55 thoughts on “Movie Podcast Weekly Ep. 150: Fantastic Four (2015) and The Gift (2015) and The Cokeville Miracle (2015) and MPW’s Tribute to Jon Stewart and 12 Movies We Could Watch 150 Times”

1. NOT A COMMENT ABOUT EP. 150 (Sorry, haven’t had time to listen yet.) I gotta know who’s rigging the informal polls around here. First “Dances with Wolves” takes an (albeit unscientific) beating, and now Uncle Sam’s own Ethan Hunt gets walked on by that lily-livered Limey womanizer James Bond. James Bond has been in many more movies, sure, but how many of them has he really been “cool” in? James Bond’s coolness is totally actor-dependent:

   Sean Connery: Totally cool.
   George Lazenby: Not cool.
   Roger Moore: Suave, but not cool.
   Timothy Dalton: Very cool.
   Pierce Brosnan: Coulda been a contender, but actually not cool even when Christmas comes more than once a year. (Roger Moore would at least have made that sound playful. Timothy Dalton would have walked off the set. Sean Connery would have kicked the writer in the balls.)
   Daniel Craig: Cool.

   Ethan Hunt is always cool, because Tom Cruise is like the Nat King Cool of movie stars. He’s so cool that when you pour milk and sugar over his biceps, it turns into ice cream.

   Also, come on, the sunglasses rocket thing is funny. Not “bust a gut” funny, but worth a smile. It’s supposed to be a very mild gag along the lines of James Bond’s endless puns, and it admirably (and easily) clears that very low bar. I think it’s one of the more successful moments in what is otherwise, yes, the nadir of “Mission: Impossible” movies. (Although “M:I 2” is nowhere near as bad as John Woo’s “Paycheck,” and it actually pushes a lot of the “Mission: Impossible” buttons pretty smoothly, despite overdoing the silliness with the masks, riding a relatively weak plot into the ground, and suffering from scattered visual bombast. I can think of plenty of directors who’d have cooked that screenplay into a far weaker sauce than Woo did. Tough crowd.)

   Strong work by the entire crew on both 148 and 149. I have to second (or third) David’s view about Jay’s trying not to crack over Karl and “I don’t know where you guys … ” An instant classic, even if I hadn’t had the accompanying image of poor Jason trying to keep a straight face. One of the funniest unintended language slips I’ve ever heard.

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   • Cody! You’re singing my song. Where were you last week when I was trying to get some M:I discussion going?! https://moviepodcastweekly.com/movie-podcast-weekly-ep-149-mission-impossible-rogue-nation-2015-and-the-mission-impossible-franchise/#comment-20064

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     • Sorry to be absent in your hour of need, Dino. I gotta take family vacations every now and then. 🙂

       An interesting element of the discussion that didn’t come up in Ep. 149, is the parallel unofficial comedies to come from each franchise. James Bond has “Casino Royale” (the 1967 film with Peter Sellers), while Ethan Hunt has “Knight and Day,” which Cruise was kind enough to produce and star in himself. And the comparison is another clear victory for Ethan Hunt.

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       • Word.

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   • Wait, Daniel Craig only gets a “cool”? No way! He’s über cool y’all!

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     • I feel like the second two of Craig’s three Bond films (to date) knocked him down a couple of notches on the Cool-O-Meter. If you’re stone cold cool, then you can elevate even a mediocre Bond screenplay. “Quantum of Solace” and “Skyfall” are not terrible films, but they’re only middling as Bond movies. “Skyfall,” for example, benefits a ton from Javier Bardem, Ben Whishaw and especially Roger Deakins, but the plot is pretty weak tea and the most memorable action scene is the first one in the movie. Throw in the “Home Alone” climax and you’re looking at a pretty rocky road without some killer charisma from Bond. Craig holds the center, but doesn’t really lift the film. What I’ve started to realize more and more about Craig is that he’s relatively limited as an actor, and kinda one-note, really, as Bond. A lot like Pierce Brosnan, actually. Craig’s one note, straight-ahead implacable intensity, is certainly more interesting and more becoming to the character than Brosnan’s one note (aloof composure). That, however, only gets you so far.

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2. I kneel before Karl…

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   • That’s what she said.

     [Karl: This is so not a family-friendly podcast.]

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     • Dino and I aka “The dirty bunch” make sure of that everyday 😉

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       • Someone’s gotta.

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3. Can’t wait for y’all to hear our fantastic four review

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4. “Tender delicate flower.” Ha ha. Nice.

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   • Vance, you should put that on a shirt.

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5. I disagree that THE GIFT is a boring title. Knowing that it’s a thriller, my mind runs crazy with that title. I will say, though, that the title becomes even better after you see the movie. Wow.

