Jason and the Movienauts – Details, episodes & analysis

The world of film fandom erupted into a small controversy recently when Criterion announced they'd be releasing a 40th anniversary boxset with 40 movies they selected. That got Jason, Bryant and Michelle talking: What would they include in their 40 movies in their boxset?

So the group decided to get together and debate their selections, and slowly but surely build a collection which we believe is pretty dang interesting.

Hear the results in the longest - but we think most fun - episode of Jason and the Movienauts episode so far!

Blaize is back with Jason to continue their look at the films of Paul Schrader, this time with perhaps Schrader's oddest career killing move.

In 2014 Schrader was contracted to deliver a "geezer teaser" action thriller with Nicolas Cage called Dying of the Light. But the film was taken away from Schrader and edited without his consent. So Schrader created his own take on Dying and posted it to torrent sites as Dark.

Are either of these films any good, or is this another example of the eternal oddball Schrader sabotaging his old career. Can the old man learn new tricks?

Answer: well, it's complicated!

Eric and Jason are back talking about the films of Masahiro Shinoda, this time discussing three films with bizarre emotional triangles of a sort: Our Marriage, Gonza the Spearman and The Petrified Forest.

The guys are surprised how emotionally satisfying Our Marriage is despite its brief 66-minute running length. The film captures a specific moment in Japanese history with a brilliant sort of all-encompassing eye... hopefully a listen to this pod will convince you to check out this vastly under-known film.

Which is not to say that Gonza and Forest are not excellent films. As Eric and Jason explore, they both are satisying in that particular sort of massive dark way Shinoda often delivers. Each is a fascinating, deep insight into human nature and well worth a listen and a watch.

Spider-Man and his amazing friends travel to Europe in the latest installment of the Spider-Man Sony/Marvel franchise. But does any of the plot make sense, and do people actually act in ways that any human would actually act? I guess you can tell from the episode title that Jason and Carlos didn't like the seemingly endless waves of dumbness included in this movie. Bummer!

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It doesn't get much better than watching one of the greatest actors in the world in two of his greatest films, so Keith and Jason loved chatting The Last Detail and Chinatown. Both movies don't just include brilliant performances by Nicholson and his supporting cast (especially the astonishing performance of Faye Dunaway in Chinatown) but also clockwork scripts by the great Robert Towne.

Join the guys as they explore what makes these movies great and why you really need to put Chinatown and The Last Detail on your watchlist..

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Carlos and Jason went into Avengers: Endgame with a sense of dread. The movie is very long, very embedded in MCU continuity, and very tangled. But you'll hear their surprise in this episode when they decide that Endgame was just about the right length, with some good character details and compelling endings to MCU subplots. Somehow, some way, this actually is a pretty good movie which has enough human moments to punctuate its tremendously long length.

Please tune in to listen to the guys discuss this movie, and if you enjoyed the chat please subscribe and leave feedback on iTunes!

Akira Kurosawa is obviously one of the greatest filmmakers in history, but Jason hadn't seen many of the master's films. That begins to change this week as his friends Dominick Grace and Eric Hoffman join Jason for the first of a multi-part series exploring Kurosawa's classic. This week they discuss Ran and Throne of Blood, two loose Shakespeare adaptations moved to Japan. Ran is famously one of the most beautiful and bleakest films ever made, while Throne of Blood has one of the most famous endings in film history.

Whether you're a Kurosawa expert or still learning your way, we think this episode will give you a lot to think about. 

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Chris has been a fan of David Lynch films for a long time, but Jason is a relative newbie. So that made their first watch of Eraserhead a real treat for both of them. Spoilers: they both loved it, and they discuss that appeciation in this very interesting hour-long chat we hope you will enjoy.

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Carlos is back to chat about Marvel movies with Jason, and the next one on their list is Ant-Man and the Wasp. They both entered this watch with... well, medium hopes anyway for something fun and entertaining. Well, yeah, the movie is pretty fun but it's also lacking some real basics with logic and common sense. So join us and listen to the guys trash this movie, then you can skip it on your Marvel movie rewatch!

It's finally happened. Jason and Carlos have arrived at Avengers: Infinity War in their Marvel movie watch. One of the longest, and absolutely the biggest downer of a Marvel movie, the guys ponder if this movie transcends its sadness with good character moments or if it is finally just too depressing to really enjoy.