The Actor and The Engineer Podcast

It's finally time to put 2018 to rest.  We each count off our top ten films of 2018, along with some honorable mentions.  We also spend a little bit of time talking about the Oscars, how cool Olivia Colman is and why Paul is a Master Oscar Predictor. Subscribe on iTunes or Apple Podcasts:   https://itun.es/i6gB67Y   Check out our Facebook page:   www.facebook.com/actorandengineer  and follow us on...

The time has come!  We run down who WE would vote for and who we THINK will will win in the biggest categories at this year's Oscars cerermony.  Josh gets his own statue and Paul has a BOLD pick for Best Picture.  Next week, we each run down our "favourite" movies of 2018.  Subscribe on iTunes or Apple Podcasts:   https://itun.es/i6gB67Y   Check out our Facebook page:   www.facebook.com/actoranden...

We get caught in the web of the newest Spider-Man, Miles Morales (and other Spider-People) in this stylistic, Oscar-nominated animated film with some fun performances and a cool premise. Why does Josh keep calling it a kid's movie? Subscribe on iTunes or Apple Podcasts:   https://itun.es/i6gB67Y   Check out our Facebook page:   www.facebook.com/actorandengineer  and follow us on twitter  @actoreng...

This week we look into the newly Oscar-nominated biopic about this great rock band and their larger-than-life front man, Freddy Mercury.  We get into the performances, the director situation and their uncanny Live-Aid performance that frames the movie. Subscribe on iTunes or Apple Podcasts:   https://itun.es/i6gB67Y   Check out our Facebook page:   www.facebook.com/actorandengineer  and follow us...

This multi-Oscar nominated film, with great, nuanced performances from Viggo Mortensen and Mahershala Ali, seems to lack something.  We attempt to talk it out.  Subscribe on iTunes or Apple Podcasts:   https://itun.es/i6gB67Y   Check out our Facebook page:   www.facebook.com/actorandengineer  and follow us on twitter  @actorengineer .

We are talking about Spike Lee's "too crazy to be true, but it is" KKK infiltration movie starring John David Washington, Adam Driver and Laura Harrier.  This film is great about starting conversations and brings up subject matter that is important, is peppered with genuine humor and deadly seriousness at just the right places.  Subscribe on iTunes or Apple Podcasts:   https://itun.es/i6gB67Y   Ch...

This week we talk over why Adam McKay might want to make a movie about a past Vice President and why he might have decided to do it now.  Christian Bale gains weight (for good reason)and Amy Adams still doesn't have an Oscar (yet?).  Subscribe on iTunes or Apple Podcasts:   https://itun.es/i6gB67Y   Check out our Facebook page:   www.facebook.com/actorandengineer  and follow us on twitter  @actore...

This missing person thriller takes place only on computer and phone screens, but still manages to have emotion and stakes. That's a pretty tall order! Subscribe on iTunes or Apple Podcasts:   https://itun.es/i6gB67Y   Check out our Facebook page:   www.facebook.com/actorandengineer  and follow us on twitter  @actorengineer . 

Alfonso Cuarón's new semi-autobiographical film focuses on the maid of a middle class Mexican family in Mexico City in the early 1970's. We talk about how this movie is presented in black and white with some amazing shots and an enveloping sound design. Cuarón made the bold choice to cast a first time actress in the main part and to not give anyone the script! Subscribe on iTunes or Apple Podcasts...

Yorgos Lanthimos is back, but now he has a couple of Academy Award winners to play with. This week we talk about this royal period piece, power dynamic, love triangle comedy that will hopefully get some Oscar love. Subscribe on iTunes or Apple Podcasts:   https://itun.es/i6gB67Y   Check out our Facebook page:   www.facebook.com/actorandengineer  and follow us on twitter  @actorengineer . 

Joel Edgerton writes, acts, produces, directs and has a role in this film about an 18 year old sent to a Christian gay "conversion therapy" camp.  Lucas Hedges plays the titular "boy" with conservative Christian parents Nicole Kidman and Russell Crowe. We talk about the rough road this character has and try to talk out why these religious parents might put their child in this situation. Subscribe...

This week we find out what the Coen Brothers on Netflix looks like. This 6-chapter film shows many sides of the wild west, but the one that comes up the most is death. Subscribe on iTunes or Apple Podcasts:   https://itun.es/i6gB67Y   Check out our Facebook page:   www.facebook.com/actorandengineer  and follow us on twitter  @actorengineer . 

This week we go back to middle school and check out Bo Burnham's take on anxiety, expectations, fitting in. Elsie Fisher's depiction of an eighth grader in present day must have similarities with all of our middle school experiences, regardless of age or whether Snapchat was around. Subscribe on iTunes or Apple Podcasts:   https://itun.es/i6gB67Y   Check out our Facebook page:   www.facebook.com/a...

