Dirty Sons of Pitches

A special new podcast subset featuring Nate and his father. "My Dad & the Movies" is a monthly series where Nate and his father, George, discuss a movie of his father's choice, maybe a favorite or a formative work that made him the cinephile he is, and father and son can talk about their shared love of the movies. It's season two and the fifth episode brings us to the movie that established the summer movie season, the 1975 smash hit "Jaws" and what makes it still so indelible today as it was back when it was first released. 

Available on Spotify and Apple

Direct download: mdm_jaws.mp3
Category:My Dad & the Movies -- posted at: 9:58am EDT

The "Dirty Sons of Pitches" have begun a new decade for their retrospective and they're taking aim at the 1970s, the era of autuer directors flexing their creative muscles and for new voices to emerge. They discuss two movies from 1970, the soldiers-as-scoundrels caper "Kelly's Heroes" starring Clint Eastwood and Telly Savalas and Don Rickles, and then "Watermelon Man," a social satire about racism from the vision of director Melvin Van Peebles. 

Available on Spotify and Apple

Episode 383 includes:

-Ben learns about the breaking news of OceanGate's lost sub of billionaires touring the Titanic. Irony explodes. 

-Trailer reactions to "3 Body Problem" Netflix series and "Quicksand." Yes, it's a contained thriller about a couple trapped in quicksand, the overly prevalant fear of many a child. 

-Nate declares "Elemental" a cute and winning romance from Pixar. 

-Is the long-gestating movie "The Flash" an unmitigated disaster? No. Is it good? Not really. 

-By the Decade -- 1970 -- "Kelly's Heroes" / "Watermelon Man"

-The guys discuss the men-on-a-mission WWII action movie with Clint Eastoowd leading a group of soldiers into enemy territory to rob a German bank of its gold, and then director Melvin Van Peebles' racial satire of a white man who wakes up one day and becomes black. 

Direct download: pitch_383.mp3
Category:By the Decade -- posted at: 9:12am EDT

The "Dirty Sons of Pitches" have finished the 2000s decade but the 2000s aren't done with them yet. Each host picks one bonus movie from the decade to watch and discuss before the shove along to the 1970s and examine the films year-by-year. Ben picks a movie he's meant to see for years, 2005's spy comedy/gay romance "D.E.B.S.," and Nate selects the British time travel comedy, 2009's "FAQ About Time Travel."

Available on Apple and Spotify

Episode 382 includes:

-R.I.P. Cormac McCarthy, Treat Williams, and John Romita Sr.

-More movies being delayed likely thanks to the writers' strike. At this rate, your grandhcildren might be alive for the fifth "Avatar" movie. 

-Nate says "Creed III" is more of the same but with conviction. 

-Ben declares "Transformers: rise of the Beasts" to be squarely in the middle between the good of "Bumblebee" and the exhausting bombast of Michael Bay. 

-By the Decade -- 2000s Bonus -- "D.E.B.S." / "FAQ About Time Travel"

-The guys find the spy comedy "D.E.B.S." to be cute and charmingly low-key as ir priotitizes its lesbian romance between enemies, and the very "Doctor Who"-esque TV movie "FAQ About Time Travel" has enough fun and clever developments to satisfy fans of time travel. 

 

Direct download: pitch_382.mp3
Category:By the Decade -- posted at: 10:51am EDT

The "Dirty Sons of Pitches" are coming to a close on their By the Decade look back to the first decade of the twenty-first century. This time the guys hit the final year of the decade, 2009, and talk about the family movie with guinea pig spies, "G-Force," and the ten-year-later sequel to a cult DVD movie from the late 90s, "The Boondock Saints." 

Available on Apple and Spotify

Episode 381 includes:

-An extensive debate about the development of the new TV model in the binge era as well as where we go now that the streaming wars appear to be in their contraction stage. Read the Vulture article here, folk. 

-Nate reviews "Super Mario Bros.," "The Little Mermaid," and the Max original, "Reality."

-Ben's opinion of "Across the Spider-Verse" may not be what you expect. 

-By the Decade -- 2009 -- "G-Force" / "Boondock Saints 2"

-The guys discuss the family film about a super agent team of guinea pigs voiced by the likes of Penelope Cruz and Sam Rockwell, but most of the discussion is reserved for the sequel to 1999's cult movie, "The Boondock Saints." It's self-parody but seeming to lack the awareness, and Ben hates every second of it. 

Direct download: pitch_381.mp3
Category:By the Decade -- posted at: 8:15am EDT

A special new podcast subset featuring Nate and his father. "My Dad & the Movies" is a monthly series where Nate and his father, George, discuss a movie of his father's choice, maybe a favorite or a formative work that made him the cinephile he is, and father and son can talk about their shared love of the movies. It's season two and the fourth episode goes back to a film noir classic, 1941's seminal "The Maltese Falcon," which Nate has never seen before and... doesn't... have the best response to. Listen in as wel as discussions on the changing nature of language, what makes good film noir, Bogart's acting capacity, and what gives it its staying power.

