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174 - Parents (1989) (Straight Up 002)
61 Plays8 months ago
Parents (1989)
“You really like the dark, don’t you, Michael? You can be yourself in the dark. But, you know? There’s one dark place that we have to be very careful in…”
It’s yet another fifth Thursday (in February?? REALLY??) and you know what that means! That’s right, it’s the second-ever episode of Straight Up, the show-within-a-show where we let Tucker fly in the face of God and the format to bring us all a movie from the deep recesses of his memory! This week, we’re looking at this Bob Balaban-directed dark comedy and, along the way, we’re chatting about cannibal movies, gearshift movies, and why we should have seen the Randy Quaid downward spiral coming! We also plan an impromptu Walter Hill theme month and reassert our appreciation for the oeuvre of John Waters!
There is one dark place that we ALL have to be very careful in: social media! Follow us there!
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- Join our Patreon for exclusive bonus content, including last month’s Unenfranchised episode on The Rage: Carrie 2 at https://patreon.com/Disenfranchpod
- Watch our big screen debut in Circle City Supernatural from our buddy J.P. Leck! You can either buy it on BluRay through his website, buy/rent it through Amazon Prime, or watch it free with ads on Tubi!
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Transcript
Opening Tension and Theme Introduction
00:00:07
Speaker
What's wrong with you man? Get the other record. Damn.
Podcast Introduction and Co-Host Mention
00:00:54
Speaker
You really like the dark, don't you, listener? You can be yourself in the dark.
00:00:59
Speaker
But you know, there's one dark place that we have to be very careful in. And that's the disenfranchised podcast. We're that podcast all about those franchises of one, those films that fancy themselves full fledged franchises before falling flat on their face after the first film. I'm your host, Stephen Foxworthy. We have not heard from Brett Wright for a few days since he wandered in to check on a wayward child in his neighborhood. We wish him very speedy return. In the meantime, though,
00:01:30
Speaker
about a little over a year ago, we invited into our homes and into our lives and into our podcast, a man who is, shall we say, a little more on the demanding side of things.
Special Episodes and Guest Introduction
00:01:46
Speaker
And he just had a lot of movies that he really wanted to talk about. And
00:01:52
Speaker
Rather than, you know, put my foot down and be the stern taskmaster, I have been because he's a lot more annoying than Brett, you see. I opted to give him space on the main feed once every
00:02:10
Speaker
three months, four times a year, to go off format, completely off topic, and talk about whatever the hell his weird little heart desires. The first of those was just a few months ago, last year, when we talked about the return of Captain Invisible. Invincible, excuse me? Invincible. Invincible. The second is today. This is the second episode of a little show we call Straight Up, and the man is our very own Tucker. Tucker, how are we doing tonight?
00:02:42
Speaker
Hello, Steven. I'm doing well. How are you? I'm doing okay. I am this movie, man. We're going to talk about it, but yeah, man. Yeah. I'm confused.
00:02:55
Speaker
I'm confused. Help me make it make sense. So yeah, basically, the premise of this show, this show is straight up, you'll notice the intro music you heard is very different.
Humorous Exchange and Film Introduction
00:03:07
Speaker
If I had had the foresight, I would have downloaded a part of the chorus of Paula Abdul singing straight up and dropped it on the soundboard. So I could just play it randomly throughout the episode. That would have been a lot of fun. Had I thought about it once in a while, every once in a while, there's a
00:03:22
Speaker
Yeah, or just straight up. Yeah, just, you know, I that would have been fun. Had I thought about it, you know, before 10 minutes ago, I might have actually gotten it done, but it didn't happen. Maybe next time. Maybe next time. Maybe for episode three. Straight up, maybe for episode three. But yeah, that straight up is basically the show where it's it's part of our main feed. But we let Tucker pretty much do whatever the fuck he wants and
00:03:52
Speaker
believe me, I have my reservations and we'll get into those, I'm sure. But Tucker, what movie are we talking about today?
Discussion on 'Parents' and Cast Performances
00:04:04
Speaker
We are talking about the 1989 almost cult classic film, Parents. I'd say it's it qualifies as a cult classic.
00:04:17
Speaker
It does now, but we'll get more into that when we talk about our histories with the film. Sure, sure. 1989's Parents, directed by Bob Balaban. Yes, that Bob Balaban and written by Christopher Hawthorne and starring Randy Quaid, Mary Beth Hurt, Sandy Dennis.
00:04:35
Speaker
Brian Medorski, Juno Mills Cockle, Debra Rush, and a few others, including Wayne Robson and Graham Jarvis. What a cast.
00:04:49
Speaker
What a picture, Tucker. Oh, Mary Beth hurt, dude. I love her so much. She's going to breathe. Thank her. My favorite performance of hers is actually in Bob Balban's follow up to this future episode of Straight Up. My boyfriend's back. My boyfriend's back. She is.
00:05:07
Speaker
a treat in that fucking movie. And she's great in this movie, too. I love the way that she plays off Randy Quaid that you can tell that she has a lot of respect for him. Also, she doesn't agree with the way that he interacts with the boy. Mm hmm. And I love her relationship with him. I love how starkly different it is than his relationship with his father. There's so much going on in this movie, dude. So much going on. And Mary Beth Hurt and well, everybody in this movie is just making a meal out of it, dude.
00:05:37
Speaker
They they a meal out of it. I mean, ironic that you say it quite that way. But yeah, I know. Like Randy Quaid, I am afraid like from the first frame, Randy Quaid before you even know what this movie is about, you are afraid of that man. Yeah. If there's something about that man where you're like, I you I don't know about this guy.
00:05:58
Speaker
It almost foreshadows his legal problems in the last 15 years or so. It foreshadows the way that he's gone off the deep end within the last 15 years. It's pretty wild. I don't know his character and this is a lot more subtle than what he has become in real life. I mean, anything is more subtle. His character in Independence Day is more subtle than what he's become in real life. Yes, yes. I like his characters more than I like him.
00:06:27
Speaker
I mean, Cousin Eddie is more subtle than what he's become in real life. Let's be honest. Give me the drunk from Independence Day. Like, come on. Yeah. Fuck, give me Cousin Eddie. Shitter's full. Yes. OK, fine. Well, in that movie, not in the sequel, that's all about Cousin Eddie. Yeah. Well, I mean, he's funny in the canonical vacation movies, but there's a reason he doesn't show up in the remake and nor should he. And there's a reason that nobody saw that sequel.
00:06:57
Speaker
I think he was the only thing
National Lampoon's Vacation and Personal Anecdotes
00:06:59
Speaker
that I thought was funny about, doesn't he show up in Vegas vacation? He is. He's a big part of Vegas vacation. Yeah, the only part I liked. Vegas vacation, future episode of Unenfranchised behind our paywall patreon.com slash disenfranch pod. I can't wait to see that again. I haven't seen it since we saw that the movie theater as a family.
00:07:22
Speaker
when it came out. I watched that one for the first time on HBO and then watched it most recently during 2020 when I decided to do an entire franchise rewatch of the National Lampoon vacation franchise. I think it's better than European vacation. I might. No, I don't think I agree with you. I actually like European vacation.
00:07:45
Speaker
It's it's wheels too much for me. It's the but yes, it does. Absolutely. Like, but I'm also not a huge fan of Christmas vacation, actually. Like, I think I understand really works. I get why people like Christmas vacation. But the reason that I don't like it as much anymore is because of how much people like it. And I hate to be that way. I don't like being that way. But when something gets popular and I can't like look
00:08:12
Speaker
in any direction without slamming right into it. It just gets annoying and I don't like it anymore, no matter how good it is. I just get sick of hearing about it. Right. No, I get it. That was one of my...
00:08:25
Speaker
My ex-wife's favorites was the National Lampoon's Christmas Vacation. We watched it every year without fail. It was kind of required watching for us. So I kind of got very sick of it very quickly. I'm actually trying to look through letterboxed to see if I can find my ranked list of the vacation movies.
00:08:46
Speaker
I thought the reboot was OK. It was fine. That's a future episode of this podcast, by the way, is I'd love to watch that again. We will definitely remember. I remember not hating that is what I'm going to say. I remember being like, yes, it's OK. I don't hate. Yeah. Here's my. God, do I really have Christmas vacation at number one?
00:09:11
Speaker
Well, maybe you do. I think I do. It looks like I do. And then the original at number two, European at number three, I give that one two stars, though. So I didn't clearly didn't like it very much. Vegas vacation gets one and a half stars and vacation also gets one and a half stars, although that may that that's the remake, the 2015 vacation. That one may raise a little bit when I get a chance to rewatch it. I guess we'll find out.
00:09:37
Speaker
Let's do a rewatch the whole series, Steven. I haven't seen a vacation since the reboot came out. We can definitely do that. I just finished, I just wrapped up a franchise rewatch this week. So I'm actually going to do another franchise rewatch starting tomorrow.
