Quasar Sniffer

The fights in Ninja Terminator, honestly, are all better than pretty much anything on Iron Fist and the leads in this movie are better martial artists than the leads in that show, so.... I didn't hate it?

This is my favorite as well but, oh man, I'm just imagining the target audience for The Brady Bunch variety hour seeing Phantom of the Paradise in theaters.... Anyway, Sha Na Na was clearly the model for The Juicy Fruits, at last as they appeared in the opening sequence. According to the Always Reliable Internet, Sha Na Na was approached to appear but refused. Later in the movie, there also appears a rock band in black and white makeup, clearly modeled on Kiss (with a bit of Alice Cooper as well, especially in their stage show and actual sound). Is it possible that this was a chance at publicity that Kiss actually turned down?!?! Maybe THIS movie inspired them to create their own "Phantom" film a few years later.... https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-sHMAY-AqhM

This bothered me as well, but maybe it's what the film is trying to do? Perhaps just being in Swan's presence, under the sway of the glitz and glamor and possibility of immortal stardom, has a degrading effect on one's morality and self control? He oozes corruption and immorality wrapped in 1970s glam, all packaged in convenient Paul Williams Fun Size!

I know it's verboten to propose a Jacob's Ladder Scenario anymore (and I'm not going to suggest a specific one), but I could not help but think that there is a whole HEAPING MESS of possible Jacob's Ladder Scenarios in Phantom of the Paradise. You have Swan who sells his soul to the devil to stay young forever, so that could have been a last act of a dying man, and this whole "getting people to sell their souls to my record company" pyramid scheme is the result of his own JLS. Heck, his record company is called DEAD RECORDS. Winslow's transformation into the Phantom has several launching points for a JLS, from his signing of his contract, his severe (what seems like almost fatal) beating, to his face-smashing by the record press. I mean, this is a movie with a character called Phoenix, implying a "death/rebirth into a new being" narrative even separate from the Phantom. Maybe Beef is the dream version of Winslow, how he wants to be? More like Jacob's LAYERS Scenario, amirite? I'm not saying that's what this movie is, I just find it interesting that this movie has so many possible angles for Jacob's Ladders.

If we're digging into the Shitty Fighting Movie goldmine (and also not doing Miami Connection for some wacky reason), why not the Cannon Film classic NINJA 3??!?!

"Begging the question" is one thing I would definitely talk about on that hypothetical podcast. It's a phrase that is almost exclusively used incorrectly (by me too, I'm sure), but I find the historical source and original meaning way more interesting and way more useful. HELP ME EXPLAIN IT YOUTUBEZ.... http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OAXKc-rvMa8

I do totally agree with Cameron that language is mutable and evolves with use. The evolution of a language means it is still alive and thriving. This is good, especially in English, which is a language that, in itself, is a conglomeration of Old English (a Germanic Language), French, and Latin, so meanings and pronunciations having been shifting and changing for millennia. However........ I am a big fat hypocrite and the misuse of "nonplussed" really gets my goat. I put it on the level of "irregardless" annoying. Maybe it's because I've used (or at least known) the "correct" meaning since I was a kid, so hearing adults misuse it just confounds me. I am LITERALLY... mildly frustrated by the misuse of this word.

Yessssss, this is one of those weird and wonderful cultural phenomenons that could only have come from the 1970s and I love it. Greatly looking forward to chit-chatting about it with you wonderful internet peoples.

An altogether much cooler and more efficiently-told tale of "Teen" Killed in Car Crash and Out For Revenge and To Rescue a Sexy Late With Ghostly Car and Superpowers is the French DJ Kavinsky's video for "Odd Look." For those unfamiliar with Kavnisky, he's great, and probably best known for his song "Nightcall," which appears on the 'Drive' soundtrack. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qT0iQRjHbW4

I haven't listened to the actual episode yet, but I was scoping the IMDb trivia and saw this: "Johnny Depp, who was then dating Sherilyn Fenn, was present during filming and was living in the film crew's hotel with Fenn." Is there ANY extremely attractive actress in film from the mid to late 1980s and early 1990s who could not, at one point, be described as, "who was dating Johnny Depp at the time"? That guy got around.

Ah crap, sorry about that. I didn't mean to get all NSFW up in here. My apologies. And thanks to Dan Engler for the edit.

Speaking of the band name, Steve Zahn demonstrates his straight-up perfect comic delivery in a sort of throwaway line near the beginning. He's just sitting in a bar and someone says something like, "hey, aren't you in the "Oh-NEED-ers?" And his response is just, as dry as can be, "it's pronounced 'Oh-ned-ders.'" It's a line that could be a throwaway or cut for time if in the hands of a lesser actor, but with Zahn, it was probably my biggest laugh of the movie. It's simultaneously so real and honest, yet so absurd a problem to be having. I love it.

