Now that Jared and Clint have escaped from Mars, they’re stuck on an Earth that perpetually rains! While they figure a way out of this conundrum, they’ll review movies with ‘Rain’ in the title all April, starting with 1988’s Best Picture winner Rain Man, starring Tom Cruise and Dustin Hoffman as a pair of mismatched brothers – one a selfish yuppie, the other an autistic savant – reconnecting amidst all manner of shenanigans. Despite inspiring a number of crass depictions of developmental disorders in Hollywood and pop culture, the movie itself remains a sweet, funny and surprisingly heartfelt movie. Enjoy it along with our custom cocktail and drinking rules!
(NOTE: Given that autism is a serious issue, and the discourse around it can be complicated, we attempted to discuss it in as sensitive a way as we could – particularly in the context of the film. We’re more than happy to hear feedback if there are terms, preconceptions or attitudes we use that do not reflect that experience accurately, so we can be more mindful in the future.)
(Thanks to our sponsor Iron Galaxy as part of the Chicago Podcast Coop!)
This week, Geek Girl Chicago herself Lauren Faits joins us as we finish up our month-long quest with last year’s Oscar Best Picture-nominee The Martian, directed by Ridley Scott and starring Matt Damon as a smarmy botanist who has to Robinson Crusoe his way through Mars while stranded there after being left for dead. A wonderfully straightforward crowd-pleaser, The Martian manages to make science cool again by focusing on the methodical, analytical problem-solving, while miraculously keeping things entertaining. Don’t just take our word for it, though; check out our episode, along with our custom cocktail and drinking rules!
(Thanks to our sponsor Cards Against Humanity, as part of the Chicago Podcast Coop!)
This week, Jared and Clint (along with Justin Gerber of Consequence of Sound‘s new show Gerber & Gerber) kick off week 4 of our Mars-centric March with Disney’s 2012 flop John Carter! Based on the Edgar Rice Burroughs books no one remembers anymore, John Carter is a big shaggy dog of a movie in which Confederate soldier Carter (a totally-surfer Taylor Kitsch) is thrust into a fantasy Mars filled with red men, green men, white apes and blue blood. The film is one of Disney’s most notorious flops, but does that mean the movie itself is bad? How do you avoid looking like a ripoff when all the sci-fi tropes you’re accused of ripping off were ripped off from you in the first place? Take a listen to find out, along with our custom cocktail and drinking rules!
(Thanks to our sponsor Basecamp as part of the Chicago Podcast Coop!)
As we continue Mars-ch on Alcohollywood, returning guest Craig (with a little help from new guest Alicia) joins us to talk John Carpenter’s Ghosts of Mars! An entertainingly cheesy change from the astronaut-based disaster movies that make up most Mars movies, Ghosts of Mars is late-career Carpenter at his most gonzo. Featuring a group of Mars cops (led by Natasha Henstridge and Jason Statham) and a band of criminals (led by professional lip-biter Ice Cube) fending off a group of possessed Martian ghosts who make themselves up like Marilyn Manson, Ghosts of Mars has all the grunge-rock, lesbian subplots and awkward cross-fades you might expect from the master of terror – or not. Check it out along with our custom cocktail and drinking rules!
(Thanks to our sponsor Field Notes as part of the Chicago Podcast Coop!)
This week on Alcohollywood, Ele Matelan of WildClaw Theatre joins us as we continue our March full of Mars movies with the companion piece to last week’s Red Planet, Brian De Palma’s Disney-produced Mission to Mars! Telling the same story of a group of astronauts taking off for the Red Planet (Gary Sinise, Connie Nielsen, Tim Robbins and Jerry O’Connell) to investigate Don Cheadle’s doomed first mission, De Palma’s 2001-lite slog takes some hard left turns amongst its Disney-caliber safeness, and we’ll take you through them along with our custom cocktail and drinking rules!
(Thanks to our sponsor Jackbox as part of the Chicago Podcast Coop!)
