Movie Memory Machine

How many tracking shots does it take to find a lost love? In this high-style, low-logic thriller-romance from the early 2000s, Matthew is consumed by a single question: what happened to Lisa? And we’re consumed by a different one: wait, who is Lisa again?
Before Gone Girl, before You, there was Wicker Park — a 2004 psychological romance thriller where Josh Hartnett broods, stalks, and slowly unravels over the mysterious disappearance of his girlfriend. But what starts as a moody Chicago-set love story quickly twists into a hall-of-mirrors thriller, complete with mistaken identities, overheard voicemails, and one very dramatic bathroom stall.
A remake of the French film L’Appartement, Wicker Park is equal parts earnest and absurd — dripping with late-stage Miramax vibes and MTV-era editing. Hartnett plays Matthew, a young man on the verge of marriage who instead chases the memory of his vanished ex (Diane Kruger) across Chicago. The deeper he falls down the rabbit hole, the more the film fractures: timelines loop, reality blurs, and no one — especially Rose Byrne’s enigmatic Alex — is who they appear to be.
It’s a movie of big feelings, bigger coincidences, and enough split-screen montages to power a 2004 MySpace fan edit. The question isn’t just whether they’ll reunite — it’s whether any of this made sense in the first place.
 
What we cover:
 
When obsession poses as romance
Why 2000s films loved nonlinear storytelling (and when it works)
Josh Hartnett’s quiet-era leading man energy
Rose Byrne’s secret weapon performance
The film’s timeline: innovative or incoherent?
“Memory montage” as a genre of its own
2000s fashion and editing clichés
The final verdict: worth remembering — or better left behind?
 
If you enjoy memory-bending thrillers and movies that feel like time capsules, hit “follow” and join us every week as we dig through forgotten gems, strange flops, and the movies history left behind.
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Rom-coms, rules, and red flags. In this “5 For,” Truman and Landen pick five films that helped shape the cinematic dating game — from charming classics to early-2000s cultural crimes.
 
Highlights
Why When Harry Met Sally set the rom-com template for behavioral science in dating
Hitch vs. Justin Long: Who’s more believable as a love expert?
An unfiltered takedown of How to Lose a Guy in 10 Days
Sign-based storytelling from Sleepless in Seattle to He’s Just Not That Into You
How Love Actually made ensemble rom-coms feel magical — for better or worse
 
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Who smoked the cigarettes at Bradley Cooper’s house? In this Mini-Transmission, Truman and Landen investigate the greatest mystery in He’s Just Not That Into You — and uncover a conspiracy that involves yoga instructors, real estate agents, and possibly Gigi.
 
Topics
The full trial of Bradley Cooper, with Luis Guzman as character witness
How He’s Just Not That Into You might be The Wire: Season 6
A sweet Drew Barrymore story (plus Justin Long’s ticket etiquette)
The Trailer Game: Park bullying, tech rejection, and “best friend ever” energy
A cryptic clue from The Machine: “Passion never dies”
 
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In 2009’s He's Just Not That Into You, a romantic ensemble built on a bestselling advice book somehow wound up being about emotionally stunted men, red flag relationships, and one very confused Scarlett Johansson.
Truman and Landen dig through the all-star cast and pop feminism of this late-2000s relic to find out how a dating guide turned into two hours of mixed messages and bare-minimum boyfriends.
A glossy rom-com about mixed signals and missed connections, He's Just Not That Into You follows a group of Baltimore singles stumbling through love and heartbreak, loosely inspired by the self-help book of the same name. Directed by Ken Kwapis and starring Ben Affleck, Jennifer Aniston, Drew Barrymore, Ginnifer Goodwin, and a pre-Marvel Scarlett Johansson, the film was a Warner Bros. release during the late-2000s boom of ensemble romances. It made money, got lukewarm reviews, and quietly slipped into cable rerun oblivion—despite a cast list that reads like People Magazine’s Class of 2009.
 
What You’ll Hear:
– The film’s confusing tonal mix of self-help cynicism and soft-focus sentiment
– How Hollywood was trying (and failing) to bottle up modern dating anxiety
– The bare-minimum bar for male behavior in late-aughts romantic comedies
– A heated dissection of Justin Long’s hangout lair
– Who this movie thought it was helping — and why it probably wasn’t
 
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Tags: He’s Just Not That Into You, 2009, Ken Kwapis, Aniston, Affleck, Barrymore, Goodwin, Johansson, romantic comedy, ensemble film, dating movies, 2000s rom-coms

The Machine served up The Road to Wellville, and now it’s time to cleanse the palate.
WHAT YOU’LL HEAR
– Five films that turn food into ritual, punishment, or power– A Bolognese orgy, a cult in Pasadena, and one very worried draftsman– The Decameron defense: “It’s not all butts”– When Joaquin Phoenix becomes a human vessel (again)
 
Want more weird cinema and Machine-fueled chaos? Follow us here:– Support the show on Patreon: https://patreon.com/gruntworkpod– Season watchlist on Letterboxd: https://letterboxd.com/moviememorypod/– Visit our website: https://www.moviememorymachine.com
 
Tags: The Road to Wellville, La Grande Bouffe, The Decameron, Amarcord, The Master, The Draughtsman’s Contract, Food in Film, Decadence, Art Cinema

Enemas, cornflakes, and the unholy gospel of wellness.This Mini-Transmission digs through the baffling remains of The Road to Wellville (1994) — a film that dares to ask what happens when you make Anthony Hopkins do that with his voice.
 
