The Gonnawatchit Podcast: Recent Episodes
Will Krischke & Courtland Hopkins
Courtland and Will each pick 3 movies, force the other to watch them, and then discuss for about an hour. Anything's fair game, from recent releases to forgotten Hollywood gems.
Dr. Ubi hates the Mouse, but likes talking about Disney movies anyway. On this episode, we discuss the two Pixar films released this spring, "Hoppers" and "Toy Story 5", why forgettable movies often make money, Woody's life as an atheist, a future that includes AI toys, and many, many other things.
Tremendous Will hosts as we talk about messy marriages that make us laugh: "Splitsville," directed by Michael Angelo Covino, and "Is This Thing On?" directed by Bradley Cooper, both on Will's Top Ten of 2025 list.
Grab your sunscreen, put on your shades, because we're taking a close look at two movies in which the sun is trouble, or in trouble, or something. First, we'll talk about Danny Boyle's 2007 sci-fi horror meditation on God and mortality, "Sunshine." Then we'll discuss rock muppets, can-do-it-attitude and the ethical responsibilities of leadership with "Project Hail Mary".
Have you ever noticed how, as Easter approaches in Mexico, certain classics seem to take over television? According to Dr. Ubi, it is almost impossible to avoid encountering The 10 Commandments or The Passion of the Christ while channel surfing. In this episode, we dive into both films to analyze their cinematic strengths and weaknesses. Join us as we debate how these productions have defined the television experience of the season.
Dr. Ubi took a ride across Monument Valley on a motorcycle, and came back with a hankering for "Stagecoach" (1939) and "The Motorcycle Diaries" (2004). We discuss "Apaches!" as a plot device, youthful idealism that eventually turn murderous, and those amazing hills and valleys in Arizona.
We cover two very strange retellings of familiar fairy tales - 2025's "The Ugly Stepsister" and 2012's "Blancanieves." Dr. Ubi questions just how many bad words we're allowed to say in an episode, and Notorious NDN tells us about all his favorite red flags in a woman.
Courtland hosts our Halloween episode as we talk about two horror(ish) films from director Zach Cregger, this summer's Weapons and 2022's Barbarian.
Also, the First Five Years (of the 2020s) Tournament returns, with 2 matchups: CODA vs. Soul and American Fiction vs. A Real Pain.
And in a new potential feature, Will delivers an essay from the blog titled Brando, Clift, Dean: The Birth of the Brooding Anti-Hero.
Dr. Ubi takes us back to his childhood with 2 of his favorite anime films, and Will complains a lot. Also: Top 5(ish) Non-Miyazaki Animes, and First Five Years Tournament: Barbarian vs. Dune Part II.
Will hosts and we take a look at two movies released within a few years of each other about troubled youth (and terrible parents).
Notorious NDN leads up back to the Star Trek catalog, as we discuss saving whales, prison escapes, and political themes that haven't aged very well.
Also in this episode: First Five Years Tournament Matchups - Nomadland vs. A Hero, and Twisters vs. Spider-man: Across the Multiverse.
Dr. Ubi hosts and picks two sci-fi satires - the recent "Mickey 17," directed by Bong Joon Ho, and Paul VerHoeven's '90s classic "Starship Troopers."
Turns out only one of us can speak Spanish. We watch the 1951 Mexican film "A Toda Maquina" (without subtitles) and the 2024 summer blockbuster "Twisters," which might actually be a kaiju movie.
Dear Lord. Our first episode that exceeds 2 hours. Turns out when Courtland starts talking about Star Trek, he can just go and go and go.
Courtland explains the heat death of Hollywood, Dr. Ubi tries to convince me that watching "Next Goal Wins" is more fun than watching 90 minutes of 0-0 soccer, and I run down the top 10 films of 2024 so far, much to Courtland's chagrin.
Dr. Ubi, the Notorious NDN (Courtland) and Will discuss the latest George Miller post-apocalyptic extravaganza, and a Billy Wilder film that starts out like a comedy and gets significantly tenser as it goes.
Will, Dr. Ubi, and Courtland discuss Asghar Farhadi's Spanish film, "Todos Lo Saben", and the new Ryan Gosling feature "The Fall Guy". Hilarity ensues, probably.
Courtland, Will and Ubi discuss two recent films, the Mexican inspirational teacher story "Radical" and Alex Garland's latest, "Civil War".
Does a six-foot rabbit stand a chance against Godzilla? Does a narrative structure? Do Pukas exist? Is it all in his head? Exactly HOW many Godzilla movies has Dr. Ubi seen?
