Cakebug Tranch

Yes, I suppose so, although as the father of a 7 and 4 year old, the repeated viewings take the gloss off it immeasurably. My eldest once watched the first film six straight times without a break on a flight from Canada to Australia. He laughed hysterically at exactly the same points every time. And then I had to take them to the awful sequel at the cinema. But yes, I'm fine with HT really, I was mostly just bouncing off Cameron's team-up line, and conceding that few things that Sandler does nowadays are flawless. What was the last really good one he did? Happy Gilmore? Can't be. Big Daddy? Ugh. So many bad ones in there. Remember Click? And Little Nicky? Oy.

*And 'Hotel Transylvania'. That had

Of course, we can't forget that the director of this film and 'Gods of Egypt' also was the director of the original 'Crow,' so in my book, he has SOME cred. He also did 'I Robot' (which I never saw but I remember the promos) and 'Garage Days', a successful indie from Australia written by a guy who wrote a film I was in once! 'Knowing' was all shot in Australia (since director Proyas is Australian), filled with Australian extras, locations, and car makes. I went home to Australia for a bit in 2009 and this thing was promoted like crazy down there because of the local content: much like 'Stealth' was. I actually quite enjoyed this one. I especially liked the crazy numbers linking up to GPS and time/date to predict terrible things... and then they milk that cow all they can. Awesome.

It's a Mummy reboot yet Russell Crowe is playing Dr. Henry Jekyll? What in blazes kind of mash-up is this? Somewhere, Brendan Fraser weeps quietly into his low-alcohol beer.

I just can't understand how they thought that this film was necessary, given that this story was already perfected forty years ago by Robert Shaw:

Listening to the podcast first and then watching the short film after was a truly immersive experience. Especially loved the nice surprise of the test squibs failing several times (and the growing spot of blood on Matt's shirt). Whenever I think of squibs, it makes me think of the 'firework' usage that Matt mentions in the podcast, which is an old, old term: it even appears in Marlowe's 'Dr. Faustus' (1592): *** VINTNER. What mean you, sirrah? ROBIN. I'll tell you what I mean. [Reads from a book] Sanctobulorum Periphrasticon—nay, I'll tickle you, Vintner.—Look to the goblet, Ralph [Aside to RALPH].—[Reads] Polypragmos Belseborams framanto pacostiphos tostu, Mephistophilis, &c. Enter MEPHISTOPHILIS, sets squibs at their backs, and then exit. They run about. VINTNER. O, nomine Domini! what meanest thou, Robin? thou hast no goblet. RALPH. Peccatum peccatorum!—Here's thy goblet, good Vintner. Gives the goblet to VINTNER, who exit. *** Christopher Marlowe's The Squibbening! I played Ralph in a university production of the play years ago and the squibs set at Robin and Ralph's backs were little explosives designed to give the effect of magic. JUST LIKE THESE SQUIBS! Also, of course, thrilled to see my hero PFT in the episode. Lovely lovely stuff.

I love this one too! If it wasn't so visually dependent, I would love to see Cam Bert's 'overseas marketing' posts featured on episodes much in the way the SlashFilm interviews are. So fascinating. Good work Cam Bert!

Okay, finally listened to the episode this morning: not much to add so I won't chip in much this week. I thought my big glorious reveal this week would be the misspelling of 'millennium', but there it was, right in the ep. Three things that heightened the enjoyment of this film for me. First, every time someone mentioned Jobe's name, I mentally spelled it G.O.B and thought about Will Arnett in the role. Second: my wife and I agreed that if you recast Larry and G.O.B with anyone, it would be best served as a David Spade (as Larry)/Chris Farley (as G.O.B ) team-up movie. I would pay GOOD MONEY to see that transition into sexy G.O.B with Farley at the helm (rest in peace) Finally: the VR things in this film made me think of the Def Leppard video for 'Let's Get Rocked', which came out almost at the same time as this. So I hummed that song throughout and that helped a lot. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BO1Nae_EBvQ Great ep. Looking forward to reading the discussions!

I first heard of UFC when it was on 'Friends', where Jon Favreau played a billionaire boyfriend of Monica's (more David Arquette connections!), who spends a lot of money on a 'ring', which turns out to be a UFC ring rather than an engagement ring. From that day until I actually saw it on sports television, I assumed UFC was Thunderdome fiction.

