Back Porch Podcast

A couple months back we discussed our favorite body horror moments in film history. This week, we're back to discuss the films of the body horror, David Cronenberg.Corey is joined by local filmmakers Kyle Kleege and Lakota Ruby-Eck to break down and power rank the films in honor of his new film, Crimes of the Future. Grab a beer and join us on the back porch to discuss all the gooey greatness.

In honor of Top Gun: Maverick's recent release, we're finally releasing an episode that has been two years in the making. When lockdown started way back in March 2020 (can you believe it's been more than two years?!?!?!?) Beam and Corey set off on a mission. Some might say the mission was impossible. They were going to watch all 46 movies in Tom Cruise's filmography. It turned out the mission was impossible. They couldn't bring themselves to watch Lions For Lambs.But with the fresh knowledge of 45 Cruise flicks, they are joined by their good friend John Stegemann as they try to build the ideal roster of Cruise's most indelible characters.

We're back this week with the next installment in the “Wait, you haven't seen…” series where we watch a “classic” movie we've never had the pleasure of viewing.We've been firmly in a Nicolas Cage space the past few weeks and before we leave the nouveau shamanic actor behind, it seemed appropriate for us to finally watch his oscar winning performance in Leaving Las Vegas.Grab some popcorn and a beer and join us on the back porch to discuss Nicolas Cage drinking himself to death in Las Vegas. On second thought, maybe we should substitute that beer with a seltzer.

Two weeks ago, we explored folk horror movies on the pod, expressing admiration for Robert Eggers' The Witch. Last week on the pod, we discussed the filmography of Nicolas Cage from 2017-2021.This past Friday, Robert Eggers' new film The Northman and Nicolas Cage's new film The Unbearable Weight of Massive Talent both dropped and we were so excited that we went to go see them opening night (well, Corey did anyway)On the first half of the pod, Beam and Corey discuss the super meta Cage film and how it compares to his recent slate of films (3:10). This discussion is spoiler-free so even if you haven't seen it, tune in to hear our thoughts before checking it out.Corey is then joined by returning guest, Lakota Ruby-Eck to discuss Robert Eggers' The Northman (37:50). The first part of this discussion is spoiler free, so stick around for a while but make sure to tune out before they start spoiling if you haven't had the chance to see it yet (53:45).

Once upon an evening of drinking many beers and conversing, Beam and Corey could be found remarking on the stunning number of Nicolas Cage movies that have been released in the last decade. “What if we watched all those movies and podded about it?” queried Beam.“Bro, that's like 50 movies. No way,” Corey responded.And so the conversation went until they finally settled on the twenty-two (yes, you read that correctly) movies starring Nicolas Cage released between 2017 and 2021.With the imminent release of The Unbearable Weight of Massive Talent, a movie where Nicolas Cage is playing, well, himself, it seems like an appropriate time to drop this episode that has been in the works since late last year. Beam and Corey are joined by their good friend John Yost, cofounder of the APB film collective, and a key figure in the capital region filmmaking scene, to discuss their relationship with Nicolas Cage's career and power rank all twenty-two of those movies, both in terms of quality, and in terms of Nic Cage Energy.

This week, Corey is joined by Capital Region cinematographer and filmmaker Lakota Ruby-Eck to explore the world of folk horror, a subgenre defined by witches, cults and fire. Lots and lots of fire!Tune in as Corey and Lakota discuss the origins of the genre with 1971s The Blood on Satan's Claw all the way through the modern horror classic, Midsommar (2019).Grab a beer and whatever you need to ward off all those evil spirits and join us on the back porch.

We're a week and a half away from the 2022 Academy Awards and the slap heard ‘round the world. With some distance away from all the controversy, one thing remains true about the academy; they often get it wrong. We really loved CODA but it's not really in the pantheon of tremendous artistic achievement with the likes of former Best Picture winners Moonlight and Parasite.With that in mind, Corey is joined by Oscars expert Cory Schneider to revisit the 84th Academy Awards celebrating the films of 2011. This was one of the all-time head-scratchers as The Artist took home many of the year's major trophies and films like The Help and War Horse racked up nominations, while great films like Drive and Fast Five (only half kidding) were completely shut out.In an attempt to right these wrongs, the two Cor(e)ys are forming a two-person academy and remixing the 2012 Oscars to let people know what a worthy slate of nominees and winners would have looked like.

