Streaming Without A Paddle

This week Andrew and Ted tuned into Netflix's original Rom / Com motion picture "Your Place or Mine", starring Reese Witherspoon (Debbie Dunn), Ashton Kutcher (Peter Coleman), Wesley Kimmel (Jack Dunn) along with Jesse Williams (Theo Martin), Zoe Chao, and Tig Notaro.  Debbie and Peter become life long best friends after a post couple poker game hookup some 20 years earlier.  However, the problem is that Debbie lives in L.A. and Peter now lives in NYC, but that doesn't keep them from talking to each other everyday.  Well it turns out that Debbie needs to go to NYC to take a class ... what a perfect opportunity for the two friends to spend time together.  Debbie's sitter, aspiring actress Scarlet, ends up booking an acting gig in Vancouver during the same time Debbie is supposed to go to NYC to take this class and to spend time with her best friend Peter.  When Peter finds out Debbie is cancelling the trip and her class in NYC Peter, being the friend Peter is, convinces Debbie to still come for her class and he'll go to L.A. to sit Debbie's son Jack.  It's a deal.   Debbie comes to NYC and Peter goes to L.A..  While Debbie is in NYC she befriends an old girlfriend of Peter as well as connects with a well known writer / publisher Theo Martin (played by Jesse Williams).  You see Debbie has always wanted to be an editor because of her love of reading and guess what ... Peter has always wanted to be a writer.  While staying at Peter's NYC apartment Debbie finds Peter's manuscript and gives it to Theo.  I think the writing is on the wall what's going to happen next with Peter's manuscript.  The hook to the story is that while the two have swapped cities for a week they've discovered in their new surroundings that they are actually in love with each other.  The big question left to be answered is ... "how are the two going to confront each other?"  Not going to tell you that ... but Andrew and Ted will surely let you know what they thought about "Your Place or Mine".  Tune in as they break it down.

On this week's episode of "Streaming Without A Paddle" Andrew and Ted sit down to discuss / review the Netflix original "Dog Gone" starring Rob Lowe (John Marshall / dad), Johnny Berchtold (Fielding Marshall / son), Kimberly William-Paisley (Ginny Marshall / mom) and featuring Nick Peine (Nate / Fielding's best friend).  Based on the true story about a family (the Marshalls) coming together to find the son's, Fielding, lost dog named Gronker.  While hiking the Appalachian trail one day, Fielding's dog Gronker takes off chasing a fox and isn't to heard of for weeks.  "Dog Gone" chronicles the lives and search for Gronker and how it helps a family not only come together but to work beyond their individual issues that for all involved seemingly resolves or at the least allows them to work through those personal issues.  Listen as Andrew and Ted breakdown the movie and provide their opinions as to if the movie is a much watch or a "click past" movie.  

This week Andrew & Ted sit down to discuss what they took away from Amazon Prime Video's original "Shotgun Wedding", starring Jennifer Lopez (Darcy Rivera) and Josh Duhamel (Tom Fowler) in this Romance / Comedy / Action movie.  "Shotgun Wedding" is basically a "what can go wrong in the last 36 or so hours before Tom and Darcy tie the knot" movie.  The short answer is ... apparently a lot!.  Where do we start ... Darcy's old boy friend Sean (played by Lenny Kravitz) shows up, "unexpected to the bride and groom", to the rehearsal dinner via an entrance that has the table cloths blowing away, the bride (Jennifer Lopez) doesn't have cold feet about getting married, but feels the best time to discuss her displeasure about the wedding itself, planned by the groom (Josh Duhemel), is to discuss it with her husband to be as the guest are literally taking their seats ocean side for the ceremony itself.  Did I forget to mention the pirates?  But before I get to the pirates ... side stories ... bride's mom (played by Sónia Braga) and dad (played by Cheech Marin) are divorced, she's bitter and he's dating a woman half his age.  There is however a neat little spin to that relationship (dad and younger woman) that won't be spoiled you'll have to watch and yes the bride's mom is bitter about the woman half ex-husband's age.  Groom's parents (Jennifer Coolidge and Steve Coulter) seemingly have the most perfect marriage ... guess what ... they don't.  Won't spoil that either.  Granted the "truth" encompasses about a minute and a half of run time ... but is shockingly funny.  By the way ... Jennifer Coolidge ... she brings her "A" game to her role.  Okay ... the pirates.  You see the wedding takes place on an island in the Philippines.  Viewers are left with impression that this island and the single resort on it is a "budget" island / resort and Tom (Josh Duhamel) is seemingly constantly reminded of that at the beginning of the movie.  Anyway ... the area is "known" for having pirates raiding boats and resorts and Darcy's and Tom's wedding seems like the perfect place to pick up a few "million bucks".  Plot twist there ... won't spoil it for you.  In the end ... there is a beautiful beach sunset and lots of music and dancing.  At least for the cast and crew ... Andrew & Ted on the other hand weren't dancing after they watched it.  Not to say they didn't like it ... but they found a singular reason why one might not like it.  Tune in to find out what Andrew & Ted thought.

