sycasey 2.0

That Asian dude from Die Hard will always be Genghis Khan from Bill & Ted to me.

Listen to any other interview with him and you'll understand that this is just standard Seth Rogen laughter.

What was your first episode of HDTGM? Probably Maximum Overdrive. Someone on another movie discussion forum I was in recommended it in a thread about podcasts. I saw this near the top and gave it a listen, because it was a movie I was already pretty well familiar with (as a big AC/DC fan). Loved it immediately. Andy Daly was a great guest star, and as a fan of The League I already knew Paul and Jason's work very well. I went back and listened to whatever episodes dealt with movies I'd already seen. Favorite catchphrase? "What's up jerks!" This is because I often now listen to episodes in the car with my wife, and our three-year-old has heard enough intros that he now knows when this line is coming and says it along with Jason. It's very cute. A clip or moment that you'll always remember? (timestamps are nice ) "What's it's mission?" The episode you revisit the most I don't really go back very much, but I did return to the Bloodsport one. The movie that you loved or hated watching Loved: Bloodsport, and most recently Action Jackson! Hated: Garbage Pail Kids was very unpleasant. How HDTGM fits into your weekly routine My wife and I always find time to watch the movie coming up (sometimes I have to push for it), then listen to it over the weekend, usually driving around in the car (with the long episodes now it often takes multiple trips). What the show has meant to you after all these years or any other sappy stuff I just love seeing these movies as a palate cleanser. Mostly I'm looking to see as many good movies as possible (for example, what Paul is covering on Unspooled), but sometimes you need to see something inept to remind you of what that looks like. Getting one every other week is a good reminder.

I certainly enjoyed the movie (I'd never seen it before), but I'm with Paul and Amy in that if I had to pick, say, 10 movies to drop off the list this would probably be one of them. I just think that out of the things it covers (romances, road movies, riverboat movies, war movies, Bogart or Hepburn movies, John Huston movies) there are other better examples. Even Apocalypse Now is probably a better example of the "it was a really difficult on-location shoot" movie. That doesn't mean it's bad, though! I really liked both of the lead performances and rarely found myself bored during the movie.

Beat me to it, but yup. This was the only direct reference I could find.

Most good jokes can really be explained by:

My wife is always trying to plan fun celebrations for birthdays and stuff (usually becoming frustrated in the process). Most of the time my sincerest wish would be to just be left alone for 12 hours or so. You know, watch a movie (or two), play some video games, maybe binge some TV, all uninterrupted without anyone else ever asking for a moment of my time. It doesn't usually happen (we go out and do something because the kid will get antsy otherwise), but that's what I'd really want. I'd say there's at least a 50% chance that's what this woman's husband really wants too.

Was your grandfather Ned Flanders?

Yes, I think the criticism of "nuking the fridge" comes down to what one of my favorite critics (Film Crit Hulk) refers to as "tangible details." As in, people just latch on to the most obvious/absurd scene and use that as the reason they didn't like the movie. It sounds good in conversation, but it doesn't really get into the dramatic function of the movie or why it doesn't work. For my part, I argue that most of the early scenes in Crystal Skull are that nice Indiana Jones mix of slightly absurd action with just enough grounding in character and period detail to give them weight. The back half starts to run aground on both of the latter things (character motives go all over the place and we get lost in a random jungle with little to ground us). People do the same things with the Star Wars prequels, focusing on the specifically absurd elements (Jar Jar Binks, etc.) but not really getting into why they don't work as well as the OT.

Sure, you won't be hearing that from me. Yes, Marcia was instrumental in improving Star Wars and her contributions can/should be highlighted. But none of that makes it to the screen if George Lucas doesn't approve of whatever changes she made. Everything is a collaborative effort. (Also, I thought the "nuke the fridge" scene was fun and don't quite understand the hate for it. Crystal Skull is the worst Indy movie, but it's not because of that scene or most of what happens in the first half. It's the back half that falls down.)

A lot to unpack here.

