89. The Death of Dick Long (2019) Film Review

In 2016, Daniel Scheinert and Daniel Kwan premiered their first full length feature film called "Swiss Army Man" at Sundance Film Festival starring Paul Dano (There Will Be Blood, Little Miss Sunshine, The Batman) and Daniel Radcliffe (the Harry Potter series). It was about a man named Hank intent on killing himself before he finds a farting corpse on the beach and a bag of cheese puffs. It isn't long before Hank names this corpse Manny and discovers he is a swiss army man that will provide him a way out of being lost in the woods. At the time: Daniel Scheinert and Daniel Kwan were known for directing music videos such as "Turn Down for What" by DJ Snake and Lil John, "Houdini" by Foster the People, and "Rize of the Pheonix" by Tenacious D. They were collectively known as The Daniels, and not many foresaw them going on to make the film "Everything Everywhere All At Once," which gave them worldwide acclaim and two Academy Awards including Best Director and Best Picture. The A24 Rocks crew takes a deep dive into this absurdist comedy that served as a pedestal for The Daniels to be one of the most respected directing duos in Hollywood. Caution: movie spoilers. Next five A24 films we're reviewing: 37. Equals 38. Into the Forest 39. Morris from America 40. The Sea of Trees 41. American Honey

3 Maj 20231h 10min

For the A24 Rocks crew's 35th movie review, they take on the 2016 documentary "De Palma," directed by Noah Baumbach and Jake Paltrow. They also invite fellow postman and world-renowned Brian De Palma expert Ray Neeman onto the podcast, who has seen and lived De Palma's whole filmography. This documentary is an autobiographical look into every single Brian De Palma film (director of Scarface, Carrie, and Mission Impossible), featuring an exclusive and intimate interview with the director himself. De Palma takes you through his films in chronological order and give you inside baseball (a phrase our host Cole can't stand) on how his films were made. Does this documentary live up to the standard Brian De Palma set in his own films? This pride of A24 film nerds discuss and debate it. Caution: movie spoilers. Follow our guest and fellow film lover Ray Neeman on Letterbox: https://letterboxd.com/rdiddy624/.

19 Apr 20231h 15min

Out of all the dystopian sci-fi future's we've seen in film, did you ever think you'd see one where people are turned into an animal if they can't find a significant other within 45 days? The Lobster (starring Colin Farrell and Rachel Weisz) creates a world that writer’s Yorgos Lanthimos and Efthimis Filippou could only envision. David (played by Colin Farrell) is a lonesome man whose wife just left him, he soon finds himself at a hotel where he must court a lover or turn into the animal he chose: a lobster. With a supporting cast of Lea Sydoux, John C. Reilly, and Olivia Colman: director Yorgos Lanthimos establishes his trademark of unique and bizarre plots where the character's talk as if they're making surgical incisions into people's frontal lobes. Will these A24 fans enjoy this absurdist take on authoritarian control of dating? Caution: movie spoilers.

5 Apr 20231h 25min

The Adderall Diaries is a 2016 Crime-Drama based off a autobiographical book by Stephen Elliott. Stephen Elliott is an author struggling with Adderall addiction when he is exposed as a fraud by his own father, the same man who beat him as a child, it isn't long before his life begins to implode. Through flashbacks from Elliott's childhood, we see his troubled adolescence and ponder how Elliott became the masochist he is. Starring James Franco, Amber Heard, Christian Slater, Ed Harris, and Timothee Chalamet: this star-studded ensemble must've thought they were going to strike gold when Franco bought the rights to the novel, only for Elliott to ostracize the movie. Was Elliott in the right? These A24 nerds discuss and give their ratings. Caution: movie spoilers.

22 Mars 20231h 21min

The A24 cult classic "Green Room" follows a D.C. punk band called “Ain't Rights" on a pacific northwest road trip, where financial problems force them to play at a less than savory Nazi skinhead bar. Shortly thereafter... a madhouse of terror ensues. Directed and written by Jeremy Saulnier while starring Anton Yelchin, Patrick Stewart, and Alia Shawkat: Green Room has turned into a A24 indie favorite (albeit, a divisive one) in the years after it was released. The A24 rocks crew reviews the film and discusses what their desert island band would be. Tune in as these five punks delve deep into the velvet underground. Caution: movie spoilers.

8 Mars 20231h 22min

Trey Edward Shults became an acclaimed A24 director with indie favorites such as It Comes At Night and Waves, but he got his start on the big screen with the heartbreaking addiction drama Krisha. Starring longtime T.V. and movie actor Krisha Fairchild, Stults pulled from an amalgam of people in his own life to write this film that was funded from a kickstarter campaign. Krisha was also filmed in Stults' house and many of the actors are members of his own family. These A24 film-buffs discuss Stults' premier film and rate this truly independent drama that launched a career. Caution: movie spoilers.

22 Feb 20231h 15min

"Remember" is a 2016 A24 suspense-thriller starring Christopher Plummer and Martin Landau about a Holocaust survivor with dementia on a mission to seek vengeance before he can no longer remember his life. Directed by Atom Egoyan and written by Benjamin August, we follow Zev Guttman throughout the U.S. and Canada as he rereads a letter to remind himself exactly who he must lay his vengeance upon. Does this film reach the heights of such amnesia thrillers as Memento or The Bourne Identity? Will these acclaimed actors be enough for these A24-fanatics to look upon this film favorably or will this be similar to Egoyan's last film that they reviewed? Tune in to find out. Caution: movie spoilers.

8 Feb 20231h 15min

Wouldst thou podcast listener like to live... deliciously? Then prepare your ears for an hour in a half trek into the New England wilderness with a film review of one of A24's most famous film's: The Witch. It birthed the career's of actress Anya Taylor-Joy and director Robert Eggers even though this 2016 Horror-Thriller and period piece didn't have the best treatment of babies. The Witch is consistently rated as a top 10 A24 film and often talked about as one of the early contributors to the genre of "elevated horror" that has become commonplace in the last 10 years of cinema. Ever wonder how the film was made and how Eggers turned into one of Hollywood's most acclaimed indie film director's? The A24 Rocks gang delves into that and more in this scintillating and spooky review of this cult classic. Caution: movie spoilers.

25 Jan 20231h 24min