This week on Alcohollywood, we're finally tiptoeing our way into Nicolas Cage territory with the 1988 horror-comedy Vampire's Kiss! Follow high-powered literary agent Peter Loew (Cage) as he slowly loses his mind after an encounter with a young woman who is potentially a vampire (Jennifer Beals).
Apart from that bare-bones plot, watch as Cage kills pigeons, shouts at his secretary (Maria Conchita Alonso), and generally overacts himself into oblivion. Luckily, we've got our custom drink and rules (well, one rule) for you to get through this 80s gem!
Happy Shark Week, everyone! In order to celebrate this hallowed occasion, we’re taking to the high seas with a quirkier brand of marine science with Wes Anderson’s 2004 indie flick The Life Aquatic with Steve Zissou! The titular oceanographer (Bill Murray) goes after the fabled (and animated) jaguar shark, with the help of his estranged maybe-son (Owen Wilson), a perniciously pregnant reporter (Cate Blanchett) and a crew of marine biologists, documentary filmmakers and David Bowie cover artists.
With the typical Wes Anderson traits of quirky music, 1970s-era color palettes and deliberately flat acting, The Life Aquatic is deserving of at least a review, if not our signature cocktail and drinking game!
Jared and Clint from Alcohollywood (along with photographer/frequent guest Julia) just got back from Wizard World Chicago Comic Con, a four-day extravaganza of comics, celebrities and costumes in Rosemont, IL, and we've got coverage! In this special podcast, we give our impressions of the things we found there (Avengers colognes, Poison Ivys, sometimes-misogynist paintings of comic book characters), plus quite a few interviews with groups and organizations there.
In addition to that, we had the unique privilege of getting a few minutes in with noted actor James Hong (Blade Runner, Big Trouble in Little China, Kung Fu Panda), who imparted his wisdom on wine, voice acting, and the state of Asian and Asian-American actors in the film industry today.
Special thanks go to James Hong, Ghostbusters Chicago Division, Gorilla Tango Burlesque, 501st Legion Midwest Garrison, Zombie Squad Chicago, Jurassic Park Legacy and all the other amazing groups that we met throughout the convention, as well as the staff of Wizard World themselves for their graciousness and support!
This week on Alcohollywood, we handle one of the stranger films we’ve ever come across: the 1978 Italian knock-off of Star Wars, Starcrash! Follow the adventures of sexy-yet-useless Stella Starr (Caroline Munro) and her mysterious, Jewfro-ed alien ally Akton (Marjoe Gortner) as they search for Prince Simon (David Hasselhoff) before the evil Couth Zarth Arn can defeat the Emperor of the First Circle of the Universe (Christopher Plummer). Confused yet? So were we! With a nonsensical plot, laughable effects and inexplicably awful acting, this Roger Corman co-production is one of the greater guilty pleasures we have come across, and so we decided to give it the Alcohollywood treatment!
This week on Alcohollywood, we're gearing up for this year's latest unnecessary remake by revisiting the 1990 sci-fi classic Total Recall! In this Philip K Dick adaptation, surprisingly Austrian Douglas Quaid (Arnold Schwarzenegger) goes to get an exciting fantasy implanted into his brain, only to find out he's already living it...or is he?
A great combination of gore and classic Arnold action combined with a thought-provoking idea or two and one of Jerry Goldsmith's best scores, you'll have a blast along with our custom cocktail and rules! Check them out below!
This week on Alcohollywood, Jared and Clint (and special guest Craig) tackle one of the most flat-out crazy and out-there movies any of us have ever seen - the dreamlike, episodic 1969 tale of Roman debauchery Fellini Satyricon! Directed by famed Italian director Federico Fellini, this strange, bawdy and extremely Roman escapade follows a pair of Romans as they explore what it means to live in the empty excess of Rome...plus minotaurs. It's a real treat if you haven't seen it, but be prepared to be confused and amazed!
On the eve of the release of The Dark Knight Rises, we here at Alcohollywood decided to check out one of the more infrequently-discussed films in the Nolan oeuvre - 2006's The Prestige, starring Christian Bale, Hugh Jackman, Scarlett Johanssen and Michael Caine! The film follows two rival magicians whose constant need to outdo each other leads them to increasingly monstrous acts, while Michael Caine watches on dispassionately and gives poignant monologues.
