Movie Memory Machine

What do Alex Winter mutants, Tim Burton fever dreams, and Macho Man in a cage match have in common? They’re all freaky detours on the strange, slimy, transformation-heavy road paved by Cirque du Freak.   WHAT YOU’LL HEAR Five films connected by freaks, transformations, and uncanny communities A genuine love–hate rant about Basket Case 2 Spider-Man, pro wrestling, and the freak show that is Sam Rai...

The Machine delivers a vampire movie that doesn’t suck… it punches. In this Mini-Transmission, Truman and Landen unpack Cirque du Freak: The Vampire’s Assistant with confusion, frustration, and a deep dive into a freak show that left them feeling personally attacked.   What You’ll Hear: Is Darren Shan fanfiction or middle school fiction? The untapped greatness of Ray Stevenson and a villain with a...

Released at the height of Twilight fever, Cirque du Freak: The Vampire’s Assistant (2009) tried to launch the next big YA franchise — and fell flat on its face. We’re going back to the circus to ask why this fantasy oddity vanished into the shadows. Based on Darren Shan’s bestselling YA novels, Cirque du Freak: The Vampire’s Assistant (2009) follows teenager Darren, who stumbles into a hidden worl...

A dystopian hotel, a crime gone wrong, and one very dumb movie with a basketball death match. This week, the Machine delivers five thematically entangled transmissions for Hotel Artemis — from siege thrillers to pop culture-saturated criminals.   WHAT YOU’LL HEAR Five thematically related films that echo Hotel Artemis’ dystopian setting, crime-laden plot, or ensemble structure A nostalgic riff on...

In near-future Los Angeles, the Hotel Artemis treats wounded criminals — but our hosts are more concerned with countdown etiquette, 3D-printed weapons, and where Jeff Goldblum keeps his tiny hand bomb.   What you'll hear: Heist etiquette, countdown anxiety, and why masks should stay on — even in your sleep Sci-fi tech that makes no ergonomic sense (looking at you, jade egg communicator) The Traile...

What if your health insurance got you shot? In Hotel Artemis (2018), Jodie Foster runs a secret hospital for criminals in riot-torn Los Angeles — but despite ten unbreakable rules, nobody seems to follow any of them, including the movie itself. Set in the not-so-distant future of 2028, Hotel Artemis follows a covert Los Angeles hospital for criminals operated out of an abandoned art deco hotel. As...

The Machine wrests control of the list and serves up five films that echo, challenge, or outshine Body of Lies (2008). From Cold War shadows to desert firefights, these movies test the limits of trust, tension, and espionage on screen. A black-and-white classic spy story with Richard Burton and moral fallout The beard-to-weight Oscar conspiracy of Syriana Why Spielberg’s Munich lingers longer than...

Leonardo DiCaprio side-sips a beer. Landen sprays beer out his nose. Somehow, that’s still more memorable than anything in Body of Lies. This Mini-Transmission spirals from forgettable marketing into prop comedy, actor auditions, and the least effective interrogation techniques ever recorded. Why Body of Lies has one of the most boring posters and marketing campaigns imaginable Truman and Landen’s...

What happens when you take a CIA thriller, strip it of personality, and add brown contact lenses? Body of Lies (2008) is the rare war-on-terror drama that forgets itself while you’re still watching it. Released in 2008 by Warner Bros. and directed by Ridley Scott, Body of Lies stars Leonardo DiCaprio as a CIA operative running ground operations in Jordan and Russell Crowe as his remote, micromanag...

What do Brazilian fight scenes, video game sound cues, and a referee with a whistle have in common? This Mini-Transmission dives into the sonic mayhem of The Rundown (2003), plays the easiest Trailer Game of all time, and ends with a cryptic new clue from the Machine.   WHAT YOU’LL HEAR A spirited debate over whether a jungle fight scene is secretly reffed by a whistle-happy sports official A haun...

Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson’s first big shot at movie stardom came in The Rundown (2003) — a jungle action-comedy from a studio that couldn’t decide what it wanted. This week, Movie Memory Machine digs into the awkward birth of a blockbuster franchise that never was.   In The Rundown (2003), Dwayne Johnson stars as Beck, a bounty hunter sent to the Amazon to retrieve his boss’s son — only to run int...

