Episodes

  • Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse // A Film for Everyone

    Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse // A Film for Everyone
    Sep 8 2023

    In today's episode I talk about my thoughts of Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse. This is the most layered film I've ever seen and I talk a little about just how layered it is. I also give my rankings of all ten Spider-Man movies.
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    Please be sure to check out my other podcasts, Hollywood Horrors, about two kids who get sucked into a classic movie. The season 1 finale recently came up for air (it's about Jaws). And my newest podcast called Toying with Faith, where I talk about heavy faith-based issues in a light way.
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    22 mins
  • Movies I've Watched in 2003 Part 1

    Movies I've Watched in 2003 Part 1
    Sep 1 2023

    I start this episode off with a call for help. I pursuing full-time podcasting, but I need your help. I get into a little bit of my current situation. Then I spend the rest of the show doing rapid-fire reviews of the movies I've watched this year. And yes, it's only part of the list. I watch a LOT of movies.

    Please be sure to check out my other podcasts, Hollywood Horrors, about two kids who get sucked into a classic movie. The season 1 finale recently came up for air (it's about Jaws). And my newest podcast called Toying with Faith, where I talk about heavy faith-based issues in a light way.


    And one last thing. I've written a script about the world's most iconic 20th century figure. I've been hunting down investors and podcast channels, and even though each one of them has told me this thing will be big, no one has been willing to prove it with financial backing. One agent even said it would be better suited as a film, but the point of doing it as a podcast is to keep costs low. 


    I know writers and actors are on strike, and I have no cat in that fight, but there are lots of actors and writers like myself who will still work, even now. 


    I picked up a couple of extremely talented people at my church to help me out with the voices for this demo I put together. If you like movies like The Hill and other inspiring biopics, then this is an audio drama that I feel would be beneficial to that same demographic. 


    Please. If you know an investor or a friend of a friend of someone who might be able to drop me a name, please email me at author.andrewtoy@gmail.com, or message me on Facebook if you can find me, and get me in touch with that person. 


    Without further ado, here is the demo reel, if you will, for my podcast audio-drama extravaganza, Fowling Up: The Colonel Sanders Story.

    If you want to be on the show, or have an idea or suggestion, email me at author.andrewtoy@gmail.com. 
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    23 mins
  • The Hill: Baseball, Faith, and the Triumph of the Human Spirit

