Mousterpiece Cinema

On this week's new episode of Mousterpiece Cinema, Gabe and Josh are joined once again by prolific pop-culture critic Keith Phipps to talk about a film focused on a boy whose life you might call quirky. You might call it strange. In fact, you could even call it...odd. (On that pun, we have no regrets.) Yes, this week, the show rights a wrong and finally discusses the late-summer family drama The Odd Life of Timothy Green, starring Joel Edgerton, Jennifer Garner, CJ Adams, and a slew of exceptionally talented character actors such as Dianne Wiest and James Rebhorn. Cast aside, did Gabe, Josh, and Keith actually enjoy this whimsical tale of how a married couple learns life lessons through their magical new son, or were they left cold by its attempted charms? And which of the three guys actually makes the "odd"-based pun on the show? (It's not who you might think!) Check out the new podcast today to find out!

It's time to ring in a happy new year at Mousterpiece Cinema HQ! To kick off 2013, Josh and Mike travel to a whole new world: Monstropolis, where monsters work hard at scaring the bejeezus out of children. Yes, let's all travel to Monsters, Inc., the 2001 film from Pixar Animation Studios that was re-released in 3D into theaters over the 2012 holiday season. Did Mike and Josh like the 3D upconversion? Are they excited for the upcoming prequel, Monsters University? And hey, what about the movie itself? All of these questions are answered, plus a debate about the quality of The Flintstones, of all things, on the first new Mousterpiece Cinema of 2013!

Grab the closest jug of moonshine, sit back, and relax as Josh, Mike and Gabe close out 2012 with their little friends Bernard and Bianca from the Rescue Aid Society. Yes, this week, the trio discusses the 1977 Disney animated film The Rescuers, from its many songs to its Cruella De Vil-like villain Madame Medusa. Would it surprise you to learn that Josh contradicts a recent opinion regarding bleakness? Would it surprise you to learn that Mike calls Josh out for this very thing? (Only if you're a new listener!) Oh, and would you like to know what it sounds like when Gabe impersonates the sound of sad horns you might hear in a Burt Bacharach song? Of course you would! All this and more in the new episode of Mousterpiece Cinema!

There are only a few shopping days until Christmas, and what better way to ring in the holiday than by warming up by the fire, sipping on some hot cocoa, and listening to a holiday-centric episode of Mousterpiece Cinema? Don't even try to think of one! Instead, listen as Josh, Mike, and Gabe discuss the 1983 short Mickey's Christmas Carol, where Mickey Mouse plays Bob Cratchit, Goofy plays Marley's ghost, and Scrooge McDuck plays...well, who else? This week, your intrepid hosts also discuss their favorite adaptations of Charles Dickens' famous tale, along with their least favorites, and there are plenty of strange movies dropped along their path. Only here can you find out what Rich Little, Henry Winkler, and Vanessa Williams have in common. So check out the new show before the bell on the clock strikes twelve!

Is the Christmas season one tinged with bleakness? Do all the great holiday movies--It's A Wonderful Life or A Christmas Carol, for example--begin at a place of immense sadness? Is that what makes them great? And how does religion factor into our enjoyment of holiday films? Lots of heady topics to unwrap on this week's new Mousterpiece Cinema, where Josh and Mike tackle the 1985 Disney film One Magic Christmas, starring Harry Dean Stanton and Mary Steenburgen. And yes, in between all of this craziness, Mike was able to turn the show into a brand-new Ducksterpiece Theatre. Plus, at the end, a bit of chatter about the new Hobbit film, which Josh reviewed at Sound on Sight. Your early Christmas present is here--you just have to listen to it!

The most wonderful time of year is upon us once again, folks. Yes, it's the holiday season, and Josh is returning to the North Pole just like he did last December. A year ago, he reviewed 1994's The Santa Clause all by himself, but this year, he's got Gabe and special guest Marc Vibbert of the Animation Fascination podcast to discuss the 2002 sequel The Santa Clause 2. Does this sequel, where Santa Claus finds a wife in the form of Elizabeth Mitchell (also known as Juliet from Lost), deliver the goods? Is the first film still better? Has the boy playing Charlie, the son of the Tim Allen version of Santa, gotten any better? And what's with the way David Krumholtz runs? These and other questions are pondered and put to bed a new episode of Mousterpiece Cinema!

How do you know...if a movie is good? How do you know...it's for you? (I hope you're singing those questions out loud.) This week, Josh, Mike, and Gabe convene in Mousterpiece Cinema HQ with special guest (and our first returning guest, to boot) Kate Kulzick of The Televerse to review the 2007 Walt Disney Pictures live-action/animation hybrid Enchanted. Everyone agreed that Amy Adams, in her breakout starring role as the fairy-tale denizen Giselle, is excellent, but what about the rest of the film? Was everyone as enamored with Patrick Dempsey, aka McDreamy? What of the music? And would Enchanted have been better if Paul Schrader had written it? (Of course.) Plenty of spirited debates within, so check out the new show!

