July 2023 - Have You SEEN This?

178 – Brainstorm

Tim and Jen review a film of great technical genius and great vacuity of story: Natalie Wood’s final film, Brainstorm. But Jen liked at least half of it. Also, please send Tim all of your uneaten candy corn.

There’s a rundown on the Showscan process originally intended for Brainstorm from Douglas Trumbull himself on YouTube. Too bad it’s in 360p. This fine Japanese documentary on Trumbull is in much higher quality, though.

If you’re super into the dialectic and want to go beyond Noguchi’s and Lambert’s account of the death of Natalie Wood, former prosecutor Sam Perroni has written a well-researched look into the case called…Brainstorm!

And if you want more mind-bending visuals that weren’t appreciated by the public at the time, listen to our episode on the Wachowskis’ update of Speed Racer!

177 – Johnny Mnemonic

Information wants to be free, but entertainment is $5/month.

Jen and Tim struggle to understand the newly-minted cult status of a flop from Keanu Reeves’ himbo era, the cyberpunk thriller Johnny Mnemonic. They also put on hazmat suits and delve into the horror that is the comment section on Dina Meyer’s website.

For just $5 a month, hear it and over 80 more episodes on our Patreon!

Director Robert Longo talks about the rationale and process that led to his black-and-white edition of Johnny Mnemonic over at Screen Slate.

Screenwriter and god of cyberpunk William Gibson reflects on the film shortly after its U.S. release.

For more Dina Meyer discussion, listen to our The Evil Within episode!

176 – Witch Hunt

Tim and Jen dutifully cover the sequel to Cast a Deadly Spell, the Paul Schrader(!)-directed Witch Hunt.

For just $5 a month, hear it and over 80 more episodes on our Patreon!

Jen erred and called Schrader’s 2022 film Master Gardener “Master.” Was she thinking of the Paul Thomas Anderson film The Master? Who knows!

Be sure to watch Tim’s webseries Assignment Unexplained! And visit his website! And follow timtoonstudio on Instagram!

Discussing Julian Sands’ death, Tim alluded to the disappearance of experienced hiker Bill Ewasko, which you can learn more about in episode 47 of Adam Walks Around.

View the miracle of electrical kitchen appliances as filtered through the horny fixation of a teenage girl in a short riffed for Mystery Science Theater 3000, Young Man’s Fancy. Damn, that girl is SO squishy. Was it even legal to be that squishy in the 1950s?!

Speaking of sexuality and decades long past, here is the paper Jen was talking about that debunks the myth of “hysteria treatments” for women in decades past. Author Hailie Lieberman warns that the spurious paper is “a cautionary tale for how easily falsehoods can become embedded in the humanities.”

Smash that button like you’re a neglected victorian housewife and subscribe to our Patreon or listen to our episode on the previous film for free!

175 – Cast a Deadly Spell

A disheveled Julianne Moore and Fred Ward from the climax of CAST A DEADLY SPELL (1991) — “I miss the graboids”

Jen and Tim try to say something nice about a pay cable attempt at Lovecraftian horror/comedy, Cast a Deadly Spell. Also, Jen tries and fails to remember the time she massively insulted Dead Men Don’t Wear Plaid out of nowhere.

Jen is so dumb she forgot to mention who directed Witch Hunt, the sequel to Cast a Deadly Spell: Paul fucking Schrader. Will we watch it? Ehhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh

Tim confused Peter Scolari of Bosom Buddies with Mark Linn-Baker in Perfect Strangers, or maybe he was thinking of Bronson Pinchot. Does it matter?

Jerry Smith over at Certified Forgotten makes a fan’s case for the movie, so we’ll include it as a concession to an imaginary genre podcast Fairness Doctrine.

Finally, for more throwback horror, try our episode on the first Kolchak telefilm, The Night Stalker!