Alcohollywood

Happy holidays, listeners! Every year, we take on an unconventional Christmas movie around the Yuletide season, and this time we (along with returning guest Mark Soloff of Blastropodcast) dip back to investigate Tim Burton's deeply strange, fascinatingly weird superhero flick Batman Returns! After Burton's first Batman revitalized the superhero movie as a pop culture phenomenon, he decided to get real strange with it in Batman Returns. Ostensibly, the film features a pitched battle between the Caped Crusader (Michael Keaton) and his arch-nemeses, the Penguin (Danny DeVito) and Catwoman (Michelle Pfeiffer); but it manifests itself in a strange story about mayoral races, masquerade balls and fake news campaigns to discredit Batman. The most dastardly plan anyone has in the film is Trumpian billionaire Max Schreck (Christopher Walken), who schemes to, like... build a power plant?  None of the plot dressing matters, though, since the film itself is a dazzling display of Burton's biggest idiosyncrasies - pale outcasts with mountains of guyliner, Gothic cityscapes, and mountains of quirky Danny Elfman scoring. This is the least Batman-y Batman film to date (and we should know), which might well be the biggest point in its favor. Anyway, listen to us debate the film's finer, freakier points, along with our custom drinking game! (Thanks to our sponsor Safehouse Chicago as part of the Chicago Podcast Coop!)

Every year, the Alcohollywood podcast takes the week before Christmas to celebrate the life and works of Sir Harry Connick Jr. - actor, musician, Renaissance Man.  Harry Connickuh, listeners! For this episode, we take our appreciation for Harry Connick Jr. all the way to the beginning - his breakout film debut in the 1990 WWII drama Memphis Belle. Connick joins a cavalcade of other young 90s stars (Matthew Modine, Sean Astin, Tate Donovan, Eric Stoltz, Billy Zane and more) as the crew of a B-17 bomber on its last mission before ending its tour of duty.  While director Michael Caton-Jones (Asher) does an admirable job replicating the oo-rah spirit of old WWII pro-US propaganda films, that's also what keeps Memphis Belle from really taking off. It's hard to make a movie all that compelling when you have to keep track of ten similar-looking white dudes with one personality trait, all working as a unit to accomplish a pretty tension-free mission. The claustrophobic action,  which mostly takes place inside the cramped bomber of the title, is novel, but it all gets dull after a while. Still, Connick's his laconic, charming self as always, and he even gets a couple songs to sing!  Check out our thoughts on this WWII homage, along with our custom drinking game for the film, here. (Thanks to our sponsor Jackbox Games as part of the Chicago Podcast Coop!)

We only had time for one episode last month, so we're double-dipping this week by extending 00-vember into 00-cember! We move from Timothy Dalton to Pierce Brosnan with the 1997 007 flick Tomorrow Never Dies! Sure, Goldeneye revitalized the Bond franchise, introduced a stellar new Bond in Pierce Brosnan, and updated the secret agent to reflect more on his "sexist, misogynist dinosaur" nature. But then Austin Powers came out and made a bunch of money, so 007 had to get goofy again with his next adventure. And goofy he gets, as Tomorrow Never Dies is a quaintly dated spy caper in which James Bond must stop a mincingly evil media mogul (Jonathan Pryce) from starting a war between Britain and China just to soak up all the ratings.  Still, for all its goofiness, it absolutely has its charms - from David Arnold bursting onto the scene with a bombastic score, a couple of great theme songs at both ends of the film, and Michelle Yeoh kicking ass as one of the most capable Bond girls to date. It's an ugly duckling that Clint loves far too much for his own good. Hear us talk about its pros and cons on the podcast, and check out our drinking game! (Thanks to our sponsor Jackbox Games as part of the Chicago Podcast Coop!)

As a busy Thanksgiving month winds down, we realized that we haven't talked about a James Bond film for literally 200 episodes. To that end, we decided to get in a little 00-vember action with the severely underappreciated James Bond film The Living Daylights!  The first of Timothy Dalton's two films as 007 (a criminally short tenure), The Living Daylights is one of the most thrilling Bond pictures no one talks about. Sure, the story is a bit muddy and convoluted - a disorienting spy caper involving botched defections, diamonds, opium, arms deals, cellos and two different villains (Joe Don Baker and Jeroen Krabbe)- but Dalton's stripped-down, intense take on the secret agent is a breath of fresh air after 14 years of Roger Moore camp.  The Living Daylights also has some of the most exciting, comparatively grounded action scenes in the franchise, and a cracking final score from John Barry that mixes electronic sounds in an unobtrusive way long before David Arnold came along. This film tends to be one of the unsung children of the Bond franchise, but damnit, we're going to sing its praises till the opium comes home. Check out our thoughts on the film and its legacy in the Bond franchise, along with our custom drinking rules! (Thanks to our sponsor Cards Against Humanity as part of the Chicago Podcast Coop!)

