Movies That Make Us

It’s November and with Movies that Make Us, that means it's Nicolas Cage November. This week, we talk about one of the most talked about Nicolas Cage movies and that is Face/Off.Face/Off is a John Woo Directed film starring Nicolas Cage and John Travolta. The premise is that John Travolta's Character, Sean Archer, needs to infiltrate a prison that his nemesis Castor Troy was in, to get information from Castor's brother about a bomb that Troy set up. Archer is a cop and thinks that Troy is dead and exchanges faces with him. Yes, faces.... e acting of these two actors being each other is a fun watch and we discuss the impact in this episode. What are your thoughts on the film? Next week, we are releasing National Treasure for our next movie in Nicolas Cage November.Did you miss the video premier of this episode? Be sure to subscribe to our YouTube channel, and then click the little bell to receive notifications when we add a new video or go live.You can also follow our Facebook page so you can receive notificat

It’s October and Movies that Make Us is taking a look at classic Universal Monster movies. This week, we visit Transylvania and discuss the 1931 classic Dracula played by Bela Lugosi.This is the first official version of the Dracula story written by Bram Stoker, Nosferatu came out in 1922, but wasn’t officially adapted with permission. It’s a story well known, but it’s fun to look back at the film that started it all. Beautiful use of matte paintings and set design at Universal Studio lot along with strong lighting/cinematography make this a standout. Bela Lugosi brings menace, seduction, and mystery in his iconic performance. What are your thoughts on the film? Next week, we are releasing the round table discussion we had at FanX 2021 since Val is in Hawaii getting married. We’ll finish up October with our views on The Invisible Man.Did you miss the video premier of this episode? Be sure to subscribe to our YouTube channel, and then click the little bell to receive notifications when we add a new video

This week, the cast of Movies that Make Us kick of October with the first of our classic Universal Monster movies - The Creature from the Black Lagoon.The film is a 1954 black and white film that deals with a group of scientists attempting to find a humanoid creature that can live underwater in the rivers of the Amazon. It’s a shorter film, clocking in at 79 minutes, but has some great creature design, beautiful cinematography, and is quite a bit of fun.What are your thoughts on the film? Next week, we discuss the 1931 iconic film Dracula with Bela Lugosi.Did you miss the video premier of this episode? Be sure to subscribe to our YouTube channel, and then click the little bell to receive notifications when we add a new video or go live.You can also follow our Facebook page so you can receive notifications for new audio or video of our episodes. Sometimes we are are even live on Facebook, so you can give us feedback right then and there. It’s pretty sweet.As always, thank you for listening, and for now, we won

Welcome to the first Monday of October and it’s time for Staff Picks! Once again, Val, Jake, and Tracy select three films and we discuss and recommend them to you. This month we all selected films that are G rated.Tracy picked the 1973 Disney classic Robin Hood. It’s the retelling of the classic English tale of the scoundrel that robs from the rich to give to the poor. He also selected the Disney/Pixar film Ratatouille, and the 1982 cult classic The Last Unicorn.Val also selected Ratatouille because great minds think alike! She discussed the G film that many mommy bloggers want to be re-rated as PG, which is My Fair Lady. She also picked the 2008 Hayao Miyazaki film Ponyo about a goldfish princess that longs to become human.Jake selected the 1991 Disney classic Beauty and the Beast, the Dennis Quaid live action film The Rookie, and also selected a Miyazaki film in My Neighbor Totoro. The film centers on two young sisters who live in an old country house with their father and wait for their mother to recover f

On this very special episode of Movies That Make Us, we are coming to you live from FanX in Salt Lake! Okay, it was live at the time, but obviously recorded now. This was our big live panel at the convention, and we were glad to also welcome special guests Heather Price of Nerdy Bitches Podcast and Cheesy Bloomfield of Cheesy and Noel Go to Hell Podcast. In this panel we went on a deeper dive into some of the things that Black Widow covered and why this film was important in the MCU and maybe even in society as a whole. So join us at FanX- well, you know 10 days after FanX- for this special episode!What did you think of Black Widow? Did you attend FanX? Did Tracy say something you disagreed with? You can send all of that feedback to podcast@moviesthatmakeus.com. Did you miss the video premier of this episode? Be sure to subscribe to our YouTube channel, and then click the little bell to receive notifications when we add a new video or go live.You can also follow our Facebook page so you can receive

