The SXSW Film and TV Festival is one of the largest of its kind in the world. In a typical year, thousands of fans arrive in downtown Austin, TX to partake in a couple of weeks of great music, technology, and film. For this special episode of The Hollywood Outsider, we take you along for our annual deep dive into the heart of the 2024 SXSW Film & TV Festival portion, and even further into the films themselves.

Over the course of several days, the 2024 SXSW Film and TV Festival screened numerous features, TV premieres, many from first-time filmmakers (consisting of World Premieres, North American Premieres, and US Premieres), shorts, virtual reality exhibits, AI advancements, and other works. These films were selected from thousands of overall submissions, and – while we can’t see them all – we have a nice sample to share with you of what came out of this stellar lineup of independent and popular films and television series. Over 25 films are on our docket this year, and we review them all (including The Fall Guy, Road House, Wondermind, and Black Box Diaries), as well as snippets from panels and a whole lot more!

So sit back and relax. You’re about to experience the SXSW Film and TV Festival from the comfort of your own home. 

Discover a complete list of all films, TV episodics, or events discussed on this episode HERE.

Discussed on this episode of The Hollywood Outsider Movie and TV Podcast:

• Thoughts on the 2024 SXSW Film & TV Festival
• Reviews of over 25 films, TV episodic premieres, and panels screened at the festival, titles listed below
• Our personal awards from the festival
• Listen to our new podcast, Inspired By A True Story, now available in your favorite podcast feed!
• Please support The Hollywood Outsider and gain immediate access to bonus content, including Patreon exclusive podcast content like our Bad Movie Night by visiting Patreon.com/ TheHollywoodOutsider

For this special Oscars 2024 wrap-up, Aaron and Amanda discuss the events, speeches, and winners of the 96th Annual Academy Awards, including a return of the five returning winners to present to current nominees, and Ryan Gosling's triumphant performance of "I'm Just Ken". All this and more are up for grabs as we recap this year's Oscars!

The Academy Awards (“Oscars”) are the most prestigious awards in filmmaking and showcase some of the greatest talent and work in motion pictures for that running year. The nominees and winners are selected by majority vote from members of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences. Ballots are cast by members from within the industry and, in most categories, represent the corresponding branch (ex.: actors nominate actors).

• Listen to our new podcast, Inspired By A True Story, now available in your favorite podcast feed!
• Please support The Hollywood Outsider and gain immediate access to bonus content, including Patreon exclusive podcast content like our Bad Movie Night by visiting Patreon.com/ TheHollywoodOutsider

Leah McKendrick's new film Scrambled stars McKendrick as Nellie Robinson, a single woman in her 30s who begins to feel like the clock is ticking, and she is running low on romantic prospects. So Nellie decides to freeze her eggs - setting her on an empowering journey to a brave new world where she ultimately discovers "the one" she's looking for might just be herself.

Scrambled is funny, sweet, charming, and heartwarming, and McKendrick put everything she had into the film, both in front of and behind the camera. As the screenwriter, director, and star of the film, we discussed all phases of the film in this exclusive interview with the burgeoning star (as well as that I Know What You Did Last Summer requel she is working on). Scrambled is now available on demand, and I really hope all of you take the time to watch it, because this is one of those films I feel like fans will want to share with other fans.

As always, we keep the film discussion spoiler-free, so listen and enjoy this interview with Leah McKendrick on her latest film, Scrambled!

You can find our previous interview with Leah as mentioned in this interview HERE.

On this episode of The Hollywood Outsider podcast, we head back to Arrakis and dive into Dune: Part Two, but first we need to discuss news and our topic of the week. A flip of our last episode, this time we want to discuss when we love a film so much, but no one else seems to get it. It's important to note, we don't mean guilty pleasures. We mean a film you truly believe is great for whatever reason, and the world at large just mostly thinks you're insane. 

Then we dive into Denis Villeneuve's return to spice up the theatrical experience with Dune: Part Two. First up is our spoiler-free review, and then Tomas Becks joins us to explain why the film is a masterpiece, and how we just don't understand. This is a conversation for every level of Dune fan, so we hope you enjoy it as much as we did. 

• (0:00 – 25:10) Opening | Shōgun - Subtitles vs English Dub, and NCIS Expands Their Universe
• (25:11 – 58:38) From The Outside In: When You Love a Movie No One Seems to Get
• (58:39 – 1:54:25) Dune: Part Two Review, followed by Spoilercast
• Listen to our new podcast, Inspired By A True Story, now available in your favorite podcast feed!
• Please support The Hollywood Outsider and gain immediate access to bonus content, including Patreon exclusive podcast content like our Bad Movie Night by visiting Patreon.com/ TheHollywoodOutsider

On this episode of The Hollywood Outsider podcast, our main topic revolves around the struggle that occurs when it seems as though everyone loves a specific movie... but you. What do you do? Do you revisit the films later? Do you adjust your mood and watch it again? Do you question your own taste? We discuss this questions as well as dive into some of the films we have this experience with over the years, as well as a few popular listener choices on the subject.

Also on this episode, is our spoiler-free review of Netflix's Avatar: The Last Airbender. Does this live-action take finally get the essence of the original series right? Finally, Awards shows move to streaming, Fast and Furious comes to an end (finally?), and Denis Villeneuve rattles fans with a savage take on cinema as he states, Frankly, I hate dialogue. Dialogue is for theatre and television.