Hey look, we made it to 50 episodes! Courtland, Will, and Dr. Ubi discuss the racial and family dynamics in "American Fiction" (2023) and let "Escape to Victory" (1981) convince them that only Nazis hate soccer.
Will, Courtland, and Dr. Ubi discuss the noir classic "Double Indeminity" and attempt to define film noir, then "Dune Part Two" and just how many weird Dune sequels we're likely to get.
We discuss the recent release "Argylle," directed by Matthew Vaughn, and Iranian director Asghar Farhadi's 2009 film "About Elly".
This time discuss the 2023 film "Broker", directed by Hirokazu Kore-Eda, and the 1993 chicano cult class "Blood In Blood Out.
We discuss the results of the Fake Film Festival contest, as well as "Mission:Impossible - Dead Reckoning - Part 1" (what a title!) and "The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance."
There's still time to vote for the best Fake Film Festival! Here are the 3 lineups:
Dr's Ubi's picks
Courtland's picks
Will's picks
We talk about office ennui, the value of wonder, Jews playing indigenous people in movies, and Jon Hamm's mysterious charm on this episode of the Gonnawatchit podcast.
We cover the second movie in our Asghar Farhadi thread, A Separation (2011) and laugh at stupid rich people along with Rian Johnson's Glass Onion: A Knives Out Mystery (2022).
Barbenheimer is upon us! We discuss the weakness of men and how it is ruining society on this episode. Ha ha just kidding. Sort of. Not really. So get your spaghettios and turn off the daytime TV, it's time for the Gonnawatchit podcast!
We've got two movies about escaping from POW camps - Courtland picks 1937's "Grand Illusion" and Will picks 1965's "The Great Escape. We discuss whether or not art should be entertaining, war should be fun, and plenty of other things as well.
The "revenge with swords" episode. Courtland picks John Milius' "Conan the Barbarian" from 1982 (featuring Max Von Sydow), and Will picks Quentin Tarantino's "Kill Bill". It's gonna get bloody.
One of our favorite directors, Joe Dante makes silly comedies that (sometimes) hide something deeper and more insightful in amongst the gross-out humor and the yuks. They're always fun to watch and often fun to think (and talk) about as well. We've covered five Joe Dante films over the last two years - here they are, all in one episode.
1. Explorers (from Episode 5)
2. Gremlins (from Episode 13)
3. Inner Space (from Episode 22)
4. The Burbs (from Episode 27)
5. Gremlins 2 (from Episode 28)
Will's pick is Park Chan Wook's recent "Decision to Leave," about obsession, murder, and a strange love affair, so Courtland picks Hitchcock's classic "Vertigo", which is about... obsession, murder, and a strange love affair.
Two movies that comment on their own genre. Will picks 2022's "Weird: The Al Yankovic Story", and Courtland picks Drew Goddard's "Cabin in the Woods" from 2011.
Kurosawa-palooza! We've discussed 5 Different Akira Kurosawa films in the last 15 months:
- Throne of Blood (#12),
- Seven Samurai (#15),
- Yojimbo (#19),
- Hidden Fortress (#24),
- Ikiru (#30)
Here they are all in one place for your listening pleasure!
Courtland picks Steven Spielberg's semi-autobiographical film, "The Fabelmans", and Will picks the 2008 French film "The Diving Bell and the Butterfly," featuring Max Von Sydow.
We made it to 30 episodes! To celebrate, we talk about two ponderous but ultimately life-affirming Japanese movies: Courtland picks Akira Kurosawa's "Ikiru" (1952) and Will picks Ryusuke Hamaguchi's "Drive My Car"(2021).
Happy New Year! In this episode we discuss the movies that we discussed in 2022, as well as the movies we watched in 2022, most of which were released in 2021, and how frustrating that can feel (ie, Will goes on a rant.)
We talk about two of our favorite Christmas movies, 1988's "Scrooged" and 1990's Gremlins 2: The New Batch." Everything's fine until the third act, when it all goes haywire.
Special guest Dr. Ubi joins us as we record from a hotel room in Denver. Courtland picks the Nicolas Cage vehicle "The Unbearable Weight of Massive Talent", and Will picks Joe Dante's satire on suburban evil, "The Burbs".
The Halloween episode - Courtland picks 1978's "Halloween," which launched the slasher subgenre, and Will picks 1990's "Tremors" because of "Nope".
Courtland chooses the 1989 underrated, underwater James Cameron flick "The Abyss," and Will goes with a bit of Norwegian sunshine with "The Worst Person in the World."
