Movies That Matter

Justin and Nicole discuss Cocaine Bear and America's War on Drugs. We both enjoyed the B movieness of it all, the diversity of the cast, and its 80s authenticity. We segue into a discussion on the harms of the War on Drugs and why America can't seem to reform drug policy based on evidence. Nicole recommends Justified. Justin recommends Ozark. Website Store YouTube Facebook Group Page  

Lexy and Nicole discuss M3GAN and the costs of relying on A.I. for companionship, particularly on childhood development. We were surprised how much we liked the movie and impressed with the creation of M3GAN technologically. We discussed how relying on screens/technology for our relationship needs it degrades our emotional well-being. Lexy recommends The Devil in Me. Nicole recommends The Two-Family House.

Adam and Nicole discuss Babylon and the sacrifices they have to make for MtM listeners. The movie is a joyless, scatalogical slog excepting the scenes of film being made. We discuss who deserves to get this level of creative control in a movie and where future auteurs will be developed. Adam recommends Tar. Nicole recommends The Take's The Dragon Lady Trope. Website Store YouTube Facebook Group Page

Stacy and Nicole discuss Empire of Light and how movie theaters help make the world more bearable. We find the movie beautifully crafted and acted, but lacking in subletly. We're unsure how effective the portrayal of mental illness and May/December romance works for the movie. We also discuss how movies create community and joy, but escapism can only go so far. Stacy recommends . Nicole recommends Website Store YouTube Facebook Group Page

Lexy, Stacy and Nicole discuss She Said and the aftermath of the #metoo movement. We found the movie started slow and a bit stilted but overall the strong performances from the entire cast elevated the movie. We discuss what changes have been made post #metoo. We're skeptical about how men have changed their attitudes and behavior and also cover some real changes that have been made to employment law around salaries and the use of non-disclosure agreements. Stacy unrecommends Mash, Nicole recommends No Nonsense Yoga Waistband tights, and Lexy recommends Guilty Pleasures. Website Store YouTube Twitter Facebook Group Page

Garret and Nicole discuss Triangle of Sadness. We disagree on the value of the movie and about anti-capitalism. We get into a generational debate about what it means to eat the rich. Nicole recommends The Exterminating Angel and Garret recommends The Square, After the Dark, and Anne Frank's poetry. Website Store YouTube Twitter Facebook Group Page

Justin and Nicole discuss Till and the many paths people take to activism. We appreciated the colorful pallette and rich interiors and the decision not to show violence. We cover Mamie's grief journey and how standing up for her son naturally led to standing up for civil rights. Justin recommends Netflix movie The Harder They Fall, and Nicole recommends the podcast Sentimental Garbage. Website Store YouTube Twitter Facebook Group Page  

Justin and Nicole discuss Nope and when it's ok to gawk at the spectacle and when we should look away. We appreciate the cinematography and the carefully crafted details Jordan Peele adds to his films. We discuss the line between voyeurism that leads to negative societal impact and the things we need to look at in order to create social change. Justin recommends Lovecraft Country on HBO and Nicole recommends Dopesick on Hulu. Website Store YouTube Twitter Facebook Group Page

Adam and Nicole discuss Elvis and how the music industry is plagued by shady managers and unfair contracts even to this day. We both appreciated Austin Butler’s performance as Elvis but found the early part of the movie technically problematic. We delve into how prevalent shady managers and unfair contracts still are in the music industry. Adam recommends Lapvona by Otessa Moshfegh and Nicole recommends American Scandal's series on payola. Website Store YouTube Twitter Facebook Group Page  

Stacy and Nicole discuss Good Luck to You, Leo Grande and the complications of sex work. We were both disarmed by Daryl McCormack's performance and appreciated the lighting and art direction. We discuss sex tourism for women and the how sex work fits into caring professions in general. Stacy recommends The Girlfriend Experience and Nicole recommends The Sessions.

Garret and Nicole discuss Fire Island, how well the #Pride and Prejudice adaptation worked and how gay hierarchies work in real life. We enjoyed the comedy and soundtrack, but not the romance and found the writing weak in places. We talk throught the racial and money divide in the gay community, and how oppressed groups create their own systems of oppression. Garret recommends Pride and the Disney shorts for Pride. Nicole recommends 4th Man Out. Website Store YouTube Twitter Facebook Group Page

Lexy and Nicole discuss Men, whether the movie was actually scary, toxic masculinity, and the roles men force on women. We criticize the movie for not really understanding the subject matter and not capturing women's perspectives. Watch Promising Young Woman instead. Lexy recommends An Absolutely Remarkable Thing. Nicole recommends Lessons in Chemistry. Website Store YouTube Twitter Facebook group page

A departure from the usual fare, listen to the AwesomeCon panel participants plan for the presentation. Nicole, Christopher, Stacy, Lexy and Garret discuss villain-centered movies and what the core coverage should be for the panel.  Come see us live at AwesomeCon on Saturday 8/21! https://awesome-con.com/tickets/ Website Store YouTube Twitter Facebook group page

Watch the video: https://youtu.be/V0fO410Tcco The entire Impact 10 team presents sports movies that feature someone breaking into a sport. Lexy discusses Cool Runnings, Christopher covers Chariots of Fire, Garret tackles Million Dollar Baby, Stacy takes on Bend It Like Beckham, and Nicole talks A League of Their Own. The team discusses why we like sports movies and the Olympics, what it means to break barriers in sports now and in the future, and reconciling an unconventional identity with being an athlete.

