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Hi, and welcome to Movie Podcast Weekly, Episode 125. In this show, Jason and Karl welcome back special guest Willis Wheeler! We bring you Feature Reviews of Kingsman: The Secret Service and Fifty Shades of Grey. Join us!
If you’re new to our show… Movie Podcast Weekly typically features three hosts — Jason, Andy and Karl — along with frequent guests. We give you our verdicts on at least one new movie release from the current year that’s currently playing in theaters, as well as several mini reviews of whatever we’ve been watching lately. And we usually provide specialized genre recommendations. New episodes release every single Tuesday. Join us!
SHOW NOTES:
I. Introduction
— Welcome Willis Wheeler
[ 0:04:15 ] II. Mini Reviews
Karl: Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince, Jupiter Ascending, Thank God It’s Friday
Willis Wheeler: Can’t Stop the Music, Cruising, A Nightmare on Elm Street 2: Freddy’s Revenge
Jason: What If, Next Week: The 87th Academy Awards
III. What’s New in Theaters This Past Weekend
Kingsman: The Secret Service
Fifty Shades of Grey
The Last Five Years [ Limited ]
Old Fashioned [ Limited ]
What We Do in the Shadows [ Limited ]
FEATURE REVIEWS HAVE TIME STAMPS:
[ 0:48:54 ] IV. Feature Review: FIFTY SHADES OF GREY (2015)
Karl = 5 ( Rental )
[ Deadboxmike = 6.5 ( High-priority Rental ) ]
[ 1:05:38 ] V. Feature Review: KINGSMAN: THE SECRET SERVICE (2015)
Jason = 7.5 ( Theater / Rental )
Karl = 8.5 ( Theater / Buy it! )
Willis Wheeler = 8.5 ( Theater / Buy it! )
VI. Wrap-Up / Plugs / Ending
COMING UP ON MPW NEXT WEEK:
MPW Coverage of the 87th Academy Awards with special guests Dave “Dr. Shock” Becker, Geek Cast Ry and a surprise special guest! — Join us!
LINKS FOR THIS EPISODE:
Jason highly recommends: Horror Movie Podcast Ep. 042: Friday the 13th (1980)
Willis’s links:
Two-Drink Commentaries
NFW Commentaries Podcast
The Wild Man’s YouTube Channel
Willis Wheeler on TV’s Toy Hunter
Terror Troop horror podcast
Cinema Beef Podcast
Willis on Twitter: @NastyWillDC
Willis on Facebook
Jason recommends supporting: Operation Underground Railroad
Contact MPW:
E-mail us: MoviePodcastWeekly@gmail.com.
Leave us a voicemail: (801) 382-8789.
Follow MPW on Twitter: @MovieCastWeekly
Leave a comment in the show notes for this episode.
Listen to MPW:
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Right-click to download the MPW 100 Rap
Keep up with Josh:
Twitter: @IcarusArts
Josh covers streaming movies on: Movie Stream Cast
If you’re a Horror fan, listen to Jason and Josh on HORROR MOVIE PODCAST
We’d like to thank The Dave Eaton Element and Dave himself for the use of his music for our theme song. Buy Dave’s Eaton’s music: BandCamp.com
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Thanks for listening, and join us again next Tuesday for Movie Podcast Weekly.
Whoa! An early release. Well done Jay!
Thanks, Buddy. Yeah, it’s finally on time — for once. Thanks for noticing. I hope you enjoy the show, my friend.
Sincerely,
Jay
These days, when the show is on time, it means the show is early haha. What happened to Andy?! Did he not do his homework and then decided to skip school? That guy! Is the special guest Josh? It’s Josh isn’t it?
Well the guys say in the episode that the special guest will be a female so unless Josh has had some extremely metamorphic surgery I’m guessing it’s not him.
I’m sure I saw him mention somewhere that he would be making an upcoming guest appearance on MPW though. I hope that’s not just wishful thinking on my part!
I still think it’s Josh, David. Didn’t you hear Karl? No girls allowed!
