This weekend on Episode 147, we’ll be discussing Ron Howard’s latest film In the Heart of the Sea, starring Chris Hemsworth. This was a film that was slated for March earlier this year but for reasons we can only speculate, the film was pushed back to this weekend coming up. We assume that it was for awards season but that doesn’t seem to be panning out well based on it’s lack of buzz at the current moment. Now, that doesn’t mean the film is bad, in fact it has descent reviews, but it’s not overwhelming anybody. Add in the fact that Star Wars: The Force Awakens comes out the week after In the Heart of the Sea, and this could also be a box office failure for the film too since it’ll have no room to breathe after this week. Star Wars will dominate the next month and that will hurt whatever In the Heart of the Sea could’ve had at the box office, especially if you compare that to what it could have had back in March.
So, the move to push it back to December doesn’t seem to be a good move all all right now, at least on paper. Hopefully I’m wrong and it’s great and it does find it’s legs at the box office, among the chaos the The Force Awakens will bring. I’m really rooting for this film. I’m a big fan of Chris Hemsworth and an even bigger fan of Ron Howard. Howard gave me my biggest surprise film of 2013 in Rush, a film I really loved. In fact, that film made my Top 10 of 2013. Howard’s films based on real-life events have been pretty great. Not just Rush, but also Apollo 13, A Beautiful Mind, Cinderella Man and Frost/Nixon are all pretty good movies.
So, maybe In the Heart of the Sea won’t be gamechanging by any means and it may not be a huge box office success, but I’m looking forward to it either way. The trailers have looked descent and the poster for this film is one of my favorite’s of the entire year. The overhead shot of the boat and the giant whale just beneath the water is terrifying to me (as you can see above). Here’s to hoping.
Our poll this week is of course inspired by Ron Howard’s latest film, In the Heart of the Sea, which was supposed to come out earlier this year in March. However, the studio must’ve thought it had awards potential and thus, it’s coming out this week. Unfortunately, we’re not hearing too much awards buzz for the film though. At any rate, we are big Howard fans and still look forward to the film. So, all that being said, what is your favorite Ron Howard film?
This week for our Episode 140 InSession Film Podcast: Bonus Content, DJ Valentine is back for another edition of Nerdin’ Out, where we rant/discuss the new Batman vs Superman trailer and also the new Captain America: Civil War trailer. Check it out!
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We offer our bonus content for free, but we do encourage and appreciate a small donation of $0.99 as a way to help support the show. Click on the PayPal button below to donate and thanks so much for your support. You can also hear all of our Bonus Content via our mobile apps. See the information below the PayPal button for more details.
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This week on the InSession Film Podcast, we started our annual year-end roundup Top 3’s that we do throughout the month of December. The last two years, at this time of year, we take a look back at the year in film and discuss some of our favorite aspects of the year in movies. And to kick things off this week, we discussed our top 3 overlooked movies of 2015. These movies could be big or small but the films that we feel audiences passed up but should’ve checked out.
That being said, what Top 3 overlooked movies of 2015 would make your list? Here are the one’s that made ours:
*Keep in mind we have different criteria for our lists as well
JD
1) Victoria
2) Kumiko, the Treasure Hunter
3) Phoenix
Brendan
1) Steve Jobs
2) Beasts of No Nation
3) Phoenix
Dave
1) Love & Mercy
2) Slow West
3) Bone Tomahawk
Honorable Mentions (Combined) White God, Mommy, Youth, Mistress America, What We Do in the Shadows, Mr. Holmes, Appropriate Behavior, Infinitely Polar Bear, I’ll See You in My Dreams, The Look of Silence, The End of the Tour
Hopefully you guys enjoyed our lists and if you agree or disagree with us, let us know in the comment section below. Perhaps your criteria was slightly different than ours or maybe your just have other films we overlooked as well, there are definitely a lot of good options out there. That being said, what would be your Top 3? Leave a comment in the comment section or email us at [email protected].
