The Sixth Annual Criterion Month Draft

With July less than two weeks away, it’s about time we draft our picks for Criterion Month once again. This is the annual podcast where the three of us take turns picking what movies from the Criterion Collection we’d like to review on this blog over the course of next month. Most years there aren’t a ton of stolen picks, and sorry to disappoint you, that is once again the case this year. That said, we all had a lot of fun talking about revered movies we haven’t seen yet but are excited to talk about in 30(ish) days of somewhat rushed reviews that are published just in time before the stroke of midnight. Continue reading →

The Pick: My Big Fat Greek Wedding

Since it is wedding season, we’re taking a look at the biggest, fattest, Greekest one the movies have ever seen. John’s got some bones to pick with this light and breezy romantic comedy, while also marveling at the fact that it was an absolute monster hit back in 2002. Also, since this is the end of this admittedly short season, we take a look back at The Pick’s past with a quiz delving into the 58(ish) episodes we’ve recorded so far. Opa! Continue reading →

Colin’s Favorite Albums of May 2022

This month saw quite a few familiar faces returning with both highly anticipated and mildly anticipated albums alike. Some of the ones that fell more into the latter category I just haven’t had much time to dig into despite being Colin favorites, since they came out toward the end of the month (like Wilco’s Cruel Country or Craig Finn’s A Legacy of Rentals). Also, as much as I always look forward to a new Sharon Van Etten album, for whatever reason, her new We’ve Been Going About This All Wrong hasn’t quite been hitting with me. Maybe this is because much like I found with 2014’s excellent Are We There, her music is just a little hard to embrace during the sunnier parts of the year, even if this summer has already manifested just how much we’ve been going about this all wrong. Continue reading →

The Pick: Jupiter Ascending

This time around, we round out our trio of episodes looking at The Wachowskis’ misunderstood non-Matrix movies. We discuss why this one has had less of a cult following than Speed Racer or Cloud Atlas since its release, as well as why audiences didn’t connect with it at the time despite its efforts to craft a grand, new sci-fi franchise born of original IP. Also, just in time for Summer, we dive into some cold beverage talk in our little picks. Continue reading →

The People’s Bonus Album: Falling Into You

Oh god. I keep taking so long in between installments of The People’s Albums that it’s hard for me to know when I’ll ever complete this journey through the best selling albums in the U.S. Guess my only goal is to finish it before I die or before we eventually lose interest in writing for this blog (whichever happens first). I know I’d have to do another one of these bonus installments in order to round it out to an even 50 before starting on the top ten, but maybe I’ll figure out a way to weasel my way out of another bonus entry since I really need to get started on that top 10.

Album: Falling Into You
Artist: Celine Dion
Release Date: March 11, 1996
Copies Sold In The U.S.: 11.8 Million Continue reading →

The Pick: Basic Instinct

We’re back with another sleazy movie from the ’90s with one of the most-parodied movies of its time, Basic Instinct. We dig a little bit into the movie’s status as one of the quintessential erotic thrillers as well as how Michael Douglas came to embody this very particular type of sexy murder mystery. We try to delve into things about it other than “that scene” while taking a stab at a Michael Douglas impression, which is apparently just a more nasally Jack Nicholson. Strap in for the pick of the century. Continue reading →

Colin’s Favorite Albums of April 2022

April wasn’t quite as hot of a month music-wise as the other two I’ve covered so far this year. Which is perfectly ok since March 25 saw the release of so many noteworthy albums that I’ll have plenty to talk about here. In addtion Destroyer’s last album (which I covered last month), the first three albums I’ll be covering actually came out on that release date and served as some of my most-listened-to albums throughout April. Continue reading →