The Official Podcast of Middle of the Row - @middleofrow
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Hello everyone and welcome to The Greatest Thing About Grave of the Fireflies... Ben threatened us for years with this movie, and we’ve finally done it! Ben isn't on an island, per say, but Zac and Lauren pushback on his ranking and level of greatness on this one. Still, a spirited discussion about an important film in anime history. This release is part of animation month, as we clear out a bunch…
Hello everyone and welcome to The Greatest Thing About Suzume… Some more anime this week, with another film from Makoto Shinkai. Ben and Lauren aren’t as high on this one, but Zac is a lot more enamored with this effort! We talk about where it missteps, how we wish it might have been better, and the Chair. This release is part of animation month, as we clear out a bunch of animated films from the…
Hello everyone and welcome to The Greatest Thing About Your Name… Zac is fairly new to the anime of it all, makes his quibbles, but mostly lets the folks who love this movie do the talking. Body swaps, craters, creepy origins, we cover it all! This release is part of animation month, as we clear out a bunch of animated films from the backlog! Download. Listen. Enjoy! Show Notes: (Time:Stamp)…
Hello everyone and welcome to The Greatest Thing About Scream VI... Zac is still not too won over by this franchise, and Ben and Lauren are both a bit down from V, but they have a nice conversation about what is, or isn’t, working in this long in the tooth franchise. Plus, plenty debate about the finale and the paths not traveled in this film. This release marks the end of a Scream week, as we’ve…
We now dive into Scream, not the OG, but number 5. This was recorded before last weeks Scream 3 episode and before any of the subsequent sequels. A lot of talking about the franchise between Ben & Lauren, as Zac tries to not come in and poo poo it all, and we wonder how many movies will include Mikey Madison dying by flame. This was, again, pulled from the archive of episodes we have recorded, and…
Hello everyone and welcome to The Greatest Thing About Scream 3... Zac comes in as a virgin with a couple of Scream superfans in Ben & Lauren. We discuss the franchise at large, the changes made to this film, nitpick the nitpickers and more! This was again pulled from the archive of episodes we have recorded, and starts off a Scream week of the episodes we've recorded on the franchise, but haven't…
Hello everyone and welcome to The Greatest Thing About Pennie From Heaven... This Steve Martin picture was him cashing in on his blank check from The Jerk and Ben and Lauren aren’t happy! Regardless, we have a very spirited, fun and honest conversation about the film! Good stuff! This was again pulled from the archive of episodes we have recorded, and caps off a Musical Week as we bring the…
Hello everyone and welcome to The Greatest Thing About La La Land... The best picture winner for three minutes was a first time watch and pick by Lauren and I think we all agree this movie is pretty great! We talk about some great chemistry, some sad love stories, and heap the praise on Stone and Gosling. This is the second archival episode in a bit of a Musical Week of bringing the podcast back!…
Hello everyone and welcome to The Greatest Thing About All That Jazz! Bob Fosse’s masterpiece was a first time viewing for Lauren and Ben, and I was happy to get them to watch one of my favorite movies! Come for lots of appreciation, some boredom, and one of the best puns Lauren has ever delivered on the podcast! This release was a holdover from the archives, I hope to start pumping more out!…
Today’s episode features Ben and Nick of A Place for Owls. A Place for Owls are a Denver emo band that play quote “music that makes you feel sad, but in a good way”. Following their breakout self-titled album from 2022, they have gone on to play shows with rock heavyweights Switchfoot and Mae. We discussed those shows and their DIY approach to promotion, as well as how they went about writing and…
Hello everyone and welcome to The Greatest Thing About Knock at the Cabin... With some new M. Night out with Trap, I’m putting out our episode of his last film that’s been sitting around in the unreleased archives. I think we are on the high end of appreciation for this one (I also think I was sick?), but we talk about greater meaning, great performances and how Night’s strengths and weaknesses…
Dipping back into the MCU one more time this week, for the film that feels closest to Deadpool & Wolverine, Spider-Man: No Way Home. This 2021 film was the first big dip into the multi-verse in the MCU and stands as the best version of it still, I think. We are all pretty big fans of this one and I was the highest on it when we recorded (probably still as well?). Anyways, it was fun to revisit our…
