187: AFI #93 - THE FRENCH CONNECTION

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The second best picture winner of the AFI Top 100 Countdown comes to the WLM Podcast this week and it brings with it a whole lot of early 1970s, "New Hollywood" pedigree. We're talkin' drugs, sex, needles, junkies, R&B, garbage fires, porkpie hats, racial epithets, cars chasing subways, Americans chasing Frenchman, and a whole lot of scenes of people sitting in cars, waiting for someone to come out of a nightclub or hotel. It's time for THE FRENCH CONNECTION, dear listeners. And what a glorious time that is.

186: Comic Con Trailer roundup and STAR TREK BEYOND disagreement

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As the mercury rises and the pages fall off the calendar, the We Like Movies podcast keeps fighting the good fight and trekking (get it?), ever vigilantly, back to the multiplex to screen product and proffer opinion. On this week's episode we talk San Diego Comic Con, break down all of the new trailers, muse about the recent, encouraging onslaught of  western genre exercises (who knew? It's coming back!), and even carve out 25 minutes to disagree about the newest installment of the rebooted STAR TREk series. We've been disagreeing more and more these days... This might be the beginning of an exciting trend....

185: The Contentious GHOSTBUSTERS Dissection

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After an extended, mid-summer hiatus we return to you now with one of the most terse, impassioned, argumentative conversations we've ever recorded. The pod starts off with a lot of good-natured catch-up before descending into a full-on rift regarding Paul Feig's GHOSTBUSTERS reboot.
We back, we're heated, we're answering your call for a podcast with teeth.

184: The CLIFF MARTINEZ Countdown

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Oscar's been out of town but Matt was itching to create some content so he rolled up his sleeves and got busy with a mellow and self-indulgent stroll through the career and creative resume of the master of cinematic ambience- Mr. Cliff Martinez.
In honor of his newest masterpiece, the soundtrack for THE NEON DEMON, Matt has cobbled together a countdown of Martinez's finest film forays. It's gonna get synthey up in here. And how.

182: The 2016 Fantasy Film Draft and the attempted defense of X-MEN: APOCALYPSE

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There have been high peaks and deep artistic valleys over the 9 films in 16 years covered by the X-MEN franchise. The newest entry "APOCALYPSE" sits smack dab at sea level which makes it a fertile topic for dissection and disagreement. Listen in as we break it all the way down to the brassiest of tacks.
We also discuss the none too subtle schadenfreude stance taken by certain tabloid click-baters in the way they report the "news" of successful film franchises and we even find time to reflect on the the most recent draft of the "Fantasy Film League".
We might just be getting the hang of this "coming in around an hour" thing, 175 episodes in. 

181: NEIGHBORS 2, THE NICE GUYS, and The Shane Black Sensation

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We're getting back to basics with a thrift, semi-contentious conversation about the two films that opened last weekend but failed to top THE ANGRY BIRDS MOVIE at the box office: The little-loved sequel NEIGHBORS 2: SORORITY RISING and Shane Black's winking, period, neo-noir THE NICE GUYS.
We manage to wrap it up in under an hour- spoiler alert.

180: AFI #95 - THE LAST PICTURE SHOW

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It’s AFI time again and this week we’re chattin’ about Peter Bogdanovich’s beloved coming-of-age downer THE LAST PICTURE SHOW. It took us 5 films to get to a place of quasi-disagreement but there is more sparring than usual in this episode. Things get a little heated? Guess you’ll have to listen in to find out.

179: CAPTAIN AMERICA: CIVIL WAR and the unstoppable Marvel freight train

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The summer of 2016 threatens to peak early as the 13th installment into the Marvel Cinematic Universe comes roaring into multiplexes on a wave of critical acclaim and financial expectation. 
Join us for a gush-fest tempered by moments of constructive nit-pickery .

***Spoilers abound!

178: AFI #96 - DO THE RIGHT THING

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Next up on our AFI countdown is Spike Lee's seminal work, DO THE RIGHT THING. It's no secret that Oscar and I are big fans of this universally acclaimed film. But we do our best during the conversation to put the film into a historical context as opposed to a social one. It has always been a film to inspire controversy and conversation and we touch on both while also giving due credit to the exceptional ensemble cast, many of whom are doing career-best work here.

"I got it. I'm gone."

177: THE JUNGLE BOOK podcast and a spring season catch-up

 
 

One of the most critically acclaimed films of 2016 (thus far) bowed this past weekend to huge box office and whether you agreed with the critics or felt your ticket money was well spent, it's hard to argue that Disney consistently represents an intimidating force in modern entertainment and has few qualms about repurposing its old properties in new packages for fresh audiences.