   I agree with pretty much everything else you said about the movie, though. THE GIFT is a great movie (and perfectly paced), and it has a much more twisted and dark ending than I expected. Completely unexpected. I come in at an 8/10, and say see it in theaters.

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   • My only problem with the title is that it’s already taken by the Sam Raimi movie from 2000. And that was a psychological thriller too. Can’t they be a bit more inventive with naming their movies so we don’t end up getting mixed up? Even “Gift” or “A Gift” would have been better.

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     • It’s especially annoying in these days of boundless remakes.

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     • I get what you’re saying, but “The Gift” just happens to be the perfect title for the movie. Believe me when I say, it’s not just “a” gift… it’s “THE” gift.

       You need to see this movie, David. I have a feeling you would love it.

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       • Katie Holmes has a gift. That’s about all I remember from the Sam Raimi film, 15 years later. Wasn’t my main man Keanu Reeves in that flick?

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         • Some would say she has a couple.

           (Too far?)

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         • Pretty nice gifts if I remember correctly *watches video on youtube* oh yeah, very nice gifts 😉

           (Now we’ve gone too far… maybe)

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6. Btw, J, your INTRUDER pick really surprised me. I don’t remember hearing you talk about it at length in any of your horror podcast iterations.

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   • Oh he did Dino, he did. And Jay, you’re the reason why I seeked that movie out in the first place. I had no idea it even existed and I’m so happy to have seen it. It’s so good. It’s got one of my favorite kills ever.

     http://horrormoviepodcast.com/the-weekly-horror-movie-podcast-ep-010-happy-new-year/

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     • Huh, how ’bout that. Thanks, bro.

       I remember that episode, too, because I remember J giving the statistics and their discussion of APOLLO 18. I’ll have to give it a re-listen, though, because I don’t remember the INTRUDER discussion.

       Funny that J only gave INTRUDER a 6.5/rental recommendation, yet it landed on his “I could watch this movie 150 times” list.

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       • I recommend going back to the board and study Jay’s charts. It’ll all make sense once you “get it” 😉

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         • I REALLY wish I knew what you were referring to here, Juan. Just went back and read the charts and clearly don’t get it.

           What I really don’t get us that I’ve heard Jay sing this movie’s praises innumerable times, but he only said “rent it” …

           VI. INTRUDER (1989)
           Jay of the Dead = 6.5 ( Rental )
           BillChete = 8 ( Buy it! )
           Dr. Shock = 8.5 ( Buy it! )
           Terror Tovey = 6.5 ( Rental )
           Midnight Corey = 9 ( Buy it! )

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         • I review those charts every night before going to bed. Still don’t get it…

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         • Guys, the charts are solid. Trust me on this. Jay’s logic is as solid as never.

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7. I love Intruder…and since I’ve worked in a grocery store most of my life…I think to myself what if this happened to me?

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8. INTRUDER has to be one of the most underrated slashers ever. The movie is so rarely ever brought up despite the fact that it has some pretty snazzy camera shots, nice death scenes, and has a location that feels fresh for a slasher. It ended up being one of my better blind buys back when I picked up the Blu-Ray when it originally came out when I had little to no knowledge of it.

   While I’m at it, kudos to Ryan for his words on WET HOT AMERICAN SUMMER. I had never seen the movie, but when the series came out, I decided to try out the first episode due to all of the buzz. It seemed overly silly to me and I couldn’t understand why it was receiving any praise. After hearing Ryan’s advice to watch the movie first, I did that (Loved the movie) and re-watched the first episode of the series and the comedy made far more sense. The comedy doesn’t feel so over the top, but rather it’s a natural progression from the film.

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   • Yes… Wet Hot American Summer is a classic in my book and the series was great too…it takes me back to the days of Caddyshack and Meatballs…God I am old…

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   • It is a movie very near and dear to me. Glad you liked it.

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9. Not all super-great, but here’re my three, no particular order:

   My childhood classic: The Never Ending Story….8.5….Own It
   My deep-cut: The Razor’s Edge (Bill Murray)….9….Own It
   My all-time classic: Airplane!…10….Marry It

   🙂

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10. Here’s my 3 in no order…
    1. Weird Science
    2. Pump Up the Volume
    3. Clerks 2

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    • Clerks 2 over Clerks? Bold choice, Shannon.

      Weird Science is my jam though!

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11. Am alone in originally thinking that Karl told Willis Wheeler to shut up when Karl was really talking to his dog? That was a tense little moment before he mentioned his dog’s name. Ha.

    Can we get a monthly segment where Willis comes on to describe the latest WWE segment he watched with the guys then trying to understand what’s happening?

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    • Was that Karl? I thought that was my inner-voice…

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12. My 3 movies that I could watch endlessly (have watched endlessly):

    The Crow
    Ghostbusters
    Gremlins 2/Tremors

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    • Honorable mention:

      Dumb & Dumber #ftw

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    • I’m good to go with my single lifetime viewing of “Dumb and Dumber,” and I’ve actually never seen “The Crow.”

