“The Notorious Bettie Page” (2005)

Well, it finally happened.  Chad finally returned to the podcast, after missing 4 of the last 5 episodes.  The original duo, Mark and Chad, are back together at last, this time to bring you a movie of Chad’s request: a charming “The Notorious Bettie Page” from 2005.  This little film came and went, primarily on HBO as it was produced (or at least bought) by HBO.  Starring Gretchen Mol in probably her best-ever performance, “The Notorious Bettie Page” is a film directed by Mary Harron (“American Psycho”).

Performers of note: Gretchen Mol, Chris Bauer, Lili Taylor, Jared Harris, Cara Seymour, Sarah Paulson, David Strathairn, and Norman Reedus.

“Earth Girls Are Easy” (1988)

Hey, guess what!  Chad’s missing in action for the second week straight, replaced this time by animation director extraordinaire, Ashley Long (also known to be dating Mark Alan Heiliger, co-host of this very podcast)!  Mark and Ashley take on the absolutely fucking wacky “Earth Girls Are Easy” from 1988, starring Genna Davis, Jeff Goldblum, Jim Carrey, Damon Wayans, Michael McKean, and Julie Brown.

Performers of note: Genna Davis, Jeff Goldblum, Jim Carrey, Damon Wayans, Michael McKean, and Julie Brown.

“Back to School” (1986)

Oh hello, everyone.  Chad here.  This week’s podcast features people not including myself – I know, I know – but the show must go on (including next week, which I’m also absent for).  All this aside, co-host Mark brings us two things this week: “Back To School”, the 1986 Rodney Dangerfield classic; and a guest appearance by fellow podcaster & writer, Josh Trotter.

Performers of note: Rodney Dangerfield, Sally Kellerman, Robert Downey Jr., Paxton Whitehead, Terry Farrell, M. Emmet Walsh, William Zabka, Ned Beatty, Robert Picardo, Adrienne Barbeau and a wonderful cameo by Kurt Vonnegut.

“Better Luck Tomorrow” (2002)

Hey everybody, Chad’s back!  Chad’s back!

*Crickets*

…and so is Steve Phelan, returning for his third consecutive podcast with the fellas.  Today they attempt to tackle one of Chad’s suggested films – the Justin Lin helmed “Better Luck Tomorrow”, from 2002.  This film reeks of late-90’s style, and is FULL of nostalgia because of it.  Not many films captured this particular era as well as this – and absolutely none of those films did it with an entirely Asian-American cast.  This movie shines, and we hope it’ll shine for you, too.

Performers of note: Parry Shen, Jason Tobin, Karin Anna Cheung, Sung Kang, John Cho, and Jerry “The Beave” Mathers

“The In-Laws” (1979)

With Chad absent AGAIN, last week’s guest – Steve Phelan – makes a fill-in look natural.  This time Steve picks the movie: the original “The In-Laws” from 1979, starring the great Peter Falk and Alan Arkin in a film directed by Arthur Hiller.  Mark’s never seen the movie (neither has Chad, for that matter, not that he’s here today (but he IS writing this, strangely, in the 3rd person)).  “The In-Laws” (1979) can currently be found in the Criterion Collection.

Performers of note: Peter Falk, Alan Arkin, Arthur Hiller, James Hong, and Ed Begley Jr.

“Last Action Hero” (1993)

Today we celebrate the absence of Chad from the podca– er, we mean, no, we like Chad… but he’s absent from this particular episode, as he’s vacationing in jolly good England.  In his stead, comes friend-of-the-podcast, one mister Steve Phelan, whom some of you might recognize from the early 2000’s podcast, Digital Llama Radio.  Or not.

In any case, “Chad” (Steve) and Mark dive back into an oldie-but-baddie, the universally panned, “Last Action Hero”, mostly to see if it got better over time.  Their verdict?  Well, maybe you should just listen to the damn podcast.

Performers of note: Arnold Schwarzenegger, Austin O’Brien, Charles Dance, Mercedes Ruehl, Art Carney

“The Light Between Oceans” (2016)

2016 saw the release of many a great film, topped by “Moonlight” at the academy awards (almost, famously, “Lalaland”).  One of the forgotten films of the year – by critics and moviegoers alike – was “The Light Between Oceans”, a film Chad considers a “top 3” film of the year.  We put Mark to trial and see how the movie fares – can a deeply depressing melodrama be considered a top film?

Performers of note: Michael Fassbender, Alicia Vikander

“The Impostors” (1998)

Hot off his debut film, Big Night, Stanley Tucci wrote and directed this comedy in the style of Wilder/Marx/Hardy/Costello… to mixed success.  Mixed, meaning it is right up Mark’s alley, and diametrically opposed to the very fiber of Chad’s being.  It’s a movie about actors that was made by actors, so it’s no surprise that the attitudes and quirks of actors are captured well here.  Much like the surplus of subplots that never add up to anything, The Impostors has a collection of funny sketches that never coalesce into something greater.  For fans of old school comedies only!

