It's Your Pic: Recent Episodes
Scott and Collin
Scott and his son Collin pick movies for the other to watch. Will dad's picks hold up to his 21st-century offspring? Will Collin's picks make Scott weep for the future? Can cinema breach a 30+ year generational divide? Does mom really buy that this is a viable educational experiment? Let's watch some movies and find out.
Only two things could get us out of circumstantial retirement: A Transformers reboot or another Stranger Things season. See you next year.
Only 2 things could bring us out of circumstantial retirement: a Transformers reboot or a new Stranger Things season. See you next year.
Blood, guts, gore, skinning, hanging, stabbing, kidnapping, cannibalisms...oh, and we also watched a movie. Something about a baby sheep I think. Matthew Lillard and Jamie Kennedy showed up too for some reason.
We spend this entire episode lying on the hood of our Dodge Dart, looking up at the heavens, waiting for the little men in their fantastic vehicles. Actually, we ordered Ubereats and they're 20 minutes late (and there's probably not a road-worthy Dodge Dart left in the country). When the Zaxby's finally arrives, we watched two very different takes on the alien movie genre: one big-budgeted and star-studded, and one that takes a decidedly more subdued approach.
This month we belly up to the bar, order a sasparilla and settle ourselves at a table for a game of stud...actually, not at all. These two Westerns are a long way from the days of white hat/black hat morality tales. There are no obvious good guys to be found in Leone's revisionist take, or the Coen's Western noir mashup.
And for the record, I actually enjoy board games.
This month we belly up to the bar, order a sasparilla and settle ourselves at a table for a game of stud...actually, not at all. These two Westerns are a long way from the days of white hat/black hat morality tales. There are no obvious good guys to be found in Leone's revisionist take, or the Coen's Western noir mashup.
And for the record, I actually enjoy board games.
Doesn’t everyone think they belong to a dysfunctional family? Maybe that accounts for the plethora of choices when selecting a movie to represent the genre. For me, head and shoulders above the rest, is Wes Anderson’s third feature, The Royal Tenenbaums. Collin counters with a new animated dysfunctional family flick, The Mitchells vs. the Machines.
I'm trying to write the show notes and keep getting interrupted because my family thinks the podcast is about as important as you do, so I guess just read the title; we talk about those movies.
We took a 2-week trip out west, and after exhausting ourselves hiking around the Grand Canyon and Petrified Forest, we spent our evenings re-watching all the Harry Potter movies. It's one long Good Stuff/Bad Stuff episode as we hand out awards for the best and worst of what we saw this time around.
It's the end of the world on this episode of It's Your Pic. Two post-apocalyptic visions enter, one post-apocalyptic vision leaves. Actually, it's not much of a contest; Furiosa could take Hester Shaw with one arm tied behind her back.
On this episode, we look at two very different stories involving iconoclasts, chain gangs, and escaped cons. Collin’s main pick is the Coen brother’s borderline musical O Brother, Where Art Thou? A movie that I despised on my first watch. My double feature pairing is the 1967 classic Cool Hand Luke.
On this episode we look at two very different stories involving iconoclasts, chain gangs, and escaped cons. Collin's main pick is the Coen brother's borderline musical O Brother, Where Art Thou? A movie that I despised on my first watch. My double feature pairing is the 1967 classic Cool Hand Luke.
We didn't want to do it, but the podcast police threatened to insert Me Undies and Casper Mattress ads at 3-minute intervals into all our podcasts if we didn't do a top 5 Christmas movies list. Rather than sacrifice the quality and integrity that we've worked so hard to achieve, we reluctantly complied.
This week I'm joined by my good friend, Giffy, to discuss Netflix's Dark. The series just released its third and final season, and we're itching to discuss the labyrinthine plot, time travel head-scratchers, and the show's stealth hero. Be warned: if you haven't seen the show this podcast will be complete nonsense, and spoilers there will be. Also, there are some audio issues, but 98% of the show is error-free.
