Four Play

12 Monkeys made $170 million in 1995. It stars Bruce Willis and Brad Pitt. Brad Pitt got an Oscar nomination for it. Almost nobody talks about it anymore, and there is no good reason why. Hims: Access to FDA approved GLP-1 weight loss treatments online, including the first ever GLP-1 pill, with no insurance needed and 24/7 messaging with your care team. Get a personalized plan at https://hims.com/fourplay Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

A beloved family film opens with a main character machine-gunned by Libyan terrorists in a mall car park, and spends its second act on a teenager talking his own mother out of being attracted to him. Back to the Future is much stranger than its reputation, and it is still close to a perfect movie. PrizePicks: Visit https://prizepicks.onelink.me/LME0/FOURPLAY and use code FOURPLAY and get $150 if you win your first $5 lineup! Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

Thorin has been teasing The Prestige on Four Play for over a hundred episodes. It is his favorite film of all time. MonteCristo and Richard Lewis think it is Nolan's best. Twenty years after it came out and quietly underperformed, the critics ranking his catalog after The Odyssey are arriving at the same place. Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

Richard Lewis turned Tenet off three times. On the fourth attempt he finally made it to the end, and he came out calling it an unfairly maligned film. That is the story of this episode. Thorin picked Tenet expecting a bloodbath, hoping to be the lone defender of Christopher Nolan's most divisive movie. Instead Richard converted, MonteCristo landed somewhere in the middle, and the argument turned into something more interesting: is a film allowed to be incomplete after one viewing? Thorin's position is that Tenet is the only movie ever made that genuinely requires a second watch, because the first time through you are only seeing one side of a temporal pincer movement. Huel: Limited Time Offer – Make healthy eating simple. Get Huel today with our exclusive offer of 15% OFF online with our code LFN at huel.com/LFN. New Customers Only. Thank you to Huel for partnering and supporting our show! Hims: Access to FDA approved GLP-1 weight loss treatments online, with no insurance needed. Get a personalized plan at https://hims.com/fourplay ZenAI: The home of vibe casting. Turn a conversation into a finished podcast or clip with an AI producer. Join the waitlist at bit.ly/zenAI_bpp_horsemen Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

Christopher Nolan's The Odyssey spent a year being called woke by people who never opened the poem. Then it opened to $264 million worldwide and a 95% on Rotten Tomatoes. Richard Lewis, MonteCristo, and Thorin recorded this one last, after filming an entire Nolan arc worrying on camera about what he would do to Homer. All three landed between a seven and an eight, and all three reached the same verdict: the loudest critics exposed themselves. Calling the non-linear structure a betrayal means you never opened a poem that starts in the middle. Emily Wilson has publicly disowned Nolan's version. And Elliot Page is playing Sinon, not Achilles. Huel: Limited Time Offer – Make healthy eating simple. Get Huel today with our exclusive offer of 15% OFF online with our code LFN at huel.com/LFN. New Customers Only. Thank you to Huel for partnering and supporting our show! Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

Inception is a nearly perfect film. It reinvented the summer blockbuster, proved a two-and-a-half-hour original movie about dream architecture could nearly make a billion dollars, and it's the reason Christopher Nolan gets to do whatever he wants in Hollywood. Richard Lewis, Thorin, and MonteCristo kick off the Christopher Nolan arc with his best original film, the Hans Zimmer score that might be the best since Gladiator, and the one flaw that reveals a fundamental limitation in everything Nolan makes. Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

Thorin thinks Paranoia Agent sucks. MonteCristo and Richard think it's an 8 out of 10 and one of the most prescient pieces of media ever made about the internet. This is not a polite disagreement. Richard Lewis, Thorin, and MonteCristo spend 90 minutes arguing over whether Satoshi Kon's only TV series is a masterpiece of social commentary or everything wrong with anime condensed into 13 episodes. Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

