Two men enter: one man leaves victorious. The Movie Morlock and his special guest, Teal, the self-professed world’s greatest Jake Gyllenhaal fan, duke it out over who’s seen the most of Jake’s 39 feature films.
This episode is loads of laughs, and if you are looking for some Jake Gyllenhaal films to see, this episode’s got you covered.
https://www.podbean.com/media/share/pb-irg8d-1119ab5
Like the Squid Game? Want more dystopian futuristic societal experimentation run amok? Then try this 2019 offering from Spain, The Platform. This isn’t a game, but competition for survival is fierce, and if you get out with your life you may just win yourself higher education credits.
The Movie Morlock is joined by Al Fraser, one of the co-founders of The Cambria Film Festival to discuss this thought-provoking movie that may be hard to stomach, but if you have an appetite for it, the movie may reward you.
The Platform is available to stream on Netflix.
Shannon, from Whatshannonwatched on Instagram, is back to discuss one of her favorite films. Shannon and James (The Movie Morlock) dive into director Ron Hardy’s 1973 Folk Horror classic, The Wicker Man.
Along the way there is some discussion about John Carpenter and his finest creation, Michael Myers. James saw Halloween Kills, and has a few surprisingly nice words for the new sequel.
James Bond is back after many years, and some pandemic delays. Worth the wait? The Movie Morlock shares his thoughts on Daniel Craig’s final outing as 007.
Also, it’s October so that means horror movies. And the Morlock watched a notorious stinker that he was always curious about. Hear the Morlock’s thoughts on the legendary Exorcist II: The Heretic.
This week the Morlock checks in with the Soprano’s prequel, The Many Saints of Newark, plus Jake Gyllenhaal is the angriest 911 operator you hope to never get in case of an emergency in The Guilty.
The Morlock also peeps a British teen exploitation film from 1960, Beat Girl, and then finishes things off with a series he’s currently binging, the Netflix international sensation, Squid Game.
There’s a lot of entertainment packed in 40 minutes.
Craig Wasson is back, and the Movie Morlock was thrilled to speak with the actor/musician/vocal artist again. James (the Morlock) last spoke with Craig Wasson at the beginning of the year when he spent some time with James and Teal on Stuff We’ve Seen. If you haven’t heard those episodes check them out here and here.
But now Craig joins James to discuss a little-seen gem from 1979, Tony Luraschi’s The Outsider. Wasson plays Michael Flaherty, a disillusioned Viet Nam vet from America who wants to join the IRA during The Troubles in Northern Ireland. With notions of patriotism fueled from stories of his grandfather fighting alongside Michael Collins in the early 1900’s, Michael gets sucked into a world where his worth is more as a pawn in a political game where two sides see value in using an American as a sacrifice.
The movie is surprising in its stark depiction of the struggles in Northern Ireland in the early 1970s, and no side comes out smelling like a rose. It is no wonder that both the British and Irish opposed this movie with threats of violence, and the film experienced many difficulties finding a release.
Over the summer Hulu showed the film on its service, and that is how James got to watch it, and he was blown away by the documentary-style of the film. It doesn’t appear to be on Hulu at the moment, but you can still rent it on Apple or on Amazon Prime. But you have to hunt for it. It’s well worth the quest.
The Movie Morlock is pleased to present this awesome conversation with Craig Wasson, who also has some very interesting stories to share, and his own After Hours/Griffin Dunne tie in.
The James Wan film the Eloi want you to think is twisted horror, brilliance, but is actually just kind of horrible.
Again with this pandemic. With not a lot of viewing options, and no more crappy 8-screen, strip-mall multiplex available in the Morlock’s semi-rural Vermont surroundings he looks forward to almost anything these days. An HBOMax offering? Guest what? The Morlock’s in. He’s watching whatever HBOMAX is going to give him. And this week it was horror film director, (and yes I am lumping Aquaman in with that, because that film was plum horrible) James Wan. Wan hit the scene with the indie horror sensation, Saw, back in 2004, and while the Morlock’s never seen that movie, or its abundance of sawquels (torture films are not the Morlock’s bag) he did see Insidious, The Conjuring, and The Conjuring 2. And surprise, the Morlock found himself impressed.
Sorry folks, but Malignant isn’t up to the challenge of Insidious or the Conjuring. It’s, well…perhaps you need to listen to the podcast to find out what the Morlock thought about it. And this week he enlisted the help of Instagram movie-poster, whatshannonwatched. Shannon is a film enthusiast with a particular taste for horror. And the Movie Morlock show marks Shannon’s podcast debut. She and the Morlock had themselves a time picking apart Malignant, and talking about what could have made this movie better.
It’s all for you, Damian, on this second installment of The Movie Morlock Podcast.
Welcome to the first episode of the Movie Morlock podcast. Each week the Morlock will bring you discussions on films, past and present. A lot of what the show is from week-to-week depends on what the Morlock watches. Sometimes he’ll bring on a guest or two, and other time’s he’ll go it alone.
On this week’s episode, The Morlock talks about 2 films playing on the Criterion Channel. The first is one of The Morlock’s favorite Martin Scorsese films, After Hours. Featuring a stand-out performance by Griffin Dunne, After Hours is often referred to as one of Scorsese’s minor works, but if you haven’t seen this movie, take a listen to what the Morlock says about it, and then go and discover the genius for yourself.
Next up is a new add-on to the Criterion Channel’s Neo Noir series. It’s a film that the Morlock felt should have been part of the original lineup, and now he’s happy it’s there. The 1981 debut film of director Michael Mann, starring James Caan in a career-best performance, and a brilliant late-screen debut of Robert Prosky. This is Neo Noir at it’s most neo, and neon.
The Movie Morlock 