Movie Podcast Weekly Ep. 147: Ant-Man (2015) and Mr. Holmes (2015) and The Gallows (2015) and Trainwreck (2015)

Episode 147

It’s time, once again, for Movie Podcast Weekly. This is Episode 147. Jason, Andy and Ryan are joined by two of the hosts of the Geek Cast Live Podcast: Geek Cast Bass and Geek Cast Nic! Our cohorts are here to help us bring you an in-depth, must-listen Feature Review of Ant-Man, as well as Feature Reviews of Trainwreck and Mr. Holmes. Jay also brings you a brief, teaser review of The Gallows, which is a film that has spawned a major episode over at Horror Movie Podcast this week. Join us!

If you’re new to our show… Movie Podcast Weekly typically features four hosts — Jason, Andy, Karl and Geek Cast Ry — 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 Wednesday.


SHOW NOTES:

I. Introduction
— Welcome special guests Geek Cast Bass and Geek Cast Nic of the Geek Cast Live Podcast


II. New in Theaters This Past Weekend:
Ant-Man
Trainwreck
Mr. Holmes [ Limited ]
Irrational Man [ Limited ]
The Look of Silence [ Limited ]
The Stanford Prison Experiment [ Limited ]
Lila & Eve [ Limited ]

FEATURE REVIEWS HAVE TIME STAMPS:

[ 0:06:46 ] III. Feature Review: ANT-MAN (2015)
Jason = 8.5 ( Theater / Buy it! )
Andy = 7 ( Theater / Rental )
[ Karl = 10 ( Theater / Buy it! ) ]
Ryan = 10 ( Theater / Buy it! / Best Marvel Movie Yet )
Geek Cast Bass = 10 ( Theater / Buy it! )
Geek Cast Nic = 8 ( Theater / Buy it! )


[ 0:36:58 ] IV. Feature Review: TRAINWRECK (2015)
Andy = 8 ( Avoid )


[ 0:45:18 ] V. Feature Review: THE GALLOWS (2015)
Jason = 3.5 ( Avoid )


[ 0:53:48 ] VI. Feature Review: MR. HOLMES (2015)
Jason = 9.5 ( Theater / Buy it! / Must-see / One of the year’s best! )


[ 1:02:55 ] VII. Movie Tidbits From TIME Magazine’s “The Answers Issue”
— Marty McFly, Meryl Streep, Remakes, etc.


[ 1:13:24 ] VIII. MPW MINI REVIEW EXTRAVAGANZA:
Ryan: Clerks, Snapped, Chopped, Teen Mom
Rob Bass: Super Troopers, Elysium, The Island (2005)
Andy: Cassandra’s Dream; Alexander and the Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Day; Homeland, Episodes 1-4; The Dead Girl; Bringing Out the Dead; Run, Lola, Run; It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia; The Princess Diaries
Jason: Blackhat


IX. Wrap-Up / Plugs / Ending


COMING UP ON MPW NEXT WEEK:
Episode 148 for our Feature Reviews of “Southpaw,” “Paper Towns” and “Pixels.” Join us!


LINKS FOR THIS EPISODE:

Geek Cast Bass on Twitter: @GeekCastBass

Geek Cast Nic on Twitter: @GeekCastNic

Geek Cast Joe on Twitter: @GeekCastJoe

Ry’s BIO
Ry’s flagship show: Geek Cast Live Podcast
DONATE here to facilitate the creation of more Geek content!
Blog: Geek Cast Live
Web site: Geek Harder.com
Facebook
Twitter: @GeekCastRy

Provo Film Society on Facebook
Provo Film Society on Twitter

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:
Add MPW to your Stitcher playlist: Stitcher.com
MPW on iTunes
MPW’s RSS feed
Right-click to download the MPW 100 Rap

Josh’s links:
Hear Josh named as one of the Top 5 Up-and-Coming Directors on The Film Vault Podcast!
Twitter: @IcarusArts
Josh covers streaming movies on: Movie Stream Cast
Hear Josh on The SciFi Podcast
Hear Josh on Horror Movie Podcast

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


If you like Movie Podcast Weekly, please subscribe and leave us a review in iTunes. If you want to support the show, we have PayPal buttons in our right-hand sidebar where you can make a one-time donation or you can become a recurring donor for just $2 per month. (Every little bit helps!)

Thanks for listening, and join us again next Wednesday for Movie Podcast Weekly.


