The Cult of Matt and Mark

This Barbara Streisand vehicle is even better than seeing Babs live!! ... wait... no? This isn't The Prince of Tides? That was a close one. This week we review the 1987 classic The Princess Bride. A bit of a split review this go 'round, Mark finds the deft care Rob Riener takes with the characters memorable and endearing while Matt lacks the proper nostalgia to truly embrace this quirky and nuanced film. One thing we both can agree on is that it takes a rare individual to seek out a Billy Crystal performance. Download:  145 The Princess Bride

Finishing out our Christmas movie theme, we review the nearly perfect In Bruges directed by Martin McDonagh. Matt and Mark both agree, that the film achieves what the likes of Quentin Tarantino set out to do with conversation-based character driven crime stories in the 90's. However, unlike QT's recent bombastic over-the-top cinematic daring, In Bruges relies on expansively 3D dimensional characters with tactful nuance. All actors are firing on all cylinders including the memorable supporting cast. So, kick back, enjoy the fairy-tale shit, and take in the medieval marvel of Bruges! Download: 144 In Bruges

Matt and Mark apologize in advance for the quality of this week's podcast. Mark's single malt exhaustion coupled with Matt's daycare sponsored cold has made the coherence and vocal quality of this review possibly annoying. Anyway, excuses aside, we indulge a watershed moment in 80's action film with this Richard Donner 48 hour power punch of mania. Gibson is always a treat, especially when he's playing a half-crazed (possibly "Mad") cop acting out from the recent loss of his wife, while Glover, who finally comes into his own in a leading role, anchors this adept cop buddy classic. So put in the mousse and tease that mullet out for Lethal Weapon! Oh yeah... and Merry X-mas! Download: 143 Lethal Weapon

Can one's conscience inflict a more tortured justice than that of society's? Christian Bale in The Machinist delivers a portrait of masochism in the form of madness. A Hitchcockian film, it is a nod to the psychological thriller of old (right down to the use of the theremin in the soundtrack). Bale, one of the greater actors of our generation, puts his health at risk to depict a man transformed not just mentally, but physically by his guilt. So drop a few NoDoz, stay up for a week or so, and enjoy the world of The Machinist. Download:  142 The Machinist

Matt and Mark are in the house (literally) when we both manage to co-occupy the same room for this week's review of Bubba Ho-Tep, a rare collector's edition podcast, if you will. We delve into the high concept wackiness which manages to meld myth with legend and conspiracy theory. Tossing aside the Elvis cliches, director Coscarelli and cult film actor Bruce Campbell paint a respectful portrait of Elvis as a regretful nursing home patient facing the reality all of us will at one point face. That reality, of course being one where you're forced to fend off a 5000 year old mummy from a soul sucking onslaught. Download:  141 Bubba Ho-Tep

Can there be a fascist utopia? Such a question is usually never entertained in polite company (knowing what we know today), but Paul Verhoeven serves up such an idealist future in 1997's Starship Troopers, while wrapping it in a nice Leni Riefenstahl bow (with tongue firmly in cheek). True to form, Verhoeven manages to insinuate nuanced philosophical musings into a bombastic sci-fi action film. A satire that baits the educated liberal class, Starship Troopers is a film that continues to gain appreciation as it ages. Download: 140 Starship Troopers    

"Domo arigato Mr. Roboto!" Matt and Mark review the Verhoeven classic, Robocop, a move that spawned a franchise that continues to this day. As usual, Verhoeven transcends the sci-fi high-concept and makes a prescient film packed with big ideas served it up with a beautiful does of satirical humor. Robocop's future is our present, a cornerstone of the cyberpunk zeitgeist, not only with its predictions of man/machine technologies, but also with its notions of politics and our exploitative media culture. Download: 139 Robocop

