It's episode 50! If you're a day one listener, if this is your first time listening, or anything in between, THANK YOU.

This week, your Movie Masters discuss:

• "The Equalizer 3" [00:01:21] - the latest from Denzel Washington and friends

• "Bottoms" [00:24:42] - the tale of a high school fight club started by two queer students and fully sanctioned by Marshawn Lynch

• "The Good Mother" [00:46:47] - Hilary Swank in a bleak one that involved the underbelly of upstate New York

• "The Hill" [01:06:49] - another faith-based sports movie that only half of the crew ventured out for

Closing out this episode is a discussion over Rotten Tomatoes' recent published feature on the aggregate 25 Best Movies of the Past 25 Years [01:26:20].

Thanks again for supporting the first 50 episodes!

Wassup gamers? Wassup sim-racers? Wanna be just like Jann Mardenborough and maybe finish fourth in the GT300 one day? Well, it all starts with listening to this week's spoiler-heavy discussion of "Gran Turismo" [00:01:19], in which Mardenborough worked on set as his own stunt driver!

Got a cigarette? No? Makes sense - every cigarette in circulation was smoked on screen during "Golda" [0025:11], a beautifully-shot biopic about a historical figure not often spoken of.

"Retribution" [00:45:43] is Hollywood's latest attempt at propping up the notion that a 71-year old Liam Neeson can fight and/or stunt-drive and/or sire small children and/or make a good movie. In a year where humanity was already punished with "Marlowe," could this one redeem the old boy or will it make one want to drive their car off a bridge?

When one types anything pertaining to "The Beasts" [01:09:25] movie into Google, all that comes back is unending links pertaining to the latest Transformers movie, which is a shame, as all of the Movie Masters who managed to catch it before it evaporated enjoyed it quite a bit. With no current placement on streaming sites or announced plans for it, hear why this Spanish/French should be on your radar.

As always: email [email protected] with any/all questions, concerns, comments, and movie recommendations.

After seeing the poster in the lobby for over a year, with absolutely zero fanfare otherwise, "Blue Beetle" [00:01:22] is a movie that the gang genuinely never actually thought would see the light of day. However, it did, and your Movie Masters have thoughts.

"Strays" [00:31:03]: it hurt to type this. Imagine how bad it hurt to watch it. No imagination? Well, the gang covers it for you.

Something something about a broken clock being correct twice a day. In an otherwise broken week at the movies, "Landscape With Invisible Hand" [00:45:45] was absolutely correct and absolutely brilliant. Hear why two Movie Masters are already plotting to see it again.

"Back on the Strip" [01:12:41] is a movie. It was actually shown in theaters. The premise is that a guy has a large penis and that the guy has a large penis. Oh, the things your Movie Masters watch so that you don't have to...

And finally, the gang plays another edition of the "Let's Make Some Movies" game [01:25:44] (formerly "Auteur Amateur Hour," wherein three players are assigned a genre, a budget, and then proceed to draft the key players in their film while detailing plot summaries of their spontaneous creation.

As always: email [email protected] with any/all questions, concerns, comments, and movie recommendations.

Hurricane Hilary and the ensuing travel delays pushed the release of this episode back to a Saturday release versus our usual Tuesday drop, but there's four movies covered in gratitude of your patience.

First up: "Jules" [00:02:48], a small film about an alien crashing a spaceship into the yard of a senior citizen and one of the most pleasant surprises of the year.

Second on the docket: "The Last Voyage Of The Demeter" [00:31:59], a maritime telling of the Dracula legend.

Next up: "Shortcomings" [01:02:24], an absurdly unrealistic tale of relationships in Berkeley that, in spite of how out of touch it is with reality, is delivered with unaware seriousness.

And finally: "Dreamin' Wild" [01:18:03] is the pseudo-biopic of Donnie and Joe Emerson. Never heard of them? It's fine. They were obscure musicians who got a reissue on Light in the Attic 30 years later. Yes, there was a movie made about it (no shade).

As always: email [email protected] with any/all questions, concerns, comments, and movie recommendations.

One of the coolest movies of the year just hit in the form of "Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Mutant Mayhem" [00:05:56]. Hear why the gang loved it and what made it unique and special beyond most other offerings for 2023 (including the latest Spiderverse installment).

In sharp contrast, and after being a legitimate (if not irrational) fan of "The Meg," one of your Movie Masters is prepared to call "The Meg 2: The Trench [00:41:12] the biggest disappointment of 2023.

With spirits down after another bad shark movie, "Theater Camp" [01:04:54] swoops in and offers one of the year's biggest delightful surprises. A few weeks from one Movie Master arguing that pure comedies are lacking in modern cinema offerings, in comes one hell of a counterargument.