Four down, 4 to go. We continue recapping Stranger Things season 3. From Burger King bags to people goo, we've got it covered.
Collin picked this movie pretty much at random after a Google search for old movie posters. Neither of us had any foreknowledge of its status as one of the capital "G" Great westerns, nor that Cooper won the best actor Oscar for this performance. I'm thankful for our ignorance because I think it helped us form honest opinions...probably not popular, but certainly honest.
Extra Pick: Best. Movie. Year. Ever.: How 1999 Blew Up the Big Screen
We continue (finally) our Movie's of our Lives series with Collin's pick from 2005: Madagascar. We take thirty minutes of podcast to discuss the okay-ness of it all. We also throw in some quick discussion at the end about Unbreakable and Arrival, two movies Collin had never seen (there are so many movies that I want to show him that this podcast is proving an inadequate instrument, so I keep slyly slipping in extra ones).
There's a lot of baggage, literal and otherwise, that the young actors of Stand By Me were asked to carry. We discuss the varying degrees in which they are successful. Also, more Bad Movie Parents, Collin's not ready for Glengarry Glen Ross, and bad impressions dominate 60-second table read.
It's the last episode of our Lord of the Rings review. I think the experience has taxed Collin's patience, and his final grade of this Oscar winner shows. Gollum in particular is a point of contention. Also on the table: the survivability of a volcanic explosion, selective earthquakes, and heads on laps.
Part 2 of our 3 part Lord of the Rings series. We come to the conclusion that the extended version of The Two Towers may be too much of a good thing. Also, lack of ethnic diversity in Middle Earth, Trump approves of Helm's Deep, and Gollum does Annie.
So apropos of nothing except simple whimsy we've decided to dedicate the next 3 episodes to the Lord of the Rings series, beginning with 2001s Fellowship of the Ring. This will be Collin's first time watching the series and my umpteenth. And since the only versions I own are the extended editions, we'll see if 12 hours+ of Frodo and Co. will be too much, because, despite being pretty well received critically, there are those who have described the films and 12 hours of walking. I obviously disagree, but I'll find out if Collin can hang in there for the entire experience.
Nope, not the reviled Roberto Benigni version, we watched the classis 1940's Disney version: a rated-G movie that features smoking and drinking by minors, and a preoccupation with butts. In typical Disney fashion, it's a movie based on some pretty dark source material that's been given a lighter touch. Still, there's some pretty dark moments (and some even darker behind-the-scenes revelations) to talk about.
Jaws is often credited with ushering in the blockbuster era of film. It preceded Star Wars by 2 years and was the first to hit the coveted $100 million box office take. I didn't catch up with it until I was in my late teens, and I found it not just thrilling but riveting in its story telling. Now the movie is 42, and has spawned sequels and copycats galore. So the question for this show is how does it hold up for jaded, 14 year-old Collin? It's a question that he pretty much spoils in the first 5 minutes, but if you stick around for the whole show, you'll also get Collin schooling me about the properties of zirconium, a guest joining us for an awkward discussion about women's undergarments, what the movie gets wrong about sharks, and some really bad acting for our out-of-context table read.
Sometime between the Disney renaissance and Disney owning the world was a period of time, particularly in the animation department, when things were looking pretty grim. Offerings like Fantasia 2000 and Home on the Range were showing pretty poorly against the likes of Toy Story 2 and Shrek. In that stretch was this hugely expensive take on Robert Louis Stevenson's Treasure Island. It ended up being a big financial loser for Disney to the tune of about $70 million. But now, through the magic of podcast, we revisit the wreckage and try to decide if Treasure Planet is a worthy Disney offering.
Funniest. Movie. Ever. But does Collin agree? When we started the podcast this was one of the movies I knew I was going to show Collin. The question was when would he be ready? There's only one way to find out if my timing was correct: listen to the show!
