Talkie Talk #141: Watchlist / What to Watch

Talkie Talk
Talkie Talk
Talkie Talk #141: Watchlist / What to Watch
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TJ and Chris went a little nuts and watched too many movies. They talk about them. All of them. Chris’s in depth look at Princess Switch definitely deserves a listen. Buckle up!

Editor’s Note: Apologies to Chris Pine for saying John Krasinski is in Spider-Man: Into the Spider Verse. Your name is easier to say and you deserve better. 

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TJ/Chris: Crime and Punishment (2:00), Shirkers (3:00), Minding the Gap (5:00), The Guilty (9:45), Searching (13:00), You Were Never Really Here (15:35), Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom (20:35), Princess Switch (22:18), The Night Comes for Us (22:23), Dumplin (22:08), Mowgli (24:28), Spider-Man: Into the Spider Verse (27:13), Mirai (34:39), Ralph Breaks the Internet (36:27), The Favourite (40:30), Tully (47:41), Crazy Rich Asians (50:25), 22 July (52:51), Green Book (56:45), The Cakemaker (57:30), Super Smash Brothers Ultimate (1:03:20) 

What to Watch: (1:06:25)

Warning: Some mild language. Some language is picante.

> Intro theme courtesy of The Willow Walkers
> Outro song “Extemporaneous  Birth” courtesy of Boo Reefa 

State of the Race: Nominations from the Golden Globes, SAG Awards, and Annie Awards

The Awards season for December has pretty much wrapped up. We don’t have much going on until the Producer’s Guild Awards in early January. We have seen nominations from several groups, here’s what you need to remember…

Golden Globes – the nominations don’t mean anything in relation to the Oscars. The Golden Globes are held by the Hollywood Foreign Press Association and the HFPA like being wined and dined. The actual awards ceremony itself is a better thing to keep an eye on. You can start to get a feel of how people accept awards which might earn them votes moving into March. 

SAG Awards – This is *pretty much* the same group that will be nominating the four acting categories for the Academy Awards. Hands down the best predictor for those specific categories. The SAG version of Best Picture is Best Cast in  Motion Picture. This actually carries some weight when it comes to predicting Best Picture. The Actors Guild is the largest percentage of the Academy, and since Best Picture is nominated by all members, one could reason that the five nominees from the SAG awards should be considered strongly for the Best Picture Oscar race.

Annie Awards – The animated film awards.

“Is it those four movies and one of five other ones?”

Yes….yes it is.

So what about this year?

Well, if you want to look for yourself…

SAG Awards 
Golden Globes
Annie Awards

But here’s five thoughts, why 5 you ask? Because 5 is the magic movie number don’t you know?

1. Black Panther – it’s getting a Best Picture nomination…I think. Black Panther is performing very well early on in Awards season. It’s got the Golden Globe nomination (the popular vote) and the SAG and National Board of Review nomination (the snobby vote). Watch out for Crazy Rich Asians as well. 

2. John David Washington – There’s a moment in BlacKkKlansman when Washington yells “Patrice!” and it sounds JUST LIKE HIS DAD. He’s performance so far this awards season is also reminiscent of Denzel. And honestly, it kind of came out of no where. Again, doubling up on the Golden Globes and Sag seems weird for an actor that was considered an underdog going into the season. JDDubs has vaulted himself into the Best Actor race. 

3. The Year of the Blunt – Mary Poppins Returns is the movie that has been appearing on more and more lists. Emily Blunt now has a Golden Globe nom and Sag nom to her credit. But maybe the most shocking thing is Emily Blunt’s nomination in the Supporting Actress category. Talkie Talkers praised her performance in A Quiet Place but the SAG Awards noticed as well. 

