Best known for his extensive foray into the Fast & Furious universe, filmmaker Justin Lin has a knack for taking known franchises and giving them a fresh take. And before he finished the "Kelvin Timeline" of the recent Star Trek films, he crafted an...
Jeff is joined by 1986 regulars, Scott and Dayton, to discuss Running Scared; a buddy cop movie that delivers generously on cop tropes, and bad music (No, not you, Michael McDonald). Are Gregory Hines and Billy Crystal two of Chicago's Finest?...
Doves. Guns. Explosions. The face-off between Brad and Jeff gets lively as they discuss legendary action director John Woo. Hot off the success of films like The Killer, and Hard Boiled, Woo left Hong Kong for Hollywood to re-invent the action genre...
Blane is pretty cool. Duckie is pretty crazy. Andie is pretty in pink. We hope you have a date for the Prom, because Jeff and Andrew are back and they're joined by 1986 Special Correspondent Jenna Koszo for a debate on Pretty in Pink. Has high...
Pam Grier is...JACKIE BROWN. The third film from Quentin Tarantino remains his only adapted work, as he took Elmore Leonard's novel, Rum Punch, and crafted a star-relaunching crime drama for 70's greats, Pam Grier and Robert Forster. On this...
As the second highest paid actor in 1986, Clint Eastwood was eating concertina wire and pissing napalm. Jeff, Brad, and Andrew are talking Heartbreak Ridge on this episode! Facing mandatory retirement, leatherneck lifer Gunny Highway is back in his...
You know his name. You love his movies. In the history of cinema, Stanley Kubrick is one of the greatest of all time. On this episode, Brad and Jeff discuss Kubrick's impressive filmography, which arguably began with his 1956 film noir classic,...
The NCAA Men's Basketball Tournament has just concluded, and there's no better time for a discussion about Hoosiers than now. Join Jeff and Dayton as they discuss what is arguably the greatest basketball movie to date.
At age 19, Adam Wingard began his successful directing career, primarily in the horror genre. After films like You're Next, and his collaborative work on the V/H/S franchise, he breathed new life into The Blair Witch. With his blockbuster...
They're small, furry, full of attitude, and they bite! David and Scott are back to discuss Critters with Jeff. Are the space-traveling monsters that attack a Kansas farm a total rip-off of Gremlins? Is Critters the best film in the Critters...
Zack Snyder knows a thing or two about successful comic book adaptations. He wowed audiences with 300 and Watchmen, but before his world-building of the DCEU, he crafted a unique original story in Sucker Punch. It's a visually stunning fantasy...
They came to SpaceCamp for a summer of training and fun. Without warning... They were launched into space! The challenge will be getting back alive. Jeff and Andrew talk NASA, and the incredible cast of young actors that became box office stars....
When searching for eclectic cinema, one needn't look farther than Wes Anderson. His films are crafted with dry humor, unique characters, and painstaking levels of detail. His 2004 dramedy, The Life Aquatic with Steve Sizzou, puts his go-to...
When budget concerns threaten to close Commandant Lassard's police academy, Mahoney and the gang head back in training to help the new recruits shape up and save the day! So why did Steve Guttenberg leave the franchise after this one? Do the...
In 1998, F. Gary Gray pitted two of Hollywood's most in-demand stars against one another in The Negotiator; his tension-filled crime thriller. On this episode, Brad and Jeff discuss Gray's impressive filmography, from Friday to The Fate of...
Haven't you ever done something in your life you wish you could do over again... and this time get it right? Robin Williams and Kurt Russell star in this football comedy about replaying the game they lost 13 years ago. Jeff, Brad, and Dayton talk...
For five decades, Martin Scorsese has delivered hit after hit. We've rooted for his bad guys, be they an unhinged vigilante, or a slimy Wall Street broker. We've become envious of the gangster lifestyle, and we've marveled at the...
Welcome to the first episode of our limited series! A Film By... co-host Jeff Johnson believes that the year 1986 stands out as the best year for movies in the 80's. Whether or not he's right, we're kicking things off with The Money...
From the erotic coming of age story about teenage boys with an older woman, to the magical and fantastical coming of age story about teenage witches and wizards at Hogwarts, Alfonso Cuaron has delivered an amazing body of work. On this episode, Brad...
If you can name the seven deadly sins, or recite the first rule of Fight Club, you're most likely a fan of David Fincher films. In the first episode of 2021, Brad and Jeff discuss his 2011 psychological thriller The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo....
Season's greetings! It's the final episode of 2020. Brad and Jeff share their favorite non traditional Christmas movies, and discuss Richard Donner's Scrooged; his 1988 interpretation of the timeless Dicken's classic. Bill Murray...
Having established himself with the iconic Evil Dead trilogy, horror auteur Sam Raimi trades deadites for double crossing in his Minnesota-based crime thriller about three men finding a bag full of money deep in the woods.
Long before winning the Academy Award for Best Director, or taking us into the action-packed endless summer of surfing bank robbers, Kathryn Bigelow crafted her own mythology on vampires. The result was a cult classic that is revered to this day for...
Our Bryan Singer episode discusses Apt Pupil, controversial behavior on film sets, and a chance meeting between A Film By... podcaster Brad Koszo and Singer, himself!
