Happy birthday, America! We’re celebrating the Fourth of July in style here on Alcohollywood, as we take on Roland Emmerich’s American Braveheart, aka The Patriot! Returning guest Dusty Wilson comes back to indulge in this three hour long exercise in melodrama, Mel Gibson crying faces, and slow motion flag waving (and flag stabbing).
With a giant ensemble cast, and a suitably bombastic John Williams score, The Patriot cements itself as one of the most American movies a German has ever made starring two Australians. Luckily, we’ve also got a custom cocktail and drinking rules to help wash down this steaming pile of America, so take a look and listen below!
Everything is awesome this week, as we go down familiar territory with a FULL EPISODE treatment of Fresh Pour favorite The LEGO Movie! Geek Girl Chicago herself joins us to talk about this past spring’s surprisingly-great kid’s flick/Danish brick product placement, in which dopey Emmet (Chris Pratt) is dragged into an improbable and genre-savvy adventure to save the many realms of LEGO from the nefarious schemes of Lord Business (Will Ferrell).
Along the way, we discuss our personal LEGO experiences, the fast and frenetic style of filmmakers Phil Lord & Christopher Miller, and whether or not the message of the movie even works. Drink along with our amazing custom cocktail and drinking rules!
This week on Alcohollywood, we get in touch with our primitive side with returning guest Theo as we check out the stark prehistoric film Quest for Fire! A strange blend of speculative historical documentary and hero’s journey, the film follows a small group of Neanderthals (including Silver Bullet’s Everett McGill and Bunraku’s Ron Perlman) who must travel to find a new source for fire after it is lost. Along the way, they encounter apelike homo erectus, advanced homo sapiens (including a mesmerizing Rae Dawn Chong) and prehistoric animals of varying levels of terror. The film itself is a fascinating watch that’s difficult to quantify, but we certainly give it our shot. Also be sure to check out our drinking rules and custom cocktail below!
This week on Alcohollywood, we’ve got a very special guest: Nathan Rabin, former head writer for The Onion AV Club and current contributor to The Dissolve! He joins us to talk about the the samurai western gangster musical film mash-up Bunraku! In a post-apocalyptic world without guns, a drifter (Josh Hartnett) and samurai (Gackt) must team up with a saloon owner (Woody Harrelson) to defeat a mob boss (Ron Perlman) for unknown reasons. What follows is a stylish, but ultimately schizophrenic exercise in style and theatricality for its own sake. Take a listen below, and check out our custom cocktail and drinking rules!
SUPPLEMENTAL READING: Nathan Rabin has written on Bunraku previously for The Dissolve. Plus, he's currently celebrating the one-year anniversary of the release of his latest book, You Don’t Know Me But You Don’t Like Me. Pick it up now!
This week on Alcohollywood, we take a break from video games, space cats and gangster lizards to take on something a little more sensitive – the 1979 Peter Sellers film Being There. One of his last roles, Sellers plays an unassuming, exceedingly ‘simple’ gardener named Chance, whose sheltered lifestyle is changed forever when his benefactor dies. Entering the harsh outside world, his tenuous grasp on reality and the nature of things manages to exert incredible influence on the people around him, including the President of the United States (Jack Warden). It’s a difficult (and utterly fascinating) film to describe, but we give it our best shot, along with writers/best buddies David and Clayton of Our Fair City! Also, check out our drinking game and custom cocktail below!
For the month of May, we’re kicking off Video Game Movie Month, where every week we take on a new film adaptation of a video game!
This week, we (along with guest Ryan Bond) wrap up Video Game Movie Month with the infamous film Super Mario Bros. The Movie! A completely wackadoo adaptation of the Nintendo game series featuring everyone's favorite plumbers, this film sees Mario (Bob Hoskins) and Luigi (John Leguizamo) becoming lost in a Blade Runner-esque dystopian dimension full of weird fungus, goth-club fashion and trolley/snowplow cars. Lost in a strange middle ground between campy fun and dark/gritty treatment of the material, the film simply doesn't know what to do with itself, and its behind-the-scenes drama is a good enough story on its own. Listen to us dive into this pile of crap with our custom cocktail and drinking rules!
(EDITING NOTE: The drink name accidentally got dropped in the 'cast itself, but we have it for you in the recipe below. Sorry about that!)
For the month of May, we’re kicking off Video Game Movie Month, where every week we take on a new film adaptation of a video game!