Christopher Nolan has never mentioned Paprika. Not once. The dream heist machine, the corridor where people fall through shifting gravity, the entering of dreams to steal information, the characters who are shockingly similar. Inception came out in 2010, the same year Satoshi Kon died of pancreatic cancer at 46. He never got to respond. Richard Lewis, Thorin, and MonteCristo break down why Paprika is the masterpiece Inception borrowed from, why Kon might have been the best director of the 21st century, and why almost nobody has seen the proof. Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

Everyone's seen Spirited Away. Everyone's seen Princess Mononoke. Almost nobody has seen the 1984 Miyazaki film that's better than both of them. Richard Lewis, Thorin, and MonteCristo break down Nausicaä of the Valley of the Wind, the pre-Studio Ghibli masterpiece that handles environmentalism with more intelligence and nuance than anything Miyazaki made after it. Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

The Wachowskis walked into a studio with a copy of Ghost in the Shell and said "we want to do that, but for real." Four years later, The Matrix made a billion dollars. Ghost in the Shell made nothing on release. Richard Lewis, Thorin, and MonteCristo break down why the 80-minute anime the Wachowskis ripped off is deeper, smarter, and more relevant in the age of AI than the franchise it spawned. Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

There is a sentiment going around that Akira is mid. Richard Lewis, Thorin, and MonteCristo are here to tell you that the internet is wrong, but also that the people who told you it was a flawless 10 out of 10 masterpiece were wrong too. The truth is more interesting than either side. Akira's animation is a genuine 10 out of 10. Nothing from 1988 looks like this. Almost nothing from 2026 looks like this. The craftsmanship is immaculate, every frame hand-drawn with a fluidity and detail that makes anime produced a decade later look cheap by comparison. The soundtrack is spectacular. The world-building drops you into Neo-Tokyo without a single line of exposition. You don't even hear the word "Akira" for 50 minutes in a movie called Akira. Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

Open Range (2003) proves Robert Duvall can carry a western on his back — even when Kevin Costner is standing right next to him. Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

A Civil Action has the most stacked cast of any movie you've never seen. Robert Duvall, John Travolta, James Gandolfini, Tony Shalhoub, John Lithgow, William H. Macy, and Stephen Fry. It's a 6.5 out of 10 film elevated to must-watch by performances alone. Richard Lewis, MonteCristo, and Thorin break down why Duvall's Harvard defense attorney is the best thing in the movie and why the movie itself can't keep up with him. Into the AM: men's apparel from tees to bombers to denim. Memorial Day sale up to 70% off, plus an additional 10% off using our link. Worldwide shipping. Head to https://intotheam.com/lfn. PrizePicks: Visit https://prizepicks.onelink.me/LME0/FOURPLAY and use code FOURPLAY and get $50 in lineups when you play your first $5 lineup! Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

Robert Duvall wrote it, directed it, and delivered his career-best performance in it. The Apostle is a $5 million Southern Gothic character study about a charismatic Pentecostal preacher who murders a man with a baseball bat at his own children's Little League game, flees to small-town Louisiana, and builds an entirely new congregation from scratch. He is a wife-beater, a womanizer, a killer, and a true believer. There is no rug pull. Richard Lewis, MonteCristo, and Thorin break down why this is the most honest film about faith Hollywood has ever made. Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

Colors came out in 1988 and was the first film to put the Bloods and Crips on screen by name. It feels cheesy now. It would have felt raw as hell then. Richard Lewis, MonteCristo, and Thorin open the Robert Duvall arc with the movie that crawled so Training Day, The Wire, and End of Watch could run. PrizePicks — Visit https://prizepicks.onelink.me/LME0/FOURPLAY and use code FOURPLAY and get $50 in lineups when you play your first $5 lineup! Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

