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Message Dan and Mike

We review Frank Oz’s Little Shop of Horrors (1986), the cult musical comedy starring Rick Moranis, Ellen Greene, and Steve Martin, just ahead of its 40th anniversary on December 19.

We revisit the film on the new 4K UHD digibook, including the director’s cut that restores the original ending. We cover why test audiences rejected that ending, how the film was reshot, and what it meant for the crew who built it. We also celebrate the performances: Moranis and Greene as Seymour and Audrey, Levi Stubbs as the voice of Audrey II...

Message Dan and Mike

We close out Halloween Fest 2026 with Backrooms, the A24 horror hit from 21-year-old director Kane Parsons. It’s the perfect bookend to our Halloween Fest kickoff, Curry Barker’s Obsession, since both films come from young internet creators who made the jump to the big screen.

Backrooms started as a viral web series on Kane’s YouTube channel, rooted in the creepypasta lore of the internet. On a roughly $10 million budget it has grossed over $400 million. That makes it A24’s highest-grossing film ever and made Kane the youngest director to land a n...

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We’re back with the penultimate episode of Halloween Fest 2026, and we saved one of the genuinely disturbing ones for near the end. This week we review the 1974 original, The Texas Chainsaw Massacre. We say a lot during Halloween Fest that very little creeps us out, but this one got to us.

The surprise is how little blood there is. So why was it banned and heavily censored in places like Britain for 25 years? We talk through how Tobe Hooper builds dread with long takes, sound, and what he refuses to sh...

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Forty-five years after it hit theaters on October 30, 1981, we’re digging into Halloween II for the penultimate episode of Halloween Fest. The film picks up minutes after the original ends, and we both agree it plays less like a sequel and more like the second half of one long, bloody night in Haddonfield. Dan has always had a soft spot for it and says he may even like it more than the first one.

We break down the behind-the-scenes story, including why John Carpenter didn’t direct, how he ended up writ...

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Halloween Fest rolls on as we sink our teeth into Francis Ford Coppola’s Bram Stoker’s Dracula, now 34 years old. Gary Oldman, Winona Ryder, Keanu Reeves, and Anthony Hopkins star in a film we both admire and both struggle to fully embrace. Dan lands at a B-minus, while Mike calls it the movie he has the most positive things to say about, even though it left him bored.

We dig into what makes it so remarkable: the practical, in-camera effects, the forced perspective, the shadows that move on their own, and...

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Halloween Fest rolls on, and this week we're taking on the zombie apocalypse with World War Z, the 2013 blockbuster starring Brad Pitt and directed by Marc Forster. After kicking things off with Curry Barker's Obsession, we're keeping the Halloween Fest tradition going with our yearly zombie pick, following Shaun of the Dead and Night of the Living Dead. We start by setting the record straight on the online reaction to our Obsession clip, then dive into a movie we both enjoyed far more than we expected.

World War Z has one...

Message Dan and Mike

Halloween Fest kicks off with Obsession, the 2026 horror breakout that has grossed over $500 million worldwide on a budget under a million dollars. We dig into how Curry Barker went from YouTube shorts to one of the biggest horror hits of all time, and whether the movie lives up to the hype.

Curry and his comedy partner Cooper Tomlinson built a huge audience with their YouTube channel, That's a Bad Idea. A short film called The Chair got a producer's attention, Curry pitched the script he was already writing, and the project...

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Dan finally crosses a massive blind spot off his list in this Classic Films Dan Hasn't Seen Yet deep dive: Quentin Tarantino's Kill Bill, seen here as The Whole Bloody Affair, the rare combined cut stitching Volumes One and Two into the single epic Tarantino always intended. We dig into why it took over two decades to get this version cleared for release, the rights battle that held it up, and the extended anime sequence and restored footage that separate it from the theatrical cuts.

Mike breaks down the film's mountain...

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We're back with another streaming deep dive, and this time we're tackling The Runner, the Amazon Prime thriller starring Gal Gadot that dropped to the top of the charts on September 2nd. The premise sounds promising on paper: a lawyer out for a jog gets a phone call informing her that her son is being held hostage, and the only way to save him is to carry out a series of increasingly dangerous tasks dictated by a mysterious caller, played by Damian Lewis. Unfortunately, a strong hook doesn't save this one from falling...

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We're back in a brand new studio (still under construction, but functional) to talk about Mayday, the straight-to-Apple TV+ action comedy from Maximum Effort, Ryan Reynolds' production company. Directors John Francis Daley and Jonathan Goldstein set the film in 1987 during the Cold War, with Reynolds playing a Navy pilot shot down over enemy territory and rescued by an ex-KGB agent played by a nearly unrecognizable Kenneth Branagh. We dig into why this film sat on the shelf since wrapping in 2024, whether it was ever meant for theaters, and how it leans hard into...

