Explorez tous les épisodes du podcast To the '90s and Beyond! Film Podcast

Rufus Sewell stars as John Murdoch, who wakes up one day with amnesia in an non-descript hotel room with a butchered woman, immediately having to go on the run as the prime suspect in a series of murders of prostitutes around the city -- but he can't remember if he did it.  In addition to the police force, Murdoch is also hotly pursued by a shifty psychologist named Dr. Shreber (Kiefer Sutherland), a tenacious detective, Frank Bumstead (WIlliam Hurt), a woman claiming to be his philandering wife, Emma (Jennifer Connelly), and a spate of pale and creepy-looking, trenchcoated Nosferatus (or so they appear), who are looking for Murdoch because he seems to possess abilities above and beyond what normal men have, which makes him a danger to them.  As Murdoch seeks to get to the bottom of who he is and what's going on, he discovers that there's an even bigger mystery, which is who everyone else is, what kind of city they all reside in, why is it being controlled by these shady creatures who seem otherworldly, and just why does it always seem to be nighttime?

This Japanese remake of the 1997 Canadian thriller depicts several strangers awakening in a prison of cubic cells, some of them booby-trapped, not knowing how they got there or why. The prisoners must use their combined skills if they are to escape alive.

Activist Claire Dearing (Bryce Dallas Howard_ is still leading the Dinosaur Protection Group to break up illegal breeding operations. Claire's partner, Owen Grady (Chris Pratt), captures and relocates stray dinos before they're slaughtered by poachers. They live in a cabin in the Sierra Nevadas with 14-year-old experimental human clone Maisie Lockwood (Isabella Sermon), raised as their surrogate daughter in secret to protect her from exploitation. The velociraptor raised by Owen, Blue, lives in the nearby woods with her asexually created younger hatchling, dubbed Beta by Maisie. Maisie is unhappy in isolation and occasionally strays beyond her parents' border, ultimately getting captured by mercenaries, who also kidnap Beta. Meanwhile, genetically modified locusts begin consuming and destroying farm crops in America's heartland and will soon be a global threat. Paleobotanist Ellie Sattler (Laura Dern) discovers that crops from Biosyn seeds remain unaffected, suspecting foul play to monopolize the world's food market. She consults former paleontologist colleague and romantic partner Alan Grant (Sam Neill) for help. They discover that the locusts have been genetically modified using Cretaceous period DNA. Their detective work finds them joining forces with Claire and Owen to infiltrate Biosyn, where Ian Malcolm (Jeff Goldblum) is currently employed, to expose the greedy corporation's plans to the world.

Illumination Entertainment brings Dr. Seuss' beloved story to the modern age with 3D animation and the vocal talent of Benedict Cumberbatch. The Grinch hates Christmas and plans to thwart the festivities of the Christmas-loving denizens of nearby Whoville, but after donning the Santa Claus outfit to steal their presents away, has to confront the wishes of a young girl who needs Santa's help.

Mackenzie Foy stars as Clara, suffering through grief with her father and two siblings during their first holiday without her recently deceased mother, Marie.  Clara receives an enigmatic and ornate Christmas gift, the last from her mother, a metallic contraption shaped like an egg with an elaborate keyhole that came with no key that might fit accompanying it. She is despondent that she cannot open it without ruining it, and it causes her to be depressed during the big holiday gala put on by her godfather, Drosselmeyer (Morgan Freeman). who, it turns out, had created the egg for her mother.  During the events of the evening at Drosselmeyer's mansion, she follows a string that will lead to Drosselmeyer's own gift to her, way out from the party and into another dimension, to a mystical and magic-fueled world called the Four Realms.

BULLITT COUNTY is a small-scale dramatic thriller set in the late 1970s, where a bachelor party trip to Kentucky Bourbon country could prove lucrative when the quatrtet of friends decide to head off the beaten path to search for a cache of buried treasure on Bullitt family private property.  Written, directed and co-starring David McCracken, the film echoes bits and pieces of '70s character-driven thrillers mixed with more modern film-making takes from the likes of Tarantino and the Coen Brothers.

Jamie Lee Curtis returns as Laurie Strode in this sequel that ignores all others in the franchise after John Carpenter's 1978 original HALLOWEEN.  Michael Myers breaks from his prison existence to return to where it all started, in Haddonfield, IL, during Halloween. Esteemed filmmaker David Gordon Green directs and co-scripts this intriguing return to look at trauma-survivor Strode and the inevitability that predator and prey will once again battle it out for survival, even forty years later.

