The Magnificently Huge Podcast

In Medias Res means stories that start in the middle of things, or even at the end. It is a very old narrative device created by the Ancient Greeks that many filmmakers have used to varying degrees of success. So naturally we thought that deserved a no-holds-barred, incredibly arbitrary Bracket Challenge Battle to the Death! Behold, our Top 8 movie picks fight it out until they are whittled down to the last film standing. Maybe there is a prize given? But really, aren’t we all winners here? 0:00 - Intros 5:55 - Fallout (Amazon) 12:30 - Ripley (Netflix) 16:10 - Godzilla X Kong: The New Empire 25:20 - Once Upon A Time In Hollywood 33:00 - In Medias Res also rams 40:20 - In Medias Res - Best use Bracket 41:15 - Big Dumb Superhero Movies: Deadpool vs Iron Man 44:15 - The Christopher Nolan Mindfuck: The Prestige vs Memento 50:00 - Gen X Blood-soaked Fight To The Death: Reservoir Dogs vs Fight Club 55:10 - Oscar Darlings: Lawrence of Arabia vs Forrest Gump 1:01:20 - Semifinals 1:04:45 - Finals

Hard to believe that a Cold War satire about Mutually Assured Destruction through a nuclear holocaust could still pack a punch 60 years after its release. But that’s exactly what happened with Stanley Kubrick’s brilliant dark comedy, Dr. Strangelove, Or: How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb. Starring Peter Sellers in a virtuoso 3-role performance as the titular insane scientist, a by-the-book RAF officer, and a milquetoast President, this one is arguably Kubrick’s best effort. Which sounds like a challenge for debate that we shall now have… NO FIGHTING IN THE WAR ROOM! 5:00 - Ricky Stanicky (2024) 12:30 - Dune Part Two (2024) 23:50 - Late Night with the Devil (trailer) 25:10 - Shipwreck videos found on YouTube 31:30 - Shogun (Max) 39:14 - Dr. Strangelove or How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love The Bomb (1964)

Episode 295 - Train to Busan 2016 was the middle of the zombie pandemic. “What?” I hear you say, despite that being impossible. “There was a zombie apocalypse?” There sure was - in theaters! And 2016 was right smack dab in the middle of a bunch of great zombie films. That year saw “Pride and Prejudice and Zombies” and “The Girl with All the Gifts,” which were great in their own ways. However they pale in comparison to this genre-homage from South Korea, a sort of “Die Hard” on a train with zombies. Un-Die Hard? No, not Un-Die Hard. That is stupid. Skip that… 0:00 - Intros 6:20 - Dream Scenario (2024) 11:55 - Rick and Morty season 7 16:50 - Mr Robot 27:50 - Argylle (2024) 31:20 - Roadhouse (2024) (36:44 - FSBUMP) 36:55 - Train To Busan (2016)

Before there was Nightmare on Elm Street, before there was Inception, there was Dreamscape! This under-the-radar sci-fi/action/thriller/romance from 1984 was a heady mix of genres, and while it was the first notable film to feature a storyline about people entering the dreams of others to help or harm, it has gone largely unnoticed in the last 40 years. But it beat Freddy and Christopher Nolan to the punch, which makes it a noteworthy thing to discuss. Starring Dennis Quaid, Kate Capshaw, Max Von Sydow, Christopher Plummer and an analog stop-motion evil Snake Man with legs and arms (don’t ask), Dreamscape is an oddity that fell through the cracks. Let’s dust it off and see if Freud and Jung were right all along…. 3:30 - The 80s Cruise(Sheena Easton, Wang Chung, Air Supply, Soft Cell, Midnight Star, Marky Ramone’s Blitzkrieg, My Posse In Effect) 26:20 - The Gentleman 28:40 - Swan Song (book) 33:00 - Dreamscape (1984)

