After The Hype

It's time for our best of the year list and we've brought in our pals Brok and Kelly to join us. We cover quite the variety of favorites for the year and come up with some interesting number ones.

This week on the podcast we're discussing films that we go to during the holiday season that might not be your typical holiday fare. We've got stuff ranging from Lord of the Rings to Grumpy Cat.

Throughout the year there are films that just get away from us, so we decided to make an entire episode about the films we missed. We talk films like Oddity, Iron Giant, Bottoms, Barbarian, and more.

In our latest, we discuss the various ways in which we've engaged with media to escape the current political landscape. Some of us took to tabletop as our escape, while others found solace in the warm embrace of the Mighty Boosh. Satisfactory gets a mention, as does Doc Martin. Some good recommendations and discussions here you won't want to miss.

Awhile back we recorded an episode where we recast the Fast Five film with the muppets, allowing for only one real actor. It was a hoot and a half coming up with our selections and revealing them to each other. Just know that no muppets were harmed in the recording of this episode.

Streamed this episode a few months back and it features a bit of a random assortment of media. We talk about Dune 2, how horrible Halo was, Yellowjackets, and Snufkin. And fun was had by all in the talking. Join us, won't you?

As part of our new format going into 2024 we opened the floor to other forms of entertainment that weren't just films. The result is this episode where we discuss the Robocop video game, Reacher Season 2, Slow Horses, and the Nier Automata orchestral soundtrack.

This was our 2023 Year in Review that we broadcast on youtube at the beginning of the year. We covered a lot of different types of media and it was a blast.

This week we've got quite the tearjerker for you...if you are into that sort of thing. Unfortunately we were not. That's right folks, we're reviewing Beaches as part of our Bette Midler retrospective. Apologies in advance if you loved or find close attachment to this particular piece of cinema, but we didn't connect on any level. Sure, Bette Midler is great. She's always great. Heck, her play about "Otto Titsling" is amazing.  Even the set design slaps. It's just not enough. As always, we had fun working through what worked and what didn't and hope you'll join us on this journey...to the beach.

After another delay (life, eh?) we're back with another exciting episode of Behind the Hype. We're moving on from our lackluster horror b-sides month to something completely different in the best way. This month it's all about Bette Midler. To kick off her awesome filmography we've got the film "Ruthless People," which was quite a blast but definitely flew under some of our radars. Join us to hear about this darkly comedic film and then go check it out as well. You'll be glad you did.

This week we wrap up our month of "Horror B-Sides" with John Carpenter's Ghost of Mars. Okay, cards on the table. When we first thought about doing a month of movies like this, we were hoping to find some hidden gems or uncover some inexplicable blind spots. That was not the case and it's clear to see why this film - and the others that came before it - are considered "b-sides." There's stuff to like in this movie, don't get us wrong. It's just...well...you'll have to listen for yourselves.

Growing tired of our lackluster choices so far this month, we here at Behind the Hype decided to try out a different horror filmmaker's b-sides to see if we might be able to turn this ship around. We chose Sam Raimi's "The Gift," which unfortunately was nowhere near as good as we had hoped and featured almost nothing that we could recognize as a Raimi'ism. It wasn't completely terrible and had some interesting bright spots, but it's certainly an odd duck in our month of odd duck films.

A creature feature with human-sized bugs eating people in subways seems like it was tailor-made for the talents of Guillermo Del Toro, but alas, that is not what we got. Mimic should have been so much better than it was, but its parts did not work together to create a cohesive whole. We break down all the things that didn't work, and point out some of the Del Toro staples that could have been so much more if...well...there had been so much more.

After a bit of a forced hiatus, we're back and excited to take a deep dive into what we think will be an awesome month of films. The theme is Horror B-Sides, and what that means is we're discussing some of the most famous horror directors and their "not-so-popular" fare. This week it's Wes Craven and his Voodoo Zombie Horror Film "The Serpent and the Rainbow." Is it a long-forgotten treasure or should it be dusted into oblivion and buried alive? Join us to find out.

This week on our show we brought in everyone's favorite "Zombie Dog" Matt Dykes to talk about the next film in our Richard Donner retrospective: "Lethal Weapon 2." We had a lot to talk about with this one, from the shoddy police work on display to the scene stealing/chewing Joe Pesci to the very nebulous villains hiding behind their diplomatic immunity. Fun film and equally fun conversation so let's get right to it.

For many of the millennial persuasion, Richard Donner is the guy who directed Superman, which in turn introduced us to the great Christopher Reeve.  Due to a lot of bullshit that is well-documented elsewhere, he was removed from the sequel and Richard Lester was brought in to take his place as director. That version of the film is the version we all grew up with and for the most part loved. And then The Donner Cut came along and gave us insight into what could have been and the results are...also very damn good. We go into all of this and more so let's not waste another minute.

Richard Donner had quite the film career in his lifetime and we wanted to honor that by spending a month reflecting on some of his best films (and one film he got to re-edit after it was cruelly taken away from him). We kick things off with his first critical and commercial breakthrough, "The Omen," starring Gregory Peck as a diplomat / ambassador whose son may or may not be (but totally is) the Antichrist. It's a well-paced horror film that never overstays its welcome, and it manages to pepper a few shocking kills throughout its runtime. That's not to say the film is without its share of flaws, and we go into those as well. An overall compelling start to our month honoring the late Richard Donner.

Ending our month of Jackie Chan is the film "Rush Hour," which totally doesn't hold up after all these years and is a bit of a frustrating watch. Probably would have been better to go with something like "The Foreigner" or literally anything else in his filmography. That said, there were a few things that we liked and it brought about a great wrap up discussion about the actor and just how diverse his body of work is.

Our Jackie Chan retrospective resumes with the absolutely goofball "Rumble in the Bronx," and we mean that in the most positive way possible. Sure, the plot is awful, but you're not watching one of these for the plot. You are? Really? Anyway, the action is top notch and thoroughly exciting and the third act is absolutely hilarious, if nonsensical. You owe it to yourself to check out this movie (and our episode on it) if you haven't.

This week we continue our month on Jackie Chan with the film that fans consider to be one of his best: Police Story. Chan himself also considers it to be one of his best in terms of action and stunts, and the film itself launched many sequels. We have a bit more nuanced of a take on the film, finding some of the plotting to be ridiculous and a frustrating distraction from the truly great action scenes. Specifically, we take some umbrage with the court scenes and the appalling acceptance of shady evidence. We have a lot of fun getting into the particulars of this fun movie so hit that play button and join us for a look behind the hype of Jackie Chan's Police Story.