The Magnificently Huge Podcast

Ever watch a movie and absolutely hated it, only to revisit it again later to discover you actually kinda like it now? That’s the rules for today, kids! Pick the media that left you angry… that sorta made you happy the next try. It's a low bar, certainly, but it has happened to us a few times over the years. We get it, tastes change, life circumstances shift, and dare we say that one even matures a bit? This obviously doesn’t apply to “Titanic,” though. That one will always be hot garbage. But that “Speed” movie… that one really grew into its own, did it not? 0:00 - Intros 4:00 - The 80s Cruise 2026 15:30 - Christian James Hand 17:00 - Urgh! A Musical War 21:45 - Daredevil Born Again (2025) 28:00 - Gary and his Demons 30:40 - Have you ever watched a movie where you hated it and appreciated it later?

This week on Magnificently Huge, we slip into something a little more… 90s, as we revisit the Wachowskis’ pre-Matrix directorial debut, Bound. The film somehow manages to be equal parts Hitchcock, Coen Brothers, and late-night cable energy. Is Bound a feminist noir? A crime thriller with benefits? Or just a really good excuse to watch terrible people make worse decisions in increasingly confined spaces? Join us as we follow the money, question everyone’s judgment, and celebrate a film that proves sometimes the best way out… is through the drywall. 0:00 - Intros 4:25 - Nintendo Gamecube and Virtual Boy 15:20 - Fackham Hall (2026) 23:40 - God’s Favorite Idiot 26:45 - The Traitors 32:00 - Bound (1996)

Eddington is the perfect film for our times. Everyone’s terrified, everyone wants the glory of being the one who saves the world, and nobody is listening to anyone else. That’s America in a nutshell: Everyone arguing about who gets to decide where to aim the fire hose while the house burns down. What fun, right!?! 0:00 - Intros 10:55 - Cory Doctorow and Enshittification 19:30 - Dungeon Crawler Carl 29:15 - Weapons (2025) 32:00 - Steely Dan - Two Against Nature 34:05 - Eddington (2025) Here’s a link to the analysis Brian mentioned: https://filmobsessive.com/film/film-analysis/eddington-a-deep-delve-into-ari-asters-national-nightmare/

This week we return to the tiny town of Blaine, Missouri to revisit Christopher Guest’s 1996 mockumentary Waiting for Guffman in observance of the passing of the incomparable Catherine O'Hara. It’s either one of the sharpest, sweetest skewers of small-town ambition ever put to film, or a dull snoozefest! Which is it for you? Are you a Chris or a Brian? And how does it stack up against the rest of the oeuvre this cast would subsequently produce? There’s only one way to find out, and that’s to listen to yet another action packed podcast! 0:00 - Intros 3:20 - Clue (Broadway touring) 13:50 - Song Sung Blue (2025) 20:40 - A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms (HBO) 27:35 - Furiosa (2024) 32:10 - Predator: Badlands (2025) 42:30 - Waiting for Guffman (1996)

Dust Bunny is destined to be a cult classic, kids. Get ahead of the curve and see it right now, you won’t be disappointed. But what is Dust Bunny? A little girl has a monster under her bed and hires the hitman across the hall to kill it. Simple, right? But is the monster even real? Or is the monster all of us? We describe it as “Leon, the Professional” if it were made by Jeunet & Caro. Or maybe “The Babadook” if done by Terry Gilliam. But really it is “Dust Bunny” written and directed by Bryan Fuller (Pushing Daisies, Hannibal) and starring Mads Mikkelsen. It is a rare original film these days, delightful and fun and one that has helped restore our faith in the power of cinema. Yea verily. Here’s a link to the Gen X psychology video Eric references: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G5YmIqYSqA0 0:00 - Intros 9:10 - A PSA about not falling for conspiracy bots 12:05 - The Running Man (2025) 20:35 - Star Trek: Starfleet Academy 27:40 - Bugonia (2025) 33:25 - AI Artificial Intelligence (2001) 41:15 - Dust Bunny (2025)

“One Battle After Another” is the latest film by Paul Thomas Anderson, and it is neither too obtuse to understand nor boring. The latest of Paul Thomas Anderson’s work that stylistically makes its point, without getting all up its own ass about said style. (I’m looking at you, Wes Anderson!) It is definitely a movie made for our times, like it or. not. 0:00 - Intros 8:15 - Mel Brooks: the 99 Year Old Man! 13:00 - The Wrecking Crew (2026) 18:40 - The 90’s Cruise 40:50 - One Battle After Another (2025)

You are about to enter another dimension, a dimension not only of sight and sound but of mind. And maybe some heartburn. Because “Twilight Zone: The Movie” has absolutely no reason to exist, yet here we are. Back in the early 80s Hollywood thought it was a slam-dunk idea: Take established hitmakers Steven Spielberg and John Landis, plus up-and-comers Joe Dante and George Miller, to make an anthology film based on Rod Serling’s classic, groundbreaking TV series. What could go wrong? Quite a lot, actually, mostly thanks to the tragic accidental death of veteran actor Vic Morrow and two young Vietnamese children while filming under Landis. From then on, the luster was gone and Spielberg mostly phoned it in. But oh what joy to watch Dante and Miller crush it with their segments, remakes of fan favorite episodes that stood out in every good way possible. Still, one sees this movie now and has to wonder: Why? 0:00 - Intros 4:20 - Supergirl and Avengers trailers and the AI fakes 12:10 - Anaconda (2025) 18:40 - Ludwig (BBC) 24:45 - Warhammer 40,000: Space Marine 2 34:40 - Twilight Zone: The Movie

