Our first installment in Chick Flicks is the 2002 New Zealand film Whale Rider. Written and Directed by Niki Caro, the film tells the story of a 12-year old Paikea, born to be the next chief in a Maori village, but for one problem: she's a girl. 

Pai must face-off against the rigidity of her grandfather, a struggle that encapsulates the Maori conflict around gender, tradition and modernity.

In the episode, Courtney and Chris discuss feminine leadership, movies for kids vs. movies about kids, and our own desire (as white Americans) for deep cultural traditions.

Also, Courtney speaks whalish.

The final episode of Double Exposure's Monster Madness series is here, and we're talking about The Little Shop of Horrors. Frank Oz's 1986 horror-musical-comedy, about an alien plant named Audrey II that eats humans in a flower shop on skid row, is based on an off-Broadway show, which was based on the 1960 Roger Corman movie. The whole thing is hilarious and ridiculous and holds up amazingly well 30 years later.

In the episode we discuss the what separates this campy horror musical from Rocky Horror Picture show, CGI effects vs. practical effects, how Oz and his creature team were able to make Audrey II sing so convincingly, and most importantly, sadistic dentists. 

Also, we remember Stephen Hawking, and ask a question as unanswerable as the origins of the universe: What's more difficult: Writing jokes or astrophysics? 

IndieWire calls the Korean horror movie The Host "the most defining monster movie of the 21st century," and what kind of Monster Movie series would we have if we ignored the such a picture? 

A bad one, is what. So this week, Courtney and Chris are talking Bong Joon-ho's funny and scary and politically monster movie, about a family searching for a young girl abducted by a mutated amphibious river monster. As Courtney says, if you haven't seen it, just watch it. Cuz it's so good.

Also: thoughts on Children of the Corn, Oldboy, Boondock Saints, Courtney's insatiable desire for squid legs, and a very important question: If you were a radio DJ, what song would you play next?

In 1990, Clive Barker made an auteur attempt at monster moviemaking. Barker planned to make the Star Wars of horror movies,  a fully-realized world with history and mythology and culture. And to realize that vision, Barker planned to make a trilogy of pictures. 

Instead of all that, the world got Nightbreed. 

Nightbreed is a mess of a movie--at times inspired, at times awful--but it is beloved by many (including Courtney), and for good reason. This week, Chris and Courtney cover all things Nightbreed, plus: thoughts on Cloverfield Paradox, empathizing with beautiful weirdos, and could this movie hate cops more?.

*Note: We watched the Director's Cut, released by Shout! Factory in 2014.

This year is the 200th anniversary of Mary Shelley's Frankenstein. Isn't that crazy? Not only is the book timeless, brilliant, and hyper-modern, but it's inspired one what some (Chris) consider to be among the best of the Universal Monster movies. That's not the reason that Chris and Courtney are talking about Bride of Frankenstein. But it's a nice coincidence.

Discussion of Bride covers such spooky horror topics like: How did James Whale make those homunculi? How gay is this movie, really? Are men angry that they can't have babies? And, most importantly, who did the Bride's hair?

You know, monster movie stuff. 

After bringing us Felicity, Alias, and one good season of Lost, J.J. Abrams attempted to give the U.S. its very own Godzilla in the form of a big, ugly monster (alien?) rampaging through Manhattan. While it didn't quite rise to the challenge, Cloverfield is still a king among movies when it comes to the impact of the viral marketing and world-building it was able to pull off via the nascent internet of 2008. 

John Carpenter's The Thing was disregarded upon release, a critical and box-office dud. But in time, it has become recognized for what it is: a terrific, scary, gross, weird, and wonderful piece of monster-movie making.  It's not perfect, but it's a perfect star for Double Exposure's Monster Madness series.

In the episode, Courtney and Chris discuss the gross-out nature of The Thing's creature effects, Carpenter's decision to make the film with an all-male cast, and whether The Thing has any relevance for today's moment in time

A new year, a new series.

Double Exposure takes on the creatures of the night with Monster Madness. From the early classics to the long-standing creepers to the newly-minted nightmare fodder--we've got all (or, six) of the best monster movies coming your way over the next two months. 

 Listen. Tell your friends. Support your favorite podcasts.

The end of the End of the World is Nigh! The final film in this series is Dr. Strangelove, Stanley Kubrick's beloved political satire from 1964, starring Peter Sellers, Peter Sellers, Peter Sellers, and George C. Scott. 

Laugh with Chris and Courtney, as they explore a biting and humor portrait of maximum ineptitude of a room full of men who hold in their very hands the power to destroy the world. 

Then, cry with Chris and Courtney, as they reflect on just how relevant that room of inept men with the power to destroy the world feels to our present day.

It's the end of our series, why not end it with a bang?

Steven Spielberg's War of the Worlds is one of the darkest films the director has ever made. Aliens zapping people left and right. Humans rioting and mobbing each other for survival. Churches getting ripped in half.

On this penultimate edition of Movies for the End of the World, Courtney and Chris talk humanoid aliens, 9/11 movies, Tom Cruise's parenting, and What It All Means if/when aliens arrive.