038 Brick by Rian Johnson

A classic hard-boiled film noir set in a contemporary SoCal high school seems like an unlikely marriage, but somehow Rian Johnson's Brick, released in 2005 and starring Joseph Gordon-Levitt, mostly succeeds in pulling of the 'high concept' task. Mashing up a little Twin Peaks, spaghetti westerns, and Cowboy Beepop for style, Brick is an interesting recasting of familiar police procedural tropes. Similar to modern adaptations of Shakespeare (think 1996's Romeo and Juliet), the characters defy their surroundings without a wink and a nod, oblivious to their displacement while maintaining the illusion. Enjoy!

Download: 038 Brick by Rian Johnson

037 Point Break by Kathryn Bigelow

"If you want the ultimate, you've got to be willing to pay the ultimate price", which was about $3.00 for a matinee screening of Point Break back in 1991, Kathryn Bigelow's ode to surfer extremophiles. At the heart of the movie is Johnny Utah and Bodhisattva's (short for 'Bodhi') bromance, played by a quintessential Keanu Reeves and the late Patrick Swayze. Matt calls bull%$@t on Bodhi's warrior poet nonsense while Mark defends the Swayze character as less hypocrite and more paradox. Regardless, Point Break is a beautifully shot movie and basically a series of one-liners stitched together into script form. It's 100% pure adrenaline! Enjoy!

Download: 037 Point Break by Kathryn Bigelow

036 Excalibur by John Borman

The king without a sword! A land without a king! In 1981 John Boorman directed probably the most successful King Arthur film adaption ever with his beautifully wrought Excalibur. Filmed entirely in Ireland with a host of nascent Irish film stars including Gabriel Byrne and Liam Neeson, Excalibur fleshes out a Dark Age Britain that never was. While its Shakespearean overtones fail to evoke a human story, Matt and Mark agree: that really isn't the point. This a cursory Cliff Notes of Malory's Arthur myth produced for a matinee audience. Watch with some popcorn and enjoy!

Download: 036 Excalibur by John Boorman

035 Rollerball (1975) by Norman Jewison

A film review of Rollerball by The Cult of Matt and Mark

Download: 035 Rollerball (1975) by Norman Jewison

034 Dark Star by John Carpenter

In space nobody can hear you laugh. Sadly, that seemed to be the case when John Carpenter and Dan O'Bannon (the writer of Ridley Scott's classic Alien) released their debut film Dark Star to audiences in 1974. Despite its poor box office sales, Dark Star has since become a cult classic with its generous mix of existential absurdity and Kubrik-style satire, giving new meaning to the word "smart bomb." Instead of focusing on Carpenter, which we plan to do in a later podcast, Matt and Mark discuss the late O'Bannon, whose mark on cinema is significant. O'Bannon would go on to contribute to the aforementioned Alien, but also wrote the scripts for some of Hollywood's most successful Philip K Dick adaptions, including Total Recall and Screamers. Enjoy!

Download: 034 Dark Star by John Carpenter