Keanu Reeves and Winona Ryder star as bickering travelers who just so happen to be going to the same destination: a wedding of her ex, and his half-brother, who neither of them particularly hopes is happy.  Two unhappy people surrounded by mirth leads to a toxic concoction of feelings, but the two unlucky lovers find a bond in their despair that may be just as strong as that of initial attraction.  "Mad About You" producer Victor Levin directs this anti-romantic comedy.

The Marvel Comics villain gets the antihero treatment in this Spiderman-less origin story filled with grotesque body horror and lots of crazy CGI-infused action.  Tom Hardy stars as reporter Eddie Brock, who finds himself the host of an alien symbiote he discovers within a hi-tech laboratory he's investigating.  That alien needs live organs to feast upon, which means Eddie's if he can't find other things for "Venom", which is what the symbiote calls himself, to ravenously consume.  Michelle Williams stars as Brock's ex-fiance, and Riz Ahmed is the head of the corporate lab out to experiment on the living in order for humans to try to survive on other planets when this one is no longer, inevitably, inhabitable. Zombieland's Ruben Fleischer directs.

Set in a small town called New Zebedee, in Michigan during the mid 1950s, we follow the adventures of a ten-year-old orphan named Lewis Barnavelt, mourning the recent loss of his parents to a fatal car accident, staying in the rickety and seemingly haunted Victorian mansion of his uncle, Jonathan.  Jonathan is an eccentric warlock often visited by his neighbor, a witch named Mrs. Zimmerman, and the mansion he resides in is anything but mundane. A new home also means a new school for Lewis, who is immediately labeled as a square by his peers and subsequently picked on as he tries in vain to make a friend.  School isn't the only place of learning for the boy, as Jonathan and Mrs. Zimmerman begin to teach him the ways of the warlocks, whose acts are spurred on by visions of his dead mother, while they mysteriously spend their time looking for a fabled clock hidden within the walls of the mansion.  Jack Black and Cate Blanchett co-star in this PG-rated film by Eli Roth.

Shane Black tries to do what no one has done thus far, and that's to make a good follow-up to John McTiernan's 1997 action classic, PREDATOR.  Here, the Predators are back searching for their old technology, and possibly taking over the Earth, having to confront a rag-tag group of disgrace military vets in their way.  Boyd Holdbrook, Olivia Munn, Thomas Jane, Keegan-Michael Key, Trevante Rhodes and Jacob Tremblay also appear.

John Cho stars as a widower father whose life gets turned upside down when his teenage daughter goes missing.  As he goes online to search for clues to her whereabouts, he discovers that the close relationship he thought he had with her may not have been as tight-knit as he was led to believe.  Debra Messing co-stars as the missing-persons detective on the beat in this nifty thriller that sets all of its actions on the screens of a variety of computer devices.

Won't You Be My Neighbor? examines the life and work of Fred Rogers, aka Mr. Rogers, who was the creator and star of "Mister Rogers' Neighborhood" on public television (PBS) from the years 1968 to 2001. He invited children to come into his home, sing them a song, make them feel safe as he imparted life lessons, then whisked them off to the Land of Make-Believe to further explore metaphors of understanding before he saw them off to the rest of their day.  Rogers followed the career path to television as an alternative to pursing his Presbyterian ministry, primarily because he perceived that the level of silly and, to some degree, harmful entertainment that feeds the minds of youth on television was contributing to a culture of uncaring and self-centered youth who were seen as only vessels to toward whom to sell consumer products.  Rogers felt that television could also be used as a medium in which he could do the most good if he were to use it as an educational and inspirational tool, especially in entertainment that he felt would best shape the minds of future generations to come.

This 5th entry in the Jurassic franchise sets the story following the closure of Jurassic World, where its dormant volcano, Mt. Sibo, has become active, threatening all life on Isla Nublar. Humankind debates whether the clone dinosaurs should be saved or return to extinction. Claire Dearing (Bryce Dallas Howard) has become a conservationist advocate for the Dinosaur Protection Group, feeling an overwhelming responsibility to save the dinos she once considered merely a commodity.  After John Hammond's billionaire associate Benjamin Lockwood (James Cromwell) is on his deathbed, his assistant, Eli Mills (Rafe Spall), pitches a plan to Claire to fund the relocation of the dinosaurs from Isla Nublar to a sanctuary island. Claire gathers a team including velociraptor whisperer Owen Grady (Chris Pratt), super-hacker Franklin Webb (Justice Smith), and paleo-veterinarian Zia Rodriguez (Daniela Pineda). The team is stunned to discover find mercenaries on the island gathering dinosaurs to bring to the mainland for greedy, nefarious purposes.

