Another Flashback episode from the time when we still did those on the OG feed. Catching up with Fright Night from 2011, a movie I soured on since I last saw it, but the rest of the pod is standing up for it! Is Charlie a shitty lead character, is Colin Farrell the dreamiest vampire ever, where is the justice for Poots?

Download. Listen. Enjoy.

The Categories: (Time:Stamp)

8 Words or Less, The Elevator Pitch, Why So & So, General Thoughts, Star Ratings (0:00:30)

You Gotta See This, Let’s Talk About That Ending..., Performance Piece (0:15:40)

Repeat After Me, But, Why?, The Hot Take Theater, Expert Opinions, The Upgradeables, To Infinity & Beyond?, Bonus Rounds/Catch All, One Last Pitch... (0:25:00)

@middleofrow #nothe

One of many from the archives, essentially, even though this is the first release of the podcast! The Black Phone, I thought was a bad movie, and I think I brought Lauren and Ben down with me along the way? Take a listen for yourself, as we ask a lot of questions about this quite weird, silly and not that scary movie!

General Thoughts, Star Ratings, crapping on Peacock (it’s gotten better) (0:01:00)

Spoilers for The Black Phone (0:18:00)

The Categories:

The Confounding Thing About… (0:19:00)

The Ridiculous Thing About... (0:23:00)

The Confusing Thing About... (0:27:45)

The Uncomfortable Thing About... (0:32:00)

@middleofrow #nothe

What’s this, it’s our podcast! Starting off 2023 (shut up, it’s still January!) Trying to make this a regular thing again (we have been recording), and I’m trying to find the time to get these out. But, as we say goodbye to 2022, it’s time for our Time Capsule episode! Let’s throw some stuff into the dirt for the future...

Our Picks!

Ben: Cyberpunk: Edgerunners (3:30)

Lauren: A Plague Tale: Requiem (13:40)

Zac: Station Eleven (26:00)

Random Discussion and Predictions (32:00)

Predictions for 23!

Game:

Ben: Dead Space (Remake)

Zac: Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom

Lauren: Assassin’s Creed Mirage

Movie:

Ben: Guardians of the Galaxy 3

Zac: Asteroid City

Lauren: Barbie

TV:

Ben: The Last of Us

Zac: The Last of Us

Lauren: The Last of Us

Random:

Ben: Trigun Stampede

Lauren: Alecto: The Ninth

Zac: Killers of the Flower Moon

Today I am talking with Aisha Sultan. Aisha is a syndicated columnist based at the St. Louis Post-Dispatch, where they’ve been writing for more than 20 years. Her work focusing on education and parenting has appeared in publications such as The Guardian, CNN, and The Washington Post.

"Education, Interrupted" is her second documentary, and follows the experience of a mother of three young children navigating virtual school during the COVID-19 pandemic of 2020. It premieres at the Saint Louis International Film Festival on Saturday, November 3rd.

Film Synopsis: Witness the devastating disruption of schooling through the eyes of an unforgettable family. Tyra Johnson is a devoted and determined mother fighting to maintain her children's education in one of the country's most poverty-stricken ZIP codes, which was hard hit by the Covid-19 pandemic.

Find more from Aisha Sultan on her website, Twitter, Instagram, or STLToday.

Find more about the St. Louis International Film Festival including the schedule of films here.

Follow me on Twitter@anotherRahulJ.

We head back to Netflix to review Jamie Foxx’s latest, Day Shift! No one is terribly bowled over by this vampire flick/John Wick mashup, but we had quite a bit of fun picking it apart. Come for the praise of the fight choreography, stay longer as we try and figure out if this movie makes any damn sense.

Download. Listen. Enjoy!

The General Thoughts (01:00)

Categories:

The Draining Thing About... (11:30)

Star Ratings/Spoilers (17:30)

Back to Categories:

The Impressive Thing About... & The Confounding Thing About... (19:45)

Anything we missed?

@middleofrow #nothe

The week we are discussing The Greatest Thing About... Prey! This Predator prequel has nothing to do with previous films outside a couple nods and a Predator showing up, but it’s a fresh take on the format that is overcoming the stink of its previous entry. Taking the film back to the 18th century and giving the film a female lead are a great start, while director Dan Trachtenberg gets to show off his action chops outside of a bunker. Amber Midthunder is going to be a star and Predators are little B’s. We all agree on that.