Available on Spotify and Apple

Direct download: mdm_maltese_falcon.mp3
Category:My Dad & the Movies -- posted at: 8:07am EDT

The "Dirty Sons of Pitches" are working their way to the last couple years of their dive into the movies of the 2000s, checking out 2009's trio of kids/family films such as "Shorts," by mistake apparently, "The Spiderwick Chronicles," and the big-budget anime adaptation from the Wachowskis, their chaotic and colorful flop, "Speed Racer." 

Available on Apple and Spotify

Episode 380 includes:

-R.I.P. Tina Turner, as well as original content that streamers are deleting forever. 

-There is a lot to discuss with the revelations of the toxic work environment of the "Lost" writer's room and the reactions from those in power. 

-"Hypnotic" is a twist-dependent thriller with a wasted twist. 

-"Fast X" is saved through the sheer goofy charisma of Jason Momoa. 

-Ben says the new live-action "Little Mermaid" is 

-By the Decade -- 2008 -- "Speed Racer" / "Spiderwick Chronicles" / "Shorts"

-The guys discuss the Robert Rodriguez's goofy and goopy non-linear kids movie, the charming YA fantasy siege movie, and the bombastic assault on their senses that is "Speed Racer," a movie that is not deserving of its critical reassessment. It's "kids movies" all around! 

Direct download: pitch_380.mp3
Category:By the Decade -- posted at: 9:48am EDT

A special new podcast subset featuring Nate and his father. "My Dad & the Movies" is a monthly series where Nate and his father, George, discuss a movie of his father's choice, maybe a favorite or a formative work that made him the cinephile he is, and father and son can talk about their shared love of the movies. It's season two and the much-delayed third episode tackles 1999's serial killer thriller "The Talented Mr. Ripley" with a very different kind of Matt Damon performance murdering his way through the Italian coast while confusing everyone that he somehow looks like Jude Law. It was just easier to be a serial killer in the 1950s, folks. 

Available on Spotify and Apple

Direct download: Mdm_-_talented_mr_ripley.mp3
Category:My Dad & the Movies -- posted at: 8:00am EDT

While the "Dirty Sons of Pitches" await to record next, so Ben and his brother are back with their weekly podcast "Saturday Night Jive' and this time they're sharing what they call one of the greatest movies of all time, 1989's wrestling comedy "No Holds Barred" starring and co-written by Hulk Hogan himself. Listen to their giddy amusement at themany ways this ridiculous movie manages to entertain, both intentionally and unintentionally, and all hail Kurt Fuller, the hardest working man in show business. 

Available on Spotify and Apple

Direct download: 326___A_Baby_Is_Not_A_Queef__-_No_Holds_Barred_1989.mp3
Category:Saturday Night Jive -- posted at: 7:15pm EDT

The "Dirty Sons of Pitches" are back and examining the films of the first decade of the twenty-first century year by year. This time it's 2007, an otherwise stellar year of cinema, but the guys aregoing for lesser known examples, specifically the "Underdog" live-action movie unfortunately voiced by Jason Lee, and "Mr. Brooks" where Kevin Costner is a serial killer trying to live an ordinary life in the suburbs but having a hard time giving up his old addictions. 

Avaialble on Apple and Spotify

Episode 379 includes:

-Some minor new trailers ("Five Nights at Freddy's" anyone?) and discussion about Garth Brooks quixotic attempt to remake himself an emo singer-songwriter.

-"Petr Pan & Wendy" is a noble failure in the realm of Disney live-action remakes. 

-Ben says "Guardians of the Galaxy vol. 3" is the least of the trilogy, and he's having a hard time defending the rampant animal cruelty as gratuitous emotional manipulation. 

-By the Decade -- 2007 -- "Underog" / "Mr. Brooks"

-The guys discuss what, if anything, is appealing about the "Underdog" children't movie and who exactly it was meant for, and then spend more time appreciating the many different conflicts in "Mr. Brooks" before coming up with storytelling changes that would have made an overstuffed but good genre movie more streamlined and even better. 

Direct download: pitch_379.mp3
Category:By the Decade -- posted at: 3:57pm EDT

While we wait for another "Dirty Sons of Pitches" recording, Ben has taken it upon himself to record several solo podcasts of himself playing the familiar game of This Meets That, watching and discussing two movies and then combining them for an original pitch. For the next episode of this bonus series, Ben is watching 2016's video game adaptation "Assassin's Creed" and discusses the nature of gatekeepeing and fan voracity, and then has a whole lot of fun discussing the Tarantino knockoff "Razor Blade Smile" from 1998. Ben discusses both movies in depth then combines elements from both movies to pitch a brand-new project. 

Avaialble on Spotify and Apple

Direct download: Blood_On_The_Wheel.mp3
Category:This Meets That -- posted at: 1:21pm EDT