Movie Challenge Accepted!

This is the girl. It's a Dan Hedaya Double Feature this week, with Arco taking on David Lynch's avowed feature-length masterpiece, 2001's Mulholland Drive, and Jason watching great talent--William Goldman! Jodie Foster! Mel Gibson!--cash sizable checks in 1994's Maverick. https://youtu.be/OiCfHW3N3vo (Twin Perfect's YouTube essay on Mulholland Drive.) https://linktr.ee/moviechallengepodcast (Connect with Movie Challenge Accepted.) Your Hosts: https://www.jason-allison.com (Jason Allison) & https://www.facebook.com/MovieChallengePodcast/ (Arco Esposito) If you enjoy the pod, please rate and review us on Apple Podcasts or Spotify. It's a small gesture that will help us grow. Thanks!

After a brief hiatus, we're back with two movies that define this podcast. Jason was delighted by the third Keanu/Stahelski shoot 'em up, John Wick Chapter 3: Parabellum [28:41], while Arco let himself be lost in the quiet beauty of Ryuske Hamaguchi's Best Picture-nominated Drive My Car [02:59]. https://linktr.ee/moviechallengepodcast (Connect with Movie Challenge Accepted.) Your Hosts: https://www.jason-allison.com (Jason Allison) & https://www.facebook.com/MovieChallengePodcast/ (Arco Esposito) If you enjoy the pod, please rate and review us on Apple Podcasts or Spotify. It's a small gesture that will help us grow. Thanks!

For the pod's first ever fan challenge, Jason watched the martial arts powerhouse that is Gareth Evans' The Raid 2 [02:12], while Arco went back to 1977, with William Friedkin's lost classic, Sorcerer [35:15]. You're gonna need a tougher truck. NOTE--Sorcerer was Friedkin's SEVENTH feature film as director, not his third or fourth. Mea culpa. If you enjoy the pod, please rate and review us on Apple Podcasts or Spotify. It's a small gesture that will help us grow. Thanks! https://linktr.ee/moviechallengepodcast (Connect with Movie Challenge Accepted.) Your Hosts: https://www.jason-allison.com (Jason Allison) & https://www.facebook.com/MovieChallengePodcast/ (Arco Esposito)

Until last night, Arco had never watched the Academy Awards in full. He'll never forget his first. The boys dive into the winners, losers, whether the Oscars are relevant, and That Which Can't Be Ignored. All on a special, emergency podcast. https://linktr.ee/moviechallengepodcast (Connect with Movie Challenge Accepted.) Your Hosts: https://www.jason-allison.com (Jason Allison) & https://www.facebook.com/MovieChallengePodcast/ (Arco Esposito)

Things got surreal for Arco this week, with Yorgos Lanthimos's sublimely creepy The Killing of a Sacred Deer [03:57], while Jason fully embraced the world of keen sommeliers, carrier pigeons, and proponents of edged weapons that is home to John Wick: Chapter 2 [30:51]. https://linktr.ee/moviechallengepodcast (Connect with Movie Challenge Accepted.) Your Hosts: https://www.jason-allison.com (Jason Allison) & https://www.facebook.com/MovieChallengePodcast/ (Arco Esposito)

In the most contentious episode yet, Jason had problems with the cultural statements he believed Matthew Vaughn's first Kingsman movie tried to make, while Arco threw up an eyeball during his second ride on the RefnCoaster, 2016's The Neon Demon. A true challenge, all around. https://linktr.ee/moviechallengepodcast (Connect with Movie Challenge Accepted.) Your Hosts: https://www.jason-allison.com (Jason Allison) & https://www.facebook.com/MovieChallengePodcast/ (Arco Esposito)

In our second Unchallenged episode, Jason and Arco step into Matt Reeves's Gotham, rainy home to the Batman...and also Bruce Wayne, but only for like, one scene. Pattinson fulfilled all of Jason's noir, Frank Miller-inspired dreams, while the movie worked a bit less effectively when seen through Arco's MCU-tinted glasses. https://linktr.ee/moviechallengepodcast (Connect with Movie Challenge Accepted.) Your Hosts: https://www.jason-allison.com (Jason Allison) & https://www.facebook.com/MovieChallengePodcast/ (Arco Esposito)

This one's a Movie Challenge Accepted first: two films enter, one screenwriter leaves (these are both Derek Kolstad scripts). It's like Thunderdome, only not. So sit back, relax, and listen as Jason argues that Bob Odenkirk's Hutch Mansell is a more fully realized creation than Wick, while Arco believes Keanu paved the road, and we're all just riding on it, baby. https://linktr.ee/moviechallengepodcast (Connect with Movie Challenge Accepted.) Your Hosts: https://www.jason-allison.com (Jason Allison) & https://www.facebook.com/MovieChallengePodcast/ (Arco Esposito)