Whether you loved or hated Wicker Park, here are five similar films that you can watch.

How many tracking shots does it take to find a lost love? In this high-style, low-logic thriller-romance from the early 2000s, Matthew is consumed by a single question: what happened to Lisa? And we’re consumed by a different one: wait, who is Lisa again? Before Gone Girl, before You, there was Wicker Park — a 2004 psychological romance thriller where Josh Hartnett broods, stalks, and slowly unrav...

Rom-coms, rules, and red flags. In this “5 For,” Truman and Landen pick five films that helped shape the cinematic dating game — from charming classics to early-2000s cultural crimes.   Highlights Why When Harry Met Sally set the rom-com template for behavioral science in dating Hitch vs. Justin Long: Who’s more believable as a love expert? An unfiltered takedown of How to Lose a Guy in 10 Days Si...

Who smoked the cigarettes at Bradley Cooper’s house? In this Mini-Transmission, Truman and Landen investigate the greatest mystery in He’s Just Not That Into You — and uncover a conspiracy that involves yoga instructors, real estate agents, and possibly Gigi.   Topics The full trial of Bradley Cooper, with Luis Guzman as character witness How He’s Just Not That Into You might be The Wire: Season 6...

In 2009’s He's Just Not That Into You, a romantic ensemble built on a bestselling advice book somehow wound up being about emotionally stunted men, red flag relationships, and one very confused Scarlett Johansson. Truman and Landen dig through the all-star cast and pop feminism of this late-2000s relic to find out how a dating guide turned into two hours of mixed messages and bare-minimum boyfrien...

The Machine served up The Road to Wellville, and now it’s time to cleanse the palate. WHAT YOU’LL HEAR – Five films that turn food into ritual, punishment, or power – A Bolognese orgy, a cult in Pasadena, and one very worried draftsman – The Decameron defense: “It’s not all butts” – When Joaquin Phoenix becomes a human vessel (again)   Want more weird cinema and Machine-fueled chaos? Follow us her...

Enemas, cornflakes, and the unholy gospel of wellness. This Mini-Transmission digs through the baffling remains of The Road to Wellville (1994) — a film that dares to ask what happens when you make Anthony Hopkins do that with his voice.   What You’ll Hear: The perils of turning cereal into cinema Roy Brocksmith: The Greatest Character Actor? The Trailer Game: predicting which bowel moments made t...

What if Amadeus and There’s Something About Mary had a baby—and fed it nothing but yogurt enemas? In this episode of Movie Memory Machine, Landen and Truman dive headfirst into The Road to Wellville (1994), a baffling, big-budget health spa satire starring Anthony Hopkins as cereal tycoon Dr. John Harvey Kellogg in a performance that must be heard to be believed. Directed by Alan Parker (Evita, Pi...

How many ways can one girl discover she has terrifying powers? In this Movie Memory Machine Five For episode, Landen and Truman explore five thematically connected films to Carrie (2013)—ranging from Brian De Palma’s original adaptation to Cronenberg’s scanners, to telekinetic kids with lighter (or stranger) fates.   We cover: Carrie (1976): Sissy Spacek sets the gold standard for prom-night horro...

In this mini-episode, Landen and Truman revisit Carrie (2013) to play The Trailer Game and score how many moments they accurately predicted would appear in the movie’s trailer — from blood buckets to telekinetic locker room footage. But along the way, the conversation detours into: How do you explain to your kid that their dad died… from a falling bucket? Would Carrie 3: Ennui be a better sequel t...

Nearly 40 years after Brian De Palma drenched prom night in pig’s blood and psychic rage, Carrie returned in 2013 with Chloë Grace Moretz and Julianne Moore. But did this remake modernize Stephen King’s story—or just repackage it? In this episode, we trace the journey of Carrie (2013) from concept to release, explore how it compares to the 1976 classic, and ask whether it’s fair to call this versi...

The Playmobil movie may not have left much of a legacy, but it sparks a lot of conversation about how other films have approached fantasy, world-building, and childhood imagination — sometimes successfully, sometimes not. In this 5 For episode, Landen and Truman pull five films that echo the structure, themes, or ambition of Playmobil: The Movie — and in most cases, improve on them. From modern an...