After all the build up and excitement towards the 2022 academy Awards, we're left with only one thing to talk about.It's not CODA winning Best Picture, it's Will Smith slapping Chris Rock on live television...you're welcome.

It's Oscars week!With the biggest day in movies arriving this Sunday, Corey and Beam sat down with their good friend Cory Schneider to discuss the nominees, make predictions and share their personal winners.Join us on the Back Porch as we discuss the best that 2022 in movies has to offer (according to the academy anyway).

A couple weeks back, we were joined by our good friend Steve Tyson, aka Ellect, to discuss the year of 1993 in Hip-Hop. Snoop Dogg was a big part of that discussion. Since that episode dropped, Snoop absolutely killed at the Super Bowl Halftime Show, acquired Death Row Records, and released an album on the label that made him a superstar. It only seemed right that we dedicate an episode to talk about these monumental events.

This week we're back with another installment in the “Wait, you haven't seen…” series where Beam and Corey watch and discuss a “classic” film that they never got around to. We decided (okay fine, Corey decided) to finally tackle Oliver Stone's 3 hour epic about the John F. Kennedy assassination, JFK. Grab yourself some popcorn, queue up the film, and then join us on the back porch for some discussion about the movie, Oliver Stone and conspiracy theories.

A couple weeks back, we experienced one of the most heartbreaking weeks. Not in real-life, but in our entertainment lives. The Buffalo Bills lost in heartbreaking fashion to the Kansas City Chiefs and Buffalo's own Every Time I Die, one of our favorite bands, called it quits after 23 years.We decided to get together with our good friend Joe Donlon to process our feelings on the breakup of Every Time I Die and to remember all the good times they gave us.NOTE: We recorded this in the immediate aftermath of the breakup but held the episode for release to see if anything might change. It did not. So here it is.

We're back this week to finish out our conversation about the year 1993 in hip-hop music.We're joined, once again, by Steve Tyson, aka Ellect, to finish out this gargantuan year. Last week, Steve and Corey discussed some big picture thoughts about the year before revealing 4 of the songs populating their list, which included some monster hits like ‘93 Til Infinity by Souls of Mischief. This week, they picked up where they left off and analyze the songs that make up the tops of their lists (3:30). After finishing out the lists, they take some time to shout out some honorable mentions and discuss who came out on top in 1993 (54:00).We'll be back again in the near future with Steve to discuss the year of 1998. Until then, stay tuned with some other musical explorations and a big time movie discussion coming up.

We're back this week with our fifth installment in our ongoing exploration of the history of hip-hop music. After rooting around in the current century, we're kicking it back to the nineties to discuss 1993.As is the case with all these episodes, we're joined by Steve Tyson, aka Ellect, to explore a year that is often considered the third greatest in history (behind only 1994 and 1988). With Beam as their guide, Steve and Corey discuss some big picture thoughts on this year in music and how it marked an evolution in the genre towards more experimentation (3:00). Then, they share some special acknowledgements, including a discussion on where all the rap groups have gone and why it's a shame they're not as common anymore (18:00). Finally, Steve and Corey share four songs from their top fives (there was some overlap) and what made these songs so special (30:35). As has been the case with all these episodes, this one is going to be a two-parter, so make sure to check back next week to hear Steve and Corey finish out their top fives.

On this week's episode, Corey is joined by capital region filmmaker Kyle Kleege to discuss the genre of body horror. Kyle has a new feature film entitled Earworm that has just entered production so they decided to break down their top five body horror moments ever put to film. Corey and Kyle start out by trying to really define what body horror is and what separates it from the horror genre at large (2:23). They then dig into the work of David Cronenberg, a master of the genre and one of their favorite filmmakers (10:45). In making their top five lists, Kyle and Corey decided that it would be far too easy to populate their list with the filmography of the elder Cronenberg (although they did allow themselves one), so discussing the master at the top gave them the opportunity to give some shine to some other body horror classics.This list and these movies are not for the faint of heart so if you're into the visceral and upsetting world of body horror, listen in to hear which movies they included in their top five (18:00)!