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This week on the InSession Film Podcast, Dave from Pop Culture Case Study joins as we rave about Brooklyn starring the wonderful Saoirse Ronan and we start our year-end Top 3 roundup as we discuss our Top 3 overlooked movies of 2015. We also continue our Star Wars Movie Series with the best Star Wars film to date, The Empire Strikes Back.
Huge thanks to Dave for joining us last second, we had a great time discussing Brooklyn and giving Brendan a hard time for being wrong about the film (we love you Brendan). Also, as mentioned above, we review The Empire Strikes Back on this week’s show and it was almost surreal to talk about one of our favorite films of all-time.
Anyway, check out this week’s show and let us know what you think in the comment section. Thanks for listening and thanks for supporting of the InSession Film Podcast!
– Brooklyn Movie Review (6:13) Grades
JD: A
Brendan: B-
Dave: A
– Top 3 Overlooked Movies of 2015 (46:19)
The last two years, at this time of year, we take a look back at the year in film and discuss some of our favorite aspects of the year in movies. And to kick things off this week, we discussed our top 3 overlooked movies of 2015. These movies could be big or small but the films that we feel audiences passed up but should’ve checked out. That being said, what would be your Top 3?
If you want to help support us, there are several ways you can help us and we’d absolutely appreciate it. Every penny goes directly back into supporting the show and we are truly honored and grateful. Thanks for your support and for listening to the InSession Film Podcast!
This week on the InSession Film Podcast: Extra Film segment, we discuss Trumbo starring Bryan Cranston and in anticipation for our Top 3 Overlooked Movies of 2015 discussion we’ll be having on Episode 146, we discuss a film we overlooked earlier this year in I’ll See You in My Dreams.
We also give a few minutes at the top of the show to talk about the new trailer for Batman vs Superman, which we’ll expand on further this weekend with another edition of Nerdin’ Out with DJ Valentine. Overall a fun show though and we had some great discussion on these two indies.
Anyway, have fun listening to this week’s Extra Film segment and let us know what you think in the comment section below. Hope you enjoy and thanks for listening!
– Trumbo Movie Review (11:28) Grades
Brendan: B-
JD: B-
– I’ll See You in My Dreams Movie Review (44:09) Grades
Brendan: B+
JD: A-
We try to make this the best movie podcast we possibly can and we hope you enjoy them. Subscribe today on iTunes and Stitcher and please leave us a review on iTunes. You can also find us on Soundcloud, PlayerFM and TuneIn Radio as well. We really appreciate all your support of the InSession Film Podcast.
To hear this Extra Film episode and everything else we do, download our apps on the Amazon Market for Android and the Podcast Box app on IOS devices. The mobile app covers all of our main shows, bonus podcast’s and everything else relating to the InSession Film Podcast. Thanks for your wonderful support and listening to our show. It means the world to us!
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When Hollywood announced that Rocky was making a return for another sequel, this time under the title Creed, movie nerds everywhere revisited their DVD collection. So many Rocky movies, so little time.
Creed follows the story of the former World Heavyweight Champion, Rocky Balboa, who serves as a trainer and mentor to Adonis Johnson, the son of his late friend and former rival Apollo Creed. Rocky realizes he’s too old for the game, and the world watches as he teaches Adonis the art of boxing, and sports montages.
InSession Film recently discussed Creed, and the magic of the franchise. I decided to take the discussion a step further, and create a list of amazing movies featuring one of America’s favorite extreme sports: boxing. Take a look at my top six, and comment below with your own list and thoughts. (Rocky movies excluded in honor of fairness.)
6) The Fighter
Directed by the ever awesome David O. Russell, who really likes to cast Christian Bale and Amy Adams, the movie takes a look at the early years of boxer “Irish” Micky Ward and his brother, who helped train him before going pro in the mid 1980s.
The imagery, the emotion, even the action-packed and tense ring scenes, make this movie a top 10 contender.
Boxer Billy Hope turns to trainer Tick Wills to help him get his life back on track after losing his wife in a tragic accident and his daughter to child protection services.
