Catching Up On Cinema

This week in Catching Up On Cinema's "Alien Masterclass," Kyle and Trevor take a good long look at David Fincher's divisive and thoroughly unloved entry in the series, Alien 3 (1992)! Effectively disowned by it's director, the film's troubled production history is easily more interesting than the gloomy, confused mess that made it's way to theaters. Find us online at catchinguponcinema.com Follow...

In part 2 of our Alien Masterclass series, we review James Cameron's action/sci-fi game changer, Aliens (1986)! Trevor's personal favorite in the franchise, the film is regarded as a classic among classics in it's genre, holding the reputation as being one of the rare sequels that manages to equal or surpass the original. Starring a who's who of James Cameron regulars, and some of Stan Winston and...

In celebration of Catching Up On Cinema's 1st year anniversary of programming, Kyle and Trevor take it upon themselves to revisit the show format that kicked off the entire series: The Masterclass! Seeing as the Predator franchise served as the inaugural Masterclass episode, it only seems fitting that we follow things up with a deep dive into the closely related Alien franchise! Throughout the mon...

It's the 50th episode of Catching Up On Cinema! In celebration of this major milestone, Kyle and Trevor decide to revisit a film franchise that was important to both of them in their respective youths, Stephen Sommer's The Mummy Returns (2001)! While not "good" in the traditional sense, the film is very much a product of it's time and has the distinction of being a very cozy and immensely rewatcha...

In the final episode of "Anime August," Trevor reviews the critically acclaimed psychological thriller, Perfect Blue (1997)! The directorial debut of famed animator Satoshi Kon, the film is notable for it's elaborate editing and rich thematic content. Please note, the original recording of this episode, featuring both Trevor and Kyle in the standard conversational format, was unfortunately lost du...

Once again, it's time for our monthly "Catching Up On Blu-Ray" episode of the podcast! Physical media releases are pretty varied this time around, with some of the biggest of the big blockbusters dropping at various point throughout the month, as well as some funky looking indie flicks. A small preview of what's covered in the episode: Alice, Sweet Alice (Arrow, 1976) Detective Pikachu (4k, 2019)...

In this, the third installment in Catching Up On Cinema's "Anime August," Trevor has Kyle view the critically acclaimed Princess Mononoke (1997)! Animated by Studio Ghibli and directed by one of the most famous and influential of anime directors, Hayao Miyazaki, the film represents one of the earlier success stories in the realm of mainstream success for the medium worldwide. Set in the Muromachi...

In the second installment of "Anime August", Trevor and Kyle sit down to talk about Mamoru Oshii's 1995 cyberpunk classic, Ghost in the Shell!  Featuring technically astounding animation and uniquely introspective and philosophical themes, the film is beloved by many and heralded as a major source of inspiration for many subsequent sci-fi properties. Find us online at catchinguponcinema.com F...

This month is Anime August here at Catching Up On Cinema! For the next 4 weeks, Trevor is going to be taking Kyle on a journey through the colorful and varied world of Japanese animation, beginning with Gainax and Takeshi Mori's Otaku No Video (1991)! A farcical tale about 2 young men striving to make it big in the anime industry, the 2-part OVA (original video animation) is a unique, multi-layere...

In this final installment of Catching Up On Cinema's "Movies About Making Movies" month, Kyle and Trevor take a look at The Shark is Still Working (2012), Erik Hollander's heartfelt documentary about the making and legacy of Steven Spielberg's legendary blockbuster film, Jaws (1975). While the documentary is a little fluffy, and perhaps more of a tribute to rather than a true documentary of the ma...

In this very special episode in our "Movies About Making Movies" month, Kyle and Trevor review Jon Schepp's terrific documentary about the Tim Burton Superman film that never was, The Death of Superman Lives: What Happened (2015)! Comprised of interviews with the producers and pre-production that tirelessly worked on Superman Lives prior to it's abrupt cancellation, and featuring a wealth of behin...

In this installment of our "Catching Up On Movies About Making Movies" month, Trevor introduces Kyle to the delightfully shocking Canadian documentary, Kung Fu Elliot (2014)! Following the exploits of one Elliot "White Lightning" Scott and his attempts to make no budget action films and become "Canada's first action star", the documentary begins as a story about a wide-eyed dreamer, only to become...

In second installment of our "Catching Up On Movies About Movies" month, Trevor has Kyle watch one of his favorite documentaries of all time, Chris Smith's intimate portrait of a struggling filmmaker, American Movie (1999)! Following the exploits of wannabe filmmaker Mark Borchardt, the film is an intimate portrait of a frustrated and struggling artist and his efforts to eke out a living, ply his...

