A podcast for the true cineast. This podcast examines the impact great or memorable films have on us both personally and culturally. If you've ever bonded with someone or joined a lively discussion circle based on your love of cinema, this is the podcast for you.
Send us a textOn our 107th podcast, we here at the Triple FFF thought we'd try to once again attempt relevance and discuss a current big release, this time Wes Anderson's 2025 father-daughter high stakes business and espionage caper The Phoenician Scheme starring Benicio Del Toro, Mia Threapleton, Michael Cera, Tom Hanks, Bryan Cranston, Riz Ahmed, Scarlet Johansson, Mathieu Amalric, Jeffrey Wright, Rupert Friend and Benedict Cumberbatch. As well as Mr. Anderson's troupe of good-natured bit players and walk ons which includes Bill Murray, F. Murray Abraham, Wilem Dafoe and now Charlotte Gainsbourg. I'm your host Gino Caputi and my guests this week are the always dependable show regulars Joe Field, David Johnson DMD and Gordon Alex RobertsonThe Phoenician Scheme's plot unfolds as follows: After surviving yet another assassination attempt, this time with a glimpse of the afterlife, wealthy arms dealer and industrialist Anatole Zsa-Zsa Korda realizes his days are numbered and possibly without purpose. Hoping to reconnect with his estranged daughter Liesl—now on the verge of taking her final vows as a Catholic nun—he names her the sole heir to his estate. In exchange for long-withheld truths about her mother's murder, Korda convinces Liesl to accompany him on a whirlwind journey to secure funding from several colorfully shady investors for his grand, multi-layered Phoenician Scheme—plans for which are ingeniously stored in a series of shoeboxes.Where does this film rank within Wes Anderson's collection of stories about larger-than-life, big talking fathers of dubious emotional and financial sincerity? Find out!Watch the video podcast on Youtube:https://youtu.be/QVYj2zTif5o
Send us a textWas there ever an era in cinema history when the obsession with cars, speed, and outrunning the law—whether you were a hick, a hippie, or a world-weary urbanite—captured the public's imagination more than in the early 1970s?That's what we aim to ponder on this, our 106th episode of the Triple FFF as we discuss not one, not 2 but THREE POWERHOUSE mainstream movies of muscle-car mayhem starting with 1971's Vanishing Point directed by Richard C. Sarafian and starring Barry Newman, Dean Jagger, Paul Koslo, Severn Darden, Anthony James, John Amos and Cleavon Little followed by 1974's Gone in 60 Seconds directed and starring the great HB Halicki, his brother Ronald, Jerry Daugirda and Marion Busia. And topped off with Dirty Mary Crazy Larry also released in '74 directed by John Hough and starring Peter Fonda, Susan George, Adam Roarke, Roddy McDowell and Vic Morrow. My guests this week are car and driving averse bookworm Roseanne Caputi, and the actor photographer and funnyman who heavily encouraged this topic of road burning revelry, a man who spent his formative years at the local theater in Ketchikan Alaska with a dazed smile on his face while his chin and his elbows rested on the seat in front him, whether there was someone seated in front of him or not, Gordon Alex Robertson. Before we cue the getaway banjo music and yell, “Kiss my Grits!” the synopses: Vanishing Point: Kowalski, a Nam vet and former cop turned delivery driver, is tasked with transporting a 1970 Dodge Challenger R/T from Colorado to San Francisco in record time. As he speeds across the desert, he becomes a symbol of freedom and defiance, pursued by a relentless law enforcement apparatus. Gone in 60 Seconds (1974): Maindrian Pace, an insurance adjuster and skilled car thief, is tasked with stealing fifty cars in a single night for a dangerous crime syndicate. As the clock ticks down, Pace races against time and evades the law against every possible odd to complete his impressive score. Dirty Mary, Crazy Larry: After pulling off a daring yet disturbing home invasion and supermarket safe heist, two over the hill race car drivers, Larry and Deke, hit the California highways while on the run from the law. They run into a setback when they are joined by Mary, a feisty and free spirited former one night stand of Larry's. The oddball trio then speed through the CA Delta backroads pursued by the shrewd and determined Captain Everett Franklin. Which film laps the others in the Grand Prix and stands as an indelible classic? Or do all three win the Championship? Find out! Watch the video podcast on Youtube: https://youtu.be/nSQrMM2TnsQ
Send us a textFlashing back to episode #72 of Fabulous Film & Friends way back in 2023, we covered Mission: Impossible – Dead Reckoning Part 1 and so we here on FFF felt duty bound to our fans to give our take on its follow up and what could very possibly be the final sequel to the entire M:I franchise, 2025's Mission: Impossible – The Final Reckoning directed by Christopher McQuarrie and starring Tom Cruise, Hayley Atwell, Simon Pegg, Ving Rhames, Pom Klementieff, Esai Morales, Shea Whigham, Greg Tarzan Davis, Henry Czerny and Angela Bassett. Keeping continuity, my guests this week are returnees from the 2023 podcast, my blockbuster crew David Johnson, DMD and Burton Brown. Does anyone remember what happened in Mission Impossible Dead Reckoning Part 1? Here's a callback to my synopsis from that podcast:Ethan Hunt and his team of Mission Impossiblers have to go rogue yet again to stop the world from yada yada yada. Same old crap megalomaniac with a weapon this time it's AI. Or something. Esai Morales is involved. I fell asleep twice so I didn't quite catch the relationship between the AI and Morales' Gabriel character.This movie seemed like more of the same old same old. But as a Tom Cruise running movie, it's a masterpiece, reaching an operatic Death in Venice level of running sophistication. So how does 2025's big follow up differ?This time Ethan Hunt and his rag tag team of crack superspies have to stop the AI Entity from blowing up the world as well as Gabriel from trying to harness its unbelievable power. Yet, instead of running extravaganza, we are treated to the biggest boldest, hands down, accept no substitutes granddaddy of all info dump and flashback movies. Is it the best, the worst or somewhere in the middle of the series?Find out! Watch the video podcast on Youtube:https://youtu.be/dZfi-Cr8v20
Send us a textWe're gargling out the taste of comic book fare on our 104th episode yet still swimming the turbulent oceans of their inspiration, the source of their epic power and mystery: Homer's Odyssey!Yes we're going to compare and contrast two versions of the Odyssey as seen through the eyes of Italian filmmakers starting with 1954's Ulysses directed by Mario Camerini and starring Kirk Douglas, Silvana Magano and Anthony Quinn up against 2024's The Return directed by Uberto Pasolini and starring Ralph Fiennes, Juliette Binoche, Charlie Plummer and Marwan Kenzari. My guests today are my two stodgy, nose-in-the air, advanced-degree holding, cohorts, kid sis and lit major Roseanne Caputi and Master Thespian, the mellifluous voice behind the most famous Hard Mountain Dew Code Red spot of all time, Gordon Alex Robertson! Before we dig in, the synopses:Ulysses (1954): A mythical adventure following the Greek hero Ulysses as he embarks on a perilous journey home after the Trojan War, encountering mythical creatures and divine beings before coming back to his wife Penelope. The Return (2024) delves into the emotional journey of Odysseus returning to Ithaca after his long absence in the Trojan War, finding his kindome in ruins, a strained relationship between him and Penelope and his son Telemachus, and the challenges of reintegrating into family life after years of war and separation.Which is the grandest telling of the classic poem?Find out! Watch the podcast on Youtube:https://youtu.be/AkDJke7ldRo
Send us a textOn this, our 103rd episode, Marvel demanded it and we delivered. Like good corporate citizens, we dutifully marched to the local cineplex and went to see 2025's Thunderbolts* directed by Jake Schreier and starring Florence Pugh, Sebastian Stan, Wyatt Russell, David Harbour, Lewis Pullman, Hannah John-Kamen, Geraldine Viswanathan and Julia Louis-Dreyfus. Why? Because well, what else is playing in theaters that has any marquee value?My guests today are my two pals from the Treasure Valley that migrated to the great state of Utah, David Johnson DMD and Burton Brown.And before we get down to business the synopsis.In Thunderbolts, a rag tag group of misfits and vaguely criminal antiheroes are forced to work together to stop a calamitous, world-ending, threat.Are we just lock-stepping goons for watching this film or was it worth a damn?Find out! Watch the video podcast on Youtube:https://youtu.be/Sj7e5KzbH2s
Send us a textWelcome to our 102nd Blockbuster Episode, The BEST of Jared Hess Part 2: Enter Jack Black where we will discuss and dissect the afore-mentioned actor and director pairings starting with 2006's Nacho Libre starring Jack Black, Héctor Jiménez, Ana de la Reguera, Darius Rose and Peter Stormare compared to 2025's megahit blockbuster A Minecraft Movie starring Black again, Jason Momoa, Emma Myers, Sebastian Eugene Hansen, Danielle Brooks Dawn, Jennifer Coolidge and Jemaine Clement. My solitary guest tonight is the only muchacho bold enough to help me fill our pockets with cinematic diamonds — a man worthy of a hearty Roman forearm handshake. Please welcome fellow former Treasure Valley dweller and ultimate fighting challenge boss, Dr. David Johnson, DMD.Before we enter that rickety old mineshaft, the synopses: In Nacho Libre:Ignacio, A humble Mexican monastery cook dreams of becoming a word famous luchador to earn respect and help the orphans he cares for. Against all odds — and with plenty of epic fails — he embraces his destiny in the wrestling ring.A Minecraft Movie (2025)Siblings Henry and Natalie, new residents in the town of Chuglass Idaho, along with has been gaming world champ Garrett Garrison and their realtor Dawn, arewhisked into the blocky Overworld, where they must team up with Steve—a legendary Minecrafter—to survive and find their way home. How do these two films rank in Jared Hess' filmography? Find out! Watch the video on Youtube:https://youtu.be/-gj94ElQobk
Send us a textIt's Episode 101 and while we're gearing up to charge full speed ahead, we're going to take a quick look back at the halcyon days of the fall/winter of 2024 when two earth-shattering comic book movie bombs were unleashed on the cinema going public. We're talking Todd Phillips' Joker: Folie a Deux starring Joaquin Phoenix, Lady Gaga, Catherine Keener, Zazie Beets and Brendan Gleeson up against JC Chandor's – who are we kidding? Marvel/Sony's Kraven the Hunter, starring Aaron Taylor Johnson, Russell Crow, Ariana Debose, Fred Hechinger and Alessandro Nivola. I have assembled my team of elite assassins to pick off and pore over these two fearsome digital age fails, starting with my kid sis and charter member of the Sinatra/Silva Karate dojo Roseanne Caputi, Joe Field hypnotist, psychologist author and quite the crooner, as well as the larger than life, accept-no-substitutes, KING of the real estate drone photography jungle, Gordon Alex Robertson. Before we commence wrestle with those CGI bears and saucy tripper chicks, the synopses. Joker: Folie á DeuxIn this follow up to the inexplicable 2019 mega-hit, The Joker, Arthur Fleck, barely subsists at Arkham State Hospital as he awaits trial for the five, technically six murders he committed in the last film. However, he soon gets his zip back when he is allowed to attend a prison music therapy class and is introduced to fellow inmate Harley “Lee” Quinzel. Together, they share a passionate love affair fueled by music, mayhem and delusions of grandeur.Kraven the HunterAfter being mauled to the point of death by a lion, Sergei Kravinoff, son of notorious Trophy hunter and drug kingpin Nicolai Kravinoff, gains enhanced jungle animal abilities and becomes Kraven The Hunter, a sort of bad guy who fights for the little guy against drug dealers. On his quest to prove himself as the ultimate predator, he confronts his father and half-brother Demetri aka the shapeshifting Chameleon while also teaming up with Calypso, a voodoo potion wielding lawyer. Also, he goes up against The Rhino. So how BAD can they BE?Find out!Watch the podcast on Youtube:https://youtu.be/jRItWg1TTWg
Send us a textWelcome to the monumental 100th Episode of Fabulous Film and Friends where we are going to discuss the TOP 3 Comedies of ALL TIME in this podcast host's estimation. We're talking about 1984's Spinal Tap directed by Rob Reiner, starring Michael McKean, Christopher Guest, Harry Shearer, Tony Hendra, June Chadwick and Bruno Kirby then 1985's Pee Wee's Big Adventure, starring Paul Ruebens, Elizabeth Daly, Mark Holton, Jan Hooks, Diane Salinger, Morgan Fairchild and James Brolin topped off with 1987's Raising Arizona Directed by Joel and Ethan Coen starring Nicholas Cage, Holly Hunter, John Goodman, William Forsythe, Frances McDormand, Sam McMurray and Trey Wilson. I have an action-packed line up of guests starting with Kid sis and frustrated roadie Roseanne Caputi, children's book author dentist and dance king David Johnson, DMD, author, producer and gadfly George Young, musician, editor burrito and pastry lover Kendrick Wright, author, hypnotherapist, teacher and musical theater aficionado Joe Field and our very own Gordon Alex Robertson letting it all go wild. Before we commence with the back-clapping and drinks on me at the Moulin Rouge, the synopses: Spinal Tap (1984):A rock mockumentary following the fictional British heavy metal band Spinal Tap, chronicling their disastrous American tour after a failed album six years ago. The tour forces them to come face-to-face with their age, egos, dwindling fame, and their crumbling careers. Pee-Wee's Big Adventure (1985):The madcap Pee-Wee Herman embarks on a desperate cross-country journey to find his stolen bicycle, encountering a cadre of zany characters and bizarre situations along the way. Raising Arizona (1987):H.I. McDunnough, an ex-con with a passion for robbing convenience stores and his police officer wife, Ed short for Edwina, are unable to conceive. When unpainted furniture kingpin Nathan Arizona's wife gives birth to quintuplets, HI and Ed kidnap one of the babies, leading to a chaotic and life-changing, one might say life-affirming, series of events. Are these the greatest comedies of all time?Find out!