Download. Listen. Enjoy!

General Thoughts (0:01:00)

Star Ratings/Spoilers (0:26:00)

Categories:

The Uncomfortable Thing About... (0:26:30)

The Satisfying Thing About... (0:34:00)

The Weirdest Thing About... (0:40:20)

Ben Comes Up With Predator Sequels (0:47:00)

@middleofrow #nothe

It’s episode 2 of The Greatest Thing About Podcast... and we are showing off the flexibility of the concept by reviewing a video game; Stray. Stray is an indie release on Playstation and Steam and is a short, but fun, adventure into the mind of a cat. Well, sort of. You definitely get to be a cat, and do many cat things (napping, please), but the game itself is a mystery platformer that has some pretty distinct level design across it’s post-apocalyptic robotic setting. All of us enjoyed the game to varying degrees, which leads to some good discussion about what makes this game work as well as it does.

Download. Listen. Enjoy!

General Thoughts... (0:01:00)

Star Ratings

Spoilers for Stray (0:09:30)

Categories:

The Impressive Thing About… (0:09:30)

The Frustrating Thing About... (0:19:00)

The Weirdest Thing About... (0:22:20)

@middleofrow #nothe

Welcome to a new version of our podcast at Middle of the Row; The Greatest Thing About... podcast! We are still going to talk about movies, but also hope to talk more games, tv, while also being able to pick whatever movie we damn well please.

We will also be releasing our backlog (it’s big) of Middle of the Row: The Podcast as well, but the plan is for a new The Greatest Thing About... to come out weekly.

We start with the highest rated movie we’ve ever done here on the pod (for us) with Everything Everywhere All at Once. It’s amazing, you should watch it, then listen to us talking about why it is so great!

Download. Listen. Enjoy!

An Introduction...(0:00:30)

General Thoughts... (0:02:00)

Star Ratings & The Letterboxd Top 10 (0:18:00)

Spoilers for Everything Everywhere All at Once (0:22:30)

Categories:

The Greatest Thing About… (0:23:00)

The Funniest Thing About... (0:29:00)

The Upsetting Thing About... (0:42:00)

#nothe @middleofrow

Goon was a flashback pick from late last year, but it was actually a 2012 release so now it is an actual flashback for the correct year! This was picked by Jon, but he didn’t make this episode, but Ben, Lauren and Zac all really enjoyed chatting about this hockey cult classic. Though, none of us have seen the sequel, so we don’t know if we can recommend that, but Scott and Schreiber are excellent here, so more of them is probably making it worth a watch. Also, maybe the most intense E.T. Watch in podcast history...

Download. Listen. Enjoy.

The Categories: (Time:Stamp)

8 Words or Less, The Elevator Pitch, Why So & So, General Thoughts, Star Ratings (1:00)

You Gotta See This, Let’s Talk About That Ending..., Performance Piece (13:30)

Repeat After Me, But, Why?, The Hot Take Theater, Expert Opinions, The Upgradeables, To Infinity & Beyond?, Bonus Rounds/Catch All, One Last Pitch... (28:00)

@middleofrow #nothe

Malignant came out and set the internet on fire for a couple weeks last year, but it didn’t really work for most of our crew...until it did. Zac was on board throughout, but everyone agrees the final act is worth sticking around for. But, we debate a lot! Is the acting good? How intentional is Wan’s vision? Is it scary? Is it a comedy? Watch/listen/find out!

Download. Listen. Enjoy.

The Categories: (Time:Stamp)

8 Words or Less, The Elevator Pitch, Why So & So, General Thoughts, Star Ratings (1:00)

Spoilers, You Gotta See This, Let’s Talk About That Ending..., Performance Piece (17:00)

Repeat After Me, But, Why?, The Hot Take Theater, Expert Opinions, The Upgradeables, To Infinity & Beyond?, Bonus Rounds/Catch All, One Last Pitch... (33:30)

@middleofrow #nothe