Jen and Tim catch up on a definitive Nicolas Cage performance in the cult film and meme template Vampire’s Kiss!
Read the evidence that Vampire’s Kiss writer Joseph Minion plagiarized much of After Hours at Andrew Hearst’s blog.
115 – Vampire’s Kiss
Tag: Free Episode
113 – The Adventures of Brisco County, Jr.
Jen and Tim revisit the greatest unfairly-cancelled single-season sci-fi western TV series of all time: The Adventures of Brisco County, Jr.! If you thought we were going to say “Firefly” you have obviously never listened to our show before. Also Jen is finally able to air her feelings about Dixie for a mass audience. Spicy!
Check DVDTalk for information on the complete series on home media.
Whether you lived through it or not, you can peruse the 1993-94 prime-time television lineup for yourself.
For more cult TV, try our episode on Hammer House of Horror!
110 – Cool World
Cool World is not cool. Emma Bowers (@hyenasandgin) returns to commiserate with Tim and Jen about a very bad animated feature. Turns out this movie did significant psychological damage to young Tim.
Watch Emma’s Full Metal Alchemist video!
Compare and contrast: this interview with Ralph Bakshi, and this one with writer Michael Grais. Bakshi claims malfeasance from producer Frank Mancuso, Jr. (to the point of violence). Grais calls Bakshi a liar, essentially. What’s the real story? Who knows?
The Tex Avery doc Tim alluded to is called Tex Avery, the King of Cartoons.
Bakshi puts in this pissing stuff, and toilet stuff. I didn’t like that sex attitude in it very much. It’s like real repressed horniness; he’s kind of letting it out compulsively.
R. Crumb on Ralph Bakshi and the Fritz the Cat feature film
If we haven’t dissuaded you, you can watch Ralph Bakshi’s most recent animated work, The Last Days of Coney Island, on YouTube.
For more animated shite, listen to our episode on Raggedy Ann and Andy: A Musical Adventure!
107 – Krull
Mike Rosen returns to fight Tim on the merits (or lack thereof) of cult 80s sci-fantasy film Krull! Jen moderates to the best of her ability!
Krull hit screens in 1983 and failed to make its money back, although it is beloved by the kind of people who liked Ready Player One.
For exhaustive contemporary coverage of Krull, visit the Internet Archive’s scanned copy of Starlog issue 76, from November 1983.
Special effects makeup artist Nick Maley seemed to enjoy making the film, judging by his reminisces.
One valiant effort to market the movie: Krull-themed weddings! To our knowledge, none of the brides or grooms have come forward to admit to their participation. But it’s hard to see how the movie missed with marketing concepts this good:
One [marketing gimmick] suggests approaching the local bakery about creating special pastries in the shape of the Glaive and dubbing them the punny ‘Krullers’. “Everyone knows what a cruller is…a tasty glazed donut. Now comes the Kruller…a tasty Glaived donut.
Tim Kirk via The Moving Arts Film Journal
For another fantasy misfire and more of guest Mike Rosen, try our episode on Ron Howard and George Lucas’s Willow!
101 – Astro-Zombies
Jen and Tim talk about everything BUT Astro-Zombies, including the vexed question of Ron Howard!
The delightful Ted V. Mikels documentary we discussed is on Tubi, free to watch with ads.
For more 60s-style insanity (that’s better made), check out our Beyond the Valley of the Dolls episode.
098 – Willow
Mike Rosen joins Jen and Tim to discuss that movie you really liked as a kid and then revisited as an adult and realized it wasn’t that good. That’s right, it’s Willow, from 1988! George Lucas perhaps wisely handed off directing duties to Ron Howard, but results are still mixed at best.
Speaking of Ron Howard, Jen and Tim depart significantly on his legacy as a director. We briefly discussed his daughter Bryce Dallas Howard in our Antichrist episode.
Tim alluded to the very fine podcast 372 Pages We’ll Never Get Back. If you’d like to hear their take on the Shadow Moon series, start here!
For another fantasy misfire, try our episode on Krull!
096 – Glen or Glenda?
Tim and Jen effuse about Ed Wood’s cri de coeur, Glen or Glenda!
For more queer readings of cinema, try our episode on the biopic of a trans muy thai fighter, Beautiful Boxer!
094 – True Stories
Tim returns to chug the haterade as we discuss David Byrne’s vision! It’s True Stories from 1986! Jen weakly defends the movie but she’s no match for Tim’s anti-twee vitriol!
David Byrne talks about being on the spectrum in a live Q&A.
For another movie that Tim despised, try our episode on sci-fantasy misfire Krull!
091 – Behind the Mask: The Rise of Leslie Vernon
Jen and Tim welcome back Mike Rosen so he can carve up Joss Whedon like the turkey he is and also to discuss an affectionate satire of the slasher genre.
Offensive Films by Mikita Brottman
Men, Women, and Chainsaws: Gender in the Modern Horror Film by Carol J. Clover
For more Mike, listen to our episode about a truly wretched Dan Aykroyd comedy, Loose Cannons!
088 – The Lawnmower Man
Tim holds forth excitedly about “the most accurate depiction of virtual reality as a profound concept that is silly in its execution.” Based on the Stephen King lawsuit!
GenXers may remember Nintendo’s failed “virtual reality” console, the Virtual Boy. If you’re unfamiliar and were wondering what the heck we were talking about, you can’t go wrong with the Angry Video Game Nerd’s very funny and profane video on the topic.
Here’s that Tom the Dancing Bug comic Tim didn’t get a chance to summarize (it parodies “Flowers for Algernon”).