This Film Could Be Your Life

On this episode our hosts cap off their fiftieth episode by revisiting a seminal filmmaker's unrivaled masterpiece: it's Quentin Tarantino's Inglourious Basterds (2009).

On this episode our hosts travel back to 1989 to discuss the genre defining classic rom com, When Harry Met Sally (1989).

On this episode Jonathan Divine and Mike Overstreet are joined by Taylor Burgess to ask the most important question of Christopher Nolan's 2006 psychological thriller, The Prestige: are these just magic tricks, or illusions?

It's time to get the crew together, roll out the blueprints, and lay out the heist. Our team consists of two movie geek friends who have to dive deep into the blissful charisma of Steven Soderbergh's 2001 heist masterpiece: it's Ocean's Eleven.

On this episode, hosts Jonathan Divine and Mike Overstreet are joined by guest Nick Piepmeier to discuss the the sprawling, epic, violent and ridiculous capstone to the 90's western resurgence: Tombstone (1993).

On this episode, hosts Jonathan Divine and Mike Overstreet journey into the weaving shimmer of Alex Garland's sci-fi horror masterpiece, hoping to unravel the mysteries of existence, identity, and the St. Mark's nature preserve: it's Annihilation (2018).

In this episode hosts Jonathan Divine and Mike Overstreet navigate the heart-pounding blend of sci-fi and horror, the tense atmosphere, the unyielding action, and enduring impact of a 1986 classic. Get ready to explore a world where survival is the ultimate mission: it's James Cameron's relentless 'Aliens.'

In this episode, we return to the picturesque Overlook Hotel, where a struggling writer has brought his family for a quiet winter as the sole inhabitants and caretakers. Amid the snowy solitude, hosts Jonathan Divine and Mike Overstreet venture into the ominous labyrinth of The Shining to unravel the mysterious forces at play and the lasting impact of Kubrick's horror masterpiece.

Join hosts Jonathan Divine and Mike Overstreet as they explore the ethical dilemmas surrounding precrime, the price and constraints of justice, and the stunning retro-future visual landscape of Steven Spielberg's 2002 masterpiece: Minority Report.

Hosts Jonathan Divine and Mike Overstreet have enjoyed a years-long friendship, full of ups-and-downs like any relationship. But what would happen if either of them simply decided to opt out, to cut the other completely off without notice? In Martin McDonagh's latest masterpiece, just such a situation, set against a backdrop of rural Ireland in the midst of a civil war, offers a disturbing glimpse into the depths of friendship and vengeance: we discuss 2022's The Banshees of Inisherin.

Alright, let's do this one last time. On this episode, hosts Jonathan Divine, Mike Overstreet, and friend of the show Nick Piepmeier bring their powers together to talk about what might be the most visually stunning and emotionally satisfying superhero film of all time: 2018's Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse.

Behind the "Pine Curtain," in the southern heart of Texas, a true crime story of an embalmer and a widow somehow makes for a movie as darkly hilarious as it is thought-provoking. Join Jonathan Divine and Mike Overstreet as they discuss 2011's Bernie.

How do you win an unfair game? Join Jonathan Divine and Mike Overstreet as they discuss baseball, sabermetrics and Brad Pitt's eating habits: it's 2011's Moneyball.

Season 3 of This Film Could Be Your Life kicks off with one of last year's most exciting, absurd, and mind-bending films. Join Jonathan Divine and Mike Overstreet as they swing by their nearby IRS office and peel back the meaning of life: it's Everything Everywhere All at Once.

Mike Overstreet and Jonathan Divine cap off Season 2 by returning to one of their favorite movies to discuss therapy, recovery, and getting drunk at little league games: it's 1997's Good Will Hunting.

The Podcast ... finds a way. This week, co-hosts Jonathan Divine and Mike Overstreet are joined by TFCBYL megafan Sammie McCandless to discuss possibly the greatest action adventure movie of our lifetime - it's 1993's Jurassic Park.