Time again for yet another 80’s film retrospective! The year 1987 does not automatically spring to mind when one thinks of classic cinema. At first glance it is kind of meh, which is not surprising given that Three Men and a Baby was the top earner that year. But upon closer inspection, 1987 has a crap-ton of stealthily influential flicks buried within. Yup, 1987 is the year that gave us Evil Dead 2, RoboCop, Princess Bride, Lethal Weapon, The Untouchables, Withnail & I, Raising Arizona, River’s Edge, Predator, Spaceballs… this list goes on. We’re just as shocked as you are! So we’re giving props to a stealth year for stone-cold classics - 1987! Example of Scared Ketchup’s The Trump Show: https://youtu.be/4syP4lA3Q0Y?si=cLHzjzoo-Nw_fAQX 4:30 - Scared Ketchup - The Trump Show 11:10 - State Of The Union Address 15:35 - Euphoria (Max) 22:05 - Elektra 25:50 - The Trial of the Incredible Hulk (1989) 28:10 - Dempsey and Makepeace (1985) 34:00 - 1987 in movies

Ever seen a movie or show and thought, “Wow - they sure got that wrong!” It could have been good, but they missed the point. Or maybe you had a better point in mind. That’s the theme of this week’s show - why not remake these things that were almost good? As long as everything else gets remade every five years, here are some projects that decidedly deserve to be correctly done. 0:00 - Intros 4:30 - Dicks The Musical 12:12 - Northern Exposure 17:45 - Wild Isles 20:20 - Fargo (season 5) 28:40 - I Can’t Believe They Didn’t Remake This Already

This week Brian made the MagHuge crew revisit the 1990 Warren Beatty magnum opus “Dick Tracy.” Will it stand the test of time? Will hijinks ensue? Will Chris and Eric drink hemlock? There’s only one way to find out! 0:00 - Intros 5:51 - Mr. Robot 13:30 - Japanese Precision Walking 16:15 - Kabaddi 20:39 - AR / VR 26:50 - Freaks VS The Reich 32:10 - Dick Tracy (1990)

Welcome to the Technical Difficulties Edition of yet another amazing Freshitravaganza show, wherein we have an ad hoc discussion about literally whatever dumb stuff pops into our heads! Funny story… We tried to do a show wherein we savaged Zack Snyder’s Rebel Moon, his latest mirthless sci-fi IP starter. But all our tech went bonkers early without us realizing it and we lost everything but the Fresh Sh!t at the beginning. So we decided to cut our losses, keep that bit and expand it into a better, full-length show. Because no way were we giving Rebel Moon a do over. Nope. 4:45 - Fizz 9:50 - Good Burger 2 (2023) 13:25 - I Hate Suzie (Max) 18:40 - Blue Beetle (2023) 24:50 - Zack Snyder’s Rebel Moon (2023) 30:00 - Green Dot Aviation 41:35 - Lisa Frankenstein (2024) 47:40 - Napoleon 48:40 - Pop Will Eat Itself, Jesus Jones, EMF and other Grebo acts 53:44 - The Beekeeper (2024) Auralnauts Zack Snyder’s Star Wars: https://youtu.be/J9X_FmCbrIA?si=JpDkiOUhH0rjZxUi Green Dot Aviation: https://www.youtube.com/@GreenDotAviation

Blazing Saddles is a comedy classic given to us by Mel Brooks way back in 1974 and we are going to celebrate the 50th Anniversary accordingly… with copious amounts of vulgarity, fart jokes and meta-humor on top of an angry, socially conscious satire of race relations in America. That’s right, Blazing Saddles is a foundational film comedy that is not afraid to make you laugh while also making you uncomfortable. So buckle up, cowpokes, and join us for a celebration that is sure to make you send us even more hate mail! Thank you, Mel Brooks, for the decades of laughter! 0:00 - Eric’s trip to Japan 10:00 - Brian’s work trip to India 20:30 - Sid and Marty Krofft shows on Tubi 21:20 - The Bay City Rollers Show 29:00 - Rick and Morty (season 7) 33:45 - American Fiction (2023) 38:25 - UFO (1970) and Space:1999 (1975) 41:55 - Blazing Saddles (1974) Brian’s India traffic video: https://youtu.be/oQwRNcVZ434 Brian’s India fast food video: https://youtu.be/vad9eFKz2Xw

