291 Mad Max

Matt and Mark continue our 70's car movie theme with the quintessential movie that started it all, the original 1979 Mad Max. Mark declares it to be his favorite of the Max saga as its characters have yet to enter the realm of post-apocalyptic genre fiction. With real characters and a recognizable yet distorted quasi-present, we can feel Max's reality more than the nuclear wastelands of the Humongous. Matt revels in the badassery of the 70's muscle car with a middle-aged crisis wish to one day ride into the empty deserts behind the wheel of an 800 hp super-charged v8 pursuit special (specifically the Dodge Challenger SRT Demon, a mere $83k). Hopefully fully equipped with Android Auto and a 4G link to my Spotify catalogue.

Download: 291 Mad Max

290 McQ (and Rendezvous)

Matt and Mark do up a double feature this week (kind of) for our 70's car-movie theme with the 1976 short "Rendevous" and the John Wayne 1974 Neo-Noir McQ. Matt waxes nostalgic over his favorite city Paris, while both Matt and Mark wax nostalgic over the uncrowded free-ways of early 70's Seattle. As Seattle natives, we ponder the set pieces of Wayne's McQ and its set-piece car chase, while parsing out the acting talents of the venerable and storied Wayne. Is it a Bullitt knock-off? Does it matter? Foreign to both Wayne's Western canon and the zeitgeist of early 70's popcorn cinema, we try to appreciate McQ with fresh eyes. Despite its mediocre reviews, Wayne is certainly a charismatic actor worthy of his legend.

Download: 290 McQ (and Rendezvous)

289 Vanishing Point

Continuing our 70s car movie theme, we review the classic Vanishing Point. A road movie that's nothing more than a cross-country chase in a 71 super-charged Challenger, we probe the classic film archetype of Kowalski. Reaching for deeper themes, Matt and Mark ponder Kowalski's origin and try to parse his enigmatic back story. But in the end we determine it may not really matter. Do we care? Or do we just like road movies? Dunno. A man with death nipping on his heels. Kowalski meets it head on... literally.

Download: 289 Vanishing Point

288 Duel

Continuing our 70's car movie theme (and our political discussions... sorry, fast forward ahead 15 - 20 mins) Matt and Mark review the inaugural Spielberg outing Duel. A made for TV movie, it's simple Plymouth vs Peterbilt road rage spectacle is not so much about the literal mechanics of the setup, but a psychological experiment. The Dennis Weaver character in his modern man impotence is an avatar for our own anxious helplessness. What makes Duel interesting is the "what would I do?" dynamic in each of its scenes. If the impotent David Mann was more a stoic Mad Max character, this film would fall flat. It's our annoyance of David Mann that makes this film relevant.

Download: 288 Duel

287 Corvette Summer

This week Matt and Mark kick-off our 70's car movie them with 1978 comedy-drama Corvette Summer starring a recently minted Luke Skywalker (aka Mark Hamill) and a super-sexy Annie Potts of Designing Women fame. Sadly, at this point in Hamill's career the die was cast. His lack of acting chops and psuedo Buster Keaton physical antics would seem to doom him as an A-listers post Jedi. Thankfully Potts's "hooker with a heart of gold" Vanessa lit up our labido's to propel us through this silly snapshot of 70's pop culture. FYI... skip the first 20 minutes, if our political musings leave you feeling like Hamill covered in a drum of motor oil.

Download: 287 Corvette Summer

286 The Serpent and The Rainbow

Finishing up our zombie run, we review the Wes Craven "true life" zombie film The Serpent and the Rainbow. Steeped in voodoo, Wes goes to the source of the zombie origin story and brings to life (pun intended) the legend of the "undead." While the film conjures the supernatural, it's blended into the story in such a way that skirts the magical, making it a fun ride. Matt and Mark spend a considerable amount of time debating the "exotic fetishism" of Dr. Alan's character with only a modicum of genuine theory. Whatever the true impetus, we both agree it seems like a good time.

Download: 286 The Serpent and The Rainbow 

285 Dead Snow

Another international zombie entry into Matt and Mark's zombie Halloween run-up. A ridiculously simple "teens, cabin in the woods, monsters" combination, Dead Snow is a high concept film. One can almost see a couple of Nordic would-be filmmakers smoking a little of Amsterdam's finest pondering the simple combo "Nazis?... zombies?.. Nazi zombies!" And Voulais! Unfortunately, Dead Snow has a lot of grist for the mill, but fails in its ability to tie up plot elements and expand/exploit more intriguing ideas. Regardless what you might think about National Socialism, it's staying power as an ideology among the undead is remarkable. One hopes we don't experience an even worse horror, say Ayn Randian Objectivist Zombies? Shudder to think...

