3 thoughts on “Movie Podcast Weekly Ep. 289: You Were Never Really Here (2018) and Beast of Burden (2018) and Juggernaut (2018) and Looking Glass (2018)”

1. We watched the John Mulaney special and loved it. But several times we looked at each other and said; “Have we heard this joke from him before?” Just to clarify; Kid Gorgeous JUST came out, right? And it was all new material?

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2. Hey there, MP-Dubs. Been a while, eh? You may have been saying, “boy, I wish that guy would shut up,” and then more recently, “well, not entirely shut up.” (Or maybe yes.)

   Anyway, I’ve been away for several months for two main reasons, both very good ones. I was in a theater production over the winter and had a ton of lines, so I had to cut out my podcast listening while driving (which is about the only time I listen to podcasts) so I could work on the lines then. And even after the show ended in February, I realized, eh, I think I’ll cut back on podcasts in general. I was listening to probably 20 different podcasts, trying to keep up with everything, and it was crazy and eating up a lot of my time and attention. Second thing is that I met someone wonderful last fall, and I realized I’d rather chat and go out with her than obsessively listen to and post about podcasts and movies and such. And she’s into cool movies and media, so I get my obsessive movie discussion taken care of with her. 🙂

   I am listening again to MPW, though, at least periodically. I can’t keep up with everything, so I kind of pick and choose certain episodes to say, oh yeah, I want to hear what those guys thought of (certain movie). I do miss y’all, though, and miss being being part of the conversations here. I’ll try to chime in every so often. And in the interest of some participation, here are some quick takes on various things I’ve seen the past few months…

   The Death of Stalin: Like Chase, I loved this. Not always funny, but always interesting, and often quite funny. 9

   Isle of Dogs: I finally got to see Fantastic Mr. Fox a month before this, and that was mind-blowingly great, and so is this. I hope Wes Anderson keeps making these types of films every so often. 9.5

   Deadpool 2: The second half saved it for me. First half felt too serious and even dreary, and the comedy felt tired and more-of-the-same-but-not-as-good as the first one. Some wonderful stuff in the second half, though, but overall it was still disappointing. 6.5

   Avengers: Infinity War: Opposite of Deadpool, where I wasn’t that excited to see this but I ended up really enjoying it. I thought the ending was powerful. Sure, in the meta you know it won’t last, but for those characters in that moment, it was meaningful. 8.5

   A Quiet Place: Yeah, pretty great. I had some problems with the premise and some details about that which were clunky (e.g., the whiteboard), but I still loved it. 8.5

   Ready Player One: Really enjoyed this one, despite there being a lot of dumb aspects to it. When I listened to the Slash Film guys bag on this after I saw it, I thought, yeah, I can’t really disagree with any of those criticisms, and yet, letting it pull me into its world, it was quite fun, regardless. 8.5

   Game Night: Some decent comedy, including one especially hilarious scene. Didn’t quite hold it consistently enough for me, but good. 7.5

   Annihilation: A worthy next effort from the Ex Machina writer/director, though it didn’t captivate me as much as that. Some really intriguing scenes and possible interpretations, though, and I want to see it again to possibly appreciate more. 8

   Fahrenheit 451: HBO did a film adaptation of this with Michael B. Jordan and Michael Shannon. Should be great, right? Eh, in some respects, I appreciated how they updated it to modern times, but overall it felt lacking in cohesion, and they cut some aspects of the book that I think were pretty crucial to its point. 6

   Cloverfield Paradox: Right from the first scenes, I could tell I wasn’t going to like it. The dialogue and exposition was very clunky. Some okay parts after that, and the ending was depicted in a fun way, but it doesn’t surprise me that this was used as a Netflix stunt premiere instead of a theatrical release. 5

   I think that’s about it as far as major-ish films since the last time I chimed in (to berate Karl and Ryan for bagging on mother! without having seen it). Also really digging Westworld (btw, Karl, JJ Abrams is a major producer on that) and Handmaid’s Tale (bleaker than bleak, but really well done). Marvelous Mrs. Maisel is indeed marvelous, and I’m looking forward to that returning for at least two more seasons. Second season of Sneaky Pete was good, though not as good as the first. Oh, and I loved Wild Wild Country. Could have been an episode shorter, but that’s often the case with any of these multiple episode series and documentaries.

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3. Hey, Eric! Glad to hear from you and that things are going so great for you! Loved these mini-reviews! Have fun!

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