Final Thoughts on The Rock + Answering Listener Questions!
1-Week Rental: A Movie Podcast
Release Date: 09/05/2025
191. Showgirls (1995)
1-Week Rental: A Movie Podcast
Content warning: Showgirls depicts sexual violence as a central theme, and this is discussed in the podcast. The podcast tackles Paul Verhoeven's misunderstood masterpiece Showgirls (1995), and celebration the singularity of Elizabeth Berkley's incredible performance as Nomi Malone, the eternal cowboy of America. And then we bring Sex Month to a close by doling out some expert sex advice. Next week (May 1, 2026): The Devil Wears Prada (2006)! Watch Matt's video essay about Paul Verhoeven: Time stamps: 00:10:17 — History segment: The career of Paul Verhoeven;...
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190. Hellraiser (1987)
1-Week Rental: A Movie Podcast
Matt and Laci dive deep into Hellraiser (1987). Matt, a long-time fan of the movie, and Laci, a first-time viewer, discuss the film's production history and the life and philosophy of its creator, Clive Barker. They explore Barker's background, including his early work in theater, his time as a male escort, and his unique perspective on integrating explicit sexuality and body horror into his work. Two prior adaptations of his work led Barker to want to take tight control of a third adaptation, which meant he would need to direct it himself. And what an incredible feat the film is for a...
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189. Can't Hardly Wait
1-Week Rental: A Movie Podcast
In the late '90s, there was a revival of the teen comedy, and Can't Hardly Wait stands as one of the classics of the era. The premise couldn't be simpler: It's one night at a party, the night of graduation. We follow a handful of crazy kids and see what kind of sexy trouble they get into. And it's a lot of fun! Surprisingly, this movie is rated PG-13 and is way less raunchy than we remember, so maybe not an ideal fit for Sex Month. So we try to lewd it up in our discussion for you. Next week (April 17, 2026): SEX MONTH continues with the '80s horror-sex classic Hellraiser (1987)!...
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188. Fifty Shades Of Grey
1-Week Rental: A Movie Podcast
Laci and Matt fall into the world of Christian Grey, a mysterious and mercurial billionaire (age: 27) who enjoys flying his helicopter and tickling womens' tummies. First, the show explores author E.L. James and how her Twilight fan fiction evolved into the worldwide bestselling Fifty Shades trilogy. Then, a cultural industry grows like a weed, trying to figure out what exactly it says about our society that we love these books, ya know? The 2010s is also when fandom completely seizes control of the production of its favorite intellectual properties. Author E.L. James was not...
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187. Sideways
1-Week Rental: A Movie Podcast
Laci and Matt take a trip to Santa Barbara County, California, for a glass (or 12!) of wine with their favorite pinot-slurping pals: Miles (Paul Giamatti), Jack (Thomas Haden Church), Maya (Virginia Madsen), Stephanie (Sandra Oh), and a friendly flock of ostriches. That's right, people, we spent the week with Sideways (2004), Alexander Payne's hilarious look at two codependent losers who have one of cinema's all-time great friendships. Next week (April 3, 2026): 1-Week Rental's official SEX MONTH begins with a podcast about Fifty Shades Of Grey (2015)! Time stamps: ...
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186. Nothing But Trouble (1991)
1-Week Rental: A Movie Podcast
It's one of the most unpleasant movies we've ever covered: Nothing But Trouble, starring Chevy Chase, Demi Moore, John Candy, and Dan Aykroyd, who also wrote and directed the picture. Like a comedy version of Texas Chainsaw Massacre 2 (but less funny), it's a movie that's difficult to put into words, or even comprehend. But one way to understand it is to think of it like Jeffrey Epstein and Ghislane Maxwell taking a country drive into New Jersey and facing way more justice than they would in the real world. Next week (March 27, 2026): Sideways (2004)! Time stamps: 00:05:35...
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Marty Supreme | Sinners | Bugonia (Oscars Special - Part 2)
1-Week Rental: A Movie Podcast
1WR continues helping you prepare for Hollywood's Biggest Night(TM), as Laci and Matt stir the pot and catch up on awards season before going deep on Marty Supreme. Then, Matt is joined by his friend Caleb Hogan to discuss Sinners, and the show closes with a conversation about Bugonia with returning guest Cinema Coconut. Next week (March 20, 2026): Nothing But Trouble, where Dan Ackroyd plays dual roles: a judge with a penis for a nose and also a big diaper baby. Time stamps: 00:15:30 — Marty Supreme 00:50:45 — Sinners (with Caleb Hogan) 01:22:55 — Bugonia...
