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We Paid To See This

A light-hearted comedic movie podcast focusing on the week's new cinema releases. Darren Hayes and Anthony Armentano spend their hard earned (or borrowed) cash to see the latest film releases and tell you what they thought. Because they don't get in for free, their opinions are honest. Honestly! May contain funny bits (they're both Groundlings trained improvisers) and strange non sequiturs (Anthony has a degree in film and Darren has an Olympic medal in rambling). Maybe some naughty words too.
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Now displaying: 2017
Jul 4, 2017

Darren drives and Anthony comes in shell-shocked from the road. Edgar Wright's 'Baby Driver' (Ansel Elgort, Kevin Spacey, Jon Hamm, Jamie Foxx) promises a damn good time, and gives Anthony a hint of anxiety. Darren champions 'The House' (Will Ferrell, Amy Poehler, Jason Mantzoukas). Netflix's Okja (Tilda Swinton, Paul Dano, Jake Gyllenhaal) directed by Bong Joon-ho, and repressed nun comedy, 'The Little Hours' (Alison Brie, Aubrey Plaza, Kate Micucci, Dave Franco) are also reviewed. One of us can never go back to Barnes & Noble. 

Jun 27, 2017

Darren falls out of love with a hairless Whole Foods employee, Anthony walks away unsatisfied from a traffic altercation, and a dog runs loose in Peets. Plus, we review some movies! Including the comedies, 'Rough Night' (Scarlett Johansson, Kate McKinnon, Zoe Kravitz), and Judd Apatow and Michael Showalter's 'The Big Sick' (Ray Romano, Zoe Kazan, Holly Hunter) written by Kumail Nanjiani and Emily V. Gordon. Finally, we get titillated by Sofia Coppola's American gothic, 'The Beguiled' (Nicole Kidman, Kirsten Dunst, Elle Fanning, and Colin Farrell).

Jun 20, 2017

We talk about the experience of seeing of an original 1982 print of Steven Spielberg's masterpiece, 'E.T.' on Father's Day in Hollywood. Anthony reviews the Bruce Wills, John Goodman action/comedy, 'Once Upon a Time In Venice'. We update you on the possible origins of Catholic church wine. Finally, we discuss 'Beatriz at Dinner', starring Salma Hayek, John Lithgow and Connie Britton; written by Mike White. Your emails are read and we regret talking about male celebrity anatomy.

Jun 13, 2017

This week's episode opens with Darren's battle with a twitter porn-bot, tales from Anthony's L.A baseball game adventure, some celebrity sightings and a heartfelt discussion of Catholicism (not really heartfelt if we're honest). Anthony stumbles through his review of the Rachel Weisz mystery 'My Cousin Rachel'. Darren gives the Tom Cruise big budget Universal Monster themed 'The Mummy' a fighting chance. We make some fairly satisfactory mummy puns before Anthony raves about the Joel Edgerton psychological thriller 'It Comes at Night'.

Jun 6, 2017

Darren shares his frustrating experience with a courier service. Anthony spends a week in Las Vegas. We eventually talk about the blockbusting, weekend smash 'Wonder Woman', directed by Patty Jenkins, and staring Gal Gadot, Chris Pine, Robin Wright and David Thewlis. Plus, Anthony reviews Zoe Lister-Jones' indie comedy, 'Band Aid' (Adam Pally, Fred Armisen). It's our 52nd episode. That means we've been doing this for a year, and so have you! 

May 30, 2017

Straight from the theater and into the microphone, we deliver our review of Johnny Depp's latest flick, 'Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Men Tell No Tales'. We tread on heavily treaded territory by asking the question, "who's the best Beatle?" Finally, we go on a Doppelbender, and review 'Alien: Covenant' (Katherine Waterson, Billy Crudup, Danny McBride), a movie one of us might describe as the Paul McCartney of Alien movies.

May 23, 2017

'Twin Peaks: The Return' - 25 years after the iconic series ended, it's back, so we sit down to talk about the new series' first four episodes, Special Agent Dale Cooper, and the mastermind himself, David Lynch. Some mild spoilers from the original series inside! But first, Darren murders slugs, Anthony finagles an extra drink and we brag about our VIP experience during U2's first night at The Rose Bowl, on their 2017 The Joshua Tree Tour.

