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 o...

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 o...

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...

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...

We're back from our hiatus and ready to jump into some serious discussion about a super serious actor who only makes super serious films. Just kidding. It's Jackie Chan month and we're kicking off perhaps our most fun month yet talking about the hilarious and wonderfully choreographed Drunken Master. What's perhaps the most impressive is how on point Chan's comedic timing is and how much charisma he exudes onscreen. If you haven't watched it yet stop what you're doing, watch it, and then join us.

We end our month of "Snyder Cuts" with THE Snyder Cut. That's right, we're talking about Zack Snyder's Justice League, which had the unfortunate task of building an entire league of superheroes in 4 hours and somehow did it better than anyone could have possibly imagined. Naturally, we had to have an extra-long podcast to discuss how this all happened and why this film is proof positive that the world has been wrong about Zack Snyder. And naturally, we had to bring Matt "Zombie Dog" Dykes back to help. Guys, let's talk about some Justice League!

It's a bird! It's a plane. No, it's our deep dive into Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice: Ultimate Edition. BvS is the film that really kicked the anti-Snyder sentiment into high gear, and we try to grapple with why that is while pointing out that the movie in its extended form is actually quite good. The acting is top notch, and the re-inserted scenes with Clark give him a story arc and explain just why things happen the way they happen. Don't believe the hype on this one...the movie is actually good. Let's talk about it, shall...

This week on the show we're continuing our deep dive into the "Snyder Cuts" by looking at a film that could have really used a longer cut - Legend of the Guardians: The Owls of Ga'hoole. As you watch the film you can see why Zack Snyder directed this. Beautiful landscapes, vivid characters, punchy pop songs - it's all there! The big problem is that it's an adaptation of a popular children's book series, and like with most of these things, the problems stem from trying to cram as much stuff in as short a runtime as possible. Still...

This week we're taking a look at perhaps one of the most hated films in the Zack Snyder filmography: Sucker Punch. It's been dismissed as exploitative, and has been derided for its depiction of women. It also features more special effects, explosions, and those darn slow-mo shots people keep making fun of all the time online. So, what if we told you that the Extended Cut solves most, if not all of those problems, and that maybe some of those problems were but projections of an already biased audience? Let's get into it, shall we?

Here at Behind the Hype we've decided that it's time to take a deep dive into one of the more divisive filmmakers out there today: Zack Snyder. People either love his work or hate it, and no matter where you fall on that spectrum you can't deny that he is a visionary filmmaker. We're going to be discussing his "Snyder Cuts" this month, starting this week with his "director's cut" of Dawn of the Dead. 

The DC isn't all that much longer than the theatrical version and it doesn't significantly change the quality of the movie, but i...

While we're sad to bring our month of Showa Era Godzilla films to a close, we're glad we picked Godzilla vs. Mechagodzilla as our last film to discuss. It's got ape-like aliens trying to conquer earth, interpol agents disguised as muckraking journalists, a musical number, and a monster named King Caesar who helps Godzilla kick the ever-loving ish out of the titular villain. Try not to grin like a goof-ball at any given moment. We dare you.

Also in this episode we discuss plans for next month. Here's a hint: Director's Cuts.

The next film in our month of Showa Era Godzilla films is Destroy All Monsters, which features all your favorite monsters and then some as they terrorize all the major cities of the world. But what has caused them to go on such a unified rampage? Aliens. That's right, an all-women race of aliens called the Kilaaks have bent all the monsters to their will and it's up to a fearless space captain to set things right. To say that this film is a blast is a bit of an understatement. It may not be as uniquely humorous as...

We continue our delightful dive into the Showa Era Godzilla films this week with the energetic Son of Godzilla. It's a cheeseball film that delights in the silly antics of its titular character and only really manages to stumble when it comes to the human story. The costumes, props, puppets, and miniatures are in top form here and it's hard to not watch this with a grin on your face. This one goes out to all you reporters out there who parachute to mysterious islands to find the big stories.

Godzilla is such a pop culture icon that we thought it would be a great idea to dive into some of his more iconic outings this month on Behind the Hype, starting with the third film in the series: King Kong vs. Godzilla. Apart from one problem spot, the film is quite a delight and features everything fun you would expect from a showdown of two pop culture titans.

