Close Watch with Robert Yaniz Jr.

It's the most terror-filled time of the year. This episode, we're taking a look at one of the most influential horror films of the 2000s: James Wan's 2004 release Saw. In addition to seven (soon-to-be eight) sequels, the film kickstarted Wan's directing career long before Insidious, The Conjuring, Furious 7, and Aquaman. But is Saw just a disposable bit of "torture porn" like so many of its imitat...

The end is drawing nearer as our ill-timed Harry Potter series trudges ahead. Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince may opt for love-potion hijinks over grim flashbacks. But the movie still gives audiences a delightful turn by Oscar winner Jim Broadbent, potions galore, and a taste of the Harry-Dumbledore buddy movie we could have gotten instead. Kai Yaniz returns to the show after reading the bo...

Christian Bale might have played the Dark Knight for director Christopher Nolan. But his real superpower as an actor is his ability to play cold, emotionally detached characters such as American Psycho 's Patrick Bateman. And building off of that iconic performance, Equilibrium thrusts Bale full-on into dystopian sci-fi. But, y'know, with "gunkata." Returning guest Jon Cohorn previously brought th...

Long before Liam Neeson let the world know about his "very particular set of skills," he was Darkman. The cult classic from director Sam Raimi even predates Neeson's Star Wars and Batman Begins days. Yet, in many ways, it feels like it belongs to the initial comic book movie boom of the early 2000s. Kevin Smith joins the show to discuss why Darkman is such a well-kept secret, how it's a critical t...

The real-life political climate bleeds into the Wizarding World this week. Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix is very much a political commentary. So guest Amy Otero and I did our very best to stay focused on the movie at hand. As it turned out, neither of us realized just how relevant director David Yates' first Harry Potter movie would be. If Year Four represents Harry's loss of innocence...

What comes to mind when you think of John Carpenter? Most people probably go straight to classic horror films like Halloween or The Thing. Or perhaps cult sci-fi thrillers such as Escape from New York and They Live. The point is, we're willing to bet few would think Carpenter had a romantic sci-fi drama in him. And yet Starman exists. Starring Jeff Bridges and Karen Allen -- who we just covered in...

After spending all of 2019 covering the Star Wars saga, we finally crack the whip on George Lucas' other beloved creation finally. Together with director Steven Spielberg and star Harrison Ford, Lucas created one of cinema's most iconic action heroes in Indiana Jones. That's right. This episode, it's all Raiders of the Lost Ark. Craig Price of Matinee Heroes joins the show to discuss that 1981 adv...

Great Scott! It's time for the Crooked Table Podcast to go Back to the Future! We don't need money, fame, or even a flux capacitor to travel through the space-time continuum to discuss this classic. In fact, while we have the Delorean all fired up at 88mph, we'll even look back at director Robert Zemeckis' entire trilogy. Vanessa Taylor from The Geeky Waffle helps us tackle the original 1985 sci-f...

After nearly three decades away from their breakthrough roles, Keanu Reeves and Alex Winter return for Bill and Ted Face the Music. Having previously covered Reeves' The Matrix and John Wick , there's no way we were going to pass up this most triumphant opportunity to pull off a Keanu hat trick. With the help of Chris Scalzo of The First Run podcast, we travel all the way back to 1989 to discuss B...

It's that time again as we charge through Platform 9 and 3/4 for another year at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. This month, we're taking a look at the fourth entry in the Harry Potter series, 2005's Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire. As fans know, this is the entry where the stakes really kick into gear, propelling towards the inevitable conclusion. So to help us break down the pivo...

After decades in the industry, Danny Trejo finally landed his first leading role in 2010. Directed by longtime Trejo collaborator Robert Rodriguez and Ethan Maniquis, the wild action movie served as the culmination of Trejo's career up to that point. And they called it Machete. Based on a fake trailer Rodriguez directed for Grindhouse -- his 2007 double feature with Quentin Tarantino -- Machete le...

Many critics consider Paul Thomas Anderson one of the greatest living American auteurs. And with 2007's There Will Be Blood, Anderson proved he and Daniel Day-Lewis complement each other's distinctive skill sets. At least for some moviegoers. After all, Anderson's films aren't exactly mainstream crowd-pleasers. Enter 2017's Phantom Thread. A full decade after their first collaboration, Anderson an...

