We hit double nickels this week with the 1986 John Badham (Saturday Night Fever, War Games) directed Short Circuit. Usually it would be me dialing up the 80s for a movie pick, but this one was all Collin. It's a pretty silly movie that actually got us into some deep topics: A.I., racial stereotypes, gender identity, and the career of Steve Guttenberg. Whether or not we're equipped to tackle these topics is another matter all together.

This week I answer Collin's pick of Night at the Museum with my own father/son, somewhat museum influenced (the word "museum" gets uttered a few times) selection, the third in the Indiana Jones cycle: Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade.  Collin asks 5 questions and we've got another 60-second-out-of-context table read. We also discuss Nazi book burning, goofy special effects, and rats.

School's back in session, so we're back to one movie a week.  Collin picked this week and made me watch a movie that I had zero interest in seeing again: Night at the Museum.  Was he able to convince me of its virtues? *Spoiler alert* probably not, but you should listen anyway.  We've got 5 questions, one good thing, one bad thing and a new segment that I completely wrecked.

Ever had an embarrassing situation that you wish you could relive? Ever wanted to live a day unencumbered by fear of consequences or death? This week we watched two movies that propose just such a scenario, and the outcomes are not as free of worry or existential concerns as you would think.  Apparently, immortality has its own drudgeries.  We discuss the curious cases of Phil Conner and William Cage; two men reliving the same day over and over again.  One repeats the mundanity of February 2 again and again, while the other fights the same battle against alien hordes repeatedly like an over-caffeinated 14 year-old playing Call of Duty.  Collin's back this week for reviews, grades and a round of one good thing, one bad thing.

This week might be a tough sell for what is primarily a movie podcast, but let me see if I can explain my reasoning:  American Football, more so than other sport is mainly enjoyed via a television screen; each season, as with other television shows, has characters, story lines, emotional ups and downs; this is an extremely minor podcast, which allows me the freedom to choose whatever subject matter that strikes my whimsy.

So, is being a Falcon's fan the most unrewarding of any NFL team? I make the case that it is, but I'm certainly open to any rebuttals, especially from Cleveland and Arizona fans.

Collin takes another week off (he couldn't care less about football).  Instead I'm joined this week by fellow sufferers: my sister, Paula, and Giffy from the Movies, Music, and More podcast.  Join us as we work through our self-imposed pain and try to exorcise past demons.

This week on our 50th IYP episode we watched a couple of movies that, at first glance, have very little in common, but to my surprise tuned out to have a couple of similarities.  Besides both being based off of TV shows, they also both involve wrongly accused characters and someone trying to clear their name.  So, trim your beard (or grow one, if, unlike me, you're able), dye your hair, and join us for It's Your Pic number 50.

This week we present the sad tale of Kubo and the Two Strings, a marvelous movie form Laika studios that simply no one is going to see.  It's a movie with beautiful stop motion animation and a really strong story about the importance of memory and a child who must contend with his families past.  So, give us 40 minutes and we'll try to convince you to check this one out before it leaves theaters, which will probably be all too soon.

Links:

Greta's Stop Motion Movie

Making of Kubo and the Two Strings

This week, by patriarchal decree, we tackle a couple newish animated movies: the French-language feature April and the Extraordinary World, and the based-on-a-French-novella Netflix movie The Little Prince.  If you're tired of minions, mammoths, and Madagascarian penguins, you could do worse than to sit the family down with one of these challenging but decidedly engrossing movies.  Collin and I really struggle to pick a favorite.  We're definitely thankful to have seen both.  Give us a listen and we'll try to convince you.

Collin's back this week, and we've picked two Stranded Alien movies to talk about: Brad Bird's The Iron Giant and John Carpenter's Starman. Common themes include confused but powerful titular characters, paranoid government toadies, and, inexplicably, dead deer.  We talk about all this plus the unavoidable creepiness of watching love scenes with your parents.  Throw in Five Questions and One Good Thing, One Bad Thing and you've got yourself nearly an hour of free podcast listening.

Collin is enjoying himself at summer camp for 2 weeks so in his stead I welcome Giffy from the Movies, Music and More podcast to talk about some of our favorite moments in movies that utilize a pop song to great effect.  Giffy and I are long time friends so the conversation does go far afield occasionally: for instance why does Gif hate "Films" and why am I such a cry baby at certain movies.  This turned out to be our longest episode yet, but hopefully it's not boring.  And John Cusack's name comes up a disproportionately large number of times for some reason.

Check out Giffy and Maggie's podcast at:

Movies, Music and More