Max, Mike; Movies!

Good evening, Children of the Night.  This week our hidden gem is “What We Do In the Shadows”, a terrifying . . . no, that’s not the word . . . a spine-chilling . . . no, that’s not right.  Ah! A HILARIOUS vampire movie starring Jermaine Clement and directed by Taika Waititi (“Thor: Ragnarok”).  This low-budget New Zealand film, set as a faux-documentary, follows a group of vampires living in New Zealand as they deal with vampire hunters, the trials of the modern world and whose turn it is to do the dishes.  Do our dark bidding on the internet and listen!

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Another hidden gem for you this week! This time it’s the 1985 Val Kilmer comedy “Real Genius.”  Sort of a “What If Animal House Had Taken Place at M.I.T. or Cal Tech?” This one’s a lot of fun and one of the more quotable movies we’ve discussed, and one that asks the question “Would you be prepared if gravity reversed itself? The one thing I can’t solve is how to keep the change from falling out of my pockets.”

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This week we present another “Hidden Gem”, the 1988 cult hit “Tapeheads”, starring John Cusack (pre-“Say Anything’) and Tim Robbins (post-“Howard the Duck”) as two young lads attempting to make it in the music video industry.  A somewhat bizarre but thoroughly enjoyable movie with a very odd collection of cameos, from Jello Biafra to “Weird Al” Yankovic. Am I crying?

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A bit delayed, but here we are. This week we have another movie where the soundtrack is practically a character. Starring Christian Slater, Samantha Mathis and . . . Ellen Greene?! From “Little Shop of Horrors”? Huh. Slater plays a pirate radio personality who . . . well, is sort of a forerunner of today’s Youtube channels, in a way. Interesting take on high school and some very cool music. See what we think!

 

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Here is another entry in our series of “Hidden Gems,” movies that we dig but for some reason haven’t received that much audience love.  This week we’re talking about the totally tubular (dude) movie that launched an 80’s phenomenon, “Max Headroom,” a tv movie about a dystopian near-future where an A.I. that becomes a popular tv personality.  Oddly prescient in some ways . . .

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Welcome to Series 2 of our podcast, a little something that we like to call “Hidden Gems,” or movies that we think are hep and groovy but for whatever reason they never really caught on.  This week we’re checking out one of Mike’s favorite films “Empire Records”, a movie about one remarkable day in the kind of record store we all wish we could have worked at or shopped at.  The soundtrack alone is worth the price of a rental.
Damn the man! Save the Empire!

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“Her” is obviously the sequel to “Them!” and the prequel to “She!” . . . ok, no it isn’t.  In this surprising film, Joaquin Phoenix plays a lonely divorced man who finds himself falling in love with the digital personal assistant, who turns out to be a genuine A.I., on his phone/computer.  This is one that Max had seen but Mike had not.

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This is a fascinating documentary, seen before by Mike but not Max, that is . . . initially about street art, focusing in particular on the legendary street artist Banksy but it’s also about how the focus of a narrative can change in unexpected ways.

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In Episode 6, we discuss the classic adaptation of the Harper Lee novel “To Kill a Mockingbird,” which Max had seen but Mike had not.  Starring Gregory Peck, this movie is a remarkable depiction of both a children’s coming-of-age story and the racial tensions that plague a small town . . . something disturbingly relevant to this country today.

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