Reports of Arco having left Marvel movies behind turned out to be greatly exaggerated, as he challenged Jason this week with Ryan Coogler's groundbreaking Black Panther [28:40]. Jason went in another direction entirely, selecting Armando Ianucci's dark political farce The Death of Stalin [01:00]. https://linktr.ee/moviechallengepodcast (Connect with Movie Challenge Accepted.) Your Hosts: https://www.jason-allison.com (Jason Allison) & https://www.facebook.com/MovieChallengePodcast/ (Arco Esposito)

Before Eternals, Chloé Zhao made quiet, beautiful movies filled with genuine human emotion. At least that's how Jason sees Nomadland [28:46]. Did Arco agree? Who knows? He issued the pod's first Steven Soderbergh challenge, 2011's international actionfest Haywire [02:03], featuring Gina Carano's acting (cough, cough) debut. This one represents MCA perfectly. https://linktr.ee/moviechallengepodcast (Connect with Movie Challenge Accepted.) Your Hosts: https://www.jason-allison.com (Jason Allison) & https://www.facebook.com/MovieChallengePodcast/ (Arco Esposito)

Movie Challenge Assemble! A movie so big, a universe so omnipresent, a Man so Iron. This one gets its own episode. Shareef McIntosh joins Arco and Jason to discuss the epic conclusion to the Marvel Cinematic Universe (phase IV, or 12, or...whatever), 2019's Avengers Endgame. Buckle in, folks, this one's almost as long as the movie. https://alfanerdz.com (Shareef's website - AlfaNerdez) https://www.youtube.com/user/shareef2008 (Shareef's YouTube channel) https://linktr.ee/moviechallengepodcast (Connect with Movie Challenge Accepted.) Your Hosts: https://www.jason-allison.com (Jason Allison) & https://www.facebook.com/MovieChallengePodcast/ (Arco Esposito)

A brief discussion of the 2022 Oscar nominations [00:55] precedes Arco's unexpected take on Bon Joon Ho's Parasite [10:00], the first foreign language film ever to win Best Picture. Then Jason fills a gaping hole in his gritty crime film knowledge base with Abel Ferrara's King of New York [43:01], featuring a subdued-yet-menacing Christopher Walken and absolutely batshit crazy performances from Laurence Fishburne and David Caruso. https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/the-secret-origins-of-mint-condition/id1577385556 (The Secret Origins of Mint Condition podcast.) https://linktr.ee/moviechallengepodcast (Connect with Movie Challenge Accepted.) Your Hosts: https://www.jason-allison.com (Jason Allison) & https://www.facebook.com/MovieChallengePodcast/ (Arco Esposito)

Unintentional Monster Week on MCA, as Jason watched the unexpectedly political Shin Godzilla [00:55] while Benedict Cumberbatch terrified Arco with his turn as sadistic rancher Phil Burbank in Jane Campion's The Power of the Dog [42:44]. https://linktr.ee/moviechallengepodcast (Connect with Movie Challenge Accepted.) Your Hosts: https://www.jason-allison.com (Jason Allison) & https://www.facebook.com/MovieChallengePodcast/ (Arco Esposito)

Akira Kurosawa's cultural-commentary/procedural masterpiece, 1963's High and Low [03:01], serves as Arco's appetizer for the boys' oil drill-deep dive into Avengers Infinity War [33:55], the first MCU movie that overwhelmed Jason. Thankfully, Arco was there to answer the important questions: Where is Knowhere? Why won't the Hulk show up? Is that Peter Dinklage? Why's Thor in an eye patch? What is a Celestial? Is Galactus a Celestial? Where the hell is Nick Fury? All this and so much more. https://linktr.ee/moviechallengepodcast (Connect with Movie Challenge Accepted.)

An unexpected dual neo-noir challenge this week, with James Foley's Confidence [02:50]and Rian Johnson's directorial debut, Brick [36:22]. Arco and Jason got to talking about grifts, Oceans 11, Philip Marlowe, strip clubs, breaking the fourth wall, Baz Luhrmann, characters that may exist only in other characters' heads, and whether Knives Out is a little too clever for its own good. https://linktr.ee/moviechallengepodcast (Connect with Movie Challenge Accepted.)

NOTE—we had a small audio problem at the 25 minute mark. Blame Jason—Arco does. It's official--the Russo Brothers make real good Marvel movies. That's Jason's take after his second Captain America outing, 2016's Civil War [29:45]. Did Arco share a similar opinion of Robert Eggers after seeing his "obtuse" 2019 black and white two-hander, The Lighthouse [01:00]? You'll have to listen to find out. http://linktr.ee/moviechallengepodcast (Connect with Movie Challenge Accepted).

