Wake Up Heavy

Cleo and I talk about Sleepaway Camp (1983) and The Blues Brothers (1980), and a few other movies we've watched. But mostly The Blues Brothers.

Weirding Way Media honcho Chris Stachiw is back again, this time we chat about Bob Balaban's pitch-black-cannibal-comedy Parents (1989). The film stars Randy Quaid (Nick Laemle) and Mary Beth Hurt (Lily Laemle) as the parents of Brian Madorsky (Michael) who may or may not be force-feeding him human flesh. Balaban uses the backdrop of Mid-Century Americana to weave a nightmarish tale of childhood dependency.

Fellow Weirding Way Media podcasters Chris Stachiw and Mike White are back on the show to discuss Foul Play (1978). Written and directed by Colin Higgins (Harold and Maude, 9 to 5) the film stars Goldie Hawn and Chevy Chase in their first box office smash! Hawn plays Gloria Mundy who becomes embroiled in a Hitchcokian conspiracy plot to assassinate the Pope. Chase stars as Lt. Tony Carlson who is tasked with trying to protect her and track down the band of assassins: Whitey Jackson, Scarface, The Turk, and Rupert Stiltskin aka The Dwarf. The film also stars Dudley Moore, Burgess Meredith, and Brian Dennehy.

"It takes all kinds of critters to make Farmer Vincent's fritters." And you really don't want to know what kind of critters they are! This is a strange film for me to be doing a WDIRT episode on, but hey, I like strange things. Plus, it just kept popping into my head over the last few months and I felt like I needed to watch it and exorcize it out of my brain. That lead me to think it would make a slightly odd episode of the show since I don't particularly care for the film. So grab some smoked meats and give it a listen!

Back to the MM/YY episodes with movie watching/recs plus news and notes.

SPOILER ALERT: Both of these films are spoiled in this discussion.Mr. Kulturecast, Chris Stachiw, is back and we're talking about not one but TWO recent horror movies! First up is Samuel Bodin's Cobweb, starring Lizzy Caplan and Woody Norman. And then we talk about the not dissimilar The Boogeyman by Rob Savage. The Boogeyman is based on an early Stephen King short story and features Chris Messina and Sophie Thatcher. Check out our discussion on two other Night Shift adaptations here.

Been making some changes, and updating some old episodes. Find out about that and how many times I've watched The Beatles: Get Back over the last week. :)

Cleo is headed back to school, but we were able to squeeze in one last episode before then. Since last we spoke we've watched a bunch of my modern horror faves, some raunchy comedies, a Coen Bros. classic, Black Mirror, and other bits and bobs. Enjoy and thanks for listening!The wonderful Green Room poster was designed by Oliver Barrett.

Cleo is finally back and we've got a hefty round of movie watches and recs. From an undersung Stephen King adaptation to a modern comedy classic to a sun-drenched folk tale we dive into a few faves of the last few months.

Wherein I talk about what's been going on since November 2022 and why I've been taking it easy on episodes and movie watching. Plus some movie recs from 2022 and so far in 2023, some interesting movie watching stats, and a few programming alerts. p.s. Megan and Puss in Boots: The Last Wish are both streaming on Peacock, and Flux Gourmet is on Shudder and Hulu (not Tubi). ;)Check out From the Files of Police Squad.And the Top Secret episode over on the Projection Booth.Give some love to Cambridge & Wishon. And listen to this episode from a year ago for more Poison for the Fairies love.

The Begley household is all in (well, except for Lady in the Water) when it comes to Mr. M. Knight Shyamalan, so we were excited to watch his latest film, Knock at the Cabin (2023). Friend of the show, Chris Stachiw, who wasn't as excited, joins me to chat about this pre-Apocalyptic film. Based on the book The Cabin at the End of the World by Paul Tremblay, the film stars Jonathan Groff, Ben Aldridge, Dave Bautista, Kristen Cui, and Rupert Grint. What happens when four strangers take a family hostage and task them with making an unthinkable sacrifice to save the world? Listen and find out. SPOILER WARNING: Both the film and the book it is based on are spoiled in the episode.

