Convicted Cinephiles #55 - Spoiler Alert

Convicted Cinephiles

The Cinephiles version 2.5 are back for their first episode recorded in 2015. Still dealing with the departure of co-host Michaela, Matty and Stevil or joined by Casey White and JJ Webb for a completely mind bending podcast to leave all you brains hurting. Recorded deep within a temporal rift, our panel brings you a very special time travel episode. With various means of jumping through time including time machines, possessed evil books and good ol' fashioned "Groundhog Day"-ing, the guys debate the validity of each movie and their methods, while Matty says things the Jage will NEVER forget.

These are our Staff Picks of the week!

Casey has a very creative way of grouping films together to watch them, whether it be by genre, actor or other such connections. While trying to watch every movie that featured the Rolling Stones classic track "Sympathy for the Devil", he came across the late 90s Denzel Washington thriller Fallen. Also starring John Goodman, this movie gives satisfying twists and an ending that playfully screws with the viewer's mind.

Being late to the party by a couple of months, Stevil finally go to check out Christopher Nolan's epic sci-fi flick, Interstellar. Definitely relying on the bond between a father and his kids, this movie struck Stevil on an issue very close to his heart. What would you do to ensure the survival of those closest to you? Would you do it knowing you may never see them again? Driven by an incredible score from the always on his game Hans Zimmer, this is definitely a movie that's worth checking out on the big screen.

Matty again comes at us with two picks, unfortunately one is a "NEVER WATCH" and the other disappointed him greatly. First, he did his due diligence for mankind and weathered the crap storm that is the Michael Bay produced Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles. A horribly plotted film that has an unbearably stupid lead actress Megan Fox and that's just the beginning of the horribleness this movie has in store. Seriously, there needs to be a disclaimer for something this awful.

Matty's second pick caused debate when he labeled it as a disappointing film. David Fincher is definitely a favourite director of the group, but when Gone Girl hit its third act, Matty found his interest in the movie fly out the window. Can someone really be this evil and diabolical? Matty is doubtful, but JJ and Casey are adamant these people exist. Do you agree?

Previously brought as a negative review, JJ brings Under The Skin as his pick. A disturbing film about a woman seducing lonely men to essentially destroy in a sort of succubus fashion. Featuring, maybe, one of the most disturbing on-screen deaths of 2014, JJ says this film will leave a mark on your mind. Yes, of course we talked about that pivotal ScarJo scene....

For the main subject of time travel films, our panel explains why they made their choices:

"In the grand tradition of paying it forward, Triangle was offered up for the theme of time-travel because it’s a movie I would never have seen without a recommendation. Upon learning that the rest of the group hadn’t seen it either, I knew that I had to share this little gem of a horror/time-travel movie that sticks in my memory as one of the best examples of macro time-travel paradoxes." - @thenightninja

"Trying to avoid the usual picks that would be thrown out like Back to the Future or Looper, I decided to go off the path a little and bring a film I discovered while I was working at a now defunct video store. Timecrimes, at the time, was a little known film with an incredible intriguing cover picture, showing a man in an almost Claude Rains-esque Invisible Man bandaging. What I discovered was a brilliant Spanish film with some great plot twists and an incredibly satisfying third act. A must see for those who haven't. - @thestevildead

"I have a love/hate relationship with time travel movies. I love the idea of being able to move through it and the consequences it has/had but I hate the headache it gives me when I try to figure out how it all fits together. That is why i picked Army of Darkness. The science is simple. An evil book sends a man back in time to fight demons. Easy. So now I can just sit back and enjoy a movie which involves Bruce Campbell kill monsters with a chainsaw. So Bruce plus evil book plus chainsaw equals an awesome time." - @mattydub604

"Time traveling has always been an overly explored idea in movies. From huge action epics to more quiet and scientific approaches, you can find every style of movie with a time travel story. Primer always stood out to me as the most believable, and down to earth version of time traveling, and a movie that opens so many doors for discussion." - @hesthejage

What is your favorite time travel film? Do you or did you enjoy our picks? Listen to the episode and let us know what you think in the comments below!