Middle of the Row

It’s episode 2 of The Greatest Thing About Podcast... and we are showing off the flexibility of the concept by reviewing a video game; Stray. Stray is an indie release on Playstation and Steam and is a short, but fun, adventure into the mind of a cat. Well, sort of. You definitely get to be a cat, and do many cat things (napping, please), but the game itself is a mystery platformer that has some p...

Welcome to a new version of our podcast at Middle of the Row; The Greatest Thing About... podcast! We are still going to talk about movies, but also hope to talk more games, tv, while also being able to pick whatever movie we damn well please. We will also be releasing our backlog (it’s big) of Middle of the Row: The Podcast as well, but the plan is for a new The Greatest Thing About... to come ou...

Goon was a flashback pick from late last year, but it was actually a 2012 release so now it is an actual flashback for the correct year! This was picked by Jon, but he didn’t make this episode, but Ben, Lauren and Zac all really enjoyed chatting about this hockey cult classic. Though, none of us have seen the sequel, so we don’t know if we can recommend that, but Scott and Schreiber are excellent...

Malignant came out and set the internet on fire for a couple weeks last year, but it didn’t really work for most of our crew...until it did. Zac was on board throughout, but everyone agrees the final act is worth sticking around for. But, we debate a lot! Is the acting good? How intentional is Wan’s vision? Is it scary? Is it a comedy? Watch/listen/find out! Download. Listen. Enjoy. The Categories...

We are back with a flashback from last year, so it flashes back to 2001. Lauren picked Amélie, another Jean-Pierre Jeunet film from her, and its charms seemed to have won newcomer Ben over. Zac and Lauren continued to be big champions of the film, even if he thinks Amélie might be an emotional terrorist. Still, a fun chat and a lot of positive love for a movie that’s lost none of its charm all the...

We are back, again, and digging deep into the backlog to hopefully start getting us back to the present. I plan on continuing to jump around in the releases, so bear with us as things might seem super random or super old! This week, we have a fun episode for a bad movie, Reminiscence. You probably forgot about this movie by now, so jump in the memory machine with us and revisit a film that was gon...

The MCU’s third entry in 2021 was Eternals and we reviewed it when it hit Disney+. Now you can buy it anywhere and wonder what the hell is Zac thinking or just take some enjoyment agreeing with Ben and Lauren on this whole endeavor. We found a lot of common ground on both sides of this coin, but came out liking it and not on quite opposite spectrums. Download. Listen. Enjoy. The Categories: (Time:...

Just in time for some Oscars nominations, we are releasing our episode on Denis Villeneuve’s Dune! We all love his last film on this podcast, Blade Runner 2049, but we aren’t quite as unanimously positive on his latest. That’s not to say we aren’t positive, but maybe expectations were a little too high? Need to rewatch it? Anyways, lots of praise, lots to discuss, and everyone wants to see Part 2!...

This week we flashback to the 2001 comedy classic, Wet Hot American Summer. A lot of familiar faces got their start here, the most successful of which is probably the smallest role of the main cast. Who knew! Everyone but Zac hadn’t seen this and I think he has slowly started to convert two more to the cult of Wet Hot! Download. Listen. Enjoy. The Categories: (Time:Stamp) 8 Words or Less, The Elev...

Welcome to our Time Capsule 2021 Episode. This is where we pick our pop culture object to be stored and to be discovered by later generations, while also previewing the year ahead! Let's get to it! Zac’s Pick: Marvel’s What If... (3:00) Lauren’s Pick: Arcane (12:45) Ben’s Pick: To Your Eternity (18:50) Favorite Predictions for 2022 (24:00) Game Predictions: Ben: Tiny Tina’s Wonderland Lauren: God...

Just in time for The Peacemaker, our review of The Suicide Squad! Ben’s since named this his best movie of 21 (bold), while the rest of the crew definitely think it is good! Gunn is having fun and we have fun talking about this latest entry in the DC catalog. Download. Listen. Enjoy. The Categories: (Time:Stamp) 8 Words or Less, The Elevator Pitch, Why So & So, General Thoughts, Star Ratings (1:00...

We take a look back at Studio Ghibli’s most prestigious entry in their filmography, Spirited Away! This was a Ben pick and let’s just say we aren’t aligned as a group here. We appreciate the animation, the whimsy and some of us wonder what the hell is going on! Come shake your head at Zac is what we are ultimately saying. Download. Listen. Enjoy. The Categories: (Time:Stamp) 8 Words or Less, The E...

