Rotten Rewind

"No more wire hangers!" "Tina! Bring me the ax." "I'm not mad at you. I'm mad at the dirt." "She doesn't need an ambulance... She's drunk."

Can a movie this quotable be that bad? In 1981, yes. Maybe. We're still not sure honestly. What we do know is that our deep dive on Frank Perry's infamous "Mommie Dearest" left us with a new appreciation for the trashy cult classic and its notoriously difficult star, Faye Dunaway.

Writer and astrologer Kaycee Felton-Lui joins us to explore the tumultuous production and aftermath, as well as her own experience growing up with the film and even writing a 7th grade paper on the films equally controversial subject, Joan Crawford. Can a film about child abuse be considered camp? Could anyone else have embodied the contradictory madness of Crawford as well as Faye Dunaway? How many careers did the movie end up killing? Why is that little boy strapped down in his bed at night? We're answering all that and more in our latest installment of Gaslight/Gatekeep/Girlboss.

You can find Kaycee on Instagram and Tik-Tok and book readings with her at kayceefeltonlui.com!

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Spike Lee is back on the podcast after a three year absence following our very first episode ever on his controversial satire "Bamboozled." Lee was riding a near-unanimous wave of critical praise in the early 90's following his mainstream breakthrough, "Do the Right Thing." But in 1996, Lee had his first real flop with the Suzan-Lori Parks penned comedy "Girl 6." Telling the story of a struggling actress turned phone sex operator, Lee's episodic comedy is headlined by a fantastic Theresa Randle performance, and chalk-full of cameos from John Turturro, Debi Mazar, Naomi Campbell, Madonna and most famously, Quentin Tarantino.

Actress Mariko Enkoji-Busch joins us to break down Lee's first critical misfire, as well as the thin line between acting and phone sex work, that famous Prince soundtrack, and of course the infamous beef between Lee and Tarantino.

You can find Mariko's hand-made jewelry at EMBLM and follow her on Instagram @emoscience.

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Before the "Saw" franchise staked their claim to the Halloween release slot, Dark Castle was delivering its annual nu-metal take on classic horror movies. Ah yes, that blissful period in between the 90's slasher wave and the post-9/11 torture porn/J-horror remake craze. During that brief window, we got movies like "House on Haunted Hill" and "Ghost Ship," but their last hurrah was the 2003 supernatural thriller "Gothika" starring a post-Oscar win Halle Berry, Penelope Cruz and Robert Downey, Jr. in his first comeback role. A minor box office success, but a critical disaster at 14%, Matheiu Kassovitz's American debut was the first in a string of post-Oscar win bombs from Berry and is mostly forgotten today. But is it really as bad as its reputation suggests?

Another relic of cinema's past is the big budget adult thriller starring bonafide movie stars. In the summer of 2000, Robert Zemeckis delivered a box office success with "What Lies Beneath," starring Michelle Pfieffer and Harrison Ford in a sort of supernatural erotic thriller. Written off as silly schlock by most critics at the time of its release, we can't help but feel like this movie be embraced with open arms by the same critics today.

So join us for this nostalgic look back at a pair of 2000's comfort watches as we discuss the last era of movie stars, bad bangs, unexpected Limp Bizkit needle drops, the underrated careers of John Carroll Lynch and Joe Morton, and white women seances. How many times can Max say the word "shlock?" Does Harrison Ford eat pussy? And most importantly, can you get fingered to these movies? Find out now!

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It’s a sleazy, neon/cum drenched double feature today on the podcast as we dive into a pair of darkly comedic thrillers set in two very different LA worlds.

First up, it’s Ken Russell’s 1984 X-rated tale of sexual repression and desire in “Crimes of Passion,” starring Kathleen Turner as a fashion designer moonlighting as a sex worker by night and Anthony Perkins as the unhinged, perpetually sweaty reverend who wants to save her whorish soul from the life she’s chosen. After that, it’s the podcast return of Nicolas Winding Refn with his 2016 body horror satire on the world of high-end modeling, “The Neon Demon” starring Elle Fanning, Jena Malone and Keanu Reeves as a scummy motel operator who might also be a sex trafficker!

When did Elle Fanning eclipse her big sister? Can Keanu play a villain? Why didn’t Anthony Perkins get the post-Psycho career he deserved? Has Alessandro Nivola quietly become one of our best character actors? Is there anything better than hearing Anthony Perkins scream “Kill me, you worthless cunt!”? Join us for all these answers and more!

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This week, we're reminding you that Jennifer Lawrence once starred in a failed franchise starter called "Red Sparrow" in which she plays an impoverished ballerina who is recruited to become a spy for the Russian government. But before that, we're taking you all back to the halcyon days of 1997 for one of Ridley Scott's rare box office misfires, "G.I. Jane." A movie that was once prominently known for being the movie in which Demi Moore shaved her head before disappearing into obscurity, has found a second life courtesy of a now infamous slap.

Are these girlboss thrillers better than their muted reputation suggests? Will a major studio ever make another big budget adult spy thriller with a bonafide movie star? When will Demi Moore get a comeback vehicle worthy of her talents? Was music video veteran Francis Lawrence too tame of a choice to tackle the inherently sleazy world of "Red Sparrow?" And most importantly, when will somebody make some nice Whore School merch we can wear?