    The Hill: Baseball, Faith, and the Triumph of the Human Spirit
    Aug 25 2023
    Today is a special episode as I discuss faith and movies and hardships with the director of the new Dennis Quaid movie, The Hill, and joining us is the subject of the film himself, Major League ball player, Rickey Hill. As of now it sets at 100% audience score on Rotten Tomatoes, and after watching a screener of the film, I really enjoyed it all the way through. We don't get so much into the technical side of the filmmaking process during the interview, but we do discuss the movie's genre and what demographics the film is for, etc. I had the opportunity to speak briefly with Jeff and Rickey before and after the recording, and they are just as kind and humble off camera as they are during the interview you're about to hear. It's guys like these two that give me hope for those who have a taste of celebrity. I tried to ask unique questions that they may have not been asked a hundred times before. For instance, I didn't ask what it was like to work with Dennis Quaid, because we all know the answer is going to be that he was a kind and generous man. Whether that's truly the case or just for PR, I wasn't here to talk about Mr. Quaid, as great as I'm sure he is. I wanted to get inside the director's head, especially in a time when Christian movies are starting to figure out how to fit into the culture and have mass appeal. But, the director will argue that The Hill is not a Christian film, and I can see his point of view on the matter, and I respect it. After all, so many churches and pastors call Braveheart a Christian film, considering that it was written by one of our brothers, but that doesn't mean it has to be labeled as such. Men and women of faith are more than capable of putting out gripping, secular entertainment. Talking with Rickey was such a blessing, and I wish I had so much more time with him, as I kind of feel myself in the middle of a story that's similar to his. I'm not a ball player, and I don't have his strength, but if you've followed my journey, you know that my family and I have been drawing the short stick for a long time now. I will admit there is a point in the conversation where I abruptly change the subject when the conversation was starting to go into deeper wells, and that's not because I was shying away from the emotions it was causing, but I wanted to be mindful of their time, and honestly, I felt like nothing else needed to be said on the matter. Whether that was the right instinct or not, that can be up to you to decide. But I just wanted you to know that I'm very aware of that decision to do so, and I'm at peace with it. But enough of my babbling. Let's cut to the interview, and whether you're a Christian or a baseball lover or not, may you truly be blessed and encouraged by this conversation. To learn more about Mr. Hill's story and the Rickey Hill Ultimate Wellness Kit, visit his website at RickeyHill.com. Epilogue:I hope you enjoyed that conversation. And please, please go see The Hill while it's still in theaters - it really is an old-fashioned sports movie that rarely gets made anymore. Please be sure to check out my other podcasts, Hollywood Horrors about two kids who get sucked into a classic movie. The season 1 finale just came up for air today (it's about Jaws). And my newest podcast called Toying with Faith, where I talk about heavy faith-based issues in a light way. Links for both shows are in the show notes below. And one last thing. I've written a script about the world's most iconic 20th century figure. I've been hunting down investors and podcast channels, and even though each one of them has told me this thing will be big, no one has been willing to prove it with financial backing. One agent even said it would be better suited as a film, but the point of doing it as a podcast is to keep costs low. I know writers and actors are on strike, and I have no cat in that fight, but there are lots of actors and writers like myself who will still work, even now. I picked up a couple of extremely talented people at my church to help me out with the voices for this demo I put together. If you like movies like The Hill and other inspiring biopics, then this is an audio drama that I feel would be beneficial to that same demographic. Please. If you know an investor or a friend of a friend of someone who might be able to drop me a name, please email me at author.andrewtoy@gmail.com, or message me on Facebook if you can find me, and get me in touch with that person. Without further ado, here is the demo reel, if you will, for my podcast audio-drama extravaganza, Fowling Up: The Colonel Sanders Story. 
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    46 mins
  • Mission: Impossible - Dead Reckoning Part 1

    Mission: Impossible - Dead Reckoning Part 1
    Jul 17 2023

    Finally, after waiting and waiting and waiting, I finally got to see Mission: Impossible - Dead Reckoning Part 1. Yes, Tom Cruise is still the king of Hollywood, and this is still my favorite franchise, BUT ... is this the best Mission:Impossible movie ever made? Find out as you chill with me talking about the greatest action franchise of all time. 

    And stay tuned for a special announcement and sneak peek at another podcast I'm working on, that you should definitely put on your *cough, cough* bucket list. 
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    44 mins
  • John Wick Chapter 4: Should Christians Watch These Badass Films?

    John Wick Chapter 4: Should Christians Watch These Badass Films?
    Mar 27 2023

    I apologize for the audio quality in this episode, but the conversation was so good I knew we couldn't organically replicate it. Daniel Cobin joins me (you'll remember him from the Batman Begins episode) to talk about our love of John Wick. 

    To learn more about Evan and Ruthanne: https://instagram.com/everyday.england?igshid=YmMyMTA2M2Y=
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    38 mins
  • Titanic: Life's a Sinking Ship