Rewatch Plans and Movie Preferences
00:09:53
Speaker
I've already got my list planned out for that one. It's going to culminate in me seeing a movie on the big screen at the end of the week.
00:10:00
Speaker
Oh, so yeah. That's cool. Yeah. So I'm gonna see I'm gonna watch all the dunes. I'm gonna watch the documentary Yoderowski is doing I'm gonna watch the David Lynch dune I watched the sci fi channel mini series dune, the sci fi channel mini series sequel children of dune, and then dune part one and then go to the theater to see doing part two.
00:10:26
Speaker
Nice. I never really got into it. I've seen the Lynch version. I just don't. It's it's that it's that color palette. You know, my brain can't do it. I want to the fish can't get into it. The reboot or the remake, the updated the Denis Villeneuve film is the new ones. Yeah. Yeah. That's what I've heard. And I've heard the sequels even better. So I'm really because that one was my second favorite movie of 2021 after Matrix resurrections.
00:10:55
Speaker
I'm glad that Dune fans are getting their due. Look, they've waited a long time. That's what I've heard. So, yeah. So, Steven, what's your history with this movie, Parents? I wonder. God, about a few months ago,
00:11:17
Speaker
Yeah. Some guy I host a podcast with is like, I'm going to do my own show and I'm a straight up make parents the first episode, yo. Hey, hey, I want to do my own show. Is that how I sound, Steven? Hey, hey. No, the way you do it, you sound like Eric Cartman. Maybe. But, Steven, I want my own show. Pretty much.
00:11:44
Speaker
But no, so you had mentioned it to me and I my my partner, my partner and I have a big debate over this. When we first started like dating, even before we were dating, we watched a lot of movies together because we both like movies and she likes a lot of horror movies. And three of the movies that we watched together were cannibal films.
00:12:12
Speaker
And in my mind, if you like this movie enough, oh, do you want me to go through them? I want to know what they were, yeah. I want to judge you. A future episode of this podcast, The Green Inferno. OK. Then a future episode of this podcast, Babysitter Wanted. I don't know about that one.
00:12:30
Speaker
It's bad spoilers. It's a cannibal movie. It's real bad. And then raw the the French extremity film, raw, which is fucking it. Have you seen raw, Tucker? I have not. Tucker, you need to see raw, raw fucking rules. I know the poster. Yeah, but I
Music and Style Comparisons in 'Parents'
00:12:50
Speaker
haven't seen it raw. It's like branded in the lady's butt or something, right?
00:12:54
Speaker
Is it? I don't know. The poster I know is like she's got her fingers up to her lips and like there's like blood dripping from them. But it's it's good. It's French and it's it's sexy as hell. And there's people eating people and it's fucking great. Nice.
00:13:15
Speaker
Um, so yeah, I, of those three films, raw is far and away the best one. Um, but we, so I was like, you like cannibal. She's like, I don't like cannibal movies. And I was like.
00:13:28
Speaker
But but but evidence. And she's like, no, I like those movies. Those are good. She does not think babysitter one. It was good. She was like, this is one that I liked when I was younger and I haven't rewatched it since. Let's watch it. And we watched it and she's like, this is the worst thing I've ever seen. And I was like, it's pretty bad. So but we'll cover it on this podcast one day, I'm sure. But she she's like, I like those movies in spite of the cannibalistic elements of them.
00:13:56
Speaker
Yeah, I get that. I don't necessarily like cannibal movies, but there are some movies that I like that are cannibal movies, which she remembered you saying that I think on a past episode, it was kind of like, wait, why is this the movie that you that Tucker wants to cover? Because this is this is absolutely a cannibal movie.
00:14:15
Speaker
And I will call him out on that, I guess. She was not impressed with what she saw of it. I will say that. We had started to watch it several months ago and she couldn't get into it. It wasn't her thing. And then I paused it and stopped watching it and just didn't get back to it.
00:14:33
Speaker
until earlier today when I sat down, I was like, I need to watch parents. So I sat down and I rewatched it and I watched the whole damn thing straight through. And I've now seen parents. So that is my history with the 1989 Bob Balaban film Parents. It's such a mood. It is this movie. There is. I should have. I feel like this would be a really great double feature with serial mom.
00:14:57
Speaker
I think it would. And you do you do serial mom second. I think that's what I would have suggested to you. I don't know if you would have been able to follow these stipulations, but I should have given you the best like climate, I guess, to watch this movie. And you want to you want to watch it a little bit louder than you normally would anything else. Just not really loud, but just a little bit louder. You you want the lights to be dim.
00:15:25
Speaker
And you need to not be disturbed while it's on. That's the perfect way to watch this movie, because it if you let it. It will take a hold of you and just not let go until it's over. But if if everything's not like the way you need it to be, you might not like I can watch it in any situation.
00:15:48
Speaker
and be like, yeah, rad, because I've done it in optimal conditions before. Right. I've experienced it that way today. I did have two interruptions. Whatever. I did have it on loud, though, and I only had one light on in my room and my window closed. So see, I don't have curtains in my living room loud. So strike one did not have the volume cranked. Had it just, you know, loud enough to be heard over my fan and then
00:16:14
Speaker
had more than two interruptions, I'm afraid, during the watch. So conditions not optimal for Stevens viewing, apparently. You need you need the volume up. Like I said, you don't need to blare it, you don't need to blast it, but you need it up a little louder than you normally would watch something at. Because that score, it, it pulses through the entire thing. And the only way that you're really going to
00:16:38
Speaker
catch a ride on that rhythm of the score is if your volume's up just a tiny bit more. Like, I will get technical on this movie, dude. There are ways to watch this movie. This is apparently. The guy who did the score, BT Dubs, that's the Twin Peaks guy. He did a couple of songs. I don't think he did the whole score. But yeah, I did. I did track his name in the opening credits and turned to my partner and went, hey, Angelo Battlemente. And she kind of looked at me unknowingly. But yeah.
00:17:09
Speaker
A lot of the music in this film, they're instrumentals from the fifties. Right. Stuff like Cherry Blossoms, which is a song, the opening song with that trumpet that the guy's playing way like a higher octave than you should ever play on a trumpet. And it's amazing. Right.
Creative Choices and Inspiration Behind 'Parents'
00:17:29
Speaker
There's most of the music is composed of that. But the like three or four bits of music that are not
00:17:38
Speaker
just instrumentals from the fifties are Angelo. And it all it fits in seamlessly. And his stuff is the stuff that's more like that weird cerebral stuff that pulses and thumbs in the background. But he does some of the the lighter themes, too, like some of the stuff. A few of those, you need low mambo, I think is what it's called. Yeah. Yeah. You expect that to be like the other ones, but that's actually an original from your boy Angelo.
00:18:04
Speaker
Right. Who is I mean, there's a reason why he he has been or I think was he is he I think he might not be with us any longer. I'm going to double check on that. But I think he'd passed away fairly recently. Yeah. Twenty twenty two. But like there was a reason he was Lynch's guy like he is right before Twin Peaks right before Twin Peaks. Yeah. Like he's been, I think, a composer for Lynch. Pretty consistently did Blue Velvet, didn't he?
00:18:34
Speaker
I'm looking back through his his filmography right now. He does. He does do wild at heart. He does do Twin Peaks. He is also the composer for speaking of National Lampoon's Christmas vacation. Oh, Angelo.
00:18:48
Speaker
His first collaboration with Lynch is Blue Velvet. You're right. Yeah. And then immediately after that, he does Nightmare on Elm Street, three dream warriors. Yeah. He composes the work for Twin Peaks Wild at Heart. Lynch's follow up to that Twin Peaks Firewalk with me. Future episode of this podcast Twin Peaks Firewalk with me. And then it looks like he takes a little bit. Oh, he does do Lost Highway for Lynch as well, which I'm trying to think if that that might be Lynch's follow up to
00:19:17
Speaker
Um, firewalk with me. Uh, he does the straight story as well. So yeah, pretty much since blue velvet, like he is Lynch has got Mulholland drive, which is God, I love that score so much. He can do so much. Um, but what I really love, uh, the stuff that he does that I love the most is the more ambient stuff like you hear in this film, the more surreal ambient stuff. I mean, that's all twin peaks is really is that ambient stuff.
00:19:47
Speaker
Yeah, he also does. Oh, God, he does the the music for the Neil Lebut film, The Wicker Man that we were talking about on behind the paywall. So, yeah. But yeah, like he's he's I think the only one of Lynch's films he doesn't score is Inland Empire.
00:20:08
Speaker
Like I don't are very pro Angelo here on the disenfranchised. I mean, we we do. We love Angelo Badalamenti. We love David Lynch. We stand both of them for sure, for sure. And that's another thing about this film. I promise I'm going to get to my history with it. But that's another thing about this film is that it is in a lot of ways, it is very lynching. I think I used to tell the joke that this movie is just this is David Lynch's childhood.
