Musically Inclined

      This week we close out April with a mixtape of jams just for you.

"It's Hard Out Here for a Pimp"- Hustle & Flow, DJay

"Love Will Tear Us Apart"- Control, Joy Division

"Too High to Cry Too Rare to Care"- Uncle Peckerhead, Duh

"That Thing You Do!"- That Thing You Do, The O'Needers
"Padme Cometh"- Tyler and the Padwans
"Seven Hour Art Picture Show"- The Tartan Experience
"Crying in the Arcade Neon"- Bearded Tragedy

     We hope you like it. Timing out the ads was freaking hard.

Episode 255- Musically Inclined

The Chilean Epistle

     This week- two films about reaching out to the wide world through the written word.
     It is the last issue of the Eunni-sur-Blazé bureau of the Liberty, Kansas Evening Star. Take a look at the final articles to ever roll off those presses and the lovingly crowd sourced obituary of its managing editor and co-founder. A parody tribute to the gone 1950s glory days of The New Yorker. A film that takes many of that publications best contributors and twees them to maddening levels. A film so Wes Anderson that if it's ever screened with any of this other films it may rip apart our reality... The French Dispatch.
     Daniela is eager to explore her sexuality despite the oppression of her heavily Protestant family. She starts a blog to share her exploration with others in similar circumstances. Before long she finds herself in a precarious position at home and questioning everything she was raised to believe while also perusing relationships with two coworkers at her religious television internship. Will she return to her faith? Will she pick the religious boyfriend or the secular girlfriend? How many different lives can she juggle before they all collapse upon her? How long until her mother discovers her blog? Will Daniela settle or remain Young & Wild (Joven y alocada)?
     All that and Dave becomes the night, Tyler forgets something, and Kevin makes peace with visitors from beyond the sky. Join us, won't you?

 
Episode 254- The Chilean Epistle

Let Sleeping Pods Lie

    This week two films about the loss of one's soul in the quest to conform with one's social peers.

     The small town of Santa Mira is having a transient Capgras delusion epidemic. Town physician, Dr. Miles Bennell, is urgently called back from his vacation to try and deal with it. Before long, the good doctor and his suddenly divorced former girlfriend are caught up in a plot of intergalactic origin and just one short catnap away from being consumed by the first film version of modern fiction's most versatile metaphor- Invasion of the Body Snatchers.
     John LeTour, a delivery boy for a high class dealer, is having a midlife crisis. Consumed with feelings directionless with increasing loss of perspective as his boss contemplates moving from pharmaceuticals into cosmetics, he suffers from insomnia and uses his nights filling up composition notebooks journaling his adrift memories. One night, when dropping off a little something for a connection, he runs into his former lover as she maintains vigil over her dying mother. Soon John will be caught up in a murder investigation, a reignited obsession, and the ever piling garbage. Light Sleeper.
     All that and Dave's gotta go fast, Tyler gets an upgrade, and Kevin surprises everyone. Join us, won't you?

Episode 253- Let Sleeping Pods Lie

Fishin' for Rays

    This week a pair of deranged killers with low body counts.

     When Julie and the gang accidentally run over a pedestrian. They all, nearly instantly, agree the best course of action is to stuff the body in the trunk, drive a couple miles to a dock, and dump the body into the Atlantic. It's a terrible plan that is made worse when they realize their victim isn't quite dead yet. A year later and the posse of 1st degree murderers begin to get strange threatening letters. Who is the fisherman? Does anyone really care if any of these people live or die? So trauma just means you stop washing you hair? Will they ever find out what they are waiting for? Inspired by the classic YA suspense novel by Lois Duncan- I Know What You Did Last Summer.
     The Sun is dying. Earth is freezing. The final hope of the species rests on the seven person crew, all of whom have very specific jobs and absolutely no cross specialty training, of the Icarus II carrying a special bomb intended to give a micro Big Bang and rebirth the dying star. Toward the end of their momentum building slingshot around Mercury, the discover the beacon of the lost Icarus I. Deciding to stop and gawk at their lost sister ship, turns their urgent and critically important mission into a nightmare. Will they deliver their payload? Could anything survive seven years marooned in space? How did most of these people get through the psych evaluation process of crew selection? If the succeed will the ensuing flood drown all life? Does solar radiation actually give super slasher powers? Did no one bother to read what happened to Icarus before naming multiple ships after him? Maybe there are answers if you join Danny Boyle and gaze directly at Sunshine.
     All that and Dave becomes aware of his multiverse selves, Craig continues working on his fur suit, Kevin makes a stand, and Tyler fells the love tonight. Join us, won't you?
Episode 252: Fishin' for Rays-

Feline Acid Jazz

    This week a pair of DIY auteurs.  

