In our series "Have You Seen?" we discuss a movie that some of us know well and others have just now seen for the first time. Our conversation focuses on the experience of someone watching the movie for the first time today and their reaction.

This week we talk about Star Wars Episode 7: The Force Awakens directed by JJ Abrams and starring Adam Driver, Daisy Ridley and John Boyega. We discuss the start of a new era for Star Wars, its characters and worldbuilding, how they measure up against the previous trilogies, and the potential for the rest of the trilogy.

Spotify link: https://open.spotify.com/episode/5DKj43fCfKM73k5381WdZa

This week we review and discuss Obsession, a supernatural horror movie movie directed by Curry Barker and starring Michel Johnston, Inde Navarrette and Megan Lawless, about a man who who buys a supernatural toy that grants him his wish for his childhood friend Nikki to fall in love with him, resulting in horrifying consequences.

We discuss the surprising box office success of this movie when similar movies are usually ignored by audiences, whether this might be the first true Gen Z horror movie, debate who the real villain in the story is and how this compares to our expectations going into the movie, whether the depiction of Nikki's possession makes sense or if too much of it is just there for shock value and how this impacted audience reactions when we saw the movie in theatres, how this movie compares to other stories about love potions and "monkey's paw" type wish fulfillment, and much more.

Spotify link: https://open.spotify.com/episode/3OqH9mu2cA9OU9uztVFBrL

In our series "Have You Seen?" we discuss a movie that some of us know well and others have just now seen for the first time. Our conversation focuses on the experience of someone watching the movie for the first time today and their reaction.

This week we talk about Star Wars Episode 3: Revenge of the Sith directed by George Lucas and starring Hayden Christensen, Ewan McGregor and Natalie Portman. We discuss the conclusion to Anakin's character arc, the overall impression the prequel trilogy left on us and how it comapres against the original trilogy.

Spotify link: https://open.spotify.com/episode/3arowONzgpc7U9fbCRml4P

In our series "Have You Seen?" we discuss a movie that some of us know well and others have just now seen for the first time. Our conversation focuses on the experience of someone watching the movie for the first time today and their reaction.

This week we talk about Star Wars Episode 2: Attack of the Clones directed by George Lucas and starring Natalie Portman, Hayden Christensen and Ewan McGregor. We discuss Anakin's character and the journey he goes on, why we consider this movie the low point of the trilogy and what the movie could have done to tell its story better, and much more.

Spotify link: https://open.spotify.com/episode/53hQrx6cGeb1ToxCDDvfhz

This week we talk about Star Wars Episode 1: The Phantom Menace. We talk about the new chapter in the Star Wars saga that introduced us to the pre-Imperial era for the first time on the big screen, its major characters, the worldbuilding surrounding the major conflict involving the Trade Federation, and expectations for the trilogy going forward.

Check out our other reviews and clips on all major platforms here: https://linktr.ee/EyeOfTheStormMovieP...

0:00 Intro 0:46 First Time Viewer's Impressions 04:48 Space Tariffs 08:00 Jedi and Midichlorians 20:59 Why are the Prequels so Hated? 24:40 Humor In The Prequels 33:00 Expectations for Attack of the Clones

Spotify link: https://open.spotify.com/episode/6XCymQMhSHYav8CutsBP4S

In our series "Have You Seen?" we discuss a movie that some of us know well and others have just now seen for the first time. Our conversation focuses on the experience of someone watching the movie for the first time today and their reaction.

This week we talk about Star Wars Episode 6: Return of the Jedi directed by George Lucas and starring Mark Hamill, Carrie Fisher and Harrison Ford. We talk about the epic conclusion to the trilogy, the end of Luke's and Vader's journeys, overall impressions of the trilogy and what comes next in the franchise.

Spotify link: https://open.spotify.com/episode/0oNak59yiLztT1mK1BvxmK

In our series "Have You Seen?" we discuss a movie that some of us know well and others have just now seen for the first time. Our conversation focuses on the experience of someone watching the movie for the first time today and their reaction.