Impact 10 episode featuring Nicole, Christopher, and Garret discussing movies that gave us hope. Nicole covers Stand and Deliver and the hope that potential is never truly lost. Christopher covers Slumdog Millionaire and the hope that personal struggle will lead to positive outcomes. Garret covers Erin Brockovich and the hope that corporations can be held accountable. The discussion covers how perseverance, community, and defying expectations lead to change. Garret recommends The Shawshank Redemption, Nicole recommends the It Gets Better Project, and Christopher recommends Die Hard. Website Store YouTube Twitter Facebook group page  

Garret and Nicole discuss Sound of Metal, how the beautiful cinematography balanced strong themes, how well the movie captures addiction, and how much the movie showcases deaf individuals in their normal lives. We get into some information about cochlear implants and the controversy among deaf people. Read how Riz Ahmed describes his experience learning about Deaf culture. Garret recommends learning how to spell your name in ASL. Nicole recommends Avatar: The Last Airbender and The Legend of Korra. Website Store YouTube Twitter Facebook group page

Impact 10 with Stacy, Nicole, Christopher, and Lexy discusses indigenous cinema. Stacy covers westerns and The Searchers, Nicole gives a short retrospective on American Indian cinema and Smoke Signals, Christopher talks Maori culture and Whale Rider, and Lexy discusses Disney and Moana. We are joined by documentary filmmaker Suree Towfighnia in the discussion. Website Store YouTube Twitter Facebook group page Suree's recommended links Website: http://www.sureetowfighnia.com/ Standing Silent Nation 2007 -- a Lakota family asserts their sovereignty by growing industrial hemp. (screened on PBS POV): https://search.alexanderstreet.com/view/work/bibliographic_entity%7Cvideo_work%7C3922902/standing-silent-nation Crying Earth Rise Up, 2015--this is about water protection and the Lakota fight to stop uranium mining in the Great Plains and Black Hills. (screens on PBS): https://www.der.org/crying-earth-rise-up/ The Lakota Media Project is the organization Suree mentors and co-founded. They have a page on facebook: https://www.facebook.com/lakotamediaproject Other recommendations: Reel Injun: https://www.pbs.org/independentlens/films/reel-injun/ Thunderheart: https://www.amazon.com/Thunderheart-Val-Kilmer/dp/B001AR96BG Incident at Oglala: https://www.amazon.com/Incident-Oglala-Leonard-Peltier-Story/dp/B0001FVDI2

AUDIO ONLY VERSION. See our YouTube Channel for the video. Impact 10 with Nicole, Stacy, Garret, Christopher, and Lexy covers movies that taught us to be afraid. We highlight a selection of our own then discuss the role of fear in movies. Website Store YouTube Twitter Facebook group page

AUDIO ONLY VERSION Watch the video: https://youtu.be/Bl1nqRmFpAw This Impact 10 episode features Stacy, Lexy, Nicole and Garret discussing Queer Cinema. Stacy tackles award winners, Lexy talks activism and politics, Nicole covers AIDS and Garret discusses culture. We wade into how queer cinema and queer stories have changed over time. Website Store YouTube Twitter Facebook group page

Introducing Impact 10, a video series from Movies that Matter highlighting the movies that helped change the world. Website Store YouTube Twitter Facebook group page

Adam and Nicole discuss The Hunt, how the movie entertains as horror, but fails on satire, the ridiculousness of the whole controversy, some of our favorite satires, and how we think the coronovirus pandemic will affect the current political dynamic. Check out Citizen Ruth and Idiocracy. Read a timeline of the controversy from Vulture. Adam recommends Blue Ruin and Green Room. Nicole recommends The Last Supper.

Jen and Nicole discuss The Invisible Man, how effective the technique was in creating a scary movie, how we appreciate the focus on the emotional trauma rather than the physical trauma of domestic abuse, and how we feel about the revenge fantasy of domestic violence movies. We question why domestic violence hasn't had its #MeToo moment. Shout out to @lulamaybelle for her commentary on male critics. Check out the landmark movie The Burning Bed. Jen recommends the pantheon of abuse movies, The Burning Bed, Enough, Sleeping With The Enemy, and What's Love Got To Do With It. Nicole recommends the Catch and Kill podcast. Check out our website where you can sign up for our newsletter and visit our store, talk to us on Twitter, visit our Facebook Page, and please leave a review for us on iTunes.