This week Collin picked the Cartoon Network animated series The Amazing World of Gumball. We discuss the shows unique animated goulash aesthetic, and Collin tries to answer some of my questions. We also have a brief discussion about the Lego Batman movie.
It seemed like, cinematically speaking, 2016 was a good year for the musical. La La Land, Moana, and Sing Street were all well received releases. We are never ones to shy away from a bandwagon, so we present our first (and most likely last) musical edition of the podcast. If you just haven't had your quota of off key vocals for the week, we've got you covered.
It seems Netflix is churning out a new show every few days, some more palatable than others. Their newest (at least of this writing) is based on the super popular book series of the same name. The show's kid friendliness will depend on your kid, but the it's definitely being marketed at children, given that it show's up in the number one spot on the Netflix kids channel. So, the ultimate question would be, "Is it worth my time?" Well, it would be pretty counterproductive (counterproductive in this sense meaning: contrary to my intent, which is to get you to listen to our latest episode) of me to tell you that here. Listen in and you'll get a 40-something perspective and a 13 year-old perspective on the shows relative merits.
When I first asked Collin if he wanted to do a podcast with me in which we took turns picking movies for the other to watch, this is the type of thing that I was expecting to have to watch on a pretty regular basis: something that, were I his age, I would find amazingly entertaining.
The Transformers franchise has been cranking along now for over 30 years, and there are more of the excruciating films in the works, but there's something here that has an appeal to some people or it wouldn't have been around as long as it has. Apparently Collin is one of those people, and even if I don't share his enthusiasm, I can see that there is something here that he finds engaging. So, in that spirit, we talk about this TV series - one in many iterations of the Transformers universe. I get it if discussing a "came-and-went" animated kids show isn't for everybody, but I still think we got a pretty good show out of it.
Last week we watched Ghostbusters; this week it's a very different kind of ghost story. Hayao Miyazaki doesn't make conventional animated stories. Those used to the Disney/Pixar way of doing things may be thrown off by the odd characters and seemingly meandering story-telling style. But his movies are always personal, heartfelt, and beautifully rendered. To me, Spirited Away is the best of the bunch. Collin and I discuss.
Mental Floss: 15 Fascinating Facts about Spirited Away
Collin once again steals my thunder and picks an '80s flick. I take this as evidence that my experiment is working. This week: the jerkiness of Bill Murray characters, an awkward discussion about feminist movie remakes, an even more awkward discussion about whether or not Venkman is cool for resisting possessed Sigourney Weaver, and how uncool it was for Collin to see Rouge One without me.
We had a small window to cram in one more show before Christmas, and so we powered up the Zoom recorder and did the show with very little prep, which is pretty typical of how we do the show anyway. This week I picked Gremlins: the movie where Phoebe Cates goes dowdy, mothers kick butt, and mayhem ensues because one kid can't obey three pretty simple rules. Plus, Hoyt Axton! Enjoy.
How do you review an empirically bad movie that is simultaneously being lambasted by a TV show? Do you review the movie? The TV show? We take a shot splitting the difference as we discuss the Mystery Science Theater 3000 takedown of the 1964 comedy (?), Santa Claus Conquers the Martians. It's a perennial classic in our household. If you want to see just the movie (sans the MST quips) it's in the public domain and available in its entirety (in glorious HD, no less) on YouTube:
Santa Claus Conquers the Martians (in HD)
10 Festive Facts About Santa Claus Conquers the Martians
Thanksgiving movies are few and far between, but John Hughes managed to make a classic based around the holiday. Oddly enough, this is the first rated R movie we've done on the podcast, which we discuss. Also, from the same year this movie was released (1987), U2 released The Joshua Tree. We briefly discuss that album as well.
Right in the middle of the Disney renaissance came this retelling of Aladdin and the Wonderful Lamp. It's been duly Disneyfied (there's no beheading at the end, for instance). Collin knew of Robin Williams but had never seen one of his movies. This was probably the perfect introduction to his more manic, stream-of-consciousness side. I think he's definitely a fan. Per usual we've got five questions, one good thing and one bad thing and the 60 second out-of-context table read. Also, at the end are some outtakes from our failed attempt at doing an Aladdin commentary track.
