Tag: Movies

Are you a Keaton fan? What about a Clooney fan? Do you like your Gotham neon and campy or dark and totally not Chicago?

Well, the Somethings know a bit about Martha’s Baby Boy and they are going to settle in and discuss who the best Bat that ever donned the cowl.  Let’s be clear, some of their decisions may surprise you… and each other.

So, Mr. Wayne, sit near the fire and enjoy the warmth as the Somethings watch the world burn.

Ok, BIFF here we KA-POW! go!

Full Episode

Not all horror movies are created equal… you see, some movies are amazing because they are frigging amazing. Some are amazing because they are bad. Some are just……. bad.

We’re talking about all of them, because none of those headers quite describes ‘lame’.  What is a lame movie? Is it stupid? Does it have a single factor that makes it worse than another? Is it just boring?  Hatton and PCR get into it about what precisely makes a piece of entertainment lame and then tell you their choices.

Join us as we start SomethingSpooktober with a horrorpalooza for the ages!

Ok, here we boo!

Full Episode

Hey all, PCR here.

So, I recently re-activated my Netflix account to catch up on some things I hadn’t seen yet, and one of those things was Season 4 of Stranger Things, and while I was a huge fan of the show when it started, the luster has worn a bit for me… to the point that Season 4 in general was…’meh’.

Don’t get me wrong, the Eddie stuff was cool, and the backstory into 1 was intriguing, I felt too disassociated from the whole thing to really care too much.

Season 3 came out in July of 2019, and Season 4 was finally released in May of 2022, nearly 20 months later.  During that time, some of the kids had Walt-ian growth spurts while others stayed looking remarkably similar.  Maybe it’s just me, and it’s taking more to ‘wow’ me as I get older, but the main thing I walked away from Season 4 with was “Wow, episodes are a lot longer…”.

My question to The Somethings is… ‘How long is too long’?  How long can shows (and movies) push between seasons (and sequels) and still have us give as much of a shit as they hope we will?

Let’s look at some other notable time delays…

Stranger Things S4 – 20 months

Westworld S4 – 25 months

Ghostbusters to GBII – 5 years

Heroes : Reborn – 5 years

GBII to GB Afterlife – 32 Years

XFiles – 14 years after original TV finale

Twin Peaks S3 – 26 years

What are some of YOUR favorite TV Shows or Movies that have had extended time between seasons/sequels?  We want to know!

ALSO!

Want to help support our show?  Our Patreon is live once more!  New tiers!  New content!  Early access!  Go check it out and help us bring you even more great stuff!

– PCR

There is a lot of buzz going on about the Little Mermaid remake – which is something we will be talking about a bit more in depth in a future episode, so I’m not going to here. To be clear, anyone who gets upset about the skin color of a live action cartoon movie about fictional mythological Danish creatures, or can’t seem to wrap their head around the fact that Lord of the Rings doesn’t actually take place in Medieval Europe and elves aren’t real… your opinion is pretty much voided on principle.

Not my point tonight.

What I DO wish to discuss is WHY you should care about The Little Mermaid live action (and other ‘why are they doing this’ movies) and the number one reason you aren’t hearing more about this point:

1. Disney doesn’t want to talk about it.

This year, there is a Winnie the Pooh movie coming out that has nothing to do with a rumbly tumbly hunny lovin bear, and has everything to do about a cannibalistic monster and his piggie friend on, what I assume, will be a horrifying murder spree. The original A.A. Milne stories have reached public domain level, so you can go do a Winnie story, but you must be assuredly certain that the version you are utilizing is THAT version and not anything close to the Jim Cummings voiced silly ol’ bear. Next year, Steamboat Willie finally gets to public domain after Disney has destroyed our copyright law to save him.

That’s why there is a new Little Mermaid, a CGI Lion King, a Maleficent and Cruella film. Disney is thrilled if they do well, but if they don’t.. eh, that’s ok, they’ve served a far greater legal purpose of continuing to push a variation of a character they can hold on to.

The best thing you can do next year when the lifeless, like a doll’s eyes, black and white mouse finds his way into all of our legal hands – much like when Winnie The Pooh: Blood & Honey comes out, is support the endeavors of these people who are throwing our public ownership into the face of the beast that has continued to push laws that allow them to own things forever. And this is Disney we’re talking about.. the company that owns everything, anyway.

All I’m asking is for you to go see THOSE pieces of entertainment, if anything, because it really will tick the mouse off.

We’re nearing SomethingSpookums season, so wasn’t Hatton surprised when Rob suggested one of the Summer’s sleeper horror hits Black Phone.

A young man is kidnapped by the local kidnapper, natch, and through a series of mysterious moments… maybe he finds his way home?