Looks like we picked the wrong week to stop podcasting. In this episode, Jonathan Divine and Mike Overstreet dissect the artistry of comedy, Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, and the merits of sniffing glue. Surely, only one movie can capture such a wide array of topics and ideas: it's the classic 1980 comedy Airplane!

One man. One building. One night. The premise couldn't be simpler, but the success of 1988's biggest action movie lay in its incredible execution and undeniable charm. This week, hosts Jonathan Divine and Mike Overstreet try to unpack the iconic Die Hard.

Join Mike Overstreet and Jonathan Divine as they remember one of the biggest movie phenomenons they participated in: 2008's The Dark Knight.

In 2019, a South Korean drama, directed by one of the country's most prestigious filmmakers, explored the strange relationships oppressive economic systems can facilitate. That movie ended up taking the world by storm, becoming one the most universally acclaimed films in years. Jonathan Divine and Mike Overstreet return to see if it's still just as funny, biting, and thought provoking as when it was released: it's Bong Joon-Ho's Parasite.

In this episode, Jonathan Divine and Mike Overstreet dive deep into the successes and shortcomings of James Cameron's 1989 sci-fi classic, The Abyss.

Join Mike Overstreet and Jonathan Divine as they process complex emotions, confront the bittersweet darkness of life as an adult, and rediscover their innermost fears and traumas: all standard fare for Pixar Animation Studios. It's 2015's Inside Out.

Our names are Mike and Jonathan. Our world is movies and winding conversations about movies. Once, we were idealists. We were film-geeks who thought perfectly executed action movies would never become a rarity; spoilt by the riches of our childhoods. As the years passed, each of us in our own way was broken. It was hard to know who was more crazy - us, or everyone who had failed to watch George Miller's follow-up to Happy Feet. On this episode, we finally discuss what might be the greatest movie of the past decade: the 2015 masterpiece Mad Max: Fury Road.

It's not always easy to remember, but blockbuster director Guy Ritchie was once a cutting edge indie filmmaker making hilarious dark comedies set in London's criminal underground. Jonathan Divine and Mike Overstreet return to Ritchie's breakout movie to ask the all important question: de yeh like dags? It's 2000's Snatch.

There's 100,000 movie podcasts out there. You don't need to listen to all of them. You give hosts Jonathan Divine and Mike Overstreet 1 hour and 48 minutes, and they give you a ridiculous, winding discussion of just how charismatic Ryan Gosling is. Anything happens in that time, and you get to hear it. No matter what. Anything happens one minute either side of that, and you're on your own. Do you understand? ... Good. Check out this week's episode to hear about one of the most influential movies of the last decade: 2011's Drive.

Hosts Jonathan Divine and Mike Overstreet have felt it their entire lives, that there's something about 1999's The Matrix, something they need to discuss, to understand more deeply. They don't know what it is, but it's there, like a splinter in their minds, driving them mad. Join them on this episode, as they take a deep dive into the Wachowski's iconic action masterpiece.

Join Jonathan Divine and Mike Overstreet as they kick off Season 2 of This Film Could Be Your Life by discussing D E S E R T  P O W E R; and where to place Dune (2021) within the canon of all-time great sci-fi films. 

James Cameron is a master at changing things up for a sequel: Aliens (1986) and Terminator 2 (1991) transformed their respective series into big-budget popcorn summer action films, thrilling huge audiences and making tons of money. The strange effect of Terminator 2's success, though, is that its predecessor is sometimes overshadowed. On this episode, Jonathan Divine and Mike Overstreet go back to the beginning, and rave about the many ways The Terminator (1984) might actually be better than its more famous follow-up.

Here's the pitch: “Giant monsters called Kaiju are attacking cities. Humanity is defended by giant robots called Jaegers.” …quite frankly, do you need to hear anything more?  In this episode, hosts Jonathan Divine and Mike Overstreet discuss one of the purest big budget action movies of the last twenty years, and try to decide if it's the dumbest awesome movie ever made, or the most awesome dumb movie ever made. It's 2013's Pacific Rim.

