Missing Real with Mike D'Arrigo

Vampires have been around for a long time, kinda like this old TV miniseries/movie based on one of Stephen King's earliest novels.  In 1979, it was one of the scariest things you could see on your television other than that white noise "snow" on the screen where you'd have to get up out of your comfy chair and grab those "rabbit ears" antennas and move 'em around in dozens of configurations and angles until you could see a clear picture again.  Ahh, memories...and if you understood any of that you are quite old yourself, but not as old as a vampire so please don't get offended!  Now... as for this podcast, it covers not only Tobe Hooper's eerie original film, but also the 2004 remake which really wasn't very scary at all.  I was just scared it was gonna suck.  Now hurry up and listen to this chilling and funny episode, 'cause daylight's wastin'!  Face the master!  Is your faith...enough?

While many moviegoers stopped caring about Aliens after the second Alien movie (Aliens! Duh!), this franchise has survived for over 4 decades with an impressive array of directors trying to terrify, thrill, and gross us out.  Seems there's more than one way to open an egg.  When the master himself, Sir Ridley Scott, returned to the Alien universe with 2 movies intended as a trilogy prequel to the original Alien, the fans spewed acid all over them and probably scared Ridley back to making another Gladiator and overblown historical epics like Napoleon.  There, happy???  I learned all I needed to about Napoleon from Bill & Ted, thank you very much.  I wanna know more about xenomorphs, synthetic people and sci-fi stuff!  So now we have a cool throwback story set safely between the first two Alien films (in a space no one can hear you complain?) and people mostly seem to like it.  Mostly.  
I like to think the same holds true for my little podcast, so won't you have a listen?  Put on your earhuggers and enjoy! 

Most would say that after Terminator 2: Judgment Day, we really didn't need any more of these movies.  The future already happened, got prevented, hopefully ever after, right?  James Cameron was done with this franchise and Arnold Schwarzenegger was ready to take on his new political role of "The Governator".  But first, this.  One more cybernetic romp with a new bad gal robot trying to snuff out John Connor before he could grow up to be a future rebel leader.  We get to see how A.I. evolves to take over all our technology and nukes (not that we've learned anything yet!) and watch the beginning of the end for humankind!  Fun!  
I do my best to see the lighter side of all that apocalyptic dread as I lead you to the safety of comedy and movie nerdism right here on Missing Real!  Come with me if you want to laugh.    

Someone's making a racket on Arrakis!  That'd be me, along with my faithful friend Dave Chan, playing in the audio sandbox once again to bring you a fun-filled podcast about the latest (and possibly longest) Dune movie.  It won't be the last, either.  That's a lot of sand to stare at, but luckily this time around we have awesome characters that weren't in Part One, including Feyd (so there'll be a killer knife fight and just maybe a Police song.  Or an Elvis one, at least) and The Emperor, played by the inimitable Christopher Walken! (Oh, who am I kidding...everyone imitates Walken, so you know...what I'll be sounding like half the time...).  Trust me, this podcast is a blast that'll worm its way into your heart and spice up your life.  If you "Wannabe" my listener.  

If I were on a game show and the category was "Top 10 Things That Are Cuban", my first thought wouldn't be cigars, Desi Arnaz, or that missile crisis.  It would be Tony Montana, OK??  One of cinema's most iconic criminals, played by Al Pacino in 1983's Scarface, this guy spews F-bombs and bullets like crazy, man.  10 years later, Pacino would win an Oscar for Scent of a Woman, where the naughtiest word he said (repeatedly) was "hoo-ha!".  But nobody remembers that character, right?  Did he cut down dozens of drug thugs with a machine gun?  NO.  He didn't kill a single person, even though he was a blind guy driving a Ferrari.  Hey, I'm not condoning gratuitous violence.  Blame Brian DePalma for that, if you must, but Scarface is a riveting masterpiece of a movie.  I have to talk about it!  Why don't you grab some coke (the beverage!!) and have a listen?      

Nearly a decade before the MCU, and a decade after MC Hammer, Marvel's X-Men stormed onto cinema screens! (See what I did there?)  Way cooler than "Super Friends" (or Justice League, if you insist), these mutants had crazy powers and were not all just made up to fight crime and save people.  Some of them were bad!  They'd fight each other!  They all came from Earth, not Krypton or some cave!  They had one of the coolest badass characters in any comic book: Wolverine!  He's like Clint Eastwood with knives instead of bullets.  Playing him instantly made Hugh Jackman a major star.  Patrick Stewart's here, too!  Not in the Captain's chair, but a wheelchair.  With his powerful mind, he can make it GO!  There's plenty to geek out about, so here I am revisiting the original trilogy of X-Men movies from 2000-2006.  This podcast is so awesome, when you listen to it, you might mutate!  

By now we've gotten to see all our favorite "classic" Star Wars heroes return to the saga after a decades-long wait, and then they all got snuffed out.  Except for Lando, of course...the least "heroic" out of them all...he gets to live!  You remember he double-crossed the REAL heroes and was eyeing Princess Leia from the get-go.  Grrrrr...it's enough to make you wanna pull someone's arms out of their sockets (like the screenwriters?) but here we have a stand-alone movie about the coolest dude ever to zip through hyperspace: Han Solo!  Why, we'd be happy if EVERY Star Wars movie was a Han Solo adventure.  On the condition that he's played by Harrison Ford!  Which, sorry to say, he's not.  We've got a younger version of Han, and a totally new actor filling those boots.  Seems pretty iffy to say the least, but it turns out to be a decent movie after all, with some excitement and humor, familiar furry faces (Chewie, of course!  Not the effin' ewoks!) and just a slight touch of the Force.  Director Ron Howard did a great job with it, and I bet the making of this movie brought everyone involved some Happy Days.  Play this podcast and today can be one for you!  

Pop quiz: a giant asteroid is hurtling towards Earth and will spell certain doom when it hits!  Ignoring the fact that asteroids can't spell, name that movie!  Um, is this multiple choice?  Kind of...ya see, there were two movies out in 1998 about this imminent threat from some distant space quarry, but I'm going with the bigger, badder, dumber one: Armageddon!  Directed (can you call it that?) by Michael Bay!  Action and adrenaline aplenty here, along with a hit soundtrack album that I dare say is even better than Dirty Dancing!  But, never mind the music...who's gonna save the Earth?!?  Destroying this asteroid will take a lot more than just dropping some quarters at the old video arcade!  It takes Bruce Willis!  Yippee-ki-yay, Meteor Fragment!  (sorry...I had to)  

Now, while there's still time...listen to this podcast!  It ROCKS!