The Movies, Films and Flix Podcast – Episode 345: The Blackcoat’s Daughter, Low-Key Exorcisms, and Jerky Demons
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The MFF podcast is back, and this week we were joined by Zanandi (@ZaNandi on Twitter) to discuss the 2015 horror film The Blackcoat’s Daughter. Directed by Oz Perkins, and starring Kiernan Shipka, Emma Roberts, and Lucy Boynton, the film focuses on what happens when a lonely and isolated teenager is possessed by a supremely jerky demon. In this episode, we discuss low-key exorcisms, bleak humor, and why it’s one of the best horror films released in the last 10 years. Enjoy!
If you are a fan of the podcast, make sure to send in some random listener questions so we can do our best to not answer them correctly. We thank you for listening, and hope you enjoy the episode!
You can download the pod on Apple Podcasts, Tune In, Podbean, or Spreaker.
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Written, directed, produced, and edited by Chloé Zhao (The Rider, the upcoming MCU film Eternals), Nomadland is an excellent adaptation of Jessica Bruder’s 2017 book Nomadland: Surviving America in the Twenty-First Century. The movie is jam-packed with beautiful vistas, fun moments, and authentic performances by real-life nomads.
Nomadland follows the journey of Fern (Frances McDormand), a recently unemployed nomad as she travels around the American west in her Ford Econoline van (nicknamed Vanguard). When we first meet her she’s taking her possessions out of a storage facility, and heading to an Amazon warehouse (which they actually shot at) to work a seasonal job. When that job ends she travels around the states working at restaurants, campsites and gem stores to make enough money to pay for campsites and van maintenance. It’s a solitary lifestyle, but Fern occasionally finds herself with fellow nomads who teach her about “life on the road,” and give her some much needed company.
Propelled by an immensely watchable performance by McDormand (who is always great), Nomadland relishes in the tiny aspects of nomad life. Whether it’s Fern customizing her van to create more storage space, or reacting to her treasured plates being accidently broken, the film is totally fine showcasing the more mundane aspects of her life. What also helps is that McDormand acts against actual nomads who deliver much-needed authenticity, and give the film a living-breathing soul. The reason Nomadland works so well is that it feels steeped in authenticity. You never really feel like it’s Hollywood-types going slumming, and there isn’t an ounce of falseness or preciousness.
The cinematography and production design by Joshua James Richards (God’s Own Country, The Rider) is inspired, as he blends handheld camera work with long dolly-track shots that showcase the rundown buildings and wide-open vistas of the west. It’s a film that should be watched on a gigantic screen, or in a dark room because the 2.39 : 1 aspect ratio captures the widescreen glory of the west, and isn’t afraid to linger on the rocky terrains or star-riddled sky.
If you’re looking for an authentic and occasionally beautiful film, I totally recommend you check out Nomadland. It’s going to be a force during the upcoming awards season, and it’s earned every right to be in the conversation. Zhao, McDormand, and Richards have created something special and authentic, and it’s neat seeing all the love bestowed upon it. It will be a lot of fun to watch what Zhao does next, and if Nomadland and The Rider are any indication, I’m guessing that Eternals will be a legit MCU film.
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Deep Blue Sea – The Podcast – Episode 31: Mako Wish Foundations, Remora Blakes, and Shark Riding
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Jay and Mark are joined by Robert Lamb (@7lambpodcasts on Twitter) to discuss “Unsure Shooting,” the 31st chapter on the Deep Blue Sea DVD. In this episode, they discuss riding sharks, clipboards, blood smelling, and the filmography of Nicholas Sparks. Enjoy!
Please make sure to check out all of the 7 Lamb podcast at www.7lamb.com
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The Movies, Films and Flix Podcast – Episode 344: Mission: Impossible – Fallout, Plutonium and Bathroom Fights
You can download or stream the pod on Apple Podcasts, Tune In, Podbean, or Spreaker (or wherever you listen to podcasts…..we’re almost everywhere).
If you get a chance please make sure to review, rate and share. You are awesome!