The newest installment of The Matrix, Resurrections was released on HBO Max and in theaters a couple weeks back. So, of course we had to take some time to appreciate a man that we have great love and affection for on The Back Porch: Keanu Reeves. Our main man, Beam, absolutely had to make his triumphant return for this episode and Corey is so happy to have his co-host back on the microphone with him. To have this discussion we had to invite our good friend Dr. Gena Gerstner, one of your day one homies and the biggest Keanu/Matrix stan that we know. Beam, Corey, and Gena start out by discussing the newest Matrix film and their reactions to the new movie (03:18) and do their absolute darndest to avoid spoilers. From there, they transition to talk about the real reason that they're all here, and that is Keanu Reeves (18:45).Keanu is an actor that we've all loved for a VERY long time. Some might say it's part of what connected us as friends. Throughout this discussion, we talk about Keanu the man and Keanu the actor and acknowledge our favorite movies that he has appeared in. The goal here is simple: get 100% of the population to give Keanu his god damned flowers.

New year, same podcast.After taking a much needed break over the holiday season, we're back in 2022 with a bunch of new episodes for y'all.First up, Corey is being joined by local capital region filmmaker Spencer Sherry, who is going to be developing Stephen King's story, The Monkey, into a short film. Spencer shares how he was able to acquire the rights to the film and some his plans for bringing this story to the screen. Corey and Spencer then share their top five Stephen King Adaptations of all time. Will 2017s smash hit It make the cut? Listen up to the episode to find out.

In honor of the release of Dune, Corey is joined by his friend and filmmaker John Yost to discuss the films of Denis Villeneuve. The episode begins with a brief discussion about their reactions to Villeneuve's newest film (3:30). This discussion does include spoilers, so if you are yet to see Dune, skip ahead to (26:35) where Corey and Yost breakdown and rank Villeneuve's six English language films, Prisoners, Enemy, Sicario, Arrival, Blade Runner 2049, and Dune.

It's the week of Halloween or Samhain for all y'all witches out there. It only seems appropriate to discuss horror movies. Corey is joined by actor and filmmaker Kristin Noriega to discuss their favorite films that utilize a single location to tell their story. Grab some candy corn or whatever your favorite Halloween candy is and join us on the back porch to talk some horror movies. Not so hot take, candy corn is actually trash!

SPOILERS! SPOILERS! SPOILER!It's the end of an era for the James Bond franchise. Daniel Craig has played 007 for the last time in the new film, No Time To Die. Zac and Corey had the chance to go see it this past week and wanted to hop on with their man Stegs to discuss their thoughts on the film as well as where the franchise goes from here. Spoilers aplenty in this episode so if you haven't had a chance to see the movie, proceed with caution.

Ya know, a lot of folks like to debate which actor played James Bond best. Was it Connery or was it Craig? Some folks are contrarians who like to say that it was Lazenby. Quite frankly, we're not particularly interested in all of that. Sure we have our preferences, but every actor who has portrayed Bond has their own merits. What we are interested in, is which film is the best. So, in honor of the final installment in the Craig-era of James Bond, No Time To Die, we are going to be power ranking every film in the franchise. To join us in this mission (yeah, we did that), we have John Stegemann aka Stegs, production designer and co-founder of the APB film collective. He hops on to chat with Corey and Zac about all the things that make Bond so great, from the songs, to the action sequences, to the corny, but also amazing one-liners. They cover it all. So if you're a fan of everything James Bond, come celebrate the release of No Time To Die on the back porch as we break down all 24 films from this franchise. And check back Friday for our bonus episode featuring a discussion about No Time To Die.

