sportsalcohol.com podcast (movies)

In a follow-up to our recent Oscar special, the SportsAlcohol.com continues their discussion of the 96th Academy Award nominations, covering categories outside the big eight, which means nerdy discussion of music, animation, international features, cinematography, editing, and more!

Direct download: SportsAlcoholPodcastOscarSpecialBONUS.mp3
Category:movies -- posted at: 3:18pm EDT

The 2023-24 Oscar season has finally heading for the end, and the SportsAlcohol.com team has assembled to talk about our PREFERENCES, our PREDICTIONS, and our most treasured SNUBS in the top eight major categories! Place your bets, protect your faves, and listen up as we get our last build-ups and teardowns in on the films of 2023!

Direct download: SportsAlcoholPodcastOscarSpecial2024.mp3
Category:movies -- posted at: 11:45pm EDT

We may be arriving a little late with our discussion of the 15 best movies of 2023, but we still beat the Oscars to air! In a long and enthusiastic discussion of our collective favorites, your pals at SportsAlcohol.com take turns waxing rhapsodic over an eclectic group of 2023 movies that we loved, including major auteurs, exciting debuts, special-effects blockbusters, and small-scale indies. It's one of our biggest episodes ever and full of great streaming suggestions!

Direct download: SportsAlcoholPodcastBestMovies2023.mp3
Category:movies -- posted at: 9:33am EDT

Leapin' lizards! Everyone knows Godzilla is the King of All Monsters, but what this episode pre-supposes is... maybe he's also the King of All Media? With a new Toho Godzilla film in theaters, an American Godzilla movie coming in a few months, a Godzilla-related TV series streaming on Apple, and the big guy fighting the Justice League in the pages of DC Comics, Godzilla fans are, as they say, eating. After seeing Godzilla Minus One twice each, Jesse and lifelong Godzilla fan/expert Nathaniel sat down to talk about the overall state of the monster. 

Direct download: SportsAlcoholPodcastGodzillaMinusOne.mp3
Category:movies -- posted at: 11:16am EDT

Happy Labor day from your pals at SportsAlcohol.com! We got you a podcast episode! Earlier this summer, Ben convened a small panel of labor experts (by which we mean Marisa, Jeremy, and Jesse) to talk about the bumper crop of movies about companies making products. <em>Air</em>, <em>Blackberry</em>, <em>Flamin' Hot</em>, and <em>Tetris</em> all came out within months of each other -- what gives? In this episode, led by a bona fide MBA, we talk about each movie, which ones (if any) appealed to us and why, and the greater meaning of this trend. (We recorded this episode before <em>The Beanie Bubble</em> dropped but you know what? It's barely worth discussing anyway!) Please, spend your hard-earned Labor Day (or months after Labor Day) with us!

Direct download: SportsAlcoholPodcastLaborDaySpecial.mp3
Category:movies -- posted at: 9:20am EDT

Our annual summer nostalgiafest and re-evaluation continues further into the 2000s, as Marisa, Jesse, Becca, Jeremy, and Ben go through the eye-popping 17-title list of movies that made over $100 million domestic back in the summer of 2003. Superheroes! Pirates! Car chases! Multiple cops on the edge! And... fish?! Take a stroll through the early-to-mid '00s with us and revisit the best and the dregs!

Direct download: SportsAlcoholPodcastTopSummerMovies2003.mp3
Category:movies -- posted at: 12:02pm EDT

It's that time of year again, where the SportsAlcohol.com crew gets together and has a wide-ranging, semi-nostalgic, semi-modern discussion of the biggest summer movies of decades ago. This year, we're kicking off our pair of anniversary episodes with the 30-years-ago version, throwing it all the way back to the summer of 1993, where dinosaurs (of the special-effects variety) and dinosaurs (of the dad-movie variety) ruled the box office! Join Marisa, Sara, Jeremy, Jesse, Nathaniel, and Ben as we talk Ford, Stallone, Arnold, Goldblum, Dave, Hanks, Ryan, and Dennis (the Menace, that is).

Direct download: SportsAlcoholTop10SummerMovies1993.mp3
Category:movies -- posted at: 6:30pm EDT

With Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny now in theaters and wrapping up Indy's story for good, Marisa, Jesse, and Nathaniel decided to take a look at the whole Indiana Jones saga, starting with the new movie and working our way back through the other entries -- and some ancillary materials courtesy of Indy expert Nathaniel! Last Crusade is impugned and defended! Crystal Skull isn't hated! Temple of Doom is revered! Has the world gone topsy-turvy?! Listen and find out!

Direct download: SportsAlcoholPodcastIndianaJones.mp3
Category:movies -- posted at: 11:42am EDT

It's Oscar season! Well, for another few days, anyway! In the run-up to the 95th annual Academy Awards, honoring achievements in cinema for the film year 2022, our OSCAR EXPERTS (hint: actually just Sara, Marisa, Jeremy, and Jesse) gathered to talk about who WILL win, who SHOULD win, and, of course, the SNUBS! We're really just talking about our general thoughts on the silliness of the awards competition in eight major categories, plus some bonus rounds that go beyond. We've got Oscar fever and we invite you to catch it!

Direct download: SportsAlcoholOscars2022-23.mp3
Category:movies -- posted at: 9:54am EDT

2022 is over, but have you caught up on all of the great movies it had to offer? Maybe not! Five SportsAlcohol.com regulars voted on their 20 collective favorites from 2022, and in this podcast we run through the upper reaches of the list to discuss what movies got to us last year, and why -- including both consensus favorites and outliers that only made one contributor's list! From Irish infighting to Spielbergian family dynamics to multiversal variants, there are streaming (and, in a few cases, still movie theater!) recommendations galore on this episode, from your pals Sara, Marisa, Jeremy, and Jesse. 

