Jack and Robby, with guest Jeremy Kolodziejski, talk that hot talk about the latest neo-grindhouse feature to hit the streaming waves, VFW . Listen on....

Jack Kolodziejski and Robby Anderson mend their broken hearts through the art of talking it out after a viewing of the critic darling, Portrait of a Lady on Fire . Listen on.... #feature

Diana DiMuro, Linda Codega and Bernadette Gorman-White discuss the two 90s-high-school-comedy-adapted-works of The Taming of the Shrew and My Fair Lady . Listen on....

Jack and Robby talk about the latest Nic Cage led head-trip to grace the this plain of existence. Listen on....

If there's one positive thing that I can squeeze out of the globally terrible situation that COVID-19 has introduced into my life, it's this: I have loads of time to watch movies. Story Screen is still making moves throughout all of this, even though our theater has temporarily closed its doors, we still have plenty of awesome stuff currently happening and coming up soon. In between organizing all of these developments with my friends in the Story Screen Family, I've found time to sit back and catch up with some old comfort favorites, as well as several big blindspots in my cinematic viewing history. So, here's a few flicks I highly recommend cozying up with while we all continue to be responsible human beings and stay home. Classic Blindspots: Philadelphia I love Jonathan Demme as a director, and even more so, as a truly empathetic artist that got to work within the big Hollywood system for many years, turning out some of the very best directed work I've laid my eyes on. For one reason or another, I just never got to see Philadelphia , his award winning follow-up to The Silence of the Lambs . It has always cast a large shadow in the surrounding years of movies, dealing with a storyline that we rarely saw in the early 90’s, but also earning Tom Hanks his very first Oscar win. I can now confirm that the film is easily one of my favorite Demme efforts, where his talent for empathizing emotion in a variety of characters is on full display and used for truly transcending moments. Available on Netflix The Hunt for Red October Here's one I've definitely seen about ¾ of on TNT throughout my formative years, but I was never able to catch it in full, start to finish. Good movie. That's, uhh, that's a real good movie there. Sam Neill lookin' like a snack. The Alec Baldwin from Beetlejuice . Good stuff! Finally watching this John McTiernan directed Jack Ryan joint led me to rewatch Patriot Games , which was a pretty big staple to mid-90’s Mike's constant diet of Harrison Ford led action-dramas. And, naturally, Patriot Games led me to.... Available for Rent on Amazon Witness I'd always heard of the “Harrison Ford protects a child witness to a murder by hiding out in an Amish community” movie, but I never actually BELIEVED in it. But seeing is believing, and now that I've seen Witness, I can confirm its existence, and the fact that it's actually quite a well rounded little movie, if not a little melodramatic at times. There's only so much you can really do with that premise, and I'd say the effort put forward keeps in line with the humble sensibilities of the majority cast of characters, ultimately ending as a lesson in doing the right thing, and sometimes just having to let go and allow the world to do what it will. Available for Rent on Amazon Driving Miss Daisy Welp. I watched it. It's on Netflix if you wanna do that, too. No pressure. Here's a video completely 100% not connected to this movie at all: Available on Netflix Midnight Run YAY!! Midnight Run has always been a BIG blindspot for me. It's been recommended to me endlessly, and I've done a pretty good job of avoiding learning anything about the plot every time someone brings it up. I pretty much knew very vague facts: Robert De Niro and Charles Grodin were in it as a bounty hunter and a criminal, but I didn't know who was who (understandably?). It was an “odd couple-esque” road trip movie, à la Planes, Trains and Automobiles , but with guns and action scenes. And it had a very cool name and was considered a cult classic of the genre. That's it. And wouldn't you know? It is very much all of those things, and I can tell that with a few more rewatches, it'll fit snugly in as one of my favorite movies of all time. Available for Rent on Amazon Moonstruck I know! I KNOW!! I watched it now, okay? Leave me alone already! Moonstruck is one of those movies that you just can't believe is working as well as it is while you're still in the middle of watching it. It's far crazier than I thought it would be, and surprisingly, even more Italian than I thought a single movie could be that doesn't at least partially take place in Italy. (I guess there's ONE scene, but c'mon, I'm riffing here). It's a great flick filled with great character performances and a welcome reminder that for a few years (almost three decades ago), Cher was Beyonce but better. No regrets. Available on Amazon Prime