This week, we're back with the next installment in our “Wait, You Haven't Seen…” Series where we select a “classic” movie that we've never seen, watch it, and provide some commentary. Seeing as it's spooky season, we wanted to choose a “classic” horror film that neither of us had seen. We ultimately decided to watch The Amityville Horror.Join us on the back porch as Zac and Corey discuss one of the original haunted house movies; a movie that provided the template for modern horror classics like The Conjuring and The Orphanage. They even find some time to discuss how easy boomers had it when it came to buying houses. We promise, it connects to the movie.

This week, we are going to be discussing childhood classics like Space Jam and Rookie of the Year, as well as some all timers like Jerry Maguire and A League of Their Own. There are 22 sports-themed movies in contention and only 10 can get into the Back Porch Podcast's 90s Sports Movie Hall of Fame.We've executed this concept once before when we built the Boston Movie Hall of Fame with the boys over at Simple Minds Sports Show, and this time, rather than tackle a movie city, we're tackling a genre. We're joined by guest host Zac Howes and John Stegemann (a.k.a. Stegs) to help us decide which films we'll be forever immortalized in the 90s Sports Movie Hall of Fame

This week Steve and Corey continue their discussion of the top five tracks from the year as they enter a Kanye space (don't ask us what that is, we're not entirely certain either) and discuss their Lil' Wayne preferences and his recent resurgence.The year 2005 was a lot of different things for different people. For hip-hop, it was an incredibly influential year as the southern trap sounds that are ubiquitous now first came to relevance. It's also the year Kanye West, a Chicago native, cemented himself as an icon and force to be reckoned with, as he released “Gold Digger” Featuring Jaime Foxx.Listen along as Steve and Corey finish out their lists, give out some honorable mentions, and discuss which artist won the year. Spoiler alert, this discussion doesn't last long. We all know who won!

The year 2005 was a lot of different things for different people. For hip-hop, it was a fairly transformative year, where both the South, and even the Midwest, really proved that they had something to say. They were two regions that cemented their place in hip-hop and forever changed it.It also provided the soundtrack for a lot of parties that both Corey, and our guest Steve Tyson, aka Ellect (@ellect217), attended or even DJ'd.It was senior year of High School for Beam, so he wasn't going to any parties. That would be wrong and unethical.Listen as Corey and Steve talk about the importance of 2005 and what they're favorite songs were in hip-hop from that year. And also shout out to Young Buck, pictured above, simply because we think he needs one. Just listen to the episode and you'll know why.Link to the episode and all of our other episodes in the bio.

You would think for two guys that have a podcast that involves talking about movies, we both have seen almost all of the classics, right?Well, and more specifically for Beam, that isn't the case. Surprisingly enough, there are some movies Corey hasn't seen, which came as a shock to us all.Because of this, we constructed a list of what can be considered “classic” movies that neither of us have seen and decided to record podcast episodes about it. For the debut in this series, we wanted to kick it off with what could be considered an incredibly prescient film.The Truman Show.In this episode, Corey and Beam talk about why they hadn't seen the movie before, then they watch the film and immediately give their takes on the film, how it fits overall in movie history and where it sits in Jim Carrey's catalogue.And it's just Corey and Beam on this one. Because this whole podcast, after all, is about them.

Oh, Kanye.It's hard to not say we have a complicated relationship with him. A literal mad genius who makes several classic albums in one minute, and then in the next does something that makes you want to cut ties with him all together. Maybe throw your Yeezy's in the fire (which, hey, that's a pretty boss move, money pants).But this is Kanye and the man can make some music. So, with the release of Donda (Donda, Donda, Donda…), we are taking the opportunity to look back on Yeezy's catalogue. An exercise none of us minded participating in.This includes our good friend, Joe Donlon, who immediately texted Corey following the surprise release of Donda. A healthy discussion ensues.Listen to the episode, and tell us whether we short shrifted Life of Pablo or, hell, even Ye. You're wrong, but we'll at least listen to you.

