Podcast Guest: Jena Young

Episode 72 – King Kong

, with special guest:

King KongWe remain in the jungle for a third straight episode as we watch King Kong!  We begin in an actual jungle and then transition to a concrete one!  Given the time period, we are treated to more racism and sexism but also a monster movie that will, from that point on, be the movie against which all other giant monster movies will be measured.  Including the remakes of this film.  You owe it to yourself to start with the original.  We make sure to provide constant musical tribute to special effects wizard Willis O’Brien.

Next up, we are watching 8 1/2!

King Kong (1933)
King Kong poster Rating: 7.9/10 (90,164 votes)
Director: Merian C. Cooper, Ernest B. Schoedsack
Writer: James Ashmore Creelman, Ruth Rose, Merian C. Cooper
Stars: Fay Wray, Robert Armstrong, Bruce Cabot
Runtime: 100 min
Rated: Passed
Genre: Adventure, Horror, Sci-Fi
Released: 07 Apr 1933
Plot: A film crew goes to a tropical island for a location shoot, where they capture a colossal ape who takes a shine to their blonde starlet, and bring him back to New York City.

Episode 71 – Tarzan

, with special guest:

Tarzan the Ape ManThis episode, we return to the jungle with a look back at the quintessential Tarzan film – Tarzan the Ape Man! Featuring Johnny Weismuller and his abs (also Maureen O’Sullivan), the film is basically about Africa killing all sorts of African American extras while most of the white people survive.  There are lions and elephants and hippos and crocodiles (even though they are alligators) and more!  Enjoy this classic trip down movie racism lane!*

Next up, we’ll be watching the original King Kong!

Tarzan the Ape Man (1932)
Tarzan the Ape Man poster Rating: 7.0/10 (8,127 votes)
Director: W.S. Van Dyke
Writer: Edgar Rice Burroughs, Cyril Hume, Ivor Novello
Stars: Johnny Weissmuller, Neil Hamilton, C. Aubrey Smith
Runtime: 100 min
Rated: Passed
Genre: Action, Adventure, Romance
Released: 02 Apr 1932
Plot: A trader and his daughter set off in search of the fabled graveyard of the elephants in deepest Africa, only to encounter a wild man raised by apes.

*Note: The book is EVEN MORE racist!

Episode 68 – All the President’s Men

, with special guest:

All the President's MenAfter watching Spotlight on our last episode, we decided to take a look at another “Newspaper Journalist Thriller” so we watched All the President’s Men!  The film stars Robert Redford and Dustin Hoffman as the reporters who broke the Watergate story.  If you aren’t familiar with Watergate, it is the scandal that ensured every succeeding scandal ended in the word “gate.”  This film is a true classic about two guys digging until they finally found the truth.  Definitely worth the watch!

Our next film will be Grizzly Man!

All the President's Men (1976)
All the President's Men poster Rating: 7.9/10 (124,703 votes)
Director: Alan J. Pakula
Writer: Carl Bernstein, Bob Woodward, William Goldman
Stars: Dustin Hoffman, Robert Redford, Jack Warden
Runtime: 138 min
Rated: PG
Genre: Drama, History, Thriller
Released: 09 Apr 1976
Plot: "The Washington Post" reporters Bob Woodward and Carl Bernstein uncover the details of the Watergate scandal that leads to President Richard Nixon's resignation.

Episode 67 – Spotlight

, with special guest:

SpotlightAs has become an annual tradition, we are watching this year’s Best Picture Oscar winner.  For 2016, most people assumed the award would go to Revenant.  However, Oscar voters surprised everyone by selecting Spotlight instead.  The film is representative of a dying genre as newspaper journalism is a dying medium.  Fine performances anchor this movie that is disturbing not so much because of how the story is told but because so much of the story is true.

Our next film will be All the President’s Men!

Spotlight (2015)
Spotlight poster Rating: 8.1/10 (499,420 votes)
Director: Tom McCarthy
Writer: Josh Singer, Tom McCarthy
Stars: Mark Ruffalo, Michael Keaton, Rachel McAdams
Runtime: 129 min
Rated: R
Genre: Biography, Crime, Drama
Released: 20 Nov 2015
Plot: The true story of how the Boston Globe uncovered the massive scandal of child molestation and cover-up within the local Catholic Archdiocese, shaking the entire Catholic Church to its core.

Episode 66 – Stagecoach

, with special guest:

StagecoachWe take a trip down Western lane with the John Wayne/John Ford classic, Stagecoach!  This film basically made a superstar out of Wayne and defined the western genre for the next several decades.  It features Ford’s favorite location – monument valley – as well as his favorite actor.  In addition to Wayne, the movie also stars a lot of very well known character actors including Andy Devine and John Carradine.  Interesting trivia: Wayne was not the first billed actor in this film.  That was Claire Trevor!

Our next movie will be the 2016 Best Picture winner, Spotlight!

Stagecoach (1939)
Stagecoach poster Rating: 7.8/10 (53,176 votes)
Director: John Ford
Writer: Ernest Haycox, Dudley Nichols, Ben Hecht
Stars: John Wayne, Claire Trevor, Andy Devine
Runtime: 96 min
Rated: Passed
Genre: Adventure, Drama, Western
Released: 03 Mar 1939
Plot: A group of people traveling on a stagecoach find their journey complicated by the threat of Geronimo and learn something about each other in the process.

