Trilogy in Theory

On this episode we attempt to survive in space with Hadas from the Common Room podcast, and thankfully we have a couple of movies on the subject to entertain us. In APOLLO 13, Tom Hanks, Bill Paxton, and Kevin Bacon rely on each other and the crew back on Earth to put together a plan to return home after a failed trip to the moon, whereas in GRAVITY it’s Sandra Bullock in a solo quest to return to our home planet, although George Clooney does provide a brief pep talk.

But before all that grim business, we express a little bit of joy with Jess and Non of the Joy Sandwich podcast, as we admire the humor with which Matt Damon approaches being stranded on Mars in new release THE MARTIAN.

On this episode we are joined by Tom from the podcast Second Class Cinema as we work to a decision on two workplace comedies: IN GOOD COMPANY and THE INTERNSHIP. In the former, a young, inexperienced Topher Grace becomes Dennis Quaid's boss, and in the latter Vince Vaughn and Owen Wilson find themselves over their heads with their young, tech-savvy fellow interns at Google. Our own battle of old vs. young has been inspired by the new Nancy Meyers comedy THE INTERN, and Hadas of Common Room is hired on for her insight into the film.

On this episode we are joined by Brad from the Movie Bears Podcast to help tackle the elements found in the 2010 horror movie FROZEN and the somber Liam Neeson survival film THE GREY. But first Ben from Cinematic For the People joins for a filmgoing summit of new release EVEREST.

On this episode we take a trip to Boston with David from That Moment In on a mission to uncover some rats. Martin Scorsese's Best Picture winning THE DEPARTED has Matt Damon and Leonardo DiCaprio as a compromised cop and an undercover agent who are looking to reveal the other in a deadly game of cat and mouse. And in THE FRIENDS OF EDDIE COYLE we have movie god Robert Mitchum trades criminal contacts like baseball cards in an attempt to save himself, unaware of others playing the same game with his fate. These two cinematic crime classics do battle after new release BLACK MASS attempts to join their ranks.

On this episode we talk about one of our favorite films of the year, Andrew Bujalski’s RESULTS. This film is about two personal trainers played by Guy Pearce and Cobie Smulders whose lives are altered when a rich client arrives seeking to improve himself but finding the trainers themselves to be searching for something as well. This inspires a conversation on benefactors in film, and we start with the grandaddy of them all in Charles Dickens' GREAT EXPECTATIONS. It goes up against James Gray’s latest love triangle set in a world of crime, with Joaquin Phoenix and Jeremy Renner both promising a better life for Marion Cotillard in THE IMMIGRANT.

We also debate the effect that crickets and a computer fan can have on the sound quality of a podcast.

On this episode we go stay with some old people in a pair of horror films. BURNT OFFERINGS has us hosted by Karen Black, Oliver Reed, and Bette Davis as a family gets the deal of a lifetime with very cheap rent for a huge estate, with the catch being that they have to care for an elderly and extremely private woman in the attic. In the more recent THE SKELETON KEY, Kate Hudson's job as a caregiver sends her to the swamps of Louisiana as John Hurt plays a man who has suffered a stroke... and may be suffering in silence under the watchful eye of his creepy wife. This visit with creepy old folks in creepy old houses has been inspired by fallen director M. Night Shyamalan's new film, THE VISIT.

On this episode we celebrate the end of the 2015 summer movie season with a new to video release, one of my favorite films of not only the summer but the year in LOVE & MERCY. This inspires a conversation with Ben from the Cinematic For the People podcast on the films AMADEUS and I’M NOT THERE. We talk specifically on how both films are unconventional music biopics focusing primarily on identity.