Download: 285 Dead Snow

284 28 Weeks Later

Our first back-to-back sequel review! This week we review 28 Weeks Later as part of our zombie film run-up to Halloween. Matt and Mark, while remembering the movie as decent, stumble upon a change-of-heart. While the first half is memorable, the second half is nothing more than a typical chase scene with a nonsensical ending that betrays the valor of its heroes. While some framing exposition to the military fallback protocols would have helped us invest in the situation, 28 Weeks dismisses the notion. And as result, we dismiss it as well.

Download:  284 28 Weeks Later

283 28 Days Later

It's 28 Days Later and we're back with our 28 Days Later Podcast in our run up to Halloween! This go round we're reviewing zombie fair, in particular the "fast zombie" types. 28 Days kicked off the renaissance in how we depict the undead in film: more "Aliens" and less Romero. Besides its evocative beginning, 28 Days succeeds because it addresses fundamental humanity with its obvious juxtapositions. Because zombies allows us to play around with notions of humanity, fundamental morality is put into question, even mass murder.

Download: 28 Days Later

282 Train to Busan

Starting up some zombie films in time for the Halloween holiday (we'll see how many we actually get through), we begin with the Korean take on the zombie genre, Train to Busan. Using the 28 Days Later prototype, we're entertained by the hyper viral parkour of zombie hordes in pursuit. A kind of nod to the Night of the Living Dead, Train to Busan uses the barricaded survivor trope to full affect, specifically the interactions among the desperate. Good zombie films tend to tell us a bit about ourselves as human beings via the obvious juxtaposition, and Train is no different.

Download: 282 Train to Busan

281 Dune

Matt and Mark review the flawed but redeemable Lynch sci-fi interpretation of the Herbert classic Dune! ... finally. Despite its limited running time and abbreviated faulty plot, Dune shines in its quintessential Lynchian moments. Lynch's portrayal of the Harkonnen Geidi Prime captures an aesthetic that is uniquely alien as it is human; something we have never seen before on film. When the mutated spice junkies of the Guild wander onto set, sloppy and warped, you buy into their psychedelic prescience. Yes, Dune could have been done much much better (we know Mr. Jodorosky... yes, we know), but as a disowned Lynchian orphan, it aged well enough and is wholly memorable.

Download: 281 Dune

280 The Fly (1986)

The "Summer of Sci-Fi" continues with our review of the Chronenberg classic The Fly. An exercise in cinematic body horror, the fly takes the squirmy parts of our anatomy and its associations and full throttles it into a disquieting aesthetic. While Matt and Mark detail the fundamental scientific boundaries of true teleportation, we both agree Ronny played by Gina Davis is a full-on Physics Phd groupy. But how can she resist and acne-ridden Babe Ruth gorging totally cut Jeff Goldblum? Anyway, flies are gross and this movie does the species no favors.

Download: 280 The Fly (1986)

279 Mad Max: Fury Road

"What a Lovely Day!" This go 'round Matt and Mark review the Miller reboot of the Max franchise with Mad Max: Fury Road. While no doubt an undisputed masterpiece of 21st Century action, one has to wonder does it hold up on repeat viewings? Mark hmms and hahs certain details overlooked in the initial bombast, while Matt codifies the tropes of the Max universe which has made it an archetype of its own. Part Gandalf, Part Clint Eastwood, Hardy's Max is a catalyst for the feminist action of Furiosa's story. Fury Road also goes to prove that yes... you can stage a monster truck as a film's set piece and still get nominated for an Oscar. Witness!!!

Download:  279 Mad Mad Fury Road

278 Reign of Fire

What can we say about an Apocalyptic Dragon mash-up film like Reign of Fire? Matt and Mark indulge this most unlikely of films with our review of the McConaughey/Bale sci-fi/fantasy popcorn movie. While it shouldn't work, it kind of does and for that we forgive it its many grievous sins of plausibility and bad acting. The fact that Ebert gave it 1 star, yet here we are reviewing it 16 later should count for something... shouldn't it? Nothing of this elder talking dragon nonsense, what do we like most about dragons? Burning shit up!

Download: 278 Reign of Fire

277 The Time Machine (1960)

This week Matt and Mark go "old timey" with our review of the classic 1960 The Time Machine. True to the original source material, The Time Machine gives the cinematic treatment to the original 19th Century novel by H.G. Wells. A far future epic (which there are surprisingly few in cinema) we enter a world of split humanity, decay, and of course... troglodyte cannibalism. Unlike more tired tropes of antiquated sci-fi, The Time Machine remains fresh and inventive today. Will there be hot blondes speaking perfect English 800,000 years from now? Watching this film, you can almost believe it to be the case! Nearly sixty years on, the original The Time Machine remains a fun Saturday afternoon watch.

