Car RayRob Presents...

It's time again for HELLO MOVIES, MY OLD FRIEND, the podcast where Ray and Rob revisit old classics to find out if they still hold up! This month they've decided to celebrate the end of Summer and all the kiddos heading back to school by re-watching Rob Reiner's 1994 kid's adventure NORTH, starring Elijah Wood (THE LORD OF THE RINGS, WILFRED)!
This tale follows North, an idealistic young man who becomes disillusioned with his parents and decides to become a "free agent" and embarks on an international search for the perfect set of parents! With a star-studded supporting cast including Bruce Willis (DIE HARD, THE SIXTH SENSE), Julia Louis-Dreyfus (SEINFELD, VEEP), Jason Alexander (SEINFELD, CONEHEADS) and so many more, NORTH explores the idea of family and how the grass isn't always greener on the other side. 
Ray and Rob have fond memories of this movie and all the quirky fun it offered, but will the adult version of them find North's rallying cry relatable? or will it fall flat? Tune in this week to find out! 
Music: Jay You
Voice: Rob Morgan
 
Intermission:
Voice: Jeremy Catarelli
Music: Jay You

Long time listeners know that Ray loves a good doc. Well, he also loves a good biopic, too! In the hopes of keeping his streak alive, Ray has decided to with this classic genre by recommending to Rob Andrew Dominick's (THE ASSASSINATION OF JESSE JAMES BY THE COWARD ROBERT FORD) 2000 biographical drama CHOPPER! Starring Eric Bana (BLACK HAWK DOWN, HULK) as Marc "Chopper" Read, a larger-than-life Australian convict who discovers fame after writing his biography while in prison. His exploits become the thing of popular culture, but there's only one problem, can you actually trust anything he says? 
Ray admits that this CHOPPER is not necessarily the type of movie he would normally enjoy, but a powerhouse performance by Eric Bana anchors this unconventionally paced biopic and makes it one of his favorites.
Will Bana's performance and Andrew Dominik's directing prowess be enough to win over Rob? Tune in to find out! 
THEME SONG:
Music and Lyrics: Jeremy Catarelli
INTERMISSION:
Music: Jay You
Voice: Jeremy Catarelli

Ray and Rob are back with another brand-new episode of A COPY OF A COPY and they've done it again, they've found another kind of remake they have yet to discuss, a remake made by the same director! They're tackling this phenomenon by dissecting 1934's THE MAN WHO KNEW TOO MUCH starring Leslie Banks and Peter Lorre (CASABLANCA, THE MALTESE FALCON) and the 1954 remake starring James Stewart (HARVEY, VERTIGO) and Doris Day (CALAMITY JANE, PILLOW TALK)! Both are directed by one of the greatest directors to ever live, ALFRED HITCHCOCK (PSYCHO, THE BIRDS), and center on a Doctor, his wife and child on vacation in a foreign country when he discovers there's going to be a political assasination in the world. Due to this information, their child is abducted in an attempt to keep their mouth shut until the act can be performed. 
Why would a director choose to remake his own work? When Francois Truffaut asked Hitchcock about this, he replied "Let's say the first version is the work of a talented amateur and the second was made by a professional." Some take issue with this assessment and don't see it as truth, do Ray and Rob agree? Tune in to find out!
THEME SONG:
Music and Lyrics: Jeremy Catarelli, Kevin Magamoll and Rob Morgan
INTERMISSION:
Music: Jey You
Voice: Rob Morgan

