Matt's Movie Lodgecast

We're back! After successful vaccinations, a group of us climbed the hallowed steps of the AMC Burbank 16 to see the new Mortal Kombat! First we entered The Edge and recounted our history with the Mortal Kombat media franchise. Then we ascended to the Dolby Cinema and the joy enveloped us as we reclined into our reserved seats to take in the cutting-edge image and sound technologies. It was nothing less than movie magic. Had we died and gone to heaven? We will give you the full emotional experience for our first trip back into movie theaters in over one year!

The highly anticipated abortion movie called Roe v. Wade has been on our radar for a long time. After a hilarious teaser trailer was released in 2018, we waited three long years before it was finally released on VOD. Roe v. Wade is produced, written, directed, and stars a man named Nick Loeb, who we'll tell you everything we know about in this Lodgecast. The film also features a conservative ensemble cast including Jon Voight, Stacey Dash, Robert Davi, and a bunch of other cameos we won't spoil here. Roe v. Wade also showcases stars of yesteryear such as Professor Joey Lawrence, Jamie Kennedy, and Steve Guttenberg! This is a very special and controversial Lodgecast episode that you're not gonna wanna miss. The truth about the Roe v. Wade movie comes out today!

We have reached Episode Number 100! We wanted to make it extra special so we timed it out to coincide with the highly anticipated Coming to America sequel. Coming 2 America dropped onto Amazon Prime in March and the world tuned in to see what was happening in Zamunda. We also scored an extra special first time guest named Brother Eric who many Lodgers know and love. So plug in those ear buds to hear an all star episode covering an all star cast including Eddie Murphy, Arsenio Hall, Jermaine Fowler, Leslie Jones, Tracy Morgan, KiKi Layne, Shari Headley, Teyana Taylor, Wesley Snipes, and James Earl Jones. Thanks for joining us for the first 100 Lodgecast episodes! Onward and upward! Love, Light, and Lodgers!

GODZILLA VERSUS KONG!!! Who will win?! Many Lodgers call into the Lodgecast Hawt Line and weigh in on who the big winner will be. It was a closely split vote but one monster did emerge the winner of our poll. We watched this epic monster battle on opening night on HBO Max. And there was a winner in the movie, which we won't spoil here, but we do spoil on the Lodgecast. Alongside our two CG monsters, there is a big cast of stars including Alexander Skarsgard, Millie Bobby Brown, Rebecca Hall, Brian Tyree Henry, Shun Oguri, Eiza Gonzalez, Julian Dennison, Lance Reddick, Kyle Chandler, and Demian Bichir. We'll let you know what we thought of this fight and so much more in our 99th Lodgecast episode!

Celebrate Hollywood and the movies as the Lodgecast presents our Oscar Extravaganza & 2020 Movie Favorites! Host Brother Bischke leads a hard-charging examination of the Academy Award nominations as five prestigious Lodge members lay down their picks for what should win and what will win in twenty Oscar categories in a little over 30 minutes! Then it's on to the very serious business of picking our 2020 movie favorites as we all count down from #10 to #1 of our very favorite films of 2020. Some Lodgecast movies make the cut of our best films, but there are many surprises. Have a listen and let us know what you think!

Listen to our new Hawt Take and take in our brand new Hawt Take Theme Song sung by Sister Jessee!! Have you seen the new hidden camera comedy movie called Bad Trip? A lot of people have watched this movie on Netflix. The film features best buddies Eric Andre and Lil Rel Howery going on a road trip in pursuit of Eric's high school crush played by Michaela Conlin. Lil Rel Howery's criminal sister is played by Tiffany Haddish who is chasing them throughout their road trip from Florida to New York City. Along the road trip they encounter real people and pull off outlandish pranks with hidden cameras for some hilarious results. Watch this real movie on Netflix tonight!

"Get a girl, I'll get a boy! One plus one!" Time to explore the controversial film debut of Australian singer, songwriter, and director Sia! Her film Music was released to much derision for its portrayal of autism. We'll get into that and so much more with our review of Sia's Music starring Kate Hudson as Zu, Maddie Ziegler as Music, Leslie Odom Jr. as Ebo, and Hector Elizondo as George. This musical drama features songs from Sia's studio album Music which she wrote for the soundtrack. According to Rotten Tomatoes, critics and audiences hated, hated, hated this movie! We'll let you know what we thought in this dangerous Lodgecast episode.

