Nighthawks' Podcast: Recent Episodes
Nighthawks
A film discussion podcast from Trevor T. Trujillo, critic and journalist) and Matt Foster (comedian and critic). Join Matt and Trevor at the conceptual Nighthawks cafe as they sit down and talk good movies, bad movies, classic films of yesteryear, modern masterpieces, and the weird indie films you may not have heard of (BUT SHOULD)!
WHYBW – What Have You Been Watching?
A rewatch of an undeniable piece of filth, a classic film watch blossoms from a Looney Tunes short, a festival favorite African film, an update on Trevor’s journey through the Spenser novels, and Matt recommends a Hindi horror fable. All of this and more as we check in with what the Nighthawks have been up to lately.
Pink Flamingos– Matt revisits the type of movie that the term “cult classic” was coined for, from shock, shlock, and filthmeister John Waters. Who is the most filthy person in Baltimore?
Mutiny on the Bounty (1935)- Trevor is inspired by a revisit of the immortal Bugs Bunny’s Buccaneer Bunny to explore Charles Laughton in Mutiny on the Bounty. Also starring a moustache-less Clark Gable, the film is worth the rabbit hole of historicity that Trevor found himself in.
Saloum– The Fantastic Fest favorite is now streaming, a movie Matt describes as an action noir with a supernatural twist. From Congolese filmmaker Jean Luc Herbulot.
Robert B. Parker’s Spenser (Books)– After episode 99 Trevor embarked on a quest to read the Spenser novels by Robert B. Parker. Trevor is nearly 25% of the way through the books penned by Parker himself, and we check in with his Spenser feelings while Matt expounds on some highlights from the full Parker library.
Tumbbad– Matt brings a dark fantasy fable to the table in this Hindi horror film, in his quest to add more Indian films to his repertoire. “Big old school Hammer vibes.” – Matt
On this, the Blackest of Fridays, Matt is joined by guest co-host Greg Orme. Greg is a stand up comedian emeritus, a comedy promoter, and punk rocker and he tests his constitution by joining Matt on a ten-film journey through the original Hellraiser franchise.
Featuring the high points of the original trilogy, the low points of the franchise's diminishing returns, and a surprising thumbs-up for a mid-franchise entry.
Keep up with Greg's band The Zissous on Facebook.
Like Laurie Strode we emerge from our nightmare (Monstoberfest be thy name) into the dawn of a new day...BUT the Halloween season has one more surprise for Matt and Trevor.
Wrapping up Monstoberfest 2022, Matt and Trevor find out exactly how HALLOWEEN ENDS via the movie of that name from David Gordon Green and Danny McBride. It's closing out a reboot sequel trilogy in a franchise whose continuity is more convoluted than Highlander.
Witness a new direction for the classic slasher franchise, are the boys up for the change in direction? Is it enough change to breathe life into Halloween for one more rodeo?
Take a seat in the booth at the Nighthawks Diner where they're about to party like it's 1999! As we discuss horror sequels, remakes, and retreads for this year's Monstoberfest, one franchise dares to look back...back to a simpler time of Y2k panic, The Matrix fandom, and ball busting elder millennials.
You need not be familiar with any other V/H/S films to enjoy V/H/S 99, but you'll want to have watched V/H/S 99 before listening, because this is a SPOILER LADEN EPISODE. THERE WILL BE NO FORMAL SPOILER CURTAIN.
If you want a spoiler-free review of V/H/S 99, listen to Matt and Trevor join the panel discussion at OneOfUs.net's Screener Squad.
V/H/S is a series of horror anthology features that have been a historical mixed bag. Will the conceit of the impending millennium bring anything new to this nostalgic series of horror shorts?
Matt and Trevor off of the current release menu for Monstoberfest this year, first up is an examination of the rebooted/retooled/relaunced HELLRAISER film released in 2022. Fans seem bitterly divided about changes made to the franchise, other seem okay with the direction the new film is going in. The Nighthawks weigh in over coffee and pie to talk about this seasonal horror offering from Hulu.
WHYBW – What Have You Been Watching?
The latest fairy tale from a beloved film auteur as well as several tips into horror for the upcoming Halloween season. Pull up a seat in the booth and join the boys for a discussion of what they've been watching lately.
3,000 Years of Longing– A modern fable from a modern master. Matt checked out this new genie-in-a-bottle movie from Mad Max creator George Miller.
The Black Phone- C. Robert Cargill and Scott Derrickson queue up a balloon bouquet of horror, from a short story by Joe Hill.
Nope– According to Matt: Hit it as cold as possible.
Bodies Bodies Bodies– Horror comedy skewers the elite influencer class in this unique take on the slasher genre.
Texas Chainsaw Massacre (2022)– Leatherface vs. Hipsters
Hammer Dracula- Trevor has seen all the Hammer Dracula films featuring either Peter Cushing, Christopher Lee or both. What did he learn?
WHYBW – What Have You Been Watching?
Matt and Trevor wade out of the shadow of their own absence, and into the bright light of controversy. It's an al Big-time franchise streaming TV discussion in the booth at the Nighthawks conceptual diner.
Quit bitching about the color of fictional characters in fictional stories- Just quit it.
LOTR The Rings of Power– Aside from the controversial addition of melanin to the Lord of the Rings Franchise, Matt and Trevor discuss the new Amazon Prime offering, based on the works of the legendary J.R.R. Tolkien.
Obi-Wan Kenobi– Stopping at Tatooine, a planet described as being the furthest to a bright center of the universe, the boys check in on their favorite hermit-in-space. We'll also stop briefly over to discuss The Book of Boba Fett, but mostly it's just talking about how fine things are.
Moon Knight– It’s not your typical Marvel Series, but is that a good thing? Is it a bad thing?
She-Hulk Attorney at Law– Matt discusses what he likes in a giant hero lady lawyer, and what he likes in this goofy new series from the Marvel stables.
Ms. Marvel- It's another origin story from Marvel, but does it aspire to be original enough to stand out from the pack? Matt says that Trevor needs to make time for this one.
If it bleeds, we can kill it...
And this particular entry in the PREDATOR franchise seeks to kill a different kind of "it" as they attempt to give new life to a C- franchise.
"Kill it" they do, and Trevor and Matt are in the Nighthawks Conceptual Diner to parse out what might be the best Predator sequel since the original film was released in 1987. The iconic monster has done battle over multiple media against humans, animals, Aliens, and themselves- but this time the warrior hunter race is out hunting 18th century first nations tribes.
A prequel by definition, Prey could serve as a stand alone entry, or even a jumping on point for this sci-fi horror series, with a special treat of a cast primarily made up of first nations actors.
Whose house?! ARThouse!
I said whose house?! ARThouse!
After a long stint of Hollywood blockbusters and major franchises, the Nighthawks order something off the International Menu at the conceptual diner.
Director Andrei Tarkovsky's, STALKER is a Soviet era Russian film about three characters wandering into a heavily guarded exclusion zone where some untold calamity has rendered the area allegedly uninhabitable. Stalkers are people who you can hire to ferry you in and out of the exclusion zone for a price.
Why would anyone do this? Legend has it that a room, inside an abandoned building, in the heart of The Zone has the ability to grant the heart's desire of anyone who enters.
A far cry from most modern filmmaking with high paced action and fast cuts, STALKER is an example of deliberate and effective long-fuse filmmaking. The shot length in Stalker averages out to under one shot per minute. It's a pensive and existential examination of art, science, faith, humanity, and so many other things...or is it?
No. Really. We're not being intentionally incomplete. We don't know.
Matt and Trevor check into their regular booth at the Nighthawks conceptual diner to just chin wag a little bit about some of the movies and projects they've been watching lately.
Morbius- Dr. Michael Morbius is a sickly but brilliant doctor who uses his big brain and his equally sick friend's big wallet to fund radical bat research. Radical in that it is out of the ordinary, not in the Tony Hawk sense. This mad science goes awry and now Jared Leto is a vampire...or something like that. The new Spider-man extended universe is leaving Matt feeling like he bought a Marvel movie off of Wish.
Uncharted- Based on the wildly successful Playstation game franchise this globetrotting treasure hunt features Mark Wahlberg, Antonio Banderas, and (controversially) Tom Holland as the rugged Nathaniel Drake. Going in with a heart full of hate meant that this one surpassed expectations for Matt.
Jackass Forever- It's Jackass, but a fourth movie. The torch is passed, the guys get hurt, and the world looks back on an over 20 years of doing dumb stuff in front of video cameras. Blessedly, this one was not in 3D...which is not to say that the effects in part 3 weren't spectacular.
Human Resources- What if we take the concept of Big Mouth, only go into more adult territory. Not adult as in R-rated, but adult like grown-ups dealing with aging parents. It's a juvenile humor take on the problems that adults can face in everyday life. Also there are horny monsters getting all over each other.
There it is folks! CODA wins best picture, Troy Kotsur wins Best Supporting Actor, Dune took home the most Oscars of the evening, and Encanto lost out on best song.
Nothing else happened.
Except the thing that most folks, Oscar fans or not, seem to be talking about.
Yes, we will talk about Will Smith and Chris Rock. We will talk about "The Slap" (the news event not the limited television series. But before you get the tea on the Fresh Prince making the entire night awkward for everyone, you have to hear about how good some of these movies are.
We can't avoid talking about the controversy, but that's also, really, not why we're here.
In the meantime be sure to get out and see CODA.
It’s Tinseltown’s most glamorous night out and you are invited to the conceptual Nighthawks Diner's after party.
Oscar Czar and house band musician Cameron Maris, Nineteen Cent Feast, joins Matt and Trevor to talk about the results of the 94th Annual Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences’ Awards, aka The Oscars.
Slide up with a slice of pie and a cup of coffee and talk about this Hollywood’s best...and Hollywood's worst.
Hooray for Hollywood...again! It's (still) Tinseltown's most glamorous night out and you continue to be invited to the red carpet...
...which is still the red carpet in front of the door in the conceptual Nighthawks Diner.
Oscar Czar and house band musician Cameron Maris, of Nineteen Cent Feast, continues the conversation with Matt and Trevor discussing the 2022 94th Annual Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences' Academy Awards, aka The Oscars. In this episode the Nighthawks parse the musical and performance categories, as well as the shorts and features categories.
The Little Gold Film Man remains at it and there's a whole new roster of nominees to discuss including Steven Spielberg, Jane Campion, Lin Manuel Miranda, Jesse Plemmons, Kirsten Dunst, Olivia Colman, Will Smith, Denzel Washington and more! Keep your podcatchers subscribed to the channel and be sure to catch part 1, released earlier this week.
Order a second slice of pie. top-off your cup of coffee and talk about this year's best.
For the Official Nighthawks Unofficial Oscar Ballot visit our webpage at NighthawksPodcast.com
Hooray for Hollywood! It's Tinseltown's most glamorous night out and you are invited to the red carpet...
...that is the red carpet in front of the door in the conceptual Nighthawks Diner.
Oscar Czar and house band musician Cameron Maris, of Nineteen Cent Feast, joins Matt and Trevor to talk about the Technical and Artistic categories for the 2022 Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences' Academy Awards, aka The Oscars. Big changes are in store for the ceremony and the awards, we'll parse those, too.
The Little Gold Film Man is back at it again and there's a whole new roster of movies to discuss including Dune, The Power of The Dog, West Side Story, Nightmare Alley, tick tick...BOOM!, and many others. Keep your podcatchers Subscribed to the channel and catch part 2 later this week where we will discuss the remaining categories including Best Director and Best Picture.
Slide up with a slice of pie and a cup of coffee and talk about this year's best.
For the Official Nighthawks Unofficial Oscar Ballot visit our webpage at NighthawksPodcast.com
For the latest information on current events in Ukraine, please check these trusted global news outlets:
- Associated Press
- Reuters
- BBC
The people of the Reno Sheriff's Department, after launching their successful hit television series 19 years ago, return for a brand new feature-length adventure.
Long time fans of the Reno 911! television series (Comedy Central, Quibi, Roku Channel, syndication) Matt and Trevor do a body cavity search on the 2020 feature film offering from the nearly two-decade old franchise. Directed and starring Robert Ben Garrant, Reno 911! The Hunt for Q Anon also features Thomas Lennon, Kerry Kinney-Silver, Neicy Nash, Wendi McLendon-Covey, Cedric Yarbrough, Carlos Alazraqui, Mary Birdsong, Ian Roberts, Patton Oswalt, Rob Hubbel, and Rikki Lindholm.
Does the Reno Sheriff's Department still have what it takes to make us laugh at inept police work? Matt and Trevor sit down in the diner to talk about that very thing and to talk about a television show that just can't be kept down.
Mentioned in this episode:
- Trevor joins the panel at OneOfUs.net's Screener Squad podcast to talk about Reno 911! The Hunt for Q Anon
Nighthawks guest host Terry Flemings is back in the Nighthawks diner, a place that is virtual and conceptual.
Speaking of jokes used on the podcast, this episode covers the latest entry in The Matrix franchise: The Matrix Resurrections from director Lana Wachowski. The franchise began with Lana and her sister, Lilly Wachowski, behind the camera for The Matrix, a watershed film in blockbusters, action films, and pop culture.
After two theatrically released sequels, two video games, and "The Animatrix" (a direct-to-video animation shorts collection) carried the canon of The Matrix into the 21st Century, the franchise seemed destined to get rebooted or remade in the 2020s. Instead Lana Wachowski elects to make a direct sequel.
Featuring Keanu Reeves and Carrie-Anne Moss reprising their original roles and Jonathan Groff swinging in from his Mindhunting Hamilton career to take on the role of the iconic Agent Smith.
Some things change, some things stay the same, and many things are not what they seem.
Pop a red pill and step into the diner...
The boys from the Nighthawks diner take a special look at George Roy Hill's classic 1969 film Butch Cassidy and The Sundance Kid, starring Robert Redford and Paul Newman.
This episode was originally conceived of as a pilot episode for another podcast. Unfortunately the plans for production never came to fruition, but that pilot episode is now available to our Nighthawks Podcast listeners.
The Jackalope Drive-In Podcast was intended to be a region specific travel podcast that examined films relating to Wyoming through the lens of tourist destinations and attractions. In the pilot we discuss the historicity of George Roy Hill's film with the real life Butch and Sundance. Helping Matt and Trevor to parse fact from fiction is Debra Cease, Site Superintendent for the Wyoming Territorial Prison State Historic Site in Laramie, Wyoming- the only prison in history to have held Butch Cassidy.
This time around the conceptual Nighthawks Diner is represented by a middle American roadside burger joint in a small town depressed by the energy downturn. This time the Ghostbusting will take place in Oklahoma and not New York City.
It's been nearly 30 years since Ghostbusters 2 graced theaters and it's been nearly 30 years in canon that the Ghostbusters have been out of the public eye. The heirs to a dilapidated farmhouse in a rural Great Plains community begin to pick across the leftovers of the Ghostbusters legacy, and in doing so uncover their own connection to the men who made it happen.
The movie is plagued by a new bout of Gozerism and the boys in the Nighthawks diner are going to parse the demon dogs from the full torso apparitions and discuss if this particular special offering was worth the wait.
It was the best of Monstoberfests and it was the worst of Monstoberfests. The Nighthawks have been on an unanticipated hiatus and are back with a full episode update for you! Not only do we answer the burning question of “WTF?” we also let you in on our thoughts on some of the stuff we’ve been watching.
Table of Contents below.
Promoted in this episode:
Children’s Hospital Colorado (click here to donate)
Back from the Borderline Podcast
You’ve Never Heard This Podcast
Episode Contents:
- 00:00:00 – 00:02:12 Cold Open
- 00:02:12 – 00:08:06 Catching up with Nighthawks hosts Trevor T. Trujillo and Matt Foster
- 00:08:06 – 00:17:32 Marvel’s Hawkeye on Disney+
- 00:17:32 – 00:25:35 Marvel’s The Eternals
- 00:25:35 – 00:31:03 DUNE
- 00:31:03 – 00:33:58 Jodorowsky’s Dune
- 00:33:58 – 00:38:52 Dark Star- HR Giger’s World
- 00:38:52 – 00:47:30 CHUCKY on SyFy
- 00:47:30 – 00:48:56 You’ve Never Heard This Podcast
- 00:48:56 – 00:53:20 Back from the Borderline Podcast
- 00:53:20 – 00:57:15 The Haunting of Hill House on Netflix
- 00:57:15 -01:09:58 8-Bit Christmas on HBOMax
- 01:09:58 – 01:11:06 Blooper Reel (Santa put us on the Naughty List for these brain farts)
The Nighthawks' time is nighttime, and nighttime is NOW!
Welcome to:
MONSTOBERFEST 2021 aka MonstoberGUESTFor this episode, writer and renaissance man podcaster, T.C. De Witt stops by the conceptual diner to discuss his contribution to the lovingly created and crowdfunded Friday the 13th Vengeance. A not-for-profit fan film that dares to build on one of the best love slasher sagas of the 20th century, and does so very well.
T.C. also talks about his process and the art of writing, as Trevor and Matt slurp down pie-shakes and hurl questions.
Happy Halloween Season to y'all, hope you enjoy the podcast and the film, available on Youtube.
Important Links:
- Watch Friday the 13th Vengeance
- The Studio Demands It! Podcast
- More about T.C. De Witt
Other Episodes Referenced in This Episode:
- Episode 51: Halloween (1978) and Friday the 13th (1981)
- Episode 88: A Nightmare on Elm Street (2008)
- Episode 91: Friday the 13th (2009)
- Episode 58: Galaxy Quest
Every sunset must have its twilight, and as Indiana Jones left into the sunset in 1989 and in the 2008 Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull we pick him up in his twilight.
