From Under The Rock

This week, in the hopes of finding some light in the current darkness, Ben had the bright idea for us to watch a movie about a previous crisis, because I guess that would make us... feel better? Something about "things have been bad and we made it through before" or some nonsense like that. Anyways, this led to us watching "The Big Short," the 2015 film starring Christian Bale,...

This week we covered The Mark of Zorro, not to be confused with The Mask of Zorro, not to be confused with The Sign of Zorro, not to be confused with Zorro, The Gay Blade, not to be confused with 1975's Zorro, not to be... well, you get the idea. This version, out of 1940, and arguably the original (at least the original with spoken dialogue), is a fantastic and straightforward swashbuckling g...

As shameless nerds and tabletop gaming enthusiasts ourselves, this weeks movie - "Game Night" (2018) - felt like an almost must-watch as we continue to look for ways to distract ourselves from the outside world with a bit of goofiness. Starring Jason Bateman, Rachel McAdams, Jesse Plemons, and Kyle Chandler, this under-the-radar comedy is a thrilling good time from start to finish, and w...

What can really be said about the 2002 co-winner of the "Stinkers Bad Movie Awards" prize for Most Painfully Unfunny Comedy other than it - 2002's "Kung Pow: Enter The Fist" - is exactly the movie that you think it is and is yet somehow still a seemingly essential part of a certain generation's zeitgeist. We won't lie to you about what you're getting into with t...

This week we covered an all-time classic, and one of Meryl Streep's most iconic performances, "The Devil Wears Prada." Anne Hathaway, Stanley Tucci, Emily Blunt, and others all give excellent performances as well, but as we all know, Meryl is the showstopper. In the social media era, it's almost impossible to have completely avoided references to this movie, so if you haven't...

Hark! A new episode drops! We apologize, friends, we've been navigating some work/life balance adjustments lately and it's been a little tougher than expected to keep up with the editing for the show. In any case, this week we covered 1994's "Stargate." A film that launched several long-running television spinoffs and that honestly surprised both of us with how casually fun i...

Come for the Val Kilmer tribute, stay for us railing against this suprisingly bad film that I think we may have all remembered being way better than it is. I guess that's what a 35-years-later sequel can do for image rehab. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ Join us!

Dogma. A wonderful movie about angels, demons, humans, and lots of other bible-y things in between that stars Ben Affleck, Matt Damon, Salma Hayek, George Carlin, and Jay & Silent Bob (among others). We're still working on actually making our episodes shorter than the films themselves, but in lieu of that, testing out a somewhat briefer episode description. Maybe it's just the burn out...

As we all know, the true meaning of Christmas is that it's important to keep the spirit of spooky season alive in your heart all the long year round. To that end, this week we're covering one of the most intriguing horror/thrillers from 2024: "Heretic." Starring Hugh Grant, Chloe East, and Sophie Thatcher, this delightful continuation of Hugh Grant's descent into more nefario...

They can't all be winners, right folks? Just as not every movie should take itself so seriously, so must every movie podcast also leave space for self amusement and having some fun with it. To that end, this week we covered Joel Schumacher's immortal-for-all-the-wrong-reasons superhero entry: BatNips! Erm, I mean... Batman and Robin. Starring George Clooney, Arnold Schwarzenegger, Uma Thur...

With awards season now rapidly shrinking in our rear view, we thought this week we'd aim for something more brief and more fun, while featuring another delightful animated film as animation never gets enough attention or love. This week, it's Studio Ghibli's charming 1992 entry "Porco Rosso." Starring Michael Keaton, Cary Elwes, Kimberly Williams-Paisley, and Susan Egan (in t...

With just a couple days to go before the 97th Academy Awards, this week we're covering what was once maybe a presumptive favorite to walk away with Best Picture, but now runs neck and neck alongside others due to an A.I. controversy and, frankly, one of the most obscene runtimes Hollywood has ever delivered to us. Yes indeed, it's "The Brutalist." Featuring absolutely beautiful, nuanced performanc...

With the Oscars right around the corner, this week we finally took the plunge and braved "The Substance." Boasting a better score with critics than with audiences, this movie is undoubtedly a shocking one, and one that is almost certainly not for the faint of heart (or stomach), but holy hell did this movie have something to say and did it ever say it well. Starring Demi Moore in what ma...

