Matt's Movie Lodgecast

To mark the 30th anniversary of The Crow (1994) and commemorate the passing of Brandon Lee, director Rupert Sanders made his own version of The Crow and called it The Crow (2024). There are existential moments in Lodgecast history where we ask, "What are we doing?" and seeing The Crow (2024) in IMAX was one of those moments. The Crow (2024) stars a tatted-up Bill Skarsgard as The Crow with his girlfriend, played by FKA Twigs. It got bad reviews and did bad box office and was just all around bad, bad, bad. So in our generosity, we've decided to drop this goth bomb on you!

Despite Bischke’s strong objections, we finally covered the vampiric ballerina splatterfest ABIGAIL. But don’t worry, he’s already exacted his revenge…and then some!

We explore the wild universe of the Alien franchise as we confront its latest installment Alien: Romulus (2024) directed by Fede Alvarez. We briefly talk about Alien (1979), Aliens (1986), Alien 3 (1992), Alien Resurrection (1997), AVP (2004), AVP:R (2007), Prometheus (2012), and Alien: Covenant (2017) before we ascend the sacred Burbank 16 steps to watch this movie in IMAX. We were pleasantly surprised at this interquel, which takes place between Alien (1979) and Aliens (1986). It stars a younger group of actors this time including Cailee Spaeny, David Jonsson, Archie Renaux, Isabela Merced, Spike Fearn, and Aileen Wu. Facehuggers and chestbursters abound! But let Ian Holm rest in peace!

The day after Election Day, the Lodgecast tried to shake off the post-election blues by watching Robert Zemeckis's new film Here starring Forrest Gump and Jenny (Tom Hanks and Robin Wright). Zemeckis has had quite a run on the Lodgecast with three films: the Lodgecast classic Welcome to Marwen (2018), the remake of The Witches (2020), and Holy Smokeo himself, live-action Pinocchio (2022). Here (2024) looked to be another wild Zemeckis film-in-the-making, all taking place in one room, in one house over the course of decades. Actually millions of years as the film starts with dinosaurs, eventually leading to Native Americans, and then a role for Benjamin Franklin's illegitimate son William. It's based on the 2014 graphic novel by Richard McGuire, with a screenplay by Zemeckis and Eric Roth. Most of the nonlinear story covers a post-World War II family and the ups and downs of their lives from the late 1940s to the early 2000s. Paul Bettany and Kelly Reilly play the parents of Tom Hanks and Robin Wright. Hanks

We recently witnessed Dennis Quaid as Ronald Reagan in the conservative biopic Reagan! This week it's Dennis Quaid in the gross-out body horror movie The Substance! Way back in Episode Number 9 of the Lodgecast, we covered a little French revenge film called Revenge (2018) directed by Coralie Fargeat. This French film director has returned six years later to give us The Substance (2024). The movie stars Demi Moore, Margaret Qualley, and Dennis Quaid. As we'll say in this episode, if you have the stomach to watch this body horror movie, then watch it first before you listen to all the spoilers in this episode.

Happy Halloween! In our last political-related Lodgecast for quite a while we take on Ali Abbasi's new horror comedy The Apprentice. It's a horror comedy because it is the origin story of American psychopath Donald J. Trump. Sebastian Stan stars as Trump, with Jeremy Strong as Trump's mentor Roy Cohn and Maria Bakalova as Ivana Trump. Over the course of the film, which covers about 1973-1987, we see Trump devolve from an aspiring real-estate mogul to the pathologically narcissistic, vindictive psychopath we know today. Join us in our election anxiety episode as we try to laugh at the man who has spent the last nine years destroying our country. This episode will be instantly dated so tune in today!

In a very special episode of the Lodgecast, we cover the new epic political biopic Reagan (2024)! For this hotly anticipated film, we took a little Lodgecast field trip to do some research. You'll hear all about it in this episode. In the movie Reagan (2024), Dennis Quaid stars as President Ronald Reagan alongside Penelope Ann Miller as Nancy Reagan. The rest of the cast is stacked, including Jon Voight, C. Thomas Howell, Kevin Dillon, Mena Suvari, Robert Davi, Xander Berkeley, Pat Boone, Kevin Sorbo, and most importantly, Creed's Scott Stapp as Frank Sinatra. The film was directed by Sean McNamara who has quite the filmography. It's an epic Lodgecast about an epic movie covering an epic President. This is Reagan!

