With Ridley Scott's The Dog Stars in theaters and our own Ridley Scott Draft (with Vulture's Roxana  Hadadi) coming Friday, we're sharing this 2017 Sacred Cow review of Scott's sci-fi classic. Michael Phillips joined Adam and Josh.

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When the story of a movie’s financing and troubled post-production are more compelling than the movie itself, you’ve got problems. And in this case, you’ve got Desert Warrior, a 7th-century, Saudi Arabia-set — and financed — epic starring Anthony Mackie along with Sir Ben Kingsley and Sharlto Copley. Matt and Jordan review the Rupert Wyatt-directed curiosity, and use the film to recommend an American desert-set indie from the early 2000s and another (undeservedly) unloved Rupert Wyatt film. Plus, a listener request for “sad man” movies on the Criterion Channel, and a game that has Matt and Jordan remembering — or trying to remember — summer movies from the year 2012.  

Intro (00:00:00–00:04:10)

Desert Warrior (00:04:11–00:31:57)

Rec Seg! (00:31:58–00:48:14)

Listener Request Seg! (00:48:15–01:08:01)

Game: Mark My Words! (01:08:02–01:32:32)

New to Streaming / Credits (01:32:33–01:42:15)

Show Notes

Now Streaming on Bazooga - A Filmspotting: SVU Archive⁠ https://letterboxd.com/samvanhallgren/list/now-streaming-on-bazooga-a-filmspotting-svu/⁠

Pre-Order Matt's book "Funny Business: The Old-School Wedding Crashers and Knocked-Up Virgins Who Changed Comedy Forever" (Coming October 6th):⁠ https://www.penguinrandomhouse.com/books/790241/funny-business-by-matt-singer/⁠

The Best and Worst Movies of Summer 2012 (According to Us)

https://screencrush.com/best-worst-movies-summer-2012/

Feedback: Email us at [email protected]

Follow Matt on Blue Sky: @mattsinger.bsky.social

Follow Jordan on Blue Sky: @jhoffman.bsky.social

Follow the Show:⁠ https://www.instagram.com/superpulse/⁠⁠ https://www.facebook.com/FilmspottingSvu⁠

Follow the Show:⁠ https://www.instagram.com/superpulse/⁠⁠ https://www.facebook.com/FilmspottingSvu⁠

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

The Platt family is barely surviving, and that’s before their neighborhood is inexplicably dropped millions of years into the past and overrun by hungry dinosaurs. The End of Oak Street isn’t nearly as concerned with explaining that premise or exploring its characters as it is with facilitating dino mayhem and nostalgia for the films of writer-director David Robert Mitchell’s youth. That can be to the film’s benefit and detriment, both of which we cover in this week’s discussion, before bringing Steven Spielberg’s War of the Worlds back in to see how these two family survival narratives compare in their respective ideas about flawed parents, imperiled children, and the universal human desire to not get eaten. Then in Your Next Picture Show we consider a couple of possible alternate pairing for Oak Street, one featuring aliens, one featuring dinosaurs, and both underrated.

Please share your thoughts about War of the Worlds, The End of Oak Street, or anything else in the world of film, by sending an email or voice memo to [email protected], or leaving a short voicemail at (773) 234-9730.

Next Pairing: Alexander Ullom’s It Ends and Andrei Tarkovsky’s Solaris

This episode is presented by⁠ ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Regal Unlimited⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠, the all-you-can-watch movie subscription pass that pays for itself in just two visits. Use code NEXTPIC26 for 15% off.

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Film critic Robert Daniels (⁠RogerEbert.com⁠, The New York Times) joins Michael Phillips to test one of Hollywood's most enduring bits of studio wisdom, attributed to producer Samuel Goldwyn: "Pictures are for entertainment, messages should be delivered by Western Union." From I Am a Fugitive from a Chain Gang, High Noon, and The Best Years of Our Lives to Origin, Don't Look Up, and Triangle of Sadness, Michael and Robert discuss why some films are elevated by their ideas while others collapse under them, and whether the most effective message movies are the ones that never look like message movies at all. Join the conversation by emailing ⁠[email protected]⁠.