This week, Matt K from CinemaJaw joins us to talk about 1984’s video game-related film Cloak and Dagger! This one’s a bit different, as it’s not so much a video game adaptation as it is a tie-in for a failed Atari video game from the’80s, but we still think it counts. Young Davey (ET’s Henry Thomas) immerses himself in the imaginary world of Cloak and Dagger, only to find himself dealing with a real superspy threat with the help of imaginary hero/dad-figure Jack Flack (Dabney Coleman). Despite – or perhaps because of – its 80s charm, we found a lot to talk about, so check out our episode along with our custom cocktail and drinking rules!
For the month of May, we’re kicking off Video Game Movie Month, where every week we take on a new film adaptation of a video game!
This week, we've got a rogue's gallery of guests (from recurring guest Julia to playwright Dusty Wilson, to Grant of Chip and Ironicus) to talk about the 2006 horror game adaptation Silent Hill! When Rose (Radha Mitchell) steals her adopted daughter Sharon (Jodelle Ferland) away to the abandoned town of Silent Hill to try to solve the mystery of her nightmares, they both end up in a hellish Lovecraftian hellscape full of psychological rape monsters, crazy cultists, and more peeling paint than a small-town playground. Does this horror flick live up to the atmosphere of the games, or is it a case study in how poorly video game mechanics and structure translate to the screen? Find out, along with our custom cocktail and drinking rules!
For the month of May, we’re kicking off Video Game Movie Month, where every week we take on a new film adaptation of a video game!
This week, we head into space with House-guest Nick Ostrem to talk about the 1999 space-sim adaptation Wing Commander! Based on the 90s space dogfight games of the same name, the film follows the fight to win a deadly future space war between the humans and the Kilrathi, a race of space cats so deadly they live in dense green fog to hide the shoddiness of their rubber suits. Freddie Prinze Jr. and Matthew Lillard play newbie space fighter jocks who must get the job done amongst an international cast who is really too good for the cliched material they are given. Still, there's a strange earnest charm to the film that helps you through it, along with its slightly creative production design and incredibly standout score. This film is infamous for people buying tickets to it just to see the Episode I trailer and walk right back out of the theater – does the film deserve it? Find out while you enjoy our custom cocktail and drinking rules!
For the month of May, we’re kicking off Video Game Movie Month, where every week we take on a new film adaptation of a video game!
To get us started, Chris from the Nerd Outcast Podcast joins us for Paul WS Anderson’s debut feature, Mortal Kombat, based on the bloody fighting game of the same name! Telling the tale of three warriors forced to enter a martial arts tournament that will decide the fate of the world, this film is cheesy as hell. However, it goes about its business in a recklessly charming way that allows it to overcome its many faults. Throw in some wonderfully campy performances and some competent fight choreography, and you have a surprisingly solid video game movie. Test your liver’s might with our custom cocktail and drinking rules!
This week on Alcohollywood, recurring guest Derek joins us as we check out one of the more unconventional listener requests we’ve been given – 2009’s Japanese dramedy Fish Story! The tale of an obscure punk song that ends up saving the world from a deadly comet, Fish Story is an anthology film featuring vignettes from 1975 all the way to the apocalyptic world of 2012, showing the different ways in which the song (and the story that inspired it) dramatically affects people’s lives. It’s quirky and offbeat, to be sure, but the film is earnest and unpredictable enough to be surprisingly charming. If you can find it, you really should check it out – along with our custom cocktail and drinking rules!
ANNOUNCEMENTS: Jared and Clint recently recorded a guest spot on Geekspotting (our guests from the Time Bandits episode), which you can find here!
Also, Clint will be at C2E2 moderating the Let’s Play Panel Sunday, April 27th at 10:45am at McCormick Place, featuring frequent guest Grant of Chip and Ironicus, so be sure to check us out in room S401ab!
This week on Alcohollywood, Clayton Faits of Our Fair City and Chicago actor Andrew Saenz joins us to take a look at the Robin Williams science fiction vehicle Bicentennial Man! Adapted from the short story and novel by author Isaac Asimov, the film follows two hundred years of a robot butler (Williams) who strives to be human. This includes falling in love with the granddaughter of his original charge (Embeth Davidtz). Directed by Chris Columbus, the film is a bit of a sentimental slog of weepy scenes about life and love. That being said, it gives us a lot to talk about. Kick back and give us a listen with our custom cocktail and drinking rules!
