Movie Podcast Weekly Ep. 159: The Walk (2015) and Wild Horses (2015) and Pan (2015)

Episode 159

Welcome to this perilous high-wire act known as Movie Podcast Weekly. This is Episode 159. In this show, your hosts will bring you Feature Reviews of The Walk and Wild Horses and Pan. We also bring you our Mini Reviews and our usual long list of other offenses. Please take special note of the disclaimer at the beginning of this episode. And if you still decide to proceed forward, thanks for listening.

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
— Ryan’s new interactive, role-playing audio podcast show FEAR


[ 0:10:54 ] II. Mini Reviews
Karl: The sad way the FOX television network deep-sixes its shows; The First Man on the Moon, Man on Wire
Jason: Adam Sandler is a good guy; Person of Interest (Season 1, Pilot); The Changeling (1980); Ghost Ship, Anjelah Johnson’s “Not Fancy” standup act
Ryan: The Walking Dead (Season 6, Ep. 1); The Cubs vs. Cardinals
Andy: Narcos (Season 1); Finding Vivian Maier; Meru


III. New in Theaters This Past Weekend:
The Walk
Pan
Big Stone Gap
Steve Jobs [ NY / LA ]
Trash [ Limited ]
Ladrones [ Limited ]
Victoria [ Limited ]
The Final Girls [ Limited ]


FEATURE REVIEWS HAVE TIME STAMPS:

[ 0:56:58 ] IV. Feature Review: THE WALK (2015)
Jason = 10 ( Must-See / IMAX 3D / Buy it! )
Karl = 9.5 ( Theater / Buy it! )


Episode 159b

[ 1:17:54 ] V. Feature Review: PAN (2015)
Andy = 5 ( Avoid )
Ryan = 1 ( Left the theater after 40 minutes and says: Avoid )


[ 1:40:08 ] VI. Feature Review: WILD HORSES (2015)
Jason = 4 ( Avoid )


VII. Wrap-Up / Plugs / Ending


COMING UP ON MPW NEXT WEEK:
Episode 160 where we’ll be reviewing “Bridge of Spies,” “Crimson Peak” and “Goosebumps.” Join us!


LINKS FOR THIS EPISODE:

Horror Movie Podcast Nightmare on Elm Street coverage

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.

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

Jason recommends supporting: Operation Underground Railroad

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.


31 thoughts on “Movie Podcast Weekly Ep. 159: The Walk (2015) and Wild Horses (2015) and Pan (2015)

  1. Can we skip ahead to CRIMSON PEAK?

    J – In all seriousness, though, I was thinking just the other day that you really should allow yourself a week or two off each year. I know it’s Movie “Weekly” Podcast, but giving yourself and the others a breather every once in awhile might help stave off burnout. Even your beloved /Filmcast gives themselves a week or two off each year.

    Don’t get me wrong, I love me some Weekly Movie Podcast every week. I just don’t want you to kill yourself in the name of sticking to the “weekly” part.

        • I wasn’t even talking about baseball. More just a general commentary on the two cities, which I wouldn’t think should offend you since you live in Indiana.

          But, yeah, it’s not every day that a MLB record is broken.

          I’m not actually a Mets fan, though, which pisses off about half of my friends. It’s ok… I’m not a Yankees fan either, which pisses off the other half.

          • Just because I live in Cleveland now doesn’t mean I’m from Cleveland. I’ve only been here (Cleveland) for a little over a year.

            And hopefully I won’t be for much longer….

          • I grew up on Jordan and Pippen, Rodman , and Will Perdue…..I’m a Chicago sports fan for sure. Pacers and Colts can suck an egg.

          • I listened while running this morning and was sad the whole time listening to Two Weeks Ago Ry being so upbeat about the Cubs. I guess Jay is happy, although I gotta say it was weird hearing Jay and Andy suddenly turn out to be big MLB fans. I don’t think I’d ever heard the word “baseball” cross the lips of either of them before. My impression of Jay had always been that he eschewed sports fandom entirely (except for karate, which I guess some would say is more art than sport, and I would say that those some have probably never seen “The Karate Kid”). When Jay started talking about his love of the Mets, I thought at first that he was just baiting Ry by pretending to like a different team.

          • Wait….am I too late for the Chi/NY debate?!?!….Well, my vote’s for Chicago….yaayyy!!!!….Two votes against one Dino, I think we win. And given our (chicago’s) history, our two votes is really four or six!! 🙂

  2. Thanks, Dino. I appreciate that. (Have you been talking to my wife?) She says similar things.

    Yes, MPW has been running for 159 weeks straight. (Episode 160 is already recorded and waiting to be edited and posted.) And though we’ve certainly been very late, we still have one episode for every week since October 1, 2012.