One of the newest movies on the list, and directed by the same genius who directed The Equalizer and Training Day,Southpaw was released earlier this year. Jake Gyllenhaal always gives an emotional performance worthy of any award, but this time he outdid himself. The movie accurately portrays what a fighter must go through in order to do what he dreams to do. A no-brainer addition to the list.
4) The Hurricane
The story of Rubin “Hurricane” Carter, a boxer wrongly imprisoned for murder, and the people who aided in his fight to prove his innocence.
Two words are all you need to be convinced at this movie’s greatness: Denzel Washington. The actor is a legend, and he does an impeccable job at portraying one. Hailed as one of his best performances, the movie highlights the racism and moral tribulations that boxers had to face earlier in the 20th century.
3) Million Dollar Baby
Directed by Clint Eastwood, the movie follows a determined woman working with a hardened boxing trainer to become a professional.
While not the first movie he directed, Clint completed a first round knock-out with this film. Eastwood plays his typical role as of late: a hardened, hard to reach, hard to understand, tough exterior with soft chewy inside, type of old man. Hilary Swank plays a woman facing what used to be a sexist outlook on a man’s sport. Freeman plays the middle man. It won numerous awards, and it’s not hard to understand why.
2) Cinderella Man
The story of James Braddock, a supposedly washed-up boxer who came back to become a champion and an inspiration in the 1930s.
The movie serves as a true underdog testament, beautifully made by Ron Howard. During one of the hardest times for America in the country’s history, Braddock served as inspiration for those who went hungry, tired, and underworked. To this day, the movie is hailed as one of the best stories of boxing, with a cast of top-notch artists.
1) Raging Bull
An emotionally self-destructive boxer’s journey through life, as the violence and temper that leads him to the top in the ring, destroys his life outside it.
Admittedly, I’m a self-proclaimed Martin Scorsese fanatic, and so everything he creates will near the top of any list I make. This film, however, is deserving. Shot in strictly black and white, starring a cast of Scorsese regulars, and featuring the Italian mob-esque vibe Scorsese is known for, the movie bares the hard truth: not every boxer is an inspiring story waiting for a Lifetime movie, some are simply over-aggressive rageaholics. Still, the inside view is spectacular.
Well, if you listened to Episode 145, you’ll know we weren’t sure which film we were going to review for Episode 146, given our Kentucky release schedule. And we’re not talking about Krampus. But good news! We’ve come to a decision and we’ll be reviewing Brooklyn for #146 this weekend. We felt it was appropriate given how much wider it’s going and it’s been generating some strong critical acclaim as well as some awards attention. Inspired by that, we decoded to ask, what is your favorite movie with a U.S. city in the title?
On our latest episode, #145, we discussed Pixar’s latest film and second to come out this year, The Good Dinosaur. As many of you already know, this film was plagued with tons of production issues and was delayed several years before finally getting a release in theaters. And as we discussed in our review, the results aren’t too terrible all things considered. The animation is stunning as always and the film has that Pixar heart that we all love. Where Fantastic Four failed and crumbled in it’s production hell, The Good Dinosaur came out okay. Banged up a little, but okay overall and you have to give Peter Sohn and company credit for that.
The thing that I love most about The Good Dinosaur, is Pixar and Sohn’s approach to it. They knew that it wasn’t going to completely come together so they focused heavily on what they know how to do best. They gave the film heart, while exploring themes that kids can easily grasp onto and hopefully be moved by. The exploration of overcoming fear and what that process looks like for a young kid is fascinating and relatable for a lot of us, especially with how that ties back to familial love. And as a new parent, I can appreciate that.
During our discussion, we talked heavily about why the humor fails in this film and it’s certainly what keeps this film from being great. In terms of where this fits in Pixar’s catalog, it’s somewhere in the middle for us. We liked it better than Cars 2 and Brave but it’s also far from Pixar’s best work and also Inside Out that came out earlier this year.. But where does it sit for you? We’d love to hear your thoughts.
