If 'tough guy' actor Robert Mitchum's cellmate hid $10,000 he stole for his family and was executed, would Mitchum go after his widow and kids for the cash? Would he become an informant for the authorities against his associates for a lighter prison sentence for his own criminal activity? For the answers to these burning questions about the terror/suspense film Night of the Hunter (1955) and the crime thriller/gangster picture The Friends of Eddie Coyle (1973), give episode 136 a download! Plus, poll results, behind-the-scenes fun facts, interactive trivia, listener shout-outs!

Previous guest DJ Nik returns for a look at Miss Potter and Goodbye, Christopher Robin, two biopics of the authors of classic children's story characters. You'll feel the nostalgia for Peter Rabbit and Pooh Bear as you hear about these portrayals of Beatrix Potter and A.A. Milne, the impact of their families on their creations, and Margot Robbie's British accent. Plus, poll results, interactive trivia, and listener shout-outs!

Tom Hanks wins the Oscar-winning smackdown in this episode that explores his "goofball comedy" era of the 80s and his "actor with a capital A" era of the 90s through Splash and Forrest Gump, respectively! Behind-the-scenes fun facts, poll results, interactive trivia, and listener shout-outs, nary a box of chocolates.

Actress Amy Steel shows both 'Jason Voorhees' and 'Buffy St. John' what she's made of as the 'Final Girl' in two 80s-era slasher flicks, while TV personality and broadcaster Dana Hersey of The Movie Loft gets his overdue thanks. Plus, behind-the-scenes fun facts, poll results, interactive trivia, and listener shout-outs!

The 2014 Alejandro González Iñárritu-directed Best Picture winner turns 10! Return guest Chris of the Just Go Watch Podcast joins me for a look back at the Michael Keaton headliner that melds together haughty actors, fractured relationships, washed-up superhero movie stars, ambiguous endings, and that most tragic of Shakespeare's plays, Macbeth. And Chris does not hold back with his thoughts on Eddie Redmayne's winning Best Actor that year, either. Plus, poll results, interactive trivia, and listener shout-outs!

Director Yorgos Lanthimos and 2-time Oscar-winning actress Emma Stone bring out the most eccentric in each other in these two films. With Academy Award nods for Best Picture (as producer) and Best Director for both, Lanthimos is a creative force that defies description. And with Oscar nods (and one win) for both films, Emma Stone is willing to play it to the hilt no matter what it takes. Behind-the-scenes fun facts, poll results, interactive trivia, and listener shout-outs!

The 96th annual Academy Awards are doled out tonight, so here is part 2 of a two-parter where return guests Brendan and Zak - former high school film students of mine, now college grads and film entrepreneurs in their own right - join me for the second consecutive year to discuss the nominees - specifically, the four acting categories, Director, Original Score, Original Song, Costume Design, Hairstyling and Makeup, Animated Feature, and International Feature Film!

Released ahead of schedule to get the jump on the 96th annual Academy Awards in three days, return guests Brendan and Zak - former high school film students of mine, now college grads and film entrepreneurs in their own right - join me for the second consecutive year to discuss the nominees. Part 1 of 2: Best Picture (Part 2 of 2 coming soon!)

Writer-director Wes Anderson gets the spotlight as we dive into 2023 Oscar nominee for Best Live Action Short, his adaptation of Roald Dahl's The Wonderful World of Henry Sugar, as well as the 10th anniversary of his 4-time Oscar winner The Grand Budapest Hotel. Plus, behind-the-scenes fun facts, poll results, interactive trivia, and listener shout-outs! (Bring your own courtesan au chocolat and lobby boy uniform.)

It's a Margot Robbie Best Picture nominee two-fer as her performances as Sharon Tate for Quentin Tarantino and as Barbie for Greta Gerwig come front and center! With her total Oscar nominations to date including two for acting (2017's I, Tonya and 2019's Bombshell) and one for producing (2023's Barbie), her Hollywood career is one that's on a hot streak. Plus, behind-the-scenes fun facts, poll results, interactive trivia, and listener shout-outs!

Twenty years after Alexander Payne and Paul Giamatti teamed up for Sideways (Oscar win for Payne's screenplay), they've reunited for The Holdovers, which is currently up for 5 Oscars, including Best Supporting Actress for Da'Vine Joy Randolph and Best Leading Actor for Giamatti. (Plus, both films are Best Picture nominees!) Behind-the-scenes fun facts, poll results, interactive trivia, and listener shout-outs!