    Clearly, it’s a passion for me. And as long as we have gracious people (like you) who listen, I’ll keep producing them. Honestly, if we had zero listeners (kind of like the CTS Podcast did), my buddies and I still have a good time seeing a movie every weekend (whether something good is playing or not), and then making fun of each other as we discuss them on Monday nights. MPW is a film club, among good friends, that we record.

    Regardless of whether anybody else feels this way, I believe I was born to be two things in this word: a dad and a film critic. And I think anyone who figures out what it is that they were “born to do” in life is often burdened by it. I think the scientific community refers to this predicament as “a compulsion.”

    Though MPW is less popular (downloads-wise) than HMP, Movie Podcast Weekly is my flagship podcast, and it will keep sailing forward. It has suffered, of late, because of how extensive and time-consuming the production of HMP has been (especially at Halloween-time during a franchise review). There are only so many hours in a day, hence the awful lateness of episode releases.

    And if I back off of anything, I may ease HMP back to a bi-weekly schedule again for the remainder of 2015, just to give myself a breather in November and December. Not sure, though. Just thinking out loud. Haven’t even mentioned it to my co-hosts yet!

    But Movie Podcast Weekly will press on weekly. We record every single Monday, without fail. Unless I’m dead or comatose. That’s not the problem. The recording is usually a blast. It’s just getting the episodes edited and posted that slows me down. If it were my only podcast, it would be easy.

    My two personal missions with MPW are these:
    1. Produce a weekly show that reviews at least one new release that’s playing in theaters.
    2. Review as many films as possible (even if — at the very least — they’re only solocast Mini Reviews).

    I’ve read the feedback here that suggested that I shouldn’t do these two things listed above. And that’s fine. But’s that’s the beauty of producing your own show: You can try to create the podcast that you would want to hear. A movie podcast I want to hear.

    And that’s what I do. Because I was born to do it.
    J

    • I haven’t talked to your wife lately, but I was thinking about her when I posted that comment. In a totally non-creepy kind of way, of course. Promise. You’ve just mentioned in the past how she wouldn’t mind if you cut back on your podcasting. That’s what I meant…

      And I hear you about compulsion. The heart wants what it wants, and I’m certainly not complaining. Like I said, give me all the Weekly Movie Podcast Weekly, because as long as there is a show I will be there.

      Just know that I, for one, would not judge you if you decided to take a week off.

    • To the list of things that Jay was Born to Do (and Be), I would probably add Eventually Unleash the Warrior Within and Karate the (Meep!) Out of Karl and Ry for Hatin’ on “Gravity” So Much. 🙂 I admire the heck out of Jay’s dedication to MPW. Brother, you seriously moved me just now with your explanation of what this means to you. Although I think you’re mistaking compulsion for devotion.

      I believe that life is much more about the choices we make than the things that we think we can’t escape. In 2013, I made a difficult decision to quit a job where I was paid to write movie reviews (among many other things, it’s true; but really I just did all of the rest of it so I could write the reviews). I chose to prioritize other things, and I now choose, mostly, to not look back and regret that decision too much. Jay, faced with a broadly similar situation, made a different choice, and the fact that Jay chooses to be so deeply devoted to MPW is truly a beautiful thing. Don’t sell yourself short, brother. A wise band of philosopher comrades once defended their presence at a seemingly burdensome and undesirable location by explaining, “By choice, man!” “That’s right it’s a conscious choice.” “It’s a choice, man.” “I’m choosing to be here.” “I want to be here.” “I’m choosin’ it.”

      Like Dino, of course (because everyone should be like Dino), I would certainly understand and have your back 100 percent if you ever decided to hiatus-ize it up. We all would.

  3. So about Pan.

    I had ZERO interest in watching Pan to the extent that I haven’t read up on anything about the film. However, after hearing the review from Andy and Ryan, particularly Ryan, I’m now set on eventually watching it. I don’t have any desire to throw out some money and see it in the theater, but seeing it when it pops up on Netflix or some streaming service is going to happen. Ryan’s overly critical review did more to make me want to watch the film than the producer’s could have with positive talk. A fairy holocaust shown in a children’s film? I gotta see that!

    I loved that the review had four very different opinions with Ryan hating it, Andy’s oldest digging it, Andy’s youngest hating it because it’s too scary and too fuzzy, and then there’s Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde in Andy hating the movie, yet also loving it just for the experience with his daughters. It’s one of the more wide spread opinionated movies that I’ve heard reviewed on MPW. Kudos for that.