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Adam and Josh return with guest Rico Gagliano (MUBI Podcast) for Part 2 of their Top 5 Needle Drops. This episode brought to you by Anderson, Linklater, Fincher, and Scorsese. 

Notes:

-The Sigur Rós song “Starálfur” means "staring elf," not "little elf." Josh harmar mistökin.

Feedback:

-Email us at [email protected]⁠⁠

⁠⁠⁠⁠-⁠Ask Us Anything⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ and we might answer your question in bonus content.

Support:

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http://filmspottingfamily.com

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SUBURBAKNIGHT: Act Two

Walter Knope has finally discovered the one thing worse than suspecting your new neighbor is a sex demon.

Being right.

Inside Richard's immaculate house, Walter gets the confirmation he was looking for. The Maitlands are dead. Richard isn't human. And he isn't just interested in Samantha.

He wants everything Walter has.

Walter tries to warn Sam. It goes badly.

What starts as an argument about Richard quickly becomes an argument about money, sex, failure, jealousy and every other thing a married couple has been politely not saying out loud. Sam packs a bag. Walter, terrified Richard will get to her, practically helps her leave.

Written by Nick Bannister, SUBURBAKNIGHT is a wicked suburban horror-comedy about marriage, masculinity and what happens when your midlife crisis actually grows horns.

Walter needs someone who understands monsters.

Enter Bobby Joe Williams.

Local horror host. Full-time drunk. Part-time monster expert. Possibly the least reassuring person you could want standing between your family and eternal damnation.

Bobby Joe confirms the bad news. Richard is an incubus. He feeds on souls, controls his victims through desire and, unfortunately, appears to be immortal.

Meanwhile, Richard has already started remaking the neighborhood.

Walter goes looking for Andy and instead finds him dead in the bathtub, his wife Alli transformed into something considerably less neighborly. Walter barely escapes with his life.

Then Samantha comes home.

Richard is waiting.

This time, Sam sees him too.

When Richard finally drops the charm and shows them what he really is, he offers Walter everything he ever wanted. Money. Freedom. A fresh start.

All he wants in return is Samantha.

Walter says no.

Then Mia introduces Richard's face to a medieval mace.

For a moment, it feels like the Knopes may actually have this thing under control.

Then Richard takes their daughter.

Now Walter and Sam are done running. They need Mia back. They need help.

Unfortunately, the closest thing they have to a professional is Bobby Joe Williams in boxer shorts drinking margarita straight from a blender pitcher.

So they do what any responsible parents would do.

They raid the failed antique business.

Crossbow. Mace. Axe. Sword. Armor.

Walter's junk has finally found a purpose.

And across the street, Richard is waiting.

Starring Darin Toonder, Jim O'Heir, Jade Tailor, Jack Daniel, Rob Fitzgerald, Logan Laurel, Emily Brolin, Ashley Platz, and Zeke Alton.

Produced by Table Read Podcast and Manifest Media Productions, LLC.

Executive Produced by Jack Levy, Shaan Sharma, and Mark Knell.

Find The Show: Table Read Podcast

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Rico Gagliano (MUBI Podcast) joins Adam and Josh for the Top 5 Needle Drops, a conversation so robust we split it in half. Plus, the new It Ends earns a Golden Brick nomination, and listeners tell us the best third feature since 2020.

This episode is presented by⁠ Regal Unlimited⁠⁠, the all-you-can-watch movie subscription pass that pays for itself in just two visits. Use code FILMSPOT26 to take 15% off.

(Timecodes will not be precise with ads.)

Intro (00:00:00-00:02:37)

Rico Gagliano Welcome / Top 5 Intro (00:02:38-00:24:52)

Top 5 Needle Drops (#5-4) (00:24:53-01:02:51)

Filmspotting Family (01:02:52-01:07:33)

Golden Brickspotting: It Ends (01:07:34-01:18:20)

Polls (01:18:21-01:33:27)

Credits / Releases (01:33:28-1:37:57)

Feedback:

-Email us at [email protected]⁠⁠

⁠⁠⁠⁠-⁠Ask Us Anything⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ and we might answer your question in bonus content.