We continue our Twin Films series this week and decide to put our dancing shoes on…Well, actually, depending on what type of dance, we may not need any shoes at all.This week, we decide which is the better movie between Take the Lead and Step Up. Beam and Corey are admittedly both novices when it comes to dance and dance culture. Thankfully, Sara Senecal, who also happens to be married to Beam, is a professional dancer. So, she's able to dunk on these uncultured dunces with her expertise.Listen as we discuss the merits of each film and how truly desirable Antonio Banderas is.

We're back!Well, hopefully you all noticed we were even gone. Actually, don't tell us if you did.Either way, we've got another episode in our Twin Films series. And they are both movies involving major 80s franchises that got a bit of a reboot…By making the main characters of each do battle against each other.It's Freddy vs Jason versus Alien vs Predator!To explore both of these universes, we enlist Alien superfan John Yost to do his best to talk objectively about each film and see which one comes out on top during this 5-round fracas. We even discuss if Jason was on his way to kill a field of teenagers and a passerby asks for directions… would he give them?Maybe.

Today we continue our conversation about some of the best hip-hop songs of 2012. We heard what Steve Tyson's (@ellect217) top 3, 4 and 5 picks were, and what Corey's top 4 and 5 picks were.Will Steve slightly move away from posse tracks? Will any of Kendrick Lamar's solo work from this year make an appearance on the list? Will Steve and Corey finally disagree on some things as Beam has annoyingly and repeatedly requested?The answer is yes. Which we guess is a spoiler, but also not really?Also, a reminder to check out Ellect's debut album, Intellectual Property, on all streaming platforms, and make sure to follow him on Instagram to see his new video for “Make It Happen” and everything else going on. That includes his new podcast with his father, Style Free Podcast, on Instagram @stylefreepodcast, YouTube, or visit stylefreepodcast.com

This week, we are returning to our exploration of some of the best songs in hip-hop music by looking at the year 2012. It was a year where streaming music became more of a thing, everyone was putting out mixtapes and we got to see the beginnings of hip-hop artists who are now considered some of the best in the game (we're looking at you, Kendrick Lamar).We are joined again by Steve Tyson, a.k.a. Ellect, to discuss this year in hip-hop. We discuss everything from how this seemed to be the year of posse tracks to the amazing talent that is 2 Chainz.Make sure to check out Ellect's debut album, Intellectual Property, on all streaming platforms, and make sure to follow him @ellect217 for the release of his new music video “Make It Happen,” due out on 7/31.Also, follow his podcast, Style Free Podcast, on Instagram @stylefreepodcast, YouTube, or visit stylefreepodcast.comAlso, slight editor's note, Andrew accidentally said we covered 1998 hip-hop music in the intro. We didn't. It was 1988, but you probably don't care about that, do you?

Flash mobs.Remember those? If not, let us bring you back to 2011 when they were apparently a thing. Same for Rom-Coms about two people trying to hook up without ever developing feelings for each other.That's why we watched both No Strings Attached and Friends with Benefits, and put them up against each other to discuss the merits of each and decide which did a better job with their subject matterNoted Rom-Com fan, lover of love, and previous guest Zac Howes joins us for this episode to figure out which movie was more convincing that it is too hard for two lovesick fools to hook up and stay friends when there is obvious chemistry between them.And why we're all happy flash mobs are no longer a thing. We hope.

The Marvel Cinematic Universe is full of so many different characters. Powerful ones, smart ones, funny ones and straight up volatile ones. It's why watching them when they all come together to form The Avengers can feel unpredictable but a thrilling adventure all the same.That's why we decided to do a draft of our Top 5 Avengers to see if we could form our ideal team to fight against the evil in the world.For this one, we needed a Marvel super fan. That's why we enlisted Gotham Podcast Studio and Tandem co-founder Mike Ortiz for this exercise.And with the release of Black Widow this past weekend, we also get into a short, spoiler-free discussion about the film. Unfortunately, can't say that about the rest of the discussion.So let us know what you think of our teams, and maybe give us your own Top 5? We'd love to hear it.