It's that time of the month again, as Kyle and Trevor sit down for the July 2019 edition of "Catching Up On Blu-Ray". Some highlights of this month's physical media releases: Putney Swope (1969) Escape Plan: The Extractors (2019) Mobile Suit Gundam: The Origin - Chronicle of the Loum Battlefield (2015 - 2018) Mothra (1961) Hulk (4k, 2003) Waterworld (4k, 1995) Pet Sematary (4k, 2019) High Life (20...

This July is "Movies About Making Movies" month at Catching Up On Cinema! Kyle's first pick for this month is the critically acclaimed documentary, Hearts of Darkness: A Filmmaker's Apocalypse (1991)! Telling the tale of Francis Ford Coppola's infamously troubled production of Apocalypse Now (1979), the documentary is often cited as an example of a behind-the-scenes tale that may potentially eclip...

In the last episode of our very loose, "Most Recent Entry in a Long-Lived Franchise" series of episodes, Kyle has Trevor sit down with him to discuss Ridley Scott's 2017 return to the Alien franchise proper, Alien: Covenant (2017)! Building on the themes and characters first introduced in the director's earlier film, Prometheus, Alien: Covenant is a beautiful, but often misguided and silly entry i...

We're a bit late this month, but it's time for Catching Up On Cinema's monthly Catching Up On Blu-Ray episode for the month of June 2019! Notable releases this month: Viy (1967) Batman (1989) - Batman and Robin (1997), now on 4k! Toy Story (1995) - Toy Story 3 (2010), now on 4k! Batman vs. Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles (2019) The Andromeda Strain (1971, Arrow) The Man Who Laughs (1928) The Man Who...

*WARNING!* Total spoilers for Godzilla: King of the Monsters! *WARNING!* In this special Theatrical Edition of Catching Up On Cinema, Kyle and Trevor head out to the theater to check out the 3rd entry in Legendary's "Monsterverse" franchise, Michael Dougherty's Godzilla: King of the Monsters (2019)! Featuring the heaviest of heavy hitters in the long lived Godzilla franchise, the movie is an unapo...

In the 2nd installment in Catching Up On Cinema's "Franchise Month," Trevor forces Kyle to subject himself to Sam Mendes' 2nd go 'round at the James Bond franchise: Spectre (2015)! Boasting a strong cast and truly magnificent cinematography, the film is dragged down by a clumsy, lackluster script, and is regarded by many as one of the lesser Bond films of the modern era. It needs to be said upfron...

It's the first week of June, so naturally the boys are reviewing... David Gordon Green's Halloween (2018)? This month's reviews will be part of something we're casually referring to as "Franchise Month."  Essentially, the idea this month is to tackle the most recent films in long lived franchises.  Streamlining the franchise canon by disregarding the events of all the Halloween films asi...

Catching Up On Keanu month draws to a close as Kyle has Trevor sit down to watch Carl Rinsch's universally reviled pseudo-Japanese fantasy action flick, 47 Ronin (2013)! A troubled production that saw the woefully inexperienced director removed from the project in it's post-production stages, the film represents the perfect storm of a bad script, given to painfully untalented director gifted with...

*WARNING!* Total spoilers for John Wick 3! *WARNING!* In a special Theatrical Edition of Catching Up On Cinema, Kyle and Trevor sit down to review the Keanu Reeves action flick, John Wick: Chapter 3 - Parabellum (2019)! The centerpiece of Catching Up On Keanu month, the film is a wholly satisfying action extravaganza packed to the gills with extraordinary choreography, violence, and who's who of n...

For the third installment in our "Catching Up On Keanu" month, Trevor has Kyle sit down to watch the only film ever directed by Keanu Reeves, Man of Tai Chi (2013)! Starring longtime collaborator and friend of Keanu's, Tiger Chen, the film is a quaint, but technically sound action film that was seemingly built from the ground up to be a showcase of the at the time largely unknown Chen's martial ar...

In this 2nd installment in our "Catching Up On Keanu" month, Kyle selects the 1996 action-thriller, Chain Reaction (1996)! Directed by prolific action director Andrew Davis, the film is a rather conventional thriller in the tradition of films such as The Fugitive (which was also directed by Davis) and The Net. Starring Keanu Reeves as a physicist/machinist/musician, Rachel Weisz as his main squeez...

It's time once again for our special monthly Catching Up On Blu-Ray episode! Physical media releases highlights for the month of May include: The Lego Movie 2: The Second Part (2019, 4k) Forrest Gump (1994, 4k) Broken Flowers (2005) The Heiress (Criterion, 1949) The Grand Duel (Arrow, 1972) They Shall Not Grow Old (2018) Godzilla (1998, 4k) House of Games (Criterion, 1987) Fighting with My Family...