It's Oscar season once again, and like we do every year, we do a deep dive into one of the Best Picture nominees! This time around, Michael Snydel of The Film Stage joins Clint (who's a little stuffy this episode, apologies in advance!) and Jared to talk about Guillermo del Toro's nomination-sweeping fantasy love story The Shape of Water ! Set in a Cold War-era America filtered through del Toro's intricate dark-fantasy lens, The Shape of Water follows Eliza, a lovesick mute girl (Sally Hawkins) ...
Mar 02, 2018•1 hr 30 min
Happy Valentine's Day, sweethearts! Tighten your straps and practice your safe words, because we're getting kinky with 2015's Fifty Shades of Grey ! The lovely Katie Rife ( The AV Club ) joins us to discuss Sam Taylor-Johnson's joyless adaptation of EL James' dangerously unsexy Twilight fanfiction novels detailing the dom/sub love affair between clumsy ingenue Anastasia Steele (Dakota Johnson) and brooding baby-billionaire Christian Grey (Jamie Dornan). In between, we discuss issues of kink, con...
Feb 14, 2018•1 hr 12 min
The Alcohollywood podcast is back after a month hiatus! We're moving to new episodes every two weeks, but we'll still bring you all the goodies you've come to expect. For this episode, we usher in 2018 with the found-footage horror flick Apollo 18 , about a group of NASA astronauts at the height of the Cold War launching a clandestine moon mission to spy on the Russkies. What they find, however, is more than they expected... and, given the film's found-footage conceit, kinda hard to see. Join us...
Feb 02, 2018•1 hr 11 min
Now that the holidays are over, it's time for the real reason for the season - Connickuh! Every year, we celebrate the life and works of Sir Harry Connick, Jr., he of the golden voice and chiseled jaw. This year, our old friend Derek Jarvis comes on the show to harken back to the 1940s with the Frankie Muniz boy-and-his-dog movie My Dog Skip ! Based on the memoir by William Morris, My Dog Skip follows young Willie (Frankie Muniz, voiced by Connick as an adult) growing up in the 40s with his ador...
Dec 28, 2017•1 hr 4 min
Merry Christmas and happy holidays, everyone! For this unconventional Yuletide, we bring in our dear friend, actress Alexia Jasmene , to discuss one of Clint's favorite Christmas films - 2015's trans-centric dramedy Tangerine ! Directed by Sean Baker ( The Florida Project ), Tangerine follows trans sex workers Sin-Dee Rella (Kitana Kiki Rodriguez) and Alexandra (Mya Taylor) on one unseasonably hot Christmas Eve in West Hollywood. Sin-Dee wants revenge on her cheating boyfriend/pimp Chester (Jame...
Dec 23, 2017•1 hr 16 min
In anticipation of Star Wars: The Last Jedi and Jodie Whittaker's imminent ownership of the TARDIS on Doctor Who , we brought on Allison Shoemaker ( Debating Doctor Who , Podlander Drunkcast ) to talk about the interstellar action-comedy Attack the Block ! When a council estate comes under siege from pitch-black beasties from outer space, it's up to gang leader Moses (John Boyega), his group of streetwise toughs, and an innocent nurse (Jodie Whittaker) caught in the crossfire to stave off an ali...
Dec 14, 2017•1 hr 13 min
We step into the ring this week with Emmanuel Noisette of E-Man's Movie Reviews to talk about Ryan Coogler's hit 2015 boxing drama Creed ! Creed , starring Michael B. Jordan and Sylvester Stallone (in a role that almost won him an acting Oscar - curse you, Mark Rylance!), is one of the most acclaimed and heartfelt sequels of all time. Charting the trajectory of Adonis "Donnie" Creed (Jordan) and his quest to fill his father Apollo's footsteps, Coogler and crew craft an incredibly heartfelt drama...
