NathanGordon

I have nothing much to add to the impassioned arguments here. Great writing, everyone; I'm enjoying the responses. I just want to say that what's been sticking in my head since watching TWBB last week is the scene when Daniel beats Eli and is holding him down against the ground. The way he speaks (not yells) almost gently, "I'm going to bury you, Eli" and pushes his face into the mud -- not too forcefully, perhaps like a father would to a son -- I found it very affecting, for some reason. It would have been easy to play that scene angry and loud, and the way Lewis is using his voice and his body, to me, felt almost affectionate. Am I crazy for thinking that? In a lot of ways, I think Daniel feels some kind of paternal connection to Eli. Plainview doesn't feel for anyone unless he's in competition with them; this is why he wants to insist that his grown up son is going against him when he wants to have his own company in Mexico. He can't love him as an equal. But Eli has challenged Daniel the most, both in his own capacity and as a representative of God, the ultimate competitor for Plainview. Who could be more worthy of his love? Eli sees his own father as a weak, useless man. So it's no mistake that, like the prodigal son, Eli leaves to find his fortune and comes back to Daniel's home, to humble himself and ask for help. Eli sees a surrogate father figure in Plainview, whether he realizes it or not.

I actually saw this on TCM earlier this year. It's your average vaguely artsy hippiesploitation flick, but without any plot or sex scenes. Kind of interesting as a curiosity from the 70s, but dull and not really noteworthy.

In Italy, it was called Help! I'm Lost In New York. *notice the subtitle doesn't have a "2" or "two".

I would hope that we could honor June's wishes by not discussing the mole. I agree; I don't think it's problematic, especially given how campy everything is in the film. It IS a dated trope by 1991 but it's not mean-spirited, there's no jokes made at Hollywood's expense. I think there's a more nuanced academic reading of that particular character type, but this is a film in which every single character is a silly caricature.

To be fair, the very first thing spoken to her is German. She sneezes, and our hero says "Gesundheit".

Studio episode -- check Chill ass guest -- check Lots of June -- check Jason being indignant about Philly -- check Bun talk -- check check LITERALLY PERFECT EPISODE

Brutal! It's exciting when it's close.

The second one is so campy it's practically Pee Wee Herman-ish. Both Mannequin films are surprisingly fun, and I can't wait to hear the Slashfilm piece! I'll be surprised if Jason, June, and Paul don't all heartily endorse this one. Yesss on Mesach! Worth watching for him alone, he deserved a spinoff.

I think they're both super fun, but the second one smartly knows to dial up the camp. And yes, the seriousness and dedication to window merchandising is very amusing. In reality, that's a task that an assistant manager would take care of in the hour before the store opens.

Possession kills like 99% of all cinema. It's a piece of art that doesn't touch the ground. The Brood is interesting but not even close. We'd have to talk Videodrome for a worthwhile comparison, or The Fly (I think Videodrome is better). *Also, I don't think Possession is campy, at all. That's more about your discomfort as a viewer.

That has to do with the design of this forum, which is out of Devin & Amy's hands. The polls here don't have a time limit when you create them, although I imagine it wouldn't be too difficult to add that option. I think Earwolf friend Dan Engler is the one who could possibly make this happen.

FUCK I want to see this live show so bad. Hey Earwolf -- start selling a video stream as a premium! Take my money etc.

I'm so bummed that livestreaming doesn't seem to ever be an option for these episodes. I'd gladly pay $5-10 to watch this live on the Howl app or something. (((( I had one of those skull rings and wore it for at least a year! They were kind of neat because they didn't look like a promotional item. Good accessory for a goth/punk teenager.

Phew -- you just blew my mind a bit there. Interesting!

I don't think there's any single Monty Python moment funnier to me than in The Holy Grail, when the two outer guards at the swamp castle see Lancelot repeatedly charge at them from far away, then suddenly jump in frame and stab them. It nearly puts me in tears just thinking about it.

I just watched Milkshake! The Musical for the first time also, and while it's clearly a capital "g" great film in every respect, Boogie Nights is a helluva lot more fun. That said, I do think there's parts in Boogie that veer a little too hard into comedy for its own good, mostly the stuff with John C Reilly and Mark Wahlberg together like "You Got The Touch" and the buddy cop movie. Rollergirl's character is barely there, but otherwise it does a pretty fair job with such a strong ensemble cast. Daniel Day Lewis deserves every accolade forever; Plainview is one of the great all time performances, without a doubt. I rewound that final bowling alley scene four or five times, it really is that good. There's some things you could nitpick, like the identical twins were confusing to me, and there's this weird "tense" music cue that sounds almost exactly like the THX audio test ("The audience is listening" thing they used to play before a film), but otherwise it's near as perfect as you can get. I have zero interest in watching it again, however. I'd see Boogie Nights again for sure, and have already probably half a dozen times.

I skimmed the Atavist article; wow, what a clusterfuck. I'll be surprised if it makes a theatrical release, but don't they have to eventually put the film out there, if only so it can be written off for taxes?

Do you know something we don't, Dan? :[

It would be so amazing to get Garry "Please, call me Mister" Marshall on an episode! Or any CBS regular doing a hot charac, but this film with PFT would be particularly good synergy.

Brazil was my favorite movie for a long time when I was younger. Now it just depresses me, because it reminds me of how great Gilliam was. I'm not sure if it's all been out of his control but a lot of factors have worked against him (actors dying, sets being flooded, studios dropping support) throughout his career. Honestly I think 12 Monkeys was the last kind of great film he made, and that one leans heavily on the incredible tango music of Astor Piazzolla, to say nothing of its fantastic source material (La Jetee). His work since the turn of the millennium seems like that of someone whose energies have been sapped (which they have been, at that point). He had a magical run in the 1980s and 90s though, and I think his style has been coopted into more mainstream directors like Burton and Aronofsky, neither of which have the gentle humanist touch Gilliam achieved at his best.

Just having a laugh, mate. The nice thing about being on either side of a pendulum (cat) is being able to share humor. Not much to engage with yet as the podcast isn't out, but I'm looking forward to spirited discussion.

I agree, the third one was pretty tedious. On the other hand, they're fun, and something I'm trying to learn is to be less cynical and not hate fun. I think I'm becoming post-post-irony in my middle age. I seriously don't understand why they haven't partnered up with HDTGM and had Paul live tweet the thing.

We heard you the first time. Considering opinions that are contrary to your own is a pretty healthy intellectual exercise, one you may not want to shut yourself off from engaging in.

I've legit enjoyed Halloween 3 my entire life and was shocked to learn that it was not only considered a mar upon the franchise (understandable) but a bad movie in its own right. I love the atmosphere of it; the whole supernatural cultist angle is very reminiscent of 70s horror and especially European horror. A vast conspiracy to sacrifice children with masks full of insects and snakes is incredibly evil and interesting! Much more than another iteration of the unstoppable slasher (much as I love Myers et al). The investigation of the two leads to uncover this mystery works so much better than Donald Pleasance sweating, furrowing his brow, and saying "We have to stop him". Plus that Silver Shamrock jingle is truly the earworm of nightmares. (*and yes, I know the original intent behind this was to create a separate, non-Michael franchise. Which they could have solved by simply calling it Season Of The Witch.)