Jordan Peele's summer blockbuster "Nope" is an entertaining monster movie, but is there more to it than that? And everyone knows George Lucas was influenced by "The Hidden Fortress" when writing "Star Wars", but is that more about the Princess or the droids?
We ruin Courtland's childhood by ripping into "Mission to Mars", which is just awful, and we discuss Wes Anderson's latest and whether or not Will has an endless appetite for precious quirkiness.
We continue our Joe Dante thread with 1987's "Innerspace", in which Martin Short gets shrunk and shot into Dennis Quaid's rear end, and the 1971 Native cult classic "Billy Jack", and how we would remake it in 2022.
Will picks "A Hero", in which director Asghar Farhadi takes an American romcom trope and makes an Iranian tragedy.
Courtland picks Steven Spielberg's "Close Encounters of the Third Kind," which effectively put an end to cynicism and paranoia of the '70s (the government is only lying to you because it wants to protect you.)
There's a lot of testosterone in this episode - the Viking variety, and the eye-patch snakeskin pants variety. We discuss what makes low-budget action films rise above the pack, how much Viking lore you have to know before watching Robert Eggers' "The Northman," and why at this particular moment, pop culture seems fascinated by toxic masculinity.
Email us with comments, questions feedback: gonnawatchit1@gmail.com
We discuss Alex Garland's new horror film "Men" and Akira Kurosawa's 1961 classic "Yojimbo."
We discuss a '60s retro sci fi flick and a German "comedy with an asterisk" on this episode.
Is the best thing to do nothing at all? Will beauty save us - or will we save beauty? The conversation gets pretty philosophical this week, so buckle up as we discuss the New Hollywood classic "Chinatown" and Cartoon Saloon's first film, "Secret of Kells".
New format - half the length, half the movies. We started reviewing six at a time, now we're reviewing two at a time. Sometimes less is more.
SPECIAL TWO-HOUR EPISODE!
In which we have a “bad French accent” competition while talking about what Fast and the Furious would be like if it was French, girls pretending to be boys, Star Trek episodes about PTSD, and breathing heavy into the phone. It was the ‘70s, I guess. Also sick movies with a sweet heart and/or sweet movies with a sick heart, Irish Folklore, and why samurai can't marry simple villagers.
Like some of the movies we discuss this month, this episode is sloppily edited and way too long. But hopefully, the warmth and humor come through along with the mistakes, interruptions, and awkward silences. (Turns out that 2-hour episodes are a beast to edit. We're never doing this again.)
The lineup:
1. Titane (2021)
2. A Nous La Liberte (1931)
3. Memento (2000)
4. Seven Samurai (1954)
5. Heat (1995)
6. Licorice Pizza (2021)
7. City of Lost Children (1995)
8. Song of the Sea (2014)
We review the 10 podcasts we recorded in 2021 and the movies we watched, then talk about "Lawrence of Arabia" and colonialism, pigs, and whether or not a certain city is doomed. (Portland listeners, Courtland has some things to say about your home.)
In which we attempt to define a "Christmas movie," discuss horrible stories meant to make you laugh, discuss the bookishness of Robert Redford, the perfect structure of "Die Hard" and why Frank Sinatra turned down the role, and many other things.
Good day, hosers. In this episode we discuss various Shakespeare adaptations, the thin line between stupidity and genius, the cold, ruthless worlds of Denis Villeneuve, and exactly what power the dog has after all.
This month's lineup:
1. Throne of Blood (1957)
2. Strange Brew (1983)
3. Dune (2021)
4. The Power of the Dog (2021)
On this "very special episode, our friend Starr joins us as we talk about three very disturbing movies, and question our sanity and taste along the way. We also discuss the definition of art, whether or not veganism is a cult, and the difference between a bad movie and an evil one.
This month's Halloween lineup:
1. Raw (2016)
2. Come and See (1985)
3. Kids (1995)
PS - Since you can't really watch "Kids" on any streaming service, I'll give you a hint: search the name of the movie and the name of the director on YouTube to find the copy we watched.
We discuss three movies we both only sort of liked, and one we really enjoyed. Also, existential dread in the Middle Ages, the difference between European and American thrillers, and the importance of affection when you're mercilessly mocking someone. We do say "Candyman" 5+ times, but never while looking in the mirror.
The Lineup:
1. The Seventh Seal (1957)
2. Stillwater (2021)
3. The Personal History of David Copperfield (2019)
4. Candyman (2021)