In this puppet/human effort directed by Brian Henson, son of Muppets creator Jim Henson, Bill Barretta voices the top puppet character known as disgraced burnout Los Angeles-based private investigator Phil Phillips, who has to get to the bottom of a series of murders among the stars of a decades-old television show with a puppet cast of actors called, “The Happytime Gang”.  Melissa McCarthy gets the top human role, playing police detective Connie Edwards, Phil’s former, now estranged, partner in crime-fighting from his days on the force, who joins in to reluctantly assist.  Even if the characters look like Muppets, it's a very raunchy, ultra-violent effort not meant for children.

RKSS return after their Turbo Kid to deliver yet another throwback to the 1980s in the mystery-suspense-horror flick, SUMMER OF 84.  A quartet of boys go out in search of a serial killer of teenage boys (just like them) that they feel could be the cop that lives in their very own neighborhood, and seek to find the evidence needed to bring him to justice.  The further they go out, however, the more exposed they are to becoming the next victim in their manhunt.  

Constance Wu stars as Rachel Chu, who essentially serves as our best surrogate for the story, the daughter of a single Chinese immigrant mother, who rose above her station to become a professor of Economics at NYU.  Her current boyfriend is a man names Nick Young (played by Henry Golding), who, for over a year since they’ve been dating, has never divulged to her that his family back home in Singapore is insanely wealthy.  The cat has to be let out of the bag, however, when Nick asks Rachel to attend the wedding of his best friend in Singapore, where he also plans to pop a question of his own after she meets the family.  However, Nick’s stern mother, Eleanor, disapproves of trying to pursue what one wants in life independent of the family wishes, so Rachel’s pursuit of her own career, and Nick pursuit of love beyond his class, ruffles more than a few feathers among his family, friends, and the rest of the rich and famous they socialize among.  John M. Chu directs, with supporting roles for Michelle Yeoh, Awkwafina, and Ken Jeong

Mila Kunis and Kate McKinnon star in this buddy comedy about two best friends who end up embroiled in a spy assassin plot when some terrorists come looking for them for information that Kunis' most recent boyfriend, who she didn't know was a secret agent, may have in his possessions.  Laughs, thrills, and action are promised, but does it deliver?

A big shark and Jason Statham are the big draws to THE MEG, in which a rescue team of humans must try to survive, and eventually take on, a prehistoric shark of gargantuan proportions that threatens everyone off of the coast of China.  Jon Turteltaub directs this PG-13 action-horror hybrid that some compare to the JAWS and JURASSIC PARK series, or, at least, its low-aiming sequels.

Denzel Washington returns to exact some brutal vigilante justice on the predators of the world in this follow-up to the 2014 hit, the first sequel in the veteran actor's long and varied career. In this one, he seeks to avenge the murder of one of his old friends from his black ops days, only to find that he has to battle with forces that may outgun him at every turn.  Melissa Leo co-stars in Antoine Fuqua's intense actioner.

The sixth film in the franchise sees Ethan Hunt trying to recover some plutonium before it gets employed by a ruthless anarchist terrorist group out to shake up the world order through detonating these bombs in the the world's most revered religious meccas. Tom Cruise gives hit his all, amid a fine supporting cast and some of the best technical crew in the business.  ROGUE NATION's Christopher McQuarrie returns to deliver one of the most satisfying entries in the series and one of the best action films of the year.

The fourth film in the Purge series is a prequel to the other three, as The First Purge shifts directors to Gerard McMurray, though retaining James DeMonaco's services as screenwriter.  This one showcases the trial run' experiment that led to the Purge, as the alt-right government seeks to cure societal ills by finding a way to eradicate crime throughout most of the year, mostly by sweeping house and trying to get rid of the nation's poor.  Social commentary abounds in this franchise that is sometimes marketed, and perhaps mis-marketed, as a horror series.

Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson stars in this high-rise thriller, playing a security consultant for the Pearl, the world's largest building in Hong Kong, set to open to the public soon.  While in the mostly empty building, it gets taken over by terrorist out to steal money from its billionaire owner, and to pin the blame on Johnson, who is staying there with his family.  Now he has to clear his name, rescue his family, and save a building from being destroyed, all single-handedly.  Neve Campbell co-stars in this film written and directed by Rawson Marshall Thurber.  

