The Royal Tenenbaums
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This week, we're having a ball -- scrapping, yelling and mixing it up, loving every minute with this damn crew as we close out Gene HackMarch with a regal induction into the podcast canon. It's 2001's The Royal Tenenbaums, directed by Wes Anderson, co-written by Wes Anderson and Owen Wilson, and starring Gene Hackman, Anjelica Huston, Ben Stiller, Gwyneth Paltrow, Luke Wilson, Owen Wilson, Bill Murray, Danny Glover and the voice of Alec Baldwin. While Anderson launched himself to prominence with Rushmore, Tenenbaums marked the full-throated arrival of a confident new voice in American cinema,...
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The Conversation
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This week, we're tearing up the baseboards and getting funky on the saxophone as Gene HackMarch rolls on with a Coppola classic surveillance thriller that he snuck in between Godfathers. It's 1974's The Conversation, written, directed and produced by Francis Ford Coppola and starring Gene Hackman, John Cazale, Harrison Ford, Allen Garfield, Cindy Williams, Frederic Forrest, Teri Garr and Robert Duvall. Needless to say, Hackman is terrific at the heart of an essential 70s paranoid thriller -- though is it really paranoia if you know your fears are true? His Harry Caul is a meticulous...
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Crimson Tide
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This week, Gene HackMarch continues with an outstanding acting showdown between two of the all-time greats of American screen acting, as our man Gene stands tete-a-tete with Denzel down in the briny deep with the fate of the world hanging in the balance. It's 1995's Crimson Tide, directed by Tony Scott, featuring script punch-up from Quentin Tarantino, and starring Denzel Washington, Gene Hackman, Viggo Mortensen, James Gandolfini, George Dzundza, Matt Craven, Danny Nucci, Steve Zahn and Daniel von Bargen. A naval submarine thriller of the highest order, it's the first of five collaborations...
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Hoosiers
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This week, we kick off a March-long salute to the dearly departed king of American screen acting as Hackmonth begins with a classic of the inspirational sports genre, the story of a man who moves to Hicktown, Indiana and whips a bunch of farm boys into state champions. It's 1986's Hoosiers, directed by David Anspaugh and starring Gene Hackman, Barbara Hershey and Dennis Hopper. While the circumstances surrounding this theme month are unquestionably sad, it's still a treat to watch one of the all-time great screen presences cook in some of his most acclaimed roles, and there's no question he's...
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10 Things I Hate About You
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This week, fresh off of hanging out in person in Vancouver over the weekend, your intrepid hosts are taming the shrew in a modern high school setting to undeniably classic results as we close out Feb2ary Is For Lovers with the movie that launched Heath Ledger to stardom. It's 1999's 10 Things I Hate About You, directed by Gil Junger and starring Ledger, Julia Stiles, Joseph Gordon-Levitt, Larisa Oleynik, David Krumholtz, Andrew Keegan, Susan May Pratt, Gabrielle Union, Larry Miller and Allison Janney. The first of a couple Shakespeare adaptations transposed into modern high school for Stiles,...
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Jerry Maguire
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This week, help us help you show you the money, as we dive in to the world of sports agents and romance with a 90s rom-com classic starring a man who frankly completes us on this podcast. It's 1996's Jerry Maguire, written and directed by Cameron Crowe and starring Tom Cruise, Renée Zellweger, Cuba Gooding Jr., Kelly Preston, Bonnie Hunt, Jerry O'Connell, Jay Mohr, Todd Louiso and Jonathan Lipnicki. A throwback to an era when Crowe actually made great films (or any films at all), this one's got plenty of charming and funny performances and almost more plot than it's 2h20m runtime even knows...
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Moonstruck
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This week, we can't help but fall victim to la bella luna as Feb2ary Is For Lovers continues with a classic rom-com about how it's impossible not to cheat if you're Italian. It's 1987's Moonstruck, directed by Norman Jewison, written by John Patrick Shanley, and starring Cher, Nicolas Cage, Vincent Gardenia, Olympia Dukakis, Danny Aiello, Julie Bovasso and John Mahoney. The story of a young woman who accidentally falls in love with her fiancé's brother, the movie exudes charm at every turn -- so much so that this little rom-com took home three Oscars in '88, for Cher and Dukakis's...