    Seeing as I have a fear of heights, The Walk sounds like a terrifying movie to me.

    • You should see it if only to fully understand how God awful it is. To think that when it was finished those in charge of saying “yup that’s a wrap I think we got a hit on our hands boys” still have a job and a retirement plan baffles the holy F**K out of me.

      • Did you mean to fully understand how awful God is or how Godawful it is? Or both? 🙂

        And I agree with Sal – I had no interest or intention to see it, but after hearing your review, I wouldn’t miss it for the world.

        BTW, having been born and raised in Chi-town, I’ve sadly had a skepticism involving the Cubs pummeled into me from an early age – so any postseason play is watched with bated breath, waiting for the hammer to fall.

    • I haven’t seen “Pan,” and I’m certainly not eager to check it out NOW. Gosh!

      I do think Joe Wright is a damn fine director, however, so I guess he was either smoking something, or he just decided to go all in on some creative ideas that didn’t “Pan” out. His filmography does tend to be a little scattershot. I like his “Pride and Prejudice” well enough (though its final scene has a mildly goofy flourish that spoils the romance a little), and I dig most of “Atonement.” His real masterpiece, though, is his take on “Anna Karenina” (2012). That movie is awesome. He tries some seemingly oddball stuff stylistically, but it works like gangbusters. Have you seen “Anna Karenina,” Ry? I’d be interested to hear your reaction. That one is a 10 for me. (“Pride and Prejudice” and “Atonement” are, for the most part, far more cinematically straightforward and traditional.)

  4. “Person of Interest” is a 4/10? Ouch. Well, I guess you are just rating the pilot, which I agree isn’t the strongest. But man, that show does some cool things as it finds its footing. And it looks awesome on Blu Ray.

    If you are someone who enjoys a good old fashioned action/drama TV series (with some sci-fi elements) that entertains without relying on superheroes or TVMA edginess, this show is worth a look. It’s accessible. Something you can watch with the wife and still enjoy it yourself. Easily a 7/10 for me.

  5. Pretty cool that Andy met Zach Galifianakis at the theater and convinced the Z-Man to pose for a pic with his (Andy’s) daughters.

  6. Ryan, have you ever seen the 30 for 30 documentary called Catching Hell? It’s a great documentary but I imagine it’s a little painful for you to watch. 🙂

  7. Indiana and Utah really are similar in more ways than one. When I was in college, an entrepreneurial friend of mine setup a small business making fake ID’s for freshmen. Customers had two choices, Indiana or Utah, because the two states had identical driver’s licenses, with the exception of color – Indiana was orange at the top and Utah was purple. So, there you have it, another similarity between the two states.

    Incidentally, my friend’s business was so successful that area bars started hanging up signs on their doors that said “No more Indiana or Utah.” Ah, memories….

  8. Jason – You wondered what Josh Hartnett has been up to? He’s been killing it on the Showtime/Sky Atlantic series, Penny Dreadful (but I won’t give any spoilers as to what he’s doing on it). I think you, being a horror fan, should be watching this show because even though it’s a mash-up of many Victorian horror genres/novels, it’s a huge amount of fun – with all of the actors doing a bang-up job (best work I’ve seen from Hartnett) but with Eva Green positively melting the surrounding scenery as someone that is possessed. Also, the show has continued to improve steadily – with season 2 (which ended recently) being deliciously evil. Just 18 episodes in total so far – and you catch up via Netflix.

  9. Hi Jason Carl Andy and Geekcast Ry! I have listened since 2014 and just love the bickering and bromance between you guys! Some podcasts are only extraordinary when there is a special guest! you guys are must listen podcasting and I never listen late at night as I will lose sleep! I have never fallen asleep while listening as I am giggling too much. The bickering between Carl and Andy is a highlight. I normally agree more with Carl’s taste in movies I am not a horror fan at all but love comedies, dramas and sci fiction. As well as all biopics. I do think he has a broad taste in movies as he will watch musicals and romantic comedies and you guys wont
    Ryan’s review of Pan had me rolling on the floor! I am sad Hugh Jackman didn’t have an Xmen sized hit but he will have more great projects in the wings. Is this the first time you had a 1 star review on your show? So happy you do this every week and I love that it is longer than a hour .
    I have just subscribed via paypal to pay 2.00 a month I listen to 16 podcasts and only support 3 !
    You are not only the most family friendly podcast I listen to you are also the classiest
    keep up the great work Stephanie
    a Canadian fan
    I am following Ryan on Twitter as bookwormchick99

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