Max, Mike; Movies

Hello again, dear listeners . . . if that really IS your name . . . to another in our “Conspiracy!” series! This week we’re discussing Barry Levinson’s 1997 opus “Wag the Dog” an utterly out-there, absurdist, nonsensical black comedy based on the completely laughable concept that politics is based almost entirely on perception and not on facts. Oh, my sides, they are aching! So much are we laughin...

Welcome back to another in our “Conspiracy!” series, and this week, our movie takes on the Big One, one of the major conspiracy theories of the last hundred years . . . of course, I’m talking about Kennedy. That’s right, this movie offers its take on what really happened with the popular MTV VJ from the 1990’s. What caused her shift to a more conservative political stance, and why has it been cove...

Hi. Sorry, sorry, didn’t mean to scare you, keep driving, eyes on the road! Don’t turn around; you don’t want to let Them know we’re in the back seat. Look, Mike and I have taken a real risk breaking into your car to let you know the truth about who’s really running things. People have to be told! … smell? What smell? Oh, we’ve been hiding in a dumpster for the last three weeks until the bio-track...

Welcome to another episode of “You and Your Compost Heap,” the podcast that discusses all things related to home composting! We’re continuing our 45-part series “Citrus Peels: The Devil’s Addition” and hoo-boy, this one’s a real hum-dinger . . . Ok, that should do it; anyone listening in should be asleep by now, but it won’t last so listen up quick! No, you haven’t hit the wrong link and yes, we’r...

Welcome back to our series “Movies That Finally Tell You The Truth About All That Stuff You Can’t Prove Is True But Really, Really Think SHOULD Be True” . . . or, more briefly, “Conspiracy!” This entry is “Capricorn One”, a movie about NASA faking a landing on Mars that has the unfortunate distinction of feeding the yes-people-still-actually-believe-this-drivel theory about how the 1969 moon landi...

On the surface, it would seem that we’re starting a new series. Maybe, to the untrained eye, this new series is called “Conspiracy!” and focuses on movies that involve so-called conspiracy theories, nefarious plots spun out by the so-called government . . . or maybe that’s just what They WANT you to think! Wake up, sheeple! These movies may be labeled as fiction but they reveal the truth that the...

Alas, we have come to the end of our “Focus On – Viola Davis” series; farewell, Ms. Davis and thank you for making us laugh at love . . . again. Well, maybe not so much laugh as stare open-mouthed at your ability. And lest you think that Viola Davis only appears in gritty, serious, deeply moving films, this week’s entry proves that she really, really doesn’t. Directed by James Gunn, 2021’s “The Su...

Widows. A tragic word. There are so many kinds of widows. Black widows. Grass widows. Golf widows. But this week we’re interested only in movies called “Widows” starring Viola Davis. Yes, we are nothing if not highly specific here at Max, Mike; Movies as we continue with our highly specific series “Focus On – Viola Davis.” And this week, highly specifically, we’ve got Ms. Davis in an actual lead r...

We’ve got the blues here at Max, Mike; Movies. Not because of our series “Focus On: Viola Davis,” because Ms. Davis could never give us the blues. No, we’ve got that movie-podcasting blues, the kind where you’ve got the blues so bad, you just want to find the most annoying pony you can find and shave your initials in his hair a foot high, that’s the kind of blues we’ve got. Those Bumpy Shavin’ Blu...

Well, we’ve been focusing on specific actors for the last couple of series . . . so we’re going to do it again! It’s so predictable, they’ll never expect it! This time we’re focusing on the multiple Oscar-nominated performer Viola Davis (who is NOT, I just found out, the inventor of the stringed instrument of the same name. I thought I’d better mention that as there’s no way I’m the only person wh...

“Looooothy!! What crazy hijinks you up to now, huh? Did you go and super-evolve your brain and develop god-like powers on the night I’m bringing Caesar Romero over for dinner?” “Waaaaahhhh, Rickyyyyy! I went and perpetuated a false scientific theory that’s been disproved multiple times! Waaaahhhh!!!” Now THAT would have been a film for the ages . . .  but sadly our final entry in “Focus On: S...

Welcome to our penultimate “Focus on: Scarlett Johansson” episode! This one’s a rough night! No, I’m fine, why do you ask? No, last night was fine . . . there’s no problem. What drinking? I meant the MOVIE is called . . . why are you all here sitting in a circle on folding chairs? What do you mean, “I have a problem”?! Maybe you’re the ones with the problem! You ever think of that?! Ok, that took...

