Critique-Opolis

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Brace yourselves. Jay made Louisa watch a horror movie! Well, okay, it's not like it was forced, but it did take a bit more convincing than usual. We got through the movie and Louisa doesn't need therapy. 

Weapons is Zach Cregger's sophomore endeavor (the first being Barbarian). Pretty impressive as he took a $38 million dollar budget and transformed it into $268 million, but we will discuss line producing and accounting another day. 

With a cast that was rounded out by Josh Brolin, Julia Garner, and Amy Madigan, Weapons has been suto-marketed as a supernatural/psychological horror, but we think that it fits better in the thriller/psychological mystery section (but if Blockbuster were still in business, it would probably be in the horror section). 

In short, 17 kids get up at 2:17 in the morning and run out of their homes to God knows where. 7 members of the community have converging perspectives on what happened to them. Oh, and a mysterious woman named Gladys who looks like she raided Cesar Romero's wardrobe when he played the Joker, keeps popping up and giving the audience the non-descript "ick." 

This episode has a Part 2. 

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We're back! Today we are reviewing the French animated movie "Ernest and Celestine." Now mind you, we did not watch the original French version of this movie, but "instead," Jay and I watched the dubbed over version in English. "Ernest and Celestine" is a delightful movie about the friendship of Ernest, a bear and Celestine, a mouse. Ernest and Celestine are an unlikely pair for several reasons, but mostly because of their meeting by chance ... Ernest lives above Celestine, in the bear world and Celestine lives underground in the mouse world. 

There are many details to this Story, all of which eventually come together at the end of the movie. The two main characters find out that they need each other's help to live and survive together in this world where things are not always easy. 

Even though, this is a movie made for kids to enjoy, there is a lot of commentary on various social and political topics. 

That being said, I think that people of all ages would enjoy this beautifully animated film.

The American version includes many famous voice overs. You might recognize a few names ... Check it out on a snowy or rainy afternoon ...

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In today's latest episode of your favorite movie podcast, Louisa and Jay discuss one of Louisa's favorite actor's recent releases, "One Battle After Another." Louisa's favorite actor being the one and only Leonardo DiCaprio. She really does love him! I'll also point out now, so that I don't forget, we are very proud that this is our 75th episode reviewing another Leonardo DiCaprio movie ... In our first episode ever, we reviewed "Catch Me If You Can," also starring Leonardo DiCaprio and Tom Hanks. 

 "One Battle After Another" follows the story of several characters but the central storyline is that of a group of friends, the French 75, a para military, revolutionary group that is bent on redistributing wealth and economic power to the people who deserve it.

Moving on: Although, intense, "One Battle After Another" is definitely worth seeing. Louisa thought that it was really good! Paul Thomas Anderson's recent release, is a complicated story with many different characters with layered stories that for the most part come together in the end. The movie stars many well known actors and actresses: Leonardo DiCaprio, Sean Penn, Benicio del Toro, Tony Goldwyn, Regina Hall and Teyana Taylor. And in her first movie role, Chase Infiniti as Leo and Teyana's daughter. She was brilliant! Side note: Some might recognize Chase Infiniti from the Apple TV+ series, Presumed Innocent with Jake Gyllenhaal and Ruth Negga.

We use Notebook LM to help us with research for our movie centered episodes. Recently, a couple of new features have been added to Notebook LM: Flashcards and Quizzes. On today's episode we tried out the Quiz feature as a sort of test to see how well Louisa knew "One Battle After Another" and its' key trivia. Although, Louisa didn't do as well as she had hoped, there will be other episodes and other quizzes for her to redeem herself. #ThankGoodness 

Last, but not least, the Oscar related discussions have started and are including the Cast of "One Battle After Another." The discussion is being placed around Chase Infiniti - campaigning for her to be nominated into the Best Actress category, not the Best Supporting Actress category ... The reasoning being that if all three ladies are nominated, Teyana Taylor, Regina Hall and Chase Infiniti in the Best Supporting Actress category, then this 1. doesn't leave much space for others, but 2. also puts these three ladies up against each other and for the same movie. If the nominations are spread out, then maybe one or two of the leading ladies from "One Battle After Another" have more of a chance of winning ... We shall see what happens ... 

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We're back! Did you miss us?? On this week's episode of Critique-o-polis, not only does Jay have a yummy recipe to recommend, but we also watched an excellent feel good movie, "The Secret Life of Walter Mitty" directed by Ben Stiller. Sidenote: Jay thinks that he might have forgotten to mention the title during our recording, so we will make sure to mention it a few more times now so that you don't forget it. The movie that we reviewed this week was called "The Secret Life of Walter Mitty."

This was Jay's pick and it did not disappoint! I really enjoyed this movie! I definitely plan to watch it again sometime in the near future. 

Walter Mitty is an average guy. He gets up in the morning and goes to work every day at LIFE magazine. Walter is a negative assets manager at LIFE magazine. Walter has done this job for many years, although Walter has never actually met the Photographer, Sean, played by Sean Penn in person, whose Photos he works with and prints in the monthly editions of LIFE. 

Throughout the movie Walter experiences temporary blackouts related to the story line where he sees himself as a superhero saving the day or having a particular scenario go the way that he would want it to go if he was bolder and braver. These sequences frequently reminded me of a Spiderman movie. 

Walter is on eHarmony and gets frequent calls to help spruce up his profile from an eHarmony employee played by Patton Oswalt. Walter also has a love interest, Cheryl Melhoff played by Kristen Wiig. As it would turn out, Cheryl also works at LIFE magazine. 

I don't want to go into too much more detail. there are a lot of parts to the movie and sometimes while watching "The Secret Life of Walter Mitty" you might be wondering how is this movie going to end?? What is going to happen?? What will the final outcome be?? Will Walter find negative #25?? 

