Marathon Grind

     This week- a pair of movies about men chasing their dreams and competitive glory.

     Babe is a doctoral history student training to run a marathon. His brother, Doc, claims to work for an oil company. Doc really works for the government as a diamond courier for Christian Szell, a Nazi war criminal living in Uruguay. Soon all their paths will cross with devastating and violent consequences. Will Babe finish his thesis? Will Doc survive for the sequel? Do either know anyone who doesn't secretly work for Nazis hiding in South America? Marathon Man.
     Eric dreams of becoming a professional skateboarder. Dustin has resigned himself to a summer of working a fryer before college. Sweet Lou embraces his low key ladies man life style. Matt is desperate to not become a clown, like his parents. All four join together in a desperate final bid to realize their dreams by getting the attention of a pro skater legend on a demo tour. Will the boys steezy to glory or will they sketch themselves to a hospital? A cult comedy by Casey La Scala, Grind.
     All that and Kevin runs both to and from his problems, Dave goes to the happiest house on Earth, and Tyler relives his childhood. Join us, won't you?
   Episode 415- Marathon Grind

A Guy for All Seasons

     This week- a trio of films with a brilliant Aussie actor.

     Edie Sedgwick is a young heiress who studied art and makes the move to New York City. Before long she finds herself a rising model in youthquake fashion and the muse of one of pop art's most enduring figures before addiction and socially ostracized lead to tragic results. The penultimate feature by George Hickenlooper with a stunning lead performance, Factory Girl.
     After his mother's death, J has to go live with his estranged grandmother. A woman his mother kept him far away from because she is the matriarch of a violent criminal family. When the gang's leader, Baz, is killed by police a chain of events is set off that will have long lasting and devastating consequences to J's new world. The first feature from writer-director David Michôd, Animal Kingdom. 
     At the end of World War II a lost work by Vermeer is discovered in a Hermann Goering's hidden treasure trove. Captain Joseph Piller, who works for the Canadian military administration of the Netherlands and former resistance fighter, is tasked with tracking down whoever sold the painting. Soon he discovers Han van Meegrene and arrests him for collaboration and using the sale proceeds to fund a Nazi espionage network. van Meegrene's defense will be not just unexpected but shake up the art world for generations. The only feature directed by producer/conservationist/potential owner of a Houston Texas NHL team Dan Friedkin, The Last Vermeer.
     All that and Dave knows where his towel is, Craig plays puppy nurse, Tyler sees death coming, and Kevin is in the wind on the run from charity. Oh, I mean, FOR charity. Join us, won't you?

   Episode 414- A Guy for All Seasons

Knight Betrayal

     This week- two films about dreamers being betrayed by trusted individuals working for the government.

     In 1968, William O'Neal is arrested for attempting to steal a car while posing as a federal agent. While in custody he is approached by the FBI who make an offer he can't refuse- the charges will disappear if he infiltrates the Illinois chapter of the Black Panther Party and relays information on its leader, Fred Hampton. Based on a true story, the second feature from Shaka King, Judas and the Black Messiah.

    The CIA has secretly hires Professor Hathaway to make a laser weapon precise enough to carry out illegal political assassinations from outer space. Hathaway recruits a team of brilliant students to do the work for him as he redirects project funds to build a massive new house. As the deadline looms he recruits a budding genius in physics, Mitch, and places him under one of his heroes, Chris Knight, now a disillusioned slacker just trying to survive his final year. A 1980s comedy classic and one of the best college films of that century- Real Genius.
     All that and Dave pregames with the game, Tyler rides the movies like a pro, and Kevin plans a march of the squirrel army. Join us, won't you?
   Episode 413- Knight Betrayal

Talented Lactose

     This week- a pair of films about men on the edges of society taking youths under their wings.

     When washed up former football player, Curtis Plummer, is talked into spending his afternoons with his socially isolated niece, Jasmine. When he discovers her natural football throwing talent, he shapes her into the best quarterback to come out of their depressed former factory town. Inspired by but not even a little faithful to real events of the first girl to participate in the Pop Warner Football tournament, The Longshots.
     On the first anniversary of her daughter's abduction a woman sits on a park bench. Elsewhere, the missing girl and her friends are fighting off demons. And soon The Milkman cometh to both. The second film by Case Esparros, featuring influential performance artist Gary Wilson, and a soundtrack by experimental musician Aaron Dilloway- The Absence of Milk in the Mouths of the Lost.
     All that and Craig has a personal moment, Tyler relives his gridiron glorydays, Dave laments his lack of rennet, and Kevin makes a blood offering to the gods of nü-metal but wears the wrong kind of pants. Join us, won't you?
   Episode 412- Talented Lactose

The Mouse and the Snitch

     This week- a pair of films about people dragged into tangled webs of conspiracy.

     Rollie Taylor is the best practical effects artist that has ever been. When he's approached by an agent from the Department of Justice, he takes up the challenge of staging the assassination of an organized crime informant in public. Soon Rollie finds himself on the run from his employers with a trail of collateral damage and the NYPD detective at his heels. Will Rollie clear his name? What actually was the point of this elaborate scheme? Will Detective McCarthy realize he's too old for this shit? A surprise hit that generated a sequel film and continued with a TV series- F/X (aka Murder by Illusion).
     Summer 1948. Ezekiel "Easy" Rawlins, an African-American veteran and homeowner in Watts, has been laid off from his job at Champion Aircraft and needs money quickly to make his mortgage. His friend, Joppy, introduces him to DeWitt Albright, a white private investigator. Albright explains he needs Easy's help finding the missing fiancé of a Los Angeles mayoral candidate. Before long, bodies start piling up and Easy has the police eyeing him hard. His only hope is to call in his old friend, Mouse, a man with tendencies toward deadly violence. Will Easy find the missing woman? Why did she take off and who exactly is so desperate to find her? Based on the first book in Walter Mosley's phenomenal series of hardboiled mysteries, Devil in a Blue Dress.
   Join us, won't you?

   Episode 411- The Mouse and the Snitch