‘Tis the season for our first ever 5-star Holiday Spooktacular! Nate and Ryan talk about the 1979 sci-fi/horror classic, Alien, a 5-star movie in both of their books. While we could all use a Halloween away from Earth, Ridley Scott’s masterclass reminds us that things can be scary off-planet too. Where… Continue reading

Nate and Ryan don’t go into the water. This episode, they discuss 5-star, absolute classic Jaws, directed by Steven Spielberg. Jaws is celebrating its 50th anniversary this year, so what better time to talk about one of the all-time great movies, directed by one of the all-time great directors? Listen in… Continue reading

Nate and Ryan discuss their summer movie watching and try to decide which action movies are worth watching. A recent viewing of 1987’s The Running Man with an eye to Edgar Wright’s upcoming remake fuel a conversation that hits heavily on Jackie Chan’s 1985 classic Police Story. They also discuss Friendship, the… Continue reading

Our 5-star movie discussions continue with a deep-dive into the 1984 masterpiece Amadeus, directed by Milos Forman. Adapted from his stage play, Peter Shaffer’s examination of the ersatz rivalry between Mozart (Tom Hulce), a prodigious genius, and his traditional-minded admirer/covetous underminer, Salieri (F. Murray Abraham). On top of the heaps of… Continue reading

Nate and Ryan are breaking ground yet again with our very first Bonus Features episode. We discuss the Oscar movies we still needed to catch up on. A conversation about A Complete Unknown leads to a discussion of better than average music biopics. Ryan shares his recent obsession with Steven Soderbergh… Continue reading

Nate and Ryan rewatch Harold and Maude, Hal Ashby’s 1971 cult classic, and another entry in our discussions of 5-star movies. Upon its release, audiences and critics had no idea what to make of this offbeat dark comedy. As the years went on, it gained a cult following and is widely… Continue reading

Nate and Ryan start their journey through their 5-Star movies by discussing The Apartment, the 1960 classic starring Jack Lemmon and Shirley MacLaine. Winning a swath of Oscars signaled the love people had for The Apartment early on, but over the years, its legend has only grown. Directed by Billy Wilder, it’s… Continue reading

Happy T. Hanksgiving! It’s that wonderful time of year when we give thanks for Hanks. This year we’re celebrating by rewatching a ’90s classic, Apollo 13, directed by Ron Howard and starring, of course, the man himself: Tom Hanks. Coming right in the middle of his epic run of iconic ’90s… Continue reading

Get ready for another Holiday Spooktacular, as Nate and Ryan watch Godzilla Minus One, last year’s Oscar-winning hit monster movie from Japan! Who knew we needed another Godzilla movie, and a prequel at that, but director Takashi Yamazaki delivered a blend of monster action and historical fiction heart, bound together by… Continue reading

Nate and Ryan talk about 2023’s American Fiction, written and directed by Cord Jefferson and starring Jeffrey Wright. Both Nate and Ryan are big fans of author Percival Everett and his novel Erasure, which American Fiction is adapted from. For that reason, expectations were high for this Academy-Award winning movie. Critics all loved it,… Continue reading

Nate and Ryan complete the second leg of Barbenheimer with a discussion about 2023’s smash hit Barbie, directed by Greta Gerwig. Barbie‘s popularity boom and subsequent backlash and Oscars buzz and subsequent Oscars backlash have come and gone, so we decided it would be a good time to see what it’s like… Continue reading

Once again, the Academy picked our movie for this month, so Ryan and Nate are re-watching Oppenheimer, 2024’s Best Picture Oscar winner, written and directed by Christopher Nolan. On top of continuing this year’s theme of revisiting 2023, Ryan and Nate realized they’ve never talked about a Christopher Nolan movie on… Continue reading

For this episode, Nate and Ryan picked from the slate of Best Picture nominees and decided to re-watch Past Lives, their favorite movie from 2023, and a stunning directorial debut from playwright Celine Song. While it’s not a front-runner for any Oscars, Past Lives has been widely recognized as something special, which… Continue reading

Nate and Ryan discuss the Golden Globe winning and Oscar nominated Alexander Payne comedic drama The Holdovers. Much has been made of the reunion of Paul Giamatti and Alexander Payne after 20 years. Added to their alchemy are Da’Vine Joy Randolph (in yet another standout performance) and newcomer Dominic Sessa. What… Continue reading

For our Gap Year T. Hanksgiving, Nate and Ryan watch The ‘Burbs, the 1989 Tom Hanks cult classic directed by Joe Dante. Featuring a stacked cast, including Carrie Fisher, Bruce Dern, and Corey Feldman, in addition to the man himself, The ‘Burbs is a horror/comedy that kind of befuddled audiences and critics… Continue reading

‘Tis the season for our 10th annual Holiday Spooktacular, and as part of our Gap Year, we’re watching Hereditary, Ari Aster’s 2018 hit horror film starring Toni Collette. Hereditary took audiences by storm and continued studio A24’s rise to prominence in the current film conversation. It’s a career-making first feature for… Continue reading

Nate and Ryan watch Bringing out the Dead, a Gap Year movie by one of their favorite directors, Martin Scorsese. Released in 1999, Bringing out the Dead was largely ignored by audiences and remains one of Scorsese’s forgotten works. Listen in as Nate and Ryan dig into the merits of this underappreciated… Continue reading

Nate and Ryan get in the summer blockbuster mood by watching Predator (1987) for the first time. As part of our Gap Year series, we’re catching up on this action classic over 35 years later. As often happens, Predator is now looked at quite differently from when it was first released. Nate… Continue reading

Nate and Ryan watch Under the Tuscan Sun with special guest Rachel Hughes Gates. As we continue to rectify blind spots during this Gap Year, Rachel suggested that we watch Under the Tuscan Sun, a movie that has stuck with her ever since she saw it in theaters 20 years ago. Though… Continue reading

Nate and Ryan watch and discuss Sicario, directed by Denis Villeneuve. As the beginning to what we’re calling our Gap Year, where we fill in gaps in our viewing history, we’ve chosen to watch Sicario, with an unbelievable cast and crew that includes cinematographer Roger Deakins,  and screenwriter Taylor Sheridan, not to… Continue reading