Comfort Films Podcast

Week 3 of sword & sorcery movies is here, and this time we're traveling all the way back to ancient Greece for 1981's Clash of the Titans.  We talk about petty god squabbles, Star Wars connections, adventure genre conventions, and Ray Harryhausen's wonderfully creative special effects.  What are you waiting for? Release the Kraken!

For our second week of sword & sorcery films, we went with our vote for one of the best of all time, Conan the Barbarian!  This John Milius classic was released 40 years (and one day) ago, and it put Arnold Schwarzenegger on the path to becoming one of the biggest action stars of all time. We discuss lots of behind-the-scenes trivia, the theme of freedom, and for our second week in a row, how James Earl Jones makes a near perfect villain, in spite of seeming like a pretty nice guy in real life.

This week, we're starting a series on sword and sorcery movies, one of our favorite genres, and for the first episode, we decided to get creative with our interpretation and finally take a bite out of the Star Wars franchise, exploring A New Hope as a classic sword and sorcery fantasy film with a sci-fi twist.  Come with us to a galaxy far, far away to discuss knights (of the Jedi variety), a princess (who is no damsel in distress), and a dark wizard who wields the force and his red lightsaber with equal power and destruction.  Plus space Nazis, a desert hobo, and bad foster dad Owen Lars.  Enjoy!

This week we welcome a special guest, Kate Duffy, one of our dearest friends, to discuss her favorite comfort film, Moonstruck.  It's totally serendipitous, since The Unbearable Weight of Massive Talent, a meta-film starring Nicolas Cage as a version of himself, came out this week as well, and we all love him awful, like Cher's wonderful Loretta in Moonstruck.  We talk magical realism, Shanley screenplays, love as strong as a pizza pie to the face, and how much we all want to be a fantastic old grandpa with a dog pack.  

This week for episode 29, we celebrate the 15th anniversary of Georgia's #1 favorite movie of all time, Edgar Wright's 2007 buddy cop/folk horror mashup masterpiece Hot Fuzz, starring Simon Pegg and Nick Frost.  We discuss Wright and Pegg's perfectly crafted screenplay and mastery of genre conventions, Frost's channeling of Chris Farley's comedy style, and Wright's detailed directing style, all of which make this a tremendously successful film.

This week, we're closing out our month-long series on musicals with an episode on Jesus Christ Superstar.  We explore the film as the passion story from Judas's perspective beginning to end, the perfection of Carl Anderson, the career-defining performance of Ted Neeley, who has played Jesus for decades, and the relative merits of both the film soundtrack and the concept album.

Note: this is definitely still a podcast episode about a fictional movie, not a theological/religious discussion. So you're welcome to listen regardless of your belief system, as long as you're okay with adult language and occasional irreverence.

It's universally acclaimed as one of the best movie musicals of all time, and now it's a Comfort Films episode - #27, Singin' in the Rain!  We talk about Gene Kelly's athleticism, Old Hollywood, and the transition from silent film to talkies.  Put on your dancing shoes and join us!

In honor of John's birthday week, we discuss Streets of Fire, the 1984 Walter Hill film taglined "A rock & roll fable."  This is our second in a series of four music-forward films, and we examine whether Streets of Fire can properly be called a musical, why it doesn't have a broader audience (and why it should), and the many reasons why John counts this film, which he estimates he's seen over a hundred times, as his #1 movie overall.  

We're celebrating one of our all time favorite musician's birthdays this week with an episode on Rocketman, the 2019 Elton John musical biopic.  We talk music, trauma, costumes, more trauma, and soulmate friendships.  (Note that we did a lot more cursing than usual this time, so it's a headphones episode; we blame Elton John's parents.)

This will be the first in a four-week series of music-forward movies, which allow us to combine our two top interests into one great conversation.  Hope you'll join us to sing along!

Hey, are we a Shakespeare podcast now?  Don't tempt Georgia!!

We're back with a discussion of one of our favorite Shakespeare adaptations, Kenneth Branagh's 1993 Much Ado About Nothing.  Tune in to hear our thoughts on how Shakespeare should be taught (irreverently, aloud, and in whatever accent you choose), Kenneth Branagh's many smart choices (as both actor and director), Denzel Washington’s amazing turn as Don Pedro, Emma Thompson’s charming and sharp Beatrice, Shakespeare's infinite adaptability, and meaningfulness that transcends time and place.