The Cusack Cult Cast

We'll we're here, 2022's Pursuit. As of the publishing of this episode, this is the last film in John Cusack's filmography. We originally started this podcast "About John Cusack" but in reality John was just a jumping off point for two best friends to meet up every week to talk about art and just hang out. At times the process was a slog, but never for a minute did it stop being fun. This podcast is by no means a "success" in the traditional sense. We're still nobodies toiling away at our art, but I think this podcast is a reminder of the only skill either of us have and that's our weird sense of seeing something through to the end, even if there are no immediate rewards visible. We're in it for love. We always have been, always will. Spellabee Forever. Keep your heart in it.

We are joined this week by one of our oldest movie buddies and spiritual 3rd mic, James. We have a great conversation about a surprisingly competent late stage John movie, Never Grow Old. A "revisionist western" (whatever that means) from 2019 starring Emile Hirsch and John Cusack. While it's thematically muddy, there is some real-deal filmmaking here and we're happy we got to share the experience with our friend. 

Wow oh wow. Episode 80. Pretty swank. This episode we talk the true value of humans in a world soon to be filled with AI, fan art, and memes. We also talk about River Runs Red.

Oh boy, 2018's Distorted. It's a movie alright. Yep, there's a beginning, a middle, and an end. It's got a runtime of an hour and 26 minutes, you better believe it. People are acting in it, that's right. John is in it, Christina Ricci is in it. There's some other people, and guess what, they're talking. And it's all on screen. Three more.

We mainly talk about Cruelty Squad this episode. If for some sick reason you want to hear about the film skip to the 42ish minute mark.

We're at the point in the pod where we are excited about a movie being bad in a "different" way then usual. Blood Money feels like a modern horror film in setup but plays out like every other VOD we've watched. However it features a perfectly executed performance from John on this one and a 90 min runtime which is all we can ask for at this point. We also get into music and the creative process at the beginning. 

We got another John Cusack and Nicholas Cage joint. It's about as good as you'd expect which is not at all. Spend some time with actors whose face you know from somewhere but you don't know their name as they play baseball and hang out at the arcade. And Cage has an insane fake nose. Some other stuff happens but you know the deal, I forget what happens in these things the second we're done recording.

Cell is a zombie movie...with a message. Scared yet? Thought so. It also features John in a leading role with Samuel L. Jackson in yet another Stephen King adaptation. Is it as good as the last time this team paired up? No. But did we play a game before talking about it to lessen the blow? Yes.

One of the more unique movies we've seen during the course of the experiment. Is Chi-Raq a good movie? Not particularly. Is it a singular mess of an experience? Yes absolutely. 

Same movie, different year, but with less John. I think we have like 9 more to go?

Dragon Blade is a fascinating piece of Eastern art featuring several famous actors from the West. The film is overall fun with a good nature to it. Jackie Chan brings a lot of heart to the film and John adds a welcomed charm.

You'll never guess what we watched this week. A Video On Demand film where John plays a snarky bad guy and the main character is trying to save his daughter. But this time it's with a twist, it takes place in beautiful Puerto Rico and the daughter is adopted. Other than that we're just counting down the weeks.

Love and Mercy? Heroes and Villians? Ruroni Kenshin or Trigun? You be the judge. 2014's biopic about Brian Wilson is slightly convoluted but overall harmless film with some interesting behind the scene glimpse into the creative process of one of the greatest pop song writers of all time.

A movie so forgettable that we forgot the title of the movie as we were watching it. 2014's The Prince is an embarrassing power fantasy and not much more.  And truthfully, I'm trying to remember what it was about a week later while writing this and I honest to god cannot remember. 13 more to go.  EDIT: There's some sound issues from 27min-30min, sorry about that.

A bizarre viewing experience this week, 2014's Drive Hard is somehow charming in it's ability to subvert expectations, but also still at the whim of them which ultimately leads to it's downfall. But the film features two great performances from both John Cusack and Thomas Jane in an unexpected buddy action film.

If this podcast was a map to getting good movies to watch it'd be the worst map of all time. However, this week we we're blessed with a special film, 2014's Maps To The Stars. Possibly the best film we've watched in the later half of John's career.

I'm going to own up here and I say that I goofed. I spaced on uploading the podcast and by doing that I pretty much forgot everything about this movie. John plays a trained hitman or something? There's some bad people doing bad things? I don't know, man.

Four grown men watching an IFC indie film from 2013 (which by the way is John's busiest year ever it seems) for high schoolers debating it's merits. It doesn't matter look at, it's what you see. 

A truly pleasant and refreshing VOD Thriller. I don't think either of us would have ever thought we'd say that. Grand Piano is a hidden gem of a film and a joy to watch. We gotta savor these moments while we can.  

Get ready for about 55 minutes of Newport News, Virginia talk and about 5 minutes of talking about 2013's The Butler. Another Lee Daniels' film that stars an all star cast, a very confusing timeline and a fake nose on John. 