00:20:36
Speaker
I mean, this is that's this movie. This is childhood. He always talks about, you know, growing up in the in the suburbs and, you know, the middle America, the record did the fifties and rock and roll. You know, I love the fifties. It's the decade I grew up in. Yeah, pretty much. Yeah. So my history with this film, Stephen, if I may, you may. By all means, I've been waiting for it.
00:21:06
Speaker
This was the first weird little movie that I ever found on my own. Back when I was a teenager, being a film fan, I did not have to walk uphill both ways to school in snow with bare feet, but I did not have the internet to watch movies on.
00:21:27
Speaker
to watch every movie ever available at the at the tip of my fingers that did not that was not happening. I wish it was like work back in the day. I wish every movie ever made was available at the touch of my finger. Now, I am obviously exaggerating. But Stephen, in the context that I'm speaking, you know what I mean? I do. Like you can get pretty much anything now. Like, are there some blind spots? Sure. There's some weird shit that's only on out of print DVD that you're like, how is this not streaming?
00:21:56
Speaker
But the hardest time when I did Friedkin's filmography had the hardest time rounding it out because his movie Rampage was only ever released on VHS. It never got a physical media release after that.
00:22:07
Speaker
Yeah. So you kind of have to pirate it to watch it and every, every, every rip of it is grainy as shit because of it. It's just a VHS and you're not going to get it in the original aspect ratio. It's going to be four by three. It's like, it's going to suck regardless. Yeah. 480 P looking shit. Um, speaking of pan and scan four by three, four 80.
00:22:31
Speaker
Uh, so I just plucked this randomly off of a video store shelf. This was being sold at a little video store in Greenwood. Um, I don't remember what it was called, but it was an independently owned video store. And it's where I went to get all my weird movies. And, uh, the first time I ever stopped by there, I grabbed, uh, this and they were selling it. It was a couple bucks. I got on VHS and I took it home.
00:22:58
Speaker
Steven, I was probably 15. OK. When I first saw this. Mm hmm. And I have been a fan ever since I have shown this to as many people as possible. I made this movie hot, Steven. I made this movie hot because when I saw it like in the late 90s, this movie came out in 89. Yeah. I saw this in the late 90s. Nobody had heard of this shit. No. Twenty five years later.
00:23:27
Speaker
I don't know if it's an implanted memory or if it was an actual genuine memory, but I seem to recall as I was watching this, one of my friends on the playground telling me about a similar movie to this. I don't know if it was this one or if it was Serial Mom or something.
00:23:44
Speaker
but like a movie about like killer parents. I have this vague recollection of and I feel like I know which of my friends it was. But I just have this vague recollection of hearing about it on the playground when I was in elementary school. Nice. Yeah, so this was good.
00:24:05
Speaker
No, I just, I just, yeah, I'm trying to like, I'm trying to determine, again, I can't tell if it's a real memory or just one that I made up. So like, I don't know, it feels, it feels tenuous at best. So I don't want to rely on it. But yeah. When I saw this movie, this was the weirdest movie I'd ever seen. Okay. Yeah. Of course, since then. Sure. It's considered a little tame now, if I'm being honest.
00:24:33
Speaker
Stay tuned for weird shit from Tucker. You got you got to start somewhere, man. You got to start somewhere. Everyone's got to start somewhere is where I started. I didn't know you were allowed to make movies like this, like with the weird surreal shit like him jumping in the bed and it just turning into like a
00:24:52
Speaker
pool of like a literal swimming pool of blood. Mm hmm. Like all the switches to black and white and the grainy close ups and stuff like every time like he gets like the scared or he gets the last color there is usually in this film. Right. I like when he catches his parents getting a little friendly there in the living room, it just goes
00:25:15
Speaker
like the most like washed out black and white. Right. I love the filmmaking choices in this movie. And then when you do see the color, it's like like desaturated quite a bit. Yeah. Yeah. Because you need to see the lipstick stains on their faces, which becomes something else as he remembers it more later. Like, yeah. There's so many choices, filmmaking choices in this movie.
00:25:42
Speaker
that as like a 15 year old kid that was just starting my journey as a fan of a film. Mm hmm. I just I didn't know you could do that kind of stuff. I didn't know that was possible. And even though I think every time I watch it, I I get it a little more. I appreciate it a little more. But even that first time I watched it where I just had no idea what the fuck was going on. Mm hmm.
00:26:10
Speaker
I still was like, this is, this is something like I, I've discovered something. I feel like I'm making a mountain out of mashed potatoes here, man. I buy it. So I've, I've consistently watched it over the years. Um, I think it's fantastic.
00:26:35
Speaker
Uh, like I said, I've showed it to pretty much everyone I've ever come into contact with. If you hang around me long enough, we're going to watch parents. And I guess it's our turn. I would say overwhelmingly the, the response has been positive. I don't think anyone has disliked it. There have been people that are like, like, this is not for me, but I appreciate it. Like I get it. And that's rad. But that's like the worst I've ever gotten.
00:27:03
Speaker
Yeah, and I didn't I just I'll tell you right up the top just to put your mind at ease. I didn't hate this movie. I. I reckon I again, I think I fall into this isn't for me. I don't think the fifties pastiche works for me quite as well as it might for like someone my father's age, someone who grew up in this top frame shows your dad like it. No, he will not. I guarantee my father will not like this movie. No. Yeah.
00:27:30
Speaker
But like, I can appreciate the filmmaking style, like the choices and the style are really, I think, the star of this film. I feel like
00:27:39
Speaker
I was reading Roger Ebert's review or looking at a transcript of Roger Ebert's review from... I didn't know he reviewed this. Yeah, at the movies, he and Gene Siskel reviewed this one. How do you feel about this? I feel like he'd go either way on it, honestly. Honestly, it went the opposite way I would have expected. Ebert didn't really care for it and Siskel thought it was really fun, which is not the way I would have thought it would have gotten. I would have thought it would have gone the other way.
00:28:07
Speaker
But but good old Uncle Roger said it feels like a black comedy.
00:28:15
Speaker
where the jokes just never really hit. And that's kind of where I found myself is like, it feels like it takes itself too seriously to really lean into the elements that it wants you to think are funny to actually be funny. And that's, I felt like it didn't, it didn't grab me for that. Like I was kind of waiting for the comedy to kick in and it never really does for me.
00:28:45
Speaker
I think that's a problem because I've never seen this as a comedy. There are some things that are funny, not because they're jokes.
00:29:02
Speaker
because sometimes something so uncomfortable that it's funny. Right. I think his his relationship with the boss's daughter, there are some elements of that that can be funny, but overall are honestly, that's kind of fucked up, too. Like that little girl is fucked up. Correct. Fucked up. I mean, and you you never get a sense of what her deal is because she's not a full character, really. No, like.
00:29:31
Speaker
She's periphery. Yeah. But like every the things that you do find out about her, like the first conversation they have, the first thing you hear her say is she teaches everyone in the class how to make a Gibson.
00:29:43
Speaker
It's an onion in your martini man. It's good one of what there's a reason I have Cocktail olives or cocktail onions in my refrigerator right now. My partner loves Gibson's so I actually that's how I know That's how I know what a Gibson is because of this movie. I also because of this movie I know That if you cut off somebody's hands and you boil them Get them really hot and you boil them and and then you drink the water and
00:30:13
Speaker
You can be invisible No, no. No, it's that you take a cat's carcass and You broil it all there's hands the hands. It's the the how you don't have to pay for gas again Look I've heard that some people on the internet they say that this That they think the people are witches because it's not the stuff that they say I don't I read that catch that
00:30:37
Speaker
I don't really get that vibe. But then again, I don't know a lot about witchcraft. So right like they come from Massachusetts like Salem witch trials. Yeah, all that. Yeah. He works for modern company. Yeah.
00:30:50
Speaker
Randy Quaid says that they'll be burned if they find out, but I don't know. Those aren't dots to be connected to me. It feels like you're grasping for something. I think the main takeaway is that they're cannibals. They eat people. That's the headline.
00:31:09
Speaker
I feel like I was watching this and I feel like this feel, I said to my partner, this feels, who was not watching this movie with me. She was kind of like up around doing stuff and would occasionally pop in while I was watching it. I was like, this feels like Tucker's vegetarian awakening moment to me.
00:31:26
Speaker
No, not at all. Which I know it wasn't, but like it feels like it could be because this film has so many shots of meat and the cooking of meat. And it's so gross. It never looks appetizing ever. No, it's like you don't you can't tell really what it is.
00:31:43
Speaker
Like you're suspicious of it immediately. I think the only time it looks appetizing is the first scene on the grill where he's like turning like the, I thought were chickens, but probably aren't. And she's like spraying them. And then he's got like the, he's like seasoning them all and like flipping the one. Like that's the only time it actually appealed to me. And every other time you see any cut of meat in this movie, especially the scenes where they're frying the liver,
00:32:11
Speaker
Um, it just, and that sandwich at the end. Oh, gross. Yeah. Like every, every other time I see meat in this movie, I'm like, should I become a vegetarian? Like, I think, look, look, grandpa, I think, I think Michael is, uh, he's a little too big to get him to bed. I'm just saying. Yeah.
