Staff Picks

Movie fan Sean Malloy joins me to discuss a fun little anthology that no one saw, but I just know is going to become a cult classic one day, 2024's Freaky Tales. Make sure to get in on the ground floor of this one now, in ten years it's going to be a much bigger deal.

Horror fan Kacie Rahm joins me to discuss one of the trippiest movies I've ever covered on Staff Picks, the 2009 horror/mythology/time loop/bad parenting movie, Triangle.

Jim Carrey fan and movie quote guy Joe Confalone joins me to discuss the movie that I think was the best use of Carrey's talents, not to mention one of the funniest movies of the 90s, 1997's Liar Liar. P.S. Beware the claw.

Teacher and Colorado resident Jason Rasmussen joins me to discuss one of those movies I've been dying to talk about ever since I started Staff Picks, Quentin Tarantino's long disrespected 2015 masterpiece The Hateful Eight. This is absolute one of my top recommendations of any movie I've ever covered on Staff Picks. Oh, and P.S., you have to use two boards.

Fellow Oneders fan David Johnson joins me to discuss a movie that was big in its day, but you probably haven't thought about in a while. It's the 1996 crowd pleaser That Thing You Do!
Featuring THAT HIT SONG that is still amazing, even today.

My daughter, fellow documentary lover Vanessa Lanza, joins me to discuss one of those documentaries that, once you see once, you'll never forget. It's 2011's supremely memorable There's Something Wrong With Aunt Diane.

Staff Picks fan and fellow lover of bad movies Jon Hageman joins me to talk about a cult classic that... oh my god... you gotta see this one to believe it. It's Neil Breen's 2012 "masterpiece", Fateful Findings.

Fellow child of the 90s Christine Giver joins me to talk about one of those movies that I've always felt is much better and much sweeter than it ever gets credit for, 1999's American Pie. Which honestly might be my all-time favorite teen movie.

Mitchell Stevens, from the movie podcast Reely Rated, joins me to discuss one of those forgotten little crime thrillers that no one seems to remember anymore, 2002's Murder by Numbers starring Sandra Bullock. 

Actor and former George on stage Brett Bower joins me to discuss the fantastic version of John Steinbeck's novel that surprisingly never gets discussed anymore - 1992's Of Mice and Men directed by Gary Sinise.

Actual Santa Carla (Santa Cruz) resident Kim Nicol joins me to discuss the coolest vampire movie ever made, 1987's The Lost Boys.

Staff Picks fan Jake Collins joins me to discuss one of the great movies of the late 90s that, for whatever reason, never gets discussed anymore - 1998's The Man in the Iron Mask.

Podcaster and fellow Beatlemaniac Jessica Liese joins me to discuss one of the most notorious musical disasters of all time, the 1978 disco epic Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band. Featuring a special section at the end where we talk about the all time best and worst Beatles cover songs.

Fellow Alexander Payne fan Sean Malloy joins me to discuss maybe my all-time favorite Payne movie, and one of the rare movies that legitimately changed my life, the 2002 masterpiece About Schmidt.

Artist and former New Yorker Robin Punsalan joins me to discuss one of the creepiest psychological thrillers ever made, 1992's Single White Female

My son, 22-year old podrace enthusiast Nick Lanza, joins me to discuss a movie that has been overly hated for years, 1999's Star Wars Episode 1: The Phantom Menace. This is the first part of our three-part deep dive into the Star Wars prequels.

Movie fan and non-Cajun Johnny Pomatto joins me to discuss a creepy little movie from 1981 you've probably never seen before- the Cajun version of Deliverance, Southern Comfort

Movie fan Curt Clark joins me to discuss a little-known gem I'd never even heard of until a few weeks ago, 1995's super dark comedy, The Last Supper

Movie fan and sesame cake expert Sarah Casa joins me to discuss the greatest movie ever made about talking gorillas, power gloves, and space lasers. It's 1995's so-bad-it's-actually-incredible Congo.

TV host and entertainment reporter Steve Helling joins me to discuss one of those goofy little movies that's completely implausible, yet so much fun, 2004's super-underrated action thriller, Cellular.

Movie fan and fellow Jaws enthusiast Ryan Weiss joins me to discuss one of the rare sequels I really do love, not to mention one of the very first slasher movies, 1978's Jaws 2. Yeah, it's not quite as good as the original. But then again, what movie is? Jaws 2 is, and always has been, still pretty awesome.

