lass is more

Gareth Edwards "The Creator" is now out on blu-ray and it's a swell movie, one with a great lead performance and some excellent visuals.  It is truly smart in the way a lot of it is put together.  It doesn't make a difference, we're still going to create AI that kills us all.

Christopher Nolan's "Oppenheimer" is a brilliant movie.  It is a movie that we love.  It is a movie filled with excellence.  It also has this one thing about it that we simply do not understand, and we've tried.  We have really and truly tried.  Take a listen and tell us if we're viewing it wrong.

The newest entries for both the "Mission:  Impossible" and "My Big Fat Greek Wedding" franchises are both available on blu-ray and digital now.  With one of these ongoing series we see a reinvention and desire to put new things out there.  With the other... maybe not.  Let's discuss where one succeeds and the other falters.

"Strays" is one of those movies where you're going to know well in advance if you're going to enjoy it.  All you have to do is ask yourself one question:  do you want to see dogs get high and tell sex jokes?  If the answer is yes, "Strays" is the movie for you.  If not... it's best you steer clear.

There is a great idea at the core of "Theater Camp," a clever notion that gets muddled with too many storylines and a lack of depth to the characters.  It is a case where more is less and where the whole may have benefited from trimming one area in order to extend another.  It is not bad, it just isn't what it so very clearly could be.

So many horror movies offer up people in crisis as the victims.  No, not all horror movies, just many.  On today's episodes we look at one movie from this year, "The Boogeyman," that does just that and cogitate the reasons why the trope works.

Do you ever watch something where half of it works so very well and the other half feels, a little, like they just weren't trying that hard?  That's the way we feel about "Elemental," Pixar's latest which features a great world, wonderful characters, gorgeous animation, and the most lackluster romance we've seen in a while.

Not every podcast ends where you think it might when you begin.  Today's episode is a case in point as we discuss the new version of "The Little Mermaid," where it goes right, where it goes wrong, and where it might teach us some things.

We will be honest with you, the "Fast and Furious" franchise does not operate in our world.  The physics are wrong.  The inability for so many people to die is wrong.  There is just so much that could not happen.

Okay, that may be true, but so what?  

On today's episode we celebrate "Fast X" for what it is -- insanely fun.

Up this week on the podcast, "Book Club:  The Next Chapter," which could also be titled "Book Club 2," but isn't.  Heck, it could also be titled "Let's Take a Trip to Italy Rather than Making a Great Sequel."  There would be truth in all those titles and we're going to explore that a little bit more this week.

James Cameron's "Avatar" is now available in 4K and that makes it the right time to look at the movie once more.  But, upon doind so, we find out opinions wholly unchanged.  Stellar in some respects, it is a complete disappointment in others.  Let's talk.

A not-quite-untold story, "Chevalier" offers up beautiful sets and costumes and a truly charismatic lead performance.  But, is that enough to win our hearts and minds or is there something, unfortuntately, missing from the overall tale?

Out now on Blu-ray and digital is the bloody good film, "Renfield."  It is not, sadly, bloody great, just bloody good.  And yet, it starts off in absolutley brilliant fashion.  Where does it go right?  Where does it go wrong?  Just how deep will your teeth sink in?  Listen and find out.

Out a couple weeks ago on digital and in a couple of weeks on Blu-ray is the third Ant-Man movie, "Ant-Man and the Wasp:  Quantumania."  It is good enough, surpassing the second film in the series but not as enjoyable as the first.  But, what concerns us more this week is the way in which real people's lives are used as fodder for speculation on the direction of a film franchise, and that is what we're going to talk about.

At first blush, it may seem like a whole lot of silliness, but the truth is that there's a genius to Elizabeth Banks' "Cocaine Bear."  It is funny and disgusting and barrels its way through its 90+ minute runtime like a bear high on... well, cocaine.

The new "Avatar" sequel is... a lot.  A lot of pretty.  A lot of time.  A lot of CGI.  A lot of effort on all parts.  Well, all except for the story.  The story is a significant disappointment.  The story, which somehow tends to get a pass when the movie is discussed, sinks the whole endeavor.  It isn't that the memory fails to be mesmerizing, it's completely astounding on a visual level, it's just doesn't work on a story one.

We may have a soft spot for epic fantasy and adventure films, but that doesn't mean that we're a complete pushover.  This week, with the 1981 film "Dragonslayer" now available on 4K, we find an example of film in the genre that simply does not work for us.  What it does do, however, is spark more interest in our continued conversation about power and religion.

This past weekend, "Women Talking" won an Academy Award for Best Adapted Screenplay.  The accolade is well deserved, as the movie is an incredibly powerful one.  Dealing with upsetting material, "Women Talking" is distrubing not just for the real events it is based on, but for the truths it shows us about our world.  Let's discuss.

Currently out on Blu-ray is not one, but two different movies that hit theaters last year and deal with, in no small part, movies.  Yes, now available are Steven Spielberg's "The Fabelmans" and Sam Mendes' "Empire of Light."  While both movies are beautiful to look at, only one touches the soul.  Which goes right and which goes wrong?  Let's discuss.

Sometimes it is quite easy to pinpoint what is true and what is a lie.  Sometimes it is far more complicated.  And perhaps--just perhaps--sometimes it might not matter at all.  This week's episode looks at the new film, "Emily," which focuses on the life on Emily Brontë as it may have been but probably wasn't but could have been anyway.  Just where is the truth and does it matter if there's a lie?