Forty years ago, director John Carpenter followed his hit horror film Halloween with an action movie set in a year far off in the future: 1997! Starring Kurt Russell in his iconic role as the eye patch-wearing former soldier Snake Plissken tasked with a mission to save the President from the island prison of Manhattan in return for a federal pardon, the film was a hit and became a cult classic. While Lobster’s on vacation in the Empire State, Beef, Wing, and Taco will bravely attempt to Escape f...
Jul 14, 2021•1 hr 1 min•Ep. 533
Fifty years ago, automotive journalist Brock Yates and Car and Driver editor Steve Smith conceived the Cannonball Baker Sea-To-Shining-Sea Memorial Trophy Dash, a timed race from East Coast to West Coast of America. The first “Cannonball Run” from New York City to the Portofino Inn in Redondo Beach, California, was covered in a widely-read article, and the race was run four more times throughout the ‘70s. By the end of the decade, a movie was in the works, to be written by Yates and helmed by st...
Jul 07, 2021•1 hr 4 min•Ep. 532
Twenty-five years ago, Speed director Jan du Bont’s latest action movie blew into theaters. Starring Helen Hunt and Bill Paxton as a pair of estranged tornado chasers, the film was co-written by Jurassic Park author Michael Chricton and produced by Stephen Spielberg and Kathleen Kennedy. While the screenplay went through several rewrites from script doctors like Joss Whedon, Steve Zallian, and Jeff Nathanson, shooting was also plagued with on-set injuries, budget overruns, and outbursts from the...
Jun 30, 2021•1 hr 3 min•Ep. 531
On June 4th, 2004, disgruntled Granby, Colorado, resident Marvin Heemeyer drove his secretly-built “Killdozer” through the wall of his garage and took it on a destructive rampage of vengeance against his fellow townspeople, who he believed had wronged him over the years. At the end of the day, Heemeyer had destroyed 13 buildings, including the town hall, the local newspaper’s offices, several local businesses, and the home of the former mayor, causing over $7 million worth of damage. Miraculousl...
Jun 25, 2021•1 hr 11 min•Ep. 530
Forty years ago, Indiana Jones swung onto movie theater screens with his first epic adventure hot on the heels of some nasty Nazis in search of the Ark of the Covenant. Created by George Lucas and Philip Kaufman, and brought to life by screenwriter Lawrence Kasdan, producer Frank Marshall, and director Stephen Spielberg. The film also featured a score by John Williams, cinematography by Douglas Slocombe, editing by Michael Kahn, and starred Harrison Ford in the title role as archaeologist/advent...
Jun 16, 2021•1 hr 25 min•Ep. 529
Forty years ago, King Arthur and the Knights of the Round Table got the blockbuster treatment with John Boorman’s 1981 production retelling the classic tales. Starring Nigel Terry as Arthur and Nicol Williamson as Merlin, the film also features Gabriel Byrne, Helen Mirren, Patrick Stewart, Liam Neeson, and Ciarán Hinds in some of their earliest film roles. Shot entirely on location in Ireland, the movie boasts a dazzling production design, elaborate (and shiny) costumes, and music from Carl Orff...
Jun 10, 2021•1 hr 7 min•Ep. 528
Phil Lord and Chris Miller, who produced the Academy Award-winning (and Legends fan favorite) animated film Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse, teamed up with director Mike Rianda on a family road trip movie about the end of the world for Sony Pictures Animation. Originally called Connected, the movie was scheduled for a 2020 release that was cancelled due to the pandemic. Netflix picked up the movie’s distribution rights for a cool $110 million, the film was retitled to Rianda’s original name, a...
Jun 06, 2021•58 min•Ep. 527
Director Chloé Zhao became the first woman of color to win Best Director at the Academy Awards this year with her 2020 film starring Frances McDormand. Based on Jessica Bruder’s non-fiction book exploring the lives of van-dwelling transient Americans in the wake of the Great Recession, the film features many of the real-life people from the book playing fictionalized versions of themselves. The film took home the Best Picture statue as well as earning McDormand her third Oscar for Best Actress. ...
May 26, 2021•59 min•Ep. 526
Author Tom Clancy ruled the ‘80s and ‘90s with his military espionage thrillers, starting with 1984’s The Hunt for Red October, producing seventeen bestsellers and selling over 100 million copies in his lifetime, and spawning multiple motion pictures. His most famous character, CIA analyst Jack Ryan, has been played by Alec Baldwin, Harrison Ford, Ben Affleck, and Chris Pine. Most recently, John Krasinski has stepped into the role for Amazon’s original TV series, Jack Ryan. Clancy’s character Jo...
May 19, 2021•58 min•Ep. 525
Danish director Thomas Vinterberg, perhap best known for co-founding the Dogme 95 filmmaking movement with fellow director Lars von Trier, is also famous for his intensely intimate character studies within ensemble casts. His latest film follows that trend, with Mads Mikkelsen, Thomas Bo Larsen, Magnus Millang, and Lars Ranthe starring as four high school teachers who decide to get perpetually buzzed during their daily lives… for science! Called “Druk” - slang for “binge drinking” - in Danish, t...