Okay, here goes my first comment ever to Movie Podcast Weekly:
I saw Fifty Shades of Grey opening night with one of my female friends. Like Karl’s experience, the theater was filled with groups of women and the occasional couple. In my case though most of the groups of women were progressively getting drunker thanks to wine being for sale at the theater.
I felt that the movie did the best it could have done, given its source material. I will admit, I have read all of the books in the series. These books, however, are poorly written; characters are one-dimensional, there are unnecessary subplots that are introduced and then inexplicably resolved, and the prose is clunky and cliche. I read in one interview with the director that the author was extremely vocal regarding the adaptation of her novel to the screen, which in my opinion was probably one of its biggest downfalls. As well, much of the character development that was necessary for the movie to feel more complete could not have been possible given the studio’s decision to turn the books into a trilogy as most of Christian’s background is filled in during the second and third books.
Regarding the “controversy” about the film depicting an abusive relationship, I completely disagree. This movie is not about abuse; it is about consent. Sure, the fact that Christian seems to be stalking Ana is a little concerning, but the exact same thing happened in the Twilight franchise without half the criticism (Edward watching Bella sleep unbeknownst to her is ten times creepier than Christian finding Ana at her work). Once Ana and Christian begin their relationship, not one thing is done without her explicit consent. Critics act as though Christian knocked her over the head and drug her into the Red Room by her hair like some caveman. At any point Ana could have stopped everything by simply saying “no.”
Is the movie a masterpiece? Far from it. It may have its issues, but overall I think it’s a guilty pleasure movie meant for adults. Even if you didn’t like the movie, you have to admit the soundtrack was not half bad.
Well said Allie!
Jay, don’t give yourself such a hard time. It’s true that Josh’s departure left a hole in the show, but I think it also hast to do with the quality of the movies that have been coming out. Isn’t the beginning of the year always kind of a drought when it comes to movies? If it helps, here’s a list of my most anticipated movies of 2015 that you can look forward to reviewing:
’71
The Avengers: Age of Ultron
Chappie
Cooties
Crimson Peak
Everly
Ex Machina
Fantastic Four
Focus
The Good Dinosaur
A Girl Walks Home Alone at Night
Goosebumps
The Hateful Eight
It Follows
Jurassic World
Knock Knock
The Lazarus Effect
Leviathan
Mad Max Fury Road
Maps to the Stars
Maze Runner: The Scorch Trials
The Martian
Mommy
The Ninth Life of Louis Drax
Pixels
Poltergeist
Predestination
The Revenant
Southpaw
Spectre
Timbuktu
Tomorrowland
Trainwreck
I’m probably missing a bunch, but it’s a start.
No Star Wars?!
That comes out this year?! Okokok it’s covered by my disclaimer. But to be honest, I’m not what you would call a hardcore star wars fan. I’m a pretty casual star wars movie watcher. A new Star Wars movie is pretty exciting though, I’m not gonna lie.
From what I’ve seen of the concept art and what I’ve heard about their reliance on practical effects (even that spherical bodied droid in the trailer is apparently a genuine prop!) I’m pretty excited for “The Force Awakens”. I don’t want to get my hopes up too much though (I still have night-terrors about waking up beside Jar Jar Binks).
Also, is this “Goosebumps” movie based on the kids book/TV series?
Is anyone else as stupid excited as me at the Spider-Man/Marvel news?!
Me
Oh hells yeah! About time if you ask me.
Jay’s Eddie Redmayne impression is hilarious!
I agree; I was dying!!!
Jason, I love the Oscars!!!! I’m right up there with you. My wife and I upgraded our cable package so we could record them! We host a church in our home on Sunday evenings and this week we told the pastor that we we were going to watch the Oscars instead! we fill out ballots with 2 choices. Our votes and our predictions. Enjoy the show! I saw whiplash and Birdman and boyhood after I sent in my top ten but all three of them would have been on my list. Anyway looking forward to the Oscar show!!
