All The Right Movies

The film was one of the most expensive ever made at the time, and its Oscar-winning effects were the cutting edge of what was possible. John, Westy, and Matt continue the story, down to that ambiguous ending. We dig into the crew behind the film — the screenplay drawn from Philip K. Dick, Jerry Goldsmith's score, and the groundbreaking, award-winning effects work — before breaking down the finale,...

Get your ass to Mars. John, Westy, and Matt begin the story of Paul Verhoeven and Arnold Schwarzenegger's gloriously violent, reality-bending sci-fi blockbuster. In Part 1 we cover the film's opening, director Paul Verhoeven, the cast, and the second act — including the trip to Rekall that sets it all spinning, Arnold's everyman-turned-action-hero, and the question hanging over everything: is any...

Imagine learning that your entire life, every friend, every sunrise, every ordinary day at work, has been a television show beamed to millions. One man is about to, and he has no clue the cameras are rolling. Peter Weir's eerily prophetic satire The Truman Show (1998), written by Andrew Niccol, gives Jim Carrey one of his great dramatic turns, with Ed Harris, Laura Linney and Noah Emmerich aro...

The rage hasn't burned out yet. Luke, Westy, and Matt continue the story of Boyle's apocalyptic horror, turning to the people who built it and the brutal final act at the manor. We dig into the crew behind the film — Alex Garland's screenplay, John Murphy's now-iconic score, and the digital cinematography that defined its aesthetic — before breaking down the finale, the multiple endings, the recep...

Waking up in hospital, bike messenger Jim enters the eerily empty streets of London, not knowing what has happened in the last 28 days. Finding the only humans alive, Jim and his crew find out that nowhere is safe as they make their way through the rage infected streets, in search of safety. Danny Boyle’s aggressively low-fi entry into the zombie genre is as impactful as it was 21 years ago. Uncom...

The mechanical shark barely worked. Steven Spielberg's fix, keeping it hidden for most of the film, accidentally invented the modern blockbuster and frightened a generation out of the sea. Jaws (1975) was the runaway, over-budget production that made Spielberg's name and the summer blockbuster along with it. Roy Scheider, Robert Shaw and Richard Dreyfuss head the cast, the open-ocean shoot...

Kirk Douglas owned the rights for years and could never get it made, then handed it to his son Michael, who finally did. John, Westy, and Matt continue the story, building to its devastating conclusion. We dig into the crew behind the film — the screenplay adapted from Ken Kesey's novel, Jack Nitzsche's score, and the cinematography — before breaking down the finale, the historic five-Oscar sweep,...

It's one of only three films in history to sweep all five major Academy Awards. John, Westy, and Matt begin the story of how a passion project decades in the making finally reached the screen. In Part 1 we cover the film's opening, director Miloš Forman, the cast, and the second act — including Jack Nicholson's career-defining McMurphy, Louise Fletcher's chilling Nurse Ratched, and the real psychi...

The Stay Puft Marshmallow Man was a stuntman in a suit waddling through a miniature Manhattan, and it's still glorious. Luke, Westy, and Matt continue the story, picking up at the rooftop showdown. We dig into the crew behind the film — the Aykroyd and Ramis screenplay, Elmer Bernstein's score and Ray Parker Jr.'s inescapable theme, and the pioneering effects work — before breaking down the finale...

It began as a Dan Aykroyd script so vast and strange it would have been impossible to film. Luke, Westy, and Matt begin the story of how it became one of the great comedies. In Part 1 we cover the film's opening, director Ivan Reitman, the cast, and the second act — including Bill Murray's improvised Venkman, the trio setting up shop, and the script being trimmed from cosmic to comic. Who you gonn...

How do you turn Homer's Odyssey into a Depression-era prison-break comedy with a chart-topping bluegrass soundtrack? Only the Coen brothers would attempt it, and somehow they made it sing. Their freewheeling musical comedy O Brother, Where Art Thou? (2000) stars George Clooney, John Turturro and Tim Blake Nelson as three escaped convicts loose in 1930s Mississippi, with T Bone Burnett's so...

David Bowie plays Nikola Tesla, and the casting is so perfect it's become one of the film's most beloved details. John, Westy, and Matt continue the story as both magicians chase the ultimate illusion. We dig into the crew behind the film — the Nolan brothers' screenplay adapted from the novel, the score, and the cinematography and period craft — before breaking down the twin twists of the finale,...