Thematically Relevant: The Leftovers If you've got time, and we all know you do, I highly recommend getting into The Leftovers for the first time. And if you've already seen it, you know better than anyone, that this situation calls for a rewatch. At 28 episodes, it's a brisk watch, and each season operates as its own fully thematic enterprise, leaving you with one of the best series finales in the history of television. This one is easily my highest recommendation on this list. Go watch it, buddy. Available on HBO Derek Jarman's Blue There's just no denying the isolating power of this flick. It's an insanely moving and inspiring piece of art, one of my favorite experimental films of all time, and rewatching it recently reminded me yet again of just how powerful movies can be on just about any sensory level. Available in full on YouTube The Invisible Man (2020) / Hollow Man This double feature is a big ol' bag of fun. Leigh Whannell's 2020 film, The Invisible Man , is an extraordinary reworking of a classic film, using an artistic flair with all the trappings and roots of classic horror pictures to produce something that is, quite frankly, genius. It's very humble in its efforts, and it takes advantage at every turn not only to be effective and scary, but to also loosen up and have some fun with its premise. Paul Verhoeven's 2000 directorial venture, Hollow Man ? Not so much. But it is a very fascinating way to interpret the metaphors of the classic tale of “The Invisible Man,” utilizing the horrors of the male gaze, as well as toxic and fragile masculinity, in the same way that Whannell would approach the material two decades later with a different and more subtle spin. Both Available for Rent on Amazon Favorites That Just Hit the Right Spot Sunshine The less you know about anything related to Sunshine, the better. Simply put, it is one of the most underrated films I've ever encountered, and I tend to think that it is a masterpiece that gets better every time I watch it. It's really good genre work and the cast is astounding (don't look up who's in it, just experience the reveals as they happen). That's it. That's my write up. Watch the movie. Available for Rent on Amazon Punch-Drunk Love There are a few big movies in my life that I return to every now and then, whenever I'm in a specific state of melancholy. Movies like: Almost Famous, Moulin Rouge, The Conversation, Batman Returns, and many more. These were movies that I would put on immediately after school every day, or fall asleep to on countless nights, where I'd wake up in the middle of the night to the 30 second sounds of a looping DVD menu, (or in the case of VHS titles, a static screen of fuzzies and noise). Punch-Drunk Love was one of these movies, and I found myself remembering every turn, every line, every cut, just moments before they were about to happen, like the way you can still remember the words and sing along to one of your favorite songs, even if you haven't heard it in years. I recommend this movie, and that you check out any therapeutic movies like this that you may yourself have. Some movies are like good friends, and we all know those are hard to come by, and these friends can't carry a virus, so go hang out with a few of ‘em! Available on Hulu Goodfellas I wanted to include this well-known gem for two reasons. First, it has a moment in it that always wows me; it's a specific type of moment in many films that truly just makes you realize how great what you're watching really is. For Goodfellas , it's the moment our first person narration by Henry turns over to Karen out of nowhere. It's a magical moment that you can take for granted the first time you see it, but even more so the more times you rewatch it. Nevertheless, it's an astoundingly effective turn that gives me goosebumps every time I see it. The second reason this film is a personal favorite of mine: when the date certain events are occurring in the movie happen to be on your birthday! When choosing random (not real) dates to associate with a story, writers can pick any from the 365 days of the year, and they just so happened to land on a day that really sticks out to you personally. Isn't that always fun!? With Goodfellas , the big day where Henry gets busted all takes place on May 11th, 1980, six years to the day prior to the birth of yours truly. Goodfellas is also probably Martin Scorsese's best picture all around, even though I personally tend to lean more towards the likes of Raging Bull and The Aviator . Available on Netflix Mike Burdge Editor-in-chief Founder of and programmer for Story Screen. Lover of stories and pizza in the dark. When he isn't watching movies, you can find him reading things about people watching movies. He currently resides in Poughkeepsie, NY and most assuredly is going through a French Connection phase.

Robby Anderson and Mike Burdge chat about the insanely awesome new Universal Monster flick, as well as the current state of everything. Deep takes. Listen on....