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This week on the InSession Film Podcast, Jairo from True Bromance Film joins us to discuss the latest film in the Rocky franchise, Creed, starring the wonderful Michael B. Jordan and Sylvester Stallone. We forgo our normal top 3 this week and we review Pixar’s latest film, The Good Dinosaur and we continue our Star Wars Movie Series with Episode IV: A New Hope.
This week’s show was a lot of fun. We had a great time talking Rocky and Creed, which ended up being one of our longest reviews we’ve done on the show. It was absolutely warranted though. And as mentioned above, we finally move into the original Star Wars trilogy and it was glorious.
Anyway, check out this week’s show and let us know what you think in the comment section. Thanks for listening and thanks for supporting of the InSession Film Podcast!
– Creed Movie Review (10:31) Grades
JD: A
Brendan: A
Jairo: A-
– The Good Dinosaur Movie Review (48:56) Grades
JD: B
Brendan: B
Jairo: N/A
If you want to help support us, there are several ways you can help us and we’d absolutely appreciate it. Every penny goes directly back into supporting the show and we are truly honored and grateful. Thanks for your support and for listening to the InSession Film Podcast!
This week on the InSession Film Podcast: Extra Film segment, we discuss two films that are getting a lot of awards buzz right now in Room starring Brie Larson and also Tom McCarthy’s Spotlight.
The awards season is upon us and pretty soon nominations and top ten lists will be everywhere. Room and Spotlight are certainly the frontrunners and for good reason. We had some great discussion and we hope you enjoy these films like we did.
Anyway, have fun listening to this week’s Extra Film segment and let us know what you think in the comment section below. Hope you enjoy and thanks for listening!
– Room Movie Review (4:38) Grades
Brendan: A
JD: A+
– Spotlight Movie Review (39:33) Grades
Brendan: A
JD: A
We try to make this the best movie podcast we possibly can and we hope you enjoy them. Subscribe today on iTunes and Stitcher and please leave us a review on iTunes. You can also find us on Soundcloud, PlayerFM and TuneIn Radio as well. We really appreciate all your support of the InSession Film Podcast.
To hear this Extra Film episode and everything else we do, download our apps on the Amazon Market for Android and the Podcast Box app on IOS devices. The mobile app covers all of our main shows, bonus podcast’s and everything else relating to the InSession Film Podcast. Thanks for your wonderful support and listening to our show. It means the world to us!
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If you want to help support us, we would greatly appreciate it! For more info, CLICK HERE.
Chris Evans and Robert Downey Jr. stopped by Jimmy Kimmel Live to debut a teaser trailer for Captain America: Civil War.
If you somehow happened to miss it, here it is in all its Civil War goodness.
There has been so much speculation surrounding the film, and there’s certainly no end in sight to that. But for all the threads that this trailer leaves open, it manages to confirm one thing:
Marvel is (still) king.
Previously, with the release of the Superman v Batman and Suicide Squad trailers, most of the comic-book movie buzz was focused directly on DC. Rightfully so, because the trailers looked great and there’s still a newness and freshness with the idea of having the Caped Crusader and the Man of Steel share a screen together. Many argued that the freshness would propel DC ahead of Marvel in 2016. After all, we’ve seen Cap and Iron Man for the better part of the last 10 years, right?
Wrong. Maybe?
I also thought that DC might put out better movies in 2016. I’m certainly a much bigger Marvel fan, but having the faces of DC on the silver screen seemed incredible. I’m positive that the first time Bats and Supes stare each other down in the film, we’ll all have goosebumps. It’s something that we comic fans have been clamoring about for a long, long time, and to finally see it come to fruition will be nothing short of magical.
But there’s still quite a bit of magic in Civil War. While we’ve grown accustomed to the characters, seeing them fight each other is harsh and surprising. This seems funny to say, because we all know the plot of the Civil War comic arc – but when it’s seen in live action it’s disturbing.