Direct download: SportsAlcoholPodcastBestMovies2022.mp3
Category:movies -- posted at: 9:48am EDT

Watch out for the cultural impact! Avatar: The Way of Water is finally in theaters -- in fact, it's topped the box office for seven weekends in a row, garnered a Best Picture nomination, and has made over $2 billion worldwide. In light of this stunning failure to attract any audiences or acclaim, your SportsAlcohol.com crew hopped in their submersible and did a deep dive on the films of James Cameron, in all their water-y, tech-y, earnest glory. The Avatars, the Terminators, the Aliens, the various boats and choppers... they're all here in this two-hour-plus extravaganza that is still shorter than the runtime of Avatar: The Way of Water. Jesse, Marisa, Jeremy, Nathaniel, and Jeff are your guides through the floating mountains of Pandora and beyond!

Direct download: SportsAlcoholPodcastAvatarCameron.mp3
Category:movies -- posted at: 5:01pm EDT

You thought the summer movie season was over?! Well, it is for 2022, but for 1992 it's beginning again! Join Nathaniel, Ben, Marisa, Jesse, Becca, and Jeremy as we revisit the top ten biggest summer hits from 30 years ago, featuring movies from Tom Cruise, Steve Martin, Mel Gibson, Eddie Murphy, Geena Davis, and Batman!

Direct download: SportsAlcoholPodcastSummerMovies92.mp3
Category:movies -- posted at: 11:19pm EDT

It's that time again! Your pals at SportsAlcohol.com are back to comb through the biggest but not necessarily best movies of 20 summers ago. We've worked our way up to 2002, a real mixed bag featuring masterpieces and junk piles alike. Cruise, Sandler, Bourne, Stitch, Lillard, and some kind of Ya Ya Sisterhood... the gang's all here! Join Marisa, Ben, Jeremy, Becca, Nathaniel, and Jesse as we relive the highs and lows of Summer 2002!

Direct download: SportsAlcoholPodcastMoviesSummer2002.mp3
Category:movies -- posted at: 2:19pm EDT

All right, you primitive screwheads, listen up: Sam Raimi put out his first new movie in nine years this summer, returning to the world of Marvel superheroes with Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness. We thought it would be a good time to revisit all of his older films and, in the process, analyze just how much of his voice can be heard in the MCU machine. And though Jesse did not edit this episode in a timely manner, Sam Raimi's Doctor Strange 2 is now on Disney+, so you can do a full Sam Raimi marathon, from Evil Dead trilogy to the normal-movie trilogy to the Spider-Man trilogy and beyond, from the comfort of home! Join Nathaniel, Jeremy, Marisa, and Jesse as we discuss every single Sam Raimi feature film, including his latest. Who defends Oz the Great and Powerful? Who was not feeling Darkman? Who loves The Quick and the Dead more now than as a callow teenager? Now dig on this and find out!

Direct download: SportsAlcoholPodcastSamRaimiDoctorStrange2.mp3
Category:movies -- posted at: 9:07pm EDT

It's that time of year again, finally: the 94th Annual Academy Awards are here, and so are Marisa, Sara, Jesse, and Jeremy, to discuss their predictions and preferences in the top eight big categories. We make movies better.
Direct download: SportsAlcoholPodcastOscars2022.mp3
Category:movies -- posted at: 9:44am EDT

Better late than never, and still earlier than the Oscars! The SportsAlcohol.com crew convenes to discuss our collective list of the 15 best movies of 2021, including streaming suggestions galore! How many musicals, superheroes, kaiju, cartoons, morose motorists, and Bronco Henries made the list? Listen and find out!

Direct download: SportsAlcoholPodcastBestMovies2021.mp3
Category:movies -- posted at: 9:44pm EDT

We here at SportsAlcohol dot com were pretty excited about the recent release of <em>The Matrix Resurrections</em>, the 18-years-later legacy sequel to the Wachowskis' <em>Matrix</em> trilogy, written and directed by Lana Wachowski sans her sister Lily. After watching the movie in IMAX theaters and/or HBO Max, Jesse, Marisa, Ben, Jeremy, and Nathaniel got together to talk about how the new movie fits in with the legendary original, the controversial trilogy, and the garden of delights that is the full Wachowski filmography. So we start with The Matrix and then get into our full collective ranking of the Wachowski movies. Join us, won't you, after all these years... to go back to where it all started. Back to The Matrix!

Direct download: SportsAlcoholPodcastMatrixandWachowskis.mp3
Category:movies -- posted at: 5:08pm EDT

In an episode we feely admit we should have recorded years ago, the SportsAlcohol.com pals talk about the full filmography of Wes Anderson, starting with his new movie The French Dispatch (now available on streaming/rental/disc/etc.!) and then working our way through a full ranking of his ten features films so far! Who put Life Aquatic much higher than anyone else? Who likes the stop-motion animation less than the others? What is our collective favorite? Listen and find out!

Direct download: SportsAlcoholPodcastWesAnderson.mp3
Category:movies -- posted at: 9:05pm EDT

Our double-feature summer flashback continues with another thirty-years-ago sorta-nostalgia fest, as a whopping seven SportsAlcohol regulars get together and talk about a dozen-plus movies from the bygone days of summer 1991. The gang's all here: Michael J. Fox, Kevin Costner, Geena Davis, Susan Sarandon, Keanu Reeves, Patrick Swayze, Leslie Nielsen, Ice Cube, and more! So think back to the days of Robin Hood trading cards and listen to us chat about 1991 summer movies!

Direct download: SportsAlcoholPodcastSummerMovies1991.mp3
Category:movies -- posted at: 11:46pm EDT

As a corollary to our recent discussion about BLACK WIDOW and CRUELLA, we went off on a little bonus tangent about box office reporting, streaming numbers, the ongoing release-plan evolution, and a bunch of stuff about modern entertainment journalism!