As easy a target as Harrison Ford's age is, 19 years after the previous entry in the franchise, the actor shows that he still has what it takes to punch fascists, quest for relics, and get into some dangerous daring do.
Indy is joined by Ray Winstone as Mac, Shia Le Beouf as Mutt, Karen Allen as Marion Williams née Ravenwood, John Hurt as Harold Oxley, and Cate Blanchett as Irina Spakov. The communists are trying to round up the mortal remains of travelers extraterrestrial to Earth, which have been venerated by human cultures as gods. Indy deals with being an abandoning father, trusting the wrong people, getting blacklisted during the Red Scare, and rescuing old friends from new enemies.
The fourth and final (for now) episode in our Indiana Jones special promises chills, spills, groans, eyerolls, and sighs.
The third time is the charm and we're getting the family involved.
From the legendary minds of Steven Spielberg and George Lucas comes the third chapter of the Indiana Jones saga, and subsequently the third episode in the Nighthawks Indiana Jones Special!
In Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade; our titular relic hunting archeologist is on the trail of the Christian Holy Grail with a soupçon of Arthurian Legend for flavor. The lesser-than-human Nazis are the bad guys once again and the race for one of Christianity's most sought after relics is on. Complicating things is the fact that Indy's Grail scholar father has fallen into enemy hands and it's up to him to rescue his patriarch and foil the Nazi's plan for global domination.
Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade stars Harrison Ford as the heroic Indiana Jones and also features Allison Doody, Denholm Elliott, John Rhys-Davies, Julian Glover, and Sir Sean Connery.
The Nighthawks go back for another helping of Jones and find that the third course may be the best? Join us at the conceptual table and decide for yourself.
The boys are back in town. The boys being The Nighthawks and that unflappable archeologist and relic hunter Indiana Jones.
Tonight the boys discuss Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom!
In this prequel to Raiders of the Lost Ark, the titular Indiana Jones finds himself with Girl Friday Willie Scott and a plucky Chinese orphan as he embarks into the jungles of India in search of the lost Sankara Stones.
The stones have magical properties precious to local villagers, but they are sought after by a mysterious Thugee cult that has occupied India's Pankot Palace. It's up to Indy, Willie, and Short Round to infiltrate the Temple of Doom, recover the stones, and emancipate the enslaved villager children.
It's black magic and racial insensitivity from Steven Spielberg and George Lucas; in a film starring Harrison Ford, Cate Capshaw, Ke Huy Quan, and Amrish Puri...
For this episode, and the next several episodes, the Nighthawks Podcast embarks on a great quest that started in 1981.
At the end of the 20th century, the world was introduced to a swashbuckling mid-century hero. Archeologist by day, relic-hunter and Nazi puncher by night.
Harrison Ford stars as Indiana Jones whose first adventure started for the Lost Ark of the Covenant in the Steven Spielberg and George Lucas project Raiders of the Lost Ark. It's a juggernaut of a franchise that just won't die, the supporting cast features Karen Allen, John Rhys-Davies, Paul Freeman, and Alfred Molina.
Slide into the conceptual Nighthawks diner for coffee, pie, daring-do, scandalous affairs, rival polymaths, and evil Nazis.
What have you been watching lately?
With the Nighthawks gearing up for some special episodes over the summer, they decided to lead off with a whole episode devoted to the latest movies in Matt and Trevor's queue and some of the latest movies to hit theaters!
Discussed in this episode:
- The Mitchells vs. The Machines,
- Raya and the Last Dragon,
- Those Who Wish Me Dead,
- F9 (aka The Fast and the Furious 9,)
- Marvel's Loki,
- Vicious Fun,
- Good On Paper,
- Bo Burnham: Inside
A 1950s Drive-In Classic starring Steve McQueen becomes a sloppy and violent 1980s practical effects slime-fest when it comes to the amorphous THE BLOB.
Originally pitched as an episode covering the 1988 The Blob only, the Nighthawks both watched the 1958 The Blob for the first time, doing homework for this episode, and they can’t help but talk about it.
In both movies an object crash lands from space outside a small town populated by small town folks. A poor old man happens upon the object, touches a bubbling mass inside, and is eventually and horribly consumed, as the mass pulsates, grows, expands, and begins to hunt down the delicious townspeople.
In the 1950s it was about young teenagers who aren’t believed by the establishment, and the town that has to band together for survival.
In 1988 the town’s teenagers are also the vanguard against The Blob, but at the heart of the story is a dark underplot involving shadowy government dealings and agents with unclear motives.
Each movie has its value, and both are on the menu tonight in the Nighthawks conceptual Diner.
A jolly old eccentric billionaire has created the world's most astounding theme park, filled with living, breathing, roaring, snorting dinosaurs.
It's the movie that brought Dinosaurs into the modern age, and brought mainstream Hollywood films into the CGI age. Now nearly 30 years old, Jurassic Park is a film that captured the attention and the imagination of a generation, and spawned a franchise that still boasts a single continuity to this day.
Directed by Steven Spielberg and starring Sam Neill, Laura Dern, Jeff Goldblum, Samuel L. Jackson, Wayne Knight, and Sir Richard Attenborough; this dinosaur adventure turned clone-a-saurus horror has become the gold standard for special effects, book to movie adaptations, and one of the most terrifying movie villains to grace the big screen.
Join Matt and Trevor at the conceptual Nighthawks Diner and remember Petticoat Lane- Er... Jurassic Park.
The announcement of the Nighthawks 2nd annual Oscar pool is now... and none of our hosts won.
Meanwhile it's the button-down discussion of the 2021 Oscar results. Some surprises, some upsets, some bad calls, some good plays.
Discussed are the films Nomadland, My Octopus Teacher, Ma Rainey's Black Bottom, Minari, Promising Young Woman, and many others.
Was this a year that "Oscar got it right?" Or maybe some folks could have waited before tying Meryl Streep...
- shade thrown *
Sit in, get comfy, review the Oscars, and review some of the most talked about films of the year.
It's that time of year again, for the glitz, the glamor, the pomp, the circumstance, the ceremony, the reaction shots from Meryl Streep...
It's time for the 93rd Annual Academy Awards, otherwise known as The Oscars, hosted by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences.
In the Nighthawks Cafe is Oscar Czar Cameron Maris, breaking the nominees down for Trevor and Matt, and one thing is undeniable: The Oscar nominees this year are great...and super depressing.
Serve up the after dark coffee and pie and follow along on your Nighthawks Oscar Czar Unofficial Oscar Ballot, available at www.nighthawkspodcast.com
It's the title bout that you've been waiting for (since 1963).
One is a giant killer man-eating gorilla with a heart of gold.
One is a radioactive gila monster that is driven by unstoppable instinct.
This is Godzilla vs. Kong.
This is Lizard vs. Monke.
Kong has been living larger, older, and grayer in captivity since 'Nam, and is held by the Kaiju study team Monarch. Kong wants out.
Meanwhile Godzilla has come ashore in Florida and has shed his previously benevolent character developments.
Millie Bobby Brown (booster for Godzilla) teams with her friend Josh and undercover conspiracy theory podcaster Bernie Hays, to find out why Godzilla has a case of the Mondays.
A scientist, played by Alexander Skarsgård, must take Kong into the entrance of the fabled hollow earth, to find Kong's origins, and a source of energy that could tip the SCALES (pause for emphasis) out of Godzilla's favor and into humanity's.
Brewing underneath is a millenia-old war between titans, a mortal rivalry between ancient Kings Kong and ancient Gods Zilla. A rivalry that these two scions just can't help but reignite.
The big news around the movie sphere is probably the release of the sought after, one time fabled, now real, Snyder Cut of WB's JUSTICE LEAGUE film, on HBOMax.
Matt and Trevor are still digesting "The Snyder Cut," but they recorded this episode for you to release in the meantime. While y'all are talking about Justice League, we're spotlighting a movie that people SHOULD be talking about more.
Hailed by critics and panned by segments of the fan base, Birds of Prey and the Fantabulous Emancipation of One Harley Quinn is a four-color, nose-crunching, leg-breaking brawler with a ridiculous sense of humor and an unreliable narrator.
Is the movie all that bad? Is it all that good?
Are the criticisms of the movie legitimate complaints about quality, or could they have been fixed with better marketing?
Matt and Trevor follow Harley as she goes "Lemonade-ing" post break-up with Joker, and into a movie that proves that one of the most popular characters in the DC pantheon is NOBODY'S sidekick.
Starring Margot Robbie, Rosie Perez, Jurnee Smollett, Mary Elizabeth Winstead, Ella Jay Bosco, and Ewan McGregor; the boys in the conceptual Nighthawks Cafe make the case for this hefty-titled chapter of DC's journey on the big screen.
On the back of our discussion of Citizen Kane comes the discussion of a movie made nearly 80 years after Citizen Kane, about the making of Citizen Kane.
Mank is the 2020 offering from director David Fincher, exploring the troubled and complex person that was Herman J. Mankiewicz. A man who would be the writer of a movie that man consider the best American film ever made.
Mankiewicz must contend with William Randolph Hearst, Marion Davies, Orson Welles, and Louis B. Mayer on his journey to not only write the script while bedridden, but to advocate for his own credit on the film.
An all star cast features Gary Oldman, Amanda Seyfried, Lily Collins, Tuppence Middleton, and Charles Dance.
Not for the uninitiated, Mank calls back to the movie that inspired it on a level that should remind listeners to give Citizen Kane a rewatch before digging into Mank.
Joining Matt and Trevor in the Nighthawks Diner is Guest Co-Host Cameron Maris, who also is the Nighthawks Podcast Oscar Czar, and member of the Nighthawks House Band: Middle Class Joe.
Middle Class Joe on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/MiddleClassJoeMusic/
Middle Class Joe on Band Camp: https://middleclassjoe.bandcamp.com/album/in-the-end-you-will-lose
God and devil
Sinner and Saint
Communist and fascist
Charles Foster Kane is many things to many people. And the world got to know him in 1941 when the Freshman film of Orson Welles hit a limited number of screens, but still managed to snag multiple Oscar nominations and one win.
Citizen Kane is the portrait of a man, as painted by the people who knew him. Shown out of order and through hazy recollection. Equal parts American success story and American tragedy, the film is often considered among the best ever to come from the United States.
With multiple battles brewing behind the scenes and more Hollywood folklore than you can shake an Academy Award at, the Nighthawks bring Oscar Czar Cameron Maris in to discuss the legendary Citizen Kane.
Yeah, what can we say about 2020 that isn't echoing off the walls of every living room in the United States right now?
The best we can offer is some recommendations of new and upcoming films that we caught during our year in quarantine.
Featured in this episode:
Bill and Ted Face the Music
The Invisible Man
The Stylist
The Vice Guide to Bigfoot
The Mandalorian: Season 2
After Midnight
Birds of Prey and the Fantabulous Emancipation of One Harley Quinn
The Haunted Swordsman
And Many More!
There are ways in which mogwai and gremlins are like The Nighthawks, and ways in which they are unalike. For example:
“Keep them out of bright light, especially sunlight. It will kill them.”
This applies to both Nighthawks and the mogwai/gremlin population.
“Don’t feed them after midnight.”
This applies to mogwai, but not to Nighthawks. The Nighthawks actually prefer you DO feed them, regardless of the time of day.
For this year’s Holiday Special, Matt and Trevor have tapped the 1984 Joe Dante Action Horror Comedy GREMLINS. A film about adorable creatures that turn into horrible monsters, and the people who are kind of horrible, and keep being horrible, but they get a stern talking to from an independent business owner.
Considered a Christmas classic by the 21st century zeitgeist, the film seems to hold up as an alternative to the 40 new holiday offerings from Hallmark this year.
I’m not kidding, Hallmark made 40 holiday films. This year.
Dark and frightening by turns but this PG, should have been PG-13 slab of rib-tickling nightmare fuel has become a crossover for adults and youngsters alike, prompting a sequel and an upcoming animated television prequel.
Feeling that itch for more in the vein of Star Wars: The Mandalorian?
Look no further, allow us to present: Lone Wolf and Cub: Sword of Vengeance. A Japanese film from 1972 that kicked off a six movie franchise, and was the first screen adaptation of the Lone Wolf and Cub manga by writer Kazuo Koike and artist Goseki Kojima.
Matt and Trevor watched Lone Wolf and Cub: Sword of Vengeance as a way to kick off our discussion about the grander Lone Wolf and Cub phenomenon. Joining them in the Nighthawks conceptual diner is the guys' favorite Asian cinema guru.
Marc Walkow has worn many hats in his life including festival programmer, film distributor, defacto translator, producer, and lawyer. During his time working professionally in film, Marc produced some of the special feature content for the Criterion Collection's Lone Wolf and Cub boxed set.
Marc gives Nighthawks listeners the inside scoop on the Lone Wolf and Cub series, the grander cultural touchstone that is the Kazuo Koike manga, director Kenji Misumi, producer Shintarô Katsu, and actor Tomisaburo Wakayama.
The Nighthawks have brought you space vampires and space demons in 2020, but what is space the most famous for?
It is the dwelling of the ALIEN.
The seminal outer space horror movie from 1979 is the movie that launched, not only its own franchises, but launched several imitators and franchises throughout the last 40 years.
Sigourney Weaver is Lt. Ellen Ripley, a smart and tough space trucker running a mission with her coworkers, presented by Tom Skerritt, Yaphet Kotto, Harry Dean Stanton, Ian Holm, and Veronica Cartwright.
What happens when the creature from beyond the stars is also a creature beyond human comprehension?
Directed by Ridley Scott, ALIEN is a film that brings together stellar design, superb performances, acute technical prowess, and mastery of horror that is often strived for but never quite met.
For the Mother of All Modern Space Horror, the Nighthawks bring in the Black Pope of Genre Film, Mark Ball, an action figure photographer, a stop-motion animator, podcaster, and horror movie super-fan.
Ridley Scott pulled out all the stops for ALIEN, and the Nighthawks Podcast is pulling out all the stops for this episode.
Off we go, in the the black empty void of space.
Trevor and Matt's second foray into 2020's MONSTOBERFEST IN SPACE takes them to the outer rim of the Solar System, and in orbit around Neptune.
Elite space explorers and a radical scientist team up to investigate the derelict spaceship, Event Horizon, which has been missing for seven years. The faster-than-light vehicle has successfully managed to fold space, but while traversing dimensions, it seems to have brought something back.
Folks. These aren't aliens.
Event Horizon was directed by Paul W.S. Anderson and stars Sam Neill, Laurence Fishburne, Kathleen Quinlan, Jason Isaacs, Richard T. Jones, and Sean Pertwee.
Trevor hadn't seen this movie in 23 years, and didn't care for it the first time around. Have two-plus decades managed to change his mind?
Content advisory: This film discusses the 1985 film named Lifeforce, not the 1986 video game Life Force (aka Salamander). Given the nature of the internet we felt it best to disclaim in advance.
The horror comes from beyond the stars for MONSTOBERFEST IN SPACE, the celebration of horror movies that have a basis in the cosmos.
During an Earth passby of Halley's Comet, daring British space exploration team makes a shocking discovery: a derelict alien spacecraft, with three naked humans in glass coffins.
When the glass coffins are brought on board, there is a disaster in space, causing the deaths of all the British space explorers, save one American Colonel.
Seemingly unharmed, the glass coffins are brought to earth where they are opened, and the psychic space vampires inside wreck havoc on London and the surrounding countryside.
Notorious for containing a LOT of Mathilda May, Lifeforce also stars Steve Railsback, Peter Firth, Frank Finlay, and Sir Patrick Stewart.
The naked space vampire movie that the guys thought they remembered, is not the one they caught on display. Overshadowed by a lot of nudity, Lifeforce shares a great deal of DNA with Dracula, Night of the Living Dead, and Alien.
And we don't just mean Dan O'Bannon, either. Whom we will discuss very, very soon.
Just not right now. Gotta leave some pod fodder for the rest of MONSTOBERFEST IN SPACE!
Gather ye 'round, children, and we'll weave ye' a tale. From the Highlands of Scotland where the breeze kisses the heather, and Liam Neeson kisses Jessica Lange under an upright boulder.
Matt and Trevor order off menu for a steaming plate of haggis to discuss Rob Roy, the other Scottish period film from 1995, and one that contains 100% less Mel Gibson than the alternative.
Rob Roy McGregor, a Scottish chief would live to become an outlaw, before entering legend as a folk hero. His true story is loosely adapted for the screen, with an all-star cast including Neeson, Lange, Brian Cox, Tim Roth, John Hurt, Eric Stoltz, and Andrew Keir.
Solid performances, dynamic swashing of buckles, and expert sword play bring the world of 18th century Scotland to life, in what amounts to a crime/fugitive thriller by today's standards.
Also, Rob Roy is very in love with his wife. They don't want you to forget that.
Love, honor, revenge, pride, politics, and crime are all on display amid the breathtaking scenery of the Scottish Highlands.
"An unexamined life is not worth living."
-Socrates
"The best place to be is here. The best time to be is now."
-Wyld Stallyns
"Bake 40 to 45 minutes or just until brownies begin to pull away from sides of pan. Cool completely in pan on cooling rack."
-Betty Crocker
Wisdom comes in all shapes and sizes. Sometimes it's from history's greatest philosophers pondering life and death. Sometimes it's a 30-year-old slacker film franchise pondering time and space.