00:32:32
Speaker
You don't carry anyone over like three years old like that, dude. Come on. Correct. But you see it's but and I think that's the thing because it parallels the the end of this movie, parallels the beginning of this movie so well in that you get the the father figure carrying the son to bed, putting him to bed. And that's what leads to that final like question. I don't even know if I would call it a reveal. But the final question of
00:33:03
Speaker
very ambiguous because that's his parents. Right. And and Mary Beth hurt like she says in the movie, like he says in the movie, your mom didn't like it at first, but she came around. Exactly. Like those are his parents. So. And the fact that the the fact that the midnight snack that they leave him is a giant ass sandwich of nothing but meat. Fucking meat sandwich. Yeah. Try to eat. I've ever seen in my life.
00:33:31
Speaker
Again, it looks so unapp, even the scene where she's like making the meatloaf, it's just ground beef, but it's not filmed in such a way that makes it look appetizing. But then again, that reminds me of like those 50s like cookbooks and shit that you see like all those recipes featuring like jello molds and and just like everything's like fucking congealed and nasty and gross and shit. Like that's what it kind of reminded me of is that like 50s Betty Crocker
00:33:58
Speaker
Housewife following a recipe that she cut out of a magazine and it ends up being awful Kind of a thing and she trimmed off all the fat So it's so it's dry as shit is basically what I think
00:34:13
Speaker
I think her that joke was because it was Sandy Dennis and she was a little chubby in that movie. I think that was the joke. No, that is 100 percent the joke there. But yeah, like we're like just carving up people. And and I don't know, I feel like the poster kind of gives away the twist of the movie, particularly because the twist of the movie really doesn't fully come into play until like an hour in.
00:34:39
Speaker
No, yeah. And so, you know, that's if you can go in blind, if that's possible, if you can go in blind for the first hour, you're going to be like, I don't know what the fuck is going on with something is going on and I'm uncomfortable.
00:34:52
Speaker
Exactly. It feels like one of those things that benefits from like like Barbarian. It benefits from you not knowing anything about it beforehand. I would say another movie that famously had the the twist spoiled in the in the fucking marketing Terminator 2. That movie works so much better if you.
00:35:12
Speaker
Because the twist of that movie is that Arnold's good now. That's the twist of that movie. But they spoiled that in the fucking marketing. So like because Robert Patrick's character like becomes a cop and like is also looking for John Connor. Like it's a whole misdirect thing that until Arnie says to her, come with me if you want to live, you're not really sure if he's if he's a good guy or not. Like it's, you know, pretty intense and pretty amazing.
00:35:41
Speaker
The best switcheroo, the best twist in any movie ever. Unfortunately had to be spoiled by its marketing to sell the movie, and that is from dusk till dawn. Imagine going into that blind. Imagine not knowing that's a vampire movie. That's a great imagine that, Steven. Can you fucking imagine you're just sitting there having fun, like watching these two assholes boss around this family and the ladies dancing and everything's great. Yeah.
00:36:11
Speaker
We're having a great time, you know, except for Richie. Richie's little except for Richie. We're not in a great time with him. He's no. Oh, Richie's kind of a despicable, disgusting character. And I hate him. But like it works for the movie. Right. But that it just just like that. All of a sudden there's all these out of nowhere. It's like vampires. It's a gear shift movie, man. That's what the movie is, dude. Hancock takes some notes.
00:36:40
Speaker
No, man. I fucking love like Predator. Predator is another one that I really fucking love. Yes. Where you're just like that movie starts off as a balls out 80s action movie and then becomes a slasher movie halfway through slasher. Yes. And it's and you get to watch the pinnacle of 80s masculinity just get killed off one by one. That's the best part of the slasher part of that is they establish so much how like how big a fucking badass these guys are. Yeah.
00:37:08
Speaker
Yeah, like, oh, yeah, these dudes are badasses, right? Well, check this shit out. Exactly. Exactly. Invisible, badass. So the back half of that movie is so effective for that very reason, like it's. Got in another another gear shift movie I really love. Now we're on gear shift. We were on cannibal movies. Now we're on gear shift movies. Boogie nights, fucking boogie nights, dude.
00:37:34
Speaker
like that New Year's scene and the shot when when William H. Macy goes fucking ballistic in that scene. And the rest of that movie is just like awful. He's in that. Yeah, dude, he's pulled to Paul Paul Thomas Anderson movie. Of course he is like so fucking good in it. Billy H. Macy. Yeah, buddy.
00:37:57
Speaker
Um, but yeah, no gear shift movies. I fucking love them. I fucking love them. And predator is, I think predator is one of the best. And I think from dust till dawn is another great example of that as well. Um, but yeah, I think this movie is, and I wouldn't even call this a gear shift movie because the entire time is just kind of this unsettling thing. And it's, it feels like.
00:38:23
Speaker
to me, and I could be wrong, but it feels like the writer of this movie has some trauma because he walked in on his mom and dad fucking one time. And couldn't get over that. And this movie feels like born out of that kind of trauma. But then like, but what's worse than your parents fucking your parents eating a bunch of raw human meat. Can I tell you about the writer of this film? Fucking Yes, please do.
00:38:52
Speaker
I want you want me to tell you about him while fucking. No, no, no, no, no. I'd be eating. I got to make some calls, but I guess like. The writer of this film, Christopher Hawthorne, who hasn't really done much, he's more of a marketing guy. Mm hmm. But he wrote this script and just kind of had it. And he met Bob Balaban on a plane
00:39:21
Speaker
And he was like, hey, check this out. And Bob was like, this is fucking right. Can I direct it? And he was like, yeah. And now here we are. There you go. They just met on a plane and he had the script with him. He's like, you want to check this out? He's like, actually, I do. And then bam, here
Research Challenges and Cast Career Paths
00:39:37
Speaker
we are. And then the rest, as they say, like, you know, that's that's not that's not an easy fact to track down. You'd think that would be in the parents trivia.
00:39:48
Speaker
but it's in the Christopher Hawthorne trivia, is where you get that little bit, little nugget of information. Your boy does the research. This movie, very difficult to research. An attempt was made, dear listener, but at least by me, but for me, it was not a successful attempt, unfortunately.
00:40:12
Speaker
No, there's not a lot of info about it. The guy that played the kid, this is his only movie. He's like an accountant or something or a realtor. I'm not not even a little surprised like it doesn't. I feel like the person, the people that kind of went on to do most is Randy Quaid, Mary Beth Hurt and weirdly, Deborah Rush, who plays Mrs. Zellner. Like I recognized her right off the bat because she's one of the great like, yeah,
00:40:38
Speaker
That guy actors of like comedy like that that girl like she's just literally everything. Yeah, like in and out. You've got mail. She's been in every team. I just actually I watched a lot of inside Amy Schumer the last few days and the last episode I watched, she's in that episode playing Amy Schumer's mom. She's in Strangers with Candy, American Wedding.
00:41:04
Speaker
Um, like she's just all sorts of stuff, man. She just like, she gets around. Is that Tracy Ohman? No, that's Amy Sedaris. Oh shit. How do I mix up? I don't know. It's Amy Sedaris, Stephen Colbert. What was the show with Tracy Aldinello? The Tracy Ohman show. No, there was another gal. There was two of them. Doesn't matter. Moving on. Uh, absolutely fabulous.
00:41:33
Speaker
That that's also not Tracey Ohman. That is dude. That's French and Saunders. Don French and Jennifer Saunders. You maybe add fab dude. Fuck yeah, I remember. That's a pole. That's that's a deep pole. Like that was really popular at the time, but nobody fucking talks about it now. No, it was because it was more popular in England than it was here. I was pretty popular here, I thought. I think it's like as it was, but but it was on it was on cable. It wasn't played on PBS. Oh, did they? OK.
00:42:03
Speaker
I think they play on PBS a little bit. But I miss all the British shows being on PBS. I mean, you still get a few, but not like you used to be. Keeping Up Appearances used to be my jam, dude. I fucking love that show. That's how I'd watch all the episodes of Flying Circus before the VHS came out. I used to have the entire all four seasons of Money Python's Flying Circus on VHS. I believe that. I believe that.
00:42:32
Speaker
That's that's a show that you could get that whole set blindly. Just pick a tape and you're having a good time for an hour. Absolutely. There are no bad episodes of that show. None. I wonder if it's streaming anywhere on Netflix. Netflix has the exclusive rights to the point to where you can't even get clips or individual sketches on YouTube because Netflix is like not fuck you, dude. Oh, dude. OK.
