8 years ago
All posts by Josh Spiegel
“Get On Up” Comes Alive Only When The Godfather of Soul Is On Stage
Just as James Brown was the hardest working man in show business, the new biography of his life often feels like the hardest working movie in show business, although it's far less successful. Get On Up sometimes feels like a standard-issue "Behind the Music"-e...
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Mousterpiece Cinema, Episode 155: “Rudyard Kipling’s The Jungle Book”
This week on Mousterpiece Cinema, we're getting straight down to the bare necessities. Yep, that's right, Josh and Gabe are headed to the jungle to talk about The Jungle Book, the 1967 animated classic with a jazz-loving bear, a stuffy panther, and a proper En...
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Mousterpiece Cinema, Episode 154: “Planes: Fire and Rescue”
Please sit back, with your tray tables in their upright and locked positions and your seat belts fastened. This episode of Mousterpiece Cinema will be a wild flight indeed. What's that? You think it's super-creepy to imagine yourself, a human, taking a ride in...
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“Planes: Fire and Rescue” Crashes And Burns In Slightly Less Fiery Fashion Than Its Predecessor
The primal, terrifying, and damaging power of fire is no stranger to Disney animation. It's not difficult to remember the scene where Bambi's mom is killed by an unseen hunter, but Bambi climaxes with a massive fire that lays waste to the forest that was once ...
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Mousterpiece Cinema, Episode 153: “Honey, I Shrunk the Kids”
Hold on to your hats (and other necessary items), folks. We're getting small on this week's episode of Mousterpiece Cinema as we tackle a genre classic from June of 1989. No, it's not Batman; it's Disney's try at B-movie science-fiction, Honey, I Shrunk the Ki...
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Mousterpiece Cinema, Episode 152: “Aladdin”
It's time for a new episode of Mousterpiece Cinema, friends. And this week, we can open your eyes and show you a whole new world. Scratch that, we will open your eyes regarding a little film called Aladdin. Josh and Gabe are joined on the show this week by pas...
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“The Girl on the Train” A Silly and Ultimately Forgettable Thriller
"Didn't Jesus say, 'What is truth?" is an odd question for a NYPD detective to ask a potential suspect of a murder, but it's no odder than the cool-headed reply: "I think it was Pilate." Debating the essence of moral or objective truth, what it means to film t...
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“Tammy” A Maddeningly Muddled and Inconsistent Star Vehicle for Melissa McCarthy
If there is one vexing problem at the core of American comedy in the 21st century worth talking about now--there's more than just one, of course--it's that too many actors, writers, and filmmakers are convinced that audiences will only accept sincere emotion i...
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Mousterpiece Cinema, Episode 151: “Pulp Fiction”
Don't worry, friends, you haven't broken your concentration. Yes, this is a new episode of Mousterpiece Cinema. And yes, this week, Josh and Gabe are talking about one of the most influential and iconic films of the 1990s, the decidedly family-unfriendly Quent...
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“Transformers: Age of Extinction” Represents The Antithesis of Fun
The tired-looking radio DJ looks at the equally tired audience, going through the motions of asking trivia questions so the people who've waited in line for hours to watch a movie about robots beating the tar out of each other and anything nearby can win a pri...
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