This week on Total Movie Recall, Steve and Ryan watch the most subtle satire ever made — Starship Troopers . What exactly is this movie skewering? We’re not sure. We thought we might have figured it out with the Nazi uniforms and Leni Riefenstahl shots and Aryan actors, but then we got distracted by the nudity and gore and decided not to think about it anymore. Starship Troopers (1997) d. Paul Verhoeven w. Edward Neumeier (screenplay) (as Ed Neumeier), Robert A. Heinlein (book) Starring: Casper ...
Aug 30, 2020•1 hr 18 min
This week on Total Movie Recall, Steve and Ryan stare into the eyes of a childless middle age and watch 1987’s Raising Arizona . Steve has a good laugh watching what he sees as a silly, light comedy and Ryan is gripped by yet another existential crisis watching a moving meditation on fatherhood, adulthood, leaving the reckless ways of youth behind, the crushing weight of responsibility, and conquering your demons. Oh to have the weightless, carefree, burdenless mirth that Steve enjoys! We should...
Aug 23, 2020•1 hr 28 min
This week on Total Movie Recall, Steve and Ryan light a candle for all the former child stars doing porn and robbing gas stations and lament the end of trashy 90s television — the genital warts of American society. We watched The Cable Guy and discovered that Americans would rather have their comedic heroes talking out of their rectums than critiquing our dumb media consumption. Put on your Doc Martens and pop in your Mazzy Star mix CD because we go back to a morally murky time — the 1990s. The ...
Aug 16, 2020•1 hr 23 min
This week on Total Movie Recall, we stare into the void and find out that hipsters are terrible people that treat the mentally ill like zoo animals and Ryan swears he’ll never wear skinny jeans again. Steve declares that the word “genius” is thrown around way too much and that it should only be applied to people who discover new kinds of particles or create nudity mods for video games. We watched The Devil and Daniel Johnston , so burn your Sonic Youth records and point your plane straight at th...
Aug 10, 2020•1 hr 27 min
The Fly (1986) d. David Cronenberg Starring: Jeff Goldblum Geena Davis John Getz This week on Total Movie Recall, Steve and Ryan enter the telepod together and come out as a new, single entity — the Brundlehost. They get sentimental revisiting the powerful tragedy of David Cronenberg's The Fly , and Ryan acts like he's the first person to ever notice that Geena Davis is one of the great beauties of our time, and Steve tries to break down particle physics and quantum mechanics so even a dumb Phil...
Aug 03, 2020•1 hr 39 min
Naked Gun 33 1/3 (1994) d. Peter Segal writers: Pat Proft , David Zucker , Robert LoCash Starring: Leslie Nielsen Priscilla Presley George Kennedy O.J. Simpson Fred Ward Kathleen Freeman Anna Nicole Smith This week on Total Move Recall, Steve holds Ryan's white, cisgendered, ignorant feet to the fire as they revisit and are repulsed by the humor of The Naked Gun 33 & ⅓: The Final Insult . Steve is appalled by the mainstream sensibilities of 1994 when white men had the right to mock and ridic...
Jul 27, 2020•1 hr 32 min•Ep. 31
Suspiria (1977) d. Dario Argento written by: Dario Argento , Daria Nicolodi Starring: Jessica Harper Stefania Casini Flavio Bucci Udo Kier Joan Bennett This week on Total Movie Recall, we test our feminist bona fides and flex our rigorous academic muscles dissecting the precise and not-at-all haphazard imagery of Dario Argento's giallo horror film, Suspiria . Ryan fantasizes about disappearing into a Black Forest fairytale world where there are no problems and noted ballerina enthusiast Steve re...
Jul 19, 2020•1 hr 23 min
Mad Max (1979) d. George Miller Starring: Mel Gibson as Max Rockatansky Joanne Samuel as Jesse Rockatansky Hugh Keays-Byrne as Toecutter Steve Bisley as Jim Goose Tim Burns as Johnny the Boy Roger Ward as Fifi Geoff Parry as Bubba Zanetta The Interceptor, a modified 1973 Ford Falcon XB GT coupe The second season of Total Movie Recall comes roaring back with a V8 engine and a newly discovered kink. Why does this film have such iconic bondage, S&M, and homoerotic wardrobe and imagery? Who care...