Jonah Hill comes at us with a strong debut writing/directing effort about family, skating and growing up (on 16mm film in 4:3 aspect ratio!). He manages to find young actors (solid skaters) who are naturalistic on screen and fit in well with the more experienced actors (Lucas Hedges and Katherine Waterston). Subscribe on iTunes or Apple Podcasts:   https://itun.es/i6gB67Y   Check out our Facebook...

We talk about Luca Guadagnino's remake (not remake) of the 70's horror film, what he added (actual dancing) and how great Dakota Johnson is.  At 2.5 hours, it may be a bit long, but we try to figure it out.  Oh, and Tilda Swinton is pretty good too... Subscribe on iTunes or Apple Podcasts:   https://itun.es/i6gB67Y   Check out our Facebook page:   www.facebook.com/actorandengineer  and follow us o...

Damien Chazelle is back with a new kind of space movie that zeroes in on a private man, dealing with family tragedy and carrying out an almost impossible task. Ryan Gosling and Claire Foy are awesome and are bolstered by a stellar supporting cast, well-integrated special effects and a bold score by Justin Hurwitz. Subscribe on iTunes or Apple Podcasts:   https://itun.es/i6gB67Y   Check out our Fac...

This week, Bradley Cooper impresses both of us with his debut film.  The combination of performances (Cooper, Gaga and Elliott, especially), original music and a strong directorial hand put this film at or close to the top of the list for this year. Subscribe on iTunes or Apple Podcasts:   https://itun.es/i6gB67Y   Check out our Facebook page:   www.facebook.com/actorandengineer  and follow us on...

This week we are excited to talk about Jeremy Saulnier's new film (written by Macon Blair).  Saulnier's follow up to Green Room sees Jeffrey Wright play a wolf tracker summoned to the extreme Alaskan wilderness to investigate the disappearance of a child.  We noodle through this complex and dark movie which has some great performances!  Subscribe on iTunes or Apple Podcasts:   https://itun.es/i6gB...

This week we get into Bart Layton's narrative/documentary movie that we don't necessarily agree about...  Paul also recaps his most recent play experiences.  Enjoy!  Subscribe on iTunes or Apple Podcasts:   https://itun.es/i6gB67Y   Check out our Facebook page:   www.facebook.com/actorandengineer  and follow us on twitter  @actorengineer . 

This is it!  We both each go through our top 5 favorite movies of all time (so far).  Thanks for getting us to 200 episodes! Enjoy!  Subscribe on iTunes or Apple Podcasts:   https://itun.es/i6gB67Y   Check out our Facebook page:   www.facebook.com/actorandengineer  and follow us on twitter  @actorengineer . 

We made it to episode 200!!!  We each count down our top 10 favorite movies of all time (so far).  This first part gets us from 10 to 6.  Top 5 will be coming soon!  We are also debuting a new, awesome logo courtesy of friend of the show Justin Arner! Subscribe on iTunes or Apple Podcasts:   https://itun.es/i6gB67Y   Check out our Facebook page:   www.facebook.com/actorandengineer  and follow us o...

This week we are looking forward to the upcoming movies that interest us and we talk about whether they have a chance at Oscar glory. We also look back at the movies that we think hold Oscar-worthy performances.  Our next episode is number 200!! We will each count down our top 10 favorite movies of all time and debut a new logo! Subscribe on iTunes or Apple Podcasts:   https://itun.es/i6gB67Y   Ch...

Last year we talked about Aronofsky's mother! and we thought we knew what this allegorical film meant, but weren't sure.  We decided to revisit it in a year.  Since then we have found out that we both totally missed the main allegory and this week we try to figure out why. Subscribe on iTunes or Apple Podcasts:   https://itun.es/i6gB67Y   Check out our Facebook page:   www.facebook.com/actorandeng...

This week we finally catch up with John Krasinski's feature directing debut with barely any dialogue.  He and his costars (including his wife Emily Blunt) keep a tense tone throughout this alien invasion/suspense movie.  We also get into it's fast pace and effective editing.  One of the best films of the year, so far!!  Subscribe on iTunes or Apple Podcasts:   https://itun.es/i6gB67Y   Check out o...

This week we talk about how Tom Cruise's Ethan Hunt has to deal with the fallout of his past decisions while trying to prevent a nuclear fallout and trying not to fall out of a helicopter.  We have also deemed his on-screen running a national treasure.  Rebecca Ferguson is back and they get to fight with and against a scruffy Superman.  Subscribe on iTunes or Apple Podcasts:   https://itun.es/i6gB...