Mama Needs a Movie Mama Needs a Movie

It's raining men on Mama Needs a Movie with our first ever doubleheader review, discussing Richard Linklater's comedy noir HIT MAN and Chris Pine's lighthearted mystery POOLMAN.

HIT MAN stars Glen Powell as a mild-mannered philosophy professor Gary Johnson, moonlighting as an undercover fake hit man, who falls for Madison (Adria Arjona), a woman who hires him. Debuting to critical praise at the Venice Film Festival, HIT MAN was picked up by Netflix for a straight-to-streaming release.

POOLMAN stars Chris Pine as Darren, a good-natured eccentric who lives in a trailer at an apartment complex in Los Angeles. His intense love of the city is put to the test when femme fatale June (DeWanda Wise) draws him into a sordid conspiracy. Premiering at the Toronto International Film Festival, POOLMAN has faced a harsher critical response, but we vow to give Pine's directorial debut a fair shake.

HIT MAN is currently available to stream with subscription on Netflix.

POOLMAN is currently available for digital rental.

We push the pedal to the metal in our discussion of George Miller's post-apocalyptic actioner, FURIOSA: A MAD MAX SAGA starring Anya Taylor-Joy, Chris Hemsworth and Tom Burke. The fifth installment of Australia's venerable Mad Max series finds a young Furiosa kidnapped by biker warlord Dr. Dementus, and forced to watch her mother be murdered. After growing to adulthood at the Citadel, Furiosa becomes intent on taking revenge on Dementus, setting out on Fury Road where she meets Praetorian Jack. Following 2015's widely praised Mad Max: Fury Road, FURIOSA has opened to favorable reviews but disappointing box office numbers, causing some to wonder if this long-running franchise has finally run out of gas. Join us for a high octane talk of all things FURIOSA, along with some pit stops into The Bikeriders, Mike Faist, Saving Private Ryan, The Cell, The Souvenir, revenge films, aging auteurs, Marlon Brando, and much, much more!

FURIOSA: A MAD MAX SAGA is currently in theaters. 

Artist, writer and comedian Raft joins for a discussion of the new romantic comedy, THE IDEA OF YOU starring Anne Hathaway and Nicholas Galitzine. Directed by Michael Showalter, this Prime Video release tells the story of Solène (Hathaway), a Silver Lake art gallery owner and divorced mother turning 40 whose accidental Coachella encounter with 24-year-old pop star, Hayes Campbell (Galitzine) leads to a sexy romance. Based on the book by Robinne Lee, THE IDEA OF YOU has garnered buzz for Hathaway's sincere work and the characters' unconventional age pairing, so it's high time for Mama Needs a Movie to weigh in on this modern work of Mom Cinema. Join us as we share some ideas about THE IDEA OF YOU, along with diversions into the Met Gala, celebrity tattoos, theatre kids, Fiona Apple, Quentin Tarantino, My Policeman, Maestro, Glendale, Quibi and much, much more!

THE IDEA OF YOU is available to stream on Prime Video.

Anne and Ryan volley points back and forth on Luca Guadagnino's tennis romance, CHALLENGERS starring Zendaya, Mike Faist and Josh O'Connor. CHALLENGERS is the chronologically jumbled story of two young tennis players, Patrick (O'Connor) and Art (Faist) who meet another pro, Tashi (Zendaya) and are immediately drawn to her. Years later, Tashi has coached one player to numerous titles, while the other fumbles through a career low point, the fate of all three realigning at a Challenger event. Praised for its sexy, kinetic style and score by Trent Reznor and Atticus Ross, CHALLENGERS is shaping up to be one of 2024's most discussed movies. We serve up an aggressive CHALLENGERS discussion along with some out-of-bounds diversions into Shampoo, Out of Sight, The Social Network, West Side Story, body hair, Universal CityWalk, the Americana, and much, much more!

CHALLENGERS is currently in theaters.

Actor and podcaster Craig Jorczak (The Oscar Should Have Gone To) joins to discuss the newly released action thriller, MONKEY MAN starring Dev Patel, Sharlto Copley, Pitobash, Vipin Sharma and Sikandar Kher. The film marks Patel's directorial debut in which he plays Kid, a young man set on taking revenge against the corrupt police chief who murdered his mother. Plagued by injuries sustained during fight training, a harsh mid-pandemic production, and a late withdrawal of Netflix distribution, Patel’s first foray behind the camera required a resiliency worthy of his action hero protagonist, but is the film worthy of the blood, sweat and tears that went into it? Join us as we tackle MONKEY MAN with some diversions into Ripley, Letterboxd, John Woo, the Skarsgård siblings, Monster's Ball, Foe, Kenneth Lonergan, movie stars on Broadway, and much, much more!

MONKEY MAN is currently playing in theaters.

Director and writer Harrison Atkins (Lace Crater) joins for a discussion of Michael Powell and Emeric Pressburger's rhapsodic 1947 drama, BLACK NARCISSUS starring Deborah Kerr, Kathleen Byron, David Farrar and Sabu. Based on Rumer Godden's novel, BLACK NARCISSUS tells the story of Anglican nuns establishing a convent on a Himalayan mountaintop. Overwhelmed by the region's natural beauty and their own natural urges, the sisters begin to question their lives as nuns. Shot in stunning Technicolor by cinematographer Jack Cardiff, BLACK NARCISSUS is one of Powell and Pressburger's defining films, a thorny, surprisingly modern work on female devotion, repression, lust and madness. Join Mama Needs a Movie as it gazes into BLACK NARCISSUS, with some diversions into Annihilation, Paris Is Burning, declining horniness, Madeline, Silence, haircuts, Sister Wendy and much, much more!

BLACK NARCISSUS is available to stream with subscription to The Criterion Channel or Max, and can be streamed for free on Freevee, Tubi, and The Roku Channel.