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Happy New Year everyone ! And welcome to the 5th Annual Year End Review here at the triple FFF. We have a ginormous, star-studded show for you with an all star panel consisting of a who’s who of series regulars Alex Robertson, Roseanne Caputi, David Johnson, Kendrick Wright and all the way from El Paso, Joe Field!

Welcome everyone.

We’re just going to get right into it. So right off the bat, 2025 is the year that didn’t make up for the doldrums of 2024 and the pandemic years so we saw a lot of hand-wringing and ruminating online and in the media about the end of cinema.

But I contend that my theatrical film intake was the same as it’s ever been. I just wasn’t blown away by what I saw.

Was 2025 the beginning of the end?

Find out!

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This week on Fabulous Film and Friends I’m doing something a little different and simply giving thoughts on a screening I attended of Star Trek II -The Wrath of Khan with William Shatner Live, a screening I was eagerly looking forward to because a) Wrath of Khan is one of my all-time favorite movies and b) William Shatner is my favorite actor of all time.

Why is Star Trek II the best Star Trek film?
Is Shatner worth seeing live?

Find out!

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This week on Fabulous Film and Friends we’re going to pay tribute to the late, great Robert Reford and analyze just why this Hollywood icon belonged on the top of Mt. Olympus long before vanity, sanctimony and crass commercialism ruined his artistry.

In other words, before he tarnished his legacy with offensive tripe like The Legend of Bagger Vance, the execrable Indecent Proposal and most especially by appearing as a generic schmoe bad guy #5 in Marvel movies, he was literally the undisputed KING of the Hollywood Hill starting with 1969’s Downhill Racer directed by Michael Ritchie co-starring Gene Hackman, Camilla Sparv, Kenneth Kirk, Jim McMullan, Walter Stroud and Dabney Coleman in his ever so brief dreamboat era. Then Redford was his solid oakiest in 1972’s Jeremiah Johnson directed by Sydney Pollack and co-starring Will Gear, Delle Bolton, Josh Albee, Paul Benedict, Jack Covin and Stefan Gierasch. And he showed us all how paranoid thrillers were done with 1975’s 3 Days of the Condor directed once again by Sydney Pollack and co-starring Faye Dunaway, Max Von Sydow, John Houseman and Cliff Robertson

I’m your host Gino Caputi leading my dream team of scoffers and detractors, lil sis Roseanne Caputi and photobug/actor/gadfly Alex Robertson.

Before we hit the trails on career highlights, the synopses:

Downhill Racer

An arrogant young skier, David Chappellet, rockets to the top of the U.S. ski team, heedlessly chasing medals, without regard for his teammates or his Coach who tries without success rein him in.

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Jeremiah Johnson

A war-weary loner heads into the Rockies to live off the land and find peace, but the wilderness has other notion, transforming Jeremiah Johnson from naive pilgrim to Legendary Crow Killer, forged by experience and hardship.

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3 Days of the Condor

Mild-mannered CIA researcher Joe Turner, aka Condor, goes out for lunch and comes back to find everyone he works with dead. Suddenly Condor finds himself hunted, running from his own agency and clinging to the one woman who might trust him. Can he unravel the truth — before the deep state eats him alive?

Why was Robert Redford the Hollywood GOAT?

Find out!

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Welcome to the launch of our epic 5th season on Fabulous Film & Friends! This is the big one! The one that everyone will be talking about for years to come.

Why? Because this is the episode where I finally get to trash the Barbie movie as we dive into the idea of “When Good Directors Go Bad.”

Inspired by the recent release of 2025’s Paul Thomas Anderson/ Leonardo DiCaprio domestic terror extravaganza One Battle After Another which also stars Benicio Del Toro, Teyana Taylor, Chase Infiniti, Regina Hall, Tony Goldwyn, Alana Haim and Sean Penn, we’re going to analyze just went wrong with this promising cinematic spectacle and compare it to another creative disaster that should’ve been an artistic and thematic slam dunk considering its pedigree, 2023’s Barbie directed by Greta Gerwig and starring Margot Robbie, Ryan Gosling, America Ferrera, Ariana Greenblatt, Simu Liu, Rhea Perlman and Will Ferrell.

I’m your host Gino Caputi and returning to their mics pretty much right where they left them last season are little sis’ Roseanne Caputi and actor photobug Gordon Alex Robertson.

Alex, you’re going to start this season out of the hot seat again as Roseanne is going to continue to thrill us with factoids about the directors in question

Hit us again with the facts, Teach!

Before we sharpen the bayonets and light the fuses: the synopses.

Barbie follows the titular blonde doll as she awakes blissfully in the female run Barbie Land each day, ignoring her supposed boyfriend Ken, and partying with her fellow Barbies all night. One night during a sensationally choreographed and costumed dance party, she has an existential crisis about mortality and develops flat feet, causing her to leave Barbieland on a journey to “the real world” to find the source of her angst. Realizing her depressed feelings stem from a psychic connection to her original owner, Gloria, Barbie reconnects with Gloria and Gloria’s daughter and the trio travel back to Barbieland. Upon their return, however, they are dumbfounded to find that Ken has taken over and has brainwashed all the other Barbies into subservience to him and his fellow Kens. A battle of the sexes ensues.

