This week we contrast two incredibly gorgeous films about rescuing your younger sibling from owl fairies, Song of the Sea and Labyrinth. Join us for a look at potential alternate versions of Labyrinth; probably the only time we'll watch a movie with a major character named Saoirse; a discussion of the emotional reality of fantasy narratives; why the non-fictional Saoirse thinks Labyrinth is ~a Feminist Film~, and our usual share of digressions about Neil Gaiman, theatre history, and books we like.

Featuring special guest Newsies expert, our friend Laura!

Interstitial music:

• David Bowie, Drive-In Saturday

• Newsies Cast, Seize the Day

• Pete Seeger, Union Maid

• Woody Guthrie, You Gotta Go Down And Join The Union

• Dolly Parton, 9 to 5

• Dropkick Murphys, Which Side Are You On?

I'm going to be honest with everyone, I'm sick of looking at, listening to, or thinking about this episode. In lieu of my usual description have some links:

Factual Podcasts about the Newsies Strike:

• Bowery Boys (Episode 219)
• The Dollop (Episode 275)

Newsies-Related Youtube Links

• Newsies Dance To Everything 
• F*cking Newsies parody trailer
• Blood Drips On Newsies Square

New York History Recommended Reading, courtesy Laura:

• Timothy Gilfoyle's "The Pickpocket's Tale: The Underworld of Nineteenth-Century New York"
• Tyler Anbinder's "Five Points: The Nineteenth-Century New York City Neighborhood That Invented Tap Dance, Stole Elections and Became the World's Most Notorious Slum"
• David Nasaw's "Children of the City"
• Susan Campbell Bartoletti's "Kids On Strike"
• David von Drehle's "Triangle: The Fire That Changed America"
• Jacob Riis' "How The Other Half Lives"

to which I'd like to add:

• Gerard Jones' "Men Of Tomorrow: Geeks, Gangsters and the Birth of the Comic Book"
• Michelle Markel and Melissa Sweet's "Brave Girl: Clara and the Shirtwaist Makers' Strike of 1909" (for kids!)
• Elana Dykewomon's "Beyond the Pale" (fiction)

And last but not least

• The Norma Rae fanmix I made while procrastinating on editing this episode 

This week we dipped our toes into some of the work of international treasure Angela Lansbury, with classic thriller The Manchurian Candidate (1962) and forgotten Christie adaptation Mirror Crack'd (1980). Join us as we go off on a tangent about comic book legend Jack Kirby; accuse Harry Potter of murder; posit hypothetical Brooklyn 99 crossovers; discuss the generic conventions of the mystery vs. the thriller; and learn what Saoirse remembers from her mandatory Cataloguing class.

You'll notice that this is not the 1950s creature feature we promised two weeks ago. As Patreon subscribers already know, we recorded a George Romero tribute instead, with somewhat obvious film choices Night of the Living Dead (1968) and Dawn of the Dead (1978). This is a long one (dare I say... a meaty one), because it turns out we have a lot to say about zombie culture; zombie survivalists; the allegorical power of zombies; what a cool band name 'The Goblins' is; violent white masculinity; and the time Saoirse went to a wedding on the set of the Dawn of the Dead remake.

 

Interstitial music:

- David Bowie, Drive-In Saturday

- Oingo Boingo, Dead or Alive

- Robin Sparkles, Let's Go To The Mall (We can't take credit for this excellent joke, which we stole from fanvidder Jetpack Monkey)

- Dario Argento and The Goblins, Dawn of the Dead theme

- The Cranberries, Zombie

 

Menu:

- Ham and sausages

- A sundae with lots of chocolate syrup

- 1970s TV dinners

- A nice white wine

This week we finally got to an episode that's been on our list since the very start, comparing recent poorly-conceived waste of potential Jem and the Holograms to 12-year-old Saoirse's favourite film in the world Josie and the Pussycats. Two cartoon-and-comic-to-live-action-film adaptations about unknown girl groups who suddenly hit the bigtime; two very different film-watching experiences. 

Interstitial Music:

David Bowie, Drive-In Saturday

Jem and the Holograms 2015, Youngblood

Jem and the Holograms ft. The Misfits, Jem theme

Josie and the Pussycats, Pretend to be Nice

DuJour, DuJour Around The World

The Runaways, Queens of Noise

(note: while recording I thought I would use Kesha's recent single Praying; I didn't end up finding space for it here but you should all go look it up on the music streaming service of your choice because it's great.)

Menu:

- Kettle (tm) brand potato chips

- Cotton candy

- Gatorade and a big mac

Content warnings: Blood, gore, violence, body horror, self-injury, suicide, institutionalisation, needles... Uh. Lots of things.

