Steph and Jeff review movies streaming of Netflix, Amazon Prime, and Tubi from the perspective of aspiring fiction writers. Does the hook draw you in, do the character arcs make sense, is the plot internally consistent, is it a good adaption of the source material, and does the ending work? They’ll also suggest similar movies to watch and give a final watch rating.
Steph and Jeff Writes Productions
In this episode, Steph and Jeff check out Fight Club. Disaffected young men decide to join a violent, extremist underground movement, dedicated to chaos and led by a delusional Ed Norton. Much like the 2020s, although we have less Ed Norton (sadly).
In this episode, Steph and Jeff check out the crime drama/biopic Monster with Charlize Theron and Christina Ricci. When released in 2003, this film received numerous accolades...but are they warranted? Listen and find out.
In this episode, Steph and Jeff check out the science fiction movie Arrival. Aliens show up. They look like squid monsters. But not the hentai type – big sigh of relief from everyone involved. Amy Adams tries to get them to talk and when they do...well, you need to watch the episode to find out.
In this episode, Steph and Jeff check out Aliens aka One of Jeff's Favorite Movies. So...prepare for serious fanboying. Is that a verb? Sure it is...English is whatever I want it to be.
Join Steph and Jeff as they look at The Vast of Night. Set in the 1950s, The Vast of Night is a science fiction film that takes place over the course of one very unsettling night. But...is it worth watching?
In this episode, Steph and Jeff review the holiday-themed thriller Better Watch Out. When a babysitter decides to work for a family one last time before leaving town, strange things begin to happen. Is it Santa coming to deliver presents? Or someone less jolly, bearing lethal gift? Listen to find out.
In this episode, Steph and Jeff check out the band biopic, The Runaways. Will Joan Jett and Cherie Currie find fame and fortune? Or will the industry chew them up and spit them out? Listen and find out.
In this episode, Jeff and Steph look at Lady Bird, a 2018 coming of age story. Christine - aka Lady Bird - wants to leave Sacramento for college on the East Coast. Before she can fly away from the nest. she has to find love, learn valuable life lessons and accept her mom force-feeding her worms. We may have taken the "Bird" thing too literally. Listen in and see if this movie is right for you.
In this episode, Steph and Jeff look at Midnight Special...the science fiction movie, not the CCR song. Alton is a young boy with plot convenience powers, being taken to an arbitrary spot in the Florida swamps. He's being chased by religious wackos and the Feds. Will his father get him to gator-country in time? Will he wind up in a CIA black site? Will we ever find out why this movie is called Midnight Special (other than it sounds cool)? Listen in and find out.
In this episode, Steph and Jeff check out supernatural thriller, The Fare. A cab driver and his passenger seem to be stuck in a time loop, repeating the same 20 minutes. But, are they? Or is something else going on? Listen and find out.
In this episode, Steph and Jeff take a look at Taxi Driver. Is Travis Bickle a compelling and is his journey engaging? Why is "the Match Trick" in this movie? Is the most interesting character New York City? And, does "Uber Driver" have the same ring? All these questions (and more) may or may not be answered. You just have to watch to find out.
In this episode, Steph and Jeff look at Radium Girls. In the 1920s, young women apply radioactive paint to watch faces. Cancer, coverups and courthouse drama follows. Will superficial Bessie become a social crusader? Will sister Jo live long enough to see justice done? Will any of these women become Teenage Mutant Ninjas? Listen in and find out.
After a week off, Steph and Jeff look at In A Lonely Place. Dixon Steele is a successful screenplay writer (must be nice), who is suspected of murder - which is less nice...but might be worth it to be a successful writer...do those two go together? Anyway, this is a classic film noir that successfully subverts expectations (yes, it can be done). Check out the episode and then go watch the movie.
In this episode, Steph and Jeff check out CQ, a 2001 film set in 1969 and following the cast and crew of a Barbarella-esque science fiction movie. Will the film-within-a-film be more interesting than the journey of the young(ish) protagonist, an editor getting his big break as a replacement director? Will his obsessive filming of every aspect of his life amount to anything? And will we ever find out why this movie is called CQ? Listen and find out.
In this episode, Steph and Jeff check out the biographical film, Lion. A little kid gets lost in India, winds up in Australia (these things happen) and uses Google Earth to search for his mom after decades of not looking for her. Well, if you can't conduct a voyage of self-discovery from the comfort of your couch, why bother?
In this episode, Steph and Jeff put the science fiction classic The Andromeda Strain under a microscope. Is it a tense, deliberately paced masterpiece of hard science fiction? Or is it a boring slog that leaves one wishing the alien plague would just wipe everyone out? Could it be both? You'll just have to listen to find out.
