Movie Roulette Tuesday: The Podcast

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Hi everyone, we have a new theme this week and that theme is “SATAN!” It’s pretty self-explanatory, but just to be clear: we’ll be watching films that feature the Devil in some form—literal, metaphorical, or somewhere in between—whether he’s a horned monster, a charming tempter in a nice suit, a green liquid in a church basement, or just the ultimate cinematic villain.

First up is John Carpenter’s 1987 supernatural horror Prince of Darkness. A priest (Donald Pleasence) discovers an ancient cylinder of swirling green liquid hidden beneath a Los An...

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This week is a listener pick from Kevin! 

We’re boarding the starship Avalon for a 120-year ride to Homestead II with 2016’s Passengers, directed by Morten Tyldum and starring Chris Pratt and Jennifer Lawrence. 

A mechanical engineer wakes up 90 years early on a luxury sleeper ship full of hibernating colonists, and the only company he has is an android bartender. What happens next raises some big questions about loneliness, companionship, and the choices we make when we’re truly alone. 

So grab a drink, settle in for the l...

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Before there was Avatar, Avatar 2, Avatar 3, Avatar 4….is there a 4? Who even knows anymore? But before all of that, James Cameron directed a little film in 1982 called Piranha 2: The Spawning. And while he may have been fired after two and a half weeks of filming, his name remained on the movie as the director. Why?  Tune in to find out!

We also discover some facts about piranhas (including how much of their reputation was shaped by former President Theodore Roosevelt), as well as make a very exciting announcement about something Matt is...

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We continue our “before they were famous” theme with a little whodunnit film noire gem from 1944; “Laura,” directed by Otto Preminger and starring Gene Tierney, Dana Andrews, Clifton Webb, and Vincent Price. Yes, before he was synonymous with gothic horror, Vincent Price had more mundane roles.   In this film, he plays a cowardly playboy love interest, one of several suspects in this murder mystery. 
We also learn how this film became an inspiration for David Lynch and Mark Frost’s Twin Peaks, and get a mini-biography of Vincent Price. 
So line up your suspe...

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Hi everyone, we have a new theme this week and that theme is: “before they were famous”.  It’s pretty self explanatory but just to be clear, that means we will be reviewing films where the stars/directors/etc are not necessarily making their debut but significant contributions to the film industry before they became their own brand.

We are kicking things off with The Outsiders.  This is a 1983 Francis Ford Coppola film where In Tulsa, Oklahoma in 1964, the rivalry between two gangs, the poor Greasers and the rich Socs, heats up when...

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Once Upon a Time. . .  this podcast occasionally has a Special Guest Host.  And this week is one of those magical weeks!  Matt's sister Kristen joins us for her listener pick:  the 2025 Norwegian body horror film, "The Ugly Stepsister."  This is a twist on the Cinderella story by the Brothers Grimm that explores the lengths someone will go to to be seen as "beautiful." It is visually stunning, darkly gothic and the soundtrack is fantastic.  Think "The Substance" meets the directing style of Emerald Fennell.

We also talk about the definition of body h...

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In a very special episode of the Movie Roulette Tuesday Podcast, we take a construction necessitated break from our normal programming to watch one of the most bizarre films we’ve ever seen, maverick filmmaker Palmer Rockey’s Scarlet Warning 666, AKA It Happened One Weekend. 

Palmer Rockey claims to have played 7 roles in front of the camera, and 47 behind the camera, including writing, directing, and starring as twin brothers involved in a satanic cult. Nothing we can write here can even do this film justice. It’s an experience. A fever dream o...

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We close out our “Love Hurts” theme with the 1993 Brian Yuzna zombie romance classic Return of the Living Dead 3 about a sweet young couple who won’t let a case of death stop their romance. 

We also discuss the worst pain each of us has ever felt, as well as the history of the Return of the Living Dead series and its ties to the George Romero classics. So please join us…and bring your BRAAAAIIINS. 

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We continue our “Love Hurts” theme; this week it’s a classic tear-jerker from 2004, “The Notebook”. Directed by Nick Cassavetes, starring Ryan Gosling, Rachel McAdams, James Garner and Gena Rowlands, this film explores what happens when a lifetime of love is lost to Alzheimer’s disease. 
We also learn a little more about Alzheimer’s and its prevalence and impact on society 
So grab your tissues and get ready to feel sad, because, as the band Nazareth tells us in their 1974 cover. . . “Love Hurts.”

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Love is a wonderful thing.  Make ya smile through the pouring rain, take your heart and make it sing.... blah blah blah, what does Michael Bolton know anyway.  The truth is, sometimes love hurts and that is the theme we will be dealing with this round.