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Comedian and co-host of The Toni Awards, Samantha Prosser, joins us to unpack the discourse surrounding Andrew Dominik's polarizing adaptation of Joyce Carol Oates' "Blonde." Starring Ana De Armas in an Oscar-nominated performance as Marilyn Monroe, "Blonde" has been stirring up controversy ever since its first trailer dropped last year featuring De Armas with her native Cuban accent. Things didn't get any better when the film premiered to scathing reviews at the Venice Film Festival, before launching a million think pieces. Dominik's blunt candor on the press tour only made matters worse, adding more fuel to the Blonde-haters fire.

So what are we to make of "Blonde?" Is it an ambitious swing for the fences? A tedious exercise in resurrecting a dead woman's trauma? Torture porn masquerading as a fictional biopic? Accidental pro-life propaganda? A future camp classic? An unflinching dissection of celebrity and the cult we built around our stars? "Blonde" is many things and a movie worthy of a good-faith discourse in today's increasingly sanitized cinematic landscape. It's long and punishing and difficult, but maybe we need more movies to challenge and divide us.

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2022 was a banner year for unexpected critical misfires. Critical darlings like David O'Russell, Alejandro González Iñárritu, Sam Mendes, Noah Baumbach, and Darren Aronofsky saw their latest films either crash and burn on arrival or quickly disappear after a tepid response. It's hard to say which outcome is worse! But the movie that's endured the most polarizing response yet is undoubtedly Academy Award winning director Damien Chazelle's 189 minute epic "Babylon." And as our listeners know, we love a good trainwreck! So an expensive vanity project from a beloved director who cashed in his Oscar winning ticket to show us how much he loves "Singing in the Rain" and "Boogie Nights" sounded like the perfect introduction to a brand new season.

While "Babylon" might be a financial failure, it's shelf life is uncertain. It's already found itself a sizable fanbase in corners of the critical world and the discourse has been buzzing on Twitter and Letterboxd since its first screening. So what is "Babylon?" An expensive misfire from a wunderkind director? An ambitious, but noble failure? A future misunderstood masterpiece? "Boogie Nights" for virgins? Find out what we thought on our shit-piss-puke-filled season premiere!

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On-set drama. Recasting. Divorce. COVID shutdowns. Bad accents. Spitgate. How do they shit??? These are just some of the many controversies that befell Olivia Wilde’s sophomore feature “Don’t Worry Darling.”

Podcast regular Johnny Langan makes his triumphant return to the show to unpack the slew of DWD controversies and neverending plot holes. Is it really as bad as the critics said it was? Is Harry Styles a leading man? Is Harry Styles even an actor? What’s with the earthquakes? The plane crash? Who was the dialect coach? Would Shia LaBeouf have improved the movie or was it doomed from the beginning? Seriously, how do they shit?! We attempt to answer all of your pressing DWD questions right here, right now.

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In the mid-aughts, Tony Scott was written off by most film critics as a studio showman who valued style over substance. Ten years after his untimely death, Scott's legacy has been reclaimed by new generations of fans and critics as one of the most visionary filmmakers of his time. The 2000s were a transitional period for Scott as he evolved his trademark visual panache and hyper-kinetic action into something far more groundbreaking and experimental than any modern studio director. Scott's singular style would go on to inspire a whole new era of genre filmmaking.

Cinematographer and resident 9/11 stan Jake Ures returns to the podcast to discuss two of Scott's most maligned films: his 2004 re-teaming with Denzel Washington in "Man on Fire" and his Richard Kelly-penned media satire/true crime hybrid "Domino." Does Denzel have chemistry with everyone he shares the screen with? Was Keira Knightley the right fit for a British supermodel turned hardened bounty hunter? Can Scott do a modern media satire? Is Richard Kelly overdue for another Rotten banger? How many times does Keira Knightley say "My name is Domino Harvey" in the 120 minute runtime of "Domino?" Was "Man on Fire" the post-9/11 revenge thriller America needed to quench their bloodlust? There's only one podcast that has all those answers and more.

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Is there a more versatile, prolific American director working today than Steven Soderbergh? In 1989, Soderbergh became the youngest American director to ever screen a film in competition at the Cannes Film Festival and changed independent film forever with his provocative debut "sex, lies and videotape." Since then, Soderbergh has directed over 35 films and several television series, working in nearly every genre imaginable, embracing multiple formats across a wide spectrum of mediums, making him impossible to pin down.

But what happens when the Oscar winning director is given the keys to his first major franchise in the wake of the unexpected success of his "Ocean's Eleven" remake? Instead of doubling down on the magic of his 2001 iteration, Soderbergh decided to switch gears and deliver a polarizing art-house rendition of a heist film on Warner Bros' dime, nearly destroying the budding franchise in the process.

Filmmaker Andrew Jacobson joins us to defend the 2004 sequel that's divided Soderbergh fans since its release. Was the vitriolic response to the film warranted? Were fans just looking for more of the same? What makes a good sequel in the first place? Should more directors step out of their comfort zone the way Soderbergh does? Has Matt Damon ever given a bad performance? Why do people hate the laser scene so much? Find out right here on our Rotten Vibes finale.

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