As we continue to wrap up our coverage of the Chicago International Film Festival, it's important to take a look at some of the smaller stuff that came out of the fest, especially those set in the city the festival calls home. Gregory Dixon's vibrant, energetic indie coming-of-age dramedy Olympia is a rather fun breath of fresh air - the tale of a conflicted thirtysomething (writer/star McKenzie Chinn) struggling to make ends meet at a dead-end job, dealing with a dying mother in the hospital, and fighting with her boyfriend (Charles Andrew Gardner) about whether Chicago is really the right place for her. Chinn's script is relaxed and acerbic, the performances are naturalistic and witty, and Dixon's stylized approach captures the verve of Chicago alongside the jazzy, pop-infused score from Josh Coffey and Otto Sharp. (You can read our capsule review from our CIFF dispatches here.) While at the festival, I got the chance to sit down with Chinn, Dixon and Gardner to talk about the struggles of getting the film made, Chicago as an vital artistic resource, and the importance for women of color to tell their own stories.  Thanks to our sponsor Overcast as part of the Chicago Podcast Coop!)

Howdy, listeners! Today we're saddling up and sucking back some moonshine to an old Western classic, 1969's True Grit! (NOTE: I have used my pun quota for this episode; the rest of this post is safe for consumption). Along with guest panelist Gavin, Jared and Clint tackle the impertinence of Mattie Ross, a little history of Oklahoma, and the nuances of a John Wayne performance, as they provide their signature drinking rules for this film.

Happy Alcohol-loween! We close out our Seven Deadly Sins edition of Horror Octorbor by going old-school for Wrath - the vengeance-filled slasher Friday the 13th! Sure, this is the one that doesn't have Jason in it - see our Freddy vs. Jason episode for our thoughts on the hockey-mashed butcher - but Mrs. Voorhees (Betsy Palmer) still has some bloody fates in store for the counselors at Camp Crystal Lake.  From Kevin Bacon's horny teen to, well, the less-famous fodder around him, Sean S. Cunningham's inaugural effort in the long running franchise serves up plenty of arrow piercings, machete decapitations, and more.  But is it enough? Can we go back to a franchise almost forty years old and see the strengths of a straightforward slasher that was innovative at the time? Or do the kills and stripped-down simplicity seem quaint in today's world of horror pastiches and self-aware tropes? Let's find out - check out our podcast and drinking game! Thanks to our sponsor Overcast as part of the Chicago Podcast Coop!)

While dysfunctional family dramas are arguably a dime a dozen, Elizabeth Chomko's Chicago-centric debut What They Had stands out substantially from the pack. A touching, heartfelt tale of a woman (Hilary Swank) who returns home to help her brother (Michael Shannon) and father (Robert Forster) care for her Alzheimer's-afflicted mother (Blythe Danner), What They Had is refreshingly nuanced, filled with strong, witty dialogue and incredible performances from its lead cast. While at the Chicago International Film Festival, we sat down with Chomko for a roundtable discussion (along with Pat McDonald of HollywoodChicago.com and Al and Linda Lerner of MoviesandShakers.com) - with Forster popping in as a late-interview surprise. Check out our roundtable, along with that wonderful cameo, in our podcast below. Thanks to our sponsor Overcast as part of the Chicago Podcast Coop!)

The world of contemporary art is a wild, wild thing - millionaires bidding incredible amounts of money to collect works from modern artists based on reputation, potential future valuation, or even (on occasion) the actual aesthetic value of the piece. In his upcoming HBO documentary The Price of Everything, filmmaker Nathaniel Kahn (My Architect) takes an in-depth look at this strange mix of art and commerce, getting unfettered access to art collectors and the artists who themselves toe a precarious line between artistic statement and financial solvency.  We were lucky enough to sit down with Kahn himself to talk about the film, these issues, and the value of artistic merit in an increasingly commodified art world. Check out our podcast minisode featuring the interview here, and read the edited transcript below.  Thanks to our sponsor Overcast as part of the Chicago Podcast Coop!)

Horror Octorbor keeps a-chuggin' along this month, as we continue to break down the seven deadly sins! This week, we take a look at Envy in the context of 1992's erotic psychological thriller Single White Female! In the vein of other 90s domestic horror films like The Hand that Rocks the Cradle and Unlawful Entry, Single White Female explores the kind of dangers that could happen even in the safety of your home. Here, that's manifested in Hedy (Jennifer Jason Leigh), the mousy new roommate of recently-separated fashion designer Allie (Bridget Fonda). The more time Hedy spends with Allie, though, the more she affects Allie's speech, mannerisms and appearance - right down to making moves on her estranged husband Sam (Steven Weber).  Does she want to be like Allie? Does she want to become Allie? The answers are surprisingly grotesque, and more than a little complicated - rooted in some clumsy, but well-intentioned, queer subtexts and a couple of deliciously arch performances from Fonda and Leigh, directed with a certain lurid sensibility by Barbet Schroeder. Check out what we thought about this ominous tale of female sexuality and psychological desire, along with our custom drinking game! (Thanks to our sponsor Overcast as part of the Chicago Podcast Coop!)  DRINKING RULES FOR SINGLE WHITE FEMALE: Any time you see a red flag (Hedy adopts another Allie-ism) Every time you see a scene outside the apartment Whenever you see nudity (this is an *erotic* thriller, after all) FINISH YOUR DRINK WHEN: Hedy looks into a mirror and says, "I love myself like this." Join us next week as we conclude our Seven Deadly Sins edition of Horror Octorbor with Greed - best personified by Michael Mann's bat-nuts crazy 1983 film The Keep!

