Movie Podcast Weekly Ep. 231: KONG: Skull Island (2017) and Desierto (2017)

Episode 231 - Kong Skull Island and Desierto

This is the episode where Jason podcasts from a hotel room in Cleveland, and we hear what happened to Joel Robertson (right before it happened to him). Welcome to Movie Podcast Weekly, Episode 231. This week we bring you two Feature Reviews of KONG: Skull Island (2017) and finally, Desierto (2017). We talk about other stuff, too, but I forget what it was… 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. New episodes release every single week!


SHOW NOTES:

I. Introduction
— Jason is podcasting from a hotel room in Cleveland, Ohio, a few days before heart surgery.


[ 0:03:50 ] II. Mini Reviews
Karl: The Man in the High Castle Season 1-3, The Other Side of Heaven
Ryan: The Bachelor, Trolls, Lethal Weapon (1987)
Jason: Trollhunter (2010), Jay recommends A GOOD MOVIE TO WATCH.com, USS Indianapolis: Men of Courage, The Wild and Wonderful Whites of West Virginia, Black Water (2007), The Amazing Spider-Man 2
Andy: TSA story, Amy Schumer: The Leather Special, Patton Oswalt story


Movie News: Avatar 2 through 5 delayed again


III. New in Theaters This Past Weekend [Friday, March 10, 2017]:
KONG: Skull Island
Revolution – New Art for a New World
Sword Art Online
Raw
Capgun
Personal Shopper
The Ottoman Lieutenant
Brothers in Arms
A Life Regardless
Brimstone
This Beautiful Fantastic
Swing Away
Callous
The Sense of an Ending
Burning Sands


FEATURE REVIEWS HAVE TIME STAMPS:

[ 1:13:42 ] IV. Feature Review: KONG: Skull Island (2017)
Jason = 7 ( Theater / Rental )
Karl = 10 ( Theater / Buy it! )


[ 1:30:14 ] V. Feature Review: DESIERTO (2017)
Jason = 7 ( Rental )


VI. Wrap-Up / Plugs / Ending


COMING UP ON MPW NEXT WEEK:
Episode 232 where we bring you MPW: Movie Podcast Women! Join us!


LINKS FOR THIS EPISODE:

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.

Ryan’s new Facebook page
Ry’s BIO
Ryan’s New Facebook Page
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:
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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

Ryan’s Fake Movie Titles:
Capgun
Brothers in Arms
A Life Regardless
Callous


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


20 thoughts on “Movie Podcast Weekly Ep. 231: KONG: Skull Island (2017) and Desierto (2017)

  1. J, for all the crap I give you, please know that I wish you a successful surgery on Thursday and a quick recovery. I want you back at full health… so I can give you more crap.
    ?

  2. Jay, I’m with you 100% on Kong. This just was not a good movie. I’m surprised you were so generous with your rating; I would give it a 5. I thought very little of anything (other than visuals) worked; I just did not have a good time watching it. And coming off great action films like John Wick Chapter 2 and Logan over the last couple of weeks, Kong came off even worse. I don’t know; just didn’t care for it.

    I hope all goes well with your surgery, my friend.

    Great episode, guys.

  3. Wow, this was a rare week in which your feature/mini reviews checked nearly ALL of my viewing boxes.

    Ryan, I can’t remember if you won your Bachelor pool or not, but I hope Vanessa brought home the cash for you. She may have “won” the show, but did she really win with Nick? I think he out-kicked his coverage.
    Sidenote: I don’t understand all of the Bachelor hate. Several friends have told me with a straight face that the Bachelor is trash TV, and they can’t understand why I watch it. I respond with, “you’re a baseball fan, and your favorite team is the Twins. Talk about good TV.” Check, and mate. Do I feel bad when I eat a meal of Doritos and pizza rolls? Certainly. Am I going to apologize for it? Certainly not. The same logic applies to the Bachelor. (PS: I’m also a Twins fan. Help me.)

    I also watched Amy Schumer’s Leather Special, and Andy pretty much nailed it. It’s certainly not her strongest performance, nor is it my favorite of hers, but it has its moments. I would also agree that her perspective is unique, and it’s not one I hear often from other comics. I’m glad I watched it.