Sometimes it's a trusted brand in consumer baking telling you how to cook brownies.
In any case something nice and special happened, if only of the most brief and frivolous moment, and the Nighthawks would like to share that with you.
But first, it's time to make good on an episode we've long teased. What you have on your device in front of you is the Bill and Ted Trilogy episode of the Nighthawks Podcast.
We have a spoiler-filled discussion of the first two nearly-30-year-old films in the franchise, which introduced a generation of Gen X and Elder Millennials to Bill S. Preston Esq. and Ted "Theodore" Logan:
BILL AND TED'S EXCELLENT ADVENTURE
BILL AND TED'S BOGUS JOURNEY
Then we have a brief spoiler-free discussion to talk about our very positive reaction to the new 2020 film:
BILL AND TED FACE THE MUSIC
Maybe the Bill and Ted Franchise, featuring the fantastically talented Keanu Reeves and Alex Winter will never be considered "indispensable Art," but it is something that we think a lot of folks need right now.
Be Excellent to Each Other,
And Party On, Dudes...
Ol' Matt and Trevor
Did Dare to Endeavor
To watch a film by Frank Marshall
Along Came Some Spiders
And they were venomous biters
To this Amblin Thrillomedy we're partial
It's the late Frank Marshall's directorial debut: Arachnophobia. Produced by Steven Spielberg and Kathleen Kennedy, the movie was branded as (god only knows why) a "Thrillomedy," seeking to give wide audiences a movie that would scare them silly.
Starring Jeff Daniels, John Goodman, and Julian Sands; Arachnophobia is the PG-13 killer spider thriller that gave the heebie jeebies to younger versions of Matt and Trevor. On the film's 30th anniversary, does it hold up?
Or is it a desiccated and dried up husk?
This Episode of the Nighthawks Podcast is not censored for profanity or content. Listener discretion is advised.
Nighthawks Diner special Guest Host Terry Fleming drops in to talk to Matt about a movie they've been familiar with since they were young. Trevor, on the other hand, is watching this John Singleton 1991 classic for the first time.
Today the Nighthawks Diner is abuzz with discussion of Boyz n the Hood, the Freshman film for the late John Singleton, who would have a long and impressive career before his death.
Meanwhile Boyz n the Hood also offers us babyfaced performances from Cuba Gooding Jr., Ice Cube, Regina King, Angela Bassett, Lawrence Fishburne and a cavalcade of others.
What was John Singleton saying in 1991? What does the movie say about the modern day?
Are we listening yet?
Special thanks to our guest, Terry Fleming:
https://www.instagram.com/terryfphotos/
https://www.facebook.com/unfilteredbachelor/
Resources for addressing and understanding the current BLM movement in the United States are available below. A version of this list also ran with the show notes of our previous episode, but the astute listener will note the addition of a link to watch the National Geographic Documentary LA 92 (which is discussed in this episode) for free.
One Of US Net’s Live From the End of the World webcast that specifically discusses the Black Lives Matter movement, and what allies need to know and how to help.
The webcast was facilitated by Chris Cox at One of Us, and featured an all black panel.
https://oneofus.net/2020/06/one-of-us-show-live-from-the-end-of-the-world-ep-11/
Panelists include:
Joshua Dylan Hunter: The Reel Pineapple - https://www.facebook.com/thereelpineapple
Michael Van Slyke: Archangel Arts - https://www.facebook.com/pg/archangelarts/community/
Gene Seliasse - Is a critic, screenwriter, comic writer, friend of the podcast. His comic anthologies include Puerto Rico Strong, Kayfabe Anthology Vol 3, and Elsewhere. Gene is also the writer of Peter Pan and the Land of Forever, a Modern twist on the classic Peter Pan story, an upcoming film from Dream Teller Animation Studios.
https://thescrumsports.com/author/geneselassie/
https://www.dreamtellerstudio.com/feature-films/
https://www.comixology.com/Elsewhere/digital-comic/
https://www.lionforge.com/puerto-rico-strong/
Books:
The New Jim Crow: Mass Incarceration in the Age of Colorblindness by Michelle Alexander
https://newjimcrow.com/about/buy
So You Want to Talk About Race by Ijeoma Oluo
https://www.sealpress.com/titles/ijeoma-oluo/so-you-want-to-talk-about-race/9781580056779/
How to Be an Antiracist by Ibram X. Kendi
https://www.ibramxkendi.com/how-to-be-an-antiracist-1
Movies:
LA 92 (National Geographic doc about the Rodney King Riots as discussed in episode 104):
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uaotkHlHJwo
13th (Netflix Documentary)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=krfcq5pF8u8
Selma
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Abkka8Vf2_M
Just Mercy
https://www.justmercyfilm.com/
Monsters and Men
https://www.vudu.com/content/movies/details/Monsters-and-Men/1042022
Horror Noire A History of Black Horror (as briefly discussed in Ep 104)
https://www.shudder.com/movies/watch/horror-noire-a-history-of-black-horror/4548652
STOP (short film)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X5S2F1TLSvs
It's one of those magical times when the late Tony Scott crossed paths with the legendary Denzel Washington.
Believe it or not, Trevor watched this movie for the FIRST time, specifically for this episode. Would the kidnapping revenge thriller hold up to nearly 25 years of build up?
Matt saw this in a timely manner and has been a fan. No question about it, Matt thinks the movie works.
Links from the intro:
One Of US Net’s Live From the End of the World webcast that specifically discusses the Black Lives Matter movement, and what allies need to know and how to help. The webcast was facilitated by Chris Cox at One of Us, and featured an all black panel.
https://oneofus.net/2020/06/one-of-us-show-live-from-the-end-of-the-world-ep-11/
Panelists include:
Joshua Dylan Hunter: The Reel Pineapple - https://www.facebook.com/thereelpineapple
Michael Van Slyke: Archangel Arts - https://www.facebook.com/pg/archangelarts/community/
Gene Seliasse - Is a critic, screen writer, comic writer, friend of the podcast. His comic anthologies include Puerto Rico Strong, Kayfabe Anthology Vol 3, and Elsewhere. Gene is also the writer of Peter Pan and the Land of Forever, a Modern twist on the classic Peter Pan story, an upcoming film from Dream Teller Animation Studios.
https://thescrumsports.com/author/geneselassie/
https://www.dreamtellerstudio.com/feature-films/
https://www.comixology.com/Elsewhere/digital-comic/
https://www.lionforge.com/puerto-rico-strong/
Books:
The New Jim Crow: Mass Incarceration in the Age of Colorblindness
by Michelle Alexander
https://newjimcrow.com/about/buy
So You Want to Talk About Race
by Ijeoma Oluo
https://www.sealpress.com/titles/ijeoma-oluo/so-you-want-to-talk-about-race/9781580056779/
How to Be an Antiracist
by Ibram X. Kendi
https://www.ibramxkendi.com/how-to-be-an-antiracist-1
Movies:
13th (Netflix Documentary)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=krfcq5pF8u8
Selma
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Abkka8Vf2_M
Just Mercy
https://www.justmercyfilm.com/
Monsters and Men
https://www.vudu.com/content/movies/details/Monsters-and-Men/1042022
Horror Noire A History of Black Horror
https://www.shudder.com/movies/watch/horror-noire-a-history-of-black-horror/4548652
STOP (short film)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X5S2F1TLSvs
Good evening to the denizens of the Nighthawks diner. We are pleased to report that as the world finds itself in a nightmare absurdist dystopia of COVID-19, the streets around the conceptual Nighthawks diner are a little safer from crime.
Actress, producer, comedian, stunt performer, and all-around-entertainment-engine Katie Mae Peters pulls up a seat in the diner booth with Matt and Trevor to talk about her feature role in The Bee, a short film that was released online at the beginning of the COVID-19 outbreak.
We talk with Katie about her wild and crazy journey in and around the film industry. A journey that would find her as a director of a live multi-camera television show in high school, a zombie on The Walking Dead, a coach for Team USA Roller Derby, a genuine Texas filmmaker, and a stunt performer in Los Angeles.
The journey also finds Katie Mae starring as the title character in the short that is the basis of this week's show.
Take 14 minutes and enjoy...
Important Links:
Watch The Bee here: https://bit.ly/2ZaehQN
The Bee on Instagram: https://bit.ly/3bDKxOT
Katie Mae Peters on Instagram: https://bit.ly/2WHgXUJ
It's that time of year, and with the calendar coincidence, we couldn't turn down another pass at a 4/20 marijuana-themed episode.
This year is 2020 so 4/20 gets two extra 20s, and we're assured that means we get to consume more marijuana than normal 4/20, and we get to celebrate longer because all month is 4/20.
The mysteries of this holiday are many, and we're getting to the age where we don't understand.
What we do understand are raunchy pod comedies from the early millennium. We also need to apologize for a lot of comedy from the early millennium. There's a lot of gay panic in Harold & Kumar's franchise. Something that we weren't sensitive to back then but is a call for introspection this time.
Speaking of introspection, it's not all insensitive humor. The poop and fart jokes still land as poop and fart jokes, and the movie offers us a refreshing look at functional stoners, as well as non-white protagonists.
Issues of race and xenophobia are touched on. So are early millennium hangups on plural sexuality.
Take a walk down memory lane, and decide for yourself: Does Harold & Kumar Go to White Castle hold up?
Credits:
Mark Ball (Podcaster- Doing the Nasty, Action Figure Photographer
Chris Bucheit (Chef, Musician- Middle Class Joe)
Susan Burke (Comedian, actor, director, writer- Southbound, Stan Against Evil)
C. Robert Cargill (Novelist, podcaster, writer- Marvel’s Doctor Strange, Sinister)
Rebecca Frost (Podcaster, critic)
Steven DeGennaro (Podcaster, writer, director- Found Footage 3D, Stop)
Lucas Lee Graham (Producer, director, cinematographer- Escape from Tomorrow)
Cameron Maris (Oscar Czar, musician- Middle Class Joe)
Matt Peters (Comedian, actor- Orange is the New Black, Weeds)
Maxim Pozderic (Video clerk, live trivia game show host)
Charity O’Haodagain (Podcaster, previous Nighthawks guest)
Scott Schalchlin (State of Texas, previous Nighthawks guest)
Nicholas Don Smith (Comedian, host- Dungeons and Comedy)
Kristal Starr (Comedian)
Special guest appearance by Cadence (Small child)
It’s a simple question.
What do movies mean to you?
It’s the answers that aren’t always so simple.
For this episode we asked this question of fourteen guests, and their answers are as varied as they are. Big thanks to these folks for making this special episode extra special.
Featuring an ALL-NEW original single by Nighthawks House Band: MIDDLE CLASS JOE
Editorial Note: After the interviews were conducted for this podcast, but before production was complete, one of our guests suffered some very unfortunate news. Because of the economic impacts of COVID-19, Vulcan Video; Austin, Texas video store; will shutter completely. We have spoken with Max since then, and he is in good spirits but very sorry about the closure.
From all of us at the Nighthawks’ conceptual diner to all of our loved ones at Vulcan Video: Our love to you.
It was bound to happen sooner or later and a collision of streaming coincidence allowed us to get this done in our first hundred episodes.
Matt is an old aficionado of the Robert B. Parker Spenser novels, a fan of the television series Spenser: For Hire, and he has strong opinions about the made-for-TV Spenser movies from the 90s and early aughts. He’s going into the 2020 Netflix offering, Spenser Confidential, with a keenly hewn fandom and a careful critical mind.
Trevor hadn’t consumed ANY Spenser properties when he finally sat down and socially distanced himself with Spenser Confidential. But after watching the new film with Mark Wahlberg, Winston Duke, and Iliza Shlesinger Trevor did his homework and read some Robert B. Parker to beef up for the episode.
The streaming gods did also smile upon Matt and Trevor, bestowing them with an unexpected and very welcome gift- three seasons of Spenser: For Hire on ImdbTV, a free-with-commercials service.
So in this episode the guys talk about Robert B. Parker’s work, Spenser: For Hire the series, and the dessert is a no-spoiler discussion of the latest R-Rated action comedy that debuted on the Netflix charts and still is hanging in there several weeks later.
Folks, a take on Parker’s Spenser is one we really wanted to do. It was intended mostly to be a larf, and something to check off the Nighthawks’ bucket list. But in these times, when we’re stuck inside and have nothing better but to watch a movie, the Nighthawks would like to encourage you to reach out and try something new.
Maybe one of the Spenser properties is for you. Maybe they aren’t. We recorded this episode with you folks in mind, hoping to give you the context needed to decide if a few seasons of Robert Urich and Avery Brooks are worth your time (I mean…how could that not be worth your time?) Maybe a few hours watching Alan Arkin be a crotchety fart is in your wheelhouse (again, whose wheelhouse is that NOT in?)
Hunker down. Stay healthy. We are always with you in the Nighthawks Diner.
In the meantime… episode 100 is fast approaching, and the recent coronavirus caused COVID-19 global pandemic has put a hitch in how we were planning to handle the content of that episode. With that being said we’ve resumed appropriately distant production, and hope to bring you a really special 100th episode very soon.
Welcome to the 80s!
Tortoiseshell glasses, with smoky lenses, Texas tech impresarios and Silicon Valley Dudes programing the latest hit video games.
As technology began to explode into the American home, the world struggled with how to interpret this new way of life. Inevitably the artistic medium of our times saw a pretty incredible attempt to imagine the world from within technology itself.
This is Disney's TRON, a 1985 science fiction film starring Jeff Bridges, Bruce Boxleitner, and David Warner. The movie would become and infamous flop, and a bold new bar in the world of technology and animation.
A harbinger of things to come, not only narratively, but in the film industry; love it or hate it, TRON has grist for the Nighthawks' Diner conversation.
Pull up a seat and join us.
It's official. South Korean Director Bong Joon Ho ties Walt Disney for the most Oscar statuettes taken home in a single night, as Parasite walks away the literal winner, and the metaphorical winner.
Oscar Czar and House Musician Cameron Maris checks in with Matt and Trevor, as the Nighthawks record their first Oscar reaction episode, and what a year to do it.
A lot of love gets thrown around in this episode and very, very little shade.
But a little shade.
A comprehensive UNCENSORED special, exploring the 92nd Annual Academy Awards
Matt and Trevor have pulled Cameron out of cold storage, after an extra-long bout in the Nighthawks Diner's walk-in freezer- where he is stored between awards seasons.
And to save ourselves a headache in the edit for our 3 hour episode...This episode is uncensored for profanity and content.
We drop F-Bombs.
After taking the 91st Annual Academy Awards off, the Co-Hosts and the Oscar Czar make up for lost time with a special triple-long episode, that's STILL SHORTER THAN THE IRISHMAN!!!
In this episode we discuss (pulls out banjo): Dolemite is My Name; Toy Story 4; How to Train Your Dragon: The Hidden World; Mulan; The Little Mermaid; Missing Link; I Lost My Body; Rocketman; Harriet; Breakthrough; Frozen II; Joker; Little Women; Marriage Story; Bombshell; 1917; Jojo Rabbit; The Irishman; The Two Popes; Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker; What We Do In The Shadows; Uncut Gems; American Factory; Knives Out; Once Upon A Time...In Hollywood; Judy; Ford v Ferrari; A Beautiful Day In The Neighborhood; and Parasite.
(All clips from films are used for educational and -sometimes- satire purposes.
It's a new year, and the guys in the Nighthawks diner are coming back from their holiday vacation having watched a special "Christmas Movie."
No. Not Die Hard. Die Hard is soooo 1986. (Just kidding, we love you, Die Hard.)
This holiday season, the boys checked in with director Harold Ramis and actors John Cusack, Billy Bob Thornton, Connie Nielsen, Oliver Platt, and Randy Quaid for a freezer-burned caper, in a Christmas time noir.
In the Ice Harvest, the boys find a fantastically dark film, based on a novel from Scott Phillips. The heist has already happened, all our characters have to do is behave themselves, and they can get away.
But sometimes, failing is the best way to succeed.
Also in this episode, an extra-long Trailer Talk concerning Ghostbusters Afterlife, the upcoming sequel to the original Ghostbusters franchise, starring (you guessed it) Harold Ramis.
Ghostbusters Afterlife trailer:
https://youtu.be/ahZFCF--uRY
Star Wars 1977 - 2019
Rest in Peace
In episode 94 of the Nighthawks Podcast we discuss Episode IX of the Third Star Wars trilogy, and marking a future uncertain for the franchise.
While opinions are starkly divided and battle lines have been drawn on social media- we humbly offer what we believe is a very mature, even-handed, and fair look at the movie.
Like everyone else, we have our opinions, but we are able to discuss the opinions of others without insulting their mothers.
The boys celebrated Black Friday, not by going out and spending, but by staying in and watching a movie.
Honoring the holiday, Matt and Trevor made this Friday especially Black by talking about a Black Movie. Shane Black, to be precise.
The subject of Nighthawks Episodes 21 and 22 is on deck, and Matt and Trevor are talking about his 1970s period detective comedy The Nice Guys.
First up though, the guys have been watching The Mandalorian on Disney+ an have a few spoiler free thoughts.
Also with an equipped spoiler curtain in place the Nighthawks examine another writer/director turn by Shane Black.
This isn't Black's latest turn in the director's chair, also briefly discussed is The Predator and the scandal involving Black hiring a known sex offender.
