Binge Movies: Rankings and Reviews

Criterion Collection Vol 2, Ranked

EPISODE 194: Elegant, epic, existential, and electric. Volume 2 goes to 11 (ft. Megan Kearns)

Episode Description:
Jason returns to the closet of cinema history to crack open another stack from the Criterion Collection! From enchanted castles and sinking ships to philosophical chess matches, outback odysseys, and the loudest band in England, this lineup is as diverse as it is iconic.

Films Ranked:

• Beauty and the Beast (1946) – Cocteau’s poetic dreamscape of love and transformation.

• A Night to Remember (1958) – The definitive Titanic film, long before Leo and Kate.

• Walkabout (1971) – A haunting vision of isolation, survival, and cultural collision.

• The Seventh Seal (1957) – Bergman’s meditation on mortality, meaning, and the black plague.

• This Is Spinal Tap (1984) – The rockumentary that turned it up to eleven... and never came back down.

Jason and Megan wrestle with the big questions: Could anyone make the Seventh Seal today? Does Spinal Tap still hit as hard in the age of memes? Is A Night to Remember secretly the most profound film of the bunch? And where does Walkabout fit into the pantheon of coming-of-age stories?

ALSO:

• Cocteau’s magic mirrors and movie sorcery

• The layers beneath the surface of A Night to Remember

• Existential laughs in chain mail

• Why the line between satire and reality might be thinner than we think

 

David Lynch, Ranked

EPISODE 193:  Through a Dream, Darkly — Ranking David Lynch (ft. Molly Razz)

Episode Description:
This week, we tumble headfirst into the subconscious as Jason is joined by the enigmatic Molly Razz to rank five of David Lynch’s most haunting cinematic visions. From industrial nightmares and small-town secrets to Hollywood hallucinations, we tackle the big questions:
What is real? What is a performance? And where does that damn radiator song keep coming from?

Films Ranked:

• Eraserhead (1977)

• The Elephant Man (1980)

• Blue Velvet (1986)

• Twin Peaks: Fire Walk with Me (1992)

• Mulholland Drive (2001)

Is Eraserhead a surreal masterpiece or an anxiety dream gone on too long? Is Fire Walk with Me the secret key to Twin Peaks? Does Mulholland Drive mark the apex of Lynch’s dream logic? And how many mysteries can be packed into one velvet curtain?

Molly brings razor-sharp insight, Jason brings existential dread, and together they attempt the impossible: ranking the unrankable.

PLUS:

• The legacy of Lynchian dread

• The fine art of being uncomfortable

• Molly’s theory on Blue Velvet and American repression

• A brief trip into the Black Lodge (we think)

Black Bag (2025)

INSTANT REACTION: Five original films hit theaters and failed to draw audiences. When we say we want more original movies who are "we" and do "we" mean it? 

The Monkey (2025)

Instant Reaction: Everybody dies. And that’s fucked up.
When twin brothers find a mysterious wind-up monkey, a series of outrageous deaths tear their family apart. Twenty-five years later, the monkey begins a new killing spree forcing the estranged brothers to confront the cursed toy.

Heart Eyes (2025)

INSTANT REACTION: No couple is safe.

When the “Heart Eyes Killer” strikes Seattle, a pair of co-workers pulling overtime on Valentine’s Day are mistaken for a couple by the elusive couple-hunting killer. Now, they must spend the most romantic night of the year running for their lives.