00:42:57
Speaker
Apparently Netflix needs to send some money to Eric Idle because he heard he'd been bitching about like Still having to work and stuff and John Gleese is like shut up idiot because they notoriously all hate each other Yeah, the last month The last movie they all did together with of course with the absent absent Graham Chapman who passed away many years earlier Do you know what it was? Do you know the last movie they all did together? Was it one of those fish called wanders? I
00:43:25
Speaker
No, it was the name of the movie, the not the band or snatch the fucking not Terry Gilliam. It's Terry Jones, the Terry Jones movie. It's also Robin Williams, his last movie. Well, Robin Williams plays a talking dog.
00:43:48
Speaker
Absolutely anything is the name of the movie. It's got Simon Pegg. Oh, that's what he's on. Simon Pegg's on the front and he has the hat and he looks all old timey and stuff. No, he looks old timey. Does he not? No, he does not look old time. No, it's the one with these aliens voiced by the pythons. Pick a human and give him give him the powers of God.
00:44:14
Speaker
And, um, it's the person they pick is Simon Pegg. Um, and yeah, it's the last time that all five of the surviving pythons were together in a, in a film. Uh, they all provide the voices of the five aliens. So yeah. Well, they've never, I mean, they've always worked together professionally, but they've never really been like close as friends. That's why they always, I don't know how much you know about the early days, but they always paired off.
00:44:44
Speaker
When writing, they never wrote as a group like they'd always pair off with the with the one they could stand the most out of the rest of the group. You know, the one they didn't all the way hate. And Gilliam was just kind of off doing his cartoons like that's kind of how it works. Yeah. But yeah, it was I think it was. Hey man, Fleetwood Mac made rumors and they all fucking hated each other. So they sure did. And he said for that great art can come out of contention.
00:45:09
Speaker
I mean, we only pretend to be friends. We only pretend to be friends. We hate each other's guts outside of the podcast. You should. You should see some of the looks Steven gives me when I say some dumb shit on this podcast. Like, I feel like this boy is going to jump through the screen and kill me. There have been times when I have been tempted. I will not lie. There have been looks. If looks could kill, I would have murdered you so many times. That's true. That's true. Now we friends, we friends, though, is all good.
00:45:40
Speaker
Absolutely. So, yeah, that's my history with it. You want to you want to you know, we haven't checked out the Canadian quarter of indifference recently. Do you want to use it instead of the coin of justice? You know why? I just remembered why. It's because we have the coin of justice. Yeah. OK. I mean, you can use it. I mean, this is your show. You can use the Canadian quarter of indifference. No, no, no, no, no, no, no, no. I look I only spent a quarter on this Canadian quarter of indifference.
00:46:08
Speaker
the uh the coin of justice oh i know how much it costs because the invoice came with the with a coin a purchase i'm not complaining at all because it was worth it i'm just saying that would only cost me a quarter we using the coin of justice okay we're getting our money's worth out of this one steven i don't even know like this is a uh a justice silver dollar
00:46:34
Speaker
It's all silver, dude. It's like Norwegian or some shit. It is a pound sterling. So it is literally a pound on one side. It's got a Gibraltar. So maybe it's a Gibraltar. Yeah, same thing. Same. But yeah, it's a Troy ounce 999 fine silver 2021 minted. It's got the Gibraltar crest on the back. It's got Lady Justice on the other side. So it is literally the coin of justice.
00:47:00
Speaker
It is quite legitimately the coin of justice.
Plot Summary Segment and Character Performances
00:47:04
Speaker
Lady Justice's heads, the Gibraltar crest is tails. Why are we talking about the coin of justice? Well, because it's time for the plot in 60 seconds. That's the part of the show where we recount the plot of the film we're discussing. In this case, 1989's Parents. In 60 seconds or less, the coin will determine which of us, Tucker or myself,
00:47:24
Speaker
will be recounting that plot. Tucker, I'm going to flip the coin of justice. You call it in the air. Okay. Heads. And it is heads, you motherfucker. Hey, you can do it, Stephen. I believe in you. That means you have to put 60 seconds on the clock. Oh, yeah, I do. You know what I forgot to mention during? What are we watching?
00:47:48
Speaker
even though that's a that's a that's fine the paywall you guys patreon.com slash dish disenfranch pod if you're interested in that we were talking about um hey vern it's earnest tv show and i was gonna ask you if that's a blind spot in your your tv show theme ability
00:48:08
Speaker
Um, yes, it is. Okay. Well, learn that one. Cause when we get to the existo episode, I'm going to need you to do it. Okay. So I can figure it out. You don't have to, but I'd appreciate it. No, I'll figure it out. Okay. Yeah. For some reason, this is a very stupid, silly skill that I have that I do. Um, I, if you, if you listened to my, the episode that I did, if you want to listen to myself and, uh, friends of the show, Hope Lickner and Beck Stow talk about, um,
00:48:37
Speaker
a single episode of DuckTales and every tangent that comes into our heads for two hours and like 40 minutes or so, but also hear me sing a lot of Disney Afternoon theme songs, or at least recite them. Check out the episode of High On Cartoons that I did for the season one DuckTales episode, the first appearance of Gizmoduck. And I forget the name of that episode, but yeah.
00:49:08
Speaker
I got 60 seconds on the clock, Steven. Whenever you're ready, you just start talking and I'll hit the button. You're going to give me the 30 and 10 second warnings, right? Maybe I feel like it, which I might be fucking better. Sure, maybe. OK, start talking, Steven, so I can start this timer.
00:49:27
Speaker
Anyway, Michael's a kid from the 1950s and he apparently really likes the dark. His parents are very normal 50s parents, but they've just moved from Massachusetts. Michael doesn't like it. And he's not eating meat because his parents have only been providing, have been feeding him leftovers, but not really telling him what it's leftover from since they moved. So he's not really been eating anything, which kind of worries his parents. Plus his teachers are really freaked out because he's painting pictures of blood.
00:49:53
Speaker
Um, and is really freaked out by like pictures of parents getting into bed. Turns out he saw his parents doing something, but we don't really know what it was until later. We eventually figure it out. He, we think he walked in on his parents fucking, but no, he walked in on his parents fucking while eating human remains. Uh, and there's this question whether or not they're actually eating people or not. Turns out they actually are. Um, and so he, um, yeah.
00:50:18
Speaker
He his parents kill his guidance counselor. He escapes his parents, lives with his grandparents, kills his parents, actually escapes to his grandparents, and they are also probably cannibals as well. That's time. Good job, Stephen. Yeah, you left some things out, but you hit the broad strokes. No, you know, let's get it. Let's got the big, the big, the big picture there. The only thing I would have changed is I would have mentioned the boss's daughter. I want to mention that you should have called Tails.
00:50:49
Speaker
Well, no, I'm saying what you did was great. But also, here's my critique. Like, you're welcome. You should be so lucky, Steven. Should I? Should I, though? Yes. Yes. Golly, Duke. So, gosh, Steven, what a movie. What a wild, what a wild ride. It's pretty wild. It's a pretty wild picture. What's your standout performance here?
00:51:14
Speaker
I think weirdly, it's it's Quaid, like, yeah, he's disturbing without and he's not even like being disturbing. Yeah. But just his delivery. That's and that's the thing about the atmosphere, the music like it all comes together. That's the thing about Quaid that I find has always kind of worked to his favor is there always seems to be a maniac just behind those eyes. Turns out it's because there really was one.
00:51:42
Speaker
Yeah, but like that has that was his entire comedic energy for for a long time. Like that. That is Cousin Eddie because Cousin Eddie is a maniac, a little more obvious of one. Like it's what makes his character the drunk asshole in Independence Day is what makes that guy so effective. Oh, I love him in that. But you also believe that he loves his kids, man. Yeah. And you got that like discount Keanu Reeves playing his eldest son.
00:52:12
Speaker
But again, he's crazy in that movie. That's the point of that character is he's unhinged and he's a different kind of unhinged. There is an unhinged energy to Quaid that I think is really
00:52:29
Speaker
pivotal to his on-screen persona in a way that it isn't for a lot of other people. And again, it turns out it's because he's actually unhinged. I mean, in 2010,
00:52:44
Speaker
They like 2009 he gets arrested for defrauding an innkeeper in Santa Barbara by using an invalid credit card to pay a $10,000 bill in September of 2010. They're charged with burglary. They occupied a guest house of a vacant home that they used to own.
00:53:08
Speaker
They moved to Vancouver to seek asylum. At one point, I think they even like released a sex tape to try to pay for their legal fees. And of course, and of course now he is just a loud and proud Trump supporter as well.
00:53:27
Speaker
So, I mean, you know, shouting about the election fraud and and all this shit. So I like he is he's clearly gone off the deep end since then. But like it's. I think, oh, I think I think I remembered something about the Randy Quaid sex tape. I think he has his wife wear a mask of his face during the sex tape.