We're knee deep in spoof territory over here at Weirding Way Media so why not keep the trend going? Mike White and Chris Stachiw join me to talk about an old favorite of mine, Murder by Death (1976). Written by Neil Simon and directed by Robert Moore, Murder by Death is a send-up of whodunits with some of our more well-known detectives getting the parody treatment. The film stars James Coco, Peter Falk, Elsa Lanchester, David Niven, Peter Sellers, and Maggie Smith as some suspiciously familiar faces. Eileen Brennan, Truman Capote, Alec Guinness, Richard Narita, Nancy Walker, and Estelle Winwood round out the cast in this murderous farce. Of course we discuss the problematic portrayal of an Asian character by Peter Sellers, so be warned!

Sadly, no Cleo for this watch list rundown, but hopefully she'll be back soon! Along with my movie viewing activity there's some big news about my new shows in this one, so give it a listen!

You know how this goes already. My watches + Cleo's and my watches! Only Halloweekend saved this from being a low-watch movie month.

The Mickey Rourke love continues with this episode on Barbet Schroeder's 1987 film Barfly. Scripted by author Charles Bukowski Barfly follows drunk poet Henry Chinaski (Rourke) as he traverses the bars, alleys, and roominghouses of L.A.'s Skid Row. Along the way he meets kindred spirit Wanda (Faye Dunaway) and they love and fight their way through life's ups and downs. Barfly is a surprisingly warm and humorous tale about those living on the outskirts of society.Heather Drain and Anthony King join me to discuss the film, Bukowski's writing, problematic artists, and the beauty of art.

Cleo's back talkin' 'bout movies! Get an earful of our watches as a family, and my solo watches, including my most anticipated movie of the year.

It's been a long time coming (two and a half years, if anyone's counting) but the Mickey Rourke Love-Fest is finally here. 1987 was a big year for Rourke with three films hitting the big screen between April and October. Two of which happen to be HUGE favorites of mine, including this one.On this episode I am joined by Mike White and Cullen Gallagher to discuss Alan Parker's adaptation of the 1978 novel Falling Angel by William Hjortsberg. A combination of horror and noir Angel Heart follows Harry Angel (Rourke) as he tries to track down the one-time famous crooner Johnny Favorite. Angel's client Louis Cyphre (Robert DeNiro) means to make good on the "contract" he made with Johnny before he was drafted and ended up wounded and shell-shocked. The film also stars Lisa Bonet as Epiphany Proudfoot, Charlotte Rampling as Margaret Krusemark, Dann Florek as Herman Winesap, Michael Higgins as Dr, Fowler, and Pruitt Taylor Vince as Det. Deimos.Show info: https://www.wakeupheavy.com/2022/10/s6e3-i-got-thing-about-chickens-angel.html

[To avoid Orphan: First Skill spoilers at 11:51 jump to 12:31 and you should be good.]It's the (very) unofficial end of summer (115 degrees feels like summer to me!) and Cleo is back in school. I was able to squeeze one more episode out of her, though, so enjoy our August watches. For those keeping score I watched nine new movies out of 32 total during the month of August.

A big change is a comin' to WUH. Find out what it is inside this episode!

Come and celebrate the four year anniversary of Wake Up Heavy with this Very Special Episode on a film in my Top Ten of All Time. Chris Stachiw (The Kulturecast) and Mike White (The Projection Booth Podcast) join me to discuss Jonathan Demme's 1991 film The Silence of the Lambs. Written by Ted Tally and based on the novel by Thomas Harris, Silence stars Jodie Foster as Clarice Starling, an FBI trainee, Scott Glenn as Special Agent Jack Crawford, Anthony Hopkins as Dr. Hannibal Lecter, and Ted Levine as Jame Gumb, aka Jamie Gumb, aka John Grant, aka Jack Gordon, aka Buffalo Bill. The film follows Starling as she matches wits with Lecter in an attempt to track down a notorious serial killer before he can kill and skin his next victim. The film was a huge financial and critical success and went on to win “The Big Five” categories at the 1992 Academy Awards.