39 thoughts on “Movie Podcast Weekly Ep. 147: Ant-Man (2015) and Mr. Holmes (2015) and The Gallows (2015) and Trainwreck (2015)

  1. This week on Effectual Oat Cultivation Podcast Weekly (EOCPW), a five-man weave through the tempestuous topic of Young Married Men and Their Post-Matrimonial Revels. It reminds me of my youthful movie journalism days at Mr. Showbiz, when a couple of the fellas and I briefly passed the same gag gift copy of the book “First Night and Beyond” through a chain of three or four successive weddings. Special thanks to Professor Howell for his enlightening discussion of proper planting cycles.

    Haven’t made it through the whole thing yet, but I’m already enjoying the presence of the GeekCast Gang. Although I feel like Jason is missing (graciously foregoing?) a ton of obvious openings to make his patented mildly obnoxious puns about the variable pronunciation of GeekCast “Bass.” You disappoint me, sir. 🙂

    • Also, I couldn’t help but notice “Paper Towns” on the docket for next Sunda — er, Wednesday. The vibe I get from that is “Gone Girl” reimagined as a teen romantic drama. (Um, sure fellas. Whatever works.) I’m mostly bringing it up though, to open up the floor for debate: My sister-in-law is convinced that the female lead (Cara Delevingne) bears an uncanny resemblance to Zac Efron. The “Paper Towns” trailer makes Ms. Delevingne’s performance and bearing feel more than a little Efron-esque, so maybe my sis-in-law is right and Cara Delevingne is the female Zac Efron. I’m also, however, getting a strong Margaux Hemingway vibe. So maybe Zac Efron is really the male Margaux Hemingway. Other opinions?

      • Cody Clark!
        I always love your comments. Are you able to join us on Monday night (tomorrow, July 27), at 9 p.m. Mountain to discuss these matters and other cinema with us (including David Lynch’s “Dune”)?
        Thanks,
        J

        • Aw, nuts. I’d love to do it, of course. I’d love to do it any time … except for tomorrow. We’re leaving Thursday morning to go to a family reunion in Capitol Reef National Park. I’m trying to work ahead at work, work ahead at school, and also help with preparations for a six-day camping trip. I’m more swamped than Andy is with his “Exorcist” meets “Sharknado” new home purchase fiasco. (Maybe not.) (Sorry, Andy. It sounds like things have really, really not gone according to plan. I feel for you. I even feel your pain, sort of. On our recent road trip to Cedar City for the Utah Shakespeare Festival, our 2008 minivan with fewer than 81,000 miles broke down and cost us a $1,400 repair … that didn’t fix the problem. We spent two extra days in Cedar City and then made it all the way to Fillmore before being forced to hire a wrecker [farewell, additional $375] to tow us back to Orem. And the true repair that will actually [hopefully] restore the vehicle is still lurking out there somewhere.)

          Jay, please pencil me in for “another time,” and “soon.”

  2. I’m planning another double feature at the theater for this Wednesday. One half will be THE VATICAN TAPES; not expecting much out of this one, but still compelled to see it. For the other half, I was debating between four films:

    MR. HOLMES
    SOUTHPAW
    PIXELS
    SAN ANDREAS

    At first blush, I was leaning towards either MR. HOLMES or SAN ANDREAS (for the big screen special effects), but wanted to throw the question out to the community. I think I know what J would recommend based on this episode…

    • Sight unseen, based on nothing more than the trailers (OK, and the presence of Adam Sandler in loudmouth mode), I almost certainly wouldn’t even go within sniffing distance of PIXELS before it was a free rental at Redbox. SAN ANDREAS would probably be fun if I were in the right mood for it. I like boxing movies and generally like Jake Gyllenhaal, but even at that SOUTHPAW only looks about 55 percent interesting. Tough call with that one. I think I’d roll with Jason here and choose MR. HOLMES.

      Although if precise, emotive acting, repressed passion and gorgeous visuals are your thing, then you should try to find somewhere showing FAR FROM THE MADDING CROWD for Partido Dos. A high-falutin’ literary adaptation is probably not the first thing most people would expect out of Thomas Vinterberg, but man is that a fantastic film.

      • Unfortunately, FAR FROM THE MADDING CROWD is not playing anywhere near me. Regarding SOUTHPAW, I’m probably right there with you in a general lack of interest. I was also thinking about AMY, but that’s one that I’d rather see at home.

      • Ok, you’ve convinced me. Plus, the theater I’m going to isn’t playing SAN ANDREAS anymore, and my interest in both PIXELS and SOUTHPAW has waned.

        Super pumped for MR. HOLMES, though.

