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PODCAST

Movie Memory Machine

Grunt Work Podcasts

Movie Memory Machine is your guide to the forgotten films of the ’80s, ’90s, 2000s, and beyond.Every week, our rogue time machine drops us into a different year to revisit wide-release movies that history left behind—cult favorites, forgotten flops, and everything in between.Along the way, we uncover behind-the-scenes trivia, oddball production choices, and the cultural baggage these movies left behind.Then we decide: does this movie deserve to return to modern memory—or stay lost in time?

tv & film performing arts

All Episodes

33:42

Mini-Transmission: The Vampire's Assistant: Cirque du...

Movie Memory Machine ·

2025/09/26

The Machine delivers a vampire movie that doesn’t suck… it punches.In this Mini-Transmission, Truman and Landen unpack Cirque du Freak: The Vampire’s Assistant with confusion, frustration, and a deep dive into a freak show that left them feeling personally attacked. What You’ll Hear: Is Darren Shan fanfiction or middle school fiction? The untapped greatness of Ray Stevenson and a villain with actor energy The Trailer Game: how many freaks fit in two minutes? Logistics of Mr. Tiny’s limo,

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134:04

The Vampire's Assistant: Cirque du Freak (2009) – YA...

Movie Memory Machine ·

2025/09/19

Released at the height of Twilight fever, Cirque du Freak: The Vampire’s Assistant (2009) tried to launch the next big YA franchise — and fell flat on its face. We’re going back to the circus to ask why this fantasy oddity vanished into the shadows.Based on Darren Shan’s bestselling YA novels, Cirque du Freak: The Vampire’s Assistant (2009) follows teenager Darren, who stumbles into a hidden world of vampires and sideshow outcasts after making a fateful pact with the mysterious Larten Crepsley

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18:35

5 For: Hotel Artemis (2018)

Movie Memory Machine ·

2025/09/15

A dystopian hotel, a crime gone wrong, and one very dumb movie with a basketball death match. This week, the Machine delivers five thematically entangled transmissions for Hotel Artemis — from siege thrillers to pop culture-saturated criminals. WHAT YOU’LL HEAR Five thematically related films that echo Hotel Artemis’ dystopian setting, crime-laden plot, or ensemble structure A nostalgic riff on The Purge’s original script and its budget-conscious premise Safe space shootouts and

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35:22

Mini-Transmission: Hotel Artemis (2018) – Don’t Take...

Movie Memory Machine ·

2025/09/12

In near-future Los Angeles, the Hotel Artemis treats wounded criminals — but our hosts are more concerned with countdown etiquette, 3D-printed weapons, and where Jeff Goldblum keeps his tiny hand bomb.What you'll hear: Heist etiquette, countdown anxiety, and why masks should stay on — even in your sleep Sci-fi tech that makes no ergonomic sense (looking at you, jade egg communicator) The Trailer Game returns: glitches, rules, and a guess about California Dreamin The Machine delivers our

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140:58

Hotel Artemis (2018) – The B-Movie That Dreamed of a...

Movie Memory Machine ·

2025/09/05

What if your health insurance got you shot?In Hotel Artemis (2018), Jodie Foster runs a secret hospital for criminals in riot-torn Los Angeles — but despite ten unbreakable rules, nobody seems to follow any of them, including the movie itself. Set in the not-so-distant future of 2028, Hotel Artemis follows a covert Los Angeles hospital for criminals operated out of an abandoned art deco hotel. As riots explode in the streets over water shortages, the hospital’s no-nonsense nurse (Jodie Foster)

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20:09

5 For: Body of Lies (2008) – Spies, Beards, and...

Movie Memory Machine ·

2025/09/01

The Machine wrests control of the list and serves up five films that echo, challenge, or outshine Body of Lies (2008). From Cold War shadows to desert firefights, these movies test the limits of trust, tension, and espionage on screen. A black-and-white classic spy story with Richard Burton and moral fallout The beard-to-weight Oscar conspiracy of Syriana Why Spielberg’s Munich lingers longer than expected The controversy, urgency, and Jessica Chastain of Zero Dark Thirty Sicario and the

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34:17

Mini-Transmission: Body of Lies (2008) – “Cut the...

Movie Memory Machine ·

2025/08/29

Leonardo DiCaprio side-sips a beer. Landen sprays beer out his nose. Somehow, that’s still more memorable than anything in Body of Lies.This Mini-Transmission spirals from forgettable marketing into prop comedy, actor auditions, and the least effective interrogation techniques ever recorded. Why Body of Lies has one of the most boring posters and marketing campaigns imaginable Truman and Landen’s beer-soaked reenactment of Leo’s bizarre drinking habits A live-read audition of “Cut the

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02:12:40

Body of Lies (2008) | The Most Forgettable Movie of...

Movie Memory Machine ·

2025/08/22

What happens when you take a CIA thriller, strip it of personality, and add brown contact lenses? Body of Lies (2008) is the rare war-on-terror drama that forgets itself while you’re still watching it.Released in 2008 by Warner Bros. and directed by Ridley Scott, Body of Lies stars Leonardo DiCaprio as a CIA operative running ground operations in Jordan and Russell Crowe as his remote, micromanaging superior. Based on a novel by Washington Post journalist David Ignatius and adapted by The Departed

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25:25

Mini-Transmission: The Rundown (2003) | Between The...