Jul 12, 2020•1 hr 49 min
Donnie Darko (2001) d. Richard Kelly Starring: Jake Gyllenhaal Jena Malone Drew Barrymore Maggie Gyllenhaal Mary McDonnell Katharine Ross Patrick Swayze Seth Rogen Noah Wyle This week on Total Movie Recall, in a long time coming, Ryan finally loses his effing mind as Steve shoots a time/space wormhole from his chest while watching 2001's crazy bananas Donnie Darko. They talk about the hell that is adolescence, the subjective nature of reality, and how much they miss Swayze. In a funny, moving an...
Mar 22, 2016•1 hr 7 min
Ghostbusters II (1989) d. Ivan Reitman Starring: Dan Akroyd Harold Ramis Bill Murray Ernie Hudson Sigourney Weaver Annie Potts Rick Moranis Peter MacNicol On this week's episode of TMR, Steve and Ryan watch 1989's not-quite-classic sequel Ghostbusters II. Ryan talks about the time he broke his dad's heart and may have inadvertently killed the family dog, Steve breaks down the way this generation's kids consume content, they speculate on the complicated mythology of Bill Murray, and both wish the...
Mar 15, 2016•1 hr 3 min
Ninja Scroll (1993) d. Yoshiaki Kawajiri This week on Total Movie Recall, Steve and Ryan go toe-to-toe with their verbal martial arts prowess—leaping from rooftop to rooftop, through bamboo forests and dodging ninja stars and killer bees. Steve goes into hyperdrive with tales of sex, drugs and violence, while Ryan tries to wrap his head around the horrors that were inflicted upon him in the Japanese anime classic Ninja Scroll. In this anime film, Jubei, a highly skilled ninja, is coerced into sl...
Mar 07, 2016•50 min
The Sword in the Stone (1963) d. Wolfgang Reitherman Produced by : Walt Disney Starring: Rickie Sorensen Sebastian Cabot Karl Swenson This week on Total Movie Recall, Steve and Ryan relive the vile union of a pedophilic wizard and his would be king pupil. Ryan remembers a simpler time when he'd eat sugary snacks at his creepy neighbor's house while getting hockity pocketied, and Steve demands more swords and wizardry in his swords and wizardry in the 1963 Disney classic "The Sword in the Stone."...
Mar 02, 2016•47 min
Oldboy (2003) d. Chan-wook Park Starring: Min-sik Choi Ji-tae Yu Hye-jeong Kang This week on Total Movie Recall, Steve and Ryan take on the roles of Oedipus and Sophocles as they regress deep into their subconscious to cope with the brutal realities of Seoul's gritty underbelly. Steve comes to terms with his unquenchable thirst for revenge, Ryan double checks his list of those he has wrongs, and they both conclude that eating a live octopus might be a one way ticket to Elder God hell. Dae-Su is ...
Feb 22, 2016•59 min
High Fidelity (2000) d. Stephen Frears Starring: John Cusack Iben Hjejle Todd Louiso Jack Black Lisa Bonet Catherine Zeta-Jones Joan Cusack Tim Robbins This week on Total Movie Recall, Steve and Ryan compare the soul sapping abyss of their previous relationships with that of Rob from High Fidelity. Steve talks about hunting down ex-girlfriends to demand answers and Ryan weighs the significance of romance in your teens vs. in your twenties. They both lament the demise of the mix tape and agree th...
Feb 15, 2016•1 hr 11 min
The Goonies (1985) d. Richard Donner Writers: Steven Spielberg (story) Chris Columbus (screenplay) Starring: Sean Astin Josh Brolin Jeff Cohen Corey Feldman Kerri Green Martha Plimpton Ke Huy Quan Robert Davi Joe Pantoliano Anne Ramsey This week on Total Movie Recall, we go back to a time when Corey's ruled the world. We watched 1985's classic "The Goonies" and wonder what exactly a "Goonie" is. We help Ryan try to figure out the ins and outs of a complicated housing market, try to figure out wh...