00:53:55
Speaker
And so it looks like the government is fucking him. Randy Quaid, damn you. You have so many good ideas. You just you just don't know how to express them. That's fantastic. I love that. Well, we know what Tucker is doing after this recording. He's watching the Randy Quaid sex tape. No, I have no interest in it, but I think that's fantastic.
00:54:20
Speaker
I love that analogy, I guess you would say, you know. Yeah, like so he's trying to do something like him, but also, wow, man, that sucks because I mean, I think he is talented to an extent. I mean, see this movie, you know, but it just sucks that he's he's kind of I don't know if he's always been this way, but it seems like he's kind of gone off the deep end. It feels like it feels like at his best, he's able to harness
00:54:49
Speaker
that thing, which makes him seem so over the top and crazy. And maybe it was his actual craziness kind of beckoning at the door like it feels difficult to dissociate those two now. But like that was kind of always his he had this kind of chaotic energy, even on SNL, he had this kind of chaotic energy to him.
00:55:09
Speaker
But he was part of one of the worst casts in the show's history. But, you know, do with that what you will. Hey, that's somebody's cast, I'm sure. I don't know who. Sure. Yeah. Somebody's cast. I think that was the one with like him and Joan Cusack, Anthony Michael Hall, Robert Downey Jr. was in that cast. Yeah. Like that's that cast. Everybody who famously lasted like one season.
00:55:31
Speaker
Yeah, I think John Lovett's is the only one and maybe Dennis Miller or the two that can already say Anthony Michael Hall because I forget. Yeah. No, I said Anthony Michael Hall. I think he was in. Wait, didn't we watch something with him in it recently? Did we? I don't think so. You might have done. No, it was bodied. It was bodied. He was bodied. That's what it was. I am going. That's going to be on next week's. What? What are we watching? Because
00:56:01
Speaker
I need to look at that again. I was so impressed with it the first time and now I own it. So I need to watch that Blu-ray that I got. OK. I'm really excited to watch it again. Yeah. No, I can't wait for you to see it. Actually, I can't wait for us to. I don't know when we're going to cover it, but I can't wait until we do. It's on the calendar, dude. OK.
00:56:17
Speaker
Well, I'll take a look and see. So, yeah. But yeah, so there you go. But no, no, but again, I feel like even at his best, that's that's that chaotic energy that's coming through. And I think what makes this performance so interesting and this is a fairly comparatively early performance for him. This is post vacation. Well, and this is a very restrained.
00:56:45
Speaker
Even in the parts where you could have forgiven him for getting a little crazy with it, he doesn't. That whole final scene, he's still just lumbering towards him. You know, he never he never, it never feels like his heart rate goes up. You know what I mean? This movie comes out as Christmas vacation comes out the same year as Christmas vacation. So this is after the original vacation. This is after his tenure on SNL. I'm pretty sure.
00:57:15
Speaker
Um, like it's after Midnight Express. Uh, it's after the long writers, the, um, uh, the Walter Hill movie where he, he and his brother Dennis play actual brothers. Oh, you love Dennis Quaid.
00:57:34
Speaker
I think he's all right. Oh, it's Kevin Costner you hate. That's who he is. Yeah, I abhor Kevin Costner. He's done a run of Peter Buck Donovich movies, Last Picture Show, What's Up Doc, Paper Moon. He starts off with the last detail, the Jack Nicholson film. He starts with this really
00:57:53
Speaker
promising career and then he starts out as an actor's actor. He really does. And then with vacation and it is vacation in 1983, he starts to slip into.
00:58:06
Speaker
into the comedy zone and starts to lean more and more into that so that by the time he does like Brokeback Mountain in 2005. Yeah, that feels like or the ice harvest that same year. That feels like a weird like, wow, Randy Quaid's doing dramas. That's weird. But that's really good, by the way. I don't know if you've seen that movie, but it's really good. It's been a long time.
00:58:34
Speaker
It's another Billy Bob Billy Bob movie directed by Harold Ramis. OK, I think that's a good one. That's one of the few Harold Ramis films I've not seen. That's your Harold Ramis blind spot. It's one of them. It's one of those really good. It's when it came out, I rented it from Blockbuster and I was really impressed. It's Ice Harvest and it's weirdly the analyze this and that movies I've not seen and Stewart saves his family.
00:59:05
Speaker
I also haven't seen analyze this or that. Yeah, I've not seen either. What? You would like those. You would like probably. I probably would. You should watch those. I've also not seen Club. That's nice. Peak Billy Crystal Peak. Yeah, I haven't seen Club Paradise either.
00:59:26
Speaker
So I have seen Caddyshack Vacation Groundhog Day multiplicity bedazzled. And that's regrettably year one. Oh, I like year one. Oh, you're the one. OK, I think I do. I still have that movie sucked out loud. No, you're crazy. I know funny. David Cross was hilarious in that. Sure.
00:59:54
Speaker
But one good performance is not a good movie, Mae. Haven't Paul. No, I think I think it's hilarious. The jokes landed for me is what I'm going to say. I've I've heard about the making of that film. I used to have the DVD. So I've listened to the commentary, watched all the behind the scenes and stuff. And I don't give a fuck. I have a really good time with that. I think it's really funny.
01:00:15
Speaker
I get like it's not it's definitely not for everybody because it's kind of it's a mixture of two schools of comedy that admittedly do not mix very well. But I'm a fan of both of them. So I just have a good time through the whole thing. OK. I am I am legitimately glad that you enjoyed it. I know I did not. I get why you didn't because it's me and like five other people that liked that movie. Yeah.
01:00:44
Speaker
Not a not a no, I don't love it. I don't think it's great. It's just I had fun with it. I used to own it and I wish I still did because it's probably streaming somewhere. Oh, it'll probably be on next week's where we watch, you know, something in a few years, you know, something I really love Harold Ramison, though, speaking of like late stage Harold Ramis in terms of acting. Yeah, what's that Orange County?
01:01:05
Speaker
Yes, dude, yes, dude, little Colin Hanks and little Jack Black. That movie is so underrated, but like he he takes speed and gets like really it just starts being ridiculous. And he's so funny in that movie. It's not it's not a lot of a movie. It's kind of a nothing of a movie, but it's really fun and it's really well done. And you can tell everybody is having a great time. It's just it feels good. I wouldn't say it's a feel good movie.
01:01:33
Speaker
But it feels good to watch that movie. It's fun. Like it's got a lot of great performance. I think Catherine O'Hara and John Lithgow. You've got Kevin Kline, Harold Ramis. Putting Jack Black exactly where he should be at that time.
01:01:51
Speaker
Yep. Right where he fits. Right where he and he's he is excellent in it as well. You've got Sissy Spacek's daughter in there playing the romantic lead for Colin Hanks. Like it's it's it's a fucking good little movie underrated little gem, I would say is I'd say stream it, stream it if you find it, stream it if you find it, stream it. I'll check and see if it's available anywhere right now. I saw that at the movie theater.
01:02:20
Speaker
I think because of Jack Black. Yeah, because I saw when I saw I knew Jack Black from Cable Guy. But when I saw him in high fidelity, I was like, this I want to watch things with this guy in it. So when Orange County came out to see it and like, I think it's really solid. If you have a qualifying library card, Orange County is currently available to stream on Hoopla. Check it out. Check it out.
01:02:51
Speaker
It's yeah, it's it's fun. I've not seen it in years, so I don't know if it still holds up, but. I remember like standing that movie for for a hot minute when I was.
01:03:02
Speaker
When I was I think I caught it on like one of those like free weekends on like HBO or Showtime or something and then like it so much that when I found it on a discount bin at a video store that was going out of business, I just grabbed the DVD. And I think I have since lost or gotten rid of it, which I am kind of bummed about because that movie was. I don't think I don't think I have my copy either element. Oh, nope. On the waterfront and then no.
01:03:29
Speaker
On the waterfront, what a fucking masterpiece that is. You know what's funny about what's fun about my DVD collection here on the waterfront is right next to the mid 90s Lance Bass vehicle on the line on the line. God, I remember. Is that right next with Joey Fatone?
01:03:52
Speaker
Joy Vuitton is in it, but the big star power is Emmanuel Shrieky, that one gal. Yes, who would go on to be an entourage. Yes. So that's that's what I love about my movie collection is that can sit right next to On the Waterfront and all as well. All the world. All as well.
01:04:17
Speaker
There was there was a big push in the early 2000s to get pop stars in movies because you get on the line, you get from Justin to Kelly. I do be working sometimes, though. Sometimes not as often as they really wanted it to in the early 2000s. You know, and I don't think that's a difficult leap to make. I mean, like in your brain, if you're like a Hollywood person, like because a lot of really effective pop stars
01:04:44
Speaker
or even of any genre, like you have to be able to perform a certain amount to be that good, to be that revered, to sell that many fucking records. So there's a performer in there. And I think most of the time it's a pretty safe bet.