Rob is kicking off August on SAY HELLO TO MY LITTLE FILM in the hopes of continuing his newfound streak with a 90s cult classic he thinks will tickle Ray's film fancy. Alexa Proyas' (THE CROW, I,ROBOT) 1998 sci-fi noir, DARK CITY! The film centers on John Murdoch (played brilliantly by Rufus Sewell), a man who wakes up in a hotel room with a dead body and no memory of how he got there, or if he perpetrated the killing. While desperately attempting to solve the mystery and clear his name, he finds himself in the crosshairs of a group of strange men who are seemingly behind a larger conspiracy that threatens to upend the world as John knows it.
With a stellar supporting cast including Jennifer Connelly (REQUIEM FOR A DREAM, LABYRINTH), William Hurt (ALTERED STATES, THE BIG CHILL) and Keifer Sutherland (THE LOST BOYS, 24), DARK CITY is an underappreciated classic that felt ahead of its time. So much so, that the smash hit THE MATRIX, released the following year, has been accused of ripping it off! 
Will the originality of the story and effects make this a memorable experience for Ray? Or will the films that followed make this a forgettable film in the dust bin of history? Tune in this week to find out! 
THEME SONG:
Music and Lyrics: Jeremy Catarelli
INTERMISSION:
Music: Jay You
Voice: Jeremy Catarelli

It's celebration time here on HELLO MOVIES, MY OLD FRIEND because Ray and Rob have decided to revisit MTV Productions debut feature, JOE'S APARTMENT, which is celebrating its 30th anniversary this month!
This dark comedy centers on Joe (played by Jerry O'Connell), a recent college grad who is trying to start his life but is finding the job and housing markets less than ideal. When he finds himself in possession of a rent-controlled apartment, which just so happens to be in the sights of a local politician for demolition, he discovers he has to share the space with thousands of singing and dancing cockroaches! 
Despite being a concept tailor made for the 90's Gen-X audience, it was a critical and commercial failure. However, in the decades since, it has garnered a cult following and it's time for Ray and Rob to find out if it deserves the status or if the box office was right in 1996. Tune in this week to find out!
 
Music: Jay You
Voice: Rob Morgan
 
Intermission:
Voice: Jeremy Catarelli
Music: Jay You

It's Ray's turn again on SAY HELLO TO MY LITTLE FILM and he's on a hot streak! He has perfect record so far this season and he's looking to continue the trend! To do this, he's decided is recommending to Rob the 2006 war drama, THE WIND THAT SHAKES THE BARLEY! Starring Cillian Murphy (28 DAYS LATER, PEAKY BLINDERS) and Pádraic Delaney (BLACKTHORN, THE MAN WHO KNEW INFINITY) as a pair of brothers who join the Irish Republican Army in the Irish War of Independence and then find themselves on opposite sides during the Irish Civil War that followed. A story of family dynamics in war torn times, THE WIND THE SHAKES THE BARLEY is a war movie that expands of tropes of the genre due to its on-the-ground guerilla warfare in the beautiful Irish highlands, as well as the dissecting of the good and bad actions people take to win a war or at the very least, find a moment's peace. 
Will the incisive interpersonal relationship of the characters be enough to win the war for Rob? Or will the shirking of genre norms leave him scratching his head? Tune in to find out! 
THEME SONG:
Music and Lyrics: Jeremy Catarelli
INTERMISSION:
Music: Jay You
Voice: Jeremy Catarelli

In celebration of Rob's birthday, Ray and Rob are biting off more than they can chew again by watching three movies! They're also hoping to find redemption in a film that its own filmmaker has disowned by watching David Lynch's (BLUE VELVET, LOST HIGHWAY) divisive take on Frank Herbert's DUNE as well as the new, more critically heralded DUNE PART I and DUNE PART II, directed by Denis Villeneuve (BLADE RUNNER 2049, PRISONERS)! 
Dune '84 was a box office disaster and relegated David Lynch to arthouse filmmaking for the rest of his career, but many argue there are many redeeming factors to his vision that have risen it to the status of cult classic! While Denis was able to take his time and span the story across two films, Lynch was forced to stuff a massive sci-fi epic into a single 2-hour adventure. Ray and Rob are massive fans of the new versions and have decent memories of the original, but will this back-to-back rewatch find them appreciating Lynch's vision more? Or will they find themselves agreeing with Lynch himself that DUNE '84 is better left to the trash bin of history? Tune in to find out!
THEME SONG:
Music and Lyrics: Jeremy Catarelli, Kevin Magamoll and Rob Morgan
INTERMISSION:
Music: Jey You
Voice: Rob Morgan
 

