Thank God For Movies

Special guest Ryan Oliver joins the show this week for a bonus review of Barbarian , the newest film from Zach Cregger of Whitest Kids U Know Fame and of course, like we all remember in detail, Miss March . The horror film stars Georgina Campbell, Bill Skarsgård and Justin Long, and many critics are considering it this year's Malignant . Is that an accurate assessment? Hell if I know, since I wasn...

The dream of the 90s (or early 2000s?) is dead in Funny Pages . That’s right, we’re discussing the feature directorial debut of Owen Kline, son of Kevin Kline and Phoebe Cates. Co-produced by the Safdie Brothers, Funny Pages is a grimy dark comedy from A24 starring Daniel Zolghadri ( Eighth Grade ) as a teenage cartoonist who ditches his boring suburban life to try and make it on his own in the ci...

We're here to grant your cinematic wishes. Though based on this week's box office, you wished for a different movie...This week we're covering George Miller's latest film since Mad Max: Fury Road , the "existential adult fairy tale" Three Thousand Years of Longing , which stars Tilda Swinton and Idris Elba. We begin the show with some off-topics, including Jon's more positive take on Bodies Bodies...

Special guest Michael Guarnieri joins Cinemaholics to (in Will's words) "replace Jon Negroni while he's still on his honeymoon for some reason, what a clown" (again, Will's words). First up, Idris Elba! He's in a new thriller called Beast from Universal and director Baltasar Kormákur, and it's been getting surprisingly solid reviews considering its release schedule, but are the Cinemaholics going...

The Rehearsal is a new HBO series from the mind of Nathan Fielder, whose Comedy Central show Nathan For You continuously tested the limits of what you can get people to say and do when you put a camera in front of them. Fielder's perhaps twisted mission to break the rules of television has got us wanting to break some rules, too, which is why we're talking about a show this week instead of a movie...

A star-studded R-rated action comedy blockbuster that isn't a sequel? Or part of a larger franchise? Without superheroes? From David Leitch, the uncredited co-director of John Wick? And Brad Pitt as the lead? Being funny? And you said this isn't from Tarantino? Or Guy Ritchie? You said it's called Bullet Train ? Sony made this?! Are you sure this isn't a franchise? Oh, it's based on a book? Does i...

What if A24 made a Toy Story movie? It probably wouldn't be too different from their latest indie darling, Marcel the Shell with Shoes On , directed and co-written by Dean Fleischer Camp. Based on Camp's viral YouTube videos from over a decade ago — with Jenny Slate returning to voice Marcel and co-write the screenplay — Marcel the Shell is probably the most millennial movie we've seen lately, but...

Hold your horses. Special Guest Adonis Gonzalez rides into the show on the internet equivalent of horseback this week to talk with us about Nope , a new sci-fi horror film directed and written by Jordan Peele. Is it as good as Get Out and Us ? We'll have to discuss. Don't worry, we open the show with a spoiler-free conversation about the film, then we play the Rotten Tomatoes Game and finish thing...

Special guest Trisha Ashton joins us for the first time to help us review Where the Crawdads Sing , which is the film adaptation of the bestselling novel by Delia Owens. Trisha doesn't just boast being related to cohost Will Ashton, she is also an expert on the book, so she helps us unpack the differences and expectations between the two formats. The film stars Daisy Edgar-Jones as Kya, a recluse...

Special guest Bryan Young (/Film, Full of Sith) rainbow bridges their way to the show this week to help us stormbreak new ground on Thor: Love and Thunder , the 29th film in the Marvel Cinematic Universe and fourth Thor film (amazingly). Chris Hemsworth is still Thor, no surprise there, but we do see the return of some other familiar faces — Tessa Thompson as Valkyrie, Taika Waititi as Korg, and J...

Special guests  Matt Serafini  and  Chris Sheridan  join us for Vol. 2 of this week's episode of Cinemaholics. No, they're not speaking gibberish, they're just tying to contain their excitement for Minions: The Rise of Gru , the Illumination sequel to the Minions movie from 2015, which itself was a prequel within the Despicable Me franchise. Well, our despicable three begin the show with an improm...

Special guest Aaron Dicer checks in from the podcast equivalent of the Upside Down to talk all things Stranger Things . We open this week’s show with some kitchen table chit chat about the future of podcasting and audio content, then break down our general thoughts on why Stranger Things has been such a cultural phenomenon. With all that out of the way, we finally dig into Season 4 spoiler-free, t...