This week we explored one of my personal favourite film subgenres, adolescent girl horror, with 1999 Canadian cult classic Ginger Snaps and... less-beloved Jennifer's Body, from 2009.

We pull out our fancy cultural studies words; complain about the misrepresentation of the emo subculture; get nostalgic about the fashions of our tween and teen years; fall in love with Mrs. Fitzgerald; and spend a whole lot of time telling Diablo Cody to shut up.

Interstitial music:

David Bowie, Drive In Saturday

Jack Off Jill, Strawberry Gashes

Hole, Jennifer's Body

Oingo Boingo, I Was A Teenage Monster

 

Menu:

- Witch's fingers cookies

- Strawberry cheesecake

- Sweet-and-sour chicken breast

Commentary tracks for these films are up on our Patreon for subscribers at $5 or more!

We gave our eyes a break this week and didn't watch any new films. Instead, we devoted about an hour to a retrospective-- can you believe we've been doing this thing for a year? We can't really believe it ourselves.

Join us for the answers to all-important questions like "What episode would you recommend to new listeners?"; "How far in advance do you plan your episodes?"; "How has doing this show changed the way you watch movies?"; and "Which character is the Worst Boyfriend?", as well as an overall version of our usual Favourites breakdown!

 

Interstitial music:

- David Bowie, Drive-In Saturday

- Cathy Carr, First Anniversary

 

Menu:

- Popcorn

- Birthday cake

- Champagne

 

And finally, the important announcement...

Drive In Saturdays is now Patreon-supported!

If you like our show and have a bit of money to spare, please throw us a bone. Click the link above or listen to this episode to learn all about our exciting rewards and our goals for the future!

EDIT: Getting the weird error where only the first half hour of the episode is uploading correctly again. No idea why this happens. Direct download here if it still isn't working!

Join us this week as we compare two 'princess' movies where the lead character is transformed into a semi-aquatic animal by a curse, 1994's The Swan Princess and 2009's The Princess and the Frog. In which we pitch a sequel to Chicken Run; discover Saoirse is a Rothbart apologist; form a Cinderella Defense Squad; go on a tangent about the later entries in the Shrek franchise; lament the death of the 2D Disney Animated Feature; pitch a sequel to Chicken Run; and just generally have a lot of feelings about feature film animation.

Apologies to people who grew up with Swan Princess; neither of us did, really, and without nostalgia goggles the writing really doesn't hold up very well.

Menu:

- Venison

- Red wine

- Gumbo

Interstitial Music:

- Drive-In Saturday, David Bowie

- Far Longer Than Forever, Regina Belle and Jeffrey Osborne

- Almost There, Anika Noni Rose

- Girlfriend, Avril Lavigne

Coming up next: a Very Special Anniversary Episode! We'll be recording on around the 14th, so you have a week and a half to email/tweet/message us any questions or comments about the first year of this podcast!

Major content warnings this week for abuse/gaslighting and forced institutionalisation.

Dorian's been watching the FX series Feud, starring Susan Sarandon as Bette Davis and Jessica Lange as Joan Crawford, so we decided it was probably time to familiarise ourselves with two of the films that inspired the series. What Ever Happened To Baby Jane? starred Davis and Crawford, but their feuding got so bad that Crawford was replaced with Olivia De Havilland for the follow-up, Hush... Hush, Sweet Charlotte. Both are films about wealthy older women who experienced trauma in their youth and are kept in their big gothic mansions by their abusive relatives. For some reason, while Baby Jane is an iconic piece of cinema, Charlotte seems to have been comparatively forgotten, which is a shame because it turns out it's probably a better movie.

Menu:

- Gin

- Strawberry ice cream

- Sweet tea

Interstitial Music:

- Drive-In Saturday, David Bowie

- Whatever Happened to Baby Jane?, Bette Davis

- Hush... Hush, Sweet Charlotte, Patti Page

- Bette Davis Eyes, Kim Carnes

This week we contrast two car-focused dystopias, both reboots of existing-but-dormant franchises reworked for a millennial audience.

Mad Max: Fury Road broke exciting ground for a sci-fi piece, with a Best Picture nomination and multiple Oscar wins. Death Race 2050 was a direct-to-video release you'd be forgiven if you hadn't heard about. We evaluate how well they reflect the Millennial Experience; get very excited about worldbuilding; get distracted thinking about Lord of the Rings; and really try to pick apart what both films have to say about the geopolitical context of their creation.

Also, I just really really love Death Race, you guys.

Menu: 

- Spaghetti bolognese

- Champagne

- Spring water

- Fresh fruit

Interstitial music:

- Drive In Saturdays, David Bowie

- DESTROYA, My Chemical Romance

- Fast Car, Tracy Chapman

- Shut Up And Drive, Rihanna