The Cult of Matt and Mark

An animated French film from 1973, this week Matt and Mark review the cultish Fantastic Planet (aka The Savage Planet). A beautifully animated film, it questions humanity's preeminent position in the universe by depicting us as lesser things, specifically vermin. As the playthings and pests of greater aliens, humans (or Omes as depicted in the film) face a type of indifference which can only be described as cruelty. But just like the bugs or bacteria of our current Post-Halocene epoch, the worm eventually turns, and the meek inherit the Earth, or perhaps the Fantastic Planet. Download: 176 Fantastic Planet 

Mark continues taking listener requests. This week on the Cult we review the Mickey-in-his-prime Angel Heart, released in 1987. A neo-noir Southern Gothic of sorts, it follows the gumshoe detective formula until it doesn't. The end reveal, a function of the fantastic, is more style over substance. But for whatever reason, it doesn't seem to matter. Firing on all cylinders, Angel Heart is beautifully wrought film with a dose of Rourke authenticity that is hard to replicate. Hail Satan! Download: 175 Angel Heart

Mopping up the Kubrik, Matt and Mark finally get around to reviewing the flawed masterpiece 2001: A Space Odyssey. A film broken up into four vignettes, we go about reviewing it as such. Despite all the big themes of human evolution and questions of mankind's existential crisis in the universe, what 2001 gets right is humanity's relationship with the tools it has created, and how we are now at the whims of those tools, good, bad, and indifferent. So open up the pod bay doors and set the controls for the heart of the sun (cue Pink Floyd... now!). Download: 174 2001 A Space Odyssey

Matt and Mark attempt to break out of our cult film review comfort zone this week and review the 1980 sci-fi fantasy romance Somewhere In Time. Trying to go gynocentric, we fail at finding the appeal of this film as it would pertain to the ladies. Centered around a somewhat charmless 36 hour romance more typical of bodice-ripper fair, it becomes an exercise in forced gravitas, leaving the viewer little investment in its time-crossed lovers' tragedy. Download: 173 Somewhere In Time

This week we get back into the serious and review Jonathan Glazer's enigmatic Under The Skin, starring Hollywood A-lister ScarJo as the alien seductress. More evocative than thematic, its disturbing imagery sticks with you long afterward. Matt attempts to find an analogy for the alien's motivations, but such metaphors may defy what the film was trying to provoke. Perhaps it is best to leave Under The Skin as undecipherable as a street conversation among Scottish Glaswegians. Download: 172 Under The Skin

Matt and Mark's Summer of Funny concludes this week with our review of Tim and Eric's Billion Dollar Movie. T&C's brand of humor isn't for everyone, but if you can handle its mix of stupidity and darkness, there's genuine comedy to be had. While Ebert's write-off of the movie is understandable (0.5 stars), dopey overweight white guys with a healthy disdain for corporate propaganda (no one we know of course) should enjoy this movie more than your average joe film critic. Download: 171 Tim and Eric's Billion Dollar Movie

Our penultimate film for the Summer of Funny, this week Matt and Mark review the cult stoner classic Up In Smoke by comedy duo Cheech (Marin) and Tommy (Chong). While stoner humor tends to be one note (or one toke), C&C deliver a nice combo of outrageous characters stirred up with a nice mix of comic timing and physical humor. So head down to your local weed shop (unless you live outside the spliff utopias of Colorado and Washington State), kush out, and take a low ride into the bakey funny. Download: 170 Up In Smoke  

Odd... no picture of Michael O'Keefe on the poster? Yep, that's correct. All by design. While originally scripted to follow the trials and tribulations of Danny Noonan and the caddies, the five hours of film quickly got whittled down to give the four major comedy players more screen time (Knight, Dangerfield, Murray, Chase). Matt and Mark continue with the "Summer of Funny" by review the one-and-only Caddyshack. If there was a sequel, let us all forget... Download: 169 Caddyshack

A film from the darkest depths of Matt's nostalgia, this week we continue the "Summer of Funny" and review the 1983 comedy Strange Brew. Mark basically tells this film to "take off, eh!" And as Matt dissects the bits, it seems the ghosts of his eleven year old self resurfaces to defend, however meekly. With so few Canadian stereotypes out there (sadly no Red Green blockbuster as of yet), we're left with the brothers McKenzie. So don't be a hoser, crack an Elsinore (or a Labatt's, Moslon, or Kokanee) and check out the film, eh? Download: 168 Strange Brew

It's alive! ... alive!!! This week we review the Mel Brooks masterpiece Young Frankenstein starring the great comedic actor Gene Wilder. While a bit averse to slapstick, Matt tries to drink the farcical potion of this comedic retelling aided by Mark's soft sell. A nod to the old timey comedies of the Marx's, it mixes physical comedy with innuendo in an homage that doesn't mock but instead pays homage. And Oh yeah... Mark and Matt both agree that Terry Garr was hot! hot! hot! tsss... Download: 167 Young Frankenstein

Apparently it takes an LDS BYU grad to truly get the nerd right when it comes to Hollywood film making. Scrap the stereotypes of the late night hacking (but cool) nerds of standard film fare, because the true nerd is one like Napoleon, social hobbled yet obsessed over things which bring no social currency. One of Matt's favorite funny movies, it's hard to watch ND with a straight face, even if you've seen the film too many times to count. Anyway, Vote for Pedro and enjoy. Download: 166 Napoleon Dynamite

Matt and Mark's "Summer of Funny" rolls on with the 1980 corn-ball classic Airplane! A farcical send up of the 1957 film Zero Hour, Airplane! rolls out its gag like a prop-comic act spinning the figurative into the literal for comedic hilarity. Does it hold up today? More or less, despite the Hari Krishnas at the airport (is that even a thing anymore?) and the strange notion of serving complimentary dinners aboard domestic flights.  Download: 165 Airplane!

Little did we all know that it was truckers and CB's that pioneered the art of wi-fi and chat rooms back in the day. Smokey and the Bandit introduced America to the adventure/comic-laid world of the big rig trucker and his Southern domains via comedic stylings of legend Jackie Gleason and Burt Reynolds. Matt is disappointed his childhood nostalgia for such fair, infused with hot wheels sandbox antics and pre-pubescent notions of romance, didn't send him back into yesteryear. However, Mark's first viewing left a positive impression. Pop a Coors, sit back, and relax good buddy 10-4. Download: 164 Smokey and The Bandit

An Ebert one-star movie, Matt and Mark come across probably one of the famous film critic's worst reviews of all time. Conflating Zoolander's "insensitivity" to the events of 9/11 is probably one of the greatest stretches since the Olympic pole vault record was broken. Regardless, derived from Ben Stiller's hilarious "Ben Stiller Show", Zoolander deftly ties all its sketches in with a fairly consistent and well written story line. So grab a hose of 87 Octane and let the fun begin! Download:  163 Zoolander

The nerd stereotype, codified recently by such sitcom fair as Big Ban Theory, is much more nuanced and varied than your typical comic book nerd, as depicted in 1985's classic Real Genius. Chris Knight, Mitch Taylor, and Lazlo Hollyfield portray well thought out three dimensional characters that offer up a tiny comedic slice of the genius mind. While playing loose and fast with technical development cycles for military hardware and procurement timelines, Real Genius makes science coooool! Download: 162 Real Genius