I saw this trailer before 'Fantastic Beasts' on the weekend and just watched it again now. I can't decide if it's the best trailer I've ever seen or a portent of a terrible mess. I love most of Guy Ritchie but not sure how he'll go on this level, and if his East End London aesthetic will fit the Arthurian world or if it's way too anachronistic. Thoughts?

Here's my favourite video all about the Pixar universe and the self-driving cars...

Ah! I was really hoping you'd incorporated the actual alphabet clip from 'VK'! Great work!

Yes! That Randy Newman song! "Woke up one day, what did I find?..." As a Blue Jays fan, the whole 'The Indians win it! The Indians win it! Oh my God, the Indians win it!' moment is a bit raw this year, but the memory of Pedro Cerrano, Rick Vaughn, Jake Taylor and the rest defeating Clue Haywood and the Yankees made it somehow okay.

Oh God. Oh, God. This was the most traumatic movie-based moment of my childhood. Good call.

1. "Dad? You want to have a catch?" - Field of Dreams 2. "O, Captain, my Captain!" - Dead Poets' 3. Not a movie, but "It's Quiet Uptown" - Hamilton (I'm helpless during this, whether I'm listening to the soundtrack or reading the lyrics or watching the bootleg video) 4. Totally agreed with Maximiliano on 'Up'.

This!

I won the no-prize! Is it terribly lame for me to mention it?

Completely agreed on the Tompkins front. As a relative newcomer to the Earwolf scene, I first HEARD of PFT when he did I Was There Too (I know) and have been steadily catching up ever since, including listening to CBB from the start (it's still CDR to me) and my current joy, The Pod F. Tompkast. I think the more PFT we can get, the better. In fact, when an old friend of mine from university guested on CBB earlier this year I couldn't figure out if I was more jazzed about him being on a show with Scott Aukerman or if it was because PFT was on the same ep. Serious man crush. In terms of Thanksgiving, it's a more restrained affair, but Americanisms are creeping in, including our very own Black Monday (-lite). We don't associate Thanksgiving with football necessarily. I will suggest a wendigo theme next time around. Sounds like just the spice we need. Oh! You mean Halloween! Not Thanksgiving. There are some hockey players - I took my kids out last year in their costumes and I was wearing a Leafs jersey. 9/10 people giving out candy said "Oh, yours is the scariest costume of all!" Jerks. In a word, Halloween is huge up here.

Don't forget the fact that November Thanksgiving is a one-country only deal, which has to give producers pause when promoting in foreign territories. Here in Canada our Thanksgiving's been done for a month - not sure how well a Garry Marshall-style 'Thanksgiving' would do up here (although of course I would very much welcome a PFT Garry Marshall return, even though the actual GM died this year) and even less so overseas. But it's still more saleable than Purim! (That's a 'For Your Consideration' reference, not any kind of slight on the Jewish holidays)

I made the mistake of showing my kids (6 and 4) 'Santa Claus: the Movie' last year. Somehow, they loved it. As we move in to the holiday season I fear that it'll come back into the rotation. I very clearly remember seeing this at the cinema when I was about 8. All I really remember was being shocked that the rich little girl just handed out cans of coke to homeless kids. Like, how rich WAS she?

Also: spell check in this text box doesn't pick up the word 'ScarJo' as misspelled. There's something wrong with that.

From someone who knows nothing about the original Ghost in the Shell - watching that trailer, where we get all of this really interesting Japanese imagery and future dystopia stuff, seeing ScarJo was immediately jarring as a person out of place in this setting, and then it was only exacerbated by her first line in the trailer: "This is Major." Now, people familiar with the property would know that Major is the character's name, but I didn't, so it just sounded like some Bill and Ted/Juno-style assessment of the situation she's in: "Whoa homeskillet, this is MAJOR, dude". Took me right out of the trailer and I never got back in. This casting looks brutal.

Yeah but if they cast Emmy Rossum we'd be forced to make comparisons between this and Joel Schumacher's god-awful 'Phantom of the Opera' that she played Christine in (opposite 'Gamer''s own Kable). Same basic character trope: frail yet feisty artistic type tames a monster. Emma's a nice casting choice, I think.

Angela Lansbury's still kicking! She was touring 'Blithe Spirit' as recently as last year. She'll outlive us all.

Wow! Cam Bert, you win the no-prize this week, I don't care what Scheer decides. Amazing post!