Seeing The Twilight Zone series as a kid was a seminal experience. The Brady Bunch and Diff'rent Strokes did not prepare me for the more bizarre and morally challenging episodes that the series offered. Trying to pare down that experience into 4 episodes was nearly impossible, but I took a stab at it with some of the more famous offerings from the mind of Rod Serling. From the first 2 seasons I chose Walking Distance, Time Enough at Last, The Monsters are Due on Maple Street, and It's a Good Life. There were so many more that I wanted to talk about, but as it is we chatted for about an hour. I'm curious about what some of the listener favorites are. Drop us an email and let us know. We'll read them on the next show.
The Five Themes of the Twilight Zone - Arlen Schumer
The Twilight Zone and the Power of Ideas - Brant Short
I asked Collin to pick something appropriate for Halloween, and he chose this 1933 James Whale joint based on the H.G. Wells book. In 5 questions we try to decide what kind of movie this is (horror? suspense? monster movie?), and discuss the differences in acting styles between then and now. Plus, Collin stays mostly on topic this week, which helped keep the show to a nice, tidy 40 minutes.
Our guest shot on Movies, Music and More
This week, as a companion piece with last week's Short Circuit, I picked Steven Spielberg's A.I. We discuss the movie, it's controversial ending, and whether humans should even be pursuing artificially intelligent machines at all. Plus, Collin asks 5 questions, we do one good thing and one bad thing about the film, and Greta joins us again for our out-of-context table read.
AV Club article defending the ending of A.I.
We hit double nickels this week with the 1986 John Badham (Saturday Night Fever, War Games) directed Short Circuit. Usually it would be me dialing up the 80s for a movie pick, but this one was all Collin. It's a pretty silly movie that actually got us into some deep topics: A.I., racial stereotypes, gender identity, and the career of Steve Guttenberg. Whether or not we're equipped to tackle these topics is another matter all together.
This week I answer Collin's pick of Night at the Museum with my own father/son, somewhat museum influenced (the word "museum" gets uttered a few times) selection, the third in the Indiana Jones cycle: Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade. Collin asks 5 questions and we've got another 60-second-out-of-context table read. We also discuss Nazi book burning, goofy special effects, and rats.
School's back in session, so we're back to one movie a week. Collin picked this week and made me watch a movie that I had zero interest in seeing again: Night at the Museum. Was he able to convince me of its virtues? Spoiler alert probably not, but you should listen anyway. We've got 5 questions, one good thing, one bad thing and a new segment that I completely wrecked.
Ever had an embarrassing situation that you wish you could relive? Ever wanted to live a day unencumbered by fear of consequences or death? This week we watched two movies that propose just such a scenario, and the outcomes are not as free of worry or existential concerns as you would think. Apparently, immortality has its own drudgeries. We discuss the curious cases of Phil Conner and William Cage; two men reliving the same day over and over again. One repeats the mundanity of February 2 again and again, while the other fights the same battle against alien hordes repeatedly like an over-caffeinated 14 year-old playing Call of Duty. Collin's back this week for reviews, grades and a round of one good thing, one bad thing.
This week might be a tough sell for what is primarily a movie podcast, but let me see if I can explain my reasoning: American Football, more so than other sport is mainly enjoyed via a television screen; each season, as with other television shows, has characters, story lines, emotional ups and downs; this is an extremely minor podcast, which allows me the freedom to choose whatever subject matter that strikes my whimsy.
So, is being a Falcon's fan the most unrewarding of any NFL team? I make the case that it is, but I'm certainly open to any rebuttals, especially from Cleveland and Arizona fans.
Collin takes another week off (he couldn't care less about football). Instead I'm joined this week by fellow sufferers: my sister, Paula, and Giffy from the Movies, Music, and More podcast. Join us as we work through our self-imposed pain and try to exorcise past demons.
