Episode 96 — Monkey Shines

[OrigamiMami 395]

OMFG, and this moment of magic by June was free!!

 

June won the world series with a game 7, 9th inning grand slam, and rounded the bases holding Boo's hand.

[MattDonlevy 3]

I noticed something strange keep popping up at Alan's house. In 4 instances that I counted, an acoustic guitar is present in the scene: when Ella is brought to the house the first time (downstairs); when the best friend checks the attic (upstairs); after it's revealed the second needle is gone from Alan's room (upstairs); and right before Alan bites the Ella (downstairs). Who is playing this thing? The nurse? Mom? The ladyfriend? And how does it move from upstairs to downstairs so much during the last half hour of the movie? Is there more than one guitar around the house? If so, why? Do they hope Alan will be able to use his guitar collection again?

 

Regardless, loved the podcast and am looking forward to next week's foray into awful movies.

 

Also can't wait for the new Earwolf podcast "Monkey See Monkey June".

[jarrycanada 2483]

Anyone else notice or think it's strange that Paul introduces June as if she's a total stranger that he hasn't seen in a long time.

 

I think it would be funny if he asked her how the kids are doing. LOL.

 

Go back nd re-listen if you didn't notice it. there is a strange pause by june. "I'm doing great, how are you paul"...LOL

 

it's too funny.

 

Maybe it's a on going joke.

[Nerdlove 82]

I tried so hard to understand June's point, and I think part of the problem is that she was arguing a lot of different things at the same time, and her point got muddled. A lot of the things she was saying were things that many people would generally agree with, such as:

a. it's bad to mistreat animals in general

b. animals are always animals, even when they're well-trained

c. forcing animals to perform in movies may represent an ethical issue

 

So, all that, I'm on board with, for the most part. Where I got confused was with her whole crediting six monkeys instead of one thing. So I listened to that part of the podcast again, and I think I understand. This is the best I can do to summarize her point:

 

If we as a society watch movies like this, and then we see in the movie's credits that one single monkey did all the "acting," then we as a society will get a mistaken impression about the capabilities of monkeys, and this in turn will feed the dangerous trend of anthropomorphizing animals. Anthropomorphizing animals is dangerous because if we judge animals by human standards, we might think of the animals as pests, or even "sinful" murderers, when ultimately, animals do things for animal reasons that have nothing to do with good or evil. Ultimately, when a Franken-monkey kills your ex-girlfriend, it's humanity's fault for making a Franken-monkey in the first place.

 

Or put somewhat more succinctly: This movie teaches the wrong lesson, which is that animals who do bad things are just as culpable as humans who do bad things, and the credits, which give the mistaken impression that one monkey did all this work instead of six, lend credence to our belief in monkeys' agency to do human-like harm.

 

I think...?

[CleverUsername 27]

This was absolutely perfect. One very important correction: Jason at one point is talking about clams, and says something about them being the happiest single valved organisms on the planet. WRONG. Clams are bivalves. They specifically are known for having two valves. Get your act together, guys. This kind of misinformation can be dangerous.

 

In his defense, though,they are super happy.

[OrigamiMami 395]

This was absolutely perfect. One very important correction: Jason at one point is talking about clams, and says something about them being the happiest single valved organisms on the planet. WRONG. Clams are bivalves. They specifically are known for having two valves. Get your act together, guys. This kind of misinformation can be dangerous.

 

In his defense, though,they are super happy.

 

Especially tridacnas! Seriously happy bivalves:

[insurgent1979 9]

This was absolutely perfect. One very important correction: Jason at one point is talking about clams, and says something about them being the happiest single valved organisms on the planet. WRONG. Clams are bivalves. They specifically are known for having two valves. Get your act together, guys. This kind of misinformation can be dangerous.

 

In his defense, though,they are super happy.

 

 

i think he said "single celled"

[JoelSkon 22]

Correction/Omission:

 

First time submitting one of these, just wanted to shed a little more light on the title...

