204: AFI #87 - 12 ANGRY MEN

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The first AFI challenge pod of 2017 arrives, bringing with it a polite genuflection before the alter of one of the greatest (nay, the greatest?) single room dramas ever committed to film.

The oft-referenced, oft-remade, oft-revered chatfest known as 12 ANGRY MEN gets the WLM treatment this week, just in time for Valentine's Day! Sit down next to someone you love to argue with, revisit this bonafide classic, then catch up on our knee-jerk reactions to the film.

"I don't believe I have to be loyal to one side or the other. I'm simply asking questions."

203: Oscar Nom Hot Pod

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We got up at 5am this morning, sat through the awkward, self-congratulatory, pre-taped nomination presentation, then immediately went on the record with our thoughts.
Our spirits were high, our opinions were fresh, our commentary was cutting and insightful! (At least that’s how it felt at 6am)
Listen in for a nice, tight, 45 minute breakdown of all things Oscar[s]!

Grain of Salt: Matt’s Top 10 Films of 2016

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2016 in cinema was 75% whimper and 25% bang.
But what a bang! And luckily said bang came late, all but erasing the bad taste that the first 8 months left lingering in our collective mouths.
If only the cinema of 2016 could also erase the bad taste left over from what was happening outside of the movie theater...
Que sera. Movies are magic but they can't solve ALL of our problems.

Let's leave our cares and worries about the state of the world behind for the moment and take a brief little hopscotch down the memory lane of the last 12 months, shall we? If nothing else, the films of 2016 proved that "television" may have the more attractive business models and profit margins, but movies have Herzog, Chazelle, Lanthimos, Verhoeven, and Villeneuve. So... for now at least... movies still win.

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202: The Top 10 of 2016 Lists (plus hot Globes talk)

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Our beloved Top 10 of the year podcast is here again and this time around we someone managed to bring it in for a landing shy of 90 minutes.
Maybe we're gettin' better at this, nearly 200 episodes in...
We start off with a brief Golden Globes breakdown before diggin' in for the good stuff: Our favorite films of 2016. Thanks for being with us. 

200: ROGUE ONE: A Star Wars Pod

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Our long-awaited ROGUE ONE podcast has landed and let’s just say there are some disturbances in the force. Our reactions may not be what you’d expect from such fervent STAR WARS sympathizers. But we manage to keep our reactions to a nice, tight 70 minutes.

Spoilers begin at 22 minutes. Be forewarned!

199: AFI #88 - BRINGING UP BABY

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It's screwball time y'all.
One of the most inimitable couples ever to grace the silver screen achieve bicker-banter critical mass in the Howard Hawks classic BRINGING UP BABY. And if rat-a-tat chatter isn't your thing there's an extraordinarily well-trained leopard (the title character, natch) who's sure to hold your interest for 100 minutes.
We take only minor issue with this slightly-dated farce but our conversation actually blossoms into a more in-depth discussion on the nature and fundamentals of cinematic comedy. So there's that!

198: A "Prestige" Pod featuring THE HANDMAIDEN, NOCTURNAL ANIMALS, MOONLIGHT, and MANCHESTER BY THE SEA

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There's an embarrassment of riches out there at the multiplexes these days (God bless the holiday/award season!). But "limited release" schedules often get in the way of our ability to stay current with everything that's generating "buzz" (curse you, Seattle and your big city/small market conundrum). That being said, we're endeavoring to catch up this week with in-depth dissections of 4 "prestige"
films that are currently in theaters and vying for your holiday movie-going buck:

00:15:04 - THE HANDMAIDEN
00:24:45 - NOCTURNAL ANIMALS
00:42:01 - MOONLIGHT
00:56:01 - MANCHESTER BY THE SEA

We're confident in our reactions and we're proud of this pod. Hope you enjoy listening as much as we enjoyed chattin'.

197: AFI #89 - THE SIXTH SENSE

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The first legitimate turkey on AFI's revised top 100 list materializes in the form of M. Night Shyamalan's "game-changer" psychological thriller THE SIXTH SENSE. The film that changed the way popular culture handles spoilers, foisted a catchphrase-whispering Haley Joel Osment upon the masses, and tried to sell us on one of Bruce Willis's least convincing hairpieces, gets the WLM treatment this week. We're tough... but fair!
Listen in. We're more critical this time around but it makes for some incisive pod. Truly!

