Movie Roulette Tuesday: The Podcast

Send us Fan Mail It's time for our last theme cycle of the year!  Usually our themes are pretty broad and open to interpretation, allowing us to pick from the vast back-catalogue of movie history.  For this round, we are restricting our picks to films released in the last year so we can all get a taste of modern cinema Rising from the depths and bursting onto our screen this week is the 2023...

Send us Fan Mail Karl closes out our “Memories From the Drive-In” theme by bringing the drive-in experience to the MRT studio! The MRT Crew reviews Drive-In Massacre , a 1976 film about two detectives investigating a series of sword murders at a local drive-in. We also discuss our favorite candy, and the most random things we’ve ever found where we least expected it. So come join us!* *Theater man...

Send us Fan Mail Greetings, my friends. Join us, won’t you, as we explore the strange and unusual life of filmmaker Ed Wood, in Tim Burton’s 1994 biopic of the same name.  Starring Johnny Depp, Martin Landau, Patricia Arquette, and Sarah Jessica Parker, this movie will take you into the weird world of Ed Wood during his “heyday” in the 1950s when he befriended aging actor Bela Lugosi and created s...

Send us Fan Mail Once upon a time the big screen wasn't just in a theater or in your living room but out under the wide open sky.  Loading up the car, eating food, playing frisbee or baseball until the sun went down and everyone went back to their vehicles to watch whatever double feature was playing that night.  These are memories from the drive-in and our theme for this round. We delve into...

Send us Fan Mail We close out our “Hugs & Kisses” theme with 1994’s Cemetery Man , starring Rupert Everett as a man who works in a cemetery in which the bodies rise from their graves within a week of being buried. It has been called “the finest erotic romantic existential black comedy zombie gorefest of our time” by Severin Films. What does it have to do with hugs and kisses?  Give this week’s...

Send us Fan Mail The romance continues with our “Hugs and Kisses” theme in the form of the 1992 film  “The Bodyguard” , starring Kevin Costner as an ex-Secret Serviceman hired to protect a threatened pop singer/actress played by Whitney Houston.  In true romance movie form, they fall in love and conflict ensues.  We also review the sub-genres of the romance movie, the indecent proposal in “Indecen...

Send us Fan Mail "Hugs & Kisses".  We see this message emblazoned on chalky candy hearts and sappy cards for Valentine's Day every year.  There are racks of novels at libraries and bookstores ready to fill us with tales of this topic.  When it comes to film there are countless romances, comedies and dramas that play on this phrase.  That's a good thing too because it's...

Send us Fan Mail We close out our “I’m So Cold” theme with 2003’s The Cooler , starring William H. Macy as Bernie, an employee of a rundown Las Vegas casino, whose job is to go to tables and “cool” their winning streaks. But when he falls in love and his luck turns around, he becomes a liability to the casino and hijinks ensue. We also discuss the concept of luck, Karl provides some origins and st...

Send us Fan Mail Come ride the rails with us for this week’s variation on the “I’m So Cold” theme, as we eternally loop through the arctic, post-apocalyptic wasteland of 2013’s “ Snowpiercer .”  Directed by Bong Joon Ho and starring Chris Evans, Sir John Hurt, Ed Harris, and Tilda Swinton, and based on a French graphic novel of the same name, this film creates a fascinating world that definitely l...

Send us Fan Mail I'm so cold!  You've probably heard someone say this or even said it yourself but beyond the temperature what else could this statement be hinting at?  What other kinds of coldness are there?  Button up for our cold plunge in this topic for our new theme. The Ice Storm brings in a blustery front of emotional coldness from 1997.  Starring Kevin Kline, Sigourney Weaver, Ch...

Send us Fan Mail Karl closes out our “Out of My Comfort Zone” theme with a movie chosen by his wife, who was asked by Karl to pick a movie that he “would never in a million years have ever watched.” The murder mystery film genre has a storied history of entertaining films. Then there’s Murder Mystery starring Adam Sandler and Jennifer Aniston which….isn't one of those films. We also discuss K...

Send us Fan Mail We continue to venture out of any and all comfort zones, with this week’s pick “A Face in the Crowd;” a lesser known, but excellent film from 1957 starring Andy Griffith, uncharacteristically playing a bombastic, complicated, and sometimes repellant character.  This is a far cry from his better known, and more like-able roles as Sheriff Andy Taylor and Matlock.  We also talk about...