Direct download: SportsAlcoholMiniPodcastStreamingVsTheaters.mp3
Category:movies -- posted at: 1:18am EDT

Disney put out two big-budget, franchise-driven, backstory-heavy summer movies starring two popular, multi-Oscar-nominated superstar actresses, so we decided to pair a discussion of Scarlett Johansson in BLACK WIDOW with a discussion of Emma Stone in CRUELLA and see what happened! We talk Marvel, Disney, villains, origin stories, directors in the franchise machine, star power and... SNL sketches?!

Direct download: SportsAlcoholPodcastBlackWidowCruella.mp3
Category:movies -- posted at: 12:39am EDT

After a long, long, long awards season, the Oscars are finally almost over. But before we can all move on with our lives, the SportsAlcohol.com awards pundits are here to talk about, well, actually mostly which performances and movies in the big eight categories that we think should win, along with some predictions and, more often, complaints about movies that were unfairly overlooked. Do we all hope Carey and Chadwick win the big prizes? Are we united in favor of Mank? Who the hell still wants Aaron Sorkin to win one? Listen and find out!

Direct download: SportsAlcoholOscarPodcast2021.mp3
Category:movies -- posted at: 11:29pm EDT

To mark the momentous occasion of Godzilla fighting King Kong again, we convened another SportsAlcohol.com roundtable, featuring a lifelong fan of Godzilla *and* Kong and multiple viewings of the new movie, to talk about this latest installment in the Warner Bros. MonsterVerse.

Direct download: SportsAlcoholPodcastGodzillaVersusKong.mp3
Category:movies -- posted at: 1:23pm EDT

Uncertain over how the rest of the year would go, we made a podcast episode in August of 2020 about the best movies of the year. But hey, it turned out there were plenty more great movies to come! So here's our supplementary podcast covering our collective favorites (and oddball outliers) from the rest of 2020, including talk about Nomadland, Soul, Tenet, Sound of Metal, and more!

Direct download: SportsAlcoholPodcastBestMovies2020.mp3
Category:movies -- posted at: 12:31pm EDT

Continuing our look back at the career of David Fincher in the shadow of his new movie MANK, this episode includes deep-dive explorations of FIGHT CLUB, THE SOCIAL NETWORK, PANIC ROOM, THE GAME, and more!

Direct download: SportsAlcoholPodcastFincherPart2.mp3
Category:movies -- posted at: 9:37am EDT

The recent movie Mank marks David Fincher's 10th movie as director -- or 11th, if you count the big-budget sequel that started his career and that he's since disowned. We figured his new movie, something of an outlier in his career, would be a good time to look back on his all of his features so far, in another two-part episode. In part 1, we take a look at Mank, plus other outliers like The Curious Case of Benjamin Button and Alien 3; and his triptych of serial killer films: Seven, Zodiac, and The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo.

Direct download: SportsAlcoholPodcastFincherPart1.mp3
Category:movies -- posted at: 9:08pm EDT

Our career-long deep dive into Martin Scorsese's storied career continues with conversations about the genre ones (Shutter Island; Cape Fear), the Leo ones (The Departed; Wolf of Wall Street; Gangs of New York; The Aviator); the religious ones (Silence; Kundun; Last Temptation of Christ); and more!

Direct download: SportsAlcoholPodcastScorsesePart2.mp3
Category:movies -- posted at: 1:04am EDT

Over a year in the making, the SportsAlcohol.com crew finally dedicates a full episode to the films of Martin Scorsese... make that TWO whole episodes! In part one of our comprehensive career retrospective, we discuss the recent anniversaries of Goodfellas and Casino, then go from there to tackle The Irishman, Raging Bull, Taxi Driver, The King of Comedy, and Bringing Out the Dead.

Direct download: SportsAlcoholPodcastScorsesePart1.mp3
Category:movies -- posted at: 5:59pm EDT

Robert Zemeckis put out one of the more disappointing sorta-big movies of 2020 with The Witches, so we convened a special career-spanning episode of the SportsAlcohol.com podcast to talk about his career in greater depth--both how the new movie falls short, and why we had high expectations for it to begin with. Join Marisa, Jesse, Nathaniel, and Jeremy as we talk about EVERY Zemeckis movie so far!

Direct download: SportsAlcoholPodcastRobertZemeckis.mp3
Category:movies -- posted at: 6:29pm EDT

With the recent release of Sofia Coppola's latest movie On the Rocks, the SportsAlcohol.com crew decided it was time for a comprehensive career review, discussing all seven of her films (including her new one), plus various ephemera. Bill Murray! Kirsten Dunst! ScarJo! Andy Garcia?! They're all here for this lively discussion and appreciation.

Direct download: SportsAlcoholPodcastSofiaCoppola.mp3
Category:movies -- posted at: 1:44am EDT

To celebrate the recent release of long-awaited trilogy-creator Bill & Ted Face the Music, your pals at SportsAlcohol.com got together to talk about the new Bill & Ted movie, discuss our wide range of opinions of how well it works, and then have a broader discussion about the state and mechanics of movie trilogies these days.

Direct download: SportsAlcoholPodcastBillTedTrilogies.mp3
Category:movies -- posted at: 2:33pm EDT

One of our most popular recurring episodes is our annual trip back 20 years to discuss the high-grossing summer movies of yore, so we figured: why not try 30 years? In an effort to fill out our coverage of every summer of the '90s, we've done just that: a deep dive into the highest-grossing movies of Summer 1990. Swayze & Demi! Mel & Goldie! Warren & Madonna! And some non-high-grossing favorites to boot! It's an epic of nostalgia and confusion!

Direct download: SportsAlcoholPodcastSummer1990.mp3
Category:movies -- posted at: 1:10am EDT

Usually, we do a seasonal episode about the various indie movies of the summer, and then an episode in January about the best movies of the preceding year. But honestly, who the hell knows what the rest of 2020 has in store for us? So this year we've decided to call the year over, and just talk about some of the best movies of 2020 at the end of the summer. Would TENET have made our informal list? Who knows?! But we talk about plenty of other good movies that you can watch at home without getting a coronavirus!

