Have Not Seen This

At first we were a bit worried that an episode about Monty Python and the Holy Grail would consist of just quoting the lines from the movie for an hour, but thankfully we were able to get past that and have a decent conversation about the movie. Join Rafe and guest Austin West as they talk about whether Monty Python is just "guy comedy," elements of the movie you may have missed the first (or seco...

You probably know the iconic moments from various film montages, but how many of you have actually seen the 1967 Dustin Hoffman comedy The Graduate? Rafe had not, but this week he fixes that, courtesy of his conversation with Script-Promptu member Chad Schreiner. Rafe and Chad discuss why parts of the movie don't hold up so well in today's culture, how brilliant Hoffman was as a comedic actor, and...

If you're looking for lighter-fare, as we're trying to focus on for a little while, it doesn't get much lighter than Fletch, the 1985 Chevy Chase comedy about an investigative reporter who "changes identities more than he changes his underwear." This week Reel Rundown co-host Price Ashe joins Rafe to talk about Fletch, Chevy Chase, contemporary actors who could take Chase's mantle, and oddly enoug...

The Secret Life of Walter Mitty is an almost perfect HNST movie. It brags an impressive cast, including Ben Stiller (who also directed), Kristen Wiig, Adam Scott, and Shirley MacLaine. It has a surprising amount of substance, leading to an excellent conversation about the movie and how Rafe and guest Alex Kunka related to it. But somehow, it's also largely overlooked. It's definitely a movie worth...

Labyrinth is a film that has been maligned on several episodes of the podcast thus far, so it's about time someone came on the show to defend it. That "someone" is Emily Slade, who provides one of our most entertaining episodes to date. Rafe and Emily discuss his previous remarks about Jennifer Connelly's acting in Labyrinth, investigate the relationship her character, Sarah, has with the differen...

This week we look at the most contemporary film to come to Have Not Seen This: John Wick. Believe it or not, however, it is a movie Rafe had not seen until preparing for this episode. Listen to Rafe and guest Millan Singh (SpyFy After Dark) talk about the amazing action sequences and Keanu Reeves' as an actor, before digging deeper into the world created for the movie and the idea of "honor among...

We go down the rabbit hole this week for The Matrix, a movie that has been a long time coming for Rafe to discuss on a podcast. Our guest is Yagami, who brings an amazing passion about movies and a very unique perspective as someone in a developing country. Rafe and Yagami discuss movie theaters, the 3D film phenomenon, philosophy, anime films, and (of course) The Matrix. It's an excellent episode...

Back in episode 5, Rafe mentioned that his onscreen avatar tended to be John Cusack, who often played roles that Rafe connected with deeply. Knowing that, it's a bit surprising to discover he had not seen One Crazy Summer, a young Cusack coming-of-age movie that probably would have connected well with Rafe at the time. How well does he connect with it now? Join Rafe and guest Michael Copeland as t...

This week's movie was a surprising beast to track down in order to watch - something Rafe talks about in the intro and in the interview with this week's guest, Matt Slayer. Matt brought 1995's Strange Days to the show, a movie Rafe loves due to Ralph Fiennes' awesome performance, although it had been a while since he last saw the movie. Matt and Rafe talk about the range of movies Fiennes took on...

If you've watched Saturday Night Live since the turn of the century, most likely you're aware of Lonely Island, a trio of comedians who have gone on to make quite the name for themselves beyond the halls of SNL with their digital shorts and feature films. Their first film was Hot Rod, an absurd 2007 comedy about the world's worst stuntman. This week, Rafe is joined by guest Garret, from Garret Tal...

You know the story and its lines: "As you wish," "My name is Inigo Montoya, you killed my father. Prepare to die." But I would bet you don't look at The Princess Bride the same way as this week's guest, Kate Wallinga. Listen as Kate and Rafe dig into this classic fairy tale movie, discuss being introduced to movies via network television, and consider that a strong female figure doesn't always mea...

Most people know some of the iconic images from Stanley Kubrick's A Clockwork Orange, but how many people have actually seen the film? This week Rafe and Johanna from the Fresh Hell podcast dive into the movie to talk about aspects both familiar and foreign for those who only know those iconic shots. We discuss how the violence and depiction of women make the film rather unfriendly for a female au...

