In 1995, Toy Story set the gold … well, polyurethane standard for toys springing to life in film. But it’s not an uncommon concept. From Ted to Annabelle, it’s not hard to see what’s cute, creepy, or ironically crass about playthings suddenly speaking in adult voices. On this week’s show, we watch and review three Toy Tales […]
Author Archives: Chance Solem-Pfeifer
Charlize In Charge
Given Mad Max: Fury Road, the Fast franchise, and now Atomic Blonde, Charlize Theron seems dead set on spending her forties as an action star. But the South African actor has been working across genres for two decades, stealing scenes, elevating co-stars, and portraying complicated, sharp-edged characters with tumultuous internal lives. On today’s show, we discuss three […]
“Detroit”
I find the recent films of Kathryn Bigelow equally difficult to criticize and to praise. Points of comparison are lacking because no one makes films the way The Hurt Locker, Zero Dark Thirty, and now Detroit are made. Looking back further, it’s tempting to say Bigelow once helmed very of-their-time action movies, Point Break and Blue […]
Saving Privates Not Named Ryan
With the film world abuzz about “Dunkirk” this week, we paired the new war epic from Christopher Nolan with two other military rescue films: “Behind Enemy Lines” and “Black Hawk Down.” After Noah shares the story of his transcendental evening with Phish, we dig into “Dunkirk” and argue over whether Nolan’s manipulation of time is […]
“Loved” One In A Coma
A lot’s happened since they’ve been out: families befriended, families hoodwinked, families pressing murder charges. This week, we watch over the eerie, difficult-to-pull-off genre of coma movies, including The Big Sick (2017), While You Were Sleeping (1995), and Reversal Of Fortune (1990). We begin with the new autobiographical comedy from Kumail Nanjiani and Emily Gordon, The Big Sick. Noah and author/client Nick White saw the movie […]
Teenage Master Criminals
They may be aces behind wheels, sharks in pressed uniforms, and imps tiptoeing up to jewelry boxes, but are they even old enough to vote? This week, Noah and Chance try not to be taken for fools by prodigious teenage crooks. They begin a bit divided on the surprise summer hit BABY DRIVER, about an […]
Reeled In: “The Beguiled”
On this week’s mini-episode, we’re laid up recovering from Sofia Coppola’s “The Beguiled.” The Southern Gothic tale of a wounded Union soldier stuck on a Virginia plantation of exclusively women, Coppola’s remake of the 1971 original is an achievement in tension and character dynamics. Still, we argue over its ambition and historical considerations. The first […]
A Hell Of A Commute
By happenstance or by hijacking, we tackle three films this week in which getting from A to B goes horribly wrong. We start with 1974’s “The Taking of Pelham One Two Three,” our first example of the triangle formed among helpless passengers, a mysterious invader, and the everyman hero who tries to intervene. At 18 […]
The Alien Franchise: Part Two
Ramp up the violence and turn down the storytelling; it’s Part Two of our Alien franchise reappraisal! This week, we pick up with “Alien 3” and analyze why it’s so fit for reclamation from fans and cinephiles alike. At the 24-minute mark, Chance is joined by the hosts of the Alien universe podcast “Perfect Organism.” […]
The Alien Franchise: Part One
The Alien franchise’s five-decade journey has crossed genres, intersected the careers of preeminent filmmakers and wavered wildly from classic to culty to catastrophic. With the recent release of the disturbing and philosophical “Alien: Covenant,” we set out to reappraise all the chest-bursting and face-hugging in Part One of our franchise retrospective. [Find Part Two here.] […]