The Top 100 Project

This is something, piece of cake! It’s a day before the mid-terms, so it’s time for the Next 126 Project to get all political again. Actually, the vitriol is pretty muted this time. We focus on the funny. And Wag The Dog is that. Dustin Hoffman is hysterical, Anne Heche is at her best and Robert De Niro wisely plays the closest thing to a straight man as there is in Barry Levinson’s flick. Our gibby gab about this perhaps dated film bites into the media, sex scandals, fixers and phony patriotism. It's a very solid satire. You know you need some Sparkplug Coffee deep down in your belly and when you buy some, make sure to enter the promo code “top100project” for a 10% discount.

The Next 125 Project is our final choice in Scary Movie Month and it’s got us yapping about the big bad red guy for the 2nd week in a row. While Ruth Gordon’s Oscar-winning work feels a little silly now, Mia Farrow gives the performance of her life. Controversial writer/director Roman Polanski’s red-letter moments are worth the hype, but what about the movie as a whole (especially as a horror picture)? Enhh, we've got mixed feelings. And what’s with witches and devils always following rules & obeying contracts? That was a theme in this month's horror flicks. We get into all that, but you gotta get into Sparkplug Coffee and win a 10% discount when you use our promo code “top100project”.

The Next 124 Project digs very deep into a movie that audiences didn’t appreciate the way film nerds and movie critics did. Beautiful to look at, well-acted (archaic language and all) and dense with meaning, Robert Eggers’ very first motion picture is like delicious butter. The tone, in particular, is pitch perfect. We analyze just when Thomasin became what she became, whether or not the family was eating poisoned corn and we certainly tackle the religious angles. We do have some issues with the all-too-literal ending and suggest how it could have gone differently. Still, though, strong work on the independent horror scene here. To get thou through our talk, drink up Sparkplug Coffee. Use the promo code “top100project” when you check out and you will be rewarded with a 10% discount.

The Next 123 Project flies back 55 years to tackle our 7th Hitchcock thriller. This isn’t Hitch’s finest work (nor his finest hour from a #metoo standpoint) and Tippi Hedren is subpar as one of the last in a long line of Hitchcock Blondes. There are some solid F/X (especially for the time), some effective freak-outs and tense scenes, at least. The movie also gets better as it goes along, with a terrific last 30 minutes. As for the plot, Bev has a theory about who’s really to blame for the bird attacks. She also has a theory about why the work suffers when great filmmakers lose (or toss away) their wives. Sparkplug Coffee deserves your patronage, so check them out and use the promo code “top100project” to enjoy a 10% discount.

The 122nd edition of the Next 100 Project is our 1st of 4 consecutive horror pictures in Scary Movie Month. It's also the 1st episode that was recorded in our new house! You'll definitely notice (and no doubt prefer) the difference in sound quality. Anyway, Maika Monroe is really solid in the lead role of this fascinating & extremely effective freakshow. David Robert Mitchell takes influences from many fright flicks of the past (Halloween, I'm looking at you) and yet still makes this movie completely his own. Just watch out for the tall man, the boy next door and maybe even your own family members! Snag some Sparkplug Coffee and don't neglect to enter "top100project" at check-out to win a one-time 10% discount.

The Newman/Taylor love (well, hate) fest is the order of the day in the Next 121 Project. The Mississippi-living Pollitt family fuss and feud for the entire movie, but Newman’s booze-chugging Brick is their linchpin…for some reason. Burl Ives as Big Daddy actually out-acts his mendacious co-stars, but the script (or maybe it’s Tennessee Williams' play) lets them all down…in Bev’s eyes, at least. Is Brick’s critical character change from play to screen (see: homosexual/not homosexual) an unrecoverable mistake? It sure didn’t help. Only one single way to find out! And just before you stroke that play button, stumble over to Sparkplug Coffee for an order of beans. Use the discount code “top100project” and you’ll receive 10% off.