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Glengarry Glen Ross turns 34 this year, and we're finally giving David Mamet's Pulitzer Prize-winning play its due on the show. James Foley's 1992 film adaptation brings together an absolutely stacked cast — Al Pacino, Jack Lemmon, Alec Baldwin, Ed Harris, Kevin Spacey, and Alan Arkin — for the story of four desperate real estate salesmen pitted against each other in a brutal sales contest. We dig into how this film actually came together, including the fascinating parallel between Pacino championing this project the same way Sean Penn championed Foley's At Close Range, and how Pacino personally scou...

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We're reviewing Netflix's The Last House, the sci-fi horror thriller starring Greta Lee and Wagner Moura as parents whose family gets mysteriously sealed inside their home with no way out. The premise is strong and the first act hooks us immediately, but a jarring five-year time jump sends the story spiraling into some of the weakest, most unsatisfying territory we've covered on the show. We dig into the film's abandoned plot threads, its unconvincing CGI creatures, the convenient "everyone's an engineer" problem-solving, and why comparisons to A Quiet Place don't do it any...

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We finally sit down to unpack Spider-Man: Brand New Day, the fourth installment in Tom Holland's run as Peter Parker and the first Spidey film from director Destin Daniel Cretton. Picking up four years after No Way Home's spell erased Peter from the world's memory, this is a noticeably darker, more isolated take on the character — Aunt May is gone, his friendships with MJ and Ned are gone, and the arachnid side of his DNA is starting to take over. We dig into how that trauma-driven tone works, and where it doesn't.

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We're back with part two of our San Diego Comic-Con recap, picking up where we left off on day two and carrying through to our final thoughts on the whole experience. This time we get into the chaos of Hall H, including a wristband standoff that turned into a two-hour, half-mile trek around the building just to get denied entry — twice. We also break down the panels that delivered and the ones that didn't: Lanterns surprised us with how much footage HBO was willing to show, the Spaceballs panel gave us a genuinely fu...

Message Dan and Mike

We're back from our first San Diego Comic-Con with press credentials, and this episode kicks off a two-part recap of the entire experience. Part one covers our arrival, the scramble to find the convention center on San Diego's trolley system, and the reality check that comes with picking up press badges for the first time. We also take a detour to Seaport Village for tacos and a beer with a view of the harbor, then head north to UC San Diego for a surprise highlight of the trip: Shredding the Multiverse, a concert...

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We're reviewing John Cassavetes' Opening Night (1977), starring Gena Rowlands, as part of our dive into the Criterion box set of five Cassavetes films. This is a filmmaker some call the father of independent cinema, and we get into why he had to finance his own work, act in other people's movies to bankroll his next project, and watch this one bomb so badly on release that the studio pulled it from theaters.

We talk through the film's play-within-a-play structure, the way Cassavetes shoots actors slipping in and out of character backstage...

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Rocky turns 50 this December, and Sylvester Stallone just turned 80 — so we're marking both with our very first Stallone review. A broke, unknown actor with bit parts in mob films turned down nearly $400,000 from the studio, wrote the script in three days, and sold his own dog to make the one movie he refused to let anyone else star in.

We get into the guerrilla filmmaking behind it: a budget under a million dollars, a 28-day shoot, no permits, tarps hauled in to fake the Philadelphia skyline in New York, and a tr...

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We saw Supergirl opening weekend and couldn't disagree more. Dan's defending it. Mike thinks it's one of the worst films he's seen in years. No fence-sitting — just a real debate about whether Craig Gillespie's DCU origin story actually works.

We break down Milly Alcock's performance as Kara Zor-El, the galactic revenge story adapted from Tom King's Supergirl: Woman of Tomorrow, Jason Momoa's Lobo and what his presence actually adds (or doesn't), villain Krem (Matthias Schoenaerts) and whether he lands, the late arrival of the suit, the Krypton lore that's already dividing DC...

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Four months ago we did a first look on Project Hail Mary and walked away genuinely excited. Now that we've seen it — Dan nearly three times, Mike once — we're ready to give it a full review.

Ryan Gosling plays Ryland Grace, a molecular biologist moonlighting as a middle school teacher who wakes up alone in deep space, no memory intact, on what amounts to a suicide mission to save Earth from extinction. The film is dense and ambitious, and once it finds its footing — roughly an hour in when Grace meets the al...