Podcaster and stand-up comedian Darin Patterson joins me to talk about one of the funniest movies of the 90s, a movie that never should have fallen off the face of the Earth the way that it did- the 1997 Howard Stern biopic, Private Parts.

Horror movie fan and Staff Picks favorite Jessi Bentley joins me to discuss what I think is the best horror movie of the past twenty years. 2016's Korean zombie movie, Train to Busan.

Writer and film analyst Darren DeBari joins me to discuss one of my favorite suspense movies of all time, and one that is very special to me, personally, because my dad used to watch it with me. It's 1977's mad bomber movie, Rollercoaster.

Fellow child of the 80s Michael Allbright joins me to salvage the reputation of a movie that was never as bad as its legacy. It's time to talk about one of my all-time favorite comedies, 1984's Police Academy.

Fellow child of the late 70s Pete Butler joins me to discuss a movie that was HUGE for any kid who grew up with it, but is sadly pretty much forgotten today, the 1979 Disney movie The Black Hole

Therapist Leann Lindsley joins me to discuss a cute little summer movie you might not have ever seen before. It's the spiritual successor to Meatballs, 2013's The Way Way Back.

Scott Drebit, author of "A Cut Below: A Celebration of B Horror Movies", joins me to discuss one of the craziest B horror movies of them all, 1981's The Pit

Young movie fan Owen Donne joins me to discuss one of my very favorite movies of all time, Alexander Payne's wonderfully sharp and cynical 1999 masterpiece, Election.

Horror author Fiona Carter joins me to discuss the cutest, most feel good, most adorable zombie comedy you are ever going to see, 2017's One Cut of the Dead

Podcaster and fellow fanadu Jessica Liese joins me in one of my funniest episodes of all time, as we discuss the legacy of the flop that really shouldn't have been a flop, 1980's musical disaster Xanadu

Archivist and Ted Bundy researcher Tiffany Jean joins me to discuss one of the greatest TV movies of all time: Mark Harmon (as Ted Bundy) in the 1986 movie The Deliberate Stranger

Horror movie fan and cinephile Christopher Chardi joins me to discuss maybe the most underrated horror movie ever made. It's 1981's supreme creepfest Dead & Buried.

Movie fan Jack Mourouzis joins me to discuss what I'd consider one of the best movies of the past twenty years, which surprisingly rarely ever gets talked about anymore. It's Clint Eastwood's 2008 masterpiece Gran Torino.

Fellow 80s child Celia Curran joins me to discuss a movie that was beloved in its time, but somehow fell right off the face of the earth soon after that. It's time to give more love to the charming 1983 fairytale Max Dugan Returns.

Pop culture podcaster and movie fan Quintin Philipson joins me to discuss what I think was the best movie of the past five years, 2019's instant classic Jojo Rabbit

Sportswriter and podcaster Jack Vita joins me to discuss a movie that shouldn't have worked at all, yet somehow turned out to be amazing. It's 2011's baseball masterpiece, Moneyball.

Screenwriter and George Romero fan Brian Scully joins me to discuss one of the greatest horror films of all time, the original 1978 classic, Dawn of the Dead

People Magazine writer and TV host Steve Helling joins me to discuss one of my favorite suspense/horror movies of the 2000s, 2007's Vacancy

Donnie McHenry, from Psychotronica: A Podcast for Forgotten Film, joins me to discuss an unfairly forgotten horror film. We're talking about the 1990 anthology Tales from the Darkside: The Movie.

My daughter, fellow horror fan Vanessa Lanza, joins me to discuss the movie that has been scientifically proven to be the scariest film of all time, 2012's Sinister

Horror fan and John Carpenter expert Christopher Chardi joins me to discuss "the lost Carpenter film," 1978's made-for-TV-suspense-fest Someone's Watching Me!

The creator of Bonkers Ass Cinema, Matt Rotman, joins me to discuss a movie that is indeed, uh, very bonkers ass. It's 1988's all-over-the-place kinda-sorta-a-Bigfoot-movie Demonwarp.

Horror author Matt Carter joins me to discuss one of the creepiest low budget movies you are ever going to see, 2014's very fittingly titled Creep

Horror fan and podcaster Kacie Rahm joins me to discuss one of the biggest and most important horror movies that has ever been made, 1999's amazing (yes, it's still amazing) The Blair Witch Project

Horror Month 2022 begins as artist and fellow 70's child Robin Punsalan joins me to discuss one of the most infamous TV movies of all time, 1975's Trilogy of Terror.

