I Think I Like This Movie

This week, we get horny as hell for the end of the world and welcome fellow journalist Ben Freed as we enter Her Majesty's Secret Service with this installment from the James Bond oeuvre.  This flick is eerily contemporary in subject matter, considering it's 42 years old, but painfully dated in other ways. Needless to say we get into all that, which hopefully will not land us in any space gulags. As always, make sure you're following us on Twitter and on Instagram @LikeThisMovie and jump into the conversation using the hashtag #ITILTM.

Whoever said late-90s comedies don't hold up anymore? Oh, right, we say that, like, every three weeks. And this Hollywood sendup, featuring Steve Martin and Eddie Murphy, is a great example of exactly that. Our guest who brought us this film is Zach Seidel, who made his name via social media platforms that the world in this film could not possibly even conceive of. You can follow him on Twitter here. And as always, make sure you're following us on Twitter and on Instagram @LikeThisMovie and jump into the conversation using the hashtag #ITILTM.

We're changing things up a bit this week with our first documentary, the 2007 doc “Helvetica,” brought to us by musician Davy Andrews. Yes, it's about the font. Yes, really, stop asking. This may not be the kind of topic you'd expect to be worth the full 80 minutes of runtime that it occupies, but it's surprisingly compelling and will almost certainly teach you something you didn't know. Davy's got a new album and you can find his stuff on Bandcamp or Spotify or wherever else you get your music. As always, make sure you're following us on Twitter and on Instagram @LikeThisMovie and jump into the conversation using the hashtag #ITILTM.

With the big budget blockbuster Denis Villeneuve's shot at Frank Herbert's classic sci-fi story due out next week, we figure there's no better time to revisit the David Lynch version from more than 35 years ago. I was actually in Europe last week, where the new movie was already playing, but resisted seeing it in the spirit of the podcast (and because, as much as we like movies, you shouldn't waste a night in Paris or Amsterdam in a dark theater). As always, make sure you're following us on Twitter and Instagram @LikeThisMovie.

Chris Evans, Zoe Saldana, Idris Elba and Jeffrey Dean Morgan? In a mid-budget, summer blockbustery, Michael-Bay-attention-span action movie? It's OK, we'd never heard of it either. Guest and Editor in Chief of Baseball Prospectus Craig Goldstein joins us as we strap in for a tight 97 minutes of explosions that neither need, nor are given, any particular context. All vibes, no brakes. As always, make sure you're following us on Twitter and on Instagram @LikeThisMovie and jump into the conversation using the hashtag #ITILTM.

Oh, great, spiders. Reem Nadeem returns and brings us back to 1990 once again, just as she did with her first appearance on the pod, this time with the Jeff Daniels and John Goodman vehicle “Arachnophobia.” We didn't discover until after taping that the other connection to the name Canaima comes from the actual national park in Venezuela where they shot on location for this film, which...yeah, sure, OK, just be obvious about it, then. Still not as fun as my trivia. As always, make sure you're following us on Twitter and on Instagram @LikeThisMovie and jump into the conversation using the hashtag #ITILTM.

We go guestless as we revisit the final innocent days of New York romance with this 2001 film that a younger version of me used to call, “the only good romantic comedy.” Starring John Cusack and Kate Beckinsale as our primary couple, the supporting cast is a who's who of early aughts character actors, including Jeremy Piven, Molly Shannon, Bridget Moynahan, John Corbett and the resplendent Eugene Levy. As always, make sure you're following us on Twitter and on Instagram @LikeThisMovie and jump into the conversation using the hashtag #ITILTM.

Guest Zeke Hartner returns and upholds his minimal promise of bringing us a better film than he did in his last visit, with this Vin Diesel-powered sci-fi horror flick that eschews the science aspect, on both the astronomical and evolutionary fronts. We have legitimate disagreements about what works and what doesn't in this film, as well as some insight into the Hollywood machine that created some of these points of contention. So, as always, make sure you're following us on Twitter and on Instagram @LikeThisMovie and jump into the conversation using the hashtag #ITILTM.

Our first guest from Ep. 2: The Tool That Time Forgot Matt Poldberg returns with another early aughts comedy, the Broken Lizard comedy troupe's breakout hit “Super Troopers.” A note that we recorded this before the events of the last few weeks in Afghanistan, so while we note that those references already did not hold up well, that's even more true today. That being said, overall the film and its comedy hold up quite well over the nearly 20 years since its release. Enhance...enhance. As always, make sure you're following us on Twitter and Instagram and feel free to hop into the conversation using the hashtag #ITILTM.

