Episode 99: Blade Runner (1982)

Sushi.  Cold fish.  That’s what my ex-partner used to call me before he ran off with Bumpy the Wonder Pony.  Now it’s just me, alone, hunting podcasts and wondering . . . am I a podcast as well? Welcome to this week’s episode of “Max, Mike; Movies” and the last in our brief series “A Few of Our Favorite Things,” leading up to next week’s super-spectacular 100th episode! This week we’re hooking up the old  Voight-Kampff  testing equipment and chatting about one of Mike’s most-watched, most-beloved movies, Ridley Scott’s “Blade Runner,” a cheerful, upbeat romp about a wacky razor delivery boy trying to make it in the big city . . . you’re not buying any of this, are you.  Set in the distant future of . . . last year, I think, we follow the adventures of hard-boiled former cop Rick Deckard as he is called out of retirement to hunt down a group of renegade replicants, aka humanoid androids, now outlawed on Earth.  Deckard has to face opponents who are almost indistinguishable from ordinary humans, and who are smarter and stronger than ordinary humans.  Why, that’s just like our listeners, who are also more charming and better dressed than ordinary humans! “Blade Runner” has been released in no fewer than four cuts (maybe five) and Mike has chosen what he believes to be the best one (all I know is that it’s the one without the annoying voice-over narration, which puts it streets ahead of the theatrical release). Come listen to our annoying voice-over narration, won’t you?

George Floyd Memorial Fund:  https://www.gofundme.com/f/georgefloyd

ACLU: https://www.aclu.org/

Black Lives Matter: https://secure.actblue.com/donate/ms_blm_homepage_2019

Southern Poverty Law Center: https://donate.splcenter.org/

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Episode 98: Monty Python and the Holy Grail (1975)

Hello, good evening and welcome to another edition of “Max, Mike; Wombats,” the show where it’s not what you know that counts but rather how many navy beans you can fit inside this week’s special marsupial guest.  Today’s episode, another in our VERY POPULAR “A Few of Our Favorite Things” series, is brought to you by Whizzo Butter.  Four out of five housewives can’t tell Whizzo Butter from a dead crab, and neither will you, good evening.  As you may have gathered from this pithy banter (and the actual title of the podcast episode), we are ‘avin’ a little chat about one of my favorite bits of the cinema, “Monty Python and the Holy Grail,” a glittering and absolutely faithful recounting of the fabled Arthurian Legends.  This film is hailed by medievalists and literary scholars across my living room as one of the greatest and most caramel-filled interpretations of the so-called while you were out Grail Quest narrative ever created by any organization called Monty Python.  So turn down the volume so as not to wake up your Norwegian Blue (beautiful plumage), crack a tube with Bruce, Bruce, Mike and meself and enjoy our llama-rich podcast with the world’s first great taste of fish, oop, damn, you can edit that out, can’t you?

And on a more serious note:

George Floyd Memorial Fund:  https://www.gofundme.com/f/georgefloyd

ACLU: https://www.aclu.org/

Black Lives Matter: https://secure.actblue.com/donate/ms_blm_homepage_2019

Southern Poverty Law Center: https://donate.splcenter.org/

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Episode 97: What’s Up, Doc? (1972)

Welcome to another episode of “A Few of Our Favorite Things,” with another movie based on raindrops on roses and whiskers on kittens . . . which would be a lot weirder the other way around. Whiskers on roses . . . how would that even work . . .? Let me check . . . and yes, of course, there’s fan art on that very subject. Regardless, we’re going to be talking about one of Mike’s all-time most-groovy flicks, Peter Bogdonavich’s “What’s Up, Doc?” a throwback to the classic screwball comedies of the 30’s and 40’s. Starring Ryan O’Neil, and featuring the glorious Madeline Kahn’s first film role, this film also has . . . dang it, I know I’m forgetting somebody. Who else is in this? Austin Pendleton, yeah . . . Kenneth Mars . . . he’s in it, but that’s not who I’m thinking of . . . Oh right, some lady named Barbara . . . I want to say Steinman? Sonderland? Barbara Stressman? Heck, it’ll come to me; whoever she is, she has a heck of a voice. Too bad she went into acting; I bet she could have done okay as a singer. Well, I guess we’ll never know . . . or will we? Give a listen and see if we figure out whatever became of Barbara Summersand!

And no, we haven’t just “moved on”:

George Floyd Memorial Fund:  https://www.gofundme.com/f/georgefloyd

ACLU: https://www.aclu.org/

Black Lives Matter: https://secure.actblue.com/donate/ms_blm_homepage_2019

Southern Poverty Law Center: https://donate.splcenter.org/

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Episode 96: Casablanca (1942)

Welcome back. No, I can’t say that the world is all better now. Not even close. But we’d still like to offer you something to listen to, and this is what we have to offer.  This is how we approach the world, this is what we have to share, this is something we love.  So we’re putting it out there for you.

We’re starting a new, short series this week: “A Few of Our Favorite Things,” where each week we take it turn to suggest, watch, and chat about one of the movies that we just never get tired of watching. Comfort is a little scarce these days, and these are movies that offer us comfort; they remind us of the remarkable things people are capable of creating.  I can’t speak for anyone else, but I could use a little reminding these days.  So this week, my choice is 1942’s Humphrey Bogart/Ingrid Bergman classic: “Casablanca.”  I can’t really say that this is my favorite movie of all time, because I don’t really believe in having a single favorite movie.  But if I had to pick a movie that checks all the boxes for me, this is it.

Come and listen. Also, below we’re including links to organizations that could use your help in these difficult days.  Listing links may not be much, but it’s something we can do with this site, so we’re doing it.

