Watchcast Schedule for February 2025: The Con Is On!

Greetings, Nextlanders! It is once again time to get you all up to speed about what we've got coming up on the Watchcast, and if you enjoyed Jude Law January, you're sure to love Jude Law First Week of February! And you'll probably love the other movies this month too, just not because of Jude Law.

You see, Brad had a hankering for a little more of our boy Jude, and he brought up The Talented Mr. Ripley, which got me thinking about other movies featuring various kinds of cons and scams. And so, after a bit of deliberation, these are the four films I can confidently say will be our lineup for February.

Monday, February 3rd: The Talented Mr. Ripley (1999)

We are really kicking this month off with a bang, as not only is Mr. Ripley one of Jude Law's finest performances, it's also some of the best work you'll ever see from the likes of Gwyneth Paltrow, Philip Seymour Hoffman, and of course our star, Matt Damon. As Patricia Highsmith's multi-book-spanning mimic, Damon does a spectacular job getting under your skin as he insinuates himself into the lives of a bunch of handsome, wealthy American socialites in 1950s Italy. I managed to not really tell Vinny or Brad much of anything about this movie, and I think it left them a bit shell-shocked (complimentary). Will you respond similarly? You'll have to let us know once the episode posts.

Where to Watch

Monday, February 10th: Boiler Room (2000)

Next up in the lineup is this crackly little stock scam thriller with another familiar face from Jude Law January in Giovanni Ribisi. This is one of those movies that to me is inextricable from the DVD era, the sort of movie you'd see for $10 in a cardboard case on a Best Buy shelf and buy sight unseen because it reminded you just enough of Wall Street and had young actors you liked well enough. And Boiler Room is most definitely trying to remind you of Wall Street, albeit through the lens of the sorts of scammy bros who had a Wall Street poster on their dorm room walls and could quote Gordon Gecko with instant recall.

This is the one movie in the lineup I'm least certain about quality wise. I remember loving it when I was 19, but there were lots of things I loved when I was 19 that I'm less fond of now. Like alcohol, for instance. And Limp Bizkit. Anyway, it's time to figure out if this one stands up to the test of time, or ends up in the old Durst Bin. And what better way to see if it holds up to memory than to make all of you watch it with me?

Where to Watch

Monday, February 17th: The Sting (1973)

I forget exactly where this news was posted, but sometime in the last handful of weeks I caught wind that The Sting had officially become the oldest movie currently available on Netflix, and that already had me formulating ways to try and get it on here. So leave it to Brad to inadvertently come up with a category where it fits perfectly.

It's also been a long time since we visited the 1970s on this podcast, albeit by way of the 1930s. Paul Newman and Robert Redford are an irresistibly good pair of depression-era con artists looking to extract revenge on a murderous mob boss (our old fishing buddy Robert Shaw). It's been ages since I've seen this one, but even in my youth, when I was a bit less predisposed to cinema made before I was born, I remember thinking this movie kicked ass. Is this part of a larger push to get more older movies on the podcast? No. But I will try and find a few more opportunities this year to turn the clock back further than we usually do. There are only so many mid-level '90s action thrillers I can throw at you people before you revolt, I'm sure.

Where to Watch

Monday, February 24th: Parasite (2019)

For the longest time Everything Everywhere All At Once has been our sole Best Picture winner on the Watchcast slate, and now we've got back-to-back winners in The Sting and the far more recent Parasite. I swear I didn't just pick these for Oscars proximity. I've been wanting to find a way to get Bong Joon-Ho on the show for a bit, and this was a perfect excuse to revisit a movie I haven't watched since it won the prize.

And man, what a picture. If you are like Brad and somehow haven't seen it yet, I'll keep the details light and just say it follows a family on the fringes of South Korean society as they find their way into the employ of a well-to-do family through less-than-honest means. Anything more would spoil the craziness that follows, but suffice it to say it feature's plenty of Bong's trademark style and black humor. This may be a bit of a challenge for me editing wise, as Bong is extremely not in favor of English dubs for his work. That said, I support his pro-subtitles stance outside the context of what I need to make this show happen, so I'll figure something out.

Where to Watch

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And that is our February line-up! We will likely have some more forward-looking things to say about the Watchcast at the end of this month, including when you might see Star Trek pop up again on the show, so look forward to that. But until then, as always, thanks for listening and watching along with us. We'll see you at the movies!