Matinee Manatees

For this year's Scarytober the manatees are watching one of the most notorious sequels to a horror movie in cinematic history: 1977's Exorcist II: The Heretic! Directed by John Boorman and starring Linda Blair, Richard Burton, and Louise Fletcher, Exorcist 2 takes the franchise in a different direction, replacing demons with grasshoppers, exorcists with investigative journalists, and ritual exorcism with punching. The manatees are dumbfounded. Float along with us?

It's a listener request month!  Luckily our patrons have very good taste and have chosen 1987's The Princess Bride, written by William Goldman, directed by Rob Reiner and starring Robin Wright, Cary Elwes, Mandy Patinkin, and Andre the Giant!  This one's an old favorite, so we went an extra step and actually read a whole book about the making of this movie, and guys?  It's just a really fun hang.  Float along with us, learn about a classic, and please don't forget to vote.

We're checking out Paul Verhoeven's famous 1997 satire Starship Troopers!  Starring Casper Van Dien (the puppet from Team America), Denise Richards (Tammy from Tammy and the T-Rex), and Dina Meyer (cool lady from Dragonheart), Starship Troopers flopped at the time, but we're convinced a lot of it got missed by audiences.  The manatees discuss propaganda reels, the problem with netflix, bugs and power armor in starcraft and warhammer 40k, and the difference between space fiddles and space violins.

Do you guys remember Point Break?  Directed by Kathryn Bigelow and starring Keanu Reeves, Patrick Swayze, and Lori Petty, Point Break is an oft-misremembered classic and directly responsible for one of the top-grossing movie franchises still active right now.  (You'll know which one as soon as you see it.)  Ben tries his flippers at puns, Tony proposes a script edit that would fix the entire third act, everybody has a pretty okay time.

We're back with an old favorite, 1990's Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, directed by Steve Barron and starring Judith Hoag, Elias Koteas, and some very endearing foam-rubber puppet suits.  It's basically an overall silly, nostalgic romp, and we're here for it.  The manatees discuss the logistics of setting up teen cult hideouts, early 2000's fighting games, comic books in general, and the difference in romantic relationships with fish people vs amphibian people.

Our patrons have spoken!  The winner of this quarter's sword-and-sorcery poll is 1988's Willow, directed by Ron Howard and starring Warwick Davis, Val Kilmer, and Patricia Hayes.  It's a fun little fairy tale and it makes very little sense and that's a lot of fun.  The manatees discuss the rules of magic, best wizard voices, and what even is a possum.  Have a listen, stay indoors, be safe, we love you.

Do you guys remember Jumanji?  The first one, from 1995?  Directed by Joe Johnston, starring Robin Williams and Bonnie Hunt and David Alan Grier? With Matinee Manatees alums Kirsten Dunst and Jonathan Hyde? Well, we like it. Float along for bonus tips on mystical board game speedrunning, bad car repair praxis, and possible alternative podcasts hosted by monkeys.  For free!

After some glitches, the manatees are back!  This time around they're watching culturally iconic Top Gun, directed by Tony Scott and starring Tom Cruise, Kelly McGillis, Val Kilmer, and Anthony Edwards.  And it's... um.  Well.  Float along with the manatees as they pine for an Iceman and Goose movie instead, discuss the merits of voiceover narratives in action movies, and detail why Maverick should probably be on a registry... and we don't mean the national film registry.

We're back, and for the cold season we're going straight to Morocco-dressed-as-Egypt for 1999's The Mummy, directed by Stephen Sommers and starring Brendan Fraser, Rachel Weisz, John Hannah, and Arnold Vosloo.  Float along as the manatees discuss mummification hangovers, better ways to prevent resurrections, and yet another spec script!  Sam is sleepy and creates a band.  Ben gets mad about camels and game of thrones.  Neither knows anything about history.  Enjoy!

For our first 100% Ben-free episode, bat-fan Anthony (Batmanatee?  Fanatee?) has finally convinced Sam to watch 1989's Batman!  Directed by Tim Burton (with mandatory score by Danny Elfman) and starring Jack Nicholson, Michael Keaton, and Kim Basinger, Batman 1989 is arguably the movie that started the grim 90's superhero movie trend, and for that we owe it a lot.