Total Movie Recall
This week on Total Movie Recall, we go to the suck. Steve develops a thousand yard stare reserved for veterans of nightmare wars and mediocre podcasts. Ryan chalks up another point in the Irresponsible Father column, reflecting on his father’s prudent decision to let him watch this vision of insanity at a tender age yet again. If you listen to this episode, you can go to my house and fornicate with my sister. Full Metal Jacket (1987) d. w. based on his novel Starring: as as as as as as as Stanley Kubrick's take on the Vietnam War follows smart-aleck Private Davis,...
info_outline TMR 065 – Harold and MaudeTotal Movie Recall
This week on Total Movie Recall, we watch the first Manic Pixie Dream Girl ever on screen, who is not a girl at all, but is most decidedly a woman. It’s the perfect post-2020 movie, and not just because of the constant suicides. It’s twee and precious and we absolutely loved it. Harold & Maude (1971) d. w. Music by: Starring: Cult classic pairs Cort as a dead-pan disillusioned 20-year-old obsessed with suicide and a loveable Gordon as a fun-loving 80-year-old eccentric. They meet at a funeral, and develop a taboo romantic relationship, in which they explore the tired...
info_outline TMR 064 – The Neverending StoryTotal Movie Recall
This week on Total Movie Recall, we learn that while some stories never end, mothers do, and that’s the beginning of how a serial killer is made in this unflinching look inside the mind of one disturbed little boy. Hang in there with us, listen to this, and watch it again and try to tell us you didn’t witness a psychotic break as this poor boy retreats inside the dark fantasies of his mind. The Neverending Story (1984) d. w. , Music by Starring: as Atreyu as Bastian as The Childlike Empress as Teeny Weeny On his way to school, Bastian ducks into a bookstore to...
info_outline TMR 063 – Wild ThingsTotal Movie Recall
Ah, the good ole days of passing around R rated spank tapes. This movie is so trashy, it gave Charlie Sheen HIV. (1998) d. Starring: When teen debutante Kelly fails to attract the attention of her hunky guidance counselor, Sam, she cries rape, igniting a scandal that results in his arrest. Sam appeals to Ken, a hack personal-injury lawyer who has never handled a case that couldn't be helped by a prop neck brace. Soon, a second victim, Suzie, comes forward, and Detective Duquette discovers that the unfolding case is far from what it seems. Things discussed in the...
info_outline TMR 062 – From Dusk Till DawnTotal Movie Recall
Remember the innocent 90s, when white directors thought they had the N-word pass for some reason? What do you think their “woke” movie would look like? Probably like this, where the N-word is replaced by horrific rape and Mexican jokes. This proto-edgelord movie was looked at as such a good time romp that it was considered the perfect vehicle to transition from the hit network show ER to the big screen. What a simpler time… From Dusk Till Dawn (1996) d. w. (story), (screenplay) Starring: On the run from a bank robbery that left several police officers...
info_outline TMR 061 – Napoleon DynamiteTotal Movie Recall
This week on Total Movie Recall, we try to decide whether this is a charming, unique film about staying true to yourself, or a nightmarish descent into the insanity that comes with living in a barren, desolate landscape like rural Idaho, where the Uncle Ricos of the world keep subterranean dungeons for unsuspecting Debs. This might say more about where our heads are at right now than about this beloved comedy. Napoleon Dynamite (2004) d. w. , Starring: In small-town Preston, Idaho, awkward teen Napoleon Dynamite has trouble fitting in. After his grandmother is injured in...
info_outline TMR 060 – DolemiteTotal Movie Recall
This week on Total Movie Recall, these two born-insecure honkies break down the seminal Blaxploitation movie of 1975 and do a pathetic job of trying to reconcile its progressive vision of black empowerment with the misogyny of the pimp game. It gets complicated. Dolemite (1975) d. Story by: Starring: Dolemite is released from jail after being wrongfully convicted to take on rival pimp Willie Green, corrupt police officers who framed him and even the mayor! With the help of his friends: Queen Bee (the madame of his brothel), Creeper (the heroin addict Hamburger Pimp), Reverend...
info_outline TMR 059 – Who Framed Roger RabbitTotal Movie Recall
This week on Total Movie Recall, things get Freudian as they did for every little boy who stared confusedly at Jessica Rabbit and wondered what was happening to them. Handsome, chiseled leading man Bob Hoskins soldiers on in spite of the bleeding ulcer all that booze gave him, and Christopher Lloyd goes to eleven with his unhinged, terrifying performance. Did hentai exist before this movie? Because it sure as hell did after it. Who Framed Roger Rabbit (1988) d. Starring: Down-on-his-luck private eye Eddie Valiant gets hired by cartoon producer R.K. Maroon to investigate...