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KPop: Demon Hunters | Train Dreams | If I Had Legs I'd Kick You | Weapons | Frankenstein | One Battle After Another (2026 Oscars Special - Part 1)
1-Week Rental: A Movie Podcast
Hollywood's Biggest Night is almost upon us, and 1-Week Rental is gonna help you get ready by discussing the movies nominated for the biggest awards. In this, the first of our two-part series previewing the awards, Matt talks to his friends about six films: Frankenstein, If I Had Legs I'd Kick You, KPop: Demon Hunters, One Battle After Another, Train Dreams, and Weapons. Next week (March 13, 2026): Part 2 of our Oscars special continues reviewing huge Oscar movies! The week after that (March 20, 2026): Nothing But Trouble, where Dan Ackroyd plays a judge with a penis for a nose, and also...
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185. True Lies
1-Week Rental: A Movie Podcast
Laci and Matt go through True Lies (1994), James Cameron's "normal" movie. The most expensive movie ever made at the time of its production. It could've just been a straightforward spy thriller, but instead Cameron and Arnold Schwarzenegger decided to put in every action movie idea they'd ever had. And the results are glorious. Well, okay, the movie goes on for one act too long, and Jamie Lee Curtis steals the show and is then shown the door. But it's fun as heck, is what we're saying. Next week: Our Oscars previews begin, as we talk about every movie nominated for a major award....
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184. High Fidelity
1-Week Rental: A Movie Podcast
Laci and Matt pay a visit to Championship Vinyl to hang out with Rob, Barry, Dick, Laura, Ian, Marie de Salle, and all the fine folks in the music scene of that windy city we like to call Chi-Town. That's right, it's High Fidelity (2000)! It's a great music movie. It's an even greater romantic comedy. In fact, it's kind of an anti-romantic comedy, because the lesson in the end is: The most romantic thing in life is being a grown-up. Plus: Our top-five songs we want played at our funerals, AND fierce debate about whether DJs are musicians and if a singer's vocal chords count as an...
info_outlineWe weren’t expecting this miniseries on Dwayne Johnson to be so relevant, but as he debuted his “new look” at the Venice Film Festival and began his awards season campaign, Laci and Matt react to the news of the week and unpack his public comments. Johnson reflected on his own career with many of the thoughts we’ve had as we’ve gone through his filmography. Is he sincere about it, or just being a good politician trying to win an award? Does he mean it when he says he was ready to pivot to “serious acting” or he was forced to by having so many consecutive box office failures? And is Emily Blunt really his best friend? Does it matter?
We take the new information and give our concluding thoughts on the acting career of The Rock, and then rank the nine movies we covered during the summer.
And then, we answer some mailbag questions, including:
- Fuck/Marry/Kill: The duck who shows her tits in Howard the Duck, tiny Dwayne Johnson in Tooth Fairy, and the Thanksgiving turkey from Spider-Man?
- What relationship from any movie sums up our relationship?
- Is there a movie that strikes both of us in such a way that we connect over it?
- What are some underrated movie sequels?
- What makes us passionate about movies and TV?
- What movie makes us fight?
The Summer of Rock is our summer 2025 miniseries covering the movie career of Dwayne Johnson through nine movies, presented in chronological order. Starting with his attempt at crossing over from the world of wrestling, The Rock’s career got off to a bumpy start before finally taking off in the 2010s. But it wasn’t long before the bumps returned, and we’ll be telling the story for you all summer long!
Next week: FernGully: The Last Rainforest (1992).
Bonus video: Matt does a deep dive into Tower of Terror (1997), the made-for-TV movie starring Steve Guttenberg and Kirsten Dunst and based on the Disney theme park ride English-language: https://youtu.be/kQf9FbCcbn4
Subscribe to our Patreon, Load Bearing Beams: Collector's Edition for $5 a month to get two extra episodes! https://patreon.com/loadbearingbeams
Time stamps:
- 01:00 — Dwayne Johnson at the Venice Film Festival
- 34:38 — Ranking the Summer of Rock movies
- 37:02 — Mailbag
Sources:
- “Dwayne Johnson Gets Choked Up Discussing ‘The Smashing Machine’ in Venice” by Patrick Brzeski | The Hollywood Reporter (2025) - https://bit.ly/487IeV4
- "Dwayne Johnson Uncontrollably Sobs as ‘The Smashing Machine’ Gets 15-Minute Venice Standing Ovation and Generates Oscar Buzz" by Rebecca Rubin & Ramin Setoodeh | Variety (2025) - https://bit.ly/466fCsG
Artwork by Laci Roth.
Music by Rural Route Nine. Listen to their album The Joy of Averages on Spotify (https://bit.ly/48WBtUa), Apple Music (https://bit.ly/3Q6kOVC), or YouTube (https://bit.ly/3MbU6tC).
"Summer of Rock" theme song credits:
Words and music by Matt Stokes
Engineered, mixed, and mastered by TJ Barends | Bare Sounds
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