What exactly is a wife guy and why have they sacrificed their Hollywood careers (and a few film studios) to honor their ladies? The OV boys investigate the wife guy phenomenon to get to the bottom of how Renny Harlin bankrupted Carolco Pictures for love and John Derek avoided prison. THIS WEEK: Cutthroat Island (1995), Swept Away (2002), Bolero (1984) Support Optimism Vaccine on Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/optimismvaccine...
After years of grinding Jake's soul into dust by making him watch a cornucopia of trash every week, we're finally giving you the episode of his dreams: David Lynch's (unofficial) Los Angeles trilogy. Join us as we gush about one of the greatest living American Filmmakers and try to determine if Robert Forester modeled his life after his character in Lost Highway . THIS WEEK: Lost Highway (1997), Mullholland Drive (2001), Inland Empire (2006) Support Optimism Vaccine on Patreon: https://www.patre...
The Bebop crew goes after a bounty that leads them deep into space in search of an ancient chess master, while the Woolong Club crew gives you the history of Cowboy Bebop on home video and the game of chess. Support Optimism Vaccine on Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/optimismvaccine
We're celebrating the holidays the only way we know how to: A critical reassessment of Dario Argento's most maligned (and recent) films. Tune in for a giallo that isn't a giallo (just an Adrian Brody lawsuit), a Suspiria sequel, and Dario's take on a mid-90s FMV aesthetic applied to a classic horror story. THIS WEEK: Mother of Tears (2007), Giallo (2009), Dracula 3D (2012) Support Optimism Vaccine on Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/optimismvaccine...
The moment you start dipping your toes into the murky waters of Italian horror cinema, everyone will tell you the same thing: "Dario Argento is great! Just don't watch anything after Opera !" But what if those dweebs were wrong? What if Argento was still making good films well into the 00s? Or maybe they're actually all shit. There's only one way to find out. THIS WEEK: Sleepless (2001), The Card Player (2004), Do You Like Hitchcock? (2005) Support Optimism Vaccine on Patreon: https://www.patreo...
Mario Bava, Sergio Martino, and Lucio Fulci built their legacies by creating some of the most beloved giallo and horror films of all time. But, like most of their Italian contemporaries, they were willing to take on just about any genre if a studio was willing to offer up a meager budget. So what happens when they make Spaghetti Westerns? THIS WEEK: Roy Colt & Winchester Jack (1970), Mannaja: A Man Called Blade (1977), Four of the Apocalypse (1975). Support Optimism Vaccine on Patreon: https...
It's been nearly 25 years since the original Cowboy Bebop first helped you convince your friends that anime wasn't just horny cartoons about tentacles and robots. So what do you do with a cool cultural artifact that has stood the test of time? Why grind it up into weeb sausage and barf it back up as a live action Netflix series, of course! Thank god Christopher L. Yost is finally giving the Jon Cho fanatics the show they've been clamoring for. THIS WEEK: Cowboy Bebop: Season 1 (2021) Support Opt...
Shawn and Jack are off living their lives, leaving us scrambling to give our listeners something to be thankful for this week. Steve supplied the turkey: Unidentified with Demi Lovato, a vapid reality show in which products of the Mickey Mouse Club seek to commune with extra-terrestrial life. Whether your brain has been poisoned by Disney or colloidal silver, you're sure to enjoy our tumble into the world of stargates, giants, ancient sea bases, and fraud. Mostly fraud. A quick disclaimer: Demi ...
After three long years, your favorite Cowboy Bebop podcast/OV spinoff series, Woolong Club, is BACK! On this episode: Spike and Jet's partnership is on the rocks, as a melancholy Faye makes a mysterious friend on the Callisto, and the sinister Vicious makes his long awaited return! Listen to the rest of Woolong Club: https://player.captivate.fm/collection/6e4352c8-9d44-488f-8b26-eea6f0657295 Support Optimism Vaccine on Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/optimismvaccine...
From small town Texas stripper to geriatric billionaire's wife, reality TV pioneer and denim spokeswoman, Anna Nicole Smith exemplified the American Dream in the 90s. She may have never broken into Hollywood completely during her short life, but ANS did leave us with a handful of DTV action films where she starred alongside notable thespians like Joanie "Chyna" Laurer and Joey "Not John" Travolta. Join us as we immerse ourselves in the rich cinematic legacy of Anna Nicole Smith. THIS WEEK: To th...