Those wanting more information on those reports can begin here. These are historical articles and are presented here for information and context purposes:
Olivia Munn Says Fox Didn’t Return Her Call Initially After Reporting ‘Predator’ Sex Offender (Variety)
https://variety.com/2018/film/news/olivia-munn-says-fox-didnt-return-her-call-initially-after-reporting-predator-sex-offender-exclusive-interview-1202933315/
Shane Black Apologizes Again for ‘Stupid Decision’ to Hire Sex Offender for ‘The Predator’ (Variety)
https://variety.com/2018/film/news/shane-black-apologizes-predator-sex-offender-1202940839/
Fox Deletes Scene From ‘The Predator’ With Registered Sex Offender (Variety)
https://variety.com/2018/film/news/fox-deletes-sex-offender-predator-1202929542/
Victim of 'The Predator' Sex Offender Comes Forward to Thank Olivia Munn for Taking a Stand (Hollywood Reporter)
https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/news/predator-sex-offenders-victim-comes-forward-thanks-olivia-munn-1143004
As day breaks on this year's extended Monstoberfest coverage, we send the 2019 horror season off by taking another stab at a boss monster.
And we mean "boss" both as "superlative" and "in charge."
In 2015's Nighthawks Episode 3, Matt and Trevor discussed the incomparable Christopher Lee and his first turn as Dracula in 1958's DRACULA from Hammer Films (distributed in the US as THE HORROR OF DRACULA).
During that episode, the boys found the Hammer treatment changed a great deal from the source material and elevated it for then-contemporary audiences. This, despite Trevor's shocking confession that he doesn't like the Dracula novel all that much.
This time around, in 1992's BRAM STOKER'S DRACULA, director auteur Francis Ford Coppola uses older and time-honored production techniques to craft a well-executed and out-of-time look and feel for a story that was originally published in 1897.
BRAM STOKER'S DRACULA features legendary makeup, costumes, and performances from Gary Oldman and Anthony Hopkins.
Also featured: not-our-favorite performance from Hollywood sweetheart Keanu Reeves.
Is the fresh 1992 polish enough for the boys in the diner to get over their Dacula property hump?
Cinch a garlic garland around your neck, and join us as we resurrect DRACULA for another battle with good.
For more information on Dracula, see Episode 3: https://bit.ly/2OuWJrN
For more information on SOME Dracula, but not exclusive to Dracula, also see Episode 14: https://bit.ly/2QCqc5S
The Monster is back, baby!
As things in the Nighthawks Diner are often conceptual, so goes the Gregorian Calendar. The Spawn of Monstoberfest knows no bounds!
As our Monstoberfest coverage bleeds into Monstember, we want to thank you for staying with the spooky coverage.
Listen, we’ll be frank. When faced with the choice of jettisoning our Monstoberfest coverage vs sitting on our Telluride coverage for later release… WE DID NEITHER. OUTLAW COUNTRY!!!
The gimmick is fun, but the thesis is stronger than the fun of the calendar gimmick. We promise.
Hot on the heels of watching 2010’s A NIGHTMARE ON ELM STREET, the boys turn the PLATINUM DUNES clock back a year and watched the re-make/boot/hash/imagining of the 1980 slasher classic FRIDAY THE 13th.
Jared Padalecki stars in this non-supernatural (ahem) chapter of the hockey-mask-wearing killer Jason Voorhees. Was this another tired remake, or did the 2009 edition bring something to the table?
The Redux of Monstoberfest continues.
For our original discussion on Friday the 13th from Episode 51, click here: https://bit.ly/2K5ZKxq
Also discussed in this episode- since we’re talking everything relaunches, what’s up with that Ghostbusters teaser from January? And what did the guys think of the Paul Feig reboot?
The January 2019 teaser for Ghostbusters 2020 can be found here: https://youtu.be/g4lT3LEimWk
It’s a Halloween Special, WITHIN A HALLOWEEN SPECIAL!!! The boys postponed the Monstoberfest action, in favor of a little Monstemberfest bleed (we’re committed to this bit).
This gives us a little space to bring you:
Matt, Trevor, and Mark bring you the low down from two miles up (give or take) in the beautiful mountain community of Telluride, Colorado. As it would so happen, the Telluride Horror Show was also in town- so we have a lot of relevant stuff to talk about.
There will be no spoilers for these films.
The guys talk about hotly anticipated films from Hulu and Netflix, ELI and WOUNDS. Matt has opinions on the film 1BR, Mark talks THE DEEPER YOU DIG, and Trevor makes the case for SCARE PACKAGE.
And sure to become a fan favorite, VFW gets a look from our panel, while opinions differ on the upcoming THE LODGE.
Don't forget the word is: Don't miss SWEETHEART.
Also! Coincidentally, spectral guest co-ghost Mark Ball, who dabbles in action figure animation, worked on this newly released video from the band Pleasure People, for their single Miss Midnight. Available here: https://bit.ly/2PAOyMQ
Also, Mark's latest submission to the Fantastic Fest bumper competition can be found here: https://bit.ly/2N4YmNy
For more information on the Telluride Horror Show, check their website. Information for the 2020 show is already being posted. www.telluridehorrorshow.com/
It's a Halloween Special, WITHIN A HALLOWEEN SPECIAL!!!
The boys postponed the Monstoberfest action, in favor of a little Monstemberfest bleed (we're committed to this bit). This gives us a little space to bring you "The Nighthawks Telluride Horror Show '19 TelluLive (on Memorex) Halloween Special with Special Ghost-Host Fancy Mark Ball" (Trademark possibly pending).
Matt, Trevor, and Mark bring you the low down from two miles up (give or take) in the beautiful mountain community of Telluride Colorado. As it would so happen, the Telluride Horror Show was also in town- so we have a lot of relevant stuff to talk about.
No Spoilers for these films, in this episode. The guys want you to look out for MAKING MONSTERS and AFTER MIDNIGHT. Two horror films that want to play and expand into very different but very interesting territories in the genre.
The guys also discuss the (capital-G) Genius of Joe Bob Briggs and Darcy the Mail Ghoul, who stopped by and pressed the flesh while dropping heavy knowledge bombs like college. We ate it up like groceries.
Clips used from MonsterVision on TNT, courtesy of TNT and Turner companies, and is presented for educational purposes. For more information on MonsterVision, visit your local internet provider. For a genuine dose of the Joe Bob Briggs and Darcy the Mail Ghoul, watch Joe Bob's Last Drive-In on Shudder.
For the autumnal season, the Nighthawks are talking about remakes of horror movies that have been covered previously in the podcast before.
First up, throwing back to Nighthawks Episode 11 (Titled Wes Craven’s Impossible Dream) Matt and Trevor chatted in the diner booth about the 1984 A Nightmare on Elm Street and its meta sequel Wes Craven’s A New Nightmare.
The boys check back in with the Nightmare franchise, by watching the Freddy Krueger movie whose most unexpected victim was the Platinum Dunes horror remake model.
Neither Matt nor Trevor had seen the 2010 Nightmare before this episode. Were they right to hold off? Does the remake deserve the hate, or is it a misunderstood innocent victim of remake prejudice?
Give ‘er a spin and try us. It’s prime time…
Link to Nighthawks Ep 11: https://bit.ly/2VXrkBz
On the lonely highways in West Texas, a young man faces down a lone hitch hiker who is on a screaming ride to Hell. Such is the case for The Hitcher in 1986, starring C. Thomas Howell (Far Out Man, Soul Man) and the late Rutger Hauer (Blade Runner, Escape From Sobibor, Blind Fury).
A film that saw a lot of change between the page and the screen, John Ryder hitches a ride with Jim Halsey, and he begins to terrorize the young man on a cross-country psychological car chase and mental breakdown.
Also along for the ride is Jennifer Jason Leigh, as a tough and smart waitress in a small town diner.
We also took a look at the 2003 sequel and the 2007...so you don't have to.
Once again the curse of coincidental timing has made our planned nostalgic look at a childhood favorite, oddly timely.
As was announced on August 17, 2019; Richard Williams, animator, auteur, creator, and artist died at age 86. Among Williams' credits is the film that we talk about in this episode?
Part tent-pole special effects film, part period noir, part madcap animated feature; Richard Williams was the man who told director Robert Zemeckis "yes we can," when the rest of the industry told him "we can't."
An in-depth mystery, an iconic presence in pop culture, and a watershed moment in special effects film making, Who Framed Roger Rabbit was a generation's introduction to hard boiled detectives, femme fatales, and corruption in Los Angeles city planning.
An enduring classic that tested the limits and is yet to be matched. An enduring legacy for an animator who did the impossible.
Content Warning: Diggstown contains overt themes of racism, violence and brutal deaths of people of color, and is headlined by James Woods. Woods has been accused in relation to the #MeToo movement.
The year is 1992 and the sport of boxing is enjoying a heyday in the United States.
Director Michael Ritchie would take a stab at some of that boxing success, after a string of other sports films including The Bad News Bears.
While not a hugely successful film, and panned by critics as being derivative; Matt and Trevor make the case that a fresh watch in 2019 isn't a wholly unwelcome thing.
With an all-star cast including Louis Gossett Jr., Heather Graham, Oliver Platte, Tex Cobb, and Jim Caviezal; the crackling dialogue and the Sting-like grits elevate this beyond any simple boxing movie.
Now is the time of Doom!
Now is the time of revenge!
Now is the time of high adventure!
Or... rather, 1982 was the time of Doom, revenge, and high adventure; when relative newcomer Arnold Schwarzenegger teamed with John Milius and brought the legendary pulp hero Conan of Cimmeria to the silver screen.
The R-Rated adventure epic borrowed plenty from Robert E. Howard, Texan native and Conan's creator, not only pulling from the Conan canon, (Conanon?) but from other Howard works as well.
To celebrate one year of partnership with the Hello Sweetie Podcast Network, the Nighthawks bring you this special, extra-long exploration into the bowels of beefcake masculinity, scantily clad femininity, racial ambiguity, swords, sorcery, a giant snake, and a "Weird Al" Yankovic reference within the first 30 seconds.
You'll have to wait longer for the first Invincible Ator reference.
Way back when, most of us watched a movie that scared us - but maybe at the wrong times, and about the wrong things. Then we read a story that scared us - or maybe it just filled us with premature angst? Then, someone buried that movie where the earth was sour, and now, we have a chance to watch a resurrected movie that will scare us some more…. OR WILL IT?
This episode, we took that little game we sometimes play - “Should it be remade” - and turn it into a comprehensive game of Should It Have Been Made and Also Should it Have Been Remade as we talk all things Pet Semetary (including that odd spelling).
We’re comparing the (very) 1989 release of Pet Semetary to its shiny new cousin...and that means scary kid talk, scary sister talk, scary kitty talk, with some bonus book talk, and a whole lot of Fred Gwynne love.
By the time we’re done pitting these differing adaptations against each other, the scorecard may just surprise you.
We also delve, once more, into the filmability of stephen King - a man with so many book-to-film adaptations under his belt you can basically build any resume you choose for him.
Also, we’re doing what we can to bring attention to our friends at Watchtower Coffee and Comics and their plan to relocate their space - you can check that out at:
https://bit.ly/2JmQJBd
In 2014 a woman facing insurmountable odds in the American legal system, published a telling memoir about the most elite poker game to hit either the East or West coasts.
Molly Bloom published Molly’s Game, about her stellar achievements in the world of (mostly) legitimate underground poker. Molly’s book named some names of the many Hollywood heavy swingers that used to sit around Molly’s poker table, pulling in million dollar pots.
After the book was released, Molly’s journey continued, and the story, including the publishing of the book, was adapted into a movie, directed by Aaron Sorkin.
Make sense?
Molly’s Game isn’t a movie that fits into an easy category for a quick sell. But it is an interesting story, about a fascinating person, who did some impressive things, and faces daunting adversity. On top of that you have Jessica Chastain, Idris Elba, and Michael Cera filling out the cast.
The boys in the cafe sit down for a hand of liar’s poker as they discuss both the book and the movie.
Speaking of conversations at cafes involving books and movies, our friends at the Watchtower Cafe in Salt Lake City, Utah are moving and looking to be better than ever. The boys discuss this in the episode, and the Watchtower Kickstarter can be found here:
https://bit.ly/2W1yqrk
If you can, please consider donating or sharing the campaign.
This is the end...
My beautiful friend...
After 11 years, Disney/Marvel takes its victory lap, bringing a huge amount of closure to a franchise that spans over 20 films since 2008.
As is discussed in the episode, the twists and turns of Endgame come early in the film, and there's not much granular discussion to be had about the film, without spoilers.
That being said, the Nighthawks take the opportunity to discuss their reactions to the film without any spoilers, the state of the Marvel franchise, and a hot take about the dateability of Seth Rogen.
For those of you who have seen the film, there is an audible warning, and then the Nighthawks will talk about the film spoilers and all. Again, no spoilers at the beginning, audible warning, spoilers at the back half of the episode.
Was the great Marvel gambit (heh) worth it?
What do you think?
It's a Marvel prequel. Although the boys call it the first, in the episode, it's not.
Where Captain America: The First Avenger took us back to World War II, Captain Marvel: The First Female Lead Marvel Hero Movie takes us back to Operation Desert Storm.
Not that the Middle Eastern conflict plays heavily into the story of Carol Danvers and her fantastic super powers, but the setting of the early 90s is important.
Captain Marvel manages to evoke a nostalgia for a largely untapped 90s market, while also managing to cater to a largely untapped female market.
While it can be a disservice to call this "A Female Superhero Movie" as an assignment of genre, we do feel that it's a Superhero Movie that very much deals with female identity in modern society, and serves as an allegory for the fight for women's rights.
The political angles on this have some Marvel fans ruffling their feathers, but...
Get used to it. Captain Marvel is blazing a trail, and the Nighthawks think this is just one example of many more inclusive movies to come.
Happy New Year to all of the listeners of the Nighthawks Podcast.
As the slow march of time slowly ticks over an arbitrary number assigned by men to account for revolutions around the sun, the boys decide to join in the festivities with a movie that starts with a New Year's Eve Celebration.
According to the mythology of The Poseidon Adventure, just after midnight on New Years Eve, a rogue wave struck and capsized the SS Poseidon, as it was on its final voyage.
Stuck on the boat is a handful of survivors led by a rebellious preacher (Gene Hackman), with backup from the immortal Shelly Winters, Ernest Borgnine, Red Buttons, Carol Lynley, and Jack Albertson.
It's a disaster tale of survival and thrills as the midnight hour brings calamity to The Poseidon Adventure.
You're traveling through another dimension, a dimension not only of sight and sound but of mind. A journey into a wondrous land whose boundaries are that of imagination. That's the signpost up ahead—your next stop, the Twilight Z-Ho-Ho-Ho-ne!
It is the holiday season, and as many people, both secular and spiritual, gather for feasts and get-togethers, the Nighthawks serve up something special.
Leaving the realm of cinemas for a short story told on a small screen, the Nighthawks Diner passes into the 5th dimension, as Matt and Trevor discuss an episode of the classic anthology series, The Twilight Zone.
Grist for discussion in this episode is Night of the Meek, a Christmas-based episode for the 'Zone, starring Art Carney as a down-and-out drunk of a department store Santa. Think if Miracle on 34th Street ended up being about the drunk Santa at the beginning, then he falls into some Tim Allen Santa Clause action.
Spiritually based holidays in the modern age, holiday based programming, and the grander phenomenon of The Twilight Zone, are all served up with a side of spiral ham and a glass of egg nogg. Kick back, stoke the Yule Log, and give us a listen after you finish arguing with your sister about Die Hard.
Our last episode was full of characters. Main characters, side characters, comic relief characters, live characters, dead characters, even weird child characters.
We decided this time out, we’d go for something a little more bottled up.
A little more nocturnal. You might say we’re putting the podcast on … Cruise control.
We’re watching the 2004, Michael Mann helmed Tom Cruise/Jamie Foxx vehicle Collateral, the story of a cab driver with big dreams, a hitman with a long list, and a dark night in LA.
It’s a game of cat and mouse as cab driver Max (Fox) tries to avoid ending up dead or in prison after the tightly-wound hitman Vincent (Cruise) shanghais Max into being his driver for a series of hits.
We picked Collateral because we think it’s a cool thriller with a lot of well stylized action, great banter, and a rooted- yet surreal- sense of place.
Despite all this, Collateral is a little bit forgotten - in that respect, you could say it’s a cousin to another one of Cruise’s out of franchise efforts, 2014’s Edge of Tomorrow.
So buckle your seat belts, get some In and Out from the drive through, and get ready to...Cruise...through LA.
The holidays are upon us, and many U.S. Americans are smack dab in the middle of having just had an awkward meal with their families and gearing up for another one, less than a month later.
At least during the holidays it's an event we can plan for. We know there will be food, we know there will be arguing over politics, we know that at the end of the day we can gather around the warm glow of the television for a shot at a parade or a football game and renew our bonds with each other. What really is the pits, is when you have these family gatherings unplanned, and with a lot of stress involved.
The Nighthawks podcast salutes the awkward family gatherings surrounding the holidays with an awkward family gathering at a funeral.
Rip Torn plays the deceased, Piper Laurie his suicidal widow, Hank Azaria his failed actor son, Ray Romano his perverted lawyer son, Debra Winger his bigoted daughter, and Kelley Preston as the daughter who is gearing up for a same-sex wedding in 2004.
Add to that Zooey Deschanel as a manic pixie dream girl who is simultaneously trying to juggle her horrible family and her left-it-at-a-weird place summer romance.