    Titanic: Life's a Sinking Ship
    Mar 9 2023
    Chick flick? Action film? Disaster Film? Drama? Soft porn? This movie is truly everything, and even the humor throughout truly do land, for me, at least. After my high school years when I finally grew up, I was able to freely admit that Titanic is not only one of the greatest films ever made, but also one of my all time favorite films. My top 10 can change on a daily basis, but usually, this one stays up there pretty consistently. I'll never forget when this movie hit theaters at the end of 1997. My sister was either visiting from college or was about to go off to San Diego in the spring. I was in junior high and she had her own life, so the family wasn't together much in those days because, well, that's how it happens when you start to build your own social groups. That whole week leading up to our showtime at Regal Edwards Stadium in Valencia, CA. The memory is so close to me I can reach out and just about touch it. We might have grabbed dinner at our favorite Mexican restaurant, Don Cuco's first. But I remember it was night as it was mid-December and the streets lights were lined with Christmas lights and Christmas wreaths. So I was already pumped full of excitement for Christmas just around the corner, but I think I might have been more excited for Titanic. All week I'd been glued to the news watching live interviews of people walking out of the film, absolutely praising it to high heaven. Women were in tears, teenagers were glowing, young boys were hooping and hollering. The world was right because the Titanic was once again afloat majestically on the sea of the silver screens across the world. Jack Dawson was alive forever, no matter what the movie tried to tell us about his fate. I remember all four of us in our gold Toyota minivan, those vans that looked like an Orca whale, I always thought. My dad, at one point early on the trip, exclaimed like the captain of a ship: "Ahoy! Away we go!" My sister rolled her eyes, I giggled with excitement. I may have been growing out of childish things, but I would never grow out of the thrill of a new movie that was about to change the world. Granted, I didn't know James Cameron going into Titanic. I wasn't yet aware of Leonardo DiCaprio or Kate Winslet or even Kathy Bates of Billy Zane. This was a totally new cast to me. It was akin to a monster movie anyway, you show up for the monster, not the actors. The monster in Titanic, of course, was a gentle giant gliding though the Atlantic like battle-ready seraph seeking to bring all onboard to the safety of the New York port. I just wanted to get to the safety of the movie theater, my butt planted, my bladder empty, and a ship-shaped box of popcorn in my lap that would likely be eaten before the final preview ended twenty-five minutes after the lights dimmed. The movie happened, and thought I don't know the names of everyone in that crowded theater, I can tell you that no one was the same that night. Titanic wasn't a mere movie to kill 90 minutes with like Mouse Hunt playing for the kids and poor parents next door. Jack Nicholson was yucking it up with racial slurs in As Good As It Gets in the theater across the hall. For those who got to the box office after the last Titanic ticket sold out, Spielberg's ship movie Ammistad was playing as another sea voyage option. Pierce Brosnan was shooting it up in his second Bond outing at the time Titanic was in theaters in Tomorrow Never Dies. Hollywood never looked better than 1996 and 1997, and we were still in for plenty of surprises in 1998. Quality would Peter off in 1999 and then for the next decade or so moving forward. But for now, life - at least life through the big screen - was good. And now, 26 years later, I've been making it a point to watch Titanic annually for the last few years, because it's too good of a movie to just let slip through your fingers. I'm not sure how many people out there love it as much as I do. Sure, the CGI people on the wide shots of the ship's deck are super obvious, but that can easily be overlooked because the script, as simple of a love story as it is, is so tightly written and the characters are so engaging (perhaps because you know their fate going into the film). You may not realize it, but James Horner's score does to this movie what John Williams' does to Star Wars: It elevates a great film to an excellent film. The Southampton track alone is enough to rival E.T. and Jurassic Park. And yeah, it was overplayed in the late 90's, but you've got to admit, when you hear Celine Dion's "My Heart Will Go On," your mind is taken instantly to snapshots of this film. That's what a great feature song is supposed to do. I hadn't seen Aliens or Terminator 2 when I first saw Titanic. These are earlier films directed by James Cameron. These are movies I finally got to experience as an older teenager. Sure, I'd seen the motor bike chase scene in the wash a bunch of times on TV, but the commercials would come on and force my hand ...
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    19 mins
  • Movies To See In 2023

