For all you proper film enthusiasts who would like to peruse the films of TruStory FM’s entertainment podcasts by release decade. Get ready for a firehose of film history in these here stacks.
Child 44 was supposed to be Oscar bait. Instead, its star-heavy cast is dragging it through opening weekend with a 27% freshness rating on Rotten Tomatoes and a deflated box office take. But why?
The Film Board Gathers! This month we take on the latest in the Divergent series, Insurgent! This time around, Tris Prior is battling her nemeses internal and external at the hand of director Robert Schwentke and writers Brian Duffield, Akiva Goldsman, and Mark Bomback. How’d it hold up, you ask? Did Mekhi Phifer reprise his stand out performance as Mekhi Phifer? Did Miles Teller play any rhythm instrument at all? Did Theo James brood?
This is not the movie you think it is. At least, that’s the take of our round table of thugs on the Film Board this week as we spoil “Kingsman: The Secret Service.” Thankfully, even as we were collectively surprised, we were equally blown away by Matthew Vaughn’s contribution to the spy game.
Chris Hemsworth gives his all in Michael Mann’s study of hacking new this week: “Blackhat.” If most computer films have historically failed the computer stuff, the consensus thus far is that Blackhat has delivered where others have so desperately lacked. But how does it hold up beyond the tech?
Peter Jackson is back with another turn at the wheel of Middle Earth. This time, Bilbo and buddies are off to slay the dragon, fight ye olde Gold Flu, and get all gussied up to ready themselves for the Lord of the Rings, which already happened.
Katnis and crew are back in part one of their journey against the Capitol. Things are grim, as evidenced by the jumpsuits and rubble, and the crying that happens whenever our heroes see jumpsuits and/or rubble in the frame.
The film board gathers to fully spoil Brad Pitt’s and David Ayers’ latest World War II Tank-a-palooza, “Fury.” First spoiler: it’s a war film, more intimate than epic, but it comes with all the violence that such a film typically entails.
It’s throwback time on The Film Board as we take on Denzel Washington’s latest, The Equalizer. We take on all the various social constructs Denzel and director Antoine Fuqua look to equalize, from guns and home improvement to racism and gender inequality.
There is something interesting about going into a film that’s had as many bad reviews as Jason Reitman’s “Labor Day” has had, and that has flopped at the box office. Does it taint our own views or make us more critical of it? Hard to say, but it certainly makes for an interesting exploration of a film that works in some ways and doesn’t in others. Join us — Pete Wright and Andy Nelson — as we celebrate the US’s Labor Day holiday weekend with another Reitman film to add to our collection and deliberate on our own views of whether we like this film or not.
This, good people, is a summer tentpole we can get excited about. Director James Gunn has delivered a funny and frolicking space opera in “Guardians of the Galaxy” with a terrific cast, immersive effects, and a script that is, as we’re apt to say, way smarter than it needed to be.