This week on our 50th IYP episode we watched a couple of movies that, at first glance, have very little in common, but to my surprise tuned out to have a couple of similarities. Besides both being based off of TV shows, they also both involve wrongly accused characters and someone trying to clear their name. So, trim your beard (or grow one, if, unlike me, you're able), dye your hair, and join us for It's Your Pic number 50.
This week we present the sad tale of Kubo and the Two Strings, a marvelous movie form Laika studios that simply no one is going to see. It's a movie with beautiful stop motion animation and a really strong story about the importance of memory and a child who must contend with his families past. So, give us 40 minutes and we'll try to convince you to check this one out before it leaves theaters, which will probably be all too soon.
Links:
Greta's Stop Motion Movie
Making of Kubo and the Two Strings
This week, by patriarchal decree, we tackle a couple newish animated movies: the French-language feature April and the Extraordinary World, and the based-on-a-French-novella Netflix movie The Little Prince. If you're tired of minions, mammoths, and Madagascarian penguins, you could do worse than to sit the family down with one of these challenging but decidedly engrossing movies. Collin and I really struggle to pick a favorite. We're definitely thankful to have seen both. Give us a listen and we'll try to convince you.
Collin's back this week, and we've picked two Stranded Alien movies to talk about: Brad Bird's The Iron Giant and John Carpenter's Starman. Common themes include confused but powerful titular characters, paranoid government toadies, and, inexplicably, dead deer. We talk about all this plus the unavoidable creepiness of watching love scenes with your parents. Throw in Five Questions and One Good Thing, One Bad Thing and you've got yourself nearly an hour of free podcast listening.
Collin is enjoying himself at summer camp for 2 weeks so in his stead I welcome Giffy from the Movies, Music and More podcast to talk about some of our favorite moments in movies that utilize a pop song to great effect. Giffy and I are long time friends so the conversation does go far afield occasionally: for instance why does Gif hate "Films" and why am I such a cry baby at certain movies. This turned out to be our longest episode yet, but hopefully it's not boring. And John Cusack's name comes up a disproportionately large number of times for some reason.
Check out Giffy and Maggie's podcast at:
Movies, Music and More
It's all relative (ugh, I know) this week on IYP as we compare two movies about super powered families: pre-Disney Pixar's The Incredibles and pre-hegemonic Disney's Sky High. I think I could have picked a better matchup. Other than the similar familial settings, the themes, tones and body counts of these movies are very different. Still we managed to blather on for 48 minutes about something. And at the end we decide which movie we keep and which we never watch again -- Collin chooses poorly.
We tried a different format this week. We were a little late in getting out a new episode, so it afforded us the time to see two movies. We tried to pick movies that had somewhat similar themes. With that in mind, Collin picked Pixar's Inside Out from last year, and in response I chose for us to watch the 1988 Tom Hank's vehicle, Big. Two movies about a couple of 12 year-olds on the cusp of the transition to adulthood. We talk similarities, differences, likes, dislikes, and in the end we hypothetically pick (because it's in our name) which movie we'd put on our permanent movie shelf and which we never get to watch again.
Mystery Science Theater 3000 Reunion Show
Jaws, Close Encounters, Raiders of the Lost Ark, E.T.: Four of Spielberg's first six studio releases are widely considered film classics. Eventually we'll get around to watching all of them. We reviewed E.T. on episode 11. This week we watched 1981's Raiders of the Lost Ark. We tried to watch this one a few years ago, but Collin didn't make it past the fate of Alfred Molina's character. This time we made it through, and honestly I found his reaction to the climactic scene a little disturbing.
20 facts about Raiders of the Lost Ark
Collin and I are separated in age by 32 years. This is nearly the same difference in age between the original Voltron and the current DreamWorks/Netflix iteration. For a show that's entire mission statement is predicated on differing generational perspectives this seems like a subject right up our alley. We start the discussion talking about the original 1984 version (which Collin has seen) and build up to talking about the spanking new 11 episode Netflix version.