Download: 277 The Time Machine (1960)

276 Bill & Ted's Excellent Adventure

A slice of life from the whimsical 80's, Matt and Mark review Bill & Ted! Not the first time travelling comedy by any stretch, it un-apologetically plays with the "fish out of water" routine to full affect. While Bill & Ted may be SoCal caricatures of the proto "dudebro" aesthetic, they are played by Alex Winter and Keanu Reeves as fully fleshed out 3D characters. Are the historical figures cartoonish? Very much so. But that serves the point in the end. Hidden within the obvious gags are tinges of subtle comedic moments. Before the pastiche of Wayne's World and the dynasty of Beavis and Butthead, there was Bill & Ted! Most Excellent! Party on!

Download: 276 Bill & Ted's Excellent Adventure

275 Annihilation

Can a recent movie be considered cult-worthy? Regardless, Matt and Mark have endeavored to review the recent 2018 release Annihilation. Based after Jeff Vandermeer's novel of the same name, it is a cinematic treatment of the sci-fi "New Weird" genre. An alien encounter film in the vein of Carpenter's The Thing and H.P. Lovecraft's "The Colour Out of Space" (complete with rainbow shimmer) it defies the almost obligatory anthropomorphic alien encounters so typical in film. Annihilation doesn't spend its time sketching its characters in a reality we typical expect. Its characters, while fully human, are as unreal in their interpersonal relationships as the alien vortex consuming Southern Florida.

Download: 275 Annihilation

274 The Ice Pirates

Matt and Mark review the space-camp early eighties cult classic The Ice Pirates. A pre-Spaceballs riff on all things Star Wars and other associated derivative Sci-Fi (e.g. Roadwarrior), it begs, borrows and steals shamelessly to stitch together a watchable silly film that for whatever reason has stuck in the consciousness of Gen Xers recalling their adolescence. There's some decent gags and the film mercifully doesn't attempt to take itself seriously (that would run an extra $10 million in budget).

Download: 274 The Ice Pirates

273 Solaris

Matt and Mark finally get around to kicking out another podcast. This time we review the 1972 Soviet sci-fi classic Solaris. A well-reviewed film and ground-breaking for its era, Matt and Mark decide that for whatever reason its slow trudging art-house chic has grown a bit shabby. In our review we compare the film to its Stanislaw Lem source material (and recent translation) in addition to the latter-day remake by Steven Soderbergh. But none-the-less, the questions this film poses to the audience require insight and introspection, a form of sci-fi film making that we so preciously crave, but so rarely receive.

Download: 273 Solaris 

272 Kelly's Heros

Burnin' Bridges! This week we review the 1970's ensemble war-heist film Kelly's Heroes. Filled with stable of well-known heavies including Clint Eastwood, Telly Savalas, and Donald Sutherland, it's a WWII film injected with Vietnam-era sensibilities. A cynical movie, perhaps? Maybe, maybe not. What it is is a whole lotta fun. Matt and Mark discuss the true logistics of the would-be denouement... because it does beg the question: how do you get a few thousand pounds of gold out of WWII's western front when the road home leads through Berlin? Maybe it's not for us to worry about. A cult classic? Probably not, but we like it, and that's all that matters.

Download: 272 Kelly's Heroes   

271 Anomalisa

Matt and Mark are back... to back! this week with our review of the 2015 Charlie Kaufman film Anomalisa. Using stop-motion puppetry to enhance the Fregoli syndrome metaphor, Anomalisa dissects the ubiquity and transactional nature of the protagonist Michael Stone. When he meets Lisa a momentary emergence of beauty invigorates Michael, but it's ephemeral and more of self-illusion than authentic. Anomalisa paints middle-aged human interaction as a desert of intimacy with its perceived oasis nothing more than mirages. Not a "feel good" movie by any stretch, it does attempt a level honesty most likely unattainable with live actors.

Download: 271 Anomalisa

270 Assault on Precinct 13

We near completion of our Carpenter box set this week with our review of the sophomore cult classic Assault on Precinct 13. A mash-up of Western tropes and a little Zombie Romero thrown in for good measure, Carpenter works up an atmosphere of claustrophobic doom despite the seeming implausibility of the story line. It's almost as if we don't really care. Why? Because Assault is a fun B-movie action film which is Carpenter's stock-and-trade. Strangely as Carpenter's budgets bloomed in the 90's/00's his films somehow suffered. A more-with-less artist, Carpenter begins to refine his directorial chops with Assault, a cult classic if there ever was one.