We’re halfway through our September to Remember here at Movies that Make Us and this week we are talking about the classic film The Princess Bride. This week, we’ll also be all over FanX, so please come say hi and hang out with us!This fantasy/family/comedy/action film is directed by Rob Reiner and was one of those keystone films for our childhoods. Princess Buttercup, Westley, Inigo Montoya, Fezzik, Miracle Max - so many great characters but the movie never feels overstuffed. We had a lot of fun revisiting this film and can’t wait to hear your feedback.What are your thoughts on the film?  As always, you can reach us at podcast@moviesthatmakeus.com. Did you miss the video premier of this episode? Be sure to subscribe to our YouTube channel, and then click the little bell to receive notifications when we add a new video or go live.You can also follow our Facebook page so you can receive notifications for new audio or video of our episodes. Sometimes we are even live on Facebook, so you can give us fe

Welcome to a September to Remember here at Movies that Make Us. With FanX just around the corner, we’re looking back at some of the classics of our generation and this week we discuss the 1984 film The Karate Kid.It’s the story of a teenage boy and his single mom who move from New Jersey to Reseda, California and his struggles to fit in, finding love, and overcoming the local bullies. He learns karate from Mr. Miyagi, but he also learns about patience, kindness, all while waxing cars, painting fences, and sanding the fences. What are your thoughts on the film? Next week, we continue with our September to Remember with The Princess Bride.  As always, you can reach us at podcast@moviesthatmakeus.com. Did you miss the video premier of this episode? Be sure to subscribe to our YouTube channel, and then click the little bell to receive notifications when we add a new video or go live.You can also follow our Facebook page so you can receive notifications for new audio or video of our episodes. Someti

Welcome to another episode of Movies that Make Us! This week we’re discussing a current film called CODA. This heartfelt story swept the juried prizes at the festival, winning the Directing Award, the Ensemble Award, the Grand Jury Prize, as well as CODA was purchased for $25 million by Apple and smashed the Sundance sales record just a year after Palm Springs did the same courtesy of HULU and Neon’s $20 million buy. From the film’s synopsis “Gifted with a voice that her parents cant hear, 17 year-old Ruby (Emilia Jones) is the sole hearing member of a deaf family - a CODA which means a Child of Deaf Adults. Her life revolves around serving as an interpreter for her fun-loving but sometimes embarrassing parents (Marlee Matlin, Troy Kotsur) and working on the family’s struggling fishing boat every day before school with her father and older brother (Daniel Durant). But when Ruby joins her high school’s choir club, she discovers a gift for singing and finds herself drawn to her duet partner Miles (Ferdia W

This week, the Movies that Make Us team got to gather together for anearly screening of the new Ryan Reynolds film Free Guy and we had somuch fun with the film, we had to talk about it on the show.Directed by Shawn Levy (Director of the Night at the Museum films, DateNight, and Real Steel) and starring Ryan Reynolds, Taika Watiti, JodieComer, and a host of cameos who we won’t spoil here. It’s set inside avideo game where a non-playable character gains self awareness andstruggles to break free from his programming. Warning: We do discussspoilers in this episode, so we highly suggest seeing it in the theatersbefore listening to this show. There are some great Easter Eggs andcameos that we don’t want to give away.What are your thoughts on the film? We were all pleasantly surprised andrecommend you see it with an audience at the theater.Did you miss the video premier of this episode? Be sure to subscribe to ourYouTube channel, and then click the little bell to receive notifications whenwe add a new video or go li

It’s Val’s birthday month and we’re talking about one her favorite modern films (and Jake and Tracy love it too) Spider-Man: Into the Spiderverse. The 2018 film introduced us to the idea of the multiverse and offered some new ideas and fresh characters in the Spider-Man universe.Strong visual animation helps tell the story of Miles Morales for the first time on the big screen, while the smart script introduces to other characters such as Spider-Gwen, Spider-Ham, and Spider-Man Noir. The Utah film Critics Association listed the film as their Best Picture of the Year and a sequel is in development. Next week, we’ll discuss the surprising Free Guy starring Ryan Reynolds, Taika Waititi, Jodie Comer about a non-playable character in a video game who games self awareness and strives to break free of his programming.Did you miss the video premier of this episode? Be sure to subscribe to our YouTube channel, and then click the little bell to receive notifications when we add a new video or go live.You can also f