      “Ghostbusters” definitely rocks the casbah. I will never not laugh at the “big Twinkie” scene and the library scene, and I’ve probably quoted lines from “Ghostbusters” almost as many times as I’ve quoted lines from “Monty Python and the Holy Grail” (my personal gold standard for quoting lines).

      “Tremors” is an EXCELLENT CHOICE, Juan. As Jay would surely put it, “I back you 100 percent,” except that I back you 150 PERCENT!! It’s totally in the sweet spot for this conversation. I could watch “Tremors” 1,500 times, or even 15,000 times. Kevin Bacon is at least a minor deity in most films, but he is THE GOD OF CINEMA in “Tremors.” The Fred Ward-Kevin Bacon duo is just so freakin’ awesome, and the Michael Gross-Reba McEntire duo is nearly as good. Such a fun, fun movie.

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      • Hmm… I’m not sure you’d dig The Crow as much as I do, but I do recommend it. I think it’s at the very least worth visiting once just for Brandon Lee’s performance.

        Dumb and Dumber is pure gold, Cody. One day the world will realize the genius that is Jim Carrey.

        I’m happy to hear that you’re with me on Ghostbusters and Tremors. As Jay would say, “As far as entertainment goes, you can’t do better than this”.

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    • I grew up with at least two people who would probably have this same exact list.

      And they both probably would have thrown DUMB AND DUMBER in their, too.

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13. I’m a big re-watcher, so my list of movies I could watch 150+ times is long. As a result, this list is far from comprehensive, and carries the caveat that there are several more obvious choices I could have included (i.e. any Star Wars, Lord of the Rings, Harry Potter, or Indiana Jones movie). But I’ll try to whittle it down to some surprise picks for this.

    So, here you go…

    JAWS (1975)
    PRIDE AND PREJUDICE (2005)
    THE MAN WITH THE GOLDEN GUN (1974)

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    • I like your pics Dino, though I have never seen “The Man with the Golden Gun”. I will have to check it out. “Jaws” would definitely be on my list–probably the movie I have watched the most if we aren’t counting trilogies like Indiana Jones, Star Wars, and Lord of the Rings. And there is something about “Pride and Prejudice” (2005). I do enjoy it, and revisit it with the wife much more than the BBC version. As I recall, I’ve heard Josh praise it highly as well back when he was a host on MPW. Good pics.

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      • Thanks, Vance. Funny how you mentioned revisiting PRIDE AND PREJUDICE with your wife. The main reason it’s on my list is because it’s one of a handful of movies my wife will always put on in the background and, of those movies, it’s the one I enjoy the most… by far. We were watching it recently and, for whatever reason, I was paying closer attention to it and realized “hey, this is actually a really good movie.” There’s a party scene early on when it hit me that, not only is it a darn good movie, but I actually really enjoy it.

        Anyway, that’s my story.

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14. My top three:

    A CHRISTMAS STORY (1983)

    PLANES, TRAINS & AUTOMOBILES (1987)

    HALLOWEEN 4 (1988)

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    • A Christmas Story…it’s up there, neck and neck, with Tombstone on the quotability list. Soooo many perfect scenes/lines. Great pick!!! Every year, when I remember that TBS or TNT is playing all day on Thanksgiving, that’s all I wanna do. So awesome.

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15. Great episode, as usual, fellas. I was a little surprised when I realized I’d been running for almost 40 minutes and the conversation had been mostly about Jon Stewart up to that point. He’s definitely sharp, though, and the clip from “Crossfire” was delightful. (Jay has been doing a lot of nice work with clips lately. Good on ya, brother.)

    Enjoyed hearing Ry and Willis go at it over whether Marvel deliberately tried to undermine “FANT[4]STIC.” I’m very sympathetic to Jay’s view that the Fantastic Four are a bit lame conceptually, although I think it’s mostly Reed and Sue who fall flat on their faces on that score. (I soooo agree that being stretchy is a dumb superpower.) The Thing and the Human Torch are perfectly acceptable/average comic book superheroes. Although the Thing does have that totally annoying habit where he’s always whining about how being transformed ruined his life. Reminds me of how, when my brothers and I used to (briefly) read “Uncanny X-Men,” one of them commented about how Warren Worthington was always bellyaching about (essentially) being blue (the color, not the mood) after going from Angel to Archangel. This brother liked to say, “Look at Beast. He’s blue AND hairy, but he’s not always moaning about the injustice of the universe.”

