A lil "skin tag" of a conversation where we explore a few more ideas coming out of our most recent episode on Todd Hayne's 'SAFE' featuring Catherine Liu. Catherine's book, 'Virtue Hoarders: The Case Against the Professional Managerial Class', provides such ripe territory for analysis by which we can understand our current moment (and many preceding), we couldn't contain our conversation about it and the movie to one episode.
You can find her book here: 2021-04-17 16:48:02 +0000 UTC
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#ReleaseTheSnyderCut
2021-04-10 15:31:41 +0000 UTC
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Our April Fool's Day episode. Friends of the pod Taylor Grimes and Travis Snyder join Hit Factory to discuss Good Burger starring the consummate Nickelodeon comedic duo Kenan Thompson and Kel Mitchell (not The Shawshank Redemption). We discuss the inherent exploitation of service industry culture, the minimum wage, and expound the eternal wisdom of Kel's mythic character creation, Ed.
Read Jaya Saxena's Eater article '2021-04-01 03:53:20 +0000 UTC
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Aaron & Carlee revisit the most successful SNL-related cinematic property of all time - 'Wayne's World' starring Mike Myers and Dana Carvey. The gang discusses the too-many-cooks production process of bringing the characters to the big screen, the poorly-aged representation of its Asian-American female lead, and the contradictions at the core of the film's commodified rebellion.
2021-03-22 04:35:27 +0000 UTC
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Feel the rhythm. Feel the rhyme. Get on up it-- you know what? We're not gonna do this.
We rewatched the based-on-a-true-story-but-almost-entirely-fabricated tale of the first Jamaican Olympic bobsled team in the Disney crowd-pleaser 'Cool Runnings'. Topics include the film's problematic portrayal of Black Caribbeans, its deeply entrenched meritocratic mindset, and the colonial underpinnings of the irl history.
Naturally, we also talk the minimum wage situation in the Senate...
2021-03-07 04:13:27 +0000 UTC
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Ryan Cartwright, formerly of the Ded Air podcast (RIP), joined us in the Hit Factory to take on the gleeful, smart-shark insanity of 1999's 'Deep Blue Sea'. We discuss some recent Joe Biden comments, attempt to queer Michael Rapaport roles, and make a case for the return of the movie/music video tie-in.
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Our theme song is "Mirror" by Chris Fish
2021-02-21 23:02:39 +0000 UTC
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We revisited one of the wackiest high-concept action thrillers of the decade: John Woo's 'Face/Off'. Aaron & Carlee discuss the auteur's lyrical hyper-realism, the film's refreshing subversion of 90s cop fetishism, and the allure of a kick-ass boat scene. Pleasantly, we said almost nothing about politics on this one.
2021-02-07 07:48:44 +0000 UTC
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Friend of the show Rich Pierceall joins Aaron & Carlee in the Hit Factory to discuss the Tony Scott-directed, Quentin Tarantino-penned 1993 cult classic 'True Romance'. The gang discusses "that scene", the persistence of the American love-on-the-lam movie, and keeping it really fucking cool when you meet Quentin Tarantino in an elevator.
2021-01-22 04:44:36 +0000 UTC
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Happy (?) New Year! We kicked off 2021 by revisiting Men In Black, a fun film we were certain would have no bearing on our current political moment. Aaron & Carlee break down the film's nascent identity politics, offer some history of the "illegal alien" debate enveloping 1997 America, and interrogate the MIB's complicity in maintaining intergalactic empire. Like we said, light stuff.
2021-01-07 17:13:52 +0000 UTC
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It's almost Christmas! Carlee & Aaron enter the Hit Factory to discuss 'The Muppet Christmas Carol'. We break down the best adaptation of the classic Dickensian fable of capitalism, corruption and greed conquered by goodness and love for your fellow man. Of course, we also talk the stimulus and Tom Cruise's recent rant on the set of M:I 7. God Bless Us, Everyone (except for Jeff Bezos).
2020-12-24 04:25:14 +0000 UTC
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Into the jungle we both wade // Another film from a bygone decade // First - Dr. discourse of a sort // is granted some undue import // For movie talk you'll have to wait // Until we cover the M4A debate // On to Jumanji: the game, the status quo // And what our next roll will bestow
Also, Aaron was sort of right about The Thief & The Cobbler.
2020-12-16 18:48:09 +0000 UTC
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It's the summer of 1998, and a celestial rock is on a collision course for planet Earth. Our first ever double-feature episode explores the right-wing, explosive preposterousness of Michael Bay's 'Armageddon' alongside the competent, neoliberal eulogy that is Mimi Leder's 'Deep Impact'. Aaron & Carlee sing some Aerosmith and become Ben Affleck apologists along the way.
2020-12-05 01:08:08 +0000 UTC
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We all know that by 1991, following the collapse of the Soviet Union, Western liberal democracy had firmly cemented its position as the end-point of mankind's ideological evolution. What T2: Judgement Day presupposes is...maybe it hadn't? Brendan Fay joins Aaron & Carlee to discuss the blockbuster sequel's trailblazing special effects, its tempestuous relationship with America's anti-Communist legacy, and the film's unsung MVP: Robert Patrick as the T-1000.
2020-11-14 23:12:40 +0000 UTC
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Election Day is nigh. To commiserate, we revisit Warren Beatty's overlooked, all-too-salient political comedy 'Bulworth'. Aaron & Carlee discuss the necrotic 2020 Presidential race, Jay Billington Bulworth's IRL political counterpart, and survey the 90's subsumption into Third Way Clintonian centrism. Warren Beatty's Op-Ed "Why Not Now?": https://archive.commondreams.org/warrenbeatty.htm "Hail ...
2020-11-01 22:27:24 +0000 UTC
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For our second Spooky Season outing, we revisit "Sleepy Hollow", Tim Burton's 1999 gothic horror fable. Aaron & Carlee discuss the director's stunted evolution, the film's loving homages to classic Hammer Horror, and the synthesis of reason and faith. It's a sleepy episode.
2020-10-16 05:19:00 +0000 UTC
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Sandrapalooza concludes with the late Carl Reiner's favorite "comeuppance" techno-thriller "The Net" (1995). We talk the film's debt to classic Hitchcock works, the dire predictions of the modern surveillance state, and the perils of acting while typing.
2020-10-01 17:29:51 +0000 UTC
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On March 3, 1991, Rodney King was brutally beaten by four members of the LAPD for upwards of 15 minutes. The assault was caught on camera by a bystander and broadcast on news nationwide.
On April 29, 1992, riots broke out across Los Angeles as the officers involved were acquitted.
On February 26, 1993, the World Trade Center was bombed by terrorists in protest of US/Israel relations resulting in six deaths.
On June 10, 1994, "Speed" - an action thriller following the exploit...
2020-08-16 19:04:15 +0000 UTC
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Random thoughts, asides, and extras from our "Starship Troopers" episode. We say "like" a lot.
2020-08-05 18:21:05 +0000 UTC
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Who's ready to talk about fascism? It's "Starship Troopers" in the Hit Factory. We discuss the film's lukewarm reception upon initial release, the post-9/11 critical reassessment, Verhoeven's insistence on violence with consequence as counter to the derealization that supports empire, and the untethering experience of loving a movie you feel sick watching.
David Roth's New Yorker piece "How Starship Troopers Aligns with Our Moment of American Defeat":2020-07-28 16:06:57 +0000 UTC
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