Paul and Amy talked about how perhaps Lucas and Spielberg's divorces influenced the more negative portrayal of the female lead in Temple of Doom (probably true). I'll also point out that George Lucas' wife at the time of Raiders had a big hand in making Marion the character she was: "[Marcia] was instrumental in changing the ending of Raiders, in which Indiana delivers the ark to Washington. Marion is nowhere to be seen, presumably stranded on an island with a submarine and a lot of melted Nazis. Marcia watched the rough cut in silence and then leveled the boom. She said there was no emotional resolution to the ending, because the girl disappears. ... Spielberg reshot the scene in downtown San Francisco, having Marion wait for Indiana on the steps on the government building. Marcia, once again, had come to the rescue." Source: https://www.syfy.co.uk/news/3-ways-which-marcia-lucas-helped-save-star-wars-0 Can you imagine that? If you never saw Marion again? I think Lucas' early work (Star Wars and Raiders) would not have had the same kind of spunky, smart women they did if Marcia had not been in his life. (And as I noted in the Taxi Driver episode, she was also a great film editor in her own right.)

Yes, I think you can definitely take away from this that Indy was kind of an asshole. It's unclear as to whether or not he was a pedophile.

This seems grosser in retrospect, not just in a post-#MeToo era, but also after having read some of the early discussions between Lucas/Spielberg/Kasdan and also the novel/comic-book adaptations that actually peg her age. In the movie itself (absent any outside information), I'd argue that the "I was a child" line reads as more ambiguous. I know that when I originally saw the movie, I took the "child" line as meaning that she was maybe college-aged or late high school (18 or 19) and he was mid-20s. Maybe a little skeevy and you could see why her father would be angry, but not as bad as Indy deflowering Marion at fifteen. Harrison Ford and Karen Allen are actually about eight years apart in age, which doesn't seem wildly out of line for a romantic couple. In some cultures the age of consent is as young as 15 or 16 -- something that you might have to consider given the time period and the globe-trotting nature of this movie. You know, this was also my interpretation when I first watched this scene, but since then I've reconsidered. First, it's maybe a little patriarchal to assume that Marion can't still be the same tough personalty while sometimes also dressing more feminine. Secondly, the way the scene plays out is that she's going along with Belloq's request so she can try to escape. It almost works, too, but then those damn Nazis show up. I don't think this reflects poorly on Marion's intelligence or spunk. There's almost always something in a more than 20 year old movie that does't quite play as well to modern social consciousness, but I'm not sure Raiders is especially bad in this regard.

I think the issue here is that a podcast is an audio format, and most of what is special about Raiders is visual: the framing of the shots and how they are cut together. It's a masterclass in how to construct an action-adventure movie for visceral/emotional pleasure. It's hard to get that across in audio. I know that I didn't fully see the "specialness" of Raiders (especially over the other Indiana Jones movies) until it came out on DVD and I got to watch it in widescreen. Good Lord, this movie is gorgeous, and always beautifully framed. I'd say it's deserving of a place on the list just because of how well-made it is.

Anyone who thinks Paul and Amy are actively praising Melania Trump . . . has not followed their politics very well. "Love it" means they are enjoying how stupid her choices are.

This might be my all-time favorite Simpsons movie parody scene:

I've got some slip-on sandals that I keep by the door for such occasions.

WHAT ABOUT HIS CLOTHES?!!!

Interesting. The patriarchy holds even in male strip clubs.

Some more big questions: 1. At what strip club can strippers actually kiss their customers live on stage and no one gets in trouble? I'm pretty sure that's a big no-no in that business. 2. I was confused about the time line near the end. Rick has sex with Faye in the hotel room, then she leaves, and then she returns after what seems like a short time to find Rick already having shower sex with his other girlfriend. How quickly did he manage to set this up? And how quickly did Faye's husband get to that hotel after having just talked to her on the phone? Is everyone just hanging around in the vicinity of this hotel all the time? 3. Let's take a look at this poster: Is there any scene in the movie that looks even remotely like this? Who is that woman supposed to be?

No question, the sister and the husband were totally fucking.

Another correction: Psycho was the highest rated Hitchcock on the original AFI list in 1998. On the 2007 list, Vertigo is higher.

I don't think the skull dissolve was specifically mentioned, no. I'm not sure this podcast tends to get into specific filmmaking techniques like that very often.

There also a subtle hint after it fades out from Norman's face in the last scene -- you can faintly see the skull of his mother's corpse superimposed over his own face.