Garrett E and Nicole discuss The Photograph, our differing opinions on the movie, what it takes to sell a romance and breakup, and the difference between what we're told and we're shown in the movie. We strongly disagree on whether the character's lack of good qualities made their romance unwatchable. Check out the article on how the movie was filmed. Nicole recommends Jumping the Broom and the author Dorothy West and her book, The Wedding. Garrett recommends his curated list on films on love: Casablanca Brief Encounter Cold War If Beale Street Could Talk Unfaithful Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind Blue is the Warmest Color La La Land Her Check out our website where you can sign up for our newsletter and visit our store, talk to us on Twitter, visit our Facebook Page, and please leave a review for us on iTunes.

Stacy, Lexy, and Nicole discuss Birds of Prey, how delightful we found the film, and how much better we think the female led movies in the DCU are than in Marvel or the male side of DCU. We enjoy all the aspects that made this a movie by women for women. Check out the review we covered in Slate. Lexy recommends Michelle Khare on YouTube. Nicole recommends She Said, the book about how the Weinstein story got made. Check out our website where you can sign up for our newsletter and visit our store, talk to us on Twitter, visit our Facebook Page, and please leave a review for us on iTunes.

Garret S and Nicole discuss Dolittle, how neither of us managed to power through the movie, the utterly bizarre accents of the live and voice actors, and the meaning animals have in our lives as adults and children. We recommend some of our favorite animal stories from childhood like Is Your Mama a Llama? and Alice's Adventures in Wonderland. Garret recommends His Dark Materials the books and on HBO. Nicole recommends the Song Exploder episode on Closing Time. Check out our website where you can sign up for our newsletter and visit our store, talk to us on Twitter, visit our Facebook Page, and please leave a review for us on iTunes.

Stacy and Nicole discuss Like a Boss, how it's possible to make that unfunny a comedy with that cast, how the movie is both formulaic and misunderstands both women and the beauty industry, and how the movie should have tackled real issues in selling beauty to women. We find the movie tone-deaf in understanding the actual beauty industry and mining the depths of women's relationship to make up. Catch up on beauty podcast faves Fat Mascara and The Beauty Brains. Stacy recommends The Last Black Unicorn by Tiffany Haddish and A Black Lady Sketch Show. Nicole recommends the panel discussion on deaths of despair by leading economists. Check out our website where you can sign up for our newsletter and visit our store, talk to us on Twitter, visit our Facebook Page, and please leave a review for us on iTunes.

Christopher and Nicole discuss 1917, the incredible craft of the movie, the balance it achieved in presenting the beautiful and the grotesque, the over-saturation of World War II as the "good war" versus other conflicts. We are happy to see such a beautifully crafted movie about World War I. Revisit George Carlin's routine on how we've dehumanized the words for battle trauma. Christopher recommends Paths of Glory and When We Were Soldiers. Nicole recommends Regeneration by Pat Barker. Check out our website where you can sign up for our newsletter and visit our store, talk to us on Twitter, visit our Facebook Page, and please leave a review for us on iTunes.

Christopher and Nicole discuss Queen & Slim, hotly debate the character of Queen/Angela, how much we appreciate the cinematography and music, and how well the movie explores the black experience. We debate whether the couple would have ended up dead if they had handled the cop differently. Read why the director and writer don't like the calling the movie a Bonnie and Clyde story. Christopher recommends The Water Dancer. Nicole recommends Joan Rivers' stand up. Check out our website where you can sign up for our newsletter and visit our store, talk to us on Twitter, visit our Facebook Page, and please leave a review for us on iTunes.

Garret S and Nicole discuss Knives Out, how much we loved the fun comedy and the social commentary, the camera techniques that fed into the theme of the film, and the complications of inherited wealth. The movie takes equal opportunity pot shots at the wealthy. For more ensemble mystery movie fun, check out the original Murder on the Orient Express. Garret recommends Sleuth, Clue, and The Westing Game. Nicole recommends Inside Bill's Brain: Decoding Bill Gates. Check out our website where you can sign up for our newsletter and visit our store, talk to us on Twitter, visit our Facebook Page, and please leave a review for us on iTunes.

Stacy and Nicole discuss A Beautiful Day in the Neighborhood, and how overall it left us both cold, the movie's strange choice in telling the story of Lloyd instead of Mr. Rogers, and how the movie fails in every way to understand the dynamic of children estranged from a parent. We vastly prefer the documentary Won't You Be My Neighbor. We get personal on the topic of estrangement and forgiveness. For further reading, issendai has research on estranged parent forums. Also check out the article that kicked off the movie. Stacy recommends the Twitter account @mrrogersquotes. Nicole recommends Blindspotting. Check out our website where you can sign up for our newsletter and visit our store, talk to us on Twitter, visit our Facebook Page, and please leave a review for us on iTunes.