Minutes after stepping out of an advance press screening of the most-anticipated movie of the year, Emmanuel Noisette of E-Man's Movie Reviews summoned his recording equipment and a brake-pumping exhale session for Star Wars: The Last Jedi. The SPOILER ALERT neon light is on for the two of us breaking down our impressions, reservations, likes, dislikes, hopes, and dreams for this middle chapter of a new trilogy.
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For the second time in a month, the hard-working host of the "Kicking the Seat" podcast, Ian Simmons, invited Every Movie Has a Lesson to join the barstool daius for his 100th show of 2017. Fitting for the milestone century number is the central film of the discussion: Star Wars: The Last Jedi. Ian was joined by his regular partner-in-crime David J. Fowlie of Keeping it Reel and Emmanuel Noisette of E-Man's Movie Reviews. The four us go deeply into SPOILERS, so buyer beware.
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Emmanuel Noisette of the newly updated E-Man's Movie Reviews called for a wingman on a team-up movie. He was kind enough to invite me to represent Every Movie Has a Lesson on a recorded SPOILER-FILLED podcast of our immediate reactions after watching the Zack Snyder/Joss Whedon concoction of Justice League. We sit down and discuss what we saw, what we liked, and didn't like.
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This past week, I was cordially invited and honored to join a panel on the "Kicking the Seat" podcast hosted by Ian Simmons. As always, Ian is joined by his regular wingman David Fowlie of Keeping it Reel. We left a seat warm for mutual friend Emmanuel Noisette of E-Man's Movie Reviews, but he couldn't make it. Ian, David, and I have talked comic book movies before, so it was only proper to get together for Justice League.
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Two fine gentlemen of strong opinions that I've conversed with and debated often through my participation over at the Feelin' Film Podcast are Gabriel Green and James Hamrick, the creators and hosts of the "Underrated Podcast." Their aim is field listener and guest selections of films that fit the underrated billing reflected either by low box office results or low critical review aggregate scores. My pick and our show's topic was Ben Stiller's 2012 film The Secret Life of Walter Mitty.
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I joined Jeff York recently as his guest for a special 20th-anniversary 35mm screening of 1997's Oscar-winning L.A. Confidential at the storied Music Box Theatre as part of the Noir City Chicago Festival. As an added treat, author James Ellroy was in the house to kick things off with an expletive-laden bang. After the screening, he and I hunkered down in Frio Gelato near the theatre to share our admiration and examination of Curtis Hanson's masterpiece.
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Fellow CIFCC critic and director Jim Alexander of Reel Talker extended the invitation for me to co-host a new episode of his podcast. On this installment of the Reel Talker podcast, Jim and I discuss the July movie releases and which we consider hits or flops. Also, he and I disclose our Top 10 movie lists through the halfway point of 2017. Jim and I had very different picks, chock full of surprises!
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Kathryn Bigelow's new film Detroit deserves the attention and lightning rod attraction it hopes to receive. Her historical drama is unrelenting in weight and topical in its parallels to similar and remaining mistreatment still happening today. On the same night as seeing an advance screening, three critics got together to unpack and reaction to Detroit. Aaron White, one of the hosts of the Feelin' Film Podcast, invited me and fellow Chicago critic Emmanuel Noisette of Eman's Movie Reviews to put our thoughts and feelings into words.
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Weinstein writes and directs what constitutes as a love letter to a culture, a community, and to the essence of fatherhood. The lead’s personal plight is a compelling one done with grace and admiration for attaching the right layer of empathy. It’s not overly heavy in any particular way, but Menashe carries enough honesty, enough will, and enough power to break any father’s heart. There’s strength to be found in that.
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I had the honor and pleasure this past week to join a league of movie-loving dads talking about a true fathers' movie: 1983's Mr. Mom. Host Patrick Hicks orchestrated myself and fellow regular Feelin' Film contributor Jeremy Calcara in a lively discussion covering the film, dad jokes, how our own upbringing informed our own parenting styles, our tremendous wives, and what makes this John Hughes film worth revisiting.
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If you're like me and friend-of-the-page Emmanuel Noisette of Eman's Movie Reviews, you might be feeling masterpiece-labeling pressure and Dunkirk review fatigue. For Emmanuel, guest extraordinaire Harry Egbo, and I, the film didn't resonate with us emotionally, but we had plenty of superlatives to talk about mingling with the challenges and questions. This is a SPOILER-FILLED audio discussion and the ethnic music in the background is all bonus gravy!
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Some movies move some people while leaving others scratching their heads. Welcome to an incredible movie therapy session. Aaron White of the Feelin' Film Podcast and I do our best to tell you what A Ghost Story is, and isn’t, so that you can decide if it’s worth your time. It will either frustrate you or leave you haunted. Listen now to this episide of "Feelin' It" to find out which you’ll be.
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