Episode 65 – La Belle et la Bete

, with special guest:

La belle et la beteThis episode, we watch the classic French film “La belle et la bete” (Beauty and the Beast). Jean Cocteau’s artistic rending of the classic French fairy tale is a clear influence of the adaptations that followed up to and including the well known Disney version. We talk a lot about the artistry of the film as well as the clear influences on other works.  We also spend some time looking at the production filmed in post WWII France.

For our next episode, we will be watching Stagecoach!

Beauty and the Beast (1946)
Beauty and the Beast poster Rating: 7.9/10 (27,888 votes)
Director: Jean Cocteau, René Clément
Writer: Jean Cocteau, Jeanne-Marie Leprince de Beaumont
Stars: Jean Marais, Josette Day, Mila Parély
Runtime: 93 min
Rated: Not Rated
Genre: Drama, Fantasy, Romance
Released: 23 Dec 1947
Plot: A beautiful young woman takes her father's place as the prisoner of a mysterious beast, who wishes to marry her.

Episode 64 – The Phantom of the Opera

, with special guest:

Phantom of the OperaOne episode later than promised, we watch the 1925/1929 version of The Phantom of the Opera!  Why do we list two dates?  You’ll have to listen to the podcast to find out!  Not only do we discuss this fine silent film, Tim also spends a not insignificant amount of time ranting about the 2004 musical.  If you happened to like the 2004 musical, you may want to skip past that part of the podcast because he will destroy your dreams.  Aside from Tim’s epic hatred of the musical, we do talk about some of the color processing involved in the film, Lon Chaney’s makeup, and a lot of other things that involve the film we actually watched.

Our next film will be La Belle et la Bette!

The Phantom of the Opera (1925)
The Phantom of the Opera poster Rating: 7.5/10 (19,956 votes)
Director: Rupert Julian, Lon Chaney, Ernst Laemmle
Writer: Gaston Leroux, Walter Anthony, Elliott J. Clawson
Stars: Lon Chaney, Mary Philbin, Norman Kerry
Runtime: 93 min
Rated: Passed
Genre: Horror
Released: 15 Nov 1925
Plot: A mad, disfigured composer seeks love with a lovely young opera singer.

Episode 63 – The Hateful Eight

, with special guest:

The Hateful Eight

Those of you who listened to our last episode may have noticed we said this episode would be about The Phantom of the Opera.  Surprise!  With The Hateful Eight leaving theaters soon, we decided we should shuffle off to the movie theater and check out Quentin Tarantino’s latest offering.  Melissa actually saw the film in 70mm glory while Tim and Jena got to see the digital print from the front row.  We’ll talk about the film and a lot of the social implications contained in the film.  Somehow, we fail to talk about the score.  But it was really good.

Our next movie will, for totally sure, be The Phantom of the Opera!

The Hateful Eight (2015)
The Hateful Eight poster Rating: 7.8/10 (654,706 votes)
Director: Quentin Tarantino
Writer: Quentin Tarantino
Stars: Samuel L. Jackson, Kurt Russell, Jennifer Jason Leigh
Runtime: 168 min
Rated: R
Genre: Crime, Drama, Mystery
Released: 30 Dec 2015
Plot: In the dead of a Wyoming winter, a bounty hunter and his prisoner find shelter in a cabin currently inhabited by a collection of nefarious characters.

Episode 62 – Dracula

, with special guest:

DraculaWe’ve been circling this one for a while.  Having watched Ed Wood, Plan 9 From Outer Space, and Horror of Dracula, it is finally time to look at the role that both defined and trapped Bela Lugosi: Dracula.  Our first Universal horror film and one of the best known, we took a look at this classic retelling of Bram Stoker’s novel.  After watching the movie, we talked about the careers of many of the actors, the legacy of Universal horror films and – as always – a bunch of other stuff.

Up next, we stick with classic horror and watch The Phantom of the Opera!

Dracula (1931)
Dracula poster Rating: 7.4/10 (58,173 votes)
Director: Tod Browning, Karl Freund
Writer: Bram Stoker, Hamilton Deane, John L. Balderston
Stars: Bela Lugosi, Helen Chandler, David Manners
Runtime: 75 min
Rated: Passed
Genre: Drama, Fantasy, Horror
Released: 14 Feb 1931
Plot: Transylvanian vampire Count Dracula bends a naive real estate agent to his will, then takes up residence at a London estate where he sleeps in his coffin by day and searches for potential victims by night.

Episode 61 – Horror of Dracula

, with special guest:

Horror of DraculaFor this episode, we take a look at one of the most famous films out of the Hammer Horror studio – Horror of Dracula!  We decided to watch the movie because Sir Christopher Lee was in Hugo and this film is one of his breakout roles.  We explore his career as well as that of Peter Cushing.  For some reason, we spend a long time talking about The Hound of the Baskervilles.

Our next film is, somewhat predictably, Dracula!

Horror of Dracula (1958)
Horror of Dracula poster Rating: 7.2/10 (27,724 votes)
Director: Terence Fisher
Writer: Jimmy Sangster, Bram Stoker
Stars: Peter Cushing, Christopher Lee, Michael Gough
Runtime: 82 min
Rated: Not Rated
Genre: Drama, Horror
Released: 16 Jun 1958
Plot: When Jonathan Harker rouses the ire of Count Dracula for accepting a job at the vampire's castle under false pretenses, his friend Dr. Van Helsing pursues the predatory villain.