Episode 213 – JFK (1991)

Welcome back to another in our “Conspiracy!” series, and this week, our movie takes on the Big One, one of the major conspiracy theories of the last hundred years . . . of course, I’m talking about Kennedy. That’s right, this movie offers its take on what really happened with the popular MTV VJ from the 1990’s. What caused her shift to a more conservative political stance, and why has it been covered up, relegating her to obscure . . . what? What do you mean, “wrong Kennedy”? What other Kennedy could possibly rate a three-hour Oliver Stone movie? . . . oh . . . yeah . . . right . . . Ok, I SUPPOSE that makes a bit more sense, what with the whole assassination and all . . . Still! Why has no one told her story? What are you hiding, MTV? Besides all your music videos? The truth will . . . . right, right, sorry, Oliver Stone, Kevin Costner, lots of other people.  I suppose there have been one or two people over the last sixty years that might have some vague opinion about the assassination of the 35th President of the United States. Can’t see it being terribly controversial, but pull up a comfy grassy knoll and give us a listen to find out!

Poll question: is there a movie you think is really good except for that ONE important miscast role?

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Episode 212 – Conspiracy Theory (1997)

Hi. Sorry, sorry, didn’t mean to scare you, keep driving, eyes on the road! Don’t turn around; you don’t want to let Them know we’re in the back seat. Look, Mike and I have taken a real risk breaking into your car to let you know the truth about who’s really running things. People have to be told! … smell? What smell? Oh, we’ve been hiding in a dumpster for the last three weeks until the bio-tracking sensors in our nasal passages finally break down and dissolve . . . look, that’s not important! You have to warn people! Haven’t you ever found the concept of a shampoo AND conditioner in one just a little suspect? Well, you have NO IDEA! The NSA has been working on this, along with the CIA, the NSC, and the J-E-double-L-O! Wait, don’t pull over! Why are you screaming at that policeman? Don’t you know they’re all in on it?! We’ve been betrayed! Mike, grab the freeze-dried weasel spleens and the sixteen-millimeter projector! I’ve got our collection of empty Happy Meals boxes and the staple gun! Run! Run and don’t look back! But in the meantime, our listeners need to check out this latest episode of our “Conspiracy!” series, with a movie that has the very appropriate title “Conspiracy Theory” . . . almost TOO appropriate . . . oh no . . . have they gotten to Julia Roberts?! Mel Gibson . . . well, no real surprise there! Anyway, give a listen and Mike, keep running! Mayor McCheese’s death must not be in vain!

Poll question: what historical figure do you think has been the most badly portrayed in the movies, in general? Pocahontas? Steven Hawking? Genghis Kahn? What famous person from history makes you go “Oh, man, will they EVER get them right in a movie?”

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Episode 211 – The Conversation (1974)

Welcome to another episode of “You and Your Compost Heap,” the podcast that discusses all things related to home composting! We’re continuing our 45-part series “Citrus Peels: The Devil’s Addition” and hoo-boy, this one’s a real hum-dinger . . . Ok, that should do it; anyone listening in should be asleep by now, but it won’t last so listen up quick! No, you haven’t hit the wrong link and yes, we’re still working on our “Conspiracy!” series. This week we’re discussing an rather obscure Francis Ford Coppola film starring Gene Hackman: “The Conversation.” Hackman turns in a performance that is remarkably against type. A number of other familiar faces show up, including Robert Duvall, Cindy Williams, John Cazale, and some nobody named Harriman Snord? Hasselman Chorde? I forget, not important, because the big news is there’s appearance by 70’s sensation Robert Shields! Can you believe it? Robert Shields . . .  of Shields and Yarnell? Legendary San Francisco mime? Good lord, are you people BARBARIANS?! Anyway, give a listen and hear more about Robert Shields and probably some other stuff too.

Poll question: what movie conspiracy, real or fake, just drives you up the wall?