Reverend David A.R. White returns for a fifth installment of the God's Not Dead film series entitled God's Not Dead: In God We Trust. We caught a Fathom Event screening of this during the one week it was playing. It delivered on its promise of being the most political in the series, with David A.R. White running for Congress against the villainous secular congressman Peter Kane (Ray Wise). Scott Baio stars as Kane's even more villainous right-hand man. Isaiah Washington reprises his role as Congressman Daryl Smith. Dean Cain, Mike Huckabee, and the Newsboys also show up. The movie dares to ask "Is God dead in American politics?" Spoiler: David A.R. White wins the election and God is Not Dead! Will David A.R. White rise to the presidency and become the Antichrist in God's Not Dead 6? Only time will tell!

Ever had a taxi ride that changed your entire life? Well that's Daddio! In this unique film, Dakota Johnson gets in a cab with taxi driver Sean Penn. Over the course of their journey from JFK International Airport to her apartment in Manhattan, they have a 100-minute conversation about life, love, loss, sex, power, and much more. Daddio was written and directed by Christy Hall. Dakota Johnson plays Girlie and Sean Penn plays Clark, also known as Daddio!

Francis Ford Coppola, you madman! Coppola spent $120 million of his own money to finance his new epic science fiction dramedy Megalopolis, and we just witnessed it in IMAX on Discount Nite! Folks, if you live by a theater that is playing this movie, it does deserve to be seen on the big screen. It is a sight to behold printed on Salad Dragon skin celluloid. An uncompromising, ambitious vision that will certainly draw a wide variety of reactions as it did for us. The cast is stacked with Adam Driver as Cesar Catilina, Giancarlo Esposito as Mayor Franklyn Cicero, Nathalie Emmanuel as Julia Cicero, Aubrey Plaza as Wow Platinum, Jon Voight as Hamilton Crassus III, Laurence Fishburne as Fundi Romaine, Talia Shire as Constance Crassus Catilina, Jason Schwartzman as Jason Zanderz, Grace VanderWaal as Vesta Sweetwater, D.B. Sweeney as Commissioner Stanley Hart, and Dustin Hoffman as Nush "The Fixer" Berman. It was 50 years in the making, and at 85 years young Coppola has taken us to Megalopolis. See it BIG!

Saleka Night Shyamalan makes her film debut in M. Night Shyamalan's Trap! Saleka is M. Night's daughter in real life, but in the movie, she plays fictional popstar Lady Raven. Her concert is attended by serial killer Josh Hartnett and his daughter played by Ariel Donoghue. Hayley Mills of The Parent Trap (1961) fame is trying to track down Hartnett and trap him at the concert. It's another head-scratching psychological thriller from master of suspense M. Night Shyamalan.

We faced the alt right Borat head-on...so youuuuu don't have tooooo!

Director Ti West completes his X trilogy with his new movie MaXXXine. Mia Goth is back as Maxine Minx from the film X (2022). This time she is an aspiring actress in 1980s Hollywood seeking to put her adult film career behind her. Meanwhile, a killer known as the Night Stalker is roaming around Hollywood killing people and threatening Maxine. The film also stars Elizabeth Debicki, Moses Sumney, Michelle Monaghan, Bobby Cannavale, Halsey, Lily Collins, Giancarlo Esposito, and Kevin Bacon. The film seems like it could be a sleazy 80s slasher slam dunk for Mr. Ti West, but does he succeed? Tune into this hawt take to hear our reaction.

One of the most talked about horror movies of the year is Longlegs. This hyped horror movie is from director Oz Perkins, who directed Gretel & Hansel, which we covered back in Movie Lodgecast Number 84. In Longlegs, Maika Monroe plays an FBI agent who must track down a serial killer, who might be played by Nicolas Cage. The movie also stars Blair Underwood and Alicia Witt. This horror movie has produced much debate, including on this podcast as opinions were decidedly mixed. Join us as we dissect Longlegs!