A few years, multiple delays, and several explosions in the company of exotic women later, Jake and Jack have finally reached the finish line. It's time for the final Daniel Craig bond film and the final For Your Ears Only (for now), No Time to Die. Support Optimism Vaccine on Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/optimismvaccine
Eric Marsh of The Gauntlet Podcast joins us as we wrap up our annual October dalliance with the macabre. This week we're taking a stroll through that old, crowded, grungy cesspool New York City, where the pizza lacks structural integrity and the blood of topless sunbathers rains down from the sky. Fuck Rudy Giuliani. This is Larry Cohen's town. THIS WEEK: It's Alive (1974), God Told Me To (1976), and Q: The Winged Serpent (1982) Rate and Review Optimism Vaccine on iTunes: https://bit.ly/Optimism...
We've dug through the ditches and burned through the witches and slammed Shawn Glinis into the wild world of Rob Zombie horror films. We're joined by author, critic, and Rob Zombie superfan, Mike Thorn, to discuss Zombie's unique oeuvre and impact on the cinematic landscape. THIS WEEK: House of 1000 Corpses (2003), The Devil's Rejects (2005), and The Lords of Salem (2012) Support Optimism Vaccine on Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/optimismvaccine Buy Mike Thorn's Peel Back and See : https://jou...
The Shawn Glinis 2021 Halloween Spooktacular marches on with four adaptations (maybe interpretations? films inspired by? Vague recollections of something someone read once?) of Edgar Allan Poe's classic short story, The Black Cat . Prepare to be thrilled by horror titans like Bela Lugosi and Boris Karloff! Chilled by maniacal Italian cat puppets and Jeffrey Combs' southern accent! And deeply confused by an unofficial Suspiria sequel about a vomiting witch! THIS WEEK: The Black Cat (Ulmer, 1934),...
SHAWN GLINIS SPOOKTOBER 2021 kicks off with a pair of eccentric Lamberto Bava splatter flicks, Demons and Demons 2 . We also take an ill-advised swerve into trying to figure out how many Demons sequels there are, which coincidently is a great way to track the trajectory of the Italian film industry from the mid-80s to mid-90s. At least it gives us a great excuse to talk about Michele Soavi's brilliant Demons-adjacent film, The Church . THIS WEEK: Demons (1985), Demons 2 (1986), The Church (1989)...
If a bipedal ape kills in the forest and no one has a GoPro, was a crime ever committed? Can great apes even be punished for capital crimes? Why won't Jack just acknowledge his love of Chicago's premiere retro-themed diner, Ed Debevic's? In case it isn't abundantly clear, we watched a pair of found footage sasquatch films to finally dip our toes into the rich and rewarding world of Bigfoot Cinema. THIS WEEK: Exists (2014) and Willow Creek (2013) Support Optimism Vaccine on Patreon: https://www.p...
There was a time when Jack proudly declared that he would never watch another Steven Paul movie ever again. That lasted roughly a week. For our final Bond-adjacent podcast before No Time To Die , we're watching the classic direct-to-video Steven and Stuart Paul penned, Corey Haim classic, The Double 0 Kid . Support Optimism Vaccine on Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/optimismvaccine
What is film? What is television? What is my life? What started as a potentially fun dalliance with R.L. Stine quickly devolves into Netflix-induced existential crisis as the OpVac crew examines the centuries-spanning franken-content opus: Fear Street. THIS WEEK: Fear Street: Part One - 1994 (2021), Fear Street: Part Two - 1978 (2021), and Fear Street: Part Three - 1666 (2021) Apparently Steve promised you sickos out there a link to the Ghosts of Fear Street pilot: https://www.youtube.com/watch?...
Nia DaCosta and Jordan Peele liked our podcast on Candyman (1992) from a few years ago so much, they decided to resurrect the series with a direct sequel! They also pulled the classic move of trying to erase the two poorly received sequels from the film's continuity. We can't simply stand back and accept Tody Todd erasure. Join us as we examine the new, critically acclaimed Candyman and dig back into the derided films in the series that buried the franchise for over two decades. THIS WEEK: Candy...
With No Time To Die less than a month away, Jake and Jack take another Bond knockoff detour into Stephen Chow's 1994 Chinese spy comedy spoof, From Beijing With Love . Rate and Review Optimism Vaccine on iTunes: https://bit.ly/OptimismVaccine Support Optimism Vaccine on Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/optimismvaccine
Stuart Paul has spent three decades creating mega-budget outsider art and his producer/agent brother, Steven, has been with him every step of the way. Turns out when he's not producing mega-blockbusters like Ghost in the Shell (2017) and Deadly Lessons (2006), Steven Paul is making films of his own. Is it possible that one man can make Jerry Lewis dull, Elliott Gould grating, and Michelle Pfeiffer unconvincingly British? Yes. This is the cinema of Steven Paul. THIS WEEK: Falling in Love Again (1...