We haven't had a truly bizarre pick in a little while and that is exactly what we are kicking things off with via David Cronenberg's 1996 film Crash.  Starring James Spader, Holly Hunter, Elias Koteas, Rosanna Arquette and a handful of others who I'm sure were que...

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Ahoy there mateys!  This week is a listener pick, and our most recent submission is from loyal listener Jared, who said his mother made him watch this film every Christmas.  (We are not sure if this was for enjoyment or punishment.)  He has requested that we watch 1983's "The Pirates of Penzance;"  a Gilbert and Sullivan operetta  written in the late 19th century, which had a Broadway revival in the early 1980s and then made it to film.  It does star Kevin Kline, Linda Ronstadt and Angela Lansbury, which sounds promising at face value...

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We finish off our “Don’t Mess with Texas” theme with 1975’s Aztec deity worshipper road movie Race with the Devil, about two couples who witness a human sacrifice while  on a road trip together. Doesnt that sound like fun? 

We also discuss some RV history, and provide updates on what we’ve been up to during our two week hiatus.  Wanna know why Rachael isn’t allowed in the Walmart self checkout anymore?  Give this episode a listen to find out!

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Our “Don’t Mess With Texas” theme continues with one of the most iconic episodes in Texas history; “The Alamo.”  We chose the 2004 version of this movie, which is a little more historically accurate than the 1960 John Wayne epic.  Directed by John Lee Hancock and starring Billy Bob Thornton and Dennis Quaid, this film tells the story of Santa Anna’s siege of the Alamo and the battle for Texan independence. 

We also have a crash course on the history of the state of Texas, and the events leading up to the titular eve...

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Texas, the final frontier.  It's big, bold and a little strange but most of all, don't mess with it.  Well dear listener, that's our new theme for this cycle in a nutshell: "don't mess with Texas".

In this episode we will explore some interesting facts and figures about our second largest state,  but mostly we will dig into the phrase "don't mess with Texas"; what it means, where it came from and what it has turned into over time.

What better movie to kick things off than what many con...

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It’s time for another listener pick and this time the submitter is our special guest host for this episode.

Loyal listener and good friend Mike wanted us to watch the 1985 film Runaway Train which helped foster his passion for trains.  The film stars Jon Voight and Eric Roberts where two escaped convicts and a female railway worker find themselves trapped on a speeding train with no brakes and nobody driving.

Join the MRT crew and guest host Mike on this runaway train of an episode.

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We go down under to close out our theme of “It’s Magic!” with the 1980 Australian fantasy thriller Harlequin.  The film, a modern day retelling of the story of Rasputin, is about a magical healer who seemingly cures a senator’s son of leukemia, but gets close enough to the family to make the senator’s handlers uncomfortable. 

We also talk about the “Ozploitation” film genre, our overall thoughts about Australia, and what a harlequin really is. And eyebrows. Glorious, majestic eyebrows. 

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We continue our magical theme this week with a fantasy film from 1988: “Willow.”  Directed by Ron Howard, produced by George Lucas, and starring Val Kilmer, Warwick Davis and Joanne Whalley. You want magic?  This movie delivers.  There’s real magic, illusions, fairies, brownies, good and evil sorceresses, magic wands. . . I could go on.  It’s also a personal film favorite of Karl’s (which really helps during the recap.)

We also talk about what makes the fantasy films of the 1980s so special.   So join us as we believe in the power, embrace...

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Ladies and gentleman, boys and girls please step right up, give us a moment of your time and be amazed!  We have for you a new theme so fantastic, so incredible that you won't believe your very ears.  Reaching beyond the bounds of your wildest imagination, of everything you thought possible we bring you "It's Magic!".  

First on the stage to overwhelm your sense of reality we have the 1995 neo-noir 'Lord of Illusions' brought to us by none other than Clive Barker himself.  NY occult detective Harry D’Amour investigates the death...

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Our next listener pick, chosen by loyal lister and family to the show Michael, is the 1982 John Carpenter classic The Thing!  The film stars Kurt Russell as a member of an Antarctic research team who must do battle with an alien that can take on the form of anyone.  

We also discuss the big local news of the week, what locals were calling the “big boom”.  What was the big boom exactly?  Tune in to find out! But trust no one. 

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We close out our theme of “Movies That Couldn’t Be Made Today” with the 2002 forgotten oddity Tiptoes. You can’t make this up. Gary Oldman only did the movie because he had bills to pay. Kate Beckinsale agreed to the SAG minimum as long as she could wear her “lucky hat” during filming. The writer/director tried to get his name completely removed from the movie. Matthew McConaughey and Gary Oldman play twins. Gary Oldman plays a little person. This is an actual movie. 