About the ages thing, I got the distinct impression that Guy (and maybe Lenny as well) were older than fresh out of high school. Isn't there some line about how Guy is "out of the service"? Like he spent a year in the military after high school or something? Maybe I am making shit up. As for Jimmy, I think it's easy to hate him unfairly because of how gosh darn charming and sweet and innocent Liv Tyler is. This is the kind of role that could be infuriating if played either too sweet or too eager or too naive, but Tyler is more luminescent than fucking Arwen in Lord of the Rings. She's perfect in the role and her chemistry with Tom Everett Scott is adorable. So when Jimmy says, "I should have dumped you in Pittsburgh" or is just pissed at her for having the TEMERITY to think they are engaged, it's kind of unfathomable. I know he's pissed that the "Sorry girls, he's engaged!" chyron appears on TV, but the fact that he takes that out on Liv Tyler is maddening. HOWEVER, I do agree with Cameron about having sympathy for him regardless, even if he's not the greatest guy. He just wants to record his music and write songs, but now this Shades asshole is hiring and firing managers and booking us gigs at state fairs? Why are we even doing this if Tom Hanks can tell us when and what to record? NONE OF THESE ASSHOLES CAN EVEN PRONOUNCE "THE ONE-DERS!!!"

Agreed. These two are my favorite from the site...

I was... disappointed with the crew's overall lack of enthusiasm for this film. It's not Arnold's best, but I still love it. I love Arnold in a manner akin to how Jon Gabrus loves Arnold, which is a WHOLE BUNCH, so listening to comedians I admire kinda dump on this minor masterpiece made me kinda... It especially boggles my mind that June is SO into Vin Diesel in the Fast and Furious movies but finds Arnold almost repellent. To me, Vin Diesel is like someone tried to clone Arnold but was missing some DNA sequences, Jurassic Park style, and then filled in the gaps with the protoplasmic goop that turned Matt Hagan into Clayface, only with way less charisma. Finding that guy, the star of the most fridge-tastic movie in recent memory (F8 of the Furious), appealing makes my skin crawl. Like Clayface's skin, I guess. ANYWAY, speaking of Chris Jericho, because he is also great in every way, would he make a better Ben Richards.... or Damon Killian?

Man, I haven't seen this movie for like 15 years but I am really looking forward to revisiting it. Tom Hanks, I am all in on his brand of All American goodness. I know that's not exactly uncommon, but I DID see both Bridge of Spies and Larry Crowne (his other directed feature) in theaters and loved both. Obviously, Bridge of Spies, being a Spielberg picture, is the superior film, but still. HANX!

Yesssssss! With the wide-eyed innocence and naivete of a puppy dog and the martial arts mastery of a Wu-Tang Clan song subject, Bruce Leroy is the hero we need right now. He is everything Iron Fist should have been.

Thank you for this. I always endorse the recognition of outstanding stunt work and stunt coordination (which we still don't have an Academy Award for, which is pretty god damn disrespectful to people like Joel Kramer, who have given us great running and diving away from explosions for decades).

Holy shiiiiiiit, I played this game SO MUCH in the 1990s. What a great pull! I'm always grateful to discover a voiceover connection that I had not recognized before. Thank you!

"I.... AGREE!"

I've been watching this movie since I was about five years old and I never really found it that dark. I just always found it more grounded and more emotionally relatable than a lot of the Disney stuff I grew up watching, especially the films being produced at the time. Maybe because, as said in the announcement thread, I grew up also watching movies like Secret of NIMH and being most fascinated by the "Chernabog" sequence in Fantasia. That Mickey Mouse stuff with the magic brooms? GFTO. If I want mice, give me them being chased by murderous Cossacks or being experimented upon or escaping extermination. And speaking of Chernabog, I had forgotten about the Demon Sea sequence in the beginning, but seeing it again, I remember loving it. Figures I would grow up to listen to Doom, Death, and Black Metal.

If we're talking cartoon crushes, I am all about... AND YES I DO MEAN BOTH OF THEM. That is the hottest unholy union.

If we want to get into animated mouse ancestry, then I propose 1982's (and a personal favorite of mine) The Secret of NIMH chronicles future mouse immigrant generations and, just like the Jews/mice in both American Tale and Maus, the persecution never stops. Is it possible that An American Tale is actually a (much more optimistic) prequel to NIMH? Is it possible to get any darker in an American animated movie without a portraying a Holocaust? It's this vs. Watership Down, basically.