4.  Best Supporting Actor, Who’s Out? – There seems to be 6 solid picks here, and that’s just one too many (what’s the magic movie number?). Adam Driver (BlacKkKlansman), Mahershala Ali (Green Book), Timothee Chalamet (Beautiful Boy), Richard E. Grant (Can You Ever Forgive Me?), Sam Rockwell (Vice), and Sam Elliott (A Star is Born) all have legitimate shots to get nominated. My gut says to leave out Driver at the moment, but I wouldn’t bet money on it. 

5. Animated Picture, Who Gets In? – Incredibles 2, Isle of Dogs, Ralph Breaks the Internet, and Spider-Man all seem to be close to locks at this point. That leaves one space left. Mirai is the favorite of the foreign animated films. Smallfoot seems to be gaining momentum as well. Early Man got the fifth spot at the Annie Awards and with Aardman Animations (Wallace and Gromit) behing behind the film they know what it takes to take home a little gold man. 

Remember to check in to themediabyus.com regularly for updates on this year’s awards and subscribe to Talkie Talk for weekly State of the Race updates!

State of the Race: Gotham Awards, Independent Spirit Award Nominations, National Board of Review, and New York Film Critics

It’s not much, but it’s something! We are very close to Golden Globe nominations being announced, and while that particular ceremony isn’t a favorite of tMbU it does signal that we are deep in award season and Guilds and Academies are about to tell us what to watch to prep for Hollywood’s biggest night! Let’s take a quick look at what we’ve seen so far.

Best Picture Race: In a year where we don’t have Spotlight or Dunkirk (an early favorite) the awards so far have been all over the place. A Star is Born is still a favorite even though it’s only Best Picture hardware so far is a top 10 spot on the National Board of Review’s list. Green Book took down Best Feature Film for the NBoR and Roma got the award for the NY Film Critics Circle. The Rider wins at the Gothams, and that might be all they get for the season. I’m going to go ahead and say we can ink in A Star is Born, Green Book, and Roma for Best Picture nominations at the Academy Awards.

Underdog: What is going on with First Reformed? The movie had an icon behind the camera and over the script. Paul Schrader (writer for Taxi Driver, Raging Bull) made a beautifully shot film with a fantastic script. Ethan Hawke got wins from the Gothams and the NBoR along with a nomination from the Independent Spirit Awards.  This along with being named a top 10 film by the NBoR, and more importantly, winning Best Screenplay awards from NBoR, the Gothams, and the NYFCC (and a nomination from the ISAs) makes First Reformed a real threat to steal nominations in multiple categories when the Academy announces.

Regina King: If Beale Street Could Talk is the sophomore effort from Barry Jenkins who started his feature film career about as well as you can, directing Mahershala Ali to a Best Supporting Actor win with Moonlight at the Oscars and defeating La La Land for Best Picture. Regina King has a nom from the ISAs and was named Best Supporting Actress by the NBoR and the NYFCC. She could be running away with the award by Christmas.

Animation: Incredibles 2 seems to be the heavy favorite here, but with Ralph Breaks the Internet cleaning up commercially and critically, and Spider-Man: Into the Spider Verse getting a NYFCC win for animated feature, this race could be more fun that orignially thought.

Documentary: We’ve got a tiny sample size for an already impossible to predict category, but early on we have two things to look at: NBoR and NYFCC. Crime + Punishment took the award from the NBoR, but maybe more interestingly, Minding the Gap (available on Hulu and heavily recommended by tMbU author Brent) wins the NYFCC and earned a top 5 doc spot from the NBoR. It might be an early front runner if it can fend off RBG, Free Solo, and Won’t You Be My Neighbor.

Foreign Language: Another toughie for predictors, The NBoR agrees with tMbU’s Chris and gave The Guilty a top 5 foreign film spot, even though Cold War won the prize. Cold War also wins at the NYFCC making it an early favorite in a category where the favorite often misses out on the Academy Awards all together. This year, it would seem, these films are fighting for second. Alfonso Cuaron’s Roma is set to take down this category with authority.

Check in to themediabyus.com and subscribe to Talkie Talk for more award season updates and predictions as we finish out 2018!

