Tag: Samuel L Jackson

Episode 117 – Jurassic Park

, with special guest: ,

Jurassic ParkThis week’s theme is DINOSAURS! We bring new viewer Stephan Zvan to watch Jurassic Park with our friend and Dinosaur Expert, Matt Kessen. Spielberg’s most successful movie gets the Reel Education treatment as we consider the parts that have aged extremely well (the special effects) and the parts that haven’t (creeper Jeff Goldblum). All in all, this is a really great suspense film that features goddamn dinosaurs! We hope you enjoy watching the movie and our conversation that centers around the dinosaurs. Because we spend much time discussing dinosaurs.

Next up, we are going to watch the other film Steven Spielberg released in 1993 – Schindler’s List!

Jurassic Park (1993)
Jurassic Park poster Rating: 8.2/10 (1,060,897 votes)
Director: Steven Spielberg
Writer: Michael Crichton, David Koepp
Stars: Sam Neill, Laura Dern, Jeff Goldblum
Runtime: 127 min
Rated: PG-13
Genre: Action, Adventure, Sci-Fi
Released: 11 Jun 1993
Plot: A pragmatic paleontologist touring an almost complete theme park on an island in Central America is tasked with protecting a couple of kids after a power failure causes the park's cloned dinosaurs to run loose.

Episode 106 – Pulp Fiction

, with special guest: ,

Pulp FictionWe continue our crime spree (or crime wave depending on what Tim decided to call it this episode) with the groundbreaking Quentin Tarantino film Pulp Fiction! This movie was so important that we had to get two guests to watch it with us!  The first is newcomer Patrick Fisher and the second is Tim’s now eighteen-year-old son Alex Wick! We watch the film and then talk about how it transformed filmmaking and production in the two decades that have followed.

Next up, we are going to continue with crime films and also watch some more Bruce Willis as we watch Die Hard!

Pulp Fiction (1994)
Pulp Fiction poster Rating: 8.9/10 (2,202,387 votes)
Director: Quentin Tarantino
Writer: Quentin Tarantino, Roger Avary
Stars: John Travolta, Uma Thurman, Samuel L. Jackson
Runtime: 154 min
Rated: R
Genre: Crime, Drama
Released: 14 Oct 1994
Plot: The lives of two mob hitmen, a boxer, a gangster and his wife, and a pair of diner bandits intertwine in four tales of violence and redemption.

Episode 63 – The Hateful Eight

, with special guest:

The Hateful Eight

Those of you who listened to our last episode may have noticed we said this episode would be about The Phantom of the Opera.  Surprise!  With The Hateful Eight leaving theaters soon, we decided we should shuffle off to the movie theater and check out Quentin Tarantino’s latest offering.  Melissa actually saw the film in 70mm glory while Tim and Jena got to see the digital print from the front row.  We’ll talk about the film and a lot of the social implications contained in the film.  Somehow, we fail to talk about the score.  But it was really good.

Our next movie will, for totally sure, be The Phantom of the Opera!

The Hateful Eight (2015)
The Hateful Eight poster Rating: 7.8/10 (654,706 votes)
Director: Quentin Tarantino
Writer: Quentin Tarantino
Stars: Samuel L. Jackson, Kurt Russell, Jennifer Jason Leigh
Runtime: 168 min
Rated: R
Genre: Crime, Drama, Mystery
Released: 30 Dec 2015
Plot: In the dead of a Wyoming winter, a bounty hunter and his prisoner find shelter in a cabin currently inhabited by a collection of nefarious characters.

Episode 53 – Django Unchained

, with special guest:

Django UnchainedSince there was only one other Quentin Tarantino film unseen by Jena, we knew we had to get to it as quickly as possible.  After showing her Jackie Brown a month ago, we took a look at Django Unchained for this episode.  Tarantino does another pastiche of Westerns, Blaxploitation and, because it is Tarantino, a little bit of almost everything else.  We hope you enjoy our conversation!

Our next movie will be a return to the world of Akira Kurosawa – Yojimbo!

Django Unchained (2012)
Django Unchained poster Rating: 8.5/10 (1,672,172 votes)
Director: Quentin Tarantino
Writer: Quentin Tarantino
Stars: Jamie Foxx, Christoph Waltz, Leonardo DiCaprio
Runtime: 165 min
Rated: R
Genre: Drama, Western
Released: 25 Dec 2012
Plot: With the help of a German bounty-hunter, a freed slave sets out to rescue his wife from a brutal plantation owner in Mississippi.

Episode 51 – Jackie Brown

, with special guest:

Jackie BrownAfter much searching, we managed to find a Quentin Tarantino film that Jena hadn’t see yet!  That’s a lie.  It didn’t take that much searching at all.  We sat Jena down in front of Jackie Brown so she could enjoy a film that is not quite as obviously a Tarantino film than all of his other films.  Following the film, we had an in-depth discussion about Tarantino through the lens of a rather atypical work.  We also talked about some of his favorite actors and some of the actors who have enjoyed career revivals as a result of working with him.

In something of a natural progression, our next podcast will be about Foxy Brown!

Jackie Brown (1997)
Jackie Brown poster Rating: 7.5/10 (370,925 votes)
Director: Quentin Tarantino
Writer: Quentin Tarantino, Elmore Leonard
Stars: Pam Grier, Samuel L. Jackson, Robert Forster
Runtime: 154 min
Rated: R
Genre: Crime, Drama, Thriller
Released: 25 Dec 1997
Plot: A flight attendant with a criminal past gets nabbed by the ATF for smuggling. Under pressure to become an informant against the drug dealer she works for, she must find a way to secure her future without getting killed.