We have opinions. Oh we HAVE opinions. Listen in for a [mostly] spoiler free discussion about THE JUNGLE BOOK as well as brief chits and or chats about the ROGUE ONE teaser, 10 CLOVERFIELD LANE, EVERYBODY WANTS SOME!!, and HARDCORE HENRY.

So there.

176: AFI #97 - BLADE RUNNER

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We're back to our old AFI Top 100 Challenge tricks with a lengthy discussion about a science fiction masterpiece as misunderstood as it is influential.
There will be:
-Navel gazing
-Robot alcoholism
-Cyberpunk signifiers
-Industrial fans (not to be confused with fans of industry)
-Frank Lloyd Wright fetishism
It's too bad this podcast won't last. But then again, what does?

173: AFI #98 - YANKEE DOODLE DANDY

 
 

The AFI Top 100 Challenge marches ahead and this week we discuss the a bit of jingoistic fluff from 1942- Michael Curtiz's enduring musical YANKEE DOODLE DANDY.
There will be:
-Star spangled standards
-Vaudevillian shenanigans
-Shuffle ball changes
-An entire family in blackface
-A whole lotta hoofing
We appreciate you listening, folks. My mother thanks you, my father thanks you, my sister thanks you and I thank you.

172: HAIL, CAESAR!, ZOOLANDER 2, and DEADPOOL get the pod treatment

 
 

A surprisingly crowded February hums along, incorrigibly, bringing us 3 new films of wildly different quality, success rates, and tonal ambitions.
Join us for in-depth but thrifty dissections of the Coen's latest, Ben Stiller's forced sequel, and a red-headed (suited?) Marvel stepchild.
00:06:15 - HAIL, CAESAR!
00:26:27 - ZOOLANDER 2
00:44:47 - DEADPOOL
It's a scorcher out there at the box office. Don't burn yourself.

 

171: AFI #99 - TOY STORY

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WLM's newest feature, The AFI Top 100 Challenge presses on and this week we discuss the 20 year old animated classic, buddy comedy TOY STORY which takes the number 99 spot on the countdown.
There will be:
-Insult comics
-FULL METAL JACKET references
-Randy Newman singing about stuff he sees
-Tom Hanks throat-acting
-Jim Varney
To infinity and beyond, am I right?
I'll see myself out...

170: AFI #100 - BEN-HUR

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The AFI Top 100 Challenge is off to a rousing start with William Wyler's 4 hour monstrosity BEN-HUR.
To say this is an epic of biblical proportions would be an obtuse observation. But that doesn't make it not true. 
There will be:
-Crucifixions
-Leper colonies
-Miracles
-Feats of strength
-Falling rooftop shingles
-and that chariot race...
I couldn't imagine a better film to start us off. It's gonna be a fun ride. 

169: AFI Top 100 Challenge - Mission Statement

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Nearly 4 years ago we conceived of a new feature of the We Like Movies blog: A 100-installment challenge dedicated to the American Film Institute's controversial "best" list. But the challenge proved to be too much for our fledgling website and the feature was abandoned after only 4 films. 
But tonight, re-born and inspired by our recent WLM facelift, we submit to you the introduction to the definitive attempt at the AFI Top 100 Challenge! Our "spinoff" series begins here with an explanation of our intent and a delivery of the mission statement.
Join us as we journey from BEN-HUR to CITIZEN KANE and every film in between.
Viva la cinema! 

168: The New Website and Our Most Anticipated Films of 2016

 
 

The We Like Movies blog is reborn with a fresh look, exciting features, and a brand spanking new podcast feed!

The good news is we’re starting fresh with a more intuitive interface that is less likely to experience iTunes hiccups. The bad news is that by abandoning our old buggy podcast feed we’ve lost our subscriber list. SO- that means we need YOU, our faithful family to please RE-subscribe to the podcast. It’s absolutely free. All you have to do is search “We Like Movies” in the podcast section of the iTunes store, choose the feed featuring the Bert and Ernie thumbnail (ignore the old feed with the Steve Zissou picture, it’s in the process of being removed by Apple), and press “subscribe”. It’s just that simple.

Or you could just go here: https://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/we-like-movies/id1076163984?mt=2

On this week’s episode, our first in our new online home, we gush about Squarespace, clean up a few honorable mention films left over from last week’s epic list making, bemoan the Oscar noms, and finally sound off about the 2016 films we’re most looking forward to.

New beginnings with old friends! Away we go.