All of March, the Alcohollywood crew is blasting off to the Red Planet for five movies set on Mars! First up, Nick Freed of Consequence of Sound joins us to talk 2000’s Red Planet (namely, the movie where Val Kilmer threw a dumbbell at Tom Sizemore during filming). The Armageddon to Mission to Mars’ Deep Impact, Red Planet is a bizarre mix of 2001, Stealth and The Matrix in which a group of bro-y scientists crash-land on Mars to investigate a failed terraforming experiment, only to find themselves on the run against a killer military robot they decided to bring along with them! The whole thing is a glorious trainwreck, and we’re here to give you the custom cocktail and drinking rules you need!
(Thanks to our sponsor Field Notes as part of the Chicago Podcast Coop!)
It's Oscar season, and this year the Best Picture nominee we're covering is the balls-to-the-wall action extravaganza Mad Max: Fury Road, the fourth film in the ever-so-weird Australian post-apocalyptic action series! Special guest Theo joins us to talk George Miller's crowd-pleasing mix of practical effects, curiously effective visual storytelling, and incredibly dynamic action. It was a surprise hit in the Oscar nominations, but will Clint's effusive praise sway the slightly more skeptical Jared and Theo? Is the movie mediocre or perfect in every way? Find out, along with our Oscar predictions with special guest (and second person who's actually seen the Oscar field) Julia! Don't forget to also check out our custom cocktail and drinking rules!
(Thanks to our sponsor Cards Against Humanity as part of the Chicago Podcast Coop!)
This week, Leah Pickett of Consequence of Sound and other fine publications joins us to delve into our second Tim Allen movie in as many months – 1997’s Jungle 2 Jungle! The American remake of a French comedy that Roger Ebert described as “one of the worst movies ever made,” J2J stars Tim Allen as, of all things, a selfish commodities broker who has to take his jungle-raised son to New York City and teach him the ways of the concrete jungle. Throw in gratuitous tarantula torture, icky stereotypes about native peoples and gays, and subplots about coffee futures and the Russian mafia, and you’ve got a mess of a movie. Give us a listen and check out our custom cocktail and drinking rules!
Related Links:
Donation Page for Rocket Crocodile’s Action Squad – We’re helping out with a Flop House-inspired charity drive to raise $10,000 for the American Foundation for Suicide Prevention – is a fantastic and much-needed cause we’re happy to support. Donations will be matched, so your gift will do double the good!
(Thanks to our sponsor Cards Against Humanity, as part of the Chicago Podcast Coop!)
Happy Valentine's Day to all you movie/booze lovers out there! This year's romcom is the listener-requested 2006 Nancy Meyers film The Holiday, starring Cameron Diaz and Kate Winslet as a couple of down-on-their-luck ladies who decide to swap houses for the holidays to recharge their batteries. Along the way, they meet some hunks, engage in some slapstick, and learn a little thing or two about Old Hollywood. Listen to us yammer on about one of the better romcoms we've had to cover on this show, and enjoy our custom cocktail and drinking rules!
(Thanks to our sponsor Jackbox as part of the Chicago Podcast Coop!)
This week, we break bread (and boards) with returning guest Derek Jarvis as we check out Stephen Chow's cult kung-fu comedy Kung Fu Hustle! A wacky homage to everything from 40s jazz movies to Westerns to classic kung fu cinema of the 70s, Chow's blitzkrieg of high-flying antics, goofy CGI gags and incredible fight choreography from Yuen Wo Ping is something you simply have to see to believe. Along the way, we gab about the cross-pollination of Eastern and Western films, Stephen Chow's crazy sideplots, and a far-too-involved discussion of Animorphs. Check it out along with our custom cocktail and drinking rules!
Related Links:
The Loose Canon Podcast (recommended on the show!)
(Thanks to our sponsor Field Notes as part of the Chicago Podcast Coop!)