This week on Alcohollywood, we saddle up with Our Fair City writer (and friend of the show) David Rheinstrom to take a look at Silverado, the 1985 ensemble Western written and directed by Lawrence Kasdan! The film stars Kevin Kline, Danny Glover, Scott Glenn and Kevin Costner as a ragtag band of gunslingers who help each other deal with their personal demons and long-standing rivals, including Brian Dennehy as a corrupt sheriff and Jeff Fahey as an unhinged outlaw. Silverado has a great, fun energy to it while also deftly juggling a complex plot and a large cast of characters. We've also got a custom cocktail and drinking rules to help you beat the heat of the Old West!
In the wake of a horrifying kidnapping, Clint must go Jared-less for this week’s episode of Alcohollywood! Joined by grizzled detective (and previous guest) Max and special guest, comedian Kris Flanagan, the trio attempt to keep Jared alive by enduring and drinking to The Watcher, the 2000 serial killer thriller starring James Spader and Keanu Reeves (who was under duress for the making of the film, his signature literally having been forged on a contract)!
This film, in which grizzled ex-cop Spader is chased in Chicago by a serial killer he unsuccessfully chased in his old job, feels like the try-hard little brother of Se7en, with none of the screenwriting savvy or directorial style to make it really work. Director Joe Charbanic (who clearly only directed shitty MTV music videos before this) employs every horrible directorial choice you could imagine, from stuttering frames over half the movie to strange flashes of white and film negative, leading to one of the ugliest movies we’ve seen on the show. However, we’ve got some liquid encouragement to help you through this fascinating failure with our custom cocktail and drinking rules!
We’ve also got some great Alcohollywoood fanart for this film, courtesy of fan (and mailbag submitter for this film) Louisa Giffard – click the link to see it!
Come and get it, listeners – Nick from Consequence of Sound comes back to continue our exploration of cinematic Beatles efforts with the strange, bizarre creature that is The Magic Christian! Based on a novel by Terry Southern, the film is a hippie-tastic, Pythonesque journey in which Peter Sellers’ obscenely rich social prankster adopts homeless Ringo Starr and takes him through one ham-fisted counterculture prank after another. The result is the kind of disjointed experimental film we saw a lot of in the 70s, but without any of the nuance or cleverness to ground it. Nonetheless, it’s a bizarrely entertaining watch, especially with our custom cocktail and drinking rules!
This week on Alcohollywood, James and Ruben (our resident geek experts from the Geekspotting podcast) join us to check out Terry Gilliam’s feature-length debut, Time Bandits! Fed up with his dreary, gadget obsessed parents, young Kevin falls in with a group of dwarf thieves using a time map from God to steal riches throughout history. We’ve covered Gilliam before with our Brazil episode, and Time Bandits has just as much of Gilliam’s dark whimsy as many of his other early classics. Join us for our custom cocktail and drinking game!
Erin go bragh, listeners! It’s St. Patrick’s Day weekend, and Alcohollywood (along with guest Jeffrey Gardner of Our Fair City) has decided to buck the trend by talking about a good movie about Irish mythology – the animated film The Secret of Kells! A fictionalized account of the story of the Book of Kells (an illuminated account of the Four Gospels that is an integral part of Irish history and culture), The Secret of Kells utilizes a fascinating animation style that evokes traditional Irish art, and the illustrations of the Book of Kells itself. The result is an intriguing and charming look at Irish mythology, and it’s certainly not to be missed. Luckily, we’ve got a custom cocktail to wash down all that Gaelic, and some drinking rules to guide you through the film’s Irish mysteries!
This week on Alcohollywood, Mark (from the classy science-y comedy podcast Blastropodcast) joins us with our look at Disney’s attempt to cash-in on the Star Wars craze, The Black Hole! A group of hapless scientists and astronauts exploring a black hole find a haunted house-ship occupied by Dr. Hans Reinhardt (Maximillian Schell, channeling Captain Nemo) and a bunch of robots. Once there, they find betrayal, mystery, laser gun fights and surprisingly un-Disney disembowelings – elements that make for a rather atonal, if refreshingly earnest, science fiction picture.
Shockingly dark for a Disney movie, the film shows everything from horrifying murders to zombification to a literal descent through hell! The production design is stellar, and John Barry’s score is romantically macabre, but the monotonous, flat acting (even from acting legends like Anthony Perkins, Robert Forster and Ernest Borgnine) and the languorous pace stop the movie dead in its tracks. Still, there’s fun to be had, so take a listen and check out our drinking game and custom cocktail!
