175 Angel Heart

Mark continues taking listener requests. This week on the Cult we review the Mickey-in-his-prime Angel Heart, released in 1987. A neo-noir Southern Gothic of sorts, it follows the gumshoe detective formula until it doesn't. The end reveal, a function of the fantastic, is more style over substance. But for whatever reason, it doesn't seem to matter. Firing on all cylinders, Angel Heart is beautifully wrought film with a dose of Rourke authenticity that is hard to replicate. Hail Satan!

Download: 175 Angel Heart

174 2001: A Space Odyssey

Mopping up the Kubrik, Matt and Mark finally get around to reviewing the flawed masterpiece 2001: A Space Odyssey. A film broken up into four vignettes, we go about reviewing it as such. Despite all the big themes of human evolution and questions of mankind's existential crisis in the universe, what 2001 gets right is humanity's relationship with the tools it has created, and how we are now at the whims of those tools, good, bad, and indifferent. So open up the pod bay doors and set the controls for the heart of the sun (cue Pink Floyd... now!).

Download: 174 2001 A Space Odyssey

173 Somewhere In Time

Matt and Mark attempt to break out of our cult film review comfort zone this week and review the 1980 sci-fi fantasy romance Somewhere In Time. Trying to go gynocentric, we fail at finding the appeal of this film as it would pertain to the ladies. Centered around a somewhat charmless 36 hour romance more typical of bodice-ripper fair, it becomes an exercise in forced gravitas, leaving the viewer little investment in its time-crossed lovers' tragedy.

Download: 173 Somewhere In Time

172 Under The Skin

This week we get back into the serious and review Jonathan Glazer's enigmatic Under The Skin, starring Hollywood A-lister ScarJo as the alien seductress. More evocative than thematic, its disturbing imagery sticks with you long afterward. Matt attempts to find an analogy for the alien's motivations, but such metaphors may defy what the film was trying to provoke. Perhaps it is best to leave Under The Skin as undecipherable as a street conversation among Scottish Glaswegians.

Download: 172 Under The Skin

171 Tim and Eric's Billion Dollar Movie

Matt and Mark's Summer of Funny concludes this week with our review of Tim and Eric's Billion Dollar Movie. T&C's brand of humor isn't for everyone, but if you can handle its mix of stupidity and darkness, there's genuine comedy to be had. While Ebert's write-off of the movie is understandable (0.5 stars), dopey overweight white guys with a healthy disdain for corporate propaganda (no one we know of course) should enjoy this movie more than your average joe film critic.

Download: 171 Tim and Eric's Billion Dollar Movie

170 Up In Smoke

Our penultimate film for the Summer of Funny, this week Matt and Mark review the cult stoner classic Up In Smoke by comedy duo Cheech (Marin) and Tommy (Chong). While stoner humor tends to be one note (or one toke), C&C deliver a nice combo of outrageous characters stirred up with a nice mix of comic timing and physical humor. So head down to your local weed shop (unless you live outside the spliff utopias of Colorado and Washington State), kush out, and take a low ride into the bakey funny.

Download: 170 Up In Smoke  

169 Caddyshack

Odd... no picture of Michael O'Keefe on the poster? Yep, that's correct. All by design. While originally scripted to follow the trials and tribulations of Danny Noonan and the caddies, the five hours of film quickly got whittled down to give the four major comedy players more screen time (Knight, Dangerfield, Murray, Chase). Matt and Mark continue with the "Summer of Funny" by review the one-and-only Caddyshack. If there was a sequel, let us all forget...

Download: 169 Caddyshack