Midweek Mention Episodes

Directed by Alexander Payne from a screenplay written by himself and collaborator Jim Taylor (I NOW PRONOUNCE YOU CHUCK AND LARRY would you believe it), 2004's SIDEWAYS is a comedy about middle-age, depression and alcoholism. Miles Raymond (Paul Giamatti) is a divorced wine aficionado and unpublished writer of a terrible sounding semi-autobiographical novel who takes best friend and former television star Jack (Thomas Hayden Church) on a road trip through California wine country ahead of Jack's ...

FINAL DESTINATION (2000) follows student Alex Browning (Devon Sawa) who saves the lives of himself, a teacher and several classmates after experiencing a terrifying premonition that their plane bound for Paris will explode shortly after take-off. Afterwards, as each of the survivors begins to die in appalling and unexpected ways, Alex realises that Death is coming for them anyway... When SCREAM forever altered the horror landscape in 1996, with subsequent movies forced to deal with post-moderni...

Peter's Bear themed week begins with a first for us as we review a silent movie. American actor, director, producer, and screenwriter Larry Semon collaborated three times with Stan Laurel, who went on to partner with some other guy that even I know the name of despite being pretty unknowledgeable about this era of cinema, and the second of their efforts was 1918's BEARS AND BAD MEN, a Hatfield-McCoy inspired farce about a feud between two neighbouring families which is complicated by the arrival...

Renny Harlin's DEEP BLUE SEA (1999) is a classic sci-fi horror mixing B movie conventions with a genre savvy script and a love of JURASSIC PARK to create the best not JAWS related shark horror movie of all time. Tune in to hear Reeg's and Cris discuss this masterpiece! We love to hear from our listeners! By which I mean we tolerate it. If it hasn't been completely destroyed yet you can usually find us on twitter @dads_film, on Facebook Bad Dads Film Review, on email at baddadsjsy@gmail.com or o...

ROCKY III is a surprise smash hit for all the dads this week as we appreciate it's absurdity, excess and Cuban heel styling. Listen in to hear us discuss 80's icons, montages, our love of Eye Of The Tiger and a view of the movie from the other side of the iron curtain. We love to hear from our listeners! By which I mean we tolerate it. If it hasn't been completely destroyed yet you can usually find us on twitter @dads_film, on Facebook Bad Dads Film Review, on email at baddadsjsy@gmail.com or o...

"When gypsy grifter Matko (Bajram Severdzan) is abruptly swindled by his own partner, he is unable to pay the large debt he suddenly owes. As an alternative form of payment, Matko forces his adolescent son Zare (Florijan Ajdini) into an arranged marriage with his partner's midget sister, Afrodita (Salija Ibraimova). However, both Zare and Afrodita find the marriage objectionable, and their attempts to escape the situation lead to a series of unpredictable comic escapades." So says Wikipedia of ...

Crazy gonzo revenge exploitation movie MAD MAX was Director George Miller's 1979 debut that spawned a multi-film franchise and propelled Mel Gibson to Hollywood stardom. Inspired by real-life fuel pump shortages and outbreaks of civil disobedience during the global oil crisis in the 70's, Miller conjured up a grim vision of civilisation on the edge of apocalypse, with the fabric of society collapsing and morality correspondingly decaying. A world where murderous gangs of highway roaming bikers l...

Pete returns this weeks and brings with him a fresh batch of nominations. First up is the 1991 crack epidemic story NEW JACK CITY. We all seemed to enjoy it, despite it dating pretty badly and featuring some fairly appalling Boys II Men style RnB harmony nonsense. Flavor Flav turns up to rescue the soundtrack much to everyone's relief. We were all impressed with Mr Wesley Snipes performance, but Pete labelled Ice-T's turn in this as the worst acting performance he's ever seen. Harsh! We love ...

Award winning comic book writer Warren Ellis brought gothic horror franchise CASTLEVANIA from Japanese video game developers Konami to the streaming service Netflix in 2017 and we sat down to watch the first episode. A story of love and revenge set initially in the year 1455 which sees intrepid scientist Lisa seek out Vlad Tepes Dracula to learn from him in the hope of becoming a better doctor only for the pair to fall in love. When Lisa is burnt at the stake 20 years later after the local clerg...

AI week starts with a look back at the 1984 James Cameron classic THE TERMINATOR. Set in a dystopian future where machines have taken over the world, and the remnants of humanity are fighting for their survival, the film follows a cyborg assassin (Arnold Schwarzenegger) sent back in time by rogue defence network Skynet in order to kill Sarah Connor (Linda Hamilton), the mother of a future resistance leader and key to humanity's victory. Along the way, Sarah is protected by Kyle Reese (Michael Bi...

Master and Commander: The Far Side of the World, or MACTFSOTW, as it prefers to be known, is a swashbuckling adventure on the high seas where the English Navy chase down and capture some Frenchies. A sure fire hit as far as the Bad Dads are concerned. The movie casts Russell Crowe as our hero, Jack Aubrey. This was just just a few years after Gladiator, so Mr Crowe is still in full on dashing hunk hero mode! This feels like a throwback to a huge Hollywood production of old and one dad is parti...

Kicking off a bit of a musical theme this week, Dan nominated GOOD VIBRATIONS (2012). The movie is based on the life of Terri Hooley, a record-store owner instrumental in developing Belfast's punk rock scene. The film has an excellent soundtrack, which I guess you'd expect given the subject material! David Holmes also co-wrote the soundtrack score, and I'm sure we're waxed lyrical about him in the past. A bit of background, Dan and Sidey are both vinyl nerds, so don't expect an impartial insig...