Direct download: SportsAlcoholPodcastBestMoviesof2020Summer.mp3
Category:movies -- posted at: 12:39am EDT

Yes, it's that time of the year again: The SportsAlcohol.com gang is back together to reminisce about the summer movies of 20 years ago. There may not be a summer movie season to speak of in 2020, but in 2000 business was a-booming with gladiators, mutants, car thieves, dinosaurs, and impossible missions! Take a detailed yet fast-paced trip down memory lane with us, replete with bizarre personal anecdotes!

Direct download: SportsAlcoholPodcastSummerMovies2000.mp3
Category:movies -- posted at: 9:09pm EDT

On the heels of our Best Movies of 2019 podcast, the SportsAlcohol.com movie crew stuck around for a quick, loose discussion of this year's Academy Award nominations: who we were happy to see, who was SNUBBED, and who might emerge victorious on Oscar night.

Direct download: SportsAlcoholMiniPodcastOscars2019-20.mp3
Category:movies -- posted at: 7:21am EDT

2019 may be well and over, but your pals at SportsAlcohol.com aren't quite done talking about the best movies of the year. To tie in with our collective list of our 20 favorites, Marisa, Nathaniel, Jesse, Sara, and Jeremy got together for a lengthy but snappy conversation about why we chose the movies we chose (and where we disagree with our own list!).

Direct download: SportsAlcoholPodcastBestMovies2019.mp3
Category:movies -- posted at: 11:50pm EDT

Star Wars is over, again, and also not over at all. But the most recent trilogy has indeed ended with Episode IX: The Rise of Skywalker. After taking in the movie somewhere between one and three times, your SportsAlcohol.com rebel alliance got together to talk about Rise of Skywalker, as well as the recently concluded first season of The Mandalorian. How did J.J. Abrams do in finishing off the trilogy he started, and the nine-film series he certainly didn't start? How much do we love Babu Frik? And how can we avoid comparing this new movie to The Last Jedi? The answers to these questions and more await you!

Direct download: SportsAlcoholPodcastStarWarsTheRiseofSkywalker.mp3
Category:movies -- posted at: 9:01pm EDT

For a special holiday episode (and a rare new-release movie review!), Jesse is joined by podcast expert and horror fan Becca, to talk about all three versions of BLACK CHRISTMAS: The 1974 original, the 2006 remake, and the new 2019 version in theaters now!

Direct download: SportsAlcoholPodcastBlackChristmasX3.mp3
Category:movies -- posted at: 6:00pm EDT

While SportsAlcohol.com loves to look back at pop culture from 20 years ago, we also try to pay attention to what is happening RIGHT NOW--especially in the world of independent cinema. Each summer for the past bunch of summers, we've capped the season with a look back at a bunch of cinematic indies, good and bad. For the 2019 edition, we cover over a dozen titles, providing an excellent guide for what to catch up with on streaming or VOD or DVD or whatever this fall!

Direct download: SportsAlcoholPodcastIndieMoviesSummer2019.mp3
Category:movies -- posted at: 10:43pm EDT

It's that time of year again, when the SportsAlcohol.com crew takes a look at where they were and what they (and the rest of America) were watching 20 years ago, examining a list of the highest-grossing box office attractions of summer 1999. Will Smith! Julia Roberts! Brendan Fraser! Jar Jar Binks! An apple pie! Pepe the Prawn?! All of your favorite 1999 stars are well-represented as Rob, Jesse, Nathaniel, Marisa, and Sabrina get deep into nostalgia mode.

Direct download: SportsAlcoholPodcastSummerMovies1999.mp3
Category:movies -- posted at: 12:30am EDT

In the second part of our epic exploration of Quentin Tarantino's nine-or-ten-film career, we talk about all of his previous films, from Reservoir Dogs to The Hateful Eight to however many Kill Bills you count as one movie, and everything else in between, exploring connections between them, and to Once Upon a Time in Hollywood.

Direct download: SportsAlcoholPodcastTarantinoPart2.mp3
Category:movies -- posted at: 11:47pm EDT

With Quentin Tarantino's new film Once Upon a Time in Hollywood debuting to big business and an avalanche of thinkpieces, the core of SportsAlcohol.com's film team thought it would be a good time to take a look at the fullness of Tarantino's career so far, in a Grindhouse-like double feature. In the first episode, we talk about the new movie, and get into the ending right away, so the spoiler-averse should hold off! What did Marisa, Sara, Nathaniel and Jesse think about Once Upon a Time in Hollywood? LISTEN UP, because they all have a bunch of opinions about QT's latest.

Direct download: SportsAlcoholPodcastTarantinoPart1.mp3
Category:movies -- posted at: 12:17am EDT

The X-Men movies are over (sorta), long live the X-Men movies (sorta)! With the release (and flop!) of DARK PHOENIX, the process of X-tricating the long-running X-Men movie series from Fox and integrating them into the MCU has presumably, to some degree, begun. But before they're gone and rebooted, we got some X-perts together to talk about DARK PHOENIX, and the X-Men movie series in general, and its ups and downs over the past 20 (!) years.

Direct download: SportsAlcoholPodcastX-Men.mp3
Category:movies -- posted at: 10:35pm EDT

We've done plenty of MCU-centric podcasts over the years, but we really brought out the big guns for the Phase 3 finale, as Marisa, Nathaniel, Jesse, and Ben discuss AVENGERS: ENDGAME, as well as INFINITY WAR, as well as our collective ranked list of all the Marvel Cinematic Universe films so far. Who loves AGE OF ULTRON way more than INFINITY WAR? Who thinks the rest of us underrate Thanos as a villain? Who hate the soul stone the most? Who has great ideas for what the MCU should do next? (Answer to that last one: ALL OF US.)

