Comfort Films Podcast

For week 3 of our sci-fi series, we're pivoting from Alien to the Xenomorph's equally malevolent human-hunting enemy, Predator!  We're joined by the phenomenally funny and insightful Martin and Boaz from Film vs Film Podcast, and we discuss subverting toxic masculinity, cartoonish violence, meaningless folksy sayings, gun culture, ultimate frenemies Dutch and Dillon, extraterrestrials taking hunting vacations on earth, and the multiple governorships spawned by this film.  You son of a bitch, get to the chopper and give us a listen!

It's the second week of our sci-fi series, and we're going back into space, but this time it's scary!  Don't scream - no one can hear you anyway.  We talk about Ridley Scott's 1979 sci-fi horror/thriller Alien, a landmark movie which has spawned a whole lot of sequels and a unique lore around its xenomorph creature.  We also explore the links to John Carpenter, through writer Dan O'Bannon and also through the thematic connections to The Thing.  Also, why bad guys drink milk, interpreting the characters through the seven deadly sins, John's personal brush with a xenomorph, and how horror audiences have become jaded.  Got a long stay in stasis coming up?  Give us a listen!  

We're kicking off season 2 with a sci-fi film month, starting with one of our all-time favorites, fake Star Trek masterpiece Galaxy Quest!  We welcome Katherine Pyeatt to discuss Star Trek fandom, the majestic Alan Rickman, celebrity restroom encounters, Galaxy Quest's influence on the Kelvin timeline, our love for the Thermians whether in human or octopus form, and the awesome intersection of fantasy and reality that makes this movie so great.  By Grabthar's hammer, what an episode!

To wrap up our Christmas series and our first season of Comfort Films, we revisit the nostalgic Christmas special, A Charlie Brown Christmas.  We have both been watching this annually since we were kids in front of our giant console TVs with networks coming in over antenna, and we love the Peanuts gang so much that most of our Christmas-season decor is Peanuts-based.  In this episode, we discuss depression around the holidays, male pattern baldness in children, Snoopy as an agent of chaos, the Mean Girls prototypes Violet and un-Peppermint Patty, and the unforgettable Vince Guaraldi composition "Linus and Lucy."  Thanks for being with us over the last 60 episodes!  We hope we've entertained you and that you'll be back to join us next season!

For this third episode of our second annual holiday series, we finally decided to tackle the most ubiquitous Christmas season film of all time, It's A Wonderful Life.  Welcoming Georgia's mom, Jean Hughes, as our guest, we discuss our nostalgia around annual rewatches of this amazing movie, Jimmy Stewart's simultaneously emotionally devastating and uplifting performance, pre-corporate bank lending (yes, really!), how being able to gain a different perspective can be more important than actually changing your situation, and the many ways we'd love to see old Mr. Potter suffer for his unjust ways. Ring a bell for old Clarence and give us a listen!

For this week's episode, we discuss the new Christmas film Spirited and two other Christmas favorites starring its leads, Will Ferrell and Ryan Reynolds.  John and Georgia talk about the heartwarming and hilarious Elf, and then welcome Sarah from Two Chicks Talkin Flicks to chat about one of her top comfort movies, Just Friends, and how no matter how much you change your life, when you go home for the holidays, it's easy to fall right back into your same old behaviors. We also talk about the hilarious scene-stealing Anna Faris and the missed opportunity for her duet with Bono.  Don't be a cotton-headed ninnymuggins - give us a listen!

Welcome to the second annual Comfort Films Christmas series, ya filthy animals!  We kick it off this year with a nostalgic look back at 1990's Home Alone, discussing Macaulay Culkin's star-making turn as Kevin McCallister, kids' competing excitement and fear of being alone, the case for Home Alone as a kid version of Die Hard, and the slapstick/Rube Goldberg device-filled showdown between Kevin and the Wet Bandits, played by Joe Pesci and Daniel Stern, which looms large over the film despite the surprisingly short amount of screen time.  We also sing the praises of another great John Hughes script and another great John Williams score, since those two keep popping up in many of our comfort choices.  Even if your whole family's packed up and left for France without you, don't worry -- Comfort Films is here, so give us a listen!

For this last episode of our mystery month, we welcome special guest Jenn Riedell to discuss the cult classic murder mystery farce, Clue.  It's the best board game movie we can think of, commanding a huge nostalgic piece of real estate in all our hearts.  We talk about the stellar ensemble cast (including standout Tim Curry), the philosophy and meta-ness of the multiple endings, rewriting the movie into many different settings, and we do our best not to spend the entire 90 minutes just quoting lines from the movie, as unbelievably tempting as it is. Hope you're not planning on Lee Ving before the episode is over!  Grab a candlestick and meet us in the hallway...  Mr. Boddy's got it coming!

It's week 3 of our mystery series, and we're searching every warehouse, farmhouse, henhouse, outhouse and doghouse looking for the one-armed man to exonerate Harrison Ford's Dr. Richard Kimble.  In this discussion of the 1993 film The Fugitive, we talk about the use of the Hitchcockian archetypal "wronged man" hero, unexpected comedic moments in this otherwise deadly serious film, crashing trains for art, if Jeroen Krabbe can ever be trusted, and whether it's okay to fall in love anew while you're deep in the process of finding your wife's murderer and running from the law.  We also engage in some horrifying impressions of a Chicago accent, offer up our respect for the hardworking and prolific character actors in film, and consider the possibilities of a Big Lebowski/Fugitive mashup.  Shave off that incriminating beard and give us a listen!

It's week 2 of our mystery series, and we're revisiting a directing team that we haven't discussed since way back in episode 1!  The Coen Brothers's comic twist on the noir detective story, The Big Lebowski, is one of the most quotable films of all time and one of our most rewatched (even if Georgia wasn't convinced the first time she saw it).  We discuss the abiding appeal of The Dude, whether this movie actually qualifies as a mystery, Philip Seymour Hoffman's glorious portrayal of the toady Brandt, connections with Road House, Sam Elliott's rambling narration, the joy of bowling, Roger Deakins, nihilists, and the ease of finding gently used home furnishings in Los Angeles alleyways.  Shine up your balls and join us!