One Battle After Another loosely adapts Vineland, a novel by Thomas Pynchon. It follows Bob Ferguson, a bomb expert drawn into the terrorist group the French 75. Amid the group’s revolutionary chaos, Bob fathers a daughter named Willa with the fiery tempered and uncontrollable Perfidia Beverly Hills. Perfidia also has a complicated relationship with the mannered and single-minded Colonel Steven Lockjaw. She is soon caught during a botched bank robbery, and Lockjaw strikes a deal with her, leading her to name names.

Years later, after most of his French 75 cohorts have been hunted down by Lockjaw, Bob is still on the run in Northern California with Willa. But Lockjaw finds and captures Willa so Bob must confront the unstoppable colonel for once and for all.

Where did these two talented filmmakers go off the rails?

Find out!

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On our season finale to our 4th blockbuster year in the podcast space, we’re going to answer the burning question on everyone’s mind these days:

What’s the deal with Richard Lester?

In order to find the answer, we’re digging into the notable works from his four decades in show business, starting with 1964’s A Hard Day’s Night starring John Lennon Paul McCartney, George Harrison and Ringo Starr aka the Beatles along with Wilfred Brambell, Norman Rossington, John Junkin and Victor Spinetti then onto 1973 &74’s The Three & Four Musketeers starring Oliver Reed, Michael York, Richard Chamberlain, Frank Finlay, Raquel Welch, Faye Dunaway, Christopher Lee & Charleton Heston and topped off with 1983’s Superman III starring Christopher Reeve, Richard Pryor, Jackie Cooper, Marc McClure, Annette O’Toole, Robert Vaugh, Annie Ross, Pamela Stevenson and Margot Kidder.

My guests this week are the ever-reliable Roseanne Caputi and fresh from the sweltering fields of the Sacramento Valley, camera in hand and twice the photobug that Jimmy Olsen ever could be, Gordon Alex Robertson.

Before we bumble and stumble and pratfall our way into the madcap, muddled mind of Mr. Lester, the synopses:

A Hard Day’s Night follows the Fab Four during a 24-hour period as they attempt to escape the responsibilities and madness of fame, their managers --who need them to just stay put for a television appearance-- and the misdeeds of Paul’s ornery grandfather who keeps throwing a monkey wrench in everyone’s plans.

The Three & Four Musketeers adapts the classic Alexandre Dumas swashbuckler, following the adventures and exploits of D’artagnan a young swordsman who travels from Gascony to Paris to join the King’s Royal Musketeers as his father did before him. D’artagnan soon joins forces with three of the most colorful and dynamic musketeers, the friends Athos, Porthos and Aramis when the scheming Cardinal Richelieu’s Elite Guards attempt to arrest them all for dueling. From there it’s non-stop intrigue, war and tragedy as D’artagnan and his three cohorts try to rescue Queen Anne and her dress maker, the lovely Lady Constance, from the dastardly machinations of Count Rochefort and Milady di Winter, two of the Cardinal’s most dangerous and effective spies.

Superman III features The Man of Steel pitted against Ross Webster, a ruthless business tycoon, who enlists a bumbling computer programmer Gus Gorman to try and control the global coffee and oil markets. Thwarted by Superman at every turn, Ross and Gus build a living supercomputer to stop him for once and for all. But did Gus go too far?

Did Richard Lester go to far?

Is he an unsung genius, a Hollywood hack or stuck somewhere in the messy middle?

Find out!

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As promised, this week on episode #109 of "Fabulous Film & Friends we’re going to weigh in on the two big ticket super hero extravaganzas from the Summer of 2025: James Gunn’s Superman starring David Corenswet, Rachel Brosnahan, Skyler Gisando, Wendell Pierce, Edi Gathegi, Nathan Fillion, Isabela Merced, Sara Sampaio and Nicholas Hoult up against The Fantastic Four: First Steps directed by Matt Shakman and starring Pedro Pascal, Vanessa Kirby, Ebon Moss Bachrach, Joseph Quinn, Julia Garner and Ralph Ineson.

Returning for yet another daringly detailed deep dive into the world of fantastical four colored fantasies is nephew to a comic bookstore Kingpin, author, teacher and hypnotherapist, Joe Field.

Before we blast off into the Ultra-Negative Zone, the synopses:

In 2025’s Superman, it is 3 years into his mission and Earth’s Champion, The Man of Steel has met his match in Lex Luthor who causes a distraction with a giant monster and breaks into Superman’s secret Fortress of Solitude where he translates a message from Superman’s parents in which they instruct their son Kal El –Superman’s Kryptonian name-- to take over earth and spread his seed. Using this jarringly awkward info to turn public opinion against our hero, Luthor has also made a clone of Superman called Ultraman who continually batters and beats the Man of Steel into submission. On top of that, Luthor has a Pocket Universe where he jails his enemies including his ex-girlfriends. And Lex has Ultraman place Superman in a cage with another a super powered being named Metamorpho who can weaken Superman by turning his hands into Kryptonite. Ultimately, Luthor’s cruelty overwhelms Metamorpho who helps Superman escape the pocket universe but it in doing so, the unstable dimensional rift threatens to swallow Earth. It is only with the help of scrappy reporter Lois Lane and a team of heroes called The Justice Gang that Superman that is able to beat Ultraman, Luthor and close the rift. There’s also some political stuff going on with two made up countries going to War because of Luthor’s manipulations.

