Are You Screening? Podcast

Pixar lands in theaters again with a curious spin on the idea of a sequel. According to the film's intro, the film that Andy saw which inspired the toy he then got for his birthday is the film you're about to watch. Thus, this animated sci-fi romp on an alien world has no real connection to the Toy Story films, leaving Pixar free to take off wherever it wants. It's a strange trip, and focuses on time travel, and we'll let you know if it holds its own among Pixar's efforts.

It's dino week and we're looking at Jurassic World Dominion this week, plus a few other bonuses and we'll let you know about some streaming options. How does that coming of dinosaurs into the rest of the world play out, and is it, like other films in the franchise, worth seeing on the big screen no matter how good it is?

This week is obviously all about Top Gun Maverick and one verdict that's already in is whether you think it's going to be good or not, you've got to see it on the biggest screen you can. But, how does it really hold up, and is it something worthwhile only if you can let yourself go to popcorn thrillrides, or is it worth anything more? As usual, we'll also let you in on some other gems available to stream.

Alex Garland fans have some idea what to expect from his efforts, but it's hard to imagine anyone could really be prepared for Men. Ex Machina was a sci-fi effort with great performances and a lot to say about the world, and Annihilation and Devs were fun, wild rides, even if they weren't perfect. Men is something else altogether. We'll let you know if you to give Men a chance and we'll also look Rebel Wilson's latest effort, Senior Year, and take a look at a few other gems on streaming services.

We're looking at Firestarter this week, the surprisingly under-marketed King adaptation that seems to be polarizing audiences. Is this one worth the effort, especially if you don't seem to be trying to truly capitalize on it? We also run through some of your better options to stream like the new release of The Lost City.

This week we look at the latest Marvel adventure, Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness, and we actually manage to diverge in our ratings quite a bit. That's not the norm for Marvel efforts, but one of us really didn't like this one, despite liking Doctor Strange generally, and being a serious fan of WandaVision. Tune in and we'll let you know if you need to get to this one.

This week we're looking at The Northman, a film of curious budget that hopes to spin something like a Shakespearean take on Norse fable with all the gore and madness one might expecting of a Viking revenge story. Is this one worth your time? Does the critical appreciation continue following in the wake of The Witch and The Lighthouse? Do you need to see it in theaters? We'll let you know.

This week we are reviewing/celebrating the movie that you really need to go see while it is still in theaters, Everything Everywhere All At Once. At the same time, we aren't actually quite as hot for it as a lot of critics. We're also running you through a lot of TV/Streaming options that are either hitting now or coming soon to help you get through the next couple of months' worth of theatrical releases, which will give you a few big releases but not much else to take up your time.

This is a strange week as directors go with opposite ends of the career track represented. We have rather opposite efforts as far as the films as well. A hyperkinetic chase/heist film with a wildly "on" Jake Gyllenhaal, and a slower-than-slow burn spy-focused investigation with Thandie Newton and Chris Pine, neither of whom seem able to emote at all. We'll let you know if you need to catch Ambulance or All the Old Knives, and this week we are also going to give you a quick preview of what's coming up in the next couple of months.

Morbius has, if nothing else, taken the internet by storm, but where does this film really land and is it worth your time? It's actually a tougher question than most would have you believe. This week we're also looking at the Oscars and comparing the results with the Critics Choice Awards. And, yes, we weigh in on the drama.

Now that awards season is over, and the release of truly big efforts becomes hit or miss as is the spring norm, we're looking at Deepwater. We'll also catch you up on a few other things, which will connect with our upcoming efforts to keep you posted on a lot of streaming possibilities in the near future.

It's finally time, as awards season winds down, for our own version of awards. We try to highlight the overlooked with our awards, where to be eligible for recognition, you have to be a film, or performance, that just won't get nominated for anything else. We're also covering The Adam Project and Turning Red, two surprisingly good efforts.

The questions of the mind's of our listeners are clearly, "Will Marc get an actual Batman movie this time around?" and, "Will Shane care if it's a Batman movie?" The trailers leave things pretty open for both of those questions, but we'll answer these questions and many more, including, "Can you see anything in this movie?" Fans will also be expecting our "Can't Win Awards," but we've had to push those back a week, which conveniently puts them right in the award window. What movies and actors/actresses were overlooked this year, but deserve attention? Tune in next week to find out our answers.

This week we're finally getting to post-awards efforts and catch up with Spider-Man: No Way Home, which everyone has already seen, but more importantly we move on to the Worst Movies of the Year. In a strange twist, we are also spending a bit of our time calling out other people's worst lists, which hasn't really come up before because it turns out that we simply didn't pay enough attention to them. Some people, to cut to the chase, don't see enough movies and then voice opinions on what the worst of them are. 

We're finally getting out our lists and we kick things off with the Best of the Year. Always, hopefully, curious lists, this year was a decidedly odd one for the world of film. We'll give you our top 10, and throw out a lot of other movies you should check out if you missed them, and even let you in on some that didn't make our lists despite being on everyone else's. We're also running through the Academy Award nominations and comparing them to the Critics Choice Awards. We had a couple of small technical difficulties recording this one, and the unfixable remains of our efforts have resulted in this episode ending rather abruptly.

We're in the final stages of running through everything we can as awards, and our own Best lists, approach. This week we're looking at massive awards contender The Power of the Dog, and giving quick takes on several other films we haven't had a chance to get to yet. We also look at the latest Matrix film, and a foreign gem in a year overloaded with foreign gems, The Worst Person in the World.

As we approach awards, specifically as we get closer to the CCA which is now in March, we're trying to wrap up 2021 as much possible and get to everything we can. That means a certain amount of shotgunning some films. Apart from awards, we're also trying to get through anything that slipped through the cracks as we hope to get to our Best and Worst lists within the next two weeks. This week we're covering Don't Look Up, Being the Ricardos, taking a look back at Belfast again, and more... we'll also chime on Pig again, because we can't remember how detailed we were about it.

It's awards season and this week we're looking at the Critics Choice nominations and how they lined up with my own votes. We're also reviewing King Richard and The Tender Bar in what is our last week before we just start throwing out movies ten at a time to try to catch up with the end of the year.

As award season approaches, this is the last week that will see us able to keep from covering half a dozen films an episode and we're still giving time to more than one. The French Dispatch is the main attraction, but we'll be going back over a couple of others (and touching on more). Mainly, tick tick Boom and The Harder They Fall.

We had to catch up a bit this week, but Eternals was obviously the biggest drop. We also give you our take on so many more though, including - Red Notice, Belfast, The Harder They Fall, Army of Thieves, and more.