Talkie Talk #138: Watchlist / Survivor / Breezy on the Streets / What to Watch

Talkie Talk
Talkie Talk
Talkie Talk #138: Watchlist / Survivor / Breezy on the Streets / What to Watch



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Brent, Chris, and TJ welcome a first-time guest to the show! Friend and Talkie Talk listener Chad joins the discussion. We’re just going to pretend he watched the entire Mission Impossible franchise and flew on the outside of a plane to Atlanta to participate.

> Direct podcast RSS feed: here! 
> Contact: email, Facebook (movies, TV, games), and Twitter!
> Check out The Media By Us Facebook Page too!
> Review us on iTunes, Google Play, or anywhere! 

Chris: The Guilty (1:49), Private Life (8:41), You Were Never Really Here (11:41), The Ballad of Buster Scruggs (14:55)

TJ: The Wizard of Oz (22:35)

Chad: Mission Impossible Franchise (26:55), The Nun (34:22)

Brent: Nanette (36:05), My Girlfriend’s Boyfriend (38:35), A Star is Born (40:55), Seven Samurai (45:50), Harakiri (49:25)

Reality Roundup: Survivor (53:45)

Breezy on the Streets: (1:04:00)

What to Watch: (1:06:35)

Warning: Some mild language. Some language is picante.

> Intro theme courtesy of The Willow Walkers
> Outro song “Extemporaneous  Birth” courtesy of Boo Reefa 

Talkie Talk #135: Watchlist / Reality Roundup / Breezy on the Streets

Talkie Talk
Talkie Talk
Talkie Talk #135: Watchlist / Reality Roundup / Breezy on the Streets



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TJ, Chris, and Brent discuss The Meg, Hotel Artemis, Full Metal Jacket, Red Dead Redemption 2, and Survivor! Brent also steals a hat. That Brent…

> Direct podcast RSS feed: here! 
> Contact: email, Facebook (movies, TV, games), and Twitter!
> Check out The Media By Us Facebook Page too!
> Review us on iTunes, Google Play, or anywhere! 

TJ: The Meg (1:10)

Chris: Hotel Artemis (9:41)

Brent: Along Came a Spider (16:20), The Beguiled (19:53), Full Metal Jacket (23:52), Halloween (29:35), The Big Lebowski (35:30), Red Dead Redemption 2 (45:00)

Reality Roundup: Survivor (37:43)

Breezy on the Streets: (47:12)

What to Watch: (56:47)

The eligible animated films for the Academy Awards can be found here.

The eligible documentary films for the Academy Awards can be found here.

Check out the trailers for Widows here.

Warning: Some mild language. Some language is picante.

> Intro theme courtesy of The Willow Walkers
> Outro song “Extemporaneous  Birth” courtesy of Boo Reefa 

The Meg (2018)

[currently available On Demand, iTunes, Amazon Prime Rental]
Director: Jon Turteltaub
Starring: Jason Statham, Bingbing Li, Rainn Wilson

Sometimes movies change the way you live your life. Think about how Blair Witch Project made you refuse camping trips for a few years. Or how Alien forced you to reconsider your life as an astronaut. Hell, The Shining gave me a fear of being alone in hotel hallways. Ladies and gentleman, you can add The Meg to that list. Then cross it off, rip that tiny peace of paper from the list, burn it, use the energy from the fire to charge your remote control and watch Dam Sharks, a film about sharks that use human bodies to create dams. I have not seen Dam Sharks, and therefore can’t endorse the movie, but I can confidently say it is better than The Meg.

Jason Statham and Bingbing Li in The Meg (credit: imdb)

The Meg is about a shark. The shark is big. Huge even. It swims around killing people for a while and then it is killed. The movie, however, realizes that it’s killed the only villain it’s got, so it decides to make more megs. Three to be exact. And they all die in a series of boring ways.