Blink and you might've missed it! A new unique film called Bliss starring Owen Wilson and Salma Hayek arrived on Amazon Prime in February. The film's trailer gave away way too much but also led to us determining that it was definitely Lodgecast-worthy. We won't spoil anything in this write up, but we will give away everything in this Lodgecast, including all the psychotic twists and turns that this movie makes. Writer/director Mike Cahill was seemingly given total freedom to do whatever he wanted. He even got to cast Bill Nye the Science Guy and Slovenian philosopher Slavoj Zizek. Strap into your Brain Box and join us for a podcast episode of ecstasy and Bliss! Wow!

Listen to our new Hawt Take and take in our brand new Hawt Take Theme Song sung by Sister Jessee!! This week we examine the pitch-black comedy I Care a Lot starring Rosamund Pike and directed by J Blakeson. It's a nasty little movie that has been garnering critical praise and even earned Rosamund a Golden Globe! We'll let you know if it lives up to the hype as it attempts to skewer "late-stage capitalism". The movie also stars Peter Dinklage, Eiza Gonzalez, Chris Messina, Macon Blair, Alicia Witt, Damian Young, Isiah Whitlock Jr., and the great Dianne Wiest. I Care a Lot is sitting up on Netflix for all you 200 million global Netflix subscribers to watch!

In one of the most divided episodes we've ever had, the Lodgecast takes on Barb and Star Go to Vista Del Mar! We've always said comedy is subjective, but Barb and Star have taken that to a whole new level! Either we witnessed one of the funniest comedies in recent memory, or we witnessed a film as bad as the worst Adam Sandler comedies. Kristen Wiig and Annie Mumolo are Barb and Star in this highly controversial comedy, also featuring Jamie Dornan, Damon Wayans Jr., and Andy Garcia as Tommy Bahama. In the film two best friends from Nebraska travel to Florida on vacation only to become caught up in a villain's plot. Either you love it or you hate it!

To celebrate the Lodgecast surviving one year of being locked down, we watched an HBO Max Original movie called Locked Down! The movie is directed by Doug Liman (Swingers) and written by Steven Knight (Serenity) and stars Anne Hathaway and Chiwetel Ejiofor. With all this talent, we thought it might have something to offer! Written, financed, and filmed entirely during the COVID-19 pandemic, the movie featured an abundance of Zoom conversations and pandemic-related humor and drama. It also showcased a whole bunch of cameos including Stephen Merchant, Mindy Kaling, Lucy Boynton, Mark Gatiss, Claes Bang, Ben Stiller, and Ben Kingsley. While this romantic comedy heist film tested the resolve of the Lodgecast, we are all better people for seeing it!

An Amazon Original Movie called Nocturne came out a while back. The schnapps is "An incredibly gifted pianist makes a Faustian bargain to overtake her older sister at a prestigious institution for classical musicians." Writer/director Zu Quirke conducts this symphony starring Sydney Sweeney, Madison Iseman, Jacques Colimon, and Ivan Shaw. Three Lodgers perform their own trio of criticism, lyrically spinning a Lodgecast of love and light for your ears. We keep it short and sweet as we analyze this 90-minute movie available on Amazon Prime!

"You don't get it do you? Me and you. It's madness!" It sure is madness in this new film written, directed, produced, and starring Louise Linton. For those of you who don't know, Louise Linton is married to ex-U.S. Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin. Mnuchin is worth about $300 million and I'm sure a bundle of that money went into his wife's vanity project entitled Me You Madness. In this movie Louise plays a rich, narcissistic serial killer named Catherine Black who runs a hedge fund, lives in Malibu, and loves money, fashion, and 80s music. The Lodgecast takes a deep dive (perhaps too deep) into this criminally insane film. The 80s hits and salad dragons keep coming in this movie so sit back and enjoy the ride!

