Tysto Film Commentaries

Tweet Join me and my long-lost guest and Bond aficionado Martin (AKA Faldor) as we look deep into Daniel Craig’s last outing as James Bond. We compare the film to other spy films, the Fleming books, Knives Out, the work of Vladimir Putin, and other Bond films, which I struggle to remember, especially SPECTRE, despite … Continue reading No Time to Die →

Tweet And we’re back! Barely ten months after our last commentary, Jimmy B and I dive right back in with another horror classic. This time, we examine the slasher flick that started it all (by ripping off Halloween). We get to the bottom of my distaste for horror movies (it’s really just a distaste for … Continue reading Friday the 13th (1980) →

Tweet Just in time to be a month late for Halloween, Jimmy B joins me to revisit the 1980s John Landis classic. It stars the Rick Baker & His Amazing Physical Effects, the Dr Pepper guy, and That Guy From The Madonna Movie Your Sister liked, plus Jenny Agutter. We compare this to An American … Continue reading An American Werewolf in London →

Tweet Join Drew and me for yet another rollicking adventure with all your favorite characters from all the Star Wars movies–because THEY ARE ALL HERE. How? Visions, dreams, memories, ancient magic, cloning, holograms, borrowed footage, deleted scenes, computer trickery, or some combination of the above. We praise… well… some things. C3P0 jokes? Daisy Ridley? I … Continue reading Star Wars 9: The Rise of Skywalker →

Tweet Join Jimmy B as he joins me to revisit one of the great family movies of all time. This has been a long time coming, because my original commentary was a complete mess of nonsense. We unabashedly adore it and praise nearly every aspect. This is one in my pantheon of nearly perfect movies. … Continue reading The Princess Bride →

Tweet Merry Christmas to all (again)! Happy holidays to those who don’t celebrate Christmas! Jimmy B is back to help me get off my duff and talk about another film. This time, it’s Joe Dante’s tale of Christmas cheer and mayhem (Well, Chris Columbus’s tale, really). We talk about the effects, the acting, the fake … Continue reading Gremlins (1984) →

Merry Christmas to all! Happy holidays to those who don't celebrate Christmas! A solemn welcome to those who don't care for Muppets! Jimmy B is back for a look at one of his--and now my--favorite Muppet films. My-cocaine is Scrooge and Kermit is Bob Cratchit. Statler and Waldorf are ghosts. And the songs are middling but listenable. We compare this extensively to the original novella by Charles Damn Dickens Himself, as well as to other Muppet movies and probably Shakespeare and Steel Magnolias.

Join Mehul and me as we are joined by Drew to have a trio look at Solo: A Star Wars Story, in which Chewbacca the wookiee befriends a bedraggled Imperial army deserter and coaches him along life's rocky road, full of disappointments and betrayals. We compare it to other Star Wars films, the books, the cartoons, the video games, Willow, Guardians of the Galaxy, Game of Thrones, Avatar, Thor: Ragnarok, The Hunger Games, Serenity, Grand Theft Auto, Marvel universe films, and The Other Side of the Wind. We decide that it is Good and Unnecessary and fail to make any Cheers or marijuana jokes despite the presence of Woody Harrelson.

Join Mehul and me for a revisiting of the undaptation of Robert A Heinlein's Starship Troopers. We try to figure out which parts came from the book and which parts were original to the screenplay that had little to do with the book. We notice that it's kind of two movies in one and neither one is much of an actual story. We compare it to other Paul Verhoeven movies, Aliens, Full Metal Jacket, Philip K Dick adaptations, the 19th century British Navy, World War 2 movies, World War 2 itself, and Melrose Place. We praise the effects and action (by which me mean a bit of the old ultraviolence). Mehul waxes poetical about the music. I wax poetical about Dina Meyer. (I'm still available, Dina!)

Join me as I am joined by Olly to SLAM EVIL with the oddly still watchable comic book movie from 1990s. No, not The Rocketeer. No, not The Shadow. No, not Dick Tracy. Yes: The Phantom! We argue over the cowl and discuss other costume matters. We praise the cast and, especially, the amazing art direction and cinematography, and the seaplanes... but not necessarily the overall mise-en-scene. A certain actor comes in for criticism as well as some of the stunts. We agree the film lacks a certain punch despite having many punches and that it could nevertheless have done with a sequel, but not with those box office numbers. We compare it to its contemporary comic book movies, the new crop of comic book movies, romantic comedies, James Bond movies, Indiana Jones movies, Frazier, Due South, and Monkey Island video games.