Another year, another heaping helping of the Fresh Shit! Our annual tradition of kicking off the New Year with a full show discussing the movies, YouTube channels, and shows that we’ve been enjoying! If we released this the week we recorded it, we’d even be topical! 0:00 - Intros 4:20 - Guard The Leaf https://www.youtube.com/@GuardTheLeaf 4:50 - Let’s get the political stuff out of our system 22:40 - Munoma Music https://www.youtube.com/@munomamusic/shorts 25:45 - The Melon Collies (where’s my fuckin bus) https://youtu.be/L3Ab-U_nT6o?si=yeEb_o2hXMP9OOHN 27:15 - Taskmaster https://www.youtube.com/c/Taskmaster 29:55 - The Goes Wrong Show https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oqW3_AZRSlw 32:10 - 8 Out of 10 Cats Does Countdown 33:40 - Kitboga https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCm22FAXZMw1BaWeFszZxUKw 38:55 - Paddington In Peru (2024) 44:45 - The Phoenician Scheme (2025) 50:25 - Wake Up, Dead Man: A Knives Out Mystery (2025) 55:40 - Now You See Me Now You Don’t (2025) 1:01:55 - One Battle After Another (2025) 1:10:55 - Guillermo Del Toro’s Frankenstein (2025) 1:12:40 - Plur1bus

Brian finally brings his binge of all the Bond films to a close with this ranking episode. After subjecting himself to 60+ years of shaken martinis, disposable Bond girls, and increasingly questionable theme songs, Brian drags Chris and Eric into the fray to debate the best, the worst, and the Roger Moore-iest of the bunch. It’s the longest-running franchise in cinema history, and we’ve got takes for days. So polish your Walther PPK, adjust your cufflinks, and prepare to be both shaken and stirred. 0:00 - Intros 7:10 - Josh Johnson 10:00 - Shucked (Broadway touring company) 14:30 - Plur1bus 17:45 - Andor 23:05 - I Like Me (John Candy doc) 27:20 - Local Reality and the Nobel Prize 32:00 - Tron Ares soundtrack 36:20 - James Bond Films Ranked

There were a LOT of movies released in the 1990’s, cultural touchstones and zeitgeist titles that everyone still seems to talk about at the proverbial watercooler (insert dumb Pulp Fiction quote here). But every so often a big movie from the era will come up in conversation that we may not have seen and we are unable to contribute anything but anger, confusion or disappointment to the proceedings. Without further ado, here is our chat about some blockbuster movies from the 90s the entire world has seen, except for us. That’s right, a whole podcast about stuff we’ve never watched. Because reasons. 0:00 - Intros 7:45 - Our Spotify Top Listens for 2025 13:00 - Phantogram 17:25 - Alice In Chains 10:10 - Doug Standhope 18:34 - Wet Leg 24:25 - Our top 5 Artists 25:05 - Louis CK 26:00 - LeTigre 26:45 - Gary Numan 28:15 - The Beths 30:00 - Depeche Mode 31:20 - Blur 32:09 - Eagles 33:05 - Garbage 33:53 - Rocket 34:50 - Pink Floyd 38:30 - Missed It! 90’s Blockbuster Edition 40:45 - Twister 44:05 - The Sixth Sense 49:05 - The Mummy 52:55 - Titanic 58:20 - Rush Hour 1:01:45 - The Disney Renaissance 1:05:30 - The Rock 1:08:05 - Armageddon 1:16:15 - Ransom 1:15:50 - Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves

This week on Magnificently Huge, Brian makes Chris and Eric sit through the 2025 Robbie Williams biopic, Better Man. We dig into this weird, high-gloss fever dream of a film that's part jukebox musical, part psychological spiral, and part Bohemian Rhapsody with fewer teeth and more self-pity. There are scenes with Robbie talking to his younger self, scenes with Robbie fighting invisible demons, and scenes where we all started to wonder if this was some sort of elaborate dare. Join us as we try to figure out who this movie is for, whether narcissism can be considered a cinematic genre, and if Better Man is actually performance art disguised as a biopic—or just punishment from the pop gods.

There are a lot of noir crime thrillers in the world, but most modern ones have a problem digging too deeply into the noir part of the equation. “Killing them softly” does away with the winding plot and instead gives a simple premise, with a simple resolution, and a world so real in its crappiness you can kind of smell it. Maybe it’s a grime thriller? It’s certainly the best at it if you’re into this sort of thing. 0:00 - Intros 3:30 - Monster: The Ed Gein story (Netflix, 2025) 7:35 - Devil In Disguise: John Wayne Gacy (Peacock, 2025) 9:35 - Little Evil (Netflix, 2017) 12:45 - Palm Royale (Apple TV) 20:00 - Dune pts. 1 and 2 (2021, 2024) 33:45 - Killing Them Softly

Join us for a look at the underrated Troma classic from 1992, Frankenhooker! What could a movie called Frankenhooker possibly be about, you ask? Don’t be stupid, it’s literally about a STEM weirdo from New Jersey who loses his girlfriend in a freak accident, only to bring her back by sewing her head onto a body stitched together from the parts of dead prostitutes. Duh. And it is one of the more astoundingly entertaining things we have all watched in months! Like, stupidly entertaining. Like, more enjoyable than any movie this dumb has a right to be. Let it wash over you like a sea of calm… and gore… and bare breasts for no reason other than this is a B-movie with the ingenious title of Frankenhooker. Wanna date? 0:00 - Intros 4:50 - Fantastic Four: First Steps and Thunderbolts 14:30 - Legion 21:20 - Prey 25:25 - Alien Earth 31:35 - Frankenhooker

