Dirty Sons of Pitches (Double or Nothing)

The "Dirty Sons of Pitches" are closing down their Double or Nothing series with a climactic trip to the fourth planet from the sun, Mars. 2000 was the year of a new century and also a yearof two Mars-based space thrillers, each a dud and each altering the careers of their directors. The guys discuss Brian DePalma's "Mission to Mars," breaking their promise from their Nail in the Coffine episode on the director, and then the lesser known Val Kilmer-stranded-on-Mars-with-a-killer-robot movie, "Red Planet." Note: neither is to be confused with John Carpenter's also underwhelming early 2000s feature, "Ghosts of Mars."

Available on Apple and Spotify

Episode 368 includes:

-Jeremy Renner also taken out by a snow plow.

-The stars of 1968's "Romeo and Juliet" sue 50 years later for their underage nudity.

-Ben catches up with "Paws of Fury," "Amsterdam," and "Men."

-Nae appreciates the indie darling "Aftersun" but was waiting for the actual "movie" to kick in.

-Doulble or Nothing -- "Mission to Mars" / Red Planet"

-Two underwheming sci-fi adventures from 2000 with big casts and some interesting ideas but bad execution.

Direct download: pitch_368.mp3
Category:Double or Nothing -- posted at: 7:05pm EDT

The "Dirty Sons of Pitches" are determining that man... is the most dangerous game, as this episode's movie pairing are two films that follow the "Most Dangerous Game" premise, 1993's "Hard Target" starring Jean-Claude Van Damme and directed by John Woo, and 1994's lesser known "Surviving the Game" where Ice-T is on the run from hunters such as Gary Busey, F. Murray Abraham, and Ruther Hauer. Next week will conclude their "Double or Nothing" run of similair movie pairs.

Available on Apple and Spotify

Episode 367 includes:

-Could movie studios actually start having their trailers be accurate now? By law?

-Ben bemoans the success of "Top Gun: Maverick" while Nate admits some value.

-The guys celebrate "Glass Onion" and its twisty fun.

-Double or Nothing -- "Hard Target". / "Surviving the Game"

-Both movies are about homeless people hunted for sport by the rich, and 1993's "Hard Target" is the first American film directed by John Woo, and it's that ridiculous Woo-ness that makes it so entertaining, plus Van Damme gets to punch a snake. Whereas 1994's "Surviving the Game" has a great cast and more well-defined genre characters. Both are worth watching for their own reasons.

Direct download: pitch_367.mp3
Category:Double or Nothing -- posted at: 7:12am EDT

The "Dirty Sons of Pitches" are tackling two big-budget 1997 Hollywood disaster movies featuring angry volcanos, though "Volcano" is more about redirecting lava and "Dante's Peak" is more about everything else relating to a volcano except lava. The guys discuss the differences, the inherent campiness, and the value of either, as well as the demand for volcano movies to include lava.

Available on Apple and Spotify

Episode 366 includes:

-Major shakeup as James Gunn sheds to the old baggage of the Snyder DC-verse.

-Trailer reactions to the best summer double-feature: "Oppenheimer" and Greta Gerwig's "Barbie."

-Ben is lukewarm on "Banshees of Inisherin."

-In the battle of Pinocchios, Guillermo del toro reigns supreme.

-Double or Nothing -- "Volcano" / "Dante's Peak"

-Do you need lava in your volcano movie? Do you like lots of ash? Do you like Pierce Brosnan as the hunkiest geologist in history? Do you like "Jaws" but as a volcano? Do you like old crabby grandmothers burning to death from lakes of acid? The guys debate the two big volcano disaster films of 1997 that came to define our times.

Direct download: pitch_366.mp3
Category:Double or Nothing -- posted at: 1:12pm EDT

The "Dirty Sons of Pitches" are tackling two similar movies released in short order, this week a pair of 1999 haaunted house movies, each a remake, and each of them star-studded. However, only one of them entertains and the other merely tries one's already spent spectral patience.

Avaialble on Spotify and Apple

Episode 365 includes:

-R.I.P. Kirstie Alley pre-MAGA transformation.

-Trailer reactions for "Indy 5," Guardians of the Galaxy vol. 3," and a new Transformers movie that... could be... good?

-Ben says "Violent Night" is everything you would want it to be.

