Friday Nights at Blockbuster

On board, I'm the captain. So climb aboard, we'll search for tomorrow on every shore
And I'll try, oh Lord, I'll try to carry on. I look to the sea, reflections in the waves spark my memory. Some happy, some sad. I think of childhood friends and the dreams we had.

Hosts: Kate Vallely, Ciaran Vallely

Are you listening closely?

Upon this most rewatch, Kate can confirm that Christopher Nolan's magician centric period piece thriller was the better of the 2006 movies that share nearly identical plots. But as the years have roled on, this remains arguably Nolan's best overall movie. His time tricks have rarely been better, he gets two great leading performances, the entire movie looks gorgeous. If only he could write a female character with one interesting quality.

Hosts: Ciaran Vallely, Kate Vallely

Tom Cruise and Steven Spielberg team up in the middle of a great run of movies for both of them here. The Sci-fi meets Film Noir is perfect for Speilberg, and for Cruise this is another in a long line of interesting, and largely against type characters that he had been portraying for close to a decade at this point. The stage was set... but then Colin Farrell showed up in his first large American movie and stole the show from everyone.

Catch on a specific day and I will tell you that the Before Trilogy is my favourite trilogy of movies! So with that in mind, even though only one of the movie falls within are decade of discussion, we couldn't pass up the opportunity to quickly highlight the other two. The conversation digresses a bit this week becasue anyone who has seen these movies knows there are essentially no scenes, so it was a little harder to structure a conversation.

Hosts: Ciaran Vallely, Kate Vallely

This week we are looking back at the first long awaited return of this iconic 80s movie character. Despite the reputation (some of it warranted), I think Kate and myself found quite a bit to enjoy with this movie. Still, some really rough moments (Shia LaBeouf swinging through the jungle on vines was not a good choice).

Hosts: Ciaran Vallely, Kate Vallely

I don't know what I was expecting or hoping from rewatching Twilight for the first time in over a decade. Was there a deeper message that I missed? Is there perhaps some unseen brilliant filmmaking? Robert Pattinson and Kristen Stewart are among my favourite actors to watch in 2023, so did I overlook their performances here because it was in a genre I wasn't a fan of? I think most of the listeners will tune in with the preconceived belief that I hate this movie... and sometimes preconceived ideas are right on the money!

Hosts: Kate Vallely, Ciaran Vallely

I'm not sure if any of Wes Anderson's movies have ever really lit the Box Office on fire, but The Royal Tenenbaums was certainly a breakthrough moment for him professionally. His style had always been there, but this felt like a crystalization and expansion. Kate's introduction to Anderson's filmography has been up and down, but it looks like she's turning the corner.

Hosts: Ciaran Vallely, Kate Vallely

Arguably the best Bond movie, starring the best actor to play Bond, with the best "Bond girl", and one of the best Bond villains. The franchise was in some ways on life support before Casino Royale, but was immediately in a great place once this movie was released. I give Kate a rundown of Bond history, and a financial lesson.

Hosts: Ciaran Vallely, Kate Vallely

The high watermark for the character (and no, I will not listen to arguments for Tom Holland/MCU's outings, because the best they have to offer needed to bring back the OG himself to put them over the top). Spider-Man 2 is more ambitious in terms of storytelling. Has another great villain. Continues Sam Raimi's ultimate vision of thrilling comic book action and completely over-the-top campiness. and Ups the sexual tension between Peter Parker and Harry Osbourne. Sounds like a good time at the movies to me! The only true negative against this movie is they didn't bring back the dreamteam of Chad Kroeger and Josey Scott to record another banger for the soundtrack.

Hosts: Ciaran Vallely, Kate Vallely

28 Days Later was many things upon its release. It was one of the major introductions to the fast zombie idea. It was a bit of a comeback for director Danny Boyle. And now it’s Kate’s first horror movie on the podcast, and she liked at least half of it!

Hosts: Ciaran Vallely, Kate Vallely