This week, we view Francis Ford Coppola’s Bram Stoker’s Dracula (1992)—a film that dares to ask: what if Dracula were horny, operatic, and deeply confused about accents? With Keanu Reeves giving the most unintentionally British performance ever committed to celluloid (bless him, he tried), Winona Ryder looking vaguely confused but still cashing checks, and Gary Oldman chewing scenery like it’s soaked in blood and Oscar nominations, this movie is a visual fever dream you almost forgive for being a narrative mess. We unpack the lush production design, jaw-dropping in-camera effects, shadow puppetry, Monica Bellucci's succubus cleavage, and that iconic armor that looks like a walking anatomy chart. Oh, and monster rape. Because apparently, that was necessary? So join us as we ask the eternal questions: Was this movie genius or a hot mess? (Spoiler: Yes.) And should anyone ever let Keanu attempt an accent again? (Spoiler: No.) Grab your blood goblet, adjust your shadow, and renounce God—it’s time for another Magnificently Huge Podcast! 0:00 - Intros 6:05 - Cosmic Devolution Tour 7:05 - Lene Lovich 8:00 - DJ Cummerbund 8:45 - DEVO 11:20 - The B-52s 15:10 - TRON Ares (2025) 28:55 - Hell or High Water (2016) 30:55 - Tulsa King 33:50 - Horror Express (1972) 37:10 - Bram Stoker’s Dracula (1992)

What do you get when you take a creatively brilliant director, give him all the leeway he wants, resulting in a film that is a commercial failure but a sleeper hit? You get a very pissed off John Carpenter is what you get. Despite a career of culturally significant awesomeness - “Starman,” “The Thing,” being Adrienne Barbeau’s husband - all it took was some big trouble in Little China for funding to dry up. With that comes the shot-on-a-shoestring horror classic, “Prince of Darkness.” It is an acquired taste, as you will see. As usual, we also talk about a bunch of other stuff we’ve been watching, because this is a podcast, and that’s what you do. 0:00 - Intros 7:25 - Superman (2025) 18:45 - Hacks (HBO) 23:20 - The Studio (Apple TV) 27:00 - Strange New Worlds (Paramount) 29:30 - Robocop: Rogue City (Xbox) 36:00 - John Carpenter’s Prince of Darkness (1987)

We’re gonna Thelma & Louise the shiznit out of this show with our picks for Best Onscreen Duos! That’s right, from Abbott & Costello to Matthau & Lemmon to Rick & Morty and everything in between, it’s a quasi-intelligent chat about our favorite duos from film and television. What makes a duo dynamic? Which duos are garbage? And how can we possibly cram a reasonable number of onscreen duos into one podcast without making it seem like we came utterly unprepared and instead shout out listicles? From our trio of pieholes direct to your ears, the magic unfolds like Tango & Cash at baby’s first communion… monster trucks and all! 0:00 - Intros 8:20 - Walking Dead Sequel Shows 10:25 - Marvel Zombies 14:00 - Honey Don’t (2025) 20:25 - The Roses (2025) 25:55 - Sisu (2025) 30:55 - Best On-Screen Duos

James Bond is on the menu this week, as Brian winds down his journey to watch every canonical movie in sequential order. That means we finally hit up the first appearance of Daniel Craig in the 2006 throwback/reboot/reset adaptation of the very first Ian Fleming novel - Casino Royale! Or did we do the very terrible star-studded psychedelic comedy trainwreck from 1967? Or maybe the Americanized, made-for-TV version from 1954? Confused yet? You won’t be once you listen to our take on the GOOD Casino Royale. 0:00 - Intros 3:35 - LCD Soundsystem 7:50 - Your Friends and Neighbors (Apple TV+) 10:50 - DEVO Documentary (Netflix) 21:30 - Weird Al Bigger and Weirder Tour 27:55 - Taskmaster 34:20 - Casino Royale Here is the Patrick (H) Willems take on the Craig Bond Years https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8bNXqwpm-rk&ab_channel=Patrick%28H%29Willems

Ever watch a TV show and simply think, WTF? Oh, sure, there are plenty of new programs out there that make you go hmmmmm…. But we’re focusing more on the ones from further back in the historical record that have managed to become part of the zeitgeist despite (or because of?) their best and weirdest efforts not to. These are the shows that may not have aged well, may not make any sense using a modern context, or simply have no clue how amazingly weird they really are. For every Hill Street Blues, there is always a Cop Rock. For every Modern Family, there is a Brady Bunch. For every… well you get the idea. So here is our very arbitrary, very lazy, and incredibly haphazard look at The Weirdest TV Shows in History! 0:00 - Intros 5:45 - Liarmouth (Book. Waters, John) 13:25 - Pierce Brosnan as James Bond. Goldeneye, Tomorrow Never Dies, The World Is Not Enough, Tomorrow Never Dies 39:05 - Weirdest TV Shows to get made, but are popular anyway 40:20 Hogan’s Heroes 50:40 Gilligan’s Island 56:20 Law & Order: Special Victims Unit 1:03:10 - Friends 1:05:50 - Three’s Company

This week, we dissect Death of a Unicorn, the 2025 indie-horror-fantasy-corporate-satire you didn't know you needed. Follow the bizarre journey of a father-daughter duo who hit a unicorn—yes, an actual one—and are promptly dragged into a corporate scramble over who gets to exploit the thing’s magical healing powers first. Because what better metaphor for late-stage capitalism than weaponizing purity, bottling it, and selling it to shareholders? It beats reality anyway. Also, Alien Earth and more James Bond!

