Butter With That

The Butter Crew concludes their trek through our Desert Movies theme with Sam's selection, 1977's A New Hope: Star Wars Episode IV! How spellbinding are the visual effects, characters, and pacing of this franchise-starter? If Rey of the sequel trilogy is a "Mary Sue", isn't Luke Skywalker? Has Star Wars course corrected some of its blindspots as its cinematic universe expands? Will Dave admit he was probably being a bit of a curmudgeon when trashing the prequels? Answers to all these questions and more as we look back on this sci-fi/cultural touchstone!

The Butter Crew is back from their summer sabbatical ready to dig their heels into bringing you a mix of recommendations! What have we been watching? What have we enjoyed in our time off? And how was our summer break? Spoiler alert: a few of us got Covid.

The Butter Crew is still making its way across the sands of cinema as our Desert Movie theme rolls on with Connor's selection, 2021's Dune! How did Villeneuve and crew create a movie with such a unique level of detail and such a huge sense of scale? How well does this ensemble cast bring their characters off the page and onto the screen, and could more time have been spent on them in this already long film? When will the world finally see Sam's Beetlejuice-Dune Sandworm crossover? We answer these questions and more, so tune in!

The Butter Crew reunite for their new theme: Desert Movies! This week, the gang put the pedal to the metal with Dave's selection, 1981's The Road Warrior (aka Mad Max 2)! How incredible are the practical effects, stunts, and production design of this cult classic? How riveting are George Miller's vision and world building of the post-apocalyptic Wasteland? And where, "in this blighted place", did the Humungous's gang get ahold of so much hair dye? Buckle up as we find out!

The Butter Crew wasn't able to assemble this week, which left Dave (Daves?) to his own devices! Join him as he tumbles headlong into the 1953 Merrie Melodies short Duck Amuck! Is this one of the best and most experimental shorts of the Looney Tunes catalogue? Can an iconic character such as Daffy Duck be recognizable even when stripped of not only their voice, but their physical form? Is Dave ok, or has discussing this classic cartoon warped his brain irrevocably? Tune in and find out if "it makes sense if you think about it"!

As our Movies We Dragged Our Parents To theme concludes, we dive into Chrystine's selection, 1995's Waterworld! Could the roles of antagonist and protagonist be any murkier? Why, in a movie that seems to hate everyone, does it hate women so much? Was this conceived as something of a "Mad Max goes surfing"? And do the spectacular technical elements and production design of this "water-flop" warrant a reassessment? We wade into these questions and more this week!

As our Movies We Dragged Our Parents To theme rolls on, we sink our teeth into Sam's selection, 2008's Twilight! Did we all find ourselves under the spell of this strange teen melodrama? Yes. Do the insane and disparate decisions and themes come together to make a memorable film? Yes! Baseball? YES! All this and more as we glisten in the light of this truly special picture!

This week as we continue our look back on Movies We Dragged Our Parents To, we're blown to smithereens by Dave's selection, 1996's Independence Day! This movie was a smash-hit blockbuster upon its release, but does it hold up? Can the practical effects hold a candle to today's CGI? Does its ensemble cast bring its best to the film? Is it still as captivating in spite of all its glaring plot holes? The answer to these questions (all yes!) and more, so tune in!

Nostalgia season has set in as we roll into our new theme, Movies We Dragged Our Parents To! This week, we're dissecting Connor's pick, 2001's Osmosis Jones! Who thought it was a good idea to let the Farrelly Brothers direct a kids movie? Who exactly was this movie made for and what is it driving at? Why, in a world where a man's interior anatomy becomes a bustling cityscape, does everything look like a sphincter? All this and more as we reminisce about this disgusting movie!

Our Thuds and Duds theme concludes with this week's episode and Dave's selection, 1999's American Beauty! Why were we supposed to like Lester Burnham? Why was this movie such a huge and celebrated phenomenon in a year of other fantastic films? Why were we supposed to like Lester Burnham? Does the film hold up today, or have shifting cultural attitudes and necessary social conversations aged it too much? And WHY...were we supposed to LIKE Lester Burnham? Seriously! Tune in as we "look closer"!