Support:

-Use code "summer" for 20% off a Filmspotting Family membership (thru 8.31)

http://filmspottingfamily.com

-Filmspotting Shop for T-shirts and more.⁠ 

⁠https://www.filmspotting.net/shop⁠⁠⁠⁠

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See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

David Robert Mitchell’s The End of Oak Street drops an ordinary family into extraordinary circumstances, forcing them to focus all their energy on surviving— and maybe, just maybe, learning to understand each other along the way. That structure, combined with Oak Street’s Spielbergian spectacle, pointed us toward 2005’s War of the Worlds, which fuses H.G. Wells’ 1898 novel to images and emotions that draw on the attacks of 9/11. How that approach holds up a quarter-century removed from the events that inspired it is up for discussion this week, along with where War of the Worlds falls on the Steven Spielberg Alien-Encounter Continuum, and just how close that sentimental ending comes to ruining the movie entirely. Then in Feedback, a listener, with an assist from Orson Welles, invites us to get galaxy-brained on the nature of homage as it relates to cinema generally and this podcast specifically. 

Please share your thoughts about War of the Worlds, The End of Oak Street, or anything else in the world of film, by sending an email or voice memo to [email protected], or leaving a short voicemail at (773) 234-9730.

This episode is presented by⁠ ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Regal Unlimited⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠, the all-you-can-watch movie subscription pass that pays for itself in just two visits. Use code NEXTPIC26 for 15% off.

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

In 2023, Adam and Josh took another look at 1988's Midnight Run for its 35th anniversary. The Robert De Niro/Charles Grodin action comedy was an early and somewhat controversial inductee in the Filmspotting Pantheon, a decision they use their conversation to defend.  

Unlock the full archive, Filmspotting Discord, ad‑free + bonus episodes, and more when you ⁠join the Filmspotting Family⁠. Promo code: summer for 20% off through Aug. 31.

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Happy Madison Productions is now cranking out movies starring two generations of Sandlers: paterfamilias Adam and daughters Sadie and Sunny. Earlier this year, Sadie starred in Netflix’s college-set Roommates, and now it’s Sunny’s turn in Don’t Say Good Luck, a tear-jerker that pairs family drama with high school musical drama. And it’s a pairing that Matt and Jordan agree works pretty well, thanks to the director Julia Hart (Fast Color, I’m Your Woman), solid work from Sandler, and a great performance by Melanie Lynskey as Sunny’s mom. Plus, a “Nepo Baby” streaming rec from Matt, and one from Jordan for a forgotten Oscar-winning Canadian film from the early 2000s. And Matt hosts another round of Portmanteau-to-Toe.  

Intro (00:00:00–00:03:16)

Don’t Say Good Luck (00:03:17–00:24:27)

Rec Seg! Nepo Babies and Canadian Oscar-winners (00:24:28–00:39:07)

Game: Portmanteau-to-Toe (00:39:08–00:58:57)

Mailbag / New to Streaming / Credits (00:58:58–01:11:25)

Show Notes

Now Streaming on Bazooga - A Filmspotting: SVU Archive⁠ https://letterboxd.com/samvanhallgren/list/now-streaming-on-bazooga-a-filmspotting-svu/⁠

Pre-Order Matt's book "Funny Business: The Old-School Wedding Crashers and Knocked-Up Virgins Who Changed Comedy Forever" (Coming October 6th):⁠ https://www.penguinrandomhouse.com/books/790241/funny-business-by-matt-singer/⁠

Feedback: Email us at [email protected]

Follow Matt on Blue Sky: @mattsinger.bsky.social

Follow Jordan on Blue Sky: @jhoffman.bsky.social

Follow the Show:⁠ https://www.instagram.com/superpulse/⁠⁠ https://www.facebook.com/FilmspottingSvu⁠

Follow the Show:⁠ https://www.instagram.com/superpulse/⁠⁠ https://www.facebook.com/FilmspottingSvu⁠

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.