Escapist Cinema

🚀👽 Out of This World Escapes 🌌🎬

Buckle up, earthlings because we're phoning home to talk about our favorite movies with aliens!

From friendly visitors who just want to go home, to terrifying films that make you rethink who is human, we're talking about our Top 5 alien movies.

(Not Alien movies - just alien movies)

Expect laughs, close encounters, and a few probing questions as we talk through our favorites at this moment. Yes, nostalgia played a role in the selections.

✨Welcome to Escapist Cinema Getaways™ — where the passport is popcorn and the destination is pure movie magic.✨

In this episode, we're flipping through our favorite travel brochure of all time: the movies. We'll tempt you with dreamy spots you can actually visit (pack sunscreen for this one), and impossible worlds you'll only find on screen—unless you're really good at interdimensional travel.

From romantic city streets to a Shire that doesn't show up on Google Maps, we're selling you on the ultimate vacation packages…back your bags!

As always, we reserve the right to alter our lists at any time. They've probably already changed.

No refunds.

War. It's humanity's oldest bad habit — and cinema's favorite playground.

From muddy trenches on Earth to laser-blasted battlefields on galaxies far, far away, war movies remind us that conflict is as cinematic as it is catastrophic.

They can be gritty and grounded, or completely over-the-top with fake planets, fake armies, and very real explosions.

Let's march straight into the chaos and count down Jen and Derek's Top 5 War Movies.

Grab your helmet, your popcorn, and maybe a stiff drink… because in war, nobody makes it out clean—but in movies, we get one hell of a story.

Grab your flannel, fire up the dial-up, and let's rewind to the 90s. In this episode, we dive into the movies that defined the decade for us — whether they were VHS staples, sleepover classics, or the films that shaped our love of cinema (and may have fucked with our heads a bit). From cult comedies to unforgettable dramas, we're celebrating the weird, the nostalgic, and the downright iconic.

Note: Jen knows it's Richard Gere, but she forgot in the moment

Jen & Derek talk through their Top 5 Dystopian Films!

The 10 (well, technically nine) movies portray various types of dystopia on Earth.

Each hosts ranks their personal Top 5 - valid only at the time of recording. We reserve the right to change our minds as often as needed.

Tune in for great recommendations and join us in the movie bunker when dystopia strikes.

Hot Rod

2007

Andy Samberg straps onto a moped like it's the final frontier of stunt work and proclaims, "Cool beans!" with the most dramatic flair possible. Hot Rod is a misadventure where amateur stuntman Rod Kimble (Samberg) embarks on the world's sketchiest DIY mission: raising money for his stepfather Frank's heart surgery—so he can literally beat him up and earn some respect. It's like Jackass crashed into Napoleon Dynamite, and out fell a surreal, slapstick egg of pure absurdity.

Directed (and occasionally cameoing) by Akiva Schaffer and penned by Pam Brady, it features a stellar "what-if" cast of hilarious heavy-hitters: Isla Fisher, Jorma Taccone (Rod's lovable sidekick half-brother), Bill Hader, Danny McBride, Sissy Spacek, Will Arnett, and the ever-intimidating Ian McShane as "Frank." It's the kind of oddball ensemble that feels like a chaotic, chaotic family reunion of comedic genius.

• Production Budget: Around $25 million

• Worldwide Box Office Gross: Just over $14 million. It was widely considered a theatrical flop.

• Opening Weekend: Only about $5.3 million

Director - Akiva Schaffer (making his feature debut)

Writer - Pam Brady (script later reworked by The Lonely Island)

Cast - Andy Samberg, Isla Fisher, Jorma Taccone, Bill Hader, Danny McBride, Sissy Spacek, Will Arnett, Ian McShane

Saint Maud, 2017, A24 & MGM

St. Maud is a tense, unsettling character study about a deeply devout hospice nurse whose new patient—a once-famous dancer now facing the end of her life—stirs an intense and troubling spiritual mission. As Maud's faith becomes more fervent, her reality begins to blur, leading to a haunting exploration of loneliness, purpose, and devotion. It's quiet, intimate, and unnervingly psychological, leaving you unsure of where faith ends and obsession begins.

Production budget of approximately $2.5 million

Gross earnings approximately $1.6 million worldwide

Cast & Crew

It's one of those movies where every department feels tightly in sync, making the whole thing feel like a creeping fever dream

It's quite a lean cast, which adds to the film's claustrophobic, intimate feel.