Join Drew and me for a rollicking adventure following all your favorite characters from The Force Awakens (except the one who died) where they... uh... try to escape the First Order and try to get Luke to return to civilization, and ride some llama-dogs at a racetrack, and some of them eventually meet for the first time... What is this movie about? I guess we praise the acting and set design and dialog but sort of not? We compare it to Phantom Menace and Harry Potter.

Join John Pavlich of Sofa Dogs as I join him and Jimmy B to talk about The Long Kiss Goodnight. It's a Shane Black thriller about mommies and memories set at Christmas, so it's perfect for April of 2018, AKA the Year With No Spring.

Join John Pavlich of Sofa Dogs as I join him to talk about The Truman Show. We love the film and praise nearly every aspect of it. I regard it as a nearly perfect film and try to rewrite it as a comedy. We muse about the different levels of meaning, whether or not Truman is crazy (John: it's not paranoia if they're really out to get you; me: oh he's nuts) and why a TV studio with its own ocean doesn't have any working boats. We wax poetical about the art design, writing, and cast, if not the acting (me vs Laura Linney; John vs Jim Carey). It's a great film that speaks to us personally. After all: all the world's a stage and all the people merely players. You can tell people I said that. I don't think anyone has made that observation before. We hardly say word one about director Peter Weir, so here it is: he's great.

Join John Pavlich of Sofa Dogs as I join him to talk about Groundhog Day. We praise the acting, the plotting, and the locations. We compare it to Edge of Tomorrow, Goethe's Faust, Scrooged, and falling in love. I explain my head canon that makes it all work for me. And we try to decide what would make it better in general.

Olly and I overcome communications issues, swap bodies, and have a look at the final episode of Star Trek! We discuss Shatner's acting, the challenge of doing a body swap episode, the likelihood of fooling the bridge officers, the fact that Spock never met a mutiny he didn't like, and much, much more.

Join Mehul and me as we again explore the vastness of space and decide whether or not getting mean texts constitutes "contact". We compare it to 2001, 2002, 2003, etc., Contact, Alien, The Abyss, Leviathan, Deepstar 6, submarine movies, Seaquest DSV, Star Trek's "The Tholian Web", and Rocky 5*. We discuss and praise the cast, the miniatures, and cinematography. We mock the slow burn, the Russian tech, and the politics. We suss out the motivations of everyone except the monolith. We try to figure out how gravity works. And we try to decide if Roy Scheider is a love interest.

Faldor is back! We sit down for a look at Edgar Wright's new flick about the heartwarming romance between boy and his iPod and also a girl he kind of likes, but maybe not LIKE likes, 'cause he's not gonna get all mushy or anything. We compare it to other Edgar Wright films, crime pictures of the '60s and '70s, Reservoir Dogs, Ant-Man, Highlander, James Bond films, John Wick, Layer Cake, Highlander, Harry Potter, Where Eagles Dare, Captain America: Winter Soldier, Oedipus Rex, The Omen, and, of course, the first in the series: Baby's Day Out. Martin (Faldor is just a code-name he tells everyone) recommends the Ford Ka as a getaway car. We recast Doc. We disbelieve that any adult was a toddler when iPods came out. We try to figure out the timeline of the third act. We try to figure out why Kevin Spacey bothers to pack up his tiny car collection. And we try to figure out why Bats has bats tattooed on his neck (theory: everyone likes bats).

Olly and I reestablish contact after slipping thru a rift in the fabric of space-time and a debilitating bout of space madness to talk about "The Tholian Web"! Oh those punctual Tholians cause no end of vexation while Spock tries to catch Kirk on the next swing around the ol' space carousel (or whatever. Honestly, i have no idea what's causing this). It's great fun seeing Spock in charge and endlessly put upon, and it makes wonderful use of the whole cast; even Nurse Chapel! I suggest we could have a whole series of this stuff. Olly insults Chekov, as usual. I suggest the Tholians might be teenage girls in disguise. Olly defends the sparkly spacesuits. It's a haunted house! Kirk-light! It's Shakespearean!

Join Mehul and me as we explore the vastness of space and discover it full of character actors! We contemplate the nature of the universe, discuss alien life and intelligence, talk about the film's influence on our culture and movies, and generally have a very good time with this slow, contemplative, visual feast of a film. Altho we discuss what we think could have made it better, and altho I don't say it, I consider this to be a nearly perfect film. But is it entertaining...? Eeeee, maybe not as much as it could be.

Tweet Olly is back, and this time we’re discussing the distressing idea of incompetent clowns taking charge of a country. Will they be able to make Fredonia great again? Will they Frexit? We compare it to other Marx Brothers movies—with and without Zeppo—commedia dell’arte, the Muppets, Bugs Bunny, MASH, Blazing Saddles, and Monty Python and … Continue reading Duck Soup (1933) →