Beautiful Boy is the latest brick in Amazon Studios' foundation of establishing itself as the new Miramax - the home of middlebrow American indies featuring sad white people going about their lives. Sometimes they're great, like Jim Jarmusch's Paterson; other times, well, it's Woody Allen's latest thing or Life Itself. Beautiful Boy is closer to the Paterson end of the spectrum, a handsomely-made actors' showcase telling the real-life story of David (Steve Carell) and Nic Sheff (Timothée Chalamet), a father and son dealing with the latter's addiction to hard drugs, including crystal meth.  Director Felix van Groeningen (Broken Circle Breakdown) presents a handsomely tragic look at drug addiction, Nic's addiction coming in cycles of hope and despair while David tries desperately to save his son, before realizing that maybe that's not his job. While van Groeningen's direction is intriguing, structuring the film around elliptical flashbacks detailing the moments that punctuate Nic's relationship to drugs, the real meat and potatoes is seeing Carell and Chalamet's wounded, authentic performances. Carell's a master at this kind of anguished, darkly comic pathos by now - hell, he's about to do it again in Welcome to Marwen - but Chalamet continues to be one of cinema's greatest new discoveries. As Nic, he displays the kind of deeply felt pain and adolescent ennui of James Dean in his prime, his yearning eyes and squirming vulnerability as he runs through cycles of dependency and hope about drugs. It's not a perfect film by any means, and it certainly wastes fine actresses in Maura Tierney and Amy Ryan, but as a heartfelt two-hander about addiction, it's one to watch. I actually got the chance to sit down with van Groeningen around the time of opening night for a roundtable discussion with fellow critics Leo Brady of AMovieGuy.com and Lee Shoquist of ChicagoFilm.com - together, we talked about everything from adapting a book from two memoirs and working with such esteemed actors at the top of their game. Take a listen to the On Tap podcast below.  (Thanks to our sponsor Overcast as part of the Chicago Podcast Coop!)

Horror Octorbor keeps on chugging, as we keep exploring the seven deadly sins with our entry for Lust, Species! This 1995 sexy-alien chiller (courtesy of Dante's Peak and The November Man's Roger Donaldson) features Ghosts of Mars' Natasha Henstridge as Sil, a sultry alien-human hybrid from outer space who escapes Ben Kingsley's government facility to seek out a mate for her alien babies. In hot pursuit is a rag-tag team of scientists (Marg Helgenberger, Alfred Molina), an 'empath' (Forest Whitaker) and a smarmy guy with a gun (Michael Madsen), all with personalities as loud as their clothing. Species is a hell of a 90s time capsule, from the bulky fashions to the ridiculous character names (Madsen's character is literally called Press Lennox), and the Showtime-ready alien sexuality that was the film's clear draw. The creature design is the most direct translation of Alien designer H.R. Giger's bonkers techno-sexual style, rendered with the expected dated CG and prosthetic effects. It's Andromeda Strain meets Emmanuelle, and we're here for every ridiculous minute. Take a listen to our thoughts, and check out our drinking game for the film below! (Thanks to our sponsor Cards Against Humanity, part of the Chicago Podcast Coop!) DRINKING RULES FOR SPECIES: Any time Sil changes clothes/outfits/appearance (special points for changing into her gross Giger form) Every time Forest Whitaker's empath Dan talks about 'feeling' Whenever you see nipples, male or female/human or alien FINISH YOUR DRINK WHEN: Press quips after saving Forest Whitaker's life, "I thought you'd drank your last Long Island Iced Tea there, Dan." Join us next week as Horror Octorbor chugs along, exploring more of the seven deadly sins with the envy-fueled erotic thriller Single White Female!

Novelist, screenwriter and Pulitzer-nominated playwright Theresa Rebeck is a woman of many hats - the latest of which is the director of the independent ensemble comedy Trouble. A film with modest ambitions but no small amount of charm, its tale of a small-town sibling rivalry is bolstered by tremendous performances from a more-than-qualified cast (Anjelica Huston, Bill Pullman, David Morse, Julia Stiles, Brian D'arcy James, the list goes on).  For this special minisode of the podcast, Clint sat down for a phone interview with Rebeck to talk about the prevailing themes of her works, working with such an overqualified cast, and the intimate appeal of rural America. Take a listen! (Thanks to our sponsor Overcast, part of the Chicago Podcast Coop!)