We went into The Numbers Station dreading it, we left feeling nothing, which at this point is a win for us. An inoffensive VOD action flick which stars John punching the clock, doing his job and getting out. But it did bring about several interesting conversations and theoretical ideal "John Cusack roles".

When history looks back at this podcast, this will the episode that marked our downfall. 2013's The Frozen Ground is an all around bummer of a movie and it resulted in an all around bummer of an episode. This movie is bad for the world. Don't watch it, go outside.

Finally we get to talk real deal art house cinema!! Also will someone please go see the new Batman film with Dylan, I can't do it I'm...busy. Big ups to any international listener we've ever had.

2012's The Factory is a terrible movie. The boys found themselves questioning humanity at large after watching it. 

Who's the paperboy you ask? Honestly, we don't know. Much like the rest of this movie we spent two hours watching Lee Daniel's The Paperboy scratching our heads trying to find some coherence, but instead we found a seeming parody of a 70's crime film, awkward family drama, and a terrifying performance from John Cusack. 

This week we have a doozy for you. A thriller (?), horror (?), biopic (?) about the final days of Edgar Allen Poe where he tracks down a killer that uses his stories as inspiration. It's as baffling as it sounds.  We are also happy to have Adam on this episode, check his twitter, big things are coming: https://twitter.com/strugglinguncle

What's your favorite ecology fact? Let us know at @spellabeespace on twitter.  This week we watched Shanghai, a 2010 Neo-Noir Political Thriller made for China. But mainly we talk plants, humanity, and how we're all at the whim of nature in the end.  

Happy New Year Everyone! Have you missed us in our absence? We're starting off the New Year right with an enjoyable (although very much of the time) buddy comedy, 2010's Hot Tub Time Machine. We recorded this awhile ago, but thankfully my commentary on Family Guy is just as insightful as ever.    Thanks for sticking with us, believe it or not this year is the year we WILL finish this podcast. Come along with us as we finish what we started two years ago.

It's a rare treat when we get to talk about a film that we actually like on this podcast, it's an even rarer treat when we have declared fanatics of a specific film on to talk about said film. This week we had the opportunity to speak with Greg and Brian from the Mechanical Freak podcast to dissect the ever prescient "2012". Roland Emmerich's epic tale of the end of the world and what lessons we can learn from it. Support Mechanical Freak! Podcast Patreon Ending The Myth Series Twitter

Listen to this episode if you want to hear about D n' D, having a healthy relationship with gaming, and wholesome youtubers. If you want to learn about Igor just read the wiki page.

In many ways 2008's War Inc should go down as an important film in the cannon of John. A satirical look at the early 2000's war on terror and corporate America that John co-wrote, produced, and starred in. How does the satire hold up? Depends on who ya ask, at the very least War Inc is a time capsule of post 9/11 insanity.  Luke's Short

We've gone to a dark place this week and the worst part is knowing we've done this to ourselves. 2008's Summerhood is the tip of a psychologically dense and disturbing iceberg. Do you dare look beneath the surface with us?

Sometimes a film takes you to places where you never thought you'd end up. The outer reaches of galaxies, strange lands, relationships you never thought possible. Or sometimes they push you and your best friends into a mad spiral where you don't know what is real and what is fake. Martian Child did that for us. We had Tyler and Adam come on for this one to help us unpack this beast.

We're joined by dear friend and Hollywood Elite James Trevor to talk about the surprisingly wonderful 1408. We get James' take on the Ronto Wrap, YouTubers, and other horror movies you should check out this holiday season. Follow James: https://twitter.com/jaamestrevor Twitch: https://www.twitch.tv/jamesrtrevor Buy his shirt: https://www.etsy.com/listing/1045041575/the-fastener-mcm-c-shirt  

We are now officially a Resident Evil podcast. Each week we are going to take a look at a different aspect of the Resident Evil franchise, the lore, the remakes, and things might even get a little controversial (Lucas likes RE7, Dylan likes RE4). Will cooler heads prevail? Tune in to find out ;)   

We've reached the point in our journey where we are questioning why we began in the first place. If we are Sisyphus, when will we experience the ecstasy of the boulder rolling back down to where we started from? Only to joyously start the slog again? I'm looking forward to that day. But until then we watched probably the worst movie we've ever seen doing this podcast. 2006's The Contract. Good lord. 

This week we watched 2005's The Ice Harvest, a well casted Cohen Brothers clone. One of us enjoyed it, one of us did not. Place your bets now on who is who. We also get into celebrity as currency, rating systems, and Lil Bow Wow.

A divisive move from the Cusack Cute Boys. 2005's Must Love Dogs is a fairly standard Rom-Com of that era, but as you would expect this leads to larger conversations about media influence and how movies reflect our culture. I'm sure there's other stuff I just can't remember.

If you love trivia than this episode is for you. Otherwise take in the "riveting" thriller from 2003 Runaway Jury. A glorified episode of Law and Order based on a John Grisham novel. We watched it, we talked about it, we did our job.