• Discussed on this episode
  • (0:00 – 21:24) Awards Shows Go Streaming, Fast and Furious Ends, and Denis Villeneuve Hates Dialogue

In Red Right Hand, Cash (Orlando Bloom) is trying to live an honest and quiet life while taking care of his recently windowed brother-in-law and niece, Savannah (Chapel Oaks). Nestled in the rural mountains of Odim county, this tight nit family tends to their family farm while trying to move on from their troubled pasts. Unfortunately, the region’s sadistic kingpin, Big Cat (Andie MacDowell) has other plans and forces Cash back into her services. In order, to protect his family, Cash is forced to complete three jobs which push him and his morality to the very brink. As the journey gets harder, Cash is drawn into a nightmare that blurs the lines between good and evil.

We interviewed the Nelms brothers in 2020 for Fatman, and these guys are a pair of our favorites. They make movies we at The Hollywood Outsider enjoy, and Red Right Hand is no exception. It's an entertaining, gritty, family revenge thriller and our hero is not a flawless badass. Orlando Bloom’s Cash is unlike his previous characters, he’s desperate to stay on the right path, but this world just won’t escape him, and Andie MacDowell’s Big Cat is a role we promise you have never seen her in. Red Right Hand is now available on demand or in limited theaters.

We keep the film discussion spoiler-free, so listen and enjoy this interview with Eshom and Ian Nelms as they break down their exciting new film, Red Right Hand.

On this episode of The Hollywood Outsider podcast, we decided it was time to return to a topic we haven't done in a few years and let's get controversial! We weigh in on a few of our unpopular opinions or theories in entertainment news. Is Christopher Nolan's The Dark Knight trilogy overrated? Was 2016's Ghostbusters a better reinvention of the 80s classic than Ghostbusters: Afterlife? When does something count as woke? All of these and more are discussed and probed as The Hollywood Outsider gets controversial.

• (0:00 – 1:04:30) Let's Get Controversial! 2024 Edition
• Listen to our 2022 Edition of Let's Get Controversial HERE!

On this episode of The Hollywood Outsider podcast, we have three film reviews to discuss: Bob Marley: One Love  which stars Kingsley Ben-Adir as the iconic Bob Marley and Lashana Lynch as his wife Rita, in a retelling of Marley's assassination attempt and subsequent fleeing of Jamaica, all the way up until his One Love concert; Madame Web, which ventures into the Spider-Verse for a spin-off which stars Dakota Johnson as Cassandra Webb, a paramedic who survives a near-death experience only to find herself blessed with clairavoyant powers that lead her to protect three young women (Sydney Sweeney, Celeste O'Connor, and Isabela Merced) from the murderous Ezekiel Sims (Tahar Rahim); and lastly, Ordinary Angels, which stars Hilary Swank as Sharon Stevens, a complicated woman who devotes herself to helping Ed Schmitt (Alan Ritchson) raise money to pay for his daughter's liver transplant.

• (00:00 – 07:25) Opening | Bob Marley: One Love Review
• (07:26 – 20:36) Madame Web Review
• (20:37 – 40:44) Ordinary Angels Review
• Listen to our new podcast, Inspired By A True Story, now available in your favorite podcast feed!
• Please support The Hollywood Outsider and gain immediate access to bonus content, including Patreon exclusive podcast content like our Bad Movie Night by visiting Patreon.com/ TheHollywoodOutsider

On this episode of The Hollywood Outsider podcast, our main topic is LOVE in TV and film. For decades, audiences have been laughing and weeping along with our favorite characters on the big and small screen, but why do we connect so much with them? We debate the representation of love on screen, not just romantic but also friendships and familial love. It's an episode full of heart...and laughs. 

Also, Oscars has a new category, and it's NOT stunts, so we have a lot to say about that. Plus, Super Bowl LVII is over, but the trailers released have only just begun so we dive into many of them such as Twisters, Wicked, and especially Deadpool 3 aka Deadpool and Wolverine!

• (0:00 – 5:41) Intro
• (5:42 – 31:10) Oscars New Category, WB Axes Coyote vs. Acme, Super Bowl LVII Trailers 
• (31:11 – 1:23:56) From The Outside In: Let's Talk About Love in TV and Film
• Listen to our new podcast, Inspired By A True Story, now available in your favorite podcast feed!
• Please support The Hollywood Outsider and gain immediate access to bonus content, including Patreon exclusive podcast content like our Bad Movie Night by visiting Patreon.com/ TheHollywoodOutsider

On this episode of The Hollywood Outsider podcast, we dive into the latest regarding our beloved streaming services. Disney/Hulu now joins the password crackdown. Amazon decides to shove ads into your current plan vs Netflix leaving your plan alone. The resurgence of SUITS has us asking what other old series do we want to see new audiences find, and which could be re-tooled to have new life.  Also discussed are thoughts on Tarantino's final movie ever plus we review Out of Darkness and Argylle.  

• (0:00 – 5:28) Intro and Discussion 
• (5:28 – 27:52) State of Streaming: Passwords and Ad Changes
• (27:52 – 1:22:18) From The Outside In: Resurgence of Cancelled TV Shows
• (1:22:18 – 1:37:25) Reviews: Out of Darkness and Argylle
• (1:37:25 - 1:46:12) Closing and Open Mic
• Listen to our new podcast, Inspired By A True Story, now available in your favorite podcast feed!
• Please support The Hollywood Outsider and gain immediate access to bonus content, including Patreon exclusive podcast content like our Bad Movie Night by visiting Patreon.com/ TheHollywoodOutsider