Hello everyone and welcome to The Greatest Thing About The Marvels... The most recent MCU entry, all the reworking of The Marvels might make even more sense to the MCU as it was probably re-jiggered along with the plans for Deadpool & Wolverine. We are all much bigger fans of The Marvels than its reputation that quickly set in at its release; that I think you can safely say was carried out by some…
Hello everyone and welcome to The Greatest Thing About Logan... We are back again and we are getting hyped for Deadpool & Wolverine by digging into the unreleased archives (a lot of those) to bring out the episodes related to this film. Logan is the last proper appearance of Hugh Jackman as Wolverine, in what was supposed to be his send off with the character, and the fact that he’s coming back…
Hello everyone and welcome to The Greatest Thing About Mad Max: Fury Road.... As we get ready for Furiosa this week, we decided to go back to the film it’s a prequel to! Two of us think this is a 5 star classic, but that doesn’t mean we spend the whole time gushing and raving about the incredible filmmaking. We discuss some shortcomings, how it feels like it could have gone deeper and I compare…
Hello everyone and welcome to The Greatest Thing About We’re All Going to the World’s Fair.... We recorded this awhile ago, but with director Jane Schoenbrun’s latest I Saw the TV Glow just going wide this weekend, now seemed like the time to release it in this catch up phase! We have a really lively discussion on this film, a movie none of liked above it being OK, but we do talk about a lot of…
Hello everyone and welcome to The Greatest Thing About Poor Things… The podcast might be coming back? IDK, we have tons of backlog, and hopefully this is the first of many more episodes to start rolling back onto this feed. We are back with Yorgos Lanthimos’ Poor Things, his latest film and one of the better films of 2023 from where I’m sitting. We discuss Emma Stone and Mark Ruffalo greatness,…
Song Trader, Episode 2 featuring: Caleb, Lindsay, and Meg Follow Caleb on Twitter: @CKPNW Follow Lindsay on Twitter: @lindsayfickas Follow Meg on Twitter: @megannnkoontz Follow me on Twitter: @anotherRahulJ @middleofrow #nothe
Hello. We are still a podcast. And this is yet another attempt to get these things out of the pipeline again. We have Middle of the Row & The Greatest Thing About... for days, and I hope this fall to get more to you all. This release is for The Mitchells vs. The Machines, which I’m timing with TMNT: Mutant Mayhem, as they share a director/writer in this film’s co-director/writer Jeff Rowe. Let’s…
Another Flashback episode from the time when we still did those on the OG feed. Catching up with Fright Night from 2011, a movie I soured on since I last saw it, but the rest of the pod is standing up for it! Is Charlie a shitty lead character, is Colin Farrell the dreamiest vampire ever, where is the justice for Poots? Download. Listen. Enjoy. The Categories: (Time:Stamp) 8 Words or Less, The…
One of many from the archives, essentially, even though this is the first release of the podcast! The Black Phone, I thought was a bad movie, and I think I brought Lauren and Ben down with me along the way? Take a listen for yourself, as we ask a lot of questions about this quite weird, silly and not that scary movie! General Thoughts, Star Ratings, crapping on Peacock (it’s gotten better)…
What’s this, it’s our podcast! Starting off 2023 (shut up, it’s still January!) Trying to make this a regular thing again (we have been recording), and I’m trying to find the time to get these out. But, as we say goodbye to 2022, it’s time for our Time Capsule episode! Let’s throw some stuff into the dirt for the future... Our Picks! Ben: Cyberpunk: Edgerunners (3:30) Lauren: A Plague Tale:…
Today I am talking with Aisha Sultan. Aisha is a syndicated columnist based at the St. Louis Post-Dispatch, where they’ve been writing for more than 20 years. Her work focusing on education and parenting has appeared in publications such as The Guardian, CNN, and The Washington Post. "Education, Interrupted" is her second documentary, and follows the experience of a mother of three young children…
We head back to Netflix to review Jamie Foxx’s latest, Day Shift! No one is terribly bowled over by this vampire flick/John Wick mashup, but we had quite a bit of fun picking it apart. Come for the praise of the fight choreography, stay longer as we try and figure out if this movie makes any damn sense. Download. Listen. Enjoy! The General Thoughts (01:00) Categories: The Draining Thing About...…
The week we are discussing The Greatest Thing About... Prey! This Predator prequel has nothing to do with previous films outside a couple nods and a Predator showing up, but it’s a fresh take on the format that is overcoming the stink of its previous entry. Taking the film back to the 18th century and giving the film a female lead are a great start, while director Dan Trachtenberg gets to show off…