In The Fantastic Four: First Steps it has been four years since Reed Richards, Sue Storm, her brother Johnny and Ben Grimm were transformed by cosmic rays into the world’s protectors, super stretchy genius Mr. Fantastic, The Invisible Woman, The Human Torch and the rock man known as The Thing who are biggest celebrities on the planet. The exciting news that team leaders Reed Richards and Sue Storm are expecting their first child is put on the back burner by the arrival of the Silver Surfer the herald of the planet eating Celestial known as Galactus. Galactus tells the Fantastic Four that he will spare Earth in exchange for their yet unborn child, but that his too high a price to pay. With the public opinion against them, and world watching nervously, the team springs into action and devises a incredible plan to teleport planet earth into the far reaches of space. But then the Surfer and Galactus arrive and put the kabosh on the plan so the FF amends the plan to send Galactus himself into the far reaches of space, which seemed like the better strategy to begin with.

So which movie was dumber and more suitable for booger eating six year olds?

Find out!

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This week, on our 108th episode of Fabulous Film & Friends we’re looking at Danny Boyle’s 2025 summer entry 28 Years Later as well as the two other films that led up to it, 2002’s 28 Days Later and 2007’s 28 Weeks Later. Mr. Boyle directed the segments one and three, and the second entry was directed by Juan Carlos Fresnadillo, The stars of the first movie were Cillian Murphy, Naomie Harris, Brendan Gleason, Megan Burns and Christopher Eccelson. The second movie was a regular who’s who of up-and-comers from 2007: Jeremy Renner, Rose Byrne, Imogen Poots, Idris Elba, Harold Perrineau with veteran support from Catherine McCormack and Robert Carlysle while the 3rd film is a mix of old pro and newcomers with Aaron Taylor-Johnson, Jodie Comer, Jack O’Connell and Ralph Fiennes as supporting players to fresh faced star of the tomorrow Alfie Williams!

My solitary guest this week is the mighty Joe Field, author, teacher and pop culture enthusiast.

The 28 Days Later trilogy’s story unfolds as follows:

Zombies Zombies and more Zombies!

The first movie tracks the origin of a primate based virus and how it decimates England and turns its population into cannibalistic raging savages within 28 Days. Only a lone bike messenger freshly awakened from a coma and a few other scrappy survivors are able to navigate the treacherous countryside to supposed safety of a military outpost.

The underachieving sequel is basically the military versus zombies where the virus has been eradicated due to the infected starving to death, but the virus returns with a vengeance when an asymptomatic mother releases it on her cowardly husband who left her to die during the first outbreak.

And the third movie, taking place 28 Years after that, deals with a post-apocalyptic human society living on a small island in Scotland. The islanders are cut off from the rest of the world and surrounded by lands chock o’block full of zombies, including 7 foot tall Alpha Zombies. The people on the island have their own training, customs and way of life. When an island mother comes down with cancer, her 12 year old son takes her out into forbidden land in search of a doctor who can cure her.

Are any of these movies in this trilogy worth traversing the outer regions to see in the multiplex?

Find out!

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On our 107th podcast, we here at the Triple FFF thought we’d try to once again attempt relevance and discuss a current big release, this time Wes Anderson’s 2025 father-daughter high stakes business and espionage caper The Phoenician Scheme starring Benicio Del Toro, Mia Threapleton, Michael Cera, Tom Hanks, Bryan Cranston, Riz Ahmed, Scarlet Johansson, Mathieu Amalric, Jeffrey Wright, Rupert Friend and Benedict Cumberbatch. As well as Mr. Anderson’s troupe of good-natured bit players and walk ons which includes Bill Murray, F. Murray Abraham, Wilem Dafoe and now Charlotte Gainsbourg.

I’m your host Gino Caputi and my guests this week are the always dependable show regulars Joe Field, David Johnson DMD and Gordon Alex Robertson

The Phoenician Scheme’s plot unfolds as follows:

After surviving yet another assassination attempt, this time with a glimpse of the afterlife, wealthy arms dealer and industrialist Anatole Zsa-Zsa Korda realizes his days are numbered and possibly without purpose. Hoping to reconnect with his estranged daughter Liesl—now on the verge of taking her final vows as a Catholic nun—he names her the sole heir to his estate. In exchange for long-withheld truths about her mother’s murder, Korda convinces Liesl to accompany him on a whirlwind journey to secure funding from several colorfully shady investors for his grand, multi-layered Phoenician Scheme—plans for which are ingeniously stored in a series of shoeboxes.

Where does this film rank within Wes Anderson’s collection of stories about larger-than-life, big talking fathers of dubious emotional and financial sincerity?

Find out!

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