Episode 96 -- December Movies

Mini-Reviews of The Girl with Dragon Tatoo, Mission Impossible: Ghost Protocol

Main Reviews: Young Adult & The Artist

Episode 95 -- Hugo

Set in 1930s Paris, an orphan who lives in the walls of a train station is wrapped up in a mystery involving his late father and an automaton.

*Mini-review of J. Edgar*

Episode 94 -- Ides of March

Synopsis--An idealistic staffer for a newbie presidential candidate gets a crash course on dirty politics during his stint on the campaign trail. Based on the play by Beau Willimon.

*Includes mini-reviews of Tetro, Footloose and The Thing*

Episode 93 -- Roundtable VI

This episode's roundtable topics will include: 1) Video on Demand--Is it the wave of the future? Will movie theaters be necessary if you can get your movies directly on your TV or mobile devices? 2) Movie Streaming-Who will emerge victorious? With Netflix price changes and division of the company into two seperate entities, can it survive? Or will companies such as Amazon Prime and Blockbuster steal Netflix's customers?

Episode 91 -- The Rainmaker/August movies

Tonight's episode we will cover movies that debut in August such as The Help, Fright Night, Conan, and One Day. Also, talk briefly about Francis Ford Coppola's The Rainmaker.

Episode 92 -- Bram Stoker's Dracula

Synopsis-- After his wife commits suicide, Count Vlad the Impaler curses God and becomes a vampire. Opportunity arises when he discovers a look a like in Mina Harker. He lures her husband to his castle. He imprisons them there before he sets off for London to seduce Mina.

Episode 90 -- The Godfather III

Plot Summary--In the midst of trying to legitimize his business dealings in 1979 New York and Italy, aging mafia don Michael Corleone seeks to vow for his sins while taking a young protégé under his wing.

Episode 89 -- Cowboys and Aliens/Friends with Benefits

Plot Summary for Cowboys & Aliens--A spaceship arrives in Arizona, 1873, to take over the Earth, starting with the Wild West region. A posse of cowboys are all that stand in their way.

Plot Summary for Friends with Benefits--While trying to avoid the clichés of Hollywood romantic comedies, Dylan and Jamie soon discover however that adding the act of sex to their friendship does lead to complications.

Episode 88 -- Captain America

Starring: Chris Evans
After being deemed unfit for military service, Steve Rogers volunteers for a top secret research project that turns him into Captain America, a superhero dedicated to defending America's ideals.

Episode 87 -- The Outsiders

Plot Summary--When two poor greasers, Johnny, and Ponyboy are assaulted by a vicious gang, the socs, and Johnny kills one of the attackers, tension begins to mount between the two rival gangs, setting off a turbulent chain of events.

Episode 86 -- Roundtable Discussion V

Topics we will discuss:
1) Connecticut theater offering no refunds for Tree of Life. Posts notice saying Tree of Life is a challenging film and if you walk out after the 20 minute mark you will not get a refund.
2) Does it matter anymore if a movie is succeeds or fails? There seems to be never ending sequels and reboots on the horizon. If the movie fails somebody will reboot it in a few years. If the movie succeeds box office wise and is critical failure the sequel will get greenlit anyway.

Episode 85-- Godfather II

*Mini-Reviews of Transformers 3 and Larry Crowne*

Plot Summary--The early life and career of Vito Corleone in 1920s New York is portrayed while his son, Michael, expands and tightens his grip on his crime syndicate stretching from Lake Tahoe, Nevada to pre-revolution 1958 Cuba.

Episode 84 -- Apocalypse Now

*Mini-Review of X-Men: First Class*

Plot--During the on-going Vietnam War, Captain Willard is sent on a dangerous mission into Cambodia to assassinate a renegade Green Beret who has set himself up as a God among a local tribe.

Episode 83 -- The Conversation

Plot Summary-- A paranoid and personally-secretive surveillance expert has a crisis of conscience when he suspects that a couple he is spying on will be murdered.

Episode 82 -- The Godfather

Kicking off our Francis Ford Coppola themed podcast is The Godfather.

Plot--The aging patriarch of an organized crime dynasty transfers control of his clandestine empire to his reluctant son.

Episode 81 -- Thor/Bridesmaids

Synopsis--The powerful but arrogant warrior Thor is cast out of the fantastic realm of Asgard and sent to live amongst humans on Earth, where he soon becomes one of their finest defenders.