Released in 1969, Journey to the Far Side of the Sun is a fun little cult sci-fi film. If you’re familiar with “Thunderbirds,” you’ll recognize the cool use of model special effects used here. The short sell - this is a fun romp through what the future could have been like. The long sell - well, if they had hired actual writers with talent to lay this sucker out, it would have been a classic. As it is, it’s a paper-thin premise with a paper-thin payoff, that ends in a very dark way, but has cool-ass spaceships. Yay! 3:56 - Letterkenny (final season, 2023) 10:20 - Reacher (Amazon Prime) 16:50 - Doctor Who (2023) 23:30 - Aquaman and the Lost Kingdom (2023) 32:35 - The Wiz (Broadway) 38:05 - For All Mankind 40:40 - Journey to the Far Side of the Sun / Doppelganger (1969)

In honor of the new movie musical version that no one asked for, we present another classic MagHuge episode! Two cliques enter, one clique leaves... Welcome to the High School Movie Grudge Match Thunderdome! We pitch 80’s black-comedy classic Heathers against 00’s teen classic Mean Girls in a head-to-head battle for ultimate Snark Supremacy! How Very. That’s So Fetch. Oh, and ⅔ of our crew had never actually watched Mean Girls before, but all of us have been quoting Heathers for decades so it’s okay. Was our Genx-X bias shattered by the popular Millennial challenger? F*#& me gently with a chainsaw, you’ll just have to listen to this podcast and find out! | 0:00 - Intros | 4:24 - Raw Deal (1986) | 9:55 - The Umbrella Academy Season 2 (Netflix, 2020) | 15:55 - Legion | 18:55 - Star Trek: The Next Generation | 26:05 - Super Mario 3D All-Stars (Nintendo, 2020) | 28:30 - Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt - Kimmy vs. The Reverend (Netflix, 2019) | 31:27 - Mean Girls (2004) vs. Heathers (1989)

We’re Baaaaaaaack! After a month-long hiatus of adhering to a Live-Laugh-Love mantra, the MagHuge crew rings in 2024 with a whole new podcast show about random crap we’ve all been watching and doing and listening to during our self-imposed holiday! We gots movies, concerts, TV and theater galore to catch you up on. But no books - because books are for the idle and never did no one no good never. Welcome to Re-FreshitExtravaganza! 9:23 - Fresh Shit 10:20 - Rocket around the Christmas Tree 13:20 - Great British Bake Off 16:00 - Wonka (2023) 29:00 - Mannheim Steamroller live 33:00 - Depeche Mode (Memento Mori tour 2023) 39:10 - The Ref (1994) 47:00 - Poor Things (2023) 52:00 - The Magnificently Huge Podcast 1:01:10 - Albert Brooks: Defending My Life (Max, 2023) 1:06:30 - Beau Is Afraid (2023)

Upon the occasion of his death, we are repeating our tribute to the great Norman Lear! In the 1970's, television producer Norman Lear beat Marvel to the punch by several decades with the creation of a sitcom universe filled with individual shows whose characters formed an unstoppable team of comedy heroes to defeat an array of social issues. Archie Bunker is Iron Man. Maude is Thor. George Jefferson is The Hulk. Also: Adrienne Barbeau is Adrienne Barbeau.

Episode 286 - Children of Men Children of Men (2006) is one of the finest dystopian future movies ever committed to film… that no one seems to remember. Which is weird, because it has one of Clive Owen’s best hangdog performances, and a supporting cast (Julianne Moore, Michael Caine & Chiwetel Ejiofor) that most movies would kill for. Plus, Alfonso Cuarón directed some of the most amazing “single-shot” action sequences of all time in what should have been a sure-fire classic of speculative fiction. Instead, this very prescient story about the world falling apart at the seams came and went with a shrug from most. Which is a damn shame, because this movie packs a real wallop. Do yourself a favor and watch it, then listen to this very special podcast! 8:20 - Lies of P 15:55 - Quiz Lady (2023) 21:10 - For All Mankind (Apple+) 26:10 - A Haunting in Venice (2023) 28:40 - Hogan’s Heroes 33:40 - Children of Men (2006)