And finally, the gang plays a round of The Maltin Game [01:29:15], where the theme is "movies that most people didn't realize were comic book movies."

As always: email [email protected] with any/all questions, concerns, comments, and movie recommendations.

Disney's "Haunted Mansion" [00:01:13] kicks off this episode. With a star-studded cast featuring Rosario Dawson, LaKeith Stanfield, Tiffany Hadish, Owen Wilson, Dan Levy, Danny DeVito, Winona Ryder, and more, could a nine minute theme park ride translate to a two hour and five minute theatrical release?

Australian thriller/horror "Talk To Me" [00:22:09] is up next. In year of "mostly okay" horror offerings, the door has been wide open for something to scream its way to the top. Find out if "Talk To Me" is THAT MOVIE.

With a relatively light week out at the actual theater, the gang added Netflix sensation "They Cloned Tyrone" [00:50:46] to the docket.

And finally, "Whose Tagline is it, Anyway?" [01:01:39] returns for a second installment. Can you match actual, real-life taglines to the films that marketed themselves with them?

As always: email [email protected] with any/all questions, concerns, comments, and movie recommendations.

The big day finally came in the form of the simultaneous release of "Barbie" [00:13:54] and "Oppenheimer" [00:37:14]. After over a year of hype, anticipation, excitement, and speculation, did these movies deliver the goods? The gang discusses.

A new game called "Tubi Or Not Tubi" [01:09:05] debuts. Some of the craziest ideas you could ever have for movies... well, they already exist in like 37 movies on Tubi.

Finally, local event SDCC (San Diego Comic-Con) [01:23:27]recently went down and a few of your Movie Masters attended and/or were on site to soak in the culture. This year's edition was held amidst a Writer's Guild and SAG AFTRA strike, meaning that there were no big studio pushes or celebrity appearances being made in Hall H. How did this affect the tone of the event?

As always: [email protected] for all questions, concerns, comments, and movie recommendations.

Did you know that Tom Cruise does his own stunts? Well, then he definitely does his own stunts in "Mission: Impossible - Dead Reckoning Part 1" [00:04:40], featuring Tom Cruise doing his own stunts.

The most glaring aspect of the "Sound of Freedom" [00:33:02] cultural phenomenon is that not much of the constant jibber jabber surrounds actually reviewing it as a film. Two of your Movie Masters went to go see it and can report back accordingly.

Lost in the sauce of the hype and discourse surrounding the above two films, "The Miracle Club" [00:51:20] quietly came onto the agenda. Was it worth the extra effort during such a big release week?

In a new game called "Whose Tagline Is It, Anyway?" [00:58:04], contestants are read actual taglines from actual films (could have appeared on a poster, could have appeared in a trailer) and given four options to determine which film utilized the exact phrase. Play along with the gang and have some fun.

BOO! "Insidious: The Red Door" [00:01:14] kicks off this episode, the fifth and "final" installment of the mainline narrative for the franchise. Did it go out with a bang, a whimper, or something somewhere in between?

Up next: "Joy Ride [00:26:10], a comedy featuring an almost all-Asian cast, and leaving the unintended effect of at least one Movie Master crying during parts. Was it from the intended laughter, actual pain, or something else?

Falling a little out of the purview of "every god damned movie that hits the local theater," the gang covers a current Netflix streaming exclusive starring Chris Hemsworth called "Extraction 2" [00:50:46]. Find out if the hype lived up to the actual film in this episode.

Finally, in a new segment tentatively titled "Auteur Amateur Hour" [01:12:12], three players draft from a pool of random actors using a range of budget credits, all based on specific, player-assigned genres of a film that they will then write and direct. From there, each player must reveal the premise of their film and what roles all of these actors will play in their movie.

As always: [email protected] for all questions, concerns, comments, and movie recommendations.

Fresh off the midway point of the 2023 wrap-up, the gang dives right back into the fray.

First up: "Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny" [00:01:15], at the time of publication, one of the most expensive films ever made. Did all of money being tossed at an 80-year old action hero in the form of Harrison Ford yield anything even remotely close to the early installments of this storied franchise?

Another animated feature has surfaced in the form of "Ruby Gillman: Teenage Kraken" [00:47:55]. This one features the voices of RMMU Senior Cinema legend Jane Fonda, A24 nerds' favorite mom Toni Collette, and Will Forte. A Dreamworks release, this was another one that spent a certain amount of money only to see theater audiences collectively shrug it off as a streamer... but should they have left the house to see it on the big screen? Your Movie Masters discuss...

A couple of smaller films, "Past Lives" [01:05:04] and "Every Body" [01:17:03] round out this week's theatrical fare conversation.

This episode closes out with a Summertime Movie edition of The Maltin Game [01:24:09].

As always: [email protected] for all questions, concerns, comments, and movie recommendations.