Arco and Jason came together for their first Unchallenged episode. Entirely on his own, Jason went out and saw the monocultural touchstone that is Spider Man: No Way Home. Is it worth the watch? Does it merit Oscar consideration? What has Tobey Maguire been doing since The Great Gatsby? Why does Tom Hardy talk like that? Is Benedict Cumberbatch happy? The boys discuss all these topics and more on this important, relevant, emergency podcast! https://www.linktr.ee/moviechallengepodcast (Connect with Movie Challenge Accepted)

After Arco spent two weeks in the 1970s, was he grateful for Paul Schrader's 2021 meditation on existential dread and humanity's inability to find redemption? And did Jason welcome a non-Marvel Universe challenge, the 2020 end-of-the-world, Gerard Butler thriller Greenland? The short answers? Yes. Mostly. https://linktr.ee/moviechallengepodcast (Connect with Movie Challenge Accepted) https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/the-secret-origins-of-mint-condition/id1577385556 (The Secret Origins of Mint Condition podcast)

Jason kept Arco in the 1970s this week, challenging him with a seminal NYC movie, the original Taking of Pelham 123 [03:39]. But then things take a turn south, because Arco made Jason watch Joss Whedon's second bite at the Avengers apple, 2015's Age of Ultron [32:00]. Jason had enjoyed the first Avengers movie. This one? Not so much. https://linktr.ee/moviechallengepodcast (Connect with Movie Challenge Accepted)

After a brief hiatus due to illness, Jason exposed Arco to the quiet, sad genius that is Peter Yates' 1973 Boston-noir classic, The Friends of Eddie Coyle [02:45], while Arco sent Jason back to the Bay--Michael Bay's ode to masculine obligation (and quirky Nicholas Cage facial expressions), The Rock [33:18]. Sorry for the delay, but we think this one's worth it. --https://www.pastemagazine.com/movies/the-rock-michael-bay-anniversary/ (Jacob Oller, Paste Magazine, June, 2021 - "The Endearing, Over The Top Contradictions of The Rock Make It Michael Bay's Best Film") --https://nofilmschool.com/michael-bay-sean-connerys-bond-the-rock (Alyssa Miller, NoFilmSchool.com, June 2021 - "Michael Bay's The Rock Might Actually Be The Last of Sean Connery's James Bond Films") --https://filmschoolrejects.com/55-things-learned-rock-commentary-michael-bay-nicolas-cage/ (Rob Hunter, Film School Rejects, June 2017 - "55 Things We Learned From The Rock Commentary...") --https://www.rogerebert.com/reviews/the-friends-of-eddie-coyle-1973 (Roger Ebert, 1973 - Four-Star Review of The Friends of Eddie Coyle) --https://www.filmcomment.com/article/encore-the-friends-of-eddie-coyle/ (Geoffrey O'Brien, Film Comment, March, 2009 - "Dead Man Walking")

This week, Arco crosses the pond, watching Jean Pierre Melville's Le Samouraï, the 1967 noir masterpiece, co-starring the Paris metro (1:05), while Jason enjoys the best Marvel movie he's seen (it's a short list)--Captain America: The Winter Soldier (38:54). Along the way, the boys dive into podcasting as therapy, the French army's performance in World War I, the solitary nature of comic books, and the interrelated concepts of honor and suicide. https://linktr.ee/moviechallengepodcast (Connect with Movie Challenge Accepted!)

Arco experiences Nicolas Winding Refn for the first time, while Jason revisits Michael Bay--possibly never to return. On this episode, we discuss Only God Forgives (41:48) and Transformers (01:45), two films that couldn't be more different. One is fearless, thought provoking, and transgressive, while the other has giant CGI robots. https://linktr.ee/moviechallengepodcast (Connect with Movie Challenge Accepted!)

This week, Arco dips his toe into the boundless sea of pure consciousness that is David Lynch, with 1997's Lost Highway (01:15). For his part, Jason does a 2 1/2 reverse pike into the chlorine-saturated Marvel Universe, watching 2012's The Avengers (34:57). Listen, as Jason weeps for the future of filmmaking while Arco questions his sanity. https://linktr.ee/moviechallengepodcast (Connect with Movie Challenge Accepted!)

For the premiere episode, Arco challenged Jason to pick up the Fast and the Furious saga at its high-water mark, 2011's Fast Five (03:19). Jason challenged Arco to get through Solaris (38:30), Andrei Tarkovsky's 1972 exploration of existential dread set in a crumbling--yet finely furnished--space station. No one got through this one unharmed. https://linktr.ee/moviechallengepodcast (Connect with Movie Challenge Accepted!)

Arco and Jason are longtime friends with very different tastes in movies.