Are you watching closely? John, Westy, and Matt begin the story of Christopher Nolan's twisty tale of two rival magicians and the obsession that consumes them both. In Part 1 we cover the film's opening, director Christopher Nolan, the cast, and the second act — including Hugh Jackman and Christian Bale's escalating feud, the structure that folds back on itself, and the deadly secrets each man kee...

Five weeks into filming, the studio looked at the footage, panicked, and fired their leading man. Eric Stoltz was out, Michael J. Fox was in, and he ended up shooting a hit sitcom by day and a classic by night. That near-disaster became Robert Zemeckis's Back to the Future (1985), the time-travel comedy Steven Spielberg produced and a DeLorean made immortal. Fox and Christopher Lloyd's Doc...

A film that flopped on release became one of the defining cult movies of its generation almost the moment it hit DVD. Luke, Westy, and Matt continue the story, picking up as the ground shifts beneath the narrator. We dig into the crew behind the film — the screenplay adapted from Chuck Palahniuk, the Dust Brothers' score, and Fincher's meticulous visual trickery — before breaking down the finale,...

The first rule is well known. The fact that the studio marketing it had almost no idea how to sell it is less so. Luke, Westy, and Matt begin the story of David Fincher's anarchic adaptation. In Part 1 we cover the film's opening, director David Fincher, the cast, and the second act — including Edward Norton's insomniac narrator, Brad Pitt's Tyler Durden, and the bruised, grimy world Fincher build...

De Niro won an Oscar playing a younger version of a character Brando had also won an Oscar for, the only time that's ever happened. John, Westy, and Matt continue the story as Michael's empire and family fracture. We dig into the crew behind the film — the Coppola and Puzo screenplay, Nino Rota's score, and Gordon Willis's shadowed cinematography — before breaking down the finale, the six Academy...

A sequel that's also a prequel, telling two stories at once and somehow surpassing a masterpiece. John, Westy, and Matt begin the story of Coppola's towering follow-up. In Part 1 we cover the film's opening, director Francis Ford Coppola, the cast, and the second act — including Robert De Niro as the young Vito, Al Pacino's Michael hardening into something colder, and the dual timelines weaving to...

A mission from God, supposedly. Also the most cars ever wrecked in a single film at the time it was made, a record it kept for years. John Landis's gleefully chaotic musical comedy The Blues Brothers (1980) grew out of Saturday Night Live and pairs John Belushi and Dan Aykroyd with a soundtrack of genuine legends: James Brown, Aretha Franklin, Ray Charles and Cab Calloway. The runaway budget,...

Always be closing. Coffee is for closers. Put that coffee down. Alec Baldwin's seven-minute evisceration of a room full of desperate salesmen wasn't even in David Mamet's original play. It was written for the film, and it became the most quoted thing in it. The film is Glengarry Glen Ross (1992), James Foley's adaptation of Mamet's Pulitzer-winning play, with a cast so stacked...

A film about an unfinished investigation ends not with a bang but a teletype, and it's perfect. Luke, Westy, and Matt continue the story of Pakula's thriller. We dig into the crew behind the film — William Goldman's Oscar-winning screenplay, the score, and Gordon Willis's masterful cinematography — before breaking down that ending, the awards haul, and its standing as the benchmark for journalism...

The film recreated the Washington Post newsroom so precisely that it had real Post rubbish shipped across the country to fill the bins. Luke, Westy, and Matt begin the story. In Part 1 we cover the film's opening, director Alan J. Pakula, the cast, and the second act — including Redford and Hoffman as Woodward and Bernstein, and the dread Pakula wrings out of phone calls and paperwork. The investi...

The Ewoks divided fans for decades, but the puppetry and creature work that brought Jabba and the rest to life was state of the art. John, Westy, and Matt continue the story, building to the duel aboard the Death Star. We dig into the crew behind the film — the screenplay, John Williams's score, and the creature and effects work from ILM — before breaking down the finale, the reception, the endles...

How do you end the most beloved trilogy in cinema? John, Westy, and Matt begin the story of the film that had to stick the landing for a generation. In Part 1 we cover the film's opening, director Richard Marquand, the cast, and the second act — including the rescue at Jabba's palace, the redemption arc taking shape, and George Lucas's heavy hand behind the scenes. The final confrontation with the...

Thirty years in development. Six months in the Namibian desert. And almost every insane stunt you see happening for real, because a director in his seventies flatly refused to fake it. Mad Max: Fury Road (2015) is George Miller's two-hour chase that swaps dialogue for delirium, with Tom Hardy and Charlize Theron leading the charge (and, by most accounts, barely speaking to each other off camer...