The Midnight Matinee

The hosts celebrate a most momentous occasion: one year of the show! First, we enter a cold night as an execution is the only thing on the minds of an American home is an execution set to happen….at a certain time of night. Tension is high, Bogart is young, and the film is Midnight from 1934! Next is a jump three years to the height of the Cuban Missile Crisis. The population of a Florida naval town has a sense of doom, feeling that at any moment…they could all be wiped out by a powerful explosion…but come on! Lawrence Woolsey is in town! And he’s got a new sci-fi thriller that pays homage to the gimmick filled sci fi films of the time with the lovable John Goodman at the helm. It’s of course Joe Dante’s 1993 film, Matinee!

Today, the hosts find themselves in the deadly world of the entertainment industry and the even more deadly world...of murder! First up, Sidney Bruhl is a Broadway director with little success as of recent, until a former student gives him the perfect script. So good...he may need to kill him for it. Of course there’s always more complexity than that with this spiralling mystery thriller helmed by Sidney Lumet...1982’s Deathtrap! Next up, we travel to the hills of Hollywood where Tim Robbins plays Griffin Mill, a producer who’s rubbed more than his fair share of writers the wrong way. But now, he’s faced with constant threats from one of those writers of murder. Mills goes through a journey of guilt, paranoia, and fear all while being surrounded by the mechanical film industry in Robert Altman’s 1992 film The Player!

Today’s episode is dripping in paranoia as the three hosts delve into a double feature of uncovered conspiracies. For the first flick, Harry Caul gets a simple job to record a conversation between two people walking in a crowded square. However, Caul begins to feel worry and guilt over his work in Francis Ford Coppola’s 1974 film “The Conversation”. Next, Jack Terry is a B-movie sound engineer who happens to record the car crash that kills a presidential candidate. It’s only when he saves a girl from the car and the whole situation begins to get silenced that Jack begins his investigation of what really happened. It’s Brian De Palma’s 1981 film, Blow Out!

The spookiness continues and reaches a climactic high with the hosts delving into the good ol’ movie creature we all know and love....the zombie. First up, we go back to the beginning of the zombie flick with a group of survivors locking down an old farm house in order to defeat the new onslaught of creatures lurking beyond the boarded up windows. It’s the horror classic from Mr. George. R. Romero, 1968’s Night of the Living Dead! For our next picture, we go across the globe to Japan where a film crew has a tumultuous time filming their very own zombie flick in a film that’s best to go in cold. It’s the recent hit and soon to become cult classic, 2017’s One Cut of the Dead!

As the spookiness arises, the hosts delve into the more conceptual and maddening side of horror. Inspired by the likes of Lovecraft and King, the hosts delve into two spiralling journeys with Sam Neill at the helm. First up, the mysterious author Sutter Caneleaves Sam Neill on the hunt for where the author disappeared off too. This descent would eventually destroy his mind and the world around him in John Carpenter’s 1994 film, In The Mouth Of Madness! After that, we head off to a not-too-distant future. Space travel has grown more and more in technology and a distress beacon is heard from a long lost ship. Neill’s Dr. Weir takes the crew of the Lewis & Clark to see what unknown universes have been reached on the titular ship from the 1997 film...Event Horizon!

On this episode, the hosts go on two separate chaos-filled adventures through New York City. It’ll be scary, but we’ll have each other along the way. First up, Paul Hackett has a horrible night of large characters after a date in Soho goes awry. It’s from the visionary himself, Martin Scorsese, 1985’s After Hours! Following that, we’re led down the grimy world of sports betting and jewel trading as we follow the escapades of one Howard Ratner, played by Adam Sandler. It’s 2019’s wonderful Safdie Brothers film...Uncut Gems!

After a short break, The Midnight Matinee returns to discuss two genre-bending murder mysteries. First up is an ensemble comedy lead by the endlessly charismatic Tim Curry as a dinner party tries to find out the killer amongst them. It’s 1985’s classic Clue! Following Clue is a more modern take on the “murder in a big mansion” mystery with a tight and twisting script following the caretaker of the famous Harlan Thromby. Of course, it’s Rian Johnson’s 2019 film Knives Out!

On today’s episode of The Midnight Matinee, the hosts kick back and watch a couple fun and comfortable films with some genuine filmmaking behind them. First up, we take a look at the classic tale of King Arthur and his Knights through the mind of 5 Brits and 1 American at a surprisingly low budget. It’s, of course, 1975’s influential silly film, Monty Python and the Holy Grail. Next up, we take a look to 80’s Japan as a pair of truck drivers help a struggling Ramen shop, leading to a tangential comedy commenting on many aspects of pop culture and film. It’s kind, it’s warm, it’s absolutely delicious...it’s 1985’s Tampopo.

This week on The Midnight Matinee, the hosts go back to the turn of the century with the battles of World War I. Particularly, looking back at Britain’s involvement in the war. First up, a war hero rises as he must cross the desert to help the Arabs defeat the Ottoman Empire. However, the mental battle may outway the physical in the mind of T.E. Lawrence in David Lean’s 1962 epic, Lawrence of Arabia. Next, we look to a more recent picture that shows an important message being conveyed to a British commander, all while taking place in one continuous shot. Why yes, it’s 2019’s war film, 1917.

On this episode of The Midnight Matinee, we explore themes of race and justice as the summer sun beats down on the characters. First, 12 men are put into a jury to vote on a young man’s death sentence. An “open and shut case” gets turned on it’s head with a single non guilty vote in 1957’s 12 Angry Men. The next film takes us to a bustling street in Brooklyn with a cast of characters making their way through the hottest day in the summer. The film’s main conflict centers around the family owned Sal’s Pizzeria and those who eat at the shop. Indeed, we talk about Spike Lee’s 1989 smash hit Do The Right Thing.