MRAC Film Club

Episode 117 - Pack your bags, and don't forget to pack an umbrella. We are in France still for week 2 of French Romance Month. We are watching and discussing Umbrellas of Cherbourg (1964). Pete surprised us with this one as we watch our first musical, and we get right into it by debating whether or not this is actually a musical. But in the end our opinions may surprise even ourselves . Tune i...

Episode 116 - Pack you bags! We are headed back to France, so that means it must be a Pete month. This week we are looking at a few unconventional French romance films. First up is Lost in Paris (2016) a comedy about a Canadian woman named Fiona who travels to Paris to track down her Aunt Martha after receiving a strange letter in the mail. Some wacky antics ensue, especially after Fiona crosses p...

Episode 115 - Happy 2026! The first episode of the new year is our last Bergman discussion. This week we watch and discussed The Seventh Seal (1957) Arguably Bergman's most well-known film, the Seventh Seal follows a knight, his squire, a rag tag group of performers and others during the time of the black plague in Sweden. Those of you familiar with the film Bill and Ted's Bogus Journey mi...

Episode 114 - It is week 3 of Ignmar Bergman month here on MRAC, and for this week we watched and discussed To Joy (1950), a film that follows an orchestral musician couple through their turbulent relationship. It's a bit of a gut punch, so grab some tums and strap yourself in. QQ could not join us for this one but we got to meet Caifu, the newest member of the family. Tune in this week, and s...

Episode 113 - Is Ingmar Berman's 1957 film Wild Strawberries a Christmas Carol story? Hold on tight because this along with a lot of other questions are raised during our two hour long double feature discussion of Wild Strawberries (1957) and Summer Interlude (1951). Both films feature main characters reflecting on the past, one an aging professor looking back on his life, and the other a less agi...

Episode 112 - Pack your bags because we are headed to 1940's-50's Sweden to cover the early films of Ignmar Bergman. Bergman is considered one of the most important directors in the history of cinema so clearly we are not qualified to comment, but we are doing it anyway. You will get our initial reactions to Bergman through the first film he wrote and directed; Prison (1949), as well as so...

Episode 111 - Pack your bags, and make sure you pack lightly because you are going to be paddling over 20 miles from an island in the southern pacific to the nearest airport. But of course, you aren' t Arnold in the 80's, and you aren't trying to get to Los Angeles to be reunited with your biological twin from whom you were separated at birth, and this twin just happens to be Danny Devito. Of cour...

Episode 110 - Pack your bags, and don't forget to pack your gatling gun because we are heading to the jungle to face the ultimate predator. And speaking of hunting, Happy Thanksgiving! This episode is being released on Thanksgiving back to back with our Running Man episode, much like how Arnold had two movies come out in 1987. So enjoy our discussion of Predator (1987) while you are digesting...

Episode 109 - Pack your bags, and if you forget to pack any one liners, don't worry because this movie has plenty to go around. We are traveling to the dystopian future year of 2019 to discuss The Running Man (1987), which stars Arnold alongside Richard Dawson of the Family Fued and Match Game. In this one, Dawson is the host of a game show called the Running Man, which pits convicted felons a...

Episode 108: Pack your bags, and don't forget to pack a kettlebell, because we are headed back to the 80's to track the early career of an icon of cinema and America in general; Arnold Schwarzenegger. This is our second week of 1980's Arnold where we watch and discuss Commando (1985). And if you are wondering what happened to the missing epsode where we cover a notable Arnold film from...

Episode 107 - We have been talking about it for years, and we finally answer the question; Is it possible to do an Arnold month? This month Brian is up to the challenge and taking 5 weeks to cover the evolution of Arnold Schwarzenegger as an actor in the 1980's. And while there may be one film in particular that is missing for the month, we are starting off week one strong with Conan the Barbarian...

Episode 106 - We conclude our October coverage of Horror Remakes with Invasion of the Body Snatchers (1978) with special guest Chris Bartoli. Chris is a big horror fan and hosted Carpenter month with us earlier this year and it was great to have him back. To wrap up this month we watched the original Invasion of the Body Snatchers (1956) as a compare and contrast. At the end we picked which versio...

