In this week's Back to the Movies, your hosts Caleb and Alexandra sit down to talk with the children of Cthulhu in this week's review of Denis Villeneuve's Arrival. The low key sci-fi film is based on the Nebula award winning short story, The Best Day of My Life by Ted Chiang. It has been a hit with critics and audiences, but does it live up to the hype?
In our discussion of Arrival, we are joined by Electric Nostalgia writer/director Jacob Burns and producer Zachary Burns to discuss the film's strengths as a genre film. Before delving into the movie, we all talk about what we've been watching. Jacob and Zach burns talk about the films of the Austin Film Festival including the upcoming La La Land and Found Footage 3D. Alexandra gets all of us talking about the recent Fathom release of Shin Godzilla. I talk a bit about my thoughts on Birth of a Nation before we close out the segment by discussing our epic one one movie Harry Potter marathon in preparation for Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them.
Our review talks about the very relevant themes of communication and the power of empathy. We take a moment to discuss how the themes relate to the 2016 U.S. election before reflecting on the power of film to inspire. This is an especially touchy talk, but we hope you'll all stick around and join the conversation in the comments below or on social media.