We are back, again, after another delay. We have a lot of backlog from 2021 and those start coming out now! This is a bit of a forgotten Netflix release last year that was actually one of the more interesting titles they have released in the last year or two. We like different things about this one, so I think we all think you should definitely be able to find something to appreciate in this film....

Yes, we still have a podcast and we are finally back with this summer’s Black Widow. Now free to all on Disney+, we timed this perfectly, right? We all love the MCU around here and we all really liked Black Widow. We argue over whom is the best in this film, discuss where we think all of the new characters might go from here as well as try and get to the bottom of the correct pronunciation of Buda...

New Soderbergh with No Sudden Move! Zac’s in, obviously, but the rest of the group is not so moved. Still, they find some common ground over the cast (occasionally), the one-liners (always) and that Matt Damon makes everything better. Soderbergh fans, enjoy; if not, avoid??? Listen and find out. Download. Listen. Enjoy. The Categories: (Time:Stamp) 8 Words or Less, The Elevator Pitch, Why So & So,...

We got together to discuss the underseen A24/Hulu horror film, False Positive. Created and written by star Ilana Glazer and director John Lee, the film feels a little lost even if it’s heart is in the right place. Should it have been more horror, more comedy, more horror comedy? Do only pregnant families find this funny? Or only more terrifying? Lots of questions for a film that is an interesting...

Pixar’s latest is another fine little gem and that film is Luca. Pixar seems to be moving things a bit out of their comfort zone and it all works out! The house style fades away a bit, the Pixar formula isn’t as prevalent and the film’s runtime is one of the studio's shortest in some time. It might feel a little slight on the surface, but it also still has a ton of heart and a message all of our y...

Lin-Manuel Miranda is back on the podcast, sort of, an adaptation of his musical In The Heights has made it to the big (and small) screen and we took a look at it for the podcast. Half of us were high on Hamilton, one of us liked this more, and one of us finally made it through one of his works with this film. And we aren’t all on the same page on this one by any means. Well, sort of, we all thoug...

Lauren, Ben and Jon discuss The Conjuring: The Devil Made Me Do It and there is no need for any rituals or hexes upon one another. They look back at the series as a whole, even if one of them has seen none of them, discuss body contortions, and more or less enjoy themselves along the way. They also get into whether we need more of this series and have a number of But Why’s... A good discussion of...

A new release from Hulu this week, for Natalie Morales directorial debut, Plan B! This buddy/road trip/high school comedy was full of laughs (for me at least) and ended up helping us delivering my favorite episode in some time. Everyone is here and has varying takes, but we do go off the rails a few time thanks to a particular Prince in this film. Either way, I think you should give this smaller m...

It’s a barrage of back and forths this week as half the podcast turns their backs on Zack Snyder as we discuss his latest, Army of the Dead! This Netflix film might be Snyder a bit too off the reins, or does the film just not stop to focus on anything, or is this film just too interested in setting up a giant cinematic universe of content for Netflix and Snyder to play in. Ben and Jon had fun thou...

This week we review the indie female arm wrestling comedy, Golden Arm. Starring Happiest Season’s Mary Holland and a strong ensemble, this one had a hard time winning over the crew beyond Zac. They argue whether we should be too hard on such a small movie, find common ground on some of the film’s good bits, and go back and forth on whether this will find a second life (or first) depending if Mary...

We take a Zack Snyder inspired flashback to his only original film Sucker Punch! A bomb on multiple levels when it came out, this crew has always shared some appreciation for it, so we decided to revisit it and see how it has stood up over the last ten years. Jon’s back and is a first time viewer, but he falls in line with the rest of the crew as we get into what we like and what we wish might hav...

Ben picks The Raid this week for our flashback to “2011” as he tries to convince Zac that he is wrong about this one. He might prove him wrong, but he also loves the film as an action masterpiece. Where does Lauren fall? You’ll have to listen, but we also marvel at the fighting, argue The Raid vs. The Raid 2, and also talk about the very similar film Dredd released about the same time. Another gre...

A three person weave on Mortal Kombat leads to a delightful episode where we find things to appreciate (and not) about this film that we run the spectrum on enjoyment. Ben loves dumb fun, Lauren’s happy it’s not the original and Zac wishes the movie was called Kano. That said, come for some nostalgia for the gaming franchise, the first film (Ben at least) and we try to get to the bottom of why Rai...