Episode 343 - Sinners We finally take a look at Ryan Coogler’s dynamic, thematically-dense social critique of how the Jim Crow South refuses to die, and the skepticism towards big tent progressivism on certain cultural groups in America. Or maybe Sinners is just a basic vampire tale? We’ll be the judge of that! Just don’t invite any strangers in, or you’ll be sorry. Unless it is us. In which case, you will likely still be sorry. Sinners… it’s good. See it. 0:00 - Intros 7:30 - The Truth About Jussie Smollett 15:30 - Fantastic 4: First Steps (2025) 25:45 - The Naked Gun (2025) 33:10 - Marc Maron - Panicked (2025) 40:45 - Sinners (2025) SPOILER DISCUSSION

Do the Muppets even carry the same cultural heft now as in their 70s heyday? Who cares? Because there is no movie as pure and joyful and fun as The Muppet Movie, so say us. Jim Henson and Co. took what was best about their TV show and turned it into a road-comedy with heart, an erstwhile origin story of how the Muppets became THE MUPPETS. With lots of classic, catchy bangers by Paul Williams thrown in among the (now dated?) cameos by stars you may not even remember if you are younger than 50. This thing is peak Gen-X, kids. It is also a movie guaranteed to lift your mood - a 90-minute shot of dopamine, serotonin and positivity mainlined into your brainpan by cute and cuddly puppets, all wrapped in a giant, fuzzy warm hug. 0:00 - Intros 5:28 - Old Henry (2021) 12:15 - Jason Statham movies 19:50 - Friday Night Dinner (BBC) 23:55 - Starfleet Academy trailer 25:30 - The Paragon (2023) 28:5 0 - The last 3 Roger Moore James Bond Films (For Your Eyes Only, Octopussy, A View to a Kill) 41:55 - The Muppet Movie

<Eric typing frantically> This week, when they go low… we go Solo! I hate myself for writing that. I truly do. I think this is why people try to avoid me in public. When I try to make small talk in an elevator I just get so many eye rolls and heads shaking…. I should be taken out back and shot for that. “Solo?” Ugh. Puns. WhatEVER. Oh, and we also dissect “Solo: A Star Wars Story,” along with a slew of superhero crap we’ve been watching. There is no WAY anyone is still reading this. 0:00 - Intros 8:30 - Agatha All Along 10:10 - Ms. Marvel and The Marvels 18:05 - Superman (2025) 28:35 - The Cleaner (BBC) 33:00 - Solo: A Star Wars Story

1988’s “I'm Gonna Git You Sucka,” directed by Keenen Ivory Wayans, was a sleeper hit at a time when there weren’t a lot of sleeper hits yet. This had a cast of greats from the 70s blaxploitation era, as well as future comedy legends only just getting their first job on a movie. In our ongoing search for comedies from decades ago to see if they’re still funny, we pick this movie apart in painstaking detail. We also talk about James Bond, the MCU, Amazon’s “Heads of State,” and all sorts of cultural silliness. Because that’s our beat. You’re welcome. 0:00 - Intros 3:15 - Loki season 2 5:15 - The Franchise 10:40 - Heads of State 21:50 - The Spy Who Loved Me and Moonraker 35:30 - I’m Gonna Git You Sucka

Michael Mann helped create the 80’s neon-noir & pastel music video aesthetic in TV and films with Miami Vice,Thief and Manhunter. Obviously this would lead to his 1992 movie adaptation of The Last of the Mohicans, a very dull and nigh-unreadable 19th Century adventure romance novel by James Fenimore Cooper. It’s a costume drama set during the French and Indian War starring Daniel Day-Lewis as Hawkeye, a white dude raised by the Mohicans who gets embroiled in the conflict to save the woman he loves (Madeleine Stowe) from becoming collateral damage. With gorgeous forested vistas, well-staged action, and a sweeping score by Trevor Jones, this one is a weird passion project for Mann, to be sure. But it did surprisingly well at the box office, so I guess that’s something. So stay alive, no matter what occurs… we will podcast about it for you! 0:00 - Intros 9:35 - Parks and Recreation 16:20 - The Traitors NZ 20:00 - Thunderbolts* (2025) 31:45 - 28 Years Later (2025) 39:00 - The Last of the Mohicans (1992) Here’s the Ben Stiller Show clip Eric referenced: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yaAC3OppG94

So how does a band like Eagles have such a bad reputation for sucking… and sell THIS MANY ALBUMS!?! The mind boggles. The Beatles sold a lot of records, and people still love those guys. Michael Jackson sold a lot of records, and people forgave him for some really awful stuff I won’t mention lest I get some kind of “flag” from Apple. I’ll just say, “Jesus juice.” Google it. Anyway, Eagles (not “The” Eagles, because reasons,) didn’t interfere with any children, but people hate them all the same these days. Why? With such an impressive list of songs that were not only hits but are still cultural touchstones, how does this band still get the high hat from music fans? Glad you asked, because that’s what we’ll be talking about this week. Plus a lot of other stuff like Star Wars, The John Wickiverse, Wes Anderson, and probably more than you want to know about. 3:15 - Andor season 2 17:20 - Reacher season 3 23:00 - Ballerina 35:50 - The Phoenician Scheme 41:20 - Eagles (1:12:00 - Heartache Tonight) End on Don Henley must Die