In this episode, we give some shine to another film genre that is grossly overlooked. We award our very Oscars award to the top 2000s Horror film.It's an episode where we explore the various sub genres that exist within the horror film classification, and maybe even try and bend the definition of what a horror film truly is. Maybe even a little bit too much?We don't know, you can decide on that.For this, we are joined by filmmaker Joe Gietl, who just so happens to be debuting his film A VOID at Madison Theater in Albany  this weekend (July 10th and 11th). We discuss the film and how it ties into the theme of our episode.You know… great horror movies.Give it a listen and let us know which one should have won. And check out Joe's film!

F9, the 10th installment of the ever-evolving Fast Saga came out this past weekend. You know what that means?We're getting the family back together.We are joined by filmmaker and devoted Vin Diesel stan Micah Khan to discuss the Fast franchise as a whole, pick out some of our favorite car and fight scenes, and give our immediate reactions to the latest addition to the Fast universe.This is a mostly spoiler-free episode regarding F9, but can't promise the same for any of the other movies. Which is really more your fault than ours, at this point.So, strap in your seatbelts and grab yourself some Corona, and lets celebrate one of the greatest film franchises to ever grace the silver screen.And make sure to check out Micah's short film, Meetcute on Danceworld here: https://vimeo.com/386763212And follow Micah on Instagram @micahazamkhan.

You know that show where celebrities are interviewed while eating increasingly hotter and hotter wings? Massively popular show on YouTube?Nah, neither do we.But let's say there was such a show and we decided to put ourselves through the hot wing gauntlet while discussing movies that take place in the cold to distract ourselves from the searing pain caused by said wings.Because that's exactly what we did. And to do so, we were joined by podcast alum John Yost, Micah Khan, as well as Victoria Diana, Jim Powers, John Stegemann and Joe Gietl. They all make up the APB Film Collective, based here in the Capital District.We all picked our favorite big budget and independent movies set in the cold, then pitted them against each other and picked the best one. All while eating some supremely spicy wings.It goes just fine for most of us.So listen to the episode and give us your thoughts on the selections. Then head on over to APBfilm.com to get the low down on films such as Micah's Meetcute on Danceworld, Diana's upcoming Devour, and Joe's soon to be released A Void.

Well, la-tee-fuckin'-da, we're talking Boston movies here on the Back Porch Podcast. That's right, we talk about 12 movies ranging from The Departed to even Fever Pitch and pick the five movies we believe should make up the Boston Movie Hall of Fame.To do this, we couldn't just have two guys from Upstate New York to construct this list. We are joined by Rich McPhee and Ray Langevin, two of the three hosts of the Boston-based Simple Minds Sports Show, to put together this list.This will be the most Boston we'll ever get, aside from Corey constantly yelling at Beam, “Are you a fuckin' cop?!?!” in his own form of a Boston accent that borders on a Hannibal Lecter impression.Beam, thankfully, doesn't attempt an accent at all. So, you're welcome.Strap in because this one gets a little wild. Shout out to Ray for drinking a triple IPA at 10 a.m.

You're lying to yourself if you don't love the music movies and, hell, even the fashion of the 90s. Some of us may even wish we still lived in that decade. It was a simpler time.There were quite a lot of great movies that came from the 90s, and with them, came some pretty awesome movie soundtracks. These soundtracks either fit perfectly with various scenes in a movie, accurately captured the music of the time or they contained a bangin' playlist that acted as additional promotion for the film.There were so many of these that we needed some help sifting through them (Who are we kidding? We always need help).That's why we are joined this week by our friends, or dare we say… Super Friends?...  Vince Stampoulos and Alex Bianchini from the Super Friends Sitdown podcast!They love the 90s just as much, if not more, than we do. So listen as we pick our favorite soundtracks, make fun of Beam for thinking Vanilla Sky was released in the 90s and listen to Corey try and pronounce Alex's last name.