With the dreamlike quality of Inception and a cast consisting of half the active superheroes in Hollywood (Batman, Wolverine, Black Widow, David Bowie), The Prestige is definitely not to be overlooked!
This week on Alcohollywood, we're turning back the clock to review and drink to the 1940s film noir classic Double Indemnity, starring Fred MacMurray, Barbra Stanwyck and Edward G. Robinson! This tale of intrigue, murder and illicit romance follows insurance salesman Walter Neff (MacMurray) as he hatches a scheme to kill the husband of his lover (Stanwyck) to get a 'double indemnity' payout on a newly hatched insurance policy.
The twists and turns, as well as the tension, are fantastically played even by today's standards, and Fred MacMurray is stellar as the world's tallest detective, who loves grabbing women's shoulders when he makes out with them. Check out our drinking game and review here!
Happy birthday America! To celebrate your stars and stripes, and the destruction of your many famous landmarks, we watch the 1996 sci-fi blockbuster Independence Day! Bill Pullman, Jeff Goldblum, and Will Smith play three red-blooded Americans from different backgrounds who lead the fight against aliens with the worst holiday timing.
Also starring the incredible Randy Quaid and the always-entertaining Harvey Fierstein, Roland Emmerich's piece is a powerhouse of practical effects and goofy charm. Say what you will about the other times he's tried to destroy New York, he really pulls it off here. Check out our review and drinking game here!
This week on Alcohollywood, we're taking another user request and checking out the genre-bending French import Rubber from 2010! On the surface, this film follows the head-exploding adventures of Robert, a sentient tire who wakes up with no apparent sense of purpose except to kill. Learning about his environment and what he desires, we also watch the exploits of the "audience" that is watching him through binoculars.
Both a campy horror film and an interesting experiment looking at the relationship between a film and its audience, the film's a short but intriguing ride that's definitely not for those who don't like the absurd. In the meantime, fuel up with our custom cocktail and drinking game below!
This week on Alcohollywood, we handle another user request - Clint and Jared (with guest panelist Cherish, returning from our Beauty and the Beast episode) take a spoonful of sugar with everyone's favorite magical alien nanny, Mary Poppins! This 1964 Disney classic combined live action with animation, took away five Academy Awards (including Best Score, Best Song, and Best Actress for Julie Andrews) and captured the imaginations of children everywhere.
Watch Britain change from a stuffy man's world to a slightly less-stuffy world of mild joy and suffrage, while charming old-school performances are combined with obnoxiously bloated musical sequences and creepy old men. Along the way, we've got our custom cocktail and drinking game to help the nearly two-and-a-half hour runtime go down!
This week on Alcohollywood, we're tackling another user request - the infinitely hilarious and genuinely entertaining Evil Dead 2, starring Bruce Campbell and directed by Sam Raimi! The followup/remake/reimagining of their first cult classic, the film sees Ash Williams (Campbell) fighting demons, monsters, ghosts and his own hand in a mixture of great campy effects and kinetic camerawork. Swallow your soul (and your inhibitions) with our custom cocktail and drinking game below!
Did you like The Fast and the Furious, but felt that there were too many car chases? Are you a fan of Ryan Gosling, but not when he talks too much? Do you wish that Michael Mann would put just a little more mood and 80s-infused music into his gritty crime thrillers? If the answer to those questions is 'yes,' Clint and Jared (and special guest Jeremy) have got quite a film for you this week - 2011's Drive, starring Ryan Gosling and directed by Danish auteur Nicholas Winding Refn!
This film costars Carey Mulligan, Bryan Cranston, Ron Perlman, and a bravuro turn against type from Albert Brooks. In Drive, the unnamed main character (played by Gosling) navigates the gritty criminal underworld of Los Angeles with nothing but his wits, a hammer, and what seems to be debilitating autism. Check out our review and drinking game here!
Drive is also available on Netflix streaming!
Tired of your boring, dead-end job? Ever feel like you haven’t taken any chances in your life? Does every woman you’re romantically interested in look suspiciously like Meg Ryan? If so, then we’ve got the movie for you – this week on Alcohollywood, we’re covering Joe vs the Volcano, the 1990 Tom Hanks film written and directed by John Patrick Shanley (Doubt). Combining Expressionist visions of corporate America with Tolstoyian plot developments and the hands-down most racist portrayal of island natives you’ve ever seen, Joe vs the Volcano is sure to make you think – either in confusion or delight. Check out our drinking game and review here! (NOTE: First 10 minutes or so are in all-right quality, but we move to our fancy mic around the drink ingredients, so remain vigilant!)
