Category: Shows

Join the gang as they discuss the 1993 film Groundhog Day.

• Directed by Harold Ramis
• Written by Danny Rubin and Harold Ramis
• Starring Bill Murray, Andie MacDowell, Chris Elliott, Stephen Tobolowsky, Brian Doyle-Murray

Groundhog Day is the pivotal 1993 comedy film from Harold Ramis, rest in peace, comedy writer and director extraordinaire and behind the likes of Ghostbusters, Meatballs, Caddyshack, and SCTV. Groundhog Day enjoys a comfortable place among the great comedies of all time, a comfortable 97% rating on Rotten Tomatoes, and it’s listed on AFI’s 100 Films, 100 Laughs. You know, the comedy list. It’s the story of Phil Conners, played by the perfectly mugging Bill Murray, a Pittsburgh weatherman who travels to Punxsutawney, PA on Groundhog Day to do some fluff reporting on the event. However, he finds he keep waking up on the same day over and over again in a time loop, beginning each day with the irritating sounds of Sonny and Cher’s “I Got You Babe.”

Worth noting:

• Look who’s getting healthy?!?
• Rules and the time travel movie. Sometimes comedies do it better.
• Your obligatory Europe’s “The Final Countdown” mention. Ladies.
• Autograph’s “Turn up the Radio” shown below. You’ve been pre-warned about the hair metalness.
• Bill Murray is so punk rock.
• Obligatory Game of Thrones updates. Spoilers of Season 3, a year after the fact, ahead.
• What does the ending teach us and what are the rules? Serious discussion ensues with little to no penis jokes.
• Edge of Tomorrow shows up again because it’s sci-fi Groundhog Day.

Featured in this episode:

• Tony
• Darrell
• Jolie

And now, one for the ladies…

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Join the gang as they discuss the 2014 film Edge of Tomorrow.

• Directed by Doug Liman
• Written by Christopher McQuarrie, Jez Butterworth, John-Henry Butterworth and Hiroshi Sakurazaka (writer of the graphic novel)
• Starring Tom Cruise, Emily Blunt, Brendan Gleeson, Bill Paxton

Edge of Tomorrow has been called many things, like Starship Troopers meets Groundhog Day. Well, anything-meets-Groundhog Day pretty much sums up the storytelling of this sci fi flick starring Tom Cruise, and that’s a good thing. Currently enjoying a healthy 90% critics rating on Rotten Tomatoes, Edge of Tomorrow tells the story of William Cage, a slick and cowardly Army PR man during an invasion of Earth by aliens called Mimics. However, he gets manipulated into deserting his post and is kicked back down to private where he must join the front lines of a beach invasion of France. During the battle, he dies and keeps waking up the previous day, going through the same time jump after death until me meets Rita (played by Blunt) who explains what is happening to him. This movie has tense action, slick and funny dialogue, and never lags during the less than 2-hour running time.

Worth noting:

• Tom Cruise is one charismatic dude and picks good roles. Let’s talk about every Tom Cruise movie to prove this point and probably imagine how dreamy he is.
• Emily Blunt was ripped and awesome.
• This movie was released on D-Day and involves a beach invasion. In France. Go figure.
• There was more comedy in this movie than we expected.
• We keep seeing movies with either alpha beings or mythical reptiles. What does this say about us, anyway?
• In which heads explode debating the rules of time travel. Oh, it’s so complicated.
• Why is there not a Bill Pullman/Paxton buddy cop movie?
• Tony catches up on Game of Thrones, a year or two later than everyone else.
• Wrapped up with Roger Corman history and movie talk.

Featured in this episode:

• Tony
• Darrell
• Jolie

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Join the gang as they discuss the 2014 film How to Train Your Dragon 2.

• Directed by Dean DeBlois
• Written by Dean DeBlois, Cressida Cowell
• Starring Jay Baruchel, Cate Blanchett, Gerard Butler, Craig Ferguson, America Ferrera, Jonah Hill, Christopher Mintz-Plasse, T.J. Miller, Kristen Wiig, Djimon Hounsou, Kit Harington

How to Train Your Dragon 2 is the sequel to the Dreamworks tale of a teenage Viking nerd who discovers that dragons really aren’t all that bad. This movie begins five years after the first with all the same characters and the addition of Hiccup’s long-lost mother. The story begins that the town has embraced the dragons that live there and and that the dragons seem to like being used as transportation and to light fires. We learn they’re intelligent, loyal creatures. However some, like the mysterious and obviously-bad dude Drago Bloodfist, use them for evil. This movie doesn’t shy away from heartbreak, missing limbs, sheep tossing, or heights, but is an overall well-rounded family movie.

Worth noting:

• Theater presentation, piracy, and Snakes on a Plane, audio-only version.
• We generally liked this movie because it’s entertaining, tells a solid (if old) story, and is rarely dull.
• Another revival of the Disney-has-no-place-for-mothers-in-movies discussion. Important since Hiccup’s mother plays such a key role in this movie.
• Sometimes, this movie bucks the expected tropes and that’s a good thing.
• Jaques Tati’s Mr. Hulot’s Holiday, background action, physical comedy, and other discussions just right for film studies class. Because we’re so fancy.
• The accents in this movie are out of control. We purists demand consistency.
• Stick around for fun anecdotes about Roger Corman and Ray Harryhausen. Kids, Google those names.

Featured in this episode:

• Tony
• Darrell
• Jolie

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Join the gang as they discuss the 2014 film X-Men: Days of Future Past.

• Directed by Bryan Singer
• Written by Simon Kinberg
• Starring Hugh Jackman, James McAvoy, Michael Fassbender, Jennifer Lawrence, Halle Berry, Nicholas Hoult, Anna Paquin, Ellen Page, Peter Dinklage, Shawn Ashmore

X-Men: Days of Future Past is the latest offering from the X-Men franchise and the return of Bryan Singer. This movie is part sequel to X-Men: First Class and part continuation of the present-day X-Men story. It begins the story from the future with the present-day X-Men cast (Patrick Stewart, Ian McKellen, et cetera) who must figure out who to go back in time to change history and thus save mutants and humanity alike.

Worth noting:

• Hail the appearance of Quicksilver!
• Picking up a stadium is dumb but unnecessary.
• On moral ambiguity as an enduring feature of X-Men stories and awesome Peter Dinklage moustache action.
• David’s reign of supervillainy.

Featured in this episode:

• Tony
• Darrell
• David

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