Movies, Music and More Podcast
This week things take a turn for the surreal as we discuss this 2009 Belgian animated film. Descriptors are hard to come by for this one. We take several cracks at explaining the crazy aesthetics, and the seemingly random story telling style without giving away how the tale of Cowboy, Indian, and Horse unfolds. Most of the fun of the movie are the several times during the 77 minute run time when you find yourself saying, "Whhhhaaaattt?" Hopefully, when this episode is all said and done we'll have convinced you to seek this little gem out.
Closing music: Surfin' Frog by Dionysos
A Town Called Panic TV show: the basis for the movie
Remember when Tim Allen was a big time movie star? No lie. It was an actual occurrence in cinema history, and you know what: he was pretty good at what he did. In this week's movie pick, Allen leads a stellar cast through a pitch-perfect Star Trek spoof that manages to walk the line between parody and loving homage.
For more on Galaxy Quest check out Jordan Hoffman's oral history:
Galaxy Quest oral history
It's Your Pic takes to the road again for another episode. This week on a family trip to Washington D.C. we watched the 1996 Roland Emmerich film Independence Day (in the back of a Honda Odyssey on a 9" screen as I'm sure was the intention of the filmmaker). I still haven't worked the bugs out of recording on the road, but I'm sure to have more practice in the future as Collin and my conflicting schedules may dictate more of these "on the road" recordings.
I hated this movie the first time I saw it. The question then is do lowered expectations make for a better viewing experience? Tune in and we'll try to get around to letting you know.
Yes, much like the rest of the planet, we too saw Captain America: Civil War, and since we do a movie podcast we're contractually obligated to discuss said movie. We try to keep it brief and non-spoilery. Most of the show, however, is our discussion of some summer movies we're excited (or not so excited) to see. We then grade our relative excitement on a 1-10 scale. Let us know what movies your looking forward to this summer by sending us an email at: feedback@itsyourpicshow.com.
This week It's Your Pic steps through the wardrobe and into the fabled land of Narnia with the first of Disney's adaptations of the C.S. Lewis books: The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe. Does this 2 hour 20 minute, CGI-heavy film capture the magic of the source material? That's what we'll try to decide as we also talk Lewis the man, and I try to keep up with Collin's wandering mind. Seriously, I don't know what he was thinking about during the recording, but it certainly wasn't about this movie. I'm sure there was a video game rattling around in there somewhere that he wanted to get back to.
1979 Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe animated special
For some The Goonies is THE quintessential 80's movie: a nostalgic trip of a movie about one perfectly adventurous day. A treasure map, childhood friends at your side, and the discovery that all the crazy, goofy dreams you hold in your pre-teen heart are actually true -- there is treasure to be had at the end of that map. It's all there. But is it packaged in a great movie? That's the question at hand on this week's It's Your Pic.
Also, recorded in the back seat of a moving Honda Odyssey, which will explain the (hopefully) soothing hum in the background.
This week Collin picked the 2015 Jack Black movie Goosebumps. The trailer for this movie gave me exactly zero in the way of anticipation or hope for this movie, but as I have vowed to watch whatever Collin picks, I soldiered on. You'll have to listen in to see if my brave sacrifice was worth it.
Since Spielberg's BFG is looming in the near future I decided to revisit another Dahl adaptation: 1971's Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory. And, being in a capricious mood, decide to add Tim Burton's 2005 adaptation Charlie and the Chocolate Factory into the mix as well. Very Wonka-ish of me, I believe. At any rate we do some good old fashioned compare and contrast with these two movies. Which did we prefer? Which made my daughter cry and gave Collin an upset stomach? Did we like Wilder's whimsy or Depp's dementia? Hop on our candy-coated ship and take a ride down a digital chocolate...you know I really don't have a decent Chocolate Factory/Podcast analogy, so I'll just ask politely that you give us a listen.
