Video Monsters

First up in our mAy24 series is a delightful buddy (body?) comedy about love, life, friendship, acceptance, passion, creativity, overcoming self-doubt, and trying to find some measure of happiness in a world that so often leaves us feeling like we’re at the end of our rope.

Oh, and farts. It’s also about farts.

The Video Monsters are thrilled to kick off mAy24 with a film by Daniels… SWISS ARMY MAN (2016)! Nathan, Eric, and our resident Dan expert, Dan, open up about how deeply this film’s simple but heartfelt message touched them, marvel over Danielle Radcliffe’s exquisite corpse, joyfully admire the quirky a cappella score, grapple with the film’s bold swing of an ending, fawn over the film’s unbridled creativity, and question how far the foley artists (or, fartists, if you will) had to go to capture the extraordinary variety of anatomically accurate sound effects used throughout the flick. So grab some cheese puffs, load up your multipurpose tool guy, and start humming the JURASSIC PARK theme song because you know deep in your bones that your compasses are directing you to hit play on our review of SWISS ARMY MAN!

If you enjoy this episode, come join the Video Monsters crew on Discord (https://discord.gg/sjyUQg8phB)!! Hangout episodes are live (and unedited!) every Tuesday night starting around 9:00pm EST. Listen and chat along with us in the Discord chat and we’ll even give you a shoutout on the episode!

Video Monsters is brought to you by the Chattanooga Film Festival and Central Cinema in Knoxville, TN. Follow them on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram, or online at chattfilmfest.org and centralcinema865.com. Links for each of these can also be found on our pages, so be sure to follow us at videomonsterpod on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram as well.

music for Video Monsters by Evan Simmons

A new month brings a new theme, and a new theme brings a new POPCORN PUNCHOUT, where we Video Monsters use our patented Video Rack Attack Bracket technology to decide which three films we will be reviewing this month. The theme for May is based around every film nerd’s favorite distribution (and occasional production) company, A24! And because we are bound by the Video Monster bylaws to capitalize on every obvious bad pun name that is presented to us, this month’s theme shall henceforth be referred to as mAy24! Obviously.

Now about the bracket. We start with 20 films. The first 5 are chosen by an audience vote. Nathan, Eric, and Dan then take turns selecting their 5 films to compete in the bracket. The final 20 A24 films are then placed into our Skull of Decisions and drawn at random to create our initial round of 8 matchups (which means 4 films won’t even make it out of the Skull to compete!)  Each pairing is briefly discussed, votes are cast, and the film with a majority of votes will move on to the next round. Voting continues until only two films are left. The third film is decided by our chaos bracket. Nathan, Eric, and Dan each have at least one chaos card they can use to “save” a defeated film and advance it the chaos bracket, giving it the potential to be resurrected as the third and final film to be reviewed this month.

With such an eclectic list of films, this may prove to be our most dramatic Punchout yet! So grab your AAA24 membership card, alert Film Twitter, and hit the titular Italian motorway because it’s time to get into a POPCORN PUNCHOUT with mAy24!

If you enjoy this episode, come join the Video Monsters crew on Discord (https://discord.gg/sjyUQg8phB)!! Hangout episodes are live (and unedited!) every Tuesday night starting around 9:00pm EST. Listen and chat along with us in the Discord chat and we’ll even give you a shoutout on the episode!

Video Monsters is brought to you by the Chattanooga Film Festival and Central Cinema in Knoxville, TN. Follow them on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram, or online at chattfilmfest.org and centralcinema865.com. Links for each of these can also be found on our pages, so be sure to follow us at videomonsterpod on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram as well.

music for Video Monsters by Evan Simmons

We interrupt your regularly scheduled movie reviews for another special presentation of CARDBOARD MONSTERS, our occasional series where we review board games from a movie-lover’s perspective! It seems we didn’t quite quell April’s All-Out Alien Attack because today we’ll be discussing Ravensburger’s ALIEN: FATE OF THE NOSTROMO, a cooperative strategy game that is, of course, based on one of the most influential sci-fi horror films of all time: Ridley Scott’s 1979 masterpiece, ALIEN. Nathan is joined by Cardboard Monsters regulars, Adam (who you may know from our Harry Potter series) and Jon (Cardboard of the Rings), to briefly discuss the film it’s based on before diving into what it’s like the play the board game, how much fun they had with it, and whether or not it successfully evokes the unparalleled atmosphere of the film upon which it’s based. Will the game withstand the enormous pressure of those expectations, or does it deserve to be vacuumed out into space with the rest of the trash? Let’s find out! Grab your flamethrower, save the cat, and don’t forget to kiss your MU-TH-UR goodbye before you hit self-destru… I mean, play on our CARDBOARD MONSTERS review of ALIEN: FATE OF THE NOSTROMO!