Ant-Man's second foray in his own Marvel Cinematic Universe film isn't quite a solo adventure, as now he has a partner in Hope, who dons a high-powered suit as The Wasp.  They're out to save her mother from the Quantum Realm, where she's been presumed missing for the last thirty years.  Unfortunately, Scott Lang, aka Ant-Man, is under house arrest and not quite able to get out and join in on the quest easily.  Meanwhile, a bevy of parties are out to steal the hi-tech suits before they can come into play.  Peyton Reed returns to direct Paul Rudd, Evangeline Lilly and Michael Douglas, along with newcomers in Laurence Fishburne and Michelle Pfeiffer.

Siblings Gray (Ty Simpkins) and Zach (Nick Robinson) are sent on vacation to visit their Aunt Claire (Bryce Dallas Howard), who is the manager of operations at the Costa Rica island resort known as Jurassic World, a tourist attraction funded by mega-billionaire named Simon Masrani (Irrfan Khan) that takes its basic idea from the original Jurassic Park but seeks to do the formula right (i.e., more profitably). In addition to the assortment of dinosaurs, the corporation is looking into creating their own hybrid dinos through experiments in genetic engineering that are sure to draw in even more interested visitors year after year.  Their biggest creation is the Indominus Rex, a creation that splices the T. Rex DNA with a hodge-podge of other predators of various strengths, that just might be the most deadly creature that has ever roamed the Earth.  (I suppose it's not a good sign that 'indominus' is Latin for 'untamable'.) Navy vet Owen Grady (Chris Pratt) is a behavioral research consultant and talent trainer at the facility, looking into the ability of these dinosaurs to learn from human instruction, and he's especially made progress at whispering to velociraptors, which may prove to be a much-needed thing now that Indominus Rex has gotten out of its cage and is prepared to hunt and kill whatever it can on the island, which ultimately could mean the slaughter of 20,000 visitors trapped in the theme park. Colin Trevorrow directs.

Acclaimed director J.A. Bayona takes over the reins of this lucrative franchise with JURASSIC WORLD: FALLEN KINGDOM, the follow-up to 2015's biggest box-office smash.  Chris Pratt and Bryce Dallas Howard reprise their roles, this time having to figure out if the dinosaurs on Isla Nublar should be saved, or if the active volcano that's in full flow should course correct their existence back to extinction.  A wealthy benefactor wants to put them into sanctuary, but someone in his organization sees a bigger opportunity to keep these dinos alive by selling them to the highest bidders around the world.

First-time feature film director Ari Aster makes a splash in this thoughtful and well-acted blend of family melodrama and supernatural horror.  Toni Collette's performance anchors this tale of a mother trying to cope with the loss of her own manipulative mother, and a couple of teenage kids who seem to be losing their way in the death's wake.

11 years after we last saw the Ocean's gang pull down a big heist, we have Danny Ocean's sister, Debbie (Sandra Bullock), freshly out of prison and ready to hatch a new plan to get herself and her fellow female partners in crime millions by lifting a one-of-a-kind diamond necklace worth over $150 million.  Steven Soderbergh steps into the producer chair in this Gary Ross-helmed attempt to recapture the magic of the prior trilogy.

Ron Howard directs this spin-off prequel, showing us how the iconic reluctant hero Han Solo went from his lowly existence on the planet Corellia to becoming one of the best smugglers int he galaxy. Alden Ehrenreich, Amelia Clark, Donald Glover and Woody Harrelson star in this big budget space adventure.

Ryan Reynolds returns as the mer with a mouth, this time trying to mature into potential fatherhod, with DEADPOOL 2, the follow-up to 2016's surprise smash hit. This one introduces Josh Brolin as Cable and the pulling together of their mutant super-team, X-Force, as Wade Wilson seeks to stop the wrath of a vengeful, troubled teen about to go on a killing spree.

Steven Spielberg adapts Ernest Cline's best-selling novel about a future in which many, if not most, of the world escape into a massive multiplayer online game known as the OASIS. The creator of the OASIS has passed away, but as a final act, promises to bestow upon the first finder of three hidden keys the actual "keys to the kingdom" with full ownership of the wildly popular virtual realm.

Alicia VIkander takes the starring role in this reboot of a film series that once famously starred Angelina Jolie, TOMB RAIDER, based on the wildly popular video game. Unlike most other films based on games, this one tries for a more traditional approach to its storyline, and with a cast that includes a couple of Oscar-winning actresses, does it break the game-to-film curse?

This follow-up to the off-the-wall Gullermo del Toro kaiju flick sees more emphasis on action and effects with less overhead. Kaiju are gone but something is causing the new drone Jaegers to go amiss. Does new director Steven DeKnight do justice to the original?

