Give It 5

Things sure turned out different.
In what way?
Different.

Our summer hours continue as we tackle one of its dog-day classics. For 40 years we've lived with the idea that it could be the best in the genre. Friend of the pod, baseball fan, (and member of the Matt CClub) Matt Cowan joins us to revisit this pastoral classic.  Is it a 5-tool film? Did it need to spend more time in AAA Scranton? Will you ever get the theme song out of your head? Only one way to find out.

 Subscribe and rate us wherever you found us! Questions? Comments? Concerns? Find us on Twitter @GiveIt5Podcast or Facebook & Instagram @GiveIt5 

Email [email protected] if you’ve got a movie you want us to see!

Manners. Maketh. Man.

Just a little lax on our release schedule as things open up and weather gets warmer, but we're back with an...old? New. New classic. In a renaissance of comic book movies, this one did well, but didn't seem to percolate like the MCU. Sure, it got a sequel (which we talk about) and is getting a soft reboot (which we're cautiously optimistic about), but what endeared us to the concept in the first place? Maybe tune us in while you sit down with a martini. Gin, of course. Stirred for 10 seconds while glancing at an unopened bottle of vermouth.

Subscribe and rate us wherever you found us! Questions? Comments? Concerns? Find us on Twitter @GiveIt5Podcast or Facebook & Instagram @GiveIt5 

Email [email protected] if you’ve got a movie you want us to see!

Kirk Douglas, Farrah Fawcett, and Harvey Keitel walk into a space station. I forget the rest of the joke, but the punchline involves a robot and cake.

Ever heard of this one? Even Matt hadn't, and that's saying something. Our hosts have a lot of questions, but thankfully returning guest Mike Simses (2010: The Year We Make Contact) has the answers. We spend this feature-length episode dissecting the anatomy of a movie that should have been a hit in theory, but serves as a fascinating cautionary tale in practice.

You can find  Mike @MikeSimses on Twitter

Subscribe and rate us wherever you found us! Questions? Comments? Concerns? Find us on Twitter @GiveIt5Podcast or Facebook & Instagram @GiveIt5 

Email [email protected] if you’ve got a movie you want us to see!

Antonio Banderas accompanies some Norsemen to stop the attacks by a hellish pack of bloodthirsty invaders. Who lives? Who dies? Who tells their story? Probably Seamus Heaney at some point.

We're back after our brief excursion to Starfleet to talk about The 13th Warrior, an often forgotten film, so much so that most people don't even realize it's meant to be a retelling of the epic story of Beowulf. Joining Matt and Frank for this #deepdive is Andrew Radespiel, part-time lawyer and full-time history buff. If you've ever wondered how the first English-language story was written, whether or not mead is halal, or if the Viking lifestyle is for you, here's your chance.

You can find Andrew @Radnarok88 on Twitter & @AndrewRadespiel on Instagram

Subscribe and rate us wherever you found us! Questions? Comments? Concerns? Find us on Twitter @GiveIt5Podcast or Facebook & Instagram @GiveIt5 

Email [email protected] if you’ve got a movie you want us to see! 

Kirk, Spock, Doctor McCoy, and Ensign Ricky must broker peace between the Western Democracy Metaphor and the Eastern Bloc Soviet Metaphor. Hilarity ensues. Also murder.

Happy (belated) First Contact Day! No guest this week, but we're covering not only the last original cast Star Trek movie Frank hasn't seen, but the last original cast Star Trek movie ever. Yeah, yeah, we know about Generations, but that's a whole other story. We cover our movie rankings, uncover a strange cameo, and learn that the late, great Chris Plummer can bring it when it comes to Shakespearian (quoting) villains. The Undiscovered Country is finally discovered!

We bring you our hot take on the 1997 forgotten mess "Shazam", starring Sinbad and Martin Short.