Bridesmaids--Picked as her best friend's maid of honor, lovelorn and broke Annie looks to bluff her way through the expensive and bizarre rituals with an oddball group of bridesmaids.

Episode 80 -- Black Swan

Starring: Natalie Portman A ballet dancer wins the lead in "Swan Lake" and is perfect for the role of the delicate White Swan - Princess Odette - but slowly loses her mind as she becomes more and more like Odile, the Black Swan.

Episode 79 -- Showgirls

Synopsis-- A young drifter, named Nomi, arrives in Las Vegas to become a dancer and soon sets about clawing and pushing her way to become the top of the Vegas showgirls.

Note: May want to watch All About Eve (available on Netflix watch instantly) as we will be drawing comparisons between these two movies.

Episode 78 -- All About Eve

*Mini-review of The Conspirator*

All About Eve stars Bette Davis & Anne Baxter

Synopsis-- An ingenue insinuates herself in to the company of an established but aging stage actress and her circle of theater friends.

Episode 77 -- Hanna

Hanna (Saorise Ronan), a 16-year-old, who was raised by her father (Eric Bana) to be the perfect assassin is dispatched on a mission across Europe, tracked by a ruthless intelligence agent and her operatives.

Episode 76 -- 9th Company

*Mini-Review of Source Code*

Synopsis-- Based on true events. This movie follows young Russian recruits as they go through boot camp and are deployed to Afghanistan. The original group is divided and half of them join the 9th Company, where they endure a surprise and unrelenting attack by the Mujahideen (Afghani rebels).

Episode 75 -- Sucker Punch/Rango

Sucker Punch -- A young girl is institutionalized by her wicked stepfather. Retreating to an alternative reality as a coping strategy, she envisions a plan which will help her escape from the facility.

Rango-- Rango (Johnny Depp) finds himself stranded in the desert and makes his way to the town of Dirt. There he forges a new identity and becomes the sheriff of the town. His first assignment is to investigate the mysterious disappearance of the town's water supply.

Episode 74 -- Battle: Los Angeles/Starship Troopers

Battle: Los Angeles plot summary-- Marines face off against alien invaders in the city of Los Angeles.

In keeping with our alien invasion theme for this podcast we are going to talk about the 1997 film Starship Troopers.

Starship Troopers plot summary--Humans of a fascistic, militaristic future do battle with giant alien bugs in a fight for survival.

Episode 73 -- Oscar Post Show 2011

Tanya and Mary share their reactions about the 2011 Oscars. What were the surprises? Who gave the best speech? How did Anne Hathaway and James Franco do as hosts?

Episode 72 -- Skin

Based on the true story set in South Africa during the Apartheid system. Sandra Laing (Sophie Okonedo), who was born of dark skin to two Afrikaaners of white European descent Abraham (Sam Neill) and Sannie (Alice Krige) Laing. Sandra is a genetic throwback because unknown to her parents, and like many Afrikaaners, there was mixed blood in their heritage between the Europeans who settled in South Africa and the indigenous Africans. The story begins with Sophie getting expelled from an all-white school because of her differences in appearance. She is reclassified as dark. Her father (who is himself a bigot) fights to have her reclassified as white. She eventually is but against her family wishes she causes an unbreakable divide when she decides to marry a black man and have herself reclassified yet again as black.

Episode 71 -- Roundtable Discussion IV

The main topic of discussion will be the MPAA ratings for the movies Blue Valentine and the King's Speech. Blue Valentine was given an NC-17, which would have hurt its release and ability to be advertised. The rating was appealed by the Weinstein Company and eventually given an R rating. The King's Speech was giving an R rating because of excessive use of the "F" word in one sequence.

Episode 70 -- Oscar Nominations 01/25/11

Tanya and Mary discuss the Oscar Nominations for the films of 2010. What nominations surprised us? Who do we think will win?

Episode 69 -- Blue Valentine

Starring: Michelle Williams & Ryan Gosling

Plot: Blue Valentine traces the decline of a relationship between Cindy (Michelle Williams) and Dean (Ryan Gosling). It goes back and forth between the past and the present revealing the bitter truth of their relationship.

Episode 68 -- Golden Globe Reactions 2011

Join us live following the Golden Globes telecast on talkshoe.com. Call ID#54957. Listen to our reactions and sound off on the best speeches of the night. Which one was the funniest? Also, what awards were most deserved, least deserved, and who just plain bored us to tears.

Episode 67 -- Best & Worst Films of 2010

Tanya and Aaron list their Best & Worst films of 2010.