Legends Podcast #759; Emmet Otter’s Jug-Band Christmas (1977)
Legends Podcast
In 1977, Jim Henson, having found success with The Muppet Show, began experimenting with new technology and storytelling styles in the hopes of developing a feature film. Adapting a children's book by Russell Hoban and Lillian Hoban, itself an adaptation of the classic O. Henry short story “The Gift of Magi,” Henson and his production team created a one-hour Christmas special that premiered in Canada on CBC and aired the following year on the then-new HBO channel. Featuring several original songs written by frequent Henson collaborator Paul Williams, subsequent airings on ABC and...
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Legends Podcast #758; How the Grinch Stole Christmas (2000)
Legends Podcast
In the year 2000, the estate of children's author Theodor Geisel, better known by his pen name Dr. Seuss, sold the live-action movie rights to one of the writer’s most beloved works. Decades earlier, an animated television special brought to life, via the voice of Boris Karloff and the talents of Chuck Jones, the cranky green curmudgeon known simply as The Grinch. With a plot to steal Christmas from the irrepressibly cheerful Whos of Whoville, the Grinch and his dog Max discover the true meaning of the holiday in this perennial holiday viewing favorite. After a rocky production, director Ron...
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Legends Podcast #757; Gremlins (1984)
Legends Podcast
In 1984, producer Steven Spielberg, writer Chris Columbus, and director Joe Dante brought a new breed of cuddly creatures to the big screen, hoping to draw in fans of other odd critters like Yoda and E.T. The star of this film is the adorable “mogwai” (Chinese for “devil”) named Gizmo, who propagates some very odd offspring that terrorize a small town on Christmas Eve. Released the same weekend as Ghostbusters, this horror-comedy was a hit with audiences, earning $212 million on an $11 million budget. The flick spawned a 1990 sequel, subtitled The New Batch, and a TV series, with a...
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Legends Podcast #756; It’s a Wonderful Life (1946)
Legends Podcast
In 1946, director Frank Capra brought to the big screen the tale of George Bailey of Bedford Falls, in an inversion of the Charles Dickens classic A Christmas Carol. Instead of teaching a miserly villain the error of his ways by showing him his life’s low points, Capra revealed that a good man’s good deeds prove one man’s life has worth beyond measure. Starring Jimmy Stewart, Donna Reed, Lionel Barrymore, and Henry Travers as the angel Clarence Oddbody, this film initially received mixed reviews and was unsuccessful at the box office, despite the fact that it was nominated for five...
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Legends Podcast #755; Back to the Future (1985) - Chronovember
Legends Podcast
Fall back in time with Legends Podcast! All month long, we’re talking about time travel, paradoxes, and if my calculations are correct, when this baby hits 88 miles per hour... you’re gonna see some serious shit! Forty years ago, director Robert Zemeckis and writer Bob Gale, partnering with Steven Spielberg as producer, introduced one of the most iconic time machines to ever grace the big screen: Doc Brown’s DeLorean. But the road to bringing it to life was rocky - their pitch was rejected more than forty times, and when it was finally greenlit, it had a tiny budget, and their...
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Legends Podcast #754; Frequency (2000) - Chronovember
Legends Podcast
Fall back in time with Legends Podcast! All month long, we’re talking about time travel, paradoxes, and Andre Braugher aging like a fine wine. In the year 2000, Primal Fear and Fallen director Gregory Hoblit and writer Toby Emmerich brought a new twist to the time travel genre: using ham radio to connect two generations of a New York City family. Dennis Quaid plays the father, a firefighter, and Jim Caviezel plays the son, a cop, who realize that their special connection can change both their lives. But when things change for the better, a serial killer is set loose, threatening both...
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Legends Podcast #753; Primer (2004) - Chronovember
Legends Podcast
Fall back in time with Legends Podcast! All month long, we’re talking about time travel, paradoxes, and deducing that the problem is recursive. In 2004, independent filmmaker Shane Carruth released his first feature, a time travel twister made on a budget of $7,000. Carruth wrote, produced, directed, edited, scored, and starred in this film that won the Grand Jury Prize - Dramatic at the 2004 Sundance Film Festival, and went on to earn 120 times its budget. In the 77-minute film, two inventors discover time travel and exploit it for personal gain, but things quickly spin out of control. Join...
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Legends Podcast #752; Pleasantville (1998) - Chronovember
Legends Podcast
Fall back in time with Legends Podcast! All month long, we’re talking about time travel, paradoxes, and separating out the things that are pleasant from the things that are unpleasant. In 1998, Big and Dave screenwriter Gary Ross made his directorial debut with a quirky comedy starring Tobey Maguire and Reese Witherspoon. The young up-and-coming stars were cast opposite stalwarts William H. Macy, Joan Allen, Jeff Daniels, and J.T. Walsh in a romp through classic television - literally. When a mischievous TV repairman (played, of course, by sitcom legend Don Knotts) sends the Ninties teens...
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Legends Podcast #751; The Substance (2024) - Legends of Halloween
Legends Podcast
It’s Lobster’s birthday, and what better way to acknowledge the toll aging takes on our bodies than to watch a movie about what goes wrong when we try to cheat the clock. From writer-director Coralie Fargeat comes the tale of Elizabeth Sparkle, a former sex symbol and acclaimed actress turned daytime tv aerobics instructor. When a mysterious treatment offers to restore her youthful appearance, the realization that beauty is only skin deep is only the first of many horrors that await. Starring Demi Moore and Margaret Qualley in dual roles, this 2024 release burst onto the scene at Cannes,...
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Legends Podcast #750; Dolls (1987) - Legends of Halloween
Legends Podcast
In 1987, Re-Animator director Stuart Gordon tapped into a force more terrifying than any zombie, vampire, werewolf, mummy, alien or otherworldly threat: little girls’ playthings. This film takes us off the beaten path to a remote mansion on the longest night in the world. Inside, horrors await, but first we must be served soup by two kindly old folks, before all hell breaks loose in the form of two-foot tall toys. With child actor Carrie Lorraine taking the lead in this funhouse horror comedy - what is it with us putting kids in danger this month? - absurd kills and slapstick one-liners...
info_outlineHere we go, back to reviewing movies! It’s been a month since we’ve done this, hopefully we still remember where to put things. We’re jumping into 2025 with a review of a classic romantic comedy written by Nora Ephron and directed by Rob Reiner from 1989. Starring Billy Crystal and Meg Ryan as two opposites-attracts acquaintances who become friends who become lovers, this rom-com was named the G.O.A.T. by Vanity Fair in 2018. But will we have what their having? When Harry Met Sally… all bets are off!
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