The Film Board

"Forget everything that you think you know." The Film Board gathers! The Marvel Cinematic Universe has returned so we've brought together a merry band of thugs to spoil the next episode of the massive comic book soap opera for you - easter eggs and all. Origin story anyone? Join us as we talk about Doctor Strange, another special human that learns great and different powers to save the world/world...

"You’re right – the numbers don’t add up." The Film Board is all out of breath! Our faithful thugs have been sprinting from house to car to theater to car to microphone to gather, AND SPOIL, FOR YOU - the new Tom Cruise production of Jack Reacher: Never Go Back. The first installment of the Lee Child adaptation was striking and clever. We’ll talk through whether doing a #2 bugs us at all. Our hous...

"Terrorism is just an excuse." The Film Board gathers undercover of darkness through compromised microphones and remotely accessed computer screens to discuss a dramatic reconstruction of the deconstruction of the general public’s privacy in Oliver Stone’s Snowden. Is it accurate? Does it matter? Did Edward get a SAG card? Listen in as our heavy hands deliver an open discussion with Steve Sarmento...

"That sounds illegal." The Film Board gathers, celebrating the Dog Days of summer with a slick new film from the team that created The Hangover’s Wolf Pack. This month the Thugs get feral and spoil War Dogs for you because it features some of our favorite young Hollywood talent in Miles Teller and Jonah Hill and it’s just plain fun to figure out the alpha in a movie that’s categorized as “Comedy,...

"Use SQL to corrupt the databases." The Film Board gathers! This month, we’ve got thugs being thugs as the Bourne Quintology moves into its latest chapter. Our secret super soldiers surface to talk about Matt Damon’s return and the latest techniques in brainwashing, performance enhancing drugs and any other tricky tactics to transform Robert Ludlum’s legends to screen. All alliteration aside, we’r...

"Are you listening, Horsemen? You will get what's coming to you. In ways you can't expect." The Film Board gathers! This month, The Four Horsemen return to continue the magical crusade to right societal wrongs through misdirection and sleight of hand with Jon M. Chu’s Now You See Me 2. The Thugs tackle their own appetite for manipulation — Does this story deserve a sequel? Why would The Film Board...

"If we can't accept limitations, we're no better than the bad guys." The Film Board gathers! This month, #TeamFilmBoard takes on #TeamCap and #TeamIronMan for the title in this hero-on-hero-on-decidedly-non-hero battle royale. How well do the Russo Brothers do in their continued ownership of the Cap franchise? How about writers Christopher Markus and Stephen McFeely? And the cast of thousands of A...

"I found this upsetting because I was very hungry and also my wife had died ten minutes earlier. Maybe I should start from the beginning." The Film Board gathers! This month the gang of thugs comes together to spoil the latest thinker from Jean-Marc Vallée, Demolition. And you know what? We like it. We like it so much, we think you should see it. If you’ve been following us on The Film Board over...

"We know better now, don't we? Devils don't come from hell beneath us. They come from the sky." The Film Board gathers! This month, the gang of thugs comes together to take on the latest in Zack Snyder’s DC Comics destruct-o-thon with Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice and, as a good panel show should, we offer a split decision! How well is Snyder acting as custodian of DC’s most iconic properties...

“It’s complicated.” The Film Board gathers! The Coen Brothers are back, this time channeling the spirit of old Hollywood. Josh Brolin plays Eddie Mannix, the studio fixer charged with keeping the studio in fine form. His big star goes missing. His big starlet gets pregnant. His young hunk can’t act, but has the voice of an angel. And, oh yes, Commies. George Clooney plays Baird Whitlock, our kidna...

“In the coast guard they say you go out, they don’t say you gotta come back.” The Film Board gathers! This month we’ve come together to take on Craig Gillespie’s story of a heroic Coast Guard rescue at sea, The Finest Hours” starring Chris Pine and Casey Affleck. How does the rugged crew handle the thrashing of the Nantucket coast? It’s a contentious episode this week, one that splits us on adapta...

“Droid, please.” The Film Board gathers! This month the gang of thugs takes on the seventh film in The Star Wars Saga, this from reboot master, J.J. Abrams. Does he bring his magic rebootinator to set every day to apply just the right dose of mystery and lens flare? Is he able to get performances from Daisy Ridley, John Boyega, and Oscar Isaac to best our Star Wars expectations? Can Tommy remember...

Last year, DC Barns entered his name in a contest to join the cast and crew of Star Wars: The Force Awakens at Pinewood Studios in London. He and friend J. Trent Adams were treated to the full on-set experience — complete with trailer and a walk-on role in the film — and now, after nearly 12 months in embargoed silence, they are free to speak of their experience inside the Mystery Box. Today, a sp...

