Read It And Weep

Alex comes roaring back onto the score board with a complete 5-point play as we watch the Miyazaki film Princess Mononoke and talk about it's greater meaning about how many bullets it takes to kill god and when to date a wolf girl. Plus in the news, Alex is haunted by Zelda: Breath of the Wild. h/t Caleb for making sure I watched this video first so I didn't look like a complete idiot: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rLibXEawkTI Next up: Ezra sets himself and Anthony up with Anastasia (1997)

Hunter's back in tiptop so we can finish our journey down the Lost Highway to spooky David Lynchville. Plus a long discussion of Halloween decorations and the long-awaited exercise update. Next up: Alex power-cards his way to points with a double move that lands at Princess Mononoke.

Hunter's out sick so the rest of the crew does a six-topic lightning round in slow motion. Topics include "What would media like look if we lived in a world with a Purge" and "Who took the Devil out of Halloween?" Next up: Hunter recovers and we talk about Lost Highway (1997) with him.

Anthony takes the free point for picking a spooky movie as he moves via Cathy Moriarty to the 90s childhood crowd pleaser Casper, which holds up pretty well as long as you don't overthink the mechanics of the Lazarus Machine or Casper kissing a girl while she's sleeping and a couple other standard 90s cringe moments. Next up: Hunter moves via Bill Pullman to the David Lynch film Lost Highway (1997)

Alex comes roaring back onto the leaderboard with his fourth target movie, the 1999 classic of queer cinema, But I'm A Cheerleader. It's funny and heart warming and maybe we don't talk about it as much as it deserves because we just kinda loved it and didn't have many jokes about it. But we loved it. Next up: Anthony wins the draw YET AGAIN and takes a bonus point for moving us to the spoopy movie Casper (1995), available to stream on Peacock.

After what feels like ages, Hunter scores his second points movie of the year with the Wong Kar-wai movie Happy Together. Anthony loves it but Alex and Ezra both feel like they're not smart enough to like it all the way. But they do love the cinematography and waterfall. Plus big news from Alex's TikTok and his newest video from his YouTube series about the future. Next up: Alex joins the scoring bonanza as he power cards his way to But I'm a Cheerleader

I need a hero. He's gotta be brave, and he's gotta be bold, and he's gotta be sponsored by the propaganda arm of the Chinese Government. That's right, after 2 weeks of strategic slogging we finally got to a target movie, Ezra's 5th! And it's a good one, so long as you focus on the visuals and not the message. Next up: the good movies (and bad news for Alex) continues with Happy Together (1997)

A guy who's good at fighting and a horny guy go on a racially insensitive journey across the world. There are two Jackie Chan stunts that briefly make the movie watchable but overall, it's clearly the worst movie we've seen all year. Next up: the scoring bonanza (for everybody but Alex) kicks off with Ezra's 5th successful score, Hero (2002)

Chances are you haven't seen this 80s reincarnation rom-com that's like if Old Boy was an uplifting comedy. It's WILD. Ghost dad is in a random kid's body and he's in love with his former-wife but his daughter is in love with him and so he gets concussed and ends up with his daughter and his wife is just COMPLETELY COOL WITH IT. Plus more donut news and a conversation about table top games. Next up: everybody wins but Alex this month after his terrible draw. Part 1 of the strategy is watching Rush Hour 2 (2001).

Shrek is the most important movie of all time, there's no denying that. But is it good? Who knows. It's impossible to tell. But it is farty, that part is known. Alex forced everybody to travel via Eddie Murphy to figure out why people are so horny for Shrek and he didn't learn anything but it was still an interesting outing. Next up: Hunter moves strategically via Kathleen Freeman to the 1989 romcom with a bonkers premise, "Chances Are" just because he's reincarnated doesn't mean he can't hit on his daughter, apparently? Weird. Weird one coming up.

We're all kindof having a Steve Martin reawakening right now because of Only Murders in the Building, so we traveled through him to a film he wrote and Ms. Piggy Herself directed (Frank Oz). It's the 1999 Hollywood-skewering heartfelt comedy Bowfinger about a group of misfits trying to make a movie. It's got one of Eddie Murphy's best double roles and some great set pieces. And some cringey 90s stuff. You might like it though. Next up: Alex sends us via Eddie Murphy to try to figure out why everybody's so horny for Shrek (2001)

The constitutional crisis behind us, we plow ahead with Ezra's 5th point scoring movie but with a twist! He gets no points. Instead we just enjoy an 80s comedy that aged better than most and sadly reflect on how little travel has improved in 35 years. Next up: Anthony sends us via Steve Martin to Bowfinger (1999)

We’ve sorted through all the potential outcomes of the constitutional crisis kicked off by Ezra’s sneaky but clever play yesterday. Next up: Planes, Trains And Automobiles (1987)

It finally happened. Ezra's clever play and good partnerships helped him bring the game around to Alex's nightmare superhero clusterfest that is the last (for now) Avengers movie. Although nobody thinks it's a top-10 film, they still pile on Alex for not liking it. Next up: CONSTITUTIONAL CRISIS WE DON'T KNOW

How should I feel about the ad for the US military that is Top Gun: Maverick? Should I feel better or worse knowing that the movie is a really good movie? We process these questions in real time with (surprise!) another bonus episode about the new movie from the Cruise Missile himself.  Next up: We're going to (ugh) watch Avengers: End Game (for real!). You can watch us watch it live Tuesday 8/9 at 4pm PST and then listen to our episode at the normal time.

Ezra and Hunter are away for the week so Alex and Anthony sat down to discuss a movie they just watched in a new segment we're calling "Still Processing". They puzzled through several theories about Nope and what it means, gave awards to the best part of the movie, and talked more about Jordan Peele's filmography including the unveiling of Anthony's Grand Unified Theory of Us. Listen now, you will leave changed. Next up: We're going to (ugh) watch Avengers End Game. You can watch us watch it live Tuesday 8/2 at 4pm PST and then listen to our episode at the normal time.

We've got another scoring update as Ezra carries Alex along to his 2nd movie, the Brad Bird animated feature about a Jesus-gun-robot. In the news: Alex is back from the Netherlands and has some thought. Next up: while Ezra is away we're taking a week to watch the new Jordan Peele movie Nope.

From oogie and tense to adorable and triumphant, we may be the first people to ever watch Dead Ringers and The Lion King back to back. But both feature terrific performances from Jeremy Irons. In the news: you can see our first few Teeny Tiny Grant recipients here. Next up: we're taking a week off while Alex is abroad but he'll come back to some points as Ezra picks The Iron Giant (1999) via Brian Tochi.

We take our first dip into Cronenberg with his movie about twin guy-necologists. It's divisive like black licorice. In the news: Alex has a new web series about futurism plus our very own feature on Oracle of Bacon. Next up: Alex travels via Jeremy Irons (either one) to the 1994 classic from the Golden age of Disney Animation: The Lion King.

Anthony convinces Alex to travel via one Clinton Eastwood to his 1992 revisionist western Unforgiven.  Next up: Anthony uses a power card to ruin our lives with Cronenberg's Dead Ringers (1988)