Tear off your hat and shout “YEEHAW” for the Next 120 Project, an episode which could be subtitled “The Wrath Of Tom”. Maybe he has so much wrath because of all the impossible-to-miss homosexual undertones, which Howard Hawks denied even existed…but he did cast Montgomery Clift, so. Bev didn’t love John Wayne’s career-changing work the way many others did and we both had problems with the craptastic ending (like everyone does), but most of this long ride is a blast. Those westerns. They keep on being home runs. To enjoy much better coffee than what the characters in the flick drink, go to Sparkplug Coffee and tell ’em “top100project” sent ya. That’s your one-time promo code that'll lasso you 10% off.

The Next 119 Project has us spitting nails about the horrendous presidency of George W. Bush, as documented (mostly accurately?) by America’s Provocateur-In-Chief Michael Moore. As dreadful as things are in 2018, it’s easy to forget that the second-most-recent Republican Commander-In-Cluelessness did his best to do the worst. Our outraged liberal leanings are on full display here, so if you can’t stand to hear Junior torn to ribbons (or the current garbage president...or the hypocritical members of the media, for that matter), then just come back next week when the movie is about John Wayne trying to murder people. Lighter material! To gear you up for this very long listen, you must go to Sparkplug Coffee’s website and get some joe in ya. If you use the promo code “top100project”, you’ll even get a one-time 10% discount.

The 3rd and final waste of our time in "Movies We Hate Month" smacks the taste out of one of the biggest box-office successes of all time. Jim Cameron's "save the trees" sci-fi extravaganza is pretty in 3D, but it's also pretty 3dumb. This story has been told many times before---so fair usage for Cameron & crew---but did the screenplay have to be so lazy? And laughable? And just plain dreadful? Not even Sigourney Weaver can save this Sam Worthington/Zoe Saldana-starring crap pile. To help you get through this slog (if, for some reason, you decide to watch it), order some Sparkplug Coffee from our friendly sponsors. You'll get a 10% discount (one-time only) if you use our promo code: "top100project".

The 2nd week in “Movies We Hate Month” digs deep into a very shallow rom-com. The Next 117 Project gleefully hacks on this McConaughey/Hudson tripe, which—bad as it is—really just represents all the insulting rom-coms that make women look stupid and make men look like idiot lugnuts. We can do better than this cruelty, people, so stop buying tickets to see this hooey! But you can’t do better than Sparkplug Coffee, so hit them up and take advantage of a one-time 10% discount by smashing in the promo code “top100project”.

The Next 116 Project staggers back 8 short months to re-look at Guillermo Del Toro’s Oscar-nabbing smash. The Fish F*%^er didn’t touch us as deeply the first time we peeped at it the way it did for so many others. Did we see things differently this time or is this an appropriate choice for the 1st selection in “Movies We Hate” Month? Actually, it’s a complicated answer to that question, so you’re gonna want to find out what we really think. Meanwhile, help out our longtime sponsor and get yourself some tremendous Sparkplug Coffee. You can still score a 10% discount on your first order when you apply the promo code: “top100project”.

We’re going back to when times were pleasant (well, for a certain type of person they were) in our Next 115 Project podcast. Tobey Maguire and the high-larious Reese Witherspoon headline the tremendous cast (Macy, Allen, Daniels, on and on). Director Gary Ross tackles a lot of topics, starting with a brilliant comedy, then turning the movie into a racial parable. One of us has issues with the way he did that, but neither of us has any problem with the swell F/X that blend colour with black & white. For some swell black coffee, go to Sparkplugcoffee.com and, if you use the promo code “top100project”, you’re going to save 10% on your 1st order.

Chris Walken has a premonition that the Next 114 Project is a complex episode. Both the 1st half's murder mystery and the 2nd half's future-president-turned-madman angle resonate today....probably more than did even in 1983. We admire those storylines, but David Cronenberg's superhero origin story is a bit too choppy and episodic. In any case, there's definitely a lot of meat on these bones. To take care of your coffee fetish, gallop over to Sparkplugcoffee.com, saving 10% on your first order when you use the promo code “Top100Project”.

