. To assist us in our review of s...

October has arrived, and we decided it would be a great idea to do a retrospective on the top scream queen herself - Jamie Lee Curtis. We start the month with her most recent turn in the Rian Johnson film Knives Out . It's a tightly-paced and well-written whodunnit with really fun performances. And even though Jamie Lee Curtis doesn't have as much screen time as we would have liked, she commands e...

We made it to the end of our very enlightening Eve Stewart retrospective and to celebrate we're discussing the divisive Tom Hooper spectacle Cats. There's a lot to love in this film, and there's a lot to hate, and really it boils down to how easy it is for you to get past Rebel Wilson and James Corden's abysmal performances. Production design here is stellar - big surprise - but Tom Hooper tries h...

Thank you for your patience! This week we're back to talk about De-Lovely, the next film in our Eve Stewart retrospective. It's about the musical icon Cole Porter, played with zest by Kevin Kline, as he re-lives the best and worst of his life at the behest of the angel Gabriel (Jonathan Pryce). The film features songs written by Cole Porter, all sung by popular modern musicians. But the question r...

The next film in our Eve Stewart retrospective is the Gore Verbinski horror thriller A Cure For Wellness , starring Dane DeHaan, Mia Goth, and Jason Isaacs. The film is a clunky mess, suffering from logic problems as well as a problematic third act. What saves it for us is Stewart's exceptional production design, which gives the film an atmosphere and mood that makes us want to keep watching despi...

A new month brings us a new filmmaker and for September we decided to breakdown the lively career of production designer Eve Stewart , starting with 2002's Nicholas Nickleby , starring Charlie Hunnam, Jamie Bell, and Christopher Plummer. It's a film that's exceptionally designed and looks absolutely gorgeous, but that has almost nothing else going for it. The performances are fine, but the tone of...