Performers of note: Stanley Tucci, Oliver Platt, Alfred Molina, Michael Emerson, Lili Taylor, Tony Shalhoub, Steve Buscemi, Allison Janney, Richard Jenkins, Isabella Rossellini, Billy Connolly, Campbell Scott, Hope Davis, Woody Allen, and a million others.

“Black Book” (2005)

Robocop, Total Recall, Basic Instinct, Showgirls, Starship Troopers, and… Black Book?  What do these have in common?  They’re all (mostly) awesome – and they’re all directed by a crazy man by the name of Paul Verhoven.  After two critical flops, Starship Troopers and 2000’s Hollow Man, Verhoven seemingly left Hollywood behind for a grand return to his native Dutch roots.  After a five year break from directing (as far as we could tell), he returned – better, in Chad’s opinion – to direct the largest film in Dutch film history, 2005’s Black Book (and eventually leading up to 2016’s Elle, which garnered an oscar nomination for lead actress Isabelle Huppert).

Having dominated Hollywood blockbusters since the 1980’s, Verhoven has seemingly taken the next step to tackling more dramatic, more meaningful films… without losing the quirks that make him unique.

“The Long Goodbye” (1973)

Whatever your opinion might be on the films of Robert Altman, no one can deny his films have a specific style.  Mark introduces Chad to this 1973 film, hoping to clarify his own feelings on the movie – is it good, or nay?

Performers of note: Elliott Gould, Nina van Pallandt, Sterling Hayden, Mark Rydell, Henry Gibson, with small cameos by Arnold Schwarzenegger and David Carradine.

“Grandma’s Boy” (2010)

Somewhere, lost in the sands of time, this movie was released in theaters to a non-existent audience.  Gradually that audience grew on DVD and “Grandma’s Boy” eventually reached cult status.  This is a movie Chad unabashedly loves, with all its warts, so he takes the time to introduce it to a less-than-impressed Mark Alan Heiliger.  Maybe y’all will enjoy it as much as Chad does.  Maybe not.

Performers of note: Allen Covert, Nick Swardson, Linda Cardellini, Doris Roberts, Joel David Moore, Shirley Jones, Jonah Hill.

“Talk Radio” (1988)

Where this movie disappeared to is beyond us.  Frankly, Chad had never heard of “Talk Radio” prior to Mark suggesting it as a possible option.

At the height of his prime, Oliver Stone set out to direct this film – a film based on a PLAY, by the way – and generally knocked it out of the park, despite the movie vanishing from at least our own little world views.  All this considered, “Talk Radio” is a pretty great watch and a valid political piece that still holds true today (ESPECIALLY NOW).  Inspired by (SPOILER, but based on real life facts?) the real life murder of a Denver, Colorado talk radio host – a Jewish man whose mouth and words got him in trouble with the far-right white supremacy group that ultimately killed him in the parking lot outside of his radio station.  This movie deserves some attention.

Performers of note: Eric Bogosian, Alec Baldwin, John C. McGinley, Ellen Greene, Leslie Hope.

“Paths of Glory” (1957)

Finally we crack open an “older” film – Stanley Kubrick’s “Paths of Glory”.  Mark and Chad take a crack at what appears to be Kubrick’s baby-legs movie – the first film that put Kubrick on the map.  There’s signs of rawness and flaws amongst glimmers of genius that shaped Kubrick.  It’s clear here that he’s got a unique vision that would later blossom into, well, the film’s we know and love (most of us, anyway).  We get into the absurdity of Kubrick’s war films, and how this must have been quite a liberal film back in the day.

Side note: Somehow neither Mark nor Chad noticed that the German Woman at the end of the film, was actually the woman that would become Kubrick’s wife.

Performers of note: Kirk Douglas, and some other dudes.

“Frailty” (2001)

RIP Bill Paxton, you talented bastard.  Mark and Chad sulk in a darker world and try to bring ourselves around to a world without Private Hudson.  This is a special episode for us – it’s our first time having a special guest on the episode – a coworker of Chad’s and editor on the Bill Paxton series, “Big Love”, Mr. Byron Smith joins the gang.  “Frailty” seemed like the right choice to memorialize Mr. Paxton, because it was a rare glimpse into seeing Bill direct a feature film for the first time.  It’s rumored (mostly by us, sans research) that Bill wanted to direct more things, but perhaps just enjoyed life too much to suffer thru the misery of directing – in any case, he succeeded here.

So… crack open a cheap beer, sit back, and let off some steam as we celebrate the life of one Mr. Bill Paxton.

