Trevor Loves Everything

I've often heard The Village used as a sort of base level comparison for all of M. Night Shyamalan films. "Well...it's no Village, but it's still pretty bad." It always confused me because I personally LOVED when I watched The Village. John, however, does not hold that same endearing memory of Shyamalan's "quakers vs. monsters" mislead. He feels it should have been one thing or the other, and the thing it was ... well, wasn't really anything at all. A lot of common ground is found in this discussion, so take a dive and see where the chips fall! And you can catch John over on The Holdup Podcast every month, where he and John Longino revisit movies of old and see if they still hold up! It's an absolute blast to listen to. Go give them a listen and review!

Come on this journey with us as we dissect what exactly is so bad about this "indie" passion project by the ever so famous Michael Bay. While Pain & Gain has hovered around the 50% mark on Rotten Tomatoes, I've never heard a person say they enjoyed this film ... until John Nelson said as much on our Transformers episode a little while back. That spawned a text from Mr. Longino wanting to set the record straight that Pain & Gain was, indeed, a bad movie. And as always, our friend John comes from the awesome Holdup Podcast with John Nelson, where they discuss old movies and find out if they actually hold up all these years later. Go check them out and subscribe; it's incredibly entertaining!

In 2006, a fast and furious little film popped on the big screen starring Paul Walker. No, it wasn't of the franchise touting that phrase, it was a colorfully explosive little film called Running Scared. The trailer didn't really do anything for me, but it did inform the audience that the first six minutes of the film was available to watch online. After watching those first six minutes, I was hooked. I watched it multiple times a night for weeks leading up to the theatrical release. I had never seen anything like it and I was so excited for where they went from there. I was NOT disappointed. Jarrod, on the other hand, could barely stomach the entire thing.

There's a lot to unpack when talking about Superman. Too many comics to count, TV shows, movies and oh so much nostalgia. So when Zack Snyder took the helm of the visionary future of Superman on the big screen, everybody was excited, right? ....no. Surprisingly to me, the world was very unimpressed with Man of Steel, and I just could not understand why. It's such a beautiful film with some fascinating takes on the traditional Superman story beats. Jon and I went into the theater ecstatic for what was to come and we walked out ... with VERY different opinions.

After the massive upset that was Spider-Man 3, Sony decided to reboot the series. What we got was an incredible journey into the early years of Peter Parker, a realistic, "gritty" take on Spider-Man and a love interest with chemistry that melts the screen. Initially planned to be a trilogy, the sequel performed so poorly that Sony cancelled it all together and joined forces with Marvel to make Homecoming. But perhaps there was miscommunication because CLEARLY Amazing Spider-Man 2 is a masterpiece and wires got crossed. Come along on this journey where I explain to Bradinn why this emotional roller coaster of a movie is in my top three Spider-Man movies of all time.

Despite a relatively high score on Rotten Tomatoes (77% presently) and winning Best Picture at the Academy Awards in 2006, I've heard nothing but disdain for this movie from every person I've spoken to about it. Crash is a movie that tries its best to tackle the topics of race and gender with Los Angeles as the backdrop. Stories physically and emotionally collide throughout causing some to choke up and others to roll their eyes so far in to the back of their heads that they go blind. Whether you loved it or hated it, there's something in here for you. So sit back, take a listen and enjoy the reminiscent experience of Crash.

Back in 2011, Zack Snyder's box office successes afforded him the opportunity to take to the page and deliver an original film to audiences worldwide. His story? Sucker Punch. Ostensibly, a film about dragons and nazis and violence OH MY! But underneath it all, it's a film about coping. Five women do what they can to escape the hell they've been thrown into under the leadership of Baby Doll. Layers of reality, objectification and endless CGI are just some of the complaints people have had about this film. Trevor loved watching Sucker Punch in the theater, aware of its flaws. John ... did not enjoy it. Sit back, listen and enjoy!

With six feature films under his belt, Michael Bay took on the endearing franchise of Transformers. John and Trevor were both excited to see what would come of it. Needless to say one walked out of the theater entertained and the other ... well the other was John. He was not entertained. Apologies to Russel Crowe. Trevor comes to Michael Bay's defense (I feel this won't be the last time) as John comes to defend his own childhood. Did Bay trample all over John's beloved characters and lore or did he simply make a fantastic film about robots that turn into vehicles? Not to spoil it or anything but it's definitely the latter. Maybe John changes his mind. Maybe Trevor loses all faith in humanity. Or maybe two friends have a civil conversation about something they disagree on. You'll only know if you listen. Enjoy! Also, check out John's podcast over at The Holdup Podcast! He and another John watch movies from long ago and discuss whether or not the movie holds up!

Trevor reminisces over how Lady in the Water made him feel in the theater and his utter shock and horror that the rest of the world didn't immediately fall in love with this film the way he did.Josh...has quite the opposite reaction. Lady in the Water is technically M. Night Shyamalan's seventh directorial venture, but his fifth since his big break with Sixth Sense. Based on a children's book he wrote for his kids, it's a story about love, loss and the hope of all mankind. It stars Paul Giamatti, Bryce Dallas Howard and Jeffrey Wright. Sit back, relax and enjoy the civil discourse over why Trevor loves this film. Spoiler Alert: It's because it's fantastic ;)

This is just a quick little intro to tell you what this podcast is all about and to inspire you to possibly press that fancy little subscribe button. If you do, you'll get notified when new episodes show up ... and isn't that what life's all about!?