Have You Seen This?

Jen and Tim warn the listener about a stupefying piece of outsider cinema, Dracula’s Angel.Watch Dracula’s Angel on YouTube, if you want to look straight into the abyss. Also stop by the creators’ website!The IMDb reviews, which the filmmakers solicit via title card at the end of the movie, are extremely amusing.If you enjoyed this for some reason, check out our other episodes on the least polished media we have covered so far in our Outsider Cinema collection! Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Tim and Jen welcome Tom of the Anime Sickos podcast to roll with a movie stocked with a single Corey, Prayer of the Rollerboys.Listen to The Disappearances of Lydia Fountayne, “a fresh and original story set in a deceptively familiar world of constant surveillance, information overload, and electronic communication.”Can’t get enough rolling? Watch this Vice documentary about “aggressive skating,” its rise and decline, and the utter loathing of skateboarders for inline skaters. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Jen and Tim look back at a dark entry from the often astonishing oeuvre of Nicholas Ray, the thrilling melodrama Bigger Than Life. Also Tim has medical trauma.Errata: Jen says “They Drive By Night” when she meant They Live By Night, confusing Raoul Walsh’s 1940 hit with Nicholas Ray’s 1948 debut feature. Her pay will be docked accordingly.The Classic Film Noir website has a wonderful visual essay about the film, including details about the negative critical response when it was released.Adrian Danks writes about Bigger Than Life and the psyche of its central character in a 2009 essay for Senses of Cinema. Sam Wasson’s article at the same site gives cultural context to the film,including the chilling affect of the Cold War and anticommunism. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Tim and Jen weeb out over an overlooked-in-its-time tale of an outsider navigating a closed and unforgiving society, The Yakuza.Tip us at our Ko-Fi!Jen oversimplifies the origins of the yakuza here, plus she just plain doesn’t know a hell of a lot about Japanese culture! A YouTuber going by ANIKI has an entire playlist of deep dives on yakuza and their history that will leave you better informed.Read an archived version of Paul Schrader’s primer on yakuza-eiga (gangster films) from 1974.From the Alienated in Vancouver blog: Allan MacInnis interviews author AJ Devlin about, among other things, Leonard Schrader and The Yakuza. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Jen solos for a conversation with gangster expert God’s Own Monster (@scabbyscribe.bsky.social) about a weirdly clammy biopic, Josh Trank’s Capone.Tip us at Ko-Fi!The Hollywood Reporter had some dirt on the Fox/Trank spat, including intel claiming that the filmmaker’s dogs damaged a rental property in Baton Rouge to the tune of $100,000 (Jesus Christ).Trank attempted to smooth things over in an LA Times interview, and claimed that he definitely did not melt down on 4Chan:As for rumors that he was behind an angry, defensive rant that surfaced last week on the anonymous Internet bulletin board 4Chan, Trank said that was simply a bizarre hoax someone perpetrated at his expense. “Everybody wanted to go out there and say, ‘Josh has lost his mind,’” he said. “It’s just been an avalanche of things.”This YouTube essayist covers the alleged Josh Trank 4Chan post in his exhaustive coverage of the director’s career trajectory (clicking through will take you directly to the relevant section). Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Jen and Tim invite comedian Kath Barbadoro back to the show to puzzle over Brady Corbet’s weird stab at pop mythmaking, Vox Lux.Tip us at Ko-Fi!Brady Corbet and Natalie Portman chat about the film on some kind of Yahoo offshoot called Build. Maybe they explain themselves. I dunno, I’m not gonna watch it.The Variety critic actually liked the movie. He’s entitled to his opinion! Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Tim and Jen marvel at an overlooked Sean Connery performance in Sidney Lumet’s similarly overlooked police procedural, The Offence.Tip us at Ko-Fi!See some of the existing locations from The Offence, via the BFI.This representative example of a John Hopkins-penned episode of Z Cars features a young and almost unrecognizable Brian Blessed as a uniformed cop. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Jen and Tim go back to the roots of the New German Cinema and find much that’s still relevant in Volker Schlöndorff’s bleak character study, Young Törless.See video of Schlöndorff introducing a screening of Young Törless at a 2018 conference at Notre Dame.Jen hasn’t finished Klaus Theweleit’s Male Fantasies yet (it’s two volumes, plus she can’t read) but she’s gonna go ahead and recommend it to you if you’re at all interested in the psychology of fascism. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Tim and Jen allow their favorite radio personality Jennifer Miller Hammel to settle her beef with the biggest fan disappointment since The Star Wars Holiday special, The X-Files: I Want to Believe.Back in 1998, the MST3k crew riffed the first X-Files movie in their 2nd Summer Blockbuster Reviewfor the Sci-Fi Channel (sorry to deadname).Trace some X-Files history with us by listening to our episodes on The Adventures of Brisco County Jr. and The Night Stalker!Is that a weed?! Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Jen and Tim throw a pool party and invite Charles of the No Homework podcast to talk about the enervating suburban world of The Swimmer!Here is a representative sample of the “Hi, Guy!” series of Right Guard ads starring Bill Fiore, aka Mr. Hunsacker in The Swimmer. And here’s Jan Miner, aka Mrs. Hunsacker, as Madge the Palmolive lady.Cheever was indeed only adapted once for the big screen, but there have been a scattering of TV adaptations. This one, The Sorrows of Gin from 1979, stars Sigourney Weaver and Edward Herrmann! Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Tim patiently walks Jen through a compilation of philosophies of art, life, and everything: the Cate Blanchett-starring installation film Manifesto.Manifesto is free with ads on Tubi, but you can also watch each segment at director Julian Rosefeldt’s website.If you don’t know the name Nigel Cheese and you love learning about internet lunatics, watch this video from the Down the Rabbit Hole series by Frederik Knudsen. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Jen and Tim enlist Aftermath’s Chris Person to talk about a strange technical footnote in cinema, the moody and trés European fantasy Julia and Julia.Chris expands on the infuriating quality of IMDb reviews in this piece for Aftermath.Crave more pioneering and historical HD video? Stop by Reely Interesting on YouTube! There’s something for everybody, especially if you’re the kind of person who gets excited when they hear the word “encoding.”If you were curious about Morning Patrol, the Greek Philip K. Dick adaptation Chris mentioned, someone has helpfully put it up on YouTube. Also, it’s directed by the same guy who gave us one of our most memorable selections, Singapore Sling! Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Jen and Tim receive a remarkable package from returning guest Darren Herczeg, a Breakin’-meets-Porky’s B picture called Delivery Boys!For whatever reason, Darren confidently named “Scorpion Records” as the company that released the blu-ray of Delivery Boys and we ran with it. As you may have guessed, it’s actually “Scorpion Releasing.” They may or may not still exist, as their Facebook page hasn’t been updated since 2023 and if you try to visit their website your ISP will block it and tell you your personal info is at risk, soooooooooooJacqui Shine wrote an article on Ken Handler and the making of Delivery Boys, which confirms that Ken was known to solicit sexual favors in return for parts in his film. Let’s hope the cast had access to therapy.The New Beverly website has a blog post by Marc Edward Heuck about Delivery Boys executive producer Chuck Vincent, a prolific B-movie and skin flick maven. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Tim and Jen get WELL ahead of the holiday season with some help from author Ray Newman, who explains the British tradition of A Ghost Story For Christmas.If you like arcane horror stuff (of course you do, you clicked on this episode), be sure to stop by Ray’s website and read his blog!Wanna see the original run of spooky stories told for the Yuletide season? The Internet Archive has got you.Mark Gatiss hosted an informative documentary on M.R. James that you can see on YouTube. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

im lets Jen talk him into discussing an unasked-for remake of a noir classic, The Big Sleep.Jen incorrectly described the short film in which Will Hays introduces the Vitaphone sound system as a public deployment of the Hays Code. In his capacity as chairman of the Motion Picture Producers and Distributors of America, Hays did introduce a rubric for self-imposed censorship that would deform the film industry for more than thirty years. However, not only did that not happen until 1930, he didn’t even write the damn thing in spite of putting his name on it! The text of the Hays Code was devised by a handful of Catholic busybodies, including the insidiously influential film censor Joseph Breen. Anyway, if you watch the short you can see Hays’s smoldering sex appeal and naturalistic speaking style. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Tim coaxes Jen into the pool for a Polish horror musical set in a dark alternate 80s Warsaw, The Lure!Director Agnieska Smocyzynska also made The Silent Twins (2022) about June and Jennifer Gibbons. Jen gave a glib and half-accurate version of their whole deal, but this 90s-era BBC documentary features the real June Gibbons and tells it a little more accurately. It’s a story that has been mined over and over again elsewhere as “spooky” content. However, the real narrative is one about two intelligent young girls facing a pressure cooker of racism and ableism, acting out, and being medicalized, misdiagnosed, and punished instead of supported. In 2023 the BBC revisited the case via podcast, again with June Gibbons.Listen to Lady Godiva’s Operation by the Velvet Underground. Listen to it seventeen times in a row, if you’re Jen. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Jen and Tim invite Chris Wade, #1 Music Super Fan, to marvel at the high production values of the dangerously furry Rock & Rule.Hear Chris and wife Molly range far and wide on the subject of music on the And Introducing podcast! Or get your hands on actual physical music magazine Antics!The movie and many fascinating related tidbits may easily be located on the internet, if you know where to look.Read the article on animating oldschool light effects that Jen was too dumb to parse, describe, or even find again. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Tim and Jen host the guys of Guys: A Podcast About Guys for some guy talk about internet movie guys!Sadly, Bryan’s childhood favorite Big Shots is not currently streaming on Tubi, but they’ll email you when it’s available.It’s true, Benjamin Franklin did find farts extremely funny. “A Letter to a Royal Academy” (later published under the title Fart Proudly) is a whole essay about flatulence. You may find that you are entertained with the pleasantry of it and the ridicule it contains! Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Jen and Tim welcome back Gaius of the wonderful Tribunate channel on YouTube to fact-check some prime dadslop called Boudica: Queen of War.The other Boudica movie Tim watched is called Boudica: Rise of the Warrior Queen and is freely available on Tubi, if you’d like to compare and contrast.The University of Toronto has proof: Romans really did practice ancient dentistry! Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Tim and Jen peep at Brian De Palma’s dirty Hitchcockian (heh) thriller, Body Double!De Palma did an interview with TV reporter Bobbie Wygant to promote Body Double at the time of the film’s release. Dont’t miss Bobbie obligingly picking up some insert shots at the end of the tape.If you’re curious about that sick bachelor pad from the movie, this YouTuber has a concise history of the Chemosphere, including a mention of Body Double.Tim sent me this: “Reverend Richard Coles sings the word of Frankie Goes To Hollywood's Relax to the tune of Ruler of The Queen's Navy from Gilbert & Sullivan's HMS Pinafore.” He pulls it off! Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Jen hosts Josh and Brian of The Worst of All Possible Worlds to contemplate a version of Othello that, thankfully, features no blackface— Catch My Soul from 1974.The Sky King episode of The Worst of All Possible Worlds is a slight divergence from their usual material, but it is as worthy as any of their deep dives into popular culture. Also check out the Ill Conceived podcast if you would like to know more about the natalist weirdos currently making their neuroses our problem.The 1962 film All Night Long is currently available on the Criterion Channel, if you want to see Patrick McGoohan take the Iago role. Also featuring appearances from Charles Mingus and Dave Brubeck!The Aggressive Christianity website is a must-visit for those who miss its brand of Web 1.0 lunacy.Jerry Lee Lewis did not tour as Iago in Catch My Soul— he played the part in a Los Angeles production, so maybe he was easier to corral. Hear some rehearsal excerpts on YouTube! Incidentally, the same production featured William Marshall as Othello, as a replacement for Rosey Grier(!). Marshall later played a traditional version of Othello for television.The BBC did indeed run The Black and White Minstrel Show from 1958 to…1978??? Good lord. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Jen and Tim finish the leftover eggnog and talk about a darker-than-dark version of Dickens’s classic, A Christmas Carol.The Grauniad’s 5-star review calls this version “rich, clever, funny and courageous,” in contrast to an outright pan from RogerEbert.com.Read an interview with Christmas Carol scribe Steven Knight in…Town and Country magazine? Huh, OK. Why not. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Tim and Jen atone for their recent choices for episode topics by discussing a good holiday-themed movie: Bob Clark's Black Christmas!Voice of the killer Nick Mancuso speaks extensively about Black Christmas in this archived article from the Telegraph, as well as other aspects of his long career.“You go 10 feet down and it’s black. The scene called for me to swim under the water. I jump off the pier and open my eyes and it’s black everywhere. I’m wearing boots, a Vietnam flying jacket. All I remember thinking is, ‘I’m dying, I’m dying….In a b-movie!’" -Nick Mancuso, on almost drowning during the filming of Mother LodeThe Internet Archive has a copy of the unkind Black Christmas review from Cinema Canada (aka "Ca-EH du Cinema")."As Jean Paul Belmondo said to Jean Seberg at the end of Breathless: "C'est vraiment dégueulasse."-Natalie Edwards on Black Christmas Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Jen and Tim enlist Bitter Karella to attempt a close read of the un-close-read-able, the inscrutably weird A Karate Christmas Miracle.Errata: Jen identifies Kenneth del Vecchio as the director of the film (he merely wrote the script, produced, and played the pivotal role of Bob Genesis). Also Jen doesn't seem to be clear on the nature of a miracle, but forgive her— she's a slave to empiricism.Want more del Vecchio?! Of course you do!!! Don't miss the trailer for the confusingly named O.B.A.M. Nude, which appears to be the Faust story as made by someone who had his brain cooked by Newsmax. Stunning effects! Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Oh my god, someone watched this? Merely an obscure channel, B-Movie TV. Oh no, someone archived the sexy clown show? No Tim. The Roku. Bitter Karella, no.Well, what is a clown? Is he life? Is he a clown show? Would you enjoy a clown show? Wanna see?Pervy no. Why? Does he make you laugh? Why? Does he bring a lighter smile to your face? Pervy, no. KinkyCandy(s), no one’s harlequin. Wanna see what someone locked away?NOPERVYOh you don’t do clowns, huh? Why? Well, no one’s doing this clown, either.NO PERVYOh my god, someone watched the nun and the couple. Why? Does he make the world?PervyNOWould you forget this??! When you archived the sexy clown show? Why? That lovable irritant locked away, that horn safely locked away with the whipped cream. Pervy no. Or do you look at him with loathing? You mean your why? Pervy no. Pervy no. No Pervy. Does he make you look deeply into the laugh? Look at him. Why? Don’t honk. Your dog taught me. Your dog? Whipped cream on a nun.When you look deeply. The sadness is there under the makeup Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Tim and Jen host Rifftrax writer Sean Thomason to watch the unwatchable: an ancient kiddie flick filled with air and B-roll, Fun in Balloon Land. Jen also pitches her idea for a new, horrible subgenre, named after the director of the similarly horrible Santa and the Ice Cream Bunny: Mahoncore!The Rifftrax version of Fun in Balloon Land goes down much easier than the unadorned version, plus you’ll be helping pay Sean’s salary. You can also bug Sean over at Bluesky— tell him the chuckleheads at Have You Seen This? sent you!Get yourself a copy of the Krazee Kidz Video Party blu-ray from Vinegar Syndrome— they’re flying off the shelves!The Akron Beacon Journal has a throwback account of the 1973 balloon parade that went so very, very wrong. Great job, Giant Balloon Parades Inc. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Jen and Tim brave the harsh California desert in search of a truly obscure female-focused vampire chiller, The Velvet Vampire!Watch The Velvet Vampire on Shudder, and accept no substitutes! This is the best version of the film currently available, as the most recent blu-ray release is extremely difficult to find.No joke, if you know where we can get a copy of this exact Shout Factory edition of The Velvet Vampire blu-ray for a reasonable (or at most mildly unreasonable) price, please let us know.Read an exhaustive interview with Stephanie Rothman covering her entire life and career as a filmmaker, courtesy of the UCLA Center for Oral History Research. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Tim and Jen reach deep into the spooky season remainder bin and pull out one of the better shot-on-video horror movies…but regular listeners know just how low that bar can really go.Video Violence filmmaker Gary P. Cohen has a website!Forbes has the rundown on the guy who got banned for like two seconds for posting one of the worst things you can find online.Want more shot-on-video horror? We’ve talked about some of the hard(est to watch) stuff— check out our SOV episode collection! Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Jen and Tim look back at “the Cybertruck of prestige novel adaptations,” Kenneth Branagh’s Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein!Most of this interview with Frank Darabont is about The Shawshank Redemption, but at the tail end he gives his unvarnished thoughts on what a hash Branagh made of his screenplay for Frankenstein.“That movie was his vision entirely. If you love that movie you can throw all your roses at Ken Branagh’s feet. If you hated it, throw your spears there too, because that was his movie.”-Frank DarabontBranagh spoke in-depth about the film with a pre-cancellation Charlie Rose, if you’re interested in hearing him explain himself. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Tim and Jen haze Bitter Karella over her inexplicable defense of a Halloween-themed anthology film, Trick 'r Treat!As of 2024, filmmaker Michael Dougherty is threatening a sequel to Trick 'r Treat. Be still my heart.See What's Your Problem? (What is Wrong With You?), one of Jen's favorite pieces of public television ephemera.Want a horror anthology that's actually good? Check out our episode on Ghost Stories! Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Jen welcomes back Julie (chimericalgirl.bsky.social) to discuss a criminally underseen coming-of-age film directed by Adrian Lyne, Foxes.Read an interview with Kandice Stroh, in which she talks in detail about playing the part of Deirdre in the film."I learned it from watching you!"Watch a 2003 documentary on the Camarillo State Hospital, which was made shortly before its closure. The grounds now make up California State University, Channel Islands. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Tim and Jen aren’t scandalized by infamous teen gross-out comedy Porky’s, it just kind of makes them scratch their heads.Someone compiled every Siskel and Ebert review of a Bob Clark film from Murder By Decree to one we actually covered on the show, Loose Cannons. Only the Judd Nelson-starring From the Hip is missing. Maybe they didn’t bother. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Jen and Tim invite Patrick Cosmos back to the show to discuss the woeful sequel to Rock ’n’ Roll High School! Please drop us a line at [email protected] if you understand the refrigerator bit.Filmmaker Adan Gonzales obviously produced Forever: The Untold Story of Rock ’n’ Roll High School Forever as a labor of love, and audio issues aside, it’s a charming look at a movie that I guess some people really like! If you grew up listening to nu-metal and watching Pauly Shore comedies, check out the rest of his YouTube channel as well.The LA Times has the rundown on the fairly disastrous debut of Feldman’s self-produced documentary My Truth: The Rape of 2 Coreys. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Tim and Jen welcome Chris Person of the Aftermath website to discuss John Waters’s favorite film, Joseph Losey’s big swing at Tennessee William’s first flop, Boom!We highly recommend the worker-owned and reader-supported Aftermath, especially this incredibly detailed and helpful article about specialized industrial cleaners (well, Jen really liked it). Listeners may also enjoy this conversation between Chris and friend of the show David J. Roth about archiving overlooked film and television.Richard Burton gets candid about his upbringing in a coal-mining family in Wales in thisDick Cavett interview. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Jen and Tim get around to a cute cult film about exploitation and capitalism, Josie and the Pussycats!Get Russ Burlingame’s love letter to the film, Best Movie Ever! for 30% off with discount code SEENTHIS over at JosieBook.com! This comprehensive oral history of the film covers the beloved source comic, the production of the film, and the fierce devotion it inspired and continues to inspire in fans.The reason Jen couldn’t find anything up-to-date on the lawsuit against Rosario Dawson is because it was dismissed in 2021.It’s true, Archie really did meet the Punisher. They should invite him to appear on the Riverdale TV show. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Tim and Jen host the freakiest guest they know, the lovable Bitter Karella of Midnight Pals fame, to chat about one of the freakiest movies she knows, Dr. Caligari!Screen Anarchy has a wonderful gallery of Caligari director Stephen Sayadian’s work,going all the way back to his earliest days as an editorial illustrator. Included are some reminisces about Dr. Caligari!Read a 2024 interview with Caligari co-writer Jerry Stahl, in which he speaks candidly about sobriety and being an artist in a world ruled by money. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Jen and Tim unearth one of the most famous unproduced screenplays of all time, Clair Noto's dark sci-fi tale The Tourist.Read the Clair Noto interview that reminded Jen that this screenplay exists!Read the screenplay itself at the Internet Archive— highly recommended.You can watch the BBC Moving Pictures segment on The Tourist, featuring the screenwriter herself, on YouTube.See more of Giger's concept art for The Tourist at the charmingly Web 1.0 official Giger website.Shelley Hack?! Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Tim and Jen experience a stodgy treatment of Hollywood avarice, The Oscar.Friend of the show Josh Olson does indeed appreciate the corniness of this movie— so much so that you can hear him join comedian Patton Oswalt and filmmaker Erik Nelson for the audio commentary on the Kino Lorber blu-ray!If you’re dying to read an academic paper on The Oscar, have at it. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Jen and Tim unearth a cursed relic: the television show cancelled before the final credits even rolled, Turn On!Thank you, SoapsNThings on YouTube, for archiving so many episodes of Peyton Place.The offensive Aussie show Jen alluded to that also got cancelled during the first episode was "Australia's Naughtiest Home Videos." You can see the singular episode at the Internet Archive!Finally, Gershon Kingsley's "Popcorn" is kind of a bop. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Tim and Jen ride along with a taciturn Ryan O'Neal for Walter Hill's sinuous neo-noir, The Driver!Walter Hill spoke with Deadline in 2024 about his influences, Tony Scott's idiot brother, and of course, westerns.Hill also talked about the controversy surrounding The Warriors in an interview for Esquire:I think the reason why there were some violent incidents is really very simple: The movie was very popular with the street gangs, especially young men, a lot of whom had very strong feelings about each other. And suddenly they all went to the movies together! Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Jen and Tim examine some D-tier David Mamet: the by-the-numbers heist flick, uh, Heist.Chris Person of the worker-owned tech news site Aftermath dug up the previously unavailable special Ricky Jay and His 52 Assistants in pristine broadcast resolution and made it available to the world once again. Read an interview with Person about the process and the importance of archiving conducted by David J. Roth and Dan McQuade of Defector, and watch the special at the Internet Archive. Fun fact: David Mamet directed the special!Person also wrote a rundown of the cutting edge of analog media archiving (as of mid-2024, anyway) that is extremely worth your time. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Tim and Jen suffer through a patchwork spy pastiche, Casino Royale.Errata: Jen attributed the anecdote about producer Charles K. Feldman removing the pay-offs to the jokes in the script to Joe McGrath, but it actually came from another director credited on the film, Val Guest.Speaking of, you can look through some of superagent-turned-producer Feldman's personal papers courtesy of AFI.Robert Von Dassanowsky's critical essay on Casino Royale just might be the final word on the film:"Casino Royale’s relationship to Bond is only emblematic; it is a prismatic translation of Fleming’s milieu, not a linear adaptation. And it remains, even today, a wry and provocative sociopolitical satire. The often criticized inconsistencies of the film’s multiple James Bonds, including the banal 007 of Terence Cooper, brought in to cover Sellers’s unfinished characterization, intentionally work to confuse the issue of Bond, to overwork the paradigm until it has no value. As Walter Benjamin in his influential essay “Art in the Age of Mechanical Reproduction” would have it, the original artwork, with its auratic value, has been replaced by accessible but worthless copies. Here, the most unique icon of the era is intentionally made common – a fashion, a fad, a façade: the multiple Bonds are all copies of a first copy, Connery’s Bond." Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Jen sends thousands of robots to compel Tim to discuss a film "suggested by" Isaac Asimov's writings, I, Robot!The creepshot photographer Jen couldn't remember the name of was Miroslav Tichý. You can see many of his surreptitious and admittedly beautiful works at ArtNet.Speaking of Czech artists, we neglected to mention that Alex Proyas is currently working on an adaptation of Karel Čapek's 1920 play R.U.R. ("Rossum's Universal Robots"). This play, of course, is the one that brought the word "robot" to the English-speaking world.If you love arid Will Smith blockbusters as much as Tim does (lol j/k), check out our episode on Wild Wild West! Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Tim can barely hold back his excitement about a movie that (kind of) has Cynthia Rothrock in it: Prince of the Sun!View the (kind of) English dub of the film at the Internet Archive.Jen forgot that her Letterboxd list was called "Anti-Girlboss Movies," and any movie starring Mai certainly qualifies for it. (Protip: there's also a list of every single movie we've talked about on the show, and sometimes it'll give you a little hint as to what's coming up next!) Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Jen invites comedian Kath Barbadoro to enjoy Psycho Kickboxer, the martial arts schlock movie that put Virginia Beach on the map!*Hear more of Kath on the Lie, Cheat, & Steal and What a Time to Be Alive podcasts. She also riffs movies with Master Pancake Theater! Look for them on Twitch.When in Virginia Beach, visit the Hot Tuna, as seen in Psycho Kickboxer!Read Daisy Thursday's Sex Change USA: Transgender Life in the Supermarket Tabloid at the Shapeless Press website.*I assume. I've never been. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

A mysterious stranger returns to the show to evaluate a weak Disney stab at a dark sci-fi blockbuster: The Black Hole!Zencastr gives you flawless audio, crystal-clear video, and effortless editing. Spend less time juggling tools, more time making great slo— uhh, content!The Hollywood Reporter looked back on the production of The Black Hole in 2019,including interviews with Joseph Bottoms, director Gary Nelson, and Robert Forster.Wayne Barlowe's Hell is so fucking cool that even James Cameron, Clive Barker, and Guillermo del Toro have raved about it. See it at the artist's website. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Jen welcomes Jesse Hawken of the venerable Junk Filter podcast to help her detox from the bad trip that is Otto Preminger's Skidoo!See Preminger host his own trailer for Bunny Lake is Missing, and you better not show up late or he'll open up a can of Vienna-sausage-in-chicken-broth whoop-ass on you.Preminger and singer/songwriter Harry Nilsson appeared on the August 30th, 1968 episode of Playboy After Dark to promote, quixotically, their latest film. Nilsson seems to know what's up, triggering Preminger's always-present wrath.Skidoo screenwriter (yes, they had one!) Doran William Cannon wrote a piece for the New York Times in 1971 about the painful experience of writing Brewster McCloud for Robert Altman. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Jen welcomes musician and poster par excellence Patrick Cosmos to chat about a fun little movie with tongue firmly in cheek, Blood Diner!Find Patrick at veryimportant.lawyer on Bandcamp and Bluesky, and get his Tonal Rotors album at Big Sleep Records.Sadly, Carl Crew's California Institute of Abnormalarts is no more. Read an archived article from LA Bizarro about the venue.Keyboardist Don Preston just wrapped up a tour at age 91! Read an interview with him at It's Psychedelic Baby Magazine. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Jen blasts off with Bitter Karella in search of the meaning of an artifact from 2011: the motion-capture kid's flick Mars Needs Moms.We glibly refer to the film as "one of the biggest box office bombs of all time," as well as THE biggest, but narrowing down the actual Failure of All Failures is tough. Wikipedia has an unranked list of box office disasters.Bitter Karella guested on the show for three episodes on music producer and grotesque sex criminal Jonathan King. If you're interested in true outsider art and also have a strong stomach, check them out!Vile PervertThe Truth Awakens (Vile Pervert Redux)Vile Pervert: The Sequels Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Jen and Tim suffer through an ill-starred attempt at an international caper, Shanghai Surprise!Podcast like a pro with Zencastr!Life With My Sister Madonna is a delightfully juicy read penned by her late brother, Christopher Ciccone. (And of course she's hairy, she's Italian!)Madonna has denied that Sean Penn physically abused her during their relationship, but rumors still abound regarding an alleged domestic abuse incident in December 1988. The LA Sheriffs have since purged the report from their records, unfortunately.Listen to George Harrison's excellent solo album Cloud Nine, which contains some reworked material from the Shanghai Surprise soundtrack.For more of us roasting Madonna's atrocious acting, check out our episode on Body of Evidence! Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.