Two Geeks and a GIT Classic Movie Reviews

Our second film celebrating the holidays is a new take on a classic tale - Charles Dickens' "A Christmas Carol!" This time around, however, it's made up of a whole lot of muppets! Directed by Brian Henson, Jim Henson's son, "The Muppet Christmas Carol" was the first film produced by Henson studios after Jim's death. Starring Sir Michael Caine as Ebenezer Scrooge, a miser who experiences several other-worldly visitations, all with the sole purpose of redeeming his immortal soul and setting him on the path to his best life. Also featuring the voices of Dave Boelz (The Great Gonzo and others), Steve Whitmire (Rizzo the Rat, Kermit the Frog, and others), Frank Oz (Miss Piggy, Fozzy the Bear, Sam Eagle, Animal, and others), Jerry Nelson, David Rudman, Don Austen, Robert Tygner, Karen Prell, William Todd-Jones, Jessica Fox, and co-starring Steven Mackintosh, Meredith Braun, and Robin Weaver! Plus, the trio acknowledge which genre of film they've underserved throughout the podcast, which they're going to rectify in the first full pairing of 2024!

It's our annual holiday pairing here on the podcast, and this year we stumbled on two that we were surprised we'd missed until now! First up, a John Hughes classic that tells the tale of harried parents of a large family who head off to Paris, France for a vacation! Unfortunately, they forgot something rather important back at their house... and that sets up a holiday classic that was the most successful comedy in history until just this year (2023!) Directed by Chris Columbus, from a John Hughes screenplay, 1990's "Home Alone" made Macaulay Culkin a household name and cemented the names "Harry" and "Marv" in the annals of inept burglars forever. Starring Culkin as Kevin McCallister, the youngest of a large family. His father, Peter (John Heard) and his mother, Kate (Catherine O'Hara) have arranged for the entire family, along with an uncle, aunt, and cousins, to go overseas for Christmas. Unfortunately, after a blow-up between Kevin and the rest of his family, he is inadvertently left behind. Meanwhile, a pair of bumbling thieves, Harry (Joe Pesci) and Marv (Daniel Stern) have targeted their neighborhood and specifically the McCallister house! So Kevin is alone, save for his scary next-door neighbor Old Man Marley (Roberts Blossom), and must contend with the home invaders, as well as learning how to handle life alone as an eight-year-old. Also starring John Candy and Gerry Bamman!

The second film in our pairing of musical versions of the story of Jesus Christ came out only three months after "Godspell," but tells the story in a very different way. Presented as a rock opera, with only sung lines throughout, director Normal Jewison's "Jesus Christ Superstar" is also set in modern times, but seems to shift back and forth, with a more period-telling interspersed with objects and themes from present-day throughout. This time, the same basic elements from the first film are, instead, told from the point-of-view of Judas Iscariot (Carl Anderson), one of the followers of Jesus Christ (Ted Neely), who believes that Jesus has begun to believe his own hype to the detriment of those who follow him, those who believe in him, and those who he should be helping more than he is. Judas questions Jesus' attachment to Mary Magdalene (Yvonne Elliman), while the other disciples continue to defend Jesus. The film also stars Barry Dennenn as Pontius Pilate, Larry Marshall as Simon Zealotes, Josh Mostel as King Herod, Bob Bingham as Caiaphas, and Paul Thomas as Peter. Plus, the gents disclose which two Christmas classics, which they've somehow missed until this year, make up the 2023 Christmas Movie pairing!

As we cruise into the holiday season, it felt like an appropriate time to look at movie musicals about the life of Jesus Christ as told in the bible. We begin this pairing with a unique telling of the gospels, set in (at the time) modern New York City. Directed by David Greene, "Godspell" begins with John the Baptist (David Haskell) calling together a group of individuals to leave their normal lives behind and begin following Jesus (Victor Garber, in his film debut). The story contains many parables, including "The Good Samaritan," told in narrated pantomime, dance, and choreographed numbers, with the cast costumed and made-up in a way that has had many critics throughout the years considering the cast presented as classic 70s flower children. The film features several songs, including "Prepare Ye (The Way Of The Lord)," "Turn Back, O Man," "Beautiful City," and the best-known song from the film, "Day By Day." Also starring Lynn Thigpen, Katie Hanley, Merrell Jackson, Joanne Jonas, Robin Lamont, Gilmer McCormick, Jeffrey Mylett, and Jerry Soka.

Our second film moves ahead 12 years, and we're making an exception to our "10 years old" rule to bring you one of the most successful R-rated superhero film in history! Directed by Tim Miller, 2016's "Deadpool" introduced the world to smart-mouthed mercenary Wade Wilson (Ryan Reynolds, who also served as co-producer). Wade spends his time in a merc bar run by Weasel (T.J. Miller), where he meets working girl Vanessa (Morena Baccarin). After a year-long romance, Wade is diagnosed with terminal cancer and decides to offer himself up for medical experiments that will, supposedly, cure him. After many painful procedures, he is, in fact, cured by a newly-achieved regeneration ability, but it also left him horribly scarred from head-to-toe. He then decides to seek out those who performed the experiments on him, Ajax (Ed Skrein) and force them to cure him. Along the way, he is both thwarted and assisted by X-Men Colossus (voiced by Stefan Kapicic) and Negasonic Teenage Warhead (Brianna Hildebrand). Also starring Karan Soni as Deadpool's accidental sidekick Dopinder! And the trio discuss which musicals following the life of Jesus they've chosen for their next pairing!