    Movies To See In 2023
    Dec 29 2022
    I did my worst and best films of 2022, enough of the past, now let's look into the future! The 2023 films I'm looking forward to! This doesn't mean I'm going to see every one of them, because for several of these I only read a synopsis, and if the trailer looks bad, then I'm not going to see it. Or, if the trailer looks stellar and I do plan on seeing it, but everyone across the board who sees it hates it, I'm not going to waste my time or money. Don't look at me that way - I'm going to be like that until I can start monetizing this podcast, okay? Or, it could be that a movie looks great, and people love it, but it's only on Hulu or something, a service I don't have. Then, in that case, it sucks to be me. There's also going to be those movies that jump out and surprise me in the middle of the year that I never would have considered just by reading the premise on paper. All that to say, this is not a comprehensive list by any means. And just so you know, this isn't a Top 10 list, this is just running through the release dates from January to December, so here we go!The first film up is You People. Don't know a thing about it except that it's a buddy comedy (I like buddy comedies - like, is there really a better kind of comedy than that?) which stars Jonah Hill and Eddie Murphy. I don't care much for Eddie Murphy outside of Beverly Hills Cop, but I'm a big fan of Jonah Hill. He always makes me laugh. Knock at the Cabin is an apocalyptic psychological horror film directed by M. Night Shyamalan. What can I say, the man's having a resurgence of sorts with Split, Glass, and I actually enjoyed Old. So I say keep bringing it, my man. I've still got faith in you. I'm still a fan. Winnie-the-Pooh: Blood and Honey is coming out next year, and um... yeah, it sounds silly enough that my interest is piqued. Is it going to be any good? Doubt it. Will I watch it? ...Doubt it. But it's on my list if I ever happen to come across it. Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania. Sigh. After last year's Thor: Love and Thunder and all the Marvel shows that no one can possibly keep up with, I'm kind of done with Marvel. Way I see it, Marvel ended with a bang with End Game, and then Spider-Man: No Way Home was like the end-credit scene to all of Marvel. It was the icing on the cake, the last hoorah, the final farewell. To be fair, I haven't seen Wakanda yet, but I'm skeptical because it doesn't have Chadwick Boseman or Michael B. Jordan (though I've been told that Jordan does make an appearance). Anyway, I like Ant-Man, but this will likely be one I wait to come on Disney+. Speaking of Michael B. Jordan, Creed III is my first highly anticipated movie. I love Rocky, all of his movies, and I love the follow-up series, Creed, just as much. I know this film, which is also directed by Michael B. Jordan (following in the lines of Sylvester Stallone), is going to be a knockout. Scream VI is one I'm not dying to see, because these movies don't ever touch the brilliance of the first film, but I'm committed. I'll see it. Adam Driver stars as an astronaut who fights dinosaurs. Sixty-five is a movie that was written by the guys that gave us A Quite Place movies. My daughter is heads-over-heels in love with Kylo Ren, so she's probably going to want to see this one with me, even though she'll only be 9. We'll see what Mom says. But even if she can't, I'll definitely check this one out as long as the reviews are positive. Shazam! Fury of the Gods! Bring - it - on!! I'm a big fan of the first movie - I find it original and touching and hilarious. I'm a little concerned that it won't just be Shazam as the lone super hero, but all his siblings will be fighting by his side, so I'm hoping it's not a Hobbit situation where there's too many characters on screen that we don't know what to do with them. Still, I'm highly optimistic about this movie and it's been on my radar for a very long time. Also on my radar is John Wick: Chapter 4. I mean, what can I say? It's one of those franchises that I think gets better with each installment. The action in Chapter 3 was just *Phew!* mind-blowing. So I can't wait to see what they come up with for this film. Champions is a film directed by Bobby Farley, one of the Farley brothers, and stars Woody Harelson. I don't know anything about it beyond that, but that sounds like a winning team if you ask me. The Super Marios Bros. Movie is one I'm really, really looking forward to, and that's coming from a guy that doesn't really like animated movies all that much. But this one looks like eye-candy as far as just how cartoony the characters look, and I love the trailers and clips they've shown for it as the movie will make the Mario world as we know it, come to live, and actually make sense. Guardians of the Galaxy 3. This is easily one of my most anticipated movies by far. I've watched the trailer 12 times by now, and this is one of two exceptions I've always planned on making for my Marvel viewings post-Endgame. ...
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    10 mins
  • The Best Movies of 2022