Feb 08, 2016•1 hr 19 min
The Rocketeer (1991) d. Joe Johnston Starring: Billy Campbell Jennifer Connelly Timothy Dalton Alan Arkin Paul Sorvino This week on TMR, we flash back to the Art Deco past and get into a big fight about... well, exactly what Art Deco is. A movie about a remarkably mentally healthy Howard Hughes; angelic, heavenly creature Jennifer Connelly; an underrated James Bond turns in an underrated villain performance; and huge Nazi blimps fly over Los Angeles and NO ONE EVEN NOTICES. We watched 1991's wou...
Feb 01, 2016•1 hr
Battle Royale (2000) d. Kinji Fukasaku Starring: Tatsuya Fujiwara Aki Maeda Takeshi Kitano Chiaki Kuriyama This week on Total Movie Recall, Steve and Ryan finally have the psychotic break that was inevitable since this show began. They watch the 2000 Japanese classic "Battle Royale" and have PTSD flashbacks about hormonal insanity in middle school, admit how ineffectual they would be if they had to fight a bunch of preteens to the death, and encourage kids to never trust adults. 42 9th graders a...
Jan 25, 2016•1 hr 13 min
The Untouchables (1987) d. Brian De Palma Starring: Kevin Costner Sean Connery Andy Garcia Robert De Niro Billy Drago This week on Total Movie Recall, Steve and Ryan throw Italian and Irish racial slurs around like its 1929. Steve tells us about growing up as a little street scamp on the mean streets of Chicago, Ryan is the only lapsed Baptist in the world with a patron saint, and the guys run their Sean Connery impressions straight into the ground. After building an empire with bootleg alcohol,...
Jan 18, 2016•59 min
Before Sunrise (1995) d. Richard Linklater Starring: Ethan Hawke Julie Delpy This week on Total Movie Recall, Steve and Ryan drop their ironic, cynical pose and reveal the wounded romantic inside. Steve tells us how this movie helped him during those in-between-relationship periods of booze and ice cream, Ryan reflects on his parents' mortality, and the boys conclude that adulthood and growing up are a sham. On his way to Vienna, American Jesse (Ethan Hawke) meets Celine (Julie Delpy), a student...
Jan 11, 2016•1 hr 27 min
The Blair Witch Project (1999) Starring: Heather Donahue Joshua Leonard Michael C. Williams This week on Total Movie Recall, Steve & Ryan participate in the most horrific thing imaginable - spending a week alone in the woods with three insufferable film students. The guys talk about how susceptible to the scares they were (and decidedly still are), how embarrassingly gullible 13-year old Ryan was, how freaky runic symbols are, and Steve's hatred of camping. Found video footage tells the tale...
Jan 04, 2016•1 hr 1 min
Bram Stoker's Dracula (1992) d. Francis Ford Coppola Starring: Gary Oldman Winona Ryder Anthony Hopkins Keanu Reeves Richard E. Grant Cary Elwes Billy Campbell Tom Waits Sadie Frost This week on Total Movie Recall, Steve & Ryan take part in the absinthe-fueled sexy insanity that is possessive-filled Francis Ford Coppola's Bram Stoker's Dracula . They bask in the heavenly glow that is Keanu Reeve's acting, Gary Oldman's ability to make the ladies' wild even in a wrinkly beast suit, and how si...
Dec 28, 2015•1 hr 22 min
Star Wars: The Force Awakens (2015) d. J.J. Abrams Starring: Daisy Ridley John Boyega Oscar Isaac Harrison Ford Carrie Fisher This special Star Wars edition of Total Movie Recall finds Steve feeling the emotional pull of the force as he regresses to his 8-year-old self and Ryan falls in love with young upstart Daisy Ridley as they unpackage their complex relationship with the Star Wars franchise through the lens of The Force Awakens. Three decades after the defeat of the Galactic Empire, a new t...
