Are You Screening? Podcast

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.

This week is all about Dune, though we hit a couple of other treats as well, and we'll not only let you know if you need to get to this one, but we look at some of the criticisms other people have as well.

Bond is back, and Daniel Craig finishes up his tenure in the role, but is this one worth it? How does it stack up as a Bond film? We'll let you know, and we'll also take a look at The Green Knight, now on home release, and Halloween Kills, which made a splash at the box office.

This week we're trying to catch up on things before we get to Bond weekend. We'll let you in on some of the latest - like Venom: Let There Be Carnage, Old Henry, Cry Macho, and Malignant - but we'll also run through our quick takes on some recent big entries on the small screen. Foundation, La Brea, and more.

It's a big week for us as Shang-Chi manages to get people back in theaters consistently. Is Marvel's continued reign deserved, or are people just showing up because it's Marvel? We'll let you know if this one is worth your time before it hits to stream, and we'll give you quick looks at Kate and Malignant. I'll also be giving my take on the Emmy's and certain controversy surrounding the awards.

This week we'll let you know just how surprised we were by Free Guy (and whether that was good or bad). We'll also give you some details on other things headed your way, review Reminiscence, look back again at Pig, and much more... well, not that much more.  

DC takes another stab at the general idea with "The Suicide Squad," and the results are a mixed bag of brilliant moments, charismatic efforts, and nonsense. Does it amount to something worth watching, or just a frustrating mess? Tune in and we'll let you know if this one is worth your time.

It's Disney again this week with Jungle Cruise and though we may have had a strange mix of expectations, this one both did and didn't live up to them. Do you need to rush out to catch this one? We'll let you know. We'll also give some impressions on Pig, the Nicolas Cage effort that has been winning over critics. Can a truffle pig adventure about a hermit living in the woods really be one of the best films of the year?

This week we're looking at a female lead double feature, one of which may or not be a bit camp, the other perhaps could have been more clear on how serious it wants it to be. Black Widow kicked theaters back into gear and still caused some drama on that front, while Gunpowder Milkshake released streaming and caused its own stir. Tune in and we'll let you know if you need to catch either of these, even if Shane and I disagree wildly about one of them.

This week action and mayhem square off as we look at F9 and The Tomorrow War, two films that are sure to polarize, as well as cause a lot of forgiving in service to "popcorn" fun. We also go back to Luca and The Conjuring: The Devil Made Me Do It, and talk about some TV series that are on our radar.

Theater traffic is still running rough but The Hitman's Wife's Bodyguard is technically the weekend winner. Is it worth checking out, and is it worth a trip to the theater? Does it live up to the first? We'll let you know, and we'll also give a special shout out to a few shows you don't want to miss, including "Kevin Can F**k Himself."

The Conjuring: The Devil Made Me Do It passed A Quiet Place 2 at the box office this week, and we'll give you a rundown on both. We'll also give you a quick take on Loki. Two "horror" movies in one week and they couldn't be more different, but they are both getting people to theaters. Are they worth your time?

We're trying to get you as caught up with things as we can this week, and we cover Army of the Dead, Wrath of Man, Cruella, and Those Who Wish Me Dead. It's a strange mix of heist movies, zombies, action, and live-action look at a cartoon world, and it all adds up to a front-runner for best of the year, horrible nonsense, and things that should have been better. Tune in and we'll let you know which is which.