Conspiracy theorist extraordinaire and my wive Micah Backus takes us back to 2001 with this baseball rom-com, starring Freddie Prinze Jr., Jessica Biel, Matthew Lillard, Fred Ward, Brian Dennehy and Brittany Murphy. There is a LOT of baseball talk in this one, especially relating to the stuff the movie clearly got wrong. Also, I refer to Ep. 19: Redneck Dune — “Tremors” (1990) as Episode 20, so who's the smart guy now? Also, there's an actual Ryan Dunne who pitched in Minor League Baseball! He did not, sadly, make it to The Show. A friendly reminder that any conspiracy theories discussed within are just that—theories—and are not the official, legal, stated beliefs or assertions of this podcast or the people who appear on it. As always, make sure you're following us on Twitter and on Instagram @LikeThisMovie and jump into the conversation using the hashtag #ITILTM.

Actress and host of the podcast Take Me Into the Ballgame Ellen Adair brings us into the imagination of Terry Gilliam  From Charles Barkley to John Cleese, this broad-ranging episode also does include some baseball movie talk, because, look, who do you think we are? In the 14th minute, I refer to Jonathan Pryce as Jonathan Pryor, likely a tired autocorrect from my notes, following a thoroughly exhausting day. The pod apologizes to Sir Pryce. As always, make sure you're following us on Twitter and on Instagram @LikeThisMovie and jump into the conversation using the hashtag #ITILTM.

There's plenty to discuss from this horror/comedy that spurred a million, increasingly bleak sequels, brought to us by fellow journalist and oh yeah also Will's wife Reem Nadeem. This is also our first Kevin Bacon vehicle, bringing the podcast to within one step of the man himself. So let's take a little trip to Perfection as we come to terms with our desires to watch a teenager get eaten alive. As always, make sure you're following us on Twitter and on Instagram @LikeThisMovie and jump into the conversation using the hashtag #ITILTM.

Shpaysh: The final frontier. This is the story of the Jupiter moon colony Io, the lawless mining colony it supports, and the whiny American child somehow born to two British parents. It's also a space-set version of the 1952 western “High Noon,” brought to us by this week's guest and amateur astronomer Greg Redfern. While some of the effects are obviously dated 40 years later, many of the social themes of exploitative capitalism reverberate just as loudly in 2021. So come for space studmuffin Sean Connery and stay for a logline comparison you'll never see coming. As always, make sure you're following us on Twitter and on Instagram @LikeThisMovie and jump into the conversation using the hashtag #ITILTM.

What do you call a comedy that's not funny, an attempt at edginess with no edge, and a film stuffed full of unlikeable characters that you're not actually encouraged to hate? In our case, you call it “Go,” the 1999 piece of cultural refuse brought to us this week by guest Chris Dionne. We'd love to force the many critics who gave this film their endorsement (91 percent on Rotten Tomatoes?!) to reckon with their own original impressions of this film, which wastes an interesting editing premise on a scattershot plot with no lessons to be learned. As always, be sure to follow us on Twitter and Instagram @LikeThisMovie and feel free to help explain why this movie exists by using the hashtag #ITILTM on Twitter.

The pod wishes a Happy Rex Manning Day to everyone who celebrates as we welcome guest and rule-breaker Tony Panzera and his film, the 1995 coming-of-age comedy “Empire Records.” Liv Tyler and Renée Zellweger have turned out to be the biggest stars from this one, which also features Anthony LaPaglia and Debi Mazar, among others. We likely set a soundtrack record in terms of volume of songs in this episode, so there's extra attention devoted to the soundtrack. Which is probably a good thing, since the plot is...thin? That, plus some, uh, interesting directorial decisions put this one squarely in the mid-'90s.Make sure you're following us on Twitter and Instagram @LikeThisMovie and if you have any other Delaware-based movies you'd like to remember, do so by using the hashtag #ITILTM on Twitter.

In this throwback comedy, brought to us by Action Cookbook newsletter writer Scott Hines, Bill Murray inserts himself into a relative stranger's life and insists himself on the rest of the proceedings, uh, not at all something Bill Murray would actually do in real life. I incorrectly identified Ep. 6: Hanks for the Good Time as Ep. 3 early on, but I self-corrected later, which you would know if you just listened to the rest of the episode, silly. This episode's got plenty of fun trivia and behind-the-scenes nuggets, along with an actually good Gaucho Watch for the first time in a while. As always, make sure you're following us on Twitter and Instagram @LikeThisMovie and feel free to hop in the conversation using the hashtag #ITILTM on Twitter.

