Late to the Movies

November is Sword and Sandals month! All month, we'll focus on mythical and mythic-ish movies, starting with 2010's Percy Jackson & the Olympians: The Lightning Thief! Ben, Bree, Sam, and Vaz break down the watered-down (ha!) first attempt at adapting Rick Riordan's Percy Jackson series.

Directed by Chris Columbus, starring Logan Lerman, Brandon T. Jackson, and Alexandra Daddario, and featuring Sean Bean, Pierce Brosnan, Steve Coogan, Rosario Dawson, Catherine Keener, Joe Pantoliano, and Uma Thurman.

Sam Neilloween culminates with John Carpenter's In the Mouth of Madness! Ben, Greg, and Ray discuss the goofy eldritch hijinks of Sam Neill's trip to northern New England.

Directed by John Carpenter, written by Michael De Luca, and starring Sam Neill, Julie Carmen, Jürgen Prochnow, David Warner and Charlton Heston.

Sam Neilloween vamps it up with 2009's_ Daybreakers_! Ben and Patrick discuss the surprisingly star-filled, surprisingly ambitious Spierig Brothers dystopian sci-fi/action/horror/thriller film.

Written and directed by Michael and Peter Spierig and starring Ethan Hawke, Willem Dafoe, AND Sam Neill.

Sam Neilloween blasts off to somewhere near Neptune with 1997's Event Horizon! Ben, Sam, and Vaz discuss Sam Neill's predictably full-send performance in the Paul W.S. Anderson... classic?

Directed by Paul W. S. Anderson, written by Philip Eisner, and starring Laurence Fishburne, Sam Neill, Kathleen Quinlan, and Joely Richardson.

Sam Neilloween continues with Andrzej Żuławski's 1981 cult-classic, Possession! This week finds our hero caught in a psychological domestic divorce horror opposite a Cannes Best Actress-winning performance from Isabelle Adjani. Ben, Cory, and Noah discuss the fully... committed? unhinged? performances and vague plot of Possession.

Directed by Andrzej Żuławski and starring Sam Neill and Isabelle Adjani.

This year's October theme is Sam Neilloween! We'll be going deep on one of the most underrated and fearless actors of modern cinema, watching only Sam Neill-starring films all month. First up: the re-re-release of our episode on Jurassic Park, originally released in July 2022. Ben, Greg, Kyle, Lyndsey, and Ray discuss Neill's biggest film, the 1993 Steven Spielberg blockbuster that set a new standard for special effects in film (and also has that weird laugh that Jeff Goldblum does). It's weird they never made any legacy sequels to this one!

Directed by Steven Spielberg and starring Sam Neill, Laura Dern, Jeff Goldblum, and Richard Attenborough.

"(Going) Back to (Look at) the Future Month" reaches its epic conclusion with Stanley Kubrick's "2001: A Space Odyssey." Ben, Greg, Lindsey, Marshall, and Ray discuss this vision of 2001 from the perspective of 1968; one of the most referenced, parodied, discussed, dissected, and imitated films of all time.

Directed by Stanley Kubrick, written by Kubrick and Arthur C. Clarke, and starring Keir Dullea, Gary Lockwood, William Sylvester, and Douglas Rain.

"(Going) Back to (Look at) the Future Month" leaves dystopian futures behind (finally) and delves into the surrealist dreamscape of Satoshi Kon's Paprika (2006)! Ben, Cory, and Noah join the dream parade to discuss the animated classic, set in 2006's near-future.

Directed by Satoshi Kon, co-written by Satoski Kon and Seishi Minakami, and based on the 1993 novel of the same name by Yasutaka Tsutsui.

"(Going) Back to (Look at) the Future Month" continues with Paul Michael Glaser's 1987 vision of a dystopian 2019 - The Running Man! Ben and Anthony discuss the unapologetically dumb, one-liner filled, Schwarzenegger-starring, incredibly loose adaptation of the Stephen King novel of the same name.

Directed by Paul Michael Glaser and starring Arnold Schwarzenegger, María Conchita Alonso, Richard Dawson, Yaphet Kotto, and Jesse Ventura.

Going Back to (Look at) the Future month continues with 1995's somewhat-reclaimed Johnny Mnemonic! Ben and Brady discuss the William Gibson-penned, Robert Longo-directed, Keanu Reeves-starring, notorious cyberpunk flop that predicted a 2021 that included a global pandemic... hmm!

Directed by Robert Longo and written by William Gibson, adapting his own short story. Starring Keanu Reeves, Takeshi Kitano, Dolph Lundgren, Ice-T and Dina Meyer.