Off Screen Death

Off Screen Death

By Michael Denniston and David GianniniTV & FilmFilm ReviewsFilm History
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Off Screen Death episodes

  • The Nines (RT 65%)
    "August is on solid ground when he's riffing on Stephen King and celebrities, but he's stretching when he tries to be David Lynch, which would require a distinctly different kind of brain damage."

    Robert Davis of Paste Magazine manages to be both kind and extremely unkind in one sentence. But he's got nothing on our first featured Letterboxd user Emaann!

    It takes about a half hour to do not much more than that as we discus John August's THE NINES. Some of the topics of concern:

    • Ryan Reynolds faces failure. Fine. His genes grant him a few life beatings.
    • Hope Davis is the quest giver NPC that doesn't really want you to solve the quest. Understandable.
    • And Melissa McCarthy apparently was good friends with John August though after this movie... maybe no more.

      • And while John August may never be friends with us, we still have two commentary tracks on our DVD copy of THE NINES to keep us company. But probably not. Enjoy!

      Subscribe on Apple Podcasts/Spotify Twitter @offscreendeath Instagram @theoffscreendeath Letterboxd: @daveagiannini and @projectingfilm Artwork by Nathan Thomas Milliner Music by Joplin Rice

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      34 min
    • Opening Weekend Wasted w/ FALSE POSITIVE
      "The apparent desire by the core creative team to break from their wilder, messier material by giving FALSE POSITIVE A24 gloss--is understandable. But for a movie with this much blood, it doesn't leave much of a stain."

      We disagree, Katie Rife of the AV Club. For if we can't count on Pierce Brosnan as an evil gynecologist in a movie... what new releases can we count on? So get in your stirrups and prepare for the warm touch of our LAST Opening Weekend Wasted.

      Until something really good comes out. BUT UNTIL THEN... we leave you with praise for Gretchen Mol as a dedicated employee and one host getting to blather on about ROSEMARY'S BABY for a bit. Enjoy.

      Subscribe on Apple Podcasts/Spotify Twitter @offscreendeath Instagram @theoffscreendeath Letterboxd: @daveagiannini and @projectingfilm Artwork by Nathan Thomas Milliner Music by Joplin Rice

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      25 min
    • Claudine (RT 57%)
      "A rather simple love story about two experienced and jaded adults."

      In a splat review, Janet Branagh’s of the Apollo Guide accidentally hits on what exactly there is to love about this movie! Mike and Dave talk about how refreshing it is to see two adults (each with their own problems) fall in love and build something together.

      Join us as we do our best to “save” CLAUDINE from the unnecessarily mean film critics. Join us (and the Criterion collection) as we celebrate a truly underseen classic. 

      Subscribe on Apple Podcasts/Spotify Twitter @offscreendeath Instagram @theoffscreendeath Letterboxd: @daveagiannini and @projectingfilm Artwork by Nathan Thomas Milliner Music by Joplin Rice

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      32 min
    • Opening Weekend Wasted w/ FATHERHOOD
      "The film, directed and co-written by Paul Weitz, too often goes for the easy resolution, the syrupy payoff and the sense that every character in Matt's orbit is just, like, really really nice."

      What's wrong with nice, Kevin Maher of The Times? Well... some things are wrong with what one host dubs ABOUT A BOY 2 (such is his fandom of The Auteur Paul Weitz) but the NICER host just wishes people would leave Kevin Hart alone.

      Kevin Hart in this new release on Netflix, that is. Kevin Hart the real person is doing just fine. He has Netflix money. And we don't.

      Give us money instead. There is a link below to do just that. Thanks.

      Subscribe on Apple Podcasts/Spotify Twitter @offscreendeath Instagram @theoffscreendeath Letterboxd: @daveagiannini and @projectingfilm Artwork by Nathan Thomas Milliner Music by Joplin Rice

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      29 min
    • The Godfather (AFI #2)
      "The Godfather shows that there is still life in the massive production engineering which made Hollywood studios the wonder of the entertainment world in their great days."

      Alexander Walker of the London Evening Standard unwittingly guides us in our conversation not only of THE GODFATHER, but of where studios should go from here. Mike and Dave both struggle to pinpoint The Godfather of streaming, but weirdly we land on SET IT UP (Mike) and MANCHESTER BY THE SEA (Dave).

      Of course, yes, we talk about how great the movie is.  No hot takes here.  Except for maybe Dave’s oddly regressive discussion on women in THE GODFATHER… Also we have come up with a new podcast idea.  We’re sorry.