Here are my top votes
Birdman (picture)
Linklater (director)
Cooper (actor)
Simmons ( supporting actor)
Jones (haven’t seen any of the other performances)
Arquette (supporting actress)
My predictions
Boyhood (picture)
inarritu (director)
redmayne (actor)
Julianne Moore (I LOVE JULIANNE MOORE)
Simmons (supporting actor)
Arquette (supporting actress)
I also enjoy the Oscars, but not on a religious level like you guys. Nice predictions, Kevin. Here are mine:
My vote goes to:
Birdman – picture
Iñarritú – director
Michael Keaton – actor
Greasy Reese – actress
Edward Norton – supporting actor
Emma Stone – supporting actress
My predictions:
Selma – picture
Iñarritú – director
Michael Keaton – actor
Juliane Moore – actress
Edward Norton – supporting actor
Emma Stone – supporting actress
Jay, this should be a contest. Whoever gets the most predictions right wins like a million dollars or something.
that is a very good idea, an Oscar vote contest!
my vote goes to:
Birdsman (picture)
Redmayne (Actor)
Jones (Actress)
Simmons (S-Actor)
Stone (S-Actress)
iNarritu (Director)
My heart really goes for Grand Budapest Hotel however i think there are some very strong movies this year. also though i am not such a fan, i think the American Sniper might get more credit than whats on my list.
Juan!!!
Giving Selma a prediction that’s bold! I enjoyed Selma quite a bit and would be happy with a Selma victory but I would be very surprised we shall see soon enough. And I loved Birdman it is my favorite movie of 2014 so I share your love there!
Que,
Eddie redmayne was incredible! Not my fave but worthy!
Hi Kevin,
I saw a similar type of situation in last year’s Oscars that made me think history was going to repeat itself. Last year an amazing movie that clearly deserved the best movie award was nominated along with its director, and that movie lost the title to a movie with a more important topic, but won the direction award. The losing movie was Gravity and the winning one was 12 Years a Slave. This year, another amazing movie that deserved to win was nominated along with its director, and yet another movie with an important and relevant topic was also nominated. I just thought the end result would be the same, that’s all.
I got most right but got both of the girls wrong. ah, what does it say about me? :p
Great show. I’m hooked on The Blacklist now. Initially when I first saw the previews for the show I thought I’d not like it. Since Karl recommended I thought I’d give it a try. It is a little repetitive with the storyline but entertaining. Thanks for the recommendation.
50 shades of grey is going to be on my hate list for some time. my story will be in an email to Jay and let him decide if it is worth sharing with everyone… but next week is oscar so i think most likely, not.
Collin Firth was part of the consideration when they eventually picked Daniel Craig as the current James Bond. and Kingsmen is a very worthy popcorn movie, good funny and though violent, not over the top. I actually enjoyed it and looking forward to a sequal. it is 7/10 and see it in theatre and high priority rental.
I want to know the story of why it’s on your hate list!
I don’t know about the movie but my mum bought it and I glanced through it out of morbid curiosity.
I was genuinely shocked by how bad it seemed. from what I read it certainly seemed like Twilight fan-fiction.
I feel like watching Flashdance. I love that song:
“Take your pants off, make it happen”
9 1/2 weeks is a much better and sexier movie than the 50 shades. and Secretary (2002) is a much better movie for S&M.
Is “Secretary” the one where they go through a wormhole to egypt?
James Spader, Maggie Gyllenhaal in that movie from 2002, http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0274812/?ref_=nv_sr_1
when Maggie was at fine 25 yr old, that is a sexy little S&M story.
@Andy – I have a few unseemly homework recommendations. I’m not entirely sure they satisfy the “unseemly” part, but there are at least two elements of each in which I would argue could fall under the category. They’re also not entirely obscure films, so you may have seen them already.
12 ANGRY MEN (1957)
ANATOMY OF A MURDER (1959) >> I know this has been talked about on the podcast before, but can’t remember if you’ve seen it.
THE GATE (1987)
I SAW THE DEVIL (2010)
@Jay – I was all set to recommend THE FUNHOUSE for your 1970s Horror-thon segment until I realized it was actually a 1981 film. Bummer. As a backup, have you seen BLUE SUNSHINE (1978)? I think it would be worth your time.
The Funhouse, The Gate, and I Saw the Devil are favorites of mine, Dino. Blue Sunshine has been on my list for a while. I think it’s available through Hulu. I might give that one a try soon. How do you like it?
Boy am I looking forward to this next episode!