Send us a textHello Loyal Film Fans, we're busting out, shields first, with our 99th episode and wanted to do something both timely and topical so we're going to look at Marvel's Captain America films replete with the newly released Captain America Brave New World. I'm your host Gino Caputi and I am joined by Joe Field, author, hypnotherapist and comic book store royalty, named after his Uncle Joe who owns Flying Colors Comics in Concord California. https://www.flyingcolorscomics.com/Welcome back Joe!Before we celebrate the red white and blue Avenger, Here's the overall synopses of all the films. The Captain America story centers around two men, Stever Rogers and his friend Sam Wilson. In Captain America: The First Avenger, it's 1940, World War II is in full swing and frail but determined Steve Rogers undergoes an experiment that transforms him into an American super-soldier, leading him to battle Hydra and its leader, Red Skull, before sacrificing himself in the Arctic. Frozen for 70 years, Steve miraculously wakes up in the 21st Century. In The Winter Soldier Steve makes friends with fellow soldier Sam Wilson while struggling to adjust to the modern world. The pair, aided by the Avengers Black Widow, uncover a Hydra conspiracy within S.H.I.E.L.D. while facing the Winter Soldier who turns out to be his once loyal childhood friend, Bucky Barnes. In Civil War Steve turns against Tony Stark as the Avengers fracture over government oversight, forcing him and Sam to go on the run to protect Bucky. Now in Brave New World, Steve's mantle is taken up by Sam, who faces political and global challenges while proving himself as the new Captain America.So do any of these films uphold the stars and stripes? Let's find out! Follow the FFF Facebook page!https://www.facebook.com/groups/fabulousfilmandfriendswatch the episode on Youtube:https://youtu.be/Td_JpNeRtwU
Send us a textOur 2024 Top 5 (ish) round up. Plus Everybody's "Worst of." With David Johnson, DDS, Burton Brown, Joe Field & Alex RobertsonWatch the video versionhttps://youtu.be/7_TmPHcVsCk
Send us a textWelcome to our FFF Christmas mash-up where we are going to look at the two important titles released on the 25th of December in the year of Our Lord 2024: Nosferatu, directed by Robert Eggers and starring Lily Rose Depp, Nicholas Hoult, Aaron Taylor Johnson, Emma Corrin, Ralph Ineson, Bill Skarsgard, and Willem Dafoe up against A Complete Unknown directed by James “Walk the Line/Ford Vs. Ferrari” Mangold and starring Timothee Chalamet, Edward Norton, Elle Fanning, Maria Barbaro, Dan Fogler, and the one two punch of craggy, Oakie-faced Narcos Alums: Boyd Holbrook and Scoot McNairy.I'm your host Gino Caputi and I am joined by the lean and mean crew of Roseanne Caputi and Gordon Alex Robertson. Before we throw down with the garlic, wooden stakes, crucifixes and Gibson J-50's, the synopses:In Nosferatu the Dracula story is reimagined as a German tale where newlywed, social climbing Thomas Hutter is sent to Transylvania to sell a house to the mysterious Count Orlok. Orlok in turn knows Hutter's Wife Ellen as years before she allowed him to enter her soul. After Hutter escapes Orloks castle of horrors, Orlock relocates to Wisborg and brings evil and plague with him. With the town gone mad, it is up to Ellen to stop Orlok. In A Complete Unknown, it is 1961 and a young Bob Dylan arrives in New York City to meet his idol Woody Guthrie. Introduced to Guthrie by Pete Seeger in the hospital where Guthrie is dying, Dylan becomes immersed in the New York Folk scene, developing a relationship with folkl sensation Joan Baez. Years go by and Dylan decides to go against Seeger and the Folk community by playing an electric guitar at the famous Newport Folk Festival. Chaos ensues. So which film best exemplifies the spirit of Christmas? Find out! Watch the podcast on Youtube:https://youtu.be/M4qRzeybvd4Follow the FFF Facebook page!https://www.facebook.com/groups/fabulousfilmandfriends
Send us a text This week on Fabulous Film & Friends, we're going to scale down and take a look at the freakin' sweet indie filmmaking skills of director Jared Hess with his 2004 quirky sleeper hit, Napoleon Dynamite starring Jon Heder, John Gries, Aaron Ruell, Efron Ramirez, Tina Majorino, Haylie Duff, Trevor Snarr, Shondrella Avery, and Diedrich Bader alongside the even quirkier and sleepier box office bomb, Gentlemen Broncos, made in 2009 and starring Michael Angarano, Jermaine Clement, Jennifer Coolidge, Halley Feiffer, Hectór Jiménez, Mike White and Sam Rockwell. This week I have a panel of awesome wizards from Idaho and Utah in David Johnson, DDS and Burton along with Texas fantasy author and hypnotherapist Joe Field, all three of whom are fully qualified to comment on the veracity and value of these two unconventional productions. Before we enter a bizarro universe of dry lips, brown suits with snowboots, and retro-primitive laser battles against rocket launching chordate, the synopses: In Napoleon Dynamite an awkward, misunderstood but spirited high schooler hits back at the status quo in small town Preston Idaho, drawing fantastic creatures, dancing to funky music and standing by Pedro Sanchez, a new student who bravely runs for class president. Gentlemen Broncos follows Benjamin Purvis, a young, homeschooled writer whose sci-fi story Yeast Lords is plagiarized by Dr. Ronald Chevalier, a washed-up author teaching seminars for high school students. Do these films stand as classics or just offbeat oddities? Find out! Follow the FFF Facebook page!https://www.facebook.com/groups/fabulousfilmandfriends Watch the podcast on Youtubehttps://youtu.be/kZQI1BkUa2M
Send us a textWelcome back to another blockbuster episode of Fabulous Film & Friends, our 95th to be precise, and I do apologize for the delay in production. But kids, I'm a working man and if you want a more reliable and steady stream of FFF episodes, be sure to like and subscribe to the channel on Youtube or Buzzsprout, et al. And by all means tell your friends about us! So! This week! We're going to make up for lost time and come out swinging to face not one but two of Joel and Ethan Coen's finest features in their impressively long and ever changing catalog of top hits: 2007's No Country for Old Men starring Tommy Lee Jones, Javier Bardem, Josh Brolin, Kelly MacDonald, Garret Dillahunt, Tess Harper, Stephen Root and Woody Harrelson and 2013's Inside Llewyn Davis starring Oscar Isaac, Carey Mulligan, Justin Timberlake, Garrett Hedlund, Adam Driver, Max Casella, Stark Sands, F. Murray Abraham and John Goodman. I'm your host Gino Caputi and this week I have 80% of my team of the regulars back, starting with outdoorsman and frontier type from Salt Lake City Utah, no stranger to captive bolt stunners he, the one and only Burton Brown! Then there's my book smart kid sister Roseanne Caputi who has read all of Cormac McCarthy's novels 10x each, Texas Hypnotherapist and professional coin flipper Joe Field and the man whose peak years were spent sporting his signature Anton Chigurh Prince Valiant hairdo and black denim jacket, Gordon Alex Robertson!Before we cross into a never-ending circle of physical pain, broken-hearts and dashed dreams, the synopses: In No Country for Old Men the paths of Texas Sheriff Ed Tom Bell, a mysterious hitman named Anton Chigurh, and Vietnam veteran Llewellyn Moss collide when Moss stumbles upon $2 million at the site of a drug deal gone wrong. When Moss decides to keep the money, he finds himself in the crosshairs of the ruthless and relentless Chigurh, while Sheriff Bell struggles to keep up in a world spiraling beyond his control and comprehension. Inside Llewyn Davis chronicles a tumultuous but typical week in the life of its eponymous hero, an acerbic struggling folk singer in 1960s Greenwich Village. As Llewyn Davis ambles from gig to gig and friend's couch to friend's couch during a harsh New York winter, with a quick spirit-crushing sojourn to Chicago, he is faced with an unshakable truth that talent and artistic integrity may not be enough to break into an unforgiving music scene.Follow the FFF Facebook page!https://www.facebook.com/groups/fabulousfilmandfriends Like and subscribe on Youtube
Send us a textThis week on Fabulous Film & Friends it's time to embrace our inner sap as we compare two seminal historically-themed weepie romances that have managed to endure, despite being laden with copious amounts of kettle corn, enough to fill two silos full really: 1980's Somewhere in Time, written by Richard Matheson directed by Jeannot Szwarc starring Christopher Reeve, Jane Seymour and Christopher Plummer against 1997's Titanic written and directed by James Cameron and starring Leonardo DiCaprio, Kate Winslet, Billy Zane, David Warner, Francis Fisher, Gloria Stuart, Bill Paxton and Kathy Bates.I'm your host Gino Caputi and this week I have a full cast of romantics, the king of Salt Lake City, Burton Brown, my kid sister and James Cameron enthusiast, Roseanne Caputi, Joe Field most sensitive author and hypnotherapist in Texas, and Mr. Rom-com himself, George Young!Before we jump into the abyss the synopses: Somewhere in Time's Richard Collier is an coming college playwright who, following a successful and highly touted college production is visited by an elderly woman who hands him an old gold watch and whispers , “Come Back to Me!” Eight years later, Richard, now a successful playwright in Chicago goes on a bit of an unscheduled vacation to overcome writer's block, stopping at the Grand Hotel on Mackinac Island in Michigan. In the hotel museum, he sees the photo of Elise McKenna an incomparably beautiful and famous actress from the turn of the 20th Century and he is immediately captivated by her beauty and becomes obsessed with learning all about her. Upon discovering that Elise was the woman who handed him the gold watch, he wills himself back in time to the year 1914 to meet her through a form of hypnosis. When they meet: FIREWORKS! But can their love stand the test of time? Titanic recounts the heartrending love affair of poor artist Jack Dawson and high society dame Rose Dewitt Buakater who met and fell in love on the doomed ocean liner four days before it hit an iceberg and sunk on that fateful night in 1912. But can their love survive the tragedy? Which film reigns as King of the Corn?Find out! Follow the FFF Facebook page!https://www.facebook.com/groups/fabulousfilmandfriends Watch the podcast on Youtube https://youtu.be/sbIR1TuBinc
Send us a textThis week on Fabulous Film & Friends we're taking on the monumental challenge of dissecting Francis Ford Coppola's sprawling, controversial and somewhat divisive 2024 opus, Megalopolis starring Adam Driver, Giancarlo Esposito, Nathalie Emmanuel, Aubrey Plaza, Shia LeBeouf, John Voight, Laurence Fishburne, Talia Shire, Jason Schwartzman, Grace Vanderwaal , Kathryn Hunter, and Dustin Hoffman. Plus, as a bonus James Remar, and D.B. Sweeney in essentially featured background roles.I'm your host Gino Caputi and joining me this week are two of my sturdy and stalwart fellow film snobs, who had the guts and determination to get to the movie theater before the film was yanked from screens, Joe Field, and Gordon Alex Robertson.Before we go bonkers, don the Coppola sandwich board and howl at the masses, the synopsis: In the dark days before the impending collapse of New Rome, Caesar Catalina, a man who can stop time and space, ventures to create a utopian city using “Catalinium,” the Nobel Prize-winning element he invented. He seeks to replace his decaying city with a new vision for a brighter future but said vision faces setbacks on many levels. Despite political, financial, societal and familial obstacles raining down on him, Catalina's unwavering spirit cannot be deterred.A deserved critical and financial bomb or a misunderstood masterpiece? Find out!! Watch the podcast on Youtubehttps://youtu.be/krdq3DRVs0k Follow FFF on Facebookhttps://www.facebook.com/groups/fabulousfilmandfriends