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      50 min
    • Opening Weekend Wasted w/ IN THE HEIGHTS
      "They don't make 'em like this any more, truly. For just a second, even those among you who won't be seeing this anyway might wish they did."

      Danny Leigh of the Financial Times with a strangely threatening positive review for Jon M. Chu's film adaptation of Lin-Manuel Miranda's musical IN THE HEIGHTS. We try not to threaten anybody but possibly each other and one host is bringing the film version of RENT as his weapon of choice. The other? He tries to understand the upset of Twitter and loses even more of his soul. Enjoy!

      Subscribe on Apple Podcasts/Spotify Twitter @offscreendeath Instagram @theoffscreendeath Letterboxd: @daveagiannini and @projectingfilm Artwork by Nathan Thomas Milliner Music by Joplin Rice

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      41 min
    • Million Dollar Arm (RT 65%)
      "You can see the stuff 'Million Dollar Arm' throws at you from miles away, but that doesn't stop this baseball movie from being genially enjoyable."

      Kenneth Turan of the Los Angeles Times goes for the obvious BALLS analogy... which we would never do.

      In particular when talking about Jon Hamm or Lake Bell. No... we would never do that. Wouldn't even cross our deviant minds.

      THANKFULLY we have a guest to get us back on the subject of balls of the sporting kind with Web Bist of TRILOGY IN THEORY. He also likes Jon Hamm and Lake Bell and you should too.

      Subscribe on Apple Podcasts/Spotify Twitter @offscreendeath Instagram @theoffscreendeath Letterboxd: @daveagiannini and @projectingfilm Artwork by Nathan Thomas Milliner Music by Joplin Rice

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      48 min
    • Opening Weekend Wasted w/ DREAM HORSE
      "I didn't find any great pleasure in seeing a story play out (the way) I knew exactly how it was going to play out."

      Peter Rainer of FilmWeek seems like a bit of a grump and if you've listened to this podcast then YOU KNOW that WE KNOW of what we speak.

      Look... we're not going to pick on DREAM HORSE. We are just happy that Toni Collette is not in HEREDITARY. Or something like it.

      Although she does come a bit unglued about this horse.

      Subscribe on Apple Podcasts/Spotify Twitter @offscreendeath Instagram @theoffscreendeath Letterboxd: @daveagiannini and @projectingfilm Artwork by Nathan Thomas Milliner Music by Joplin Rice

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      32 min
    • The Last Picture Show (AFI #95)
      "The scene where Sam imparts his wisdom to young buck Bottoms may be the saddest, loveliest moment in 1970s American cinema. And that's saying something."

      Tom Huddleston of Time Out speaks much more elegantly about Sam than we do, but we have more fun. We invite guest Derek Stewart of The Grand Gesture and Your List, My Command to talk about a formative film for him, THE LAST PICTURE SHOW!  We talk about a little bit of everything; including the difference between big city and small town living, toxic adults, and our radically different tastes in women. Oh yeah, I guess this movie that is rated 100% on Rotten Tomatoes is pretty good, too.

      Join us in our discussion of THE LAST PICTURE SHOW, one of the most heralded pictures of maybe the greatest decade in modern cinema.  No pressure.

      Subscribe on Apple Podcasts/Spotify Twitter @offscreendeath Instagram @theoffscreendeath Letterboxd: @daveagiannini and @projectingfilm Artwork by Nathan Thomas Milliner Music by Joplin Rice

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      1 hr
    • Opening Weekend Wasted w/ CRUELLA
      "These clothes are the boldest element of a movie that otherwise wears its supposed punk-rock influences like a kid discovering Hot Topic for the first time."

      Angie Han of Mashable isn't wrong... but that's kind of mean. Although that may be keeping in the spirit of this cat fight (for the girls, calm down) between Emma Stone and Emma Thompson in the latest attempt from Disney to keep remaking the same story over and over.

      Okay, so even our show notes are becoming a bit mean for a family film that two grown men without kids both enjoyed.

      This whole episode is shameful and so are you, dear listener.

      Subscribe on Apple Podcasts/Spotify Twitter @offscreendeath Instagram @theoffscreendeath Letterboxd: @daveagiannini and @projectingfilm Artwork by Nathan Thomas Milliner Music by Joplin Rice

      Find out more at https://offscreendeath.pinecast.co

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      30 min

    About Off Screen Death

    From the publisher's feed

    A podcast about all the things we must do before the inevitable. Mostly watching movies. However one host intends to use that time wisely by looking at respected lists of curation from the likes of Sight And Sound or the AFI's Top 100. Meanwhile the other watches a lot of STARZ.