(CONTENT WARNING: use of the word 'gypsy')  We explain the full context of its usage in the episode, and its ubiquity in the film itself makes it relatively unavoidable as a term. However, we understand its seriousness as a pejorative to the Romani people, and apologize in advance for anyone who might be offended.) Seven years in, and Alcohollywood is on its seventh Horror Octorbor! Some Kind of Goblin sets upon us a mission to explore films related to the seven deadly sins, so we're temporarily back to weekly episodes as we try to take this on! For our first foray into sinful horror films, we dig into the sin of gluttony with 1996's Thinner, a goofy, more than a little racist bit of Stephen King schlock in which an unscrupulous, obese attorney (Robert John Burke) gets cursed by an elderly Romani (Michael Constantine) as punishment for running over his daughter. His curse? To grow "thinner" each day, no matter how much he eats, until his body consumes itself.  It's a wackadoodle premise told with incredible relish by director Tom Holland (the original Fright Night), and the film's latter half is full of fun beats courtesy of Kari Wuhrer and Joe Mantegna. But all of its outsized pulp can't quite overcome its unsympathetic, ugly characters. And, well, the whole "gypsy curse" premise itself doesn't age well (much like the makeup, though it's not like horror master Rob Bottin could anticipate the coming of HD).  Enjoy a heaping helping of our podcast, along with our drinking game for the film! (Thanks to our sponsor Cards Against Humanity as part of the Chicago Podcast Coop!) DRINKING RULES FOR THINNER: Any time you hear the word "gypsy" Every time Billy's appearance changes demonstrably (i.e. changes in the fat suit) Whenever a character eats FINISH YOUR DRINK WHEN: Tadzu Lempke tells Billy to "Die clean, white man from town! Die clean!" Join us next week as we continue our exploration of the seven deadly sins, moving on to Lust with the sexy-alien movie Species!

Hey, we're back! Clint's wedding and subsequent marriage has kept us busy, but now we're answering some mailbags (however indirectly) with the 2011 DreamWorks picture Puss in Boots! The Shrek spinoff wisely dispenses with a lot of the obnoxious, dated pop culture references of its parent series, and focuses on the adorably blustering outlaw Puss in Boots (Antonio Banderas) as he embarks on a quest to steal some magic beans from Jack and Jill (Billy Bob Thornton and Amy Sedaris). Along the way, he has to repair a fractured friendship with Humpty Dumpty (Zach Galifianakis) and romance the sultry cat burglar Kitty Softpaws (Salma Hayek). By DreamWorks standards, it's actually... not all that bad? Check out our custom drinking game and enjoy! (Sorry, no cocktail this time around.) (Thanks to our sponsor Overcast as part of the Chicago Podcast Coop!)

The Self-Transcendence Race in New York City is a grueling, unrelenting 3,100-mile race held every year around a single block in Queens - 60 miles a day, 52 days. There's no prize money, no corporate endorsements - each of the runners who travel from around the world to participate do it for the higher purpose of self-improvement and spiritual practice. The documentary 3100: Run and Become explores this race, contrasting it with other examples of world cultures using running as a spiritual practice - the Navajo communities of Arizona, the Kalahari bushmen in Africa, Buddhist monks in Japan. It's a riveting, inspiring doc that'll make you want to lace up your old running shoes and jog a mile or two just because.  We sat down with 3100 director Sanjay Rawal on the week of the film's Chicago premiere (perfectly timed, as the Chicago Marathon starts in a few weeks) to talk about the film's many challenges, as well as the mindset of those who use running as prayer. Take a listen, and read the full interview below.  (Thanks to our sponsor Backblaze as part of the Chicago Podcast Coop!) 3100: Run and Become makes its Chicago premiere Friday, September 21st at the Gene Siskel Film Center, with Rawal in attendance opening weekend for audience discussion. For more information, head to 3100film.com. 

For the latest On Tap minisode, we air an interview Clint conducted for the new John Cho computer-screen thriller SEARCHING - about a frantic father searching for his missing daughter by going through the clues on her laptop! Clint sits down with SEARCHING director Aneesh Chaganty and producer Sev Ohanian to talk about the origins of the project, the narrative possibilities of conveying narrative through technology, and the importance of telling stories from an Asian perspective. 

This week, we make a triumphant return to the mailbag, taking a listener request to discuss Paolo Sorrentino's ponderous arthouse quirk-fest This Must Be the Place! Consequence of Sound film editor Dominick Suzanne-Mayer joins us in this exploration of one of Sean Penn's stranger performances, as a washed-up Robert Smith-type rock star who returns to America to hunt the escaped Nazi who tortured his father during the Holocaust. Like a lot of Sorrentino joints (see also: The Great Beauty), This Must Be the Place dabbles in complicated themes of aging, legacy, and the emptiness of excess and fame - unfortunately, it's saddled in an atonal, sluggish script that doesn't know when to laugh at itself or take itself seriously.  We throw on our red lipstick and Tim Burton wigs to deep dive into this relic of late-aughts navel-gazing indie cinema, so take a listen and check out our custom cocktail and drinking game! (Thanks to our sponsor Backblaze as part of the Chicago Podcast Coop!)