Say you’re so rich and popular that you can just make a movie with all your most famous friends and make yourself look cool. Turns out that Frank Sinatra did it in 1960, and so did George Clooney in 2001. It turns out that both times the movie was named “Ocean’s Eleven!” It must be nice. For our part, we spoil more MCU stuff and hang out with a big fun hang-out movie. Hang out with us! 5:40 - Starfield (Xbox) 11:55 - Loki (Disney+) 17:30 - The Marvels (2023) 28:30 - Steven Seagal movies (Above the Law, Marked for Death, Out for Justice) 38 :55 - Ocean’s 11 (2001)

Spider Baby - the 1967 “cult classic” that you’ve probably never heard of. As always, we watch it for you, so you don’t have to! 4:15 - Invasion (Apple TV+) 7:45 - One Cut of the Dead 15:25 - Band of Brothers 20:05 - How To with John Wilson / Nathan For You 23:35 - No Hard Feelings (2023) 28:45 - Spider Baby (1967) You can watch Spider Baby on the internet archive here: https://archive.org/details/sinistercinema_spiderbaby

Among the notable horror icons of the 80s that spawned endless sequels of varying quality, few are as weird as the phenomenon of Chucky - the child’s doll possessed by the spirit of a psychopathic serial killer who dabbles in voodoo. First arriving in 1988, Child’s Play was a modest success that was buoyed by an interesting concept and some first-rate practical effects work that helped propel it into the Horror Hall of Fame. But is it still any good? We haven’t seen the sequels, but decided to catch up with the original to see if it still holds up. Please enjoy our look back at Child’s Play. Chuck You! 7:30 - Local Portland bands: NSynced, Faux B-52s 13:20 - Violent Femmes (live) 16:30 - Totally Killer (Amazon) 21:00 - Our Flag Means Death (Season 2, Max) 22:50 - Moonlighting (now on Hulu) (28:44 title sequence gets discussed) 32:30 - Child’s Play (1988)

While Scream and Wes Craven’s New Nightmare brought meta to the horror genre earlier, 2011’s The Cabin In The Woods brings a fresh new perspective to the well worn dead teenager film. If we want to get really meta about it, we can talk about how the scariest and most disturbing things about it are related to Joss Whedon, but really that’s just lazy comedy. Anyway, it’s October, so crank up the scary movies! 6:15 - P!nk (live) 11:45 - Tina the musical (touring) 15:30 - high school Aliens musical 16:40 - NHL is back (Stompin’ Tom) 17:15 - Only Murders in the Building (Hulu, Season 3) 21:00 - Sub Pop (Green River, Butthole Surfers, Sleater-Kinney) 23:40 - Some More News (youtube) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OZ28knLt5Rs 27:55 - The Fall of the House of Usher (Netflix) 31:00 - Roger Waters The Dark Side of the Moon Redux 35:23 - The Cabin in the Woods (2011) [SPOILER WARNING]

This week, we break down the career of David Cronenberg in three acts. The thing is, there’s little you can say about David Cronenberg that makes sense. He’s a filmmaker who makes horror films, kinda. He has a preoccupation with body horror, sort of. Really he’s interested in people’s obsessions - what we can’t do without, even if we won’t admit it to ourselves. I think. It’s tough to say - like all great artists, he defies simple explanation. So of course, we’re going to try. 04:45 - Zombie Houses and The Ugliest House In America 12:45 - The Wonderful Story of Henry Sugar (Netflix) 18:50 - M*A*S*H* 20:15 - Ministry of Ungentlemanly Warfare (Book) 22:42 - The Troop (Book) 24:55 - Bottom (BBC) 27:55 - David Cronenberg

We love it when a plan comes together! Unless it doesn’t, as is the case with 2010’s misguided, uninspired, confusing reboot movie of the classic 80s TV juggernaut - The A-Team. What should have been a slam-dunk summer actioner was actually a giant, generic mess of a movie that arrived with a shrug and killed any hope of a franchise. Mistakes were made. A lot of mistakes. Join us for our shallow discussion about how NOT to reboot a TV show into a movie with The A-Team! We ain’t gettin’ on no podcast, Hannibal… 10:00 - Star Trek: The Next Generation 16:15 - James Hood’s Beautifica 19:00 - Painkiller (Netflix) 24:10 - I Think You Should Leave (Netflix) 25:50 - Peter Serafinowicz show 31:25 - Tim Heidecker take on Club Random and Bill Maher 33:45 - The A-Team (2010)