Eulogy is the lone film credit for writer/director Michael Clancy, and it was not well received among critics at the time. Well, Matt and Trevor are critics NOW, and they say that the critics of 2004 were totally unfair. Are they right? You be the judge.
Look, folks. Vote.
That's the takeaway, here. That's all we want you to do, is just exercise your right, should that be something you possess.
We acknowledge that some of our listeners may not be eligible. We know that some of our listeners don't live in the United States of America. Some people who hear this episode, won't do so until some far flung date well after the election at hand is long decided.
There's stuff for those people too. Matt and Trevor take a dive into The Purge franchise, examining the third movie in the series- The Purge: Election Year. Not only do the Nighthawks apply their usual compliments of Nighthawks gravy, as they talk about the movies and what they mean to them. But the boys also use the occasion to examine political allegory in artistic works, and its place in society.
Also, it doesn't hurt that this is a movie where Frank Grillo kicks quite a lot of ass.
But more than any of that, just vote.
The Nighthawks cafe turns the special Monstoberfest neon sign off, for another year, but if we're going to go out, we're taking the rest of the world with us.
Nothing is sacred as the Matt an Trevor take a deep bite of Orson Welles' legendary radio broadcast, that panicked an entire nation!
Or... did it?
It is the 80th Anniversary of the Halloween Eve broadcast that would go down in infamy, and propel its director into putting together the (arguably) greatest American film ever made.
From the people who brought you Citizen Kane (Orson Welles), Casablanca (Howard Koch), and Psycho (Bernard Hermann serves as Welles' orchestra leader). Assembled talent that would become synonymous with "Hollywood," first took their stab at terrifying a nation wirelessly.
Just how successful were they?
A download of the original War of the Worlds broadcast is available from Archive.org.
As a child, Trevor spent his years never owning a My Buddy doll or a Teddy Ruxpin.
As a child, Matt spent his time sneaking horror movies on HBO, in his friend's basement.
As a child, Mark was exposed to killer dolls at way too young an age, by his sister.
Child's Play, the iconic film about a killer doll inhabited by the soul and being of a Chicago serial killer, was omni-present during the childhood of the Nighthawks, as well as their guest host Mark Ball.
For this episode during Monstoberfest, the three talk about 1988's classic horror film, Child's Play. A movie about malicious toys, getting parents to believe you, getting the police to believe the parents, and teaching Chris Sarandon how to drive in crisis situations.
Another slice of Halloween pie for our listeners.
Mark's finalist bumper for Fantastic Fest, Chief Hopper Clowns Around, can be found here: https://youtu.be/lLManXXxpj4
Much of Mark's action figure photography can be found on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/fancy_mark/?hl=en
Doom chords, creeping voices, killer artwork, and heavy metal family values are deftly painted on the screen, in this sophomore effort from Tasmanian filmmaker Sean Byrne.
The first film in 2018's REVENGE OF MONSTOBER FEST takes the boys from the comforts of the Nighthawks Diner, to the inky black, humid, and hot hills of Texas' Williamson County. A married couple of rock and roll artists from nearby Austin have locked in their dream home at an unbeatable price.
Meanwhile, a confused killer who tries to keep his literal demons at bay by playing doom chords on a guitar, decides he wants to return home. A home currently occupied by a transplant Austin family.
A criminally underwatched classic for fans of Heavy Metal, Horror Movies, and top-tier genre performances. The Devil's Candy delivers on its sweetness.
But the Nighthawks can't do anything the easy way. Not unlike the conflict of a struggling artist finding his way between personal fulfillment and commercial success; The Devil's Candy is an artwork on two canvases. At issue is the 71 minute version currently available in release, and a phantom festival cut that the boys saw a few years ago, with 11 extra minutes of content.
Did the 11 minutes make a difference?
Tune in and see... if you dare!
Featured in the film is the artwork of Stephen Kasner, who was briefly profiled in this 2017 piece from Clevescene-dot-com:
https://www.clevescene.com/scene-and-heard/archives/2017/03/23/local-artist-whose-twisted-paintings-appear-in-horror-flick-will-introduce-film-at-capitol
Nothing Fancy this time around, folks. The boys are talking trailers, that you can watch right here, right now. Links below, current as of the date of the episode:
Historic Trailers...
Star Wars- Episode 1: The Phantom Menace- https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Fo--sWDK_nU&feature=youtu.be
Terminator 2: Judgement Day- https://youtu.be/-W8CegO_Ixw
Superheroes are go…
Dark Phoenix - https://youtu.be/QWbMckU3AOQ
Captain Marvel - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z1BCujX3pw8
Things are getting intense...
Assassination Nation- https://youtu.be/d9qyOGEuLY4
Hold the Dark- https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OFAwDO6b5KI
Hardy Har Har…
Holmes and Watson- https://youtu.be/-AKU-T7_rDA
Stan and Ollie- https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MdcBNrjc3wo
Matt was out of the diner when this episode was recorded. Polishing his filthy mind in academic pursuits.
Sitting in for Matt is Charity O'Haodagain, a mainstay of the Hello Sweetie Podcast Network. With her, Charity brings the Disney Classic feature film, A Goofy Movie.
Following the exploits of Disney's signature dog and his son, Max and Goofy set out on a cross-country road trip full of pratfall, song, dance, and special lessons about family and honesty.
Trevor had never seen A Goofy Movie Before. Charity counts it among her childhood favorites.
Can the movie win over a contemporary adult in 2018?
Spolier Alert: Yes. After all, we all need something to cling to, in this day and age.
There are no two ways around it folks.
"You can never go home again."
It's true in life, and it's mentioned probably three or four times throughout the course of the episode. Just putting out there that it could be important.
The movie for this session of coffee and pie is an old favorite of Matt's and a new notch in Trevor's belt. Believe it or not, only 50% of the Nighthawks Diner had seen Grosse Pointe Blank at the beginning of the summer of 2018. We're pleased to announce that the numbers have significantly shifted since then.
What better way to explore the trials and tribulations of attending a high school reunion, than by exploring it through the eyes of an assassin with social anxiety?
That's exactly what director George Armitage did with John Cusack in the lead role, for the 1997 film. The movie is mostly about Martin Blank, a character that disappeared on prom night, ten years previous, and is now considering attending his class reunion. It would be as simple as reconnecting with old friends and rekindling an old romance, but Martin hasn't led the most savory life since graduation.
A B-story throughout involves Martin's career as a hitman and assassin. Dan Akroyd plays a rival hitman who is trying to get Martin to join a newly formed hitman guild, or get him out of the way permanently. The result is a coming-of-a-certain-age comedy, mixed with some genuinely handled Hollywood Action.
The boys let you know exactly what it's like revisiting a movie, that was about revisiting high school, twenty years after the movie was released.
The American serial killer who dubbed himself "Zodiac" began his reign of terror in 1968 and was never officially identified or captured.
50-years later, the mystery and the allure of the Zodiac crimes remains the white whale for many professional and amateur investigators alike. The obsession over the case is the centerpiece theme to the 2007 film "Zodiac" from film auteur David Fincher.
You may remember Fincher from such films as Fight Club and Seven ("Alien 3 doesn't get enough visual love." -Matt), but Fincher takes his first bite of (mostly) non-fiction in this Police/Journalism procedural.
From Fincher's take on the obsession surrounding the case, from Robert Downey Jr.'s worst case scenario performance in Paul Avery, to Anthony Edwards' Bill Armstrong escaping the case with his soul, we see a complicated and woven tale. Not only about an enticing mystery, but about the price tag that comes with trying to solve it.
In solidarity with our Hello Sweetie Podcast Network sisters over at "This is the Place," the Nighthawks bring you this extra-long True Crime special. Much like Zodiac is about obsession, the Zodiac episode is also about the grander phenomenon of True Crime as a societal interest. Why is this particular genre doing so well in this day and age?
It's a hot take, right off the griddle and onto the blue plate special, at the conceptual Nighthawks Diner. Pull up a spot in the booth, get comfy, and lets talk about movies and True Crime.
For more show notes including photos from Trevor's trip to Holcomb, Kansas and links mentioned in the episode, check out www.nighthawkspodcast.com
Oh, mama! Can this really be another prequel?!
The Disney/Lucasfilms Juggernaut continues to roll with the Star Wars franchise, post-JJ Abrams, with the latest "anthology film"- Solo: A Star Wars Story.
Following the life and times of a young(er) Han Solo, Chewbacca, and Lando Calrissian. We see the motley crew of rogue and peasants fall in line with a smuggler and thief named Beckett (Woody Harrelson) as he attempts to steal valuable hyperdrive fuel for the sinister Dryden Voss (Paul Bettany) and his lieutenant, Qu'ira (Emilia Clarke).
It's smugglers, thieves, pirates, rogues, scoundrels, crime bosses, and outer space train heists. This movie has it all, and if it were taken on its own merits... probably represents a good film.
But this isn't just any movie. This is STAR WARS...
Big news from the little Nighthawks diner on, this, our three-year anniversary for the podcast.
First things first, it is official: Matt, Trevor, and all the fictitious staff of the conceptual Nighthawks diner will be joining the Hello Sweetie Podcast Network out of Salt Lake City, Utah. While the partnership with the network wont change operations at the diner, we're excited to begin recommending some exciting new podcasts that we think our listeners will enjoy.
Hello Sweetie began as a podcast 7 years ago, and they are at the threshold of their 300th episode. Following that episode, the Hello Sweetie Podcast will go into a cocoon, become a pupa, and will quickly blossom into the Hello Sweetie Podcast Network. The network will not only be bringing you your dose of coffee and pie from the Nighthawks Diner, but you'll also get a dash of regional true crime with This is the Place, a pinch of RPGs and laughter with Dungeons and Comedy, and the girl-geek hot-take on pop culture from the most notorious Sweeties in the Rockies with The Box.
The Hello Sweetie 300th, and Final, Episode will be recorded in front of a live audience, and will commence with a Network Launch Party. The record is at Club 50 West in Salt Lake City, Utah; 7:00 pm; June 8th, 2018.
The Nighthawks will be there to introduce the show to a brand new audience, and to congratulate the Sweeties on 7 years and 300 episodes of strong-as-hell female geek programming. Join us and buy Matt and Trevor a beer.
For the 3rd year anniversary, the boys wanted to roll out a special title.
Often considered one of the greatest directors to have ever lived, Alfred Hitchcock took a step back when he made the influential Psycho from 1960. The small, unassuming black and white movie followed Hitchcock's previous thriller, North by Northwest starring the unflappable Cary Grant.
Psycho seems to not only embrace Hitchcock's title of "Master of Suspense" but also transcends it. Sharing DNA with horror and slasher films for decades to come, Psycho left an indelible mark on film making and audiences around the world.
Join the boys for coffee and pie as they discuss this undeniable Paramount classic.
Thanks for sticking with us, those of you who have been there since the beginning. To those of you who are new: welcome. We have plenty of rooms available...
As of this writing, The Avengers: Infinity War is on pace to shatter a $2-billion global box office.
The superheroes have arrived, and it doesn't matter if you like it or not, they're here to stay. After all, they're stronger than us, and can make demands of our Earthly dollars.
However, there was another time. A time when the most definitive superhero franchise involved neon lights, rubber nipples, butts, and Schwarzenegger dealing out bad ice-themed puns. (I scream, you scream, we all scream for Ice Themes.)
(Sorry.)
After Schumacher put his stank on Batman, but before Hugh Jackman and Sir Patrick Stewart would put their stank on X-Men, there was a weird little superhero comic book adaptation experiment. This movie would dare to play on the tropes of comic book superheroes, in a time when those tropes had not been solidly cast in stone, on the silver screen.
The experiment was a financial failure.
Mystery Men is a superhero comedy about a rag-tag group of "other" guys, who decide to "avenge" a grievous wrong done to the city's main superhero. Starring the likes of William H. Macy, Janeane Garofalo, Hank Azaria, Geoffery Rush, Greg Kinnear, Tom Waits, Ricky Jay, Kel Mitchell, Artie Lange, Eddie Izzard, Claire Forlani, Michael Bay, and (yes) Ben Stiller.
Trevor says that Mystery Men is an effective movie, that not only holds up, but was wildly ahead of its time.
Matt watched it one time in the 90s, and was mostly underwhelmed.
Will a new watch-through change minds?
Will this episode change yours?
Pull up a booth, pour a cup of coffee, and join us in the Nighthawks Diner.
There's a lot to be said about The Avengers: Infinity War. There's a lot to discuss, there's a lot to examine, there's a lot to question. There's also a lot to spoil.
Walking that fine line, like they do, the denizens of the Nighthawks Diner have divided this episode up into two separate parts: Spoiler-Free, and Spoiler-Riddled. If you want to avoid spoilers in this episode, a rough verbal approximation, but wholly different and distinguishable from the genuine article, Thanos will let you know when to stop listening.
In our first segment, a broad strokes discussion on Trevor and Matt's general feelings about the movie. As well as a frank discussion, looking back on 10 years of the Marvel Cinematic Universe Franchise. Has the grand Marvel experiment fully paid off?
In the second half... the boys get down to the granular grist of what happens in the latest Marvel tent pole. But the less said about that here, the better.
The Nighthawks Diner is many things to many people.
It's conceptual. That's how it works.
For some people, it's a great place for coffee and pie, after you catch a movie. For others, it's a good place for coffee and pie, after you catch a buzz.
No matter if you're satiating your artistic interpretation, or satiating your munchies; Jennie the Waitress has you.
But on 4/20, the Nighthawks like to celebrate both breeds. In this special TOTALLY UNCENSORED and TOTALLY SPOILER-FILLED episode, Matt and Trevor decide to celebrate the unofficial holiday, by exalting one of the most beloved stoners of the silver screen:
The Dude.
We've been sitting on this episode idea for a very long time, and now the time has come.
An off-the-wall mixture of the grittiest of film noir and the indiest of film character study, THE BIG LEBOWSKI is a Coen Brothers movie that stands on its own. A movie that belongs nowhere, yet is so beloved it is synonymous with cult following.
We're not kidding. There's a religion.
Want some good movie chatter with your edibles, or lack thereof?
The Nighthawks abide.
Much like the slice of conceptual pie that our listeners treat themselves to at the end of every NIGHTHAWKS episode, this slice of the NIGHTHAWKS PODCAST is indulgent.
The boys sit down and reach into the slimy and slippery muck that is their interior feelings, you'll find this movie nestled snug against the heartstrings: GONE IN 60 SECONDS (2000).
Not the O.G. exploitation movie from the 1970s, this remake comes to us straight from the turn of the millennium. A car theft ring runs afoul of the law, meaning that the head heist-er is on the hook for 50 cars, to be stolen in a matter of hours.
It's up to the retired master thief, Memphis Raines, to sail into industrial Los Angeles to bail out the young hotness, who also happens to be Memphis's estranged brother.
Starring a cavalcade of stars in an ensemble car-chase heist film, GONE IN 60 SECONDS is an official NIGHTHAWKS "Underappreciated Gem."
Listen, gang. The Nighthawks get it. We're not out to snag a few clicks and a few downloads by offering a contrarian opinion to the Zeitgeist.
However, they also feel the need to be completely honest with you, and the truth is that sometimes these opinions run contrary to the overwhelming opinion of the populace. The Nighthawks' track record for Oscar predictions should be testament to that.
That being said, the world seems ready to love and embrace Ready Player One.
Trevor and Matt are not among those people.
This doesn't mean that people are wrong, there's no need to flame in the comments, and The Nighthawks don't think any less of those who disagree. But when it came to Ready Player One, the boys found their after-dinner-cake to be heavy on frosting and light on actual cake.
Sit back. Enjoy. Agree and embrace. Argue and test your might. When it comes to art, there are no wrong opinions.
Except Asylum's Shark Week. That movie can go to hell.
It is the 60th Episode of Nighthawks Podcast, and it is time for the 90th annual Academy Awards.
In just a few short days, Hollywood (the broad concept) will gather at the Kodak Dolby Theatre in Hollywood (the actual physical place) to celebrate each other and to celebrate the art of film. Meanwhile, outside, Angelinos will be laying on the horn and screaming at traffic, wondering why it’s taking them an hour to even get on the 101.
But inside the theatre is where the interesting stuff happens. This is the Nighthawks Podcast, if you want the other stuff listen to KJLH radio’s traffic report.
Joining us for a third year in a row is the official Nighthawks Oscar Czar, Cameron Maris, who guides Matt and Trevor through some hand selected categories and nominees, in an attempt to figure out who is going to take home the weird little naked man who covers his nudity with a sword.
This is the second of our two episodes covering the Oscars, if you missed the first episode, check it out. We’re fully convince that we’re better people after making it, why not you for listening?
It is a time of fabulous celebration, million-dollar dresses, hundred-million-dollar movies, and billion dollar returns. But more than the monetary value, and the superficial outward appearance, Hollywood is getting together this weekend to honor achievement in film.
Joining us for a third year in a row is the official Nighthawks Oscar Czar, Cameron Maris, who guides Matt and Trevor through some of the interesting changes that the Academy has gone through in the last few years, and what that could potentially mean for the future of the awards.
This is the first of our two episodes covering the Oscars, stay tuned this week for our double-dip at the Oscar fondue, where we will explore this year's nominees, as well as our head and heart bets. But if you want to play along at home, you'd better beef up with THIS particular Oscar pre-game tailgate party, right in the Nighthawks Cafe.
words of the prophet Mercury:
"Is this the real life?
Is this just fantasy?"