Joining us once again is the one-and-only Patrick H. Willems (previously on our episode on The Shadow), who brought us a movie that certainly no one is still talking about. A critical and financial failure, in many ways Shazam was the beginning of the end of Sinbad's Hollywood run. Our hosts dive deep into why that is, what went wrong and more importantly, what in this movie is worth revisiting (if anything). From the rap battle to the climactic showdown with the giant spider, be sure to not miss this epic discussion on one of the low-watermarks of the 1990s. Still, it has its moments.

You can check out all things Patrick H. Willems on Youtube.

Subscribe and rate us wherever you found us! Questions? Comments? Concerns? Find us on Twitter @GiveIt5Podcast or Facebook & Instagram @GiveIt5 

Email [email protected] if you’ve got a movie you want us to see! 

Adventurer Rick O'Connell (and his family) race an immortal Egyptian mummy to be the one to destroy the Scorpion King, an insectoid WWE wrestler with Barbie Doll-textured skin hellbent on letting his pet dogs run wild.

Joining Matt and Frank today is Mike Ludwig (The Shadow, Independence Day) to talk about 2001's The Mummy Returns, one of the most bonkers big budget sequels of the early 2000s. More action. More explosions. More mummies. More hot air balloons. More double decker buses with the keys apparently in the ignition. We cover it all, the insane plot, the guilty pleasure action, the absolutely piss poor CGI effects in what most would consider Stephen Sommers' last really popular film. Not to mention of the of the greatest adventure scores Hollywood has ever given us.

Does the movie stand the test of time? Do the lovable heroes trump the incoherent story? Give it 5 minutes and find out!

Subscribe and rate us wherever you found us! Questions? Comments? Concerns? Find us on Twitter @GiveIt5Podcast or Facebook & Instagram @GiveIt5 

Email [email protected] if you’ve got a movie you want us to see!  

Do you think there's a really angry way I could say I'm sorry?

The 90s was a really weird time for everybody, but especially superhero movies. In between nipple-suit Batman and laryngitis Batman, we got Mystery Men. In the same tradition as Austin Powers and Galaxy Quest, this comedian-driven vehicle poked fun at its genre while still appreciating its tropes. Unfortunately, did didn't do too well in the box office.

No guest this week, but Frank hadn't seen this one either so there's plenty to talk about (including his strange, irrational hate for Claire Forlani.

New Year, Same Us. We're back for another season of Give it 5.

Houston, we have a podcast. Desperate to save face in light of the embarrassment of admitting he had never seen Apollo 13 (go back and listen to our Backdraft episode), Frank brings Mike Lacy back on to right a great wrong. After Matt sent him a 4k blu ray of it for the holidays, all their fates were pretty much sealed.

One of the biggest films of the 90s, and the grandfather to all these space thrillers they make like once a year, Apollo 13 is Ron Howards magnum opus, chronicling the harrowing flight of Jim Lovell, Jack Swigert and Fred Haise. It's also the first film that started a new chapter of Tom Hanks films, which we sort of dub the Captain/America's Dad series. It's a fantastic film with spectacular special effects and a magnificent score (by the late James Horner 2 years before he gave us Titanic).

Mike Lacy has a forthcoming podcast centered around the filmography of one Thomas Cruise, so be sure to keep an eye (and ear) out for that. Days of Thetan: A Mission into the Impossible Tom Cruise, available soon where ever you get your podcasts.

We're trying something new for this holiday season.

Your No Flicks Given heroes are coming face-to-face with one of the worst,  my depressing Christmas movies in recent memory: One Magic Christmas. And this isn't a journey we can all take alone, so we're taking you all with us. Listen in as we react live to watching a truly ridiculous store brand classic. Joined once again by Connor & Peter of the Fix-a-Flick podcast, we give you a Give it 5 first - a commentary track of a truly awful movie experience.

Ginny (Mary Steenburgen) has a difficult time mustering Christmas spirit due to her husband Jack's unemployment and her humble position as a grocery store clerk. With the holiday fast approaching, Ginny and Jack's daughter goes to deliver her letter to Santa. On her way, she meets Gideon, an angel intent on saving Christmas from Ginny's poor attitude. With Gideon's magical assistance, Ginny learns how things could be much worse.

...happy holidays, we guess.