 

"Munky Shine" is originally from a song titled "Jump Jim Crow" from 1828. It performed by a white comedian in black face (Thomas "Daddy" Rice.) Apparently it's a derogatory term for slaves.

 

Great choice of a title about a Murdering Monkey who is a slave to a white quadriplegic. Pretty offensive if that was intentional...

[Bernard_Shakey 3484]

My two cents: Not a bad flick, but anytime you have someone flail around while holding a monkey doll and act like it's attacking you, it's gonna' look stupid.

It felt very Hitchcockian with the Rear Window helplessness vibe and Allan saying "mother" all the time as in Psycho. Overall I thought the acting was terrific especially by the Mad About You dude.

The telepathy, the monkey teeth, even the score to the film. = crazy.

Questions: How is a hired nurse going to just bring in her own pet bird without even asking anybody. And finally, How great was Janine Turner's ass?

I haven't finished the ep yet, but can't wait to hear June's manifesto.

[baily 26]

When our hero attempted suicide there should've been a closeup of his face that showed a suffocation warning label on the plastic bag.

 

The "brain slice" Pankow dumped on the counter looked exactly like a chicken breast with a slight brain pattern on top.

 

When Ella tossed the hair dryer into the tub to kill the mother, it was plugged in but turned off. Would that have really worked?

 

Our hero repeatedly smashing into Melanie with his wheelchair to wake her up was pretty hilarious.

 

 

 

Also, I really want to make a meme of Zouks with LEATHERFACE HAD IT TOUGH but I can't find the original blank image, dangit.

[hypnotizingchickens 1025]

his slime monologue being delivered like a Brett Gelman character was spot on.

 

 

 

speaking of comedians, did anyone else think the surgeon they got a second opinion from (cue second opinion song) looked a lot like an age-ravaged Marc Maron?

 

 

POW! you just shit your pants.

[Shannon 2953]

ahhhh this movie was so frustrating!!! It didn't make any sense to me at all. I totally was trying to view it through the single white female lens and then the telepathy shit really threw me off

 

while the gang was trying to posit why any of this happened I was just thinking

 

 

Ugh this movie was just garbage

 

 

I'm sad that the spongebath yelling didn't make the best monologues cut. That was my favorite. He was being SO MEAN to his mom!! And that junior high cussing throughout was just hilarious.

 

 

It's also really funny how the gang has little to no memory of podcasts they've already done. I've heard other podcast hosts say that they forget what happened in a podcast as soon as it finishes. But this episode felt like deja vu that they did the "fuck guests" from Halloween 3 again, and June brought up the monkey imprinting (Congo)

[robinsbruce 4985]

I. Love. That. Animation. Shannon.

[SeamusMcGrath 112]

A lot of amazing revelations in this, like how dangerous it is to credit monkeys for their SAG work, and what single valve organisms are the happiest.

 

Also, the Amazon reviewer who watched this with their mother and nephew; wasn't their a sex scene? I think I'd rather watch Black Swan's sex scene with my mom and nephew than a paraplegic have a woman giddy up on his face. Good lord, the brief glimpses into those Amazon reviewer's lives are both devastatingly depressing and hilariously awkward.

[Shannon 2953]

I. Love. That. Animation. Shannon.

 

I made a bunch of Animated Jason reaction gifs... they are here at my tumblr. I also made this and this and have plans to make more because those animations are my world.

 

please everyone feel free to use them and thank Jay Marks for being a hero

[robinsbruce 4985]

Your tumblr is great Shannon. When you gon make more stuff for your etsy shop so I can give you monies?

[pepperjack 303]

Anyone else notice or think it's strange that Paul introduces June as if she's a total stranger that he hasn't seen in a long time.

 

I think it would be funny if he asked her how the kids are doing. LOL.

 

GO BACK and re-listen if you didn't notice it. there is a strange pause by june. "I'm doing great, how are you paul"...LOL

 

it's too funny.

 

Never noticed this. Way too busy trying to figure out if Jason is on twitter. Do you happen to know if he's on twitter?

