Mama Needs a Movie

Latest Episodes:

The Northman with Alex Fernie May 23, 2022

Show notes

Writer, director and performer Alex Fernie joins for a discussion of THE NORTHMAN starring Alexander Skarsgård, Nicole Kidman, and Anya Taylor-Joy. Robert Eggers' Viking epic has received critical acclaim for its historical accuracy and gruesome violence, but how will it stack up in the Mama Panic Attack Assessment? You won't want to miss this truly berserk conversation that covers Star Wars, magic mushrooms, failsons, Ari Aster, The Song of the South, the Alamo Drafthouse, and much much more.

THE NORTHMAN is currently available to stream with subscription to Peacock Premium.

Being the Ricardos with Tim Barnes May 16, 2022

Show notes

Writer and comedian Tim Barnes, (The Tonight Show, Warped!, the YubNub podcast), joins Anne and Ryan for a discussion of BEING THE RICARDOS starring Nicole Kidman and Javier Bardem. The 2021 Lucillle Ball/Desi Arnez biopic is unmistakably the work of its writer-director, Aaron Sorkin, who imbues the movie with fast-paced repartee and a dead serious treatment of making comedy. In a slightly less serious conversation, Barnes discusses his childhood fascination with Power Rangers, comedy writing over Zoom, Star Wars as an ever-changing cultural contradiction, and much much more.

BEING THE RICARDOS is available to stream on Amazon Prime.

Me and You and Everyone We Know with Saba Harouni Lurie May 09, 2022

Show notes

Anne and Ryan welcome guest Saba Harouni Lurie, marriage and family therapist and founder of Take Root Therapy, to discuss ME AND YOU AND EVERYONE WE KNOW starring Miranda July and John Hawkes. This 2005 comedy-romance was July's feature directing debut and announced her as a major new voice in independent film. To honor this bold and enigmatic movie, Mama Needs a Movie grapples with the subjects of romantic pining, parental anxiety, accepting death, and how best to approach famous people in public.

ME AND YOU AND EVERYONE WE KNOW is currently available to stream with subscription on The Criterion Channel.

Giant with Matt Kowalick May 02, 2022

Show notes

Bonafide Texan Matt Kowalick (The Birthday Boys) joins for a discussion of George Stevens' GIANT starring Elizabeth Taylor, Rock Hudson and James Dean. The 1956 epic of the Lone Star State remains unrivaled in scope and grandeur, filled to the ten-gallon brim with cattle, spurting oil rigs, barbecues, and complex racial dynamics. Mama Needs a Movie serves up an equally huge discussion, covering not only the movie, but a wide range of topics including pandemic parenthood, Daniel Day-Lewis, Burger King fingerprinting, the Mark Harris oeuvre, and what if James Dean had played the Joker. Giddy up for a discussion the size of Texas itself. Yee-haw!

GIANT is available to stream on HBO Max.

Wolf with Andrew Grissom Apr 25, 2022

Show notes

Anne and Ryan welcome producer, writer and film fanatic Andrew Grissom, to take a bite out of Mike Nichols' WOLF starring Jack Nicholson, Michelle Pfeiffer, and James Spader. Released in the summer of 1994, WOLF's mix of horror, romance, and satire opened to middling reviews, but has since garnered fascination due to its odd mix of sophisticated humor, Rick Baker creature makeup, and hypotonic Ennio Morricone score. Grissom brings his research A-game to the discussion (he's seen Wolf three times within the last year), as we delve into the film's writing (which went through an uncredited punch-up from Elaine May), locations (including Downtown LA's Bradbury Building), and fortuitous release date (which happened on one of the most memorable days of 1990s). It's a howlingly good conversation you don't want to miss!

Paddington 2 with Jill Donnelly Apr 18, 2022

Show notes

Guest Jill Donnelly joins for a big-hearted discussion of 2017's PADDINGTON 2, starring Ben Whishaw, Hugh Grant, Sally Hawkins, and Hugh Bonneville. The Paul King-directed family comedy is a rare modern classic to receive almost universal acclaim, but that won't stop Mama Needs a Movie from complicating it. In addition to everyone's favorite marmalade loving bear, Jill talks with great humor and compassion about her life as an improviser, actor, health policy consultant, New York style pizza-prefering Chicagoan, and mother.

Everything Everywhere All at Once with Eric Appel Apr 11, 2022

Show notes

Director and writer, Eric Appel (Son of Zorn, Weird: The Al Yankovic Story) joins to discuss on the acclaimed new sci-fi comedy action parental drama, Everything Everywhere All at Once starring Michelle Yeoh, Stephanie Hsu, and Ke Huy Quan. Helmed by the directing duo, Daniels, the film is a fast-paced sensory cornucopia about family dynamics stretching through multiple universes. In this thrilling conversation, Mama Needs a Movie discusses childhood moviegoing, focus groups, Tim Burton, VHS retail prices, anime, TikTok, Danny DeVito, Being John Malkovich, the Oculus Quest, Letterboxd, parking at The Grove, and much much more. One might even say this conversation is... Everything.... Everywhere (podcast platforms only).... All At Once (1hr and 48min required to listen.)

The Lost City with Becky Feldman Apr 04, 2022

Show notes

Special guest Becky Feldman (host of Too Stupid to Live) brings her romance novel expertise to a discussion of the The Lost City starring Sandra Bullock, Channing Tatum, and Daniel Radcliffe. This new big budget adventure/comedy/romance directed by Aaron and Adam Nee features Bullock as a romance novelist, Radcliffe as her eccentric billionaire kidnapper, and Tatum as a fumbling cover model who is her only hope for rescue. Becky stacks the plot against her very high stack of romance novels in a wild conversation that covers everything from the Daniel Radcliffe's beard to the Hollywood and Highland parking structure. Will this episode end with a Happily Ever After? There's only one way to find out!

THE LOST CITY is currently streaming on Amazon Prime and Paramount Plus.

Written on the Wind with Josh Fadem Mar 28, 2022

Show notes

Comedian and actor Josh Fadem (Twin Peaks: The Return, Better Call Saul) joins to discuss Douglas Sirk's 1956 melodrama, WRITTEN ON THE WIND starring Rock Hudson, Lauren Bacall, Robert Stack, and Dorothy Malone. Sirk's deeply layered themes of American capitalism and sexual inadequacy are explored in this wild and far-ranging discussion that folds in Freddy Krueger, nymphomania, Unsolved Mysteries, Glenn Ford, Regarding Henry, Gene Roddenberry, and much much more. It's conversation no film fan should let blow past.

Spider-Man: No Way Home with Kimberly Truong Mar 21, 2022

Show notes

Writer and performer Kimberly Truong (Crush Fictionally) joins Anne and Ryan in a discussion of Spider-man: No Way Home starring Tom Holland, Zendaya, Benedict Cumberbatch, and directed by Jon Watts. An unparalleled box office phenomenon of the pandemic era, No Way Home is no run-of-the-mill Marvel outing, but a cameo-packed superhero juggernaut that now ranks as the third highest grossing movie of all time. In the wake of the film's global dominance, only Mama Needs a Movie dares to sling shocking questions like: Is Andrew Garfield the most underrated Spidey? Is the the multiverse just secular heaven? Is Happy Hogan datable? Which one of the Spider-Mans wore a fake butt?... and much, much more.

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