Each episode Ben Verschoor and Steven Santana will talk about a contemporary release and then two related repertory screenings. The relation can be as thin as possible or explicitly obvious.
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Bugonia is a 2025 film directed by Yorgos Lanthimos. This is an English remake of a 2003 South Korean film called Save the Green Planet! which was directed by Jang Joon-hwan. In Bugonia Jesse Plemons stars as Teddy Gatz, who together with his cousin Don, played by Aidan Delbis, kidnap and imprison CEO Michelle Fuller, played by Emma Stone, whom Teddy believes to be an alien.
Time Stamps:
(04:41) Invasion of the Body Snatchers (Philip Kaufman, 1978)
(18:26) The Killing of a Sacred Deer (Yorgos Lanthimos, 2017)
(28:54) Bugonia (Yorgos Lanthimos, 2025)
(57:13) Spoilers
(1:18:34) Next Time: Frankenstein (Guillermo del Toro, 2025)
Red Rooms, a 2023 psychological horror film written and directed by Pascal Plante. It follows Kelly-Anne (Juliette Gariépy), a fashion model who takes an interest in the murder trial of Ludovic Chevalier (Maxwell McCabe-Lokos). She becomes acquainted with another observer, Clementine (Laurie Babin), who will tell anyone who will listen that Chevalier is innocent. As time goes on they learn more about the case, and each other, and the things they may or may not have in common.
We get into the nitty gritty details of the back half of Ne Zha 2 as well as dive into the cultural war between the US and China and specifically China's rapid gains in dominating the worldwide box office seemingly all on its own.
Timestamps
(00:00) Na Zha 2 spoilers (37:20) China, America, the global box office, and international influence (1:15:05) American culture, past and future
Works Cited
Avengers: Endgame (Russo Brothers, 2019)
The Battle at Lake Changjin (Chen Kaige, Tsui Hark, Dante Lam, 2021)
Ne Zha 2 is the fifth highest grossing film of all time worldwide, so why hasn't anyone in the US really seen or heard about it? We talk about the awful, no good animated film Foodfight! (2012) first, followed by our guessing game for related screenings, then get into Investiture of the Gods, Ne Zha 1 from 2019 and Ne Zha 2 released earlier this year in China and subbed in the US and most recently dubbed in English for another release that has landed with a thud stateside. Our follow up episode tomorrow will get into both spoilers for Ne Zha 2 and a discussion on why it has not found success in the United States and the cultural war between these two regions.
Works Cited
Avengers: Endgame (Russo Brothers, 2019)
The Battle at Lake Changjin (Chen Kaige, Tsui Hark, Dante Lam, 2021)
This is our spoiler filled section for not only Spike Lee's Highest 2 Lowest but also the original Akira Kurosawa film High and Low. We talk about pretty much everything that happens in the second half of both films, what we liked and did not like about how each film handles the same overarching scenario and how they differ in execution.
Next week we will be discussing Ne Zha 2 the Chinese animated fantasy adventure comedy film written and directed by Jiaozi, as well as the original Ne Zha.
In this non-spoiler episode we discuss both Spike Lee's latest joint Highest 2 Lowest which sees the famed director reteaming with Denzel Washington in a reinterpretation of the classic Akira Kurosawa film from 1963: High and Low. We discuss the first half of both films, their differences and similarities in focus and execution of the same premise (taken from the novel King's Ransom: An 87th Precinct Mystery is a novel by Evan Hunter).
Tomorrow (Friday, August 29) we will premiere the spoiler section of our show and announce the next film we will be watching.
In present-day Japan, a series of destructive offshore phenomena leads to the appearance of a unidentified giant lizard-like creature. The mysterious nature of the beast and the destruction it leaves in its wake causes political confusion and paralysis within the Japanese government. A task force is created to research the creature and solve the puzzle of an enigmatic chart left behind by Goro Maki, a disgraced, anti-nuclear zoology professor, that might hold the key to stopping the creature. This week we discuss Shin Godzilla from 2016 as it is being re-released in theaters due to a 4K remaster.
Next week we will be discussing Highest 2 Lowest the latest Spike Lee joint starring Denzel Washington and screenplay by Alan Fox.
Ghidorah, the Three-Headed Monster (Ishirō Honda, 1964)
Episode 04: The Naked Gun
Thursday, August 14, 2025 • Duration 01:56:24
In this episode we both watched awful, terrible, no-good films as punishment for losing the guessing game last episode. We then get back to regular scheduling with guessing and talking about two related films to our main feature: The Naked Gun, directed by Akiva Schaffer as well as written by Schaffer, Dan Gregor, Doug Mand, and starring Liam Neeson as Lieutenant Frank Drebin Jr. who is pulled off a bank robbery case due to his excessive force and reassigned to a traffic suicide whose victim's sister, Pamela Anderson, insists was actually a murder. Danny Huston plays a tech billionaire who plans to use a plot device for an evil plan. Hijinks ensue.
Next week we will be discussing Shin Godzilla written and directed by Hideaki Anno and co-directed by Shinji Higuchi.
Works Cited:
American Criminal (Dylan Bank, 2019)
Anchorman: The Legend of Ron Burgundy (Adam McKay, 2004)
The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo (David Fincher, 2011)
A Karate Christmas Miracle (Julie Kimmel, 2019)
Battleship Potemkin (Sergei Eisenstein, 1925)
Chip and Dale: Rescue Rangers (Akiva Schaffer, 2022)
The Dark Knight (Christopher Nolan, 2008)
Deadpool (Tim Miller, 2016)
Hard Boiled (John Woo, 1992)
Heat (Michael Mann, 1995)
Holmes & Watson (Etan Coen, 2018)
Hot Fuzz (Edgar Wright, 2007)
Glass Onion: A Knives Out Mystery (Rian Johnson, 2022)
The Lego Movie (Phil Lord and Christopher Miller, 2014)
A Minecraft Movie (Jared Hess, 2025) [about which Ben's more articulate thoughts can be found here.]
The Naked Gun (Akiva Schaffer, 2025)
The Naked Gun: From the Files of Police Squad! (David Zucker, 1988)
Episode 03: Together
Thursday, August 7, 2025 • Duration 01:32:31
In this episode we discuss Together, written and directed by Michael Shanks and starring Dave Franco and Alison Brie as a couple in a relationship currently going through troubled times that is only exacerbated by a supernatural effect that begins to forcibly push the two together with horrific outcomes. Spoilers begin at 1:03:00 and end at 1:22:38
Next week we will be discussing The Naked Gun starring Liam Neeson and Pamela Anderson.
In this episode we discuss Mark Anthony Green's musical thriller Opus (2025)! Starring Ayo Edebiri, John Malkovich, Amber Midthunder, and some other people. First we guess at each others repertory film and discuss followed by our general thoughts on Opus with a spoiler section afterwards.
Next week we will be discussing Togther starring Dave Franco and Alison Brie.
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