Send us a textThis week on Fabulous Film & Friends we're going to back to the late 1950's early 1960's when men smoked heavily, recklessly enjoyed sophisticated cocktails and liked their women the way they wore their suits: skinny and tight! A time when spies and cold wars were the talk of the town, and all the cool cats admired two preeminent and influential thrillers. We're talking 1959's North by Northwest directed by the Master of Suspense himself, Alfred Hitchcock and starring Carey Grant, Eva Marie Saint, James Mason, Jessie Royce Landis, Ned Glass, and Marin Landau against 1963's Charade, directed by Stanley Donen and starring Carey Grant again, Audrey Hepburn, Walter Matthau, James Coburn, Ned Glass again, and the mighty George Kennedy. I'm your host Gino Caputi and joining me this week are two of suave, millionaire Men's Men in their own right, David Johnson DMD and Author/Producer George Young. Before we break out the martinis: the synopses: North by Northwest follows the exploits of slightly mild-mannered ad agency owner Roger Thornhill who is mistaken for a government agent and abducted. After that, he is thrown into a world of shadow-y art dealers and fast-talking female special agents who will do anything to protect and advance their positions. Roger's only way out is to follow the trail of mystery to its presidential conclusion. In Charade, Regina Lambert, a soon to be divorcee quickly finds out she's a widow whose ex-husband has hidden a fortune, by 1963 standards. With both the government and four of her husband's former associates following her to find the money, she falls s hopelessly in love with one of them, though his identity is never quite known. Which is the coolest caper? Find out!! Follow the FFF Facebook page!https://www.facebook.com/groups/fabulousfilmandfriends Watch, like and subscribe on Youtube Listen to the audio podcast on buzzsprout:
Send us a textAs we blast off into our 4th Season here at Fabulous Film and Friends, and with the recent release of Alien Romulus, we thought it only fitting to take a look at ALL the Alien movies, minus the execrable Alien v. Predator films, starting with 1979's Alien directed by Ridley Scott and starring Sigourney Weaver, Tom Skerritt, Harry Dean Stanton, Yaphett Koto, John Hurt, Veronica Cartright and Ian Holm followed by 1986's Aliens, directed by James Cameron and starring Sigourney Weaver again, joined by Michael Biehn, Bill Paxton, Lance Henrickson, Carrie Ann Henn, William Hope, Jeanette Goldstein, Mark Rolston Al Matthews, and Paul Reiser. Then we get 1992's Alien 3 directed by David Fincer, starring Weaver once again, with Charles S. Dutton, Charles Dance, Ralph Brown, Pete Postelwaite, Brian Glover, Holt MccAllany, Lance Henrickson and a veritable slew of bald British day players yelling, "You bloody wanker!" Then there's 1997's Alien Resurrection directed by Jean-Pierre Jeunet starring Ms. Weaver, Winona Ryder, Ron Perlman, Dan Hedaya, Brad Dourif, JE Freeman, Kim Flowers Gary Dourdan, Dominique Pinon and Michael Wincott. Then there's a long break in the actual franchise with the aforementioned cash-grabs Alien v. Predator films thrown in the mix and the series starts up again in earnest with 2012's Ridley Scott directed prequel Prometheus starring Noomi Rapace, Michael Fassbender, Charlize Theron, Idris Elba, Logan Marshall Green, Sean Harris, Rafe Spall, and Guy Pierce. In 2017 we're treated to Alien Covenant, once again directed by Ridley Scott starring Michael Fassbender, Katherine Waterston, Billy Cruddup, Danny McBride, Callie Hernandez, Carmen Ejogo, Guy Pearce, everybody's favorite prankster, Jussie Smollet and blink and you'll miss them cameos by Noomi Rapace and James Franco. Which leads us to 2024's Alien Romulus directed by Fede Alvarez and starring Callie Spaeny, David Jonsson, Isabella Merced, Archie Renaux, Aileen Wu, Spike Fearn and a posthumus Ian Holm. I'm your host Gino Caputi and the guests today are Burton Brown, David Johnson, DMD, Joe Field. With seven movies to cover we're going to get right into it, with one synopsis. Alien movies started off about a crew of space miners serving on the enormous mining vessel the Nostromo who while in cryosleep on their return to Earth with their minerals and ore in tow, are given orders to stop on the planet LV-426 to investigate a distress signal coming from a derelict spacecraft. While investigating the phenomena the crew inadvertently bring an alien on board their vessel. The Alien picks off the crew one by one and it is only warrant officer Ripley who survives by destroying the Nostromo and ultimately shooting the alien out into space. An internet meme sums it up thusly:Alien 1 - A team of miners faces an AlienAliens - A team of marines faces a lot of AliensAlien 3 - A group of convicts faces one AlienAlien Resurrection - A team of pirates face 5 AliensPrometheus - A team of scientists inadvertently create the AlienAlien Covenant - A team of colonists face a a lot of AliensAlien Romulus - A team of babyfaced Gen Z 'ers face a lot of AliensWhich is Queen of the Hive? Find out!Watch the podcast on Youtube:https://youtu.be/gdZKUp7IM38
Send us a Text Message.On this 90th episode and Season 3 finale of Fabulous Film & Friends we're going to dig into 2024's Wildcat, centering around the life and works of Great American Author Flannery O' Connor and directed by Ethan Hawke, starring the director's daughter Maya Hawke, Laura Linney, Phililip Ettinger, Cooper Hoffman, Steve Zahn, Rafael Casal, Alessandro Nivola Christine Dye, Vincent D'Onofrio and Liam Neeson. I'm your host Gino Caputi and joining me this week to try and unpack all of this literary and cinematic heaviness are Lit major and self-proclaimed QUEEN of the College Library check-out counter, my kid sister Roseanne Caputi, Author, hyp-MO-therapist and pop culture critic Joe Field and a man who lived the life of O'Connor's Southern heartthrob OE Parker, replete with tattoo long before it was fashionable: Gordon Alex Robertson. Before the duel of wits begins: the synopsis: Wildcat details the physical, intellectual, emotional, spiritual and familial battles author Flannery O'Connor endures after she is stricken with Lupus and desperately attempts to ascertain God's purpose for her and her gift for writing sardonic and uncomfortable grim morality tales. What do we all make of this endeavor? Find out!! Follow the FFF Facebook page!https://www.facebook.com/groups/fabulousfilmandfriends Watch the podcast on Youtubehttps://youtu.be/yeCGAAHBeIg
Send us a Text Message.This week on Fabulous Film & Friends it's the moment all yall cowpokes been watin' fer. We're biting the bullet and comparing the two star-studded “Gunfight at the OK Corral” epics, pitting 1993's Tombstone directed by George Pan Cosmatos starring Kurt Russell, Val Kilmer, Sam Elliot, Bill Paxton, Powers Boothe, Michael Biehn, Stephen Lang, Dana Delany, Dana Wheeler-Nicholson, Joanna Pacula Michael Rooker, Thomas Hayden Church, Jason Priestly, Billy Zane, Billy Bob Thornton, Charleton Heston and Robert Mitchum against 1994's Wyatt Earp directed by Lawrence Kasdan and starring Kevin Costner, Dennis Quaid, Michael Madsen, Tom Sizemore, Bill Pullman, Linden Ashby, David Andrews, Isabella Rossellini Mare Winningham, Jobeth Williams, Catherine O'Hara, Allison Elliot, Annabeth Gish, Joanna Going, Mark Harmon, Jeff Fahey, Lewis Smith, Adam Baldwin, Martin Kove, Jim Caviezel, Tea Leoni, Betty Buckley and Gene Hackman. I'm your host Gino Caputi and I have quite a lineup of hired guns on this edition starting with my kid sis and prairie loving Roseanne Caputi, the sons of Eastern Oregon and Northern Utah, Burton Brown and David Johnson, DMD, Texas Joe Field and the rootin' tootin' est actor photographer this side of the Columbia River, Gordon Alex Robertson. Alright, before we throw down and draw: the synopses. Tombstone finds retired lawman Wyatt Earp and his brothers Virgil and Morgan along with their wives settling in the Arizona mining town of Tombstone to seek their fortunes. Their plans go awry when Curly Bill Brocius, Ike and Bill Clanton and rest of The Cowboy gang start making trouble and allegedly kill the Tombstone Marshall Fred White. The Earp Brothers don the tin stars and are sworn in once again to face off with the members of the gang at the legendary OK Corral. Wyatt Earp basically tells the same story except with a bit more backstory more and A LOT more padding. Which film wins the duel? Find out!! Follow the FFF Facebook page!https://www.facebook.com/groups/fabulousfilmandfriends Watch the podcast on Youtube: https://youtu.be/-NFnXIOr7F0
Send us a Text Message.This week on Fabulous Film & Friends we've jumped on that bandwagon and got a full fledged case of Deadpool-mania!That means we're going to discuss all three of Ryan Reynolds happy little R-rated capers which started in 2016 with Deadpool directed by Tim Miller, starring Ryan Reynolds, TJ Miller Morena Baccarin, Brianna Hildebrand, Stefan Kapicic, Ed Skrein, Leslie Uggams, Karan Soni and Gina Carano. Then continued with 2018's Deadpool 2, directed by David Lietch and starring pretty much the same cast minus Skrein and Carano with the addition of Josh Brolin, Zazie Beets, Julian Dennison, and Rob Delaney. And capped off with the most marketed and hyped movie of my lifetime, 2024's Deadpool & Wolverine, directed by Shawn Levy and starring Mr. Reynolds and Hugh Jackman as well as a good portion of the previous supporting cast in cameos along with Matthew MacFadyen and Emma Corrin as villains. I'm Gino Caputi and my solitary guest today is author, hypnotherapist and comic book shop royalty Joe Field. I have to announce that Deadpool & Wolverine raked in 440 million over the July 26th 2024 weekend, the highest opening weekend box office haul for an R rated film ever. Was it Ryan Reynolds' and Hugh Jackman's over-the top marketing strategy of appearing on nearly every talk show and commercial for a month that helped or hurt its box office. Could it have been more if they hadn't seemed so transparently mercenary? Before we get into it, the synopses:Deadpool 1-3 are about Wade Wilson, aka Deadpool. the “Merc with a Mouth” a cynical 4th wall breaking character who makes scores of naughty puns while killing bad guys in over-the-top grotesque CGI enhanced ways. His powers are just like Wolverine's, he's unkillable because he heals and regenerates faster than it takes for his body's functions to shut down due to loss of blood. Or something like that. Which Deadpool Film gets the killshot?Find out!Follow the FFF Facebook page!https://www.facebook.com/groups/fabulousfilmandfriendsWatch the podcast on Youtube:https://youtu.be/mJStFakR5RI
