Skip to main content
Motion Picture Pals

Motion Picture Pals

By Motion Picture Pals

A lot of movies suck. We try to find the ones that don't. Join a multicultural, queer friendly group of millennial movie enjoyers for a unique film club experience that's as insightful as it is people making things up. Why analyze film if you're not gonna have some fun with it? Not a spoiler free experience.
Available on
Apple Podcasts Logo
Google Podcasts Logo
Overcast Logo
Pocket Casts Logo
RadioPublic Logo
Spotify Logo
Currently playing episode

18: A Girl Walks Home Alone at Night (2014)

Motion Picture PalsSep 25, 2020

00:00
01:11:36
43: Dune (2021)

43: Dune (2021)

Oct 28, 202101:58:59
42: No Time To Die (2021)
Oct 25, 202102:10:12
41: Spider-Man 2 (2004)
Sep 15, 202101:34:20
40: Pig (2021)
Aug 31, 202101:27:55
39: The Green Knight (2021)
Aug 19, 202101:35:21
38: Twilight (2008)
Aug 03, 202101:32:13
37: The Lighthouse (2019)
Jul 23, 202101:09:11
36: Nomadland (2020)
Jun 22, 202101:05:59
35: Sound of Metal (2020)
May 26, 202101:26:20
34: Concrete Cowboy (2020)
Apr 28, 202101:09:42
33: Zack Snyder's Justice League (2021)
Apr 13, 202102:03:02
32: Godzilla vs. Kong (2021)

32: Godzilla vs. Kong (2021)

Ohoho what’s this? A new release? You better believe it, buster. We’ve tightened up our supply chains and we’ve vertically integrated in order to deliver our takes from the Hollow Earth directly into your earholes in 5-7 business days or your money back, guaranteed.

That said, you might be wondering “Hey, what’s your take on Godzilla vs. Kong?” Well, I’m so glad you asked. Some of us liked it and some of us didn’t. We have all sorts of reasons for this, but we all agreed that it wasn’t very good in spite of however much we happened to enjoy watching it.

The plot is a huge mess, the human characters are really hit-or-miss (and there are way too many of them), and worst of all, you couldn’t see the guys in some of the fights. I mean what the heck is that, I’m sitting here trying to watch two kaiju (Japanese for big ol’ guys) kick each other’s asses and you’re telling me you chose an aspect ratio that prevents me from seeing the guys? Give me a freakin’ break!

At the end of the day, there’s enough positive in Godzilla vs. Kong that it’s probably worth a shot if you have HBO Max, but it didn’t quite live up to our expectations. Especially in a franchise where Kong: Skull Island already showed how much fun these movies can be, Godzilla vs Kong felt far too much like King of the Monsters. We hope to see more Big Guy movies, maybe with some Space Guys or some Robot Guys, and get into a discussion of how the Monsterverse can make that happen.

Motion Picture Pals is hosted by Cam Call, Rebekah Markillie, Caleb Warwick, and producer Travis Lien.

Subscribe on Apple Podcasts | Spotify | Overcast | Other- https://anchor.fm/s/bc3f6e4/podcast/rss

Follow us on Twitter: @MotionPicPals

Join the discussion: Discord - http://bit.ly/motionpicturepals

Read and subscribe to updates: https://motionpicturepals.substack.com/

Apr 06, 202101:27:39
31: War of the Worlds (2005)
Mar 30, 202101:27:00
30: Minority Report (2002)
Mar 02, 202101:24:20
29: Kong: Skull Island (2017)
Feb 17, 202101:41:18
28: Ratatouille (2007)
Feb 04, 202101:20:37
27: Vivarium (2019)
Jan 20, 202101:25:52
26: White God (2014)
Jan 05, 202101:28:15
25: Juno (2007)

25: Juno (2007)

Our final episode of 2020 revisits the classic teen pregnancy film Juno (2007), starring Elliot Page, who recently came out as trans. With this in mind, we explore the gender dynamics of a film about pregnancy, in which the pregnant character is played by a man. This film came out when we were teens and sparks memories about our music taste and wanting to be hip like Juno. Now on the other side of high school, this viewing illuminated new perspectives and complexities we didn’t fully understand before. If you take nothing else away from this episode, just know that you too can be a track and field dork and still get laid.

Gag take

Motion Picture Pals is co-hosted by Cam Call, Rebekah Markillie, and producer Travis Lien.

