Matt's Movie Lodgecast

A new horror film entitled Malignant dropped into theaters and on HBO Max recently. The Lodgecast was reluctant to review it after seeing the trailer, but a few Lodgers tipped us off that it was worth watching. Caution Lodgecast listeners! This movie has a twist and we spoil it big time in this Hawt Take. The director is James Wan, who created the Saw, Insidious, and Conjuring franchises. Is Malignant bloody brilliant enough to launch its own horror franchise? We'll let you know in this brisk Hawt Take! The movie stars Annabelle Wallis, Maddie Hasson, George Young, Michole Briana White, and Jacqueline McKenzie.

Writer/director/bad boy Paul Schrader has returned with a new movie about counting cards called The Card Counter! The last time the Lodgecast tussled over a Schrader movie was in our hot Prius fight in Episode 10 covering First Reformed. This time five Lodgers descended upon the newly branded AMC Americana at Brand 18 to take in Schrader's latest effort. We do a thorough examination of this one covering the performances of Oscar Isaac, Tiffany Haddish, and Tye Sheridan as they order drinks and play cards. Willem Dafoe is also in the mix as a link into Oscar Isaac's dark, torturous past. Come play blackjack and poker with us! This is The Card Counter!

We're back in the AMC Theatres again! We took a nice summer break but we are back for a stellar lineup of fall films starting with Candyman (2021), which is the direct sequel to Candyman (1992) and ignores the films Candyman: Farewell to the Flesh (1995) and Candyman: Day of the Dead (1999). Directed by Nia DaCosta and written by Jordan Peele, Win Rosenfeld, and DaCosta, we get a new cast of characters in modern day Chicago played by Yahya Abdul-Mateen II, Teyonah Parris, Nathan Stewart-Jarrett, Colman Domingo, Kyle Kaminsky, and Vanessa Williams. Tony Todd is also in the mix but you'll hear more of him in this Lodgecast than you will in the movie! We'll let you know precisely how scared we got in our returning episode!

Hope your summer is going well Lodgecast listeners! We wanted to send you a dose of summer love and sunlight with our review of In the Heights. We'll be back in September officially, but take this episode as a summer bonus. The Lodgers are currently watching classic cinema and resting up for a helluva prestige season. In the meantime hear our voices as we sing the praises of Lin-Manuel Miranda's In the Heights. We discuss our relationship with Lin-Manuel before experiencing the 143-minute filmed version of his Tony-winning musical. The film is directed by Jon M. Chu and stars Anthony Ramos, Corey Hawkins, Leslie Grace, Melissa Barrera, Olga Merediz, Daphne Rubin-Vega, Gregory Diaz IV, and Jimmy Smits! And if you pay attention you might even spot Marc Anthony. While the film was a box office bomb, it was not a bomb in our hearts. Sending summer love and light your way! Have a good time but remember, there is danger in the summer moon above! Hope to see you in September!

After over three years of Lodgecasting every single week, we’ve decided to take a brief two month summer break to recharge our batteries, heal our souls, and bleach out our eyes from some of what we’ve seen. In this mini-episode we’ll mention some of the movies we’ll be missing along with what we have to look forward to when we make our return in September. Enjoy the rest of your summer Lodgecast listeners! We’ll be back in September with a full slate of highly anticipated films to take us through the end of the year!

The Lodgecast is about to take a two month summer break, but before we do we wanted to go out with a bang! That bang was F9 in 4DX which includes motion seats, water spritz, wind, and strobe lights! We had varied histories with the Fast & Furious films which we discussed before we headed into the brand new Regal North Hollywood 4DX. And then we got pummeled! Vin Diesel and company shook our chairs for 145 minutes and we'll tell you all about it. Fear not Lodgecast listeners, we'll be back in September and we may sprinkle in a few summer treats so stay subscribed!

The Woman in the Window seemed to have the ingredients for a successful psychological thriller. It is directed by Joe Wright, written by Tracy Letts from a bestselling novel, and stars Amy Adams, Gary Oldman, Julianne Moore, Anthony Mackie, and even our favorite Jennifer Jason Leigh. But it got sold to Netflix and we overheard that the movie was getting "scathing reviews" from critics and audiences alike. So we knew we had to find out what was wrong. Joined by a guest who had read the novel, we were fully equipped to tackle this story about an agoraphobic woman who spies on her new neighbors. Join us as we find out what is wrong with The Woman in the Window!