Send us a Text Message.On our 87th episode we're looking back at the year 1996, a simpler time when humanity came together and made big hits out of unsophisticated and unabashedly emotional sci-fi adventures. We're talking Independence Day directed by Roland Emmerich and starring Will Smith, Bill Pullman, Jeff Goldblum, Judd Hirsch, Margaret Colin, Mary McDonnell, Robert Loggia, James Rebhorn, Brent Spiner, Vivica A. Fox and Randy Quaid and Star Trek First Contact directed by Jonathan Frakes and starring Patrick Stewart, Frakes, Brent Spiner, Levar Burton, Michael Dorn, Marina Sirtis, Gates McFadden, Alfre Woodard, Alex Krige and James Cromwell. I'm Gino Caputi and returning for the follow up to our sci fi 1994 episode which compared Emmerich's Stargate to the previous TNG Star Trek film subtitled Generations are author/hypnotist Joe Field and Utah IT tech and reformed TNG superfan Burton Brown. Gentlemen, welcome. Before we get into it, the synopses: The people of the planet Earth are utterly astonished and horrified when on July 2nd 1996, an enormous spacecraft, half the size of the moon, launches 10 city-sized spacecraft over the world's major cities which proceed to blow them to smithereens. It's up to President Tom Whitmore, Ace Fighter Pilot Captain Steve Hiller and MIT genius David Levinson to devise a plan on Independence Day to stop the alien army. In Star Trek First Contact Captain Jean-Luc Picard's old foe the cybernetic Borg return to conquer the Federation once and for all by traveling back in time to the mid 21st Century to stop Warp Drive Pioneer Zefram Cochrane from making first contact with an advanced alien species. Picard and his brave crew of the brand new USS Enterprise E risk losing their ship and being stranded in the 21st Century forever when they follow the Borg into the past in order to thwart their nefarious plan. Which film is the winner of the battle of the invincible aliens? Find out! Follow the FFF Facebook page!https://www.facebook.com/groups/fabulousfilmandfriends Watch on Youtubehttps://youtu.be/LbLkiV0XkGc
Send us a Text Message.This week on Fabulous Film & Friends we're giving our first impressions of Kevin Costner's Horizon An American Saga Part 1. The actor/director headlines the production along with Sienna Miller, Sam Worthington, Luke Wilson, Michael Rooker, Danny Huston, Will Patton, Abbey Lee, Jena Malone, Tatanka Means, James Russo, John Beavers, Jamie Cambpell, Michael Angarano, Dale Dickey and Jeff FaheyI'm Gino Caputi and joining me this week is Roseanne Caputi, my kid sister and my good friend, actor, photographer, gunslinger Gordon Alex Robertson. Horizon follows several characters of the American Old West whose lives and personal fortunes intersect on a settlement land named Horizon, deep within Apache territory. Follow the FFF Facebook page!https://www.facebook.com/groups/fabulousfilmandfriends Watch on Youtubehttps://youtu.be/lxAOyh-PlkA
Send us a Text Message.On this 85th episode of Fabulous Film and Friends we are going to connect the dots between three seminal cautionary tales from the 80's: 1984's Repo Man directed by Alex Cox and starring Emelio Estevez, Harry Dean Stanton, Olivia Barash, Jennifer Balgobin, Dick Rude, Tracey Walter, Sy Richardson, Vonetta McGee, Richard Foronjy, Tom Finnegan, Eddie Velez, Del Zamora, Zander Schloss, Fox Harris and Jimmy Buffet. Then 1987's River's Edge directed by Tim Hunter starring Keanu Reeves, Crispin Clover, Ione Skye, Daniel Roebuck, Joshua John Miller, Josh Richman, Roxana Zal, Jim Metzler, Tom Bower and Dennis Hopper and topped off with Robocop, also from 1987 and starring Peter Weller, Nancy Allen, Kurtwood Smith, Miguel Ferrer, Paul McCrane, Ray Wise, Jesse D. Goins, Felton Perry, Del Zamora, Dan O'Herlihy and the inimitable Ronny Cox. I'm Gino Caputi and returning to the program to break down all this cynicism and disaffected young adulthood are my sister Roseanne, the lit major, Joe Field, the author/hypnotist and back again after a long fitful stint in suspended animation, the photobug and funny man Gordon Alex Robertson!Okay before we suit up and start taking names, the synopses: In Repo Man, Otto, an LA punk, gets fired from his job as a grocery clerk but finds his true calling when a tough-talking stranger named Bud convinces Otto to join his team of auto repossession agents. Bud, Otto and the entire network of the repo men run into an existential crisis when a mysterious car that has a reward of 20k is believed to have an alien in its trunk. River's Edge is loosely based on true events and catalogues a turmoil of emotions or lack thereof that a group of teens encounter when they discover one of their friends, John aka Samson, has murdered his girlfriend while another friend, Layne, swears them all to secrecy. Robocop looks into the future where the Detroit police are privately owned by a corporation called Omni Consumer Product. After Alex Murphy a brave but naive officer is killed in the line of duty by a ruthless crime lord named Clarence Boddiker, Murphy's body is given to OCP for a pilot program that transforms Murphy into a cyborg called Robocop. The program seems to work and Robocop starts cleaning the streets until he realizes all is not right in his programming and there are sinister forces that led to his creation, including a pact between OCP VP Dick Jones and Boddiker's gang. Follow the FFF Facebook page!https://www.facebook.com/groups/fabulousfilmandfriends Watch the episode on Youtube:https://youtu.be/l7IVqxqb1hw
Send us a Text Message.On this episode of Fabulous Film and Friends we are looking back at two middling, lackluster sci-fi adventures from 1994 that have mysteriously stood the test of time: Stargate, directed by Roland Emmerich and starring Kurt Russell, James Spader, John Diehl, Jaye Davidson, Viveca Lindfors, Erick Avari, Alexis Cruz, Mili Avital, Leon Rippey, French Stewart, and Djimon Hounsou, which was released in October of ‘94 then Star Trek: Generations which was released a month later, was directed by David Carson and starred Patrick Stewart, Jonathan Frakes, Brent Spiner, Levar Burton, Michael Dorn, Marina Sirtis, Gates McFaddon, Malcolm McDowell, Walter Koenig, James Doohan and William Shatner. I'm Gino Caputi your host, and back for more, especially if Star Trek is to be discussed I have series regular and IT tech Burton Brown, and representing the fresh eyes of the younger, non-cynical generation, author hypnotherapist Joe Field. The synopses: In Stargate, a crack squad of US Special Forces led by Colonel Jack O'Neill with an assist from archeologist Dr. Daniel Jackson travel through a mysterious circular dimensional portal that was discovered in Giza Egypt in 1928 and kept a secret by the military until the mysteries of the portal could be unlocked. Once on the other side, Jackson and O'Neil discover they are on the planet Abydos with a culture very similar to ancient Egypt. There they befriend the locals and do battle with the god Ra, revealed to be an alien who has enslaved humans on this planet and is intent on destroying the human race on Earth through the Stargate. In Star Trek Generations a single-minded, pleasure-seeking and murderous Dr. Tholian Soran attempts to destroy an entire solar system in order to get back into a heaven-like, temporal portal in the universe called The Nexus. It is up to the crew of the Starship Enterprise D, led by Captain Jean Luc Picard to stop Soran. Unfortunately, Picard proves to be too weak for the task and finds his ship and crew destroyed, the mission failed and he himself is trapped in the Nexus. Except…Captain James T. Kirk is also in the Nexus having landed in it 78 years earlier the Enterprise B encountered The Nexus on a rescue mission. Picard and Kirk join forces, leave the Nexus and stop Soran through the power of team work. San Francisco Chronicle Film Critic Mick LaSalle, when summarizing the 1994 Year in Film wrote, “In 20 years will anyone still be watching Stargate? Or Star Trek Generations?” I agreed with him wholeheartedly that these films were nothing but forgettable, but here we 30 years later and are still watching these works. Add to that, Stargate has had five spinoff TV series on the subject and they're still planning cinematic reboots. Star Trek Generations was listed implausibly as a one of the great epics in the 2004 book Epic movies and will forever be remembered as the film that killed off Captain Kirk. So, the burning question is WHY have these films endured? Find out! The Youtube Version:https://youtu.be/K-irgi8Vp88 Follow the FFF Facebook page!https://www.facebook.com/groups/fabulousfilmandfriends
Send us a Text Message.On our 83rd episode of Fabulous Film & Friends we're driving headfirst into the maelstrom as we discuss ALL of director George Miller's post-apocalyptic Mad Max movies including the newly released Furiosa. What's that you say? Didn't you just review The Road Warrior on your recent Australian Apocalypse podcast? True enough! But! We glossed over an important ingredient in the film's success and we're going to make amends as we break down all the Mad Maxes. I'm joined this week by my kid sister, the renowned English lit snob and biker movie enthusiast Roseanne Caputi and returning to the program after a year-long spell are both author and hypnotherapist Joe Field and erstwhile photographer, musician, podcaster and now website owner Kendrick WrightThe synopses: Mad Max is set “a few years” into the future where society is breaking down and car and motorcycle gangs rule the road striking fear into the hearts of ordinary schmoes just trying to survive. Main Force Patrol officer Max Rockatansky has everything ] taken from him, when his wife and kid are killed by the evil Toecutter and a soul-crushed Max becomes a one-man killing force, The Road Warrior/Mad Max 2 raises the stakes of its predecessor, and calls out the societal issue as a great war between two tribes and picks up the story with Max travelling the barren, hellish, post-apocalyptic highways and stumbling upon an evil road gang led by a brute named Lord Humungus. Humungus is hellbent on invading a compound belonging to a group of civilized and intelligent settlers who have built an oasis around the last of the oil wells and have running lights and supplies. Losing numbers and their morale under the constant attacks of Humungus, the settlers hatch a plan to escape the vermin on wheels and flee to the coast with their oil in tow. With the help of Max and a pilot called the Gyro Captain, the settlers are given a chance to survive and a little notion called hope. “ In Mad Max Beyond Thunderdome Max, now a full-fledged nomadic warrior, has all his possessions stolen and in trying to track them down, finds a sleazy desert trading post called Bartertown. Max strikes a bargain with the town's ruler Aunty Entity in order to regain his possessions. When Max refuses to kill a simple man, he is sent out into the desert to die but is saved by a tribe of kids looking for a hero. Mad Max: Fury Road finds Max imprisoned in a rock fortress called the Citadel and forced into being a blood supplier for the sickly War Boys of the cult warlord leader Immortan Joe. When Joe's chief transportation lieutenant Imperator Furiosa betrays Joe and smuggles his wives from Joe's harem to bring them to the safety of the Green Place, Joe's Army and the armies of the neighboring Bullet Town and Gas Town give a desperate chase to get Joe's wives back. During the chaos, Max escapes captivity and forms an uneasy alliance with Furiosa as the two hurtle down Fury Road in an epic chase for their lives and the future of civilization. Furiosa: A Mad Max Saga – a franchise first prequel and continuity driven story of Young Furiosa, how she lost her mother, her true love and her arm at the hands of the demagogue Dr. Dementus, a cruel rabble rouser who starts a wasteland war with Immortatan Joe and the leaders of the of Bulletown and Gas Town.