Inconceivable! On this episode, Jonathan Divine and Mike Overstreet return to an endlessly quoted staple of their childhoods. Full of wit, heart, and a truly staggering amount of charm, they try to locate exactly why it's lodged itself so firmly in their heads: it's 1987's The Princess Bride.

Martin Scorsese is almost inarguably the world's most iconic living director; for over four decades his movies have pushed the boundaries of storytelling and characterization. And yet, not until his 2007 remake of Hong Kong thriller Infernal Affairs did he finally win the coveted Best Director Academy Award. Despite its numerous accolades and critical acclaim, that film's reputation has remained complicated in the canon of its director. Jonathan Divine and Mike Overstreet return to the movie that introduced them to Martin Scorsese and try to discern what makes it so brilliant and, at times, so ridiculous: it's 2006 The Departed.   In-show reference: Every Frame A Painting, "Martin Scorsese - The Art of Silence"

Paul Thomas Anderson has earned his place among the canon of greatest living filmmakers - but in 1997, with only one moderate success under his belt, he still had a lot to prove. And his second directorial effort was a tough sell: tracing the life of a fictional, "highly gifted" porn actor during the "Golden Age of Porn," the film's scandalous subject tended to alienate potential investors, actors, and viewers - until they dug a little deeper. Mike Overstreet and Jonathan Divine aim to do just that as they dive into one of their collective favorite movies ever: Boogie Nights.

It's tough to explain just how low things got for the iconic James Bond franchise by the late 90s / early 00s. A string of increasingly sillier and less successful films had left a sour taste in moviegoer's mouths for the character. To get from there to today - when each new Bond film seems to be its own global phenomenon, making huge amounts of money and often receiving wide acclaim - required a risky reinvention, a complete rebuild of the character and franchise as a whole. Hosts Jonathan Divine and Mike Overstreet return to that critical moment of rebirth to discuss one of the most successful action films ever made: 2006's Casino Royale.

By Grabthar's Hammer ... what a podcast.   1999 was a high watermark year for movies, but one often overlooked is the cult classic Galaxy Quest. Riding on a strong cast and an excellent script, Jonathan Divine and Mike Overstreet revisit the film to explore just how worthwhile a rewatch it still is, and to unravel how a parody can be made with so much care and affection. Never give up - never surrender!

Brothers Joel and Ethan Coen have become two of the most acclaimed and influential active filmmakers of the past 20 years. Despite this, hosts Jonathan Divine & Mike Overstreet have always struggled to appreciate the bleak nihilism that pervades so much of the Coens' work. In this episode, our movie geek friends dive deep into one of the most personal Coen brothers films to break open how it works and what it might be saying to us: it's Inside Llewyn Davis (2013).

A world of Kami spirits - gorgeously hand drawn and imaginatively designed - beckons to movie fans and the spiritually curious alike... Join Jonathan Divine and Mike Overstreet as they discuss what makes Hayao Miyzaki's transcendent Spirited Away (2001) equal parts spellbinding and thought provoking.

When Christopher Nolan, on the heels of mega blockbusters The Dark Knight and Inception, announced he would be making an epic sci-fi film about space travel, the hype train went off the rails. Jonathan Divine and Mike Overstreet were among the scores of movie fans who expected a new 2001, a groundbreaking masterpiece that would upend the whole genre. What they got - inevitably, given all of those expectations - was something of a disappointment. But, years after its release, have our co-hosts' opinions on 2014's Interstellar changed at all?

This week the legendarily stupid, brilliant, subversive and over-quoted British comedy troupe goes under the microscope. Jonathan Divine and Mike Overstreet try to avoid shouting quotes back and forth as they search for the center of 1975's Monty Python and the Holy Grail.

