The Every Movie Ever! Podcast

Ben and Rob head to the frontlines with Alex Garland’s Civil War (2024), the film that he intended to be his last in the directors chair. Starring Kirsten Dunst, Wagner Moura, Cailee Spaeny, and Nick Offerman, Civil War isn’t your typical dystopian epic. Instead, Alex Garland delivers a chilling, ground-level road movie where journalists race through a divided America to document its collapse. But...

Ben and Rob bite into Raw (2016), the feature debut of writer-director Julia Ducournau. This French body horror classic follows Justine, a lifelong vegetarian who develops a craving for human flesh during her first year at veterinary school. With visceral imagery, unflinching performances, and gallons of fake blood, Raw made Ducournau one of the most talked-about voices in horror cinema—and proved...

Ben and Rob summon ‘Men’ (2022), written and directed by visionary director Alex Garland. This surreal, unsettling folk horror stars Jessie Buckley as a grieving woman plagued by a series of near-identical men—all played by Rory Kinnear—in a remote English village. As Alex Garland leaves behind the structured sci-fi of Ex Machina and Annihilation, ‘Men’ marks a bold turn into dream logic, emotiona...

Ben and Rob wade into the beautiful mind of Brian Wilson’s mind waters with ‘Love & Mercy’ the biopic that, much like the man, is split right in two. With Paul Dano as the young Brian Wilson crafting Pet Sounds and battling hallucinations, and John Cusack as the older Brian Wilson trapped under the thumb of a manipulative therapist, ‘Love & Mercy’ captures the genius of Brian Wilson, the d...

Ben and Rob take the test this week with The Assessment (2024), a stark, unsettling sci-fi drama that might just be the strongest directorial debut we’ve seen in years. With Elizabeth Olsen delivering what could be one of the best performances of the year, The Assessment throws us into a chilling future where personal worth is measured, judged, and quantified by the state—and failing the test mean...

Ben and Rob welcome Annihilation , Alex Garland’s 2018 cosmic horror that proved too complex for the box office despite critical adoration. Starring Natalie Portman as a biologist on a grief-fuelled mission into a zone where DNA scrambles and metaphors get literal, Annihilation is part horror, part elegy, and part existential crisis. Alex Garland’s adaptation of the novel is somehow even bleaker t...

Ben and Rob test ‘Ex Machina’, Alex Garland’s sleek, sterile sci-fi thriller where tech anxiety gets seductive and sinister. Domhnall Gleeson plays Caleb, a wide-eyed coder sent to play assistant to Oscar Isaac’s Natan, a tech genius channeling Elon Musk if he ever got off the bad stuff; but the star of ‘Ex Machina’ is Ava—Alicia Vikander’s uncanny AI creation who may or may not be running her own...

Ben and Rob play ‘Funny Games’, Michael Haneke’s brutal shot-for-shot 2007 remake of his original home invasion masterpiece from ten years prior. Starring Naomi Watts, Michael Pitt, Tim Roth and Brady Corbet, ‘Funny Games’ is a hauntingly cold movie about not only the holiday from hell, but of horror movies and why we watch them. But why did director Michael Haneke choose to remake almost exactly...

Ben and Rob feel “DREDD”, the 2013 Pete Travis directed adaptation of 2000AD’s megastar character Judge Dredd, starring Karl Urban, Lena Headey and Olivia Thirlby. Written by Alex Garland (director of ‘Ex Machina’, ‘Civil War’, ‘Warfare’), ‘DREDD’ struggled to make back its budget, despite good reviews and praise for its accuracy to the source material. But why did ‘DREDD’ flop so hard at the box...

Ben and Rob autopsy ‘Death Of A Unicorn’, A24’s latest horror comedy starring Paul Rudd, Jenna Ortega, Richard E Grant and Will Poulter. ‘Death Of A Unicorn’ tells the tale of a father-daughter duo who hit a mythical beast with their car and somehow end up in a biotech conspiracy full of blood, mythology and not-so-subtle satire. Is this film a takedown of late-stage capitalism or just a weird fle...

Ben and Rob wake up in ‘Dark City’, the dark sci-fi fantasy from Alex Proyas, director of ‘The Crow’. Released a year before ‘The Matrix’, ‘Dark City’ tells the story of John Murdock (Rufus Sewell), a man who has lost his memory in a city that never sees the sun where memory and time itself are the playthings of a race of alien beings known only as The Strangers. ‘Dark City’ was a critical success...

Ben and Rob discover ‘Critters’, the 1986 horror comedy from practical FX masterminds The Chiodo Brothers. When intergalactic creatures escape space jail, a small Kansas farmhouse must now deal with the critter menace with only alien futurecops to help them. Released in the wake of ‘Gremlins’ but written long before, ‘Critters’ made good at the box office and has become cult favourite horror comed...

Ben and Rob elect ‘Conclave’ for this week’s episode! Directed by Edward Berger and shockingly well timed, ‘Conclave’ follows the story of Cardinal Lawrence (Ralph Fiennes) as he is tasked with leading one of the world's most secretive and ancient events; selecting a new Pope to be the head of the Catholic church. Not content with making over five times its budget, ‘Conclave’ also won the Oscar Be...