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We finally got Dan in front of Cool Hand Luke for the first time, and this one did not disappoint. The 1967 Stuart Rosenberg film stars Paul Newman as Lucas Jackson — a decorated, easygoing war veteran who ends up on a Florida chain gang and absolutely refuses to be broken. It's a simple premise with a whole lot going on underneath it.

We dig into what makes the film work, starting with Paul Newman's performance, which is somehow both understated and completely magnetic. George Kennedy won the Oscar for Best Supporting Actor fo...

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We're two episodes into Apple TV+'s new adaptation of Cape Fear, and we have some thoughts. The series, which dropped its first two episodes on June 5th, stars Javier Bardem as Max Cady, Amy Adams as attorney Anna Bowden, and Patrick Wilson as her husband Tom — a family now living under the shadow of a man they may have wronged. Scorsese and Spielberg are both on board as executive producers, which raises the bar considerably.

We came in with full knowledge of the source material. Mike read John D. McDonald's or...

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We're back with our eighth installment of the Oh Brother Criterion Collection reviews, and this one is our fourth Coen Brothers entry — the 2001 neo-noir masterpiece, The Man Who Wasn't There, celebrating its 25th anniversary.

Billy Bob Thornton plays Ed Crane, a laconic small-town barber who speaks little but observes everything. When he discovers his wife Doris is having an affair with her boss Big Dave, Ed hatches a blackmail scheme to fund an investment in a dry cleaning operation — setting off a chain of events that spirals far beyond his control. It's...

Message Dan and Mike

The first Star Wars film in seven years is finally here, and we're breaking down The Mandalorian and Grogu with a mostly spoiler-free review. Dan saw it opening night, Mike saw it the night before we recorded, and we are not on the same page — which makes for one of our most honest conversations yet.

We cover everything: the opening weekend box office, whether the film delivers on years of buildup, how it connects (or doesn't) to the Mandalorian series, the new villain Rotta the Hutt, Sigourney Weaver's role, Pedro Pascal's pr...

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We finally got around to Outcome, the new Apple TV+ dark comedy directed by Jonah Hill and starring Keanu Reeves as a sober Hollywood star forced onto an apology tour after a blackmailer threatens to tank his career. On paper, it has everything — a great cast, a sharp premise, Cameron Diaz, Matt Bomer. In practice, it just doesn't work.

We dig into why the film falls short despite its ingredients: the tonal whiplash between its quieter character moments and Jonah Hill's grating lawyer performance, the writing that mistakes shallow self-awareness for de...

Message Dan and Mike

We finally saw Michael — Antoine Fuqua's long-awaited biopic about the King of Pop — and we have thoughts. Dan and Mike break down Jaafar Jackson's performance as his legendary uncle, the film's decision to sidestep the 1993 allegations entirely, and whether the finished product does justice to one of the most complicated legacies in music history.

We get into what Fuqua gets right — the recreation of Thriller, the Jackson 5 years, the raw energy of Michael on stage — and what the film conspicuously leaves out. With a 97% audience score and only a 38% from critics on Rotte...

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This week we're reviewing At Close Range, James Foley's 1986 rural noir crime film — newly available in a 4K restoration from Cinematographe. It's the kind of release that makes you wonder why it took this long. Based on the true story of the Johnston Gang, a Pennsylvania crime family whose reign ended in betrayal and murder, the film stars Sean Penn as Brad Whitewood Jr., a young man who seeks out his estranged father only to find someone far more dangerous than he bargained for. Christopher Walken plays Brad Sr. — and it's one of his...

Message Dan and Mike

We're diving deep into Alex Proyas' 1998 neo-noir sci-fi thriller Dark City — and we came out the other side completely won over. This one is a full recommendation from both of us, and if you've been sleeping on it, this episode is your sign to finally watch it.

We start at the beginning with a conversation about the film's complicated theatrical release, including the infamous studio-mandated voiceover that opens the original cut and how the Director's Cut restores Proyas' intended vision. It's a fascinating case study in how test screenings and studio in...

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We're back with a full review of Marty Supreme, one of the most talked-about Oscar-nominated films of the year — and honestly, one we'd been looking forward to digging into since the nominations dropped. We break down everything: Timothée Chalamet's career-redefining performance, the Safdie Brothers' meticulous directorial vision, the stunning period authenticity of the set design, and what makes this film feel like something genuinely different in the current landscape of hustle-driven storytelling.

The conversation covers the real-life influences behind the film, the themes of ambition and dreaming big that run thr...