Lodgers didn't know how good they had it when they viewed Ad Astra for Episode 68 of the Lodgecast! George Clooney's The Midnight Sky continues in the tradition of what is being termed the "Sad Dadstra" genre of melancholic space movies. George Clooney directs and stars in this $100 million Netflix movie. Clooney is stuck with child actor Caoilinn Springall in the Arctic Circle as they try to tell space cadets near Jupiter not to come home because most of Earth has been wiped out. The space cadets are played by Felicity Jones, David Oyelowo, Tiffany Boone, Demian Bichir, and Kyle Chandler. The Lodgecast brings on a George Clooney expert to help us evaluate the man, his career, and his latest bewildering science fiction film. Why George, why!?

It's The Little Things. A new neo-noir crime thriller from boring writer/director John Lee Hancock. With an Oscar-winning cast in Denzel Washington, Rami Malek, and Jared Leto we were hoping for a little magic, but we'll let you know what we got. Denzel Washington & Rami Malek play the hard-charging detective duo trying to track down a serial killer that might be Jared Leto. Denzel & Rami mope around Los Angeles for two hours. Thomas Newman composed the sleepy score. Jared Leto somehow got Golden Globe nominated for this! The film can be watched on HBO Max, preferably while folding laundry.

After months and months of failed attempts to see Christopher Nolan's Tenet on the big screen, the Lodgecast finally settled for watching it in the comfort of our homes. The home viewing of this film allowed us to pause, rewind, and reflect on this mind-bending story of time travel and inverted entropy. We try our damndest to explain what we saw as the 150-minute spectacle unfolded. The movie stars John David Washington, Robert Pattinson, Elizabeth Debicki, Dimple Kapadia, Michael Caine, and Kenneth Branagh. It was photographed by the great Hoyte van Hoytema, with a wild score by Ludwig Goransson. When the lockdown ends we'll be returning to cinemas to see this one on the big screen!

Matt's Movie Lodgecast recommends you see the new movie Promising Young Woman. Writer/director Emerald Fennell has delivered a stunning debut feature with an all star cast lead by Carey Mulligan. Because the movie features so many dark twists and unexpected turns, we do our best to avoid spoilers on this one. The Lodgecast Boyz are joined by two amazing women on this 'cast as we do our best to cover this provocative, timely thriller. It's a rape revenge movie for the #MeToo moment that has to be contended with. The all star cast includes Bo Burnham, Alison Brie, Clancy Brown, Jennifer Coolidge, Laverne Cox, Connie Britton, Adam Brody, Alfred Molina, Molly Shannon, and Christopher Mintz-Plasse (AKA McLovin). Watch it!

Hey y'all! We watched this brand new Oscar bait movie about white trash called Hillbilly Elegy. It's directed by Ron Howard and was meant to win all the awards, but it ain't gonna win nothin'! We'll let you know why in this wild Lodgecast review. The movie is based on the completely unadaptable and overrated 2016 memoir by J.D. Vance. Little J.D. and his mama played by Amy Adams and his Mamaw played by Glenn Close all reach for Oscar gold. Gabriel Basso, Haley Bennett, Freida Pinto, Bo Hopkins, and Owen Asztalos also star.

Prestige season continues with the 97% Fresh, critically acclaimed movie Sound of Metal. Riz Ahmed gives an Oscar nominated performance. He hasn’t been nominated yet but he will be! Mark our words! Riz plays a drummer in a metal band who loses his hearing and struggles to deal with this new reality. Through the power of sound design the movie takes us into his world. This movie will be nominated for Best Sound Mixing! Mark our words! We’ll break down all the sights and sounds this movie delivered in our latest locked down Hawt Take! The movie also stars Olivia Cooke, Paul Raci, Lauren Ridloff, and Mathieu Amalric. Enjoy the Silence!

It is thyme to tell you about this little known movie called Wild Mountain Thyme. Long ago in a land called Ireland, John Patrick Shanley wrote and directed a movie based on his play about a very strange Irish family. Emily Blunt throws herself at her next door neighbor Jamie Dornan, who constantly refuses her. Then Jon Hamm throws himself at Emily Blunt. It's all very lyrical and magical and whimsical and we can't wait to tell you the full tale. Also the movie stars an Irish-accented Christopher Walken!!