Perhaps it’s just my inner-child, but the shot of Stark in the Iron Man suit saying “So was I” gave me a big case of the feels. Tony Stark is a character who is cocky and arrogant. To see him vulnerable emotionally (in a non-PTSD way) was new and sad. It gave the film a dark feel, and hammered home the friend-against-friend premise. Then, as Bucky and Cap fight with Stark, it’s not what I’m used to seeing from Marvel. It was dark, gritty and visceral. It gave me a feeling that no Marvel villain has been able to conjure up in me. My stomach was in knots, and I was really concerned.
This film won’t be pretty-boys fighting pretty-boys. If anything, it looks as if the high-stakes emotional consequences will force them to not pull punches. Whether a beloved character dies at the end or not (as it’s speculated), it doesn’t really matter because it looks like the rest of the movie will be plenty unpredictable.
This film proves that Marvel knows what they’re doing better than any of us can speculate. Marvel has now established its ceiling to be greatness (like with Guardians of the Galaxy) and its floor to be okay (Iron Man 3). We’re overly hard on the studio, because we expect everything to be like GOTG – we want to be blown away. There’s nothing wrong with that whatsoever, but it’s important to recognize that Marvel has been putting out good movies since 2008. Most other studios can’t manage this. It’s difficult to make a great film. That’s why we had to endure four not-so-good Spider-Man movies to get the one great one. That’s why the X-Men series has been fluctuating in quality.
Meanwhile, Marvel just keeps chugging along.
Let’s also remember that our fond memories of Nolan’s Dark Knight trilogy aren’t cannon in our new DC universe. All we have to go off is Man of Steel, which was okay. Does DC’s upcoming film lineup look really good? Of course it does. But, let’s not forget that the Man of Steel teaser is one of the better trailers of the last 15 years – so looks can be deceiving. We have no proven track record with DC, so it’s hard to feel confident.
With Marvel, the exact opposite is true. So far we’ve gotten 12 films, two Netflix series, and two television series, all of which have been decent to great.
Happy Thanksgiving everyone! This weekend we have a lot to be thankful for at the movies as well. The Hunger Games: Mockingjay Part 2 will continue to roll I’m sure, a film I quite love so I’m okay with that. However, we also get Creed and The Good Dinosaur, two films we are very much looking forward to and hearing good things about. For our poll this week, inspired by Creed, we want to know which Rocky film you always go to first. What is your favorite film in the Rocky franchise? We are excluding the first Rocky because we figured it’d be the easy consensus, so to make it more interesting, let’s exclude that film.
This week for our Episode 144 InSession Film Podcast: Bonus Content, we discuss The Hunger Games: Mockingjay Part 2 further in spoilers. This is more laid back and informal, but it’ll help articulate our thoughts further on the film. Hope you enjoy!
We offer our bonus content for free, but we do encourage and appreciate a small donation of $0.99 as a way to help support the show. Click on the PayPal button below to donate and thanks so much for your support. You can also hear all of our Bonus Content via our mobile apps. See the information below the PayPal button for more details.
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Listen to all of our bonus content on our apps for just a one-time fee! Whether you have an iPhone, Android or Windows phone, our apps are available in many different ways that is convenient for you. With our mobile app, not only can you listen to all of our bonus content, but our main shows and our Extra Film podcasts as well. Click here for more info!
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If you don’t want to purchase our bonus content, but still want to support us, there are other you can help us out. Click here for more info.
This week on the InSession Film Podcast, we discussed the final installment of The Hunger Games franchise in Mockingjay Part 2, which is of course one of the best franchise in the YA movie genre. The young adult genre isn’t something that always speaks to us, but it still has it’s fair share of great films and great scenes within those films. The Hunger Games, Harry Potter and even The Princess Bride make the genre more respectable than the stereotypes you normally hear about YA films, and we had fun discussing our favorite scenes from within the genre.