Download: 270 Assault on Precinct 13

269 SLC Punk

Matt and Mark get around to reviewing the 1998 cult film SLC Punk! in Goodfella's fashion, Stevo takes us on a tour through the punk scene of Reagan-era Salt Lake City. Musing on the paradoxes of Anarchy and Le'essence of being a punk, we're privy to the seemingly endemic metamorphosis of youthful rebellion. While in its throng, the youthful punk may not know where his chaos leads but Stevo knows better, and that's okay. Why? Because Stevo's honesty is one of this films most enduring qualities. Drop the Dungeons and Dragons, slap in a little Minor Threat, and enjoy!

Download: 269 SLC Punk

268 Baby Driver

Again keeping up with our recent endeavor into current movie reviews (possibly with cult potential), Matt and Mark review the car chase heist film Baby Driver. Not quite a musical, it insinuates a musical element in the movie like another actor. The cast is ridiculously good, with the currently maligned Kevin Spacey, Oscar worthy Jamie Foxx, and lovably evil John Hamm dealing the bad guy goods. With a truly three dimensional main character, Baby Driver builds out a Ansel Elgots Baby with a great deal of humanity. It's a fun flick. Check it out.

Download: 268 Baby Driver

267 Marathon Man

Mark and Matt review the 1976 thriller Marathon Man. While not a particular strong movie or a well-plotted film, Marathon Man holds its own as well as any thriller of its genre, so much so that's it's remained a cult favorite for over 40 years. With Dustin Hoffman and Roy Schieder in their prime, backed up by the lethal paranoid presence of Sir Laurence Olivier, MM indulges the 70's aesthetic or "je ne sais quoi" of the era. That and everyone hates Nazis, so seeing a Nazi get what's coming to him is always a crowd pleasing claptrap.

Download: 267 Marathon Man

266 Blade Runner 2049

In the year 2049!... Matt and Mark break with tradition this go 'round and review the recent release Blade Runner 2049. Like the Roman Empire before it, Los Angeles 2049 is dependent on slave labor to maintain its tenuous expanse. And as a result, this society suffers from the endemic sickness that comes with the inhumanity of such practice. Whether it's your lawn mower, a pet, or in the case of 2049, a replicant/simulacrum, how you use (or abuse) owned property reflects on your own humanity. Is Joi real? Does it matter? While yelling profanity and vulgarity at your home Alexa Echo may seem fun, its cruel intentions degrade your own humanity just by the practice. While the Deckard plot moves the film through its scenes, this is really the story of Gosling's 'K' and his evolution. 2049 is derivative by definition, but it is a true homage to the original, handled deftly and with care.

Download: 266 Blade Runner 2049

265 The Usual Suspects

This week Matt and Mark get it together to review the classic The Usual Suspects. A plot intensive illusion, it leads the viewer along with its narrative with the classic "Just the Facts!" detective boilerplate. But at it's center is a deception, a ruse perpetrated by an unreliable narrator, for this film is a long-con and it's not only playing the characters, it's playing you the viewer. While Verbal and Kayser Sose are possibly one-in-the-same, neither one are confirmed real. The Usual Suspects deals in perception as a tool of social currency, exploiting our confidence. In classic Phillip K Dickian fashion, TUS plays on this theme and it plays it well. A film like no other, it is a hard-boiled crime drama mired in its tropes, but at the same time, it is something else.

Download: 265 The Usual Suspects

264 Ronin

This week Matt and Mark review the bombastic (and slightly silly) Frankenheimer actioner Ronin! More like a tabletop RPG come to life, Ronin deftly utilizes a McGuffin plot in which to thread its Mamet enhanced characters. For whatever reason, we forgive it its military-grade body count and implausible set pieces. Why? Because its a fun film. Unlike most action drivel, Ronin's interstitial scenes have lives of their own and not just a scaffold to tie the car chases together.

Download: 264 Ronin

263 Yojimbo

Time for a little "Fist Full of Akira Kurosawa" with our review of his classic Ronin Samurai film Yojimbo. Weighing heavy with the archetype of the Western Genre, Kurosawa reinterprets the dynamic in 19th Century feudal Japan. While its debatable such a small Japanese village could harbor rival gangs of such murderous intent, the true enigma of the film is the mysterious Ronin Sanjuro. His motivations are mercurial, his turned conscience uncharacteristic. While a great film, its biggest fault may be Kurosawa's need of the film's amoral anti-hero to forcible assume a typical High Noon archetype. But whatever, Sanjuro's a cinematic badass, and that's pretty cool.

Download: 263 Yojimbo