Breakfast All Day movie reviews

Longtime reporter, reality TV producer and Emmy winner Tanya McRae has lots of fun stories to tell on this week's Breakfast All Day A La Carte. Tanya talks about growing up in New York City with politically active parents who prepped her for what to do when they got arrested at protests; the challenges of being biracial and 6 feet tall at age 13 in Cambridge, Mass.; beginning her career in television at ABC News (she sent out 200 tapes and resumes — this was 1989!), her work as a producer and casting director on a wide variety of talk shows and reality shows (and the bad behavior she saw) including "Hideous Houses," "Tattoo Rescue: LA" and "I Got Married at Spring Break," and her brief time as an actress on series including "General Hospital." She also discusses the craziness of working at the tabloid TV show "Hard Copy" and her current gig at Spectrum News 1. Tanya is hilarious and thoughtful. Hope you enjoy.

Our plates are fuller than they have been lately for this week's episode of Breakfast All Day. Christy and Alonso visit Matt at his house for a change to discuss five new movies: the sequels "Maleficent: Mistress of Evil" and "Zombieland: Double Tap," the surefire awards contenders "Jojo Rabbit" and "The Lighthouse" and the Netflix "Breaking Bad" follow-up "El Camino." Over at our Patreon, we review the October movie our subscribers voted on for us, the Korean thriller "Train to Busan." We also recap this week's (disappointing) penultimate episode of "On Becoming a God in Central Florida" on Showtime. Grab a tiki mug full of something fruity and join us.

Thirty years after they graduated from high school together, screenwriter David T. Wagner and Christy reconnect for the latest A La Carte interview. They go back to the beginning in Woodland Hills, Calif., and how he lived what he calls "a double life" as a child actor, which included being the 1984 "Jr. Star Search" vocal champion and providing the voice of Linus in "You're a Good Man, Charlie Brown." And of course, they discuss the many movies he's co-written, including "Van Wilder" (which put Ryan Reynolds on the map), "On the Line" with Lance Bass and Joey Fatone during peak 'N Sync, and "The Girl Next Door" with Emile Hirsch and Elisha Cuthbert. (David also has some fun reading Christy's reviews of his work back to her and making her squirm.) And they explore "Joker" director Todd Phillips' comments about how it's hard to make comedies in what he calls "woke culture." This was a really fun one — hope you enjoy.

You're not seeing things -- there really are multiple Will Smiths in Ang Lee's "Gemini Man," and we review all of them this week on Breakfast All Day. Christy, Alonso and Matt also talk about Bong Joon-ho's exquisite social satire "Parasite," which will probably end up being the best movie of the year. Speaking of international masters, we review Pedro Almodovar's intimate and personal "Pain & Glory." And we finish up with the documentary "Wrinkles the Clown," which is fascinating if a tad problematic. Over at our Patreon, we discuss episode 8 of "On Becoming a God in Central Florida," which is getting nutty in all the best ways. Join our downline and enjoy!

Filmmaker and fellow mom Jamielyn Lippman is Christy's Breakfast All Day A La Carte guest this week — and she's the rare friend outside the critic world who sees as much as Christy does. Jamielyn talks about growing up in a big, close family in suburban Santa Clarita north of Los Angeles, seeing films from a young age with her father, longtime professional baseball manager Tom Gamboa, and following her dad to various ballparks across the country with her siblings. She also discusses moving to Hollywood at 19 to be an actress (and getting her first big-screen credit in "Boogie Nights") and making the transition to directing her own movies, including the documentary "When the Bough Breaks," about postpartum depression, and the horror flick she just finished, "Killer Weekend." We also get extremely detailed about where we like to sit in the theater. This one was lots of fun, so listen and enjoy.

"Joker" is bound to provoke passionate, polarized responses from viewers, and it's definitely done so between the three of us here at Breakfast All Day. Christy, Matt and Alonso review Todd Phillips' dark and gritty comic villain origin story this week. We also talk about "Dolemite Is My Name," which is an absolute blast with a thrilling central performance from Eddie Murphy. And stick around because right afterward, we delve deep into "Joker" spoilers. You have been warned: Don't listen to this part until you've seen the movie! And over at our Patreon, we discuss episodes 5-7 of Showtime's "On Becoming a God in Central Florida" (we're all caught up at this point) as well as some new trailers. So put on a happy face and join us.

Nick Kirgo is one of the loveliest guys Christy knows and one of the most multitalented. He's a guitarist/singer-songwriter/producer-engineer. He's also a great friend of Christy and her family's, so she was thrilled to chat with him about how he does everything he does on the latest A La Carte episode. Nick talks about moving to Los Angeles from New York at age 6 with his family (including his father, writer and humorist George Kirgo), picking up a guitar at 13, his varied early influences (Jimi Hendrix, Neil Young, Velvet Underground, Aretha Franklin) and beginning his career, which included playing on TV scores with full orchestras in the late '70s and early '80s. Nick also discusses what it feels like to be on stage, turning off the voice of doubt in your head, performing with his adult kids who are also musicians and his main focus now, which is producing and engineering. Nick is so smart and a sweetheart of a guy, so listen and enjoy.

Forget your troubles, come on get happy with us here at the Breakfast All Day Podcast. Christy, Alonso and Matt have a review of the Judy Garland biopic "Judy," with a lead performance from Renee Zellweger that's every bit as terrific as you've heard. We also talk about the latest from DreamWorks Animation, the adorable "Abominable." And we play catch-up with "Rambo: Last Blood," because we sense that you guys were itching to hear what we think about it. Over at our Patreon, we discuss the first four episodes of the Kirsten Dunst drama "On Becoming a God in Central Florida," as well as some trailers and movie news: Spidey's back in the MCU! Swing on by and stick around a while.

Matt Sayles is a brilliant photographer with an inspired eye and a drive to depict his subjects in thought-provoking ways. We talk about his varied career, which includes shooting photos of every A-list star imaginable, on the latest Breakfast All Day A La Carte. Matt discusses growing up in Los Angeles, picking up a camera in high school and honing his talents in creative ways at Stanford University. He discusses some of the favorite famous faces he's shot including Adele, Chadwick Boseman and Michael B. Jordan. But recently he's also embarked on a couple of projects to shine a light on people who aren't represented enough in photographs: women of color with great curves and committed couples in artfully intimate moments. And Matt is branching out into directing, including the clip for country star Jana Kramer's "Beautiful Lies." He's so smart and thoughtful and has strong, eye-opening ideas about the importance of inclusion. You're really going to enjoy this one.

Cheerio! The "Downton Abbey" movie is here, and we've broken out our fanciest hats and finest teacups to celebrate at Breakfast All Day. Alonso and Christy review the big-screen version of the beloved TV series -- he's a huge fan, she'd never seen a single episode -- as well as Brad Pitt's sad-people-in-space movie, "Ad Astra." We also discuss a darkly funny indie crime thriller, "Villains." Over at our Patreon, we do our latest Off the Menu review of the 1975 cult classic "Smile" and talk about several new trailers including "Knives Out," which looks fantastic. And we delve into a topic we never thought we'd want to know anything about (and perhaps still don't): Thomas Middleditch's swinger lifestyle. We apologize in advance for the imperfect audio -- we're still learning after all this time. But we are so grateful to you guys for sticking with us! Hope you enjoy.