Movies That Make Us

Welcome to another episode of Movies that Make Us! This week we’re discussing another heart-felt film - Ferris Bueller’s Day Off. This classic film stars Matthew Broderick as a  high school student determined to take the day off from school and make it an epic adventure with his friends. This 1986 John Hughes film has so many iconic moments, from singing Twist and Shout during a parade, the F...

Welcome to the latest edition of Movies that Make Us. The news has been a bit busy and hectic, so we decided to discuss a feel good film, 2015’s The Intern. Robert DeNiro, Anne Hathaway, and Rene Russo. The film tells the story of a 70-year-old widower who becomes a senior intern at an online fashion website, where he forms an unlikely friendship with the company’s workaholic CEO. It’s a fun film...

It’s time for another episode of Movies that Make Us and this week, we discuss arguably the best original Star Trek movies Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan. This film was released in 1982 and directed by Nicholas Meyer continues the story of Khan Noonien Singh, a genetically modified human with superhuman intellect, enhanced strength, and a burning desire to kill James T. Kirk for marooning his cre...

Welcome back to another episode of Movies that Make Us. It’s summertime, so a disaster film about a new ice age is on the docket today as we discuss The Day After Tomorrow. The film is a 2004 American science fiction disaster film directed, co-produced, and co-written by Roland Emmerich . Based on the 1999 book The Coming Global Superstorm by Art Bell and Whitley Strieber , the film stars Dennis Q...

Hi friends! This week, we are finishing up summer blockbuster month with Independence Day which is appropriate as today is July 4th! Thanks for spending your day off with us.  In 1996, this was the height of the cheesy summer blockbuster movie craze. Starring Will Smith, Jeff Goldblum, Bill Pullman, Randy Quaid, and so many others, this is the story of a group of people from around the countr...

Welcome back to another episode of Movies that Make Us. We’ve been discussing summer blockbusters and this time, we talk about the 2000 film Gladiator. Directed by Ridley Scott, the film focuses on Russel Crowe playing Roman general Maximus Decimus Meridius, who is betrayed by Joaquin Phoenix’s Commodus, the ambitious son of Emperor Marcus Aurelius, who murders his father and seizes the throne. Re...

Welcome back to Movies that Make Us. Today, we are talking about one of the best sequels of all time, Terminator 2: Judgement Day . Released in 1991, this film was the first to earn over $300 million at the international box office and it finished at just over half a billion dollars in theatrical revenue. It’s a film about a future where robots gain sentience and take over the world. The human res...

Welcome back to another week at Movies that Make Us and we’re covering a very recent movie currently in theaters; Top Gun: Maverick . Filmed with IMAX cameras inside the cockpits of F-18 fighter jets, it gives you so much action and is a roller coaster experience. There’s a ton of heart and just enough of nostalgic callbacks to the original to make soar.  The film takes place about 40 years a...

It’s time for another episode of Movies that Make Us and this week, we discuss the best of the Star Wars prequels - Episode Three: Revenge of the Sith Tracy being the old man that he is, remembers seeing A New Hope in the theater, where as Jake and Val first saw it on VHS. We discuss the film, but also how it was received differently based on when you saw the prequels. We also spend a little time...

Welcome back to Movies that Make Us. Today, we’re hoping into the Wayback Machine Mr. Peabody, and traveling back to 1984 and the classic family film The Never Ending Story. The film follows a boy who happens upon a magical book that tells the story of a young warrior who is trying to stop the Nothing, a dark force, from engulfing the world of Fantasia. Directed by Wolfgang Peterson, it was the mo...

Welcome back to another episode of Movies that Make Us. This week, we celebrated Earth Day, and we discussed the documentary film March of the Penguins. It’s a 2005 documentary film narrated by Morgan Freeman which depicts the yearly journey of the Emperor penguins of Antarctica. In autumn, all the penguins of breeding age (5 years and older) leave the ocean to walk inland to the breeding grounds....

Welcome to the latest edition of Movies that Make Us. This week, we discuss the 2001 film A Knight’s Tale starring Heath Ledger, Alan Tudyk, Paul Bettany, and Rufus Sewell. The film follows a squire who poses as a knight and competes in tournaments and becomes friends with Geoffrey Chaucer and Edward the Black Prince. Full of pop culture nods and a 1970’s soundtrack, this is a fun film that is ful...

Welcome back to another week at Movies that Make Us and we take a look at the underrated Tim Burton film Big Fish. Based on the book with the same title by Daniel Wallace, the film tells the story of a frustrated son who tries to distinguish fact from fiction in his dying father’s life. Starring Ewan McGregor, Danny DeVito, Steve Buscemi, Albert Finney, Helena Bonham Carter, and Albert Finney.&nbs...