Let’s quiet things down a bit and hit some introspective vibes with 2003’s indie comedy-drama, The Station Agent. It is the breakout role for Peter “Don’t Call Me Tyrion” Dinklage, as a loner who just wants to remain alone but doesn’t because other humans are around who eventually become his friends… or something. Not a lot happens in this movie, to be honest, but so what? It is supposed to be quiet and sweet and why do you have to make it so difficult to forge new relationships in adulthood? Huh? Because the real journey is the friends we make along the way. Also starring Patricia Clarkson, Bobby Cannavale and Michelle Williams, The Station Agent is our Movie of the Week. 0:00 - Intros 5:43 - The White Lotus (season 3) 12:23 - Captain America Brave New World 16:00 - Monster: Humanoids from the Deep (1980) 19:00 - Thunderbolts* (2025) 30:25 - Daredevil Born Again 32:13 - Ball of Fire (1941) 39:27 - The Station Agent (2003)

So there’s this movie about a woman who’s a spy and kicks a lot of ass and kills people. No, not “Atomic Blonde.” No, not “Ballerina.” And not “Alias” or “Red Sparrow” or “Black Widow” or… okay, maybe not the most original concept. But before all of these things there was “The Long Kiss Goodnight” - the Geena Davis/Renny Harlin attempt to keep working despite one of Hollywood’s most disastrous bombs the year before (Cutthroat Island). Like all of our shows, it’s a wild ride this week! We also cover some music, some James Bond stuff, Mission: Impossible, and America’s attempt to reject monarchy. 5:30 - Trump parade vs No Kings 17:35 - Mission: Impossible the Final Reckoning vs the worst of Roger Moore’s James Bond (Live and Let Die, The Man with the Golden Gun, The Spy Who Loved Me) 33:30 - Negativland: The World Will Decide, Helter Stupid 38:50 - Shrek and Madagascar 44:25 - The Long Kiss Goodnight (1996)

It may not be the day-in-the-life movie we wanted, but it was the one we deserved. A 90s-era nostalgia trip to the early 80s, “200 Cigarettes” is notable mostly for its cast of future stars. We also talk about dead parents, nuclear war, James Bond and shooting people to Lionel Ritchie. Because we’re just that freakin’ good. 4:40 - Gen Alpha linguistics professor 7:00 - McCurdy, Jennette - I’m Glad My Mom Died (book) 13:10 - Jacobsen, Annie - Nuclear War: A Scenario (book) 18:00 - Peter Hook and the Light 21:20 - James Bond revisited (You Only Live Twice, On Her Majesty’s Secret Service, Diamonds Are Forever) 38:50 - 200 Cigarettes

Ruthless People is a hilarious gem from the 80s that gets the bizness this round! The last comedy directed jointly by the Airplane! guys, from a script by the guy who wrote Dirty Rotten Scoundrels and My Cousin Vinny, with one of the strongest casts you will ever have the pleasure of seeing perform, it should have become an instant classic. So why did this one get so unceremoniously memory-holed? Is it because, in spite of its tight script and screwball antics, that it happens to also be one of THE MOST 80’S MOVIES EVER MADE? From the production design and costumes to the music that screams 1986, Ruthless People has been forever unable to escape the gravitational force of the Me Decade to languish in semi-obscurity. Which is a damn shame, and we are here today to wrest it from the pit of Lost VHS Classics!

Back in the year 2000, before Vin Diesel exploded into worldwide superstardom with all those car movies, he did a mid-budget B-movie sci-fi oddity called Pitch Black. It’s sort of like if someone remade Aliens with Snake Plissken as the main character, but definitely not as cool as a movie with that description. Oh don’t get us wrong… it has moments of pure fun, to be sure,and it is made well. Faint praise, to be sure. However, it knows exactly what it is at every step of the way, and that is most deserving of our faint praise. Is it an ageless classic? No, but it did somehow spawn several sequels and video games, which is way more than most films of this ilk can say. Pitch Black is a good way to kill 90 minutes, and it will certainly leave you entertained. What more do you want? 0:00 - Intros 5:10 - You (Netflix) 8:50 - Watch the Twister: Caught in the Storm (2025) 13:30 - F1 Trailer 15:00 - Sinners 20:55 - Moon Walker - Ban This Song 22:55 - Puretone - Addicted to Bass 23:50 - Drew Behm 26:30 - Kanopy streaming service - 50’s comedies (Lavender Hill Mob, The Ladykillers) 29:30 - Pitch Black (2000) (35:10 - STROW) (43:00 - Slam song drop - look for earlier instance)

This week, we turn our attention to one of the most gloriously idiotic masterpieces ever committed to film: Steve Martin’s The Jerk (1979). It's a story of rags to riches to rags to a thermos, starring a man who was born a poor Black child and somehow got even more confused from there. We revisit this iconic comedy that launched Martin from stand-up absurdist to full-blown movie star, and unpack why a film this aggressively stupid remains so brilliantly sharp. From Navin Johnson’s wide-eyed journey into the cruel, ridiculous world—complete with disco suits, dog heroism, and the invention of opti-grip—we ask the important questions: Is this still funny? (Yes.) Does it still make us cringe? (Also yes.) And how did they get away with that line? Expect vintage references, a shocking lack of subtlety, and deep appreciation for a movie that manages to satirize class, race, capitalism, and loneliness—mostly by accident. Come for the jokes, stay for the gas station sniper, and leave with a new appreciation for the rhythm method of filmmaking. Because sometimes, you just want to watch a man lose everything except his paddleball game and a chair. And sometimes, that’s enough. 0:00 - Intros 7:35 - OK Go - “Love” video 9:20 - Lady Gaga - Mayhem album 15:05 - Thunderball (1965) 21:30 - Midcentury Modern (Hulu) 25:55 - Vicious (ITV) 27:35 - Sexy Beast (Paramount+) 33:20 - The Jerk (1979)

