As flash floods spread across Los Angeles, we risked our lives driving through torrential rain to see Damien Chazelle's 3-hour Hollywood epic Babylon. The movie massively flopped at the box office losing over $100 million, and it divided critics and audiences alike who either loved or hated it. It was rated R for severe sex & nudity, violence, drug use, profanity, and elephant defecation. We definitely had to see it on the big screen! The movie is set in the late 1920s and early 1930s as motion pictures transitioned from silent films to talkies. It stars Margot Robbie as a very coked-up aspiring actress, Brad Pitt as an aging silent film star, and Diego Calva as a film assistant who bears witness to the whole extravaganza. The movie has excellent supporting roles including Jean Smart, Jovan Adepo, Li Jun Li, Lukas Haas, Katherine Waterston, Tobey Maguire, Flea, Jeff Garlin, Olivia Wilde, Spike Jonze, and even the great Eric Roberts! You might love it or you might hate it, but you owe it to yourself to witness Babylon!

Episode 149 - Babylon Review

The Year of the Dragon is upon us! But before we get to dragons, let's get prestigious with Sofia Coppola's new A24 biopic Priscilla about Priscilla Presley. For this 'cast, we got the old Elvis (2022) crew back together to take a new look at The King from his wife's perspective. This movie is an adaptation of Priscilla Presley's 1985 memoir Elvis and Me. It stars Cailee Spaeny as Priscilla and Jacob Elordi as Elvis. We came in with varying degrees of fandom for the films of Sofia Coppola and we left with varying bone counts!

Episode 168 - Priscilla Review

There was a Pet Sematary prequel that came out late last year! A prequel to the Pet Sematary (2019) remake, to be precise, which was a remake of the 1989 film based on the 1983 Stephen King book. So Bloodlines is a prequel of a remake of an adaptation that went straight to Paramount Plus. 

We covered the Pet Sematary remake way back in Episode 43 of the Lodgecast. Bloodlines scored a woeful 22% on Rotten Tomatoes, which sealed our fate that we had to cover it. This movie is set in 1969 and stars Jackson White as a young Jud Crandall who discovers the secrets of the cemetery. This movie stars some other heavy hitters, including Henry Thomas, David Duchovny, Samantha Mathis, and Pam Grier. The cast is rounded out by Forrest Goodluck, Jack Mulhern, Natalie Alyn Lind, and Isabella Star LaBlanc. While "sometimes dead is better," we're not ruling out future installments of the Pet Sematary franchise!

Hawt🔥Takez - Pet Sematary: Bloodlines Review

Nicolas Cage recently turned 60! And just when you think he's done it all, he delivers yet another fantastic performance in a movie like Dream Scenario. This dark comedy by Norwegian film director Kristoffer Borgli stars Cage as a biology professor who starts appearing in random people's dreams and becomes famous. It's a wonderful setup for exploring the ins and outs of modern fame. It also stars Julianne Nicholson, Michael Cera, Tim Meadows, Dylan Gelula, and Dylan Baker. Another winner from A24! See it!

Hawt🔥Takez - Dream Scenario Review

For this episode, we ventured into new territory. We went to an AMC Screen Unseen mystery movie event. AMC Screen Unseen shows a movie that is coming out soon, but they don't tell you what it is. No one in the audience knows what the movie is until it hits the big screen! A cool idea from AMC, and at a price point of $5, our theater was packed. All we knew was that the mystery movie was R-rated, and that was enough to get us excited. We recorded an intro for this episode where we speculated what this mystery movie might be. Hear our reaction in real-time as we reveal this mystery movie to you and discuss it!

Episode 169 - AMC Screen Unseen Mystery Movie Review

Poor Things was one of the most anticipated movies of 2023, and it did not disappoint! It is another unique vision from director Yorgos Lanthimos and is currently nominated for 11 Academy Awards.

Emma Stone stars in a bravura performance after she is revitalized by an eccentric surgeon played by Willem Dafoe. The cast is rounded out by Mark Ruffalo, Ramy Youssef, Christopher Abbott, and Jerrod Carmichael. It's a must-see!

Episode 170 - Poor Things Review

Jason Statham is The Beekeeper. Requests were pouring in for us to cover this ridiculous action movie so we did. David Ayer directs and Kurt Wimmer writes (he also was one of the credited writers on Expend4bles). The movie features bees and honey and plenty of bee talk. Statham is an actual beekeeper on the property of Phylicia Rashad. When Phylicia Rashad gets fooled into a phishing scam and loses all her money she shoots herself. This sets Statham out on a John Wick-style quest for revenge. It left some Lodgers laughing and other Lodgers screaming, “Not the bees!”. The movie also stars Emmy Raver-Lampman, Josh Hutcherson, Bobby Naderi, Minnie Driver, and Jeremy Irons!

Hawt🔥Takez - The Beekeeper Review

Three boys ventured out into a cataclysmic rainstorm to tackle the appropriately waterlogged NIGHT SWIM, starring Kurt Russell’s son Wyatt and Academy Award nominee Kerry Condon. Did it scare our fins off or leave us cold in the shallow end? Dive in and find out!

Episode 171 - Night Swim Review

This Is J.Lo…NOW! At age 54, Jennifer Lopez has released her ninth studio album, This Is Me... Now, and along with it, she financed a $20 million romantic musical film that dropped onto Amazon Prime last week! This Is Me...Now: A Love Story is loosely based on J.Lo's life as she falls in and out of love over the past decades. This visual album was only 65 minutes long, but we had much to say about it!

Even though he's only in it for a few shots, Ben Affleck looms large over the project as Bennifer crashes and burns in the opening scenes, and J.Lo goes through a decades-long search to rediscover herself and her soul mate Ben. The film features many songs from her new album and many therapy scenes with Fat Joe as her therapist.

It also features a whole host of cameos, including Jane Fonda, Kim Petras, Keke Palmer, Post Malone, Sofia Vergara, Jenifer Lewis, Jay Shetty, Neil deGrasse Tyson, Sadhguru, Derek Hough, Trevor Noah, Paul Raci, and Ben Affleck as Rex Stone/Biker. Watch it through our eyes if you dare!

Episode 172 - This Is Me...Now: A Love Story Review

Celebrate Hollywood and the movies as the Lodgecast presents our Oscar Extravaganza & 2023 Movie Favorites! Host Brother Bischke leads a hard-charging examination of the Academy Award nominations as five prestigious Lodge members lay down their picks for what should win and what will win in twenty-three Oscar categories in under 30 minutes!

Then it's onto our special award, where we'll all give our pick for The Salad Dragon of the Year! Then we charge forward to the very serious business of picking our 2023 movie favorites as we all count down from #10 to #1 of our very favorite films of 2023.

Some Lodgecast movies make the cut of our best films, but there are many surprises. Have a listen, and let us know what you think!

Brother Bischke Presents: The Lodgecast Oscar Extravaganza & 2023 Movie Favorites!

We're taking a Lodgecast Spring Break! We must give our dear Lodgemaster a much-needed editing break after splicing together over 280 four-bone episodes in the last six years!

We'll be recording episodes of notable movies here and there while we rest up, but they won't be released until after our break. Fear not, dear listener; we shall return! Love & Eternal Light!

Lodgecast Spring Break 2024

Matt's Movie Lodgecast™ is a weekly film review podcast of current theatrical and VOD releases hosted by Lodgemaster Matt, along with his fellow Lodgers and co-hosts, "resident hothead" Lucas & Trickster Brother Bischke.

Episode 149 - Babylon Review

Matt’s Movie Lodgecast

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