Maltin on Movies

Pop culture guru, comedy and animation writer, Jack Kirby biographer, and all-around good guy Mark Evanier joins Leonard to talk about one of their favorite subjects: Laurel and Hardy. Having grown up watching Stan and Ollie on television every day, they find it hard to imagine a generation that doesn't know and love the great comedy team. Perhaps they will inspire you to revisit, or introduce you...

Alonso Duralde, the savvy and articulate film critic for The Wrap, joins Leonard and Jessie for a survey of the movie year 2017. They don't always agree, but Alonso makes his case for some films Jessie and Leonard don't care for, and vice versa. As the author of the book Have Yourself a Movie Little Christmas , our guest also weighs in on some of his favorite films of the season.

Bill Pullman is one of the most familiar faces in movies and TV—and one of the most welcome. To some, he'll always be the kick-ass President in Independence Day . Others might name While You Were Sleeping or Mel Brooks' Spaceballs . Leonard and Jessie run through his amazing résumé, right up through Sinner, Battle of the Sexes , and his latest movie, which opens today in theaters and Video on Dema...

Stephen Chbosky is that rarity: a popular novelist who directed the screen version of his best-selling book, The Perks of Being a Wallflower . He has now followed that success with a beautiful adaptation of R.J. Palacio's Wonder . It won't take long to figure out why he's done so well: his enthusiasm is palpable, whether he's talking about the moviemaking process or naming some of his favorite fil...

From the themes for The Rugrats and Pee-wee's Playhouse to the score to Thor Ragnarok , Mark Mothersbaugh has composed the soundtrack of our lives for the past thirty years. The cofounder of Devo is a talented artist who never intended to make music a career. Now he builds his own fanciful instruments! Leonard and Jessie visited his studio to talk about music, movies, and his long collaboration wi...

The man behind The Florida Project (one of the year's best movies) joins Leonard and Jessie for a candid look at his career, which began on public-access television in Manhattan. His last feature, Tangerine , caused a stir because it was shot entirely on iPhones…but it's the content , not the cameras, that makes these movies so good. (His latest was photographed on 35mm film.) Sean shares the stor...

Six years ago, a film called Pariah (2011) heralded the arrival of a major new voice in American cinema. Dee Rees has fulfilled that promise with her ambitious new release Mudbound , based on the best-selling novel about two Southern families in the 1940s—one black, one white. It opens in theaters and on Netflix today. Leonard and Jessie spoke with the talented writer-director at the SCAD Savannah...

Richard Linklater is one of the most talented—and unpredictable—filmmakers working today. His new release, Last Flag Flying, is one of his best, but it bears little resemblance to Dazed and Confused, Before Sunset, Waking Life, or his epic Boyhood. What is crystal clear in his conversation with Leonard is that he loves movies and enjoys making them—small or large, mainstream or indie. And as you'l...

For fanboys he will always be Doc Ock in SPIDER-MAN 2 . He made an unforgettable big-screen debut in the opening scene of RAIDERS OF THE LOST ARK opposite Harrison Ford...and he hasn't stopped working since, on stage, film and television. He's played almost every nationality, but he's a Brit, as you will hear, and a man of great good humor who is happy to share stories from his long career with Le...

Oscar-winning actress Melissa Leo inhabits every character she takes on, from Mark Wahlberg's mother in The Fighter to the hard-boiled owner of a comedy club in the current series I'm Dying Up Here . In her new movie The Novitiate she's in top form as a Mother Superior who has devoted forty years to the church. As Leonard and Jessie learn, Melissa discovered acting as a little girl and has never l...

A lifetime in front of the camera hasn't left Elijah Wood jaded or cynical. His enthusiasm and positive outlook are downright inspirational, as Leonard and Jessie can attest after spending time with him (and a live audience) at Fantastic Fest in Austin, Texas. You'll hear how he was cast as Frodo in The Lord of the Rings trilogy, how he recorded the voice of Mumble in Happy Feet , why working with...

Gilbert Gottfried is one of the funniest comedians alive. A revealing and intimate new documentary called Gilbert shows another side of the busy performer, who is also a loving husband, father, and brother. Leonard and Jessie caught up with him at Fantastic Fest in Austin, Texas, where a live audience inspired and energized both the hosts and their guest. Get ready for a blast of TV nostalgia, as...