Yes, friends, there is no typo in the episode title. (And don't let the first few minutes of the show fool you!) Though Josh had planned, many months ago, to discuss the 1996 live-action remake of 101 Dalmatians this week, Mike pulled a fast one, a good old-fashioned bait-and-switch. So, instead of spotted dogs, the topic this week is the greatest president America has ever known: Abraham Lincoln, the subject of a new film from Steven Spielberg, appropriately titled Lincoln. Though Gabe couldn't join us for this impromptu review, Mike and Josh did welcome into the show Peter Labuza of the excellent Cinephiliacs podcast to discuss Pierre Trudeau, John Ford, Woodrow Wilson, and F. Scott Fitzgerald. Were Josh, Mike, and Peter all as ecstatic about Lincoln as most critics and audiences are? You'll have to listen to find out!   Note: at one point in the show, Peter references an independent filmmaker and critic named Dan Sallitt. Though Peter said Mr. Sallitt was a former writer of LA Weekly, he meant the LA Reade

Yes, friends, it's that time again: time for Gabe and Josh to dip into the direct-to-DVD well and see if they get oil, water, or...something in between. This week, they take a look at the highly anticipated return to Pride Rock with Simba, Nala, Timon, Pumbaa, and all our jungle friends with 1998's The Lion King II: Simba's Pride. Could any sequel to the immensely popular Lion King live up to expectations? Did the people at DisneyToon Studios even try to live up to expectations? Which accents did Gabe bust out this week? And what the hell do Nikki and Paolo from Lost--yes, the dearly departed TV series--have to do with Simba and the lioness villain of this new film? You'll have to find out by checking out the new episode!

Ladies and gentlemen, it's time to break some hearts. Or, depending on who you believe, it's time to re-evaluate Josh's sanity. This week, Josh, Mike, and Gabe delve deep into Walt Disney Pictures' newest animated feature, the video-game-set Wreck-It Ralph, featuring the voices of John C. Reilly, Jane Lynch, Sarah Silverman, and Jack McBrayer. Two of your hosts loved the movie. One of your hosts...did not. Two of your hosts found the movie endearing, moving, exciting, and purely entertaining. One of your hosts...did not. This one's packed with contentious discussion, plus you can find out exactly how far down the road Josh has the show planned out. By then, you're sure to be questioning his sanity, too, but you can only do that if you listen to the new episode!

Is ​The Apple Dumpling Gang Rides Again​ one of the greatest and most underrated sequels of all time? Is it a cinematic classic? Or is it a movie so bad that even Mike said it's "terrible"? You can, of course, take a wild guess, but we bet you know the answer. After discussing the 1975 original at the end of September, it's time for Mike and Josh to tackle this 1979 follow-up, placing Don Knotts and Tim Conway as leading men as well as comic relief. They don't exactly pull it off, sadly, partly because Knotts and Conway are only so funny, and partly because this movie is so packed with Western-movie cliches, it gave your hosts whiplash. But don't let that scare you away--take a listen to the new episode, to listen to, among other topics, exactly how unfortunate it is that ​Muppet Treasure Island​ made less than, of all things, ​The Apple Dumpling ​Gang Rides Again​.

By the pricking of my thumbs...oh, how does that line end? I'm sure the answer couldn't be found in the title of this week's movie on Mousterpiece Cinema, the 1983 horror movie Something Wicked This Way Comes starring Jason Robards and Jonathan Pryce. (Forgive me, William Shakespeare's vengeful ghost. FORGIVE ME.) Yes, it's true, Walt Disney Pictures did make a few forays into the world of horror back in the 1980s, and this week, Josh, Mike and special guest Zack Handlen from The AV Club take a backwards ride on a magical carousel to the past to analyze this film. Were Robards and Pryce awesome enough to disguise the movie's flaws? What truly makes a Disney movie? And how much are Josh and Mike dreading discussing, of all things, The Haunted Mansion? Listen to the new show to find out!

The legend of King Arthur has seen many iterations in popular culture. The greatest bit of knowledge, for example, we've all learned through the British king's story is that the Earth is banana-shaped. Though we won't be discussing Monty Python and the Holy Grail in depth this week, Mike and Josh do tackle Disney's 1963 version of King Arthur's origins, The Sword in the Stone. And they're helped out by very special guest Marjorie Jensen of DoorQ.com to analyze Arthur's place in literature, his dynamism as a young character, how grim his life would be after pulling Excalibur from the stone, and how exactly Ducksterpiece Theater applies to a surprisingly duck-free movie. Check out the new show to find out!