In this episode, Steph and Jeff look at the espionage film, Our Kind of Traitor. An English professor meets an aging Russian mobster. Sparks fly as these two star-crossed lovers flee to Aruba to read poetry and drink vodka, while lounging nude in a hot tub. Or something like that. I'm not sure if I watched the right movie. Anyway, is this spy thriller worth watching? Or should you just re-arrange your sock drawer? And, should you be questioning the life choices that led you to have an entire drawer of socks? All these questions may or may not be answered.
In this episode, Steph and Jeff check out Triangle, a horror film/psychological thriller. When a single mom tries to have a fun day off at sea, she is punished by being stuck in an endless time loop of horrors. Which serves her right. I mean, it's not like parents should ever have fun...No, I don't have kids...why do you ask?
In this episode, Steph and Jeff check out High Rise, an adaptation of the JG Ballard novel of the same name. Are some books unfilmable? Are some movies just bad? And can all story-telling sins be forgiven thanks to the sight of a naked Tom Hiddleston eating a dog?
In this episode, Steph and Jeff check out a mastepiece of 70s paranoia, The Parallax View. Warren Beatty stumbles onto a vast conspiracy, at the center of which is a shadowy company, Parallax. IS he crazy? Or is Parallax a multinational assassin-for-hire temp firm? Listen in and find out.
In this episode, Jeff and Steph check out Burn Burn Burn – sadly, not the tale of pyrokinetics in love. Instead, this is a darkly comedic road trip, following two women on a quest to fulfill a dead friend's final request – to have his ashes spread around England. Is this a violation of health codes? Well, who knows what England is really like. I mean, they eat bangers and mash and have queens and stuff. So, listen in and find out if Burn Burn Burn is worth the journey.
In this episode, Steph and Jeff check out the musical(ish) film, Begin Again. Can bundles of cliches find meaning and learn life-lessons while creating implausibly polished songs on the streets of New York City? Can there be any answer other than ‘Yes?' Like, seriously. Could we have a movie where the band is swallowed by sewer alligators and Keira Knightley has to cut her way out of the stomach of a giant mutant reptile and fight her way to the surface? Because that would get 5 out of 5 C.H.U.D.s.
In this episode, Steph and Jeff check out the neo-noir classic, Chinatown. When Jack Nicholson is hired to find a missing person in 1930s LA, he gets more than he bargained for. Because if he got what he bargained for, it would be a pretty dull movie. Which it is not. Listen in and find out why you should pay a visit to...Chinatown.
In this episode, Steph and Jeff check out the post-apocalyptic science fiction film, I Am Mother, in which a kindly and/or psychopathic robot has to raise an ungrateful child, while exterminating the human race. Multitasking at its best.
In this episode, Steph and Jeff look at a classic science fiction film, the 1956 version of Invasion of the Body Snatchers. How does the original "pod person" movie hold up today? And why do the alien pods look a bit like Brussels sprouts? Coincidence? I don't think so.
In this episode, Steph and Jeff check out The Bling Ring, a movie about shallow rich(ish) people committing meaningless crimes out of boredom and celebrity worship. Is it worth checking out? Or should you just spend 90 minutes on TMZ?
In this episode, Steph and Jeff look at the dark comedy, A Simple Favor. When Stephanie's new bestie Emily goes missing - and then appears to be dead - she gets her Nancy Drew on and tries to track her down. She also finds time to slot in as a surrogate mom to Emily's son and start sleeping with Emily's husband. Multitasking is the key to success.
In this episode, Steph and Jeff look at Ghost World. Enid is a recent high school graduate, trying to find her way in the world. Is she on a redemption arc? Does she have narcissistic personality disorder? Is she just a jerk? Turn in to find out.
In this episode, Steph and Jeff look at Spring, a 2014 horror-romance with a hint of Lovecraft. So..tentacles. Lots and lots of tentacles. Will our hero get the girl? Will our heroine decide that life as a squid monster is more satisfying than life with a moody American man-child? Will any of this make sense in the end? Tune and find out.
In this episode, Jeff and Steph take a look at Bombshell, the 2019 true-ish story about Fox News, sexual harassment and the fall of Roger Ailes...if getting tens of millions of dollars to retire to a private island of sex-bots and martini fountains can be considered a "fall." In no way does that statement reveal Jeff's retirement plan...
In this episode, Jeff and Steph check out Brittany Runs A Marathon. Will the marginally likable Brittany lose weight, run a marathon, find some great friends, get the man of her dreams and turn her waste of a life around? Well, what do you think?
In this episode of Stream On, Steph and Jeff look at Anna and the Apocalypse. Can plucky teen Anna avoid being eaten by zombies while belting out lyrics that rhyme with "brains?" Can her gaggle of friends find love and happiness when the dead return to munch on the living? Can anything top Michael Jackson's Thriller video for choreographed undead dancing? All these questions - and more - may or may not be answered.
In this episode, Steph and Jeff check out The Tomorrow War. Can Chris Pratt save the future? Or will mankind become Alien Chow? Tune in and find out.