How is it that after 12 career Academy Award nominations to date, Bradley Cooper has yet to take to the podium? A look back at his first Oscar-nominated performance, 2012's Silver Linings Playbook, and his most recent, 2023's Maestro. Both films nominated for Best Picture, Best Leading Actor for the man of the hour, and Best Leading Actress for Jennifer Lawrence (a win) and Carey Mulligan, respectively. Plus, behind-the-scenes fun facts, poll results, interactive trivia, and listener shout-outs!

The beloved rom-com turns 35 this year. So have your slice of heated apple pie with the ice cream on the side as Carlo from The Movie Loot podcast returns to join me for a discussion about the Rob Reiner-directed, Nora Ephron-written quintessential love story in the movies. Listen in, and you too will be singing a karaoke version of "Surrey with the Fringe on Top" in front of Ira!!! Plus, poll results, interactive trivia, and listener shout-outs!

The backstage dramatics are the name of the game in these two scathingly brilliant, dry, satirical, and witty tales of the woes of a theater actress diva. Bette Davis and Annette Bening both earned Oscar nominations for All about Eve and Being Julia, respectively, for being unstoppable forces long after the final curtain call. And with Thelma Ritter and Jeremy Irons by their sides, these are battles of wills worthy of a standing ovation. Plus, behind-the-scenes fun facts, poll results, interactive trivia, and listener shout-outs!

In 1989, extended family was never funnier or more bittersweet on screen than it was when Ron Howard directed Steve Martin and an ensemble cast through the trials of precocious preschoolers, backtalking teens, marital tension, and wayward siblings in Parenthood, while John Candy was in peak form with the John Hughes comedy Uncle Buck, which rightfully remains a fan favorite. Plus, poll results, behind-the-scenes fun facts, interactive trivia, and listener shout-outs!

Pull up a glacier, have a seat, and chill out to these two decidedly winter-themed tales. An anthropologist is one of the few to see a revived Neanderthal as a human and not a test subject in the underrated sci-fi/fantasy drama Iceman, while three entitled college students learn the hard way that when you push the boundaries too much, it invites trouble in the 2010 thriller Frozen. Where's Olaf when you need him? Plus, poll results, behind-the-scenes fun facts, interactive trivia, and listener shout-outs!

Ring in 2024 with these two classic films from 1960! Billy Wilder once more defies the social standards of his era with a provocative look at adultery in the comedy-drama The Apartment (Best Picture Oscar) - will Jack Lemmon or Shirley MacLaine win the early New Year's morning game of gin rummy? And U.S. army veterans plan the perfect crime to get the cash from five separate Las Vegas casinos after the stroke of midnight on New Year's in the quintessential Rat Pack film Ocean's Eleven! Plus, poll results, interactive trivia, behind-the-scenes fun facts, and listener shout-outs!certain sound effects: YOUTUBE CHANNEL EVERYDAY CINEMATIC SOUNDS

Katharine Hepburn and Cary Grant are the sizzle to the bacon of George Cukor's Holiday (1938), while Kate Winslet, Cameron Diaz, Jude Law, and Jack Black charm each other in the Nancy Meyers-written and directed The Holiday (2006). Return guests Max and Daniel of the Bitches with Beards Podcast join me in bringing on the merry with a look at both films. Plus, poll results, trivia, and listener shout-outs!

The holiday season has given us many delightful films, but none as delightfully dubious as these. With good-natured affection, hear about these two flicks that are memorable, but perhaps, for some viewers (and in one case, their own leading actors!), not for the reasons they intended. Plus, behind-the-scenes fun facts, poll results, interactive, trivia, and listener shout-outs! Music: @fuzzeke

Jacob Marley may be "dead as a doornail," but it's a Dickens doubleheader as Richard Donner's Scrooged, starring Bill Murray, turns 35, while we get a fictionalized look behind the curtain at how Dan Stevens's depiction of author Charles Dickens wrote the bloody thing in the first place in 2017's The Man Who Invented Christmas, also starring the great Christopher Plummer as old Ebenezer. Plus, poll results, interactive trivia, behind-the-scenes fun facts, and listener shout-outs!