In this episode, we take a lighthearted stroll through the charming, not-at-all-horrifying political farce that is The Death of Stalin (2017). We explore how the film hilariously—and totally hypothetically—shows the chaos, sycophancy, and moral collapse that can follow when absolute power meets absolute fear. Good thing nothing like that could ever happen in a modern democracy, right? Right. Join us as we unpack Armando Iannucci’s dark comedy, where top Soviet officials scramble like cockroaches in a spotlight after their dear leader suddenly kicks the bucket. We marvel at the way they lie, backstab, and perform loyalty theater with such grace you'd think they were auditioning for cable news. No parallels to draw here, folks. Just a quaint historical romp through a time when government officials said one thing in public, another in private, and loyalty to the leader trumped reality. That’s definitely not familiar. Nope. Not even a little. So tune in for laughs, gasps, and a subtle but totally unintentional look in the mirror. This is just history. Distant, irrelevant, and absolutely not a warning sign blinking in red neon. Here’s a link to Michael Noland’s YouTube channel https://www.youtube.com/@MichaelNoland-TheBottomLine 0:00 - Intros 7:50 - Michael Noland: The Bottom Line 13:30 - Franz Ferdinand live 19:30 - Telescreens 22:35 - Yellowjackets (season 3) 24:45 - Ashley Madison: Sex, Lies & Scandal 29:50 - Captain America - Brave New World 39:15 - Nintendo Switch 2 42:30 - The Death Of Stalin (2017)

The Pink Panther movies are part of an enduring cinema comedy franchise, an ever-sillier slapstick human cartoon brought to you by the genius of Blake Edwards and Peters Sellers. 11 films total. 6 starring Sellers. 7 directed by Edwards. Only 5 are any good. They can re-cast James Bond every few years and no one really cares, but try to recast Inspector Clouseau and it spells disaster. Oh, they’ve tried to put the series on life support a few times before, but without Sellers there simply is no Pink Panther. Period. 0:00 - Intros 4:15 - The Gorge (2025) 10:00 - Anora (2024) 16:25 - Dr. No and From Russia with Love 24:30 - Burke and Hare (2010) 30:10 - The Pink Panther

In this episode, we bravely tackle the 1967 British sci-fi horror film Quatermass and the Pit—a movie Boomers swear is a classic, and who are we to argue with the generation that gave us powdered soup and lawn darts? We explore the film’s ambitious plot involving Martians, mind control, and human evolution—all rendered with the finest special effects 1967 had to offer (which is to say, not very fine). Join us as we try to figure out what’s genuinely eerie and what’s just aged weirdly, all while appreciating the film’s lasting influence on the genre... even if it sometimes feels like watching a really intense episode of Doctor Who on VHS. 0:00 - Intros 4:05 - Burnistoun (Scottish Sketch Show) 6:15 - Ministry - The Squirrely Years 8:50 - AWOLNATION 10:25 - Extrapolations (Apple TV+) 22:15 - Quatermass and the Pit

A classic of Australian cinema, 1980’s “Breaker Morant” is the best Australian war film that isn’t “Gallipoli” ever. Part biograph, part history, part courtroom drama, pitch black in its view of humanity and some of the greatest film performances ever. Edward Woodward, (the original “Equalizer,”) Brian Brown, (who may be contractually obligated to be in any film shot in Australia,) and the legendary Jack Thompson star, and we’ll be talking about it. 0:00 - Intros 6:40 - Viva Knievel! 17:05 - The Electric State 28:50 - Sly Lives (aka The Burden of Black Genius) 34:00 - Twisted Metal (Paramount Plus) 37:35 - Severance 40:55 - Ghosts 43:35 - Breaker Morant

It’s the greatest 40’s-noir-mystery-fantasy-magic mashup ever released in 1991! That’s right, Cast a Deadly Spell is the made-for-tv movie you didn’t know you needed about gumshoe H.P. Lovecraft on a case through 1948 L.A. to find a stolen Necronomicon and avoid the second coming of Cthulu. With a cast that includes Fred Ward, Clancy Brown, David Warner and Julianne Moore… from the director of Goldeneye and the producer of Aliens! If this thing had a bigger budget and few more rewrites, it could’ve been the greatest movie of the 90s. What we got was still a pretty good entertainment value. With extra zombies. 0:00 - Intros 6:25 - The 80’s Cruise 16:15 - Squeeze 16:50 - Andy Bell 17:40 - AdamAnt) 18:30 Honeymoon suite 19:45 - Kurtis Blow 22:25 - Men at Work and Colin Hay solo 24:15 - Information Society 26:40 - Musical Youth 27:20 - T’Pau and Tiffany 28:10 - Warrant 29:45 - Christopher Cross (ride like the wind) 31:57 - Sheila E. 34:05 - Choosing between next year’s 80’s Cruise or 90’s Cruise 39:50 - Cast a Deadly Spell (1991)