This week Andrew & Ted share their thoughts, after watching the first 3 episodes, about HBO Max's drama / global apocalyptic / zombie series "The Last of Us", starring Pedro Pascal and Bella Ramsey.  This screen adaptation of the wildly popular video game, follow Joel (Pascal) and Ellie (Ramsey) as they cross the post-fungal apocalyptic United States in an effort to get Ellie (Ramsey) from Boston to the west coast so that researchers may determine what is it that make Ellie immune to the fungal infection.  Along the way, Joel and Ellie encounter flesh eating zombies and packs of cautious uninfected people looking to survive themselves.  Ted was a fan and player of the game prior to the series dropping, while Andrew views the series as a stand alone series having not having know it was first a game.  So the question becomes ... can the series stand up on it's own merit or is it propped up by the popularity of the game?  Tune in to listen as Andrew and Ted break it all down.

This week Andrew & Ted take a look at the Jonah Hill / Kenya Barris Romantic Comedy "You People", starring Jonah Hill, Eddie Murphy, Lauren London, Julia Louis-Dreyfus, Nia Long, and David Duchovny.  It's a story about a racially and religious different couple Ezra (Jonah Hill) and Amira (Lauren London) falling in love and subsequently becoming engaged and their family trials and tribulations as they move towards their happy day while trying to blend their emotionally charged families all the while.

This week Andrew and Ted took in a double feature with "Emily the Criminal" and "White Noise".  I think it is safe to say that Andrew and Ted wish they watched these two movies at a theater so that they could have hung out in the lobby playing arcade games.  "Emily the Criminal" stars Aubrey Plaza (Parks & Rec and White Lotus Season 2) and Theo Rossi (Sons of Anarchy and Vendetta) in this crime / drama / thriller written and directed by John Patton Ford.  On the flip side of this double feature coin took in "White Noise" starring Adam Driver (Star Wars and BlacKkKlansman), Greta Gerwig (Little Women and Lady Bird), and Don Cheadle (Iron Man and Oceans Series) in this book based (written by: Don DeLillo) story directed by Noah Baumbach (Marriage Story).

Tune in this week as Andrew and Ted discuss the HBO Max original "The Menu", starring Anya Taylor-Joy, Ralph Fiennes, Nicholas Hoult, Hong Chau, John Leguizamo, and Aimee Carrero.  Penned by Will Tracy (Succession) and Seth Reiss (Late Night w/Seth Myers) and directed by Mark Mylod (Succession / Game of Thrones) is story about an acclaimed chef,played by Ralph Fiennes (The Grand Budapest Hotel / Schindler's List, that has decided to prepare a final "menu" for those who have, in one way or another, affected his life.  His final menu guest include the actor, played by John Leguizamo, that provided the performance in a movie that Chef felt wasted his one day off during his early career to the food critic, played by Janet McTeer (Ozark), that has personalized her reviews of Chef over the years to Tyler a foodie / want a be Chef, played by Nicholas Hoult (The Great / About a Boy), that has idolized Chef and has been in constant contact.  The fly in the soup is the unexpected guest Margot, played by Anya Taylor-Joy (Queens Gambit / Last Night in Soho), for whom Chef has no beef with yet she causes him great angst as to how to handle her unexpected appearance in a situation where Chef is serving up payback with every course.

This week Andrew and Ted sit down to discuss Apple TV +'s, Will Smith starring, "Emancipation".  "Emancipation" is story inspired by the iconic photo of "Whipped Peter", taken a slave named Peter in 1863 Louisiana.  The storyline tells of a slave, Peter, ripped from his family from the plantation owned by Captain Lyons after being provided to the Confederate Army as part of a tax levy to plantation owners.  Peter, along with 3 other slaves, escape the Confederate run railroad camp in hopes of making it to Baton Rouge where the Union Army was and people of color where now free.  Days in the swamp from being chased by the Confederate camp escapee chaser Fassel (played by Ben Foster).  Peter finally makes his way to an area controlled by the Union Army, his being chased are now over.  Peter is now forced, due to a lack of moving forward options, to join the Union Army ... there he, along with his Union Army squad, return to the plantation of Captain Lyon as he searches for his family.

This week Andrew and Ted take a look at the second installment of the "Knives Out" mystery series.  With an ALLSTAR cast, Daniel Craig, Edward Norton, Janelle Monáe, Kate Hudson, Kathryn Hahn, Madelyn Cline, and Dave Bautista one would think that this installment would come down to a single question ... does the script / story support this much talent.  Tune in to find out what Andrew and Ted liked about the installment and what they didn't.

This week Andrew and Ted sit down to review the highly hyped Netflix series ... "Wednesday" staring Jenna Ortega as Wednesday Addams along with Christina Ricci, Emma Myers, Gwendoline Christie, Catherine Zata-Jones, and Luis Guzmán.  The question now is ... are they buying into the hype or they throwing cold water on it?