The Generation Splice

Our final episode for spooky season. And it’s technically a Christmas/New Years movie! This time head across the Atlantic to talk about Alex de la Iglesia’s THE DAY OF THE BEAST (aka EL DIA DE LA BESTIA). This is one of Raphael’s all-time favorite movies, so to hear that Raquel really enjoyed was a treat. This horror-comedy (or is a comedy-horror?) gets downright heretical at times with it’s flippant disdain for the Catholic Church. Both Raquel and Raphael break down some of the cultural nuances that frame the film so people can appreciate why this was such a gigantically popular – both by audiences and critics – in Spain. You’ve got anti-fascist rhetoric, goofy TV psychics, heavy metal, and an overall vibe of “What if Mel Brooks made THE OMEN.” If you’re already a fan of the film, then you’ll dig the conversation, and if you’ve never heard of it before, well, this is the perfect primer for THE DAY OF THE BEAST, the films of Alex de la Iglesia, and contemporary Spanish cinema as a whole.

Do you wanna be buried in a PET SEMATARY? Well, it’s time to relive the movie again, as we cover it for this week’s episode.

Off the bat Raquel and Raphael have Ramones talk. Raquel philosophizes on Joey Ramone’s lyrics, and Raphael goes on about one of his favorite bands. Here’s a movie that seems like a bad execution of a good story. The acting is goofy, the accents are awful, yet somehow the whole thing is incredibly endearing and entertaining.

Raquel is interested in seeing how a female director like Mary Lambert would have a different take on the horror genre, specifically on Stephen King. Raphael loves how this movie doesn’t ask the well worn “how far would you go to protect your family” but instead, “what would you do after you’ve failed to do that?” Would this movie been better if George A. Romero had directed as originally planned? Would PET SEMATARY be an A24 movie if it were to be produced for the first time now? All these questions, plus Raquel shares her personal “pet sematary” moment of guilt of being a parent to a kid (read: Raphael) who got injured.

Raquel shares her personal “pet sematary” moment of guilt of being a parent to a kid (read: Raphael) who got injured.

The Generation Splice is a film podcast where retired psychologist Dr. Raquel Martinez, a baby boomer through & through, & her son, Raphael Jose Martinez, a cranky millennial film writer & programmer, discuss various films through the lens of their generation & personal experiences.

Every other week one host picks a movie to dissect & see if they can splice together the generation gap via their love of film.

Feel free to write to us! Give us some film suggestions at the [email protected]

Raphael is on Twitter and Letterboxd at @citycelluloid & you can find their film writing at cinefile.info & film-cred.com

Its October and we all know what that means… HORROR MOVIES ARE BACK BAYBEEE. We’re kicking off this month with a stone cold classic, DAWN OF THE DEAD (1978… duh).

Raquel admits that she finally appreciate horror movies now, and gets down with this one – it probably helps that her maiden name is Romero.

Did Old George hit peak zombie metaphor with this one? Malls are the sources of late 20th century consumptionism, and zombies, well, all they do is exist to consume!

Raquel discusses her first encounters with malls back in the early 1970s and Raphael loves how Tom Savini changed the horror game with his shockingly realistic (for the time) special effects and makeup.

This podcast will turn Raquel into a genre film freak eventually!

The Generation Splice is a film podcast where retired psychologist Dr. Raquel Martinez, a baby boomer through & through, & her son, Raphael Jose Martinez, a cranky millennial film writer & programmer, discuss various films through the lens of their generation & personal experiences.

Every other week one host picks a movie to dissect & see if they can splice together the generation gap via their love of film.

Feel free to write to us! Give us some film suggestions at the [email protected]

Raphael is on Twitter and Letterboxd at @citycelluloid & you can find their film writing at cinefile.info & film-cred.com

Its a rom-com kinda day with a conversation about ISN’T IT ROMANTIC. A lot of intro talk is spent on nostalgia and remakes, so it’s perfect to get into talking about this meta film that is a pastiche homage to the classic rom-coms of the 80s-00s.

Raquel loves being able to catch the hyper specific references to particular films, while Raphael, admittedly not too well versed in the genre, enjoys how it plays with the broad tropes of the style. ISN’T IT ROMANTIC manages to do something that so many genre meta films doesn’t really pull off which is it manages to actually be the thing that it is skewering while still managing to skewer it. Is this the SCREAM of rom-coms??

Raquel also weighs in as a doctor of psychology on the topic of the effects of movies like rom-coms on self-image. A fun, light conversation about a fun, light movie!