This article is a way for us to touch base with our customers about Story Screen Beacon Theater's response to the COVID-19 virus. While we are remaining fully operational for the time being, we want to reassure you that we are taking COVID-19 very seriously and will refrain from our usual sassy demeanor (mostly) while we update you on how we are proceeding. HEALTH & SAFETY AT STORY SCREEN We are diligently monitoring updates released by both the CDC and the NYS Department of Health , and will be making the appropriate changes and taking action wherever necessary. The health and safety of our team, our customers and our community at large are our top priority. As many of you know, we run a very tight ship over at Story Screen Beacon Theater, of which cleanliness has been a #1 focus from the first day we opened our doors. The very goal of our theater was to upgrade the movie-going experience by creating a comfortable, CLEAN and sanitary space to enjoy a movie outside of your home. · Our nature as a strictly hypoallergenic facility, not allowing outside food and not serving any refreshments that contain any hypo-allergens (ex: no peanuts in house – ever!) has equipped us with a strict deep-clean policy in place not only at the end of each day, but in between every screening in every theater. · We continuously run a state-of-the-art fresh air system 24/7 that works to constantly exchange the air inside of the theaters with fresh air from outside of the building. · You can rest assured that our theater is tip top clean every time you step foot inside for a screening. And even though we are 100% confident in our normal operations, the Story Screen Beacon Theater cleaning protocol has been intensified, and the products we use have now been upgraded to the use of only hospital-grade level disinfectant. We are also taking a proactive approach to occupancy, limiting our regular capacity to ensure a comfortable social distance between guests in our theater. · Can you tell that we’re serious about germs around here?! Check out the kindest words from this self-proclaimed “germophobe mom” about our theater during our busiest season: MOVIE INDUSTRY IMPACT A major impact of this event on our small business has been the decision from major studios to delay the release of some of the films we had planned to share. We work closely with independent and major studios alike to curate the best line-up week to week, and fully support the decisions of these distributors to hold off on some of their major releases. We'd like to let you all know that all films we have booked for future screenings will still be available to you once specific studios have publicly announced their updated schedules for roll out. TRANSPARENCY & UPDATES Our policy is to be as open and transparent as possible. This is a developing situation and may change again in the coming weeks. We will be updating you through our newsletter (which you can sign up for at the bottom of this page) as well as on our social media accounts ( Facebook , Instagram , Twitter ). Please follow us to receive not only fun movie stuff, but also up to date info on this matter as it becomes available to us. Finally, we ask that if you feel as though you may be sick, please do NOT attend a screening or event at our theater, no matter how badly you want to visit us. We’ll see you again on the other side of this thing! Stay safe. Wash your hands. Practice your elbow bumps, and take care of one another. UPDATED: 03/16/2020 Welp, we gave it a shot, gang! But due to the safety restrictions now placed upon New York State's movie theaters (not to mention restaurants, bars, music venues, etc) Story Screen Beacon Theater will be temporarily halting operations until restrictions are lifted. For now, we will continue our posting of online content like normal, and will even try to curate some new things for our readers to enjoy while hunkering down. When we have a plan for reopening, rest assured we will be pretty loud about it, but keep your ears to our social media ( Facebook , Instagram , Twitter ) anyhow just to be safe. It will be a pretty wild return. This is harrowingly bad news for us, and can be felt in equal measure from all our brothers and sisters in the small business community in our surrounding areas. We have some ideas in mind to not only offer an escape from all this madness, but to also allow those of you out there looking to show support for our little venture. We'll be rolling those out in the coming days, so be sure to keep your eyes peeled for those. And naturally, you could head over to our site’s store and purchase a digital gift card of any amount you wish to use at a future date once we have reopened our doors. There may even be some pretty cool surprises coming your way should you, say, purchase a gift card of $50 dollars or more. There's just no way of knowing, really, you'll just have to try it out and see! On that note, we want to thank everyone for their past and continued support of our theater. We've been welcomed into the weekly activities of the City of Beacon, and we're not at all weirded out to say that we consider many of you more than customers and supporters, but also friends. Beacon truly is a unique spot with unique advantages, and one of the things that really makes Beacon special is its slew of various small businesses. These are distinct outlets run by some exceptional people, and they ALL work endlessly week after week to supply the demand this city can throw at it. They are as much a part of what makes Beacon what it is as the people that populate it, and they are going to need all the help they can get in the coming weeks. Things are going to be hard for everyone, but we ask that, where you can, please seek out local business's social media accounts, share their information with anyone you think may be interested, and take advantage of any special offers many will be promoting during this change in normal operations. We will all get through this the same way anybody can always get through something: together. Wash your hands, please. Take care of yourself. Be sure to take care of others, and we'll see you on the other side of this thing. - The Story Screen Family

Host Bernadette Gorman-White has a good chat with guest, Mike Burdge, about the Top 5 (or so) things they liked and disliked about Hulu's episodic cover of the classic book and film, High Fidelity .