Marty Supreme should have won Best Picture, One Battle After Another is a career Oscar that might age like milk, and Michael B. Jordan playing two characters in Sinners is basically Mario and Luigi in different colored hats. Richard Lewis, Thorin, and MonteCristo break down every major film of the 2026 Academy Awards in a sprawling and contentious Oscars special. Manta Sleep — the Manta Pro sleep mask has 100% blackout coverage, fully adjustable Velcro eye cups, cooling gel, and is fully machine washable. Use code LFN at https://mantasleep.com for 10% off. PrizePicks — Visit https://prizepicks.onelink.me/LME0/FOURPLAY and use code FOURPLAY and get $50 in lineups when you play your first $5 lineup! Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

After Kill Bill nearly broke them, Richard Lewis, Thorin, and MonteCristo close the Tarantino arc with the film that was supposed to prove he still had it. The verdict: Inglourious Basterds contains two of the finest scenes Tarantino has ever directed (the farmhouse interrogation and the basement bar), but the rest of the movie can't sustain the altitude those scenes reach. What could have been a profound meditation on the power of cinema, the banality of evil, and Jewish catharsis instead settles for machine-gunning Hitler's corpse on the floor of a burning theater. PrizePicks — Visit https://prizepicks.onelink.me/LME0/FOURPLAY and use code FOURPLAY and get $50 in lineups when you play your first $5 lineup! Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

Kill Bill held a special place in a lot of hearts. The Whole Bloody Affair was supposed to be the definitive version: Tarantino's original vision restored as a single four-and-a-half-hour film. Richard Lewis, Thorin, and MonteCristo sat through all of it, and what they found was the precise moment Quentin Tarantino disappeared up his own references. Everything that made Reservoir Dogs and Pulp Fiction brilliant, such as the compelling dialogue, the clever homage, the subversion of genre, is replaced here by wholesale theft from better movies that the audience can now watch for free on YouTube. Raycon — The Essential Open earbuds wrap around your ear so you can hear everything while working out. Secure fit, great sound, 30-day guarantee. Go to https://buyraycon.com/fourplayopen to get 20% off sitewide. Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

Pulp Fiction is one of the most hyped films in cinema history and Richard Lewis, Thorin, and MonteCristo are here to confirm that even after 30 years the hype is entirely earned. What shocked them most wasn't the violence or the nonlinear structure, but how slow the film actually is. Strip away the iconic moments seared into cultural memory and what you find is a movie dominated by two people talking, and it's riveting every single time. Mint Mobile: Ditch overpriced wireless. All plans come with high-speed data and unlimited talk and text on the nation's largest 5G network, starting at just $15/month. Shop plans at https://www.mintmobile.com/fourplay Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

Before Pulp Fiction made Quentin Tarantino a household name, there was Reservoir Dogs — a film so raw and transgressive it was banned in the UK for years, circulated on pirate VHS tapes, and became the blueprint for an entire generation of filmmaking. A guy who worked in a video store in LA wrote and directed this. Wrap your head around that. Richard Lewis, MonteCristo, and Thorin kick off Four Play's Tarantino Arc with the film that started it all. They dig into why Reservoir Dogs was banned in the UK (and what the Jamie Bulger case had to do with it), how Tarantino's background as a video store clerk — obsessively watching foreign cinema and genre trash alike — produced one of the most assured directorial debuts in film history, and why this movie, despite its reputation as a "video nasty," has a surprisingly low body count and a genuine soul underneath the blood. The crew breaks down what makes the non-linear storytelling genius rather than gimmick, unpacks the iconic Mr. Blonde torture scene and what Michael Madsen brought to that role, makes the case for Steve Buscemi's Mr. Pink as the film's true protagonist, and explains how the K-Billy Super Sounds of the 70s changed how soundtracks work in movies — commercially and culturally — forever. This is the beginning of Four Play's deep dive through Tarantino's career. Coming next: Pulp Fiction. The arc is just getting started. Mint Mobile — If you like your money, Mint Mobile is for you! Shop plans at https://mintmobile.com/FOURPLAY. Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.