Eye of the Storm Movie Podcast

In our series "Have You Seen?" we discuss a movie that some of us know well and others have just now seen for the first time. Our conversation focuses on the experience of someone watching the movie for the first time today and their reaction.

This week we revisit Evolution from 2001, a science fiction comedy directed by Ivan Reitman and starring David Duchovny, Orlando Jones and Julianne Moore, about a group of scientists who investigate a meteor crash in Arizona, only to discover that it harbors rapidly evolving extraterrestrial life forms.

We talk about how Evolution's creature effects hold up despite being more than 20 year old CGI, why this movie is an example of the lost art of movies you can just have a good time with, why it is a feelgood movie that doesn't get made much anymore, and much more.

This week we review and discuss The Alto Knights, a biographical cime drama film directed by Barry Levinson starring Robert DeNiro, Robert DeNiro and Debra Messing, about the rivalry of two mob bosses as one tries to retire from a life of crime and the other tries to make a name for himself.

We discuss whether the movie's nonlinear storytelling worked for us and why the ending is by far the best part, how it stacks up against other crime movies about the mob, whether DeNiro's dual performance worked for us, and much more. 

0:00 Intro
0:18 Best Recent Thing Watched
4:36 Summary and Non-Spoiler Impressions
9:29 Spoiler Discussion
44:24 Conclusion and Ratings

In our series "Have You Seen?" we discuss a movie that some of us know well and others have just now seen for the first time. Our conversation focuses on the experience of someone watching the movie for the first time today and their reaction.

This week we revisit Incantation (咒), a 2022 Taiwanese religious folk horror found footage movie based on Buddhist ideas and teachings, about a woman who is cursed by an evil deity and tries to find a way to save her child from the same curse.

We talk about how Incantation communicates its ideas and themes and why it was so accessible to us despite the religious and cultural barriers, why the horror of Mother Buddha is so compelling, why Incantation is neither a typical found footage movie nor a typical exorcism movie, and much more.

This week we review and discuss In The Lost Lands, a science fiction/ post apocalyptic movie based on a George R.R. Martin short story of the same name, directed by Paul W.S. Anderson and starring Milla Jovovich and Dave Bautista, about a witch and a hunter who venture into the dangerous Lost Lands to find a shapeshifter's skin for a queen.

We discuss why we keep trying and failing to like action schlock like In The Lost Lands, what a more engaging action movie looks like, and how the movie relates to the George R. R. Martin short story on which it is based, and explain the ending that is lifted directly from the short story.

0:00 Intro
0:22 Best Recent Thing Watched
3:10 Summary and Non-Spoiler Impressions
9:24 Spoiler Discussion
41:28 Conclusion and Ratings

In our series "Have You Seen?" we discuss a movie that some of us know well and others have just now seen for the first time. Our conversation focuses on the experience of someone watching the movie for the first time today and their reaction.

This week we revisit the classsic ghost horror movie "The Fog" from 1980 directed by John Carpenter, starring Adirenne Barbeau, Jamie Lee Curtis and Janet Leigh, about a town that is attacked by a supernatural fog that exposes the town's dark history.

We talk about how The Fog is an underrated Carpenter movie that manages to create dense atmosphere and a gripping story despite its low budget and limited special effects, how constraints in filmmaking lead to better movies, and much more.

This week we review and discuss episodes 1 and 2 of Daredevil: Born Again by Dario Scardapane and starring Charlie Cox, Vincent D'Onofrio and Ayelet Zurer. Years after the events of Season 3 of Daredevil, Matt Murdock has given up vigilantism to focus on practising law when Wilson Fisk returns and is elected mayor of New York on an anti vigilantism platform.

We discuss our impressions of the series based on the first two episodes, what we think it does right and what we see as red flags for the rest of the season, what this means for the future of the MCU and its ability to tell darker more adult stories, and much more.

0:00 Intro
0:21 Best Recent Thing Watched
5:36 Summary and Non-Spoiler Impressions
11:46 Spoiler Discussion
50:40 Conclusion and Ratings

Join us for a new series we're calling "Superhero Hall of Fame" in which we go back to classic superhero movies and ask whether these movies hold up and whether the superhero genre has anything going for it, or whether it was all a fad.

This week we look at The Dark Knight directed by Christopher Nolan and starring Christian Bale, Aaron Eckhart and Heath Ledger, in which Batman battles the Joker for the soul of Gotham City.

We discuss why The Dark Knight is one of the best superhero movies ever made, why it is the perfect sequel in the Nolan trilogy, how the movie handles its themes of good and evil existing inside every person, and much more.

This week we review and discuss The Gorge, a science fiction action horror romantic comedy directed by Scott Derrickson and starring Miles Telley, Sigourney Weaver and Anya Taylor Joy about two depressed snipers who sign up for guard duty at a monster filled gorge.

We discuss what The Gorge does right and what it does wrong, why it has received such a negative audience reaction that is in our opinion mostly unjustified, how the movie should have ended, and much more.

0:00 Intro
0:20 Best Recent Thing Watched
6:28 Summary and Non-Spoiler Impressions
11:55 Spoiler Discussion
48:53 Conclusion and Ratings

In our series "Have You Seen?" we discuss a movie that some of us know well and others have just now seen for the first time. Our conversation focuses on the experience of someone watching the movie for the first time today and their reaction.

This week we revisit the science fiction movie "Moon" from 2009 directed by Duncan Jones, starring Sam Rockwell, Kevin Spacey and Kaya Scodelario, about a helium miner on the moon who discovers he is a disposable clone and everything he has been working toward is a lie.

We talk about how Moon is carried by Sam Rockwell's performance as multiple clones of the same person having to come to terms with their mortality, why the dystopian premise of clones mining helium on the moon makes no sense and why so much dystopian science fiction struggles with their premise, and much more.

This week we review and discuss The Monkey, a horror comedy directed by Osgood Perkins and starring Theo James, Tatiana Maslany and Elijah Wood, about a family that is cursed by an evil monkey toy that causes death and suffering in that family across the generations.

We discuss how the monkey treats its topic of generational trauma and abuse and whether it lives up to the weight of those topics, how the movie compares to the Stephen King short story on which it is based and why that results in an ending that makes no sense, what the movies has to do with dingoes eating babies, and much more.