Ava DuVernay gets her first crack at a big-budget adventure, and the results have been wildly mixed among critics and fans alike. Storm Reid, Oprah Winfrey, Reese Witherspoon, Mindy Kaling and Chris Pine star in this extravagant romp through space and time for one tween in search of her long-lost father.

Duncan Jones tries to course correct after the disappointing WARCRAFT with the passion project he has been wanting to make since before his smash debut feature, MOON. MUTE is a futuristic noir starring Alexander Skarsgard, a mute nartender searching for his missing girlfriend amid the seedy underbelly of Berlin in 2052. Paul Rudd and Justin Theroux play the wisecracking baddies that just might have the answers he is seeking, if he can survive long enough to crack the mystery.

Jurassic Park III starts off with a man and a young boy that go paragliding only to have a forced crash landing on the island of Isla Sorna, the infamous second Jurassic Park island.  The boy's parents, played by William H. Macy and Tea Leoni, travel to the island in hopes of rescuing their son, dragging along Dr. Alan Grant (Sam Neill, from the first film), who is none too happy about being thrown among the ruthless predators again.  Golly gee, you don't think their plane might crash causing them to have to deal with dino-angst for 90 minutes, do you? Joe Johnston directs.

Alex Garland follows up EX MACHINA with another heady science fiction exploration of the human condition, this time showing us how we either must fight or adapt to change, and how adverse conditions may result in us destroying ourselves in the process of that fight. Natalie Portman and Oscar Isaac star.

From the pages of Marvel Comics comes Black Panther, directed by the very skilled Ryan Coogler, starring Chadwick Boseman as T'Challa. The MCU continues its roll in delivering a quality entertainment, this time with more to think about beyond the run time than usual blockbuster fare.

The third and final film in the FIFTY SHADES trilogy sees the much anticipated marriage of Anastasia Steele to mega-billionaire Christian Grey, while they overcome trust issues, the question of children, and a psycho maniac hell-bent on revenge.

At last, the Justice league puts together Superman, Batman, Wonder Woman, Aquaman, The Flash (and Cyborg) into one film. Is it worth all the hype?

Frances McDormand shines in this potent dark comedy from Martin McDonagh, playing a grieving mother who goads the local police force to action when they haven't found any leads to her daughter's grisly death. Woody Harrelson and Sam Rockwell support.

Saoirse Ronan stars in Greta Gerwig's splash solo directorial effort that takes from her own life as a teen in Sacramento, in LADY BIRD, one of the best teen comedies to come out in many years. Laurie Metcalf is fantastic as the mother who has trouble letting her 'lady bird' fly from the nest.

Taika Waititi takes over the reins of the Thor segment of the MCU and employs lots of his trademark humor, resulting in perhaps the funniest of the Marvel films to date. Thor, Hulk, and lots of surprises add up to a wild and funny ride.

John Cena voices the titular bull who would rather sniff flowers than fight against matadors. Blue Sky Studios offers another colorful animated adventure for younger viewers. Based on the children's book by Munro Leaf.

Rian Johnson takes over the reins of the venerable franchise. Does he hit a new height, or is this progressing the wrong direction? Fans are debating, and I offer my take here.

Guillermo del Toro returns to the dark fairy tale genre in this story about an unlikely relationship that develops between a mute janitor and a strange creature that is part man and part fish.

It's four years later, and the chief creator of Jurassic Park sends an expedition of four people to check on "Site B", a secret place where the dinosaurs were developed and which now sports dinosaurs roaming free. The quartet is supposed to document the goings-on, but soon discover they will not be alone on the island, as the creator's nephew envisions Jurassic Parks across America and wants to capture some dinos to exploit for profit. Jeff Goldblum, Julianne Moore, and Vince Vaughn star. Directed by Steven Spielberg.

Taking a look at Pixar's latest big film, Coco, which incorporates the Dia de los Muertos tradition into yet another heartwarming family tale.

This true story begins at the onset of World War II when, within days of becoming Prime Minister of Great Britain, Winston Churchill has to face one of his most critical of trials: contemplating a peace treaty with Nazi Germany, or standing firm to fight for the principles, independence, and free will of a nation. As the seemingly insurmountable Nazi forces trample through Western Europe and invasion appears imminent, and with a nervous public, a wavering King, and his own party conspiring against him, Winston Churchill must find the self-resolve to inspire a nation, and to attempt to alter the course of world events.

A podcast review of Denis Villenueve's continuation of Ridley Scott's 1982 science fiction masterpiece.