Across the Movie Aisle

Pretty spicy episode this week, as we dive into how much trouble folks should be in simply for emailing associates of Jeffrey Epstein back in 2003. Then we review Emerald Fennell’s new adaptation of Wuthering Heights. Or “adaptation” of “Wuthering Heights,” as the studio insists we refer to it as. Make sure to swing by Thursday for our bonus episode on The Odyssey Book Club! And if you live in Michigan, make sure to check out our guy Jake VK’s movie, which is playing at Cinema Carousel in Muskegon, MI, on February 27 and 28 and March 1. It’ll be fun! 

On this week’s episode, we kicked things off by discussing Michael Schulman’s piece on efforts to use evil for good. (That is: use AI to “recreate” Orson Welles’s cut of The Magnificent Ambersons.) Then we reviewed Send Help, the new one from Sam Raimi. It’s fun and mean and meanly funny. Make sure to swing by Thursday, because we’re going to be talking about drinking and watching movies, two of our favorite things. And if you enjoyed this episode, share it with a friend!

On this week’s episode, the gang discusses Rose Horowitch’s piece in the Atlantic on film students who can’t watch films. (Goddamn kids, get off my lawn and into a movie theater.) Then they review the first two episode of the new Game of Thrones spinoff, Knight of the Seven Kingdoms. A GOT sitcom? What is this world coming to? (Something delightful, apparently.) You’re going to want to listen to Thursday’s episode on Melania, I think. And if you enjoyed this episode, please share it with a friend!

On this week’s episode we played Will-Slash-Should. It’s a fun game! Then we reviewed The Rip, a movie that is possibly about stealing from Netflix. Maybe. Fun episode this week, kind of silly as we were all getting a little stir crazy by the time we taped. All fun and no play, well, you’ll have to see what the bonus episode has to say about that.

On this week’s episode, we say farewell to Kathleen Kennedy, who had a … checkered tenure as the head of Lucasfilm. Then we review 28 Years Later: The Bone Temple. It’s like 28 Years Later, but with more flaying and stoner comedy antics. (Seriously.) Make sure to swing by Thursday for even more zombie chatter! And if you enjoyed this episode, hit that like button and restack this post to your friends! 

It’s one of our favorite episodes of the year: Our top ten! Jampacked as always and extra-length as always, we bring you our top tens in this (very long) episode. Hope you enjoy! Leave your favorites of the year in the comments or in the chat!

On this week’s episode, Sonny, Peter, and Alyssa break down why Mubi’s fans are mad at Mubi and how silly it is that some of them have chosen to champion Tubi instead. (You can read the story discussed here.) Then they take turns reviewing Die My Love, Sentimental Value, and It Was Just an Accident. (Links take you to the JustWatch pages for all those films, which will help you find where to stream them on VOD.) As always, there will be some spoiler talk about those movies, so please don’t yell at us if you come across plot points without having seen the films!Make sure to check out the chat. Leave a comment! 

Hope everyone had a merry Christmas and/or a happy holidays! On this week’s episode, we pick the biggest stories of the year and/or the biggest stories of the year to come. Then we review Marty Supreme, a guy who is charming and/or a borderline sociopath. Make sure to swing by the Substack for our bonus episode on Hamnet, a movie that’s unbreably sad and/or unbearable. And if you enjoyed this episode, please share it with a friend!

On this week’s episode, we discussed YouTube’s acquisition of the Academy Awards starting in 2029 and why it might not be quite as disastrous as everyone is making it out to be. Then we reviewed Avatar: Fire and Ash, a movie that has approximately 498% more Spider than anyone could possibly want. But at least it still looks pretty great!  As a reminder: If you’re a paying member, you can set up a private RSS feed through Substack to get ad-free episodes delivered right to your preferred app. If you’re not a paying member, you can always sign up for the show on the service of your choice. We’re on Apple, we’re on Spotify, we’re on Amazon. We’re everywhere, baby. Check us out. On Thursday, we’ll have a bonus Christmas episode. I’ll let my description of it in the episode speak for itself. Share THIS episode with a friend who is doing some Christmas traveling, they’ll really appreciate it!

Just a quick programming note, combining emails so as not to kill your inbox: On Tuesday of next week we’ll be discussing Avatar: Fire and Ash.  Sad news this week about the death of Rob Reiner. We weren’t quite sure what to do so we just talked for 20 minutes. Hopefully it helps. This bonus bonus episode is open to all because we didn’t feel right putting it behind a paywall. If you enjoyed it, please share it with a friend?

Before we start, we just wanted to say how shocked and saddened we all are by the news of Rob Reiner’s death. Sonny wrote an obit here; if you’d like, the chat is open for subscribers to discuss here. The news broke literally as we were taping this, so we couldn’t work it into this week’s episode, but we plan on taping an extra podcast at some point this week to discuss his life and legacy. Stay tuned for that. --- We’re trying something new with this week’s episode: We have a special guest for cons and nons! The Entertainment Strategy Guy is here to break down what he loves and what he hates about the pending Netflix-WB deal. It makes sense for Netflix … but is it good for the industry as a whole? We break it down for your today.  And then Peter, Alyssa, and Sonny break down the latest Benoit Blanc adventure: Wake Up Dead Man: A Knives Out Mystery. Yes, it’s a murder-mystery, but it feels as though Rian Johnson is finally trying to do something a little deeper than settle petty political grievances.  Make sure to swing by Thursday for our bonus episode on ensemble movies. And stay safe out there. It was a weird weekend.