Well, in as much as we're prerecorded voices speaking from a conceptual diner, this is (in the words of another Prophet, I. Ron Sheik) "the real." What is not real is the movie we're watching for this episode of the Nighthawks Podcast. Well, the movie is real enough, but it's about actors in the "real" (not real) world, who inhabited a fantasy world (double not real) and then get mixed up in a space battle in the "real" (still not real) world.
It makes more sense in the podcast. It's like The Three Amigos- IN SPACE
Galaxy Quest is a film from 1999, that had a modest box office, and then went largely untalked about for nearly 20 years, before streaming accessibility reminded fans, old and new, what a delightful film it is.
But is Galaxy Quest a parody of such science fiction properties as Star Trek, or is it something more? Something bigger? Something different?
Pour a cup of coffee, as we boldly go into the granular grist of Galaxy Quest.
Come with us, across the Atlantic and into the Great White North, as the boys in the Nighthawks Diner explore the Norwegian black comedy IN ORDER OF DISAPPEARANCE.
Equal parts FARGO-era Coen Bros. and Scandinavian Noir (Nordic Noir... "Noirdic?"), this little movie has a lot going on for it. A favorite of festival audiences, IN ORDER OF DISAPPEARANCE seems to have fallen between the cracks with mainstream audiences in the U.S. Why is this? Is it the cultural differences? Is it the subtitles? Is it the relative age of the characters?
Matt and Trevor take a superficial glance at IN ORDER OF DISAPPEARANCE, in the hopes that our listeners will give it a chance and check it out. If you've already seen the film, take a peek behind the spoiler curtain and get granular with us.
The Netflix tentpole big-budget-juggernaut was released on Netflix recently.
Is Netflix's future so BRIGHT they have to wear shades? Or is the new David Ayer film BRIGHT low on luster?
The shadow of sexual misconduct hangs over the film's writer, Hollywood legacy Max Landis. Is it possible to separate art from artist?
The boys in the Nighthawks cafe have to see if they can sort out a lot of problems, and even more expository world building, to get to the heart of a film that's big on ideas, but maybe not so hot on execution.
What's more is, in honor of BRIGHT's shortlisting for a Best Makeup and Hairstyling Oscar nomination, we decide to give you an update on the road to the Academy Awards. Nighthawks' own Oscar Czar, Cameron Maris swings by the Nighthawks diner AFTER the episode, for a very special awards season update.
We are one with The Force, The Force is with us. We are one with The Force, The Force is with us. We are one with The Force, The Force is with us.
In Nighthawks Episode 55, we talk about Star Wars Episode VIII- The Last Jedi. Like Donnie Yen wandering deftly, but blindly, through the crossfire, Matt and Trevor wander into the battleground as they opine about the latest film in the core Star Wars saga.
A movie that has proven to be divisive among fans, it seems like you either love it or hate it. The Nighthawks have their own opinions about the film. They also, in a not-too-surprising meta twist, have their own opinions about your opinions.
Then again, the movie seems to have an opinion about all of our opinions.
Director Rian Johnson, of LOOPER and BRICK fame, takes the 2017 edition of the Star Wars franchise into bold new territories, subverting expectations, forging ahead, and putting its own brand on the beloved property. Did they go a step too far?
Meanwhile, the political conversation continues to boil. Is The Last Jedi an allegory for our modern political spheres? Our modern pop culture fan spheres? Both?
Or is this Carababba tabac cigarra just a cigarra?
Join us at the conceptual Nighthawks cafe as we avoid the Star Wars Christmas Special, and talk about the wars among the stars that you want to hear about.
Disagree with us? Agree? Let us know.
Trevor and Matt play a game of catch-up for this episode. Having covered Star Wars from Episodes 1-7, over two episodes back in 2015, it's time for another double feature.
In Nighthawks Episode 54, the boys discuss 2016's Rogue One- A Star Wars Story. Matt makes a shocking confession about where he places the newest Star Wars prequel in his personal ranking of excellence, and Trevor ranks them differently, but compelling cases are made.
A bold new direction for the Star Wars franchise, tonally and stylistically, this isn't your grandfather's Star Wars. Or, more accurately, it's closer to your grandfather's idea of a "War" film than one might give credit for, walking in blind.
On top of being a prequel and on top of being a recent release in a turbulent fan culture, Rogue One caught some political flack as to its casting choices. Is Rogue One a bold step forward for a more inclusive Hollywood? Or is it an affront to the choices made in the classic trilogy.
Matt and Trevor have a few opinions about that...
Here we are, we're going to wade into the fray. But suffice it to say, if we were on the Disney payroll, we'd be driving better cars.
Tonight the Nighthawks talk about a movie in current release, the latest WB/DC Tent Pole event film: Justice League.
Not unlike THE AVENGERS that came before (in many cases waaaay not unlike enough), WB/DC slams a bunch of bankable (?) heroes into a Save-the-Cat film, that resembles so many other films of its kind, we almost kind of would rather have watched them.
While neither Matt nor Trevor "hated" or even "disliked" Justice League, they don't hold back in the opinion that they were expecting a little bit more, and the puzzlement as to why they didn't get more.
From the filmmakers behind Found Footage 3D: "When he's hired to document the behind-the-scenes action of the ultralow-budget horror movie Spectre of Death ("the first 3D found-footage horror film"), an aspiring filmmaker packs up his camera and travels with the film's crew to a creepy cabin in the woods. But when the fictional evil presence from their film begins appearing in his behind-the-scenes footage, he has to figure out how to stop it, or it just may find its way into the real world. In the same way that Scream deconstructed the slasher sub-genre in the 90’s, FF3D takes a found-footage horror movie and populates it with people who are aware of all of the rules, tricks, and clichés of the genre. They know how to make a found footage movie. But do they know how to survive one?"
FOUND FOOTAGE 3D, the latest release from SHUDDER, is a meta exercise, a pitch black comedy, a geek screed against the mundane, and a fully functional horror movie.
To help Trevor and Matt reveal all the Matryoshka dolls of FF3D is the film's writer and director, Steven DeGennaro. In this full interview, DeGennaro walks the Nighthawks through a soup-to-nuts behind-the-scenes look at this sharply funny and deviously clever entry in the meta horror lexicon.
It's the most murder filled time of the year!
It's October, and that means it's time for MONSTOBERFEST RETURNS. This is by-and-large because October is when Halloween is, which gives us a good excuse to watch spooky movies. Movies like the aptly named slasher classic, John Carpenter's HALLOWEEN.
But October 2017 is something truly special, as well. To make things extra spooky, October also hosted a 13th day on a Friday. Which means it's a good time to break out the classic copy of Sean S. Cunningham's FRIDAY THE 13th.
Both about misfortune befalling fumble-prone horny teenagers, when mysterious killers begin picking them off in a brutal, and gruesome manner.
In what ways are these two major slasher films the same? In what ways are they different?
Have a seat in the booth and join the conversation.
Two years ago, this podcast took a monstrous turn.
We are, of course, being cheeky. In October of 2015 the Nighthawks were actually kind of finding a stride, and in quick succession they launched their October Halloween programming. The original Monstoberfest remains among the Nighthawk's favorite episodes, and are often called back to.
So, why not bring back a good thing? Every good horror property needs a sequel, right?! Dare we say, "franchise?"
Monstoberfest Returns.
In any event, we're bobbing for another bite at the Halloween apple this year, and we're kicking it off in a big way.
History is riddled with examples of toxic fan culture, and sadly it's an issue that we, as a society, have just begun to discuss. While the Nighthawks are putting a bookmark in that slot, for a more in-depth look at actual fan culture, they thought they'd take a stab at the artistic side.
1925's Phantom of the Opera is a seminal film that would help set the stage for genre films throughout history. An early silent effort, this adaptation of Gaston Leroux's novel strikes closest to the heart of the source material. Andrew Lloyd Webber may have painted a picture of a pitiful and romantic Phantom, but 1925 was far less kind. When they adapted the story about the gaslighting murderer who felt privileged to a woman's virtue, they felt he should be a bad guy. With legendary makeup effects that still hold up today, this Lon Chaney masterpiece is a must-watch for the film completest.
Good news, Phantom of the Opera is a public domain film and can be viewed numerous places online. Simply search for it.
The Nighthawks' second film is the Rob (not Carl) Reiner adaptation of Stephen King's Misery. The only King adaptation (so far eyebrow waggle) to win an Oscar. James Caan plays Paul Sheldon, a badly injured author who has been "rescued" by his number one fan, from an icy death. Annie Wilkes, played to perfection by Kathy Bates, turns out to be less of a savior and more of a nightmare. We've all heard that we should be careful meeting our heroes, sometimes it's our heroes who need saved from us.
More Monstoberfest Returns to come! Watch this space for details.
If you are a victim or have been affected by sexual assault, you are not alone. You are loved, you are supported, you are believed. The Rape, Abuse & Incest National Network (RAINN) has set up a National Sexual Assault Hotline; available 24 hours a day, 7 days a week.
Call 1-800-656-4673
For more information, check the RAINN website-
https://www.rainn.org/about-national-sexual-assault-telephone-hotline
There's been a lot said over the past few weeks about some of the brands that we have traditionally supported on the show, specifically Fantastic Fest and The Alamo Drafthouse. Recently criticism has been focused at Alamo Drafthouse, Fantastic Fest, and Drafthouse founder/C.E.O. Tim League, regarding the firing and rehiring of a Drafthouse employee who had been accused of sexual assault. While we felt it was important to address this controversy and discuss our feelings, we did want to avoid granular exploration of the details. As a matter of fact, several allegations against former Drafthouse associate and AIN'T IT COOL NEWS founder have surfaced even after we first put this episode "on Memorex."
The fact of the matter is, beyond the conversation that's being had online and in the media, the most important part of that conversation was happening in Austin, Texas this week, during Fantastic Fest. As we had made the decision to not attend (long before the controversy), this is a conversation that is still being had and is one that we aren't yet privy to. In that vein if the specifics of the controversy interest you, we'd like to direct your attention to the WOMEN IN CASKETS podcast. Friends of the NIGHTHAWKS, Jen and Dawn are the eponymous WOMEN IN CASKETS and they bring their perspective to genre film, episode after episode. This week the WOMEN IN CASKETS crew are front and center at Fantastic Fest, and they're offering a great perspective from the ground level of both the festival and the controversy.
However let us make one thing perfectly clear: We do not condone sexual assault under any circumstances, full stop.
Meanwhile, the real thrust of this episode is to give due attention to one of the shining lights of Fantastic Fest in years past. Mattie Do is not only remarkable for being the only female genre filmmaker in Laos, nor is she simply the only female filmmaker in Laos, period. Mattie is an effervescent tour de force of personality, who's artistry and passion have treated her well as a filmmaker. She is a major keystone in the building of a film scene in Laos, and has recently begun on the path to a possible Oscar nomination.
Variety recently said that Do was regarded as "one of Asia’s hottest new film-making talents."
Do's latest film DEAREST SISTER, our topic tonight, played Fantastic Fest 2016. Do's other directed film, CHANTHALY also played Fantastic Fest, as did RIVER- a Laos-set thriller on which Do served as a producer. Following a release on the streaming service SHUDDER in early 2017, DEAREST SISTER was submitted by the country of Laos for consideration in the "Best Foreign Language Film" category at the Academy Awards. This is the first Lao submission in the country's history.
Full disclosure, Mattie is a friend of the podcast, and when we heard the news that she was being submitted for an Oscar nomination, we knew we'd be getting into an episode on DEAREST SISTER, soon enough. While the road to nomination is long and full of pitfalls, and the road to a win even longer, we certainly wish Mattie the best of luck in the coming months. We're very excited to see this film get some recognition
Neill Blomkamp is known for such films as ELYSIUM, CHAPPIE, and DISTRICT 9. Once upon a time, he also tried to develop a few films that never made it off the ground, such as the WETA assisted HALO project, and an unused pitch for a new version of the ALIEN story, starring Sigourney Weaver.
But have you seen Blomkamps latest films? What if I told you it was only a matter of clicking a link and taking the time to watch them?
That's all it is.
Neill Blomkamp as launched Oats Studios, an artist collective that's released several projects, including some quick-bite skit-like videos; and three fully realized short films that function both as self-contained narrative and as a pitch reel for a potential future project.
Blomkamp is hoping to catch the eyes of a fanbase, to help directly fund future projects through Oats Studios. Both as expansions of their current projects and a launchpad for new ideas.
The three short films we cover in tonight's episode are:
RAKKA
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VjQ2t_yNHQs
FIREBASE
https://youtu.be/Tm0V24IEHao
ZYGOTE
https://youtu.be/pKWB-MVJ4sQ
Watch these shorts (Should take about 90 minutes, the same as a feature) then listen afterward for a little post-movie coffee and discussion. Matt and Trevor are saving you a seat at the booth...
After a prolonged hiatus, we are back to our normal operating day. Pardon our dust, mind the gap, thank you for your patience, and all of that.
Things that are discussed in this episode:
First and foremost, we have the phenomenal actor Justin Welborn, showcasing a range from the comically absurd to white hot tension with serious gravitas. You may remember Welborn from recent turns in JUSTIFIED on FX, or in the genre films SIREN and V/H/S VIRAL (two films that share DNA with today's episode.)
Before we entered into the ought-teens, the cinematic cultural landscape was rich with two different breeds of films. Teen comedies and Zombie films. While many have attempted to traverse the borders of the venn diagram to a shared space between "zombie," "teen film," and "good;" and there have been a lot of misfires where they were missing at least one of the three trifecta. However, DANCE OF THE DEAD (2008) managed to hit a bullseye and really stick the landing. A hilarious film that serves to both parody and honor films ranging from THE BREAKFAST CLUB to NIGHT OF THE LIVING DEAD. Justin Welborn and company are high school seniors dealing with a zombie outbreak on prom night.
Following that, Justin Welborn takes on hordes of a different kind. While the Nighthawks use the term "zombie film" when discussing THE SIGNAL (2007), a general "horde" label is probably more apropos. A strange signal is sent out through all of electronic media, causing anyone who witnesses it to slowly and violently lose grip on reality. In the midst of the general confusion and chaos, a long simmering love-triangle boils over in the wake of the sanity-shattering signal.
Audio clips from THE SIGNAL, 2007, courtesy of Magnolia Pictures
Audio clips from DANCE OF THE DEAD, 2008, courtesy of Lions Gate Entertainment
Shadows of the Night, written by D.L. Byron, performed by Pat Benetar, Courtesy of Chrysalis
Shadows of the Night, written by D.L. Byron, performed by Layton, as used in DANCE OF THE DEAD, Courtesy of Illicit Paradise; https://www.facebook.com/Paul-Layton-144076565612391/
Audio clips from PONTYPOOL, 2008, Courtesy of Maple Pictures
Audio clips from PUMP UP THE VOLUME, 1990, Courtesy New Line Cinema
Audio clips from SOUTHBOUND, 2015, Courtesy The Orchard
Long Hard Times To Come Written by Rench and T.O.N.E-z Performed by Gangstagrass featuring T.O.N.E-z, Courtesy Rench Audio
It’s still that time of year, again. When some of the best and brightest artists working in the medium of film, keep scrabbling and vying for the attention of a tiny little naked bald man who’s holding a sword in front of his man-business.
Matt and Trevor, the usual suspects at the cafe of our dreams, are joined by their Oscar Czar, Cameron Maris. Cameron is a Utah based musician who Trevor saw fighting a duel behind the Luxembourg in France.
As an obvious follow-up to our Oscar coverage last episode, we spend some time talking about the big time nominees and what we can expect from the winners circle, and who we'd like to see go. We continue the rundown, burning across the gamut of categories, our final destination: best picture 2017! It’s part 2 of our quest to talk Oascar with you.
Stay tuned for bonus cold open with new, never before heard EGOT talk, which drives Trevor up the wall.
Cameron Maris Will Return In Octopussy...
It's that time of year again. When some of the best and brightest artists working in the medium of film, scrabble and vie for the attention of a tiny little naked bald man who's holding a sword in front of his man-business.
Matt and Trevor, the usual pair of Nighthawks that haunt the cafe of our imagination, are joined by their Oscar Czar, Cameron Maris. Cameron is a Utah based musician who Matt found while wandering the great Salt flats on a vision quest.
As an obvious follow-up to our Oscar coverage last year, we spend some time talking about the changes that have taken place in the Academy over the past several years, and in what way those changes might change the ceremony. And then we begin the rundown, starting from the bottom and working our way to best picture, it's part 1 of our quest to talk Oascar with you.
Stay tuned for bonus coverage of the EGOT, which drives Trevor up the wall.
Coming Soon: The Final Reckoning With Cameron Maris- Oscar Special Part 2
Lee Marvin
Ernest Borgnine
Most of you are already in at this point. Lee Marvin and Ernest Borgnine are definitely a performance dream team, and that bill alone would be worth the price of admission. But, let's keep going...
Charles Bronson (American actor, not British Criminal)
Telly Savalas
Donald Sutherland.
You're fully on board now. Put something between you and this movie, that's a good way to get that something trampled. Right?
But wait, there's more.
Jim Brown
John Cassavetes
Clint Walker
Whaaaaaat?! No way! Greatest cast ever?! NO!!! THERE'S MORE!!!
George Kennedy
Richard Jaeckel
Robert Ryan
Trini Lopez
We could keep doing this because there is not a single bad performance in the whole thing.
