Classic American Movies

A few years back I did a thorough breakdown of one of my favorite slasher flicks of the 90’s: “I Know What You Did Last Summer”. To celebrate the requel coming out, I decided to rerelease the episode! Kick back and enjoy a classic episode as my wife Miriam and I talk about all things 90’s horror, who Freddie Prinze Jr. is and everything you should know about “I Know What You Did Last Summer”! If y...

If you’ve seen a movie in the last month, or have used an Apple product, then you’ve seen the trailer for “F1: The Movie”. I’m going to be honest and say that I didn’t have much hope for this. Brad Pitt as an aging driver showing a young hotshot (Damson Idris) the ropes on professional F1 Driving didn’t scream excitement for me. However, I was wrong! This movie with the tired trope of “passing the...

Growing up in the late 80’s and early 90’s, everyone was in love with Cannon and Carolco movies. When your mind thinks of 80’s action movies, the first movies that come to mind is from one of those production companies. I met Ukrainian author and film critic Davyd Klimov after he reviewed my proof of concept Bishop’s Day . His honest criticism of movies and love of cinema made me want to bring him...

It’s been 23 years since 28 Days Later and 18 years since 28 Weeks Later ; does the franchise have anything left in it? Well, I thought so! Instead of a zombie flick, writer Alex Garland crafted a very in-depth look at the rite of passage in society and having to do the right thing even when you’re not old enough to comprehend what that means. I bet you didn't see that coming! If you’re not doing...

Welcome to the mini pods, where it’s just me (Chris) talking about my thoughts on a new movie. Usually the pods have more in-depth research, these are more just like me and minor research. Karate Kid is back and more kung fu-er than ever! Why is this about kung fu and not karate? Well .. you saw the remake, yeah? Anyways, kind of a strange installment in the Kid franchise that doesn’t really use t...

It’s been 14 years since the last Final Destination flick and does this franchise still have life left? Are the deaths as gross and fun as before or did we finally reach our destination? Well, I really liked it and think everyone who wants to relax and have a fun time at the theaters (how long has it been since we did that?) to go see Final Destination: Bloodlines as soon as possible! Buy popcorn,...

The 90’s were such a wonderful time for horror. 1996 In particular really kickstarted a new wave of horror, especially the rebirth of slashers. Yes, we all know Scream but there was firehose of teens getting butchered in the late 90’s to 2000’s and Urban Legend was one of the most memorable ones starring a who’s who of teen icons! Friend of the pod (and good friend of mine) Clay joins me to discus...

The Surfer is one of those movies that comes around once in a few years that seems like it is a basic thriller but has so much more going on. Straight out of Dublin, Ireland, Director Lorcan Finnegan and writer Thomas Martin craft a thriller that moves towards midnight dark comedy about The Surfer (Nicolas Cage) who desperately wants to buy his childhood home on a beach in Australia. Locals aren't...

Frequent guest and friend of the pod, Ryan "Burger" McCurdy wrote and directed a wonderful throwback to detective flicks called “Pears”. The movie was made in his hometown in Evansville, Indiana and I loved it! To celebrate it’s release on  Tubi , I had Burger back on the pod to chat about the making of it. Per usual, we talk about everything and anything and Burger gives an in-depth look at indie...

Stanford teacher Shannon Pufhal’s debut novel about 1950’s America and the restraints on being gay was raved in the LA Times as being “a remarkable spell. [She] embraces noir’s mood while weaving in a love story,” by Mark Athitakis. Other reviewers found the novel so boring and bland they had to read the bulk of it in one sitting because they couldn't fathom picking it up again. The movie version...

Christopher Landon's latest flick is the trailer you've seen if you've been to the theaters in the last month. In fact, the running joke on Reddit is the trailer for Drop should show before the actual movie that way we can get the full circle experience. I'm not going to lie: I was pretty convinced the movie either: A) Didn't exist or B) Was a real stinker. Turns out I was wrong on both counts! Si...

A few months ago, I interviewed Nick Roth about his horror comedy “Hanky Panky” and for 4/20 this year, they’re doing a campaign every day of the week to promote it. To help out, I’m re-releasing our interview! Tune in as California State University Northridge film professor and filmmaker, Nick Roth and I talk filming in China, silent movies , what does “favorite movie” mean (which is part of his...

