Mission 250 Filmcast

This week, we watch the comic book movie that blew up the box office.  The Hard-R, ultra-violent comedy was a passion project that almost didn't get made, which not only restarted Ryan Reynolds career, but also is bound to start an R-rated comic book movie surge. Deadpool (2016), directed by Tim Miller.

This week, we watch the classic thriller that inspired Alfred Hitchcock's Psycho and Vertigo. The wife and the mistress of a boarding school headmaster plot to kill him.  This movie contains all sorts of 1955 murder, drowning, poison, zombies, ghosts, and creepy private investigators. Diabolique (1955), directed by H. G. Clouzot.

This week, we watch the mind-bending, genre-defying film that is at once about a time traveling super-hero who receives his directives from a imaginary man in a scary bunny outfit, while also being a coming of age drama/comedy with one of the best sound tracks in movie history.  Donnie Darko (2001), directed by Richard Kelly.

This week, we watch the Best Picture winning character drama - disguised as a sports movie - which not only brought writer/director/star Sylvester Stallone from being homeless and hungry to one of the biggest movie stars in the world to this day, but also invented the sports training montage. Is there a better motivational song than "Gonna Fly Now"? Rocky (1976), directed by John G. Avildsen.

This week, we try to make sense of the 1964 winner of the Best Foreign Film Academy Award, which is described a story of a director struggling to make a movie. Thats about as much of it as we understood. 8 1/2 (1963), directed by Federico Fellini.

This week, we watch the one of the first color movies ever made, which tells the now culturally-embedded story of Dorothy, her dog Toto, The Scarecrow, The Tin Man, The Cowardly Lion, The Wicked Witch of the West, and the title character, while using the new technology to a very purposeful effect. The Wizard of Oz (1939), directed by Victor Fleming.

This week, we watch the Pixar movie that leads us on a journey through the world behind the closet doors of children.  We dive deep into the potential history of the monster culture, and whether Waternoose created the notion that children are dangerous to keep the scary monsters in power. Monsters, Inc. (2001), directed by Pete Doctor.

This week, we watch the final chapter of the Harry Potter series, where Ron, Hermione and Harry must protect Hogwarts, find and destroy all of the remaining Horcrux, defeat Voldemort, shoot magic, drink potions...really its as magical as you can handle, and its a lot of fun. Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows - Part 2 (2011), directed by David Yates.

This week, we watch the Best Picture nominated film that gave Leonardo DiCaprio his much sought after Best Actor Oscar, as he suffers violently and horribly through some of the most gorgeously shot landscapes in movie history. The Revenant (2015), directed by Alejandro Inarritu.

This week, we watch ANOTHER (back-to-back) time travel, science fiction mash-up classic, that contains the break-out performance of Mr. Universe himself, Arnold Schwarzenegger, and kicked-off the career of the man who would go on to direct the two top-grossing movies of all time, James Cameron. The Terminator (1984).

This week, we watch the time travel, science fiction mash-up classic, that contains performances from Bruce Willis and Brad Pitt that defied all expectations, and is helmed by the visual genius, Terry Gilliam - Twelve Monkeys (1995).

This week, we watch the Best Picture winning film about three veterans arriving home after World War II, and the issues they face as they try to re-enter society. The Best Years of Our Lives (1946), directed by William Wyler.

This week, we watch Bill Murray live the same day over and over again, as he struggles with self-hate, love, and death, in the classic comedy Groundhog Day (1993). Directed by Harold Ramis.

This week, we watch the suspense/thriller about a psychotic socialite who proposes to a stranger (on a train) the idea about swapping murders - an idea he plans to implement - Strangers On A Train (1951). Directed by Alfred Hitchcock.

This week, we watch a cat and mouse crime thriller based in Hong Kong, where two moles, working for opposite sides of a cop vs gang rivalry, race to find out the identity of the other (which Martin Scorsese later remade into a best picture winner, The Departed) - Infernal Affairs (2002). Directed by Andrew Lau and Alan Mak.

This Week, we watch the ground breaking, fully green-screened, ultra-violent comic book adaptation that boasts one of the most stacked casts of all time - Sin City (2005). Directed by Frank Miller and Robert Rodriguez. 

This week, we watch the film that not only created the summer blockbuster and put the fear of swimming into multiple generations of viewers, but also marked the jumping off point for one the greatest directors of all time - Jaws (1975). Directed by Steven Spielberg.

This week, we watch a classic in the dark-comedy genre, where a distant relative of the Duke of D'Ascoyne sets off to murder all eight family members that stand ahead of him to claim the wealth and position of his family - Kind Hearts and Coronets (1949). Directed by Robert Hamer.

This week, we watch the film that kickstarted a renaissance in French cinema, which tells a story of a day in the life of three friends living in the projects one day after a night of violent riots of protest in the streets of Paris- La Haine (Hate, 1995). Directed by Mathieu Kassovitz.

This week, we watch the high-tension thriller about child abduction, and a father, played by Hugh Jackman, that will do whatever it takes to save them - Prisoners. Directed by Denis Villeneuve.

This week, we watch the tale of the life and struggles of a man living in 18th century England, Barry Lyndon. Directed by the master himself, Stanley Kubrick.

This week, we watch the horrifying, documentary-like masterpiece about the the acts or terror and oppression between the occupying French and the National Liberation Front (FLN) in 1960's Algeria, The Battle of Algiers. Directed by Gillo Pontecorvo.

This week, we watch the bank robbery movie that was based on the true story of John Wojtowicz, who set out to rob a bank to pay for his transgendered wife's sex change operation- Dog Day Afternoon (1975). Directed by Sidney Lumet.

This week, we watch the stylized true story of Frank W. Abagnale Jr., the most successful bank robber/con artist of all time, Catch Me If You Can (2002). Directed by Steven Spielberg.

This week, Matt Damon gets stuck on Mars.  Will he get off? Lets find out! The Martian (2015), Directed by Ridley Scott.