May 17, 2017

On this week's show, we cover blood pressure, liver spots, and ask the very important question - Where has Debra Winger been? Darren checks out during a review of 'The Lovers', but swears it's not Anthony's fault. The show redeems itself with a review of 'Snatched' (Amy Schumer, Goldie Hawn). A vocal impressionist is born and Darren brings us all down with his reflections on a documentary called ‘Homeless: The Motel Kids Of Orange County'. If you were waiting to commit to the show, this is the best episode we’ve ever recorded. Ever.  

May 8, 2017

Right out of the gate, the guys dive head first into James Gunn's 'Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2' (Chris Pratt, Zoe Saldana, Kurt Russell, Bradley Cooper). Anthony reviews the new Liev Schreiber movie 'Chuck', and Darren shares his thoughts on the HBO documentary, 'Heidi Fleiss: The Would-Be Madam of Crystal'. The men then equate The Real Housewives of New York to a very bad addiction to something that rhymes with sack, knack and smack! 

May 3, 2017

The guys talk food and inspiration during their review of the documentary, Jeremiah Tower: The Last Magnificent. Other topics discussed include, the Pixies, the price of cable television and the appropriate way to wipe, if you're a lady. Anthony has a transformative experience at The Fate of the Furious, and Darren can't take it. Jonathan Demme's passing is discussed. Confessions are confessed. 

Apr 25, 2017

Thank god Darren and Anthony had interesting (aka challenging) weeks to talk about because this week's film releases were slim pickings. We manage to make it interesting though.  There's the new indie vampire film 'Transfiguration' - the terribly average Ewan McGregor, Jennifer Connelly and a grown-up Dakota Fanning period piece 'American Pastoral' and the shoot-em-up 70's action comedy 'Freefire'.  Come for the films, stay for the stories of arguments in the immigration line at LAX.  

Apr 18, 2017

Uh-oh. We're in trouble. Something's come along and it burst our bubble!

Apr 11, 2017

There's a wonderful and unique new comedy sci-fi film called 'Colossal' starring Anne Hathaway, Jason Sudeikis, Dan Stevens and directed by Nacho Vigalondo that you gotta see!  And if you don't believe us, listen to this episode.  We also get in to the trials and tribulations of seeing indie movies at the 'old folks home' as we sometimes affectionately refer to our local theatre.  This episode is huge, some might even say 'Colossal'!  See what we did there!? Dad jokes are us!

Apr 5, 2017

Darren opens the show talking about bathroom business, Anthony breaks down his recent DNA discoveries, and the guys take a crack at 'Ghost in the Shell'. Anthony sneaks a surprise movie in, then brings up the new Netflix docuseries, 'Five Came Back'. They end the show talking about the upcoming Alien installment. There's also an exploration of anger management and road rage!

Mar 29, 2017

Darren just got back from watching the Jake Gyllenhaal, Ryan Reynolds space flick, 'Life'. He shares his 'fresh' take. Anthony talks about his Vegas heist...umm...vacation, then reviews Woody Harrelson's newest movie, 'Wilson', also starring Laura Dern and Judy Greer. Darren watches 'Beware the Slenderman' on HBO Go, and Anthony gets charmed by 'Train to Busan', now on Netflix. The guys experience a technical boo boo but overcome it triumphantly in what critics are describing as their best episode yet! 

Mar 22, 2017

At the top of the show, Anthony takes a crack at convincing Darren that he enjoyed   the Trainspotting sequel. Darren's not convinced. Anthony shares a zen personal victory over texting in the movies (not him, some other loser!) This somehow leads to a chat about 'Personal Shopper', the new Kristen Stewart ghost story movie. Both men get their pants charmed off by Disney's live action remake of 'Beauty and the Beast'. Darren sees 'The Eagles of Death Metal: Not Amis' documentary on HBO, then talks a ghost story of his own. Spooky! 