Send us Fan Mail How comfortable are you with being uncomfortable?  Some say the only true way to grow is to step outside your comfort zone, which happens to be our new theme.  This week we are watching Good Will Hunting starring Matt Damon, Ben Affleck and Robin Williams where the main character needs to step outside his own comfort zone.  We also discuss SpongeBob SquarePants and the Brownie inc...

Send us Fan Mail After discussing whether we could survive being lost at sea, being held captive in a Japanese prisoner of war camp, and taking part in British naval warfare battles during the Napoleonic era, it’s only natural that we end our “Could I Survive?” theme with the most perilous of activities….skiing. We watch 2010’s Frozen (not the Disney one) about three friends stuck on a ski lift th...

Send us Fan Mail Welcome aboard, hoist the mainsail, and batten down the hatches for this week’s film, “Master and Commander: The Far Side of the World,” starring Russell Crowe and Paul Bettany (and a bunch of other dudes.). This movie happens to be one of Rachael’s all-time favorites and she is sure to remind you of this.  Frequently.  We also discuss a recent visit to America’s oldest (and best)...

Send us Fan Mail Have you ever watched a movie or read a book and tried to put yourself in the shoes of the main character?  Imagined yourself going through all their trials and tribulations and asked yourself the question "could I survive"?  That is our new theme and mission for this round. This episode focuses on ' Unbroken ', the 2014 film adaptation of the excellent 2010 no...

Send us Fan Mail Our “Strange Bedfellows” theme concludes with Night Shift , in which Henry Winkler, Shelley Long, and Michael Keaton (in his first breakout role) star as unlikely partners who turn a city morgue into a “love broker” business. What could possibly go wrong?! We also discuss our own personal histories with working the night shift, the events surrounding how Matt proposed to Rachael,...

Send us Fan Mail William Shakespeare once wrote “misery makes strange bedfellows,” and this is exactly the idea in the 1968 comedy classic “The Odd Couple.”   Starring Jack Lemmon and Walter Matthau. It involves themes of divorce, suicide and sadness, alongside two completely opposite men who are thrown into a comically ridiculous living situation.  Rachael also explains her dislike for the world...

Send us Fan Mail Man, I just had the weirdest dream - back on the bus there? Did you ever have one of those dreams that are completely real. I mean they're so vivid. It's just like completely real. It's like, there's always something bizarre going on, though. I have one about every 2 years or something. I always remember 'em real good. Like there's always someone gett...

Send us Fan Mail He told us to “Win one for the Gipper.”  He put Bonzo to bed. But in 1964’s The Killers , Ronald Reagan played a villain for the first (and only) time in his film career.  This was actually the second feature film adaptation of a seven page short story of the same name by Ernest Hemingway. How could a seven page story be adapted into not one but TWO feature films?  We’ll discuss t...

Send us Fan Mail This week we serve up the 2016 docudrama “The Founder;” the story of how Ray Kroc turned MacDonalds into the profitable and ubiquitous fast food chain it is today. Starring Michael Keaton, Laura Dern, and Nick Offerman.  We also discuss all things fast food; the good, the bad, and the deliciously greasy.  So join us, won’t you?  We consider our podcast to be nutrition for your sou...

Send us Fan Mail Politics is something we like to stay away from in our episodes, not that we don't have our own strong opinions on this topic.  Our new theme, "Hello, Mr. President" presented some challenges in this regard when it came to our picks and what topics to discuss but who doesn't like a challenge? Coming in this week is the original 1962 release of The Manchurian Ca...

Send us Fan Mail Former NFL player Jim Brown leads an all star cast in heist film The Split , which adapts one of the many novels featuring the Parker character written by Donald Westlake. So why are we wondering if this movie is “really that bad?”  Because this was the first movie to ever be rated R after the dismantling of the Hays Code!  We also talk about notable athletes that moved over to ac...

Send us Fan Mail This week we review the 2003 box office bomb, " Gigli " (rhymes with "really," as in, was it "really" that bad?  Well. . . kind of. . . ). Starring  on again, off again, on again, and maybe now off again, Hollywood couple Jennifer Lopez and Ben Affleck.  This poor movie was mangled with rewrites and edits to make an originally decent story into a forc...

Send us Fan Mail Was it really that bad?  It's something you might ask yourself after a negative experience, when facing regret or to seek closure.  You might ask the same question after watching a traumatizing or really bad movie.  It's also our new theme for this round. Touching on pretty much all of those points, we have the 2009 Lars Von Trier film Antichrist .  Starring Willem Dafoe...