Welcome to another episode of Movies that Make Us! It’s the start of a whole new month, so it’s time for Staff Picks. This time we wanted to talk about Soundtracks and Scores. Film scores were traditionally performed by orchestras, and many still are, but today a film score might feature all manner of sounds and instruments. A film soundtrack is more a selection of songs chosen to be featured in a film.Val selected Up from Disney/Pixar, Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse with its diverse hip-hop soundtrack, and Creed, one of her modern favorites. Tracy suggests the 2006 film The Fountain, went back to his childhood for Rocky 4, and the movie Garden State with Natalie Portman. Jake chose The Lord of the Rings trilogy composed by the great Howard Shore, Tom Hanks’ first directed film That Thing You Do, and The Wedding Singer.What are your thoughts on these picks? As always, you can reach us at podcast@moviesthatmakeus.com. Did you miss the video premier of this episode? Be sure to subscribe to our YouTube c

Welcome to another episode of Movies that Make Us! We’re wrapping up our “Reunited and it feels so good” month with a look back at the underappreciated film Muppets Take Manhattan.This is the third Muppets film and the first directed by someone other than Jim Henson. Henson was tired after filming The Great Muppet Caper and The Dark Crystal back to back, so he turned the director’s chair over to Frank Oz. Interesting fact, the film was originally going to feature cameos from Dustin Hoffman, Steve Martin, Michael Jackson, Laurence Olivier, Richard Pryor among others. Hoffman was going to play the role of a broadway producer (later played by Dabney Coleman) but dropped out at the last minute as he was afraid it would insult film producer Robert Evans (The Godfather) and dropped out resulting in all the cameos cancelling as well. Oz and his team had to rewrite most of the film’s dialogue right before filming as a result.What are your thoughts on the film? As always, you can reach us at podcast@moviesthatmakeus.c

Hi friends! This week, we are continuing our theme of “Reunited and it feels so good” with a film that is not only about bringing family back together, but is also bringing people back to the theaters in a big way: Black Widow.It’s a movie that fills in a lot of the background of Natasha Romanov, and Scarlett Johansson really gets a chance to step into lead role of her own film in the MCU. The film touches on some important social issues that are often overlooked, but brings the action and the humor that you expect from a Marvel movie. The question is, is it arriving too late? The other item we need to discuss is how Karl Urban ups his game and goes after Jake this time.What are your thoughts on the film? Next week, we are discussing the film The Muppets Take Manhattan.  As always, you can reach us at podcast@moviesthatmakeus.com. Did you miss the video premier of this episode? Be sure to subscribe to our YouTube channel, and then click the little bell to receive notifications when we add a new

Welcome to another episode of Movies that Make Us! We’re continuing our theme of “Reunited and it feels so good” with the underappreciated action film RED.This film stars Bruce Willis, Mary Louise-Parker, John Malkovich, Hellen Mirren, and Morgan Freeman. Willis is a “Retired and Extremely Dangerous” former CIA operative who is being hunted and he has to reach out to some old friends and even some foes to survive. Filled with plenty of action, humor, and just a sense of fun, we think you’ll enjoy this episode. Plus, you’ll find out about the epic grudge match between Val and Karl Urban. Trust us, you don’t want to miss this one.What are your thoughts on the film? As always, you can reach us at podcast@moviesthatmakeus.com. Did you miss the video premier of this episode? Be sure to subscribe to our YouTube channel, and then click the little bell to receive notifications when we add a new video or go live.You can also follow our Facebook page so you can receive notifications for new audio or video of our e

This week, the cast of Movies that Make Us start our run of movies about gathering together (since we are able to record in person again!) and Val’s selection is The First Wives Club.The 1996 film is based on the novel of the same name stars Bette Midler, Goldie Hawn, and Diane Keaton, The film covers three divorcées who seek reparation for their ex-husbands who left them for younger women. The film was a surprise hit and reinvigorated the three actresses careers. What are your thoughts on the film? Next week, Jake selected the film 2010 Red starring Bruce Willis, Morgan Freeman, John Malkovich, and Helen Mirren.Did you miss the video premier of this episode? Be sure to subscribe to our YouTube channel, and then click the little bell to receive notifications when we add a new video or go live.You can also follow our Facebook page so you can receive notifications for new audio or video of our episodes. Sometimes we are are even live on Facebook, so you can give us feedback right then and there. It’s