     A creepy, terminally stupid, hypocrite cat doles out the worst possible advice on bullying, crashes a parade, and then somehow gets worse discussing gun safety. Dispensing advice that will worsen almost any similar situation in an insufferable manner made this one of the internet's favorite ironically loved bad movies. It was just a matter of time before we endured... Cool Cat Saves the Kids.
     The fourth and final film in Rudy Ray Moore's late-70s run of amazing blaxploitation films. A former cop turned disco showman extraordinaire wages a private war against angel dust (PCP for those under 40). When his nephew does too much and is lost in a nightmare, Disco Godfather will stop at nothing to clean up his streets and bring an end to the city's dealers by putting his weight on it. A mash up of horror, comedy, and Moore's own personal style of kung fu... Disco Godfather.
     All that and Tyler loses all hope of ever feeling joy again, Dave may have broken child endangerment laws, Kevin suffers impairment from experimental memory wipe treatments, and Craig laughs. Join us, won't you?

Episode 251- Feline Acid Jazz

Trans People Films to Spit in Transphobic Eyes

    This week three films about trans people recommended by transgender friends of ours and one film by a trans woman. We discuss these films in broad terms for general viewers with the hope that will help them be seen by more people and for those viewers to begin larger dialogs. We are not the people who should, or even really could, have a more in depth discussion about them. Trans rights are human rights. 

     Boys Don't Cry- inspired by the true story of Brandon Teena, a trans man who tried to find himself and love but instead was brutally murdered by two cishet male acquaintances. 
     Black Lizard (1968)- Sanae is kidnapped by the notorious criminal mastermind Black Lizard. Her father enlists the help of master detective Kogoro Akechi to bring her home. Twists, double crosses, disguises within disguises, a brilliant lead performance, and multiple abrupt love stories make this a tragically overlooked classic.
     Funeral Parade of Roses- Eddie works as a host at Genet night club. Leda is the club's managing "lead girl" and begins to suspect that Eddie is sleeping with the owner, who also happens to be Leda's partner, to move up the ranks. Leda is correct. There are also flashbacks of murder, film students, and documentary interviews with the cast as their real life selves. A brilliant art film that smears lines and disregards conventional narrative for a fascinating meta look at the Tokyo scene it was created in.
     Solomon Kane- Based on the pulp character created by Robert E Howard. The Devil comes to claim the soul of Puritan and privateer Solomon Kane. Kane flees to a remote monastery but is soon set on his path of redemption. A path that will carve a bloody trail all the way back to his childhood. 
     All that and a far from gentle reminder that trans rights are human rights. We condemn the attacks on this simple truth, not just the current massive push at local and national levels across the globe but those through out history. 

Episode 250- Trans People Films to Spit in Transphobic Eyes (OR... JK Blocks Us)

Fields of Dream

     A student's unique part-time job and a man's odyssey to fulfill his dreams.

     When his uncle dies, New Jersey grocer, Harold Bissonette comes into enough money to move his family across country and buy a California orange grove. Will his dreams of an improved life come true or will his wife and children send him into a spiral of alcoholism and despair? Maybe It's a Gift after all?
     Lucy works two jobs and a side hustle being a test subject to pay her tuition and rent. When a highly paid opportunity appears, she jumps at the chance. When that leads to a better paid but without a regular schedule job, Lucy finds herself flush. The job just happens to be voluntarily drugging herself to sleep and spending the night being groped by men. A different version of Sleeping Beauty.
     All that and Craig suffers, Tyler becomes the night, Dave gets a clue, and Kevin considers running away to join the circus.

Episode 249- Fields of Dream