It’s episode 2 of The Greatest Thing About Podcast... and we are showing off the flexibility of the concept by reviewing a video game; Stray. Stray is an indie release on Playstation and Steam and is a short, but fun, adventure into the mind of a cat. Well, sort of. You definitely get to be a cat, and do many cat things (napping, please), but the game itself is a mystery platformer that has some…
Welcome to a new version of our podcast at Middle of the Row; The Greatest Thing About... podcast! We are still going to talk about movies, but also hope to talk more games, tv, while also being able to pick whatever movie we damn well please. We will also be releasing our backlog (it’s big) of Middle of the Row: The Podcast as well, but the plan is for a new The Greatest Thing About... to come…
Goon was a flashback pick from late last year, but it was actually a 2012 release so now it is an actual flashback for the correct year! This was picked by Jon, but he didn’t make this episode, but Ben, Lauren and Zac all really enjoyed chatting about this hockey cult classic. Though, none of us have seen the sequel, so we don’t know if we can recommend that, but Scott and Schreiber are excellent…
Malignant came out and set the internet on fire for a couple weeks last year, but it didn’t really work for most of our crew...until it did. Zac was on board throughout, but everyone agrees the final act is worth sticking around for. But, we debate a lot! Is the acting good? How intentional is Wan’s vision? Is it scary? Is it a comedy? Watch/listen/find out! Download. Listen. Enjoy. The…
We are back with a flashback from last year, so it flashes back to 2001. Lauren picked Amélie, another Jean-Pierre Jeunet film from her, and its charms seemed to have won newcomer Ben over. Zac and Lauren continued to be big champions of the film, even if he thinks Amélie might be an emotional terrorist. Still, a fun chat and a lot of positive love for a movie that’s lost none of its charm all…
We are back, again, and digging deep into the backlog to hopefully start getting us back to the present. I plan on continuing to jump around in the releases, so bear with us as things might seem super random or super old! This week, we have a fun episode for a bad movie, Reminiscence. You probably forgot about this movie by now, so jump in the memory machine with us and revisit a film that was…
The MCU’s third entry in 2021 was Eternals and we reviewed it when it hit Disney+. Now you can buy it anywhere and wonder what the hell is Zac thinking or just take some enjoyment agreeing with Ben and Lauren on this whole endeavor. We found a lot of common ground on both sides of this coin, but came out liking it and not on quite opposite spectrums. Download. Listen. Enjoy. The Categories:…
Just in time for some Oscars nominations, we are releasing our episode on Denis Villeneuve’s Dune! We all love his last film on this podcast, Blade Runner 2049, but we aren’t quite as unanimously positive on his latest. That’s not to say we aren’t positive, but maybe expectations were a little too high? Need to rewatch it? Anyways, lots of praise, lots to discuss, and everyone wants to see Part 2!…
This week we flashback to the 2001 comedy classic, Wet Hot American Summer. A lot of familiar faces got their start here, the most successful of which is probably the smallest role of the main cast. Who knew! Everyone but Zac hadn’t seen this and I think he has slowly started to convert two more to the cult of Wet Hot! Download. Listen. Enjoy. The Categories: (Time:Stamp) 8 Words or Less, The…
Welcome to our Time Capsule 2021 Episode. This is where we pick our pop culture object to be stored and to be discovered by later generations, while also previewing the year ahead! Let's get to it! Zac’s Pick: Marvel’s What If... (3:00) Lauren’s Pick: Arcane (12:45) Ben’s Pick: To Your Eternity (18:50) Favorite Predictions for 2022 (24:00) Game Predictions: Ben: Tiny Tina’s Wonderland Lauren: God…
Just in time for The Peacemaker, our review of The Suicide Squad! Ben’s since named this his best movie of 21 (bold), while the rest of the crew definitely think it is good! Gunn is having fun and we have fun talking about this latest entry in the DC catalog. Download. Listen. Enjoy. The Categories: (Time:Stamp) 8 Words or Less, The Elevator Pitch, Why So & So, General Thoughts, Star Ratings…
We take a look back at Studio Ghibli’s most prestigious entry in their filmography, Spirited Away! This was a Ben pick and let’s just say we aren’t aligned as a group here. We appreciate the animation, the whimsy and some of us wonder what the hell is going on! Come shake your head at Zac is what we are ultimately saying. Download. Listen. Enjoy. The Categories: (Time:Stamp) 8 Words or Less, The…
We are back, again, after another delay. We have a lot of backlog from 2021 and those start coming out now! This is a bit of a forgotten Netflix release last year that was actually one of the more interesting titles they have released in the last year or two. We like different things about this one, so I think we all think you should definitely be able to find something to appreciate in this film.…