196: FANTASTIC BEASTS brings the wizarding world stateside and ARRIVAL proves to be an unexpected sci-fi tearjerker

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We've waited long enough for the "prestige season" to save us from a criminally underwhelming 2016 cinematic slate. The arrival of ARRIVAL signals that good things are to [finally] come. We gush over that instant classic science fiction game-changer, wax affectionate (if briefly) about the charming Marvel slam-dunk DOCTOR STRANGE, and perform a deliberate, simultaneous shrug in response to the newest film in the extended "Potterverse"- FANTASTIC BEASTS AND WHERE TO FIND THEM. It's good to be back. Let's settle in for this holiday season rollercoaster that is sure to give us much to discuss.

195: Discussing INFERNO and the cinematic legacy of Dan Brown

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After an extended foray into AFI territory during the dregs of the early fall movie season we return to you now with a real, honest to goodness review of something that's actually, legitimately currently in movie theaters!
The bad news is that we chose to hitch our wagon to a supremely mediocre star. The good news is that our reaction to the movie INFERNO and our reflection on Dan Brown's cinematic trilogy as a whole lays the groundwork for a rousing discussion and dissection. We even find the time to talk Halloween, holidays, and the complicated politics of "facebook birthday wishes". Good stuff. Good pod.

194: AFI #90 - SWING TIME

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SWING TIME is a film of modest narrative ambitions but vast musical and choreographic pleasures. On this week's episode we take the sour with the sweet as we break down the film's charm, substance, and shortcomings. This is a nice, tight convo with very little filibustering. We're proud of this one. Thanks for listening. 

191: Bemoaning THE MAGNIFICENT SEVEN and stroking Netflix (again)

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Westerns are back en vogue but unfortunately the new remake of the THE MAGNIFICENT SEVEN doesn't look primed to achieve the classic status of its predecessor. On this week's episode we do our best to try and break down what went wrong with this clunky oater and also spend at least 15 minutes counting the ways we adore Netflix.
Because we do. So hard.

190: Catching up with CASSIDY RED delivery news, Telluride, Venice, and TIFF responses, plus a preview of potential awards season contenders

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We're catching up on everything!

-Matt's feature debut- CASSIDY RED is delivering this week...
-The Telluride, Venice, and Toronto film festivals have anointed movies like ARRIVAL and LA LA LAND and NOCTURNAL ANIMALS and MOONLIGHT as award season heavyweights, so there's a lot to discuss there...
-SULLY and SNOWDEN give us a reason to discuss "recent", ripped-from-the-headline, titular character-monikered "biopics" that curiously both start with the letter "S"... 
-Non movie related BS and small talk...

We're so happy to be back. Hope you've missed us as much as we've missed you....

189: Closing out the dog days with some STRANGER THINGS chat, TIFF previews, and a HELL OR HIGH WATER review

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We're gettin' a lot off our chests this week as a spirited discussion veers wildly from James Bond geekery to our belated reactions to Netflix's summer hit STRANGER THINGS. We dance through a rundown of the most high profile films recently announced to unspool at the Toronto International Film Festival, can hardly summon the energy to champion the low-hanging comedic fruit of SAUSAGE PARTY, and finally land on a HELL OR HIGH WATER gush-o-thon (Why bother playing the cards close? We absolutely loved it.) that begins at 00:41:25 and runs until the end of the podcast. We've got a lot to say and we're looking to say it to YOU.
Editor's note: Please excuse the sporadically ugly audio on this episode. We were experiencing a bad Skype connection and the pops and drops come and go. It's a little rough at times but we hope you tough it out because we're extremely proud of this conversation.

188: Reminiscing on the Summer of 1996 and Bemoaning SUICIDE SQUAD

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After some technical hiccups and unexpected disagreements over a couple of polarizing films during the last few episodes, we're back in lockstep and firmly on the same side of the aisle regarding the last "big" tentpole of the summer of 2016- the already infamous SUICIDE SQUAD. That conversation kicks in at about 00:24:40 but before that, we amuse ourselves with further GHOSTBUSTERS dissection as well as a brief, nostalgic look back at the summer movies of 1996. We're amped, we're opinionated, we're ready for primetime. Listen in and we'll love you for it.

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.