Send us a Text Message.On this 82nd episode of Fabulous Film & Friends we're going to discuss the finer points of being a misunderstood celebrity sequestered in first-rate hostelries as we discuss three of director Sofia Coppola's notable tales of privileged isolation: 2003's Lost in Translation starring Bill Murray, Scarlett Johannsson, Anna Faris, Fumihiro Hayashi and Giovanni Ribisi along with 2010's Somewhere starring Stephen Dorff, Elle Fanning, Chris Pontius, Ellie Kemper, Michelle Monaghan, and in an uncredited cameo, Alden Ehrenreich topped off with 2023's Priscilla starring Callie Spaeny, Jacob Elordi, Tim Post, Ari Cohe and Mrs. Patrick Wilson herself, Dagmara Dominczyk. I'm joined this week by my favorite panelists who, like Priscilla Presley, can relate to feelings of being confined in a stultifying dungeon of endless pontification with an insecure and egotistical blowhard, my kid-sister and lit major Roseanne Caputi as well as The King of Reno, actor, photographer and guitarist, Colonel Gordon Alex Robertson! Okay, before we don the blue suede shoes and lock ourselves in our rooms, the synopses: In Lost in Translation over-the-hill action movie star Bob Harris, in Tokyo to do a photoshoot for a brand of Japanese whiskey, befriends fellow hotel resident Charlotte, a young American woman whose new husband, a photographer, is in town to do a fashion shoot and is never around. Somewhere tells the story of Johnny Marco, a hard-partying Hollywood action star on the rise, spinning his wheels and recuperating from an injury at Hollywood's famous Chateau Marmont is unexpectantly charged by his ex-wife to spend more time with his daughter Cleo. And in a show first: I'm going to have Roseanne fact check the Google Log line for a film: Priscilla- When teenage Priscilla Beaulieu meets Elvis Presley at a party, the man who is already a meteoric rock 'n' roll superstar becomes someone entirely unexpected in private moments: a thrilling crush, an ally in loneliness and a vulnerable best friend. What would an ace English Teacher and lit major do to correct that synopsis? Find out! Follow FF&F on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/groups/fabulousfilmandfriends Watch the Youtube version:https://youtu.be/7vzqRpfYlCU
Send us a Text Message.This week on Fabulous Film & Friends we're going to wrestle with divisions among our ranks as we tackle 2024's controversial Civil War, directed by Alex Garland and starring Kirsten Dunst, Wagner Maura, Calliee Spaeny, Stephen McKinley Henderson, Nick Offerman and Jesse Plemons.I'm joined this week by a blockbuster crew consisting of Utah IT Tech and film lover Burton Brown, as well part-time New York, part-time Florida denizen, author, producer, and gadfly George Young.Before we embark on our little journey towards the truth, the synopsis: In Civil War four journalists, hard-bitten and cynical war photographer Lee Smith, brash, cowboy reporter Joel, wide-eyed rookie photobug Jessie Cullins who idolizes Lee and sage old New York Times correspondent Sammy (curious note: the women in the film have last names but the men don't) travel a roundabout 1000 miles from New York to Washington D.C. through an America ripped apart by a 2nd Civil War in order to get a final interview from the U.S. president before the country is taken over by Western Forces, which is an extremely unlikely alliance between Texas and California. Does the film hit home?Find out! Follow FF&F on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/groups/fabulousfilmandfriendsWatch the podcast on Youtube:https://youtu.be/sBHvHliV4l0
On our 80th episode of Fabulous Film & Friends what better way to follow up a Road House podcast than by looking at the highlights of pioneering gay director John Schlesinger? We're talking about 1969's Midnight Cowboy starring Dustin Hoffman, Jon Voight, Brenda Vaccaro, John McGiver, Sylvia Miles, Bob Balaban and Barnard Hughes as well as 1971's Sunday, Bloody Sunday starring Peter Finch, Glenda Jackson, Murry Head and Dame Peggy Ashcroft topped off with 1975's The Day of the Locust starring William Atherton, Donald Sutherland, Karen Black, Burgess Meredith, Bo Hopkins, Pepe Serna, Geraldine Paige, Richard Dysart, Lil' Jackie Earl Haley, an even littler Billy Barty and Mrs. Lovey Howell, herself, Natalie Schaeffer. I'm joined this week by the reliably ab-fab crew of my kid-sister and lit major Roseanne Caputi as well as the sensitive cowhand himself, actor, photographer and snappy patter producer par excellence Gordon Alex Robertson! Okay, before we don the fringed suede jackets and find a spot on 43rd St., the synopses: In Midnight Cowboy big, dumb Texan Joe Buck quits his job as a dishwasher and hops on a Greyhound to the big town, New York City with dreams of making his fortune as a male prostitute servicing rich, bored housewives on Park Avenue. After a series of cringe-inducing misfires, Joe finds himself penniless and living in a squalid, condemned apartment with a sickly, limping con man named Enrico “Ratso” Rizzo. With Ratso serving as Joe's manager the only place they can go is straight down. Barely surviving a New York winter, Joe's fortunes finally start to change for the better until a dying Ratso implores Joe to get him to Florida. Sunday, Bloody Sunday slowly--ever so slowly-- catalogues the highs and lows of two middle-aged, upper-class Londoners, one man, Dr. Daniel Hirsch, a perennially single doctor and one woman, Alex Greville a divorcee who both find purpose and vitality in a love triangle with Bob Elkin, a young sculptor in his 20's. The three must deal with abrupt change, loss and acceptance when Bob the sculptor moves to America. The Day of the Locust, based on the 1939 novel by Nathaniel West, follows the course of three, tragic dreamers who came to Hollywood with eyes toward stardom but end up victims of its cold-hearted excess: Tod Hacket, a somewhat idealistic --if a bit rapey set designer from Yale-- who is in love with Fay Greener, a beautiful but talentless day playing actress who refuses to date men that aren't wealthy, and none other than Homer Simpson, a simple, religious and socially awkward accountant who naively takes Fay in to live with him. Was Mr. Schlesinger an all time great? Or a one hit wonder? Find out! Watch this podcast on Youtube: https://youtu.be/rVaMo465c8A Follow FF&F on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/groups/fabulousfilmandfriends
This week on Fabulous Film & Friends we're leaping head first into the bone-cracking, tooth-spitting, throat-ripping and monster-trucking action of the Road House movies! Both of them! That's the original 1989 version directed by Rowdy Herrington and starring Patrick Swayze, Sam Elliot, Kelly Lynch, Ben Gazzara, Kevin Tighe, Marshall Teague, Julie Michaels, Red West, Kathleen Wilhoite and blink and you'll miss him, Keith David. As compared to the 2024 remake directed by Doug Liman and starring Jake Gyllenhaal, Conor McGregor, Daniela Melchior, Billy Magnussen, Jessica Williams, Post Malone, Arturo Castro & Joaquim de Almeida. My tougher n' leather crew today is made up of Roseanne Caputi, George Young, David Johnson DMD and although we had to beg him back, the bruiser himself, Gordon Alex Robertson!Before we bite into all that throat-ripping goodness, the synopses: Road House ‘89 is an epic tale of real estate fraud, malfeasance, racketeering and monster truck mayhem when zen, philosophizing Big City club bouncer Dalton is hired by Missouri bar owner Frank Tilgheman to clean up his honky tonk club The Double Deuce. Getting top dollar of 5k a week, Dalton packs up and moves to the town of Jasper to get things moving. After beating up a few goons and cutting the pork out of the Double D, Dalton runs afoul of a local business tycoon, the most Italian looking Brad Wesley you've ever seen. Wesley wants the Double Deuce for his own purposes and he also wants Dalton's new girlfriend, the beautiful and brainy Dr. Elizabeth “Doc” Clay as his own. So Wesley's plan: KILL DALTON! Dalton enlists the aid of his friend and mentor Wade Garrett to help in the ensuing ruckus, but Garrett's skills are no match for Wesley's evil. Wesley kills Wade in doing so unleashes the raging raw brute force of a one man army that is…DALTON! Road House 24' basically follows the same plot as the original except it moves the locale to Florida and makes Dalton an ex-MMA star and gives him the first name Elwood. And speed boats take the place of Monster Trucks. And that's about it. Who wins the smackdown? Find out!Watch the podcast in full color video on Youtube!https://youtu.be/42_91oNtbq4 Follow FF&F on Facebook!https://www.facebook.com/groups/fabulousfilmandfriends
This week on Fabulous Film and Friends we're covering a trio of Neo Noir films set in the city of…where else? Los Angeles, as we discuss 1998's The Big Lewbowski, directed by Joel and Ethan Coen and starring the extraordinary Jeff Bridges, John Goodman, Steve Buscemi, Julianne Moore, Phillip Seymour Hoffman, David Huddleston, John Tutturo, Ben Gazara, David Thewlis, Tara Reid, Peter Stormare, Leon Russom and Sam Elliot against 2014's Inherent Vice directed by Paul Thomas Anderson starring Joaquin Phoenix, Josh Brolin, Owen Wilson, Katherine Waterston, Benicio Del Toro, Reese Witherspoon, Martin Short, Jena Malone, Maya Rudolph Martin Donovan and Hong Chau, topped off with 2018's Under the Silver Lake directed by David Robert Mitchell and starring Andrew Garfield, Riley Keough, Topher Grace, Grace Van Patten, Riki Lindhome, Wendy vanden Heuvel, Callie Hernandez, Jimmi Simpson, Zosia Mamet, Jeremy Bob, Rex Lynn, Patrick Fischler and Sydney Sweeney. My guests today are Roseanne Caputi and back by popular demand, Gordon Alex Robertson!Before contemplating the endless currents of depth and consciousness, man, the synopses: The Big Lebowski, follows a lot of ins-and-outs and what-have-you's of a very complicated case when two goons working for porn king Jackie Treehorn mistakenly burst into the apartment of Jeffrey “The Dude” Lebowski demanding money that his supposed wife Bunny owes Jackie. Realizing their mistake but still adding the flourish of urinating on the Dude's favorite rug, the pair leaves and gets the hang loose and tolerant Dude's dander up. Dude the sets off finding the wealthy Jeffrey Lebowski that the pair were looking for and asks him for compensation for his soiled rug. The Big Lebowski flat out refuses the request, calls the Dude a bum, and kicks him out of his house. Surprisingly, a few days later The Big Lebowski summons The Dude to his mansion and asks him to act as a courier to a group of nihilists who have abducted his wife Bunny and are demanding a million dollars in ransom. With his reactionary ‘Nam vet bowling buddy Walter Sobchak at his side, the Dude enters a web of deception, greed and pain as he tries to make sense of the convoluted and problematical condition that he finds himself in. Inherent Vice ups the ante with ex-cop and junkie P.I. Larry “Doc” Sportello who follows a trail of real estate fraud, heroin smuggling, corrupt federal agents and dentists when his ex-girlfriend Shasta Faye re-enters his life and gives him the tip that her current boyfriend, real estate tycoon Mickey Wolfman, has a wife who is trying to have him committed. With rival LA Police Lt. Detective Christian “Bigfoot” Bjornsen working alternately, with and against him, Doc plows into the labyrinthian case headfirst aided by only his wits and piles of weed and coke in the desperate quest for the truth. Under the Silver Lake follows a journey through endless hidden messages, conspiracies and millennial self-discovery as perennial slacker Sam tries to uncover the truth regarding the disappearance of his beautiful neighbor Sarah, who vanishes without a trace a day after billionaire industrialist Jefferson Sevence is killed a car crash. Which film best exemplifies the whole L.A. thing? Find out!
This week on Fabulous Film and Friends the wait is over and in an exciting change of pace, no negativity. We're going to slaver and spaz all about 2024's Dune Part 2 directed by Denis Villanueve and starring Timotheé Chalamet, Rebecca Ferguson, Javier Bardem, Zendaya, Josh Brolin, Stellan Skarsgaard, Austin Butler, Florence Pugh, Dave Bautista, Charlotte Rampling, Lea Seydoux, Christopher Walken and (spoiler alert!) Anya Taylor-Joy. My guests today are David Johnson DMD and Roseanne Caputi. Series regular and good friend Alex Robertson is sitting this one out because he said, and I quote, “I have to polish my silver and scrub the cabinets tonight.” But the truth is Dune is sci-fi and is packed wall-to-wall with current superstars with nary an obscure 70's grindhouse actor to be found in its nearly 3 hour running time. Before we contemplate the many riddles of the film, the synopsis: Dune Part 2 picks up exactly where part one left off: After narrowly escaping multiple assassination attempts and exiled in the harsh desert of the savagely hot and dry spice producing planet Arrakis after Paul Atraide's father Duke Leto was murdered by Baron Vladimir Harkonnen in an brutal attack against House Atraides conceived and orchestrated by the Emperor Shaddam IV, Paul and his mother Lady Jessica have joined with the desert warrior Freman people. Paul wrestles with the notion or is it a plot? That he is the Kwisatz Haderach, the chosen one prophesized to lead the Freman warriors in a holy war against all of the Houses of the Galactic Empire. Fearing that their plot has backfired, the Bene Gesserit order of witches led by Gaius Helen Mohiam devise a plan to install the sadistic Feyd Rotha Harkonen as governor of Arrakis in order to quell the Freman rebellion brewing which Paul leads and Lady Jessica, now a full full-fledged Bene Gesserit Reverend Mother, promotes to the more religiously extreme Southern Freman tribes.