As awards season marches on, this week we took a look at one of the dark-horse darlings of 2024: Anora. Already the winner of the Critics' Choice Award for Best Picture and the coveted Palme d'Or from the Cannes Film Festival, this visceral Cinderella story gone wrong features a powerhouse performance from Mikey Madison as the titular Anora. It is a story of perceived love, performed love,...

This week as we continue to cover films in the running to be honored at the 97th Oscars next month, we're taking a quick detour from Best Picture nominees to cover one of the nominees for Best Animated Feature Film - The Wild Robot. Starring Lupita Nyong'o, Pedro Pascal, Kit Connor, Bill Nighy, Stephanie Hsu, Catherine O'Hara, Matt Berry, and Mark Hamill (what a cast!), this heartfelt...

After a much needed week off, and now with Oscar nominations officially having been announced, we're back with another episode covering one of the movies you'll certainly be hearing a lot about in the coming weeks leading up to the 97th Academy Awards: Emilia Pérez. Starring Karla Sofía Gascón, Zoe Saldaña, and Selena Gomez, this unique and controversial film follows the story of a Mexican...

With the Golden Globes just recently behind us and awards season now in full swing, we once again turn our attention to the upcoming Academy Awards in March, much as we did for a few weeks last year. This year, we're endeavoring to bring you more of the Best Picture nominees than the three we managed in 2024, and with already limited time between now and the Oscars currently scheduled for Marc...

Happy New Year, listeners! As we look ahead now to all the ambition and promise of the new year, this week we watched a film featuring one of the most ambitious and accomplished characters of all time - the great Sherlock Holmes. In this iteration, he is portrayed by the incomparable Sir Ian McKellen, who alongside Laura Linney, Milo Parker, and Hiroyuki Sanada, delivers an incredibly heartfelt an...

Merry Christmas, dear listeners! This week we covered one of the most iconic, most heartfelt, and most meme-ified Christmas movies of all time: "Love, Actually." Starring just about every last one of your favorite British stars (Grant, Thompson, Firth, Rickman, Nighy, Ejiofor, Atkinson, Knightley, etc. the list LITERALLY goes on an on), this magnum opus from Richard Curtis examines the complexitie...

As the holiday season rolls along, the warmth of community swells all around us to the point of almost sometimes seeming just a little magic. And in some cases, like those of the fictional towns from the delightfully silly, cookie-cutter Christmas romance movies that come out every year, that magic is more than just a little real. Enter "Hot Frosty," one of 2024's most ridiculously entertaining su...

'Tis the season for some holiday cheer! And what better place to find it than Nakatomi Plaza circa 1988. Join us as we dive into one of the greatest action (and Christmas ^_~) movies of all time, Die Hard! Starring Bruce Willis and Alan Rickman, this movie is a festive romp from start to finish. Willis shines as the plucky, unlikely hero NYPD officer John McClane, thoroughly out of his element in...

Of all the mystical and magical worlds of fiction, Oz is certainly among those that have inspired the most stories, retellings, speculations, and wonder. In keeping with that (and another little movie you may have heard just a little bit about lately), this week we're covering 1985's "Return To Oz," starring Fairuza Balk, Nicol Williamson, and Brian Henson. Just a few months removed from her trip...

Happy Anniversary, listeners! We can hardly believe that we've been doing this show for a full year now and we're thrilled that you have joined us along the way. To mark the occasion, this week we're covering one of the greatest and most classic films of all time, 1942's "Casablanca." Starring Humphrey Bogart and Ingrid Bergman, this beautifully intimate story is a tale of love in a time of World...

After a short mental health break, we are so back baby. And we're returning with the pure, mindless fun of 2008's "Stepbrothers," starring Will Ferrell and John C. Reilly. What else is there really to say about this movie? It is every bit the insanely silly, childish romp you'd expect it to be and honestly, it was what we needed right now. We hope you guys will enjoy it too.

Holy fifty episodes, Batman! To celebrate this milestone we're bringing you the breakdown of this enormous, spectacular sequel from just earlier this year - Denis Villenueve's sweeping masterpiece of a cautionary tale, "Dune: Part Two." Set against the visually stunning backdrop of the desert planet of Arrakis, this film is a breathtaking journey from start to finish, filled with exemplary perform...