First off, a hearty thanks to this week's guest Anagha Srikanth, who rejoined us for a second recording of this episode. Thankfully, the audio quality should be much cleaner moving forward (at least starting in a few episodes). If you haven't seen it, this is a sports movie based on a true story from the South in the 1960s that manages to be neither about sports, nor race. Let that sink in for a minute. I mention the film about my own high school, which came out in 2014. You can read more about that story in an interview I did with the coach upon which the film was based. As always, feel free to hop in the conversation using the hashtag #ITILTM on Twitter.

To give you a little peek behind the #ITILTM curtain, we've had to do some creative juggling due to some unforeseen technical issues. But that doesn't mean we don't have a new episode for you this week. Or, in non-double negative speak...here's your new episode! Friend and fellow podcaster Rory Murphy joins the fun and brings us the 2002 Christian Bale vehicle “Equilibrium,” a dystopian sci-fi affair in which feelings have been outlawed in order to create an ideal, peaceful society. You can imagine why that might not work. So, yeah, Will sounds like he's stuck in grain silo or something, but hopefully that's not too distracting. Blame Skype. Or blame us. Whatever makes you happy. Enjoy, and we'll see you back here next week.

Internet writer Alex Maisey helps us bring some sunshine to this mostly overlooked but critically acclaimed sci-fi offering, featuring Rufus Sewell, Jennifer Connelly, William Hurt and an extremely eccentric Kiefer Sutherland. Of note: We watched the original version, not the director's cut, as we try to do with all of these. Also, this film does not include any actors from prior episodes, as it features William Hurt, not John Heard (from Episode 6: Hanks for the Good Time). Let it be noted for the record. As you'll discover, on this podcast, we believe in science. Or “Signs,” as it were. Make sure you're following us on Twitter and Instagram @LikeThisMovie and jump in the conversation using #ITILTM.

We Scrooge McDuck dive deep into the vault to pull out this 90s relic, brought to us by guest A.C. If you've never heard of this film, that's because it's almost impossible to find, outside of unlicensed YouTube streams. Written by and starring Alex Winter, along with Brooke Shields, William Sadler, and an uncredited Keanu Reeves, this film also brings us our first double-up actor on the podcast in...John Hawkes, of all people. He will forever hold a special place in our hearts and minds. Despite its eight-figure budget, the film was pulled from American theaters shortly after release, making less than $30,000 worldwide, a new ITILTM record. We also very nearly eclipse the run time of this 80-minute anachronism, so settle in and get ready to get weird.

Guest and fellow Baseball Prospectus contributor Mike Gianella classes up the joint with this five-time Oscar-nominated entry, a somber, minimalist affair featuring Tom Wilkinson, Sissy Spacek and Marisa Tomei. There's an unintentional amount of baseball chat, including about these two Red Sox games, the radio calls of which both are featured in the film: https://www.baseball-reference.com/boxes/BOS/BOS200007080.shtml https://www.baseball-reference.com/boxes/BOS/BOS200007090.shtml This manages to be one of the few fairly timeless films in the ITILTM catalogue to date, as well as one of the few that wasn't particularly painful to watch. That's a hint, albeit not a particularly subtle one, for potential future guests. Bonus points if you got the David Foster Wallace reference.

We break into the Guy Ritchie catalogue with this obscure entry from guest Zeke Hartner. Regrets? He has a few. A note: Apologies for the few sections that sound like we're stuck in a dryer. There was some weird feedback on certain parts and this was the least distracting filter Will could find to keep everything listenable. Also, apologies if you haven't seen this film (and, I suppose, if you have) for any confusion in trying to make sense of what happened. I promise you it wasn't any easier for all of us, and we actually watched the thing. As always, make sure you're following us on Twitter and Instagram @LikeThisMovie and use the hashtag #ITILTM to jump into the conversation.

Sit down and buckle up as we pierce the bubble of the Nicolas Cage Cinematic Universe with “Gone in 60 Seconds,” brought to us by this week's guest, Justin Klugh. It's a classic slice of early-aughts that, despite being a car-centric film, does not appear to have been made by “car porn enthusiasts.” We manage to get references to everyone from Conan O'Brien to Bryce Harper squeezed into this bad boy, which may help explain its longest-episode-yet run time. Apologies to “Galaxy Quest,” which I misnamed late in the pod, while everyone owes an apology to Frances Fisher for her lack of screen time. Enjoy!

