The Kulturecast

Chris and Sean continue Oscar Month with our fifth Best Picture nominee: Spotlight. Directed by Tom McCarthy, the film takes a look at the Boston Globe Spotlight team that uncovered the rampant child abuse present in the Catholic Church. The film stars Michael Keaton, Rachel McAdams, Mark Ruffalo, and Liev Schrieber. It's nominated for Best Picture, Best Director, Adams for Supporting Actress and...

Chris and Sean, joined by screenwriter Tim Burns, continue Oscar Month with our fourth Best Picture nominee: The Big Short. Directed by Adam McKay, the film stars an ensemble cast of actors that take a look at what caused the recession in 2008. It's McKay's first dramatic film but doesn't shy away from comedy as well. It's nominated for Best Picture, Best Director, and Christian Bale for Supportin...

Chris and Sean, joined by staff writer Oscar Moreno, continue Oscar Month with our third Best Picture nominee: Bridge of Spies. Directed by Steven Spielberg, the film stars Tom Hanks as lawyer James Donovan who is tasked with defending captured Soviet spy Rudolf Abel played by Mark Rylance. Rylance is nominated for the Best Supporting Actor award while the film is nominated for Best Picture. As al...

Chris and Sean, joined by director Matt Campagna and writer Russ Linton, kick off Oscar Month with our second Best Picture nominee: The Revenant. Directed by Alejandro G. Iñárritu, the film stars Leonardo DiCaprio as Hugh Glass, a fur-trapper in Montana who must avenge the death of his son after being mauled by a bear and left for dead. His search for revenge takes him across the northern states,...

Chris and Sean kick off Oscar month with our first Best Picture nominee: The Martian.  Directed by Ridley Scott, the film stars Matt Damon as astro-botanist Mark Watney who is left behind on Mars accidentally by the crew of the Ares III. He must use his wits and knowledge to survive on the desolate Martian terrain along with finding a way to contact NASA. It's Apollo 13 and Gravity mixed together...

Chris and Sean are joined by host of The Projection Booth podcast Mike White to talk the first two Daniel Craig adventures of January, Bond January : Casino Royale and Quantum of Solace. In Casino Royale, it's Bond's first mission after becoming a 00 agent and he is tasked with taking down a banker to the world's foremost terrorist group Quantum. In Quantum of Solace, 007 must avenge the death of...

Chris and Sean are joined by film staff writer Ben Hanig to talk Pierce Brosnan's first 007 adventure of January, Bond January : GoldenEye. The film pits 007 against 006, played by Sean Bean, in a war of wits and firepower with the world as the stakes. Bond must stop Trevelyan from using the GoldenEye laser to set England back to the stone age all the while getting the girl. It's Brosnan's Bond at...

Chris and Sean are joined by film staff writer Oscar Moreno for the final Timothy Dalton 007 film of January, Bond January : Licence to Kill. The film stars Timothy Dalton as the brooding 00 agent who seeks revenge on a Latin America drug kingpin Franz Sanchez played by Robert Davi. Sanchez mutilates Bond's friend Felix Leiter along with murdering Leiter's wife, which sets Bond on an all-out vende...

Chris and Sean talk the final Roger Moore 007 film of January, Bond January : A View to a Kill. The film stars an aged, 58 to be exact, James Bond as he takes on the Steve Jobs/Bill Gates mashup that is Max Zorin played by Christopher Walken. Bond attempts to thwart Zorin's evil plan of attempting to flood Silicon Valley through an extremely convoluted series of earthquakes. It's old man Bond vers...

Chris and Sean are joined by Wovoka's guitarist Eric Kniss for the first Roger Moore 007 adventure of January, Bond January : Moonraker. James Bond goes to space in the film to avert global annihilation at the hands of Hugo Drax (Michael Lonsdale). Bond is joined by Holly Goodhead (Lois Chiles) and Jaws (Richard Kiel) in the only Bond adventure to ever go to space. It's an interesting film to say...

Chris and Sean continue January, Bond January  with a look at George Lazenby's singular turn as the famous 00 agent: On Her Majesty's Secret Service. In the film, Lazenby steps into the infamous shoes of 007 as he attempts to thwart Blofeld's (Telly Savala) plans to sterilize the world's food supply. Along the way, he finds love in Tracy Vincenzo (Diana Rigg) and even gets married! It's an tonally...

Chris and Sean continue January, Bond January  with one of two non-canonical 007 adventures: Never Say Never Again. The film finds Sean Connery once again playing the laconic secret agent in a retelling of the classic Thunderball story. Bond is tasked with stopping Blofeld and Maximillian Largo from detonating two nuclear warheads somewhere across the world along with the help of Domino and Felix...