    Jay’s Kong review was spot on. I think Skull Island suffers from lapses in tone and pacing, both of which were tight under Jackson’s watchful eye. Too bad. The King deserved better.

    Good luck Jay!

  4. Jay,
    First of all, I hope you don’t die.
    I watched God’s of Egypt the other day and I really liked it. It is a terrible movie but it is entertaining and a great guilty pleasure movie (which is what you have been arguing). I will disagree with you on one point though, it is definitely not more entertaining than Rogue One. I don’t know why I even liked it because it looks pretty terrible and has some cheesy dialogue but it was still enjoyable to me.
    I hope this cheers you up a bit before your surgery.
    Have you watched Chopper yet?
    Who won the competition about where Karl is from?
    Has Ryan watched any of The Wire like he promised?
    I hope there will be another episode so we can find out the answers to these burning questions.

    Andrew.

  5. I’m closer to J overall on Kong, but I do share some of Karl’s enthusiasm. As I said before, it’s dumb fun, but definitely fun.

    Some things are really dumb, though. Like the monster conveniently spitting up the dog tags. But making that worse is that it didn’t matter, anyway, because Sam Jackson’s character went after him, regardless. There are also wasted actors/characters. Brie Larson does almost nothing any actress couldn’t do, and Tom Hiddleston’s super badass tracker guy is given this ridiculous introduction but then never really does much on the island. Some very clunky exposition, too.

    But… some things are great. The cinematography is often spectacular, and some of the action scenes are fantastic. I like how they make Kong the star and don’t hide him. And John C. Reilly is an interesting and fun and well-drawn character. Some better writing and a little bit more character development and this would have been truly amazing. Overall, I’m comfortable with my 7.5, but I doubt I’ll ever watch it again, whereas the Peter Jackson King Kong is very rewatchable and is a 9 for me.

    ——

    I can’t remember if I mentioned Edge of Seventeen when I first watched it a month or so back, but I watched it again last night with my girls and loved it even more. I don’t think this would have quite made my top 10 for last year, but definitely should have been in the honorable mentions. It’s kind of like a modern John Hughes movie, about teen angst and stuff, with really sharp writing, strong and unique characters, and a very realistic and compelling depiction of the life of a teenage girl struggling with various things. Hailey Steinfeld is amazing as the lead, who gets in the way of her own happiness, and there are other wonderful performances by Woody Harrelson as a teacher who is her friend but calls her on her crap, and Hayden Szeto as the boy who awkwardly tries to connect with her. This is at Redbox now, and I give it a 9 and call it a must-see.

  6. If anyone is looking for a movie to watch on St. Patrick’s Day, then I have the perfect recommendation. It’s a new movie called The Young Offenders, and it just dropped on The Netflix (in the U.S.). It’s an Irish comedy about two delinquent teen boys who use stolen bikes to try and find a bale of cocaine from the 2007 cocaine seizure off the coast of Ireland. It’s hilarious, but it also has heart (no pun intended, Jason).

  7. “I think this is really for 12-year-olds, and apparently Karl. Like, I think that Ryan would like it.”

    I love MPW so much. Ry, which do you find more insulting? That Jay thinks you are 12, or that he thinks you are Karl? 🙂

    Karl’s enthusiasm for Kong: Skull Island actually has me wanting to see it, but I think I’ll take Jay’s recommendation and wait for Redbox. Serious question for Karl: If you give Kong a 10 because of B-movie awesomeness, but your take on Kong fighting monsters is, “When those scenes are happening, I tend to go into, ‘Look, let me know when this is over,’ ” then what about the movie did you like so much? Isn’t cool scenes of Kong fighting monsters kind of the essence of B-movie awesomeness? Are John C. Reilly and Brie Larson’s tank top just so darn good that the King Kong stuff doesn’t need to be special at all?