We've previously looked at Robert De Niro in The Mission , but most people think of De Niro as a tough guy, playing gangsters and brutes. Midnight Run was the movie that really changed that for the actor, opening the door into the world of comedy. This week Rafe looks at the '80s action-comedy, brought to the show by comedian/actor Aram Martinez, and Rafe may never quite look at De Niro the same w...

When The Rules of Attraction hit theaters in 2002, it was branded as a teen comedy, no doubt to capitalize on the success of stars like James Van Der Beek and Jessica Biel. The marketing couldn't have been more wrong. This is a dark film, but one that guest Sean Abraham Preston feels like not enough people have seen. We talk about why such a dark movie appealed to Sean, the nihilistic world of Bre...

We go back to the far past in Japan for this week's pick, Akira Kurosawa's Rashomon. The movie explores a sequence of events from different perspectives and really plays with the power of the unreliable narrator and the concept of "truth" in a way contemporary audiences may not be used to. Don't let that dissuade you from seeing the movie, however. It's a classic that is completely worth your time...

For a blockbuster film, The Fifth Element provides a surprising amount of jumping off points for discussion. Join Rafe and guest D.E. Medus as they discuss what it means for this film to be "another Bruce Willis movie," complain about spoilers in trailers, debate whether Leeloo is an empowering female figure, and determine what happened to Chris Tucker as he's faded from the screen. Follow Rafe on...

At first glance, Scott Pilgrim vs the World is a high octane film that pays tribute to video games and comic books in a near ADD presentation. Look at bit deeper, however, and you'll find some astute observations about love and the fragile nature of relationships. Rafe dives in deep this week with guest Mike from Talk'n Pops as they talk about collecting Funko Pops, dating, becoming the villain, a...

You know Miracle on 34th Street, or A Christmas Carol, or A Christmas Story, but somehow The Bishop's Wife is a holiday movie that has disappeared from the cultural lexicon despite its holiday content and multiple Oscar nominations. This week Rafe talks with guest Laura Uber about why this Cary Grant classic should not be forgotten, how hard it is not to compare it to another movie featuring a vis...

The late '90s saw one of the frequent waves of similarly conceived film projects, this time tackling supernatural threats in the underwater world: The Abyss, DeepStar Six, and this week's film Leviathan (not to be confused with the 2014 fishing village drama of the same name). How does Leviathan stack up against the other underwater threats of 1989? Why is it so hard for critics and fans to descri...

This week brings another new movie that Rafe was not aware of before this podcast: SLC Punk!, which stars Matthew Lillard and Micahel A. Goorjian as a pair of punk rockers in Salt Lake City at a turning point in their life. While discussing the movie Rafe and guest Jono Uber reminisce about working in movie theaters, speculate what kinds of lengths their sons will have to go through to pull one ov...

While many, many people have seen The Matrix, far fewer people have seen the similar post-modern science-fiction film Dark City, which only came out a year before Neo's first chapter. While both movies follow post-modern ideologies, they are distinctly different and Dark City definitely deserves a viewing, so this week Rafe and guest Adam Thomas dive into Dark City's philosophical goodness. Follow...

Take Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet, mix in music by Leonard Bernstein and lyrics by Stephen Sondheim, add in some questionably racial portrayals, and you wind up with 1961's West Side Story. Although the story, which features two young star-crossed lovers on opposing sides of a gang war, is being remade by Steven Spielberg, there are many reasons to revisit the original film, which definitely fal...

Due to unexpected events, we don't have a movie recorded to have a conversation about this week, so we dug into the archives of The Weekly Blend Audio Show and pulled out this old gem from October 2008, where Kevin Smith joined hosts Rafe Telsch, Margaret Williams, and Tim Kennard. It's an interesting snapshot in time, where Iron Man was just coming out on DVD and Blu-ray, The Dark Knight was in t...

Writer/director Taika Waititi is best known for Thor: Ragnarok, although horror fans also hail his brilliance for What We Do In Shadows. The New Zealand filmmaker has tackled more personal stories several times, including 2010's Boy, a coming-of-age story about an eleven-year-old boy in 1984 era New Zealand. I cannot recommend this film highly enough, and give major thanks to James Rodrigues for i...

This week's movie offers the first opportunity to discuss the need to separate art and artist - a conversation I have no doubt we will return to again in the future. It also enters the realm of "blaxploitation," a genre Rafe admits he doesn't have much experience with. So why tackle this film? Because guest Marissa Tallant chose it! She explains why as part of their conversation that dives into th...