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Episode 210 – Capricorn One (1978)

Welcome back to our series “Movies That Finally Tell You The Truth About All That Stuff You Can’t Prove Is True But Really, Really Think SHOULD Be True” . . . or, more briefly, “Conspiracy!” This entry is “Capricorn One”, a movie about NASA faking a landing on Mars that has the unfortunate distinction of feeding the yes-people-still-actually-believe-this-drivel theory about how the 1969 moon landing was faked. Why would it have been faked? Obviously Big Cheese was behind it; they didn’t want Earth markets flooded with all that imported green cheese. It’s so obvious!!! And speaking of cheese, this movie has quite the cast with six Oscar nominees, including Hal Holbrook and Elliott Gould. It also stars, um, someone else, some athlete . . . I think he was a football player and maybe he got famous for something other than football but OH LOOK OVER THERE! A CONSPIRACY! So join us, give a listen, and see if this particular conspiracy theory is convincing. Or maybe you’re just in the pocket of Big Cheese . . .  which sounds rather messy, to be honest.

[An apology: I had some audio problems this week, so Max’s part of the recording may sound a bit odd. Hmm . . . just happened to have problems the week we’re doing this movie . . . something to hide, NASA?!]

Poll question: what star of the silver screen, living or dead, would you most want to sit down with, over lunch or drinks, and talk with and what is the question you would most like to ask them?

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Episode 209 – Enemy of the State (1998)

On the surface, it would seem that we’re starting a new series. Maybe, to the untrained eye, this new series is called “Conspiracy!” and focuses on movies that involve so-called conspiracy theories, nefarious plots spun out by the so-called government . . . or maybe that’s just what They WANT you to think! Wake up, sheeple! These movies may be labeled as fiction but they reveal the truth that the lizard people/Aliens/Illuminati/Rosicrucians/Lilliputians don’t want you to know! It’s true! I saw it on a blog!

We’re kicking off this new series with “Enemy of the State”, an eerily prescient movie about the Surveillance State made in the halcyon pre-Patriot Act days of the late 90’s. Starring Will Smith, this movie really slaps you in the face about the disturbing reality . . . oooooohhh . . .  too soon? Give a listen and see if this movie is just paranoid . . .  or just not paranoid enough! And make sure you weren’t followed.

Poll question: What do you think is the most tense, edge-of-your-seat, forget-about-popcorn-or-using-the-restroom scene of any movie? The kind of scene that makes your heart race and your hands dig into the armrests of your chair?

Extra-special link: wondered what we were talking about when we mentioned the “Vestron” video opening? Check it out here:  Vestron (you might want to turn down your volume)

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Episode 208 – The Suicide Squad (2021)

Alas, we have come to the end of our “Focus On – Viola Davis” series; farewell, Ms. Davis and thank you for making us laugh at love . . . again. Well, maybe not so much laugh as stare open-mouthed at your ability. And lest you think that Viola Davis only appears in gritty, serious, deeply moving films, this week’s entry proves that she really, really doesn’t. Directed by James Gunn, 2021’s “The Suicide Squad” is both a sequel and a sorta-kinda-maybe reboot of the 2016 original comic book movie, based on a concept that stretches back to 1959 but didn’t really come into its own until writer John Ostrander revived it and made it his own in the late 80’s. The comic deals with a black ops team made up of second- (often third- or fourth-) string super villains who are offered a reduced sentence in exchange for doing insanely dangerous, dare I say, “suicidal”, missions for The Government.  Viola Davis plays the cold-hearted end-justifies-ANY-means head of the team Amanda “The Wall” Waller and she clearly demonstrates that she doesn’t need to plant a micro-explosive in someone’s head to get them to do what she wants. So, does this version surpass the rather messy, studio-meddled-with 2016 version? Do we end up rooting for the bad guys? Are we just happy that Viola Davis is part of a big-budget franchise (spoiler alert: we are!) Join us and find out!

Poll question: what’s your favorite cinematic car chase sequence?