Writer & Director

• Rose Glass – Saint Maud was her feature debut.

Producers

• Andrea Cornwell

• Oliver Kassman

Main Cast

• Morfydd Clark – Maud

• Jennifer Ehle – Amanda

• Lily Knight – Carol

• Lily Frazer – Joy

• Turlough Convery – Christian

• Marcus Hutton – Richard

Cinematography

• Ben Fordesman – crafted the film's dim, moody, and claustrophobic visuals.

Editor

• Mark Towns – shaped the tense pacing and disorienting perspective shifts.

Composer

• Adam Janota Bzowski – delivered the unsettling, atmospheric score that heightens the psychological unease.

Arthur (1981)

Meet Arthur Bach: a filthy-rich, perpetually drunk man-child with a heart of gold and zero responsibility. He lives in a penthouse, bathes in champagne (probably), and is supposed to marry a wealthy heiress to keep his inheritance. There's just one problem: he falls head over heels for a quirky waitress from Queens who's as broke as she is charming.

Now Arthur must choose between a billion-dollar bank account and actual happiness—assuming he can stay sober long enough to figure it out. With razor-sharp wit, a killer theme song, and Dudley Moore in peak lovable-rogue mode, Arthur is a boozy, bumbling romantic comedy that proves money can't buy love… but it can buy a Rolls-Royce to chase it down.

Budget - $7 million

Domestic Earnings - nearly $96 million

• Won Academy Awards for Best Supporting Actor (John Gielgud) and Best Original Song ("Arthur's Theme (Best That You Can Do)") .

• Nominated also for Best Actor (Dudley Moore) and Best Original Screenplay (Steve Gordon)

Starring:

• Liza Minnelli – Linda Marolla

A working-class waitress from Queens who steals Arthur's heart.

• John Gielgud – Hobson

(Gielgud won the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor for this role.)

• Geraldine Fitzgerald – Martha Bach

• Jill Eikenberry – Susan Johnson

• Stephen Elliott – Burt Johnson

• Barney Martin – Ralph Marolla

The Pagemaster (1994)

Once upon a thunderstorm, a timid boy named Richard Tyler—armed with statistics, safety gear, and zero imagination—takes shelter in a strange, creaky library. But this is no ordinary library… oh no. It's the gateway to a magical, swirling world of adventure where books talk, dragons breathe fire, and pirates don't ask nicely.

After slipping (literally) into a realm of animation and enchantment, Richard is joined by three wildly lovable book characters: Adventure, a swashbuckling braggart with a heart of gold; Fantasy, a sassy, winged fairy-tale fanatic; and Horror, a jittery bundle of spooky charm. Together, they journey through classic literary worlds, from haunted castles to high seas and mythical lands, all in pursuit of the mysterious and mighty Pagemaster, the only one who can send Richard home.

It's a story where courage is found between the pages, and a once-cautious kid learns that getting lost in a book is sometimes the best way to find yourself.

Actors/Voice Actors

Macaulay Culkin

Christopher Lloyd

Whoopi Goldberg

Patrick Stewart

Frank Welker

Leonard Nimoy

Ed Begley Jr.

Mel Harris

B.J. Ward

George Hearn

Ed Gilbert

Phil Hartman

Jim Cummings

Past Lives (2023) - a quiet, soul-stirring meditation on love, timing, and the people we might have been.

Written and Directed by Celine Song

Nora (Na Young) played by Greta Lee

Hae Sung played by Teo Yoo

Arthur played by John Magaro

At its heart, it's about two childhood friends whose bond spans continents, decades, and the blurry space between what's real and what's imagined. As their lives unfold separately, they circle back to each other - never quite aligned, never quite letting go.

The film delicately explores the ache of what ifs and almosts, not with melodrama, but with aching stillness. It asks whether the deep connections we form - no matter how it unfolds - can still be whole, still be meaningful.

The pacing is gentle, but emotionally devastating. It lingers on moments where words fail, where longing and love exist simultaneously with acceptance and distance.

More than a romance, it's about identity, migration, growing up, and the bittersweet beauty of letting life take its course.

You'll likely finish it feeling both full and hollow at once.

P.S. - can you get Kevin Bacon to Zone of Interest in 6 degrees?