In celebration of Story Screen Presents' 200th episode, Mike Burdge, Bernadette Gorman-White, Robby Anderson, Diana DiMuro and Jack Kolodziejski have a merry talk about each of their favorite films from each year of the past decade, ranging from Mad Max: Fury Road and The Social Network to Call Me By Your Name and Blade Runner 2049 . Listen on....

Created by Storytellers, for Storytellers. The first annual Climate Action Film Festival is a celebration of short films with a focus on solutions to the climate crisis. It is the first festival of its kind to exclusively feature storytelling around solutions rather than simply the impacts of climate change. CAFF 2020 will be a touring, single-night event featuring approximately 90 minutes of short films. The festival will tour the Northeast U.S. in its inaugural year, with additional screenings to be added. Solutions to the climate crisis are being implemented every day around the world, from rebuilding coastal estuaries to bringing solar power to remote communities. From farmers in the Hudson Valley to takeovers in Times Square, everyone can be a part of the solution. Take action for the planet and join us a screening on March 7th and 8th! Tickets are $10. Proceeds from these screenings will be donated to New Yorkers for Clean Power & the Student Climate Coalition. Tickets may be purchased at the Story Screen Box Office or online here . MOVIE DESCRIPTIONS Screenings of the following films will be held at Story Screen Beacon Theater on Saturday, March 7th at 7:00 PM and Sunday, March 8th at 6:00 PM. Tickets are $10 and can be purchased at the Story Screen box office or online here . Nature Now Directed by Tom Mustill - 4 min Greta Thunberg and George Monbiot call for protection, restoration, and investment in natural climate solutions. Naturally Selected Directed by Jimmy Evans - 9 min A tireless volunteer leads a group of young activists to restore wetlands and mangrove forests in Miami. Blue Carbon Directed by Benjamin Drummond & Sara Joy Steele - 6 min In coastal Washington, scientists study the many benefits of estuaries and the power of blue carbon as a climate mitigation tool. Valve Turners Directed by Steve Liptay - 9 min In one of the biggest coordinated moves on energy infrastructure in American history, a team of climate activists shuts down pipelines carrying oil sands from Canada into the United States. Times Square Takeover Directed by Joel Bach - 7 min A group of protestors stages a demonstration in the heart of New York City to draw attention to the climate crisis. Words Have Power Directed by Lynne Cherry - 6 min 13-year-old Jaysa rallies her Connecticut community at public hearings in a fight to shut down a coal-fired power plant in her backyard. It Took A Village Directed by Adam Deen - 6 min A SunCommon Story: A community in Red Hook, NY comes together to build a solar array that will provide clean energy to hundreds of homes. Water Warriors Directed by Michael Premo - 22 min When an energy company begins searching for natural gas in New Brunswick, Canada, indigenous and white families unite to drive them out and protect their water and way of life. Keeping Carbon Directed by Jon Bowermaster - 12 min Farmers in New York’s Hudson Valley* use regenerative agricultural methods to keep carbon in the ground. *Featuring local Chaseholm Farm in Pine Plains, NY. Rise: From One Island to Another Directed by Dan Lin - 7 min Two indigenous poets from opposite sides of the world meet at the source of our rising seas to share a moment of solidarity. Proceeds from these film screenings will benefit our partners to support their climate advocacy efforts in 2020.

Robby Anderson and Jack Kolodziejski discuss, as two adults, the new Sonic the Hedgehog film that is apparently an absolute blast and definitely more worth your time than you may have initially thought. Listen on....

Robby Anderson and guest Mike Burdge have themselves another go at the DCEU, this time taking a crack at the latest Quinn joint to hit the screens. Listen on....