The Academy Awards are coming up this week, so we decided to look back at the twisted logic that decided “Shakespeare in Love” was a better movie than “Saving Private Ryan.” There’s some other stuff in this episode as well, but that’s just the shining example of WTF in Oscar history, isn’t it? 0:00 - Intros 5:30 - The 90’s Cruise 21:00 - Better Man (2025) 24:30 - Some Like It Hot! (touring) 28:30 - Only Murders in the Building (season 4) 32:55 - Wallace and Gromit: Vengeance Most Fowl 36:20 - Best Pictures get it wrong #DrivingMissDaisy #DoTheRightThing #BetterMan #Oscars #BestPicture #RobbieWilliams #SomeLikeItHot #Broadway #OnlyMurdersInTheBuilding #WallaceAndGromit #The90sCruise #The80sCruise #Lit #Everclear #DigitalUnderground #ColorMeBadd #podcast #genx #nostalgia #funny #movies #streaming #podernfamily #underdogpods

Remember cable TV? If you do, then you might also remember The Cable Guy, the 1996 Jim Carrey cult movie directed by Ben Stiller. Where to start with this uneven mix of screwball-meets-satire-meets-dark-comedy? It has some good bits peppered throughout, but keeps stalling before other moments arrive… sort of like Jim Carrey’s whole filmography, really. Mostly it is of interest to us as a fulcrum point in the 90’s careers of both Stiller and Carrey, who by this time were starting to branch out from the purely comic to experiment with the dark side of life. The Cable Guy has pedigree, but it is inconsistent, and thus remains an oddity that we decided to flog with leftover coaxial. 0:00 - Intros 4:45 - Bert I. Gordon movies (eg: The Amazing Colossal Man) 13:15 - Kevin Can Fuck Himself 17:30 - A Simple Favor 21:00 - Laid (Peacock) 23:25 - Penny Dreadful 25:25 - Harley Quinn 26:15 - Creature Commandos 27:55 - Lioness 33:00 - The Cable Guy (1996) #Lioness #Laid #HarleyQuinn #CreatureCommandos #DC #KevinCanFuckHimself #AnnaKendrick #ASimpleFavor #BlakeLively #BenStiller #JimCarrey #TheCableGuy #90s #BertIGordon #TheAmazingColossalMan #podcast #genx #nostalgia #funny #movies #streaming #podernfamily #underdogpods

If you’ve ever wondered what movies were coming out in 2025, you probably had that thought in like just the last week or two, right? Who thinks of the movies coming soon any further back than that? If this was January 1997, the movies coming out in 1997 should be what you’re worried about, not the movies dropping in 2025… Wait, what were we talking about again? Oh yeah, movies coming soon or something… That Superman thing is gonna be huge! 0:00 - Intros 7:00 - Wolf Man 7:50 - Star Trek: Section 31 9:45 - Flight Risk 11:10 - Bridget Jones vs Captain America vs Paddington vs The Gorge on Valentine’s Day 16:05 - The Day The Earth Blew Up: A Looney Tunes Movie 17:34 - Mickey 17 18:40 - Snow White 21:30 - A Working Man 23:30 - A Minecraft Movie 25:20 - Sinners 26:45 - Happy Gilmore 2 26:45 - Thunderbolts* 29:40 - Lilo & Stitch 30:20 - Karate Kid: Legends 30:48 - Mission Impossible: The Final Reckoning 33:55 - Ballerina From the world of John Wick 37:15 - Elio vs How to Train Your Dragon 40:30 - 28 Years Later 42:25 - F1 43:50 - Jurassic World Rebirth 47:00 - Superman 57:20 - Fantastic Four: First Steps 59:25 - The Naked Gun 1:01:00 - Freakier Friday 1:02:35 - The Bride! 1:03:53 - Tron: Ares 1:05:07 - Mortal Kombat 2 1:05:33 - Predator Badlands vs The Running Man 1:07:35 - Now You See Me 3 1:08:10 - Avatar: Fire and Ash

Episode 323 - David Lynch’s Blue Velvet David Lynch - the great visionary of modern cinema - has died and we are all the poorer for it. RIP Mr. Lynch. And while film fans slather your entire career with praise and hosannas, we instead salute the single film that is most important to our show, Blue Velvet. It is where all the Lynchian tropes got defined, a mash-up of 50’s melodrama and noir, blended into a milkshake of psychosexual violence as only the 80’s could allow. By most conventional metrics, this one is not considered Lynch’s masterpiece… but we disagree. Blue Velvet is his greatest film per our dimbulb view, a cornerstone film that has always bound this podcast forever to the weird, the uncanny, the trashy and the classics of cinema. And also his most quotable film EVER. It’s a strange world… 0:00 - Intros 8:05 - The Brutalist (2025) 15:20 - StarTrek: Section 31 21:10 - cover bands 24:00 - Emelia Perez (2025) 28:55 - Creature Commandos (Max) 31:30 - Severance (season 2, Apple) 38:00 - the casts of The Magnificent Seven (1960) vs The Great Escape (1963) 44:25 - Blue Velvet (David Lynch - 1986)

New year, same old podcast… We’re back from our December holiday hiatus and doing a full show of the usual segment we like to call The Fresh Sh*t. Because we’re lazy and didn’t get around to picking a real topic. So enjoy our normal crazy talk about all the movies, TV, music and books we have been enjoying before we ultimately get cranky and start yelling at clouds or whatever. Happy 2025, gang! 0:00 - Intros 5:10 - Josh Johnson on Luigi Mangione 12:00 - James Acaster 15:35 - Maria Bamford 19:55 - Cunk on Life 23:50 - Cary Grant’s Suit (McEwen) 28:45 - Joker Folie à Deux (2024) 35:50 - A Real Pain (2024) 39:07 - Red One (2024) 39:55 - Babygirl (2024) 46:25 - Squid Game 2 (2025) 53:00 - Interior Chinatown 57:20 - Girls 5 Eva 59:30 - Man On The Inside Here’s a link to Josh Johnson’s YouTube channel: https://www.youtube.com/@JoshJohnsonComedy Here’s a bit from James Acaster: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rPql0PRFvB4https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rPql0PRFvB4