Direct download: SportsAlcoholPodcastAvengersEndGame.mp3
Category:movies -- posted at: 11:40pm EDT

In a sequel of sorts to our all-Soderbergh episode from 2017, and also our sportsiest episode ever by far, Rob, Ben, Marisa, and Jesse all discuss the new Steven Soderbergh film High Flying Bird, now streaming on Netflix! It's a brisk assessment of Soderbergh, labor relations, sports, Moneyball, iPhone cameras, and more!

Direct download: SportsAlcoholPodcastHighFlyingBird.mp3
Category:movies -- posted at: 11:14pm EDT

As Oscar season heads into its final weeks, why not take a break from litigating the Academy's dumb choices and spend some time listening to Nathaniel, Sara, Marisa, and Jesse talk about their favorites of the year? We've got Best Picture nominees, we've got stuff no one else ranked this guy, and we've got outliers! This engaging discussion of the best movies of 2018 has got. it. all.

Direct download: SportsAlcoholPodcastBestMoviesof2018.mp3
Category:movies -- posted at: 12:36am EDT

The seventh (!) Spider-Man movie of the past 20 years came out last month with Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse. To celebrate this occasion, the SportsAlcohol.com skeleton crew, including Spider-Man expert Rob, got together and did an impromptu group ranking of all Spider-Man and Spider-Man-adjacent movies, talking about each and every one! Maguire! Dunst! Franco! Garfield! Stone! Holland! Captain America! Doughy Peter Parker! Spider-Ham! We talk about 'em all on our brisk countdown! Some of our rankings may surprise and infuriate you!

Direct download: SportAlcoholPodcastSpiderManRanked.mp3
Category:movies -- posted at: 9:30pm EDT

The new movie Second Act starring Jennifer Lopez is opening on December 21st! Jesse and Ben caught an early screening and discussed how it works as a non-rom-com, a zany business movie, and a Jennifer Lopez star vehicle. It's the latest in our mini-series where Ben talks about business movies.

WARNING: There are SPOILERS for the movie Second Act around the halfway mark of this episode.

Direct download: SportsAlcoholPodcastSecondAct.mp3
Category:movies -- posted at: 12:48am EDT

Jesse and Nathaniel, the only two people you know who think Rocky V is better than Rocky IV, got together to discuss how the newest Rocky-ish movie, Creed II, stacks up against the original, as well as other Rocky sequels. Controversial takes abound! (See above RE: Rocky V.)

Direct download: SportsAlcoholPodcastCreedandRocky.mp3
Category:movies -- posted at: 9:09pm EDT

With the release of the second Fantastic Beasts film, The Crimes of Grindelwald, now upon us, Marisa, Nathaniel, and Jesse got together to assess the state of the Wizarding World: Where this new series still holds promise, how it falls short, and what the hell is up with Eddie Redmayne. Accio takes!

Direct download: SportsAlcoholPodcastFantasticBeasts.mp3
Category:movies -- posted at: 12:06am EDT

For the fourth year in a row, SportsAlcohol.com's movie crew of Jesse, Marisa, Sara, and Nathaniel got together for a long talk about the many indie movies that came out in May, June, July, and August of 2018. We hit over a dozen major titles, from Hereditary to Eighth Grade to BlackKklansman to Skate Kitchen to Sorry to Bother You to First Reformed and on and on and on! Get your rental suggestions for fall with this wide-ranging discussion!

Direct download: SportsAlcoholPodcastSummerIndies2018.mp3
Category:movies -- posted at: 12:12am EDT

One undisputed bright spot of this year's crop of summer movies was Mission: Impossible -- Fallout, the sixth (!) movie in the deathless Mission: Impossible franchise. After Nathaniel, Jesse, Marisa, and Jon all caught up with the latest mission, and watched/rewatched previous entries in the series, we all sat down to talk about Fallout, and how the series got where it is today. Come for the Fallout discussion, stay for the geeking out over MI 1 through 5, and stay even longer to hear what we think should go down in the inevitable MI7!

Direct download: SportsAlcoholPodcastMissionImpossible1-6.mp3
Category:movies -- posted at: 12:43am EDT

It's that time of year again. In our longest running recurring episode, the SportsAlcohol.com crew takes a look back at the top-grossing movies of summer 1998, and recall what we thought then, what we think now, and where the hell we were in our lives when we first saw the American remake of Godzilla. Among others. Join Marisa, Rob, Nathaniel, Jesse, and Sabrina for a ruefully nostalgic and nostalgically rueful look back at blockbusters from 20 years ago.

Direct download: SportsAlcoholPodcastSummerMovies98.mp3
Category:movies -- posted at: 11:57pm EDT

Incredibles 2 is Pixar's 20th feature film, so this felt like a good point to talk about not just one of the most-anticipated sequels of the year but also all of the Pixar movies that preceded it. A supersized panel including Marisa, Jesse, Nathaniel, Ben, Jon, and Sara talk through our personal highlights and lowlights from the Pixar canon, including our reactions to Brad Bird's latest!

Direct download: SportsAlcoholPodcastPixar.mp3
Category:movies -- posted at: 10:21pm EDT

The Soderbergh-free but all-star Ocean's 8 is currently heisting away plenty of money at the box-office, so Sara, Marisa, and Jesse got together to talk about the movie, how it measures up to the previous Ocean's films, and how it fits into the film careers of the many actresses involved: Sandra Bullock! Anne Hathaway! Cate Blanchett! Sarah Paulson! And more!

Direct download: SportsAlcoholPodcastOceans8.mp3
Category:movies -- posted at: 10:56pm EDT

In the second part of our comprehensive discussion of Steven Spielberg's career, we talk about Spielberg movies we recently saw for the first time, picks for overrated and underrated Spielberg projects, and make some varying cases for the Indiana Jones sequels.