Performers of note: Bill Paxton, Bill Paxton, Bill Paxton, and Bill Paxton.

“Flirting” (1991)

What can we say about this movie that likely no one reading this has ever heard of?  “Flirting” is an Australian film made in the early 1990’s, starring a whole lot of actors/actresses that you’ve assuredly seen elsewhere since (even though they were “small time” at the time of release), including Nicole Kidman, Naomi Watts, Thandie Newton, Noah Taylor and… well, maybe that’s all you’d recognize, but yeah, it’s worth a watch if you enjoyed films like “Dead Poets Society” and (every other boarding school movie ever).  I mean, it’s produced by George “Mad Max” Miller, for fuck’s sake… or George “Happy Feet” Miller, if that’s more your speed.

Performers of note: Noah Taylor, Thandie Newton, Nicole Kidman, Bartholomew Rose (I think?), Naomi Watts, and a bunch of other Australians.

“Spartan” (2004)

Sternly disciplined and rigorously simple.

“Spartan” is not just an adjective, it’s a movie thanks to David Mamet who brings his trademark “so unrealistic, it starts to sound realistic” dialogue to this 2004 thriller.  No, it’s not a prequel to “300”.  This is a story of manly men (and Val Kilmer) working all night and day to rescue a girl.  Which girl?  Well, the movie never states it plainly, but we’re sure you can figure it out.  It’s sitting at a 6.6 on IMDb, probably due to audiences expecting something like “Taken” and getting something like “The Spanish Prisoner” with more knives.  Honestly, it can be a confusing movie if you’re unable to piece together the story from the bits of information it reluctantly gives you.  A (David) Mamet film can be like a cold, withholding mother who doesn’t really want you to succeed because then you might move out of the house…

Oh yeah, and it co-stars Kristen Bell just as she was about to hit the big time in “Veronica Mars”.  Mark loves this movie, Chad is indifferent.

Performers of note: Val Kilmer, Derek Luke, Ed O’Neill, William H. Macy, Tia Texada, and Kristen Bell.

“SLC Punk” (1998)

Where does Chad begin?  “This movie is awesome and holds up greatly.”  The times have changed, but seem to stay the same… maybe more now than ever!  SLC Punk is a movie Chad grew up on – and somehow Mark hadn’t yet seen it, so we pop his cherry. This is a good one.

Performers of note: Matthew Lillard, Michael A. Goorjian, Annabeth Gish, Jennifer Lien (before the fall), Christopher McDonald, JASON SEGAL (in his first role), Devon Sawa, and Til Schweiger. A great cast all around.

“Phantom of the Paradise” (1974)

Well, it finally happened.  We broke the chain of movies that at least one of us has seen by watching “Phantom of the Paradise” – a movie that neither of us had seen.  This is a film directed by the “great” Brian DePalma (although there’s some debate how “great” his films are, a topic which consumes us for the majority of this podcast).  “Phantom of the Paradise” can best be described as a film that soaked up the incredibly awful fashion & design styles of the early 70’s and made my nightmare out of it.   We don’t know how else to describe it.  This will be a good litmus test for whether or not we can hold your attention for a film that probably none of you will ever go out of your way to see. No clue how this has a 7.4/10 on imdb.

Performers of note: Jessica Harper, Paul Williams.

“About Time” (2013)

Chad had to force this one on Mark, more or less, because honestly who wants to watch a british rom-com about time travel?  (don’t answer that, british folk)  Point is, not many people did see this one – even if it is probably the most mainstream film we’ve watched this far.  “About Time” is a wonderfully funny flick, and if you haven’t seen it – you SHOULD suck it up and watch it.  Just don’t judge this one on the poster, because… yeah.  At least make it to the audio clip we’ve edited into the episode, because that should help enlighten you to the type of humor that this movie possesses.

Performers of note: Domhnall Gleeson, Rachel McAdams, Bill Nighy, Lydia Wilson, and Margot Robbie. (Honorable mention: Vanessa Kirby of “The Crown”)

“Just One Of The Guys” (1985)

“Just One of the Guys” – straight from the 80’s (and completely unbeknownst to Chad), this movie lurked in the shadows for the past 30 years (where it mostly continues to live). Apparently Chad is the last one to have heard about it – though it is one of Mark’s favorites (he can defend himself further, if he so chooses).  This is a quirky sex-swap comedy with a low budget and nobody (mostly) of recognizable fame, with the exception of William Zabka (Karate Kid) and Sherilyn Fenn (Twin Peaks).  It’s worth seeing, but not spectacular (Mark might disagree). That said, we enjoyed it.

Note 1: Mark’s film professor actually directed this, so he’s got some insight into the making of it.

Performers of note: Joyce Hyser, Clayton Rohner, Billy Jayne, William Zabka, Sherilyn Fenn