Aussie and the Scotsman - Unfiltered Movie Podcast

This week we are reviewing the best of Denzel Washington movies. From Cry Freedom to his Oscar win in Glory to Malcolm X to The Pelican Brief to Philadelphia to Crimson Tide to The Bone Collector, Remember the Titans, Fences, The Equalizer, Flight to his Shakespearean roles, Denzel is nearly an all rounder. Except for comedy - he doesn't really do funny. We finish with our top 5 best Denzel Washin...

This week we review the 2017 crime drama film Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri written, directed, and produced by Martin McDonagh. It stars Frances McDormand as Mildred Hayes, a Missouri woman who rents three roadside billboards to draw attention to her daughter's unsolved rape and murder. Woody Harrelson, Sam Rockwell, Abbie Cornish, John Hawkes, and Peter Dinklage appear in supporting r...

Mack Lindon is an Australian actor turned director who first captured audiences with his powerful debut film Rise (2014), inspired by his own wrongful imprisonment. Sentenced to six years in jail in 2008, Mack was released on appeal in 2010. Now, Mack returns with Rise of the Underdog (2025) — hitting cinemas on November 6th — an inspiring new story that celebrates the resilience of independent fi...

This week we have a fun little movie theme tune quiz with The Doc returning once again to the Aussie and the Scotsman studio The Doc schools the Aussie early in this one but the Aussie bounces back. See if you can keep up with the speed of the guesses. The Scotsman moderates with his own unique points system. We rattle through the decades - who will be crowned the winner? Tune in to find out.  You...

This week we review the 2009 American biographical sports drama film The Blind Side written and directed by John Lee Hancock. Based on the 2006 book of the same name by Michael Lewis, the film tells the story of Michael Oher, a football offensive lineman who overcame an impoverished upbringing to play in the National Football League (NFL) with the help of Leigh Anne and Sean Tuohy. It stars Sandra...

This week we review the 2012 American drama film Flight directed by Robert Zemeckis. The film stars Denzel Washington as William "Whip" Whitaker Sr., an alcoholic airline pilot who miraculously crash-lands his plane after a mechanical failure, saving nearly everyone on board. Although hailed a hero, an investigation soon begins to cast the captain in a different light. We start the podcast discuss...

This week we discuss all Tom Cruise's movie's to date. Before we get into Tom - we discuss the Aussie's shocking week. As the most competitive human in Australia this 40 year golf veteran was humbled this week when he was beaten in a golf comp by a novice of only 12 months.  A very hard pill for him to swallow. From Risky Business, Top Gun, Cocktail, Born on the 4th of July and Days of Thunder to...

This week we review the 1983 American family tragicomedy film Terms of Endearment directed, written, and produced by James L. Brooks. It stars Debra Winger, Shirley MacLaine, Jack Nicholson, Danny DeVito, Jeff Daniels, and John Lithgow. The film covers 30 years of the relationship between Aurora Greenway (MacLaine) and her daughter Emma Greenway-Horton (Winger). The Scotsman lets the Aussie run wi...

This week we are reviewing the 1987 American crime film, The Untouchables, directed by Brian De Palma and written by David Mamet. It stars Kevin Costner, Charles Martin Smith, Andy García, Robert De Niro and Sean Connery. Set in Chicago in 1930, the film follows Eliot Ness (Costner) as he forms the Untouchables team to bring Al Capone (De Niro) to justice during Prohibition. This is all about the...

This week we review the 2003 romantic comedy-drama film Lost in Translation written and directed by Sofia Coppola. Bill Murray stars as Bob Harris, a fading American movie star who is having a midlife crisis when he travels to Tokyo to promote Suntory whisky. There, he befriends another disillusioned American named Charlotte (Scarlett Johansson), a young woman and recent college graduate. The film...

This week we review the 2008 American drama film Gran Torino directed, produced by and starring Clint Eastwood. It features a significant Hmong American cast, a first for mainstream American films. The score was composed by Kyle Eastwood and Michael Stevens, with Jamie Cullum and Clint Eastwood providing the lead track. Set in Highland Park, Michigan, the story follows Walt Kowalski, a recently wi...

This week we review the 2001 American biographical drama film A Beautiful Mind  about the mathematician John Nash, a Nobel Laureate in Economics, played by Russell Crowe. The film is directed by Ron Howard. In addition to Crowe, the film's cast features Ed Harris, Jennifer Connelly, Paul Bettany, Adam Goldberg, Judd Hirsch, Josh Lucas, Anthony Rapp, and Christopher Plummer in supporting roles. The...

This week we are reviewing the 2016 American musical romantic tragicomedy film LA LA Land written and directed by Damien Chazelle. It stars Ryan Gosling and Emma Stone as a struggling jazz pianist and an aspiring actress who meet and fall in love while pursuing their dreams in Los Angeles. The supporting cast includes John Legend, Rosemarie DeWitt, Finn Wittrock, and J. K. Simmons. The film also r...