Dec 07, 2017•1 hr 17 min
This week, we strap on our guitars and talk about the forgotten 1980s musical drama Eddie and the Cruisers ! Telling the fictional story of a one-hit wonder band in 1960s New Jersey, Eddie and the Cruisers follows the remaining members of the band (including Tom Berenger) trying to piece together their lives after the untimely death of frontman/visionary Eddie Wilson (Michael Pare). Equal parts The Day the Music Died, Bruce Springsteen and Jim Morrison, Eddie and the Cruisers is a bafflingly dul...
Nov 30, 2017•48 min
This week, playwright Dusty Wilson joins us for one of the most poorly-timed movies of all time, 1986's Space Camp ! A Spielberg pastiche that's equal parts E.T., Apollo 13 and Porky's , Space Camp follows a group of teen misfits (including Tate Donovan, Kelly Preston, Lea Thompson and a young Joaquin Phoenix) and their teacher (Kate Capshaw) as they learn the ins and outs of Space Camp. Thanks to some well-intentioned sabotage from a literal-minded robot (JINX, voiced by Frank Welker), the cade...
Nov 23, 2017•1 hr 9 min
This week, Jared and Clint strap on their eyepatches and impractically-sized Uzis for John Carpenter's sci-fi action flick Escape from New York ! When the President (Donald Pleasance) crash-lands on the island prison of Manhattan, only one (inexplicably famous) prisoner can save him - Snake Plissken! Equipped with nothing but his wits and a bomb in his neck that will go off in 24 hours, Snake must survive the trash-filled streets of a dystopian New York City that's just a dumping ground for pris...
Nov 17, 2017•1 hr 1 min
This week, Jared and Clint go it solo after their stint at the Chicago Podcast festival to talk about 1977's psychedelic animated flick Wizards ! Directed by 70s animation guru Ralph Bakshi, Wizards launches you into a classic tale of post-apocalyptic good vs. evil: the diminutive Avatar (voiced by a guy doing a hell of a Peter Falk impression) against his evil brother Bloodwolf for the fate of a bombed-out planet. Throw in some busty faeries, existential burlap robots, and rotoscoped footage fr...
Nov 09, 2017•1 hr
This week, we bring you a LIVE episode of the podcast, talking about the short horror anthology film Trick 'r Treat with special guest Ele Matelan ( WildClaw Theatre )! Recorded at Chicago Theater Works as part of the 2nd Annual Chicago Podcast Festival , we take advantage of our 30-minute time slot to blitz our way through Trick 'r Treat 's surprisingly fun short tales of candy and carnage. From deceptively sexy werewolves to the ghosts of dead children, to a demonic pump-kid with a burlap sack...
Nov 02, 2017•39 min
This week, we close out Horror Octorbor 666 with our final piece of Satanic cinema - 1977's bizarre sequel Exorcist II: The Heretic ! Journeyman film critic extraordinaire Jacob Oller joins us as we break down John Boorman's out-there followup to the William Friedkin classic, as young Regan (Linda Blair) teams up with a disgraced priest (Richard Burton) and a psychiatrist (Louise Fletcher) to chase the demon Pazuzu everywhere from Deepest Africa to Regan's childhood home from the first film. Alo...
Oct 26, 2017•1 hr 3 min
HORROR OCTORBOR 666 continues apace with a look at the mid-90s Christopher Walken angel drama The Prophecy! Written and directed by Gregory Widen (known for writing all the Highlander and Prophecy movies, and well, that's it), The Prophecy tells the convoluted story of an angelic civil war, the little girl who might hold the key to some evil spirit (or something?), and the bland humans who dedicate themselves to stopping it. It's boring and full of pseudo-religious gobbledygook, not to mention s...
Oct 20, 2017•53 min
HORROR OCTORBOR 666 continues, as we move down our list of devil-themed horror movies with the schlocky legal drama The Devil's Advocate ! Jon Espino of HollywoodChicago.com and The Young Folks partners with us again to tell the story of Kevin Lomax (a ridiculously Southern Keanu Reeves), an unscrupulous Florida lawyer brought up to New York with his wife (Charlize Theron) to join the law firm of grimy legal titan John Milton (Al Pacino). It's two and a half hours of goofy CGI demon faces, compl...
