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 The Strangers, a 2008 psychological horror movie directed by Bryan Bertino and starring Liv Tyler and Scott Speedman, about a couple whose stay at a vacation home is disrupted by three masked intruders who invade the home one night.

We talk about what works about the movie and what doesn't, why the first half is much stronger and benefits from attention to detail, how the movie compares to the remake from 2024, whether the movie taps into the fears of a home invasion effectively, whether the nihilism of the violence the movie has been praised for worked for us, why the movie was such a big hit when it came out and if it deserves its status as a cult classic and whether the criticisms of its characters are justified, and much more.


Check out our other reviews of the Strangers franchise:
The Strangers - Chapter 1
https://open.spotify.com/episode/0QhEvLQDJTRvqJSRoaqnxP
The Strangers - Chapter 2
https://open.spotify.com/episode/6XUbZLB8oGeUdrjcpQh9dY
The Strangers - Chapter 3
https://open.spotify.com/episode/5wmxvo2ErgNZj3v3WoJfuQ

This week we review and discuss The Conjuring: Last Rites, a supernatural horror movie directed by Michael Chaves and starring Vera Farmiga, Patrick Wilson and Mia Tomlinson, about the Smurl haunting case in which Ed and Lorraine Warren come out of retirement to investigate a haunting in Pennsylvania in the 1980s.

We talk about how the movie's style of horror worked for someone new to the franchise, why this movie struggled on a character and plot level for us, the clash between the two halves of the movie that deal with the haunting itself and the legacy of the Warrens and how the movie struggles to link the two as well as make either half of the story compelling, how we felt about the movie's celebration of Ed and Lorraine Warren and whether this was earned, and much more.

Also check out our review of the original Conjuring:
https://open.spotify.com/episode/1jxITq0npjfFeBOPckInlB

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 Conjuring, a 2013 supernatural horror movie directed by James Wan and starring Vera Farmiga, Patrick Wilson and Ron Livingston, about a family who moves into a haunted farm and needs the help of demonologists Ed and Lorraine Warren in Rhode Island in 1971.

We talk about our reaction to The Conjuring as a first time viewer and whether the movie's style of horror worked for us, how it compares to the more character focused horror we tend to prefer and why the Warrens are not very compelling people in this movie, how this movie handles the real world hauntings and people it is based on, whether it matters when a movie claims to be based on a real story, if there is an ethical line that a movie can cross and whether there is a point at which a movie is just lying to its audience, and much more.

Also check out our review of the conclusion of the Conjuring series with The Conjuring: Last Rites
https://open.spotify.com/episode/6DiBYzDzcqLUeFrQOpk6ul

This week we review and discuss Caught Stealing, a dark comedy crime thriller movie directed by Darren Aronofsky and starring Austin Butler, Regina King and Zoe Kravitz, about washed up baseball player Hank Thompson in 1990s New York who who unwittingly runs afoul of New York City's criminal underbelly while pet sitting for his neighbor.

We discuss how we went into the movie with no expectations at all but were blown away by its quality, how the movie is a big puzzle in which each piece is deliberate, how the movie realises its themes of responsibility and facing your fears, why the main character's arc is one of the best we've seen all year and why this movie shows that taking screenwriting basics seriously and getting them right leads to a better movie, and much more.

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 Cloverfield, a 2008 found footage kaiju movie directed by Matt Reeves and starring Lizza Caplan, T.J. Miller and Mike Vogel, about a group of Manhattan friends who have to survive a monster attack and rescue a trapped friend.

We talk about how some movies just stick with your if you watch them at the right time, how Cloverfield provides several creative set pieces that hold the movie together which is something many modern movies are unable to do, how the movie uses its found footage conceit and handles its exposition better than most movies, the 9/11 influences on this movie and how it is the only American kaiju movie that is about something, and much more.

Check out our other reviews and clips on all major platforms here:
https://linktr.ee/EyeOfTheStormMoviePodcast

This week we review and discuss Freakier Friday, a fantasy comedy movie directed by Nisha Ganatra and starring Lindsay Lohan, Jamie Lee Curtis and Manny Jacinto, about a family that magically switches bodies and has to learn lessons about each other in order to break the curse and return to their original bodies.

We discuss how the movie stacks up to the 2003 movie, whether it is too similar to it or builds on the premise enough, why the choice to turn the movie into an outright comedy hurt the movie, whether we felt anything for the characters and their problems and whether the movie gave us enough reason to, how it compares to other legacy sequels we have been getting this year which have a very mixed track record, and much more.

0:00 Intro
0:20 Movie Recommendations (Before The Fall/Napola, Peacemaker Season 2)
07:20 Synopsis & Overall Impressions
12:44 Spoiler Discussion
51:15 Conclusion & 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 Sicario, a 2015 submarine action crime thriller movie directed by Denis Villeneuve and starring Emily Blunt, Benicio del Toro and Josh Brolin, about a principled FBI special agent who is enlisted by a government task force to bring down the leader of a powerful and brutal Mexican drug cartel.

We talk about how the movie builds tension through moral ambiguity, how it refuses to give easy answers about right and wrong, and why that makes it so effective. We discuss whether Kate’s perspective works as the audience’s entry point, how Villeneuve uses silence, shadow, and suspense to heighten the story, the film’s handling of themes like power, justice, and compromise, and much more.

Check out our other reviews and clips on all major platforms here:
https://linktr.ee/EyeOfTheStormMoviePodcast

This week we review and discuss Together, a body horror movie directed by Michael Shanks and starring Dave Franco, Alison Brie and Damon Herriman, about a couple who move to the countryside and find themselves encountering a mysterious force that horrifically causes changes in their bodies.

We discuss the movie's use of body horror to explore dysfunctional relationships, what happens when a movie's story and its metaphors are at odds with each other, whether the movie's story makes enough sense, whether its pieces really connect and whether the movie's symbolism serves the story or if it is a bit too obvious, and much more.

Check out our other reviews and clips on all major platforms here:
https://linktr.ee/EyeOfTheStormMoviePodcast

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 Crimson Tide, a 1995 submarine thriller movie directed by Tony Scott and starring Denzel Washington, Gene Hackman and Viggo Mortensen, about a conflict between the crew of a nuclear submarine arising from conflicting interpretations of an order to launch their missiles.

We talk about how this movie is built around an argument in which each side has believable reasons for what they believe and that they can defend, why so many movies don't even try to do this and make arguments too one sided which results in worse stories, whether the dilemma at the core of the movie works and how it could have been improved, the movie's handling of themes like uncertainty and the cost of making the wrong choice, and much more.

Check out our other reviews and clips on all major platforms here:
https://linktr.ee/EyeOfTheStormMoviePodcast

This week we review and discuss Weapons, a mystery horror movie, directed by Zach Cregger and starring Josh Brolin, Julia Garner and Benedict Wong, about the seemingly inexplicable case of seventeen children from the same classroom who mysteriously run away on the same night at the same time, having been apparently abducted by an unseen force.

We discuss the movie's central mystery and its themes of trust, public perception and assumptions people make about others and whether the mystery the movie is built around worked for us, the movie's treatment of folklore and whether the movie's symbolism is the good kind or the bad kind, whether the movie deserves its nearly perfect Rotten Tomatoes score and why the reviews are so polarised, and much more.