If you enjoy this episode, come join the Video Monsters crew on Discord (https://discord.gg/sjyUQg8phB)!! Hangout episodes are live (and unedited!) every Tuesday night starting around 9:00pm EST. Listen and chat along with us in the Discord chat and we’ll even give you a shoutout on the episode!

Video Monsters is brought to you by the Chattanooga Film Festival and Central Cinema in Knoxville, TN. Follow them on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram, or online at chattfilmfest.org and centralcinema865.com. Links for each of these can also be found on our pages, so be sure to follow us at videomonsterpod on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram as well.

music for Video Monsters by Evan Simmons

April’s All-Out Alien Attack comes to a close with the biggest, boldest alien invasion yet! Epic space battles! Gigantic special effects set pieces! Mass abductions across the globe! Freaky alien tech! Horrifying human experiments! And a triumphant win for humanity in the end!

Nah, just kidding. We’re actually discussing Jonathan Glazer’s UNDER THE SKIN (2013), which is an altogether different kind of alien invasion film. One that’s far more contemplative and small scale. With gorgeous, haunting visuals, an arresting score, as little dialogue as possible, and a tremendous physical performance from Scarlett Johansson. It’s the exact opposite of what most mainstream audiences would expect from a typical alien invasion film which makes it a perfect choice to end this series of outlier alien flicks. So park your big white van, submerge yourself in a pool of black goo, and come dream with us while we peel back the layers of UNDER THE SKIN.

If you enjoy this episode, come join the Video Monsters crew on Discord (https://discord.gg/sjyUQg8phB)!! Hangout episodes are live (and unedited!) every Tuesday night starting around 9:00pm EST. Listen and chat along with us in the Discord chat and we’ll even give you a shoutout on the episode!

Video Monsters is brought to you by the Chattanooga Film Festival and Central Cinema in Knoxville, TN. Follow them on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram, or online at chattfilmfest.org and centralcinema865.com. Links for each of these can also be found on our pages, so be sure to follow us at videomonsterpod on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram as well.

music for Video Monsters by Evan Simmons

April’s All-Out Alien Attack continues with the dark horse contender that triumphantly won the chaos bracket in this month’s Popcorn Punchout. It’s finally time to talk about ZATHURA: A SPACE ADVENTURE (2005)! But is it really an alien movie, though? Is it more than just JUMANJI in Space? Could it actually be *gasp* better than JUMANJI?! Would the MCU exist if Jon Favreau didn’t direct this film? Is ZATHURA secretly one of the most consequential films of the 21st century?!?! The Video Monsters are on a quest to find the answers to these questions and so much more. So kill the pilot light, reprogram your defective robot, and get me a juicebox, BIATCH! It’s time to find out if you have what it takes to navigate the galaxy with our review of ZATHURA!

If you enjoy this episode, come join the Video Monsters crew on Discord (https://discord.gg/sjyUQg8phB)!! Hangout episodes are live (and unedited!) every Tuesday night starting around 9:00pm EST. Listen and chat along with us in the Discord chat and we’ll even give you a shoutout on the episode!

Video Monsters is brought to you by the Chattanooga Film Festival and Central Cinema in Knoxville, TN. Follow them on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram, or online at chattfilmfest.org and centralcinema865.com. Links for each of these can also be found on our pages, so be sure to follow us at videomonsterpod on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram as well.

music for Video Monsters by Evan Simmons

What do you get when TEXAS CHAIN SAW MASSACRE director, Tobe Hooper, joins forces with ALIEN screenwriter, Dan O’Bannon to remake a classic 50s sci-fi horror film? Why, you get a kids wish-fulfillment adventure fantasy about a 12-year-old boy saving the world from intergalactic intruders, of course! But how does it compare to other 80s remakes of 50s science fiction films? Does this film hold up if you watch it for the first time as an adult? Is the ending a cheap cop out designed to deflect any narrative shortcomings, or is it a brilliant way to recontextualize everything leading up to it? Nathan, Eric, and Dan are tunneling in deep to answer these questions and so much more! So grab a bandaid for the back of your neck, swallow the frog in your throat, and bow down to Supreme Intelligence because the Video Monsters are going over the hill to grapple with INVADERS FROM MARS (1986)!