Episode 105 - This week we are joined once again by the great RaGhoul to rejoice in one of the best remakes ever made; John Carpenter's The Thing (1982). This is the third part of our 4 part series of Horror Remakes that rival the original. Apologies for the delay as this was supposed to come out in October. Coming soon will be our coverage of The Invasion of the Body Snatchers (1978), with ou...

Episode 104 - It's week 2 of our October coverage of Horror Remakes, and we are covering the 1990 remake of Night of the Living Dead, which was directed by special effects legend Tom Savini. In addition to covering these remakes all month, we will also be joined by a new special guest each week. For this one we are joined by superfan Barely Ashley. You would be hard pressed to find a bigger fa...

Epsiode 103 - It's October! And it's an Anthony R month which means we are doing some horror for sure. This month we are looking at Horror Remakes that hold their own against the original, or possibly even surpass the original. And all month long we will be joined by special guests. This week we are joined once again by OOTim to discuss the 2002 remake of The Ring. We run down our general...

Episode 102 - This week we are joined but special guest 00Tim, who schools us all on the classic Sci-Fi Blade Runner (1982). Tim is a huge fan of the the film and without him we most likely would have been floundering around trying to talk about this one. So tune in and learn something. And we also learn next month's theme. For October we are continuing with the remake theme and flipping from...

Episode 101- Pack your bags, we are headed to a theme park of the Wild West. Before there was the HBO series, there was the original film Westward (1973) centered around two friends who visit a kind of adult fantasy camp where people get to live in the Wild West for 1000 dollars per day, amongst lifelike robots. Sure there are guns, but it's all maintained and nothing can go wrong.. right? Tun...

Episode 100 - It's our 100th episode! And in classic MRAC fashion we lost track and forgot which episode we were on and it went unmentioned other than in the outtakes at the end when we talk about how it was last week. Either way, we are doing out usual thing and talking film. This is week 2 of Original Sci-Fi films that have been re-did. We watched and discussed The Time Machine (1960), a mov...

Episode 99 - It's a new month here at MRAC, and for September Pete is bringing us the OG version of classic sci-fi films that have been re-did... or remade. For week 1 we watched and discussed The Day the Earth Stood Still (1951), a classic science fiction film about an alien that comes to earth with his giant robot friend to warn the earthlings about their behavior. After some nerding out on...

Episode 98 - This week we head over to America to put a big shiny ninja bow on this month. We dive into the Cannon gem of a ninja film: Enter the Ninja (1981). While the whole trilogy is worth watching we only have time to get into the first installment of a fully trained American ninja helping his American war buddy save his land in the Philippines, which is being threatened by a local warlord. A...

Episode 97 - This month we head back to Japan and we are animated. This is anime ninja week, part 4 of Marco's deep dive into ninjas. We are watching an early anime classic Ninja Scroll (1993). Ninja scroll is the story of a vagabond ninja who gestured dragged into battling a group of demons involved in a plot to overthrow the shogunate. And just because this is animated don't let it fool...

Episode 96 - Pack your bags because we are headed back to China as the ninjas take on the Shaolin monks. This week's main feature is the Ninja vs Shaolin (1983). This one is more kung fu than ninja and the ninjas are not portrayed very favorably. It once again features Japanese in China as the Japanese employ ninjas and other schemes to try and take over a Shaolin Temple. It is pretty ridiculo...

Episode 95 - This is part 2 of our ninja coverage. This week we are looking at another classic Japanese ninja origin film; Castle of Owls (1963). This is a more polished version of last weeks story of ninjas plotting against the powers that be as well as each other. There is also an intriguing story of ninja having to choose between duty and their prospective love interest. This week we are also j...

Episode 94 - Pack your bags, and keep you nunchucks packed, because we are transitioning from Kung Fu to Ninja month. This is a Marco month, so the month wouldn't be complete without an old Japanese film. And this may not be the last. We are digging deep into he origins of the ninja with Shinobi no Mono (1962), a story about ninjas plotting against ninja and other powers that be. We try to bre...

Episode 93 - Our schedule has not been consistent lately but helpfully we are back on track after a summer of travel and adventures, all while watching Kung Fu films. This wraps up July and our month of Kung Fu Legends. This week we watched Ip Man (2008) starring Donnie Yen. Ip Man is the story of a Kung Fu master defending his town and country once again from those pesky Japanese. The real Ip Man...