Happy Shark Week everybody! It's the most fin-derful time of the year, and since The Meg is foolishly coming out two weeks after Shark Week, we're celebrating instead with one of the craziest Sci-Fi Original Movie-level shark flicks out there - Shark Attack 3: Megalodon! Starring a pre-fame John Barrowman (Doctor Who, Torchwood), Megalodon sees a Playa del Rey beach resort beset by a giant, roving shark thought extinct - now revived with the power of blown-up stock footage. Along with a sexy paleontologist and a grizzled ex-Navy John McCain-type, Captain Jack is ready to kill some sharks and make lewd remarks to costars! As Jaws-y a Jaws ripoff as you'll ever see, Shark Attack 3: Megalodon is an unexpected bad-cinema curio we can't help biting into. Check out our podcast, along with our custom cocktail and drinking game! (Thanks to our sponsor Overcast as part of the Chicago Podcast Coop!)

Lifechanger is a sneakier, more fascinating thriller than it might seem at first glance - the tale of a man doomed to feed off and inhabit the bodies of those he encounters to survive. His psychology twisted up in the memories of those he impersonates, and his lingering obsession with an old flame (Lora Burke), the protagonist of Lifechanger turns the film into a fascinating reversal of genre conventions.  For our latest On Tap mini-podcast, we sat down with Justin McConnell, the writer/director of the shape-shifting horror film Lifechanger, to talk about how the project got started, the subtextual appeal of living in a different skin, and the excitement of his impending sold-out world premiere at Fantasia 2018. Enjoy, along with the rest of our Fantasia coverage! (Thanks to our sponsor Overcast as part of the Chicago Podcast Coop!)

The main podcast is back, baby! Since Ant-Man and the Wasp has us thinking about all things shrinking, we decided to look at 1987's fun-sized adventure comedy InnerSpace! Film critic for HollywoodChicago.com (and now Alcohollywood!) Jon Espino joins us to dive into a movie from our 80s-kid childhoods - a Joe Dante romp of the finest order that sees hotshot pilot Tuck Pendleton (Dennis Quaid) shrunk down to a microscopic level and injected into the body of nebbish hypochondriac Jack Putter (Martin Short). Together, the two have to evade corporate spies, silent Terminator-types, and navigate a very strange love triangle with Tuck's girlfriend Lydia (Meg Ryan).  In classic Joe Dante style, InnerSpace features a wonderful blend of surprisingly mature elements for a PG film (Dennis Quaid butt!), a charming sense of whimsy and lightness, and his signature stable of actors, from Dick Miller to Robert Picardo. Dante's a master of these kinds of breezy high-concept adventures, so it was a real treat to finally visit his delightfully devious oeuvre.  We had a blast talking about this crazy time capsule of a movie, so take a listen and check out our custom cocktail and drinking rules! (Thanks to our sponsor Overcast as part of the Chicago Podcast Coop!) Related links: The Goldsmith Odyssey - a great podcast on the works of Jerry Goldsmith, who also sponsored this very episode!

(This review and interview originally ran as part of On Tap's previous run as its own separate feed. We're re-running it here in conjunction with All the Queen's Horses' release on Netflix.) This week for our On Tap minisode, Clint discusses the new indie doc from Kartemquin, All the Queen's Horses. Plus an in-studio interview with All the Queen's Horses director/producer Kelly Richmond Pope!

Arthouse queer enfant terrible Bruce LaBruce has crafted an interesting career as an underground director of gory, sexy, splatter-ific screeds on radical topics like terrorism, feminism, and gay liberation. His latest, The Misandrists (read our review here) is no exception; for this latest episode of On Tap, Theo Estes sits down with LaBruce to talk about the politics of his films, their bawdy B-movie inspirations, and the need for confrontational movies like these.  (We also pepper in a few updates about our recent podcast hiatus, and some fun news for the future of the show.) (Thanks to our sponsor Overcast as part of the Chicago Podcast Coop!)

Alcohollywood's spinoff mini-cast On Tap returns! Every so often, we'll be providing you with exclusive interviews, reviews and festival coverage alongside the regular podcast. Hope you enjoy! To kick off our (semi-) inaugural installment, Clint reviews Leigh Whannell's upcoming sci-fi thriller Upgrade.  After losing his wife and the use of his limbs after a tragic attack, a man (Logan Marshall-Green) equips himself with an experimental technological upgrade to regain the ability to walk  - using his newfound powers to track down the men who killed his wife. It's lean, bloody and immensely entertaining, with more than a few neat tricks to spice up its bone-crunching action and enticingly rendered near-future world. Along the way, Clint sits down with Whannell to discuss the conception of the film's cyberpunk world, choreographing intricate fight scenes, and finding the perfect voice for Upgrade's all-powerful technology. Take a listen! (To read Clint's full review of Upgrade, head over to Consequence of Sound.) 

For this episode, we crashed Hotel Moxy in downtown Chicago for their inaugural Moxy SoundOff Podcast Series, trapping ourselves in a little glass booth for the entertainment of our live audience. Since this live podcast took place in a hotel, and we've already done The Shining, we decided to tackle the second-greatest movie set in a hotel - Dunston Checks In! This kiddie caper set in an art-deco Manhattan hotel stars Jason Alexander as your classic overworked '90s dad, who must suddenly contend with a jewel-thief orangutan loose in his hotel. Luckily, his adorable kids (including Eric Lloyd from The Santa Clause) have already befriended Dunston, and they set out to stop his former master (Rupert Everett) from... stealing stuff, I think? To our great shock and horror, we ended up liking Dunston Checks In a lot more than we expected. Come listen to our astonished, modest praise of this slapsticky kid's flick, and check out our custom cocktail and drinking game here! (Thanks to our sponsor Second City Training Center as part of the Chicago Podcast Coop!)

