Check the Gate

When a young Furiosa and a Warboy meet in a different time, and a different life, with Voldamort serving them dinner before making the worlds most screwed up 'smores, you get The Menu. It's a tremendous performance by Ralph Fiennes, who pretty much never disappoints. Anya Taylor-Joy is pretty much perfect. Nicholas Holt is always solid. Together, they make a memorable movie with a twist on the culinary experience. Take a trip to the island and diner with Gretchen and Martin and they watch The Menu. 

Martin and Gretchen talk movies and more at Check the Gate. Follow a...

In 1979 Disney set out to make an ambitious film. Giant practical sets. Cutting edge camera movement. Specialized digital effects. Bigatures. All of that to join the frey of filmmaking studios trying to find their Star Wars. While The Black Hole wasn't their hit, it stands as an amazing film today. Filled with imaginative set pieces, a great villian, renegade robots, all set against the backdrop of a supermassive black hole. Gretchen and Martin watch this fantastic film and gush about it's practical effects and the poor judgement to not cast Sigourney Weaver. 


Martin and Gretchen talk movies a...

Abashed the devil stood and felt how awful goodness is. And felt how awful goodness is.

It's Devil's Night. Our new favorite holiday and we're here for it with our newest episode. This time, we are featuring the 1994 Alex Proyas film, The Crow. The perfect, but now flawless, film that pushes the music video movie genre all the way past the stick margin. This fabulous movie, while met with great tragedy, is a classic that still holds up as a solid. It's part of Martin's regular rotation of films to watch. This was pure joy to see again.  Duration: 00:56:43

Martin and Gretchen return to their podcasting roots, both with the Kaijucast and Check the Gate, with this episode. Shin Godzilla! A beautiful relaunch of Godzilla under the banner of Toho. This film is an amazing array of taught political satire questioning the political apparatus of Japan while stepping into the digital effects age with a digital Godzilla. It's a risky moved that paid off in spades for Toho. 

Martin and Gretchen talk movies and more at Check the Gate. Follow along and chat with us on Instagram @checkthegatepodcast .

If you ever wanted to see a Salvador Dali painting come to life, but be empty of meaning or purpose, then The Fall is for you. A lavish, gorgeous, sweeping film that covers 28 countries over four years. It took Tarsim 20 years to make the film. It is so beautiful to look at. Gretchen and Martin break down this film and talk about a few other Tarsim projects. 


Martin and Gretchen talk movies and more at Check the Gate. Follow along and chat with us on Instagram @checkthegatepodcast .

Martin and Gretchen return to the world of indie filmmaking, only this time with much better results. Pi, the 1998 Darren Aronofsky black and white. It's a fantastic dive into mental health, gematria and possibly an underground hasidic mob. Made for $60k, shot on film, with recognizable actors from mainstream projects you've watched, this film is a testament to what can be done with very little.

Martin and Gretchen talk movies and more at Check the Gate. Follow along and chat with us on Instagram @checkthegatepodcast .

All of these moments will be lost in time like tears in rain. Unless you have a podcast. Then you get to keep them forever and comment on them relentlessly. Blade Runner is the seminal work of Ridley Scott. As if Alien wasn't enough to transform the landscape of science fiction and horror, he comes back to create a futuristic landscape that is emulated by nearly every director make distopynia future films. This movie has been a great love of ours and it is an absolute pleasure to have watched it for this episode in 35mm at the historic Hollwood...

We dig into the cinephile lexicon of awesome movies not getting enough love for this Scorsese masterpiece. The 1999 film Bringing Out The Dead. Nic Cage in perfect Nic Cage form - not to crazy, just enough, not all the time, but right when we need him. This film is a fantastic run through the night for an ambulance crew in Hell's Kitchen. Tom Sizemore is killin' it. Good Goodman is rockin' it. Ving Rhames is preachin' it. It's peak Scorsese as he looks to the underbelly of society and makes it empathetic. As always, make sure you check out our...

Martin and Gretchen watch one of the best revenge movies made in the last few decades. Blue Ruin is perfect execution of a film. Especially on the tiny budget they had. Perfect story. Excellent twists. The pacing is superb. It is the perfect movie without all the side plots and lost threads. It's everything a movie should be in the thriller genre. We hope you enjoy!

Martin and Gretchen talk movies and more at Check the Gate.

