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Lance Oppenheim's 'Primetime' has been one of the most hotly anticipated films of the year, and Monika and Emily are both here to say that in their opinions, it did not disappoint. This episode covers a lot of ground, both within the movie itself: the electrifying performances from basically everyone, theorizing about what the movie makes of Chris Hansen as a man and as a cultural figure, the humor, the darkness, the visuals, AND outside the movie: The 2025 documentary 'Predators', the show 'Undercover Underage', Lance Oppenheim's previous work, Chris Hansen's current career, and the whole sub-genre of media that he ultimately spawned. 'Primetime' is a provocative movie about a tonally fascinating juggernaut of a show about the darkest parts of humanity, and that's a recipe for a very long, very wide-ranging conversation to try to make a little bit of sense out of a lot of things.

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Fire up those PlayStations, we’re headed to Raccoon City baby!!

This week, we’re talking about Zach Cregger’s Resident Evil. Neither of us has ever played a Resident Evil game, which puts us in an interesting position: How well does a video game adaptation work when you have absolutely no attachment to the source material?

We get into the movie’s pretty darn effective attempt to recreate the feeling of actually playing a game, from its camera movements and real-time pacing and constant stream of increasingly disgusting obstacles. Some other important discussion topics include: Austin Abrams carrying an entire movie, impossible task of balancing horror and comedy, our favorite infected monsters, and whether a movie really needs to be “about” anything if it’s this much fun.

Before all that, Monika talks about her very unexpected experience seeing Skweezy Jibbs Makes a Movie in Chicago.

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00:00 Welcome & Spoiler warning

04:48 Skweezy Jibbs Makes a Movie

15:32 Resident Evil

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Almost 30 years after the first movie, the Owens sisters are back... but also somehow it's only about 12 years or so since the events of the first movie, but also it's somehow present day. Look: time in Practical Magic 2 is very confusing, as is the story, as are the character choices. The only magic in this movie is the chemistry between Sandra Bullock and Nicole Kidman, which is thankfully as strong as ever. Everything else is really a mess. Even Lee Pace can't save this movie, which is saying a lot. Monika and Emily discuss the casting, the issues with legacy sequels, the laziness of the writing, the unfortunately impossible to ignore plastic surgery, and, of course, the original Practical Magic. Also, a thorough discussion of the popcorn buckets and cups they put out for this movie.

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SURPRISE! WE ARE FINALLY IN PERSON FOR ONE OF THESE!!

Monika and Emily wandered up to the Twin Cities to hang out, watch some youtube videos in an AirBnB, and of course check out the Minnesota State Fair!

This week at the movies we cover Coyote vs. Acme, the Looney Tunes courtroom drama that almost never got released, and also Finding Emily, the rom-com that actually remebered to be both rom AND com for once.

**SPOILER WARNING FOR COYOTE vs. ACME & FINDING EMILY**

Plus: A recap of some of our time together in Minnesota, the 4H llama costume contest, butter princesses, Tweety Bird's gender, and a lot of tangents that spun out of us being giddy about recording in person for the first time.

Chapters:

00:00 Minnesota State Fair Recap

11:24 Finding Emily

30:19 Coyote vs. Acme

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This week is an Old Man vs. Baby smackdown when we talk about both 88 year old legend Ridley Scott's post-apocalyptic The Dog Stars and Gen Z newcomer Alexander Ullom's existential horror It Ends. We both preferred one over the other by a lot, and it wasn't necessarily the one we would have expected. The post-apocalypse setting also leads to a discussion about movies' brother, TV, Particularly: Paradise on Hulu. Also, a fun announcement about next week's episode!

Timestamps:

02:14 It Ends

28:06 The Dog Stars

01:00:11 TV Talk

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This week we're taking it back to the summer of 1975 in Provincetown, Massachusetts for Tony, the newest entry into the very-specific-moment-in-the-subject's-life genre of biopics. Emily and Monika are absolutely thrilled to have a reason to talk about Matt Johnson (but let's be honest, they'll always find a reason somehow), and get into the intertwined threads of beauty and the melancholy of this film, Anthony Bourdain as a cultural figure, and sad men.

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Get your running shoes on, we're fleeing from dinosaurs in the suburbs of Michigan with the J.J. Abrams produced, David Robert Michell film The End of Oak Street.

Anne Hathaway dares to steal our hearts for a 4th time this year in this thrill ride of a movie and Monika and Emily are beaming with the energy of the "we are so back" vibes around this blockbuster.

Monika also takes the show on a 20 minute detour in the beginning of the episode to talk about the screening she went to of the upcoming documentary film Wild Inside, about Flaco the owl.

Timestamps:

01:32 Wild Inside

22:24 End of Oak Street

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The high-concept rom-com that everyone's been referring to as "the sex Purge movie" for the better part of the past year is finally out, and this week we're doing a full dissection. One Night Only has an undeniably strange premise, and we talk all about its logistics, implications, and how it lands in this current climate. We also talk about where the movie succeeds and fails on a rom-com level, and delve into the leads' chemistry (or lack thereof), the abundance of cameos, and the film's confusing point of view. Also, Monika accidentally became a member of The Angel Guild via a mystery movie screening this week and we HAVE to rescue her.

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Gregg Araki's I Want Your Sex stars Olivia Wilde and Cooper Hoffman in a joyful, messy, unpolished sex romp that felt like a breath of fresh air after some very serious movies.

We got into the Gregg Araki's film history, discussed how UNSTOPPABLE Olivia Wilde is this year and how Cooper Hoffman is THE "it" boy that we all need to be buying stock in NOW.

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This week's conversation about Nicolas Winding Refn's first feature film since The Neon Demon was really an exercise for us in how to discuss a movie that neither of us enjoyed in a way that goes deeper than just listing all the things we didn't like about it. Her Private Hell was made to be divisive, and we found that to be an interesting intention to try to dissect in itself. The whole episode is a real dance of Emily being very mean about it and Monika trying to force us to be smart!

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