We also discuss smoke detectors and why you shoul...

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We continue our theme of "Movies That Couldn't Be Made Today" with one that literally couldn't (for TECH-nical reasons). . .  we are watching something filmed in vibrant, beautiful, and now extinct TECHNICOLOR!!!  Our shining example of this format is 1947's "Black Narcissus."  Directed by the duo of Powell and Pressburger, starring Deborah Kerr and David Farrar, this film is about a group of nuns tasked with setting up a convent high in the Himalayas, leaving familiarity behind and grappling with the mysticism and other-worldliness of this strange setting.

We also review in lay...

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We've got another new theme this week and this time we will be delving into "movies that could not be made today".  There could be various social, technical, political or other reasons why but regardless, these will be movies that would not see the light of day in our modern times.

Up first we have the Arthurian legend fever-dream that is 1981's Excalibur.  Featuring appearances by Patrick Stewart, Liam Neeson, Helen Mirren and starring Nigel Terry as Arthur we have Merlin the magician helping Arthur Pendragon unite the Britons around the Ro...

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This week we have another listener pick for the podcast; this time it is a submission from our wonderful, longtime friend and fellow cinephile Andrew, who recommended to us (in a very off-the-cuff fashion), 1976's "Taxi Driver."  Directed by Martin Scorsese and starring Robert De Niro, Cybill Shepherd and Jodie Foster, this iconic film is about a mentally unstable loner in a big city who resorts to drastic action to find meaning in his life.

We also take an exploratory dive into male loneliness, its possible causes and the films that d...

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We finish up our theme of “All Roads Lead to Rome” with Dario Argento’s 1970 directorial debut, The Bird With the Crystal Plumage, a giallo film set in Rome. It’s about an American writer vacationing in Rome who witnesses a brutal attack and decides to investigate the case himself. 

We talk about the origins of the giallo film genre, as well as play the newest game out there on the streets, “Giallo or Giall-No”, where Matt and Rachael compete to see who can tell a real giallo film title from a fake one. W...

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Do you ever have that feeling of deja vu?  Of history repeating itself?  Of waking up to Sonny and Cher EVERY morning?  Well if not, no worries!  You can live vicariously through the hapless and cynical weatherman, Phil Connors in 1993's "Groundhog Day."  Directed by Harold Ramis, and starring Bill Murray, Andie MacDowell and Chris Elliot, this film is a classic must-watch of a man who is doomed to wake up in the same day over and over again.  

We also discuss the origins of Groundhog Day as well as other "weathe...

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ARE YOU NOT ENTERTAINED (by our podcast)?!  We are starting a new theme this week and this time it's "all roads lead to Rome".  If you're unfamiliar with the phrase it is a proverb that means there are many different ways (or paths, methods, or approaches) to reach the same goal, destination, or conclusion. It emphasizes that the end result is what matters, not the specific route taken—whether in problem-solving, achieving success, or arriving at a particular outcome.

Taking the theme as literally as possible, we start the cycle with Glad...

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Our "I can't remember" theme is over and it's time for another listener pick before starting the next round.  

'Strawberry Mansion' was sent to us in a dream by Kayla where in the year 2035, a dream auditor working for an all-seeing surveillance state meets a lifelong dreamer who remains resolutely analog, protecting her unconscious from corporate overreach with VHS tapes and homemade headgear. During this routine audit, he winds up on a surreal and cosmic journey and begins to fall in love with the woman's younger self.

Blur the l...

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It’s time for a field trip as the MRT crew hits the theater for Karl’s pick, Project Hail Mary, starring Ryan Gosling as a school teacher who awakens on a spaceship with no memory of how he got there. Because this was based on a novel of the same name by Andy Weir that Karl bought in an airport, we also discuss whether we like our sci-fi soft or hard, as well as whether we have any airport routines. So get your permission slips ready and come join us! 

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This episode, we continue our theme of “I Can’t Remember.”  Our pick, “The Snake Pit,” a very Deep Track from 1948 starring Olivia de Havilland, is about a woman who wakes up in a mental institution, with no initial memory of how she ended up there. 

We also dive into Western Civilization’s approaches to mental illness throughout history and discuss how this film exposed the less than ideal state of the mental health industry at the time. 

So, take some time to improve your well-being by joining us; we have been to...

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It's time for a new theme and this time around we have "I can't remember".  This round will involve movies related to memory loss, amnesia, forgotten identity, ummm... loss of memory and maybe some other themes that I can't seem to recall at this time.

Up first we have 'Memento', from somewhere around the turn of the century... maybe the year 2000?  Yes, that seems right... at least this century I think.  It's an early Christopher Nolan film from what my notes tell me.  It appears to be about a former insurance inve...