This week on Fabulous Film and Friends with the glow of our 75th episodeebbing, it's time to pick up the empty champagne bottles, sweep the floor and go back to discussing one measly film, o' but what a film it is: 2023's Killers of the Flower Moon, directed by the legendary Martin Scorsese and starring Leonardo DiCaprio, Robert DeNiro, Lily Gladstone, Jesse Plemons, John Lithgow, Brendan Fraser, and a veritable host of craggy-faced old coots on the white end, and on the Native American end, a who's who of Oklahoma and Montana actors who either got their big break from doing Community Theater or who have never acted in a major feature film before, including the Oscar nominated Lily Gladstone, who, like myself, got her start acting in Montana's Missoula Children's Theater. Who knows? It may have been my heralded performance as the Narrator in Jack in The Beanstalk or my talents at hawking sweatshirts after the big show that gave a young Lily Gladstone the acting bug. My guests this week are a full sweat lodge of opinionated tribal elders, I'm talking Roseanne Caputi, Alex Robertson and not one but two celebrated authors returning to the program, George Young and David Johnson, DMD Okay before we get into all-out movie war the synopsis:Based on true accounts of Osage Nation member who were murdered after oil was discovered on Oklahoma tribal land in the 1920's. The tribal members had retained mineral rights on their reservation, but Bill Hale, a corrupt local, schemes with his dull-witted and greedy nephews Byron and Ernest Burkhart to steal the tribal members' wealth.
This week on Fabulous Film and Friends we are pointing our compasses southward to the land of doom and gloom:Australia! Don't be fooled by the likes of Paul Hogan, Yahoo Serious and Thor, underneath that loopy, whimsical Australian charm, lies an unparalleled grim and sober yet prophetic outlook about life on Earth as evidenced by 1971's Walkabout directed by Nicholas Roeg, though full disclosure: he's an Englishman who shepherded Jenny Agutter, Luc Roeg, David Gulpilil and John Meillion to cinematic prominence, then 1982's The Road Warrior aka Mad Max 2 directed by George Miller and starring Mel Gibson, Bruce Spence, Kjell Nillson, Max Phipps, Vernon Wells, Mike Preston, Arkie Whitely, Viginia Hey and Emil Minty then topped off with The Road directed by Australian native John Hillcoat and starring Viggo Mortenson, Kodi Smit-McPhee, Charlize Theron, Garrett Dillahunt, the late Michael Kenneth Williams, Guy Pearce and Robert Duvall. My guests today are once again the series regulars who have both the stomach and gloomy disposition to take solace in rewatching these films back-to-back-to-back, Roseanne Caputi and Alex Robertson.Okay before we go on a walkabout of our own, the synopses: In Walkabout, a perfectly ordinary pair of upper-class English siblings get lost in the Australian outback after their father takes them for a picnic then tries to murder them. They look to be perfect candidates for either heat stroke and/or vulture food until they are rescued by a young Aboriginal teen out on his Walkabout. The Road Warrior/Mad Max 2 raises the stakes of the original Mad Max and picks up the story with ex cop Max Rockatansky travelling the barren, hellish, post-apocalyptic highways and stumbling upon an evil road gang led by a brute named Lord Humungus. Humungus is hellbent on invading a compound belonging to a group of civilized and intelligent settlers who have built an oasis around the last of the oil wells and have running lights and supplies. Losing numbers and their morale under the constant attacks of Humungus, the settlers hatch a plan to escape the vermin on wheels and flee to the coast with their oil in tow. With the help of Max and a pilot called the Gyro Captain, the settlers are given a slim chance to survive. In The Road a Man risks all to protect his Boy and teach him survival skills in another bleak and nightmarish future where all plant and animal life is gone and the dominant humans subsist through murder and cannibalism. Which film is king of the outback/queen of the end times?Find out!
This week on Fabulous Film and Friends I'm both chasing butterflies and swatting at hornets whilst forcing my friends to watch and analyze the films of director S. Craig Zahler a filmmaker who couldn't have a more awkward professional name than if he had gone with "E. Marvin Bummington." But are his films worth discussing? We're talking 2015's Bone Tomahawk starring the mighty Kurt Russell, Patrick Wilson, Richard Jenkins, Matthew Fox, David Arquette, Lili Simmons, Fred Melamed, Kathryn Morris, Geno Segers and in a pair of blink and you'll miss ‘em cameos: Sean Young and Michael Paré then 2017's Brawl in Cell Block 99 starring Vince Vaughn, Jennifer Carpenter, Udo Kier, Marc Blucas, Geno Segers, Dion Mucciato and Don Johnson and finally Dragged Across Concrete which came out somewhere in 2019 and stars Mel Gibson, Tory Kettles, Michael Jai White, Thomas Kretschmann and “the S. Craig Zahler traveling players” who include Vince Vaughn, Jennifer Carpenter, Fred Melamed, Udo Kier and Don Johnson. My guests today are my go-to series regulars who are the only pair I know who have the slightest interest in joining me in this flight of fancy, Roseanne Caputi and Alex Robertson.Okay before we wander outside of town onto the deadly trail: the synopses: In Bone Tomahawk, a murderous outlaw unwittingly leads a band of cannibalistic savages into a peaceful western town where the brutes kidnap the jailed outlaw, a deputy and the town's doctor who is also the wife of Arthur, a local rancher. Despite an injured leg, Arthur joins a rescue party with Sheriff Hunt, Hunt's old deputy Chicory, and a mysterious dandy cum gunslinger named Brooder. With Arthur's injury slowing them down, the four brave men follow the savage's path to hellish territory where they come face-to-face with unimaginable horrors that test both the team's courage and sanity. Brawl in Cell Block 99 tells the tale of Bradley Thomas who, in one day , is fired from his job and learns his wife is having an affair. He decides the only way to salvage his marriage is to go full time into drug smuggling to make the real money. A year later all is well: Bradley has a big house and his wife is pregnant but he goes in on a shady deal with some sleazy cartel types and it all goes south, forcing Bradley to choose between killing cops and killing cartel members. He chooses the latter but still ends up with in a five year prison sentence in a minimum security prison. Seems it is what it is until a messenger from the cartel comes to visit Bradley on his second day in the cooler and tells him that if he doesn't get transferred to the maximum-security prison in order to kill a high value target in Cell Block 99 that his wife and unborn child will be murdered. Bradley dutifully and mercilessly follows their orders to save his family until he realizes all may not be what it seems. In Dragged Across Concrete, unorthodox and vaguely shady take-no-prisoners cops, Brett Ridgeman and Anthony Lurasetti, are suspended for use of excessive force and use their unpaid leave to plan a heist. Unfortunately, their plot leads to witnessing a deadly bank robbery committed by a vicious and amoral trio of crooks led by Lorentz Vogelmann, who hired street thugs Henry Johns and Biscuit to be part of their team. With a dire hostage situation on their hands and after witnessing several murders, Henry and Biscuit begin to suspect that their hours are numbered as part of Vogelmann's crew. At the same time, Ridgeman and Lurassetti are the only ones who have tailed the gang to their getaway hideout and are the only pair who can make a difference. The two forces meet up in the proverbial abandoned warehouse and chaos ensues. How do the films stack up?
Happy New Year everyone, and as we begin another year of Fabulous Film and Friends we're doing something no one else is doing at this time and looking back at the films of 2023, our 3rd such recap since this show's inception. My guests are series regulars Roseanne Caputi and Alex Robertson, the only people I know who have the patience to sit through 2023's bum crop of films. Mine favorite films of the year were:Asteroid CityGodzilla Minus 1MaestroShowing UpThe FlashFound out why and what my least favorite film was and much much more!
On this final week of 2023 we're going run and run and run with Tom Cruise as Ethan Hunt in 2023's Mission Impossible: Dead Reckoning – Part 1, one might even say Dead Reckoning Part Run directed by Christopher McQuarrie and starring Mr. Cruise, Ving Rhames, Hayley Atwell, Simon Pegg, Rebecca Ferguson, Vanessa Kirby, Pom Klementieff, Cary Elwes, Esai Morales Shea Whigham, Greg Tarzan, and Henry Czerny. My two guests are my right hand men on The Blockbuster Crew: Utah's own David Johnson, DMD and Burton Brown, State of Utah IT. Before the mad dash to our opinion of this movie, the synopsis: Ethan Hunt and his team of Mission Impossiblers have to go rogue yet again to stop the world from yada yada yada. Same old crap megalomaniac with a weapon this time it's AI. Or something. Esai Morales is involved. I fell asleep twice so I didn't quite catch the relationship between the AI and Morales' Gabriel character. This movie seemed like more of the same old same old. But as a Tom Cruise running movie, it's a masterpiece, reaching an operatic Death in Venice level of running sophistication. But me go further: This is the biggest offender in “The Each Sequel Feels Like the Exact Same Thing Every Time --Except More of It” category. In fact the whole series is the worst, far worse than James Bond. Followed by: Bourne IdentityX-MenRecent Planet of the Apes movies andHarry Potter Am I right? On your mark! Get Set!Run!
This week on Fabulous Film & Friends we're going to analyze a trio of “cult classics” from the actor/director pairing of Kurt Russell and John Carpenter. Starting with 1981's Escape From New York starring Mr. Russell, Donald Pleasance, Lee Van Cleef, Ernest Borgnine, Harry Dean Stanton, Adrienne Barbeau, Isaac Hayes and Season Hubley, on to 1982's The Thing starring Russell, Donald Moffat, Keith David, Richard Dysart, David Clennon, T.K, Carter, Richard Masur, Charles Hallahan and Wilford Brimley, And finally 1986's Big Trouble in Little China starring Russell, Dennis Dun, Kim Cattrall, James Hong, Donald Li, Kate Burton, Suzee Pai and Victor Wong, My two guests are the only pair who would be up for such a comprehensive cinematic showdown : Lit major and lil' Sis Roseanne Caputi and Actor Funnyman Photobug, Alex Robertson. Before we run the gauntlet, the synopses: In Escape From New Yorkex soldier and current convict Snake Plisskin is forced under the threat of death by government agent Hauk to rescue the President of the United States after a group of insurgents cause Air Force One to crash in New York city which by 1997 has become a walled off maximum security prison. The Thing catalogues the paranoia, fear and sheer horror that ensues when a shape-shifting alien invades an American Antarctic Research Facility. Big Trouble in Little China follows the mystic, martial-arts laden misadventures of blowhard truck driver Jack Burton, who, on a routine stop in San Francisco's Chinatown wins a bet over his buddy Wang Chi. In order to collect his money, Jack follows Wang to the airport to meet Wang's beautiful green-eyed betrothed bride Miao Yin who is summarily kidnapped by the evil ancient supernatural gang Lord David Lo Pan. Lo Pan, for his part, inhabits a broken down and decrepit old body and can only move as a spirit in his young and powerful form. In order to attain full strength and fleshly form, Lo Pan needs Wang's green-eyed bride to break his century old curse. With the help of lawyer Gracie Law and a troupe of warriors led by magical Egg Shen, Jack and Wang charge into David Lo Pan's compound to stage a daring rescue. Which film rates the highest?Find out!