-Double or Nothing -- "The Haunting" / "House on Haunted Hill"

-The guys discuss two haunted house movies from 1999, one of which is a shoddy and boring remake that wants to be a high-minded chiller and falls into camp, and the other which aims for schlocky fun and delivers quite convincingly. The guys discuss where one fails and the other succeeds and why ghosts need to up their persuasion game to convince people to put off their own busy schedule to bother solving some undead murder mystery. We all got lives, ghosts!

Direct download: pitch_365.mp3
Category:Double or Nothing -- posted at: 9:58am EDT

The "Dirty Sons of Pitches" are once more tackling two similar movies released closely, this time the twins of 1998 college murder schemes, with the more star-studded "Dead Man on Campus" plays its premise for lackluster dark comedy, the indie noir thiller "The Curve," formerly titled "Dead Man's Curve," is an absurd movie that overdoses on twists that undo every logical aspect about the plotting, all in the name of being seen cool but failing so badly. It's a new favorite of Ben's, and maybe it will be for you too.

Available on Apple and Spotify

Episode 364 includes:

-We've lost a key Power Ranger. It's mournin' time.

-Nate shares thoughts on "The Menu," "My Son Hunter," "Black Panther 2," and "Smile."

-Disney's "Strange World" is a movie best worth waiting for being on TV.

-Double or Nothing -- "Dead Man on Campus" / "The Curve"

-The guys discuss the two weirdly similar movies, both about schemes to get straights As by pushing a collegiate roommate to kill themself, and one of them is a middling dark comedy and the other is one of the most hilariously ridiculous examples of twist-overdose Tarantino-knockoff neo-noir that the late 90s indie scene has to offer. Ben declares "The Curve" a new addition to his favorite so-bad-it's-good movies.

Direct download: pitch_364.mp3
Category:Double or Nothing -- posted at: 7:16pm EDT

The "Dirty Sons of Pitches" are once again pairing similar movies released shortly together, this time 2009's "Surrogates" starring Bruce Willis in a world of robot doubles, and "Gamer" where Gerdald Butler competes for his life, and also the world and culture are awful, and maybe that's the point but is that good enough to count as commentary?

Available on Spotify and Apple

Episode 363 includes:

-R.I.P. Kevin Conrroy, Gallagher, Aaron Carter, Saul Bass

-Nate is charmed by the shakespeare spinoff, "Rosaline."

-Be says "Wakanda forever" succeeds on its real-life gravitas.

-Double or Nothing -- "Surrogates" / "Gamer"

-The gents chat about two 2009 sci-fi action movies about people controlling other humans to serve as their real-world avatars. In the bland "surrogates," it's Bruce Willis investigating a murder in a world where 98% of people stay at home and operate their surrogate robots to go outside. In "Gamer," the team behind the "Crank" movies assault our senses and good taste with a murder game show where Gerald Butler is a death row inmate being controlled in kill-or-be-killed combat by Logan Lerman. There are... vast differences of opinion on "Gamer."

Direct download: pitch_363.mp3
Category:Double or Nothing -- posted at: 3:30pm EDT

The "Dirty Sons of Pitches" are adding another new format change to their long-standing podcast, this time examining similar movies released in short order from one another. The guys kick things off by exploring the two Christopher Columbus biopics released in 1992, both of which are bad but for different reasons. "Columbus: The Discovery" is the cheaper, sillier, but strangely more accountable version, whereas Ridley Scott's "1492: Conquest of Paradise" is the bigger production but far more boring and more morally egregious even as it had less exploitation aims.

Available on Apple and Spotify

Episode 362 includes:

-Trailer reactions for "The Whale," the Guilermo del Toro "Pinnochio," and "Glass Onion."

-Elon Musk and Kanye West.... finally bearing some consequences of their idiocy.

-Ben feels like "Black Adam" is a step down for The Rock.

-The Weird Al biopic is about eveyrhting you would want it to be.

-Double or Nothing -- "Christopher Columbus: The Discovery" / "1492: Conquest of Paradise"

-The guys discuss the dueling Christopher Columbus movies released in 1992, marking the 500th anniversary but delivered to a very different market. Both movies have some fleeting artistic merit but are mostly hagiogrpahies of Columbus and excuse his many historical atrocities to other convenient guilty parties. This is a figure whose historical evaluation has gone through great changes, but even in 1992, he was protrayed by Hollywood as a heroic visionary ahead of his time, and the movies are just wrong in so many frustrating ways.

Direct download: pitch_362.mp3
Category:Double or Nothing -- posted at: 2:27pm EDT

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