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We have our next listener chosen pick this week, which is 2005’s MirrorMask, suggested by friend of the show Melissa! This film is about a teenager who escapes from her life working at her family’s circus to a fantasy world after her mother has an unexpected health emergency. 

We discuss the history of the film, its connections with the Jim Henson company, as well as the unique animation techniques used in the making of the film. We also briefly discuss how well we are able to separate the art from the a...

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We close out our theme of “The Ocean Is Vast” this week with 1989’s creature feature Leviathan, about a crew of underwater minors battling a mysterious undersea enemy. Is it a ripoff of Alien and The Thing? Some people think so. Did we?  Tune in to find out!

This film was part of what is known in Hollywood as a “trend cluster”, in which multiple films around the same theme are all released in close proximity. We discuss how trend clusters come to be, the films that were part of THIS trend clust...

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This week, the vastness of the ocean continues; this time we are trapped on a capsized cruise ship, overturned by a rogue wave and climbing our way to freedom in reverse.  That's right, it's 1972's "The Poseidon Adventure," starring a very "hands-on" Gene Hackman, Ernest Borgnine, Shelley Winters, Roddy McDowell and many, many others.

We also dive into the 1970s "Disaster Film Cycle" as well as other notable disaster films and discuss what makes them so great.  

So grab onto something: a life jacket, a rope, a random female ca...

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Hi Everyone.  Hope everyone is surviving snowpocalypse 2026.  We are buried here and I'm trying to get this episode out at the last minute (as usual) before we lose power.

Our new theme this round is 'The Ocean is Vast' and in this episode we will be discussing the 2012 film Kon-Tiki, where in 1947, with five loyal friends in tow, explorer Thor Heyerdahl sails a fragile balsa wood raft along an ancient path some 4,300 miles across the Pacific.  The film is based on true events and is a dramatization of the 1950 documentary film of...

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Buon Giorno! Welcome to our inaugural listener's choice pick, which is exciting for us.  It is a suggestion from loyal listener, two-time guest host, and very good friend Brian.  He would like us to watch and review "Inglourious Basterds,"  a 2009 alternate history film set in Nazi occupied France, from one of the MRT crew's most unanimously loved directors, Quentin Tarantino.  Starring.... so many fantastic actors:  Brad Pitt, Christoph Walz, Michael Fassbender, et al.

We also talk about our love for Tarantino and why we think his films are special, as well as re...

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We close out our “Criterion” theme with 1973’s Don’t Look Now, spine number 745 in the Criterion Collection. This Nicholas Roeg adaptation of a Daphne du Maurier short story stars Donald Sutherland and Julie Christie as grieving parents who are mourning the accidental drowning of their daughter. While working on restoring a historic church in Venice, they are approached by a pair of sisters, one of whom claims she is a psychic, and she has a warning from the spirit of the deceased daughter. 

We also discuss whether we believe in psychics...

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We continue on with our Criterion Collection theme:  this time it's spine number 1156; "Arsenic and Old Lace," a 1944 screwball comedy classic, directed by Frank Capra and starring Carey Grant, Priscilla Lane, Raymond Massey and Peter Lorre. Based on a stage play of the same name, this is the story of a dysfunctional, and mildly insane, family who literally have bodies buried in their basement.

We also dive into what "screwball comedies" are exactly, how they came to be, and why they probably don't resonate much with modern audiences.  There is definitely on...

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Hello everyone, and welcome to season 4 of the Movie Roulette Tuesday Podcast!

We have a lot in store for this season and to start we are shaking things up by.... dropping shake-ups.  But worry not!  We have something new and exciting to take their place.  We detail the changes in this episode.

Kicking off the new season is our new theme, "The Criterion Collection".  Yes, all films this round need to have an esteemed place among the Criterion Collection or at least be available on the Criterion Channel... or mayb...

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Welcome to the end of Season 3!  While we don't watch a movie this episode, we do go back and look at what we have seen over the past year, including our annual tradition of bestowing superlatives, as well as how our little podcast is growing and where people are listening.  We also talk a little bit about we might have in store for Season 4.

 It was the best of films; it was the worst of films (and perhaps the weirdest as well)... and THAT is the beauty of Movie Roulette Tuesday!  

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We close out our final theme of the season with the 2008 film The Fall, about a young girl who strikes up an unlikely friendship with a movie stuntman recovering from a fall in a hospital in 1915 Los Angeles.  Karl’s shakeup was that his pick had to include a fantasy element, and that comes into play as the stuntman tells the little girl a story about revenge, and her imagination fills in the details. 

The film was directed by Tarsem, who also directed some notable music videos, so we talk about some...