This week on Fabulous Film & Friends we're going to groove to a tryptic of cool Elmore Leonard adaptations. Why? Because we're that cool. We be talkin' 1995's Get Shorty directed by Barry Sonnenfeld and starring John Travolta, Rene Russo, Gene Hackman, Danny DeVito, Dennis Farina, Delroy Lindo, James Gandlafini, David Paymer and Bette Midler up against 1997's Jackie Brown , directed by Quentin Tarantino and starring Pam Grier, Samuel L. Jackson, Robert Forster, Robert DeNiro, Bridget Fonda, Michael Bowen and Michael Keaton, capped off with 1998's Out of Sight directed by Steven Soderbergh, starring George Clooney, Jennifer Lopez, Ving Rhames, Don Cheadle, Steve Zahn, Dennis Farina again, Albert Brooks and Michael Keaton again. My guests this week are two of my favorite muscle: Lit major and lil' Sis Roseanne Caputi and Actor/ Funnyman/ Photographer, Alex Robertson. Before we jump into the getaway car, the synopses.Get Shorty tells the story of Chili Palmer, mob muscle from Florida who has to collect money in Hollywood for his boss Bones Barboni and in the process becomes involved with a producer named Harry Zimm and finds himself a creative in the movie business. Jackie Brown centers around a Flight Attendant Jackie Brown who gets nabbed by the ATF for smuggling money for the murderous arms dealer Ordell Robbie. She strikes a deal with ATF agent Ray Nicollette and in doing so schemes with Bail Bondsman Max Cherry to fool the feds and take down Ordell in one felled swoop.Out of Sight is a cat and mouse love story between master bank robber Jack Foley and Federal Marshall Karen Sisco where the two meet during a jailbreak in which Jack takes Karen hostage and they develop an attraction as they ride in the trunk of a car together. Karen escapes and they go their separate ways. Though Jack is determined to pull off one more score or die trying, Karen is determined to take Jack down, and yet they can't overcome their desire to meet up again. And again. And again. Who's the coolest? Find out!
Welcome to the 3rd Season kickoff of Fabulous Film and Friends where this week we're going to pit a pair of beloved personal favorites from the 80's against each other in an epic duel of characterization, star power and cinematic moxie. We're talking about 1984's The Pope of Greenwich Village directed by Stuart Rosenberg and starring Eric Roberts, Mickey Rourke, Burt Young, Daryl Hannah, Kenneth McMillan, Tony Musante, Jack Kehoe, and Geraldine Paige up against 1988's Midnight Run directed by Martin Brest and starring Robert DeNiro, Charles Grodin, Yaphett Koto, John Ashton, Joe Pantoliano, Jack Kehoe again, and Dennis Farina. My guests this week are the usual wise guys: Author George Young, Snotty lit major and lil' Sis Roseanne Caputi and Actor Funnyman, Alex Robertson. Before we dive in with the fishes, the synopses. The Pope of Greenwich Village tells the story of Charlie Moran and Paulie Giboni two cousins from the neighborhood who get in over their heads when ne're do well Paulie convinces Charlie to rob a safe belonging to notorious mobster Bedbug Eddie Grant with a $150,000 payout to dirty cops. Midnight Run catalogues the misadventures of bounty hunter Jack Walsh who has what is seemingly an easy job or Midnight Run of getting mob accountant Johnathan The Duke Mardukis back to LA before his sleazy Bail Bondsman employer loses his shorts in a $450,000 bai bondl if the Duke fails to show at trial. The problem: The mob, the FBI and Jack's rival Marvin are hot on Mardukis tail and want him either dead or for their own purposes. Which personal favorite is the winner?Find out!
This week on Fabulous Film & Friends we are going to delve into the obsessions of the auteur with this past Summer's Oppenheimer directed by Christopher Nolan and starring Cillian Murphy, Robert Downey Jr., Matt Damon, Emily Blunt, Florence Pugh, Alden Eherenreich, Casey Affleck, Tony Goldwin, and a whole host of blink and you'll miss them celebrity walk-ons, the most since The Muppet Movie, as compared to Wes Anderson's Asteroid City, with his embarrassment of riches cast, Scarlett Johansson, Jason Schwartzman, Tom Hanks, Adrian Brody, Edward Norton, Jeffrey Wright, Matt Dillon, Bryan Cranston, Tilda Swinton, Maya Hawke, Rupert Friend, Willem Dafoe, Steve Carrell, Hong Chau Liev Schreiber, Hope Davis, Steve Park, and Margot Robbie. We are also joined by series regulars George Young, David Johnson, DMD, and Roseanne Caputi, who will begin the talk by each defining the word “Twee.” Before we march into the mêlée of the maestros, the synopsis: Oppenheimer tells the story of legendary nuclear physicist Robert Oppenheimer as he stares into the void a lot, develops the atom bomb and then slights a future contender for the U.S. Senate, who drudges up Oppenheimer's Communist past in an epic IMAX movie of a series of meetings in sweaty conference rooms and senate chambers. Asteroid City is a movie about a play within a 1950's TV show depicting the behind the scenes machinations of a Broadway theatrical production about a confluence of Stargazers and their families in a small Arizona town. Who is the superior present day King of Cinema?Find out!Warning: Salty language!
This week on Fabulous Film & Friends we are going to discuss the 2023 film Nefarious, directed by Chuck Konzelman and Cary Solomon and starring Sean Patrick Flanery, Jordan Belfi, Glenn Beck, Tom Ohmer, Daniel Martin Berkey and Reverend Father Darrin Merlino, who was also the Spiritual Advisor on the film and who just happens to be our special guest this week. We are also joined by series regular Gordon Alex Robertson, who is no stranger to the Good Book and Lovin' the Lord! Having starred in not one, not two, but three productions of Godspell at Clackamas County Community College in Oregon City, Oregon over a span of thirty years. Before we plumb the depths! The synopsis: Nefarius tells the tale of the demon Nefariamus, but you can call him Nefarious, who has inhabited the body of a simple-minded criminal named John Wayne Gacy, make that Edward Wayne Brady and after committing a series of horrific murders while possessed by the demon, is sentenced to death. On the day of the execution in an Oklahoma Penitentiary, state appointed psychiatrist Dr. James Martin, himself a replacement for recently deceased psychiatrist Dr. Alan Fischer, who threw himself out a window at the behest of Nefarious, is tasked with determining if Edward is certifiably insane. What ensues is a clash between a self-confident atheist man of science as he goes up against one of Satan's psychologically cruel and conniving underlings in an epic duel of wits. Does it get the job done? Find out!
This week on Fabulous Film and Friends, we're concluding our look into the paranoid, dystopian lens of 70's sci-fi by discussing three of the four versions of Invasion of the Body Snatchers. We're talking the 1956 version directed by Don Siegel and starring Kevin McCarthy, Dana Wynter, King Donovan, Carolyn Jones, Larry Gates and Sam Peckinpah in a cameo, comparing it to the 1978 version starring Donald Sutherland, Brooke Adams, Jeff Goldblum, Veronica Cartwright, and Leonard Nimoy along with both Don Siegel and Kevin McCarthy in cameos, as well as the 1993 version called Body Snatchers directed by Abel Ferrara and starring Gabrielle Anwar, Terry Kinney, Meg Tilley, Christine Elise, Billy Wirth, R. Lee Ermey and Forest Whitaker. My guests this week are series regulars Roseanne Caputi, David Johnson and George Young, and of course, the inimitable Gordon Alex Robertson. Before we harvest the crop of pod people, the synopses: All three films center around the idea that an alien species has invaded our planet and has replaced members of our community with look-alikes sprung from plant-like pods. The key difference in the pod people is that their personalities are devoid of emotion. Which Body Snatchers film wins the war? Find out!
This week on Fabulous Film and Friends, we're going to review and discuss 2023's Sound of Freedom, directed by Alejandro Gomez Monteverde, and starring Jim Caviezel, Bill Camp, Mira Sorvino, Eduardo Verástegui, Yessica Barrote Perryman, Kurt Fuller and Jose Zúñiga.My guest today are regulars, Alex Robertson, David Johnson, DMD. And in her first Triple F appearance, fearless women's and children's rights activist, movie lover and all around terrific person, Eva Muntean. Eva has a connection to the film as she worked with Eduardo Verastegui on a book about his film Bella in 2006.Before we venture into the jungle of this heavy-duty film, the synopsis:Sound of Freedom tells the story of real-life Homeland Security agent Tim Ballard,who quit his job with the U.S. Child Crimes Task Force down in Colombia to rescue hundreds of trafficked children and then founded the nonprofit Operation Underground Railroad, which offers international operations to rescue children, law enforcement support and aftercare for trafficking survivors. Meanwhile, unbeknownst to all of us, David Johnson has been quietly doing volunteer work for O.U.R. and helping trafficking victims with their aftercare. What do we all think of the movie? Find out!
This week on Fabulous Film and Friends, we're leaping onto the Indiana Jones bandwagon with a quick review of 2023's non-Spielberg directed Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny, helmed by James Mangold and starring Harrison Ford, Phoebe Waller-Bridge, Mads Mikkelson, Antonio Banderas, Toby Jones, Thomas Kretschmann, Boyd Holbrook and John Rhys Davies. My guests today are two avowed Indy fans, David Johnson and George Young. The synopsis: Indiana Jones, now a lonely old divorcee living in a squalid apartment and retiring from teaching at New York's Hunter College is called into action by his goddaughter Helena to help her find Archimedes' time hopping Dial of Destiny before a group of Nazis find it.
This week on Fabulous Film and Friends it's Spider-verse vs. Snyder-verse as we're boldly entering the portal of current comic book summer movie multiverses and discussing the latest animated Marvel feature Spider-Man, Across the Spider-verse featuring the voices of Shamiek Moore, Hailey Steinfeld, Oscar Isaac, Karan Soni, Daniel Kaluuya and Jason Schwartzman and we're seeing how it stacks up against DC's live action (but barely) The Flash starring Ezra Miller, Michael Keaton, Sasha Calle, Kiersey Clemons, Michael Shannon, Ron Livingston, Maribel Verdú and a whole galaxy of blink and you miss them, CGI created celebrity cameos. My guests today are, David Johnson, DMD, Burton Brown, back from a nearly year-long hiatus, and joining us for his first FFF appearance and our first guest representing the millennial generation of filmgoers, author, hypnotherapist and all-around deep-thinker, Joe Field. Before the portal closes, the synopses: Spider-Man: Across the Spider-verse continues the adventure of Miles Morales, the second Spider-Man who follows his friend Gwen Stacey also known as Spider-Woman, or Spider-Gwen and a team of multi-verse police led by the angry Miguel O'Hara aka Spider-Man 2099 and his new archnemesis, the dimensional portal creating Spot into the Multiverse where he discovers millions of Spider-People from all sorts of dimensions whose lives are affected by the cataclysmic change The Spot has brought upon the multiverse. Or something like that. In the Flash, Barry Allen aka The Flash, having discovered he can travel through time with his ability to run faster than the speed of light, plots to save his mother from being murdered by changing past history. The plot succeeds, except he ends up creating a world where the only superhero who exist besides himself is Michael Keaton's Batman, and they are woefully unprepared to fend off the invasion of Kryptonian General Zod, who was stopped by Superman in the movie Man of Steel. Which multiverse is more appealing? Find out!
This week on Fabulous Film and Friends we're maintaining course on our dark path down creepy 70's sci fi as we explore two trailblazers in the world of robotics and AI: 1973's Westworld starring Yul Brynner, Richard Benjamin, James Brolin, Dick Van Patten, Steve Franken and Star Trek's Majel Barrett up against 1975's The Stepford Wives starring Katherine Ross, Paula Prentiss, Peter Masterson, Tina Louise, Nanette Newman and a whole slew of middle aged men to prove that men can design women better than anybody. My guests today are series regulars, David Johnson, Roseanne Caputi and Alex Robertson. Before we roll, the synopses: Set in a disturbingly near future, Westworld transports rich and lonely swinging singles Peter Martin and John Blane into a theme park /resort called Westworld populated by incredibly life like robots, including a black clad Gunslinger, who inhabit an 1880's Western town and are there to be shot, fought and screwed to the whims and pleasure of the resort's guests. But when the robots start to malfunction and go on a rampage against all humans, guess who feels really stupid? The Stepford Wives tells of the Eberharts, Walter and Johanna and their two daughters who escape the rat race of Manhattan and move to idyllic suburban town of Stepford, Connecticut. It's a perfect suburban dream for Walter but it turns out to be a nightmare for Joanna when she finds out that all the women are subservient, hard cleaning, perfectly domesticated sex objects for their husbands. The reason? (Spoiler Alert!) THEY'VE BEEN TURNED INTO ROBOTS! Which robot movie wins?Find out!