May 12, 2021•1 hr 13 min•Ep. 524
This player-versus-player video game hit arcades almost thirty years ago, and it quickly became infamous for its graphic violence, including bloody signature kill moves called Fatalities. While it’s gotten the big screen treatment before, most notably in Paul W.S. Anderson’s 1995 film, it’s never earned the R-rating that the franchise deserves. The new film, released last month in theaters and on HBO Max, chooses that destiny with gory Fatalities galore - but does it live up to the expectations ...
May 05, 2021•1 hr 9 min•Ep. 523
Playwright Mart Crowley’s The Boys in the Band opened in 1968 as an Off-Broadway production with a limited engagement - just five curtain calls. However, the show’s popularity led to a change in venue to a larger theater where it ran for 1,001 performances from April of ‘68 to 1970. In 1970, William Friedkin directed the original cast in a film version from a script by Crowley, which made waves as the first mainstream film to use the “C” Word. In 2018, a Tony Award-winning Broadway revival opene...
May 01, 2021•1 hr 33 min•Ep. 522
Director Jamie Babbit made her feature debut in 1999 after she found success at Sundance with her short film Sleeping Beauties. Starring Natasha Lyonne as a high school cheerleader sent to conversion therapy camp, the film also features Clea DuVall and Melanie Lynskey as her fellow lesbian campers, along with Cathy Moriarty and RuPaul as the staff in the pink and blue John Waters-esque dreamscape of the True Directions camp. The film earned an initial rating of NC-17 from the MPAA, as did Americ...
Apr 22, 2021•1 hr 23 min•Ep. 521
Director Ang Lee had already achieved international success when he took the helm of an adaptation of Annie Proulx’s short story that was co-written by Lonesome Dove author Larry McMurty. Starring Heath Ledger and Jake Gyllenhaal as two cowboys who carry on a decades-long love affair that began on the titular mountain in 1963, the film was a critical and commercial success, winning multiple awards including top honors at the Golden Globes and the BAFTAs. At the Academy Awards, it famously lost t...
Apr 14, 2021•1 hr 43 min•Ep. 520
Director Peter Jackson rose to prominence directing horror-comedies, but it was his 1994 film Heavenly Creatures that earned him international recognition and his first Oscar nomination for Best Original Screenplay with his partner, Fran Walsh. Retelling the infamous Parker-Hulme murder case in Christchurch, New Zealand, forty years prior, the film introduced Kate Winslet and Melanie Lynskey to the screen and featured immeresive fantasy elements that foreshadow Jackson’s work on the Lord of the ...
Apr 07, 2021•1 hr 23 min•Ep. 519
Four years after its original release, the fifth film of the DCEU is back on screens courtesy of HBO Max. Zack Snyder’s Justice League, however, presents an almost entirely different vision from Joss Whedon’s theatrical version, and is the direct result of the unholy alliance between a troubled production, a rabid fanbase, and a streaming service hungry for buzz-worthy content. Adding $70 million to the original film’s $300 million budget for all-new visual effects and new footage - as well as t...
Mar 31, 2021•1 hr 15 min•Ep. 518
The career of action hero Arnold Schwarzenegger is full of hits, but 1993 handed him his first major flop. Following his career-defining performance in Terminator 2: Judgement Day, the John McTiernan-directed spoof Last Action Hero saw Arnie play a fictional movie character from an action sequel starring… Arnold Schwarzeneggar. Opening in June of 1993, Last Action Hero was billed as "the next great summer action movie," but bad word-of-mouth from a disastrous test screening destroyed any chance ...
Mar 24, 2021•1 hr 9 min•Ep. 517
After facing a career downturn and seeing his personal life turn to tabloid fodder, Ben Affleck solidified his status as an actor-director with his sophomore outing, 2010’s The Town. Starring Affleck, Rebecca Hall, Jeremy Renner, Jon Hamm, and Pete Postelwaite in his final film role, The Town followed up the first pic Affleck helmed, 2007’s Gone Baby Gone, as another Boston-based crime drama. The Town received overwhelmingly positive reviews and a Best Supporting Actor Oscar nom for Renner, and ...
Mar 17, 2021•1 hr 5 min•Ep. 516
In 2012, the French sci-fi action film Lockout asked the question: what if Luc Besson ripped off John Carpenter’s Escape from New York? When a convicted ex-soldier is asked to infiltrate a floating maximum-security prison to rescue a member of the First Family in order to receive a pardon, hijinks ensue. Starring Guy Pearce as Snake - er, um, “Snow,” - Lockout was panned by critics as “Escape from N.Y./L.A. in space” and barely made back its $20 million dollar budget. Carpenter then sued for pla...
Mar 11, 2021•53 min
In 1997, the Canadian sci-fi horror film Cube asked the question: what if six strangers were trapped in a maze filled with traps and the only way for them to escape was by using... math? Okay, so on paper Cube is a movie that should not work. It was made for just $350K, in one room, with a bunch of unknown actors. There are a few special effects, but blink and you’ll miss them. There are no answers given as to why anything is happening. The movie is just all cube. Yet Cube is a cult classic, wit...