Podcaster and pop culture fan Jeremy Zehr joins me to discuss the greatest Astin/Wheaton action film of them all, 1991's Toy Soldiers

Baseball fan and father-having George Hanns joins me to discuss one of the greatest father/son baseball movies of all time, 2000's Frequency

Superhero fan Joe Jennings joins me to discuss the movie that started the modern superhero wave, and helped bring America out of 9/11, and really should be talked about more than it is, Sam Raimi's original 2002 Spider-Man

Anime fan and creepy movie fan Andrew Koerner joins me to discuss the king of all creepy anime movies, 1997's Perfect Blue. Because who ARE you, deep down, really?

Writer and fellow dark comedy fan Jericho McCune joins me to discuss maybe the darkest dark comedy that has ever been made, 1998's incredibly polarizing Very Bad Things

Movie expert and historian Johnny Pomatto joins to me to discuss why one of the funniest movies of all time never became a big hit. We're talking about Kurt Russell's 1980 masterpiece, Used Cars.

Staff Picks regular/invigilator David Holdsworth joins me to discuss one of my favorite psychological suspense movies of all time, 2009's highly underrated Exam

Former baseball great Albert Destrade joins me to discuss the greatest baseball movie of all time, 1989's Major League

Bodybuilding fan Lizzie Swanson joins me to discuss one of the greatest documentaries of all time, 1977's Pumping Iron

Teacher and movie fan Jason Rasmussen joins me to discuss one of those great little 80s movies that nobody seems to talk about anymore, which also happened to be one of the first PG-13 films of all time, 1984's Dreamscape

Sportswriter and college professor Paul Oren joins me to discuss a great time capsule of 90s college basketball, not to mention an interesting tale of morality and ethics, 1994's Blue Chips

History teacher Steve Williams joins me to discuss one of the greatest theater movies of all time, one of the funniest non-comedies of all time, and I'd argue clearly the best of the Indiana Jones movies, 1989's Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade

Podcaster and Coen Brothers fan Jonathan Haueter ("Jon Ha") joins me to discuss "the lesser Coen Brothers Movie" that we think is just as funny as any of the bigger ones, 2008's hilariously pointless Burn After Reading

Pop culture fan Christine Giver joins me to discuss a movie that was easily one of the top twenty event movies of my lifetime, yet hardly anyone ever talks about today. We delve into the legacy of 1988's Who Framed Roger Rabbit?

Fellow reality TV historian Jessica Liese joins me to discuss the great early reality TV movie that no one ever talks about, 1999's EdTV

Jake Lloyd fangirl Katie Banks joins me to discuss one of my favorite Christmas movies of all time, 1996's woefully underappreciated Jingle All The Way

Canadian film fan Mark Kalzer joins me to discuss a fun little sci-fi/math/dystopian independent horror movie, 1997's Cube

Theater kid Will Olsen joins me to discuss the Best Picture Winner that has always unfairly been crapped on, the charming 1998 comedy Shakespeare in Love

Younger version of me Michael Feeney joins me to discuss one of the funniest movies of the 2000s. It's the tale of friend zones, and fat suits, and slap fights - 2005's Just Friends

Attorney and horror fan Sean McAllister joins me to discuss one of the creepiest movies ever made, the story of the evil inside all of us, 2001's Session 9

I'm joined by my evil twin as we discuss the greatest evil twin movie of them all, 1972's unforgettable creepfest, The Other

Horror fan Christopher Chardi joins me as we lovingly tribute/roast the classic 1979 horror movie, Phantasm

Horror fan and lover of obscure movies David Markowski joins me to discuss one of the greatest made-for-TV horror movies ever made, the infamous 1981 Dark Night of the Scarecrow

Teacher and horror fan Lizzie Swanson joins me to discuss a great Spanish horror movie you have probably never seen before, 1976's Who Can Kill a Child? (aka Island of the Damned)

My daughter, Vanessa Lanza, joins me to discuss a masterpiece of a horror movie that really, really needs a better PR team, 2014's As Above, So Below

I asked young horror fan Brian Farrell to watch the 1962 cult classic Carnival of Souls for the first time, and then come onto Staff Picks and talk about it with me. This is our discussion of one of the eeriest horror movies ever made.