Episode 321 - The Magnificently Huge Podcast 2024 Xmas Music Mix We can’t keep recycling the years-old Christmas music episode forever. Time for some new Holly Jolly! Here’s a link to this year’s playlist on Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/playlist/5rPQMNPtxhxRLG0U3TLzcu?si=dlWJENXlQayXOZ079HOwiw Intro - 0:00 Power Music Workout - Do You Hear What I Hear? Classic Block - 3:23 Bing Crosby, The Andrews Sisters - Mele Kalikimaka The Beach Boys - Little Saint Nick Rap Block - 8:20 Christmas In Hollis - Run-DMC Snoop Dogg, Magic Juan, Jake the Flake - A Pimp’s Christmas Song Quad City DJ’s - What You Want For Christmas Praveen Francis - Christmas Rap Silly Block 23:19 Bob & Doug McKenzie - The Twelve Days Of Christmas Elizabeth Gray - It’s Christmas and I Don’t Like You The Singing Dogs - Jingle Bells Joel Kopischke - Stupid Christmas Song John Denver - Please, Daddy (Don’t Get Drunk This Christmas) Wesley Willis - Merry Christmas Canned Hamm and Friends - First I Make Love to You and Then I Make Love to Christmas Punk and Rock Block 41:28 William Shatner, Henry Rollins - Jingle Bells Voodoo Glow Skulls - Feliz Navidad The Linda Lindas - Groovy Xmas Relient K - I’m Getting Nuttin’ For Christmas Beautiful and Modern Block 54:09 Johnnyswim - Christmas Day Mindy Gledhill - Patapan / O Come, O Come Emmanuel Pentatonix - O Come, All Ye Faithful Echosmith - I Heard the Bells On Christmas Day Here’s a link to our perennial episode with clips of other crazy Christmas music: https://soundcloud.com/user-214181788/the-magnificently-huge-crazy-christmas-music-playlist-1?si=c90f0747899742d8aac16bf109005439&utm_source=clipboard&utm_medium=text&utm_campaign=social_sharing Here's a link to the Awesome/Bad Christmas playlist: https://open.spotify.com/user/quebedox/playlist/4JVVzDtl3AtASAtj99KKKl

Just because a movie is set at Christmas doesn’t mean it is a “Christmas Movie.” So sayeth us. We drop some hot takes on all the holiday entertainment marketed to us every year as being very Christmas-y… and we say NOPE. Or at least we are confused as to why they are considered part of this Season of Joy. The rules are pretty arbitrary here, but the bottom line is - if it has Santa Claus in it that doesn’t give it a free pass. You gotta earn that Xmas Cheer, yo. Also, Die Hard is still not a Xmas movie. 0:00 - Intros 5:00 - Landman (Paramount) 9:25 - House (series) 13:15 - It’s Florida, Man (Max) 15:40 - The Umbrella Academy (Netflix, final season) SPOILERS 19:40 - Cyndi Lauper live 25:35 - Le Tigre 27:15 - Plum Tree 30:05 - Holly Jolly WTF?

Imagine a heartfelt, warm, comforting movie about Christmas. Get that idea locked in your head. Now, imagine that same movie, but all of the parts are played by cadavers - and half of those corpses are that of Tom Hanks. If that’s difficult for you to bend your mind around, have no fear, Robert Zemeckis has done all the work for you in Polar Express, our feature of the week! 0:00 - Intros 6:15 - Planes Trains and Automobiles (1987) 13:35 - Anthony Vincent 18:00 - Beetlejuice Beetlejuice (2024) 27:30 - Brats (2024) 29:30 - Yacht Rock Documentary (Max, 2024) 38:20 - The Polar Express (2004) Check out Ten Second Songs on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCm6r_b2K5jn1JGkwDcwJXrQ

This week, we’re diving headfirst into the icy wilderness with Hundreds of Beavers, the latest indie film that’s equal parts surreal slapstick, silent-era homage, and weird woodland fever dream. This black-and-white oddity defies explanation—so naturally, we spend a half-hour or so trying to explain it anyway. 0:00 - Intros 5:25 - The Fish That Saved Pittsburgh (1979) 13:10 - Eric’s Dune Rabbit Hole: Dune (2021), Dune: Part Two (2024), Heretics of Dune, Chapterhouse: Dune (Frank Herbert), Hunters of Dune (Brian Herbert) 19:25 - Hysteria! (Peacock) 23:45 - Disco Show 26:45 - Sting and Billy Joel live 33:55 - Shell Game (podcast) 41:00 - Hundreds of Beavers (2024)

It’s all neon gloss and kinetic pacing in this peak 80s early outing from writer/direct Luc Besson (Fifth Element)! And it is French! We get a pre-Highlander Christopher Lambert as a lost soul on the run from both the cops and the mob, hiding out in the Paris subway tunnels among a community of social outcasts and petty thieves. There is not much more to it than that. But again, it looks terrific, which is all we really expected anyway from Monsieur Besson. 0:00 - Intros 5:50 - Rivals (Hulu) 13:00 - Amelie (2001) 18:40 - Jeff Lynne’s ELO 27:40 - The Penguin (Max) 34:20 - Whatever Bond movie is on 40:40 - Subway (1985)