Was it good? Was it great? Was it overhyped or just right? It’s time for Something in Review: Black Phone

Who ya gonna call! …wrong movie, sorry…

Full Episode

♫ We’re goin back…. back… back to schooOol ♫

Now, we’re aware tha tmost of the people that listen to his show have had no more pencils, no more books, no more of those dirty looks for at least a decade… but that does not mean that there isn’t a whole series of films that take place int he hallowed halls of alma maters across this great land of ours.

So which ones are the Somethings favorites? Which ones go straight to detention? How many can do the triple lindy?

Find out if you agree, or rather are.. just one of the guys…

Ok, here we go to 3rd period Chem!

Full Episode

The Wheel is a neverending mistress, always spinning, always providing. It is the alpha, the omega, and what decides our fate. We are but pawns in its sometimes brilliant, sometimes cruel decisions.

Today, the Wheel spins yet again, and the Somethings are confronted with their biggest disaster yet – plotting their own elevator pitch for a Disaster Film!

To join them on this harrowing adventure, they have called in the source of Crystal’s Imagination, Crystal Storm!

So settle in, hold your loved ones tight, and dodge the falling meteors, it’s Elevator Pitch: Disaster Movie!

Ok, here we woooaaahhh, was that a tremor? I felt a tremor…

Full Episode

Since the world is currently learning what artsy nerds have known for 20 years, that The Sandman is amazing, the Somethings had the brilliant (and coincidental) idea to do a movie that ties in ever so slightly to the Sandman mythos… the story of a man who can see the evil forces that move between worlds and fight them for the benefit of his own soul.

He also knows kung-fu… whoa…

This month, we are looking at the Keanu version of Hellblazer in – Constantine. Does it hold up? Did it ever? Did you even remember it existed?

Find out these answers and more, on Something In Review: Constantine

Ok, here we ghoooOooOooost

Full Episode

So to start us off – this whole discussion spawned off of our recent ‘Franchises That Should Have Stopped‘ episode. Apparently, I touched a livewire with some controversy that I had never stumbled upon. Surprising, given I love a bad movie and I love a weird story… the tale of Joe Dante and Gremlins 2 had passed me by.

I appreciate some of our listeners telling me how wrong I was about how Gremlins 2 being bad.  They explain that it is, in fact, kind of brilliant if you understand what’s going on.  I went and read the tweet thread on it (with a big shoutout to Professor Murder and Kess) as well as watched some interviews with Director Joe Dante, and fell into the rabbithole that is Gremlins 2.

The short version – Warner Brothers didn’t expect Gremlins to be a hit, but it was. They wanted a sequel, but Joe Dante, director of the first one, didn’t want to make it. They kept throwing money at him until he relented, and in turn, used the budget to make a commentary as to why Gremlins didn’t need a sequel.  Dammit… that’s good.  He went in with making a movie that embodies the absurdity of commercialism culture, sequels, lampoons Ted Turner and Trump, the bad reviews that Gremlins received, and the disregard of classic cinema.  So, let me state, right here and now, that as an adult looking at the call and response of an artist making fools of the studio with their own money…

BUT!

When lil’ me was 10 years old with my Gizmo toy and perfect impression of Stripe going ‘DEEAGLE DEAGLE DEAGLE’ who saw the original film at the drive-in, watched Gremlins 2 and read the novelization (which does not feature Hulk Hogan, but a cut-in by Brain Gremlin which may have been my first real exploration into meta-text) — I was confused. The movie I got felt so much closer to Critters or Killer Klowns than it did the perfect scary Christmas movie about a terrorized small town that was the original. As an adult, I don’t even know what I could have received that would have sated my Gremlins love. Ghostbusters 2 was good, but not great. Honey I Blew Up The Kids… meh.

What could G2 been that would have held any candle to the original?

I have to accept that maybe the correct answer is that the only movie that deserved to follow Gremlins, was the Gremlins 2 we got – and knowing the whole of the tale makes 40-something ol’ me appreciate its balls a lot more. Amusingly enough, I stand by that the original movie didn’t need a sequel, and the man who made that sequel apparently agreed with that idea so much… he made this particular sequel.

If you would like to fall into this rabbit hole – here are a couple of the places I did research:
Gremlins 2 Q&A w/ Joe Dante
The Institute of Gremlins 2 Studies

Some movies build a universe that expands the lore and mythos, that delves deep into other characters and builds new ways to love what you already loved.  They are treasures that feel like each moment is a part of a greater whole.

Some movies need to make rent so they sell themselves to whatever bidder happens to have a coupon for a McRib Value Meal.

Today, the Somethings are talking about the latter of those two – movies that went one strong, maybe two strong, but somewhere down the line you can find a copy of their 4th outting stuck to the bottom of the DVD Value Pack box at RiteAid.  Or they’re loved and we’re monsters and you’ll have to tweet us to tell us why.

So let’s get this year started right!

Ok, here we go!

Full Episode