Afterthoughts

Join us for our second ever listener request episode! Our listener Tyler recommended that we watch the 1962 samurai classic Harakiri , and we're very glad he did. This is one of the best movies we've seen in quite a while, and we had a blast breaking down this beautiful story of class and honor in feudal Japan. If you'd like to hear our Afterthoughts on your favorite movie, leave us a review on Ap...

On this completely unscripted episode of Recommend or Refute, Dixon brings a Frank Capra comedy You Can't Take It With You (1938) that you actually can take with you in digital or blu ray form. John talks about the well-intentioned, but weirdly muddled allegory of Pleasantville (1998) , and Ryan is starts the year off right with a movie the whole family can watch (entertainment not guaranteed) as...

It's that time of year when we look back and celebrate the best (and worst) that 2023 had to offer. Join us as we discuss our favorite episodes, 2023 releases, and older films we just discovered.

On this episode of Recommend or Refute special guest Mark (who might be a Cylon) takes to space with Battlestar Galactica (2004) , Dixon publishes his spoken word review of American Fiction (2023) , and John claims the sky is falling --but it's a wholesome and chill kind of falling-- in Carol & The End of World (2023) .

Happy Holidays from the Afterthoughts crew!  This week we're talking about Christmas in the context of America's favorite TV cartoon family, The Simpsons.

On this episode of Recommend or Refute, the Afterthoughts crew forgoes Holiday recommendations (those are yet to come) in favor of a semi-conventional episode. John's excited to introduce you to his new friend D.A.R.Y.L. (1985) and tell you about another 1980s family movie that's not really for kids, Dixon grabs a night cap in preparation to share his thoughts on Nic Cage's latest performance in D...

We're finishing our anime series with Hayao Miyazaki's career-capping triumph The Boy and the Heron (2023) . Join us as we dive deep into the film's meaning and discuss its place among Miyazaki's other great works.

Ryan's gone missing, but John and Dixon are holding down the fort with two new movies each. John discusses the latest Stephen King adaptation  The Boogeyman (2023) , as well as Mike Flanagan's new Netflix project  The Fall of the House of Usher (2023) . Dixon delves into some Nicolas Cage schlock with  The Old Way (2023) and marvels at the tragic beauty of  Lakota Nation vs. United States (2023) .

This episode could have been and should have been about an entirely different film; however, fate didn't permit the discussion of our initial pick. While the decision of what to watch and discuss was left to Ryan, he went MIA somewhere on a flight over the fictional country of Parmistan. We're sure he'll be fine, but just in case we're sending in our two remaining co-hosts --Dixon and John-- to di...

On this round of Recommend or Refute, we've got another eclectic sampling for your consideration. Dixon talks journalism and classic Hollywood with His Girl Friday (1940), John is #SorryNotSorry for bringing a narcissistically made piece of indie schlock known as  Honorable Men (2004), and Ryan brings another animated limited series about cyberpunk dystopia in the form of Captain Laserhawk: A Bloo...

In the second episode of our mini-spotlight series on anime cinema, the Afterthoughts crew is jumping from the fantastical fairytale world of Hayao Miyazaki. We're catching the next interstellar transport ship out to Shin'ichirô Watanabe's jazzy sci-fi western film (and related series) as we discuss Cowboy Bebop: The Movie (2001). Is it able to stand on its own if you don't know anything about the...

This week on Recommend or Refute, Ryan follows up on our Scott Pilgrim episode and dives into the new Netflix series Scott Pilgrim Takes Off (2023) , Dixon gets uncharacteristically nostalgic talking about  The Simpsons Movie (2007) , and John scrapes the bottom of the trash heap with Neil Breen's latest dumpster fire  Cade: The Tortured Crossing (2023) .

With the impending release of Hayao Miyazaki's The Boy and The Heron (2023) , we've decided to kick off a short series of anime film discussions to ready ourselves for the visual feast Studio Ghibli is sure to serve up. What better way to start that than with a Hayao Miyazaki joint? Join Dixon, Ryan, and John as journey into the waste and the war-torn lands of Howl's Moving Castle (2004) to discus...