    The Best Movies of 2022
    Dec 27 2022
    Alright, it's the podcast you've all been waiting for: For all, three of you who listen, anyway. Today I'm going to name call and gush on my top films of 2022, so let's get right to it. The bottom of my list and number 17 is Joradn Peele's Nope. I believe it's his third movie. He made Get Out, which I wasn't a fan of, but I know I need to rewatch, and Us, a movie that I absolutely adored. So Peele was already batting 50% with me. When I saw he was tackling aliens, I was all in. So, before I go on, I want to give a disclaimer that I may be biased against this film because, well, I wrote it. You heard me. Years and years ago when I was striving to become an author, I came up with a concept and wrote the first several chapters of a book where flying saucers descended upon a Western-type ghost town. Yup, with the flying horse and people getting beamed up, and even the rain water cascading down around the flying saucer to create the illusion that you were inside a circular waterfall. Except in my version, there was going to be literally thousands of spaceships that covered the face of the earth, blocking out the rain and the sun while the alien residents lived above us where their saucers formed a sort of landscape for them to live their lives on while the rest of us died from lack of sunlight and earth essentially became their underground sewer system. So, Peele's movie didn't go quite the way I planned the story, but there were enough similarities that I kept being taken out of the movie. I'm not saying he stole my idea or whatever, because I realize there's only so many good ideas floating around in the ether for us to grab hold of. He just got the idea and made a movie about it. So I say good on him. Though this isn't may favorite film of the year, it's still an enjoyable watch, and I'll probably revisit it one day. Number 16 is Lost City. This one stars Sandra Bullock and Channing Tatum, but I'll be honest, it was Brad Pitt who was the true star in this movie. My gripe with it is that it did that thing that most comedies do, where the first half is really funny, like it knows it wants to be a comedy, but then the second half completely forgets to tell the jokes. So this is a half-and-half movie for me. I recommend watching the first half, for sure, at least everything with Brad Pritt, but if you turn it off halfway through, you're really not missing much.Number 15 is Chip 'n Dale: Rescue Rangers. That's right, it's the Roger Rabbit sequel we never got, but it's certainly a good companion piece. I remember I laughed quite a bit toward the beginning, and the mystery element held my attention throughout. Also, kudos to Disney for not pumping this cute little film with any woke crap. None that I saw, anyway. I think if you never saw the original cartoon it's based off of, some of it will be lost on you, especially the nostalgic scenes, but I think overall it was a creative, out-of-the-box concept that was executed quite well from people that clearly, CLEARLY loved and embraced the original source material. Father Stu is a movie that I think had a theatrical release, but you can catch it now on Netflix. It's number 14 on my list. This one's got Mark Whalberg and my very own Mel Gibson. These two respectable gentlemen are men of faith in real life -- you can keep that anti-semitism crap to yourself, I won't hear it -- and so they were able to pull from real life experiences to tell this true story of a boxer-turned-priest. It's low on my list because it was filmed in the most conventional of ways where it felt like I'd seen it all before, but I still respect it for what it is, and I love that faith-based movies can still be made accessible to the general public.  Number 13 is Guillermo del Toro's Pinocchio. I did not want to see this movie, but the reviews convinced me otherwise. That's probably what's going to happen with Avatar: Way of Water. But this movie was a pleasant and unexpected surprise. It was pleasant because the characters were special and life-like, and it was unexpected, because this wasn't the same Pinocchio story we've been told a million times. There are several deviations from the source material that don't compromise the source material's intended morals or values, or even the story itself. So if you're a fan of the Pinocchio story in any way, but want something different from the characters, this is definitely the right movie for you. Nic Cage stars as Nic Cage in The Unbearable Weight of Massive Talent, and this is movie number 12 on my list, though honestly, I could have thrown this movie anywhere below my top 5 and be happy where it landed. I just kind of stuck it in there at random. And though Nic Cage is why you go see this movie, Pedro Pascal is why you stay. Pedro Pascal, you'll remember him as Mando from the Mandalorian, is the true star and heart of this movie. I'd even go so far as to say he delivered one of the best performances of the year, because he just won you over...
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    24 mins