Yes, we still have a podcast and we are finally back with this summer’s Black Widow. Now free to all on Disney+, we timed this perfectly, right? We all love the MCU around here and we all really liked Black Widow. We argue over whom is the best in this film, discuss where we think all of the new characters might go from here as well as try and get to the bottom of the correct pronunciation of…
New Soderbergh with No Sudden Move! Zac’s in, obviously, but the rest of the group is not so moved. Still, they find some common ground over the cast (occasionally), the one-liners (always) and that Matt Damon makes everything better. Soderbergh fans, enjoy; if not, avoid??? Listen and find out. Download. Listen. Enjoy. The Categories: (Time:Stamp) 8 Words or Less, The Elevator Pitch, Why So & So,…
We got together to discuss the underseen A24/Hulu horror film, False Positive. Created and written by star Ilana Glazer and director John Lee, the film feels a little lost even if it’s heart is in the right place. Should it have been more horror, more comedy, more horror comedy? Do only pregnant families find this funny? Or only more terrifying? Lots of questions for a film that is an interesting…
Pixar’s latest is another fine little gem and that film is Luca. Pixar seems to be moving things a bit out of their comfort zone and it all works out! The house style fades away a bit, the Pixar formula isn’t as prevalent and the film’s runtime is one of the studio's shortest in some time. It might feel a little slight on the surface, but it also still has a ton of heart and a message all of our…
Lin-Manuel Miranda is back on the podcast, sort of, an adaptation of his musical In The Heights has made it to the big (and small) screen and we took a look at it for the podcast. Half of us were high on Hamilton, one of us liked this more, and one of us finally made it through one of his works with this film. And we aren’t all on the same page on this one by any means. Well, sort of, we all…
Lauren, Ben and Jon discuss The Conjuring: The Devil Made Me Do It and there is no need for any rituals or hexes upon one another. They look back at the series as a whole, even if one of them has seen none of them, discuss body contortions, and more or less enjoy themselves along the way. They also get into whether we need more of this series and have a number of But Why’s... A good discussion of…
A new release from Hulu this week, for Natalie Morales directorial debut, Plan B! This buddy/road trip/high school comedy was full of laughs (for me at least) and ended up helping us delivering my favorite episode in some time. Everyone is here and has varying takes, but we do go off the rails a few time thanks to a particular Prince in this film. Either way, I think you should give this smaller…
It’s a barrage of back and forths this week as half the podcast turns their backs on Zack Snyder as we discuss his latest, Army of the Dead! This Netflix film might be Snyder a bit too off the reins, or does the film just not stop to focus on anything, or is this film just too interested in setting up a giant cinematic universe of content for Netflix and Snyder to play in. Ben and Jon had fun…
This week we review the indie female arm wrestling comedy, Golden Arm. Starring Happiest Season’s Mary Holland and a strong ensemble, this one had a hard time winning over the crew beyond Zac. They argue whether we should be too hard on such a small movie, find common ground on some of the film’s good bits, and go back and forth on whether this will find a second life (or first) depending if Mary…
We take a Zack Snyder inspired flashback to his only original film Sucker Punch! A bomb on multiple levels when it came out, this crew has always shared some appreciation for it, so we decided to revisit it and see how it has stood up over the last ten years. Jon’s back and is a first time viewer, but he falls in line with the rest of the crew as we get into what we like and what we wish might…
Ben picks The Raid this week for our flashback to “2011” as he tries to convince Zac that he is wrong about this one. He might prove him wrong, but he also loves the film as an action masterpiece. Where does Lauren fall? You’ll have to listen, but we also marvel at the fighting, argue The Raid vs. The Raid 2, and also talk about the very similar film Dredd released about the same time. Another…
A three person weave on Mortal Kombat leads to a delightful episode where we find things to appreciate (and not) about this film that we run the spectrum on enjoyment. Ben loves dumb fun, Lauren’s happy it’s not the original and Zac wishes the movie was called Kano. That said, come for some nostalgia for the gaming franchise, the first film (Ben at least) and we try to get to the bottom of why…