The MFF podcast is back, and this week we’re discussing the 2018 action classic Mission: Impossible – Fallout. Directed by Christopher McQuarrie, and starring Tom Cruise, Rebecca Ferguson, Henry Cavill, Ving Rhames and Vanessa Kirby, the film focuses on what happens when an evil villain (with lots and lots of resources) wants revenge on Tom Cruise. Fallout is a massive action film that deserves its 97% Tomatometer score and huge box office, as it’s wildly ambitious and features some beautiful stunts. In this episode, we discuss running protagonists, bathroom fights, and Cliffhanger. Enjoy!
If you are a fan of the podcast, make sure to send in some random listener questions so we can do our best to not answer them correctly. We thank you for listening, and hope you enjoy the episode!
You can download the pod on Apple Podcasts, Tune In, Podbean, or Spreaker.
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John’s Horror Corner: Feast (2005), a sloppy gorefest “siege horror” comedy gushing with a great cast.
MY CALL: This creature feature is a fast-paced, exciting, disgusting and incredibly fun gorefest with cool monsters and a great cast. How could you go wrong here? MORE MOVIES LIKE Feast: For more wild “siege horror”, go for VFW (2019), Howl (2015), From Dusk Till Dawn (1996) or Legion (2010).
Our story takes place in a little bar in the middle of nowhere somewhere in the southwest. Meeting our cast of victims is like an energized videogame trailer featuring a stat block complete with nickname, occupation and life expectancy described in snarky candor. Our introductions are rich with troped-up irony and feisty menace as we are shown this motley crew including an elderly prostitute, veteran, motivational speaker (Henry Rollins; He Never Died, Wrong Turn 2), teen troublemaker, rough biker (Diane Ayala Goldner; Halloween II, The Collector, Hatchet III), jerky criminal (Jason Mewes; Scream 3), old and wise (Clu Gulager; The Return of the Living Dead, A Nightmare on Elm Street 2, The Initiation, From a Whisper to a Scream, Piranha 3DD), young and dumb, tough single mom, and a beer delivery guy (Judah Friedlander; Sharknado 2, Cabin Fever 2).
The dialogue is funny and the characters’ presentation is very engaging. After a little happy hour with this bunch of charmers a rugged, bloody stranger bursts in warning of the Hell to come in the form of man-eating monsters. With the first death occurring at minute 13, you could say the pacing is as quick as the witty script. People are screaming, panicking and getting shredded in no time. So they barricade the bar, trapping themselves inside.
As if taking snaps from the Evil Dead playbook, the deaths are tremendously bloody with comical gouts of gore dousing frightened patrons. The on-screen depictions of gunshot wounds, flash lacerations, dismemberment and decapitation are solid work, with the monster even thrusting its claw straight through a midsection in chunky style. There is a baby monster skittering around like a skinned, tweaked out ewok; a projectile vomit scene fire-hosing a patron in green goop; the eyeball-yanking scene was just plain mean; a pinata-like head-splatter; and the monster penis scene… well… things get gross and weird. In fact, there are more than a few awkward monstrously sexual scenes.
And once we see the monsters unobscured, they’re pretty cool! They’ll remind you of the monsters from many movies. So they’re not exactly original-looking—just another generalized toothy-mawed demon thing—but very well done. I loved these fiends and their offspring.
This movie is REALLY a lot of fun! And no, I don’t mean that in some awesomely “bad movie” way. The dialogue and characters are worth it alone, but then there’s the gorehound-pleasing offal being cast about constantly. And unlike Wrong Turn 2 (2007), in which Henry Rollins was the only actor carrying his weight, everyone in Feast brings something tasty to the table. All the characters are good, and they all have good lines, good scenes, good moments, and worthy death scenes.
Director John Gulager (Feast II-III, Piranha 3DD) rocked this disgustingly awesome movie. It’s so slimy, sloppy, goopy, sticky and gross. This one’s a keeper!
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The Movies, Films and Flix Podcast – Episode 343: A Nightmare on Elm Street 5: The Dream Child
You can download or stream the pod on Apple Podcasts, Tune In, Podbean, or Spreaker (or wherever you listen to podcasts…..we’re almost everywhere).
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Mark and John finish up their “Dream” series by discussing A Nightmare on Elm Street 5: The Dream Child. Directed by Stephen Hopkins, and starring Robert Englund, Lisa Wilcox and Danny Hassel, this 1989 film focuses on the final battle between Freddy Kreuger and Alice Johnson. In this episode, they discuss dream babies, practical effects and swimming pools. Enjoy!
