The Machine hurls Truman and Landen back to 2018, where a perfectly normal adult world briefly stopped to witness a group of grown men sprinting, tackling, and emotionally spiraling through the most intense game of tag ever put to film. As the Machine reminds them, this bromantic stunt-comedy immortalized a real-life tradition—and maybe also proved that your thirties are just gym class with taxes.

Synopsis

Tag is a high-energy buddy comedy starring Hogan Malloy (Ed Helms, The Hangover), Bob Callahan (Jon Hamm, Mad Men), Randy Cilliano (Jake Johnson, New Girl), Kevin Sable (Hannibal Buress, Spider-Man: Homecoming), and Jerry Pierce (Jeremy Renner, The Avengers). Directed by Jeff Tomsic, the film follows a tight-knit group of friends who have spent nearly 30 years locked in a hyper-competitive, anything-goes game of tag—one that threatens to unravel when the ever-untouchable Jerry announces he’s retiring after his wedding.

Blending exaggerated action choreography with a sincere look at male friendship, Tag channels the late-2010s trend of “based on a true story, but played like a cartoon” studio comedies.

Why This Film?

Though it earned modest attention on release, Tag quickly slipped between genres—too heartfelt for pure slapstick, too absurd for straightforward sentiment. It’s a fascinating example of a studio trying to reinvigorate the R-rated comedy market while packaging a very real human-interest story inside blockbuster-style action beats.

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The Machine, perhaps inspired by War Horse (2011) and its belief that a single determined horse can survive anything short of a tank, has assembled five thematically linked films. Truman and Landen ride through a lineup that mixes equine legends, childhood-codex classics, and one devastating antiwar drama that reminds us what happens when there aren’t any noble steeds around to carry the emotional weight.

The Machine’s Five Selected Films

The Machine has selected a stable of titles that echo the heart, heroism, and historical sweep of Spielberg’s film:

• Secretariat (2010) – a glossy, feel-good biopic about the most famous Triple Crown champion in history
• Seabiscuit (2003) – Depression-era racing legend as American underdog myth
• Black Beauty (1994) – the definitive “horse-as-narrator” classic of childhood heartbreak
• The Black Stallion (1979) – a gorgeously shot survival-and-bonding tale that remains a gold standard of equine cinema
• No Man’s Land (2001) – a razor-sharp, darkly comedic Bosnia War drama reminding us what human conflict looks like without Spielbergian sentiment

Why These Five?

Each of these films mirrors a facet of War Horse’s identity — from uplifting race-track mythology to boy-and-horse bonding to the harsh realities of wartime survival. Together, they form a panorama of how cinema uses horses (and sometimes their absence) to explore resilience, innocence, national myths, and the complicated ways we romanticize struggle. It’s a surprisingly rich genre constellation… and the Machine seems very proud of itself for finding it.

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War Horse, War Horse 2011, Secretariat, Secretariat 2010, Seabiscuit, Seabiscuit 2003, Black Beauty, Black Beauty 1994, The Black Stallion, The Black Stallion 1979, No Man’s Land 2001, Steven Spielberg, equine movies, horse movies, war films, WWI films, racing films, Movie Memory Machine, movie podcast, film discussion, curated films, thematic film list, forgotten movies, cult films, cinematic analysis, film history

Truman and Landen wrap up the loose ends from War Horse (2011) — a movie where Spielberg unleashes maximum sincerity, maximum sunsets, and a horse so noble it could probably negotiate peace treaties. They revisit the film’s stray thoughts, historical oddities, and emotional haymakers… and as always, they play The Trailer Game, trying to guess what images the marketing team deemed “horse-forward” enough to sell the film before watching the trailer for the first time.

Next week, the Machine sends them to June 15, 2018 with the clue: "We don't stop playing because we grow old, we grow old because we stop playing." Frankly, it sounds like the Machine has traded in mud-slicked trenches for something equally chaotic.

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Keep up with every Main episode, Mini-Transmission, and bonus discussion as the Machine flings Truman Capps and Landen Celano through the forgotten, the flopped, and the strangely fascinating films of decades past.

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• Official Website: https://www.moviememorymachine.com
• Letterboxd: https://letterboxd.com/moviememorypod/
• YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@MovieMemoryMachine

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Enjoy the ride through cinematic history? Become a patron to access exclusive episodes, early releases, and help keep the Machine running.

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War Horse, War Horse 2011, Steven Spielberg, Jeremy Irvine, Emily Watson, David Thewlis, WWI film, historical drama, Spielberg movie, Movie Memory Machine, movie podcast, film discussion, trailer reaction, vintage trailers, forgotten movies, cult films, film history, cinematic analysis