Munsons at the Movies

The Munsons return for our annual Halloween horror celebration, and while our usual horror-season guest, Stephanie Malone of Morbidly Beautiful, couldn’t join us this time, she’s with us in spirit as we honor the late, great Tony Todd. We explore the unlikely beginnings of his Hollywood career, including the one-man show where he sold concessions to Oliver Stone and caught the director’s attention, eventually landing a role in Platoon. From there, we trace the career of a commanding performer who became a horror legend by carrying the torch of Candyman while leaving his mark on franchises like Final Destination, Hatchet, Wishmaster, Night of the Living Dead, and others. We contemplate what Todd’s career might have looked like without the role that cemented his place in horror history, and marvel at his refreshing candor when discussing the scripts and projects Hollywood put in front of him. The team also dissects one of Kyle’s favorite films, The Man from Earth, exploring the fascinating premise behind one of Todd’s most unique roles. Meanwhile, Aubrey gets another opportunity to weigh in on a shark movie, and we question whether it should have been called Sky Nazis instead—and whether the sharks deserved a little more agency in the whole affair. Of course, we have to pay our respects to a legend whose final moments on screen gave horror fans one last unforgettable gift. We discuss Todd’s final words in Final Destination Bloodlines and make an impassioned plea to the franchise’s producers: leave it alone. The speech is perfect. Let it be. Rest in peace to a performer whose voice, presence, and immeasurable contributions to horror will never be forgotten. And now, the terrifying question: How does he rank on the Munson Meter? Listen to find out. Whoever shares the lowest score has to say Candyman five times into a mirror. Score wisely, Munsons. Some of us may not make it out alive.

The Munsons welcome back Mike Rodmaker for a deep dive into the career of one of the most accomplished—and complicated—actors we’ve covered yet: Frank Langella. First things first, Case absolutely cleans up in the birthday segment, before we tackle the much bigger question: are we looking at the GOAT of male Tony winners? We trace Langella’s unconventional path to Hollywood, including the fascinating story behind landing his first major role in a Mel Brooks film and the unlikely journey that eventually led him to starring roles. Langella proves to be one of the most refreshingly matter-of-fact actors we’ve encountered, speaking bluntly about the projects he took, the scripts he read, and the choices he made along the way. We also watch Rodmaker earn his Munson stripes by somehow coming dangerously close to watching the wrong movie for his featured review of The Twelve Chairs. We dig into the lengths Langella would go to put his own creative stamp on scripts he didn't particularly enjoy, while Case makes the bold claim that Langella may have delivered one of the earliest end-credit scenes in Masters of the Universe. We’re surprised by just how often he collaborated with Ivan Reitman and explore his relationship with Whoopi Goldberg after the two filmed Eddie together. As Langella’s career progresses, we marvel at his ability to play the ultimate curmudgeon, particularly in Captain Fantastic and The Trial of the Chicago 7. Naturally, we also have to dive into his memoir, where he recounts some truly wild Hollywood stories and escapades from throughout his career. Finally, we discuss the sexual harassment allegations made against him in 2022, the impact those allegations and his subsequent departure from The Fall of the House of Usher had on the late stages of his career, and how that complicated chapter fits into our overall assessment of his work. So how do we evaluate an actor with an extraordinary theater résumé, a handful of genuinely top-tier films, and a whole lot of stinkers? Is Frank Langella one of the most accomplished character actors of all time—or does the uneven filmography ultimately hold him back? How does he rank on the Munson Meter? Listen to find out.

