The Smoking Screen Podcast

We strap on our proton packs and review one of the most controversial films of the summer: Paul Feig’s all-female reboot of Ghostbusters. Even with an all-star cast of Kristen Wiig, Melissa McCarthy, Leslie Jones and Kate McKinnon, there were many trashing the film before it had been released. What did we think? Was the criticism (aka thinly veiled sexism) warranted? Are we witnessing a rebirth of the Ghostbusters franchise, or a delayed and unnecessary ghostly whisper from the 1980s? We answer of of theses questions and chat about the gong show that was the Republican Convention, in episode 77 of The Smoking Screen Podcast. Come and join the circle!

We could write up some fancy pants sentences, but this one really come down to one question. Do you want to see Daniel Radcliffe playing a corpse for 85 minutes? If you answered in the affirmative, journey with us into one of the more unique and creative films we have seen in awhile, Swiss Army Man. It is co-directed by Dan Kwan and Daniel Scheinert, and stars Daniel Radcliffe and Paul Dano (that is pretty weird). We have never seen a film quite like this before. Disgusting and beautiful, all at the same time! Join us for episode 76 of The Smoking Screen Podcast. Come and join the circle!

SPOILER-FREE! There are few franchises that get under our skin quite like James DeMonaco’s, The Purge. The combination of sadistic violence and mortal terror is once again on full display in the third installment, The Purge: Election Year. Well-timed, don’t you think? Can a film be more terrifying than Hillary and Trump? Does the franchise have enough votes for a fourth film? How much does Jay like Elizabeth Mitchell (lots) and is she channeling Bernie Sanders? We answer all of these questions and more in episode 75 of The Smoking Screen Podcast. Come and join the circle!

We’re back…and so are those damned aliens! Twenty years after getting their asses kicked by a scrappy (and witty) group of human survivors, the aliens have returned with a really big and nasty ship. They ain’t looking for a cup of sugar. Can another group of even more disadvantaged scrappy survivors, rise up and save the Earth again? Did it really take director, Roland Emmerich, and his team 20 years to come up this storyline? Does the return of Goldblum, Pullman and Spiner, make up for the loss of William (Will) Smith? Was Independence Day: Resurgence a disaster film or a film disaster? We answer all of theses questions and more in episode 74 of The Smoking Screen Podcast. Come and join the circle!

Another week, another super hero film. This time we journey once again into world of Charles Xavier (Professor X) and his school for the really, really, really gifted (X-Men). How does Bryan Singer’s X-Men: Apocalypse stack up against the other X-films and the current batch of comic book inspired blockbusters? James McAvoy and Michael Fassbender were spectacular in the pivotal roles of Prof. X and Magneto, in First Class and Days of Future Past. Could they repeat such strong performances in the final installment of the storyline?  Was Oscar Isaac able to create a memorable and menacing super villain in Apocalypse? Are we getting tired of watching these films? How many more of coming out this summer? We answer all of these question and more in episode 73 of The Smoking Screen Podcast. Come and join the circle!

Ryan Gosling and Russell Crowe team up in Shane Black’s new 70s buddy comedy, The Nice Guys. Was this an inspired comedic pairing, like Clint Eastwood and the monkey in Any Which Way But Loose? Or, was it more like J-Lo and Batman in Gigli? (Clearly not, but I really want to make that Affleck/Batman joke). Was the film able to bring something new and fresh to genre? Did Iron Man make an appearance? (More jokes! Black also directed Iron Man 3.) We answer all of these questions and more in episode 72 of The Smoking Screen Podcast. Come and join the circle! (No joke.)

With our boycott of George Clooney’s Money Monster, we looked for something a little less anger inducing to review this week and settled upon Jeremy Saulnier’s Green Room. What’s so bad about being trapped in an isolated location while being hunted down by a murderous gang of skinheads? Still better than Clooney. Patrick Stewart plays the gang’s leader in the film, but does he achieve a sense of menace or just a ill-tempered version of Captain Jean-Luc Picard? Speaking of Star Trek, the movie also stars Anton Yelchin, who plays Chekov, in the Trek reboot. But, the big question, with any horror film is: how scary was it? We answer all of these question and more in episode 71 of The Smoking Screen Podcast. Come and join the circle!

We are in the midst of an avalanche of cinematic comic book adaptations.  Kicking off this summer blockbuster season and hot on the heels of the much maligned Batman v. Superman, is Captain America: Civil War. In such a crowded genre, were Robert Downey Jr, Chris Evans, Scarlett Johansson and company, able to keep us guessing with a new approach to the heroes of the Marvel Cinematic Universe? Is it better than B v S? And what about Paul Rudd? Did he get enough screen time? Spider-Man, Black Panther and Vision? We answer all of these questions and more in episode 70 of The Smoking Screen Podcast. Come join the circle!

We love cats. (The Kracken sends his regards. May 5th is his 21st Birthday!!!) Combine a pretty kitty with two gifted sketch comedians and it sounds like pure movie gold. Did Keegan-Michael Key and Jordan Peele deliver on their first foray into feature film making? Or more precisely, was this good Keanu or bad Keanu. There is no in between. Expectations were high, but we were higher. Join us for episode 69 of The Smoking Screen Podcast. Come join the circle!

SPOILER-FREE! Normally when a classic film is remade there is some concern. However, from the first trailer it seemed that Jon Favreau and Disney and had gotten The Jungle Book right. The real question here is, how good was it? Did the all-star voice talent (Bill Murray, Ben Kingsley, Idris Elba, Lupita Nyong’o, Scarlett Johansson, Christopher Walken, Garry Shandling) successfully bring the animals to life? And speaking of bringing the animals to life, was this the best CGI representation of animals we have ever seen? And most importantly, how scary was Shere Kahn? We answer all of these questions and more in episode 68 of The Smoking Screen Podcast recorded live on 4/20. Come join the circle!