What does it take to change the essence of a man? This week, we find out (along with regular guest Derek Jarvis) as we dive into Steven Seagal's eco-friendly auteur explosion-fest, On Deadly Ground! Seagal's sole director credit, On Deadly Ground features He of the Ponytail as oil-fire specialist/secret military badass Forrest Taft, a fixer for evil petroleum exec Michael Jennings (Michael Caine, doing his damndest to sound American) in the Alaskan oil fields. After he uncovers a conspiracy to knowingly allow their new super-rig to blow up just so they can keep the rights to Native American land, Taft teams up with perpetually useless Native representative Masu (Joan Chen) to bludgeon, explode, and gun down every single one of Jennings' mercenaries - you know, for Mother Earth. On Deadly Ground is suffused with a healthy dose of Steven Seagal earnestness, gross native mysticism, and a hamfisted environmental message that would make Greenpeace execs wrinkle their nose. (Don't forget the incredible non sequitur bar fight that suddenly turns into a treatise on toxic masculinity.) It's a crazy, crazy ride, so take a listen and check out our custom cocktail and drinking game! (Thanks to our sponsor Overcast as part of the Chicago Podcast Coop!) Related links:  Get your free tickets to our live show at Hotel Moxy, as part of the Moxy SoundOff Podcast Series - Monday, May 14th at 4pm! Nathan Rabin's piece on Steven Seagal's alt-right novel The Way of the Shadow Wolves Clint's piece on the goofy running of Steven Seagal and others at Crooked Marquee: "Chariots of Flail: Tracking the Goofiest Runs in Cinema History"

Jared's been zapped into another dimension, so Jon Espino of The Young Folks and HollywoodChicago.com joins Clint to investigate the mysteries of Netflix's Super Bowl-marketed sci-fi disaster The Cloverfield Paradox! A previously-unrelated sci-fi thriller given the J.J. Abrams treatment, The Cloverfield Paradox turns Julius Onah's The God Particle into a confusing, meandering installment of Paramount's favorite clearinghouse for original sci-fi movies! Here, the crew of the Cloverfield Station (Daniel Bruhl, Gugu Mbatha-Raw, John Ortiz, Chris O'Down, David Oyelowo, Ziyi Zhang, Aksel Hennie) run a Large Hadron Collider in space to solve the world's energy crisis. Once they fire it up, though, they find themselves in another reality with the Earth gone, a mysterious visitor (Elizabeth Debicki) stuck in the wall, and all kinds of crazy dimension-warping shenanigans.  That sounds really cool, right? Unfortunately, it becomes a boring slog of flat characters, confusing technobabble and some arbitrary connections to the rest of the otherwise-solid Cloverfield universe. Still, Clint and Jon soldier on for your pleasure - listen and check out our custom cocktail and drinking game! (Thanks to our sponsor Overcast as part of the Chicago Podcast Coop!)

Danger, Will Robinson! With Netflix's reboot of Lost in Space coming out today, we (along with Lauren Faits, co-host of She-Ra: Progressive of Power) decided to talk about the first time the classic sci-fi show got revamped: the 1998 film Lost in Space! Reverse-engineering the campy 60s TV show into a four-quadrant CG blockbuster, Lost in Space sees the Space Family Robinson (William Hurt, Mimi Rogers, Heather Graham, Lacey Chabert, Jack Johnson) hurtled into unknown space along with their Robot and cocky pilot Don West (Matt LeBlanc) after traitorous Dr. Smith (Gary Oldman) sabotages the ship. It's got everything you expect from the 90s - shitty techno remixes of the original theme, annoying CG space monkeys and pre-Youtube teen vlogging! Clint thinks it has its charms (including Oldman, the bubbly, neon-soaked production design and the rousing Western-tinged score by Bruce Broughton); Jared and Lauren are...less than convinced by the hokey script and flat performances.  Does it deserve its status as the film that finally sunk Titanic from its 15-week reign at the box office? Or should we just wait for the Netflix show instead? Find out, along with our custom cocktail and drinking game! (Thanks to our sponsor Simplecast as part of the Chicago Podcast Coop! Use the promo code CHICAGO to get 50% off your first three months.) Related links:  Clint's piece on the Netflix reboot of Lost in Space for Consequence of Sound

Somebody once told us to watch the 2001 ensemble road comedy Rat Race - we ain't the sharpest tools in the shed, so we did it (along with our very own all-star, Theo Estes)! The latest in a long tradition of star-studded broad comedies featuring groups of A-list actors on a wacky cross-country race, like It's A Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World and Cannonball Run, Rat Race follows a half dozen strangers (including Whoopi Goldberg, Seth Green, Jon Lovitz, Cuba Gooding Jr. and Rowan Atkinson) who are tapped by a wealthy benefactor (John Cleese) to race from Las Vegas to Silver City, New Mexico, where $2 million awaits them. From there, it's a madcap chase to the finish line as they run into murderous taxi drivers, cows on hot-air balloons, and charter buses full of Lucille Ball cosplayers. Between Smash Mouth cameos, tongue studs and Mr. Bean in a motion picture, Rat Race is early-aughts as hell, but there are a few charms here and there. But hey, you never know if you don't go, and you'll never shine if you don't glow - so listen to our podcast, and check out our custom cocktail and drinking rules below! (Thanks to our sponsor Backblaze as part of the Chicago Podcast Coop!)