Oct 12, 2017•1 hr 9 min
Greetings, mortals! We drag back Some Kind of Goblin this year for our sixth horror theme month, HORROR OCTORBOR 666! It's all devil movies all month, baby! To start off, Scott Bufis of The Butter Hours joins us to talk about the crazy late-period Arnold Schwarzenegger vehicle End of Days. Ever wanted to see Arnie fight Satan, all while secretly playing a Bruce Willis character? Come see a blue-period Schwarzenegger get gritty as a disgraced, suicidal ex-cop forced to protect a young woman (Robi...
Oct 07, 2017•1 hr 13 min
Are you ready to rumble?! This week, we're bringing you the recording of our LIVE episode from PodSlam '17, a wrestling-themed charity podcast marathon dedicated to Connor's Cure! Recorded at iO Chicago on September 23rd, Jared and Clint (along with special guest Randall Colburn of Consequence of Sound, The AV Club and elsewhere) break down the abject silliness of the WWE-Hanna Barbera collab Scooby-Doo Wrestlemania Mystery! Hear us entertain our live audience with the tale of Scooby and the Mys...
Sep 28, 2017•51 min
This week, Grant of Chip and Ironicus , Sex Archie and History Honeys joins us for the 2003 semi-cartoon comedy Looney Tunes: Back in Action ! In this Joe Dante-directed mix of live action and animation, Daffy Duck gets fired from the WB lot because he's tired of playing second fiddle to Bugs Bunny. Before long, they (along with hapless human co-stars Brendan Fraser and Jenna Elfman) find themselves wrapped up in a curious spy caper, as Fraser must save his spy-actor dad (Timothy Dalton) from th...
Sep 22, 2017•1 hr 17 min
This week, Theo of Twin Cinema ( who covered this film on their show as well ) joins us to talk about the classic 1944 psychological thriller Gaslight ! When a young newlywed (Ingrid Bergman, in an Oscar-winning performance) moves in with her controlling new beau Anton (Charles Boyer) into her late aunt's home, she finds herself the victim of psychologically controlling behavior meant to keep her from suspecting her husband of criminal activities. It's a cracking noir with beautiful performances...
Sep 15, 2017•1 hr 3 min
This week, we go do some crimes with regular guest (and director of The Plagiarist's latest show, Ubu II ) Nick Freed as we talk about the 1984 punk cult classic Repo Man ! Alex Cox's deliberately weird, anarchic joyride follows an aimless young punk (Emilio Estevez) who finds himself employed at an unscrupulous auto repossession company. Learning the ins and outs of the repo life with seasoned veteran Bud (Harry Dean Stanton), he runs afoul of a Chevy Malibu which - surprise! - has radioative a...
Sep 07, 2017•1 hr 11 min
Julia (Clint's co-host for our new releases spinoff On Tap ) joins us this week to check another movie off Jared's wishlist - the quirky John Travolta vehicle Michael ! Fresh off his Pulp Fiction success, Travolta leapt straight into this schmaltzy Nora Ephron rom-com, which gave him license to go full Adele Dazeem on a group of tabloid reporters (including William Hurt and Andie Macdowell) hoping to get a picture of a real-life angel - with wings and everything! It's kitschy and more than a lit...
Aug 31, 2017•1 hr 7 min
This week, Clint antes up with guests Zach Powers (of The Revisionists ) and Aaron J. Amendola (of VStheUniverse ) to talk about the 1998 card-shark drama Rounders ! Matt Damon plays a down-on-his-luck poker virtuoso/law student who gets dragged back into the world of underground high-stakes Texas hold 'em by his old friend Worm (Edward Norton), fresh out of prison with a huge gambling debt to repay. Will Damon choose the thrill of the cards over his law career and his bland, responsible girlfri...