Subscribe on Apple Podcasts | Spotify | Overcast | Other- https://anchor.fm/s/bc3f6e4/podcast/rss

Follow us on Twitter: @MotionPicPals

Join the discussion: Discord - http://bit.ly/motionpicturepals

Read and subscribe to updates: https://motionpicturepals.substack.com/


Dec 23, 202001:29:27
24: Blade Runner (1982)

24: Blade Runner (1982)

Ridley Scott takes us on yet another journey into the distant future (2019) with all the neon and yellow peril we’ve come to expect from the 1980s. In the future, people are governed by megacorporations, cops have exclusive access to advanced technology, and advertising is downright invasive; it’s a good thing we managed to avoid all that.

In this episode, we are joined once again by Caleb Warwick where we discuss the moral and philosophical themes in what is perhaps the seminal film in the cyberpunk genre. We share stories about targeted advertising and get in our feelings about humanity, true love, capitalist alienation, and the most important question of all: did J. F. Sebastian’s creepy toy people steal Deckard’s window?

Motion Picture Pals is co-hosted by Cam Call, Rebekah Markillie, Joel Aleman, and producer Travis Lien.

Subscribe on Apple Podcasts | Spotify | Overcast | Other- https://anchor.fm/s/bc3f6e4/podcast/rss

Follow us on Twitter: @MotionPicPals

Join the discussion: Discord - http://bit.ly/motionpicturepals

Read and subscribe to updates: https://motionpicturepals.substack.com/

Dec 08, 202002:07:57
23: The Killing of a Sacred Deer (2017)

23: The Killing of a Sacred Deer (2017)

Y, Yorgos? Y?

It’s a Greek tragedy! It’s magical realism! It’s horror!The Killing of a Sacred Deer is our second entry from Greek director Yorgos Lanthimos (see Episode 8: The Favourite) and, once again, proves to be a controversial one. In fact, Rebekah didn’t even finish this one, which is either a testament to her inability to deal with suspense or a masterful use of discomfort in filmmaking, depending on who you ask.

We all liked this movie to varying degrees and for different reasons. Overall, we were into the performances and cinematography but felt the writing left something to be desired. If you like horror, stan Yorgos, or just plain want to be uncomfortable for two hours, this may be the movie for you. Just read up on it first so you know what you’re getting into.

Motion Picture Pals is co-hosted by Cam Call, Rebekah Markillie, Joel Aleman, and producer Travis Lien.

Subscribe on Apple Podcasts | Spotify | Overcast | Other- https://anchor.fm/s/bc3f6e4/podcast/rss

Follow us on Twitter: @MotionPicPals

Join the discussion: Discord - http://bit.ly/motionpicturepals

Read and subscribe to updates: https://motionpicturepals.substack.com/


Nov 25, 202001:13:47
22: The Village (2004)

22: The Village (2004)

Spoilers for The Village are present in this episode, as well as M. Night Shaymalan classics The Sixth Sense, Unbreakable, and Signs. Don’t get mad.

To say The Village is a complex film to discuss would be an understatement. A relic of 2004, when the Iraq War was in full swing and everyone was looking forward to the next big M. Night Shyamalan movie, The Village was marketed incorrectly as a horror movie, and expectations were high following previous Shyamalan hits The Sixth Sense, Unbreakable, and Signs. The film failed to live up to popular expectations, and kicked off a career low period for the director that would last about ten years, including the infamous The Last Airbender.

But a warm reception to Shyamalan’s more recent films The Visit, Split, and Glass have helped him get back into the public’s good graces, and prompted retrospective studies of films like The Village. For Vox, Emily VanDerWerff writes “M. Night Shyamalan’s The Village is an underrated masterpiece,” and that became the hypothesis for us to test going into this episode. Would a 16 year old film resonate with us today, do we feel it deserves a second chance, and is it actually an allegory for the Iraq War?

Motion Picture Pals is co-hosted by Cam Call, Rebekah Markillie, Joel Aleman, and producer Travis Lien.

Subscribe on Apple Podcasts | Spotify | Overcast | Other- https://anchor.fm/s/bc3f6e4/podcast/rss

Follow us on Twitter: @MotionPicPals

Join the discussion: Discord - http://bit.ly/motionpicturepals

Read and subscribe to updates: https://motionpicturepals.substack.com/

Nov 11, 202001:24:59
21: The Witch (2015)
Nov 03, 202001:17:51
20: Her (2013)
Oct 27, 202001:20:28
19: Fantastic Mr. Fox (2009)
Oct 13, 202001:16:58
18: A Girl Walks Home Alone at Night (2014)
Sep 25, 202001:11:36
17: Mad Max: Fury Road (2015)
Sep 08, 202001:36:18
16: First Cow (2019)
Aug 25, 202001:01:13
15: Blood Quantum (2019)
Aug 11, 202001:15:19
14: The First Short Film Bonanza
Jul 31, 202001:25:56
13: Alien (1979)

13: Alien (1979)

You know it, you love it, it's the classic sci-fi horror mashup Alien, not to be confused with Aliens (1986) like at least one of us was. We learned the word "yonic," a companion word to "phallic," a word we end up using a lot in this discussion. And we discuss who the real monster is - is it the Xenomorph, or is it capitalism, the horrors of which are on full display aboard the Nostromo, and more relevant than ever in 2020?