Let's be honest, not every competitor in a tournament can be the number 1 seed. Sometimes, like in the NCAA March Madness tournament, there's going to be a number 16 seed. What you don't always see is two number 16 seeds going up against each other.It's an incredibly rare moment.Well, today, we are providing you what might be a once-in-a-lifetime experience. That's right, our episode is featuring what could be considered two number 16 seeds going up against each other as part of our Twin Films series.It's Paul Blart: Mall Cop vs Observe and Report.We are joined by our friends Sara Senecal and Eric Roberts on this strange journey to figure out which of these 2009 films about a depressingly pathetic mall security guard. It's really something.I think we sold that well.

Remember spring? Nah, no one does.But the existential dread of the impending doom brought on by climate change aside, summer is basically here. That means some of you might be underprepared and are quickly trying to cobble together a summertime playlist.Well, let us, along with Mike Pellegrino of Latewaves, give you a start.Mike brought his Top 5 summer jams and we brought ours. We think they will provide the perfect soundtrack for whatever you want to get into this summer.Give it a listen. Let us know what you think. And let us know what we need to be adding to our summer playlist.And make sure to pick up Latewaves' upcoming record Hell To Pay, due out on June 4th on Know Hope Records. It's sure to be on rotation through the summer, and probably even during the winter. Hell, just keep it going into next summer.Give it a little respect.

Along our musical journey, there are always those songs or even particular bands that have led us on each path we've taken. Yeah, that sounds extremely pretentious. However, you know we're right. And you probably already thought of those bands by the time you've reached this sentence.And that's why we recorded an episode about it. We wanted to explore and discuss those bands who helped us discover all the other music we listened to.To do that, we're joined by our good friend Steve Patrick, drummer of Young Rising Sons. We talk about his band and their new album SWIRL, and we also discuss the music that influenced him.So take a listen and check out SWIRL. You're going to like both things.

This week, we're exploring the one-album wonder. Sure, everyone knows about the one-hit wonders like Blind Melon's “No Rain” or The Knack's “My Sharona, but what about the artists who made an entire album that was dynamite and then faded away? That's what we're diving into. What are some of our favorite albums from artists who found lightning in a bottle one time and why did it never really happen for them again?We're joined by our good friend Josh White, former bassist of local band Curse the Mariner and market manager for Unified Beerworks to help navigate the landscape of artists who were outstanding that one time. In the episode, Josh, Beam and Corey each nominate three of their personal favorites and then they try to whittle it down to the top five. So come for intelligent breakdowns of emo masterpieces and stay for when they nearly come to blows over nu-metal.

We're back with our Twin Films series, where we are trying even harder to play into everyone's nostalgia. We choose the winner of the best 90's movie about a child who becomes a key figure in a major league baseball franchise.That's right, we're talking Little Big League and Rookie of the Year.Two movies with highly improbable plot lines, but were childhood favorites of both Corey and Beam.They are joined by returning guest Sara Senecal, who also happens to be Beam's wife, to dissect each movie and to determine which film pulled off this theme the best. The winner actually comes as a shock to our judges.Grab your beer. Grab your hotdogs. But get ready to not be bored with something that involves baseball for once.

While many of us may have huddled around our television last evening to watch the 93rd AcademyAwards, Anthony Hopkins most certainly was not one of them.Sure, he was nominated for Best Actor for his role in The Father, but he chose to stay in Wales and not pay attention to the awards ceremony whatsoever. He didn't see himself winning.Well, as we all know now, he actually did win.This reveal led to a perplexing ending to the Oscars that left a lot of people feeling untethered.We're joined by our friend Cory Schneider to process everything that happened during last night's ceremony. We really needed it.

In this episode, we reveal the big winner of our very own Academy Awards for Best Sci-Fi film of the 2000s.It's a contentious discussion, featuring filmmakers and previous guests Micah Khan and John Yost, but we were able to reach a consensus. And honestly, none of us really saw it coming.Come for the reveal of the big winner, stay for Micah's spirited defense of Vin Diesel. Because that's a thing that happens...