If you are a fan of the podcast, make sure to send in some random listener questions so we can do our best to not answer them correctly. We thank you for listening, and hope you enjoy the episode!
You can download the pod on Apple Podcasts, Tune In, Podbean, or Spreaker.
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Deep Blue Sea – The Podcast – Episode 30: Chonky Sharks, Rusty Metal, and Plot Device Tentacles
Jay and Mark are joined by Meg Hyland (meghyland on Instagram) to discuss “Come to Mama,” the 30th chapter on the Deep Blue Sea DVD. This is the famous scene in which Dr. Susan McAlester (Saffron Burrows) finds what happens when she meets her mutated-creation in the open water (nothing good happens…). In this episode, they discuss rusty metal, faulty masonry, corn syrup, and plot device tentacles. Enjoy!
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John’s Horror Corner: The Texas Chainsaw Massacre: The Beginning (2006), the origin story of the iconic killer.
MY CALL: Featuring one of my favorite depictions of Leatherface, this is also among my favorite TCM movies. Incredibly gory, abruptly brutal, and unrelenting in its indecency. MORE MOVIES LIKE Texas Chainsaw Massacre: The Beginning: Well obviously you should have already seen The Texas Chainsaw Massacre (2003), and then perhaps Texas Chainsaw 3-D (2013) and Leatherface (2017). Then there were the original The Texas Chainsaw Massacre (1974) and the ultra-zany sequel The Texas Chainsaw Massacre 2 (1986), though I was not a fan of Leatherface: Texas Chainsaw Massacre III (1990). From there I’d suggest Wrong Turn (2003), House of 1000 Corpses (2003), Wolf Creek (2005), The Hills Have Eyes (2007) and Charlie’s Farm (2014).
FRANCHISE SIDEBAR: This is a prequel of the 2003 remake of the original The Texas Chainsaw Massacre (1974). It is only directly linked to The Texas Chainsaw Massacre (2003).
Many viewers found The Texas Chainsaw Massacre (2003) to be needlessly mean shock cinema. But I always found it truly appropriate for the inherently cruel story and characters. They were meant to be insidious psychopathic cannibals, right? So following in the same shocking vein, this prequel opens with a viscerally graphic birth scene complete with a slimy animatronic fetus on the floor of a slaughterhouse. That visual alone ought to inform you if this film is for you. Clearly, it’s trying to push the limits of the 2003 reboot.
The unsightly baby is rescued from an offal dumpster and taken to the old Hewitt house; the opening credit sequence is littered with visuals of lacerated flesh and the sounds of wet chunks of meat being squeezed between fingers; and the language describing Thomas “Leatherface” Hewitt (Andrew Bryniarski; The Texas Chainsaw Massacre, Mother’s Day) is not just culturally insensitive, but brutal.
In current day 1969 two twenty-something couples are driving across the country. After a car accident, Bailey (Diora Baird; Night of the Demons, 30 Days of Night: Dark Days), Chrissie (Jordana Brewster; The Faculty), Eric (Matt Bomer; American Horror Story, The Sinner) and Dean (Taylor Handley; Bird Box) are picked up by the sheriff and taken to his home. A glowing example of psychopathy, “Sheriff Hoyt” (R. Lee Ermey; The Texas Chainsaw Massacre, The Rift, The Frighteners, Up from the Depths, The Watch) takes every opportunity to rattle our senses as the most vile entity we meet in this story. Leatherface is an animal, but Hoyt is a true monster.
The pacing is strong. True to its 2003 and 1974 source material, this movie’s violence is jarringly abrupt and abundant. From roadkilled cow and dispatched bikers, to hammer homicide and peeling off entire faces, the action starts right away and takes few breaks from shocking us. For example, Leatherface’s hammer game is strong in this movie! Not since Annie Wilkes in Misery (1990) have I seen someone so brutally hobbled, making bone meal out of a poor guy’s knees.
This Leatherface is also among the grossest (although not so perverted as in The Texas Chainsaw Massacre 2), with a degenerative skin disease and his arms seem perpetually discolored in dry oxidized blood. He’s always sweaty, he’s always filthy, and his presence feels the most menacing of any TCM film (1974-2017).
