Recovered

Hit the Holiday Road as Dan and Keith re-examine an old idea from times past, before the Plague Days... "Vacations." Our hosts head back to the early 80s to see how Chevy Chase's road trip shenanigans in National Lampoon's Vacation have aged, then hop to the 2010s as Ed Helms leads a new generation of Griswalds in a sequel/remake hybrid we have since learned is now called a "requel." Much love gets thrown to Beverly D'Angelo and the always delightful Skyler Gisondo, a deep dive into why theme parks don't close in the summer, and more as we figure out who had the best Vacation.

Come with me, and you'll be, in a world of dueling chocolate factories! Recovered takes on two very different approaches to Roald Dahl's immortal children's adventure book-slash-Saw precursor horror tale Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, or as 70s cinema knew it, Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory. Two Wonkas enter, one Wonka leaves! Then the other one does. We don't have the power to erase Wonkas. But which Factory had the best visuals? Best kids? Wasted time less egregiously? Dan and Keith get right to the bottom of this edible candy wonderland to find out, through Dan's hot takes and Keith's hatred of whimsy. 

It's heist time! Dan and Keith travel back to the long ago 1960s for Michael Caine and Noel Coward in The Italian Job, then hop to the not-quite-so-long-ago 2003 for an all-star crew in a remake that's trying to be a remake in as few ways as possible. Cunning plans, betrayals, feature-length ads for Mini-Coopers, and Dan and Keith disagreeing about heist movies. Come on the ride!

Recovered gets paranoid as Dan and Keith dive into two paranoid journeys into mind control with the Manchurian Candidate, the movie whose twist became the lexicon. Frank Sinatra and Denzel Washington unravel conspiracies, lost loves are found and lost again, while Angela Lansbury and Meryl Streep pull the strings. Who wore it best? Whose sinister conspiracy reigns supreme? Is there a point to hiding the reveal of a plot point so well known it's the Winter Soldier's nickname?

What better way to celebrate Valentine's Day than with two takes on pickaxe murder enthusiast  Harry Warden in My Bloody Valentine? Dan and Keith dig into the mine murders of the 1981 original, and how much the 2009 remake, from that brief period when Hollywood really wanted the guys from Supernatural in their horror movies, relied on 3D effects that you likely won't see streaming it at home. Iconic kills, awkward love triangles, multiple "Or IS he" twists, and why these movies are basically the same as Academy Award winner The Deer Hunter.

Welcome to Recovered, breaking down Hollywood’s favourite trend, the remake! This week, Dan and Keith invite you to “Get over here” as they dig into the two attempts to make a movie out of Mortal Kombat. [Dan, you have a better Mortal Kombat joke in you, find it before we publish this. -K]