That being said, what Top 3 YA movie scenes would make your list? Here are the one’s that made ours:
*Keep in mind we have different criteria for our lists as well
JD
1) Three Finger Salute – The Hunger Games / Catching Fire
2) Greg’s Final Film – Me & Earl & The Dying Girl
3) Harry & Hermione Dance – The Deathly Hallows Part 1
Brendan
1) A Trip to the Moon – Hugo
2) The Battle of Wits to the Death – The Princess Bride
3) The Resurrection Stone – The Deathly Hallows Part 2
Shaun
1) The Reaping – The Hunger Games
2) Brom Dies – Eragon
3) The Statue Fight Sequence – The Deathly Hallows Part 2
Honorable Mentions (Combined)
Scenes from these films: Harry Potter, Mockingjay, The Spectacular Now, The Perks of Being a Wallflower, The Fault in our Stars, The Breakfast Club, Ferris Bueller’s Day Off, Enders Game
Hopefully you guys enjoyed our lists and if you agree or disagree with us, let us know in the comment section below. Despite how we feel about this genre overall, we do quite like the films and scenes we discussed. But perhaps you love this genre more than us and have a bigger variety of scenes. That being said, what would be your Top 3? Leave a comment in the comment section or email us at [email protected].
This week on the InSession Film Podcast, Shaun Duke from Totally Pretentious joins us to discuss the final installment in The Hunger Games franchise as we review Mockingjay Part 2 and going off of that, we also discuss our Top 3 scenes from the young adult movie genre. And finally, we continue our Star Wars Movie Series with the last of the prequel trilogy, Revenge of the Sith.
Shaun was a fantastic guest this week in his first appearance on the show. We had some great discussion on the Hunger Games franchise and Mockingjay Part 2. And of course we had fun talking more Star Wars, as we finally finished out the prequel trilogy.
Anyway, check out this week’s show and let us know what you think in the comment section. Thanks for listening and thanks for supporting of the InSession Film Podcast!
– The Hunger Games: Mockingjay Part 2 Movie Review (6:31) Grades
JD: A-
Brendan: B
Shaun: B+
– Top 3 YA Movie Scenes (40:52)
The young adult genre isn’t something that always speaks to us, but it still has it’s fair share of great films and great scenes within those films. The Hunger Games, Harry Potter and even The Princess Bride make the genre more respectable than the stereotypes you normally hear about YA films, and we had fun discussing our favorite scenes from within the genre. That being said, what would be your Top 3?
Main Review – Creed / The Good Dinosaur
Top 3 – N/A
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Help Support The InSession Film Podcast
If you want to help support us, there are several ways you can help us and we’d absolutely appreciate it. Every penny goes directly back into supporting the show and we are truly honored and grateful. Thanks for your support and for listening to the InSession Film Podcast!
This week on the InSession Film Podcast: Extra Film segment, we discuss the great German film, Victoria, known for it’s impressive single take used for the whole movie. And we also discuss the Chinese film The Assassin, which won Best Director and Best Score at this year’s Cannes Film Festival.
Please forgive us for the football talk at the beginning of the show once again, this week Brendan and JD’s teams play one another so we felt it was appropriate to briefly discuss. The two films we discuss though, are quite mighty films and are two that we recommend checking out, as you’ll hear on the show.
Anyway, have fun listening to this week’s Extra Film segment and let us know what you think in the comment section below. Hope you enjoy and thanks for listening!
– Victoria Movie Review (6:10) Grades
Brendan: A
JD: A
– The Assassin Movie Review (37:13) Grades
Brendan: B+
JD: A-
We try to make this the best movie podcast we possibly can and we hope you enjoy them. Subscribe today on iTunes and Stitcher and please leave us a review on iTunes. You can also find us on Soundcloud, PlayerFM and TuneIn Radio as well. We really appreciate all your support of the InSession Film Podcast.
To hear this Extra Film episode and everything else we do, download our apps on the Amazon Market for Android and the Podcast Box app on IOS devices. The mobile app covers all of our main shows, bonus podcast’s and everything else relating to the InSession Film Podcast. Thanks for your wonderful support and listening to our show. It means the world to us!
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Help Support The InSession Film Podcast
If you want to help support us, we would greatly appreciate it! For more info, CLICK HERE.