We see heads get blown apart, horrendous beatings, someone getting chainsawed in half, legs are amputated on screen, and skin get flayed before our eyes. We also enjoy (I think) the most chainsaw deaths and attacks of the entire franchise from originals to reboots. Personally, I’d say director Jonathan Liebesman (Darkness Falls, Battle Los Angeles, Wrath of the Titans) did well by TCM fans, and his amped up brutality really just seems to follow the trend in TCM movies leading up to this.
This movie is a blast for gorehounds! I haven’t seen 2003 recently enough to say for sure, but this and 1986 might just be my two favorite TCM movies.
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The Movies, Films and Flix Podcast: Episode 342: The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen
You can download or stream the pod on Apple Podcasts, Tune In, Podbean, or Spreaker (or wherever you listen to podcasts…..we’re almost everywhere).
If you get a chance please make sure to review, rate and share. You are awesome!
Mark and David Cross (of the Award Wieners Movie Review Podcast) discuss the 2003 film The League of the Extraordinary Gentlemen. Directed by Stephen Norrington (Blade), and starring Sean Connery, Shane West and Peta Wilson, this bonkers film tells the story of what happens when a bunch of literary “superheroes” battle a technology advanced army of super jerks. In this episode, they discuss giant submarines, gross invisible people, and an underappreciated vampire. Enjoy!
If you are a fan of the podcast, make sure to send in some random listener questions so we can do our best to not answer them correctly. We thank you for listening, and hope you enjoy the episode!
You can download the pod on Apple Podcasts, Tune In, Podbean, or Spreaker.
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The Little Things: A Solid Throwback Thriller From John Lee Hancock
Written and directed by John Lee Hancock (Saving Mr. Banks, The Blind Side, The Founder), this psychological thriller asks interesting questions, and it will be neat to see how audiences react to the experience.
The Little Things focuses on the unlikely partnership between Deputy Sheriff Joe “Jeke” Deacons (Denzel Washington) and Sergeant Jim Baxter (Rami Malek), as they hunt down a serial killer who has been plaguing the Los Angeles area. Deacons is an old-school officer who relies on instinct and experience when investigating, and Baxter is a tireless worker who is smart enough to ask Deacons for help (which says something good about him). Together, they patrol Los Angeles in their quest to prevent more death, which leads to a man named Albert Sparma (Jared Leto), who may-or-may-not be a suspect. From there, nothing will be spoiled, just know past secrets are uncovered, and the two men get much more than they bargained for.
The Little Things does a solid job observing the cost of doggedly pursuing a goal. Like Hancock’s prior films such as The Highwaymen, which focused on the Bonnie and Clyde manhunt, or The Founder, which centered around the worldwide expansion of McDonalds (and the amount of hours it took), Hancock seems to enjoy writing and directing films about characters who follow their pursuits. Also, whether it’s bravely hunkering down at the Alamo (The Alamo), or becoming a major league pitcher late-in-life (The Rookie), Hancock loves determined people, who occasionally suffer (or die) while pursuing their ideals.
Hancock wrote the script for The Little Things in the 1990s, and says he only had to change about 5-10% of the script to make it work for modern day audiences. His refusal to change certain elements kept the project in limbo, and the wait paid off as Hancock was able to direct, and bring in an incredibly talented cast and crew of Oscar winners. There’s an embarrassment of riches in this production, and it’s a treat to watch three Academy Award winning actors (Washington, Malek, Leto – who all have much different acting methods) flexing their acting skills in the same room (designed by Academy Award nominated production designer Michael Corenblith).
The cinematography by John Schwartzman (The Rock, Jurassic World, A Simple Favor) is excellent, as it focuses on shadows, leading lines, and long takes, to create an oppressive world in a sprawling city. The visual palette is interesting to watch, and almost follows a pattern that you may-or-may-not notice as the movie progresses. Throw in excellent costume design by Daniel Orlandi (Logan, Ford v. Ferrari), and a solid score from Thomas Newman (1917, Bridge of Spies), and you have a prestigious looking and sounding film that will be incredibly polarizing.
Conclusion – I enjoyed The Little Things, and can’t wait to see the reaction to John Lee Hancock’s film. He fought to keep it as is, and we’ll see if his dogged approach pays off with critics and audiences.
Movies, Films & Flix 