The Generation Splice is a film podcast where retired psychologist Dr. Raquel Martinez, a Baby Boomer through & through, & her son Raphael Jose Martinez, a cranky millennial punk rocker/film writer, discuss various films through the lens of their generation & personal experiences. Every week one host picks a movie to dissect & see if they can splice together the generation gap via their love of film.

Feel free to write to us! Give us some film suggestions at the[email protected] or @gensplicepod on Twitter.

Raphael is on Twitter and Letterboxd at @citycelluloid. You can find his film writing at cinefile.info and film-cred.com

This episode we look at the Cool Copaganda dystopian classic ROBOCOP.

But first Raquel worries about the future of Stephen King movies after FIRESTARTER tanks at the box office and Raphael has to assure her that Stephen’s career will be just fine even if they stop releasing adaptations of his stuff (which they never will).

This is a 1st watch for Raquel, who actually thought it was an Arnold Schwarzeneggar movie all these years. How relevant is this movie today? Is it too stuck in the 1980s? Raphael breaks down modern policing and its problems and how ROBOCOP actually was a depressingly prescient film in that regard. There a whole lot of talk about the privitization of the public sector in modern times and how ROBOCOP follows a trend of films that warned us about the problems of that. Dutch director Paul Verhoeven’s outsider eye on American culture seems to be a perfect blend of cynicism and comedy. Its crazy how much this film feels like a proto-24 hour news cycle TV channel.

This movie is far smarter than it needed to be, and you’ll be too after listening to this episode!

The Generation Splice is a film podcast where retired psychologist Dr. Raquel Martinez, a Baby Boomer through & through, & her son Raphael Jose Martinez, a cranky millennial punk rocker/film writer, discuss various films through the lens of their generation & personal experiences. Every week one host picks a movie to dissect & see if they can splice together the generation gap via their love of film.

Feel free to write to us! Give us some film suggestions at the[email protected] or @gensplicepod on Twitter.

Raphael is on Twitter and Letterboxd at @citycelluloid. You can find his film writing at cinefile.info and film-cred.com

This week we enter the wild reality of Pee Wee Herman and PEE WEE’S BIG ADVENTURE. Raphael was the perfect age to get obsessed with Pee Wee while Raquel was the perfect age to have to deal with kids’ obsession with Pee Wee at school. This was basically a first time watch for her and she absolutely fell in love with it! Tim Burton comes flying out the gate with this first feature length film, managing to take a cool, hip off-off-Broadway stage show and somehow make it palatable to all of America. Is this actually a children’s movie? Or is it just a movie that can appeal to children because of Pee Wee’s child-like innocence? Ironically Raphael was traumatized as a child by the Large Marge scene, while Raquel thinks it’s perfect for kids because it’s full of teachable moments. We talk Paul Reuben’s adult theatre scandal and how unfair it really was. It also turns out that Raquel is closest Elfman-head!

The Generation Splice is a film podcast where retired psychologist Dr. Raquel Martinez, a Baby Boomer through & through, & her son Raphael Jose Martinez, a cranky millennial punk rocker/film writer, discuss various films through the lens of their generation & personal experiences. Every week one host picks a movie to dissect & see if they can splice together the generation gap via their love of film.

Feel free to write to us! Give us some film suggestions at the[email protected] or @gensplicepod on Twitter.

Raphael is on Twitter and Letterboxd at @citycelluloid. You can find his film writing at cinefile.info and film-cred.com

Here’s one from the vault! A late Mother’s Day episode all about one of Raquel’s favorites, THE APARTMENT. Raphael realizes that they actually hadn’t ever seen this film all the way through before. This was chosen by Raquel specifically to see if Raphael thought it held up – and they both agree that it still feels shockingly modern. Considering how the subject matter of THE APARTMENT seems frank today, it must have been shockingly risque back in 1960. Everything from the lighting, to the makeup, it all makes this film feel almost like a movie out of time. The topic of consent in sex and the social power dynamics that we talk about still day to day are explored here in a way that seems surprisingly prescient. Or is it that nothing has changed? Raquel wonders if this film shows the beginning of women taking control over their sexuality, or if it’s a condemnation of a sexist past. Or it could very well be both. Is this Billy Wilder’s best movie?? Both Raquel and Raphael seem to think so!

The Generation Splice is film podcast where retired psychologist Dr. Raquel Martinez, a Baby Boomer through & through, & her son Raphael Jose Martinez, a cranky millennial punk rocker/film writer, discuss various films through the lens of their generation & personal experiences. Every week one host picks a movie to dissect & see if they can splice together the generation gap via their love of film.