The Joker dominates the Next 113 Project (which is as it should be) as we spend nearly an hour jawing about the greatest superhero movie of ’em all. Or is it? The flick sure isn’t perfect, although Heath Ledger’s performance is. Christian Bale gives probably the definitive version of Batsy (with the voice that launched a thousand impressions) and one of us thinks Aaron Eckhart is just a shade behind Ledger’s villainous greatness. Chris Nolan—say what you will about his pictures–is probably the de facto master of the past 15 or so years of blockbuster filmmaking. Well, why do we need to sell this movie? You know it, there’s a good chance you love it. For superhero-level coffee, go to Sparkplugcoffee.com and save 10% on your initial order by clacking in the promo code “Top100Project”.

Get your A.I. butler to help you strap on your gold-titanium-alloy suit as the Next 112 Project podcast digs moderately deep into a superhero revenge story. RDJ had already made his comeback before this movie, but this whopping success made him a true movie star…and a very rich man. Director Jon Favreau handles the material as well as he almost always does (underrated talent) and he crafted a fun summer blockbuster that began the MCU’s prolific trail of hits. You also know you have to visit Sparkplugcoffee.com to snag your java. Save 10% on your 1st order when you finger in the promo code “Top100Project”.

The Next 111 Project is our last podcast in June and the movie is a (mostly) jovial cartoon noir. Full marks to Bob Hoskins for selling that the toons are really there, but the main event here are those classic cartoons and, of course, the made-up ones too (like Roger & Jessica). Bob Zemeckis’ technical mastery is at its peak, but let’s not forget how good he is with story and character. This is a joyful time at the movies, but there are some surprisingly dark touches. Oh, and hit up our longtime sponsor, Sparkplugcoffee.com, and don’t neglect to save 10% on your premiere order by typing in the promo code “Top100Project”.

Grease is the 110th effort in the Next 100 Project series and this was not an easy movie to review. As popular as it was and still is, the Travolta/OLJ singathon’s story and characters can’t keep up with the uber-famous songs. But, man, those songs are beloved for a reason. For great java, you just gotta hit up SparkplugCoffee.com and don’t hesitate to save 10% on your first order by using the promo code “Top100Project”.

This 25-year-old monster movie game-changer that, for a while, was the biggest blockbuster ever. Steven Spielberg has made better films (character-wise, especially), but the technical wizardry and action sequences are hard to top. The dinosaurs still kick (and, well, bite) ass. And, hey, we've got the reasonably triumphant return of Reasonably Good Questions! Also, help out our sponsor and go to Sparkplug Coffee’s website where you can pocket 10% on your first order by using the promo code “Top100Project”.

The 108th dip into the Next 100 Project pond takes us into the world of Reality Television and the fake world of Truman Burbank. Our podcasts spend a lot of time praising fine films, but this is truly one of the most-fascinating pictures of the modern era. Jim Carrey? Wow. Laura Linney and Ed Harris (complete with his God complex)? Somethin’ else. Peter Weir’s world of make-believe is  funny and emotional and prescient. This one is even better now than it was 20 years ago. Hasten over to SparkplugCoffee.com where you’d be wise to save 10% on your first order if you use the promo code “Top100Project”.

The 107th installment of the Next 100 Project is Paul Newman at his early-60’s peak. Patricia Neal and Melvyn Douglas won Oscars for their strong performances (ol’ Paulie News did not) and Brandon de Wilde is pretty good too. The story is really about his character, come to think of it. Anyway, Martin Ritt’s cattle tale is terrific in every way (the script, James Wong Howe’s cinematography, everything). Before you hear us blather, lope on over to Sparkplug Coffee and rope yourself a 10% discount by using the code “Top100Project”.