Have You Ever Seen

Punk rockers have to fight back against their drug-peddling, murderous hosts in the second edition in Have You Ever Seen's 11th Annual Scary Movie Month. Green Room isn't going to make you jump in fright or sweat out every pore, but it IS an intense experience as Anton Yelchin, Alia Shawkat and Imogen Poots try to avoid being murdered by Patrick Stewart and his jerky group of neo-Nazis. Arms are left in very bad condition, dogs go for the jugular and the body count is enormous for a fairly contained movie. The violence isn't gratuitous in Jeremy Saulnier's dark thriller, but it IS brutal...and there's much bloodshed. So 1-2-3-4 listen to episode #764. the 10-year-old Green Room.
Well, Actually: Alia Shawkat should be pronounced as it looks: "Shaw-cat," not "Shaw-cot." Also, I've seen Rebel Ridge since recording this episode (which is intense and well-acted like Green Room is...and I recommend it too).
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The 11th Annual Scary Movie Month starts on a Friday this year…and this 763rd episode spends (or wastes) time talking about an early entry in the slasher genre. The Burning is all about an abusive caretaker named Cropsey being burned nearly to death in a stupid prank, then the mutilated man comes back years later for revenge against anyone…and everyone. Tony Maylam's hack shriek-fest isn't scary. It's just cheesy and grisly. Not in a fun way either, even with all the rampant nudity. This lazy dreck is slickly made, at least, with major players like the Weinsteins working behind the scenes. So sharpen your hedge clippers and crash a summer camp as Jason Alexander cracks jokes and the blood flies as I do a thing about The Burning.
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It's fitting that with Scary Movie Month right around the spooky corner, here's a Japanese classic that's all about death. Yojimbo is the first Akira Kurosawa film on Have You Ever Seen in quite a few years. And just like in Rashomon, Seven Samurai, Throne Of Blood and so many of his others, it's been very influential on other filmmakers. Longtime AK collaborator, Toshiro Mifune, plays a selfish ronin who works 2 sides of a gang war against each other. The antihero is, as he always was, very Kabuki, but also very commanding. He's the star of a bloody and violent B&W classic as people die while Sanjuro rides the fence (and also kills plenty of the townsfolk). So grab a fistful of this 762nd episode as I relate some thoughts about Yojimbo.
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For the 8th year running, Have You Ever Seen spends time on the film that won Best Picture several months earlier. Paul Thomas Anderson finally won not just 1, but 3 Oscars for his funny, often-thrilling action movie. Leonardo DiCaprio plays a former revolutionary (and perpetual nitwit pothead) who's raising Chase Infiniti on his own, since her mother (a dangerously dynamic Teyana Taylor) ratted on their fellow terrorists. Sean Penn is a vicious, racist lawman who's sexually obsessed with Taylor while Benicio Del Toro is a goofy, yet helpful karate sensei. PTA's flick is complicated, since it's all about often-unlikable rabble rousers whose actions got people killed. Fun experience though! I talked a lot about Oscar rival Sinners early on in this episode too, by the way. So don't be a rat OR a terrorist. Just dance backwards while in police custody as I enjoy a few small beers and toss episode #761 your way.
Subscribe to this chat show in your app, click a 5-star rating and even write up a "you should listen to this" review. On Letterboxd, I'm "RyanHYES." On Twitter, I'm "@moviefiend51." On Bluesky, I'm "ryan-ellis." And my email is "haveyoueverseenpodcast@gmail.com."

Wonder Boys and X-Men: The Last Stand might not have much in common, except they made my Top 10 lists in 2000 and 2006. In this 760th episode, I first dug into the lived-in, lovely loneliness in Curtis Hanson's movie about fans of the printed word. Wonder Boys is funny, offbeat and quite satisfying. Michael Douglas leads a terrific cast while the likes of Maguire, Downey, McDormand and Holmes are varying degrees of wonderful too. Just delightful. Then my X-Men 3 review got even more time. The huge-budget production was rushed, there were probably too many actors in the cast and it (apparently) betrayed the classic Dark Phoenix storyline from the comics. Still, I continue to find it exciting and surprising. So maybe you can be The Cure as Have You Ever Seen does some Wondering and some Standing.
Well, Actually: Frances McDormand was in Sam Raimi's Darkman, so she WAS in a superhero film.
Subscribe to the podcast in your non-mutated app. Rate, review, comment, share. Follow me on Letterboxd (RyanHYES). Email me (haveyoueverseenpodcast@gmail.com). And on the socials, I'm "@moviefiend51" on Twitter and "ryan-ellis" on Bluesky.