HollywoodOutsider

Hunting ISIS follows a group of veteran and civilian volunteers who smuggle themselves into Syria and Iraq to fight against ISIS alongside local militias. Through the eyes of American fighters embedded with the Kurdish YPG militia in Syria, and medics supporting a coalition of local forces in Iraq, Hunting ISIS follows these men as they begin the difficult push to retake ISIS’ capital cities. New...

Have you ever been so excited for a film, you can just about taste the franchise potential? Maybe you left the theater giddier than you expected, or heard word on the internet that there would definitely be more of the world you fell in love with…only to never have it materialize? Our topic this week is Franchises That Never Happened. Shawn Fuller from Horribly Awkward joins us to discuss those fi...

Dystopian Relating to or denoting an imagined place or state in which everything is unpleasant or bad, typically a totalitarian or environmentally degraded one. On this week's podcast, we discuss how we would survive in a dystopian universe. What would your plan be? Are there any films that present this scenario in a completely plausible way? We also take a look at this genre in detail, as in: why...

Mother’s Day and Father’s Day are both here, so what better time to discuss the evolution of television families? We all remember watching various families on our favorite TV shows, but why did we connect with some over others? What was it about this obviously fictional yet familial bond that, often times, felt more real than our own? This week, we discuss how our beloved TV families have evolved...

With the largest opening in history, everyone is talking about Avengers: Infinity War. So we thought, as we celebrate 10 years in the Marvel Cinematic Universe, let’s go back to the beginning and look at how we got here. This week, we discuss all of the films BEFORE Infinity War. We begin with Iron Man, and how Marvel gambled on a risky talent by the name of Robert Downey, Jr. While he is beloved...

2018 has finally arrived at the greatest point of every cinemaphile’s annual indulgence, the Summer Movie Season! But with so many films coming out at this time, how is any self-respecting fan supposed to know what to see when there are so many options available? We’re here to help with our latest episode: the Summer Movie Preview! We discuss each month in detail; every major release, as well as o...

This year, theaters are being treated to a monkey tearing down a skyscraper, an underwater hero who looks like a grunge rocker, and even Jason Statham quipping at a 70 foot Megalodon shark. In short, these films have plots that are insane. On this podcast, we discuss the very concept of absurdity – can ANY plot work with the right cast and crew? Is it easier to accept a giant gorilla or robot tras...

Traffik follows Brea (Paula Patton), a journalist recently sidelined due to a distinct lack of immersion into her reporting. The timing could not be better when her boyfriend, John (Omar Epps), whisks her away for a lush romantic hideaway, tucked in the solace of the wilderness. Happenstance meets tragic timing as Brea and John cross paths with a young woman seemingly pleading for help, and a cons...

40 years ago, television options were vastly different. Three channels, or maybe thirteen depending on where you great up, and not much else. If the President had a speech, your TV night was shot. As time rolled on, our entertainment options continued to gain traction, each decade taking another turn into more content. Once Netflix introduced streaming as a primary option, our choices exploded. By...

Very few directors have shaped pop culture, but even fewer could argue against Steven Spielberg as leading that field. From his early days in the 70s, Spielberg has gifted us with so many timeless classics, it has become increasingly difficult to determine which one, of so many wonderful films, is truly THE BEST. Well, this week, we’re going to decide! Eight Spielberg films will enter the ring, ea...

With two festivals in three weeks, we have watched a LOT of movies recently. So much that something dawned on us: in all of these journeys of the human spirit, why does the hero never walk away? Think about it, does it make a hero less heroic if they reach a point where it’s just too much for them? Were there moments in a movie or TV show where a hero going forward seemed to be the absolutely wron...

The South by Southwest Festival is one of the largest of its kind in the world. Every year, thousands of fans arrive in downtown Austin, TX to partake in a couple of weeks of great music, technology, and film. For this special episode of The Hollywood Outsider, we take you along for our 5th annual deep dive into the heart of the film festival portion, and even further into the films themselves. Ov...