This week, James Thompson (of Geekspotting and the new Meanwhile... Podcast) joins us to take on Constantine, the comic-book adaptation of DC's Hellblazer! Transplanting the British supernatural private eye to LA, and turning him from an acerbic Sting lookalike to dour Keanu Reeves, the film nonetheless gives us oodles of visual style, androgynous Tilda Swinton angels, and a veritable bevy of Catholic creepy-crawlies. Thrill as we discuss Shia Labeouf's stammering (or lack thereof), the fact that Keanu has a vaguely Christian gadget for everything, and more - along with our custom cocktail and drinking game!
(Thanks to our sponsor Iron Galaxy as part of the Chicago Podcast Coop!)
This week on the podcast, Chicago actor and friend of the show Tom McGrath (@TCMcG) joins us to pay tribute to the late, great Alan Rickman with the 1999 sci-fi comedy Galaxy Quest! A pitch-perfect parody/celebration of Star Trek and science fiction fandom that's way better than it has any right to be, Rickman's Spock-like Dr. Lazarus is just one great piece in this hilarious cult puzzle. Along the way, we give our drinking rules, show you the recipe for our custom cocktail (see below), and fill the air with Alan Rickman and Mathezar impressions. By Grabthar's hammer, what an episode!
(Thanks to our sponsor Field Notes as a proud part of the Chicago Podcast Coop!)
This week on Alcohollywood, we switch gears with Grant from Chip & Ironicus (specifically Chipod Ironicast) to talk the crazy 2009 anime racing flick Redline! Unlike the last anime we watched (Satoshi Kon’s Paprika) Redline‘s uniquely concerned with the fast and the furious – fluid racing animation, a crazy anime story, broad alien characters and all of the jiggling robot boobs a 14-year-old weeaboo could ever hope for. It’s not subtle, and it might not even be good in the conventional sense, but it’s certainly not ordinary. Take a listen and check out our custom cocktail and drinking game!
(Thanks to our sponsors Basecamp as part of the Chicago Podcast Coop!)
This week on the podcast, Clint and Jared go it alone as we dive into the deep dark recesses of 90s goth-action-horror with the 1999's Beowulf! "Based" on the 8th-century epic poem, this steampunk/Hot Topic goth retelling of the classic tale sees the Highlander himself, Christopher Lambert (channeling both Rayden and Roy Batty from Blade Runner) arriving at a mysterious post-apocalyptic outpost to help slay a mysterious creature besieging it. Along the way, he ogles Rhona Mitra's comely Kyra, poses incessantly with all manner of weird weapons with gears on them, and generally gets everyone around him killed. Check out our custom cocktail and drinking rules, while we discuss its links to Mortal Kombat, the weird MTV-style sexuality of Grendel's mom, and how these characters seem physically incapable of taking off their leather pants.
(Thanks to our sponsor Cards Against Humanity as part of the Chicago Podcast Coop!)
Happy New Year, listeners! Since it's 2016, we thought we'd kick things off with John Hughes' cult comedy classic Sixteen Candles - you know, the one with all the racism and implicit date rape?
Returning guest Julia joins us to take on yet another John Hughes movie and yet another high school flick (both subgroups of film that Jared has historically hated). Will he be turned around by the charmingly self-centered travails of sexually frustrated teen Sam (Molly Ringwald), insecure predator The Geek (Anthony Michael Hall), and the "handsome but totally willing to let his girlfriend have blackout drunk sex with a stranger so he can go off and chase another girl" Jake Ryan (Michael Schoeffling)? We'll give you a hint: a few fun sight gags aside, this film does not age well in 2016. Still, take a listen along with our custom cocktail and drinking rules as we look at this comedy classic both in and out of its very specific cultural context!
(Thanks to our sponsor Brewpass as part of the Chicago Podcast Coop!)