    There are so many movies I could watch 150 times that narrowing it down to three just plain sucks, but if you put a gun to my head, I’d probably settle on:

    1) “Raiders of the Lost Ark”
    2) “Star Trek: The Wrath of Khan”
    3) “True Grit” (2010)

    Just because I can’t possibly stop at three, however:

    Three Animated Films
    1) “Kung Fu Panda”
    2) “The Incredibles”
    3) “Wreck-It Ralph”

    Three Sci-Fi Films
    1) “The Matrix”
    2) “The Terminator”
    3) “Aliens”

    Three Westerns
    1) “Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid”
    2) “Silverado”
    3) “Dances With Wolves”

    Three Prison Break Movies
    1) “The Great Escape”
    2) “Toy Story 3”
    3) “O Brother, Where Art Thou?”

    Three Jane Austen Adaptations
    1) “Sense and Sensibility” (1995)
    2) “Pride and Prejudice” (1995)*
    3) “Emma” (1996)

    * Shame on you, Dino.

    Three Romantic Comedies
    1) “The Princess Bride”
    2) “(500) Days of Summer”
    3) “About a Boy”

    Three Heist Movies
    1) “Inception”
    2) “Sneakers”
    3) “Fantastic Mr. Fox”

    Three Matthew Broderick Movies
    1) “Ladyhawke”
    2) “Wargames”
    3) “Ferris Bueller’s Day Off”

    Three Monster Movies
    1) “Tremors”
    2) “The Thing” (1982)
    3) “Monsters University”

    Three Movies Directed by Cameron Crowe
    1) “Almost Famous”
    2) “Say Anything”
    3) [Nothing else, but I’d happily watch the first two an additional 75 times each.]

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    • Hey, the heart wants what it wants, my friend.

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      • How can the heart want Keira Knightley and Matthew MacFadyen when Jennifer Ehle and Colin Firth are just sitting right there?! The ’95 version is the true version. 🙂

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        • Yes, well… I’m not even sure the ’95 version really qualifies as a proper movie.

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16. So I listened to the final 15 minutes of the podcast last night, and I have to say that I’m surprised by the head-over-heels lovefest over “The Gift.” Question for Andy and Jason, since others may not have seen the movie yet. Fellas, how does this trailer — the one that Jay played a clip from — NOT give away THE ENTIRE MOVIE:

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I3IiZU9JBuE

    I feel like it’s all right there but the last five minutes. Aside from maybe a few character shadings, what is there to see in “The Gift” that anyone who happened to watch that trailer won’t see coming a mile away?

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17. I haven’t listened to the whole episode yet but wanted to mention my top 3 and honorable mentions:

    3. Bad Santa – it’s become a holiday tradition, partly because I live in Phoenix…partly because I identify with all of the characters in one way or another.

    2. Heathers – I identified with Veronica Sawyer on a deep level when I originally saw this movie in high school in the late 80s. I haven’t been able to let it go.

    1. Rear Window – the composition of the shots is incredible. Every time I watch this I notice something in the neighboring apartment windows I never noticed before. And hey, Grace Kelly + Jimmy Stewart + Hitchcock = something so special I don’t even have the words for it.

    Honorable mention films in no particular order (most of which I have watched at least 50 times – please, don’t judge, we all have our vices):

    A Christmas Story
    Mean Girls
    Die Hard
    Idle Hands
    Pet Sematary
    Secretary
    The Craft
    The Empire Strikes Back
    The Breakfast Club
    Planes, Trains and Automobiles
    The Goonies
    Crash (David Cronenberg, not that Sandra Bullock thing)
    Naked Lunch

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18. Hey folks! 150 Episodes is great! I am so glad that you all plan on doing 150 more! I had no desire to see The Gift until Andy rated it a ten! Thank you for the recommendation. I have so much fun listening to you guys banter back and forth and as sad a I am that Josh left (although it was nice to hear him on the Mission Impossible Episode (Daniel Craig would kick Ethan Hunt into next Tuesday fyi)) Ryan has been a Wonderful addition! 3 movies I could watch 150 times would be Gladiator, First Blood, and Man on Fire. To those who have time to add an additional movie podcast to the podcast que I would love it if you guys went to thezadestorey.com to check out my friend and I’s movie podcast. It is These people who inspired me to follow my passion. I am excited to announce that we have reviews of 2 movies Movie podcast weekly has yet to review we review “The Stanford Prison Experiment” in episode 10 and “Straight Out of Compton” will release on Aug 24th (we release every other Monday) thanks for letting me hijack the comment section, looking forward to the next 150!

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19. The fact that marvel cancelled the Fantastic Four should have no bearing on how a movie does on the big screen. It’s also been under almost continuous publication for the last 54 years. It will be back one day and long before Marvel gets the films rights back.
    If you want to read a good Fantastic Four comic, look for the John Byrne run from issues 232-295 or 554-568 by Mark Millar and Bryan Hitch. Also read the Marvel Knights series Fantastic Four :1234 by Jae Lee and Grant Morrison.

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    • Thank u for saying that , I feel the same way too .

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