All in Comedy

Episode 194 - Million Dollar Baby

This week, we watch the best picture winner that also saw Hilary Swank in win the first Oscar for an actor portraying a boxer. This film follows a determined boxer's rise to the top, as a grizzled old boxing coach learns to respect female boxers, and Morgan Freeman hangs out and does a nice voiceover.  This is one to watch before listening.  Million Dollar Baby (2004), directed by Clint Eastwood.

Episode 195 - Wild Tales

This week, we watch the film that took the country of Argentina by storm, smashing all of the box-office records, and earning a Best Foreign Picture nomination in the 2015 Oscars.  Comprised of six stories that, according to the director, are "linked by violence, and nothing else", this film lets its characters go far beyond typical socially accepted behavior, and explore what might result if people acted solely on their instincts.  Wild Tales (2014), directed by Damian Szifron.

Episode 200 - Jurassic Park

This week, we watch the film that brings back dinosaurs in the groundbreaking blockbuster that combines horror, drama, comedy, action, adventure, sci-fi...really, this movie does it all.  Now with four films in the franchise (Jurassic World is currently the 4th highest grossing movie of all time), the original still towers over the sequels, with special effects that somehow didn't age a day. Jurassic Park, directed by Steven Spielberg.

Episode 207 - Memories of Murder

This week, we watch the the movie that captured a slot in Quentin Tarantino's list of the 20 best films since 1992 - a murder mystery that combines horror and comedy in a way that that leaves you not only guessing at who the killer is, but what tone the movie will take with the next scene.  Also, the best jump-kicks in movie history. Memories of Murder (2003), directed by Bong Joon Ho.

Episode 210 - Deadpool

This week, we watch the comic book movie that blew up the box office.  The Hard-R, ultra-violent comedy was a passion project that almost didn't get made, which not only restarted Ryan Reynolds career, but also is bound to start an R-rated comic book movie surge. Deadpool (2016), directed by Tim Miller.

Episode 213 - Rocky

This week, we watch the Best Picture winning character drama - disguised as a sports movie - which not only brought writer/director/star Sylvester Stallone from being homeless and hungry to one of the biggest movie stars in the world to this day, but also invented the sports training montage. Is there a better motivational song than "Gonna Fly Now"? Rocky (1976), directed by John G. Avildsen.

Episode 216 - Monsters, Inc.

This week, we watch the Pixar movie that leads us on a journey through the world behind the closet doors of children.  We dive deep into the potential history of the monster culture, and whether Waternoose created the notion that children are dangerous to keep the scary monsters in power. Monsters, Inc. (2001), directed by Pete Doctor.

Episode 228 - La Haine

This week, we watch the film that kickstarted a renaissance in French cinema, which tells a story of a day in the life of three friends living in the projects one day after a night of violent riots of protest in the streets of Paris- La Haine (Hate, 1995). Directed by Mathieu Kassovitz.