Stop/Rewind

After a very long break, we return to discuss the classic British comedy, Four Weddings and a Funeral (1994). First, we catch up on recent events and discuss a wedding of our own (skip to 37:45 if you don't care). Then we talk the film's strange structure, its very British humor, how wet Mr. Bean looks, and various digressions related to love and matrimony.

We discuss one of the most insane movies ever made, Reign Over Me (2007). Join us as we consider the ethics of giving your dentist a blowjob, suicide by cop, and whether or not your therapist should help you get a new girlfriend after your wife dies.

In this episode we honor the comic careers of the great Betty White and Bob Saget. We talk the wholesome comedy of Full House, the brilliance of Golden Girls, and what we hope happens when we die. Also, we play a game of FMK with the men of Full House.

We celebrate the season by discussing two holiday classics: Gremlins (1984) and Love Actually (2003). We talk black comedy and violence in Gremlins, the horrible and not-so-horrible plot lines of Love Actually, why sometimes cute things make you aggressive (it's a real phenomenon, look it up), and the difference between movies about Christmas and movies that take place at Christmas.

Did Kevin McCallister cause 9/11? Does he enjoy causing pain? If Donald Trump hadn't had a cameo would he have become president? We attempt to answer these questions, and many other irrelevant ones, on a holiday-themed episode featuring Home Alone 2: Lost In New York. We're sick, we're tired, and we're as awful as ever.

For the final episode of TomHanksgiving, our good friend John joins us for a raucous discussion of Volunteers (1985). We talk the film's criticism of American imperialism, its racial humor, the legendary John Candy, and where the film ranks among other Tom Hanks classics.

On this day of thanks, we are grateful for the 1988 classic Big. We discuss the film's iconic scenes, what the movie says about work culture, and whether or not Susan is going to need therapy after discovering her 30-year old boyfriend is actually 13.

For our second episode of giving Hanks, we return to Joe Dante's black comedy, The 'Burbs (1989). We discuss the film's satire of suburban boredom, why the premise feels dated in the era of Trump, Carrie Fisher's terrible haircut, and whether or not the film is actually any good. Also, we continue to examine the toilet fetish of Tom Hanks.

November is once again our month of giving thanks to Tom Hanks. For our first episode, we return to A League of Their Own (1992). After a long digression about candy etiquette, we talk our love of sports, Tom Hanks' role as an alcoholic asshole, the film's feminist message, and why there's no sucking off in baseball.

We watched a lot of horror movies this month and decided to talk about them. We discuss sex and death in the slasher genre, Dr. Loomis teaching Michael Meyers how to drive, the importance of practical effects, and why we sometimes love to be scared. It's a rambling, bloody mess.

At long last, we revisit the smartest comedy of all time, led by two powerful performances that portray stupidity with nuance and grace. Okay, we actually talk about Jim Carrey's whole deal, gross out humor being fun for the whole family, Jeff Daniels telling the movie's one good joke, and why the most annoying sound in the world might be a response to the end of history.

OK, but what if you went to a beach and it made you age really quickly, but luckily there was a doctor there who could calculate roughly how fast you were aging, but then you got pregnant and everyone started dying, and the doctor kept muttering about Chinatown and his wife's calcium deficiency turned her into a bone monster? What then? For this episode we watched M. Night Shyamalan's Old and try to answer all the questions about what is going on, and why it's so bad.

What's more American than having sex with a pie? We rewatched American Pie (1999) and talk the film's gross-out humor, its handling (and mishandling) of sexual exploration, and why drinking your friend's cum is not necessarily better than drinking a stranger's.

We smoke a cigarette and discuss the first two films in the Harry Potter franchise. We talk differences between the books and the adaptions, rampant favoritism in Hogwarts, the horrible Brits, Alan Rickman's nu metal aesthetic, and being a kid who likes a thing before it gets popular.

For what may or may not be our 100th episode, we look back at the era of Britney Spears and Christina Aguilera. We talk about their music, their public image, Britney's portrayal in the media and the controversy surrounding her conservatorship, and the formula for the perfect pop song. Also, we debate the necessity of the HPV vaccine.

Enjoy a belated Independence Day by returning to the great American past time of driving your car off a cliff. On this episode, we discuss the feminist classic, Thelma & Louise. We talk the film's interest in the American West, its depiction of women taking control in a man's world, and the supporting roles of some iconic actors.

The pod abides by returning to the endlessly quotable classic, The Big Lebowski (1998). We talk about the film's blend of western and slacker genres, the politics of Walter and The Dude, and where it fits into the Coen brothers' incredible filmography. Plus, John Goodman is horrified to find a stranger in the Alps.

We return to one of the landmark films of the 90s, Pulp Fiction. We talk Tarantino's signature pastiche style, Samuel L. Jackson's iconic character, the film's approach to dialogue, and whether or not heroin is really as good it looks.

We may be back to recording in the same room but we still managed to mess things up with one missing mic and one mic (Andy's) that is way too loud. To celebrate, we discuss the 2004 indie classic Napoleon Dynamite. We talk the film's bizarre but PG humor, its anachronistic aesthetic, and why none of the characters seem to have any emotion except being annoyed.

What if Mad Max were on water instead of in the desert? Then it would be Waterworld (1995). We talk about Kevin Costner's failed epic / unrealized amusement park idea, the timeline of the distant future, and whether or not the Waterworld inhabitants could handle a single bite of lemon pepper wings from Wing Stop.