This week we review the 2015 American biographical comedy-drama film Joy written and directed by David O. Russell and starring Jennifer Lawrence as Joy Mangano, a self-made millionaire who created her own business empire. We start off by discussing the appropriate dress code for a funeral and somehow we end the conversation discussing masturbating over zoom. Don't ask just listen! As for the film...

This week we review the 2004 action thriller film Man on Fire directed and produced by Tony Scott. It is based on the 1980 novel of the same name by A. J. Quinnell. The film stars Denzel Washington and Dakota Fanning in lead roles, alongside Christopher Walken, Radha Mitchell, Giancarlo Giannini, Marc Anthony, Rachel Ticotin and Mickey Rourke in supporting roles. This adaptation shifts the setting...

This week we review the 1996 American legal drama film A Time to Kill based on John Grisham's 1989 novel of the same name. Sandra Bullock, Samuel L. Jackson, Matthew McConaughey, and Kevin Spacey star, with Donald and Kiefer Sutherland appearing in supporting roles and Octavia Spencer in her film debut. The film received mixed reviews but was a commercial success, making $152 million worldwide. Be...

This week we review the 1993 American legal thriller film The Firm directed by Sydney Pollack, and starring Tom Cruise, Jeanne Tripplehorn, Gene Hackman, Ed Harris, Holly Hunter, Hal Holbrook, David Strathairn and Gary Busey. The film is based on the 1991 novel of the same name by author John Grisham. The Firm follows Mitch McDeere, a young Harvard Law graduate who joins a prestigious Memphis law...

This week we review the 1986 American teen comedy film  Ferris Bueller's Day Off  written, co-produced, and directed by John Hughes. The film stars Matthew Broderick, Mia Sara, and Alan Ruck, with supporting roles from Jennifer Grey, Jeffrey Jones, Cindy Pickett, Edie McClurg, Lyman Ward, and Charlie Sheen. It tells the story of a charismatic high school slacker, Ferris, who skips school with his...

This week we review the recently released 2025 satirical black comedy film The Roses directed by Jay Roach. It is loosely based on the 1981 novel The War of the Roses by Warren Adler, and a re-imagining of the 1989 film. The film stars Benedict Cumberbatch and Olivia Colman as a successful couple whose seemingly pitch-perfect marriage begins falling apart. Andy Samberg, Allison Janney and Kate McK...

This week we review the 2021 American biographical sports drama film King Richard directed by Reinaldo Marcus Green and written by Zach Baylin. The film stars Will Smith as Richard Williams, the father and coach of famed tennis players Venus and Serena Williams (both of whom served as executive producers on the film), with Aunjanue Ellis, Saniyya Sidney, Demi Singleton, Tony Goldwyn, and Jon Bernt...

This week we review  the 1998 American crime drama film American History X directed by Tony Kaye (in his feature directorial debut) and written by David McKenna. The film stars Edward Norton and Edward Furlong as two brothers from Los Angeles who are involved in the white power skinhead and neo-Nazi movements. The older brother (Norton) serves three years in prison for voluntary manslaughter, is r...

This week we are reviewing the 1992 American drama film Scent of a Woman starring Al Pacino in his Oscar winning role as a blind, depressed and irritable retired Army Lieutenant colonel. Chris O'Donnell was nominated for a Golden Globe for his role as his weekend companion / assistant.  We really enjoyed discussing this movie.  While it has not aged well Al Pacino's Oscar winning performance and s...

This week we review the 1987 American crime drama film Wall Street, directed and co-written by Oliver Stone, which stars Michael Douglas, Charlie Sheen, Daryl Hannah, and Martin Sheen. The film tells the story of Bud Fox (C. Sheen), a young stockbroker who becomes involved with Gordon Gekko (Douglas), a wealthy, unscrupulous corporate raider. Stone made the film as a tribute to his father, Lou Sto...

The week we review the 2010 American action thriller film The Town a tense Boston crime thriller co-written and directed by Ben Affleck, who also stars alongside Rebecca Hall, Jeremy Renner, Jon Hamm, and Blake Lively and Pete Postlethwaite. Set in the gritty streets of Charlestown — a neighborhood notorious for producing bank robbers — the film follows Doug MacRay (Affleck), a career criminal try...

This week we review the 1994 New Zealand tragic drama film Once Were Warriors based in New Zealand. The film tells the story of the Heke family, an urban Māori whānau living in South Auckland, and their problems with poverty, alcoholism, and domestic violence, mostly brought on by the patriarch, Jake. It explores the detrimental effects of the colonisation of New Zealand suffered by Māori, and the...