A murder mystery that deepens with so many intrigues and twists that it could be described as a donut...with a donut hole missing from its center. Mike Overstreet and Jonathan Divine instantly fell in love with Rian Johnson's masterpiece, and in this episode they discuss what makes it so great and a few surprising ways it might impact your life. It's 2019's Knives Out.

Indiana Jones may have been a staple of their childhoods, but neither Jonathan Divine nor Mike Overstreet often returned to the series' second entry. Join them as they examine what might be one of the most overlooked - and most problematic - movies of Spielberg's career: 1984's Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom.   Film Crit Hulk's 2014 Article "Indiana Jones and the Funhouse of Doom" can be found here: https://birthmoviesdeath.com/2014/04/10/film-crit-hulk-smash-indiana-jones-and-the-funhouse-of-doom

It's the age-old love story - a young guy, out of a rocky relationship, finds warmth, companionship, and eventually love...in his Operating System. Spike Jonze's brilliant 2013 film explores the rawest of human emotions and the baffling depths of love, set against an incredible science-fiction world of the future. Join Jonathan Divine and Mike Overstreet as they discuss Her.

"In space, no one can hear you scream." In this episode Jonathan Divine and Mike Overstreet ponder the horrors of facing a truly unknowable monster, perfectly evolved to kill, and try to mine the deeper truths buried in one of the greatest films ever made: it's Ridley Scott's Alien.

A murder case that never ends, but spins out of control until enough time has passed that too few care to chase the truth anymore. It doesn't necessarily sound like a great story, but David Fincher's 2007 masterpiece effortlessly pulls you deep into its dark conspiracy. Join Jonathan Divine and Mike Overstreet as they discuss the brilliantly disorienting Zodiac.

What if your whole life - everything you'd seen, everyone you'd met - was a fabrication? Jonathan Divine and Mike Overstreet revisit a dark horse contender for one of their all-time favorite movies and find a goldmine of philosophy, ethics, and incredible sci-fi worldbuilding: it's 1998's The Truman Show.

John Wick cemented Keanu Reeves' legacy as an all-time great action movie star. Now, two sequels and seven years later, film geeks Jonathan Divine and Mike Overstreet try to figure out just how an action movie can be so brutal, simple, elegant, and incredibly fun.

Though Reservoir Dogs (1992) was his breakout, Pulp Fiction (1994) took the film world by storm, announcing writer-director Quentin Tarantino as a creative force to be reckoned with. More than 25 years later, Mike Overstreet and Jonathan Divine revisit the film that remains many people's introduction to the rich world of independent cinema.

Vulgar, philosophical, dark, hilarious, and dripping with meaning; it's no wonder our hosts find this movie so compelling. The 2008 black comedy explores deep moral questions by way of a suicidal hitman and his fatherly friend - also a hitman - sightseeing a mecca of medieval European culture. Jonathan Divine and Mike Overstreet try to avoid fawning over one of their favorite films as they discuss the bleak and perhaps inspiring In Bruges.

Steven Spielberg's mega-blockbuster from the early 80's is still held up as a pinnacle of childlike wonder in entertainment - but how long has it been since you actually rewatched it? Jonathan Divine and Mike Overstreet return to their childhoods to unpack E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial.

Blade Runner 2049, Denis Villeneuve's follow-up to the iconic 80's Sci-Fi masterpiece, is a complex thing to untangle; longer, slower, stranger, and murkier, the film's low box-office returns could mark it as a failure. Hosts Jonathan Divine and Mike Overstreet think otherwise, and in this episode seek to dissect what might be one of the most effective sequels ever made.

Ridley Scott's Sci-Fi classic "Blade Runner" isn't remembered just for its sweeping visuals, gorgeous soundtrack, and genre-defining aesthetic; the story and characters have a tremendous emotional impact which, we think, makes it one of the most effective movies of its kind. Join Mike Overstreet and Jonathan Divine as they dive into "Blade Runner."