J.Lo's fascinating year continues! After covering This Is Me...Now: A Love Story, we were curious to see what she was up to in her Netflix sci-fi action movie Atlas. Jennifer Lopez plays Atlas Shepherd, who learns to stop worrying and love artificial intelligence in the year 2071. She takes control of a giant mech robot and befriends the onboard AI named Smith. The movie also stars Simu Liu, Sterling K. Brown, and Mark Strong.

It's a box office bomb losing over $100 million and scoring an abysmal 10% on Rotten Tomatoes currently. The movie is Borderlands, starring multi-Academy Award-winner Cate Blanchett as Lilith and her team of misfits in this sci-fi action comedy based on the video game series. The movie was shot in Hungary during the COVID-19 pandemic by director Eli Roth with reshoots by Tim Miller to give it a PG-13 rating. It finally dropped into theaters here in August and it's a disaster-piece that we had to cover. The impressive cast includes Kevin Hart, Edgar Ramirez, Ariana Greenblatt, Florian Munteanu, Gina Gershon, Jamie Lee Curtis, and Jack Black as the obnoxious voice of Claptrap. Don't ever see this movie, but maybe hear what we witnessed. This is Borderlands.

Russell Crowe is back again with his clerical collar fighting demons! A little over a year after The Pope's Exorcist (2023) was released, a new movie called The Exorcism has been released directed by Joshua John Miller. Joshua John Miller is the son of Jason Miller who played Father Damien Karras in the 1973 horror film The Exorcist! Joshua John Miller was also a child actor who starred in movies like River's Edge, Near Dark, Class of 1999, and Teen Witch. In his directorial debut The Exorcism (2024), Joshua John Miller directs Russell Crowe as Anthony Miller, an actor with a deteriorating mental state who melts down as he's working on an exorcism horror movie. The film also stars Ryan Simpkins, Sam Worthington, Chloe Bailey, Adam Goldberg, Adrian Pasdar, and David Hyde Pierce. Will it live up to the dizzying heights of The Pope's Exorcist? We will let you know!

At age 79, Aussie director George Miller has released the lively Furiosa: A Mad Max Saga. This film comes out almost a decade after the highly regarded Mad Max: Fury Road (2015). It is a prequel to Fury Road starring Alyla Browne and Anya Taylor-Joy as young versions of the character Furiosa. Chris Hemsworth plays the villain Dementus, and there's a whole bunch of other demented characters that inhabit this post-apocalyptic wasteland. The film unfortunately bombed, and we'll discuss why, along with giving our review of this expensive action film!

The movie event of the summer has arrived! We saw Twisters in 4DX with motion-seats, wind, spraying water, vibration, smoke, and strobe lights! On a packed discount night at the Regal North Hollywood, Twisters proved to be the perfect 4DX movie that rocked our worlds for two solid hours. After sharing our recently rediscovered love for Jan de Bont's Twister (1996), we headed into the Pepsi 4DX with large Pepsis in hand. From the opening tornado scene, we knew we were in trouble. Twisters is directed by Lee Isaac Chung and stars Daisy Edgar-Jones, Glen Powell, Anthony Ramos, Brandon Perea, Maura Tierney, and Sasha Lane. Deadpool & Wolverine unfortunately kicked Twisters out of 4DX, but if you somehow get a chance to see it in 4DX, DO IT! And if you feel it, chase it! We got twins!!

Forty years after the film Beverly Hills Cop (1984), Detroit police detective Axel Foley (Eddie Murphy) returns for the fourth installment in the Beverly Hills Cop film series. After being burned by Eddie's legacy sequel Coming 2 America (2021), we were cautious about Beverly Hills Cop: Axel F. We share our love for Eddie in the opening, along with Harold Faltermeyer, who composed the great "Axel F" theme song. This movie was released on Netflix, where it quickly rose to the most-watched film. Many older actors returned for this one, including Judge Reinhold, John Ashton, Paul Reiser, and Bronson Pinchot as Serge. The film also stars Joseph Gordon-Levitt, Kevin Bacon, and Taylour Paige as Axel's daughter. The film is directed by first-time director Mark Molloy. We tried to bring some love and light to this one!