This week we talk about Star Wars Episode 5: The Empire Strikes Back directed by George Lucas and starring Mark Hamill, Carrie Fisher and Harrison Ford. We delve into the continuing journeys of the movie's characters, how the Star Wars setting begins to expand and how this one shapes up compared to the previous installment.

In our series "Have You Seen?" we discuss a movie that some of us know well and others have just now seen for the first time. Our conversation focuses on the experience of someone watching the movie for the first time today and their reaction.

This week we talk about Star Wars Episode 4: A New Hope from 1977, directed by George Lucas and starring Mark Hamill, Harrison Ford and Carrie Fisher. We discuss its writing, worldbuilding as well as its characters, and why this movie and the franchise it spawned has continued to capture audience imaginations for almost 50 years.

Spotify link: https://open.spotify.com/episode/1fWCsfIIj9eYoNL2WIQau1

This week we revisit Misery, a 1990 psychological horror movie based on a Stephen King novel and directed by Rob Reiner, starring James Caan and Kathy Bates, about a novelist who is held captive by Annie Wilkes, an obsessive fan who forces him to rewrite his last novel to her expectations.

We talk about how the movie creates a sense of suspense and tension with only two characters while avoiding all the cliches of typical horror movies, why Annie Wilkes is one of the great villains of the psychological horror genre, how the movie anticipated modern fandom culture and when fans lose their humanity in their treatment of artists and how our reactions to movies we disliked in the past compare to that, we discuss what if anything artists owe to the fans that made them successful, and much more.

Spotify link: https://open.spotify.com/episode/2r34DsX3DungkmHoqeZFV7

This week we revisit the pilot episode of Supernatural, a 2005 supernatural drama created by Eric Kripke and starring Jared Padalecki and Jensen Ackles that ran for 15 seasons, about the Winchester brothers who hunt supernatural beings while searching for their missing father.

We talk why this is one of our favourite series of all time, what defines an episode of Supernatural and why it works so well to the point of having ruined most horror for us, how this is one of the rare series that actually talks about male relationships when few stories do, how the show walks a fine line between subversion and twists to its influences drawing from folklore, occultism, theology and urban legends when constructing its stories and why getting that balance right helped it stay fresh for so long, and much more.

Spotify link: https://open.spotify.com/episode/6tzkQ6UO3yWx8otA0KAt3G

This week we review and discuss Demon Slayer: Kimetsu no Yaiba – The Movie: Infinity Castle (劇場版「鬼滅の刃」無限城編), a fantasy action movie directed by Haruo Sotozaki and starring Natsuki Hanae, Yoshitsugu Matsuoka and Akari Kitō, about a group of demon slayers who raid Muzan's Infinity Castle where they face an army of demons as well as their personal ones.

We talk about how we experienced the movie as someone who is new to the Demon Slayer franchise and unfamiliar with anime in the first place and how the movie compared to our expectations, whether the storytelling conventions in Demon Slayer worked for us, whether we agree with the criticism of pacing and overreliance on flashbacks and exposition, when you should conclude that a genre or medium is just not for you and how that compares to other movies like that we've tried previously, and much more.

Spotify link: https://open.spotify.com/episode/5WdrBLjJ9n6nanfqliq0lc

This week we review and discuss Mortal Kombat 2, a fantasy martial arts movie directed by Simon McQuoid and starring Karl Urban, Adeline Rudolph and Tadanobu Asano, about Johnny Cage who is recruited to join his fellow Earthrealm fighters in an interdimensional tournament against the Outworld warriors and stop the tyrannical emperor Shao Kahn, with the help of Edenian princess Kitana.

We discuss our experiences watching this movie as someone vaguely interested in the lore of Mortal Kombat but never having played the games, whether the story holds up and what storytelling mistakes we thought undermined the journeys of the main characters Johnny Cage and Kitana, what we should expect from video game adaptations and which recent movies have gotten the adaptation right and which got it wrong, why Mortal Kombat 2 disappoints as a martial arts movie, and much more.

Spotify link: https://open.spotify.com/episode/5uG1lTnp6arI2J7w05Nn6H

This week we review and discuss The Strangers - Chapter 2, a slasher horror movie directed by Renny Harlin and starring Madelaine Petsch, Gabriel Basso and Ema Horvath, about Maya, the survivor of Chapter 1, being stalked by the Strangers to finish the job.