Happy holidays, you reprobates! To ring in the Christmas season, we invited Sean Price from the Life is Like a Movie Podcast to talk about yet another unconventional holiday classic – so unconventional even the characters don’t know why it takes place on Christmas: Rocky IV!
With Creed getting praise left and right, it’s weird to think that so much of the plot of that Oscar-caliber drama is dependent on this splendiferous piece of ’80s cheese, in which the Italian Stallion (Sly Stallone, also writing and directing) travels to Mother Russia on Christmas Day to fight roided-up Russian cyborg Ivan Drago (Dolph “You Gave That Guy Lines?” Lundgren) to avenge the death of his friend Apollo Creed (Carl Weathers). Full of freeze frames, training montages, and ostentatious displays of American spirit, Rocky IV isn’t quite the inspirational classic of its first and latest films in the series.
Still, at least it’s got Stallone giving Paulie a….robot?….for his birthday, Rocky climbing mountains and hauling logs to train for a boxing match, and James Brown in a leotard. Sit by the Christmas tree and take a listen, along with our custom cocktail and drinking rules!
(Thanks to our sponsor Basecamp as a proud member of the Chicago Podcast Coop!)
Harry Connickuh, everybody! This week, Mark Soloff of Blastropodcast and Our Fair City flies in from his home planet to celebrate the week before Christmas, where we sample another entry in the oeuvre of Renaissance man Harry Connick Jr.! This year, we’re melding Connickuh and Christmas a bit with 2013’s made-for-TV movie Angels Sing, in which cynical rad-dad Michael Walker (Connick Jr.) learns the true meaning of Christmas after getting a house at a steal from Weed Santa (Willie Nelson). That meaning, of course, being that you’re not a complete and whole person unless you put up Christmas decorations. SERIOUSLY. Enjoy the madness along with our custom cocktail and drinking rules!*
*Oh, and be sure to hit up the Salt Lick BBQ. Yee-hah!
(Thanks to our sponsor Cards Against Humanity as part of the Chicago Podcast Coop!)
This week, Chicago geek titan Aaron J. Amendola (of VStheUNIVERSE and Panels on Channels) graces our microphones to help us talk about the charming 90s comic book flick The Rocketeer! Based on the comic book, The Rocketeer follows stunt pilot Cliff Secord (Billy Campbell), who stumbles upon a rocket pack invented by Howard Hughes (Terry O'Quinn) and - who else - the Nazis! Joe Johnston's audition tape for Captain America: The First Avenger is a fun celebration of the Golden Age of Hollywood which stops just short of accusing Errol Flynn of being a Nazi spy. We talk about Jennifer Connelly, the film's rough production, and more, along with our custom cocktail and drinking rule
This week on the podcast, guest Nick Ostrem joins us to talk about the little-seen but widely under-valued 1997 Canadian comedy The Wrong Guy! Dave Foley (The Kids in the Hall, NewsRadio) co-wrote and stars in this cult caper about an oblivious, melodramatic account executive (Foley) who wrongly presumes he’s being wrongfully accused of his boss’s murder. Check the whole thing in full on Youtube, and join us as we discuss Nelson’s cowardice, the cultural power of the Barenaked Ladies, the dark implications of Fuller House, and whether JFK’s head just did that. We’ve also got our custom cocktail and de
As we all wind down from our Thanksgiving food comas, Grant from Chip & Ironicus joins us as we sink our teeth into 1999's cannibal-vampire-Western-dark-comedy Ravenous! When cowardly Sgt. Boyd (Guy Pearce) is transferred to an American Army outpost in the middle of nowhere after the Mexican-American War, he finds himself at odds with a sadistic wendigo (Robert Carlyle) who preys on him and the rest of the men in his camp. Check out our custom cocktail and drinking rules as we ask the big questions: Do wendigos eat the dick? Is it a myth that carrots give you better eyesight? What's David Arquette doing here?
(Thanks to our sponsor Basecamp as a proud member of the Chicago Podcast Coop!)