George Floyd Memorial Fund:  https://www.gofundme.com/f/georgefloyd

ACLU: https://www.aclu.org/

Black Lives Matter: https://secure.actblue.com/donate/ms_blm_homepage_2019

Southern Poverty Law Center: https://donate.splcenter.org/

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June 8th, 2020

Hello again, friends.  We once again don’t feel it’s appropriate to post an episode this week, given the current events and protests that continue and will, we hope, bring about some sort of meaningful change.  Ours aren’t the voices that should be listened to at this point. We’ll be posting again soon. Until then, our thoughts are with you. Stay safe.

June 1st, 2020

To our good friends and listeners: with what’s going on in our country today, it really doesn’t feel like the right time to post a light-hearted discussion about movies.

We would just like to take this opportunity to say that we support those who are peacefully protesting the heart-breaking murder of George Floyd and the terrible underlying issues that this tragically non-isolated event highlights. 

These words aren’t catch-phrases. They’re basic truths: Black Lives Matter.  No Justice, No Peace.

Be smart. Be safe. Be strong.

Episode 95: Who Framed Roger Rabbit? (1988)

It was raining hard in the City by the Bay, as I stared at the words “Max, Mike; Movies” scrawled in peeling paint on the office door. My partner, as usual, was passed out on the ratty old couch after one too many Strawberry Quiks. Then suddenly the door swung open and he shuffled in.  A rabbit. Never trust a rabbit; I could tell right away that this one was going to be trouble. I was right . . .

Welcome back to the final episode of our series “Drawn Apart”, where down-and-out human characters directly interact with no-good animated palookas. This week we’re tackling the movie that gave us the idea for the entire series: Roger Zemeckis’ “Who Framed Roger Rabbit?” the movie best known for using an actual question mark in the title (it’s true; most movies don’t do that. It’s considered bad luck). Or did they? Ok, maybe they didn’t. Why are you hounding me about this?! Oh yeah, and using cutting-edge (for 1988) tech to put humans and cartoons into the same movie. Oh, and for being probably the last movie you’ll ever see where Disney and Warner Brothers cartoon characters share the screen . . . at least until Disney assimilates Warner Brothers into their Mouse Collective. Sure, this flick was remarkable when it came out, but how does it hold up over thirty years later? Wish upon a star, tune up your Acme Spy Listening Device ™ and find out!

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Episode 94: The Smurfs (2011)

Howdy, folks! Welcome to another smurfin’ good episode of “Drawn Apart,” where we focus on movies that smurf together live action and smurfimated characters.  This week’s smurftastic entry, as you may have gathered from my immensely subtle clue-dropping, is 2011’s 3D animated smurf of a movie “The Smurfs,” which sees the near-legendary Belgian characters, stars of books, toys, tv shows, and probably personal hygiene products, dropped into live-action New York.  Pursued by the evil wizard Gargamel (who has got to have the worst success rate of any villain since Wile E. Coyote), they smurf their way through all sorts of smurfjinks and more product smurfment than you can shake a smurf at.  So adjust your lumpy white hat, try not to think about the socio-sexual ramifications of a society with one hundred males and one female, pull up a smurf and give a smurf to our thoughts! And if you don’t, well you can go smurf your smurf on a big smurfin’ smurf of smurf! Smurfsmurfsmurfsmurfsmurfsmurfsmurf ohgodIcan’tstop smurfsmurfsmurfsmurfsmurfsmurf . . .

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Episode 93: Osmosis Jones (2001)

Here we are again with another cinematic arrow in that quiver we’re calling “Drawn Apart,” where live-action and animated characters come together . . . and only one leaves alive! Ok, um, not so much.  This week we’re checking out “Osmosis Jones,” the movie that asks the question: who’s the leucocyte cop who’s a cell-dividing machine to all the chicks? Osmosis! Damn right.  They say this guy Osmosis is one bad mother . . . . ok, I’ll shut my mouth.  This one is . . . different; for the most part the animated and live-action characters don’t interact, because the animated characters represent the internal biological workings of a live-action human type being.  Yes, we’ve got sentient cells, sentient cold medication capsules and a rather disturbing sentient virus (which is a little too on-the-nose these days, for my taste) voiced by Laurence Fishburne.  From the delicate and tasteful sensibilities of the Farrelly Brothers, the ones who brought us “Dumb and Dumber” and “There’s Something About Mary,” we’ve got a heck of a voice cast for the animated characters and one heck of a Bill Murray for the live action characters.  Oh, and some others.  Does the Farrelly sense of humor translate well to the animated world? Is this wild and wacky or gross and wacky . . . or just gross? Focus your apparently sentient auditory nerve systems and find out!

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Episode 92: The Mask (1994)

Welcome back for still more of “Drawn Apart, where we examine movies that attempt to address whether humans and animated characters can live together in peace and harmony, or at least make decent movies together.  Before we begin, we’d like to thank for not smmmmmmokin’!
*crickets*
Yes, I know, I’m deeply ashamed.  As you may gather, this week we’re focusing our Vulcan squinties on the 1994 Jim Carrey vehicle “The Mask,” a movie adapted from the graphic novel of the same name.  Sort of.  While technically there aren’t any discreetly animated characters in this movie, no fewer than  three characters turn into a kind of living cartoon during the story.  And let’s face it, Jim Carrey is the closest thing we’re going to get to an actual human/cartoon hybrid (at least with today’s puny science.  Just wait and see.  They called me mad at the Academy, you know. Maaaaaad! We’ll see who’s mad now! Ahahahahaha . . . dammit, where are my pills . . . ).  So pull up a Tex Avery wolf and join us for the p-a-r-t-why? Because we gotta!

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