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L.A. Story
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We're celebrating 100 episodes this week by returning to not one but two recurring themes from nearly two years of the podcast: the filmography of Steve Martin and the belief that February belongs to romance -- two concepts that combine decently well with some magical realism in our movie of the week, an absurdist take on life and love in Los Angeles that still feels like a cutting send-up of the city more than 30 years later. It's 1991's L.A. Story, directed by Mick Jackson, written by Steve Martin, and starring Martin, Victoria Tennant, Richard E. Grant, Marilu Henner, Sarah Jessica Parker,...
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Ocean's Eleven (2001)
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This week, every good team needs a greaseman, and boy do we have one, as we're putting a team together to knock down three Vegas casinos in one night, in a movie that is just as clever and funny as it is slick and stylish. It's 2001's Ocean's Eleven, directed by Steven Soderbergh, written by Ted Griffin, and starring George Clooney, Brad Pitt, Matt Damon, Andy Garcia, Julia Roberts, Elliott Gould, Casey Affleck, Scott Caan, Bernie Mac, Don Cheadle, Carl Reiner, Eddie Jemison, Shaobo Qin and Topher Grace. Soderbergh is clearly having a ball bringing this material to life with an all-star cast...
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Unforgiven
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This week, we're saddling up and getting back to our old ways, shootin' some fellas who may or may not deserve it, but deserves ain't got nothin' to do with it either way. It's 1992's Unforgiven, directed by Clint Eastwood and starring Eastwood, Gene Hackman, Morgan Freeman, Richard Harris, Jaimz Woolvett, Saul Rubinek, Frances Fisher, Anna Thomson and a blink-and-you'll-miss-him Lachlyn Munro. A revisionist western primarily concerned with upending the myth of the great American frontier that its director and star built his career off of, it is a dark, bleak and dreadful film that took home...
info_outlineThis week, as Gladiator II hits the theaters to repeat the same beats of its predecessor and prove that what we do in life truly does echo in eternity, we circle back to the original to cross a movie off of Hayley's list and get her hyped to see some hunks on the IMAX screen. It's 2000's Gladiator, directed by Ridley Scott, and starring Russell Crowe, Joaquin Phoenix, Connie Nielsen, Oliver Reed, Richard Harris, Derek Jacobi, Djimon Hounsou, Tommy Flanagan and Spencer Treat Clark. A somewhat controversial Best Picture winner at the time, it has remained one of Scott's most celebrated pictures despite hardly being his best. While it may not match the heights of his sci-fi output, it is unquestionably the high-water mark of his Medieval Mode, very much in line with subsequent efforts like Kingdom of Heaven, Robin Hood and The Last Duel, and is still a hugely entertaining sword-and-sandal revenge epic that lifted its two lead actors to another level of stardom. Plus: We get pissed off about the Coca-Cola AI Christmas commercial.
If you'd like to watch the movie before listening along to our discussion, Gladiator is currently streaming (in Canada at least) on both Netflix and Paramount+ at the time of publication.
Other works discussed on this episode include Past Lives, Stop Making Sense, Mission: Impossible - Fallout, Alien, Blade Runner, Prometheus, Alien: Covenant, Aliens, In Cold Water: The Shelter Bay Mystery, Dungeons & Dragons: Honor Among Thieves, The X-Files (S5E04 "Detour"), Good Bones, Super Mario Party Jamboree, The Holdovers, The Taking of Pelham 1-2-3, The Lord of the Rings trilogy, Red One, The Brave Little Toaster, Traffic, Erin Brockovich, Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon, Shadow of the Vampire and Crash, among others.
We'll be back next week to wrap up No-Theme-ber with our monthly canon consideration, as Hayley's got the keys to the vault this month and is using them to induct the Coen Brothers' 2007 crime classic No Country For Old Men, which is currently streaming north of the border on both Netflix and Amazon Prime. Until then, we'll see you at the movies!!