The sixth collaboration between British action film legends Jesse V. Johnson and Scott Adkins sees the actor in unfamiliar territory as antihero Cain Burgess, escaping from H.M.P. Belmarsh after the death of his mother and seeking vengeance on the gang who made him a hardened criminal in the 2019 action movie AVENGEMENT. Former stuntman Johnson together with co-writer Stu Small conjure up that rare thing; a film that doesn't portray revenge as glorious but acknowledges what a destructive and ugl...

In Bruges is a movie I've heard so much about and never had anyone say a bad word in its general direction. And yet despite that that I've still never found the time to see it. This week it's another double bill, basically because this is now a Colin Farell stan account * Part one of the double bill sees Dan and Sidey touch down In Bruges and talk about how endlessly quotable this movie is. Chemistry, performance, comedy, tragedy and violence. This movie has it all. We loved it, but Sidey stil...

Henry Cavill has been in the news a bit recently. First up he gunned The Witcher. Presumably as he was donning the cape again as Superman. Then all of a sudden that wasn't the case. How quickly things change. Anyhow, Mr Cavill is from sunny Jersey. Just like your Bad Dads. Feels like the time is right to take about some of his filmography. First up this week we're taking a look at the 2015 entry - The Man From U.N.C.L.E. Dan and Sidey love a bit of espionage, so hopes are high for the adaptat...

1990 saw the release of the bewilderingly popular HOME ALONE. This movie was so successful that it holds the Guinness World Record for box office takings for a comedy. Sidey especially finds that statistic hard to stomach given his powerful distain for this film. We all know the story... Hideous family leave hideous child behind, while hideous burglars try to pillage the family silver. I'd have preferred if the story had more of an unsolved child murder take, but that's just me. We love to hea...

Here is another entry in the "movies that did quite well, but no of the Dads no it exists" category. REAL STEEL is the story of Hugh Jackson and the tender story of the rekindling of the broken father & son relationship through their mutual love of boxing robots. Jackman plays the absolutely appalling human being Charlie Kenton. He's a down on his luck gambling ex boxer who sells his son for US$50,000 (not adjusted for inflation). Despite not displaying a single redemptive characteristic throug...

We thought it might be fun to laugh at Pete's dentistry related misfortune. First up for this week was MARATHON MAN. Dustin Hoffman undertakes some pretty extreme dental surgery which was all to relatable for poor Pete. Featuring some great performances from Hoffman and Olivier, this is in the sweet spot of espionage thriller movies that really do it for me. Howie didn't enjoy Hoffman's running technique. So a mixed response all in all. We love to hear from our listeners! By which I mean we t...

This weeks Midweek Mention is a glorious mishmash of ultra low-budget niche-interest film-making and Sidey trolling as we start our winter celebrations with a look at The Asylum's HOME ALONE with dogs clone, BONE ALONE (aka ALONE FOR CHRISTMAS). When Dad (David Deluise) and family mistakenly accuse talking German Shepherd Bone of almost ruining Christmas, he is packed off to the worlds worst kennel rather than taken to Grandma's house to enjoy the festivities. Realising that their house will be...

Weird: The Al Yankovic Story is a biographical parody film directed by Eric Appel, who co-wrote the screenplay with "Weird Al" Yankovic. The film is a satire of biopics and wildly exaggerates Yankovic's life and career as an accordionist and parody songwriter. Sidey recently watched this one and you now listen to his sales pitch! We love to hear from our listeners! By which I mean we tolerate it. If it hasn't been completely destroyed yet you can usually find us on twitter @dads_film, on Facebo...

ZERO EFFECT takes the Sir Arthur Conan Doyle short story "A Scandal in Bohemia" and updates it in a 1998 comedy slash mystery from Jake Kasdan which Sidey loves and I had never seen before. Bill Pullman is tortured soul Daryl Zero; the world's greatest private investigator and a recluse who will only be represented in public by his long-suffering assistant Arlo (Ben Stiller). Together, Zero and Arlo have solved some of the world's most bewildering criminal cases, including The Case Of The Man Wi...

We've been stanning for Colin Farrell for some time now and following his portrayal of quiet and modest heroism in THIRTEEN LIVES. I thought we should take a look at his back catalogue to work out whether there were early signs of his promise. It turns out there were. PHONE BOOTH (2002) is Joel Schumacher's expertly-paced, gimmicky thriller set in real time and virtually a single-location which sees Farrell captivating as the sleazy and obnoxious New York yuppie who finds himself engaged in a ca...

Denzel Washington once again collaborates with Antoine Fuqua to bring us THE EQUALIZER. A preboot-remake-aquel of the 1980's tv series, Denzel brings his usual dry wit and charisma to this tale of the OCD suffering Robert McCall who becomes embroiled in a war with Russian gangsters after intervening on behalf of Chloe Grace Moretz's child prostitute Alina. The Mark Twain quote that starts the movie invites us to superimpose some substance on McCall's violence-soaked quest for retribution but all...

Our Disney themed week begins with a review of 1960's SWISS FAMILY ROBINSON. After their ship is wrecked on a deserted tropical island, a family is forced to make a new home whilst simultaneously fending off a menagerie of dangerous animals and evading a band of cut-throat pirates. For many, this story will occupy a special nostalgic place in their heart and it's true that the plot and incredible production design still impress, whilst the presence of the great John Mills compensates for the pai...