The movie that is making some noise at the indie level is about the scandal that rocked 1984: Michael Larson took on  Press Your Luck and walked away with $110,237 (roughly $339,000) in cash and prizes! Although the movie has a fun idea, there really isn't enough meat on the bones of this, but I still wanted to talk about it.  Join in the fun as I talk about 1984, the culture of the time and what...

Magazine Dreams is the movie that you’ve likely never heard of but should watch. Way back in 2023, Jonathan Majors put his heart into a performance and very soon after its premiere, it was discovered that Majors was abusing his girlfriend.  Dreams was quietly shoved to the side, and given back to the filmmakers, however, it was released to the public and I thought it was really good. So good, it d...

Last time I talked with indie filmmaker James Edwards (“Her Name is Christa”) he said  Trivial was in production hell. Well, he finished it and it’s now making the rounds to various festivals and I was blessed enough to check it out! I always love talking with film nerds, so having James back (and will gladly have him back anytime) was a no-brainer. Trivial was a great horror flick with a bar triv...

As crazy as it may sound,  Snow White is the most controversial movie of the year. It's been getting a lof of bad press, bad feedback and so far not doing so well at the box office. I wasted no time going to the theater to check it out and give my thoughts.  Since this is part of my mini pod episodes, these will be less indepth and more of a review. Is  Snow White good? Is it bad? Did they at leas...

After writing out some of my reviews on Instagram, I felt that some movies deserved a longer conversation, so I gave it one! These are the mini episodes, mainly focussed on new (or at least released in the last few months) that I would normally write about, but felt like talking about. These pods won't be as long or have as much info as the larger episodes, but you'll get my opinion on them and a...

Kashmiri filmmaker Arfat Sheikh began his long career at the age of 16 as a radio jockey for Radio Kashmir. Because he could speak English, this opened doors for him to pursue narration and film. Over many years this led him to Atlanta, to make Saffron Kingdom , a film that brought to light major issues that occurred in Kashmir. Although I worked on the movie, like most Americans, I had never hear...

List time I spoke with Austin, we were discussing his awesome throwback film “Exposure.” This time we’re talking about his super cool western grind house homage, “They Call Her Death.” His passion and love for cinema is so strong, you can literally feel the labor of love for this. Much like his first film: I loved it and I was super pumped to bring Austin back on to chat about movies, formats and...

Garrett Batty has had a life long love of filmmaking. Starting literally as far back as he can remember. Growing up in Park City, UT, he was exposed to all the classics like “Star Wars” “Back to the Future” and “Indiana Jones” and he wanted to do that. In 2009 he finally got the chance to make his dreams come true with the low budget “Scout Camp” and he never looked back. Creating his own style of...

More drinking, more stories! Drew is back for the epic conclusion to our deep dive into “Fight Club’ with beer”: “Beerfest.” We both had a lot to talk about with this one, so join us for the history of beer, which country drinks the most beer and the German purity Law, which is the law Germany set in 1516 and still in practice today. Fun fact: the first ever recorded recipe was beer! If you’re not...

I had so much fun having Drew Whitehouse on the pod to talk about “The Gift,” and I knew I had to have him back. Somehow we came up with talking about one of the best films involving beer drinking: Beerfest! Join us as we talk about the origins of the flick, beer drinking stories and more. We had so much fun drinking and talking, I made this a two-parter. There is more to this movie than just drin...

Ho ho ho! Welcome to the Christmas episode!  While watching movie reviews on YouTube, I stumbled across Mad Blood. Immediately, I loved how casual, yet informative Matt, the host, was. He does tons of reviews, rankings and is just generally fun to listen to! So I hit him up asking if he would like to come on the pod to talk about our personal favorite Christmas movies, and he said he'd be there fa...

More thoughts on “The Ninth Gate.” Ryan McCurdy and I had way too much information on the 2000 classic thriller. As we come got the conclusion, McCurdy talks about movies involving the devil in a term he calls “Satan Cinema.” We do a deep discussion on the very confusing ending in the movie vs the cut-and-dry ending in the book. If you’re not doing so already, please like and follow Classic Americ...

A lot of the times before I record a pod my friends and I will talk in general and not just the movie we’re recording. Usually when this happens, it’s 5-10 mins loosening up and then we jump into the pod, but good friend of mine and frequent guest, Ryan “Burger” McCurdy (of “Ranked”) were about to record “The Ninth Gate,” and the conversation was so good I made it an episode! We talk about working...