Can We Still Be Friends? – A Movie Podcast

Nate and Ryan escape the summer heat by watching Bull Durham, a sports classic from 1988 that helped catapult Kevin Costner into Hollywood super-stardom.  Bull Durham is often hailed as the best sports movie of all time, so Nate and Ryan decided to weigh in for themselves.  After 30 years, how does this… Continue reading

As the school year winds down and summer brings life-long change (or so teen comedies would have us believe), Nate and Ryan discuss Can’t Hardly Wait.  Released 20 years ago, some of the hallmarks of late ’90s and early ’00s teen comedies can be traced back to Can’t Hardly Wait, yet it doesn’t quite… Continue reading

Nate and Ryan talk about The Big Lebowski (one of their favorites), which is celebrating its 20th anniversary this year.  They welcome back their good friend Tim Yoder to discuss what is so special about this movie and what the expansive cult fan base indicates about its appeal.  Grab a white… Continue reading

Nate and Ryan invite special guest Anne Singleton back to talk about The Departed, Martin Scorsese’s violent, vulgar crime thriller.  Like most film fans, Nate and Ryan are big fans of Scorsese, but The Departed is the first of his films on this podcast.  Although many of Scorsese’s films have been important… Continue reading

Nate and Ryan watch Moonstruck, the perfect movie to either keep the romance of a successful Valentine’s Day going, or the perfect movie to make up for a lackluster holiday.  This 1987 hit won Best Actress and Supporting Actress Oscars for stars Cher and Olympia Dukakis as well as Best Original… Continue reading

In a year that has everyone talking about presidential scandals, corruption, and collusion, Nate and Ryan felt it only appropriate to revisit the 1976 classic All the President’s Men.  Listen as Nate and Ryan discuss what makes this film brilliant, and how it feels to watch this movie in light of… Continue reading

For our fourth annual Holiday Extravaganza, we’re re-watching Elf, the 2003 Will Farrell comedy hit that has become a must-see for many people each year.  Our feelings for Elf have deteriorated over the years, so we wanted to watch it again to see if there’s something we’re missing.  This is the first… Continue reading

For some reason, something about November makes us want to watch movies with wizards.  As per a listener suggestion, we’re watching Willow, the 1988 George Lucas-conceived, Ron Howard-directed fantasy epic.  For many people, Willow was a special part of their childhood, but in the pantheon of classic children’s movies, Willow rarely seems to… Continue reading

Welcome to our 4th Annual Holiday Spooktacular.  This year, Nate and Ryan discuss John Carpenter’s The Thing, a 1982 horror flop that has become a bona fide classic.  Listen as they discuss what has made The Thing into such a beloved film and how it has aged over the past 35 years. … Continue reading

Nate and Ryan continue their unofficial tour through 1997 by watching director Paul Verhoeven’s divisive sci-fi cult classic, Starship Troopers.  Joined by guest (and Starship Troopers fan) Dan Wartsbaugh, Nate and Ryan try to find out if this is a scathing, brilliant satire, skewering the tropes of violence-worshiping blockbuster action flicks, or… Continue reading

For most of the ’90s, Mike Meyers’ catchphrases were repeated ad nauseam everywhere from dorm rooms to boardrooms (We’re guessing.  We weren’t in a single boardroom in the ’90s, but you get it).  With Wayne’s World celebrating its 25th anniversary and Austin Powers celebrating its 20th, Nate and Ryan decided to watch both… Continue reading

In 2006, Sofia Coppola’s follow-up to her Oscar-winning smash Lost In Translation was the hotly anticipated, but tepidly received Marie Antoinette.  She recently returned to the spotlight as she won Best Director at Cannes with her most recent film The Beguiled.  With the middle of summer bringing the celebration of Bastille Day, Nate… Continue reading

Nate and Ryan rewatch Close Encounters of the Third Kind, the other sci-fi classic released 40 years ago.  Directed by Steven Spielberg, Close Encounters solidified Spielberg’s aesthetic and helped bring hard(ish) sci-fi into the mainstream.  With all the hallmarks of great Spielberg movies wrapped up nicely in one movie, Nate and Ryan… Continue reading

Not ones to be left out, Nate and Ryan decide to see what all the fuss is about with this The Fast and the Furious franchise.  With The Fate of the Furious setting records at the box office, it seemed high time that they give the original a shot.  For help, they brought in… Continue reading

Note: This episode and its clips contain language not suitable for all audiences.  Also, as might be expected, this episode is pretty politically charged.  We welcome your comments (and your anger), but please keep it civil. For their 50th episode, Nate and Ryan take a look at how Network (1976) and… Continue reading

Nate and Ryan invite special guest Anne Singleton to revisit their high school days and watch Titanic, released 20 years ago.  Titanic cemented its legacy when it won a record-tying 11 Oscars and became one of the highest-grossing films of all time.  Nate, Ryan, and Anne discuss how the film has held… Continue reading

As La La Land continues to be an Oscar favorite (14 nominations), Nate and Ryan explore what might be the most revered of all movie musicals: Singin’ in the Rain.  Though Singin’ in the Rain didn’t garner any Oscar wins (and only 2 nominations), it has lived on to be adored by fans,… Continue reading

It’s our 3rd Holiday Spectacular, and this year, Nate and Ryan are watching a more contentious entry into the Holiday Movie Canon: 1988’s Die Hard.  For a Holiday Spectacular this outside the box, Nate and Ryan called in some back up.  Friend of the program and most frequent guest Evan Mather… Continue reading

Nate and Ryan revisit the launching of a cinematic empire by watching Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone in celebration of its 15th anniversary.  Additionally, Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them was released to enormous box office success nearly 15 years to the day that the first Harry Potter movie was… Continue reading

It’s our 3rd Halloween episode, and Nate and Ryan are taking the opportunity to watch The Wicker Man, another classic horror movie that’s always been on their list.  Though it had an inauspicious release in 1973, The Wicker Man has become the epitome of a cult classic, with various versions making the… Continue reading

Nate and Ryan talk about their first western, The Magnificent Seven, starring Yul Brynner and Steve McQueen and directed by John Sturges.  With Antoine Fuqua’s remake still in theaters, Nate and Ryan discuss how the original (itself a remake of Akira Kurosawa’s The Seven Samurai) holds up today.  While The Magnificent Seven isn’t… Continue reading

With Labor Day just behind us, and summer more or less over, Nate and Ryan watch and discuss Rob Reiner’s much loved coming-of-age movie Stand by Me.  Based on a short story by Stephen King, Stand by Me was released 30 years ago, meaning many of its original fans have 10-year-olds of… Continue reading

Nate and Ryan revisit Oliver Stone’s controversial classic from 1991: JFK.  Inspired by the incredible light-shedding documentary OJ: Made in America, Nate and Ryan wanted to rewatch another film that explores the details of one of the most famous events in history.  The film follows New Orleans attorney Jim Garrison (Kevin Costner)… Continue reading

Nate and Ryan invite their friend Tim along to rewatch the 1984 hit comedy Ghostbusters, in anticipation of the new reboot.  Many people have cried out against this new film, saying that changing it will “ruin their childhood.”  Since this movie wasn’t really a part of Nate or Ryan’s childhoods, they… Continue reading

Nate and Ryan are no strangers to their own nostalgia, but for this episode, they rewatch LA Confidential and discuss how Hollywood handles nostalgia.  LA Confidential‘s view of 1950s Hollywood takes the tropes of noir and the glamour of old Hollywood and exposes the corruption that lurks just barely below the surface.… Continue reading