Reels & Wheels

How do you bring NASCAR to a mainstream audience in movie form? Tom Cruise, I guess. I mean, it beats Stroker Ace. Days of Thunder was actually the last of an era - the last time producers Jerry Bruckheimer and Don Simpson got to do a high budget action movie before the studio got too mad at them to do it again.

There is a lot to love, though - the portrayal of racing as a dangerous obsession by infantile people who grasp at an illusion of control hits right at home, especially with our guest, Andie Albin - who works for the SCCA and races herself!

What do you think about early 1990's NASCAR and the Chevy Lumina? How about Tom Cruise's character crossing the line while hitting on Nicole Kidman's Dr. Luwicki? And you wouldn't believe how many scenes in this movie are based on real events!

Follow Sid and James - @SidBridgeComedy and @S2KJames. Keep up with Andie at www.scca.com! Don't forget to subscribe to @ReelsandWheels on iTunes or Stitcher. Share it and leave feedback!

Sid and James are joined by their good friends Josh Horowitz and Brett Stillo of the "5 Minutes of Banzai" podcast for a quintessential cult classic - The Adventures of Buckaroo Banzai Across the 8th Dimension!

If you're a Reels and Wheels listener, you probably remember Josh and Brett from the Big Trouble in Little China episode and their "5 Minutes in China" podcast. We enjoy going on each other's podcasts so much we decided to do it again!

Buckaroo Banzai isn't a big car movie, but the rocket car (made from a Ford F-350) is worth an episode and Josh and Brett's knowledge of the movie makes for a great discussion!

Find Josh and Brett at 5minutesofbanzai.com! Subscribe to Reels and Wheels on iTunes or Stitcher and make sure you share and leave feedback! @ReelsandWheels, @S2KJames, @SidBridgeComedy

It was the car of the future! In the late 1940's, a charismatic man named Preston Tucker got America excited about his innovative, futuristic car design...

Sid and James welcome Steve Lehto, attorney, author and automotive journalist to talk about Tucker: The Man and His Dream, Francis Ford Coppola's surprisingly accurate portrayal of a man who sold his dream to the country, only to get squashed by the government and the big three.

Steve has some amazing stories and the group also discusses Tucker's eerie similarity to Elon Musk. We also talk about the car itself, the Tucker 48 (sometimes called the Tucker Torpedo) and its quirky, ahead-of-its-time features!

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Find Steve all over the place: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCMljRGC0eBJrxbUorWEnasg http://lehtoslaw.com/ http://www.roadandtrack.com/author/3026/steve-lehto/ https://www.amazon.com/Steve-Lehto/e/B001JPA7O4 https://jalopnik.com/tag/steve-lehto

Phantasm is a brilliant horror movie that bends reality and deals with heavy situations of confronting mortality and loss. It's also got a kick-ass 1971 HemiCuda that went on to become a mainstay vehicle of the Phantasm movie series.

For this episode, James and Sid are honored to be joined by one of the stars of the Phantasm series, Reggie Bannister and his wife, Gigi. Not only are they a great couple to talk to with lots of great information on the movie, they are both huge car enthusiasts.

Want to find out what sleeper Reggie drag raced when he was young? Want to find out what kind of experimental car Gigi got to drive (and crash)? You're only going to find it here on Reels and Wheels!

A big Reels and Wheels thank you to Reggie and Gigi for joining us on the podcast - please drop by their website, www.reggiebannister.com to find out what's going on, including a big project they are working on. Follow @ReelsandWheels, @SidBridgeComedy and @S2KJames, subscribe on iTunes or Stitcher and leave some feedback!

Wouldn't it be great if there was a line of toys that took everything you loved about your other toys and mashed them all together?! Like if you could have the best of Transformers AND GI Joe AND James Bond's cars AND the Spy Hunter car AND Bruce Wayne's gadgets?!

That was M.A.S.K. This 1985 cartoon was Kenner's attempt to market a high-quality line of toys with a TV show meant to stoke kids' imaginations. It wasn't as successful and enduring as other toy lines or cartoons, but it sure was awesome.

