Episode 259: Follow Me, Boys!

Hey, folks! We've got a brand-new episode of Mousterpiece Cinema available for your listening pleasure today, but there's a very important way for you to access it. Do you know the Oath of the Boy Scouts? What's their motto? Are you prepared to...be prepared? Yes, this week on the show, Gabe and Josh are talking about the Boy-Scout-centric 1966 live-action film Follow Me, Boys!, starring Fred MacMurray, Lillian Gish, Vera Miles, and a little boy who would grow into the big boy Kurt Russell. And for once, Gabe hasn't seen an old-school Disney live-action film before; was he sufficiently inspired by this would-be Goodbye, Mr. Chips? Were Gabe and Josh both ready to become Scoutmasters in real life? Or was this a colossal letdown? Only one way to find out: check out the show now! Scout's honor.

Episode 258: Trainspotting

After last week's discussion of Chicken Little, Josh and Gabe are in the mood for a palate cleanser on this week's new episode of Mousterpiece Cinema. And there may be no better choice for palate cleanser--no more wildly different film, really--than the 1996 film from Danny Boyle, Trainspotting. (If you're wondering how on Earth that counts for this podcast: Miramax distributed Trainspotting, and guess who owned Miramax in 1996? Disney!) Josh and Gabe are joined by another Danny B., Danny Bowes of Film School Rejects, to discuss whether or not Trainspotting holds up 20 years after its U.S. release, whether or not its main character is nothing more than a cipher, and, of course, whether or not The Social Network is a better film than Steve Jobs. (One of your hosts thinks so. The other is crazy--er, thinks otherwise.) Check out the new show now!

Episode 257: Chicken Little

It's time for a big, monumental episode of Mousterpiece Cinema, friends. Finally, after months of teasing, Gabe and Josh are talking about the 2005 film from Walt Disney Animation Studios, Chicken Little. You remember this adaptation of Chicken Little, don't you? The adaptation from the director of The Emperor's New Groove? Disney's first fully computer animated feature film? Possibly the very worst movie that Disney's animation studio has made in nearly 80 years? Yes, it's true: this movie might be the pits for Disney, at least as Gabe and Josh see it. Is it the actual worst, though? And how many Earwolf references can Josh squeeze into the show to confound Gabe? Find out now!

Episode 256: The BFG

Welcome to all human beans, near and far, to this scrum-diddly-umptious poddin' cast of Mousterpiece Cinema. OK, talking like a giant is kind of difficult for more than one sentence, so let's get back to human-style talk. On this episode of Mousterpiece Cinema, Josh and Gabe talk about the newest movie from Walt Disney Pictures, a Steven Spielberg adaptation of Roald Dahl's The BFG, with Mark Rylance as the Big Friendly Giant himself. Josh and Gabe are joined by friend of the show Alex Dowd of The A.V. Club to discuss the film, its placement in Spielberg's career, and why on Earth it performed so weakly at the box office over the Fourth of July weekend. And they face an important question: is this Spielberg's weakest film in decades? It just might be! You'll have to listen to find out.

Episode 255: Phenomenon

Hey, folks! It's time for Josh and Gabe to begin a sixth year of podcasting as the hosts of Mousterpiece Cinema, and they're starting with one of their punchiest, goofiest episodes yet. It starts with the longest housekeeping segment to date, centered around a very exciting development: Mousterpiece Cinema is now on Patreon! Become a patron of the podcast and you might even get to tell us what to discuss on a future episode!

The current episode is another patented entry of Mousterpiece Cinema After Dark--make sure to say that in your deepest voice possible--as your hosts talk about the 1996 drama Phenomenon, starring John Travolta, Forest Whitaker, Kyra Sedgwick, and Robert Duvall. Remember Phenomenon? A film that made more money than either Space Jam or Scream in 1996! It's true, but does the movie hold up as we approach its 20th anniversary? Or is it super-duper creepy? Find out now!