Ben and Rob defeat ‘The Last Starfighter’; 1984’s discount Star Wars; directed by none other than Michael Myers himself, Nick Castle. Alex Rogan, an expert video game player, lives in a trailer park and has no promising future. One day he discovers his favourite video game wants to recruit him as a starfighter pilot. This film has massive nostalgia vibes for Rob, but has Ben ever seen this masterp...

DINO-MITE! (get it? Because... T-Rex) Ben & Rob delve into B-movie royalty with Stewart Raffill’s 1994 Trash Masterpiece (Trashterpiece?) Tammy & The T-Rex! Starring Denise Richards and Paul Walker in their first feature film roles, this deliciously over-the-top campy triumph of 90’s cinema is the most Ben film EVER… but does Rob buy into it? Join the boys as they answer everything you’ve...

Ben and Rob wash up on ‘The Island Of Dr Moreau’, the 1996 commercial and critical flop starring Marlon Brando, Val Kilmer, David Thewlis, and Fairuza Balk. This film is an absolute fever dream involving cloning, body horror and nonsense plotting; only overshadowed by the drama happening behind the scenes. Marlon Brando improvised what lines he wasn’t fed via earpiece, Val Kilmer was a walking men...

Ben and Rob spring ‘Trap’; M Night Shyamalan’s 2024 thinly veiled advert for his daughters music career. Starring Josh Hartnett, Ariel Donoghue and Saleka Night Shyamalan ‘Trap’ tells the nonsensical story of a serial killer and his oblivious teenage daughter attending a concert that is in fact, and you’re not gonna see this one coming, a trap. But why does this film exist? Where is M Night Shyama...

Ben and Rob dive in to the inconceivably good ‘Princess Bride’, Rob Reiner’s classic 1987 fantasy comedy starring Cary Elwes, Robin Wright, Mandy Patinkin, Chris Sarandon, Christopher Guest, Wallace Shawn and André the Giant. Buttercup is madly in love with farm boy Westley; unfortunately, things take a turn in their lives when Westley goes out in search of employment and gets attacked by a pirate...

Ben and Rob conclude the Swayze Trilogy with ‘Point Break’, Kathryn Bigelow’s perfect blockbuster from the golden days of 1991. Starring Patrick Swayze, Keanu Reeves and Gary Busey, ‘Point Break’ tells the tale of Johnny Utah and Bohdi as their dangerous cat and mouse relationship as cop and robber takes a radical turn. But why is Bohdi’s past never discussed? How is he so physically capable and i...

Ben and Rob spinkick the wheels of ‘Roadhouse’, the B-Movie made for AAA money all the way back in 1989. Starring Patrick Swayze as a legendary bouncer hired to restore order at a notorious bar and ending up the target of the ruthless crime boss who controls the town. But having never seen it before, can famously cynical Rob find anything to enjoy in this camp tale of love and violence? Why was th...

Ben and Rob have hungry eyes for ‘Dirty Dancing’, the 1987 smash hit that lifted Patrick Swayze and Jennifer Grey into superstardom and defined summer camp for generations. Produced on a tiny budget and absolutely destroying the box office, ‘Dirty Dancing’ went on to be enjoyed for decades and to this day counts millions among it’s fanbase. But having never seen it before, can famously cynical Rob...

Ben and Rob summon ‘Nosferatu’; Robert Eggers’ 2024 smash hit remake of the 1922 classic vampire story. In the 1830s, estate agent Thomas Hutter travels to Transylvania for a fateful meeting with Count Orlok, a prospective client. In his absence, Hutter's new bride, Ellen, is left under the care of their friends, Friedrich and Anna Harding. Plagued by horrific visions and an increasing sense of dr...

Ben and Rob knock on ‘Heretic’s door and spread the good word about Hugh Grant’s masterful villain turn of 2024. Written and directed by Scott Beck and Bryan Woods, ‘Heretic’ was another A24 success story making over sixty million dollars from a budget of just ten. Starring Hugh Grant, Sophie Thatcher and Chloe East, ‘Heretic’ tells the story of two Mormon missionaries who knock on the wrong door...

Ben and Rob ‘Blink Twice’ as they cover Zoe Kravitz’s directorial debut starring Channing Tatum, Naomi Ackie, Christian Slater, Haley Joel Osment, Kyle MacLachlan and Geena Davis. When tech billionaire Slater King invites cocktail waitress Frida to his private island, wild nights blend into sun-soaked days. But when strange things start to happen, Frida must uncover the truth if she hopes to make...

SOCIALS Ben and Rob hire ‘The Killer’ to finish off their series covering every David Fincher movie EVER! Starring Michael Fassbender, Tilda Swinton and Charles Parnell, ‘The Killer’ was released and funded by Netflix as part of the directors ongoing deal with the streaming platform, and follows an assassin dealing with the fallout of a job gone wrong. Released to fair reviews but widely considere...