Feel free to write to us! Give us some film suggestions at the[email protected] or @gensplicepod on Twitter.

Raphael is on Twitter and Letterboxd at @citycelluloid. You can find his film writing at cinefile.info and film-cred.com

After a long hiatus were back! We’ve been sitting on some old recordings, but since they’re fresh to you all we’re putting them out!

This episode we follow up on EVERYTHING EVERYWHERE ALL AT ONCE with another classic film of alternate realities, BEING JOHN MALKOVICH. But before we get into that Raquel asks Raphael to explain the Marvel movie phenomenon to her, so Raphael travels back to his comic book store employee days to explain all the comic adaptations because somehow, in the year 2022 Raquel has never heard the term “MCU” before. God bless her.

But when it comes to MALKOVICH, Raphael gushes. It’s a example of why 1999 was one of the best years in film. The CGI manages to still look perfect today. Raquel finds the film funny, but wouldn’t call it a comedy, despite what Raphael says. Is Catherine Keener the villain in this movie? Does this movie even have a villain? Everyone agrees that centering the film around John Malkovich is perfect because any bigger of a celebrity would make the premise too silly. Raquel draws deft comparisons to GET OUT and Raphael declares MALKOVICH queer, trans canon. Also, Raquel apparently went to college with Malkovich?! Weird, fun stuff in this one.

The Generation Splice is film podcast where retired psychologist Dr. Raquel Martinez, a Baby Boomer through & through, & her son Raphael Jose Martinez, a cranky millennial punk rocker/film writer, discuss various films through the lens of their generation & personal experiences. Every week one host picks a movie to dissect & see if they can splice together the generation gap via their love of film.

Feel free to write to us! Give us some film suggestions at the[email protected] or @gensplicepod on Twitter.

Raphael is on Twitter and Letterboxd at @citycelluloid. You can find his film writing at cinefile.info and film-cred.com

This week Raphael surprises Raquel by showing up at her house and taking her to see EVERYTHING EVERYWHERE ALL AT ONCE, a movie she had never heard of until about an hour before she saw it. Raphael was stoked because of the stacked lineup of actors, especially because both he and Raquel are big James Hong fans. Raquel felt a little overwhelmed by the manic pacing of the film but loved the throughline of the immigrant family story. Raphael is forced to talk about the profundity of a movie featuring butt plugs with their mother. Raphael compares this to the films of Charlie Kaufman while Raquel draws parallels to JACKASS. With multiverse movies seeming to be a trend right now, this one is heads above the rest. Bit even though Raphael keeps mispronouncing Michelle Yeoh’s name and there are spoilers galore, this is one of the most fun episodes of the podcast yet!

The Generation Splice is film podcast where retired psychologist Dr. Raquel Martinez, a Baby Boomer through & through, & her son Raphael Jose Martinez, a cranky millennial punk rocker/film writer, discuss various films through the lens of their generation & personal experiences. Every week one host picks a movie to dissect & see if they can splice together the generation gap via their love of film.

Feel free to write to us! Give us some film suggestions at the[email protected] or @gensplicepod on Twitter.

Raphael is on Twitter at @citycelluloid. You can find his film writing at cinefile.info and film-cred.com

First things first, Raquel finally has a new house! Still, she had to run to the neighbors’ for wifi like some kind of millennial or zoomer. But she pulls it off and we talk her pick for this week, SOUND OF METAL – a movie that’s already in her top 25 films of all time. She recounts her decades of working with people with hearing impairments to laud the films portrayal of those with these types of issues. Both Raphael and Raquel love that the story isn't melodramatic or cliché. Raphael gets really defensive about people insulting metalheads. Raquel is enamored with the film’s love story plot line. The two discuss how media and culture prefer to portray differently abled people as noble victims rather than the full, imperfect humans that they are just like everyone else. Raphael loves how sound itself seems to be a character in this film. Raquel gives Raphael’s teenage Youth of Today shirt a shout out and they explain Rudimentary Peni and Einstruzende Neubauten to her. Things get equally heartfelt and goofy in this one.

The Generation Splice is film podcast where retired psychologist Dr. Raquel Martinez, a Baby Boomer through & through, & her son Raphael Jose Martinez, a cranky millennial punk rocker/film writer, discuss various films through the lens of their generation & personal experiences. Every week one host picks a movie to dissect & see if they can splice together the generation gap via their love of film.

Feel free to write to us! Give us some film suggestions at the[email protected] or @gensplicepod on Twitter.

Raphael is on Twitter at @citycelluloid. You can find his film writing at cinefile.info and film-cred.com