Direct download: SportsAlcoholPodcastSpielberg2of2.mp3
Category:movies -- posted at: 1:53pm EDT

Whether you're a fan of Steven Spielberg or not, his work looms large and moonlike over the cinematic landscape. On the occasion of his new movie Ready Player One (his fourth in the span of 2.5 years!), we got together to talk about both his newest foray into the world of sci-fi and his career as a whole. This wide-ranging discussion has been split into two episodes; this one, the first, covers Ready Player One as well as some of his trademarks as a filmmaker.

Direct download: SportsAlcoholPodcastSpielberg1of2.mp3
Category:movies -- posted at: 2:39pm EDT

With Phantom Thread performing surprisingly well in the recent Oscar nominations, we figured it was about time to go back and talk about the full eight-film oeuvre of writer-director Paul Thomas Anderson. PTA fans Marisa, Sara, Jesse, Jon, and Nathaniel discuss every phase of his career, our personal favorites, and what he might do next.

Direct download: SportsAlcoholPodcastPaulThomasAnderson.mp3
Category:movies -- posted at: 9:14pm EDT

We don't have any inside dope on who's gonna win the Oscars this year, but that hasn't stopped Marisa, Jesse, Nathaniel, Sara, and Jon from chatting about who might win in the big six categories, plus, of course, our personal favorites. Who's delighted by Denzel's surprise nomination? Who's rooting for Willem Dafoe? Who's surprised to love Meryl Streep's obligatory nom? Who loves Lady Bird? (Well, to that last one: All of us.) Listen and then somehow win your Oscar pool!

Direct download: SportsAlcoholPodcastOscars2018.mp3
Category:movies -- posted at: 1:49pm EDT

In the third of our business/sci-fi double feature series, Ben and Jesse are joined by Nathaniel for a post-viewing discussion of 1987's The Secret of My Success, a business movie suggested by Ben (which Jesse and Nathaniel had not seen) and Mars Attacks!, a sci-fi movie suggested by Jesse and beloved by Nathaniel (and which Ben had not seen). Both movies feature Michael J. Fox, at opposite ends of his big-screen career. Join us as we hash out whether we were foolish to have missed these Fox movies for so long!

Direct download: SportsAlcoholMiniPodcastMichaelJFox.mp3
Category:movies -- posted at: 10:05pm EDT

It was a good year for movies (FOR MOVIES) that gave us a lot to talk about, so this super-sized episode gets right into the SportsAlcohol.com list of the 20 best movies of 2017, as voted by our quartet of film enthusiasts. We talk about what made the list and didn't, what we all loved and what made us disagree, with discussions of Three Billboards, Dunkirk, The Florida Project, The Shape of Water, Star Wars, Blade Runner, and many more!

Direct download: SportsAlcoholPodcastBestMoviesof2017.mp3
Category:movies -- posted at: 9:03pm EDT

Following on the heels of our episodes about The Force Awakens and Rogue One, and our December mixtape for The Last Jedi, a few SportsAlcohol.com mainstays got together over the holidays to talk about Rian Johnson's newest entry in the Star Wars saga. This is definitely a fan conversation intended for people who have seen the movie; spoilers and nerdiness abound. What did we love? What gave us pause? How were the porgs? And what does any of this have to do with Watto?

Direct download: SportsAlcoholPodcastStarWarsLastJedi.mp3
Category:movies -- posted at: 9:52am EDT

Superhero movies are still dominating the blockbuster landscape these days, and plenty of your pals at SportsAlcohol.com see most or all of these things. So after a bunch of us saw Justice League, we sat down to talk about the state of DC-based cinema, plus where Thor: Ragnarok leaves us with the MCU, and how they both fit into the year of superhero cinema.

Direct download: SportsAlcoholPodcastJusticeLeagueThorRagnarok.mp3
Category:movies -- posted at: 12:34am EDT

Greta Gerwig and Noah Baumbach have collaborated on three movies, and this fall they're both back with their own solo movies: Gerwig's Lady Bird and Baumbach's The Meyerowitz Stories (New and Selected). Marisa, Sara, Nathaniel, and Jesse watched both movies (as well as plenty of past work from both filmmakers) and then got together to discuss how they function together, how they function apart, and what we think of their new projects.

Direct download: SportsAlcoholPodcastGerwigBaumbach.mp3
Category:movies -- posted at: 11:13am EDT

Following a movie swap where Pretty Woman was exchanged for Starship Troopers, Ben and Jesse leap forward one year in time and make another business/sci-fi trade: The 1991 Danny DeVito dramedy Other People's Money swapped for the 1998 cult classic Dark City. We watched 'em both and then talked it out, touching upon Penelope Ann Miller, The Matrix, subverting expectations, and possible reasons that both of these movies flopped in their original releases.

Direct download: SportsAlcoholPodcastOtherPeopleDarkCity.mp3
Category:movies -- posted at: 11:26pm EDT

Jesse had never seen Pretty Woman.

Ben had never seen Starship Troopers.

So they sat each other down and watched two beloved Films of the '90s, then had a little chat about it.

This is that little chat.

Direct download: SportsAlcoholMiniPodcastPrettyWomanStarshipTroopers.mp3
Category:movies -- posted at: 10:02pm EDT

While what makes us laugh, cry, or scared can vary greatly, what we want out of a romantic comedy is often even more nebulous, especially as romantic comedies appear to be in something of a mainstream slump at the movies. In a state-of-the-genre conversation, Marisa, Nathaniel, Jesse, and two different Saras chat about what makes a romantic comedy, what our favorites are, and how they (maybe) work or (sometimes) don't. This is a must-listen for rom-com fans and also for people who want to find out which one of us holds a torch for the Hugh Jackman/Ashley Judd rom-com Someone Like You.