Authors who hated movie versions of their books
I wish I could say that the release of the Lego Batman teaser trailer inspired us to revisit 2014's The Lego Movie, but in reality it was just a serendipitous choice by Collin. We'll take whatever synergy we can get though. The both of us have a ton of love for this movie, so if you don't want to hear two people just gush for 30 minutes you might want to skip this one. I mean download it for sure, but you've been fairly warned...lot's of gushing.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kvgHOAOiAuY
The new movie from the DC universe is currently getting hammered critically. Do we take our turns at the dead horse, bats (no pun) in hand? Listen in and find out in our first Quick Pic assessment. It has half the calories and thus is more digestible.
Collin had never seen an Alfred Hitchcock movie before, so I started him out with one of my favorites. I may have actually jumped the gun a little bit in starting with this one. He was pretty bored with the first 30 minutes of Jeff and Lisa's love life talk. But when the movie proper kicks in he was engaged. I don't think he's quite ready for Vertigo or Psycho however. Still, I think we have a pretty good discussion about the movie itself and about the ethics of what the main character is doing.
This week Collin spent $5 of his own, hard-earned money to buy a copy of 2005's The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy, which also tuned out to be his movie pick. The movie cost $50 million to make and only grossed $21 million domestically. I guess that's would explain why there has never been a sequel. Still, that doesn't mean it's not worth your time. The clever word play of the books is somewhat lost, but Sam Rockwell's performance alone is worth a watch. Give this week's show a listen and maybe we can convince you.
A lot of people have a fondness for this movie that I've never shared. But, since I've only seen it once before this viewing, I decided to give it another look. Listen in to see how Collin and I felt about this baseball/50's nostalgia/coming of age flick. I sigh and say, "but so uhhh..." a lot, and Collin, gamely fighting allergies but still unaware of microphone proximity, snorts into the mic a few times. I tried to cut most of them.
For this episode of It's Your Pic, Collin selected the 2014 Cartoon Network miniseries Over the Garden Wall. It contains the typical CN weirdness with a good story and a lot of heart. One of Collin's most inspired picks. We start general and get into spoilers later in the discussion (with plenty of warning)
We also have a short discussion about Don Hertzfeldt's animated short World of Tomorrow, which is currently showing on Netflix (not YouTube).
Whether or not you enjoy this 1989 movie depends on your tolerance for heavy handed nostalgia and sentimentality. If it's as lovely and heartfelt and had Kevin Costner at his most charming you can get away with an awful lot of schmaltz. There's plenty of corn to be had both in the literal and figurative sense in Field of Dreams, the question is can this movie still raise a lump in a modern cynic's throat? I'm not disposed to cynicism so I that's a question for someone else. All I know is that by the time the line, "Hey Dad, wanna have a catch?" is uttered I'm swallowing hard. I think Collin might agree.
This week we saw the latest from DreamWorks animation studios, Kung Fu Panda 3. We also saw, kind of randomly, the Pixar classic, Wall-e. Seeing these two movies back-to-back got me thinking about the respective movie oeuvres of each studio. So for this show, after a short review of Kung Fu Panda 3, we go over the movies from each studio and decide who has the stronger line up. Where we end up won't be a surprise, but the journey was fun.
I didn't think we'd get a show out this week--Collin developed strep throat (on his 13th birthday, no less) and was pretty much bed ridden until Saturday. But he toughed it out, snorting and coughing directly into the microphone for good measure (hopefully I got most of those sound edited out), and we actually got the show recorded.
Unfortunately, for you the listener I do most of the talking, as Collin and his bacteria-laden tonsils are relegated to asides and various non sequitur comments.
It was Collin's pick this week, and he wanted to revisit 2015's Avengers: Age of Ultron. This takes us into some general Marvel Universe talk, which, given our limited knowledge on the subject, leads to a fairly short discussion.