Horror fan Jessi Bentley joins me to talk about one of the craziest horror movies ever made, 2011's The Cabin in the Woods

My childhood friend Jeff Parker joins me to discuss one of the funniest movies ever made, and a movie that was legendary to any young comedy fan growing up in the eighties, 1977's The Kentucky Fried Movie

Actor and voiceover artist Brett Bower joins me to discuss the number one movie I wish I could have seen in a theater, 1979's ultimate movie theater experience, Rocky 2

Fellow podcaster and non-Nebraskan Dom Harvey joins me to talk about one of the ballsiest movies ever made, 1996's abortion comedy, Citizen Ruth

Muppet historian and puppetry student Joni Newman joins me to discuss the one and only 1979 Muppet Movie

To celebrate my 100th episode, I sit down for an interview, where we talk about the history of Staff Picks as well as a bunch of fun insider trivia

Feminist author and horror fan Fiona Carter joins me to discuss one of the greatest horror movies of all time, as well as an argument why women should be allowed to read books, 1968's Rosemary's Baby

Former Naval Officer David Holdsworth joins me to discuss one of my favorite movies of the 90s, the big actors' showdown between Denzel Washington, Gene Hackman, and Ricky Schroder, Crimson Tide

Movie and pop culture fan P.J. Gaughan joins me to discuss what I consider the greatest comedy movie of all time, 1988's masterpiece A Fish Called Wanda

Journalist and video game fan Bailey Vogt joins me as we discuss maybe the greatest documentary ever made, 2007's The King of Kong. Warning: Donkey Kong kill screen coming up.

Video game historian Brett Weiss joins me to discuss one of the best movies of the 80's, and all things 80's in general, as we delve into the 1983 cold war paranoia thriller, WarGames

Australian podcaster Ben Waterworth joins me as we delve into one of the funniest (and dirtiest) movies of all time, 1999's ode to profanity and censorship and ass spelunking, South Park: Bigger, Longer & Uncut

Podcaster and pop culture fan Jeremy Zehr joins me to discuss his favorite family movie of all time, 1987's long-forgotten Ernest Goes to Camp

Young movie expert and chooser-of-life Ryan Weiss joins me to discuss his favorite movie of all time, 1972's disaster epic The Poseidon Adventure

Reality TV journalist Gordon Holmes joins me to discuss one of my favorite comedies of the 80's, Jim Carrey's first big movie, Once Bitten

Former therapist and bear enthusiast Leann Lindsley joins me to discuss one of the craziest documentaries you are ever going to see, Werner Herzog's 2005 masterpiece, Grizzly Man

Screenwriter Brian Scully joins me to talk about a haunting little masterpiece from Canada that you have probably never seen before, 1998's Last Night

Playwright Stephen Garvey joins me to discuss the greatest love story of our time, 1971's surprisingly deep comedy Harold and Maude

Teen movie fan Stephanie Katz joins me to discuss one of the greatest teen movies of all time, Emma Stone in 2010's Easy A

Horror movie fan and cinephile Christopher Chardi joins me to discuss the movie that Stanley Kubrick once called the most terrifying movie he had ever seen, 1988's The Vanishing (aka Spoorloos)

High school drama teacher Jimmy Gardner joins me to talk about the one-time flop that later turned into a beloved comedy classic, 1985's Clue 

SNL podcaster and stand-up comedian Darin Patterson joins me to talk about one of the funniest movies ever made, 2016's hilarious comedy that never should have flopped, Popstar

L.A.-based filmmaker Austin Herring joins me to discuss a great (and important) movie from 1998 that hardly anyone ever talks about anymore, Edward Norton's magnum opus American History X 

Pop culture fan and burlesque dancer Christine Giver joins me to discuss what I would argue is the greatest Arnold Schwarzenegger (and also James Bond) movie of all time, 1994's True Lies

Baseball fan and pop culture expert Dan Fields joins me to discuss the movie that I have probably seen more times than any other movie in my life, 1977's The Bad News Bears in Breaking Training

Fellow podcaster and pop culture fan Brian Meagher joins me to discuss one of the craziest horror anthologies you are ever going to see, 2015's goofy future holiday classic A Christmas Horror Story

Actor, writer, and all around movie guy Johnny Pomatto joins me as we recap one of our favorite comedies of the 90's, 1992's Nicolas Cage quirk-fest Honeymoon in Vegas 

Australian journalist and milkshake lover Rowan Evans joins me to discuss the fascinating hit piece about the history of McDonald's, 2016's The Founder