Erin go bragh, faithful listeners! This week, we celebrate St. Patrick's Day with our very own St. Patrick MacDonald of HollywoodChicago.com, as we down a pint and fight some beasties with the Irish horror comedy Grabbers! When a sleepy Irish town is beset by extraterrestrial octopods with a thirst for blood, the town must rally around an alcoholic local cop (Richard Coyle) and his straight-laced partner (Ruth Bradley) to fight them off the only way they know how - by getting piss drunk!   Much like previous podcast subject Attack the Block, Grabbers is deeply indebted to the droll horror-comedy humor of Edgar Wright, and manages to find its own charms within that level of sincere imitation. Check out our thoughts, along with our custom cocktail and drinking game, below! (Thanks to our sponsor, The Second City Training Center, as part of the Chicago Podcast Coop!)

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) who falls for an  man-like fish creature (Doug Jones) imprisoned in an American military research facility by the evil Strickland (Michael Shannon). Along with her band of outsiders and misfits, Eliza schemes to break the fishman out of the facility and get him home.  Opinions vary on whether this is one of del Toro's mythic masterpieces or a flawed blend of mish-mashed tones and influences, but it makes for an intriguing discussion all the same. Check out our episode, as well as our custom cocktail and drinking game! (Thanks to our sponsor Simplecast as part of the Chicago Podcast Coop!)

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, consent, the dark underbelly of Christian and Ana's relationship, and the film's troubling absence of dong. Also, some fun Mad Libs of one of the book's steamier segments! Enjoy our episode, along with our custom cocktail and drinking game below! (Thanks to our sponsor Overcast as part of the Chicago Podcast Coop!) Related links:  This Week in Academia: Meg Barker's "Consent is a grey area? A comparison of understandings of consent in Fifty Shades of Grey and on the BDSM blogosphere."

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 (along with returning guest Nick Freed) as we plant our flag in this forgotten relic of the post-Paranormal Activity era, and see if it's got the right stuff. Check out our custom cocktail and drinking game below! (Thanks to our sponsor Overcast as part of the Chicago Podcast Coop!) Related links:  The brilliant space-race documentary For All Mankind, in HD on Youtube in full! The full speech Nixon would have given if the Apollo 11 mission failed, featured in the film

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 adorable Jack Russell Terrier Skip. Along the way, he finds love, becomes a man, and defeats some moonshiners! (?) It's basically Tree of Life with a cute pupper instead of dinosaurs - what's not to love? Check out our podcast, drinking game and custom cocktail below! (Thanks to our sponsor Simplecast as part of the Chicago Podcast Coop!)

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 (James Ransone), while Alexandra just wants the chance to perform at her favorite bar. Meanwhile, an Armenian cab driver (Karren Karagulian) intersects with their wild, crazy day in unexpected ways. It's a bold, refreshing and wholly original film, both in subject matter and presentation (the whole thing was filmed on an iPhone!), and we think it's well worth some Christmas attention. Take a listen to our episode, and check out our custom cocktail and drinking rules! (Thanks to our sponsor Backblaze as part of the Chicago Podcast Coop!) Related links:  Watch Tangerine on Netflix This Week in Academia: Amélie Ollivier's article in Feminist Spaces, "From Brokeback Mountain to Tangerine, LGBTQ Representations in Mainstream U.S. Cinema: Inclusive, Exclusive, or Counter Narratives?"

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 alien invasion. Joe Cornish's only directorial effort to date is brisk, breezy, and effortlessly fun, with a light sprinkling of social commentary thrown in the mix. Check out our episode on the film, along with our custom cocktail and drinking game! (Thanks to our sponsor Cards Against Humanity as part of the Chicago Podcast Coop!)

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 that also pairs as one of the best sports movies of the 21st century. Check out our thoughts on Rocky's relationship to Creed, one-take boxing matches, and the long memories of turtles on the podcast below, along with our custom cocktail and drinking game! (Thanks to our sponsor Overcast as part of the Chicago Podcast Coop!) Related links:  CineFix's Top 5 Sequels of All Time (including Creed!)

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 dull music biopic with a few glimmers of inspiration (and an ambitiously soundalike soundtrack courtesy of Springsteen knockoff John Cafferty). Listen to us break down this cult favorite, along with our custom cocktail and drinking game! (Thanks to our sponsor Overcast as part of the Chicago Podcast Coop!)