01:05:02
Speaker
Crossroads the Britney Spears movie was another one of those not the Ralph Macchio one, right? Future episode of this podcast crossroads. Oh, fuck is it? You know, Ralph Macchio guitar movie. It's a guitar boy movie. It's one of those movies that if you're not a guitar player, you're not going to like it, probably. Oh, cool. I look forward to not liking that movie. Weedily, weedily, we. Weedily, weedily, we. Weedily, we. Yeah, that's speaking Walter Hill, right? Didn't he drink that crossroads?
01:05:31
Speaker
Oh, did he? Fuck. I, I stopped watching Walter Hill right before I got to future episode of this podcast, Streets of Fire. Pretty sure he did. Yeah. Walter Hill.
01:05:48
Speaker
Right on. I do. I do. I do. I'm Joe Morton, Joe Morton in that bitch. Oh, I do. I do fucking love Joe Morton. I think, you know, I take it back. Like Crossroads isn't for everybody, but it is a good enough movie. And for guitar boys, it's it's I mean, every like profession or hobby has that movie where it's it's for them specifically. And Crossroads is a guitar boy movie.
01:06:17
Speaker
It just happens to also be a pretty decent and OK movie. Other. OK. Can't wait to talk about it. I dig Walter Hill streets if we're going to cover his movie Streets of Fire, too, which is a hundred. That was a God. That was a failed franchise starter and a half was Streets of Fire. Yes. And you know what? I think we can take the film he Alan Smithied and watch it as well. What was the name of that? Was that Supernova? I think that was Supernova. Walter Hill. Yeah. I don't know about this.
01:06:47
Speaker
Supernova came out in 2000. He is credited as Thomas Lee because he hated the cut that the studio put out so much. He took his name off of it. Nice. Yeah. Good job, Walter Hill. You did it. You did it. There's one movie away from a Walter Hill theme. Oh, fucking the Warriors. OK, there we go. There's a Walter Hill theme month. We did it, everybody.
01:07:11
Speaker
And the Warriors can be the last and then the well, no, no, we go chronologically. Warriors has to go first. Well, I had a reason for Warriors to go last, but the movie I was thinking of has like four sequels. So like I didn't think hard enough about it. But can we talk about Mary Beth Hurt for a minute? Yeah, because even though I think everybody in this movie is it despite their level of experience is bringing it and
01:07:41
Speaker
Like, uh, uh, I guess chewing the scenery, everybody's doing a great job. I think we're like chewing the crops, but yeah, I think Mary Beth hurt is the glue of this movie. Um, she connects all parts of this movie. She is the anti-hero really of this movie because she's eating people, obviously.
01:08:11
Speaker
But you can tell just from her performance and the way that she interacts with Michael, she's not all the way like his father.
01:08:22
Speaker
Like she's not like an emotionless killer. I think that comes through in particular in the in that last scene, like it's there are pieces of it there, but I think it really comes through in that final show because she's willing to like, like, yeah, hooray family. But when it comes down to it, if you're making me pick between Michael and you get a knife in the fucking back. Yeah. All there is to it. Yeah.
01:08:50
Speaker
I think I really do think she's the glue that hold not so much holds the movie together because like I said this movie is a whole mood like everything that works well for this movie does so in a way that's so it works so well with everything else that's happening that it does it creates this world but I would say that she's the glue that keeps the dynamic
01:09:15
Speaker
of the performances, especially the three main performances together. I think the other two performances benefit from her performance is cast. I could see that. I can see. I'm just saying that Mary Beth hurt is the shit. So underrated. Big fan, Mary, but that's that's another one where I'll just if I see a movie and I'm like, oh, this looks interesting, like who's in it? Oh, Mary Beth hurt. OK, watch immediately. Turn the sucker on right now.
01:09:42
Speaker
I love that the family's last name is Lemley after presumably after Carl Lemley, Jr., the guy who did the Universal Monster movies. Yeah. Like, that's pretty fun. I like that. Yeah. I like that, too. I love there's. The part in this movie. Where Randy Quaid's character
01:10:11
Speaker
falls down the steps. I think this is the best example of the film firing all cylinders and every part of the filmmaking process working exactly as intended. When he falls down those steps, the frame rate drops. Hmm. It's not necessarily slow mo. Right. It's just the frame rate drops. It's more like a series of photographs than it is film and the music
01:10:41
Speaker
goes right along with it but the sound the ambient sound from the film does not stop so it's not truly like i don't know how to describe that but that's that's the best example of why this movie works for me is because when the sound design
01:11:02
Speaker
is taking into consideration the music, which is taking into consideration the cinematography, which is taking into consideration the acting. And they're all thinking about what the other one is doing. And they're coming together and just making something like you've never seen before, but you don't always recognize it because it works so well. Does that make sense at all? Yeah, it does. I mean, I feel like Balaban is someone who
01:11:30
Speaker
gets it. He's been one of the great that guy actors for so long. He's a Christopher Guest mainstay. Now he's the wormy guy in every Wes Anderson movie. Yeah. The wormy guy with glasses in every Wes Anderson movie. As opposed to being the wormy guy with glasses in every Christopher Guest movie. In every Christopher Guest, yeah. That's where I mostly know him is from his Christopher Guest work. But even before that, he was a guy who he's incredible in Fucking Midnight Cowboy.
01:12:00
Speaker
Oh, yeah. Yes. Like in a very small but very like important. He's there. Yeah. I remember that. You remember him in that fucking movie. It is. It is an incredible scene and he is kind of incredible in it. But like he's he's just been around and doing this stuff for so long. And this is his first.
01:12:23
Speaker
film that he ever directed. I think he had directed, if I'm not mistaken, he had done like some television directing. He directed a couple of TV movies before this. I would say the one he directed before this, I believe was either TV or direct to video.
01:12:39
Speaker
Um, and I'm looking at his acting right now. Let me switch over to his directing stuff here. Give me a second. Um, he, his first directorial credit, he does the TV movie, the brass ring. And then an episode. Uh, he does an episode of tales from the dark side, amazing stories and a TV short called invisible thread.
01:13:01
Speaker
and then parents. So he's directed two TV episodes, a TV short and a TV movie before this. And then after this, in between this and his next film, he does three episodes of Erie, Indiana, disenfranchised podcast favorite. He and then he only directs a handful. He does a lot of those anthology shows, though. If you look at his entire filmography, he's every time there's a horror anthology show, he's got a direct couple of episodes, like even the early 2000s reboot of Twilight Zone.
01:13:30
Speaker
He directed an episode of Strangers with Candy. He directed an episode of Oz. He he directs a movie called The Last Good Time.
01:13:41
Speaker
which I've never heard of after my boyfriend's back. That one's got Armin Mueller Stahl and Olivia Dabo in it. Maureen Stapleton as well from Reds. Great, great actress. And then he does only a couple movies after that. Like he's got a Twilight Zone in here. The TV movie The Exonerated based on the play, the movie Bernard and Doris, which I have never heard of. That looks like a TV movie.
01:14:09
Speaker
Um, the story of a Twilight years of tobacco billionaires, Doris Duke and her relationship with her gay Butler to whom she left her entire fortune. Uh, Susan Saraini and Ray Fiennes. Yeah. Looks, looks pretty good. Um, and then, yeah. Um, and, and like that's.
01:14:31
Speaker
He did a TV movie on Georgia O'Keeffe, but he does, I think, three theatrically released films, and then everything else is pretty much TV or streaming. He doesn't really get the chance to stand out that much again.
01:14:50
Speaker
His filmography as a director for me, his first two films impressed me so much, not only because they're both so good at what they do, but what they do is so different. Steven, when you see my boyfriend's back, like watch that back to back with parents and boy, that's a fucking shock to the system.
01:15:13
Speaker
because they are so, so different. Like the most different that you could possibly be and still be in basically the same genre. So different. The tone, the style is different. Fantastic. I think what impresses me most about this is the style. Like the filmmaking style is there. Like particularly looking at some of the other movies that I watched this week.
Filmmaking Influences and Horror Elements
01:15:38
Speaker
Like he's pulling a lot from like
01:15:42
Speaker
In terms of the lighting, he's pulling a lot and the fact that everything within the house at least is very clearly filmed on a set. He's channeling a lot of the expressionist filmmaking. Well, I think he's got a lot of sitcom influence in there too with some of the shots and some of the lighting as well.
01:16:02
Speaker
Yeah and I mean he's also borrowing from a lot of 50s media but then the camera at certain points just gets so kinetic and so frenetic like there's that scene where they find the dead body in the basement.
01:16:17
Speaker
him and him and Sandy Dennis, Ms. Dew, the social worker, and she screams and we zoom out from her mouth. Yes. Oh, man. It pulls back, pulls back, pulls back, goes like through the grate, through the wall.
01:16:33
Speaker
and then pivots, rotates 180 degrees, keeps going in the same direction and goes up through the roof. And then you get like this kind of bird's eye of the house. It's this incredible kinetic and it looks totally like a one or it's obviously not, but it looks very well. There's some cuts in there. Yeah, but that's very much like Sam Raimi turned up to 11. It kind of thing right there. It's.