With the Oscars coming up this weekend, we've been thinking a lot about what movies get nominated. One genre that seems to always get omitted are science fiction movies. So, we decided to correct that and host our own Academy Awards for Sci-Fi films.For this go around, we decided to focus on Sci-Fi movies made between the years 2000 to 2009. The one caveat, though, is we focus on the films that didn't get any recognition from the Oscars. That means no Children of Men, no Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind, no Avatar. None of that.For this endeavor, we enlisted Capital Region filmmakers Micah Khan and John Yost, who were both previously guests on this podcast. They're also two very good friends, which is why this episode becomes a little chaotic.We're going to be releasing this awards show in two parts. The first being the nominees and the second being the selection of the winner of the 2000s Sci-Fi Academy Awards, which will be released on Friday.

And we are back! With a pretty timely episode, we might add.With the Academy Awards less than two weeks away, we're going to be talking about the best in movies from the past year (and change). While the pandemic put a lot of heavily anticipated movies on the shelf, a lot of truly excellent films were released and widely available for people to view in their homes. While it will never quite live up to the excitement of seeing a movie in the theater, the convenience of home-viewing was a salve in a year full of uncertainty.We're joined by our good friend Cory Schneider, an avid cinephile who views the Oscars as his Super Bowl, to breakdown all the nominated films and what it means for movies going forward. From there, we dive into the six major categories (the four acting awards, directing, and best picture) to discuss snubs, who we want to win, and who we ultimately think will be going home with the Golden Statue on April 25th. If you're a fan of movies, join us to hear our takes on the past year in movies and check back in with us after the ceremony to hear our reactions to the big night.

This week we wrap up Corey and our guest Zac Howes' list of their Top 5 Underappreciated Films of the 2000s. These are movies we thought were some real classics here. Some hidden gems, you might say. Unfortunately, not everyone felt that way when these movies came out. We of course feel differently. We want to thank Zac again for not only coming up with the idea for the episode, but also for producing his own list and sharing it with us. Remember, you can do the same and be on the show with us! Sounds fun, right? Also, we're going to take next week off, so there will be no new episodes. But after that, it's Oscars season, baby! That felt weird. Again, there are some spoilers. So, be aware...

This week's episode focuses on a more carefree time period of our lives. A time where we didn't give a shit what people thought of our movie tastes and we just liked what we liked.We talk about the movies we loved that apparently others weren't such big fans of from the 2000s era. And then we rip each other apart for them. Because now we're adults and that's what adults do.This is also the first time our topic is listener generated, as Zac Howes came up with this idea and brought it to us. So, thanks, Zac. This was a great idea.Give it a listen and let us know your thoughts. Because we all had a lot of thoughts on the movies on these lists.Also, this has all of the spoilers. Sorry, we probably should have mentioned that in previous episodes.

For this week's episode, we decided to get weird; we had an idea, and we just had to go with it. After watching some movies and television episodes, we noticed an interesting trend when it came to the portrayal of torture; they were always playing metal music. That got us thinking, if we were faced with “enhanced interrogation”, which songs would break us down and get us to reveal state secrets (we don't have any of those, but just go with it).We start off by discussing the United States' use of enhanced interrogation, before discussing its portrayal in popular culture through movies like Zero Dark Thirty and television series like Ozark and Homeland. From there, we get into the songs that would be detrimental to our psychological and emotional well-being, discovering some things about ourselves in the process.Our good friend Joe Donlon accompanies us on this journey of self-discovery and ends up having to deal with us railing on things he loves.

We're back with the third installment in the twin films series, and it's gonna be lit (see what I did there?)This week we're going back one year to 1997 and exploring two movies about coping with an active volcano in your neighborhood. It's the accidental horror movie Volcano vs. Detective Harry Dalton in Dante's Peak.While we're on the subject, what is it with the late 90s and disaster movies? Was it impending Y2K anxiety? Was everything going so well in the world that folks had nothing better to do than dream up disaster stories? That's for another day.As for our guest, our day one homie Eric Roberts did such an awesome job last week, we invited him right back to watch these movies with us. We share our thoughts on topics such as heroes emerging from rubble and more examples of characters making the ultimate sacrifice to save others. Sit back, crack a beer and join us on the back porch as we discuss who coped better, Pierce Brosnan or Tommy Lee Jones?