Friday Nights at Blockbuster

K - Katanas and Kimonos I - "If on your journey, you should encounter God, God will be cut." L - Lucy  L- Liu B - Bride I - Ironside by Quincy Jones L - Lancaster, California  L - Lee, Bruce V - Vipers, Deadly O - One Eye L - Lady Snowblood 1 - 1,2,3,4, 5.6.7.8’s Hosts: Ciaran Vallely, Kate Vallely

… I have a condition that if I start to talk about a movie, or describe it in anyway for too long, I can sometimes forget how I started or why. Just letting you know now in case I repeat myself later…  Welcome to the first official episode of Friday Nights at Blockbuster (the first one with a proper introduction anyways). We will be looking back at some of the biggest, most popular, most impo...

Welcome to the new show - Friday Nights at Blockbuster - where Kate and myself will look back at the movies that shaped the 2000s. But before we get to those movies, there is the small matter of the Academy Award Nominations. We talk about the big winners of nomination morning (the Irish), the snubs, and give a couple predictions about who/what we think will win the big prizes. Plus Andrea Risebor...

More guests and their favourite movies of the year. I also quickly run down my top 10 movies of the year, because indie hit The Batman really needs the support of this podcast.  Host: Ciaran Vallely Guests: Carly Pokoradi, Tom Costie, Melissa Criminisi, Stuart Wilson

End of the year is a time to reflect. 2022 has been a bit of a bounce back year for movies. We are through most of the pandemic delays now, and many of the best filmmakers are returning with deeply personal movies.  I wanted to do a best of the year episode, but didn’t want to just sit and talk about the movies I loved, because this whole podcast is about movies you love. So with that in mind...

Lots of interesting questions, and some interesting answers. The questions about Soccer movies were a particular sore spot, but I powered through. Host: Ciaran Vallely Guest: Kate Vallely

Have I come around on Avatar and the inevitable dominance of its sequels? I wouldn't say that, but my feelings about most box office dominating franchises are well known and not worth stating anymore. So maybe the enemy of my enemy is my friend. Host: Ciaran Vallely

Two movies about long boat trips, where are protagonists decide into obsessive madness, and the journeys are a metaphor for the existential struggles of man. Real date night stuff going on here.  With Apocalypse Now, Francis Ford Coppola really cemented his legacy for pushing the boundaries of filmmaking, and it nearly killed him. James Gray claims Lost City of Z nearly killed him as well, bu...

Cult classics are a difficult thing to wrap your head around. It tends to mean that your movie has flopped and made no money, but also that years later people have rediscovered the movie and cherish it. Donnie Darko is certainly one such movie. From a director that has more or less gone on to do nothing, Donnie Darko continues to stump and confound audiences with what it actually means. The second...

Love is love. It comes in all shapes, sizes, and settings (unless that setting is the 2022 World Cup…but lets not go down that road). But the two movies this week take different looks at the exciting rollercoaster ride of falling in love. Whether that be unconventionally with your computer, or a little more conventionally with another person. One is jam packed with fun futuristic world building to...

With the weather turning (there is literally snow outside as I post this), we could all probably do with a couple movies that make us feel warm and cozy. These two may be on the  polar opposites in terms of how they are getting to that feeling, but they both ultimately have the desired effect. I believe this is also the first time I've been able to talk about a real foreign language movie, so...

Labeling The Da Vinci Code a murder mystery might be a stretch, but just come along for the ride. We are living in a murder mystery renaissance after all. Host: Ciaran Vallely Guest: Kate Vallely

The Western genre has been around as long as movies themselves. They never really go away because they are so cheap and easy to make. However, what do you get when you take some of the most genuinely talented filmmakers ever, and give them something that just plays around with our long established expectations of what a Western should be. The two movies this week see the first real subversion of t...

This is it with the horror movies, I promise… well unless a guest picks one. But if this is it, better to go out with one of the absolute best. The Exorcist has been called the scariest movie since the day it was released. So what makes this movie’s reputation so lasting? Well I try to unpack that question. This would have been easier to do with a second person, and I did originally have one, but...

Tough one for the mothers out there this week.  The term “elevated horror” is probably equal parts celebrated for its attempts at bringing new ideas, different themes, and certain styles to the horror genre, but also derided for being a bit snobby. You can classify either or both of the movies this week as elevated horror or not (the term didn’t exist when Rosemary’s Baby was released), but w...

With the season finale of The Rings of Power coming out today, it felt like a perfect time to talk about the legacy of the Lord of the Rings movies, and some initial feelings about the show thus far. There are a few digressions in the conversation here and there, and we probably spend way too much time talking about the Irish accent of the Harfoots.  Host: Ciaran Vallely Guests: Stuart Wilson...

The movie that changed the face of horror movies for an entire generation. Scream has endured as a classic for so long because it successfully does two things. Firstly, it delivers on the basic level of a teen slasher. The characters are fun to hang out with. The killer is creative and fresh. Secondly, it is a brilliant send up of all the horror movie tropes that had become boring and tired by the...

Starting the October Horror Miniseries with the movie that redefined horror movies for my generation. The found footage trend was certainly around before The Blair Witch Project, but definitely not in the way it would be afterwards. However, I think that movie often gets lumped in with the cheap imitators who took all the wrong lessons. One movie that did learn the right lessons from The Blair Wit...

What is the best way to tackle a biopic? Is there an obligation to be factual and true, or should the filmmakers get a little more wiggle room to explore themes and ideas within the framework of telling someone's life story? I've grown extremely tired of movies literally just playing the hits from someone's life (mostly done for musicians or bands). The new Netflix movie based on the fictionalized...

Perhaps the most talked about movie that no one had seen for many years, Don't Worry Darling opens wide this week, and we were there to see it for ourselves. The best sci-fi movies ask probing questions, and reflect our reality in a way that make us think about issues in a new and fresh way... Don't Worry Darling doesn't really do any of that. We breakdown the many controversies, what we liked and...

If you're gearing up for October and horror movie season, then I've got you covered to get an early start. There have been a lot of really great and fun horror movies so far this year, whether it's the latest Scream sequel, the Gen-Z paranoia of Bodies, Bodies, Bodies, or the horror of politeness that is Speak No Evil. But in this recommendation episode I wanted to look at a couple movies that are...

Another year, another festival. another slightly deranged lineup of pre-movie sponsor advertisements. Welcome to the Toronto International Film Festival! With my ever trusty TIFF partner, we breakdown the movies we wanted to see but couldn't, the movies we want to see now after successful festival runs, and finally our Top 4 movies that we did see. This is our favourite time of the year, and despi...

The coming of age movie is something that has been around since Hollywood realized teenagers and young adults have an abundance of disposable income. However, every once and a while a filmmaker wants to do something a little different with the genre, and these two movies are great examples of a filmmaker taking a tried and true formula but giving it a little twist (with a bonus discussion about Gr...

This week is all about the gangster movie, and when talking to my Irish cousin it was probably best to keep things focused on Irish gangsters. One movie is set in Boston, the other set in New York. One gave its filmmaker his greatest ever success, the other has been completely lost to time. However, both are filled with lots of alcohol, cigarettes, and famous actors! Host: Ciaran Vallely Guest: Br...

I love animated movies, especially animated movies that take full advantage of the medium and shows us things that we wouldn't be able to see otherwise. Both of the movies this week achieve that in their own unique ways despite their very different approaches to style. Host: Ciaran Vallely Guest: Clara Wilson