Along with the ride on our steamer trunks, we’ve got Brockett from the Biggest Fan Podcast, so be sure to check out his vast podcast musings!
This week on Alcohollywood, we're tackling the 1987 crime drama The Untouchables, starring Kevin Costner and Robert De Niro as Eliot Ness and Al Capone, men on two sides of the War on Booze in Prohibition-era Chicago. This masterfully directed, thrilling film features an Oscar-winning performance from Sean Connery as the Irish (yet surprisingly Scottish-sounding) Jimmy Malone, exploding kids, a dated and uneven score from Ennio Morricone, and more shotguns than you can wave a parasol at. Nonetheless, we show you how to watch this movie the "Chicago way" - with some booze in your glass!
It's one of the Coen Brothers' most well-known and tremendously popular movies; it's spawned a convention series and a religion, and nearly everyone knows at least one line from this movie. This week on Alcohollywood, we're covering The Big Lebowski, the dark comedy/neo-noir/Gulf War period piece that has more or less defined the careers of both the Coen Brothers and Jeff Bridges. The search for a replacement for his prized, pissed-on rug sends aging hippie Jeffrey "The Dude" Lebowski (Bridges) on a journey fraught with danger, ferrets, nihilists, bowling, and much more! We've got a lot to talk about here, so pour yourself either our signature drink or the White Russians the Dude is so fond of, and check out our review and drinking game here!
SPECIAL GUESTS: For this trip through SoCal in the early '90s, we're bringing along with us Matt K and Ry the Movie Guy from another great podcast in the Chicago Area, CinemaJaw; also, look out for their next great episode, which they were gracious enough to have us on as guests! (Due to some technical difficulties, 47:00 to 48:30 is a little lower-quality than usual, so be patient; the audio quality clears back up quickly.)
This week on Alcohollywood, we're sailing up the Moon River with the 1961 romantic comedy Breakfast at Tiffany's, starring Audrey Hepburn as the first Manic Pixie Dream Girl, Holly Golightly! Based on the Truman Capote novella, the film follows Paul Varjak (George Peppard, pre-making plans come together in The A-Team), an aspiring writer who falls for the sprightly woman-about-town (Hepburn) and has plenty of 1960s sex comedy antics doing so. The film includes such treats as 1) a horribly offensive Asian stereotype played by Mickey Rooney, 2) dime-store heists in animal masks, and 3) the world's least creatively-named cat.
This week on Alcohollywood, we review The Avengers! Now, we went through Marvel Month so that you, our loyal followers, could be completely ready for this cinematic masterpiece. Unfortunately, it seems our airdate this week comes before the actual release date of the film in the United States, so we thought we'd just cover that OTHER Avengers movie - the 1998 abomination starring Ralph Fiennes and Uma Thurman as posh, droll British secret agents attempting to stop Sir Sean Connery from holding the British ecosystem for ransom (we think).
A disastrous adaptation of the cult 1960s TV show, The Avengers features awful late-90s CGI, a confusing and nonsensical plot, bored, wooden acting, and the lamest excuse for "camp" we've ever seen. Put on your bowler hat, sip some tea (British people only drink tea, right? That's all we got from this film) and climb in your man-sized hamster ball for our drinking game and review of The Avengers!
Excited about The Avengers? Afraid it’s going to be crap? Don’t care, but love superheroes? Look no further than Marvel Month, where Alcohollywood reviews and creates drinking games for the five superhero movies of the characters soon to join forces in The Avengers!
This week on Alcohollywood, we team up with our good friend (and Price of Admission host) Rachel Evans to finish up Marvel Month with Joe Johnston's return to kitschy, pulpy World War II-era comic book adventure with Captain America: The First Avenger! One of the more uneven films in the Marvel cinematic universe, we follow scrawny Steve Rogers in his journey from a brave, but stupid scrawny guy to a brave, but stupid completely ripped guy, whose pecs apparently secrete a sheen of glistening oil. The film also stars Hugo Weaving doing his best Werner Herzog impression as The Mask, a perpetually tired-of-this-shit Tommy Lee Jones, and some guy with a huge moustache.