Keith Carradine's career has taken him from Broadway to the Academy Awards (where he won an Oscar performing his own song "I'm Easy" in Robert Altman's Nashville ) and beyond. He was in the first season of Fargo  and is currently playing the President of the United States opposite Tea Leoni in Madam Secretary on CBS. He also comes from a notable acting family and has many stories to share with Leo...

Moviegoers fell for Vince Vaughn the moment they saw him in Swingers . That was twenty-one years ago and he's still going strong, tackling a dramatic leading role in Brawl in Cell Block 99 . It debuted at Fantastic Fest in Austin, Texas, and that's where Leonard and Jessie interviewed him before a live (and lively) audience. Whether you think of him as that guy from Old School and Wedding Crashers...

Traci Hines is living a dream come true: she has taken her love for Disney icons ranging from Ariel to Pinocchio and created videos in which she transforms herself into those characters. She has parlayed her fan-based passion into a career and received the ultimate compliment—the blessings of the Disney company itself. Leonard and Jessie know this for a fact: they saw her fan following at this sum...

If you watch Veep you know why Matt Walsh has been nominated for two Emmy awards: he's simply hilarious as Julia Louis-Dreyfuss' bumbling press secretary. He's also a co-founder of Upright Citizens Brigade, which completes his comedy credentials—along with appearances in The Hangover and the remake of Ghostbusters . Leonard enjoys a wide-ranging conversation with Matt about his beginnings, influen...

When a young, bookish scholar met Gene Kelly years ago she had no idea who he was. Then they fell in love and she got to know the man and his career better than anyone else on earth. Today Patricia devotes herself to keeping his memory alive, and performs a heart-rending one-woman show about Gene Kelly as she knew him. Leonard and Jessie learn some things they never knew in this intimate conversat...

What better way to celebrate the holiday weekend than by revisiting our wonderful conversation with the one and only Mel Brooks. Great stories, many laughs! Leonard and Jessie spend quality time with the one and only Mel Brooks, who's as spry as ever and bursting with great stories. He reveals the name of the funniest comedy he ever saw, talks about  Young Frankenstein, Blazing Saddles,  and  The...

Richard Kraft fell in love with movie soundtracks as a kid, pursued his heroes, and wound up representing Danny Elfman, Jerry Goldsmith, and other titans of film music. Now he produces concerts and shows around the world with his notable clients. He loves what he does and his enthusiasm knows no bounds, as you'll hear when he talks about his world-class collection of Disneyland memorabilia.

Steven Weber has been on Broadway, London's West End, and everywhere in between. He costarred on the popular TV series Wings , worked for Mel Brooks in Dracula—Dead and Loving It (and on stage in The Producers ), and has appeared on every television show imaginable. He's also a movie lover of the first rank and a great storyteller, to boot. Leonard and Jessie never run out of topics with a guest l...

Molly Quinn has won a well-deserved fan following for her performance as Nathan Fillion's daughter on the long-running TV series Castle … but that's just the tip of the iceberg. As you'll hear, she's a poised, articulate  young actress with a bright future ahead of her and a serious love of movies. Wait to hear Leonard and Jessie's reaction when she talks about Mae West!

Leonard and Jessie took their show on the road and broadcast for a live audience at Michael Moore's Traverse City Film Festival. Their conversation ranges far and wide; one hot topic is the critic's quandary of swimming against the tide, when everyone seems to like a film more than you do. Audience members chime in with questions, as well, in this lively hour of movie talk.

Nikolaj Coster-Waldau has become world-famous on the wildly popular Game of Thrones , but as you'll learn, his seemingly overnight success has been more than twenty years in the making. (He costarred with Mick Jagger and a little-known Jude Law in Bent back in 1997.) Leonard and Jessie discover a hard-working, self-effacing actor with a great sense of humor and a ready supply of anecdotes about hi...

Jenny Slate is smart and funny in equal measure. She's made her mark on television (on shows ranging from SNL to Parks and Recreation ), movies (the award-winning Obvious Child ), the Internet (with her creation Marcel the Shell with Shoes On) and even the New York Times best-seller list (thanks again to Marcel). Leonard and Jessie discuss her new movie Landline and a wide range of topics relating...

We've all been watching Bruce Davison for years—tending to his pet rats in Willard in the early 70s, earning an Oscar nomination for Longtime Companion in 1989, defying the X-Men as a Senator in 2000, and making his mark in an endless variety of roles on stage, television and movies. It turns out he is also a world-class raconteur. Leonard and Jessie were held in rapt attention as he imitated Burt...