No, you read that right. 1999. Listen, we've prided ourselves in the past on how through we are when it comes to this podcast. We watch every movie in order. But hey, sometimes you miss a TV movie. We're sorry.  Carelessness aside, I think we were both pleasantly surprised with 1999's The Jack Bull. A movie written by John Cusack's dad, Dick Cusack. Some great character actors, beautiful scenery, and a pretty engaging story made this a fun movie to watch.

Identity, we all have one. But some of us. . . .don't. Some of us have more than one. Ya ever think about that? Scary. This episode we talk aging, the artistic process, and the residents. We also talk about 2003's Identity. It's a movie alright. Listen to Dylan's album Sickle: https://spellabeespace.bandcamp.com/album/sickle Listen to Lucas' album Nothing Is Worth Remembering: https://spellabeespace.bandcamp.com/album/nothing-is-worth-remembering Check out Noah's Shirts: https://bethegirlfriend.com/  

We recorded two episodes in one day, we're a serious podcast now. Starting off this double feature is 2002's Adaptation. A surprisingly divisive movie for the Cusack Cuties. Listen to hear our thoughts.

Max (2002), a baffling movie that proposes maybe people wouldn't do bad things if their art career took off.  We didn't have a ton to say about it so we decided to do a retrospective Top 10 of the movies we have seen thus far. Do we pick pretty much the same movies? Listen to find out.

We have a new member of the family this week, our friend Noah. A talented artist, a fantastic poster, he helps us dissect the stupid fate of 2001's Serendipity. LISTEN TO NOAH'S ALBUM (IT'S VERY GOOD, THIS IS NOT A LIE): https://mtpleasure.bandcamp.com/releases Also follow Noah on twitter @mt_pleasure What happens when two empty people throw away perfect relationships for the idea of someone that they spent around 3 hours with 5 years ago? When Jeremy Piven influences someone with their ny times clout into giving away the personal information of a stranger? (There's a weird electrical buzz from 18-20, sorry about that. It ends at 20, skip ahead)

We are joined by Adam and Tyler on this one to talk about America's Sweethearts, a movie that wraps all of us in a blanket of familiar mediocrity that is early 2000's cinema.  And despite us forgetting during the show, we made a Side 1 Track 1 playlist: Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/playlist/4hVT6IyBxexdqfCq57oSoW?si=S-XF4dRkS1q6mfMBAQlnSg Apple Music: https://music.apple.com/us/playlist/side-1-track-1/pl.u-9N9L2Gbuxm84AJR

The movie that essentially started this whole mess for Lucas and Dylan, 2000's High Fidelity. A movie we've both grown with and grown out of, but still a special movie for us and we're so happy to move past it.

We are joined this week with our friend @disc0p to talk about 1999's Being John Malkovich. One of those few movies you see as a teenager and still holds up as you grow older. We talk Charlie Kaufman, Classic Rock, and so much more. See Pierre completely demolish Warzone and spin records here: https://www.twitch.tv/disc0p

Sure, we're reviewing 1999's Cradle Will Rock with @strugglinguncle this week. But more importantly we're squashing beef.  I can't remember much about the film, but it has to do with labor and theater.  Listen to the new track from friends of the pod producer JAKE and Chase: https://soundcloud.com/desertmolluskrecords/dontsweatit-are-you-finished-with-those-errands-feat-reggie-flaco-prod-lou  

This week we are joined by our friends Greg (@SailPilled) and Bryan (@brian_noname) from the excellent Mechanical Freak podcast to talk about one of the most insane movies we've covered on this podcast, Pushing Tin. A movie so emotionally draining, so all over the place that the only logical conclusion is to view it as a work of art. It is a movie that will remain with you, long, long after you watch it. Listen to Mechanical Freak Here! Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/mechanicalfreak Itunes: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/mechanical-freak/id1383962204?itsct=podcast_box&itscg=30200 Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/2dwsesh8oAcz3Y23nqMoyV  

If you're lookin' for laughs you've come to the wrong pod. We're getting serious this episode. It's not everyday that we get an actually good movie, and we're not talkin' "good-because-our-brains-are-broken-good". Like actually good. Really good.  This week we watched The Thin Red Line, just one of the many incredible films from Terrence Malick.  We're gonna get rowdy next week, for now just let us have this. Also don't forget to check out the new track from Producer Jake with friends of the pod Dontsweatit and Reggie Flaco, "Are You Finished With Those Errands?": https://soundcloud.com/desertmolluskrecords/dontsweatit-are-you-finished-with-those-errands-feat-reggie-flaco-prod-lou

As you've come to expect with everything Cusack Cult Cast related, we are on the cutting edge of what's happening in all of media. We start this ep off talking about the James Harden trade that happened two months ago and forget that we're even doing a show about John Cusack.  That's perfect for this week's movie, "This Is My Father" a movie so difficult to see it may as well not even exist. We're getting back into the swing of things, we needed some "Me Time" to figure out who we were not in relation to the pod. But we've come back a new and excited for what's to come.