It's a Caustic Content Crossover as we explore a selection of works from cult icon in the making Stuart Paul. Our panel attempts to answer such difficult questions as: Just how much money did Burl Ives make? How many times can one man cast himself as a flawed messiah? What's the deal with the Ku Klux Klan? Why is Rebel? Is this all gibberish? Yes. Yes it is. THIS WEEK: Emanon (1987), The Legend of Simon Conjurer (2006)/Deadly Lessons (2013), and Reverse Heaven (1994)/Heaven & Hell (2018) Rat...
Filmmaker, critic, and author Scout Tafoya (@Honors_Zombie) joins us for the final episode of our Tsui Hark retrospective series. We look at how Tsui Hark interprets the cinema of John Woo, discuss if a tiger and shirtless Mickey Rourke is the secret to creating the perfect film, examine the acting prowess of Rob Schneider, and touch on Hark's interpretation of big, populist blockbusters. THIS WEEK: A Better Tomorrow III: Love and Death in Saigon (1989), Double Team (1997), Knock Off (1998), and...
We're continuing our Tsui Hark retrospective by returning to his early career to see how he transitioned from making a nihilistic masterpiece about kids blowing things up for fun to producing gorgeous post-war period romances and earning the title of the "Hong Kong Spielberg." Oh and then we just jump to his return to HK filmmaking in 2000 after a brief stint in America because it's our podcast and we'll do whatever the hell we want. THIS WEEK: Dangerous Encounters of the First Kind (1980), Zu: ...
We probably ought to have started this series with Once Upon a Time In China, yeah? We're knee deep in Tsui Hark goodness in Part 2 of our journey back to Hong Kong. A lesser podcast would dedicate an entire episode to Wong Fei Hung's acclaimed series of epic adventures, but we got the gist after the first one and moved on to soup-stuffed fish. THIS WEEK: The Chinese Feast (1995), Love in the Time of Twilight (1995), The Lovers (1994), and Once Upon a Time in China (1991) Rate and Review Optimis...
This week we're headed back to Hong Kong as we launch another multi-episode expedition into the kinetic, underseen, influential HK New Wave scene. This time around we're focusing on Tsui Hark, a man whose vast filmography stretches all the way from Wuxia to Van Damme. I'm sure your Twitter follows are convinced he's a sinister agent of Xi Jinping, but honestly, he's just a goddamn great director. We promise. To kick things off, our regular panel of mediocrity is joined by real deal film writer S...
Forget being an agent for the British Secret Service - what if Bond was a super cool criminal (with a super sexy girlfriend, natch), who regularly overthrew bureaucratic structures to fuel his selfish desires? For Your Ears Only continues our journey through spin-offs, offshoots, and features influenced by the world of 007 with Mario Bava’s pop masterpiece, Danger: Diabolik. It’s a film so good, its only crime is that it did not get a franchise of its own. THIS WEEK: Danger: Diabolik (1968) Rate...
We're in the middle of a national eviction crisis during a global pandemic and filthy rich landlords are getting wealthier exploiting working-class folks like you. So what can cinema teach us about the power of tenant solidarity? Quite a bit, actually. There's a lot you can learn from 90s Wes Craven and a 70s exploitation kung fu flick rescued from obscurity by Vinegar Syndrome. Turns out all you need to do is learn how to kick your landlord in the dick, cover them in flesh-eating rats and maybe...
We decided to celebrate the 4th of July like true red-blooded Americans by watching three films that embody the spirit of the United States (or possibly just have USA in the title and involve blowing shit up). Jack, an Irishman, AKA what every American wants to be, even put together a fun American citizenship test to see who has earned the right to continue to live in this country. Please salute the nearest flag, throw a burger on the grill and crank up the volume. This is what patriotism sounds...
Who needs James Bond when you've got a hunk like James Coburn? This week, For Your Ears Only checks out the original Bond parody franchise and looks at how the zany Derek Flint films stack up to their more serious 007 counterparts. THIS WEEK: Our Man Flint (1966) and In Like Flint (1967) Rate and Review Optimism Vaccine on iTunes: https://bit.ly/OptimismVaccine Support Optimism Vaccine on Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/optimismvaccine...