Welcome to another episode of Movies that Make Us! This week we go back to 1994 with an underrated classic Quiz Show . Starring Ralph Fiennes, John Turtorro, Rob Morrow, Martin Scorsese, David Paymer, Hank Azaria, and Mira Sorvino.  It’s the true story of the hit quiz show 21 and the dramatic rise and fall of contestants Herb Stempel and Charles VanDoren. It’s a story of temptation and conseq...

The Oscars are here and Movies that Make Us is taking a look back at some of our favorite Best Picture winners from years past. There were 93 different films we could have picked from but we start with Val’s selection of Rocky. The 1976 film from Sylvester Stallone where a blue collar guy who is the ultimate underdog who takes on the Heavyweight Boxing Champion for the championship. Tracy selected...

On this episode of Movies That Make Us, we welcome Patrick Gibbs, film critic for SLUG Magazine as we take a look at the upcoming Academy Awards, being broadcast live on March 27, 2022 on ABC. In this episode, we run through all the nominees for best picture. Which ones should win, or could win, and which ones shouldn’t have been nominated. We also talk about films we think should have been nomina...

On this very special episode of Movies That Make Us, we are marking 3 years of doing this show! And what better way to celebrate than by welcoming our very special guest- Larry Curtis and talking all about The Lord of the Rings!   In this episode, we get to listen as Larry relates some of his experiences covering the early days of the Lord of the Rings films for theonering.net, as well as his...

Jon Favreau is most well known for being the creator of the Disney+ series The Mandalorian and feature films like Elf, The Lion King, and Iron Man. This week, we discuss his lesser-known film Zathura: A Space Adventure . This family friendly sci-fi film was released in 2005 and is based on the book Zathura by Chris Van Allsburg who was also the author of Jumanji. The story is about two brothers, W...

Welcome back to Fantasy February here at Movies that Make Us. This week, we discuss the 1986 classic Labyrinth. The film tells the story of 16-year-old Sarah (Jennifer Connelly)’s quest to reach the center of an enormous maze to rescue her infant half-brother Toby who Sarah wished away to Jareth, the Goblin King (David Bowie). The majority of the characters in the film are played by puppets from J...

It’s Fantasy February here at Movies that Make Us, and this week we discuss the Japanese animated fantasy film Spirited Away by Hayao Miyazaki. It tells the story of a ten-year-old girl who when moving to a new neighborhood, enters the world of Kami (spirits of Japanese Shinto folklore). After her parents are turned into pigs by the witch Yubaba, Chihiro takes a job working in Yubaba’s bathhouse t...

It’s the final episode of 2021 for Movies that Make Us and we’re discussing some of our favorite unconventional Christmas films. We all love National Lampoon’s Christmas Vacation, A Charlie Brown Christmas, Elf, etc. but we wanted to offer you some movies that you may want to mix into your Christmas movie marathon this year. Jake selected Batman Returns and Edward Scissorhands that were directed b...

Welcome to another episode of Movies that Make Us! It’s the Holiday season and we want to celebrate by unwrapping some of the cinematic gifts we received this year. Tracy selected Dune, Tick, Tick…Boom! and Free Guy. An epic sci-fi film, a small film about a musical talent, and a movie that was just absolutely fun. Val selected The Tender Bar - the George Clooney directed film, The Harder they Fal...

Hi friends! This week, we are finishing up Nicholas Cage November with the small, independent film Pig. It’s one crazy premise - Nicholas Cage’s character Robin Feld lives alone in the woods of the Pacific Northwest with only his truffle hunting pig for companionship. They collect truffles and sell them to Amir who in turn sells them to high end restaurants in Portland. One day his beloved pig is...

Welcome back to Nicholas Cage November and this week we’re discussing the Michael Bay action 1997 film Con Air. It’s the story of a former Army Ranger who accidentally killed a man while protecting his wife, who has become eligible for parole, and ends up on a plane full of the worst criminals in the world. Featuring a stellar cast of Nicholas Cage, John Cusack, John Malkovich, Steve Buscemi, Ving...

We’re halfway through our Nicholas Cage November and it’s also the second Jon Turtletaub film we are reviewing (first was While You Were Sleeping ) - we are discussing the film National Treasure.   This action/adventure/treasure hunt film came out in 2004 and has a star studded cast including Christopher Plummer, Harvey Keitel, Jon Voight, Diane Kruger, Sean Bean, and Justin Bartha. Even if y...