On this week’s episode, Sonny, Peter, and Alyssa look at another side of the Netflix/WB deal, namely what will happen to HBO and WB’s more experiential events. Then they review Netflix’s big awards season play, Jay Kelly. A movie about movies: will this help Netflix win that Oscar trophy they’ve been chasing? Make sure to swing by the Substack page on Thursday for our bonus episode on Quentin Tarantino’s Kill Bill: The Whole Bloody Affair and his idiosyncratic top 20 list. And if you enjoyed this episode, please share it with a friend! 

On this week’s episode, Sonny, Peter, and Alyssa discuss James Cameron’s interview with Matt Belloni and his take on the state of the industry. (You can listen to part one of that interview here and part two here.) Then they discuss Guillermo del Toro’s new adaptation of Frankenstein. It’s a beautiful movie, lovingly crafted and exquisitely designed … yet one that undercuts the point of the book through the characterization of the monster and a performance by Jacob Elordi that occasionally feels as though it’s channeling a classic Ben Stiller character. If you enjoyed this episode, please share it with a friend! Sharing is caring, as they say.

On this week’s episode, Sonny, Peter, and Alyssa highlight all the problems with the potential buyers of Warner Bros. Then they review Wicked: For Good, a movie that fails on nearly every conceivable level. (Or maybe it doesn’t, make your case in the comments!) Make sure to swing by the site on FRIDAY, not Thursday (Happy Thanksgiving!) for our bonus episode/gift guide. Speaking of gifts: Treat yourself to something nice from the Dashery Store, we’re doing a Black Friday sale! And if you enjoyed this episode, please share it with a friend, you’re our best source of new listeners and we need more listeners!

On this week’s episode, Sonny, Peter, and Alyssa discuss “The Anti-Cosmetic Surgery Essay Every Woman Should Read” and what it says about our own movie-centered discourse. Then they review The Running Man, Edgar Wright’s new adaptation of Stephen King’s story of a world gone mad. Make sure to swing by this-here website on Thursday for our bonus episode on whether movie stars can save movie theaters. And if you enjoyed this episode, make sure to share it with a friend!

On this week’s episode, Sonny, Peter, and Alyssa debate the merits of an AI actress. Then they review Predator: Badlands, which is either a good action-comedy or a bad Predator movie. Maybe both. Who can say. We can say! On Thursday, we’re going to be revisiting the original Predator, which is streaming on Hulu and a bunch of other places. Watch it. It’s perfect! And if you enjoyed this episode, share it with a friend. We need those shares, people! 

On this week’s episode, Sonny, Peter, and Alyssa discuss what Taylor Sheridan’s decision to leave Paramount+ for Peacock means for the streaming landscape. Then they review Bugonia, which joins Eddington, After the Hunt, and One Battle After Another as key texts for our cultural moment. If you enjoyed the episode, share it with a friend!  Also: If you need help setting up a private RSS feed so the episodes will go directly to your Apple (or other) app, let us know and we will walk you through it. It’s slightly tricky; you have to do it from the web, the app won’t let you. But we’ll help you out. 

On this week’s episode, Sonny, Peter, and Alyssa discuss the Ellison family’s (literal) trump card in its pursuit of Warner Bros.-Discovery. Then they review A House of Dynamite, Kathryn Bigelow’s star-studded nuclear panic movie for Netflix. Sweet dreams, kiddos! Make sure to swing by movieaisle.substack.com for our bonus episode on this genius and harrowing feature piece on a niche internet subculture that … well, you’re just going to need to read about them. It’s a trip. You are definitely going to want to watch that episode on Thursday. Sonny makes some faces. Buy some merch! Our Dashery store is “lit.” And if you enjoyed this episode, share it with a friend! 

A few housekeeping items: This episode is the first main episode that is available to our subscribers before anyone else.  We have merch! Just a couple items right now, more to come, hopefully. You can see the Dashery store here. Alyssa’s wearing the shirt on the show today! It looks like a movie ticket! Because movies! BUY ONE TODAY. OK, the episode itself. We discussed AMC finally granting Netflix some space in their multiplexes. Is this glasnost between the world’s biggest streamer and the world’s biggest theater chain? What comes after? Then we discussed After the Hunt, Luca Guadagnino’s post-MeToo cinematic provocation … albeit one with a purpose. This movie’s getting hammered by critics but … not by us. Probably because it’s a good conversation starter and we love having conversations!  If you enjoyed this episode, please share it with a friend! Evangelizing the show is the best way to help it grow and make sure it continues!

This is a tease of the bonus episodes on Thursdays! They have video too over at the Substack! MovieAisle.substack.com. Go sign up!  On this week’s special bonus episode, you get video, you get audio, you get it all. You get everything. (I’m still tinkering with the Riverside video editing software but … it’s pretty good? Just need to figure out how to incorporate clips and the such. Maybe next week you’ll get the intro and outro music the audio episodes have.)