We're talkin' about some shiny new movies this week. Ryan breaks down the latest and greatest comic book green screen extravaganza with  The Marvels (2023) , Dixon struggles to articulate the emotional experience of Godfrey Reggio's new film  Once Within a Time (2023) , and John double dips with the heartbreaking documentary Kanehsatake: 270 Years of Resistance (1993) and the John Carpenter horror...

Travel forward one hour , eight minutes , and fifteen seconds with the Afterthoughts crew as Dixon, Ryan, and John discuss Beyond The Infinite Two Minutes (2020).  Aside from this film being a charming, grounded, and oddly cohesive story about time travel -- Beyond the Infinite Two Minutes (2020) is also our first ever Listener Request episode. We're excited to set our vocal time dilation devices...

Hot off the heels of Schlocktober and the Austin Film Festival, the Afterthoughts crew is bringing a balanced mix of recommends and refutes to the table. John talks the end of Schlocktober with Deathrow Gameshow (1987) , Ryan has a radical time talking about the new Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles animated movie, and Dixon brings an Austin Film Festival pick. Plus some bonus recommends from the Austi...

This week we watched a nostalgic film for John and Ryan. We're fighting off our seven evil ex-podcasts as we break down Edgar Wright's visually bold adaptation of the graphic novel  Scott Pilgrim vs. the World (2010) .

Special guest Eric is back for a round of Recommend or Refute with the usual crew. As we ramp down from spooky season (and John makes the final push through Schlocktober), we've brought one last seasonal sampling of horror and schlock for your eager ears. Join us as we talk through an Italian Star Wars knock-off, Robert Rodriguez's latest attempt to make hypnotism thrilling, and two classic horror...

We're capping off Spooky Season with an in-depth discussion of the most upsetting new movie of the year, Martin Scorsese's ambitious epic about family, betrayal, and America's original sin,  Killers of the Flower Moon (2023) .

Join the Afterthoughts crew for another round of Recommend or Refute. On the third and final 2023 Spooky Season edition, John brings us another Schlocktober entry with the redundantly titled Rage of Vengeance (1993) . Ryan goes door to door with the horror anthology Trick 'r Treat (2007). And Dixon counter acts the schlock with Hitchcock as he pulls back the shower curtain on the classic horror th...

We're closing out Spooky Season with a fuckin' doozy, folks. Join us as we break down the beautifully horrifying acid trip that officially launched the Nicolas Cage Renaissance, Panos Cosmatos' uncompromising, neon-soaked nightmare Mandy (2018) .

The spooky season continues with more terrifying recommendations and refutations! Join John as he tries to keep loose cannons Ryan and Dixon in line. How many movies are those two maverick renegades going to sneak into this round of rapid fire reviews? Well if you read the title you already know there are four titles on the table, but the crew is hell bent on smuggling in tangential titles leading...

Enter the depths of Ingmar Bergman's dark, waking nightmares as we discuss his horror masterpiece Hour of the Wolf (1968) , starring two of the greatest actors to ever grace the silver screen, Max von Sydow and Liv Ullman. This monumental film would go on to influence horror classics like Eraserhead, The Shining, Hereditary, The Lighthouse, and countless others. Today it remains one of the most ch...

We're back at it again. John embarks upon the pointless annual journey he calls Schlocktober with the movie that started it all: John Landis' directorial debut Schlock (1973) . Ryan tackles another horror franchise with The Conjuring (2013) , and Dixon probably gets a little too political with his discussion of Michael Radford's adaptation of the dystopian George Orwell novel 1984 (1984) . Dixon i...

It's Spooky Season and on this episode we rev up the horror factor with Texas Chainsaw Massacre (1974). Does this horror darling deserve the acclaim and infamy, as well as the various disappointing follow-ups? Hop in a van with Dixon, Ryan, and John as they discuss which 25 year old "teenager" annoys them the most (it's Franklin), what meanings could be instilled in the slaughterhouse subtext of t...