This week on Alcohollywood, improv-esario Pat Niday joins us to talk 1994’s strangely modern reboot of The Little Rascals! Directed by Wayne’s World’s Penelope Spheeris, The Little Rascals takes place in a bizarre world where the idiosyncratic group of 30s delinquents somehow also grew up and were socialized in modern-day Los Angeles, and cause all manner of mayhem while also sort-of having parents? It’s all a bit confusing, and the terrible kid actors do little to help the matter; still, we’ve got a custom cocktail and drinking rules to help you navigate this very strange beast!
(Thanks to our sponsor Iron Galaxy as part of the Chicago Podcast Coop!)
NOTE: Technical difficulties meant that this episode ended up being recorded on laptop sound as opposed to our fancy equipment. It’s still listenable, but not up to our usual high standards. Thanks for your patience, and everything will be kosher next episode!
This week, Dusty Wilson of Mercy Street Theatre Company joins us in our much-needed respite from critically-acclaimed dramas and spooky foreign films to kick back with the schlocky Arnold Schwarzenegger flick The Running Man! The Running Man beats Battle Royale and The Hunger Games to the "game shows are like bloodsports, and we're obsessed with the media!" dystopic yarn, as Arnie's Ben Richards must navigate a hellish game show where harsh traps and over-the-top 'stalkers' seek to kill him with all manner of kitschy weapons. A silly, campy mish-mash that feels like Total Recall slammed in a blender with some Zubas, a copy of Buns of Steel, and some old episodes of Family Feud, this movie is as straight-out dumb as it is charming. Check it out along with our custom cocktail and drinking rules!
(Thanks to our sponsor Makespace as part of the Chicago Podcast Coop!)
This week on Alcohollywood, guest Ele Matelan of WildClaw Theatre (and our friend from Our Fair City) grabs a milkshake and sits down with us to talk about listener request and 2007 arthouse darling There Will Be Blood! Among one of the more contemplative films in Paul Thomas Anderson’s repertoire, TWWB tells the story of Daniel Plainview (Daniel Day-Lewis, in an oft-admired and long-impersonated performance), an unscrupulous oil man who seeks to start and expand his oil empire from nothing. Full of gorgeous shots, fascinating performances, and a fair share of psychologically complex characters, this one gave us plenty to talk about. Give us a listen and check out our custom cocktail and drinking rules!
(Thanks to our sponsor Cards Against Humanity, a proud member of the Chicago Podcast Coop!)
(Thanks to our sponsor Emporium Arcade Bar, as part of the Chicago Podcast Coop!)
We’re finishing up HORROR OCTORBOR FOUR-BOR, our exploration of foreign horror films, with Guillermo Del Toro’s 2001 historical supernatural drama The Devil’s Backbone! Justin Gerber of Consequence of Sound joins us to talk about Del Toro’s spiritual sibling to his later film Pan’s Labyrinth, in which a group of orphans deal with the ghost of their deceased friend while the staff of the orphanage tries to navigate the precarious sociopolitical climate of post-Civil War Spain in the 1930s. It’s a great, atmospheric horror film, perhaps one of Del Toro’s finest works, and it’s well worth watching. Check it out along with our custom cocktail and drinking rules below!
HORROR OCTORBOR FOUR-BOR continues this week, as we (along with ten-time guest Derek Jarvis) take a look at one of the most extreme foreign horror films around – 2008’s Martyrs! A shining, bloody example of the French New Extremity movement, Martyrs deals with a young victim of trauma (Mylene Jampanoi) and her supportive friend (Morjana Alaoui) as they confront the presence of a cult that seeks to find transcendence through extreme pain. The results are grossifying and not for the weak-stomached, but we’ve got a custom cocktail and drinking rules to help you survive this insane film! Is it torture porn? Is it art? Can it be both? Find out below!
(Special thanks to our sponsor Iron Galaxy - and their upcoming game Capsule Force - as part of the Chicago Podcast Coop!)