Direct download: SportsAlcoholPodcastRomComAnalysis.mp3
Category:movies -- posted at: 5:07pm EDT

Summer may be winding down, but there are probably still some cool non-blockbuster movies you need to catch up with. For the third year in a row, Marisa, Sara, Nathaniel, and Jesse got together to discuss over a dozen of the summer's most notable indie movie releases, which in 2017 includes The Big Sick, The Beguiled, Detroit, Ingrid Goes West, It Comes At Night, A Ghost Story, Atomic Blonde (it's an indie!), Columbus, and a whole lot more recommendations for your local arthouse -- or to keep you busy on Netflix all fall. Bonus recorded-outdoors ambiance abounds!

Direct download: SportsAlcoholPodcastSummerIndies2017.mp3
Category:movies -- posted at: 12:20am EDT

The last Spider-Man movie, Amazing Spider-Man 2, was the subject of SportsAlcohol.com's very first podcast. Over three years later, we're back with an ever-more-slightly-better-produced episode about the third cinematic reboot of Marvel's flagship character this century. Topics covered:

Betty Brant
Dennis Miller
Women named Marisa
How bad we are at podcasts 

Also, as mentioned in the podcast, check out Rob's take on Betty Brant

SPOILER WARNING: This podcast assumes you've seen every movie every made with Spider-Man

Direct download: Sports_Alcohol_Spider-Man_Homecoming.mp3
Category:movies -- posted at: 2:11am EDT

Earlier this year, a meme was going around Twitter, Facebook, and presumably other soc-meds, too: People were listing their favorite movies for every year that they had been alive. This struck the SportsAlcohol.com core cinema team as a fun exercise, so Marisa, Nathaniel, Sara, and Jesse each produced one such list, sent it to each other, and discussed the results. Which years wound up with universal consensus? Which years were wildly divergent? Which directors turned up again and again and again? Who actually chose Titanic? Listen in and find out!

Direct download: SportsAlcoholPodcastFavoriteMoviesofOurYears.mp3
Category:movies -- posted at: 3:07pm EDT

Having faithfully chatted about Batman v. Superman and Suicide Squad, we were pretty excited to gab about Wonder Woman, a DC Comics movie that people actually like! Marisa, Sara, Nathaniel, and Jesse all saw Wonder Woman and then talked about it for an hour: how it's similar to other comics movies and what makes it different; the starmaking performance of Gal Gadot (and how to pronounce her name); what it means to see a female superhero kicking ass on the big screen; and more!

Direct download: SportsAlcoholPodcastWonderWoman.mp3
Category:movies -- posted at: 8:27am EDT

With the release of Ridley Scott's second Alien prequel, first Prometheus sequel, and third Alien movie overall, Alien: Covenant, we got together for a chat about all things Alien. Marisa, Nathaniel, Jesse, Sara, and Jon talk about: Evil aliens, evil nonevil robots, badass humans, franchise auteurism, Ridley Scott psychology, and yes, the times when the Aliens fought Predators. It's all here and ready to burst through your chest in spectacularly upsetting fashion.

Direct download: SportsAlcoholPodcastAlienSeries.mp3
Category:movies -- posted at: 5:53pm EDT

With The Fate of the Furious roaring through movie theaters and stars Vin Diesel and Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson roaring through the gossip pages, we decided to consider whether reports of the death of movie stars (in favor of special effects, superheroes, or other brand names) has been exaggerated. Listen in as Marisa, Jesse, and Nathaniel discuss the new Fast & Furious sequel, its stars, along with other big names like Anne Hathaway, Will Smith, Tom Hanks, Adam Sandler, Nicole Kidman, Will Ferrell, and, of course, Jai Courtney.

Direct download: SportsAlcoholPodcastFateofMovieStars.mp3
Category:movies -- posted at: 11:52pm EDT

At the end of our recent podcast about Trainspotting 2, Marisa, Sara, Nathaniel, and Jesse each took the opportunity to make some pitches for years-later sequels we'd like to see. What '90s and '00s favorites would we like to see revived? This minipodcast bonus track answers that question. Nathaniel guessed what Jesse's would be about 30 seconds after he thought it up.

Direct download: SportsAlcoholMIniPodcastLateSequelPitches.mp3
Category:movies -- posted at: 11:01pm EDT

Over 20 years after the release of the seminal British junkie dramedy Trainspotting, Danny Boyle and his crew of aggrieved Scottish addicts are back with T2: Trainspotting. Marisa, Jesse, Nathaniel, and Sara went and saw Trainspotting 2 and then talked about the movie and how it fits into the larger Danny Boyle filmography, and how it functions as a 20-years-later sequel.

Direct download: SportsAlcoholPodcastTrainspotting2andBoyle.mp3
Category:movies -- posted at: 1:38pm EDT

  1. The first three weekends of March 2017 saw the release of three successive movies that are all, in some ways or another, franchise films about beastly men or manly beasts: Logan, about everyone's favorite member of the X-Men; Kong: Skull Island, a new take on the giant ape; and Beauty and the Beast, a sorta-live-action remake of the 1991 animated classic. X-Men/Kong/animation enthusiasts Nathaniel, Jesse, Marisa, and Rob got together to talk about all three movies and the beasts contained therein.
Direct download: SportsAlcoholPodcastBeastsofMarch.mp3
Category:movies -- posted at: 12:07pm EDT

Just in time for Oscar season, the core movie crew at SportsAlcohol.com -- Marisa, Jesse, Nathaniel, and Sara -- get together and talk about our group list of the best movies of the year, an eclectic group of critics' favorites, awards honorees, and weirder choices. We chat about what we loved, what we didn't get, what our outliers were, and how these 20 great movies relate to each other.