In an ode to Bill Pullman’s unforgettable declaration in Spaceballs, the Munsons find themselves surrounded by assholes as we welcome back Dan Craig for his 9th guest Munson appearance.  We marvel at Pullman’s remarkably clean personal life and his successful marriage to Tamara Hurwitz since 1987—a genuine movie star who somehow managed to maintain a semi-normal life in Montana. We trace his path from relative unknown to leading man after Mel Brooks took a chance on him in Spaceballs, then dive into a filmography filled with surprises. We review what is apparently the only movie Bill Pullman and Bill Paxton made together, while James and Kyle enthusiastically spoil the absolutely bonkers ending of Malice. We also marvel at Pullman’s astonishing roster of wives and girlfriends throughout 1990s cinema and hear Kyle’s ill-fated attempt to track down Whipstaff Manor in Friendship, Maine. Of course, no Pullman conversation is complete without Independence Day, and we gush over his iconic presidential speech that rallies the entire world—and was reportedly so good that it inspired a change to the movie’s title. We’re also genuinely stunned to discover there are six Lake Placid movies, before asking the uncomfortable question of what happened to Pullman’s filmography after 1998. Did Hollywood simply throw too many roles his way, or did he stop being quite as selective about what he took? Perhaps most exciting of all, Pullman gives us something we haven’t had in a while: a filmography packed with movies we’ve somehow never covered across 140 previous episodes. There’s a lot of new territory to explore, plenty of surprises along the way, and more Bill Pullman than we probably knew we needed. How does he rank on the Munson Meter? Listen to find out.

The Munsons are thrilled to welcome back guest Munson Matti Groll to explore one of the stranger career paths we’ve covered: Michael Chiklis. A fellow Boston University Terrier, Matti joins us as we trace Chiklis from a disastrous first movie that nearly ended his career before it began to becoming one of the actors who helped redefine what television could look like in the early 2000s. Along the way, we unpack the incredible story behind Wired, the infamous John Belushi biopic that earned the wrath of Belushi’s friends, a literal curse from Dan Aykroyd, and years of career fallout for a young actor who was mostly just happy to no longer be waiting tables. From there, we dive into the television work that ultimately made Chiklis a star, including The Commish and his groundbreaking Emmy-winning performance as Vic Mackey on The Shield. We debate just how important The Shield was in opening the door for prestige dramas on basic cable, discover that Stan Lee considered Chiklis’s portrayal of The Thing his favorite live-action Marvel performance, and somehow find ourselves defending—or absolutely refusing to defend—the 2005 Fantastic Four. Matti also gets the considerably better assignment of revisiting Spirited Away, whose addition to Chiklis’s filmography unexpectedly rescues him from dead last in Case’s box-office rankings. The back half brings everything from Eagle Eye, Parker, and the wildly divisive When the Game Stands Tall to the MoviePass-produced crime thriller 10 Minutes Gone, complete with a fascinating behind-the-scenes Bruce Willis story. But the real late-career revelation may be Chiklis as Red Auerbach in Winning Time, a performance strong enough to have us wondering whether a full-blown “Chiklissance” could still be ahead. Is Michael Chiklis an underrated television powerhouse trapped inside an underwhelming movie résumé, or does the uneven filmography tell us something bigger about his limitations as a performer? How does he rank on the Munson Meter? Listen to find out.

The Munsons are thrilled to welcome back guest Munson Mike Van de Voort for a celebration of one of modern comedy’s most recognizable stars: Anna Faris. We trace Faris’s path from children’s theater in Washington to the audition that changed her life, when she used her mother’s airline miles to fly to Los Angeles and land the role of Cindy Campbell in Scary Movie. That leap launched a billion-dollar franchise and a career built on fearless timing, strange voices, committed physical comedy, and an uncanny ability to remain the grounded center of total absurdity. Along the way, Mike shares a spectacularly uncomfortable childhood experience watching Scary Movie, we debate whether Waiting… is a disgusting masterpiece or simply a restaurant-industry documentary, defend Brokeback Mountain from the cultural shorthand that has followed it for two decades, and discover that The House Bunny may be Faris’s true movie-star performance. We also explore her natural fit for voice acting, her chemistry with Allison Janney on Mom, Case’s increasingly convincing Goldie Hawn comparison, and a filmography that critics often dismiss even as its modest budgets and enormous returns make Faris one of the strongest financial performers we’ve covered. We’re also forced to confront Mama’s Boy and the cinematic crime scene known as Movie 43 before finding an Anna Faris performance Aubrey loves inside a romantic comedy he absolutely hates. Is Faris an underrated comedic star whose projects never fully showcased her range, or did she simply find the profitable entertainment lane that suited her best? How does she rank on the Munson Meter? Listen to find out.