The Essential Films Podcast

On this Bonus Features episode, we discuss how HBO MAX and Warner Media are radically changing the industry by releasing the entire 2021 slate on HBO MAX as well as theaters. Is this the future of movies? Plus Mark discusses his adventures into exploitation films in the month of December. And some Criterion and blu-ray talk to top it off.

NOTE: Bonus Features episodes are raw and unedited, with little production.

Films Referenced:
AND GOD CREATED WOMAN (1956)
DR. NO (1962)
THE GREAT ESCAPE (1963)
GOLDFINGER (1964)
SHELAKO (1968)
THE BIRD WITH THE CRYSTAL PLUMAGE (1970)
THE WIZARD OF GORE (1970)
DEEP RED (1975)
SALÓ, OR THE 120 DAYS OF SODOM (1975)
DAWN OF THE DEAD (1978)
ZOMBI 2 (1979)
FRIDAY THE 13th (1980)
DON’T GO IN THE WOODS (1981)
COME AND SEE (1985)
NO WAY BACK (1992)
THE AMAZING SPIDER-MAN (2012)
THE DEUCE (Series, 2017-2019)
ROMA (2018)
THE IRISHMAN (2019)
MARRIAGE STORY (2019)
WONDER WOMAN 1984 (2020)
TENET (2020)
MANK (2020)
THE MANDALORIAN (Series, 2019-2020)
MATRIX 4 (2021)
THE SUICIDE SQUAD (2021)
MORTAL KOMBAT (2021)
THE MANY SAINTS OF NEWARK (2021)
GODZILLA VS KONG (2021)

LINKS:
Grindhouse Movie DataBase (gcbd.com)
Sleazoid Express Book https://www.amazon.com/Sleazoid-Express-Mind-Twisting-Through-Grindhouse/dp/0743215834
Dawn Of The Dead 4K Set https://www.blu-ray.com/news/?id=26880
Ingmar Bergman’s Cinema: https://www.criterion.com/boxsets/1427-ingmar-bergman-s-cinema

SOCIAL MEDIA
TWITTER: @EssentialFilms, @FPMoviePodcast, @Sportsguy515
FACEBOOK: facebook.com/TheEssentialFilms

This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit adolfoacosta.substack.com

MERRY CHRISTMAS! On today’s adventure, we celebrate Christmas with Dudley, Henry and Julia as we discuss the 1947 holiday classic, THE BISHOP’S WIFE! We go into the original cast of the film, who was originally supposed to play the angel, the initial box office failure (and how the studios sought to fix that), guaranteed Christmas royalties, Hallmark Christmas movies, Christmas classics, the wacky trailer, and much more!

Films Referenced:

IT’S A WONDERFUL LIFE (1946)
THE EXORCIST (1973)
SCARFACE (1983)
MRS. DOUBTFIRE (1993)
MIRACLE ON 34th STREET (1994)
JINGLE ALL THE WAY (1996)
DISNEY’S A CHRISTMAS CAROL (2009)

SOCIAL MEDIA
TWITTER: @EssentialFilms, @FPMoviePodcast, @Sportsguy515
FACEBOOK: facebook.com/TheEssentialFilms


This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit adolfoacosta.substack.com

On today's adventure, Adolfo & Mark discuss the 1974 noir thriller, CHINATOWN.

This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit adolfoacosta.substack.com

On today’s adventure, we celebrate the life and career of Sir Sean Connery.
(There are some audio issues in this episode. We apologize)

Films Discussed

The JAMES BOND Films (1962-1971)
INDIANA JONES AND THE LAST CRUSADE (1989)
THE UNTOUCHABLES (1987)
THE ROCK (1996)
THE HUNT FOR RED OCTOBER (1990)
HIGHLANDER (1986)
MARNIE (1964)
DRAGONHEART (1996)
THE LONGEST DAY (1962)
OUTLAND (1981)
FIRST KNIGHT (1995)
DARBY O’GILL AND THE LITTLE PEOPLE (1959)
And Many Others

LINKS:

SOCIAL MEDIA
TWITTER: @EssentialFilms, @FPMoviePodcast, @Sportsguy515
FACEBOOK: facebook.com/TheEssentialFilms


This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit adolfoacosta.substack.com

HEEEEERE'S ADOLFO AND MARK! Join Adolfo and Mark on today’s spooky adventure: Stanley Kubrick's THE SHINING (1980)

On this week’s show:

Trick or Treating in times COVID
Misguided contemporary reviews
How Kubrick decided to do a horror movie
Other actors considered for Jack Torrance
The constant script changes
Shelly Duval’s torture
The impossible window
Don’t build things on burial grounds
Charles Grady or Delbert Grady?
“The Shinning”
All the best people.
Minotaurs?
The importance of the stock room
When does Jack start going crazy
Which scene took 12 hours to film?
Naked ladies with afros
Creepy red bathrooms
You’ve always been the caretaker
Is the hotel haunted? Or is Jack crazy? Or both?
Mini reviews of ROOM 237 and DOCTOR SLEEP
Conspiracy theories
How much does Stephen King hate The Shining?
Fubo??

FILMS REFERENCED:

THE PHANTOM CARRIAGE (1921)
FRANKENSTEIN (1931)
KING KONG (1933)
PSYCHO (1960)
SPARTACUS (1960)
LOLITA (1962)
THE BIRDS (1963)
THE TWILIGHT ZONE: “Nightmare at 20,000 Feet” (Season 5, Episode 3, 1963)
2001: A SPACE ODYSSEY (1968)
A CLOCKWORK ORANGE (1971)
THE EXORCIST (1973)
BARRY LYNDON (1975)
ONE FLEW OVER THE CUCKOO’S NEST
ROCKY (1976)
HALLOWEEN (1978)
THE EMPIRE STRIKES BACK (1980)
POLTERGEIST (1982)
THE THING (1982)
STEPHEN KING’S IT (1990)
THE SIMPSONS: “Treehouse of Horror V” (Season 6, Episode 6, 1994)
TWISTER (1996)
THE SHINING (Mini-Series, 1997)
EYES WIDE SHUT (1999)
ROOM 237 (2012)
READY PLAYER ONE (2018)
DOCTOR SLEEP (2019)

LINKS:

SOCIAL MEDIA
TWITTER: @EssentialFilms, @FPMoviePodcast, @Adolfo_Acosta, @Sportsguy515
FACEBOOK: https://www.facebook.com/TheEssentialFilms

This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit adolfoacosta.substack.com

Join Adolfo and Mark on today’s adventure: Steven Spielberg’s SAVING PRIVATE RYAN (1998)

On this week’s show:

Orange Fanta
Criterion Collection discussions
Organizing physical media
TCM Wine Club
Colorized newsreels
The true story that inspired Saving Private Ryan
The actors boot camp
Late 90s young Hollywood
The epic Omaha Beach sequence
Helmets are useless
Nazis are bad!
Bryan Cranston!
FUBAR
The Statue of Liberty is kaput
Are there “good” war movies?
The biggest movie of 1998
The Academy Awards snub
Spielberg’s populist movies
How it should have ended?

FILMS REFERENCED:

PHANTOM OF THE OPERA (1943)
THE GUNFIGHTER (1950)
DJANGO (1966)
THE GREEN BERETS (1968)
JAWS (1975)
SHIVERS (1975)
FRIDAY THE 13th (1980)
THE ELEPHANT MAN (1980)
PLATOON (1986)
OPERA (1987)
FULL METAL JACKET (1987)
SCHINDLER’S LIST (1993)
BRAVEHEART (1995)
CRASH (1996)
GOOD WILL HUNTING (1997)
SHAKESPEARE IN LOVE (1998)
ARMAGEDDON (1998)
DEEP IMPACT (1998)
GODZILLA (1998)
SMALL SOLDIERS (1998)
THERE’S SOMETHING ABOUT MARY (1998)
A BUG’S LIFE (1998)
DOCTOR DOLITTLE (1998)
THE WATERBOY (1998)
RUSH HOUR (1998)
PATCH ADAMS (1998)
MULAN (1998)
LETHAL WEAPON 4 (1998)
GHOST DOG: THE WAY OF THE SAMURAI (1999)
BAND OF BROTHERS (Mini-Series, 2001)
THE LORD OF THE RINGS: THE TWO TOWERS (2002)
CRASH (2005)
BROKEBACK MOUNTAIN (2005)
GREEN BOOK (2018)
PARASITE (2019)
MULAN (2020)

