Why Wasn't It Better?

On this bonus episode, we’re breaking down Hoppers, a weird, funny, and surprisingly unpredictable original that feels like a throwback to when Pixar wasn’t afraid to experiment. It’s not top-tier, but it’s exactly the kind of risk-taking, offbeat storytelling we’ve been missing. Is this the direction Pixar should be heading in? ____ Please consider joining our Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/wwi...

Season Ten is all wrapped up. join us as we give our traditional recap and preview what's on deck for next season. ____ Please consider joining our Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/wwibofficial YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@whywasntitbetter Letterboxd: https://letterboxd.com/wwibpodcast Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/wwib_official X: https://x.com/WWIBpodcast Subscribe! Rate! Review!...

We conclude Season Ten with Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince, the sixth film in the series. By this point, the films were box office machines, but Half-Blood Prince is arguably the most disliked. Did it set things up for the finale? Or is it a poor adaptation of the book? Guest and Potterhead Jake Valkusky is back to discuss. _____ Please consider joining our Patreon: https://www.patreon.com...

Enjoy this sneak preview of our Spider-Man: Homecoming episode. The full episode is available right now for our supporters over on Patreon. The full episode will not be available for another month. So if you want early access, head over to patreon.com/wwibofficial and become a Patreon! ____ Please consider joining our Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/wwibofficial YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@...

It's the 30th anniversary of a film that needs no introduction. Independence Day wasn't just one of the biggest blockbusters of all time. It became a huge piece of pop culture in the 1990s and remains one to this day. Does it hold up three decades later? We're going to try and sort that out. Here to celebrate America's birthday with us is guest Ivan Calixto. _____ Please consider j...

Under Capricorn is known as one of Alfred Hitchcock's least successful efforts. Starring the great Ingrid Bergman and Joseph Cotten, it's a period costume drama set in Victorian Australia. Does that sound compelling? It didn't to us, but we wanted to check it out and see if it wasn't some diamond in the rough. _____ Please consider joining our Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/wwibo...

Tower Heist had many ingredients that should have made it a standout comedy for its era. The involvement of Ben Stiller, Eddie Murphy, and a stellar supporting cast, involved in a caper? Sounds great on paper. The result was something that nobody hated, but nobody really loved either, and that's disappointing. Why wasn't it better? ____ Please consider joining our Patreon: https://www.patr...

Toy Story 4 arrived nine years after a trilogy that already had one of the most emotionally definitive endings in modern animation. Rather than building on Andy’s goodbye, the film pivots hard toward Woody’s identity crisis, reframing him from loyal caretaker to wandering existential hero. It’s beautifully animated, occasionally funny, and conceptually interesting — but it also feels like a movie...

If you're of a certain age, chances are you watched Fantastic Voyage in grade school science class. While the film itself may have faded from many people's memories, it's actually a very influential work of science fiction and we're here to carry its torch, sixty years later. Guest Paul Kind returns to discuss. _________________ Please consider joining our Patreon: https://www.patr...

Believe it or not, Airport 1975 was one of the biggest sequels of its era. Released at the height of the disaster movie craze in the 1970s, it was critically panned but audiences ate it up. Today it's mostly remembered for the film that parodied it, Airplane! Nonetheless we think it deserves discussion and guest Cam Sully of The Jacked Up Review Podcast joins to discuss. _________________ Please c...

Released at the absolute height of Pokémania, Pokémon the Movie 2000 aimed bigger, darker, and more mythic than the TV show ever dared. Lugia, the Legendary Birds, an ancient prophecy, and a world-ending imbalance give this film a surprising sense of scale for what’s ostensibly a kids’ anime movie. It's all about the Power of One. Producer and Pokémon super fan Eric Taylor fan joins to discuss...

A Patreon request! Brad Pitt behind the wheel, Joseph Kosinski in the director’s chair, and real Formula One teams lending their names — F1 has all the makings of a high-octane sports movie classic. But does it actually cross the finish line, or stall out in the pits? From the groundbreaking in-race cinematography to the familiar sports clichés, we ask the question: with access to the real F1 worl...