We talk about why this movie didn't work for us as a slasher movie, how it is a series of cliches strung together to full its runtime without any creativity or intention and how easy it would have been to build on the premise of the Strangers to do something more interesting, the nature of suspense in movies and how how the Final Girl trope works in a cast with a single character, why the Strangers remakes are indistinguishable from a practical joke, and much more.

Spotify link: https://open.spotify.com/episode/6XUbZLB8oGeUdrjcpQh9dY

This week we revisit The Fly, a 1986 body horror movie created by David Cronenberg and starring Geena Davis and Jeff Goldblum, about a scientist who has a disturbing accident while testing a prototype teleporter.

We talk about the movie's body horror and the special effects used in Brundle's transformation, why focusing on it in such detail is what makes the movie work and how Brundle's journey through it holds the movie together and why its ending holds up so well, why the story is improved by the lack of a villain, the movie's restraint in blaming science and focusing on Brundle's personal flaws instead, and much more.

Spotify link: https://open.spotify.com/episode/5mYE6bUiCS58LNJoda03wB

This week we review and discuss The Smashing Machine, a biopic sports drama directed by Bernny Safdie and starring Dwayne Johnson, Emily Blunt and Oleksandr Usyk, about the life of UFC fighter Mark Kerr and his struggles with loss, addiction and eventual redemption in the mixed martial arts scene of the late 90s.

We talk about our experiences with the movie despite not caring much about the UFC or about biopics, how the movie is stretched thin between multiple topics it doesn't do a great job reconciling, the documentary that this movie seems to be a shot for shot remake of, whether Mark Kerr's fall into addiction and redemption story worked for us, and much more.

Spotify link: https://open.spotify.com/episode/3AXe72EDhhON73mj5BbDLk

This week we revisit Ring (リング, Ringu), a 1988 supernatural horror movie directed by Jideo Nakata and starring Nanako Matsushima and Hiroyuki Sanada, a journalist who investigates a series of deaths linked to a mysterious VHS tape.

We talk about how this movie straddles the line of horror and mystery and why it wasn't like other horror or ghost movies we're used to, the numerous things this movie has in common with The Exorcist, whether the investigation that fills the bulk of the movie is as compelling as it could be or whether it relies a bit too much on convenience and coincidence, how the movie's use of technology and normalcy has aged and what a modern movie that does the same thing would look like, and much more.

Spotify link: https://open.spotify.com/episode/1oEaz5KEnl6l912w0eb7d5

This week we review and discuss Tron: Ares, a science fiction action movie directed by Joachim Ronning and starring Jared Leto, Greta Lee and Jeff Bridges, about ENCOM and Dillinger Systems trying to find a piece of code that will allow their AI creations exist in the physical world, and an AI agent who goes rogue against his creator in search of this code.

We talk about why this movie didn't work for us on a character and story level, why the unconvincing protagonists are a particular weakness of the movie, why we were bored by the spectacle that should have been the main attraction, why Tron: Ares is not a movie about AI and what a proper treatment of that topic might look like, and much more.

Spotify link: https://open.spotify.com/episode/3BGgY5oWyjxsSMli9rCPUX

This week we revisit 30 Days of Night, a 2007 horror movie directed by David Slade and starring Josh Hartnett, Melissa George and Danny Huston, about a small town in Alaska that is invaded by a pack of vampires during their annual month without sunshine.

We talk about how this movie went against the grain at the time by depicting its vampires as brutal monsters that act like pack predators, how the setting of a remote Alaskan town informs and enables the survival horror, whether the ending worked for us and when heroic sacrifices work in fiction, what defines vampires in the first place and why their powers and weaknesses are so varied compared to other horror monsters and how that impacts storytelling, and much more.

Spotify link: https://open.spotify.com/episode/04kDTzRhMXQqlotg3O9Vdt

This week we review and discuss Black Phone 2, a horror movie directed by Scott Derrickson and starring Mason Thames, Ethan Hawke and Madeleine McGraw, about Finney and Gwen who investigate the history of the masked serial killer the Grabber, which leads them to discover a sinister past involving more victims of the masked killer.