Aug 24, 2017•1 hr 7 min
This week, we saddle up with The Next Picture Show 's Keith Phipps to look back at the 1974 Mel Brooks comedy classic Blazing Saddles ! Equal parts raunchy and deliciously subversive even today, Blazing Saddles is a beautifully acerbic parody of the classic Western, following a black sherriff (Cleavon Little) tasked with defending/offending the puritanical town of Rock Ridge, while scheming huckster Hedy ("Hedley!") Lamarr (Harvey Korman) plots the down's demise. It's a drop dead hilarious movie...
Aug 17, 2017•48 min
CW: Discussion of scenes of sexual assault from the film itself. For our 300th episode, the lovely Lauren Faits of the upcoming podcast She-Ra: Progressive of Power and Our Fair City joins us to talk about the cult 1987 anime film Royal Space Force: The Wings of Honneamise ! From the makers of Evangelion, Honneamise is an early example of the fluid animation and mature themes that would fuel the anime craze of the 90s in the US. Set in an alternate Earth in which two steampunk societies gear up ...
Aug 10, 2017•1 hr 6 min
Load up your red Caddy with booze, guns and a suitcase full of drugs, because we're headed to The City of Lights with Blastropodcast 's Mark Soloff to talk about Terry Gilliam's bizarro Hunter S. Thompson adaptation Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas ! Based on Thompson's free-wheeling quest for the American Dream in the early 70s, the film follows Thompson surrogate Raoul Duke (Johnny Depp, chewing as much scenery as he does cigarette filters) and his "attorney" Dr. Gonzo (Benicio Del Toro) through...
Aug 03, 2017•1 hr 9 min
It's Shark Week once again this year, and we're celebrating with The Film Stage Show 's Michael Snydel as we break down Blake Lively's cult summer hit from last year, The Shallows ! Check our our custom cocktail and drinking rules as we talk about Blumhouse's micro-budget genius, CG sharks, and helpful seagulls named after 90s action stars. ( Thanks to our sponsor Cards Against Humanity as part of the Chicago Podcast Coop !)...
Jul 20, 2017•46 min
This week's episode sees the return of lovely recurring guest Ele Matelan (from Our Fair City , Starlight Radio Dreams and Locked Into Vacancy Entertainment ), to help us unpack 1986's Rawhead Rex ! Written by horror icon Clive Barker (a.k.a. Pervy Lovecraft) and based on his short story, Rawhead Rex sees the return of a goofy-looking hell demon to terrorize a small Irish village, with only an obnoxious American photographer and his sexy grey cardigan to stop it. Check out our episode, along wit...
Jul 13, 2017•1 hr 22 min
This week, we test our commitment to Sparkle Motion with Jon Espino of The Young Folks and HollywoodChicago.com as we revisit Richard Kelly's 2001 cult time travel teen drama Donnie Darko ! The hit of the Hot Topic crowd in the early 2000s, for better or worse, we go back to this twisty, navel-gazing mixture of American Beauty and The Butterfly Effect to see if its profundities still hold up. Take a listen, and check out our custom cocktail and drinking rules! ( Thanks to our sponsor Cards Again...
Jul 06, 2017•1 hr 5 min
This week, regular guest Derek Jarvis joins us to talk about the little-seen (but surprisingly effective) home invasion thriller Unlawful Entry ! When a couple (Kurt Russell, Madeleine Stowe) narrowly survive a home invasion, they run into a shady cop (Ray Liotta) who seems all too willing to abuse his power to take over as man of the house. A creepy post-Rodney King erotic thriller about police brutality and white flight, we actually dug Unlawful Entry quite a bit. Check out our review, along w...
Jun 30, 2017•1 hr 19 min
This week, we toke up with Shannon Campe (of the podcast Stage of Fools ) and Zach Powers (also of Stage of Fools and The Revisionists ) as we dig into 2001's stoner comedy How High ! When Method Man and Redman get into Harvard by smoking the ashes of their dead friend, you know you're in for a baffling experience. Come check out our thoughts along with our custom cocktail and drinking game! ( Thanks to our sponsor Cards Against Humanity as part of the Chicago Podcast Coop !) Related links: Cynt...
Jun 23, 2017•1 hr 19 min