Another in our series “Focus on: Scarlett Johansson”! Ok, “Ghost World” may have been her breakout film but this week’s entry . . . is also seen as her breakout film. Because who says you only get one breakout film? Well, if you do, you should be ashamed of yourself! Here at Max, Mike; Movies we support everyone’s right to have as many breakout films as they want! And we will fight you about this!...

Welcome, welcome to another brand new series (this one has no Bat-folk in it; we hope you’re not too disappointed): “Focus On: Scarlett Johansson.” Yes, we’re doing another short series focusing on the works of one particular performer, in this case the aforementioned Ms. Johansson. An acclaimed drama, comedy, and action star, the face of L’Oréal (because she’s worth it) and many other companies,...

Citizens, we commend you on your fortitude, courage and strength of character: you have stuck with us through all four parts of our commentary about His Royal Batness (sidenote: most people don’t know that was the nickname Prince was originally going to use. It’s true. Trust us. Don’t bother to look it up). In this the FINAL segment of our 200 th episode, we cover the end of the Bale-Nolan trilogy...

Well, we hope all our old chums are hanging on to their bat-ropes as we charge ahead into the third part of our 200 th episode (don’t ask me how math works). In this one we move from the last of the Burton-esque Batman movies, including the one that sank the franchise, as well as the much-loved Animated Series and then make a start on the Bale-Nolan Batman revival of the 2000’s. There’s a lot to c...

Holy multi-part-episode! It’s part two of our 200 th episode here at Max, Mike; Movies! It’s still episode 200 and we’re still talking about the Man of Bats; in this segment we’re talking about the Batman’s first animated appearances in such classics as “SuperFriends” (in all it’s many, many . . . MANY incarnations) as well as his team-up with perhaps his greatest ally . . . Scooby-Doo! We’re also...

What’s this? Our dyspeptic duo has actually produced two hundred episodes? Our Cape-less Crusaders have bivouacked a burgeoning bicentennial of cinematic barbs? Holy milestone! An event like this must have a worthy subject, something grand, something spanning decades, something like . . . a guy who dresses up like a flying Chiroptera and beats up insane snake-clowns! Of course! Yes, we’re taking o...

And we come to the end of our “Focus on: John Cusack” series and a short but wild ride it’s been. Wasn’t “High Fidelity” cool? Didn’t you just love Lloyd Dobler as a character? Wasn’t the Savannah setting in “Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil” intriguing? Yeah . . . welp, that about sums up the series, thanks for joining us! For next time . . . hm? What’s that? THIS week’s movie? 2017’s “Sin...

And here we are, thundering along in our series “Focus On: John Cusack” with a thundering new thunderous episode featuring “High Fidelity.” Thunderously. Check out this throwback involving Mr. Cusack as a character who owns some business called a “record store” where he sells some sort of ancient music format involving pressed disks made of vinyl. Man, the past was weird. Not like we’d ever see an...

I do declare, this series “Focus On: John Cusack” is giving me the vapors! Someone fetch me a mint julep and an invisible dog! Lord, these flies on their leashes are just everywhere. I do so love those Georgia Bulldogs. And peaches. And, um, sweet iced tea . . . ok, I’m running out of things I know about Georgia, specifically about Savannah, so it’s a darn good thing that this week’s movie, “Midni...

Leapin’ Lizards! It’s a brand-spanking-new series! (A spanking! A spanking!) Can your heart stand it? If not, please consult your physician, because we’re worried about you. This time we’re focusing on a selection from the body of work of a specific actor in three separate econo-series; Mike has chosen the first one, I’ll choose the second one, and we’d like YOU, yes YOU, to help us choose the thi...

Hey, hey, we’re Max, Mike; Movies!/ and people say we Max, Mike; Movies around/But we’re too busy talking about movies/to put anybody down! Hmm . . . ok, maybe that would work better for some other endeavor . . . I dunno, maybe something in the music industry? I should check with Don Kirchner… Yes, we’ve come to the end of our series “Ladies and Gentlemen…the Beatles!” and what better way to close...

You know, it’s been a hard podcast series, this “Ladies and Gentlemen… the Beatles!” and Mike and I have working like a pair of canids. We really should be sleeping like a couple of solid chunks of firewood but instead, we find that when we get home, well, we feel all right. Yeah, yeah, yeah! Wait, dang, wrong song. Regardless, this week’s penultimate series entry is the Beatles’ self-made mockume...

Well, we’ve been mucking about with some obscure band named after a mis-spelled bug in our series “Ladies and Gentlemen . . . the Beatles!” but now we’re getting to the real deal, a documentary that covers perhaps the greatest, most famous band in all the universe: the Rutles. Who can forget how merely the mention of those four names Dirk, Stig, Barry, and Nasty could set mobs of teenagers screami...