Francis Ford Coppola's granddaughter Gia Coppola has made her second feature film called Mainstream. It was released with little fanfare in May and was generally disliked by audiences and critics. But it starred Andrew Garfield (Under the Silver Lake) and had an intriguing trailer so we decided to cover it. Maya Hawke (daughter of Uma Thurman and Ethan Hawke) plays an aspiring YouTuber who meets a man named Link (Garfield). Link's antics skyrocket him into viral video stardom. With the help of a manager played by Jason Schwartzman (Gia Coppola's uncle), Link's popularity catapults to the stratosphere and problems ensue. The movie also features Nat Wolff, Johnny Knoxville, Colleen Camp, and real life vloggers Juanpa Zurita and Jake Paul. Find out all about Mainstream in our latest Hawt Take!

After watching the trailer for A Quiet Place Part II for a year and a half, the movie has finally arrived! First we reminisced on the original film which we Lodgcasted and discussed the infamous whiteboard. Then we re-entered the post-apocalyptic world of John Krasinski, starring Emily Blunt, Millicent Simmonds, Noah Jupe, Cillian Murphy, and Djimon Hounsou. A group of us saw it in IMAX and can confirm it is a movie for the big screen! Enjoy the silence in this thrilling post-apocalyptic horror movie!

Writer Derek Kolstad is back! He wrote John Wick: Chapters 1-3, and this new film called Nobody (2021) starring Bob Odenkirk. We didn't know this going into Nobody, but we soon discovered the film had striking similarities to the John Wick franchise. Odenkirk definitely worked out to star in this violent action flick, as he harnessed his latent rage into the killing of a lot of Russians. The director is Russian filmmaker Ilya Naishuller, who did Hardcore Henry (2015). Odenkirk is aided by the help of his daddy Christopher Lloyd, his wife Connie Nielsen, and his half-brother RZA. Fun was generally had at this badass flick that we saw at AMC Theaters!

Chris Rock Torture Porn in IMAX! What could go wrong?! In our excitement to get back into movie theaters, we made the hasty decision to drive up to the Universal Cinema AMC at CityWalk Hollywood to see Spiral: From the Book of Saw. Our histories with the Saw film series were minimal and, to our astonishment, this is the 9th installment in the series! Things went very badly with this screening and we'll let you know all the bloody details. Chris Rock stars as Detective Zeke, and he's supported by his daddy Samuel L. Jackson, his buddy cop Max Minghella, and his mean boss Marisol Nichols. Find out what the Jigsaw copycat killer has been up to! Spiral is the #1 Movie in America!

We're back! After successful vaccinations, a group of us climbed the hallowed steps of the AMC Burbank 16 to see the new Mortal Kombat! First we entered The Edge and recounted our history with the Mortal Kombat media franchise. Then we ascended to the Dolby Cinema and the joy enveloped us as we reclined into our reserved seats to take in the cutting-edge image and sound technologies. It was nothing less than movie magic. Had we died and gone to heaven? We will give you the full emotional experience for our first trip back into movie theaters in over one year!

The highly anticipated abortion movie called Roe v. Wade has been on our radar for a long time. After a hilarious teaser trailer was released in 2018, we waited three long years before it was finally released on VOD. Roe v. Wade is produced, written, directed, and stars a man named Nick Loeb, who we'll tell you everything we know about in this Lodgecast. The film also features a conservative ensemble cast including Jon Voight, Stacey Dash, Robert Davi, and a bunch of other cameos we won't spoil here. Roe v. Wade also showcases stars of yesteryear such as Professor Joey Lawrence, Jamie Kennedy, and Steve Guttenberg! This is a very special and controversial Lodgecast episode that you're not gonna wanna miss. The truth about the Roe v. Wade movie comes out today!

