The Weekly Movie Throwdown

This week on the show, it's a throwdown between Jeremy Saulnier films. One of the director's earliest films, the micro-budgeted Blue Ruin from 2013, goes up against 2024's Netflix-produced Rebel Ridge. It's a fun examination of how his style changed over a decade of filmmaking, and how it stayed the same.

This week, it's a throwdown between two 1999 Julia Roberts rom-coms, Notting Hill and Runaway Bride. Both have their own merits—and pitfalls. It's a great matchup, and a great conversation filled with hot takes. Give it a listen!

On this week's episode, it's a throwdown between to exceptional guy-on-the-phone films, as 2002's Phone Booth goes up against The Guilty from 2021. Which one walks away with the title? Tune in and find out!

This week, we welcome author Laura Carney and filmmaker Gerik Gooch to the show to draft 20th-century summer blockbusters like Jaws, The Empire Strikes Back, and Batman. Which player wins in the end? Check out the episode and decide.Find Laura Carney's work at bylauracarney.com, and pick up her book My Father's List here.Find Gerik Gooch on Instagram here.

It's often said that Rob Cohen's The Fast and the Furious from 2001 is the same film as Kathryn Bigelow's Point Break from 1991, but with cars instead of surfboards. Well this week on the show, Mike and Steven get to the bottom of that notion and talk through these two films to find out if that thinking is sound.

On this week's episode, we delve into the world of Steven Spielberg with a throwdown between two of his most discussed sci-fi films. Close Encounters of the Third Kind from 1977 goes up against Disclosure Day, which is in theaters now. It's an interesting examination of his fascination with aliens and how that's changed (or hasn't) in the fifty years between films.