Dec 21, 2015•1 hr 12 min
Christmas Special: Gremlins (1994) d. Joe Dante Starring: Zach Galligan Phoebe Cates Hoyt Axton Home Alone (1990) d. Chris Columbus Starring: Macaulay Culkin Joe Pesci Daniel Stern Catherine O'Hara In our Yuletide Christmas Double Feature, Steve & Ryan examine the consequences of neglectful pet ownership & find out child endangerment isn't as hilarious when it happens to the super wealthy. Steve tells us about growing up on Chicago's North Shore and doing menial labor for the 1%, and Rya...
Dec 14, 2015•1 hr 35 min
Robot Jox (1989) d. Stuart Gordon Starring: Gary Graham Anne-Marie Johnson Paul Koslo This week on Total Movie Recall, Steve & Ryan find out how easy it is to ruin the awesome idea of giant robot wars. Steve reminisces about every better robot movie, game & cartoon to punctuate his disappointment, and Ryan is crushed to realize all his favorite childhood memories are of really terrible movies. 50 years after a nuclear war, the two superpowers handle territorial disputes in a different wa...
Dec 07, 2015•1 hr 4 min
Shaun of the Dead (2004) d. Edgar Wright Starring: Simon Pegg Nick Frost Every great British actor currently working This week on Total Movie Recall, Steve brings us a relatively recent entry into the list, and the guys talk about the existential listlessness that accompanies a quarter-life crisis. Steve realizes that some special events in your memory should stay in your memory, and Ryan confronts his disappointment in relationships, employment, ambitions, dreams, and... everything else. Shaun ...
Nov 30, 2015•1 hr 7 min
The People Under the Stairs (1991) d. Wes Craven Starring: Brandon Quintin Adams Everett McGill Wendy Robie Ving Rhames A.J. Langer This week on TMR, Steve & Ryan explore white people's vision of the ghetto, lament the diminished impact of incest in movies, and wax nostalgic about boyhood hours spent in video stores. Ryan talks about watching this weird-ass movie with this saintly mother, and Steve tells us what he looks for when shopping for a gimp suit. When young Fool breaks into the home...
Nov 22, 2015•1 hr 6 min
Bill & Ted's Bogus Journey (1991) d. Pete Hewitt Starring: Keanu Reeves Alex Winter William Sadler George Carlin Joss Ackland On a most excellent episode of TMR, Steve and Ryan attempt to parse out exactly what a "Melvin" is, explore the origins of Steve's lapse in faith in a just god, and Ryan once again attempts to break down the quantum mechanics of time travel only to succumb to a nap instead. Things discussed in the show: The Martian ( Matt Damon ) Sicario ( Emily Blunt , Josh Brolin , ...
Nov 16, 2015•1 hr 13 min
Willow (1988) d. Ron Howard Starring: Warwick Davis Val Kilmer Joanne Whalley This week on TMR, Steve and Ryan wonder how the hell George Lucas doesn't owe JRR Tolkien's estate some serious royalties, speculate on how Val Kilmer can be so simultaneously charming and unqualified to raise a baby, Steve tests Ryan's patience with his endless stories of playing Dungeons & Dragons with his nerdy friends, and Ryan makes public his struggle with "icky" things. Things discussed in the show: George L...
Nov 09, 2015•1 hr 27 min
The Phantom of the Opera (1925) d. Rupert Julian Starring: Lon Chaney Mary Philbin Norman Kerry This week on TMR, Steve inadvertently reveals his creepy, gross fetish for ballerina feet, for which we mercilessly judge him, and Ryan struggles to stay awake through the 1925 silent classic "Phantom of the Opera." The guys talk about the Phantom's penchant for date-rapey interior decor, the unfortunate renaissance of hipster mustaches, and did we mention Steve has a fetish for ballerina feet? Things...
Nov 02, 2015•1 hr 11 min
Puppet Master (1989)/Children of the Corn (1984) d. David Schmoeller (Puppet Master) d. Fritz Kiersch (Children of the Corn) Starring: A bunch of assholes & the beautiful Linda Hamilton On TMR's dual episode Halloween Special, we watched 1989's mountain of shit that is "Puppet Master" and everyone's favorite kid-punching fall-favorite "Children of the Corn." We talk about a specific kind of asshole that would bring puppets to life and shove them in a hole in the wall in a hotel and wonder ju...
Oct 26, 2015•1 hr 44 min