On this week's all-new episode of Mousterpiece Cinema, something truly frightening happened. Oh, sure, we talked about Tim Burton's newest film, the stop-motion-animated, black-and-white, 3D expansion of his short film Frankenweenie. And sure, we welcomed onto the show a very special guest to review the film: Anthony Breznican of Entertainment Weekly. But discussing this scary kids' movie was nothing compared to finding out what it sounds like when Josh likes something, and both Mike and Gabe do not. Yes, friends, if you thought it was crazy enough to hear Mike get critical, just wait until you hear he and Gabe face off against Josh and Anthony. Is Frankenweenie a sweet, charming piece of nostalgia, or is it a lazy and soulless attempt from Tim Burton to recapture his youth? You'll have to listen to the show to find out the verdict!

Puppies, puppies everywhere, and not a drop to drink! OK, we may have that wrong, but on this week's all-new Mousterpiece Cinema, we're swimming in a sea full of adorable pooches as we cover the 1961 animated classic 101 Dalmatians. And it's a full house this week, as Josh, Mike, and Gabe are joined by the editor of The AV Club, Keith Phipps to take a trip down memory lane. You may know that Josh is an avowed cat person, but did Pongo, Perdita, Lucky and the other 98 Dalmatians warm his blackened heart? That's a hot topic in the episode, along with the xerography process that would define Disney animation during the 1960s and 1970s. Does this movie look as lazy and copied-over as The Jungle Book or The Aristocats? Is Cruella De Vil the best Disney villain of all time? And what does Calvin and Hobbes have to do with a baby Dalmatian surviving its birth? The answers to these burning questions are within--check out the new show to find out!

Don Knotts is well-known and beloved for his role as Barney Fife on The Andy Griffith Show, but was he really just a pervy old uncle in disguise? Well, if you listen to Mike talk about him, you might think so too! Somehow--yes, really--this is a point of discussion in the brand-new episode of Mousterpiece Cinema, where Josh and Mike tackle the 1975 Disney family film The Apple Dumpling Gang. Did this story of kids finding gold in an Old West town charm and delight both of your hosts? Or have the planets aligned once more, leaving Josh to be more negative about a movie than Mike? And what, pray tell, does John Wayne have to do with this goofball family comedy? The only way to know is to listen to the new podcast!

On this week's episode of Mousterpiece Cinema, hell has frozen over. To quote the great Bill Murray, cats and dogs living together--mass hysteria! Yes, it's true: Josh liked a movie more than Mike. And that movie is this week's focus: the Pixar film Finding Nemo, which has been re-released in theaters thanks to a 3D post-conversion. Is the 3D essential? Do you need to revisit the film with a new set of eyes, or should you just revisit it at all? Josh and Mike tackle this and a lot of other topics, all the way to the true meaning of what cinema is. Heady times this week, plus we make fun of Larry the Cable Guy. Check out the new show to find out what Opposite Day truly sounds like!

Today is a very special day at Mousterpiece Cinema HQ, because it's finally happened. After months of searching, after hours of discussion, we have found a film that Mike doesn't love. In fact, this is a film that Mike had an easier time nitpicking. Yes, that's right, folks, Mike can nitpick, too! In this epic episode, Josh and Mike get right into the nitty-gritty of what is currently the biggest box-office flop in film history: Mars Needs Moms, a motion-capture animated movie based on the Berkeley Breathed book of the same name. Is the movie as bad as you might think? Do cats like broccoli? Did Mike dislike a movie more than Josh for once? Could it be possible? Check out the new show to find out!

Who's your favorite member of the A-Team? Don't look so shocked! You may well be surprised how the answer to that question connects to this week's discussion of the 1970 Disney animated feature The Aristocats. Josh, Gabe, and Mike dig deep into the film, analyzing its music, its story, and its characters, including the raffish Thomas O'Malley and fancy Duchess. Does everybody truly want to be a cat? Or is Josh's love for cats in the real world not enough to translate into cats in the world of fiction? And, most important of all, what comment from Josh sends Gabe over the edge so that he finally calls Josh a "meanie"? You'll have to listen to the new Mousterpiece Cinema to find out!

Has it only been 14 years since Lindsay Lohan was a respectable child actor? Yes, friends, this week on Mousterpiece Cinema, Josh and Gabe move past the 1961 version of The Parent Trap all the way to its 1998 remake, directed by Nancy Meyers and featuring the first major role from Ms. Lohan. In this episode, you may well hear the most nitpicky things Josh has ever taken issue with, but even Gabe gets in on the fun of picking apart this film and its perhaps-questionable premise. Exactly how frustrated was Josh with this modern take on the story of identical twins conspiring to reunite their parents? And what accents does Gabe regale us with this week? Listen to the new show to find out!