  8. I agree with most of you about Kong – Skull Island. It felt more like an Island of Dr. Moreau movie. Several times though when they come across some creature and defeat it, they never face it again even though you’d expect others to be present. The attempts at foreshadowing were either too in-your-face or the thing they foreshadowed didn’t happen (“You don’t want to be outside at night…”). When the characters die for doing stupid things, it’s hard to sympathize. Samuel L. Jackson was clearly there just to play Samuel L. Jackson. And I wonder how much rehearsal the island inhabitant characters had to endure to play the role of decoration.

    Ryan said he never got bored. I had to slip out after about an hour to buy popcorn to stay awake – and we were there in the afternoon!

    Given all that, the cinematography was excellent, and the fight scenes (especially the final one) were awesome. The music was great too. So if you want to leave your brain at the door and just enjoy the visuals, here you go.

    6, rental.

  9. I empathize more with Jay’s sentiment regarding “Kong: Skull Island.” I didn’t hate it but, didn’t really love it either. I enjoyed the action sequences over-all but, found myself hitting a point where I got a little bored. The story wasn’t necessarily new, original or capitivating (granted, I wasn’t necessarily expecting it) but, a lot like the Transformers franchise; the action got a little tiresome for me. Some positives though: I absolutely LOVED how colorful this film was. I found it to be a real ‘feast for thine eyes.’ The creature effects for both Kong and his enemies were very awesome as well…not, to mention…and I may be biased here…but, I was the furthest from upset with Tom Hiddleston’s tight shirt. LOL

    Anyways, I’m loving the content guys! Also, I’ll say a little prayer for Jay that he makes it through his surgery safely!

  10. Hey Jay! I read that you had some complications after your surgery but I hope that you are well now and that your recovery goes smoothly! Best wishes from Germany!

  11. Hey, does anyone have any updates on Jay… missing podcast but more than that hoping he’s on the road to recovery…

    • This is what I read on Horror Movie Podcast the other day:

      “Wolfman Josh
      on March 20, 2017 at 9:00 pm said:
      Well, he made it out of what seemed like a 10 hour surgery, where everything seemed to go according to plan. According to his wife, he could blink “yes” or “no” the next morning. Later that day he was breathing well enough that they could move him out of ICU. We heard that he could sit up and was happy. As far as I know, only his mom has seen him. I think his wife stayed home with the kids.

      He was supposed to get his phone back today, so I’m hoping he has seen all of the nice Twitter messages and these comments here at the site.

      I did hear that he’d had some unforeseen complications today that required some additional work, but I don’t feel like I should give out any details right now. We haven’t heard much, but I have been putting out the occasional updates in the HMP Twitter feed and I will continue to do so.”

  12. Hello, my dear friends…

    Jay here. I’m alive!

    Thank you so much for your concern for me. I ended up needing open-heart surgery, and it was very serious, but I’m finally on the mend and recovering now. I barely even remember the past two or three weeks, because it is a haze of semi-consciousness and pure suffering… but the good news is, my heart is fixed! I am still recovering at my mother’s home in West Virginia, trying to get the strength to be able to fly back home to Utah.

    I’m sorry I haven’t been e-mailing or on Twitter or the message boards much, but literally until today, it simply hurt too much.

    Regarding MPW…
    I’m posting a new episode TODAY (very shortly) that was recorded by some very fine, very capable guest hostesses during the week of my surgery. I just heard it, and I was blown away. It’s a must-listen! Watch for Ep. 232 to post today!

    And we’ll be giving you regular releases again from here on. It just might be a little bit of a slow start for me, but I’m back in action again! (You will also have HMP releases, as well.)

    Thanks so much for your well wishes and support.
    I love this community…

    Sincerely,
    J

    • Great to see this. Damn, open heart surgery?! Good to still count you among the living, J (not of the Dead). I didn’t want to have to use that epitaph I made for you. 😀

    • Glad to hear you’re recovering. You and your family have been in our prayers! Recuperation can take a long time after major surgery. Forgive yourself during those spells when you don’t have the energy you’re used to. It’ll come back.
      Peace

    • Welcome back Jay. YIkes…open heart surgery? Glad you are on the mend. Best wishes to you and your family as you continue on the road to full recovery.

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