James and Sid talk about the pilot episode of M.A.S.K. - it's a strange mixture of excellent and terrible. It's both smart and dumb at the same time. It defies description. Watch it again with Reels and Wheels.

@ReelsAndWheels @S2KJames @SidBridgeComedy

Could this be the greatest movie ever? At Reels and Wheels, we don't need to spend a lot of time extolling the virtues of Evil Dead 2 - Sam Raimi's brilliant directing and visuals, Bruce Campbell's amazing physical acting skill - it speaks for itself. We're just here to talk about a special 1973 Oldsmobile Delta 88.

Alan Vannucchi - comedian and horror movie expert - joins Sid and James to talk about the movie and the car.

Dubbed "The Classic" by Raimi, the Oldsmobile is HIS car - since he was a teenager. It somehow sneaks into every Sam Raimi movie (kind of like his brother, Ted).

Just how omnipotent is this Olds? Do Alan and Sid do a good job making James love this movie? Can Sid make the case that the 1973 Delta is really a beautiful car that deserves praise among collectors?

Subscribe and follow us! @Alan_Vann_, @S2KJames, @SidBridgeComedy, @ReelsandWheels and leave us some feedback!

Groovy.

This week, Sid and I review the 90s Blockbuster spectacular, The Rock. Starring Nicholas Cage, Sean Connery, and Ed Harris, a Humvee, a Ferrari, and hours of helicopters.

We are joined by Tobias Ellis on this one, and it's loads of fun.

In 1991, Ridley Scott took a break from directing stuff like Alien and Blade Runner and allowed himself to be convinced to helm Thelma and Louise - and that was history.

Joining Sid and James is a great friend and hilarious comedian, Holly Owens.

Thelma and Louise is an iconic feminist road movie. It's a slice of life on film that is beautifully shot, painfully realistic, and packed with great characters - even the car.

The 1966 Ford Thunderbird driven by our protagonist gets refreshingly characterized, accompanying Thelma and Louise throughout their struggles.

Follow @ReelsandWheels on social media - subscribe on iTunes or Stitcher and leave feedback! Find Holly online (@HollyPoops) and catch her show, The Sunday Funnies, every Sunday at 8pm at Cozzy's Comedy Club. Don't forget to follow Sid (@SidBridgeComedy) and James (@S2KJames), too!

If you were anywhere near childhood in the 1980's, KITT was probably your hero and Knight Rider was probably the greatest TV show EVER. At least, that's how Sid & James felt then and still feel today.

Christian Lee of PlaidDadPlog.com and DadSews.com joins Sid and James to talk about Knight of the Phoenix, the pilot that began KITT's illustrious TV career. To Christian, it didn't hold up as good TV - oh well. You can't win 'em all...

One thing's for sure - The Knight 2000 - a car with a distinguished voice and plenty of awesome gadgetry - is a scene stealing hero and attempts to replicate him in the new millenium have fallen painfully short.

What made this so awesome? Why was it better to create a car show without corporate support from the carmaker at first? Get ready to relive your childhood and learn a few things!

Subscribe! Follow @ReelsandWheels on social media! Follow Sid - @SidBridgeComedy and James - @S2KJames and find Christian at www.plaiddadblog.com and at www.dadsews.com!

GoldenEye was a turning point for the James Bond Franchise - both in terms of actors and cars! After years of delay, Pierce Brosnan was finally able to step into the roll he was born to play in a movie that represents a generational shift in the franchise.

GoldenEye also marks the first of a three-movie deal with BMW to provide the trademark James Bond supercars. BMW turned up the hype with the introduction of the beautiful Z3 roadster, but the car got very little screen time.

How did things work out with BMW? Why was the car barely in the movie? How does this movie rank among other Bond films?

Joining us is comedian and car enthusiast David Beck! David jumps right in and helps us understand how some of the cars in the movie would really fair against each other.

Subscribe to Reels and Wheels on iTunes or Stitcher and leave us feedback! Follow @ReelsandWheels on social media and follow Sid (@SidBridgeComedy) and James (@S2KJames), too! Find David Beck on Facebook and at www.whoisdavidbeck.com!