Smearframes

You wanna get nuts in 2020? Then come on, let's get nuts with a very special episode of Smearframes! Discussing the many, many high and low points of the Tim Burton and Joel Schumacher Batman films is such a gargantuan task that Ryan and Caitlin are bringing in their very first guest, Sarah! The three of them all have different connections to this series, but they are able to find some common ground in the out-of-time architecture of Gotham City, the villainous delights of Catwoman and the Penguin, Jim Carrey's somewhat horrifying rubber face and their love of quoting Uma Thurman in lettuce eyebrows. 

This third dive into the world of American Girl Doll has left Ryan and Caitlin feeling more than a bit cold. While they can certainly appreciate the movie's giddy embrace of 1940s pop culture and weaving in all the old familiar wartime themes (here represented by a traumatized British girl and Molly Ringwald in her best Rosie the Riveter cosplay), it lacks the depth of character and social insight that were such unexpected highlights of the first two. But don't worry too much: if you can't on anything in this series, it's Caitlin pointing out the sapphic subtext. 

This week on Smearframes, Ryan and Caitlin both found a number of things to like in the slightly mis-titled Samantha: An American Girl Holiday (seriously, it's not even Christmas until the last ten minutes). Ryan was once again pleasantly surprised by the film's willingness to delve into period-specific topics such as class differences and child labor, while creating well-designed sets to match. Caitlin basically just squees about how in love Samantha and Nelly are, which no less valid of an opinion. 

Apologies for the extra-long title, but we're finally back and with a special surprise! Like young tomboys finding their place in Colonial society, Ryan and Caitlin are making good on their promise and navigating the first of four selected American Girl historical films. In Felicity, they praise the film's adept handling of contemporary issues for younger views, its impressive costuming for a TV movie budget and of course the talents of a young Shailene Woodley. They also take a minute to say, "hey isn't anyone going to mention the slaves we're keeping?". 

This week the Smearframers strike up a more serious and contemplative tone that their movie itself doesn't always succeed in doing, in order to discuss the merits of Disney remakes, what constitutes a good children's story, the validity of unexpected creative choices and how much good cinematography can save a movie while a bad soundtrack hinders it. Or at least they try to until someone brings up Karl Urban 

The Smearframers are on summer break right now, but they still have time to send you listeners a postcard from Passamaquoddy, Maine to let you know what they thought of the original Pete's Dragon. It includes praise for the fun songs and wacky villains, complaints about there not being enough of the actual dragon and the continued proposition of adapting the podcast's movies as stage musicals. 

Not to steal from another beloved sci-show, but the Smearframers are boldly going where they've never gone before by reviewing three seasons in one episode! As they recap the many storylines of the first half of Star Wars the Clone Wars, Caitlin admits how much better it was than she thought it would be and reveals who the hottest Jedi is. Ryan is there to answer questions about droid and clone sentience and talk about how he hates zombie bugs. 

In this even more emotional followup to the last episode, the Smearframers spend half of this episode talking about how even better this movie is and the other half about any tangentially related thing. Brigid shows off more of her extensive knowledge of the franchise. Caitlin admits she hasn't watched Trollhunters yet. Ryan does a Sean Connery impression and still can't fix his audio.

It's off to Berk this week as the Smearframers start their Dragon series with How to Train Your Dragon. But since Ryan has a cold that messes up his audio (and only thinks it's "really good", that heathen), he turns the heavy lifting over to Caitlin and Brigid, who have a lot of feelings about everything. Come fly along as they gush about this engaging, visually spectacular movie about the beautiful and complex friendship between a boy and a dragon. Specifically a Viking and a Night Fury. 

Join a lifelong Selena Gomez fan, a recently converted Demi Lovato stan and someone who doesn’t fall into either camp as they take on the DCOM that brought them together, Princess Protection Program. Ryan thinks it's like classic romantic comedies. Caitlin is ready to cut anyone who lays a finger on her daughter Rosie. Brigid went on Tumblr to make sure she remembered everything. And none of them can shut up about the out-of-control lesbian subtext.

It’s time to slide down the fire-pole and eat some M&Ms pizza with the Smearframers as they look back fondly on the perennial childhood favorite, The Princess Diaries. Much fawning over Anne Hathaway, Chris Pine and other crushes ensues. They also discuss Julie Andrews's sublime performance, the pros and cons of the sequel, the trope of the invisible girl, the wonderfully dated soundtrack and who the ultimate OTP of the franchise is. 

October may be over, but things are still plenty spooky for Ryan and Caitlin, as they are not only Brigid-less for the first time but are forced to confront the wildly fluctuating quality of this cherished DCOM franchise. Hop along in Benny’s cab to track the Cromwell family's progress across each installment, even if some seem to get lost along the way.  

British WWI captain Ryan, pretty princess Caitlin and her Victorian schoolgirl best friend Brigid are back to talk about 1995's A Little Princess, also known as the first time that Alfonso Cuaron was able to make a surrealist arthouse film family-friendly. Their main talking points this week include the film's beautiful color palette, the slightly iffy racial politics, the Savage Miss Sarah Crew and just how many times they cried.

The Smearframers start the show off on a high note with the first entry of their four-part Princess series. A beloved masterpiece made by a director who specializes in masterpieces, the intrepid co-hosts (meaning mostly Caitlin) go in depth on its environmental messages, its heavy Kurosawa influences and the incredible cast of characters that includes the underrated Ghibli MVP who doesn’t deserve any of this, Ashitaka...’s amazing steed, Yakul.