We have reached Episode Number 100! We wanted to make it extra special so we timed it out to coincide with the highly anticipated Coming to America sequel. Coming 2 America dropped onto Amazon Prime in March and the world tuned in to see what was happening in Zamunda. We also scored an extra special first time guest named Brother Eric who many Lodgers know and love. So plug in those ear buds to hear an all star episode covering an all star cast including Eddie Murphy, Arsenio Hall, Jermaine Fowler, Leslie Jones, Tracy Morgan, KiKi Layne, Shari Headley, Teyana Taylor, Wesley Snipes, and James Earl Jones. Thanks for joining us for the first 100 Lodgecast episodes! Onward and upward! Love, Light, and Lodgers!

GODZILLA VERSUS KONG!!! Who will win?! Many Lodgers call into the Lodgecast Hawt Line and weigh in on who the big winner will be. It was a closely split vote but one monster did emerge the winner of our poll. We watched this epic monster battle on opening night on HBO Max. And there was a winner in the movie, which we won't spoil here, but we do spoil on the Lodgecast. Alongside our two CG monsters, there is a big cast of stars including Alexander Skarsgard, Millie Bobby Brown, Rebecca Hall, Brian Tyree Henry, Shun Oguri, Eiza Gonzalez, Julian Dennison, Lance Reddick, Kyle Chandler, and Demian Bichir. We'll let you know what we thought of this fight and so much more in our 99th Lodgecast episode!

Celebrate Hollywood and the movies as the Lodgecast presents our Oscar Extravaganza & 2020 Movie Favorites! Host Brother Bischke leads a hard-charging examination of the Academy Award nominations as five prestigious Lodge members lay down their picks for what should win and what will win in twenty Oscar categories in a little over 30 minutes! Then it's on to the very serious business of picking our 2020 movie favorites as we all count down from #10 to #1 of our very favorite films of 2020. Some Lodgecast movies make the cut of our best films, but there are many surprises. Have a listen and let us know what you think!

Listen to our new Hawt Take and take in our brand new Hawt Take Theme Song sung by Sister Jessee!! Have you seen the new hidden camera comedy movie called Bad Trip? A lot of people have watched this movie on Netflix. The film features best buddies Eric Andre and Lil Rel Howery going on a road trip in pursuit of Eric's high school crush played by Michaela Conlin. Lil Rel Howery's criminal sister is played by Tiffany Haddish who is chasing them throughout their road trip from Florida to New York City. Along the road trip they encounter real people and pull off outlandish pranks with hidden cameras for some hilarious results. Watch this real movie on Netflix tonight!

"Get a girl, I'll get a boy! One plus one!" Time to explore the controversial film debut of Australian singer, songwriter, and director Sia! Her film Music was released to much derision for its portrayal of autism. We'll get into that and so much more with our review of Sia's Music starring Kate Hudson as Zu, Maddie Ziegler as Music, Leslie Odom Jr. as Ebo, and Hector Elizondo as George. This musical drama features songs from Sia's studio album Music which she wrote for the soundtrack. According to Rotten Tomatoes, critics and audiences hated, hated, hated this movie! We'll let you know what we thought in this dangerous Lodgecast episode.

Blink and you might've missed it! A new unique film called Bliss starring Owen Wilson and Salma Hayek arrived on Amazon Prime in February. The film's trailer gave away way too much but also led to us determining that it was definitely Lodgecast-worthy. We won't spoil anything in this write up, but we will give away everything in this Lodgecast, including all the psychotic twists and turns that this movie makes. Writer/director Mike Cahill was seemingly given total freedom to do whatever he wanted. He even got to cast Bill Nye the Science Guy and Slovenian philosopher Slavoj Zizek. Strap into your Brain Box and join us for a podcast episode of ecstasy and Bliss! Wow!

Listen to our new Hawt Take and take in our brand new Hawt Take Theme Song sung by Sister Jessee!! This week we examine the pitch-black comedy I Care a Lot starring Rosamund Pike and directed by J Blakeson. It's a nasty little movie that has been garnering critical praise and even earned Rosamund a Golden Globe! We'll let you know if it lives up to the hype as it attempts to skewer "late-stage capitalism". The movie also stars Peter Dinklage, Eiza Gonzalez, Chris Messina, Macon Blair, Alicia Witt, Damian Young, Isiah Whitlock Jr., and the great Dianne Wiest. I Care a Lot is sitting up on Netflix for all you 200 million global Netflix subscribers to watch!