If you enjoy this episode, come join the Video Monsters crew on Discord (https://discord.gg/sjyUQg8phB)!! Hangout episodes are live (and unedited!) every Tuesday night starting around 9:00pm EST. Listen and chat along with us in the Discord chat and we’ll even give you a shoutout on the episode!

Video Monsters is brought to you by the Chattanooga Film Festival and Central Cinema in Knoxville, TN. Follow them on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram, or online at chattfilmfest.org and centralcinema865.com. Links for each of these can also be found on our pages, so be sure to follow us at videomonsterpod on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram as well.

music for Video Monsters by Evan Simmons

There are two things that we love above all else here on Video Monsters: aliens and alliteration. So it should come as no surprise that our theme for this month is April’s All-Out Alien Attack!!! And, much like we did last month, we’re going to use our game-ified version of the standard competitive bracket system to decide on which three alien films we’ll be reviewing throughout the month, a process we’ve decided to call POPCORN PUNCHOUT: The Video Rack Attack Bracket!

The rules are simple: Nathan, Dan, Eric, and the listeners on our Discord channel have selected a combined total of 33 alien films. These titles are placed into our Skull of Decisions to be drawn at random to create our initial round of 8 matchups (which means only 16 films in total will even make it out of the skull to compete!) Each pairing is debated, votes are cast, and the film with a majority of votes will move on to the next round. Voting continues until only two films are left. The third film is decided by our chaos bracket. Nathan, Eric, and Dan each have one chaos card they can use to advance a losing film to the chaos bracket, giving it the potential to be resurrected as our third and final film to be reviewed this month.

Much like last month, it’s a game filled with a number of surprising twists and turns. Alliances will be forged, hearts will be broken, and only three films will triumph in the end. So grab your ray gun, take us to your leader, and keep your eyes on the sky while listening to the Video Monsters get into a fierce POPCORN PUNCHOUT with April’s All-Out Alien Attack.

If you enjoy this episode, come join the Video Monsters crew on Discord!! Hangout episodes are live (and unedited!) every Tuesday night starting around 9:00pm EST. Listen and chat along with us in the Discord chat and we’ll even give you a shoutout on the episode!

Video Monsters is brought to you by the Chattanooga Film Festival and Central Cinema in Knoxville, TN. Follow them on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram, or online at chattfilmfest.org and centralcinema865.com. Links for each of these can also be found on our pages, so be sure to follow us at videomonsterpod on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram as well.

music for Video Monsters by Evan Simmons

Grab your French horn, step away from the wires, and meet us in the barn as we search for meaning with RIDERS OF JUSTICE!!

If you enjoy this episode, come join the Video Monsters crew on Discord!! Hangout episodes are live (and unedited!) every Tuesday night starting around 9:00pm EST. Listen and chat along with us in the Discord chat and we’ll even give you a shoutout on the episode!

Video Monsters is brought to you by the Chattanooga Film Festival and Central Cinema in Knoxville, TN. Follow them on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram, or online at chattfilmfest.org and centralcinema865.com. Links for each of these can also be found on our pages, so be sure to follow us at videomonsterpod on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram as well.

music for Video Monsters by Evan Simmons

Put on your dancing shoes, pour yourself a sazerac, and don't forget your life jacket...it's time for us to have ANOTHER ROUND!!

If you enjoy this episode, come join the Video Monsters crew on Discord!! Hangout episodes are live (and unedited!) every Tuesday night starting around 9:00pm EST. Listen and chat along with us in the Discord chat and we’ll even give you a shoutout on the episode!

Video Monsters is brought to you by the Chattanooga Film Festival and Central Cinema in Knoxville, TN. Follow them on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram, or online at chattfilmfest.org and centralcinema865.com. Links for each of these can also be found on our pages, so be sure to follow us at videomonsterpod on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram as well.

music for Video Monsters by Evan Simmons

Grab your art supplies, lace up your shoes, watch out for past mistakes, and join us as we chase our soul butterfly through THE DOOR!!

If you enjoy this episode, come join the Video Monsters crew on Discord!! Hangout episodes are live (and unedited!) every Tuesday night starting around 9:00pm EST. Listen and chat along with us in the Discord chat and we’ll even give you a shoutout on the episode!

Video Monsters is brought to you by the Chattanooga Film Festival and Central Cinema in Knoxville, TN. Follow them on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram, or online at chattfilmfest.org and centralcinema865.com. Links for each of these can also be found on our pages, so be sure to follow us at videomonsterpod on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram as well.

music for Video Monsters by Evan Simmons