Second Cut

Spoiler warning! Horror fans: Rejoice! Jacob and Sam kick off a month of Halloween horror with Malignant, James Wan's return to the genre after The Conjuring 2. They discuss the film's blend of genres, how the film compares to Wan's other work, and give a thorough breakdown of the plot.

Sources:

Nerd Reactor - Interview: Malignant Co-Writer/Director James Wan on Blending Genres, Giving Us a Villain We’ve Never Seen Before, and More

Bloody Disgusting - ‘Malignant’: James Wan Says His New Horror Movie is Inspired by Bava, Argento, and Cronenberg, “My Version of Giallo”: James Wan Lets Us Know What to Expect from His New Horror Movie ‘Malignant’ [Interview]

No Time to Die (2021) Review by Sam Sewell-Peterson

Music:

Awakening (Instrumental) by Wataboi https://soundcloud.com/wataboi

Creative Commons — Attribution 3.0 Unported — CC BY-SA 3.0

Music promoted by FDL Music https://youtu.be/X2oQNUOmk2k

Star Wars fans Jacob and Sam re-examine the 2018 origin story of Han Solo. Solo flopped at the box office, but critics found it surprisingly palatable. The explore their thoughts on Disney's work with the property, the film's troubled production, and ways in which the franchise may change in the future!

Sources:

EW - How the Han Solo film broke apart — with Ron Howard picking up the pieces

The Hollywood Reporter - ‘Star Wars’ Firing Reveals a Disturbance in the Franchise

The Atlantic - Solo: Finally a Star Wars Movie That's Not a Rehash of Star Wars

Reddit Comment

Solo: A Star Wars Story (2018) Review by Joseph Wade

SSP Thinks Film Review of Solo

Music:

Awakening (Instrumental) by Wataboi https://soundcloud.com/wataboi

Creative Commons — Attribution 3.0 Unported — CC BY-SA 3.0

Music promoted by FDL Music https://youtu.be/X2oQNUOmk2k

TFM author Sam Sewell-Peterson joins the podcast to talk about Bubba Ho-Tep, a film he owns on DVD! What if Elvis and (now black) JFK ended up fighting a mummy in a nursing home? Could there possibly be any redeeming qualities to such an absurd film? Jacob and Sam mine deeper into this film than perhaps any previous viewers, including the filmmakers themselves.

Sources:

University of Chicago - Kitsch

The Mummy (2017) Review by Joseph Wade

Marvel Cinematic Universe Villains Ranked by Sam Sewell-Peterson

Music:

Awakening (Instrumental) by Wataboi https://soundcloud.com/wataboi

Creative Commons — Attribution 3.0 Unported — CC BY-SA 3.0

Music promoted by FDL Music https://youtu.be/X2oQNUOmk2k

Jacob and Kieran look at the early Arnold Schwarzenegger film, Conan the Barbarian. From John Milius, Conan tells the story of the eponymous barbarian... well part of it, anyway. There's a lot of backstory for the future films in the franchise, which makes this episodic, classic-style adventure film somewhat ahead of its time in all the wrong ways.

Loincloths, Muscles, Sorcery and the Rock of Uranus: A Journey Into the Realm of the Italian Peplum (c.1958-1965) by Paul A J Lewis

Music:

Awakening (Instrumental) by Wataboi https://soundcloud.com/wataboi

Creative Commons — Attribution 3.0 Unported — CC BY-SA 3.0

Music promoted by FDL Music https://youtu.be/X2oQNUOmk2k

Jacob and Kieran discuss James Cameron's Avatar. Is it just Pocahontas in space? Does it have cultural impact? What does a film need to make $2.8 billion? Hopefully this in-depth look into Avatar will be relevant for the next four soon to be released... any day now...

Terminator Movies Ranked by Sam Sewell-Peterson

Music:

Awakening (Instrumental) by Wataboi https://soundcloud.com/wataboi

Creative Commons — Attribution 3.0 Unported — CC BY-SA 3.0

Music promoted by FDL Music https://youtu.be/X2oQNUOmk2k

Before it was a TV show, Buffy the Vampire Slayer was a mediocre movie from Joss Whedon. Jacob and Kieran examine the relationship between writers and the filmmaking teams who bring their work to life and the problems with Whedon before covering the (technically) prequel to the show.

