Midday Movies

Today we're discussing Ryan Holiday's 2019 book, "Stillness is the Key." A companion book to "The Obstacle is the Way" (2014) and "Ego is the Enemy" (2016, covered on episode 153), this self-development book valorizes the benefits of rest, contemplation, and maintaining your sanity in a consumingly-demanding world. Do you feel that you're never doing enoug...

Today we're discussing the newest addition to the Alien franchise, "Alien: Romulus" (Scott Free Productions, 2024). Written and directed by Uruguayan filmmaker Fede Alvarez, who directed the iconic 2016 horror film, "Don't Breathe," "Alien: Romulus" follows the journey of five indentured teen workers (Cailee Spaeny, Archie Renaux, Isabela Merced, Spike Fearn, and Aileen Wu) on a Weyland Corp minin...

Today we're discussing the blockbuster film of the fall, "Beetlejuice Beetlejuice" (2024). Directed by Tim Burton and staffed by returning film icons Michael Keaton, Winona Ryder, and Catherine O'Hara, this new Beetlejuice film follows the myriad dramas of both its living and death characters -- containing weddings, funerals, and reconciliations beyond the grave. Additional cast...

Today we're discussing the new Top 10 Netflix streaming show, "Kaos" (2024). Created by Charlie Covell and starring Jeff Goldblum as Zeus, this limited series is a contemporary retelling of Ancient Greek mythology that is darkly comic and epic in scale. Winding between the jealous gods of Olympus, the apartheid state of Minoan Crete/Krete, and the grey bureaucracy of the Underworld,...

Today we're doing a spoiler-free review of the mind-bending indie horror film, "Strange Darling" (2024). Winner of the Jury Prize for Best Feature Film (2024 Popcorn Frights Film Festival), written and directed by J.T. Mollner and starring Willa Fitzgerald ("Fall of the House of Usher") and Kyle Gallner ("Smile"), this indie darling premiered last year at Fantasti...

Today we're talking about the 2020 megahit video game, "Hades" (produced by Supergiant Games). A roguelike hack-and-slash game taking place in the Ancient Greek underworld, you play as Hades' son Zagreus ("Zac"), the prince of the underworld, in a seemingly-impossible quest to fight through the afterlife, back to earth, to be reunited with his birth mother, Persephone....

Today we're reviewing and analyzing Zoe Kravitz's directorial debut, "Blink Twice" (2024). A psychological thriller taking place largely on a tech billionaire's (played by Channing Tatum) private island paradise, "Blink Twice" is informed by centuries of Greek mythology, themes of trauma and memory, and a delicious twist ending that will leave your jaw on the floor. The film is fleshed out by grea...

Today we're tackling season 2 of the 2010's cult classic, "Fleabag" (created by Phoebe Waller-Bridge). Widely considered the best season of "Fleabag," and still starring Phoebe Waller-Bridge and company, series two follows our protagonist getting her life together after the grief-fueled antics of series one. To the backdrop of her sister's (Sian Clifford) profession...

Today we're discussing Brian P. Moran and Michael Lennington's goal-setting system, "The 12 Week Year." Aimed at encouraging consistent execution on your annual goals, this system reduces a 12-month year to just 3 months -- dialing up the time pressure, necessity of commitment, and utility of accountability buddies. Simple, non-cult-y, and iterative, Stephen is 4 weeks into his 1...

Today we're discussing series one of the 2010s British television masterpiece, "Fleabag." Created by and starring Phoebe Waller-Bridge, this 6-episode series is adapted from Phoebe's successful 2013 theater piece and follows the grief-fueled misadventures of a messy 20-something who has recently lost her closest friend, is navigating complex family drama, and who has a deeply dys...

Today we're analyzing the newest Mad Max film, "Furiosa," now streaming on HBO MAX. Starring Anya Taylor Joy and Chris Hemsworth, and written and directed by George Miller, "Furiosa" is the most detail-rich Mad Max we've yet seen. Crossing an epic 20 years of history and giving insight into the inner workings of Immortan Joe's vast Wasteland empire, we follow young...

Today we're reviewing the 2024 horror film, "Immaculate," now streaming on Hulu. Starring Sydney Sweeney and taking place in a remote Italian convent, this religion-themed thriller centers on an improbable, seemingly immaculate conception by novice nun Cecilia. But, of course, there are more sinister forces afoot than any divine plan. With delightful side characters (including Benede...