info_outline TMR 058 – The Princess BrideTotal Movie Recall
This week on Total Movie Recall, we take a hard pivot from all the toxic masculinity of weeks past and Steve shows his gentle, romantic side. Somehow, Ryan makes this about his sad sack heartache but in the end, everybody calms down and moves on with a nice mutton, lettuce, and tomato sandwich. The Princess Bride (1987) d. w. Starring: A fairy tale adventure about a beautiful young woman and her one true love. He must find her after a long separation and save her. They must battle the evils of the mythical kingdom of Florin to be reunited with each other. Based on the...
info_outline TMR 057 – HeatTotal Movie Recall
This week on Total Movie Recall, Ryan stares out the window of his furniture-less modernist home at the endless, uncaring ocean while Steve sleeps on the floor with his hand gripped around his pistol. The pseudo-philosophy of this movie seems deeper than it is because it’s endlessly reflected in all the glass buildings of Michael Mann’s uber-masculine vision. Sure, it may be pretentious, but that’s the point, and if you’ve got a problem with that, I will take you down, because we ain’t exactly doin’ thrill-seeker podcasts with “Born to Lose” tattoos on our chests. (1995) d....
info_outlineThis week on Total Movie Recall, we stare into the void and find out that hipsters are terrible people that treat the mentally ill like zoo animals and Ryan swears he’ll never wear skinny jeans again. Steve declares that the word “genius” is thrown around way too much and that it should only be applied to people who discover new kinds of particles or create nudity mods for video games. We watched The Devil and Daniel Johnston, so burn your Sonic Youth records and point your plane straight at the ground, because life just may not be worth it.
The Devil and Daniel Johnston (2005)
d. Jeff Feuerzeig
Starring:
Daniel Johnston
Butthole Surfers (Gibby Haynes)
Sonic Youth (Thurston Moore, Steve Shelley)
Half Japanese (Jad Fair, David Fair)
Matt Groening
Filmmaker Jeff Feuerzeig chronicles the life of a manic-depressive musician and artist, using a blend of home movies, Johnston's own audiotapes, vintage performances and current footage. Johnston has recorded more than 10 full-length albums and amassed a prolific portfolio of sketches, and has among his supporters Matt Groening, David Bowie, Sonic Youth, Beck, and Tom Waits.
Things discussed in the show:
Moleskine notebooks and the Necronomicon
Baby Driver (2017, Edgar Wright, Ansel Elgort, Jon Bernthal, Jon Hamm)
Far Cry 5
400 Blows (1959, François Truffaut, Jean-Pierre Léaud, Albert Rémy, Claire Maurier)
Looney Toons (2020, Bugs Bunny, Yosemite Sam)
The Not-Too-Late Show with Elmo (2020, Ryan Dillon, David Rudman, Kacey Musgraves, Lil Nas X)
Lovebirds (2020, Michael Showalter, Issa Rae, Kumail Nanjiani)
Kumail Nanjiani's X-Files podcast
Devs, teleportation and quantum computers
Death at a Funeral (2007, Frank Oz, Matthew Macfadyen, Peter Dinklage, Ewen Bremner)
The Gentlemen (Guy Ritchie, Matthew McConaughey, Charlie Hunnam, Michelle Dockery)
King Arthur: Legend of the Sword / Snatch / Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels
Val Kilmer's memoir - I'm Your Huckleberry / Tombstone / Top Gun / Heat / Batman Forever / The Saint
The Ghost and the Darkness (1996, Stephen Hopkins, William Goldman, Michael Douglas, Val Kilmer, Tom Wilkinson)
Predator 2 (1990, Stephen Hopkins, Danny Glover, Gary Busey, Kevin Peter Hall)
Jeffery Epstein: Filthy Rich (2020, directed by Lisa Bryant), illuminati and class war
Lex Luthur's will they/won't they with Superman
Le Cercle Rouge (1970, Jean-Pierre Melville, Alain Delon, Bourvil, Gian Maria Volontè)
My Dinner With Andre (1981, Louis Malle, Andre Gregory, Wallace Shawn, Jean Lenauer)
What makes someone a genius? John Cale & David Cronenberg
John Carpenter
The Justice League Snyder cut
David Lynch
George Lucas will never stop messing with A New Hope
Joss Whedon - Buffy the Vampire Slayer, The Cabin in the Woods
Dan Harmon's story circle (writing structure)
J.J. Abrams
Will Johnson, Damien Jurado, Conner Oberst / Bright Eyes
Firehose (Mike Watt)
Daniel Johnston on KCRW with Ben Lee, Mike Watt, Joey Waronker, Guy Blakeslee
John Lennon, Yoko Ono and Paul McCartney
Mental illness, homelessness, bipolar disorder
Van Gooh, Brian Wilson, Wesley Willis
Dead Milkmen
Ben Stiller
Next week: The Cable Guy