Matt and Mark's Halloween movie marathon "The horror... the horror... " concludes this week with the the titular 1978 classic by John Carpenter. A definitive slasher film if there ever was one, John Carpenter uses minimalism to his advantage with "now you see him/now you don't" camera shots that highlight paranoia and dread. The masked Michael Meyers is what Dr. Loomis dubbed the embodiment of evil, however a more fearful notion still is that Michael Meyers has decoupled from a human soul so completely, "good and evil" no longer hold meaning. Happy Halloween everybody!! Download: 138 Halloween

Our penultimate pick for our October "The horror... The horror.." marathon is the cult classic 1974 The Texas Chainsaw Massacre. A film that adds family life to the derangement of your standard slasher-killer horror film standby, TTCM is the inspiration for arguably better fair such as Rob Zombie's House of a 1000 Corpses. Sadly, most of the film is consumed in tedious chase scenes and waits until its last 20 minutes to truly reveal is genius. Worth a watch none-the-less. Download: 137 The Texas Chainsaw Massacre

The Horror... The Horror... continues this week when we review the highly regarded B-movie Killer Klowns from Outer Space, a movie that sets your expectations low by its premise. Matt retells his childhood clown trauma while Mark patiently listens, trying to provide healing.  Why are these clowns so creepy? Partly, its the monster movie in reverse. You see them in all their gratuity at the outset, and as its silliness wears off, the disturbia settles in. Download: 136 Killer Klowns from Outer Space

The Horror... The Horror... continues this week with your marathon run-up to Halloween. We review the original Japanese Ringu (Ring) from which inspired the highly successful American remake. A minimalist fright-fest, gone are the typical gory tropes of traditional film horror, instead replaced by a meta-foreboding that will make you jump at the site of grainy old school television sets and the shrill ring of land line phones. Matt and Mark ponder Sadako's curse in the age of Youtube and wonder if its possible to curse an entire  planet. Download: 135 Ringu (Ring)

Time to have a chat with Captain Howdy this week when Matt and Mark review the horror classic The Exorcist. Continuing on with our pre-Halloween "The Horror..." marathon, we discuss the disturbing Friedkin masterpiece that has few, if any, parallels. The Exorcist is strangely a movie for skeptics by skeptics, taunting one to ask terrifying questions about humanity's existence. While many think the opposite of love is hate, the opposite of love is indifference, and the demon occupier Pazuzu/Captain Howdy epitomizes this anti-human element by brutally perverting an innocent twelve year girl, while taking you a long for the ride. Download: 134 The Exorcist

And we're back! The Horror... The Horror... this week we start off The Cult of Matt and Mark's horror movie marathon on the run up to Hell'oween with the grindhousey Pieces from 1982. A movie that defines the slasher genre in all of its cliche'd silliness. Mark is able to appreciate the films nuances, while Matt laments his inability to partake in Washington State's new-found freedom to herbally enhance for such cinematic exploitation. Nowadays, it has been out done by the horror auters it inspired (e.g. Eli Roth), it gives the gory gross out the old college try. Download:  133 Pieces

Matt and Mark are going on a summer hiatus, but will be back mid-to-late September for our Halloween run-up horror-a-thon. To tide you over, we review the Mel Gibson film The Passion of the Christ. Beloved by the devout, it's time for the atheists perspective. And it cannot be denied, TPOTC is a flat-out good film, regardless of its two-millennium of baggage. Matt takes a psychological perspective while Mark provides the Christian context. A film that is guilty by association, it deserves an honest viewing, even by the most cynical and critical among us. And the South Park guys can go hang. Anybody that wants their money back for TPOTC are nothing but assholes. Download:  The Passion

Matt and Mark review the Jim Jarmusch indie darling Stranger Than Paradise. A film ahead of its time, it manages to capture the Kurouac feel despite its early 80's setting. Speaking to the aimless twenty somethings, there's a lot to relate to. Unfortunately in Jarmusch's endeavor, this atmosphere seems to come at the expense of plot and theme. What is this movie about? Not sure. Although, I'm sure Jim Jarmusch would retort in an ironic hipster quip that would leave you defenseless. Download: 113 Stranger Than Paradise