Are You Screening? Podcast

Ready Player One Review

It's hard to scare us with a film more than putting out an adaptation of a book that seems unfilmable. Throwing a lot of money and a huge name director at it doesn't actually change that fact, but Ready Player One managed to mostly win us over.
On the other hand, a lot of things were changed, and fans have been responding from every direction. It's one thing, and a necessary one, to change something about a novel to adapt it, but it's quite another to monkey with a story with almost wild abandon.
Tune in to find out what we thought of this one, and to enter to win your very own copy!

Pacific Rim Uprising Review

Managing the dubious distinction of the highest rated movie I utterly hated, the Pacific Rim franchise continues with a new cast, a new director, and precious little we might count as a point.
We agreed that it isn't something we're about to recommend to people, but it had some positives, even if they are barely worth mentioning when put into the whole.
The story of how this film came together would clearly enlighten many about the inner workings of the Hollywood machine as it seems contractual obligations, money pre-paid for sets, FX companies, and potentially a negotiation with craft services all came together to land us a green light decision that somehow made sense on paper.

Tomb Raider/Wrinkle in Time Reviews

Tomb Raider seems like an odd move right now, but does that mean it's an automatic throwaway? It's been a long time since we saw a Croft in theaters, but more importantly, there doesn't seem to be anything swirling in the cultural consciousness that turns this franchise into something that needs another look.
The whys may be mysterious, but it turns out that, for what it is, this is an interesting attempt. Well, one of us thought so anyway.
Tune in to find out what we thought about this and A Wrinkle in Time.

Black Panther Review & Our 'Can't Win' Awards

It's that time of year again, and no, I don't mean it's time for Marvel to take over cinemas again. Black Panther has taken over the box office and it keeps on trucking, but it's time for our own version of movie awards.
Every year we offer up our "Can't Win" Awards, where we try to recognize some of the best in the year's films that really have no chance of getting nominated for any other awards. Whether it's a question of being too genre, too small, or too controversial in subject matter, there are a lot of great films and performances that aren't in the right corner of the arena to have a shot at an award. We try to make sure that they get some extra recognition.

Worst Movies of 2017

There were some surprisingly good movies this year, and seeing indie and genre films push out some clear award hopefuls may give a lot of film fans hope for the future. But! That doesn't mean there weren't a lot of horrible efforts out there as well. In fact, it seems that if you saw the last couple of years as reaching new heights, the scales are still fairly balanced, because the lows are reaching new depths.
We'll let you know our picks for the most dreaded films of the year so that you can make sure to avoid them at all costs.

Best Movies of 2017

We usually come pretty close in our ratings, but our lists often end up very different. This year, much to my surprise, things surprised me. As our long-time listeners know, Shane limits himself (mostly) to things we cover on the show, whereas I'm open to everything. Even that didn't make much difference to our lists this year, except that I had a couple I had to throw in the mix.
In the end, we might have put things in different positions, but one movie had our number this year.

The Darkest Hour, The Post & Bright Reviews

As we try to catch up to awards season, we get into stranger and stranger combinations. Darkest Hour has seen Gary Oldman finally getting his due as we head to the Academy Awards, and The Post has turned the award season into one for the books as the paint-by-numbers awards darling has been pretty well shut out.
Meanwhile, since Netflix has turned bonkers fantasy into something everyone is talking about, we threw Bright into the mix as well.

Lady Bird & The Man Who Invented Christmas Reviews

The end of the year makes for odd mixes and you could hardly find two movies that fit worse in a double feature. On the other hand, despite the lack of attention Christmas fare managed this year, The Man Who Invented Christmas is a film that may well catch continued life for years to come. 
Meanwhile, Lady Bird has a Golden Globe and it certainly deserves it. 
As we catch up with everything this year and prepare for our Best Lists extravaganza, we'll let you know what's still to come for award season and which films need your attention.

The Disaster Artist & I, Tonya Reviews

It's a weird week of pseudo-biopic films and as award season heats up, these two films are getting attention that you couldn't have predicted six months ago. Both The Disaster Artist and I, Tonya are not only managing a lot of attention for their performances, but they are avoiding a lot of attention you might have expected when it comes to the odd treatment of their respective subjects.
We'll let you know if these need to make it to your list of films you need to see and offer up some more general opinions on the award season this year.

The Shape of Water & 3 Billboards Reviews

You could hardly have two movies getting award attention that are more different than The Shape of Water and Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri. A wild, sci-fi fairy tale about a mute who befriends a mer-creature, and the story of a woman who is tortured by her daughter's murder and the inability of the local police to provide her with any closure.
Both films are making serious plays as awards season approaches, and both are deserving.
But, are they as good as everyone says, and do you need to get to them as fast as you can? We'll let you know.