Hey everyone. Gretchen and I have a few bonus episodes for you coming out of the Portland Horror Film Festival that happened June 12th through the 14th. It's a great festival and if you are a horror fan with a film, this festival is not to be missed. Our first bonus episode is with Karen Lam, a writer/director/producer from Vancouver, British Columbia. She debuted her film, Mrs. Chang's Perfect Teeth at the festival. Spend some time with us as we hear about how Takashi Miike is comfort viewing. 


Martin and Gretchen talk movies and more a...

Gretchen and I are back with a new episode. Exorcist III as well as the intended directors cut of Exorcist Legion. It was so much fun to watch these movies together. Films are always difficult to make. Every one of them is a miracle. When your film is taken apart by a studio and turned into something else it becomes a reality of an industry and a system. The Legion Cut is a fun attempt to see the ideas that Blatty had when he was making his original intent. Brad Duriff is also always perfection. Martin and Gretchen talk Exorcist...

Gretchen and Martin are stepping into the world of art films on this one. This is a crazy existential meditation on one's life in the final days before they die. Ghosts. Monkey Gods. Catheters. This movie has it all paced at the consistency of molassis in winter. It takes its time, and the time of an unnamed princess in the forest, to get anywhere. Once it does, it redefines the term being catfished. Make sure you check out this episode and more. 


Martin and Gretchen talk movies and more at Check the Gate.

We're back and, holy ghosts from hell on an appoluosa, did we have a run and gun fun one. Gretchen and I watch two films. 1973's Clint Eastwood directorial film in High Plains Drifter and pitted it against the 1985 Nameless Preacher film, Pale Rider. It's Eastwood vs Eastwood in this western mash up podcast episode. Make sure you check out this episode and more. 


Martin and Gretchen talk movies and more at Check the Gate. https://martinvavra.me

TRIGGER WARNING This episode discusses topics about sexual assault. We discuss this matter with care but know that some people can have issues with it being talked about. If you or someone else is the victim of sexual assault of any kind, contact the National Sexual Assault hotline 24/7 at 1-800-656-4673. If you are feeling alone and having thoughts of hurting yourself, call the Suicide and Crisis Lifeline 24/7 at 988.

Hey everyone. Martin and Gretchen are back with a heavy subject matter film, Promising Young Woman. A fantastic film that deals with revenge culture after a...

Gretchen and I watch an amazing practical effects film with a great cast, excellent performances and lots of wolfy sexuality. The coming of age, story-in-a-story-in-a-story film, Company of the Wolves. Neil Jordan at his finest. This movie is an astounding achievement at every level, especially on the budget he was given.


Martin and Gretchen talk movies and more at Check the Gate. https://martinvavra.me

Gretchen and Martin take on the 1980s with Ken Russell's existential space baby operate, Altered States. Watch William Hurt become an Australopithecus. See Bob Baliban before he ran the kennel club for best in show. Psylocibin. Shaman. Reverse evolution. Touching the face of god. Ken Russell packed it all in there. It's a trip of a film and we loved it. 

Martin and Gretchen talk movies and more at Check the Gate. https://martinvavra.me

It's time for the craziest film ever made to get the spotlight with Martin and Gretchen. The Boxer's Omen is the Shaw Studios crossroads of Kung fu revenge, black magic, sorcery and homunculus creating wrapped up in the real guts and gore (no really, the guts and the gore are real viscera) of outlandish fimmaking. It's an insane ride and truly the craziest film either of us have ever seen. It's not for the light of heart.*






*VIEWER WARNING*There are live animals killed in this film. Do not watch this film if...

We go to the heart of Italian cinema for this gem. Gretchen and I watch the film Danger: Diabolik. The film that I argue is the influence for so many other films and defines how we see some genres today. Amazing effects. Sexy people. Crazy escapes. This cat burglar caper is like nothing else, and we are so excited to talk about it. 

Martin and Gretchen talk movies and more at Check the Gate. https://martinvavra.me

It's episode two. Martin and Gretchen talk about the film Dinner in America. One of the best films made in the last few years and an absolute joy to watch. I (Martin) describe it as the sweetest kick in the nuts. Go watch this film or buy it to own for yourself and have in your library. 

Martin and Gretchen talk Dinner in America. https://martinvavra.me

In our first episode, Martin and Gretchen start with the movie Godzilla: Minus One. For a decade, Gretchen and I were on the Kaijucast, a podcast dedicated to Godzilla and his rubber-suited foes. In all those years of watching Godzilla films, this is the one that I always wanted to see. Gretchen and I talk about this movie and and a few other Godzilla films. 

Martin and Gretchen talk movies and more at Check the Gate. https://martinvavra.me