    • So, I did a double feature of MR. HOLMES and THE VATICAN TAPES this past Wednesday. Just some quick thoughts…

      MR. HOLMES was definitely a quality film, and really showcases Ian McKellen’s outstanding acting chops. My theater was about half-full and, by conservative estimation, I was at least 20 years younger than the next youngest person in attendance. This felt very much like Masterpiece Theatre – good, but not really my thing. Still, it was interesting and moving. It’s an 8/10 for me, and a quality sit. Recommended.

      THE VATICAN TAPES was a mixed bag for me. The first half of the film was actually rather decent. Nothing really new story-wise, but compelling enough to keep me interested. They also did a good job of combining conventionally shot film with found footage elements (cell phone recordings, security tapes, interview tapes, etc). Unfortunately, where it goes in the second half was just terrible. This one is a 4/10 for me, and I say avoid it.

  3. For those not sensitive to very heavy cursing, here’s a pretty fun review of Pixels (WARNING, it does contain spoilers):

    http://www.polygon.com/2015/7/22/9014537/pixels-review-rant

    Having not seen the movie I can’t vouch for the criticisms being made, but I have to say that the trailer gave me zero hope in this movie besides the neat pixel style of the CGI. The reviews everywhere else haven’t been kind either, so I don’t think the guy is too far from the truth. I do think he goes too far with his hatred of the film, but I do empathize with the guy because like him, I love games. And when I say love, I mean LOVE. I grew up a gamer and continue to be one even when my gaming time is severely limited these days (I haven’t touched a game in months!). But my love for the gaming culture goes beyond hands-on time with the games themselves although I’ve probably spent more time gaming than I’d like to admit. So when a movie like Wreck-It Ralph comes along, a movie that is a beautiful love letter to videogames, I get filled with joy and happiness and everything is good with the world. Pixels has me worried because I’m almost certain that it’s going to be the total opposite of what Wreck-It Ralph stands for and that’s a terrible thing. I for one, will not be giving this movie my money. Instead, I’ll just rewatch Wreck-It Ralph and be perfectly content with myself.

    • Oh and I urge everyone to do the same. Vote with your wallets. Please, for the love of everything holy, no more Adam Sandler movies :/

    • Yeah, when I first heard about this movie I was pretty excited by the premise. Those hopes have been progressively shot down with all of the bad reviews. Because of that, I actually decided to check out the trailer, and was not particularly impressed.

      It was definitely #4 on my list…

  4. This episode was a lot of fun. Having Bass and Nic on really added to the show, and Andy was in rare (if, somewhat subdued) form. Loved it. Also, Ryan’s story about the history of his house was amazing, as was the crying baby(?) sound effect that was cut into the story. Just wish there were some haunting stories to go along with it…

    I agree with most of what was said about ANT-MAN. It’s a very different kind of Marvel movie, which works to its benefit. The cold opening was the most serious part of the movie; it was completely different in tone to what would follow, but I liked it and it set the table perfectly. Also, it gave the Scott Lang/Peach embrace in the very next scene a little added punch.

    As with all comic book movies, you have to suspend your disbelief a great deal, but I’m ok with that because they do a good job of laying out the rules. Also, as was said on the podcast, the actors are excellent (nearly) across the board.

    This movie is a lot of fun. The shrinking effects worked well enough, and Scott Lang’s first few sequences as Ant-Man were disorienting (intentionally, I’d imagine) and well done. And the Michael Pena exposition sequences were my favorite parts of the movie. So good.

    Overall, I’m right in there with J and give ANT-MAN an 8.5/10. Go see this in the theater.

    #pinkbits

    • p.s. The soundtrack for RUN LOLA RUN is really good. It got me through many a design session back when I was in architecture school (for three months…).

  5. Alright, confession time: ANT-MAN has made me re-think my past Marvel movie ratings. I’m sometimes prone to ratings inflation when I put a number to a movie immediately after watching it for the first time. This tends to happen with comic book (or similarly exciting) movies. Maybe my adrenaline and/or endorphin levels are still high or something, and so I’m still in that “post-movie glow.”

    Getting back on point, I know ANT-MAN is one of my favorite of the MCU, but it’s definitely in my second tier. Now, in the past, I’ve rated Marvel movies higher than 8.5 that I enjoyed less than ANT-MAN, so I need to go back and adjust my ratings. Something like ULTRON, for example, is definitely going to drop down from my initial rating of a 9/10 (probably to an 8/10).

    Anyway, none of this really matters, but I just wanted to get it off my chest.