Now I know what you’re saying. “TJ, this movie was supposed to be dumb. You went in expecting Carrie and are upset because you got Scary Movie.” WRONG. This movie makes Piranha look like Citizen Kane. You see, Piranha knew what it was doing. It embraced the camp. The Meg tried to take itself seriously. They tried to give you Jaws Dreyfus, but failed, and instead you got Piranha Dreyfus. Piranha Dreyfus is fine if you know you’re watching a comedy, but if he’s just randomly inserted into a drama(?) it all feels lost. There’s no good one-liners. There’s no good laughs. And honestly I don’t even see where the laughs were supposed to be.

I was looking for pictures to use for this review and came across the following fun fact on IMDB. The last quote in the quotes section is the following:

Mac: “What’s that?”

1 of 4 found this interesting

That one sad person thought that quote was interesting. All it took was a “What’s that?” to make the guy watching The Meg think for a minute.

Continue reading “The Meg (2018)”

Talkie Talk #133: Watchlist / Reality Roundup / Breezy on the Streets

Talkie Talk
Talkie Talk
Talkie Talk #133: Watchlist / Reality Roundup / Breezy on the Streets



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TJ and Chris discuss a few horror films they’ve watched of late as well as  Bodyguard and Bohemian Rhapsody. Breezy on the Streets features Oscar talk as the season is underway! For us anyway…

> Direct podcast RSS feed: here! 
> Contact: email, Facebook (movies, TV, games), and Twitter!
> Check out The Media By Us Facebook Page too!
> Review us on iTunes, Google Play, or anywhere! 

TJ: Planet Terror (1:00), Bodyguard (25:34)

TJ and Chris: Carrie(4:40), Halloween(s) (12:05)

Chris: Jennifer’s Body (27:16), Ant-Man and Wasp (28:50), Bohemian Rhapsody (32:55), Making a Murderer Season 2 (37:10)

Reality Roundup: Survivor (40:07)

Breezy on the Streets: (50.37)

What to Watch: (55.07)

Best Foreign Language Film Submissions can be found here.

You can view the Fede Alvarez short film Ataque de Panico! here.

Warning: Some mild language. Some language is picante.

> Intro theme courtesy of The Willow Walkers
> Outro song “Extemporaneous  Birth” courtesy of Boo Reefa 

Talkie Talk #131: Kiss Kiss Bang Bang

Talkie Talk
Talkie Talk
Talkie Talk #131: Kiss Kiss Bang Bang



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The whole gang is here to discuss Kiss Kiss Bang Bang and mumble on about Robert Downey Jr. and Val Kilmer.

> Direct podcast RSS feed: here! 
> Contact: email, Facebook (movies, TV, games), and Twitter!
> Check out The Media By Us Facebook Page too!
> Review us on iTunes, Google Play, or anywhere! 

Warning: Some mild language. Some language is picante.

> Intro theme courtesy of The Willow Walkers
> Outro song “Extemporaneous  Birth” courtesy of Boo Reefa 

Talkie Talk Episode #122: 2018 So Far, Summer Movie Fun

Talkie Talk - The Media By Us Podcast
Talkie Talk - The Media By Us Podcast
Talkie Talk Episode #122: 2018 So Far, Summer Movie Fun



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TJ, Chris, and Brent look back at the first half(ish) of 2018 and talk about summer movies on this special episode of Talkie Talk!

> Direct podcast RSS feed: here! 
> Contact: email, Facebook (movies, TV, games), and Twitter!
> Check out The Media By Us Facebook Page too!
> Review us on iTunes, Google Play, or anywhere! 

Warning: Some mild language. Some language is picante.

> Intro theme courtesy of The Willow Walkers
> Outro song “Extemporaneous  Birth” courtesy of Boo Reefa 

Willow Walkers have an exciting, upcoming show! September 4 at Smith’s Olde Bar! Come see a great band and hang with your local Talkie Talkers!