Mar 03, 2021•1 hr 8 min•Ep. 514
The global box office shut down has led many theatrical releases to seek other avenues for distribution - including films seeking award recognition. Earlier this year, Amazon Prime released One Night in Miami…, which is the first film directed by Regina King and was written by Kemp Powers, based on his 2013 play. While it received showings at multiple film festivals - including the first movie by a Black female director to be selected for the Venice Film Festival - and a limited release prior to...
Feb 24, 2021•1 hr 8 min•Ep. 513
The global box office shut down has led many theatrical releases to seek other avenues for distribution. Earlier this month, Netflix released Space Sweepers, the first-ever South Korean space blockbuster, which had originally been aimed at cinemas. After multiple delays due to the pandemic, the film’s studio sold the movie’s exclusive rights to Netflix in hopes that it would be well-received and could jump-start a franchise. Upon release, Space Sweepers topped Netflix’s own Top 10 list in severa...
Feb 17, 2021•1 hr 14 min•Ep. 512
This episode includes a discussion of suicide. If you are in crisis, you should call the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline at 1-800-273-TALK (8255), or text the Crisis Text Line (text HELLO to 741741). Both services are free and available 24 hours a day, seven days a week. Last year brought a plethora of new original films to streaming services. In September, Netflix released I’m Thinking of Ending Things, based on the novel by Iain Reid, and adapted and directed by Charlie Kaufman. Starring ...
Feb 10, 2021•1 hr 16 min•Ep. 511
Last year brought a bumper crop of new original films to streaming services. In July, Netflix released The Old Guard, based on the Image Comics series by Greg Rucka. Starring Mad Max: Fury Road’s Charlize Theron as the leader of a group of immortal mercenaries, this globe-trotting action movie reportedly drew 78 million viewers in the first month of release. With a sequel reportedly in development, we’re pressing play to see Imperator Furiosa do her best Wolverine impression. For more geeky podc...
Feb 03, 2021•56 min•Ep. 510
From the 1988 film My Neighbor Totoro, best known to American audiences from the 2006 English-dub version released by Disney, the titular Totoro has become a brand icon for Studio Ghibli - a silent, imposing counterpart to Mickey Mouse. Written and directed by Hayao Miyazaki and based on his own childhood, My Neighbor Totoro has become a worldwide cult classic. As we wrap up our Japanuary arc, we climb aboard the Catbus for a magical journey through the fields and forests of rural ‘50s Japan. Fo...
Jan 28, 2021•1 hr 13 min•Ep. 509
We’re wrapping up our Kurosawa trilogy with 1958’s The Hidden Fortress. Cited often as one of George Lucas’s direct inspirations for Star Wars, The Hidden Fortress features two bumbling fools, a fugitive princess, a badass swordsman, and a scarred bad guy who carries a grudge but is ultimately redeemed by his good heart! Toshiro Mifune shows up again for the third time this month in this epic from a long time ago and somewhere far, far away - feudal Japan! For more geeky podcasts visit GonnaGeek...
Jan 20, 2021•1 hr 2 min•Ep. 508
We’re continuing the month with Kurosawa’s 1954 film Seven Samurai. Released by Toho Studios the same year as the first Godzilla, Seven Samurai actually cost more than the monster flick and took three times as long to shoot, and though both would be remembered as two of the greatest films ever made, Seven Samurai remains one of the most heavily referenced, remade, or reworked, films of all time. Coming in at a whopping three-and-a-half hours (with intermission!) Seven Samurai is hailed as the fi...
Jan 13, 2021•59 min•Ep. 507
We’re kicking Japanese classics month off with Akira Kurosawa’s 1950 film Rashomon. Notable for its use of conflicting points-of-view on the same event, Rashomon has become synonymous for storytelling by unreliable narrators or differing takes on a simultaneous scene. Rashomon is considered one of the greatest movies ever made, but does it stand up to our Legendary scrutiny? We try to get our stories straight and start the year in style! For more geeky podcasts visit GonnaGeek.com You can find u...
Jan 06, 2021•1 hr 1 min•Ep. 506
We all hoped for a good movie to close out this awful year, but does Wonder Woman 1984 make us want to renounce our wish? Join us for our final review of 2020 and a look back at the year’s top stories. For more geeky podcasts visit GonnaGeek.com You can find us on iTunes under ''Legends Podcast''. Please subscribe and give us a positive review. You can also follow us on Twitter @LegendsPodcast or even better, send us an e-mail: LegendsPodcastS@gmail.com You can find all our contact information h...
Dec 30, 2020•56 min•Ep. 505
It’s one of the longest, darkest, coldest nights of the year. What better time to talk about child vampires? This week we’re taking a detour from our usual format and comparing the 2008 Swedish film Let the Right One In with its American remake, 2010’s Let Me In. For more geeky podcasts visit GonnaGeek.com You can find us on iTunes under ''Legends Podcast''. Please subscribe and give us a positive review. You can also follow us on Twitter @LegendsPodcast or even better, send us an e-mail: Legend...
Dec 23, 2020•1 hr 23 min•Ep. 504