Staff picks are back for Movies that Make Us and we recorded together for the first time since Covid hit back in March 2020 and we couldn’t be more excited. We recorded over at Watchtower Coffee and Comics in Salt Lake City and had a wonderful time. For July, we each selected three films from the Western Genre.Tracy recommends checking out the 1903 film The Great Train Robbery to see one of the earliest narrative films and it was made just a few years from the old west itself. His next pick is Stagecoach starring John Wayne and directed by John Ford. His last selection is True Grit directed by the Coen brothers starring Hailee Steifeld, Jeff Bridges, Matt Damon, and Josh Brolin.Val suggests you watch Tombstone, the classic Val Kilmer film. 3:10 to Yuma, the 2007 version with Christian Bale and Russel Crowe. Finally she suggests the Magnificent Seven (2016) starring Denzel Washington, Chris Pratt, Ethan Hawke, and Peter Sarsgaard. Last, but certainly not least was Jake’s selection of Big Jake (1971) starr

This week, the cast of Movies that Make Us take on what is arguably the greatest film ever made, Citizen Kane. Since it was recently dethroned by Paddington 2 as having the best rating on RottenTomatoes.com, we decided to travel back to 1941 and see if Orson Welles’ film stands the test of time.The film explores the life of Charles Foster Kane through the lenses of those who knew him, those that loved him, and those that hated him. It’s the story of a young man’s quest for love, power, and respect who reaches dazzling heights and then has a tragic downfall. Citizen Kane set so many precedents in cinematography, editing, acting, and is still very relevant to life in the modern era. What are your thoughts on the film? Have you seen it before? Do you appreciate its significance? Next week, the cast is reuniting for the first time post Covid, and we’re bringing our staff picks to the underappreciated genre of Western films. Then through July, we are talking about movies that reunite us, about gathering toget

Welcome to another episode of Movies that Make Us! We’re giving you a two for one deal today as we talk about the movies Paddington and Paddington 2. The sequel made news recently when it overtook Citizen Kane for the best reviewed movie on RottenTomatoes.com and since Jake and Tracy had never seen the film, we wanted to see what all the fuss was about. These are delightful films that really do work for the whole family. There’s plenty of cute scenes for the young ones, and plenty of humor and emotional sequences for the adults. It even has great co-stars of Nicole Kidman, Hugh Grant, and Peter Capaldi. What are your thoughts on the film? As always, you can reach us at podcast@moviesthatmakeus.com. Did you miss the video premier of this episode? Be sure to subscribe to our YouTube channel, and then click the little bell to receive notifications when we add a new video or go live. You can also follow our Facebook page so you can receive notifications for new audio or video of our episodes.

On this week’s episode of Movies That Make Us, Jake and Tracy re-visit an old favorite of Tracy’s- Clifford. No, not the big red dog. This is the movie about the 10 year old named Clifford played by the then 40 year old Martin Short. Yep. You won’t want to miss this one.What did you think of Clifford? Should there be a Creed 3? Did Tracy say something you disagreed with? You can send all of that feedback to podcast@moviesthatmakeus.com. Did you miss the video premier of this episode? Be sure to subscribe to our YouTube channel, and then click the little bell to receive notifications when we add a new video or go live.You can also follow our Facebook page so you can receive notifications for new audio or video of our episodes. Sometimes we are even live on Facebook, so you can give us feedback right then and there. It’s pretty sweet.As always, thank you for listening, and for now, we won’t see you at the movies…  See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

On this episode of Movies That Make Us, the team went live for Utah Remote-Con 2 and talked about a favorite movie- Creed. What did you think of Creed? Should there be a Creed 3? Did Tracy say something you disagreed with? You can send all of that feedback to podcast@moviesthatmakeus.com. Did you miss the video premier of this episode? Be sure to subscribe to our YouTube channel, and then click the little bell to receive notifications when we add a new video or go live.You can also follow our Facebook page so you can receive notifications for new audio or video of our episodes. Sometimes we are even live on Facebook, so you can give us feedback right then and there. It’s pretty sweet.As always, thank you for listening, and for now, we won’t see you at the movies…  See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.