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We're reviewing Hamnet, the 2025 historical drama directed by Chloé Zhao and starring Jessie Buckley and Paul Mescal. The film is based on Maggie O'Farrell's bestselling novel and tells the story of William Shakespeare's family — specifically his wife Agnes and their 11-year-old son Hamnet, whose death from plague in 1596 is widely believed to have inspired the creation of Hamlet.

It's a film about grief, marriage, and what it costs to make art while the people around you are suffering. Buckley won the Golden Globe and the Academy Award for Best Actress for her...

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We sit down to review The Secret Agent (O Agente Secreto), the Brazilian political thriller that earned an Oscar nomination for Best Picture and had Wagner Moura — best known for playing Pablo Escobar in Narcos — winning awards on the international circuit for his performance.

Set in 1977 in Recife, Brazil, the film follows a tech expert with a shadowy past who returns to his hometown hoping to find refuge, only to discover the corruption there runs too deep to hide from. It's a slow-burn, character-driven thriller that draws comparisons to films like The...

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We're breaking down the 98th Academy Awards — every major winner, the biggest upsets, and the snubs that had everyone talking. From Best Picture to the moments that had Hollywood buzzing, we're sharing our unfiltered takes on the biggest night in film. Whether you watched every minute or just want the highlights, this is your complete Oscars 2026 recap.

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Message Dan and Mike

Joachim Trier's Sentimental Value swept awards season with a 96% on Rotten Tomatoes and a 19-minute standing ovation at Cannes — but does it live up to the hype? This week we dig into this intimate Norwegian drama about estrangement, art, and the complicated love between fathers and daughters. Starring Stellan Skarsgård, Renate Reinsve, and Elle Fanning, it's the kind of film that lingers long after the credits roll. We break down what works, what doesn't, and why this might be one of the best films of 2025.

S...

Message Dan and Mike

Dan calls Mike from the car for another edition of Cruisin' — the Oh Brother limited series where the brothers hash out whatever Hollywood can't stop talking about. This time: the internet spirals over Jim Carrey's appearance at the César Awards (was that really him?), the deeply uncomfortable moment at the BAFTAs involving Tourette's campaigner John Davidson, and the SNL sketch that followed that had a lot of people asking "too soon… or too far?"

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Message Dan and Mike

In this exclusive episode, we interview Oscar-nominated VFX Supervisor Michael Ralla about his groundbreaking work on Sinners.

Michael takes us behind the scenes of one of this year’s most talked-about films, breaking down the visual effects process, the creative challenges of bringing Sinners to life, and what it means to earn an Academy Award nomination. From early concept development to final render, we explore how the film’s most jaw-dropping sequences were crafted.

We also discuss:

Message Dan and Mike

In this episode of the podcast, we dive deep into Train Dreams, the long-awaited adaptation of the acclaimed novella by Denis Johnson. Set against the rugged backdrop of the early 20th-century American West, this haunting and intimate story follows a solitary laborer navigating love, loss, and the sweeping changes of a transforming nation.

We break down the film’s performances, direction, cinematography, and how faithfully it captures the quiet emotional power of Johnson’s original work. Does Train Dreams live up to its literary roots? And how does it stand on its...

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Join us as we dive into One Battle After Another, starring Leonardo DiCaprio, Teyana Taylor, and Chase Infiniti. In this episode, we break down the film’s most intense action sequences, discuss standout performances, and share our thoughts on Benicio del Toro’s smaller but memorable role. From epic battles to surprising moments, we give you a full review and our honest take on what makes this movie worth watching.

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Message Dan and Mike

Yorgos Lanthimos is back — and naturally, things get strange.

In this episode of Oh Brother Podcast, we dive into Bugonia, the newest film from the director of Poor Things, The Favourite, and The Lobster. From its unsettling performances and dark humor to its themes of love, identity, and emotional detachment, we unpack what Lanthimos is really saying beneath the absurdity.

Did it work for us… or is this style finally wearing thin?

We break down:

Message Dan and Mike

In this episode of Oh Brother Podcast, we review F1: The Movie, breaking down how the film captures the world of Formula 1 both on and off the track. We talk performances, racing authenticity, spectacle, and whether the movie works for die-hard F1 fans and casual viewers alike.

This is a spoiler-free conversation focused on first impressions, big moments, and whether F1: The Movie is worth the hype.

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Message Dan and Mike

After nearly three years, the movie trivia showdown finally returns on Oh Brother Podcast. 🎬
Mike and Dan go head-to-head once again, battling through movie trivia questions spanning classics, modern hits, and deep-cut film knowledge. Has time sharpened their skills—or dulled them?

This long-awaited rematch is packed with competitive banter, surprises, and plenty of bragging rights on the line. If you love movie trivia and friendly rivalry, this episode is for you.

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