It's time for Rob's episode of SAY HELLO TO MY LITTLE FILM and he is in a bit of a drought, two months in a row where Ray has not liked the movies Rob has recommended. To top it all off, it's Rob's birthday month, a month where he usually prides himself on pushing Ray to the limits of his film tastes. However, due to his current situation, he has decided to switch things up and instead of pushing Ray, he's bringing him something he is guaranteed to love!
Rob is doing this by bringing Ray an absolute classic. A film that embodies why films are made at all, Gene Kelly's 1952 musical comedy, SINGIN' IN THE RAIN! The story of silent film actors who are being forced to transition as talkies begin to take hold, SINGIN' IN THE RAIN is pinnacle of the Hollywood musical and an iconic ideal of what classics strive to be. With stellar supporting performances by Debbie Reynolds (THE UNSINKABLE MOLLY BROWN, MOTHER) and Donald O'Connor (THERE'S NO BUSINESS LIKE SHOW BUSINESS, FRANCIS GOES TO WEST POINT), SINGIN' IN THE RAIN captures the heart and hopefully, will capture Ray's. But will it? You'll have to tune in to find out! 
 
THEME SONG:
Music and Lyrics: Jeremy Catarelli
INTERMISSION:
Music: Jay You
Voice: Jeremy Catarelli
 

We've once again found ourselves with a five Monday month here at Car RayRob, which means it's time for a brand-new special Kid's Edition of SAY HELLO TO MY LITTLE FILM! For this episode, Ray and Rob are going back to not only a pivotal moment in film history, but a pivotal moment in Rob's own film history, to the very first movie he ever saw in a movie theater! This distinct honor belongs to Tim Burton's 1989 comic book spectacle BATMAN, starring Michael Keaton (MR. NANNY, BEETLEJUICE) and Jack Nicholson (FIVE EASY PIECES, THE SHINING)! 
For those lucky enough to have lived through it, BATMAN owned the Summer of 1989. It was everywhere. While Jaws may have invented the summer blockbuster, Tim Burton's BATMAN paved the way for what know today as the modern MCU and DCEU that changed the way movies are seen (not always for the best). Seeing as Mr. KittyKaiju is firmly a Marvel kid, Ray and Rob thought it was high time to take him back to the origins of this era to see how it stacks up with his modern viewpoint.
Will BATMAN have the same impact on him as it did Rob all those years ago? Or will the modern conventions of the comic book movie leave BATMAN feeling like a quaint antique from the past? Tune in to find out! 
THEME SONG:
Music and Lyrics: Jeremy Catarelli
INTERMISSION:
Music: Jay You
Voice: Jeremy Catarelli

After kicking off Summer with the lighthearted beach comedy BACK TO THE BEACH, Ray and Rob have decided to follow it up with a something a little more on the dramatic side. Both Ray and Rob found themselves drawn to more serious movies as kids and today, they've decided to explore those connections by re-visiting the 1990 prison drama CADENCE, starring Charlie Sheen (MEN AT WORK, RED DAWN), Martin Sheen (BADLANDS, GRACE AND FRANKIE) and Laurence Fishburne (THE MATRIX, BOYZ IN THE HOOD). CADENCE centers on Pfc. Franklin Bean, who after his father passes, goes on a drunken tirade and finds himself slapped with a 90-day stint in the stockade. During this time he finds himself under the thumb of MSgt. Otis McKinney, a hardnosed abuser whose life is beginning to fall apart himself. This confluence of events pits these two men against one another and as Bean must also contend with the inner workings of the rest of prisoners and the relationships he must forge to survive. 
This is one that both Ray and Rob had strong feelings for in their younger years, but time isn't always kind to movies, and they have to discover if it still rings true in their adult years. 
Will this movie still hold up after all these years? Tune in to find out!   
Music: Jay You
Voice: Rob Morgan
 
Intermission:
Voice: Jeremy Catarelli
Music: Jay You