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The Gen X Files

The Gen X Files
Author: The Gen X Files
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For all things Gen X, check out The Gen X Files! With your hosts, Jim and Adam, The Gen X Files covers a single topic every week that resonates with Generation X. Covering movies, tv, technology, and social issues that resonate with today, it's the most Gen X hour of the week.
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Join us as explore a sadly underrated gem, The Last Starfighter. It's every video game kid's dream: get so good at a video game that an alien comes down and asks you to save the universe. It also featured a ton of early CGI sequences. Directed by Nick Castle, starring Lance Guest, Dan O'Herlihy, Catherine Mary Stewart, and Robert Preston.
This week, we cover one of the most ill-advised, weirdest adaptations of any kind: Super Mario Bros.! Released in 1993, this movie was a travesty of an adaptation of the NES Super Mario Bros games. Based on Super Mario World, having been recently released on the Super Nintendo Entertainment System, the movie barely resembles the bright, colorful world that everyone knew with the original Super Mario Bros, released in 1985 on the NES. Brought to the screen by Rocky Morton and Annabel Jankel, starring Bob Hoskins, John Leguizamo, Samantha Mathis, and Dennis Hopper.
We dive head first into CompuKids month with our first entry: the original Tron from 1982! Starring Jeff Bridges, Bruce Boxleitner, David Warner, and Cindy Morgan. Written and directed by Steve Lisberger. Find out the history of Tron before Tron Ares hits the theaters.
We wrap up our When Animals Attack month and welcome in a special guest. We also discuss the movies we've seen (we went to the theater!), TV shows we've been watching, and games we've been playing.
NO, NOT THE BEES!!!! Sorry, wrong movie. But the sentiment stands. The '70s were fraught with Killer Bee Phobia and The Swarm was the movie that ended it all. And the disaster genre. At least for a while. All orchestrated by Irwin Allen, master of The Poseidon Adventure and The Towering Inferno. The Swarm is a good indicator of how one needs to grow and change with society. Starring Michael Caine, Katharine Ross, Richard Widmark, Richard Chamberlain, Olivia de Havilland, Ben Johnson, Lee Grant, José Ferrer, Patty Duke Astin, Slim Pickens, Bradford Dillman, Fred MacMurray, and Henry Fonda.
Today, we explore a world of runaway spiders, mostly tarantulas, that are killing everyone in sight! It's the super-weird Kingdom of the Spiders, starring William Shatner, Tiffany Bolling, Woody Strode, Altovise Davis, and Marcy Lafferty.
For our first entry into When Animals Attack, we're featuring Frogs, a movie that doesn't have giant frogs nor frogs actually killing anyone. It's a great eco-horror film from 1972 starring Ray Milland, Sam Elliot (almost unrecognizable without his mustache), and Joan Van Ark.
Join your ol' Stepdads this week as we discuss kids in trouble, what movies we've been watching, TV shows we're excited to see, and what video games are worth playing.
For our third entry into Kids in Trouble, we're covering one of the best indie movies of the '80s: River's Edge. An amazing study on death, apathy, and friendship, this movie is a phenomenal look into what it is to be a kid and have to grow up, quickly. Written by Neal Jimenez, directed by Tim Hunter, with incredible performances from Crispin Glover, Keanu Reeves, Ione Skye, Roxana Zal, Daniel Roebuck, Joshua Miller, and Dennis Hopper.
This week, we explore some Bad Boys, including Sean Penn, Esai Morales, Eric Gurry, Alan Ruck, and Clancy Brown, with help from Ally Sheedy, Reni Santoni, Jim Moody, and John Zenda. It's the Hollywood version of bored high school kids and the consequences of their actions. It's gritty and tough and filled with good lookin' Hollywood actors, directed by Rick Rosenthal, with a screenplay from Richard DiLello.
Join us as we start our Kids in Trouble month with Over the Edge, the 1979 masterpiece about a subdivision that didn't remember that kids made up 25% of their population, leading to a ton of kids in trouble. Written by Charles Haas and Tim Hunter, directed by Jonathan Kaplan, and starring Michael Kramer, Matt Dillon and Vincent Spano, along with a bunch of unknown actors. It's one of the best movies depicting the disaffected youth, ever made.
Join your ol' stepdads as we discuss how close we actually were to June Doom, along with the awful, not bad, and disappointing movies from this month. We chat a little about movies, a lot of really good TV (Netflix is killing it), and if video game subscriptions are worth it.
Join us as we dive into one of the most disappointing movies ever made: Nothing but Trouble. With Chevy Chase phoning it in (again), Demi Moore seeming completely out of her depth, John Candy (successfully) playing two completely different twins, and Dan Aykroyd playing two characters (both in heavy makeup!), directing, writing on set, and producing, Nothing but Trouble is a hot mess. Add in really bad studio notes and you get one of the biggest flops in modern movie history.
Join us as we cover the greatest movie about a talking horse giving a loser stock tips: Hot to Trot! Surprisingly, this movie is way way better than we were expecting (which isn't saying much). It was the only starring vehicle for Bobcat Goldthwait, but also stars Dabney Coleman, Virginia Madsen, and John Candy!
Welcome to June Doom IV, our annual tradition of covering disaster movies. This month, we're covering movies that were literal disasters! First up is Under the Rainbow, the best example of creative artists making every wrong choice. It's an absolute mess of a movie that suffers from the worst cinema sin: it's boring as hell. Listen to the podcast so that you don't have to watch it! Starring Chevy Chase, Carrie Fisher, Eve Arden, Billy Barty, Adam Arkin, and Mako!
Crack open that High Life and join us as we discuss the brilliance of Monty Python, The Last of Us season 2, Mickey 17, and if video game DLCs are worth it.
For their final film outing, the Pythons went back to their roots: a sketch show that's loosely connected, but now with a bigger budget and no censors to tell them their material is too risky. The Meaning of Life is the perfect endcap to an incredible 14-year run for Monty Python. Written and Starring John Cleese, Graham Chapman, Terry Gilliam, Terry Jones, Eric Idle, and Michael Palin.
With the show behind them and plenty of time to focus on writing, the Pythons put together their most ambitious film yet: the story of the guy who lived next to Jesus. It's Monty Python's Life of Brian! The movie that was banned in a number of countries, yet is still considered to be one of the funniest films of all-time. Written by Terry Jones, Graham Chapman, John Cleese, Michael Palin, Eric Idle, and Terry Gilliam, with directing duties from Terry Jones. It's the Pythons at their best.
Monty Python and the Holy Grail was the first movie that the Pythons wrote to be an actual movie and is an absolute classic. Written by Eric Idle, John Cleese, Graham Chapman, Michael Palin, Terry Jones and Terry Gilliam, with direction from the Terrys. Also, we do deep dives into the life and histories of John Cleese and Graham Chapman, who wrote together for decades.
Welcome to Monty Python May! First up is the one that started it all: Monty Python's Flying Circus. From the genius minds of John Cleese, Terry Jones, Graham Chapman, Eric Idle, Michael Palin, and Terry Gilliam. The show was insanely groundbreaking and inspired an amazing amount of sketch comedy shows that followed.