In our ode to Richard Spenser, we decide to let one of the most testosterone laden grand-daddy ensemble film, where a rag tag group of misfits are whipped into shape for a suicidal mission. All of them criminals. Their only motivation, the foggy promise of a pardon upon their survival and safe return.
It's a trope that permeates the Hollywood landscape even today, but this is the O.G. example of the notorious group of suicidal irregulars.
Strangely lighthearted, impossibly dark, barely nuanced. This is THE DIRTY DOZEN, a movie that watches just as good now, as it did back in 1967.
Sidney Lumet, Paddy Chayefsky, Faye Dunaway, William Holden, Peter Finch, Robert Duvall, Ned Beatty.
You don't get creative talent like that everyday, and NETWORK is one of those rare "unicorn" movies that manages to pull the talent together. A biting commentary in its time, a warning of things that could be. Now, NETWORK is seen as a frighteningly prophetic piece that foretold the state of modern media.
No strangers to mass communications, Trevor and Matt manage to parse out what NETWORK was trying to say then and what it tells us now.
After successfully booting...
Then booting...
Then booting...
Then rallying, we're back with the second half of our FANTASTIC FEST coverage. Too much action for only two episodes. Stay tuned this week, for more episodes featuring Matt and Trevor talking about the movies (and television shows) that you should be looking forward to in the weeks and months to come.
Today we discuss:
M. Night Shyamalan's newest film, SPLIT, featuring the talented James McEvoy and Anna Taylor Joy.
THE GIRL WITH ALL THE GIFTS. A brand new zombie movie that is a fresh take on the genre and got Trevor excited about zombies again. Bonus: Movie is positive for Glenn Close vs. Zombies.
BAD BLACK. A curiosity from the country of Uganda that takes your eyelids and staples them to the back wall, between fits of howling laughter.
THE GREASY STRANGLER. Can a movie that was made to challenge the audience to hate it, find its audience? Evidently they did. The film's star Michael St. Michaels gives us an exclusive interview.
SHIN GODZILLA (aka GODZILLA RESURGENCE). The latest Toho adaptation of the giant screaming lizard, finds the focus not on the destructive beast, but on the government's monstrous reactions.
A MONSTER CALLS. Giant beasts, fanciful whisy, a tale about growing up. Excuse us... there's something in our eyes.
COLOSSAL. An exciting new feature from Spanish filmmaker Nacho Vigalondo, starring Anne Hathaway and Jason Sudeikis. Is it a drama about love and redemption? Is it a Kaiju movie? Why not both?
It's our special two 'hawks in one diner episode.
We've been going through some Fantastic Fear and Loathing, but unlike Hunter T, Matt and Trevor are actually covering the event.
We're live on tape from a Texas pillowfort, bringing you first half coverage from where our boots are on the ground (toes up much of the time) for week one of Fantastic Fest, the nation's largest genre film festival.
We took a few days off from our rum-drenched movie bacchanal to catch you up on goings on in Austin - join us as we talk Texas, Tacos, Shiner Bock, BBQ, Fantastic Fest, and a years' worth of movies in a week - including The Arrival, The Invisible Guest, Undisputed: Boyka, Morgan Spurlock's Rats, and our personal dark horse pick, regional chart topper from Ireland called The Young Offenders
(And we made eye contact the whole time)
Herbert West has a perfectly good head on his shoulders, and another one in a dish on his desk.
Throwing back to an episode originally recorded in 2015, we present to you this treasure from the vaults. In a theme that would later be echoed in our episode THE UNFILMABLE WILLIAM GIBSON, the boys look into a different literary auteur. H.P. Lovecraft was a pulp writer in the 1920s, who would die penniless and unrecognized. Nearly 100 years later Lovecraft has left an indelible mark on all horror to come since. Probably not since Edgar Allan Poe can we find another author who presented such a watershed moment for modern horror.
Matt and Trevor have read Lovecraft's HERBERT WEST: RE-ANIMATOR, a serialized short story about a man with Victor-Frankenstein syndrome. But re-animating corpses of humans proves to have some horrific consequences.
This short story was adapted into a 1985 film from director Stuart Gordon, H.P. LOVECRAFT'S RE-ANIMATOR. This hard-R rated salute to comedy and horror, comes from the school of classic 80s horror cinema, adopting Lovecraft's elements into a hilariously horrifying romp starring Jeffery Combs.
It's the latest entry from the DC theatrical cinematic universe. It's SUICIDE SQUAD.
It isn't very good.
But people seem to have a problem with people thinking it isn't very good.
We feel like we make a compelling case, and we certainly don't blame anyone who disagrees with us.
This is the world we live in.
Will Smith, Margot Robbie, Jai Courtney, and more team up as the villains come anti-heroes in order to save the world, but under duress.
I think. The movie isn't terribly clear.
Music:
Grand Premiere of STATUS, the official Nighthawks Podcast theme song, as re-recorded by the original artists, Chris Bucheit and Cameron Maris, under their new project: MIDDLE CLASS JOE.
Check out MIDDLE CLASS JOE on Facebook: http://bit.ly/2btsVX6
HARDER THAN YOU THINK; courtesy SLAMjamz records; Written by Chuck D, Flavor Flav, Gary G-Wiz; Performed by Public Enemy.
POPCORN; courtesy Musicor; Written By
Gershon Kingsley Charles Gordanne Michaël; Performed by Hot Butter
BEAVIS AND BUTTHEAD THEME; Courtesy Mtv; Written By Mike Judge; Performed by Mike Judge
Music from THE PRICE IS RIGHT; Courtesy CBS; written by Edd Kalehoff
FANFARE-RONDEAU; written by Jean-Joseph Mouret
BACK IN BLACK; Courtesy of Atlantic; Written by Angus Young Malcolm Young Brian Johnson; Performed by AC/DC
LET'S GET IT ON; Courtesy Tamal; Written by Ed Townsend and Marvin Gaye; Performed by Marvin Gaye
SUPERMAN'S SONG; Courtesy BMG/Arista; Written by Brad Roberts; Performed by Crash Test Dummies
YOU DON'T OWN ME; Courtesy RCA - SME; Written by David White John Madara Gerald Gillum; Performed by Grace
BOHEMIAN RHAPSODY; Courtesy EMI Elektra Parlophone Hollywood; Written by Freddie Mercury; Performed by Queen
Like a thief in the night it came out of nowhere, all pale skin and teeth. We didn't know what it was, but by the time it left us a different and more enlightened people.
STRANGER THINGS was the unable-to-be-anticipated television event of the summer. Operating a low key pre-release campaign amounting to little more than two intriguing albeit light-on-content trailers and a few billboards peppered around L.A. Relatively speaking and not unlike one of the enigmatic central characters; STRANGER THINGS came out of nowhere, with little warning, and packed a hell of a punch.
The Nighthawks, this week, opted to stay home from the cinema and binge all eight episodes of this latest offering from NETFLIX. Not only was the series found to be rich with topics for discussion, the grander phenomenon of long-form narrative television and surprise releases provide their own grist when we pay a long overdue visit the Nighthawks Trailer Cafe.
Music:
Should I Stay or Should I Go-
The Clash, from the album COMBAT ROCK. As appears in STRANGER THINGS.
STRANGER THINGS main theme-
S U R V I V E , Kyle Dixon and Michael Stein. As appearing in STRANGER THINGS.
Raise a Little Hell-
Trooper, from the album THICK AS THIEVES. As appearing in STRANGER THINGS.
Heroes-
David Bowie, from the album HEROES. As appearing in STRANGER THINGS.
Brothers In Arms-
Junkie XL, from the album MAD MAX: FURY ROAD - ORIGINAL MOTION PICTURE SOUNDTRACK. As appearing in MAD MAX: FURY ROAD.
It was 2001. Shortly after the attacks on 9/11. Directed by Michael Mann and starring the likes of Will Smith, Jamie Foxx, John Voight, Mario Van Peebles, Jada Pinkett Smith, and Joe Morton; the film Ali is released to critical acclaim and earning two Oscar nominations in short order.
It would be easy to tell the up-from-the-streets story of a young Kentucky boy named Cassius Clay. Tell the story about rising to the challenges of professional boxing as Clay battles his way to the national stage. The formulas for that story were all written long ago. But that's not where this film goes.
ALI (the film) asked some tough questions of a Country that found itself thrust into a war in Afghanistan. Obviously, Michael Mann had no idea that the United States would be the victim of a terrorist attack in the months leading up to the release of this Muhammed Ali biopic, but he doesn't "pull any punches" (sitcom laugh track.)
Instead, ALI (again, the film) faces issues like race and religion head on, as it tells the story of the greatest fight of Muhammed Ali's life: his fight against the United States of America, spanning from 1964 to 1974.
Another one from the year-one vaults. In this never-before-heard "lost" episode (this one was never so much "lost" as it was just our back up in case something went wrong) the guys in the Nighthawks cafe bend the format a bit.
Discussing two movies simultaneously, the pair watched the classic street gang genre opus THE WARRIORS and also watched the documentary RUBBLE KINGS about the very real world that inspired THE WARRIORS.
The streets of the South Bronx were a no man's land where police feared to go and ambulances dared not enter. Street gangs on every corner threatened violence at any moment. In the fictional world of THE WARRIORS a street gang is framed for a transgression that they didn't commit, while deep behind enemy lines. In RUBBLE KINGS it's up to the anti-gang gang to try to broker a peace and keep the youngsters of New York from murdering each other.
Where one gives credibility to the other, you'll be shocked at where the real vs. reel line is for THE WARRIORS.
Well ladies and gentlemen, I can't speak for Matt, but when we started this podcast one year ago, I wasn't sure what it would become. I didn't know if it would be just us talking to the ether, finding an audience exclusively among our friends and parents, or if it would actually be (what we refer to in the industry as) "a thing."
12 months removed from our first episode where we reviewed MAD MAX FURY ROAD, I can say with some degree of assurance that THE NIGHTHAWKS PODCAST is "a thing." This is due in no small measure to all of our listeners. From those regulars who have been listening since the beginning to the people who will undoubtedly listen to this as their first episode. We cannot thank you enough for lending an ear to our endeavor. This wouldn't be fun if we were talking to nobody, and we likely would have given up long ago. So... thank you for allowing that not to happen.
The podcast continues to grow and evolve, and we still want that feedback. Let us know what you'd like to see in the year to come. Just a few notes: we will be returning to FANTASTIC FEST in Austin TX this year. We have our eyeballs on a few other festivals that we might attend in the as-yet-unforeseen future, as well as some really great show ideas and some tentative deals struck with some very special guests.
What better way to ring in the NIGHTHAWKS new year than by relaxing with a good movie. And what better movie than a movie about the movies? SUNSET BOULEVARD (or "SUNSET BLVD," depending on who you ask) is Billy Wilder's acerbic critique of the darker side of fame, Hollywood, and the film industry. William Holden plays Joe Gillis, a down and out writer who finds himself tangled in the web of Norma Desmond, a once great actress who is clawing the walls trying not to be lost in a world that has forgotten her.
A cast of actors playing themselves, a version of themselves, or a composite of their colleagues bring the stark yet fascinating world of 1950s Sunset Boulevard to life.
No stranger to West Hollywood, we've discussed the neighborhood before, see Episode 4, Episode 5, and Episode 24. But this isn't the rambunctious sunset strip of the 60s, this is the tail end of a gilded age for Hollywood where the tarnish of reality is beginning to show around the edges.
Matt and Trevor discuss why the movie resonated so strongly then, and why (tragically) it still resonates today. One thing is for certain: we'll never forget Norma Desmond.
Sometimes you just can't help the way things work out.
The lion's share of this "lost" episode was recorded in November of 2015. The new wrap-around intro and outro was recorded in February of 2016. Today we decided to quit sitting on it and just release the thing.
Unfortunately, no sooner than we began uploading to file to our podcast host, then it was discovered that Madeleine Lebeau has died at the age of 92. Lebeau was considered by many to be the last living cast member of Casablanca.
After careful consideration, we've decided to release the "lost" CASABLANCA episode as originally planned and hope that people understand the context under which it was created and posted, and don't see it as an insensitive traffic grab on our parts. We're saddened to learn of the passing of this remarkable actress, who (in real life) escaped Nazi-occupied France with her then-husband, who also appears in the film. Our thoughts and sympathies go out to Ms. Lebeau, her family, and her loved ones.
Casablanca, a story about love, passion, espionage, intrigue, action, and more than a few laughs is a favorite of one of the Nighthawks hosts, and is a new acquisition of the other. In this episode we discuss the classic old Hollywood favorite and why it still seems to work all of these years later.
A belated order of Mother's Day love to the moms at the Nighthawks cafe. We're not talking about Peggy, the Nighthawks cafe waitress with the matronly instincts that makes sure that we eat all of our meat before we have our pudding. No, we're talking about our ACTUAL mothers; they who have given birth and succor to Trevor and Matt.
In this episode the boys have discovered that their respective mothers share something in common: a healthy respect for Robert Redford and Paul Newman. For a special longer-than-average episode, the guys discuss BUTCH CASSIDY & THE SUNDANCE KID (a favorite of Mrs. Matt's Mom) and THE STING (beloved by Mrs. Trevor's Mom).
These two films showcase the broad-spectrum wide appeal of Redford and Newman. The screen radiates as the actors ooze charisma, all while the snappy repartee crackles off the deftly written page and onto the screen.
The dynamic duo plays thieves in both films, armed with six shooters in one and cock-sure confidence in the other. While the rakish Robin Hood capering leads to a slick heist in THE STING, BUTCH & SUNDANCE takes a minute to get real and explore some heavy themes.
Love of these films must be hereditary, as the boys seem to carry a great deal of affection for them, too.
When the Nighthawks Podcast first started off, there were two things the guys wanted to do:
1.) To aid in the accessibility of film as an art form.
2.) To shine a light on films that people may have missed.
The meat and potatoes of this episode comes solidly from these goals. In this episode Matt and Trevor discuss two films, with strong female protagonists, where the main characters have to overcome a deprivation of their senses. These are films that not only share a theme of sensory deprivation, not only are they movies with strong female leads, they're also movies that may have escaped the attention of the movie-going public at large.
First up the horror-action home-invasion thriller HUSH. Directed/co-written by OCULUS helmer Mike Flanagan, and co-written/starring Kate Siegel, HUSH follows a deaf mute author living on her own in rural Alabama, as she is beset upon by a particularly sardonic killer. Hot off the griddle at SXSW 2016, the film was picked up by NETFLIX and is currently streaming on that service. Having eschewed a wide national theatrical release, the boys discuss why an expedient home release may have been a good move in this case.
Second course is the Spanish-Language mystery thriller JULIA'S EYES. Directed by Guillem Morales and produced by Guillermo del Toro, the film follows a woman racing the clock set by her own deteriorating vision, to try and answer questions left in the wake of her sister's alleged suicide. A creepy and cerebral whodunnit that utilizes an interesting device in depicting blindness on screen. JULIA'S EYES is available on several pay-per-view streaming sites including Amazon, Google Play, and iTunes for about $3.00. It is also available through the SHUDDER streaming service as part of their library.
Admittedly the Nighthawks haven't dabbled in the Devil's Lettuce in a while, but with such a ripe field to choose from, they couldn't turn down the opportunity to talk about a stoner comedy for the occasion.
The origins you hear about 4/20, the official/unofficial stoner holiday, are about as varied as the people you ask. Some people are very observant and will be partaking in the cash crop of Colorado during April 20th, others may not be so inclined.
Either way it's a cultural phenomenon and, even though it's been... checks watch ...a while since the Nighthawks have celebrated 4/20 in the fashion, they decided to explore a stoner movie anyway. The smokers aren't the only ones allowed to have fun.
This 4/20 film is HALF BAKED, an all-but-forgotten title from the late 90s that the boys just can't bring themselves to call a "forgotten gem." While the movie succeeds at what it aims to do (which isn't much), there's a lot to explore, including sowing the seeds of a comedy juggernaut that would fly past HALF BAKED and become regular vocabulary for the Zeitgeist at large.
From the comedy genius of Dave Chapelle to the comedy... stylings... of Jim Breuer, HALF BAKED is the movie that we roll up and smoke in the alley behind the diner.
Who's hungry?
It's a triumphant return to the Nighthawks Studio after a brief seasonal break. The boys are still living in the aftermath of some life upheaval, but they were dying to talk about last week's hit movie (and this week's not-so-hit movie) BATMAN VS SUPERMAN : DAWN OF JUSTICE aka BVS : DOJ (affectionately read out loud as "BEAVIS DODGE.")
It's a real slobber-knocker as the champion of the sun clashes against the Dark Knight. But is it a clash of the titans, or is it a clashing of teeth during a particularly unpleasant make-out session. The guys will parse things out as they reoccupy the Nighthawks Cafe booth, for the first time in six weeks.
Let's get down to brass tacks. We're talking about FEAR AND LOATHING IN LAS VEGAS for this episode of the Nighthawks Podcast.
This deceptively deep movie is from film auteur and former Python, Terry Gilliam, and stars Johnny Depp as the enigmatic Dr. Hunter S. Thompson- er... Raoul Duke.
Hunter S. Thompson's book is said to have defined a generation, and within it beats the soul of a man who is looking for one last grasp at the sixties. What follows is a true-to-some-degree story about a drug addled journalist and his drug addled attorney taking on Sin City. Will Vegas be the paradise they seek, or just another money making shill?
We lost Dr. Thompson 11 years ago, this month. The Nighthawks present this discussion as our humble tribute to an American folk hero.
