Stone Cold Classic

Buster Keaton's movies are among the few that people still watch in the 21st century, and it's mostly thanks to his Tom Cruise-esque willingness to do crazy nonsense in the name of entertainment. Today we discuss Keaton's favorite of his own films, "The General," a movie full of incredible shots, stunts and sequences that still manage to stun. Mostly 'cause they did all this wild boy stuff FOR REAL. I mean they just let a train fall into a river. They really did that.

Where to BEGIN? Magnolia is a three-hour symphony of grief and rage, as ambitious and uncompromising as Paul Thomas Anderson was back in 1999. It's an unapologetic stab at cinematic greatness and even when it falls short it's always fascinating. Like a lot of young cinephiles, it helped turn Matt and Dan into budding arthouse fans at a tender age, but David has NEVER SEEN IT BEFORE?!?!?! Get ready for a lot of Cruise chat, a lot of PTA chat, and a few words about them big old beefy froggies.

In remembrance of Sidney Poitier, Matt, David and Dan talk about the man's best movie, "In the Heat of the Night." Topics include Sidney Poitier (duh), Looney Tunes (of course) and the surprising durability of Scooby Doo (naturally). 

In honor of the recently departed Peter Bogdanovich, Matt, David and Dan discuss one of the man's best films, and one of the greatest comedies of the 1970s, What's Up Doc? Topics include Barbara Streisand's basement mall, Bogdanovich's incredible facility with cartoony visual gags, and a very brief history of Bogdanovich's insane life.

Matt recommends pretty much all of Buster Keaton's directorial efforts, which you can mostly find on YouTube, though they're all over the streaming map. Consult justwatch.com for more info!

David recommends Bullit, available to stream on HBO Max and available for rent or purchase on all major digital platforms. He also recommends Shoot 'Em Up, available for rent or purchase on all major digital platforms.

Dan recommends Buyer & Cellar, a play written by Jonathan Tollins, available to purchase from Amazon and Samuel French, if that's still a thing.

"Gene Kelly insults a wealthy benefactor and steals his friend's girlfriend" is not a premise that should work, but it somehow does in this Vincent Minelli masterpiece. Matt, David and Dan talk this swooning, elegant little number with singer, dancer, actress, musical aficionado and also David's wife, Heather Woodward. Topics include George Gershwin, the state of musical theater in movies and, once again, Gene Kelly's fabulous ass.

Dan recommends The Red Shoes, available to stream on Criterion Channel, HBO Max and Amazon Prime, or available for rent or purchase on all major digital platforms.

David recommends Anchors Aweigh, available for rent or purchase on all major digital platforms.

Matt recommends On The Town, available for rent or purchase on all major digital platforms.

Heather recommends 1776, available for rent or purchase on all major digital platforms.

It's a legitimate question! Dan, David and Matt talk Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf, a testy little Oscar winner, the auspicious debut of Mike Nichols, and a film that inspires controversy then and now, at least among the three of us. There's also a surprising amount of Licorice Pizza chat, so get in on that discourse.

Matt recommends Fences, available for rent or purchase on all major digital platforms

Dan recommends Carnal Knowledge, available for rent or purchase on all major digital platforms.

David recommends Gone Girl, available to stream on Hulu and available for rent or purchase on all major digital platforms.

The Beatles...is there anything new left to say about them? No! But that won't stop us from trying! So today, Matt, David and Dan talk the lads' first feature film, produced at the absolute height of Beatlemania, "A Hard Day's Night." It's a rollicking good time and it pretty perfectly encapsulates why these four fellas became the most legendary pop group of the 20th century.

Dan recommends "Purple Rain," available for rent or purchase on all major digital platforms.

Matt recommends the Beatles Anthology miniseries, which is actually quite hard to find turns out. Buy the out-of-print DVDs or just torrent the thing, I'm not a cop.

David recommends A Hard Day's Write, a book that summarizes the story behind every single Beatles song. Available at several booksellers, I'm sure!

Ah, 2021. A year so deeply chaotic and unpredictable that reflecting on it for a few idle minutes will make you feel insane. Not unlike the previous year, or the four years before that. Anyway, at least movie theaters reopened! And we saw lots of good shit in theaters! (Well, David and Matt did. We'll get into that.) Join us as we count down our top five movies of 2021, the year the movies came back somewhat!

MERRY CHRISTMAS, MOVIE HOUSE! Today we talk about the most Christmas movie Christmas movie of them all, It's A Wonderful Life. Our assessment? It's...good!

David recommends The Thin Man, available for rent or purchase on all major digital platforms.

Dan recommends Vertigo, available to stream on Criterion Channel and available for rent or purchase on all major digital platforms.

Matt recommends The Best Years of Our Lives, available to stream on Kanopy and available for rent or purchase on iTunes and Amazon.

Sure, there are plenty of theatrically released movies that have become holiday perennials, but we all know the thing that's really defined Christmas for the last sixty years is TELEVISION BAY-BEEEEE! So we've decided to talk about two undeniable classics of the form and one personal wild card: A Charlie Brown Christmas, How The Grinch Stole Christmas, and The Christmas Toy.

Matt recommends The Snowman (1982), available to stream on Amazon Prime and available for rent or purchase on Amazon. It's also on YouTube for free in low quality, if that's your jam.

David recommends Klaus, streaming exclusively on Netflix.

Dan recommends Derek DelGaudio's In & of Itself, streaming exclusively on Hulu.