Today we're discussing television shows that we (and the redditors of r/AskReddit) consider to be 10-out-of-10 amazing. Mind-bendy, rewatchable, and much beloved, these shows defined our childhoods, broadened our adult perspectives, or just plain burrowed themselves into our hearts. Are your favorite shows classic anthologies that defined a genre like the original "Twilight Zone"? Or...

Today we're talking about some of the ghostly residents of the Pacific Northwest (informed by Margaret Read MacDonald's book, "Ghost Stories from the Pacific Northwest"). Widely considered to be horror-movie-spooky and a nest of cryptids, the PNW is also known for housing a number of jolly ghosts. We're sharing the stories of three such post-human entities, all of whom reside...

Today we’re reviewing the newly-released indie horror film, “Cuckoo” (2024). Written and directed by Tilman Singer and starring Hunter Schafer, “Cuckoo” is the most unique horror concept we’ve seen in a while. Set in an isolated resort in the Swiss Alps, with a mysterious billionaire proprietor (played by Dan Stevens), a cutting edge medically facility, and a 10pm curfew everywhere, the eerie and...

Today we’re discussing the recently-released video game film, “Borderlands” (2024). Written and directed by Eli Roth, starring Cate Blanchett, and featuring gamers’ most beloved Pandora environments, this film captures so much of the fun associated with the looter-shooter video game series. As avid fans of the Borderlands franchise, Stephen and Laura were delighted to see the anarcho-capitalist, p...

Today we’re reviewing M. Night Shyamalan’s newest film, “Trap” (2024). Starring Josh Hartnett, Haley Mills, and Shyamalan’s own daughter Saleka, this unique thriller is a kind of anti-heist that centers on one serial killer’s attempt to evade capture at a stadium concert venue (while also showing his daughter the time of her life with her favorite pop star). Cleverly constructed, endlessly surpris...

Today we are concluding our discussion of the Netflix top 10 docuseries, “Dirty Pop: the Boy Band Scam” (Dir. David Terry Fine). In this part two, we’re discussing the financial crimes side of pop mega-manager Lou Pearlman. From lopsided management contracts with Backstreet Boys and N* SYNC to aeronautics insurance fraud to making an enemy of a high-profile trial lawyer, we lay out the multivariat...

Today we are discussing the Netflix top 10 docuseries, “Dirty Pop: the Boy Band Scam” (Dir. David Terry Fine). This series follows Lou Pearlman, the “Big Poppa” of pop music managers and creator of mega groups like Backstreet Boys, N*SYNC, and O-Town. Within the glitz and glamour of the Boy Band era, though, is the financially predatory action of the man who made this era of pop music possible. In...

Today we’re diving in to life advice cliches that are actually really valuable when you fully ingest their meaning. We’ve all had the, “Ugh that so true!” moment. Alongside contributions from the lovely redditors who populate the r/AskReddit subreddit, we share our own favorite platitudes that only seem to get truer with age. What have you been told makes up a happy life? Are you pouring from an e...

Today we’re discussing one of the most important questions for Millennials and Gen Z — to have children or be childfree. From our Baby Boomer parents who long to be grandparents to vice presidential candidates obsessed with your personal procreation, child-having is a hot topic. We share our own experience fielding questions about family planning in our thirties as well as reflecting on common fam...

Today we’re on a self-development journey. Between reading Ryan Holiday’s “Ego is the Enemy” (2016) and recognizing undesirable characteristics of our parents in ourselves, it’s time to do some inner excavation and put those insights into action! Is your sense of self fragile or even outdated? Have failures felt crippling even though you know, intellectually, that you have to fail to succeed? And...

Today we’re sharing our impressions of the critically-acclaimed 2010s HBO comedy, “VEEP” (2012-2019). Starring Julia Louis-Dreyfus and increasingly relevant as our own US election year starts to take on that show’s plot dimensions, this workplace sitcom of Capital Hill satirizes the uniquely strange and idiosyncratic personalities that are drawn to political power. Never stating party identities,...

Today we're revisiting the first "Hunger Games" film (2012, dir. Gary Ross), in honor of the recent loss of the first President Snow, actor Donald Sutherland. With new context provided by "A Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes," we discuss the perfect cruelty and systemic dehumanization of Suzanne Collin's fictional Panem. Using class as a tool of exploitation within Panem's district communities, among...

Today we're sharing our thoughts on the alien invasion / monster horror film, "A Quiet Place: Day One." Following a late-stage cancer patient (played by Lupita Nyong'o) on what she believes to be her last visit to New York City, all heck breaks loose when an apocalyptic alien invasion lands in Manhattan. Also starring Joseph Quinn, Alex Wolff, and Djimon Hounsou, we get an up-close view of the dis...