Join us for a non-traditional St. Valentine's Day in the great white North, with a fantastic Canadian horror film.
All is not as it seems in the provincial Ontario town of Pontypool. A shock-jock FM radio DJ is going through his usual motions, when the the world starts to go to Hell. It's up to DJ Grant Mazzy, producer Sydney Briar, and production assistant Laurel-Ann Drummond to keep it together as the town outside falls apart.
Written by Tony Burgess and Directed by Bruce McDonald, PONTYPOOL is a thought-provoking and fiercely intelligent horror film, that marries superb writing with stellar performance.
Too much Oscar talk for just one episode; Matt, Trevor, and guest host Cameron Maris have a second cup of coffee.
What movie deserves the best picture nod, what other important races are there, and what does the recent rule changes mean for Oscar in the future?
The first of two episodes with some in-depth discussion of the upcoming 2016 Academy Awards! Trevor and Matt have a guest in the cafe this evening. Cameron Maris, a musician from Austin and aficionado of awards season, drops in to lend a little credibility to the discussion.
On the block for this hour is the performance categories, as well as the recent conversation of racial inequality that has been plaguing The Oscars. Not to mention, Trevor has a very specific eye on a best Animated Feature contender, and a few criticisms of a movie nominated for best picture.
A beloved and pivotal voice in modern science fiction is said to have been a founding father of Cyberpunk and for coining the term "Cyberspace." William Gibson has already left an indelible mark on literature, but is yet to be a cross-over success in film. We examine one failed attempt in 1995's JOHNNY MNEMONIC as well as the short story that inspired it.
What went wrong? We can only speculate, but we have a good idea, and our read from the sideline.
Also discussed: The trailer from the newest film we're excited for: HAIL CAESAR!
We mention in this episode (a discussion of the recently departed Lemmy and David Bowie,) that Alan Rickman passed the day after the record. During the post production phase, we've lost many other contributors to the arts.
Sadly, we cannot give a fitting tribute to all we've lost, there simply isn't time, and the podcast would simply become a year-round in memoriam, and would probably leave the hosts in a very dour mood.
Instead we offer this humble episode, part eulogy part film discussion, to two of the artists whose loss we felt acutely.
Also, please consider making a donation of money or time to the cancer charity of your choice, to honor these and many other unsung heroes who fight the hard battle.
It's the eight film from Quentin Tarantino, and it's got a lot to chew on. Race, classism, gun violence, hubris... all on display in a small cabin inhabited by some hateful people.
Matt and Trevor, the proprietors of the Nighthawks Cafe and its best customers, spent many formative years in Wyoming. They'll give you their take on how THE HATEFUL EIGHT treats its setting. They'll also try and tackle some of that deeper substance in the movie too.
Hang on tight, we reserve the spoilers until the end, so everyone can enjoy. We'll see you in the snowy snow, amid the high Wyoming wastes.
No big deal, it's just a box office shattering juggernaut that represents the collision of a successful property with a hugely successful entertainment conglomerate. We're here to talk about it.
What follows is the absolutely spoiler-ridden podcast, wherein Matt and Trevor get downright granular on their discussion of the newest film in the STAR WARS saga. Complimentary to Episode 21, this episode is an exploration of the film, by two people who have see it, for the people who have seen it.
We're not kidding. Lots of spoilers ahead.
Like... big spoilers.
Don't say you weren't warned.
We're excited for Star Wars! But we realize not everyone can get to the cinema right away. So, we recorded this episode especially for folks who haven't seen STAR WARS EPISODE VII THE FORCE AWAKENS. We talk original trilogy, prequel trilogy, special edition trilogy, what works and what doesn't.
We discuss our feelings of anticipation and our desires for Episode VII.
If you HAVE seen episode VII, then you can still get a lot of enjoyment here, and be on the look out for the chock-full-o'-spoilers NIGHTHAWKS Episode 22.
We're back in Black with a double-dose of Downey. In a follow up to our Black Friday episode, this is our Black Christmas. When first we discussed Shane Black the writer, now we explore him as a writer-director.
First off, the criminally underrated black comedy noir (forgive the literal redundancy) KISS KISS BANG BANG. A petty thief accidentally catches the attention of a talent agent in LA. When he's taking "Detective Lessons" from a real Hollywood P.I., the thief and the detective become wrapped up in a steamy and salacious case.
We then switch gears and take up arms to defend a blockbuster film that the Nighthawks feel was unfairly maligned. Iron-Man is back to the skies and fighting off a vast terrorist organization in IRON MAN THREE. But when Tony Stark finds himself trapped in the Midwest without his trademark suits, it takes the Stark ingenuity to investigate the crime, and find the culprit.
Of course, true to Black form, both films take place during the Christmas season.
On the Nighthawks' 6-month anniversary, and they're letting you know what's hot on Netflix at the tail-end of November 2015, coming into December.
It's the day after Thanksgiving, and that means it's time for the BIGGEST SHOPPING DAY OF THE YEAR!!!
Alas, we have no consumer wares to peddle to you, at rock-bottom prices. So, The Nighthawks decided that they would ring in the holiday with a retrospective of the Christmas films of Shane Black.
Shane served as writer for the two movies in Episode 9. The first is the best buddy-cop action comedy of all time: Lethal Weapon. Followed that up with the criminally overlooked, and oft underrated THE LONG KISS GOODNIGHT.
Black was, at one point, the highest-paid writer in Hollywood, due in no small part to the success of LETHAL WEAPON and by a huge payday for THE LONG KISS GOOD NIGHT. Later, Shane would try his hand at directing, but that's another story for another day...
It's Thanksgiving time, and that's means it's time for families. But before you head to twitter to compete for the dysfunctional family Thanksgiving award, give this episode a listen. You thought your family caused problems when they get together? They've got nothin' on the families in this episode.
First up is Jeremy Saulnier's sophomore film, BLUE RUIN. A tight, noir-ish thriller starring the talented Macon Blair. Dwight is a character mourning for his murdered mother and father. When the man who was convicted of the crime is released from jail, the awkward and quiet Dwight decides to take a vengeance most savage.
Following that: John Hawkes and Jennifer Lawrence team up in this Ozark Mountain sleuthing noir. A years-ahead-of-her-age teen must track down her delinquent father or risk losing the family home. It's the Oscar nominated WINTER'S BONE rounding out this episode.
Who wins, Max Von Sydow vs. The Devil?
What happens when Max Von Sydow is The Devil?
We don't have the answers for you. What we do have is two movies about The Devil, as November's vanguard brings Monstoberfest to a close.
First up, Trevor and Matt sample a slice of the classic William Friedkin horror masterpice: THE EXORCIST. The guys watched the movie and they have thoughts they'd like to share. Specifically if THE EXORCIST manages to get past Matt's predisposition to disliking demon-posession films? Von Sydow plays an elderly priest and archeologist, who is asked to help rid a young girl of her literal demons.
Second on the docket: Max Von Sydow takes up arms against the other side. In NEEDFUL THINGS, Von Sydow plays the charismatic and manipulative Leland Gaunt, proprietor of a small-town antique store. However Gaunt isn't as he appears to be, he's actually doing a great bit of schemeing and tempting, leaving it up to Ed Harris to get to the bottom of things. Does The Devil make us do bad things, or were we just not living up to our evil potential?
This week at the Nighthawks Cafe, Monstoberfest continues. Trevor and Matt invade their coffee and pie session with a discussion of two later additions to the intergalactic menace canon. First up is the 1982 Masterwork of paranoia and practical monster effects, John Carpenter's THE THING. Following that, the 2011 debut film from Joe Cornish, featuring a pre-THE FORCE AWAKENS starring role for John Boyega, ATTACK THE BLOCK.
Earth may never be the same.
Enter the Nighthawks cafe on this Spooky October night. The Monstoberfest celebration continues with an examination of some of the most recognizable, but not so cinematically represented Halloween season monsters.
Trevor and Matt will have to pick up every stitch, as they embark on the season of the witch.
Witches and witch craft will be under inspection, today. First up, a classic silent film from 1922, that examines witch folklore and history as a pseudo-reenactment documentary. Straight from the Criterion collection, it's HAXAN.
Following that, a movie heavily inspired by HAXAN; about three college students wandering into the forests of Maryland in search of a legendary witch. But as the protagonists find themselves hopelessly lost, they encounter something that can't be identified. Getting to the bottom of the mystery only gets replaced with the desire to survive in THE BLAIR WITCH PROJECT.
We're back from hiatus and ready to hit the Halloween season with both fists. This month we'll be focusing specifically on MONSTERS!
But the end of the month is just scant days away! How do we plan to cram all these monsters into the remainder of the month? Easy! In this episode we knock several monsters out in one fell swoop, using only two films. Now THAT is economy.
If THE AVENGERS is the big sweeping cross-over to bring all the superheroes together, then there are two films that can do the same for some of the most famous monsters in film history. First up, we have WAXWORK, a cheesy 80's romp where a spooky wax museum isn't exactly what it might first seem. If Hollywood has taught us anything, it's that all wax museums harbor dark secrets, in WAXWORK it's that the tableaus are alive and they want you to become a part. We get The Mummy, we get The Wolfman, we get Dracula and many more under one roof! Lovingly curated by the sinister David Warner, this 1988 gem is sure to be a good fit at your next party.
After that, Trevor and Matt settle into the vinyl corner booth of the Nighthawks cafe to talk about a timeless classic of their youth. What is the 1987 equivalent of ABBOTT AND COSTELLO MEET FRANKENSTEIN? Try THE GOONIES meet the Universal Monsters, and that formula isn't too far off with THE MONSTER SQUAD. Sound off- we have Dracula, we have Wolfman, we have Frankenstein's Monster, we have The Mummy, we have the Creature From the Black Lagoon and they're all looking to murder children. THE MONSTER SQUAD is a darkly comic classic that's sure to tickle your inner child, and prompt the question "why don't they make them like this anymore?"
The Nighthawks hit the cafe nursing their coffee and their hangovers following 8 days of film shenanigans at Fantastic Fest. Matt and Trevor give you some of the second-half highlights and keep you up to date on what movies to watch, and what movies to miss.
A very special episode recorded on location in the one-and-only Austin Texas, with audio from inside the Alamo Drafthouse, the epicenter of the nation's largest genre film festival: Fantastic Fest.
Matt has made the perilous 20-hour journey cross-country from Utah to Central Texas to attend this year's Fantastic Fest with Trevor.
You'll hear not only from the Nighthawks themselves, but also from Fantastic Fest regulars about the bonkers experience courtesy of Tim League and Alamo Drafthouse Cinemas.
We unfortunately lost one of the true Masters of Horror at the tail-end of August. Wes Craven was responsible for some of the great horror movies in the lexicon of any tried and true horror fan. Among Craven's body of work were two iconic franchises of the slasher sub-genre: SCREAM and A NIGHTMARE ON ELM STREET.
In this session of coffee and pie at the Nighthawks' cafe, Trevor and Matt talk about the two Craven helmed entries in the NIGHTMARE series: A NIGHTMARE ON ELM STREET and WES CRAVEN'S NEW NIGHTMARE. One of them is a refreshing and original twist on 80's slasher films, the other film is a wonderful experiment in meta filmmaking.
For more on this episode, see our show notes at FanboyTV.com.
We leave the comfort of the brick-and-mortar Nighthawks Cafe, and embark to consume our coffee outside the Nighthawks' trailer cafe.
To further drive the belabored allusion home, this week it is our 10th episode, and to celebrate we have an extra long episode where we are talking about movie trailers.
In the first half, it's the art of the movie trailer. What makes it tick and how it works. What are somethings we look for in trailers, what are some things we like to see avoided.
In the second half we take our newly founded criteria and apply it to some trailers for up-and-coming movies yet to see release, including: BATMAN V. SUPERMAN: THE DAWN OF JUSTICE, CRIMSON PEAK, STAR WARS EPISODE VII: THE FORCE AWAKENS, DEADPOOL, and others.
For links to all the trailers, check out our show notes at FanboyTV.com
It seems a shame that at the dawn of his career that the very intelligent, athletic, and talented Dolph Lundgren was handed roles that didn't fully utilize his arsenal. However, he did the best he could with what he had, and we couldn't be more pleased. This particular evening, under the flickering lights of the all-night Nighthawks Cafe, Matt and Trevor discuss two films from Lundgren's early career: ROCKY IV and THE MASTERS OF THE UNIVERSE. One a generation-defining exercise in American propaganda during the Cold War, and the other a notorious attempt to cash-in on a commercial property that would help to bankrupt a production house.
Full disclosure, we chose two Dolph Lundgren movies from our past, as a way to satisfy a listener request. Unfortunately, after re-watching these films, we feel that Dolph might have gotten the raw end of this deal, since these movies truly fail to encompass a truly remarkable human being. So, we'll probably be seeing a DAY OF THE DOLPH episode sometime down the road. We'd like to give the man his due... Because, man. We don't want this dude angry with us.
Hoist anchor and keep an eye on the cockswain. It's the age of piracy, but Johnny Deep need not apply this time around. Instead of buccaneers traversing the Caribbean in search of plunder, these pirates steal the public airwaves and hijack them to play rock and roll.
In this episode we discuss two films about broadcast piracy: PIRATE RADIO (aka THE BOAT THAT ROCKED) starring Phillip Seymour Hoffman, Bill Nighy, Rhys Ifans, and Nick Frost; a fiction about a real time in history when British airwaves were conquered by radio stations broadcasting from boats in international waters.
Following that, the sleek and sexy Christian Slater vehicle that defined the early 90's, PUMP UP THE VOLUME. A film that was oddly prophetic about a teenager taking to the air in order to fight against a corrupt school system, and to lay down some sick Leonard Coen tracks.
After taking a week off, please join us in welcoming Alamo Drafthouse Founder and C.E.O. Tim League as our first guest in the Nighthawks Cafe.
This week we talk a little bit about what makes The Alamo Drafthouse theatre chain a household name among cinephiles and a pilgrimage destination for all true-blood movie fans. However, beyond that, we discuss FANTASTIC FEST, the United States' largest genre film festival. We talk with Tim who is the festival's co-founder about what sets FANTASTIC FEST apart from other film festivals in the country and why Matt and Trevor have earmarked this festival in particular as the first one we cover on the podcast.
So join us as we begin getting excited for this wonderful time of the year, at Ground-Zero Austin, TX; then join us this September when FANTASTIC FEST lands and lays the Nighthawks to complete waste.
Getting out there, trying new things, keeping an open mind, knowing yourself, and being comfortable with the skin you live in (or the skin that's been foisted upon you.) Some heavy themes from a couple of cult classic films are being discussed in the Nighthawks Cafe. First up is the 1975 THE ROCKY HORROR PICTURE SHOW, a rock musical that takes a couple of unsuspecting virgins into the clutches of an alien transvestite mad scientist, the final destination? A world of absolute pleasure.
Then a story of duality, questioning of the self, personal identity, and more Rock and Roll. John Cameron Mitchell is the title character of HEDWIG AND THE ANGRY INCH, another rock musical, the film follows a person struggling to find sexual and gender identity in a world of love, loss, fame, greed, sex, and some pretty slick one-liners. Hedwig and her band travel the country telling Hedwig's challenging story of change, self, and broken hearts.
This will be the final episode for the Nighthawks before the 4th of July weekend, so they decided to honor the birthday of the U.S.A. in a special way. Finding INDEPENDENCE DAY a little on-the-nose, and not wanting to corner themselves into the uber-patriotic or the uber-cynical films about the country, of which there are many of both, Trevor and Matt decide to look at a uniquely American institution:
Rock and Roll.
For this coffee and pie date at the Nighthawks' cafe, the boys watch the psychedelic and trippy rotoscope-animated AMERICAN POP. Following that the excellent semi-autobiographical film ALMOST FAMOUS from filmmaker Cameron Crowe.
It is Father's Day in the United States, and the Nighthawks sit down at the cafe diner for a piping hot cup of films about pabulum and patres familias, diet and dads, food and fathers.
First up is the John Favreau passion vehicle CHEF, a heart-warming film about a man who must learn to sift his love of cooking, to find the ingredients of bonding with his son.
Similarly, the documentary JIRO DREAMS OF SUSHI is about the world's greatest sushi chef who not only must perfect his craft, but pass his knowledge down to the next generation.
Gang, fair warning: don't watch these films with an empty stomach.
For their first supplementary episode, the Nighthawks discuss the divisive Jurassic World. The fourth film in a franchise that hasn't really seen a good entry since the original. Does the latest entry, starring Chris Pratt (Guardians of the Galaxy) and Bryce Dallas Howard (Terminator: Salvation,) manage to live up to it's ancestor?
Well...
In this episode, Matt and Trevor dim the lights of the Nighthawks cafe, remove their hats, and raises their glasses to the recently departed Sir Christopher Lee.
In his honor, the boys watched the 1958 Hammer Films' production of DRACULA (aka THE HORROR OF DRACULA), Sir Lee's first time playing a role that would become iconic in his career.
This Week: Matt and Trevor are celebrating the 40th Anniversary of Steven Spielberg's JAWS, with a special JAWS-centric episode. We talk about the big "Bruce," himself, as well as some films that owe a great deal to JAWS. One of these films also owes us some kind of refund.
Trevor and Matt hop on the Doof Wagon for a break neck journey down the Fury Road, discussing their love for the latest Mad Max film, the first in nearly 30 years.
The action, the artistry, the metaphor, and the feminism are all guzzled out for your listening pleasure.
Also on tap: Netflix suggestions.