LINKS:

SOCIAL MEDIA
TWITTER: @EssentialFilms, @FPMoviePodcast, @Adolfo_Acosta, @Sportsguy515
FACEBOOK: https://www.facebook.com/TheEssentialFilms

This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit adolfoacosta.substack.com

We ARE big! It's the podcasts that got small. Today we delve into the Hollywood nightmare of Billy Wilder's SUNSET BLVD. (1950)

On this week’s show:

Our weird movie year
COVID adventures
RIP Chadwick Boseman
Joe the Gigolo
Skirting the production code
How Gloria Stuart built Paramount
Why Montgomery Clift turned down the film
RIP Olivia De Haviland
Is Holden too old for Olsen?
How Wilder filmed the pool shot
The original opening of the film
What is a “reader”
“This year I’m trying to make money.”
Monkey undertakers
Greta Garbo & Steve Gutenberg
The sad story of Yvette Vickers
Norma’s great Chaplin impression
The difference between Gloria and Betty
The often misquoted line
“You’ve befowled you’re own nest”
Who WAS the better actresses? Bette Davis or Gloria Stuart
Sunset Blvd the Musical

FILMS REFERENCED:

QUEEN KELLY (1932)
CAPTAIN BLOOD (1935)
THE ADVENTURES OF ROBIN HOOD (1938)
GONE WITH THE WIND (1939)
DOUBLE INDEMNITY (1944)
IT’S A WONDERFUL LIFE (1946)
THE SNAKE PIT (1948)
THE HEIRESS (1949)
SAMSON AND DELILAH (1949)
ALL ABOUT EVE (1950)
BORN YESTERDAY (1950)
DRAGNET (1951 TV series)
ATTACK OF THE 50 FOOT WOMAN (1958)
THE APARTMENT (1960)
THE GODFATHER (1972)
THE SILENCE OF THE LAMBS (1991)
42 (2013)
BLACK PANTHER (2018)
UNCUT GEMS (2019)
DA 5 BLOODS (2020)
TENET (2020)

LINKS:

SOCIAL MEDIA
TWITTER: @EssentialFilms, @FPMoviePodcast, @Adolfo_Acosta, @Sportsguy515
FACEBOOK: The Essential Films


This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit adolfoacosta.substack.com

Fasten your seatbelts as Adolfo and Mark take you on a bumpy podcast! On today’s adventure: ALL ABOUT EVE (1950)

On this week’s show:

• Quarantine movie woes
• Mark’s sleazy movie tastes
• How we first experienced the film
• Unmatched dialogue
• Adolfo owns the film in multiple formats
• Barbara Stanwyck, Claudette Colbert and Joan Crawford were all considered for Margot Channing.
• Bette Davis’ “difficult” reputation.
• Ronald Reagan was a ham
• The on-set conflict with Davis and a young Marilyn Monroe
• The entire opening sequence tells you everything you need to know by the character body language
• Smoking looks so cool in black and white
• Thelma Ritter should have been in more of the film
• Adolfo’s terrible frame of reference at the time he saw the film for the first time
• Margot’s drunken speeches
• “A milkshake?”
• A roller coaster of tension
• People aged differently in the 50s
• Bill is a good boyfriend
• Classy restrooms
• How Addison DeWitt is interpreted in 2020
• Only film in Oscar history to have 4 female acting nominees

FILMS REFERENCED:

