Arthouse Legends Podcast

In 2007, director Edgar Wright released the follow-up to his international hit Shaun of the Dead with Hot Fuzz, a buddy cop/serial killer horror/comedy starring Simon Pegg (who also co-wrote with Wright) as the morally rigid cop transferred to a small village and immediately comes face to face with a series of gastly murders poorly staged as accidents. The film solidified Wright as a visionary filmmaker, Pegg as a leading man along...

In 1987, decades before the concept of shared universes and multi-licensing deals would be considered a norm, producer Steven Spielberg and director Robert Zemeckis re-teamed to push practically every boundary of studio filmmaking at the time with their film Who Framed Roger Rabbit, a film noir set in a world where human beings and animated characters live and work together and a boozed private eye is tasked with clearing the name ...

By 2014, Tom Cruise was in a precarious situation in his career as he was rebounding from a troubled personal and professional crisis. Trying to keep the momentum of a couple of Box Office successes, he chose to headline a science fiction action film directed by Doug Liman called Edge of Tomorrow co-starring Emily Blunt about a cowardly officer forced to relive the day he died during an assault against alien invaders.

Despite criti...

In 1999, director Stephen Sommers began a partnership with Universal Studios to develop their long-dormant Universal Monsters franchise and reboot one of its least memorable installments; The Mummy. Gone is the suspense and dread and replaced with action adventure as we follow an Egyptologist, her troublesome brother, and the roguish hero who shows her the way to a cursed tomb. Few audiences and critics were looking forward to this...

In 1995, Disney Studios was at the height of their animation renaissance after owning half the decade in family entertainment. But they had a surprise for audiences that no one had seen coming as their partnership with revolutionary computer-generated studio Pixar released the first-ever feature film Toy Story. This tale of the secret lives of one boy's playthings not only took the Box Office but inadvertently launched a new fronti...

Director Robert Eggers stormed into international acclaim with his debut film that looked at isolation, madness and paranoia. For his follow-up, The Lighthouse, Eggers swapped Colonial New England for turn-of-the-century New England, a puritan family on the brink of collapse for two Willem Defoe and Robert Pattinson drinking, smoking, and antagonizing each other. Yet the film has grown a community of fans still trying to figure out...

2019 saw the end of a cinematic age as the Marvel Cinematic Universe finished its Phase Three / Infinity Saga, concluding story arcs set up over a decade in the making. While the MCU is intending to move on its next phase, Arthouse Legends' MovieDude Eric and Chris Tondevold look back at the cinematic landscape left in its wake and contemplate what should be anticipated for the future of this franchise as well as its affect on the ...

In 1999, while audiences were wowed by The Matrix, disappointed by The Phantom Menace and completely baffled by Fight Club, one small British import crossed the Pond and found a small dedicated audience that grew over time: Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels. Directed by Guy Ritchie, the film told a story of low key hustlers who got in too deep with small-time gangsters and drug dealers, culminating in an outcome that has to be se...

History was made at the 2020 Academy Awards when South Korean filmmaker Bong Joon-ho's domestic drama Parasite won Best Picture, the first non-American film to do so. The film, focusing on two Korean families intertwined with each other from complete social classes defied expectations as it did genres, and slowly became one of the most talked about movies of the year. But does this film deserve the acclaim and the awards it won or ...

In 1995, Director Terry Gilliam finally buried the hatchet with Universal Studios over the Brazil situation and teamed up with the studio on his biggest film yet; a story about a time traveler from a plague-infested future sent back to learn what started the apocalypse only to have his sanity questioned, even by himself. Working with an A-list cast including Bruce Willis, Madeleine Stowe and Brad Pitt, 12 Monkeys would become Gilli...

During the mid-90s, adult-themed thrillers were all the rage. While most were focused on serial killers and realistic psychopaths, Warner Bros. developed a unique mass killer to headline their latest offering, a supervirus that kills nearly all that comes into contact. What came of the concept was Outbreak, starring Dustin Hoffman, Rene Russo and Morgan Freeman about a group of virologists tasked with stopping the said virus from d...

By 1963, James Bond has now become an international success with two popular installments brought to cinemas around the world. For the third installment, Goldfinger, new director Guy Hamilton was brought in to broaden the appeal of the suave super spy, by making subtle changes to the formula and the tone of the films. Not only was this approach a major success, but had a lasting impact on the tone of the series for decades to come....

After World War II, Hollywood was looking to return to doing what it does best and with a new paranoia of international intrigue and the return of history's most notorious villains, producer Sam Spiegel  tasked a desperate Orson Welles to make The Stranger. Welles, put on a tight leash and deprived of most of the artistic freedom he was usually given, made this thriller about a Nazi hiding in an affluent New England town as a dogge...

In 2008, Korean filmmaker Jee-woon Kim crafted a Spaghetti Western inspired in large part by Sergio Leone set in pre-war Korea pitting a wacky thief, a vicious gangster and mysterious cowboy in a race for untold riches alongside a varied cast of characters. But does this film deserve the near unanimous acclaim it received or does it belong in the long list of failed remakes? Moviedude Eric and new host Chris Tondevold follow the ad...

In 1985, Steven Spielberg was at a new height in his career. He was not only a powerful director, but had started branching out in to producing very successful films as well. Enter The Goonies, reteaming him with Gremlins writer Chris Columbus and bringing on Superman director Richard Donner to tell the story of a group of outcast preteens on a treasure hunt with a family of criminals on their heels. The film would become a generat...

In 2017, the Chilean film A Fantastic Woman became a sensation on the film festival circuit and became Chile's entry for the Foreign Language Academy Award, which it would go on to win. The film about a young trans-woman who is reeling from the death of her partner and dealing with her everyday life with the added scrutiny of dealing with said partner's grieving family. But did the film deserve the Oscar? MovieDude Eric, Kent and C...

In 2004, Pixar Studios worked with Iron Giant director Brad Bird on his first 3-D animation film known as The Incredibles. The film about a family of superpowered humans quickly became benchmark for both the studio and the budding superhero genre. But does the film deserve the godlike praise it received or should it be forced into obscurity? MovieDude Eric, Kent and Chris don masks and capes to find out.

“District Four” Kevin Mac...

In 2017, actor/director James Franco unleashed his most mainstream film to date to South by Southwest Film Festival to near-unanimous acclaim. That film, The Disaster Artist, depicts the wild production of the "Citizen Kane of Bad Movies" known as The Room by focusing on the friendship between the film's director Tommy Weiseau and second lead actor Greg Sistero (played by James and Dave Franco respectively). During the awards seaso...