Spoiler Alert - Movie Outsiders

After far too long, friend of the Spoiler Alert Podcast, Ellen, joins Mike to discuss one of their favorite movies from the weeks preceding Covid lockdown. Direcor and co-star Taika Waititi (Eagle vs. Shark), takes a satirical look at WWII Germany in this Oscar-winning comedy-drama, also starring Academy Award winner Sam Rockwell (Teenage Mutant Ninja Turles) and Scarlett Johansson (Home Alone 3). To hear more from Ellen, check out lovethatmoviepod.com

Jack Nicolson (Something’s Gotta Give) and Louise Fletcher (One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest) headline an Oscar-winning cast that is one of the few Best Pictures to also win the “big five”. This movie is on all kinds of “best of” lists, and is a long-awaited film for both of the co-hosts!

Writer/Director Charlie Kaufman (Synecdoche, New York) delivers a purposefully baffling, frustratingly obtuse riff on David Lynchian themes of unease, mistrust, and strange dancing. This direct to Netflix film is sure to divide any audiences daring enough to sit through the entire thing.

Christopher Nolan (Interstellar) returns to cinemas - at least those which are open right now - with Tenet, his new twisty, ultra-secretive thriller. Starring John David Washington (Monsters and Men), Robert Pattinson (Water for Elephants), Elizabeth Debicki (The Man From U.N.C.L.E.), and Kenneth Branagh (Wild Wild West), this film really puts the audience through its paces. Bring your calculator, slide rule, copy of A Brief History of Time by Stephen Hawking, graph paper, a much smarter friend, and an EXTREME amount of patience.

Disney (Song of the South) delivers a new live-action remake of a beloved animated film with Mulan. Starring Yifei Liu as the title character and minus the music, mischief, and family-friendly elements of the original, this film skews closer to a war epic with fantasy elements. It won’t be for everybody but there is a lot to like in this movie.

Sidney Poitier (The Jackal) and Rod Steiger (End of Days) star in 1967’s Best Picture winning film In the Heat of the Night. The film features staggering racism, a crazy soundtrack, and the most bonkers gum chewing committed to celluloid.

Writer/Director Spike Lee (Oldboy) delivers a blistering drama mixing middle age regret, wartime hell, and heist thriller with the Netflix-exclusive film Da 5 Bloods. Delroy Lindo (The Core), Chadwick Boseman (The Kill Hole), and Clarke Peters (Notting Hill) lead the impressive cast and help ground the film with terrific acting.

Andy Samberg (Space Chimps) and Cristin Milioti (It had to be You) star in a fairly fresh telling of the Groundhog Day-Inifite Time Loop situation with Palm Springs. The film is worth signing up for Hulu to see. Or at least signing up for a free month and then bailing after you see it. Or stealing your parents’ log in to watch it on Hulu on their dime. Anyway, check it out.

Writer/Star Tom Hanks (A Hologram for the King) combines his love of WWII stories and green screen usage with the Apple TV-exclusive film Greyhound. Also starring Stephen Graham (Hellboy) and with a brief appearance by Elisabeth Shue (Piranha 3D), the film offers engaging sea warfare scenes and a solid performance - as always - by Hanks.

The Great Ziefeld is a movie. It is a movie which, apparently, won the Academy Award for Best Picture in 1936. It is a movie with a running time just under THREE HOURS and includes multiple song & dance numbers. If that is your thing, you MAY like this movie. But, then again, maybe not.

Somehow, for some reason, Academy Award voters were taken with Gigi back in 1958 and decided to award the film that year’s Best Picture Oscar. We recorded this episode more than a year ago in case we needed to release an episode but could not arrange to record or see film due to illness or vacations, etc. I think we might have just needed some space from having seen the film before we were ready to really talk about it. Louis Jordan (so strange in Octopussy) still gives us the creeps. Check it out.

Spaceship Earth, a documentary released VOD, on buildings in major metropolitan cities, and via a pizza place’s website, tells the story of Biosphere 2 - a long forgotten human experiment which drove local media ratings for a few months in the 1990s. Full of colorful characters and strange back stories, the trailer is AMAZING!!!

Writer/Director Guy Ritchie (Swept Away) returns to his London criminal picture roots following the massive success of his live-action Aladdin adaptation. Starring Matthew McConaughey (Serenity), Charlie Hunnam (Pacific Rim), Colin Farrell (Dumbo), Jeremy Strong (Serenity), Michelle Dockery (Non-Stop), Henry Golding (A Simple Favor), and Hugh Grant (Did you Hear About The Morgans?), this film is packed with twists, reversals, double-crosses, fake outs, and tons of swearing. Fun for the whole family!

Director Kathryn Bigelow (Point Break) became the first woman to ever win the Best Director Academy Award with her 2009 war film The Hurt Locker. Starring Jeremy Rener (Hansel & Gretel) and Anthony Mackie (The Gangster Squad), this film holds the record for the lowest-grossing Best Picture winner of the modern age. We are joined by friend of the show Dan this week to share his thoughts and memories from his tour in Afghanistan.

Margot Robbie (Focus) stars in the DC Cinematic Universe sorta-sequeal/sort-reboot/kinda-apology for Suicide Squad Birds of Prey: and the fantabulous Emancipation of One Harley Quinn. The title is a good indication for how this film is going to go. Complete with winking voice over, conspicuous editing and possibly the weakest villain in a comic book movie ever, this film struggles to find a voice and an audience. Give it a chance and check out our review.

Ben-Hur, winner of ELEVEN Academy Awards including Best Picture 1959, is huge. Really. It is YUUUUUUGE. Big. Grand. Vast. Epic. There is a LOT going on here. Charlton Heston (Waynes World 2) stars as Judah Ben Hur, the Forrest Gump of Biblical times. Check out the episode!

Disney (Song of the South) and Pixar (The Good Dinosaur) weave a tale of fantasy, adventure, and brotherly love with Onward. Starring Chris Pratt (Passengers) and Tom Holland (Dolittle) lead another great voice cast on a sweet, silly, Dungeons & Dragons-themed adventure to spend time with their deceased father. A “lesser work” by Pixar is still more fun than most other family entertainment, so fire up your Disney Plus account or rent this bad boy on Amazon or iTunes. The family will get a kick out of it and it will certainly keep your interest.

For all of us doing our part by doing nothing at all - here is a special DOUBLE FEATURE episode in which the guys watch and discuss 1995’s Outbreak starring Dustin Hoffman (Little Fockers) and Rene Russo (Freejack), and 2011’s Contagion which stars Matt Damon (The Brothers Grimm), Jude Law (Sky Captain and the World of Tomorrow), and a TON of other stars. Hear which one you SHOULD NOT watch during this time period and which one is OK to check out.

Everyone’s favorite Elisabeth Moss (Escape to Witch Mountain - TV version) stars in this slight update of Universal’s Invisible Man. If you’ve never seen a movie like this, you could watch this one. If you’ve ever seen a movie like this, you do not need to see this one.

Hollywood superstar Ray Milland (The Thing With Two Heads) stars in this riotous Best Picture winner from 1945. The Lost Weekend was a Billy Wilder hit and, apparently, taught a young America about the newly discovered dangers of alcoholism (heretofore unknown on American soil).