What You’ll Hear:
The perils of turning cereal into cinema
Roy Brocksmith: The Greatest Character Actor?
The Trailer Game: predicting which bowel moments made the cut
The Next Movie Reveal — including a spicy clue from the Machine
 
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Tags: The Road to Wellville, Anthony Hopkins, 1990s Comedy, Wellness Satire

What if Amadeus and There’s Something About Mary had a baby—and fed it nothing but yogurt enemas? In this episode of Movie Memory Machine, Landen and Truman dive headfirst into The Road to Wellville (1994), a baffling, big-budget health spa satire starring Anthony Hopkins as cereal tycoon Dr. John Harvey Kellogg in a performance that must be heard to be believed.
Directed by Alan Parker (Evita, Pink Floyd: The Wall) and based on the novel by T.C. Boyle, this forgotten 90s movie is part cult curio, part studio misfire, and entirely unlike anything else. We unpack its shocking budget, overloaded cast, box office faceplant, and why this bizarre film might actually be the missing link in the history of adult-targeted Hollywood comedies.
 
Starring: Anthony Hopkins, Matthew Broderick, Bridget Fonda, Dana Carvey, John Cusack, Colm Meaney, Lara Flynn Boyle
Directed by: Alan Parker
Written by: Alan Parker, based on the novel by T.C. Boyle
 
What We Cover:
Forgotten 90s movies with giant budgets and no audience
Anthony Hopkins’ most unhinged role (yes, more than The Father)
The real Dr. Kellogg: eugenics, gut flora, and wellness gone wrong
Why Alan Parker followed The Commitments with this
1990s retro-futurism and health fads on screen
Studio comedies for grown-ups: a dead genre?
Dana Carvey’s physical comedy masterclass
The box office bomb and bizarre marketing strategy
Does this film deserve cult classic status—or a yogurt cleanse?
Our final verdict: back to modern memory, or leave it forgotten?
 
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Subscribe to Movie Memory Machine for weekly deep dives into forgotten films, underseen bombs, and baffling studio choices that time tried to erase.
 
If you love forgotten 90s movies, cult comedies, and Anthony Hopkins giving 110%, this episode is for you.

How many ways can one girl discover she has terrifying powers? In this Movie Memory Machine Five For episode, Landen and Truman explore five thematically connected films to Carrie (2013)—ranging from Brian De Palma’s original adaptation to Cronenberg’s scanners, to telekinetic kids with lighter (or stranger) fates.
 
We cover:
Carrie (1976): Sissy Spacek sets the gold standard for prom-night horror.
The Fury (1978): More psychics, more explosions, and De Palma off the leash.
Scanners (1981): The king of head-splosions meets telekinetic warfare.
Matilda (1996): What if Carrie used her powers for whimsy instead of wrath?
Thelma (2017): Norwegian art-horror about queer longing and supernatural coming-of-age.
Along the way, we talk Stephen King, Danny DeVito’s taste for chaos, and whether Stranger Things owes royalties to every VHS tape from 1981.
 
Topics Covered
Stephen King movies
Carrie 2013 vs. 1976 • Best head explosion in cinema
Chloe Grace Moretz
Telekinesis in horror
Feminist interpretations of Carrie
Scanners & Cronenberg
Brian De Palma’s wild camera work
A24 horror vibes
Telekinetic coming-of-age films
Stranger Things influences
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In this mini-episode, Landen and Truman revisit Carrie (2013) to play The Trailer Game and score how many moments they accurately predicted would appear in the movie’s trailer — from blood buckets to telekinetic locker room footage. But along the way, the conversation detours into:
How do you explain to your kid that their dad died… from a falling bucket?
Would Carrie 3: Ennui be a better sequel than The Rage?
Could Julianne Moore have played Carrie herself in the 90s?
And is it okay to slow-dance with your teacher at prom if she’s Judy Greer?
Plus: thoughts on evangelical horror, Harry Potter comparisons, and an inspired (if cursed) pitch for Harry Carey.
We close with our next movie’s release date and a cryptic tagline: “A comedy of the heart… and other organs.”
 
Topics Covered:
– The Trailer Game: Carrie edition (2013)
– Carrie’s “bucket” death and its legacy
– Julianne Moore as Carrie: a missed opportunity?
– Evangelical horror and megachurch mayhem
– Judy Greer as the cool prom chaperone
– Could Carrie have thrived at Hogwarts?
– What if she was on the Poseidon instead?
– Real-time Googling of “magic powers”
– A cryptic teaser for the next forgotten film
 
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