The story of the Jamaican bobslead team is a family-friendly comedy that hits all the hoary old sports movie underdog beats. Which isn't necessarily a bad thing, though it means they have to completely fictionalize an historical event. Thankfully, it also has John Candy.

Starring Leon, Doug E. Doug, Rawle D. Lewis, Malik Youba, and John Candy. Written by Lynn Siefert, Tommy Swerdlow, and Michael Goldberg. Directed by Jon Turteltaub.

It's sports! It's animals! It's animation! It's celebrity voices! It's... a weird riff on Lost Horizon and I guess Saturday Night Fever with an alligator? It's Animalypics! From the creator of Tron! And hosted by a turtle who sounds like Henry Kissinger! And music from 10cc! I'm sure it made sense in 1980.

Starring Michael Fremer, Gilda Radner, Billy Crystal, and Harry Shearer. Written by Steven Lisberger, Michael Fremer, and Roger Allers. Directed by Steven Lisberger. Music by Graham Gouldman

A young man loses his father and home, is forced to work for a land baron, falls in love with his boss's daughter, and captures a rogue horse in this drama based on an Australian ballad. It's corny as a paperback romance, and has more horses than a twelve-year-old girl's notebook.

We also have my sister Anne on to talk a bit about horses.

Starring Tom Burlinson, Kirk Douglas, Sigrid Thornton, Jack Thompson, and Chris Haywood. Written by John Dixon and Fred Cullen from Banjo Paterson's poem. Directed by George T. Miller.

A bland office drone has an affair with his married coworker and becomes obsessed with her, while juggling his suicidal mother and unemployed best friend; did we mention it's a comedy?

Starring John Heard, Mary Beth Hurt, Peter Riegert, Kenneth McMillan, and Gloria Grahame. Written and directed by Joan Micklin Silver

A silent film of an opera sounds like a joke, but no, it's quite real--and honestly pretty disjointed and dull, playing more like highlights of Wagner's opera about the Holy Grail than a film in its own right. We also discuss Catholic theology, transubstantiation, incels, and Happy Days.

Starring Vitale Di Stefano, Mario Bonnard, Mary Cleo Tarlarini, and Maria Caserini. Directed by Mario Caserini.

This is a preview of the latest episode of our series Hollywood Avalon. To hear the entire episode, join the Mary Versus the Movies patreon for $3/month to hear this and the entire series Hollywood Avalon: https://www.patreon.com/maryvsmovies.

An American journalist goes missing during the 1973 Chilean coup, and his family naively expects the U.S. government to help recover him, not realizing that they're behind the coup. Based on a true story.

Starring Jack Lemmon, Sissy Spacek, John Shea, Melanie Mayron, and David Clennon. Written by Costa-Gavras and Donald E. Stewart. Directed by Costa-Gavras.

An Acid Western about a 19th century American mercenary overthrowing the government of Nicaragua is one of the angriest farces ever committed to film, reflecting on not only the historical attrocities, but also the then on-going attrocities tied to the U.S. Iran-Contra scandals. It's the film that killed director Alex Cox's chances at a mainstream career, but what a way to go.

Starring Ed Harris, Richard Masur, René Auberjonois, Peter Boyle, Miguel Sandoval, and Marlee Matlin. Written by Rudy Wurlitzer. Directed by Alex Cox. Music by Joe Strummer.

We finally welcome our special guest Josh Seybert to talk about a Czech comedy based on a gothic Jules Verne novel about a singing count, his missing girlfriend, and a strange castle in Transylvania.

We discuss language, world cinema, slapstick comedy, and why subtitles aren't a big deal.

Josh is the host of several podcast projects, including Empathy at the Apocalypse with Andy Mascola, and the upcoming Uncle Morty Show.

https://screamingatclouds.libsyn.com/

Starring Michal Dočolomanský, Evelyna Steimarová, Rudolf Hrušínský, Vlastimil Brodský, and Miloš Kopecký, Written by Oldřich Lipský and Jiří Brdečka. Directed by Oldřich Lipský

Kicking off 2026 with an episode about Martin Scorsese's attempt at a big MGM-style movie: a dark post-war musical about a married pair of jazz performers from the team that wrote Cabaret and starring Liza Minnelli. Sounds like a dream come true for film lovers, right? The result is a flawed film that we ended up liking anyway.

Starring Robert De Niro and Liza Minnelli. Written by Earl Mac Rauch and Mardik Martin. Directed by Martin Scorsese. Music by Josh Kander and Fred Ebb.

Once again we visit the a film based on the 14th century, Middle English, Christmas-set poem Sir Gawain and the Green Knight, and walk away somewhat disappointed. Is Mary expecting too much? Why is she so obsessed with this poem? Will there ever be a version that satisfies her?

Starring Murray Head, Ciaran Madden, Nigel Green, Anthony Sharp, Robert Hardy, Tony Steedman, and Ronald Lacy. Written by Philip M. Breen and Stephen Weeks. Directed by Stephen Weeks.

This is a preview of the latest episode of our series Hollywood Avalon. To hear the entire episode, join the Mary Versus the Movies patreon for $3/month to hear this and the entire series Hollywood Avalon: https://www.patreon.com/maryvsmovies.