A weekly talk show hosted by film critic Christopher Crespo
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In this BONUS episode, Chris Crespo and Drewster Cogburn are joined by returning guest stand up comedian Pedro Lima (www.twitter.com/RicanGorilla), and the three of them take a look at the list of movies scheduled to be released in 2016, and they decide which ones sound dope, which sound terrible, and which ones they are looking forward to the most.
“Snowpiercer” is a 2013 science fiction movie adapted from a graphic novel about a frozen world in which the entirety of Earth’s remaining human population lives on a single perpetual motion bullet train traversing the planet. It is a ridiculous and over the top set up, which means it makes for great sci-fi.
Captain America teams up with Patient Zero from “Alien” to lead a rebellion; the poor people who barely made it on to the train to begin with are all corralled into the back, with the train cars set aside for water production and imprisonment separate the poor in the back from the wealthy in the front cars, who are living a totally different lifestyle and existence, despite them all being on the same train, living so incredibly close to each other.
An obvious allegory for classism and inequal wealth distribution, this movie just has to set up the obvious reference and then go ahead with all the action scenes and science fiction-y stuf, without ever having to overtly preach about the differences between the Haves and the Have Nots (an age old problem with there ever was one).
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In episode 158, Chris Crespo and Drewster Cogburn are joined by first time guest, stand up comedian and podcaster extraordinaire Ross McCoy (www.twitter.com/ElRoss).
Chris and Drew review 13 Hours aka Bayghazi, and Ross gives his review of Star Wars: The Force Awakens.
Billy D reviews Mojave.
The Netflix Instant Pick of the Week is Snowpiercer.
The Crespodisco features random selections from the soundtracks for The Revenant and The Hateful Eight.
Dr. Drew’s 2 Cents are about using the cinematic doldrums of January to read more books, namely books and graphic novels that have been made into movies.Continue Reading …
2015 was an interesting year for movies, running the gamut from luscious period pieces, romantic dramas and comedies to over the top science fiction, post apocalyptic action and westerns involving Kurt Russell (which SHOULD be its own genre). It was a good year for raunchy comedies with sweet, emotional centers thanks to “Trainwreck,” “The Night Before” and “Grandma.” There’s been a few solid documentaries like “The Wolfpack” and “Red Army” and “Best of Enemies,” and a handful of really well made “real life” movies like “Bridge of Spies” and “Joy.”
These movies are almost good enough to make it into my top ten of 2015, and even then, we are kind of splitting hairs because all of these movies are great and I would recommend people check out every single one of them, and if they’ve seen these already, then watch them again. Drama, comedy, budgets big and small, based on real life and science fiction, these movies run the gamut and they are all worth your time.
It is now that time in which we look back at the previous year in movies and we make arbitrary judgement calls as to which movies were “the best” and which were “the worst.” And with over 600 movies released in North America last year, combined with the fact that movies are art and as such their quality is mostly subjective, determining the “best” and “worst” is a nearly pointless task. And yet here we are, because “best of” lists get clicks and because, despite the pointlessness, such exercises could indeed lead to interesting discussions about different movies.
So if you don’t like this list, just make your own, because we ARE talking about art, after all, and this is merely a listing of my own personal favorite movies of the year, the ones that I kept coming back to, the ones that make an impression on me, the ones I feel like bringing up now. And as for the exact order of this list, don’t agonize over it, because not only is this subjective, but truthfully a good portion of this ordering is arbitrary. I know which is my favorite of the year, and I know the ones that come right before that, but if you asked me to rank these same movies next week, you would likely get a very different order.
So to summarize – relax.
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In this BONUS episode, Chris Crespo and Drewster Cogburn recap the year in movies for 2015. They discuss the movies they liked the least, the movies that disappointed them the most, and of course their favorite movies of the year. NYC senior correspondent Billy D also chimes in with his recap of the year.
So which movies are the best of 2015? Which are the worst? Do you agree? Do Chris and Drew care whether or not you agree?
All this and just a little more in this special bonus episode.
Enjoy the show!
The 1950s was not that long ago, especially when you consider how old some countries and cultures are, and definitely when you consider how old the entire world is, in comparison to that the 1950s was practically yesterday. And yet the time period was so different in so many ways, with gender and sexual norms in society established in a way to maintain the hetero-male dominance of the day. “Carol” is a love story set in that time period, a tale of what happens when two people fall in love in a time and place in which their love is perceived as abhorrent and deviant behavior requiring psychotherapy and segregation from society.
Which is a shame because if it wasn’t for the dumb hang ups of the people at large and the ridiculous social mores foisted upon everyone, this would have been a nice relationship for everyone involved, but because the main characters had to deal with a bunch of bullshit outside of who they were, this relationship ends up involving a lot of anguish. Leave it to the ugly judgmental side of our culture to turn something so pure and wonderful into so difficult and painful.
“The Nightmare” is a very solid and interesting documentary about the very real phenomenon known as sleep paralysis. You know how sleepwalking is when you fall asleep but your body still gets up and does stuff? Imagine the inverse of that – you are awake and aware but your body falls asleep, leaving you unable to move. Not only is this scary when it happens and very alarming, it is actually what is going on inside the brain that makes this condition so potentially frightening.
While you are sleeping, your brain is working, doing stuff that it wouldn’t normally do when you are awake. But if your body falls asleep and you remain alert, or if the opposite happens and you wake up before your body does, you are going to be privy to some brain happenings that you are not accustomed to seeing. This leads to people seeing all sorts of weird visions and colors, while many often experience seeing or even just feeling a malevolent being in the room, whether it be a demon sent from Hell or a faceless intruder or even aliens from outer space.
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In episode 157, Chris Crespo and Drewster Cogburn are joined by returning guest Amy Drew Thompson (www.amydrewthompson.com)!
Chris, Drew and Amy review The Revenant, Chris reviews Carol and Amy gives her review of Star Wars: The Force Awakens.
Billy reviews Pay The Ghost, starring a sleepwalking Nic Cage.
Dr. Drew’s 2 Cents are all about a person’s “Me Now” vanity license plate.
The Netflix Instant Pick of the Week is the sleep paralysis documentary The Nightmare.
The Crespodisco features a few tracks from the amazing Kurt Stenzel composed score for the documentary Jodorowsky’s Dune.