Mama Needs a Movie Mama Needs a Movie

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. 

Mama Needs a Movie celebrates 100 episodes of flawless podcasting with a telephone survey of former guests Danny Jelinek, Allan McLeod, Jessica Lee Williamson, Alex Kavutskiy, Courtney Davis, Meghann Murphy, Caramel Nguyen, Jon Millstein, and Rachel Lee Goldenberg.

Anne and Ryan serve up a spicy discussion of Denis Villenueve's DUNE: PART TWO, the second installment of the epic science-fiction saga starring Timothée Chalamet, Zendaya, Rebecca Ferguson, Josh Brolin, Austin Butler, Florence Pugh, and Javiar Bardem. Based on Frank Herbert's classic novel, the film picks up where 2021's DUNE left off: In a distant future, after the fall of the House Atreides, Paul Atreides (Chalamet) and his mother Jessica (Ferguson) travel with the Fremen on the planet of Arrakis. Paul's romance with Chandi (Zendaya) grows as he struggles with visions of a terrible future and an impending war with House Harkonnen. Opening to rave reviews and a strong box office performance, DUNE: PART TWO has already cemented its place as one of 2024's most celebrated releases, but does the film really live up to the hype? Join Mama Needs a Movie down the wormhole of Villenueve's latest, along with diversions into Star Wars, Priscilla, The Last Temptation of Christ, Sydney Sweeney, Star Trek: The Next Generation, and much, much more!

DUNE: PART TWO is currently in theaters.

Actor, comedian and playwright John Ross Bowie (Brushstroke) joins to discuss the 1954 animated adaptation of George Orwell's ANIMAL FARM featuring the voices of Gordon Heath and Maurice Denham. Co-directed by John Halas and Joy Batchelor, ANIMAL FARM is a beast fable symbolizing decades of Russian history as an animal uprising on a brutally-maintained farm. Partially funded by the CIA's Office of Policy Coordination, ANIMAL FARM was intended as a covert piece of anti-communist propaganda, but performed poorly at the box office, eventually finding its biggest audience in American classrooms. We delve into this animated oddity in the context of Bowie's new play, BRUSHSTROKE, a Cold War comedy thriller dealing with the CIA's involvement in the modern art movement. Plus, we leave room for some off-topic diversions into The Secret of NIMH, The Green Berets, No Way Out, Mike Leigh, Andy Serkis, Captain America, Captain Phillips and much, much more!ANIMAL FARM is currently streaming for free on Freevee and Tubi.BRUSHSTROKE is currently playing at the Odyssey Theater in Los Angeles.Tickets at: https://odysseytheatre.com/tickets/?eid=111850