At the absolute peak of his fame, Michael Jackson had the power to make something completely on his own terms, and that’s exactly what Moonwalker is. Full of claymation, drug dealers, supercars, machine guns, gundam suits, and children, Moonwalker feels less like a film and more like a surreal artifact of pop culture excess. Guest Zion Parker is here to try and make sense of the madness. ___ Pleas...

Some James Bond fans will tell you that an actor always hits their stride with their third entry as the British secret agent. Did Pierce Brosnan achieve that with The World Is Not Enough? Many would tell you no, but we might tell you otherwise. Don't be confused. So are we. Guest Kai Wang returns to share his thoughts. ___ Please consider joining our Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/wwibofficial Y...

Enjoy this sneak preview of our Hoppers episode. The full episode is available right now for our supporters over on Patreon. The full episode will not be available for another TWO MONTHS. So if you want early access, head over to patreon.com/wwibofficial and become a Patreon! _________________ Please consider joining our Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/wwibofficial YouTube: https://www.youtube.co...

Mission: Impossible III has a strange legacy. It kept the series going after the ill-received second entry. In some ways it served as a soft reboot. It set things up for the series to dominate in the next decade. Yet it is often overlooked. Why? Should Tom Cruise have done better, or is this now underrated? Guest Tom Paradiso has chosen to accept the mission of discussing it. ___ Please consider j...

The film that holds the notorious distinction of being the only film in the franchise to fail at the box office, Solo: A Star Wars Story was supposed to work. An origin story about one of cinema's most beloved heroes, directed by the steady hand of Ron Howard? Turns out Disney severely miscalculated. But nearly a decade on, is it really as bad as its box office numbers? Or does it deserve some...

Episode four of our Stephen King mini-season and also a Patreon request! Edgar Wright's reboot of The Running Man fell completely flat at the box office last year, despite the name of Stephen King and the involvement of Glenn Powell. Why did it fail so badly? Is it destined for cult classic status? Guest Daniel Ake returns to the podcast to help figure it out. ___ Please consider joining our Patre...

Episode three of our Stephen King mini-season! Doctor Sleep is an ambitious sequel that tries to thread an impossible needle: honoring Stanley Kubrick’s The Shining while faithfully adapting Stephen King’s very different novel. Director Mike Flanagan delivers moments of genuine emotional power and some solid horror, but the film was largely ignored upon release in 2019. Why wasn't it better? ___ P...

Episode two of our Stephen King mini-season! This is one that only the King fans remember. Hearts in Atlantis is based on a short story with another name from the beloved author. Even the star power of Anthony Hopkins and then-newcomer Anton Yelchin couldn't prevent this from box office doom. A quarter-century later it's been completely forgotten. Does it deserve more attention? ___ Please conside...

A preview of our Solo: A Star Wars Story episode. The full episode is available right now for our supporters over on Patreon. This will become available to you in the next 2-3 weeks. So if you want early access, extra episodes, and to help keep the show going, head over to patreon.com/wwibofficial and become a Patreon! _________________ Please consider joining our Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/...

Episode one of our Stephen King mini-season! Often maligned, Children of the Corn is a sleeper classic. It has its fans, enough so that it (somehow) spawned a franchise with eight sequels. It doesn't make sense to us either. Join us as we try to make some sense of this funny little horror movie. ___ Please consider joining our Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/wwibofficial YouTube: https://www.yout...

The Robe is a product of a bygone genre of films, the Biblical epic. Starring a young Richard Burton and adapted from a best-selling novel, it was very popular during its day but has faded from most memories. Perhaps best known in the world of Christianity, we're covering it for Holy Week. Guest Nathan Perry is back to weigh in. ___ Please consider joining our Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/wwib...

In celebration of our YouTube channel hitting 2k subscribers, I agreed to cover this. There's no other reason. Enjoy this bonus episode. _________________ Please consider joining our Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/wwibofficial YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@whywasntitbetter Letterboxd: https://letterboxd.com/wwibpodcast Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/wwib_official X: https://x.com/WWIBp...

You could call this a Worst Best Picture winner. You shouldn't, but some actually do. The Coen Brothers' adaptation of Cormac McCarthy's No Country for Old Men became an instant classic upon release in 2007, winning four Academy Awards and all the critical praise. We wanted to cover it because we love it so much. Guest Peter Baldeo is here to talk about it. ___ Please consider joining our Patreon:...