Aaron is joined by Zack Parkerson of Smirk and The Gaming Outsider to discuss the latest iteration of Tomb Raider starring Alicia Vikander. From thoughts on the Angelina Jolie to the differences from the current game incarnations, this is an episode no Tomb Raider fan should miss! Email topic suggestions or episode reactions to feedback@thehollywoodoutsider.com Please support The Hollywood Outside...

Tomb Raider is finally here. A reboot of the Angelina Jolie franchise, many still have no idea that those films and now this new one are based on a very successful video game series. The problem is this: while books have numerous critically and commercially successful films adapted from their works, and comic books have followed suit the last decade, video game adaptations are notoriously deemed p...

ICE follows Maddison Bullock's Bailey Grantham as her father allows a Russian coach to house her with a much wealthier skating partner in Peyton Shaw (Lisa Mihelich). The two women grow up together and become sisters of a sort, and are then forced into the world of competitive ice skating as they lunge towards a limited spot qualifying for the US Olympic team. Of course, there is a major obstacle...

The Beloit International Film Festival (BIFF) takes place annually in the city of Beloit, Wisconsin. Running for 10 days, typically at the end of Feb or the beginning of March, the festival plays 100+ films from over 25 different countries ranging from narrative features, to documentaries, to shorts, and even features a showdown between Illinois and Wisconsin filmmakers. The films screen in a vari...

For our first Movie Battle Royale of 2018, we decided to climb aboard the Oscar train and look at some of the Best Picture winners of decades past. If you took a single decade, and looked at all 10 winners, which film would stand the test of time to be crowned the greatest film of that respective decade? So, this week, we’re discussion the Best Picture winners of the 1990s. A decade ripe with clas...

The Lodgers takes place in Ireland in the early 1900s. A family curse holds orphaned twins Rachel (Charlotte Vega) and Edward (Bill Milner) hostage, sectioned off from the outside world as punishment for the mistakes of their long-deceased kin. The rules are simple: be in bed by midnight, allow no one past the gates, and if either of them attempts to escape, the other will be met with a vengeful r...

Every so often, media and internet clickers come along to determine a movie coming out is “important”. Occasionally it’s very true, and other times it’s just an opinion or hype. With Black Panther now in theaters, and the general consensus seeming to be that it is an important film for many, it felt a good time to ask a simple question: When IS a movie important? Both to society, and to us persona...

It’s February. The month of love and heartache. And we’re a podcast focused on entertainment. Put those together and what do you get? An episode focused on the most emotional relationships in television, of course! We discuss some of those relationships in TV that either broke or healed our aching hearts. Perhaps they filled our cups with joy, or maybe their angst flowed over into our own realitie...

On their first date, Alex and Zoe (Rachele Schank and Luke Brandon Field) adventure out to see a movie at a local theater. After the film, the couple find themselves trapped inside the theater for the night. Their adventure starts out light and comical as they search for an escape and quickly find themselves falling for one another. As they search for an escape, an unexpected twist abruptly change...

An adventure almost 7 years in the making, THIS is the 300th episode of The Hollywood Outsider Podcast! On this grossly oversized episode, we drop the usual strict adherence to format and simply speak about the changes in entertainment since the show’s inception, as well as the evolution of the podcast itself.   Also, we each pay tribute to all of the hosts of The HO, from the original run up unti...

Last year, we debated on how, if we were to drop ourselves into a movie, we could defeat an iconic movie villain. It was a difficult task, though with a little creativity and a box of flies, we were able to fend off evil fairly successfully. This year, we wanted to turn the tables. The villains rarely win, which means heroes are far more difficult to bring down. Therefore, on this episode we put o...

One of our most popular episodes of each year is our film and television release extravaganza, the episode where we break down the most anticipated movies and TV series debuts of the entire year. And with 2018 in full swing, it’s finally time to look ahead to these exciting releases still to come in 2018! And for that, we have two guests to help wind our way through this cavalcade of entertainment...

Aaron introduces his latest podcast, Smirk, now available on your podcast app of choice, or at SmirkPodcast.com Magic. Wonder. Endless possibilities. This week, Amanda tells a story about a young boy, who imagination has awoken a spark of sorts. By the time she hits the hyperdrive to reach her moral, we will all recall that blinding innocence we held as a child.  Welcome to Smirk. A podcast that c...