It’s Oscar season this week, and on Alcohollywood we’ve got Ry from our friends at CinemaJaw to help us talk about Best Picture nominee Gravity! Acclaimed director Alfonso Cuaron (Children of Men) gives us this simple-yet-strong tale of survival and faith in space, as astronauts Ryan Stone (Sandra Bullock) and Matt Kowalski (George Clooney) find themselves stranded in space after a cloud of space debris destroys their shuttle.
The two must overcome obstacle after obstacle, as Cuaron sends his camera floating right alongside them, capturing both Clooney and Bullock’s strong performances and the gorgeous visual effects. We also cap the episode by talking about Oscar picks and making our predictions for who will take home the trophies this year! Listen to our episode below, and check out our custom cocktail and drinking game!
NOTE: The audio quality drops a bit during the quiz, but picks back up to normal at the end. Apologies for the technical difficulties!
This week on Alcohollywood, we dig into the grit and grime of Joel Schumacher’s 1993 thriller Falling Down! On a sunny Los Angeles day in the early 90s - in the face of poverty, scalding heat, and the boiling pot of post-Rodney King race relations – Bill “D-Fens” Foster (a powerful Michael Douglas) finally snaps and starts a long walk home, taking out his frustration on societal ills in the process. Meanwhile, an easy-going cop on his last day (Robert Duvall) finds himself the only one able to put together the pieces of D-Fens’ little crime spree, culminating in a crazy, harrowing dark comedy/thriller that is absolutely captivating to watch. Luckily, we’ve got our custom cocktail to wash down your Whammyburger, and drinking rules to go along with them – enjoy!
Happy Valentine’s Day to all you lovers out there! Check out our drinking game and custom cocktail for 1970’s classic romantic film Love Story! It's the classic tale of a rich white kid (Ryan O’Neal) and a poor, spunky college student (Ali MacGraw) who fall in love and deal with the melodrama that ensues. Our regular Valentine’s guest Julia joins us for discussions of Ali MacGraw’s deadly disease, father/child relationships, and the ins and outs of Harvard Law. Love means never having to say you’re sober, so give us a listen!
This week on Alcohollywood, we head for the land of the lost with the found footage flick The Dinosaur Project! Equal parts Cloverfield and Sir Arthur Conan Doyle’s The Lost World, the film follows a group of experts who head for a mysterious African island, hoping to find dinosaurs. Well, guess what they find? Despite the goofy premise, we actually had quite a bit of fun with The Dinosaur Project, since it commits itself quite well to the found footage gimmick and has a fair bit of visual style. The CGI isn’t great, but not bad considering the film’s low budget, and the acting is solid. Be sure to explore this film with our signature cocktail and drinking rules!
This week on Alcohollywood, Clue guest Theo returns to us to check out the 2001 Japanese thriller Ichi the Killer! One of the most violent movies of all time, this film by acclaimed director Takashi Miike follows two violent men living in a depraved world of rape and violence – the stylish yet sadistic Kakihara (Thor’s Tadanobu Asano) and the emotionally unstable killing machine Ichi (Nao Omori). The film’s long for its subject matter at 130 minutes, and its narrative gets confusing, but it’s a movie that will stick in your mind. Check it out along with our custom cocktail and drinking rules!
Welcome back, friends! We took a week off to rest, revitalize, and let Clint open his show (which you can see if you’re in the Chicagoland area) – now we’re back with the Tina Fey cult high school comedy Mean Girls! Recurring guest Lise ‘Kat’ Evans joins us as we dive into this well-regarded time capsule of 2000s culture and metahumor, featuring a pre-mummy Lindsey Lohan as a sheltered homeschooled girl entering the jungle of high school cold turkey at 16. There, she must contend with ‘mean girl’ Regina George (Rachel McAdams), as well as navigate the intricate social hierarchies of high school. Listen to us blab on about high school flicks, Amy Poehler’s nipple play and more, along with our custom cocktail and drinking rules!
This week on Alcohollywood, we delve into the complex Godzilla mythology with 1964’s Mothra vs. Godzilla (aka Godzilla vs. The Thing)! This film pits the famous lizard against mystical island god Mothra over control of Mothra’s giant egg! Part of the great Toho tradition of weird rubber monsters fighting each other, it’s certainly an interesting, crazy ride to endure. Grant of Chip & Ironicus joins us as we talk about miniature ladies, noble savages, and the hard world of investigative journalism. We’ve also got a double dose of cocktail for you, so check out our recipe and drinking rules below!
NOTE: There’s still 6 days left to donate to the Indiegogo for Ephebophilia, the play Clint’s directing in Chicago – drop in a buck or two here!