Chris and Sean kick off January, Bond January with the original Bond and the original Bond film: Dr. No. The film features Sean Connery as James Bond, a newly minted double-0 agent, who is tasked with determining why a high-ranking British official was murdered in Jamaica. Along the way he meets Honey Ryder (Ursula Andress), Felix Leiter (Jack Lord), and the eponymous Dr. No (Joseph Wiseman). It's...

Chris and Sean finish out So Bad They're Still Bad month with a true powerhouse in the pantheon of bad films: The Room. The film stars Tommy Wiseau as Tommy, a strange man who is engaged to his future wife Lisa. Their lives are turned upside down when Lisa decides to pursue Tommy's best friend Mark (Greg Sestero) and everything begins to fall apart in hilarious fashion. Along with talking about th...

Chris is joined by his good friend Candace Perez for the second to last film of So Bad They're Still Bad month: Toys. The film stars Robin Williams as Leslie Zevo, the son of a famed toy creator, who has to deal with his militaristic uncle taking over after his father passes. He fights back with humor, laughter, and wind-up toys, all the while doing his usual Williams schtick. It's a interesting m...

Chris and Sean are joined by co-writer of Freaked Tim Burns for the second Kulturecast of So Bad They're Still Bad month‘s Christmas movie week: Jingle All The Way 2. This mistake of a film features Larry the Cable Guy in the role last taken up by Arnold Schwarzenegger as the deadbeat dad just looking to get his kid that special toy for Christmas. It's as derivative, unfunny, and unnecessary at it...

Chris and Sean are joined by author Russ Linton for the first Kulturecast of So Bad They're Still Bad month‘s Christmas movie week: Silent Night, Deadly Night Part 2. The film follows Ricky, played by Eric Freeman, as he tells his story about he became a mass murderer. It all hinges on a murderous Santa Claus raping his mother, and yes, we are being serious. As always, you can follow Chris Stachiw...

We take a break from So Bad They're Still Bad month to talk about the most anticipated film of the year: Star Wars: The Force Awakens. The film picks up thirty years after the end of Return of the Jedi and follows Rey (Daisy Ridley) and Finn (John Boyega) as they try to return a lost robot to its master. Along the way they meet new and old faces alike. It's a return to form for the series and a ma...

Chris is joined by metal band Wovoka for another Kulturecast for So Bad They're Still Bad month: Poultrygeist. The film follows Arbie, played by Jason Yachanin, as he tries to win back the love of his life Wendy all the while fighting off a horde of undead chicken-human hybrid zombies. It's Troma at its finest. We also speak with Jason about his time on the film, what it was like to work with Lloy...

Chris and Sean are joined by director Matt Campagna for a special bonus Kulturecast for So Bad They're Still Bad month: Green Lantern. The film stars a miscast Ryan Reynolds as the CGI-suited hero as he takes on Peter Sarsgaard as a giant floating space turd known as Parallax. It was the start of DC's Cinematic Universe, emphasis on was, and one of the worst comic book movies ever made. As always,...

Chris and Sean are joined by guest Zach Nowack for another film that could only be justifiably watched during So Bad They're Still Bad month: The Oogieloves in the Big Balloon Adventure. The film follows three technicolor miscreants as they attempt to find retrieve lost balloons for their drooling anthropomorphic towel friend's birthday. Along the way they come across the most desperate actors in...

Chris is joined by senior writer Marc Hall to talk about a bonus film for So Bad They're Still Bad month: Bloodsucking Freaks. The film follows Sardu, a theater master who operates the Theater of Macabre. Unbeknownst to the audience, Sardu and his pint-sized assistant Ralphus are actually kidnapping women from around New York and actually murdering them in front of the captivated audience. The two...

Sean and Chris start out So Bad They're Still Bad month with a film that is widely considered to be one of the worst of all time: Howard the Duck. The film follows the titular character as he is unwittingly transported to Earth. There he falls in love with Beverly (Lea Thompson), is annoyed by Phil (Tim Robbins), and must fight the Dark Overlord of the Universe (Jeffrey Jones). It's a film like on...

Sean and Chris start out So Bad They're Still Bad month with a look at one of the worst movies ever: The Garbage Pail Kids Movie. The film centers one a group of horrifying mutant alien kids who come to Earth to wreak havoc. Along the way, they befriend a kid named Dodger and learn that they can do anything by working with each other. It's one of the worst for good reason. As always, you can follo...

Sean and Chris, joined by senior editor Zach Wickwire, finish up Not-So-Newvember with the remake of Red Dawn from 2012. The film follows Chris Hemsworth and Josh Peck as two brothers who have to fight the Chinese/North Korean/Nondescript Asian invasion in Washington. It's a hokey, bland action movie that exists to profit off the name recognition of the original, and instill true patriotism in the...