Over the years, Kai Yaniz has endured Scott Pilgrim vs. the World , The Room , and -- most infamously -- Cats . Now Rob finally makes time for our long-awaited Crooked Commentary of Can't Hardly Wait. The 1998 teen comedy was written and directed by Harry Elfont and Deborah Kaplan. And it also happens to be the perfect encapsulation of the late 1990s. Join Kai, Rob, and an ensemble cast of up-and-...

Last year, author and vocalist Lori London brought 1945's Christmas in Connecticut to the Table. Now she's back with another Barbara Stanwyck comedy, 1941's Ball of Fire. Featuring an Oscar-nominated lead performance and a screenplay co-written by Billy Wilder, director Howard Hawks' movie deserves to be rediscovered. Join Lori and I as we discuss how Ball of Fire captures the power of words, why...

The Holocaust isn't exactly brimming with comedic potential. But in the right hands, the real-life horrors of World War II can serve a noble cause. In some cases, this harsh setting can underscore the futility of hate and the absurdity of prejudice. Such is the goal of this episode's movie, writer-director Taika Waititi's 2019 Oscar winner Jojo Rabbit. On her first appearance, Karen Peterson broug...

Our year-long journey through the Harry Potter series continues with year three: Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban. After back-to-back installments from director Chris Columbus, the franchise finally spreads its wings. This is thanks, in large part, to the addition of future Oscar-winning filmmaker Alfonso Cuarón (Gravity, Roma). Following our Star Wars: Revenge of the Sith episode, Jackson...

John Wayne is, of course, synonymous with the classic Hollywood Western. Yet, the first movie of his we're covering on this show is actually a romantic comedy. Wayne reteamed with director John Ford and Maureen O'Hara for 1952's The Quiet Man. And the shift in genre paid off for the trio behind 1950 Western Rio Grande. The Quiet Man turned out to be one of the year's biggest box office hits. And w...

Another year has passed, and once again, Rob is celebrating his birthday with a special episode. Last year, he brought on his mom, Jeannine Yaniz, to talk Who Framed Roger Rabbit . Now it is Kai Yaniz in the hot seat. And the movie in question this year is Judd Apatow's 2005 comedy The 40-Year-Old Virgin. We'll discuss how well the movie's sense of humor has aged, the flawless ensemble cast, and h...

Riddle me this, riddle me that... it's finally time to talk about the Bat. That's right. Somehow, the Crooked Table Podcast has never taken on a Batman solo movie. And with news Michael Keaton may return to the Batsuit, the Dark Knight's future has never been brighter. Sadly, that exciting news came out the same day we learned of director Joel Schumacher's passing. So, on this episode, partially i...

This episode, we return to Hogwart's School of Witchcraft and Wizardry for an in-depth chat about Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets. In many ways, Year Two feels like the end of an era for the franchise. Director Chris Columbus left after this point, taking the warm and fuzzies largely with him. And the late Richard Harris makes his final appearance as Albus Dumbledore. Teri Sears joins the...

For the second time, we're covering a James Cameron film on the show. And just like Terminator 2: Judgment Day, Aliens is a testament to the filmmaker's ability to deliver a thrilling, game-changing sequel. The 1986 follow-up to Ridley Scott's Alien is the rare example of a second film elevating its predecessor by building on what's come before in innovative new ways. And like T2, Aliens was so go...

As soon as we caught a glimpse of the infamous first trailer for Cats, we knew it would be a perfect addition to our Crooked Commentary series. After all, we've talked about some great films in the last few installments, including The Nightmare Before Christmas , Scott Pilgrim vs. the World , and When Harry Met Sally... So it's about time we get Crooked Commentary back to awesomely bad movies like...

As a righteous dude once said, "Life moves pretty fast. If you don't stop and look around once in a while, you could miss it." That and countless other insanely quotable lines propelled writer/director John Hughes' 1986 hit, Ferris Bueller's Day Off, to become one of the biggest comedies of the decade. Even now, more than three decades after its release, fans are still discovering and revisiting F...

It's April Fool's Day! And because we can all use a bit of silliness right about now, the Crooked Table Podcast is setting aside the usual format for a timely jaunt into the world of magic and illusions. No democratizing the film criticism conversation this week. And this week's special episode isn't even (exclusively) designed to be a tie-in to our just-launched Harry Potter series . Rather, the...

Last year, we had a blast running through all nine episodes in the Star Wars saga. But now that the Skywalker has risen (kinda?), we're turning our attention to a bunch of British witches and wizards. That's right: 2020 is the year of Harry Potter. Because this year really could use a bit of magic right about now. Bri Azmoudeh of Geeky Girl Gab joins the show to help us travel back nearly two deca...