Sources:

AV Club - Joss Whedon Interview

Buffy Fandom Wiki - Original Script for the film

The Hollywood Reporter - Ray Fisher Opens Up About ‘Justice League,’ Joss Whedon and Warners: “I Don’t Believe Some of These People Are Fit for Leadership”

10 Best Movie Vampires by Holly Bowler

Music:

Awakening (Instrumental) by Wataboi https://soundcloud.com/wataboi

Creative Commons — Attribution 3.0 Unported — CC BY-SA 3.0

Music promoted by FDL Music https://youtu.be/X2oQNUOmk2k

Is there a stranger musical in existence? When Cats was released in 2019, it took the internet by storm. Jacob and Kieran gaze into the abyss, and break down what exactly was wrong (and interesting) about Tom Hooper's latest offering at the box office.

Sources:

Variety - Taylor Swift Explains Her ‘Cats’ Transformation: Hissing, Barefoot Crawling and Jellicle School, Inside the Very Real Anthropomorphic Struggles of the ‘Cats’ Cast

Entertainment Weekly - Director Tom Hooper defends Cats

Vulture - Andrew Lloyd Webber Know the Cats Movie is 'Ridiculous' and He'll Tell You Why, Universal to Rerelease Cats, Sends Original Version to Heaviside Layer

The Atlantic - A Serious Conversation With the Man Who Made Cats

Vanity Fair - We Spent 24 Hours Searching for the Elusive “Butthole Cut” of Cats

Twitter - Ben Mekler source on "Butthole Cut"

Youtube - Director Tom Hooper Interview - Cats, CATS - A Look Inside, CATS: The Butthole Cut

Cats (2019) Review by Pagan Carruthers

Music:

Awakening (Instrumental) by Wataboi https://soundcloud.com/wataboi

Creative Commons — Attribution 3.0 Unported — CC BY-SA 3.0

Music promoted by FDL Music https://youtu.be/X2oQNUOmk2k

Jacob and Kieran discuss the demonic Italian horror film, The Church. They discuss the Demons films this is technically not a sequel to, whether or not the film is sophisticated, and break down the occasional instances of brilliance in this Michele Soavi work.

Reading:

10 of the Best Horror Movies Not in the English Language by Mark Carnochan

The Tomorrow War (2021) Review by Kieran Judge

The Suicide Squad and Jungle Cruise Reviews by Jacob Davis

Music:

Awakening (Instrumental) by Wataboi https://soundcloud.com/wataboi

Creative Commons — Attribution 3.0 Unported — CC BY-SA 3.0

Music promoted by FDL Music https://youtu.be/X2oQNUOmk2k

Jane Campion, director of The Piano, released an erotic thriller in 2003 starring rom-com darling Meg Ryan and a mustachioed Mark Ruffalo. Jacob and Kieran dive into female directors in Hollywood history, debate whether this should be an erotic drama or murder mystery, and marvel at the sheer strangeness of this film.

Sources:

The Art of Disarticulation by cinecultist

Mark Ruffalo's Mustache

'In the Cut' and How Marriage Can Kill You, Actually by Margaret Roarty

Music:

Awakening (Instrumental) by Wataboi https://soundcloud.com/wataboi

Creative Commons — Attribution 3.0 Unported — CC BY-SA 3.0

Music promoted by FDL Music https://youtu.be/X2oQNUOmk2k

Francis Ford Coppola's follow-up to Apocalypse Now was a critical and financial failure. In their analysis, Jacob and Kieran discuss Coppola's electronic cinema method, his problems writing women and romance, and whether filmmakers can break out of the image they're associated with.

Sources:

Whom God Wishes to Destroy . . .: Francis Coppola and the New Hollywood by Jon Lewis

Behind the Scenes of One from the Heart

Jacob's Writing at The Film Magazine

Kieran's Writing at The Film Magazine

30 Greatest Musical Numbers From Movie Musicals by Rebecca Seghini

Music:

Awakening (Instrumental) by Wataboi https://soundcloud.com/wataboi

Creative Commons — Attribution 3.0 Unported — CC BY-SA 3.0

Music promoted by FDL Music https://youtu.be/X2oQNUOmk2k