Direct download: SportsAlcoholPodcastBestMoviesOf2016.mp3
Category:movies -- posted at: 9:33pm EDT

So do movie series just go on forever now? After watching the new Star Wars spinoff Rogue One, Rob, Sabrina, Marisa, Jesse, and Nathaniel got together to discuss the franchise, the new movie, and whether keeping stories going forever and ever is a sustainable model. Also listen up for a barrage of Star Wars spinoff pitches.

Direct download: SportsAlcoholPodcastRogueOneForever.mp3
Category:movies -- posted at: 7:57am EDT

With Halloween fast approaching, SportsAlcohol.com decided to follow up our episode discussing movies that make us cry with an episode where we discuss movies that scare us -- whether they're classic horror movies, intense thrillers, or just childhood favorites that also caused childhood traumas. Nathaniel, Marisa, Jesse, Rob, Sara, and Rayme weigh in on a wide variety of experiences that involved being scared in the dark (or at home with all the lights on).

Direct download: SportsAlcoholPodcastMoviesThatScareUs.mp3
Category:movies -- posted at: 12:00am EDT

Tim Burton's new movie Miss Peregrine's Home for Peculiar Children is now in theaters, so Burton experts Nathaniel, Marisa, and Jesse got together to talk about the new movie and his work in general. They didn't exactly intend to discuss EVERY movie Burton has ever directed, but that's how it shook out. So listen up and hear what they think of your favorites and least favorites -- their various opinions may surprise you.

Direct download: SportsAlcoholPodcastTimBurton.mp3
Category:movies -- posted at: 9:18pm EDT

Per our now-annual tradition, Marisa, Sara, Nathaniel, and Jesse got together for a recommendation-packed podcast discussing over a dozen indie movies released over the summer of 2016 -- plenty still in theaters, and others coming soon to DVD, VOD, and/or other streaming services. We talk about relationship movies, indie comedies, genre riffs, and more! Perfect for updating your Netflix queue as the weather gets cooler.

Direct download: SportsAlcoholPodcastSummerIndies2016.mp3
Category:movies -- posted at: 8:55pm EDT

Nathaniel, Marisa, Jesse, Sara, and Jon got together to talk about movies that have made us cry: what does it for us, how often it happens, and when we resent it.

Direct download: SportsAlcoholPodcastAboutCryingAtMovies.mp3
Category:movies -- posted at: 1:09pm EDT

With Independence Day: Resurgence looming over theaters like it's 1996 all over again, Marisa, Nathaniel, and Jesse discuss the new movie and what goes into making a good years-later (or decades-later) movie sequel.

Direct download: SportsAlcoholPodcastIndependenceDayandSequels.mp3
Category:movies -- posted at: 5:01pm EDT

In what has become an annual tradition, Marisa, Nathaniel, Rob, and Jesse got together to talk about the top ten highest grossing movies of summer 1996 to discuss our memories of twenty years ago, what we loved and hated, and what has changed since then.

Direct download: SportsAlcoholPodcastSummerMovies96.mp3
Category:movies -- posted at: 2:44pm EDT

April turned out to be a surprisingly strong month for indie-ish movies, so Nathaniel, Sara, Marisa, and Jesse get into the particulars of Richard Linklater's Everybody Wants Some!! and Linklater's illustrious career in general, and notice some common ground with John Carney's Sing Street. We talk about the '70s, '80s, '90s, and today; what Linklater does best; and whether Once, Begin Again, and Sing Street are all the same movie.

Direct download: SportsAlcoholPodcastEverybodySingStreet.mp3
Category:movies -- posted at: 1:18am EDT

The SportsAlcohol.com crew got together just before the 2016 Academy Awards and discussed Oscars we'd award, Oscars we'd revoke, and how to "fix" the telecast that everyone always says needs fixing.

Direct download: SportsAlcoholPodcastOscarsSoWhat2016.mp3
Category:movies -- posted at: 11:00pm EDT

Five longtime Coen Brothers fans get together to discuss the newest Coen picture Hail, Caesar! along with the upcoming twentieth anniversary of Fargo and their filmography as a whole.

Direct download: SportsAlcoholPodcastCoenBrothers.mp3
Category:movies -- posted at: 11:47am EDT

Our heaviest moviegoers get together to talk about our list of the 15 best movies of 2015: what made it, what didn't, and why.

Direct download: SportsAlcoholMoviesof2015.mp3
Category:movies -- posted at: 1:27am EDT

Rob, Sabrina, Marisa, and Jesse saw the new Star Wars movie together so of course they got together and talked about it, with some remote input from Nathaniel.

Direct download: SportsAlcoholPodCastStarWarsForceAwakens.mp3
Category:movies -- posted at: 2:09pm EDT

We crammed five founding editors plus one more pop-culture expert into a five-person hatchback and talked about the newest Frankenstein-related travesty, VICTOR FRANKENSTEIN.

Direct download: SportsAlcoholMiniPodcastVictorFrankenstein.mp3
Category:movies -- posted at: 12:59am EDT

The SportsAlcohol.com crew gets together in Prospect Park, Brooklyn, to discuss a wide range of indie movies from the summer of 2015, including Noah Baumbach's Mistress America, Alex Ross Perry's Queen of Earth, Shira Piven's Welcome to Me, James Ponsoldt's The End of the Tour, Marielle Heller's Diary of a Teenage Girl, new movies from Joe Swanberg and Andrew Bujalski, and more.

Direct download: SportsAlcoholPodcastSummerIndies2015.mp3
Category:movies -- posted at: 4:24pm EDT

We discuss the new Mission: Impossible movie and its place in Tom Cruise's long and sometimes illustrious career.

Direct download: SportsAlcohol_Podcast_-_MI_and_Cruise.mp3
Category:movies -- posted at: 11:09am EDT

Some nerds talk shop about Jupiter Ascending, the Wachowskis' latest sci-fi opus.

Direct download: SportsAlcohol_podcast_-_Jupiter_Ascending.mp3
Category:movies -- posted at: 11:38am EDT

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