• SUNSET BLVD. (1950)
• BEN-HUR (1959)
• APOCALYPSE NOW (1979)
• ZOMBIE HOLOCAUST (1980)
• HELL OF THE LIVING DEAD (1980)
• CANNIBAL FERROX (1981)
• THE BEYOND (1981)
• THE NEW YORK RIPPER (1982)
• PLATOON (1986)
• BORN ON THE 4TH OF JULY (1989)
• HAMBURGER HILL (1987)
• SINGLE WHITE FEMALE (1991)
• FORREST GUMP (1994)
• PULP FICTION (1994)
• THE SHAWSHANK REDEMPTION (1994)
• TITANIC (1997)
• TROPIC THUNDER (2008)
• ZOMBIES VS STRIPPERS (2012)
• LA LA LAND (2016)
• MOONLIGHT (2016)
• THE VIETNAM WAR (Mini-Series, 2017)
• JOKER (2019)
• BIRDS OF PREY: THE FANTABULOUS EMANCIPATION OF HARLEY QUINN (2020)
• THE INVISIBLE MAN (2020)
• SONIC THE HEDGEHOG (2020)
• CORONA ZOMBIES (2020)
• TIGER KING (mini-series, 2020)

LINKS:

SOCIAL MEDIA
TWITTER: @EssentialFilms, @FPMoviePodcast, @Adolfo_Acosta, @Sportsguy515
FACEBOOK: The Essential Films


This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit adolfoacosta.substack.com

Yo, Adrian! Take your mind off what’s going on in the world and join Adolfo and Mark on today’s adventure: John G Avildsen’s ROCKY (1976)

On this week’s show:

How the current pandemic has affected the movie industry.
How people’s first impression of Rocky is often wrong
Thunderlips: The Ultimate Male
Stallone is a carny
Stallone’s story of the making of Rocky is a little too Hollywood
The unlikely names suggested for the role of Rocky before Stallone insisted on playing the role himself
The bluff that paid off for Stallone
The real story is better than the myth
Is ROCKY a better Oscar movie than TAXI DRIVER?
Casting choices for Adrian and why did Talia Shire have to audition?
The Rocky steps
The paradox of the opening theme and the first shot
The difference between the first and last fight in the film
Lloyd Kauffman’s cameo
Willie Cici
“That pet shop dame”
The differences of Stallone and Burgess Meredith at 69.
How the production used its limitations to its benefit
Rocky would have gotten #MeToo’d
DO NOT DRINK RAW EGGS!
Running in Converse All-Stars seems unwise
The emergence of the steadicam
Chicken bones
Going the distance
“Cut me, Mick”
The alternate ending for the film
Favorite sequels.

FILMS REFERENCED:

THE PARTY AT KITTY AND STUD’S (1970)
BANANAS (1971)
THE GODFATHER (1972)
THE GODFATHER PART II (1974)
THE LORDS OF FLATBUSH (1974)
JAWS (1975)
CAPONE (1975)
DEATH RACE 2000 (1975)
NETWORK (1976)
TAXI DRIVER (1976)
ALL THE PRESIDENT’S MEN (1976)
STAR WARS (1977)
ROCKY II (1979)
RAGING BULL (1980)
ROCKY III (1982)
THE KARATE KID (1984)
ROCKY IV (1985)
ROCKY V (1990)
THE GODFATHER PART III (1990)
STOP OR MY MOM WILL SHOOT (1992)
INDEPENDENCE DAY (1996)
ROCKY BALBOA (2006)
CREED (2015)
CREED II (2018)
THE MANDALORIAN (TV Series, 2019)

SOCIAL MEDIA
TWITTER: @EssentialFilms, @FPMoviePodcast, @Adolfo_Acosta, @Sportsguy515
FACEBOOK: The Essential Films


This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit adolfoacosta.substack.com

Merry Christmas! Happy Holiday! On today's podcast adventure, Adolfo goes solo as he dives into the 1942 Bing Crosby and Fred Astaire Christmas classic, HOLIDAY INN! We go deep into the origins of the film, what song was SUPPOSED to be the big single, the legacy of the "White Christmas" song and the controversy of the "Abraham" number. Just in time for Christmas Eve, enjoy this present from the Essential Films Podcast!

This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit adolfoacosta.substack.com