Movie Memory Machine ·

2025/08/15

What do Brazilian fight scenes, video game sound cues, and a referee with a whistle have in common? This Mini-Transmission dives into the sonic mayhem of The Rundown (2003), plays the easiest Trailer Game of all time, and ends with a cryptic new clue from the Machine.WHAT YOU’LL HEAR A spirited debate over whether a jungle fight scene is secretly reffed by a whistle-happy sports official A haunting PlayStation startup sound hidden in the score The easiest (and most accurate) round of The

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14:56

5 For: The Rundown (2003)

Movie Memory Machine ·

2025/08/11

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02:24:17

The Rundown (2003) | The Rock in the Jungle (Before...

Movie Memory Machine ·

2025/08/08

Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson’s first big shot at movie stardom came in The Rundown (2003) — a jungle action-comedy from a studio that couldn’t decide what it wanted.This week, Movie Memory Machine digs into the awkward birth of a blockbuster franchise that never was. In The Rundown (2003), Dwayne Johnson stars as Beck, a bounty hunter sent to the Amazon to retrieve his boss’s son — only to run into rebels, a tyrannical gold mine operator, and more fruit-based slapstick than expected. Directed by

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16:23

5 For: Wicker Park (2004)

Movie Memory Machine ·

2025/08/04

Whether you loved or hated Wicker Park, here are five similar films that you can watch.

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30:11

Mini-Transmission: Wicker Park (2004)

Movie Memory Machine ·

2025/08/01

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02:09:14

Wicker Park (2004) – Obsession, Illusion, and the...

Movie Memory Machine ·

2025/07/25

How many tracking shots does it take to find a lost love? In this high-style, low-logic thriller-romance from the early 2000s, Matthew is consumed by a single question: what happened to Lisa? And we’re consumed by a different one: wait, who is Lisa again?Before Gone Girl, before You, there was Wicker Park — a 2004 psychological romance thriller where Josh Hartnett broods, stalks, and slowly unravels over the mysterious disappearance of his girlfriend. But what starts as a moody Chicago-set love

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15:42

"5 For" If He’s Just Not That Into You Wasn’t Enough...

Movie Memory Machine ·

2025/07/21

Rom-coms, rules, and red flags. In this “5 For,” Truman and Landen pick five films that helped shape the cinematic dating game — from charming classics to early-2000s cultural crimes.Highlights Why When Harry Met Sally set the rom-com template for behavioral science in dating Hitch vs. Justin Long: Who’s more believable as a love expert? An unfiltered takedown of How to Lose a Guy in 10 Days Sign-based storytelling from Sleepless in Seattle to He’s Just Not That Into You How Love

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29:20

(Mini) He's Just Not That Into You (2009) and the...

Movie Memory Machine ·

2025/07/18

Who smoked the cigarettes at Bradley Cooper’s house? In this Mini-Transmission, Truman and Landen investigate the greatest mystery in He’s Just Not That Into You — and uncover a conspiracy that involves yoga instructors, real estate agents, and possibly Gigi.Topics The full trial of Bradley Cooper, with Luis Guzman as character witness How He’s Just Not That Into You might be The Wire: Season 6 A sweet Drew Barrymore story (plus Justin Long’s ticket etiquette) The Trailer Game: Park

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02:33:12

He’s Just Not That Into You (2009) – Bare-Minimum...

Movie Memory Machine ·

2025/07/11

In 2009’s He's Just Not That Into You, a romantic ensemble built on a bestselling advice book somehow wound up being about emotionally stunted men, red flag relationships, and one very confused Scarlett Johansson.Truman and Landen dig through the all-star cast and pop feminism of this late-2000s relic to find out how a dating guide turned into two hours of mixed messages and bare-minimum boyfriends. A glossy rom-com about mixed signals and missed connections, He's Just Not That Into You follows a

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16:13

5 For – The Road to Wellville – Decadence, Decay, and...

Movie Memory Machine ·

2025/07/07

The Machine served up The Road to Wellville, and now it’s time to cleanse the palate.WHAT YOU’LL HEAR – Five films that turn food into ritual, punishment, or power – A Bolognese orgy, a cult in Pasadena, and one very worried draftsman – The Decameron defense: “It’s not all butts” – When Joaquin Phoenix becomes a human vessel (again) Want more weird cinema and Machine-fueled chaos? Follow us here: – Support the show on Patreon: https://patreon.com/gruntworkpod – Season watchlist on Letterboxd:

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30:01

Mini-Transmission: The Road to Wellville – Character...

Movie Memory Machine ·

2025/07/04

Enemas, cornflakes, and the unholy gospel of wellness. This Mini-Transmission digs through the baffling remains of The Road to Wellville (1994) — a film that dares to ask what happens when you make Anthony Hopkins do that with his voice. What You’ll Hear: The perils of turning cereal into cinema Roy Brocksmith: The Greatest Character Actor? The Trailer Game: predicting which bowel moments made the cut The Next Movie Reveal — including a spicy clue from the Machine Support on Patreon:

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02:03:41

The Road to Wellville (1994) – Anthony Hopkins,...

Movie Memory Machine ·

2025/06/27

What if Amadeus and There’s Something About Mary had a baby—and fed it nothing but yogurt enemas? In this episode of Movie Memory Machine, Landen and Truman dive headfirst into The Road to Wellville (1994), a baffling, big-budget health spa satire starring Anthony Hopkins as cereal tycoon Dr. John Harvey Kellogg in a performance that must be heard to be believed.Directed by Alan Parker (Evita, Pink Floyd: The Wall) and based on the novel by T.C. Boyle, this forgotten 90s movie is part cult curio,

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111 results

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