The film's got a great pedigree, and we do love alternate-history pulpy World War II movies, so what do we think of Band of Brothers with Superheroes? Check out our review and drinking game here, and let us know what you think in the comments below!
Excited about The Avengers? Afraid it's going to be crap? Don't care, but love superheroes? Look no further than Marvel Month, where Alcohollywood reviews and creates drinking games for the five superhero movies of the characters soon to join forces in The Avengers!
Just in time for Thor's Day, Marvel Month continues as we take the Bifrost to Asgard and drink to Thor, Kenneth Branagh's superhero movie about the Norse god-turned-regular-guy-turned-god-again! Along with his friends Natalie Portman and the Ren Faire Gang (NOTE: the movie beats us to this joke), the meathead Thor tackles sheet-metal robots, treacherous Frost Giants and the deadly quips of an unwelcome Kat Dennings. Luckily, we've got some mead and a drinking game to get you through this latest Avengers tie-in - give us a listen and check out our rules!
Excited about The Avengers? Afraid it's going to be crap? Don't care, but love superheroes? Look no further than Marvel Month, where Alcohollywood reviews and creates drinking games for the five superhero movies of the characters soon to join forces in The Avengers!
This week, Marvel Month continues with the Edward Norton version of The Incredible Hulk! Completely stylistically divorced from the 2003 Ang Lee disaster, this movie replaces the often-obtuse but intriguing character explorations of the previous film the most straightforward, inoffensive comic book movie you could imagine. You may not end up reexamining your daddy issues, but you'll have a fun, breezy ride, if that's what you're looking for. Co-starring a perpetually fish-lipped Liv Tyler and a CG-cartoon-muscled Tim Roth, The Incredible Hulk is by no means incredible, but it's fairly entertaining. In the meantime, sit back, make yourself a couple of smoothies, and Hulk out to our review and drinking game!
Excited about The Avengers? Afraid it’s going to be crap? Don’t care, but love superheroes? Look no further than Marvel Month, where Alcohollywood reviews and creates drinking games for the five superhero movies of the characters soon to join forces in The Avengers!
This week, we’re starting with a double feature of the two Iron Man movies, directed by Jon Favreau and starring Robert Downey Jr. as charismatic playboy/inventor/perpetually dying Tony Stark. Iron Man proved to a world enamored with brooding superheroes (e.g. Nolan’s Batman) that you could successfully do a fun, lighthearted superhero movie, and Iron Man 2 proved that you could really mess up a good formula by shoehorning spinoff material into your main plot. Either way, both movies have their good and bad points, both of which we cover in this episode!
For Alcohollywood this week, we continue our tradition of examining big films being rereleased in 3D with our review of James Cameron's blockbuster epic Titanic! One of the most expensive (and successful) films of all time, the film is an incredible exercise in combining intriguing historical drama with done-to-death star-crossed romance - this time with sensitive Leo and his swooshy bangs, paired with an inexplicably-American Kate Winslet. With a three-hour runtime, we've got a lot of ground to cover. Pick up your violin, pour yourself a drink, and give our episode a listen!
This week on Alcohollywood, we head down Bourbon Street to bust some man-hunters with Jean-Claude Van Damme with our review and drinking game for 1993's Hard Target! This film was acclaimed action director John Woo's American debut, and all the slow-motion birds and guns-akimbo dives make this bayou blitzkrieg an incredible piece of '90s cheese.
Don't forget Lance Henriksen wearing an all-black trenchcoat (just 'cause it's cool) in the New Orleans summer, JCVD's incredible Jheri-curled mullet, and Wilford Brimley playing some sort of Cajun Super Mario, riding away on a horse in slow motion from an exploding barn.
Erin go bragh from all of us at Alcohollywood! This week, we're celebrating St. Patrick's Day with one of the most amazingly terrible iterations of the Leprechaun franchise, Leprechaun 4: In Space! Watch as the plot of Aliens is recreated with a $5 budget, sleazy German cyberscientists, and glittery alien women with spiky space bras - all while Warwick Davis collects a paycheck. The insanity is infectious, as this incredibly horrific film continues to amaze and baffle through its interminable 100 minute runtime.
Luckily, we've got just the drink to get you through it, as well as our review, which asks all the right questions: What is the Leprechaun doing in space? Why does a Cuisinart blender double as a magic DNA machine? How is there no blood when a leprechaun bursts out of a man's urethra? Take a listen and find out more!