Mar 15, 2017

Darren and Anthony see the blockbusting smash hit 'Kong: Skull Island', starring Brie Larson, John Goodman, Samuel L. Jackson, John C. Riley, and Tom Hiddleston, then wish they didn't. Anthony shares a traumatic dining experience, and the boys take a short break to get the scoop on Donald Trump's tax returns. Anthony talks Julia Ducournau's first feature film, 'Raw'. Limbo is discussed. WE'RE FORTY EPISODES OLD!! 

Mar 8, 2017

We talk 'Logan' - the gritty (and extremely popular) Hugh Jackman 'Wolverine' movie that folks are comparing to the Christopher Nolan 'Batman Begins' level of superhero flicks.  Comedian, writer and actor Mike Birbiglia has a fantastic new stand-up special, 'Thank God For Jokes' on streaming services plus we saw the Chris Kelly picture, 'Other People' starring Molly Shannon, Maude Apatow, Jesse Plemons and Bradley Whitford. We also check out the Melanie Lynskey and Elijah Wood dark comedic thriller 'I Don't Feel At Home In This World Anymore'.  Mostly we talk about what happened when Anthony went to vote and why Darren ate donuts at 4am.  

Mar 1, 2017

There's a fantastic new horror film in town and it's not what you think.  'Get Out' is funny, scary and full of social commentary. Written and directed by Jordan Peele (of comedy duo 'Key and Peele' fame) it's a film that manages to be scary and hilarious without ever being trashy.  We tear open the wrong envelope that was Oscars 2017 and we discuss Iranian best winning foreign film 'The Salesman'.  Mostly we just argue over whether 11 am is considered 'the early afternoon' or not (it isn't). 

Feb 22, 2017

We saw 4 films and one of them was dreadful.  Can you guess which one it might be?  We saw the Charlie Day / Ice Cube comedy 'Fist Fight' with hilarious Jillian Bell and Christina Hendricks.  Anthony saw the South Korean period thriller 'The Handmaiden'.  Darren stumbled upon a 2015 British horror film 'Howl' and we saw the anthology horror film, directed by all women, called 'XX'.  Plus we talk Star Wars The Last Jedi and we rip on some pop music we loathe.  Yay! 

Feb 15, 2017

We saw the two biggest films at the US box office this week and we tear 'em apart like chicken wings.  DELICIOUS CHICKEN WINGS THAT IS!  Hear our thoughts and possibly some rants about The Grammy Awards and some terrible jokes!  

Feb 8, 2017

We tortured ourselves to see the 'sequel' (re-boot) of the horror franchise 'The Ring' titled, imaginatively, 'Rings'.  We surprisingly enjoyed Ben Affleck's new Boston prohibition era gangster film 'Live by Night' and we finally talk the last best picture nomination, the Mel Gibson war epic 'Hacksaw Ridge'.  Plus there's talk of doodles, how to remember to spell your name and the Lady Ga Ga performance at the Super Bowl! 

Feb 1, 2017

We talk M Night Shyamalan's latest thriller 'Split' starring James McAvoy, Anya Taylor-Joy and Haley Lu Richardson, the Studio Ghibli produced animated film 'The Red Turtle' and the Michael Keaton film 'Founder' about the struggle over the ownership of America's favorite fast food chain.  We might also have talked about how to handle long road trips with no toilets to be found, but you'll have to listen to find out! 

Jan 25, 2017

It's the day of the 2017 Oscar nominations and we've got a thing or two to say about it.  Listen to our thoughts on who we THINK will win, who we WANT to win and who was SNUBBED.  Plus, Anthony has a terrific cold and Darren is so paranoid about catching it, he's wearing a surgical mask.  Check it!  Also please make sure you wash your hands after this episode. You never know.  

Jan 18, 2017

Three big films this episode. First up the Felicity Jones fantasy adventure / realist film 'A Monster Calls' based on the children's book of the same name about a boy who uses his art and imagination to avoid the sadness of his Mother's terminal illness (don't worry we manage to make it somewhat funny).  We discuss the Denzel Washington / Viola Davis film 'Fences' and the Annette Bening / Elle Fanning / Greta Gerwig / Billy Crudup coming of age story '20th Century Women'.  That, and we talk road rage.  It's one for the ages!

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