We've reached the end of our month on Sion Sono and to wrap things up we've picked quite the heavy film: Guilty of Romance. There's a lot to unpack with this film, about the role of women in Japanese society and the lengths they will go to break free from said pressures, or in some cases become consumed by them. As we were short a woman on this episode to give some perspective we tried to instead focus on the things we learned from the film and the themes that resonated with us versus trying to speak to Japanese...

Due to some version confusion we had to push our review of Guilty of Romance to next week. In its place we're going to talk about the movie that put Sion Sono on the map for western audiences: Suicide Club. It's difficult to summarize the movie and do the horrific imagery and biting commentary justice, but we do our best. Just the opening few minutes of the movie should clue you in on the doozy of a film you're about to experience.

Our Sion Sono retrospective continues with the rap opera Tokyo Tribe, a doozy of a film that starts out rough and then ends with one hell of a punchline. It features a cast of fascinating and colorful characters that sing their way through bouts of ultra-violence. It features perhaps one of the most fun and over-the-top villains we've seen yet on this podcast. And if that weren't enough, it features the daughter of a satanic high priest kicking all kinds of ass with her banana-eating kid sidekick. Have we convinced you to watch the film yet?

We're back from our break and we thought it would be a great idea to kick things off with a retrospective on director Sion Sono. You might remember him from our episode on Why Don't You Play In Hell. Yeah, that guy. Anyway, we're starting with his 2015 film Tag, featuring perhaps one of the most surprising openings to be put to film. Seriously, you might want to be sitting down for this one.

Of course, with a filmmaker like this it's worth looking into the themes he plays in and we found an interesting article to be...

We close out our month of That Wasn't The F**king Plan with the best movie out of the four we talked about, although that's not saying much: The Emperor's New Groove. It's a strange film in the Disney archive, fraught with all kinds of production drama. We talk a bit about what the original plan was, and then try to figure out where things went wrong. We also note how the film has a great third act and how Kronk probably should have been the star considering how much of the movie he stole from everyone else.

You'd think that a movie about a filmmaker at war with himself that took ten years to make would be more interesting, but here we are. We're discussing Terry Gilliam's The Man Who Killed Don Quixote and let's just say that we had a lot of issues with it. Are we talking about an unwatchable dumpster fire of epic proportions? No. Not even close. It's just a very messy production that shows its seams at every turn and ends up being more boring than bad. If you like early Gilliam you won't find much of him here and that's...

This week in our month of "That Wasn't The F&#king Plan" we're talking about the David Ayer film Suicide Squad. The David Ayer film Suicide Squad is what we're talking about this week as we deep dive into films that weren't part of the F&#king Plan." As we dive into movies that didn't turn out the way they were planned, we thought it would be proper to talk about the David Ayer film Suicide Squad.

Okay, I think that hammers home the point that Suicide Squad takes forever to get out of its introduction and...

That wasn't the f**kin plan! This month is all about the screw ups, the garbage fires, the things that didn't turn out the way they were initially intended. We're kicking off this month with the garbage film Star Wars: Rise of Skywalker and diving into all the things that went wrong with it. Turns out there's a lot. Now, before you - a Rise of Skywalker fan - get all huffy, we had one or two things that we liked about the film and we made sure to give those points their due. On the whole, however, we...

Happy Thanksgiving! We know it's a bit tough this year around the holidays so we decided to invite you into our homes figuratively to talk about the last film in our Hugo Weaving retrospective: The Adventures of Priscilla, Queen of the Desert. It's a great film filled with amazing performances. There's a lot to love here and we talk about it all. The film does struggle to stick the landing with one character deadnaming another, and guys, that's a fucking bummer. Consider this a bit of a caution as you proceed with both the movie and our discussion of...

We continue this roller coaster month of Hugo Weaving films with Last Ride, a father and son road trip movie that's as dour as it is excellent. Weaving gives a stellar performance here as Kev, an abusive father with almost no likeable or redeemable qualities. Almost. Somehow, despite an entire movie of being an absolute shit, you still feel bad for the guy and his situation. And Tom Russell is no slouch either, playing the son Chook. With their powers combined, they really make us miserable, and that's a good thing. Is this film a great idea during these...