Searching For Atticus

Kofi, Blake & Rich continue their look at this year's Academy Award nominees, plunging into the multiverse with a look at the Daniels' breakout hit, starring Michelle Yeoh, Ke Huy Quan, Stephanie Hsu and Jamie Lee Curtis.
In the film, Yeoh's character Evelyn is a laundromat owner who learns of the existence of multiple versions of herself and her family, which becomes the centre of a battle to save the world ...

We're kicking off our look at nominees for the 2023 Academy Awards with a replay of our conversation about "Top Gun: Maverick."

The movie sees Tom Cruise reprise his role as the hot-shot fighter pilot - this time recruited to train a group of Top Gun graduates for an impossible strike mission on yet another nebulous but nefarious nation. 

Under the deft direction of Joseph Kosinski, we see a well-wo...

Throughout most of Jack Nicholson's career, he has played men who are menacing, intolerant, angry - or all of the above. Even so, he has held a place in the hearts of movie fans for more than 50 years. What makes Jack so cool?

#fatherhood #motherhood #parenting #dadlife #parenthood #family #dad #love #father #fathersday #dadsofinstagram #kids #fatherandson #daddy #fathers #dads #familytime #parents #children #parentlife #friend...

It might not be Hallowe'en, but it is the dead of winter - and Blake tells us that Jack Torrance tops almost every list of Bad Movie Dads. So we dive in on Stanley Kubrick's horror classic The Shining.
Based on the novel by Stephen King, The Shining is the disturbing tale of a writer (Jack Nicholson) who takes a job as the winter caretaker at a remote mountaintop hotel, and proceeds terrorize his wife (Shelley Duvall)...

What happens when your best friend tells you he just doesn't like you any more? 
That's premise taken on by writer-director Martin McDonough, as he reunites with his "In Bruges" co-stars Colin Farrell and Brendan Gleeson. 
Gleeson plays Colm, a musician who decides he has no more room in his life for friendship with the "dull" Padraic played by Farrell.
For Blake & Rich, the film prompt...

Kofi, Blake & Rich celebrate the holidays with a look at Tim Allen's feature film debut - and long-running franchise - The Santa Clause, written by Leo Benvenuti & Steve Rudnick, and directed by John Pasquin.
Allen stars as Scott Calvin, a divorced, single-dad toy executive who finds himself donning Santa's suit and then becomes the jolly fat man himself - all because he didn't read the fine print.
Th...

Rich & Kofi pay tribute to the World Cup with a look at at the story of a team of POWs who take part in a game against the German national soccer team in occupied Paris at the height of World War II.  The POWs are led by Sylvester Stallone, Michael Caine and Pelé, while Max von Sydow plays a German officer with a surprising streak of sportsmanship.
Victory is not director John Huston's best effort (he did it for the pa...

This might be our most important, most helpful podcast yet. Blake, Kofi & Rich are joined by Eric Windeler, co-founder of the Canadian youth mental health initiative Jack.org, to discuss our first musical, Dear Evan Hansen.
The movie follows an anxious, isolated high-school student (Ben Platt) through an increasingly complex web of deception when a letter he writes to himself is misinterpreted as the suicide note of a fell...

Blake, Kofi & Rich don their poppies with a look at Sam Mendes's one-shot masterpiece about two soldiers (George MacKay and Dean Charles Chapman) tasked with delivering a message to the far end of the front - in the hopes of halting a disastrous British offensive.
We talk about the innovative filmmaking and share some fascinating background on Roger Deakins's photography and Lee Smith's editing. We discuss t...

The first instalment in the series of stories featuring Gru and his Minions is a silly, rollicking ride. Steve Carell, Russell Brand, Jason Segal and Julie Andrews lend their voices to the tale of a super-villain whose heart is touched by three orphan sisters he adopts as part of a plot to steal the moon.
Kofi, Blake & Rich laugh plenty in chatting about this movie. We discuss about how our own children have affected our p...

Blake, Kofi & Rich take a look at one of the most popular British films in history.
Directed by Stephen Daldry, "Billy Elliott" follows an 11 year-old boy (Jamie Bell) from a working-class family who discovers a talent and passion for ballet while his father (Gary Lewis) and older brother (Jamie Draven) struggle through the historic 1984-85 UK miners strike. Under the direction of a local dance teacher (Julie Walt...

Kofi, Blake & Rich dive into the New Zealand bush for director/writer Taika Waititi's coming-of-age film about a nationwide manhunt for a boy (Julian Dennison) and his foster father (Sam Neill). 
"Wilderpeople" is a cheeky film that plays with the perspective of young Ricky and his relationship with old Hec - two people who are emotionally broken and stumbling towards healing with each other. 
Ricky'...

Viggo Mortensen in his Oscar-nominated turn as Ben Ross - a father raising his family in the American wilderness, hoping desperately that the isolation from society - and a greater connection to nature - will cure his wife's mental illness. When his wife passes away, the family travels to Arizona for her funeral. A clash of cultures ensues - raising challenging questions about how Ben has been raising his kids and what Western...

Really that should read "Jaws!!!"  Blake, Kofi & Rich enthusiastically sink their teeth into Steven Spielberg's early masterwork,  based on the novel by Peter Benchley.

We talk about what makes the movie timeless and what separates it from so many thrillers.
It's far more than a scary movie, mostly because of the trio of heroes played by Roy Scheider, Richard Dreyfuss and Robert Shaw. They&apos...

With Serena Williams announcing that she'll retire after this year's US Open, we thought it a good time to revisit our look at "King Richard." 
The movie features outstanding performances by Saniyya Sidney and Demi Singleton (as Venus and Serena Williams) and Aunjanue Ellis (as the girls mother, Oracene Price) - and Will Smith in his Oscar-winning turn as their ambitious father Richard Williams. 
(No mat...

Michael Keaton, Teri Garr, Martin Mull and Ann Jillian star in 1983's "Mr. Mom." Keaton plays Jack Butler, a Detroit auto engineer who's laid off from his job at the height of a recession. When Jack's wife (Garr) takes a job at an ad agency, Jack takes over the homemaking duties. 
We're not gonna lie: this is the WORST movie we've discussed so far - in spite of the fact that it's first sc...

Michael B. Jordan stars as a US Army soldier who writes a journal of advice for his infant son while stationed in Iraq during the American invasion of Iraq. At least that's what the official description of this film says. In fact, Chanté Adams stars in the real-life story of Dana Canedy, a New York Times journalist who falls for that same soldier, First Sergeant Charles Monroe King. The movie follows the both the romance betwe...

Blake, Kofi & Rich follow up on our look at 1986's "Top Gun" with a look at the long-awaited - and remarkably well-executed sequel that has been dominating the 2022 box office. 

"Top Gun: Maverick" sees Tom Cruise reprise his role as the hot-shot fighter pilot - this time recruited to train a group of Top Gun graduates for an impossible strike mission on yet another nebulous but nefarious natio...

With "Top Gun: Maverick" topping the box office, we're taking a look at the original - the movie that became a phenomenon.

Rich, Kofi & Blake discuss the appeal of Tom Cruise, the talents and flaws of his character Maverick, and the difference between rivals and adversaries. We also share some trivia about the film,  unpack the mystique of fighter pilots' code names and share a little relevant wisdo...