The Cinemaholics are in the building. Metaphorically. We've got two big films to cover this week, starting with Baz Luhrmann's Elvis , a super long, super glam biopic covering the life of the king of rock and roll with Austin Butler and Tom Hanks in lead roles. Next, Scott Derrickson's latest horror in quite a while just came out, and we're answering the call for The Black Phone , which stars Etha...

It's been a while since we did a "counter programming" episode, covering the three movies released this weekend outside of theaters. We opened the show with a topical discussion about Lightyear 's weak box office weekend and the overall direction of streaming releases as alternatives to theatrical event movies. Then we slide into our discussion of Spiderhead , a sci-fi thriller starring Chris Hems...

Special guest and honorary space ranger Charlie Ridgely joins use on the show for a review of Lightyear , the latest Pixar movie and first one to hit theaters since Onward in March 2020. Does the movie go to infinity, or is this franchise beyond its previous luck? Chris Evans stars as the voice of Buzz in this pseudo-origin story of the movie character that inspired the toy, and don't worry, we'll...

What, you expect us to just review Jurassic World Dominion without spending half the episode talking about the other movies instead? In addition to our ranking of the Jurassic Park film franchise and review of the latest film from Colin Trevorrow, we discuss Adam Sandler's latest Happy Madison film on Netflix, Hustle , a basketball dramedy with professional basketball players in it. Intro Music: &...

Somehow, David Cronenberg returned. Along with Viggo Mortensen, Léa Seydoux, Kristen Stewart, and plenty other lovable weirdos in this near-future body horror where "surgery is the new sex." Don't worry, we'll get to that. After premiering at the 2022 Cannes Film Festival, critics and audiences are definitely trying to process Cronenberg's latest sci-fi drama, and so are we. Is it this year...

We have the need for Tom Cruise. Or at least a Tom Cruise Mission: Impossible movie with a Top Gun soundtrack. That's right, we're reviewing Top Gun: Maverick this week, which is a legacy sequel to the 1986 nostalgia classic. We open the show discussing why it's flying high in terms of box office and critical reviews. Speaking of which, we also talk about Chip 'n Dale: Rescue Rangers , a new Disne...

Yes, all men. And by that we mean yes , all we talk about in this episode is Men , a new A24 folk horror from Alex Garland, director and writer of Ex Machina and Annihilation . Starring Jessie Buckley and Rory Kinnear(s), Men has everyone of all genders turning their heads...in the theater to ask the person behind them WTF they're watching. In addition to our review of the film, we discuss some of...

Special guest Cory Woodroof fittingly sits in the third chair this week for our review of On the Count of Three , a dark...buddy comedy? No, that's not quite right. But it is an indie dramedy (maybe?) directed by Jerrod Carmichael in his feature debut. He also stars with Christopher Abbot in this Sundance favorite about two friends who decide today will be the last day of their lives. The film als...

The first big MCU movie of 2022 is here, and we exist in a universe where we talk about it. After some quick box office catchup, we discuss the highs and lows of recent Marvel movies (and the Disney+ shows) before digging into Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness , a sequel to the 2016 film, but also an "event" Marvel movie with crossover characters like Scarlet Witch (Elizabeth Olsen) and...

Martin Campbell directed a new movie starring Liam Neeson, and we definitely watched it. Right? Anyway, let's talk about the fascinating career of Liam Neeson post- Taken , then dive into the unpredictable filmography of Martin Campbell, who directed Jon's favorite movie of all time, among...other movies. Finally, we review a movie called...called...oh, it's on the tip of our tongues. Guy Pearce i...

Special guest Dan Murrell joins us this week for the triumphant return of our Summer Movie Preview! We try our best to predict the box office fortunes (or misfortunes?) of the biggest movies to come, from Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness and Thor: Love and Thunder to Jurassic World Dominion and Lightyear . And that new Minions movie. And Nope . And Black Phone and Bullet Train and so ma...

Special guest Clint Worthington —Founder/EIC of The Spool and host of the Travolta/Cage podcast—joins us for the first time, and trust us, we need a Nick Cage expert for this episode. That's right, we're reviewing The Unbearable Weight of Massive Talent , which surprisingly isn't the Will Ashton biopic stuck in development hell. No, this is a high-concept meta comedy action movie starr...

We're not just reviewing The Northman , we're reviewing The North, man. That's right, Robert Eggers' is back with an epic viking blockbuster that is sure to blow a lot of minds, mostly in a good way. We discuss Eggers' brief filmography to date ( The Witch and The Lighthouse ) and debate where The Northman lands in his ongoing saga of twisted machismo fables. Plus we get into some spoilers toward...