With the sugary Fruit Loops of Summer movie fare already upon us, this week on Fabulous Film & Friends we are going to fortify our intellectual palate with some meaty, heavy-duty late 60's early/70's sci fi and compare Franklin Schaffner's 1968 masterpiece Planet of The Apes, starring Charlton Heston, Roddy McDowell, Kim Hunter, Maurice Evans, Linda Harrison and James Whitmore with Richard Fleischer's 1973 downbeat detective story Soylent Green also starring Mr. Heston, along with Edward G. Robinson, Leigh Taylor-Young, Brock Peters, Chuck Connors and Dick Van Patten in a role he was born to play as a weaselly usher in a walk in euthanasia center. Joining me as we venture down this dark path of 70's dystopia are series regulars David Johnson D.M.D, Roseanne Caputi, author, producer and NY resident George Young and the mighty Gordon Alex Robertson. But before we take the first bite: the synopses. Planet of the Apes centers around George Taylor, an astronaut on a deep space voyage whose mission entails returning to Earth 2000 years after the launch of the spacecraft. The vessel crash lands on what seems to be a far off planet inhabited by by dumb and mute humans who are ruled by intelligent but brutal talking apes. Taylor is captured by the apes and shot in the throat making him unable to talk, but when his larynx heals, he lets out the immortal line, “Get your paws off of me you damned dirty ape!” What follows is a tug of war over the perceived intelligence and fading dominance of mankind, leading Taylor to discover the shocking truth of his predicament on the planet. Soylent Green takes place in what was once the future, the year 2022 where in a poisoned world with very little food and clean water, much of the overpopulated humanity living in squalid apartments and packed shoulder to shoulder, sleeping on stairwells, feeds on a government issued allegedly plankton-based food product called Soylent Green. Scuffling and sweaty Detective Robert Thorn is assigned a murder case where a wealthy power master named William Simonson was assassinated. Thorn follows a trail of murderous clues that lead him to the discovery of the exact nature Soylent Green itself.
This week on Fabulous Film and Friends I'm taking the time on our special 60th episode to come clean and admit I was wrong. Joining me as witnesses to my admission of guilt are series regulars David Johnson D.M.D. and erstwhile screenwriting collaborator, camera assistant, film editor lifelong gamer and creator of an unfinished and unknown role playing game entitled Swords and Adventure! Kendrick D. Wright. Okay, here's some context for this week's mea culpa. Nearly a year ago on the Fabulous Film & Friends Facebook Group I posted the trailer to Dungeons and Dragons: Honor Among Thieves and I wrote: "Dungeon Masters! Behold! A wrongheaded Giant Turkey bomb with plus 4 box office poison approaching the battlements. " To which Kendrick replied, "I've been saying for 20 years that somebody needs to take a serious movie approach to D&D, and it could be a real satisfying blockbuster. With endless sequel opportunities. I don't think this movie is it. But I won't assume that it will obviously suck. I think there's a "chance" they can put a decent story together, but it's a long shot for sure... What they need is to slow it down like a Western, have one third the action, one third the spectacle, real character development with real motivations, and take the material mostly seriously the way Star Wars did. Midway between this jokey approach and Game Of Thrones. Would be epic..." And then I replied, "All anyone had to do for the right tone is watch Fire and Ice. For some reason the producers handling D&D keep thinking it's a comedy." So first off, Not only was my prediction about the box office incorrect, I was dead wrong about the quality and tone of the film. 2023's Dungeons and Dragons: Honor Among Thieves starring Chris Pine, Michelle Rodriguez, Regé-Jean Page, Justice Smith, Sophia Lillis and Hugh Grant looked to me to be a jokey, CGI laden misfire with a cast of under-achieving diversity hires adding an ironic, postmodern sensibility to a genre that should be literal, serious and heavy on swearing and spittle. Well, the film is all that I thought it would be with one notable exception: It's not a misfire. The film works. The cast is funny and engaging and everything that looked lazy and tiresome in the trailer seemed charming and witty when played out in real time. Meanwhile, just for a comparison, we watched Fire and Ice, I think it was for the first time for Ken and Dave, and probably the 7th or 8th time for yours truly. And while Ralph Bakshi's and Frank Frazetta's 1983 animated Fire and Ice still holds up for me as a visual spectacle, this time around I did find myself questioning my love of a film with an overly simplistic and underwritten screenplay. But before we dig in: the synopses. Fire and Ice tells the story of Larn, a warrior of the lava people of Firekeep who teams up with a lone wolf warrior named Darkwolf to rescue Firekeep's gorgeous and always nearly naked Princess Teegra who has been kidnapped by the evil Ice Lord Nekron and his sinister mother Juliana. Dungeons and Dragons: Honor Among Thieves is actually the 4th D&D movie to be produced --there's a trilogy consisting of one theatrical release and two straight to video releases from the early 2000's that no one ever saw. But this film follows a pair of disgraced Warriors turned thieves Edgin and Holga who along with a ne'er do well wizard and an outcast shapesfhifter go on a quest to find magical items in order to save Edgin's daughter from Forge, a con man and former teammate who betrayed Edgin and Holga at the behest of the evil sorceress Sofina.
Just in time for Mother's Day, this week on Fabulous Film and Friends we're putting the brakes on the testosterone-fueled man vs. man combat of our last few episodes by diving headfirst into an intense congress of girl power and warmhearted thoughts and feelings as we pit the 1949, 1994 and 2019 versions of Little Women against each other in an uncompromising evaluation of cinematic depth and storytelling prowess.My guests this week are two world renowned guy- guys but respected girl movie lovers in their own right: Dr. David Johnson, DMD and Gordon Alex Robertson and the woman whose furrowed brow, stomping feet, and desk pounding motivated this episode, my sister the English literature major Roseanne Caputi.The synopsis: Set in the mid-19th century during and after The American Civil War, "Little Women" tells the story of the March sisters: Meg, the eldest and most grounded, Jo, a fiery headstrong writer, Beth, quiet and shy and an accomplished pianist, and Amy, an artist dead set on marrying for money. The films based on the novel by Louisa May Alcott follow the sisters as they grow up and face war, illness, death, love, marriage, financial crises and personal triumphs. The 1949 version was directed by Mervyn LeRoy and starred June Allyson as Jo, Elizabeth Taylor as Amy, Janet Leigh as Meg, Margaret O'Brien as BethMary Astor as Marmee,Lucile Watson as Aunt MarchPeter Lawford as LaurieSir Charles Aubrey Smith as Mr. LawrenceRossano Brazzi as Professor Bhaer Little Women (1994) was directed by Gillian Armstrong and starred: Winona Ryder as Jo, Trini Alvarado as MegClaire Danes as Beth, Kirsten Dunst and Samantha Mathis in a dual role as AmySusan Sarandon as MarmeeJohn Neville as Mr. LawrenceChristian Bale as Laurie Gabriel Byrne as Professor Bhaer Little Women (2019) was Directed by Greta Gerwig and starred Saoirse (Surshee) Ronan as JoEmma Watson as BethFlorence Pugh as AmyEliza Scanlen as BethLaura Dern as Marmee Bob Odenkirk as Reverend MarchMeryl Streep as Aunt MarchChris Cooper as Mr. LawrenceTimothee Chalamet as Laurie Louis Garrel as Professor Bhaer
This week on Fabulous Film and Friends we're concluding our discussion of the Rocky/Creed franchise with a full discussion of not one, not two but three Rocky Sequels and spinoffs: 1982‘s Rocky III directed by and starring Sylvester Stallone, along with Talia Shire, Burt Young, Carl Weathers, and in a star-making role, Mr. T. as well as 1990's Rocky V, directed by John G. Advilson starring all the surviving Rocky regulars including Burgess Meredith with Boxer Tommy Morrison, Richard Gant, and Stallone's son Sage in supporting roles double-teaming against 2023's Creed III, directed by Michael B. Jordan and starring Mr. Jordan, Tessa Thompson, Jonathan Majors, Phylicia Rashad, Florian Munteanu, and Wood Harris. I'm joined by a duo of macho, cigars and beefsteak loving bare-knuckle brawlers, Author George Young, and Actor Gordon Alex Robertson. Before we begin round the final round, the synopses: Rocky III picks up Rocky's story after he wins the rematch against Apollo Creed and becomes world heavyweight champion of the world. At which point the film launches into a pulse-pounding montage of Rocky's rise to fame and fortune as he grows ever so flabby and soft while unbeknownst to him in the periphery is a young and ferocious boxer named Clubber Lang who is itching to destroy Rocky in a title bout. And destroy him he does, taking down Rocky's long time manager Mickey with him who dies of a heart attack right after Rocky is defeated. Broken and beaten, Rocky find an unlikely ally in his old nemesis Apollo Creed who hatches a plan to train Rocky to fight Clubber in a rematch, this time with Rocky learning Apollo's lighting quick fighting style. Rocky V takes place immediately after Rocky IV ends and within ten minutes of screen time Rocky has lost his money and has brain damage and is forced to both retire and move back into the South Philly neighborhood where it all started. He is hounded by a greedy promoter named George Washington Duke who wants him to risk everything for one more fight. Additionally, a huckleberry fighter from Oklahoma named Tommy “The Machine” Gunn seeks Rocky out as a mentor and trainer and after some hemming and hawing Rocky obliges and teaches Tommy the ins and outs of championship boxing. But since Rocky won't budge Duke recruits Tommy and pits master against student. Creed III begins with Adonis Creed, now retired from boxing and caring for his wife and family while also training and promoting future Heavyweight champions at the Delphi Gym --the same gym where his father trained. One day Diamond Damien Anderson, a childhood friend from the Foster Care system who went o jail because he was defending Adonis in a fight in front of a liquor store, returns from jail asking Adonis to help him get back into boxing. Going against his better judgment but racked with guilt because of Damien's incarceration, Adonis agrees to take on Damien. Damien nearly murders Adonis' chief protégé in the ring and takes the title of Heavyweight Champ and in doing so begins to exact revenge and forcing Adonis' hand toward an inevitable confrontation in the ring.
This week on Fabulous Film and Friends we're continuing our discussion of the Rocky/Creed franchise with an in-depth comparison of the two Russian-themed sequels in the series: 1985's Rocky IV directed by and starring Sylvester Stallone, along with Talia Shire, Burt Young, Carl Weathers, Tony Burton, Brigitte Neilsen and Dolph Lundgren with 2018's Creed II, directed by Steven Caple Jr. and starring Michael B. Jordan, Sylvester Stallone, Tessa Thompson, Phylicia Rashad, Florian Munteanu, Brigitte Nielsen and Dolph Lundgren. I'm joined by a man who can well-relate to long winters, bloody knuckles and empty vodka bottles, the master of plastered, the duke of downstage, the one and only Gordon Alex Robertson The synopses: Rocky IV follows up the slick, high energy, music video style of 1982's Rocky III with an even slicker, yacht-rock and montage laden tale of triumph, pitting Rocky Balboa against superhuman Russian powerhouse Ivan Drago after Drago kills Rocky's nemesis turned friend and mentor Apollo Creed in an exhibition match in Las Vegas. Rocky travels to Russia where he trains super hard with logs and horse-drawn carriages and boulders to beat Drago in an epic, blood-curdling battle to the death. Who wins? All one had to do was look at the Rocky IV poster to find the answer to that one.More than 30 years later, Creed II continues the story in Ukraine where Ivan Drago trains and grooms his equivalently vicious and menacing boxer son Victor so they can pull themselves out of obscurity, humiliation and poverty to challenge Rocky Balboa's heavyweight champion protégé Adonis Creed to a title bout. Rocky, sensing danger, refuses to train Adonis and so an angry Adonis takes on Victor with Little Duke Evers in his corner as trainer and is given a brutal beating by Young Drago. Adonis is only saved the humiliating loss of his title by a disqualifying cheap shot given by Victor while Adonis was down on the canvas. Adonis recovers but is reticent to fight Victor again until Rocky comes back in his life and agrees to train him in a spare and hardcore fashion so Adonis will not only to be capable of enduring a savage beating but to be able to deliver one as well. Who wins?Find out!
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