We will be holding a short film festival for our next episode. We are not sure which films we will be watching yet, but we know they will be good films because we are smart.

Follow us on Twitter: @MotionPicPals

Motion Picture Pals is co-hosted by Cam Call, Rebekah Markillie, Joel Aleman, and producer Travis Lien.

Join the podcast Discord to get in on the discussions. 

Motion Picture Pals is part of the @HitpointPals network. 

Jul 13, 202001:16:37
12: Children of Men (2006)
Jun 25, 202001:39:29
11: Y Tu Mamá También (2001)
Jun 15, 202001:39:09
10: The Search for General Tso (2014)
May 25, 202001:21:54
9: Happy Together (1997)
May 11, 202001:22:18
8: The Favourite (2018)
Apr 27, 202001:28:49
7: A Ghost Story (2017)
Apr 13, 202001:24:22
6: Border (2018)
Mar 30, 202056:48
5: A Silent Voice (2016)
Mar 23, 202001:48:41
4: Portrait of a Lady on Fire (2019)
Mar 16, 202001:31:15
3: Missing Link (2019)
Mar 04, 202001:35:18
2: Little Miss Sunshine (2006)
Feb 19, 202001:24:29
1: Once Upon a Time in the West (1968)
Feb 05, 202001:18:36
Star Wars Rewatch IX: The Rise of Skywalker

Star Wars Rewatch IX: The Rise of Skywalker

Let the final podcast begin.
Thanks to all who tuned into our Star Wars journey. We're on Twitter at @MotionPicPals, where we'll let you know when we have a new film to talk about. Until then, may the force be with you.
Star Wars Rewatch is co-hosted by William Suitt, Rebekah Markillie, Cam Call, and Travis Lien, who also produces and mixes the show.
Follow us on Twitter: @MotionPicPals
Join the podcast Discord to get in on the discussions.
Dec 24, 201901:57:47
Star Wars Rewatch VIII: The Last Jedi
Dec 11, 201902:22:25
Star Wars Rewatch VII: The Force Awakens
Dec 03, 201901:36:23
Star Wars Rewatch VI: Return of the Jedi
Nov 07, 201902:10:37
Star Wars Rewatch V: The Empire Strikes Back
Oct 25, 201901:52:36
Star Wars Rewatch IV: A New Hope

Star Wars Rewatch IV: A New Hope

There was a particular magic to 1977's Star Wars that propelled it to legendary pop culture status. It introduced a rustic spacefaring galaxy of heroes and villains, handcrafted through the innovation of visual effects artists, sound designers, and costume designers, all with limited resources. The craftsmanship that went into creating this fantastical world was so universally beloved that Star Wars won technical awards across the board, and the Library of Congress selected the film in its first year of establishing the National Film Registry, a limited archive of films deemed culturally and historically significant. But the National Film Registry has never received Star Wars. George Lucas refused to submit the original film, instead offering his "Special Edition," an altered version of the film with new edits, visual effects, coloring, sound design, sound mixing - in other words, a completely different film. Enter a dedicated group of fans, centered around a man known as Harmy. Together they use a combination of original theatrical prints, the special edition Blu Rays, and modern visual effects technology to restore and "despecialize" the films back to their original form.

This is the version of A New Hope we watched for Episode 4 of Star Wars Rewatch, where our conversation on the cultural significance of Harmy's Despecialized runs from the beginning of the podcast to 36:50. From there we return to form and discuss the plot, character archetypes, politics, droid rights, and weird Lucasisms you've come to expect from this podcast.

Star Wars Rewatch is co-hosted by William Suitt, Rebekah Markillie, Cam Call, and Travis Lien, who also produces and mixes the show.

Follow us on Twitter: @MotionPicPals

Join the podcast Discord to get in on the discussions.

Motion Picture Pals is part of the @HitpointPals network.

Sep 01, 201902:23:12
Star Wars Rewatch III: Revenge of the Sith
Aug 04, 201902:28:29