The Film Board gathers! ...around a long mysterious table high in a castle above the clouds to take on the biggest issues of the day — certainly the biggest at the box office right now: Sam Mendes’ latest entry in the life of our favorite spy, Spectre. How does Bond 25 stack up in Daniel Craig’s catalog? How important is it that Bond is moving from serial to series? What’s the deal with Bond girls...

“So… I blew myself up.” The Film Board gathers! This month on the show, we’re dropping everything and working together to bring our man Mark Watney home from Mars in Ridley Scott’s latest, The Martian. This film, based on Andy Weir’s meticulously crafted book, is a celebration of ingenuity and scientific achievement — a sentiment in short supply across our media landscape. It’s a triumph that a fi...

“Sit down, man. Acclimatize.” The Film Board gathers! This month the gang of thugs has come together to answer the age-old question that has transfixed adventurers time immemorial: why do we see Everest? Because it’s there. It’s an IMAX 3D exclusive this week which might make you think it’s something of a...you know...spectacle. We’re going to tell you all about that, and we’re going to say some r...

“For a special agent, you’re not having a very special day, are you?" The latest franchise to get hit with reboot fever is a 1960s throwback with class that’s getting wildly underserved theatrical notice. That’s right, The Film Board gathers for The Man from U.N.C.L.E....and we LIKE it! Funny accents? You bet! Excessively stylistic action? And how! Dreamy blue eyes? You betcha! Join Andy Nelson, S...

“I want you to break into a place and steal some stuff." The Film Board gathers! This month the gang of thugs comes together for Marvel's latest, Ant-Man. How does Scott Lang's mini hero stand in the current Marvel stable? What is the impact of the franchise model on our expectations going into Marvel films now? How does director Peyton Reed fare in light of the "Edgar Wright situation"? Join Film...

“The key to a happy life is to accept you are never actually in control.” The Film Board gathers! This month, we christen Jurassic World, the latest from Colin Trevorrow. Did Chris Pratt maintain his status as up-and-coming action hero of the decade? Did Bryce Dallas Howard embody 1980s sexism in the movies? Was Vincent D'Onofrio so much better in Daredevil? Is Jake Johnson your new best friend yo...

Film Board assemble! This month the thugs gather to take on Joss Whedon’s next entry to the Marvel Cinematic Universe with Avengers: Age of Ultron. How does the comic adaptation stand up to the original books? Does Joss manage to pull off an even more character-dense film and keep it making some sort of sense? Why does Ultron smile and blink? All these questions and so many more answered this week...

Child 44 was supposed to be Oscar bait. Instead, its star-heavy cast is dragging it through opening weekend with a 27% freshness rating on Rotten Tomatoes and a deflated box office take. But why? This week, The Film Board gathers to take on Daniel Espinoza’s latest film of Richard Price’s once lauded Black List screenplay. Spoiler: This is not the script that Andy remembers — substantial changes t...

“It’s time we fight back." The Film Board gathers! This month we take on the latest in The Divergent Series: Insurgent! This time around, Tris Prior is battling her nemeses internal and external at the hand of director Robert Schwentke and writers Brian Duffield, Akiva Goldsman, and Mark Bomback. How’d it hold up, you ask? Did Mekhi Phifer reprise his standout performance as Mekhi Phifer? Did Mile...

This is not the movie you think it is. At least, that's the take of our round table of thugs on The Film Board this week as we spoil Kingsman: The Secret Service. Thankfully, even as we were collectively surprised, we were equally blown away by Matthew Vaughn's contribution to the spy game. Let's start here and get it right out of the way: Colin Firth is a proper action hero. No one saw that comin...

Chris Hemsworth gives his all in Michael Mann's study of hacking new this week: Blackhat. If most computer films have historically failed the computer stuff, the consensus thus far is that Blackhat has delivered where others have so desperately lacked. But how does it hold up beyond the tech? The Film Board gathers! This week Andy Nelson, Steve Sarmento, Tommy Metz III, and Pete Wright hash out Bl...

Peter Jackson is back with another turn at the wheel of Middle Earth. This time, Bilbo and buddies are off to slay the dragon, fight ye olde Gold Flu, and get all gussied up to ready themselves for The Lord of the Rings, which already happened. That's right, it's time to tackle the conclusion to this trilogy, The Hobbit: The Battle of the Five Armies. The Film Board gathers as Steve Sarmento, Chad...