In this episode, Jeff and Steph check out The Howling. When news reporter Karen heads to The Colony to overcome some PTSD, she finds there are worse things in this world than seeing someone gunned down before your eyes. Okay, that is pretty bad...but the therapy community she goes to is full of werewolves. So, that's worse, right?
In this episode, Steph and Jeff check out the 2008 Woody Allen movie Vicky Cristina Barcelona. Given that it is a Woody Allen movie, it has to be good, right? Right?
In this episode, Jeff and Steph check out We Are What We Are...not to be confused with I Am What I Am – the Popeye Story. What happens we teen hormones and plot device weather clash with a family's cannibalistic lifestyle? A pretty good movie, actually.
In this episode, Steph and Jeff check out Wind River, a 2017 murder mystery. What makes a good fish-out-of-water character? Does this message movie fail to understand its own message? And is there such a thing as Chekov's Mountain Lion? All these questions and more will be answered in this episode.
In this episode, Jeff and Steph check out Starship Troopers. In the future, the cast of a CW show has to fight a bunch of angry CG bugs. Doogie Howser is a psychic Nazi and Denise Richards flies a spaceship while desperately trying to squeeze more than one emotion out (spoiler: she fails). And those are NOT the most unbelievable things in this movie.
In this episode, Steph and Jeff check out Fight Club. Disaffected young men decide to join a violent, extremist underground movement, dedicated to chaos and led by a delusional Ed Norton. Much like 2021, although we have less Ed Norton (sadly).
In this episode, Steph and Jeff check out Monster with Charlize Theron and Christina Ricci. When released in 2003, this film received numerous accolades...but are they warranted? Listen and find out.
In this episode, Steph and Jeff check out Arrival. Aliens show up. They look like squid monsters. But not the hentai type – big sigh of relief from everyone involved. Amy Adams tries to get them to talk and when they do...well, you need to listen to the episode to find out.
In this episode, Steph and Jeff check out Aliens aka One of Jeff's Favorite Movies. So...prepare for serious fanboying. Is that a verb? Sure it is...English is whatever I want it to be. Anyway, Aliens, podcast, check it out.
In this episode, Steph and Jeff check out Lion. A little kid gets lost in India, winds up in Australia (these things happen) and uses Google Earth to search for his mom after decades of not looking for her. Well, if you can't conduct a voyage of self-discovery from the comfort of your couch, why bother?
In this episode, Steph and Jeff put The Andromeda Strain under a microscope. Is it a tense, deliberately paced masterpiece of hard science fiction? Or is it a boring slog that leaves one wishing the alien plague would just wipe everyone out? Could it be both? You'll just have to listen to find out.
In this episode, Steph and Jeff look at Our Kind of Traitor. An English professor meets an aging Russian mobster. Sparks fly as these two star-crossed lovers flee to Aruba to read poetry and drink vodka, while lounging nude in a hot tub. Or something like that. I'm not sure if I watched the right movie. Anyway, is this spy thriller worth watching? Or should you just re-arrange your sock drawer? And, should you be questioning the life choices that led you to have an entire drawer of socks? All these questions may or may not be answered.
In this episode, Steph and Jeff check out Triangle. When a single mom tries to have a fun day off at sea, she is punished by being stuck in an endless time loop of horrors. Which serves her right. I mean, it's not like parents should ever have fun...No, I don't have kids...why do you ask?
In this episode, Steph and Jeff check out The Tomorrow War. Can Chris Pratt save the future? Or will mankind become Alien Chow? Tune in and find out.
In this episode, Jeff checks out Dune, the 1984 adaptation of the celebrated science fiction novel. Does David Lynch do it justice? Is it interestingly weird like his best films? And, do the Fremen ever get sick of picking sand out of their...um...delicate places? All these questions (or none of them - you may want to consult your local Truthsayer) will be answered.
In this episode, Jeff and Steph check out The Parallax View. In the age of QAnon, a movie about a company that recruits misfits to be assassins and is behind every act of political violence in the late-20th Century almost seems quaint. How well does this 70s exercise in paranoia hold up today? Pretty darn well...but listen in to find out why. Oh, and you get to learn something about air travel in the 70s that neither of us knew. Hey, a bonus fact.
In this episode, Jeff and Steph check out The Howling. When news reporter Karen heads to The Colony to overcome some PTSD, she finds there are worse things in this world than seeing someone gunned down before your eyes. Okay, that is pretty bad...but the therapy community she goes to is full of werewolves. So, that's worse, right?
In this episode, Jeff and Steph check out Burn Burn Burn – sadly, not the tale of pyrokinetics in love. Instead, this is a darkly comedic road trip, following two women on a quest to fulfill a dead friend's final request – to have his ashes spread around England. Is this a violation of health codes? Well, who knows what England is really like. I mean, they eat bangers and mash and have queens and stuff. So, listen in and find out if Burn Burn Burn is worth the journey.
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