[JustinL 216]

Although it's revealed later that she's a pretty normal person and she was really just over-compensating, did the mother's hyper-positivity in the first parts of the film remind anyone else of the aunt from Sleepaway Camp?

[hypnotizingchickens 1025]

a couple thoughts, not exactly corrections and omissions... this was the first movie I actually took notes during.

 

- at the very beginning, I noticed that over the intercom at the hospital they said "Dr. (something)... Dr. Dennis (something)" who in the fuck is that specific about a doctor's name over an intercom? especially considering this Dr. (something) wasn't a character in the movie whatsoever.

 

- Tucch "prescribes" Allan with a double Scotch, but chances are he's heavily medicated since he's just been released from the hospital. in my expert medical opinion, it's probably not smart to mix that with a large amount of alcohol...

 

- did anyone else think the first scene with Melanie was a little strange? she was sitting in the wheelchair and, although she was using her arms, I was under the impression that this new character was disabled in some way... aaaaand cue swelling of music as she leaps from the chair. not sure if that was intentional, but it made me laugh nonetheless.

 

- "a cripple joke! ... he made a cripple joke! he's cured, huh?" *slaps nurse's ass*

 

- what was with the patronizing applause from his classmates when he answered the question right?! especially considering they all were raising their hands so the answer was obviously common knowledge. these people are supposed to be fucking law students...

 

- I don't remember them discussing the scene where Ella didn't call Geoff because he was already in the room, which I thought to be one of the more interesting scenes of the movie. although later, he had to use the laser pointer to direct her who to call... perhaps just for effect? or just an excuse for the laser pointer to exist in the first place since it's been established that he can communicate with her by just using words.

 

- my favorite absurd exchange in the movie:

"Ella's not in here with you is she?"

"No."

*closes door*

"......... I don't think so."

 

- the unnecessary callback to Geoff's door not being able to close was pretty hilarious

[GalenHoward 6]

I loved when they attempted to make a poignant/humorous moment out of Allan's inability to get an erection:

 

Geoffrey: Hey, if she walks out on you now, fuck her.

 

Allan: I can't. (long ruminative pause)

[hypnotizingchickens 1025]

I loved when they attempted to make a poignant/humorous moment out of Allan's inability to get an erection:

 

Geoffrey: Hey, if she walks out on you now, fuck her.

 

Allan: I can't. (long ruminative pause)

 

YES! I definitely wrote that down as well, just forgot to put it in my above post. I'm gonna go out on a limb and say that a lot of the dialogue in this movie, though delivered dramatically, is seriously great comedy writing.

[wakefresh 689]

A succinct phrasing of June's feelings about monkey actors: "It's a damned monkey! It doesn't have a name and doesn't know what hell is going on. Stop making these damned animals cutesy and placing human thoughts and ambitions on monkeys."

[ClaireSheller 30]

I love y'all and this episode is great! FYI though, human beings ARE primates! That is our taxonomic order. We are classified down to the sub-family level with chimpanzees.

 

I'm a primatologist, and while I'm not crazy about nonhuman primates in entertainment, this movie was well worth the watch. Plus, it might surprise June to know that most scientists working in the wild tend to name their subjects. In fact, I worked in Suriname where we had a brown capuchin (same species as Ella) named June! She was sister of the alpha female.

[wesjall 2]

Absolutely LOVED this episode!

 

You guys brought up the deleted brain surgery scene. Why in the world is it one of the main pictures that shows up for the preview on netflix?! It isn't in the movie!

 

Also, am I the ONLY one that was hoping that he would wake up from his surgery, able to walk again, only to find out that Melanie was now paralyzed from when she hit her head on the table?? That would have been the best, darkest twist I could imagine.

[M.ScottAnderson 2]

The craziest thing about the movie to me was the Monkey coming out of the guy's spine. I know it was just a dream and was added for a jump scare in what really wasn't a very scary movie. It was just crazy and made no sense.

 

Also I feel like if 6 monkeys were credited then people would be like "Oh shit there are crazy monkeys killing people out there, how many more are there?"