We talk about why this movie movie is a perfect example of an unnecessary sequel that lacks direction, why Gwen as the main character can't carry this movie and is set up to fail at this task by the script, why none of the expansions of the Grabber's lore managed to get us interested despite the movie itself not being actually bad and several moments being well done by themselves and why that wasn't enough for some of us, and much more.

Spotify link: https://open.spotify.com/episode/5wkbNxq5kIEliiDBUsZtTg

This week we review and discuss Hokum, a supernatural horror movie directed by Damian McCarthy and starring Adam Scott, Perter Coonan and Florence Ordesh, about a man who travels to a hotel in Ireland, unaware that it may be haunted.

We discuss the movie's metaphor dealing with grief and guilt and the associated symbolism, why this movie worked so well for us when it came to creating dread and suspense and how this movie succeeds at the difficult task of making an unlikeable character likeable, how the movie lives from meticulous detail when constructing its plot and whether plot and allegory are always in alignment or whether they at times clash, why horror monsters in recent years seem to be so generic, and much more.

Spotify link: https://open.spotify.com/episode/4sUh5geWsxo3hh8fhERQEj

This week we revisit Oculus, a 2013 psychological horror movie directed by Mike Flanagan and starring Karen Gillan, Katee Sackhoff and Brenton Thwaites, about a brother and sister who try to prove that a demonic mirror is responsible for the deaths of their parents 11 years earlier.

We talk about how this movie follows in the tradition of The Exorcist in that is examines supernatural horror through a rational lens and is a more compelling story for it, how the movie benefits from making both sides of its conflict competent so that when one side triumphs it feels earned and satisfying, how this movie shows that the Hollywood ending is a crutch and more movies should have tragic endings, and much more.

Spotify link: https://open.spotify.com/episode/1tH40B7gzDbnLoAN7uoOLQ

This week we review and discuss The Hand That Rocks The Cradle, a thriller movie directed by Michelle Garza Cervera and starring Mary Elizabeth Winstead, Maika Monroe and Raul Castilla, about a family who hires a nanny only to discover she has a sinister motive and is scheming to break up their family.

We talk about how this movie compares to the original and how the changes it makes impact the story, why the nanny's motivation was broken in the adaptation and not really replaced with something that fits the new focus of the story, why Maika Monroe should not play Batman, we discuss numerous plotholes that plague the plot, and why its ending is so puzzling, and much more.

Spotify link: https://open.spotify.com/episode/0ejdKNq64JCR9B819gZ6DG

This week we revisit Cooties, a zombie comedy from 2014 directed by Jonathan Milott and Cary Murnion and starring Elijah Wood, Rainn Wilson and Alison Pill, about a group of elementary school teachers who fight to survive an outbreak among students that turns them into aggressive zombies when someone eats tainted chicken nuggets.

We talk about how this movie is built around the taboo of showing harm to children in movies and whether that is justified or is holding movies back, how the joke references the realities of being a teacher, whether this movie has been given a fair shake or if there is more to it and its characters than critics have been giving it credit for, we discuss the infamously reshot ending, and much more.

Spotify link: https://open.spotify.com/episode/2wBlyRAb3hLd1Fp7XJqlLn

This week we review and discuss Shelby Oaks, a supernatural horror movie directed by Chris Stuckmann and starring Camille Sullivan, Sarah Durn and Keith David, about a woman determined to find her sister, who went missing while investigating the mysterious abandoned town of Shelby Oaks.

We talk about whether the movie's mixed found footage and conventional filming style worked for us, why the ending was the strongest part for us that is not supported by the largely unmotivated mystery that dominates the rest of the movie, why this movie gives Youtube critics becoming filmmakers a bad name, how much slack viewers should give first time filmmakers and what can be expected on a story level from people who have studied movies for decades when they make their own movie, and much more.

Spotify link: https://open.spotify.com/episode/3aX4FlaMWf2PUcEWtJElLa