It's back to the world of superheroes for this pairing, but superheroes unlike the ones most people think of when they hear the term. We're focusing on the outliers, the scorned, the anti-heroes, and looking at two heroes that stretch the definition of the term. First off, genius director Guilllermo del Toro brings us the story of an creature accidentally allowed to enter our dimension after a Nazi experiment goes wrong. In 2004's "Hellboy," a team led by Trevor "Brom" Bruttenholm (John Hurt), whose roster includes a creature known only as Hellboy (Ron Perlman) is a react squad when ever anything other-worldly threatens humanity. With his friend Abe Sapien (body-acted by Doug Jones but voiced by David Hyde Pierce) and his ex-girlfriend Liz Sherman (Selma Blair), this team of misfits tackle the threats normal humans are unable to handle. But when an enemy from World War II resurfaces, it's replicating monsters, historic villains, and Nazis who threaten the entire world, and only the team from the Bureau of Paranormal Research can save the day! Also starring Rupert Evans, Karel Roden, and Jeffrey Tambor!

The second film in our pairing of thrillers from master director David Fincher comes only two years after his acclaimed debut with "Se7en." This time, it's a reality-twisting mind-bender of an experience as we watch someone come unstuck from his personal reality in 1997's "The Game." The story follows Nicholas Van Orton (Michael Douglas), a successful investment banker who has everything... except a life outside of work. When his younger brother, Conrad (Sean Penn) requests they have dinner together, he informs Nicholas that he's purchased him a special birthday present: A session of "The Game" from a company called Consumer Recreation Services, or CRS. After Nicholas spends his birthday alone, he decides to go in and go through the evaulation process to see if he's a suitable candidate. The next day, he's informed by telephone that he was not found suitable for CRS's targeted game. Immediately after receiving the call, Nicholas' life starts to twist and turn, with so many turns he becomes unclear what is real and what is clearly part of the game, something the audience experiences as well! The film also stars Debora Kara Unger, James Rebhorn, Peter Donat, Carroll Baker, Anna Katarina, and Armin Mueller-Stahl. Plus, the trio reveal which "adult" superhero films made their next pairing!

For the next two weeks, we're diving head-first into the Thriller genre, with two films from one of the recognized masters of the type, David Fincher! First up, it's a story of serial killing and sin in a very specific way, as a killer finds people guilty of committing the seven deadly sins: Pride, Envy, Sloth, Gluttony, Lust, Wrath, and Greed. Veteran police investigator, Detective Somerset (Morgan Freeman) is just one week away from retirement, and he is assigned a new partner for that last week, a hotshot young investigator from out-of-town, Detective Mills (Brad Pitt). They discover the obese body of a man who was literally forced to eat until he died. This begins a sequence of events that reveals the theme of this particular serial killer's mission, as well as revealing several other bodies that represent other deadly sins. The film also stars Gwyneth Paltrow, Kevin Spacey, R. Lee Ermey, and the late Richard Roundtree in a tense story that incorporates enough horror tropes to render it a chilling thriller that's still being talked about almost 30 years later!

Our second horror film that spawned a franchise comes to us from 1984. Directed by (now) horror master Wes Craven, "A Nightmare on Elm Street" spins the tale of a vengeful spirit returned to take his revenge on the children of the people who killed him. Fred Kreuger (Robert Englund) was a serial killer of children who got off on a technicality, which caused the parents in town to take matters into their own hands. Somehow, years later, Freddie has returned as a dream specter, targeting the children of those who killed him. Nancy Thompson (Heather Langenkamp), her boyfriend Glen Lantz (Johnny Depp in a very early role), and her friend Tina Gray (Amanda Wyss) discover that they've all been having the same dream of a dirty, disfigured man in a tattered red and green-striped sweater, who has knife-tipped gloves. Shortly thereafter, one of the girls is killed in a truly horrific manner and, while her boyfriend Rod Lane (Jsu Garcia) is blamed for it, Nancy believes something far more sinister and macabre is happening. Nancy is finally able to convince her mother (Ronee Blakely) to tell her the truth about the dream specter, which explains why he's hunting her and her friends. She even attempt to persuade her father, police Lieutenant Thompson (John Saxon) of her theories, only to realize that she and she alone can stop Freddie. Plus, the trio reveal which thriller director will be the focus of their next pairing!

For our yearly Halloween pairing, this time we're looking at two films that started very long-lived horror franchises! First up, from the mind of John Carpenter, who directed, co-write, and scored this independent film, it's the debut cinematic performance from Jamie Lee Curtis, 1978's "Halloween!" Co-written with Carpenter's then-girlfriend Debra Hill, this film introduced us to the unstoppable evil that is serial killer Michael Myers. Top billing is given to veteran actor Donald Pleasence who portrays Dr. Sam Loomis, Michael's long-time psychiatrist and the only person in the film who, at least initially, knows just how dangerous Michael is! Upon his escape from the sanitariam where he's been a patient for 15 years after he killed his sister on Halloween in 1963, Dr. Loomis heads back to Haddenfield, Illinois, Michael's hometown, where he tries to raise the alarm. Meanwhile, Michael has returned and has fixed on Laurie Strode (Jamie Lee Curtis) who, with her friends Annie (Nancy Kyles) and Lynda (P.J. Soles) are getting ready to celebrate Halloween while babysitting. Needless to say, thanks to Michael, their evenings do not go as planned. The film features a score written by Carpenter (in four days, no less), and the film is now seen as one of the most successful independent features of all time!