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Episode 207 – Widows (2018)

Widows. A tragic word. There are so many kinds of widows. Black widows. Grass widows. Golf widows. But this week we’re interested only in movies called “Widows” starring Viola Davis. Yes, we are nothing if not highly specific here at Max, Mike; Movies as we continue with our highly specific series “Focus On – Viola Davis.” And this week, highly specifically, we’ve got Ms. Davis in an actual lead role (‘bout bloody time)! With no wig, no body suit, just all Davis, all the time and that’s what we crave. Be warned: this is a heist movie (in part) but it’s no light-hearted quip-heavy “Ocean’s 11” sort of thing. It’s tough, unflinching, and gritty . . . just like Mike and me. We’ve seen it all and we’ve got nothing but lumps of old iron where our hearts ought to be and BAAAASSSHH! WHY? WHY DID BASH HAVE TO {collapses sobbing}. ‘scuse me, I need a weighted blanket and an emotional support possum . . .

Poll question: is there a movie that’s ever made you want to get INTO show business, whether it be acting, directing or some other aspect?

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Episode 206 – Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom (2020)

We’ve got the blues here at Max, Mike; Movies. Not because of our series “Focus On: Viola Davis,” because Ms. Davis could never give us the blues. No, we’ve got that movie-podcasting blues, the kind where you’ve got the blues so bad, you just want to find the most annoying pony you can find and shave your initials in his hair a foot high, that’s the kind of blues we’ve got. Those Bumpy Shavin’ Blues . . . but this week we’re checking out a movie about a REAL blues singer, as seen through a film adapted from an August Wilson play starring Ms. Davis and Chadwick Boseman. August Wilson . . . well, it’s not like a movie about the blues could be depressing or unhappy, right? I mean, that’s just silly talk . . . join and and see just how silly!

Poll question: if you could project yourself to live in the actual world of one movie, what would it be and what would your place in it be? Would you want to be an elf in Elrond’s hall or work in Rick’s Café American? You’d have to be your own character, not take the place of an existing one!

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Episode 205 – The Help (2011)

Well, we’ve been focusing on specific actors for the last couple of series . . . so we’re going to do it again! It’s so predictable, they’ll never expect it! This time we’re focusing on the multiple Oscar-nominated performer Viola Davis (who is NOT, I just found out, the inventor of the stringed instrument of the same name. I thought I’d better mention that as there’s no way I’m the only person who thought that, no matter what Mike keeps screaming at me). Ms. Davis is a remarkable actor with range, subtlety and class . . . which gives her nothing at all in common with Mike and me but we’re going to talk about her anyway. We’re starting off with a film that garnered her an Oscar nomination for Best Supporting Actress, Tate Taylor’s “The Help,” based on the novel by Kathryn Stockett. This movie has an amazing cast. Yup, great cast, and not just Viola Davis. Very nice pacing, too. The story? Um . . . did I mention how great the cast is? This movie is . . . difficult. What do I mean by that? Well, what do I EVER mean? Give a listen and find out in this instance.

Poll question: was there ever a film that you left at the end feeling angry and what about it made you angry?

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Episode 204 – Lucy (2014)

“Looooothy!! What crazy hijinks you up to now, huh? Did you go and super-evolve your brain and develop god-like powers on the night I’m bringing Caesar Romero over for dinner?”
“Waaaaahhhh, Rickyyyyy! I went and perpetuated a false scientific theory that’s been disproved multiple times! Waaaahhhh!!!”

Now THAT would have been a film for the ages . . .  but sadly our final entry in “Focus On: Scarlett Johansson” does not follow my brilliant concept but does give us both Ms. Johansson AND Morgan Freeman and if you could bottle their combined voices and sell them, you’d have the world’s newest super-drug. Luc Besson, the man who gave us “Fifth Element,” “Taken,” and “The Professional” tackles the speculative fiction concept: given that we only use 10% of our brains, what would happen to someone whose brain suddenly began evolving to the point where she could use 100% of her mental potential? TL;DR – nothing, because that whole “we only use 10% of our brain” thing has been proven to be nonsense time and time again (with the exception of Bumpy who uses a percentage of his brain that is too small to be measured by any current scientific equipment). But if we can get past this rather large “I call no way!” aspect, is this movie fun to watch, given the cast and the director? Give a listen; you’ll barely have to use 2% of your brain to follow along.

Poll question: what’s an older movie that you enjoy that could just NOT get made today?

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