Watch the movie and find out! You won't be disappointed. 

Enjoy the Breakfast muffins that Jay discusses. Don't forget to use Hey Honey's Lemon Honey in place of Syrup!

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Strength is measured in a number of different ways. Some think it's a question of how much you think you can lift. Others think it's a question of how many times you can get up after being beaten. We tripped across a documentary about a quirky, lazy eyed, bearded, smoking runner who developed the most brutal endurance race known to man, known as the Barkley Marathon. 

Funded by a kickstarter campaign by Annika Iltis and Timothy James Kane, we take a look at the 2012 annual cross country foot race inspired by a prison break by James Earl Ray (assassin of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.).  Get ready, because this race is packed with arduous athletic torture from start to finish. Terrain and length pulverize the bodies of everyone who is invited to run it. We can't underscore it enough, this race is a meat grinder for human beings. Over 90% of those who start the race can't finish it. Years go by without anyone being able to compete it. Will this year be the same or will a champion emerge?

Spoiler alert: We ran out of disk space on the recorder so the show stops abruptly. Sorry. Actually, don't cry big tears. 

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We did two shorts and as a result the description is going to be even shorter. Just Start is an exploration of a woman who overcomes trauma seen through the lens of a guy who could make New Balance commercials. Don't write it off, it might impress you.

Stranger's Pawn - a Chess pro with an attitude couldn't see this Chess move coming from five feet away. Directed by Christian Jaramillo. This was a five minute movie that should teach you the importance of keeping your mouth shut. 

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William Friedkin tested himself in 1977 with the production of Sorcerer. Employing a seasoned cast including Roy Scheider, Bruno Cremer, Francisco Rabal and Amidou. He retells the story of the 1953 The Wages of Fear, (film created from the French novel Le Salaire de La Peur). Four principle characters from different parts of the globe engage in activities that necessitate their departure from their homeland (each story is more fantastic than that next as to how these men became fugitives). They assume fact identities and take up residence somewhere in a remote village in Central America. Living in harsh conditions, where the village economy is solely reliant on an oil company. As is commonly the case when fantastic wealth collides with stark poverty, a disaster occurs and a revolt ensues. An oil well explodes and dynamite must be used to extinguish it. But as the dynamite has been stored improperly it has become unstable and still be trucked over to 200 miles to the well site. Thus begins a fantastic journey of our four key players. They are recruited to drive this sensitive cargo across the country and either be paid handsomely or perish. 

Just a side note, we saw reviews of this movie before we watched it. All these reviews assured us that it was a nail-biter. It did not disappoint. 

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And you thought prior to 1993 all Clint Eastwood could do was Westerns and Shoot-em ups. Heartfelt, character driven themes set in the not too distant past would at first glance to be outside of his wheelhouse especially in that time period. Now what if I told you old Clint picked up the helm of a Steven Spielberg project that Steve-a-reeno just couldn't find the time for. Now, throw in some additional star fodder like Kevin Costner to move the story forward. Set it in early 1960s west Texas, throw in a dash of a prison break, child abduction, and sauteed it with a burgeoning father and son mismatched dynamic. Enter, "A Perfect World." 

Costner plays Butch, a career criminal fugitive on the run having freshly busted out of prison with the lofty objective to reunite with his long last father in a faraway land. T. J. Lowther plays Phillip, a fatherless Jehovah's Witness, 8 year old who becomes Butch's consensual hostage. Eastwood plays Red Garnett, the Texas Ranger charged with bringing Butch in and rescuing Phillip, all while harboring a secret involving Butch's past. 

We are not imdb, you just have to listen. Do a little work, will ya? 

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Welcome back to another exciting episode of Critique-Opolis! Today, your favorite hosts, Jay and Louisa are discussing the movie "Fandango" (starring, yes a young Kevin Costner). Director Kevin Reynolds made "Fandango" in 1985. But before making a feature length film, "Fandango" had its roots in a short film also by Kevin Reynolds called "Proof."

Director Steven Spielberg saw a "Proof" and agreed to help fund a full movie version of "Proof." "Fandango" is a sort of coming of age story about 5 friends who have recently graduated from college - The University of Texas to be specific. Together, these friends decide to embark on one last road trip before they go off into the real world all while facing several life trials and tribulations: relationship with each other, relationships with the people that they meet on this last road trip together, marriage, and getting drafted to the Vietnam War., to name a few. 

I don't want to give too much away in the way of detailed plot points of "Fandango," but I do want to say, if you are looking for a fun adventure movie full of ups and downs including some very comedic moments, look no further than "Fandango." You won't regret watching this relatively unknown, now a cult classic of a film. 

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In our latest episode of your favorite movie critique podcast, Jay (mostly Jay) and Louisa discuss the movie "Now You See Me." Louisa is particularly excited because the "Now You See Me" movies have become a franchise. There will eventually be at least 4 movies, with the third one set to come out in November 2025. 

"Now You See Me" was a fun and exciting "Popcorn movie." We usually don't do these types of movies on our Critique-o-polis podcast, but again it was a fun movie to watch and I know that we both enjoyed it. 

With an all Star Cast, everyone was in this movie, "Now You See Me" is about magic. Four magicians of different specifications are all summoned via a somewhat random tarot card to a special, secret meeting. 

At the meeting they learn that they are putting on a series of three Shows for one man and the movie goes on from there. There is mystery, criminal activity, and more. This is a heist movie with magic, so if you enjoy a good heist movie this movie is for you. 

We didn't have a recipe for you today as we didn't prepare that detail very well, maybe next time! 

As always thank you for listening. Doing this Podcast is a fun hobby for us. Ciao!