Our guest Rob Woodfork brings us the Shaquille O'Neal 1997 superhero (?) action flick “Steel,” ostensibly an extension of the DC Comics universe, but truly not in practice. There will be a high body count. There will be missed free throw jokes. There will be one of the worst-rated movies in all of IMDB. This episode's got some fun bonus nuggets, including Rob's odd connection to the film and a bonus clip from an actual interview Noah did with Shaq in 2017, in which he predicts that LeBron will not join the Lakers. Whoops!

Will dives into his childhood treasure trove and digs out the 1988 fantasy comedy "Big" starring Tom Hanks, but almost starring an insane number of other leading men, all of which we get into in the pod. There's one major plot issue with this one, and a couple of surprises along the way, given its PG rating, but it's a generally harmless tour of an extremely locked-in-1988 time capsule. And, crucially, it's (spoiler alert) actually fairly enjoyable. Be sure to join the conversation online using the hashtag #ITILTM and follow along with us on both Twitter and Instagram @LikeThisMovie.

Our guest Dan Weber brings us to hell and halfway back with Roman Polanski's “The Ninth Gate,” featuring a prime Johnny Depp, Frank Langella and Lena Olin. We unintentionally landed on the same general takeaway as Roger Ebert did in his original review of the film, which we reference, and which you can read here. We do our best to try to explain just what the hell happened in this thing without, as Dan did to us, forcing you to actually have to watch it. If you did see it, let us know what you thought on social using the hashtag #ITILTM.

Noah brings the resplendent, spacious, nearly-three-hour-long “Meet Joe Black,” an oddball, small ensemble fantasy romance that's well-acted, beautifully-shot, and just a little bit...off. If you haven't seen the film, but want to see the car crash scene that thrust the movie back into the discourse, here's the tweet that started that discussion. Also, be sure to read Rachel Handler's hilarious story about how that scene came together. The episode title, which Will references about 42 minutes in, is from a Big Thief song. You can, and should, listen to that here. We'll be back with a new guest next week. Until then, keep the conversation going with #ITILTM and be sure to follow us on Twitter and Instagram @LikeThisMovie.

Will and Noah revisit the film version of the much more popular eventual TV show spinoff of "Buffy the Vampire Slayer," which stands out in stark contrast from its sharply-written, empowering small screen cousin. While plenty of stuff from the early '90s (and even a decade or more later) doesn't hold up terribly well in 2021, nearly every aspect of this one stands out. Regrettably, I could not find the song from the soundtrack allegedly sung by Kristy Swanson (referenced at 38:20). So grab your stakes and get your DiCaprio pointing GIFs ready for the Ben Affleck scene as we send this remnant of pop culture back to the graveyard, hopefully for good.

We welcome our first guest to the pod as Noah's college roommate Matt Poldberg (Twitter: @NotSpamIPromise) brings us the nearly memory-holed, 2001-I-mean-2002 box office dud “Big Trouble.” No, not “Big Trouble in Little China,” this is a sweaty, 85-minute ensemble slapstick comedy caper flick in the Miami swamp that's as light and low-calorie as a plate of arugula. You'll notice a few spots where Matt's words slur—that's a technical/streaming issue on our end, not due to any voice/health/drunkenness issues on his part. These things happen. Late in the episode, I reference the Ted Lasso pilot script. You can read that here.  If you'd like to watch the movie, it's available for a few bucks on most streaming platforms, the cheapest as of publication is on iTunes ($2.99). As always, join us on Twitter and Instagram @LikeThisMovie and use the hashtag #ITILTM to join in the conversation.

Join us as we revisit the explosive, quirky, fluid exchange-free futurescape of "Demolition Man," a film that does a surprisingly good job of predicting some world events while existing very much in its own time of campy, muscle-bound superstars. Learn the bits, soak in the '90s nostalgia, and enjoy the brave new world of San Angeles. As always, follow us on Twitter and Instagram @LikeThisMovie and join in the conversation using #ITILTM (I Think I Like This Movie...simple enough). We'll announce next week's watch on Wednesday and we'll see you back here next Friday for Episode 2.

Welcome to I Think I Like This Movie, America's least necessary film criticism podcast, hosted by Noah Frank and Will Vitka. Each week, we'll take a look back at a film we haven't seen in at least 10 years that we think we liked at the time to see how well it holds up. Yes, another podcast. But this one comes with the lowest stakes possible. We will seek to answer only one question: Do you still like this movie? We'll announce what movie we'll be talking about each Wednesday ahead of the show dropping on Friday so you can watch along at home.  Got a non-classic, non-bomb movie you'd love to revisit? You could be our next guest! Follow along on Twitter and Instagram @LikeThisMovie and join the conversation by using the hashtag #ITILTM. We'll be back with Episode 1 on Friday with our first movie, Demolition Man. See you then!