    • Out of curiousity, how would you rank (and rate) all of the MCU films to date? This is how my list looks like without having seen Ant-Man:

      1. Iron Man – 10
      2. The Avengers – 10
      3. Guardians of the Galaxy – 10
      4. Captain America: Winter Soldier – 9.5
      5. Thor – 9
      6. Iron Man 3 – 9
      7. Avengers: Age of Ultron – 8.5
      8. Captain America: The First Avenger – 8.5
      9. Thor: The Dark World – 7.5
      10. Iron Man 2 – 7
      11. The Incredible Hulk – 7

      • I basically divide them into three tiers, which should be pretty apparent by my ratings. Two caveats: I’ve seen THE INCREDIBLE HULK, but too long ago for me to rate and rank it fairly; and, I still have yet to see THOR: THE DARK WORLD. Here is how the other 10 films fall for me…

        1. GUARDIANS OF THE GALAXY – 9.5/10
        2. IRON MAN – 9.5/10
        3. CAPTAIN AMERICA: THE WINTER SOLDIER – 9/10
        4. THE AVENGERS – 8.5/10
        5. ANT-MAN – 8.5/10
        6. CAPTAIN AMERICA: THE FIRST AVENGER – 8/10
        7. IRON MAN 3 – 8/10
        8. AVENGERS: AGE OF ULTRON – 8/10
        9. THOR – 7.5/10
        10. IRON MAN 2 – 7/10

        There’s not much separating 1 and 2 for me… same goes for 6-8. And, oddly enough, two of my favorite villains come out of my two least favorite Marvel movies.

        Anyway, there it is.

        • I’d like to see some other lists, as well. Hopefully more people will join in on the MCU list-making fun.

          I’m especially looking at you, Ry.

        • It’s funny how we both have Iron Man 2 at the bottom. That could have been a great movie had they taken advantage of Mickey Rourke’s talent.

          • More sad than funny. I still enjoy the movie, but I think it’s very clearly the worst of the MCU. And, despite that, Whiplash may be my favorite villain to have appeared in a MCU film so far.

      • Let me throw a question right back at you:

        Which of the Phase 3 movies are you most looking forward to? My top 3 most anticipated:

        – SPIDER-MAN
        – CAPTAIN AMERICA: CIVIL WAR
        – INHUMANS

        • Hmm.. that’s a tough one as I have very high expectations for quite a few of the upcoming phase 3 films. But here’s where I stand:

          – Infinity Wars
          – Civil War
          – Guardians of the Galaxy

          I’m a little on the fence on the new Spider-Man just because I don’t want another origin story. If that’s the route they go, I won’t be a happy camper. The other movie that I’m very excited about is Captain Marvel. I think that could be a very fun entry.

          • Yeah, I’m looking forward to all of them… hard not to include DOCTOR STRANGE or INFINITY WARS on my list, for example. As for SPIDER-MAN, I’ll be surprised if his movie is an origin story because I imagine he’ll appear in CIVIL WAR, which comes out before his stand-alone flick.

            Even still, I would be up for a Spider-Man origin story if it’s done right in the Marvel way.

  6. By the way…I vote David to be cast as the 13th Doctor Who…I’d travel through space and time with him any day!!!

      • Yeah we could travel through time and hand producers and directors Jay’s 13 Principles for Making an Effective Horror Film list and make the universe a better place…We could even kill Hitler if we wanted too!!!

        • Haha, I’m actually coincidentally in the midst of reading a book about the physical possibilities of time travel. Plus we still have one of those old police telephone boxes in town, down near the harbour.

          So when I build my time machine I’ll swing by and pick you up, Shannon. Assassinating Hitler can wait though; I think our first call of duty would be to help Jay get his podcasts out on time!

  7. Don’t really have rating but I’ll give you them in order…

    1. ANT-MAN
    2. GUARDIANS OF THE GALAXY
    3. CAPTAIN AMERICA: THE WINTER SOLDIER
    4. AVENGERS AGE OF ULTRON
    5. AVENGERS
    6. CAPTAIN AMERICA: THE FIRST AVENGER
    7. THOR DARK WORLD
    8. IRON MAN
    9. IRON MAN 3
    10. THOR
    11. IRON MAN 2
    12. ANY HULK

    • You can definitely see your sensibilities in this list with the top two picks.

      Out of curiosity, which Phase 3 movies are you looking forward to the most?

      • How could I not out Civil War at the top of that list for cheesecake sake! More heroes than any other movie yet the damn thing may as well be Avengers 2.5! With that said I realized the other day that my three year old daughter will be six when Captain Marvel hits the big screen. I have been able to watch my so. Grow up in this golden age of superhero cinema….going to be awesome to take my princess to go see the badass Carol Danvers , after all girls can be geeks .

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