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 cadets find themselves flung into space, with only their wits - and some helpful Star Wars references - to aid them. Released six months after the Challenger exploded, Space Camp suffers from some poor timing and even poorer scripting. But are there enough charms to make it watchable? Check out our podcast, along with our custom cocktail and drinking game to find out! (Thanks to our sponsor Cards Against Humanity as part of the Chicago Podcast Coop!)

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 prisoners. Between Carpenter's nitty-gritty aesthetic, the synth score, and Russell's stripped-down performance, Escape from New York more than earns its cult reputation. 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!)

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 from other movies, and you've got a stew going! It's messy, unfinished, and full of unironic Nazi propaganda footage, but it's definitely a sight to behold. Check out our episode, along with our custom cocktail and drinking game! (Thanks to our sponsor Swap.com as part of the Chicago Podcast Coop!)

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 over his head, Trick 'r Treat has spooks and scares galore. Take a listen to our live episode, and check out our custom cocktail and drinking rules! (Thanks to our sponsor Cards Against Humanity as part of the Chicago Podcast Coop!) Related links:  Check out the other half of our live podcast double bill at the Chicago Podcast Festival, CinemaJaw!

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. Along the way, we get supernatural hypnosis machines, James Earl Jones in a tribal locust outfit, and kids rolling foam octagons down hallways for no reason at all. Check out our podcast, along with our custom cocktail and drinking game below! (Thanks to our sponsor Cards Against Humanity as part of the Chicago Podcast Coop!)

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 some confusing (and somewhat offensive) Native American mysticism. Still, it's mildly bolstered by a couple of great scenery-chewing performances from Walken and Viggo Mortensen, and some brief supporting turns from Amanda Plummer and Adam Goldberg as Walken's creepy familiars. Check out our podcast, as well as our custom cocktail and drinking game, below! (Thanks to our sponsor Cards Against Humanity as part of the Chicago Podcast Coop!)

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, complicated legalese, and Trump allusions we'll never get back. Still, we braved this decidedly goofy bit of 90s kitsch to bring you our custom cocktail and drinking rules, so take a listen! (Thanks to our sponsor Cards Against Humanity as part of the Chicago Podcast Coop!)

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 (Robin Tunney) from being impregnated by Satan himself (a hammy Gabriel Byrne) on the eve of the New Millennium. As fun as that sounds, the results are grimmer and duller than you might think.  Check out our episode, along with our custom cocktail and drinking game! (Thanks to our sponsor Cards Against Humanity as part of the Chicago Podcast Coop!) Related Links: Clint's guest spot on Nerd Outcast Podcast, talking about Star Trek Voyager!  

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 Mystery Gang as they travel to the mystical land of WWE City, where they must solve the mystery of a mysterious Ghost Bear that terrorizes the town! (With the help of John Cena, of course).  Take a listen, and check out our custom cocktail and drinking game! (Thanks to our sponsor Cards Against Humanity as part of the Chicago Podcast Coop!) Related links:  Get tickets to our other live show at the Chicago Podcast Festival, 10/5 at Chicago Theater Works!* *ANNOUNCEMENT: For Chicago Pod Fest, we're bringing on horror movie maven Ele Matelan to talk with us about the horror anthology Trick 'r Treat! You won't wanna miss it, so pick up your tickets now!

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 the clutches of the ACME Chairman (Steve Martin) and save the world from being turned into monkeys... or something. Check out our podcast, custom cocktail and drinking game! (Thanks to our sponsor Cards Against Humanity as part of the Chicago Podcast Coop!) Related links:  Get tickets to our live show at PodSlam ’17, 9/23 at iO Chicago! Get tickets to our other live show at the Chicago Podcast Festival, 10/5 at Chicago Theater Works! Preorder Mark Soloff’s upcoming book The Silent Scream of Melania Trump from Inkshares!

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 from Bergman and Angela Lansbury (in her debut role), so check out our episode, along with our custom cocktail and drinking game!  (Thanks to our sponsor Cards Against Humanity as part of the Chicago Podcast Coop!) Related links:  Get tickets to our live show at PodSlam ’17, 9/23 at iO Chicago! Get tickets to our other live show at the Chicago Podcast Festival, 10/5 at Chicago Theater Works!

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 alien bodies in it! It's a trippy, quirky movie not for ordinary fuckin' people, and we had a blast talking about it.  Check out our episode, along with our custom cocktail and drinking game! (Thanks to our sponsor Cards Against Humanity as part of the Chicago Podcast Coop!) Related links:  Get tickets to our live show at PodSlam ’17, 9/23 at iO Chicago! Get tickets to our other live show at the Chicago Podcast Festival, 10/5 at Chicago Theater Works!

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 little self-indulgent (the whole thing's clearly a Travolta vanity project), but it's certainly got its charms.  Check out our review, along with our custom cocktail and drinking game! (Thanks to our sponsor Cards Against Humanity as part of the Chicago Podcast Coop!) Related links:  Get tickets to our live show at PodSlam '17, 9/23 at iO Chicago! Get tickets to our other live show at the Chicago Podcast Festival, 10/5 at Chicago Theater Works!