01:16:58
Speaker
It's 100% a Raimi camshot like it's really out Raimi and Raimi on that one, honestly, but he but again, he's like collecting these influences and using them in a way that I don't know, it kind of makes me wish that
01:17:17
Speaker
Other elements of this were a little more in tune to what that is. I understand what you're saying. I don't think it coalesces for me in the same way that it does for you. I don't get the cohesiveness in this one that you do. I don't see the ways in which it all fits together. There are moments when I think it does and it works really well. There's some shining shit going on with the scene in the pantry when the
01:17:46
Speaker
when the guidance counselor gets killed in the pantry, like there's some shining shit going on in there. The scene where she grabs the knife and the worst thing you can show me in a horror movie is someone grabbing a knife. My partner on the sharp edge. My partner literally wins at that. Oh, I can't look, I can't like it. Look, I've seen it a million times, but this time I was like, I don't look, I've seen it. I don't need to. I can just come. It's not a big deal. She's seen it. It's like I haven't seen it. Right.
01:18:15
Speaker
I'm totally tough. She recoiled at that. Like she was just like, I can't, I can't do this. Oh, wow. Ooh. Ooh. Nope. Nope. Nope. Nope. Nope. Nope. Like, uh, well, let's see. I think the reason that it works a little better for me, Steven, is I think, I think it just, it has at least somewhat to do with when we saw it in our, our film journey potentially.
01:18:43
Speaker
said, this is the first weird movie I've seen. This, like, Lynch to me is balababian. You know what I mean? Balababian? Yes, like everything in this movie, that's an influence from something else. I saw this first. Hmm. This was my introduction to anything that he's doing that's influenced by something. I hadn't even seen Evil Dead at this point, Steven. Okay. Like this was one of the first this is one of the first like really out there movies that I ever this is kind of
01:19:13
Speaker
maybe influenced my journey. This might've been, not only was it the first weird movie that I kind of found on my own, but it's the one that made me realize that I kind of like movies that are a little different, you know?
01:19:27
Speaker
Interestingly, you bring up Lynch, this movie comes out the same year, or I guess no, it's a few years after I was sorry, I miss I miss read the timeline, a few years after Blue Velvet, but both are these kind of like, weird suburban set 50s influenced pictures.
01:19:45
Speaker
that have this kind of bizarre surrealistic quality to them. But it also felt very, at least in terms of just the overall aesthetic of the thing, felt very John Waters to me because John Waters is also cribbing from those 50s references, which is why I thought like this would be a really good double feature with Serial Mom.
01:20:09
Speaker
Um, yeah, I think serial mom leans into the camp a little more because John Waters, but like, yeah, it's, um, yeah, I don't know. The thing about serial mom is that it's pretty much all camp and that's the surface level part of it, but serial mom really.
01:20:29
Speaker
The more you watch it, kind of the the more you get past the surface level stuff and you realize like I was having a good time with this before and I can still have a good time with this, but also this is kind of fucked up. Mm hmm. Like the more you start thinking about what's happening in the film and what the characters are going through and how her actions are affecting them,
01:20:53
Speaker
Like, it's a great time, but there are layers. Like, John Waters movies are onions, dude. Yeah. And they don't come pre-peeled. Like, you've got to peel that shit yourself. That's why we love John Waters. Yeah, dude. One of many reasons why we love John Waters. Cereal mom is definitely an onion in that way.
01:21:13
Speaker
Because, gosh, it's a lot of fun, but like there are a lot of different ways you can experience that movie just just by like the context with which you frame it in your mind. Right. You know what I mean? Yeah, that's it's a really it's kind of a choose your own adventure movie. You just have to if you've seen it before, you know, you can just kind of choose, well, am I going to have fun with this? Am I going to think about how fucked up it is? Like what am I? How am I going to experience this? Right. It's really fun. I love that. I have that Blu-ray. I love that fucking movie.
01:21:43
Speaker
When are we gonna cover that? We gonna put that on straight up? We can do it straight up. Let's do it straight up. You wanna put it on straight up, man? Put it on straight up. Straight up. Straight up. Little fucking what's his nuts?
01:22:00
Speaker
Matthew Lillard in that bitch, Ricky Lake. Ricky Lake, of course. Can you have a John Waters without a Ricky Lake? I'll tell you, you can't have a John Waters without his mink stole, who's totally in that. Tracy Lords also in there. Of course. Again, another John Waters mainstay. Suzanne Summers, R.I.P. Oh.
01:22:21
Speaker
She is in that movie. She is great in that way. She has a very small. It's very Bob Balaban in Midnight Cowboy. Suzanne Summers is serial mob. Check it out. Like it's memorable. Fucking Patty Hearst is in that bitch. Well, yeah, you got to put. I mean, John Waters got to put. I mean, it's Patty Hearst.
01:22:39
Speaker
Yeah, like who cares? Can she act or not? Let's up for debate. But if you know, like, if you know her story, it's just cool that she's there. Yeah, honestly. I mean, what's phenomenal is that Waters became really good friends with like squeaky from Manson family member and would be presidential assassin squeaky from
01:23:02
Speaker
And like really like advocated for her release from prison and really wanted to like work with her. He was like, if she had grown up in Baltimore, she would have just been making movies with us. Like she never would have gotten involved with Manson. She would have just been part of our crew. Like kind of the whole that's the kind of people that cults bring in are people who are just looking for a community.
01:23:26
Speaker
Right. You know, and but I mean, that's his his whole deal is like, you know, we're we're just this ragtag group of misfits and they were a ragtag group of misfits. And the fact that she found them instead of us is was I think to him a great tragedy and really
John Waters' Influence and Community in Films
01:23:43
Speaker
for all of us. And see, that's what I appreciate. That's why I appreciate Cecil B. Demented so much and not a lot of people
01:23:51
Speaker
who mentioned John Waters mentioned Cecil B. Demented. It's it's kind of one of his more underrated films, but it feels like a love letter to his crew. That movie like to the people that have stuck with him. That's the movie that he made for that with them and for them. Right. Because it is all about community and coming together to make very much, you know, even though even though the main characters are villainous.
01:24:19
Speaker
Like it's all about coming together to fucking make art. Yes, they're fucking love that movie. Why don't people like that? I think Sammy likes that movie. I think he does. I need to I need to give it a rewatch. I need to watch more John Waters. I'm just really I don't really want to do Pink Flamingos. Like that's the one I just that used to be want to do. They used to be my pump up music for the podcast. Well, I sit and wait for you. Yeah. When I'd sign into Zencaster, I'd listen to
01:24:49
Speaker
Demented forever It's not surprising even a little bit From Cecil be demented. Yeah. Ooh, that's all slabs, dude But no, I want I need to engage with
Analysis of 'Parents' and Genre Fitting
01:25:02
Speaker
more with more John Waters I just I don't have to watch pink flamingos, dude You don't have to watch anything you're not comfortable with that's not required John Waters understands he would even tell you I've I've I've
01:25:13
Speaker
Been in the same room as this man and I guarantee you he would say it's okay. You don't have to watch Pink Flamingos if you don't feel comfortable watching it. Maybe I'll watch it right up to the end and then I'll turn it off right before the dog does his thing. I mean, you know what happens. I know exactly what happens. I don't want to. I don't need to see it. I don't want to see it.
01:25:30
Speaker
Like there's a certain point to where I kind of skip John Waters to just because like I could watch that when I was a kid and have a good time. But now I just I just I don't have fun with it. Like I get it. And I like. I think even John Waters has aged out of some of that stuff, too. Yeah, it's not for me like.
01:25:47
Speaker
Yeah, there's a chance I've been in the same city as John Waters I've just I didn't run into him when I was there because he summers in peatown and both times I've been to the Cape I went to peatown in the summer so Potentially could have run into him, but didn't I saw I saw him speak I saw him speak at a convention I sound the floor in the back of the room because it was so packed in there everybody was gonna say yeah waters I
01:26:12
Speaker
Fuck yeah. That's a guy who's got stories. He was great. That's a guy you could just sit and listen to for forever. Well, he talked for about two hours, but I think anybody in that room could have sat there for another two or three hours to listen to him talk.
01:26:28
Speaker
But I think, and again, to kind of tie it back to parents, I think that Balaban is kind of cribbing from a lot of different sources here and really kind of merging them. He's cribbing from Waters. He's cribbing from Ramey. He's cribbing from Lynch. He's taking the elements that I think fit what he wants to do and using them to his advantage. It doesn't feel like the recipe's quite right for me.
01:26:55
Speaker
Like I get it and I appreciate it, but I just I don't. It feels a little underdone for me, for me. Yeah, it doesn't quite come out the way I want it to. I can dig it. I can dig it. The people that I've shown this movie to, like I said, no one has outright hated it. But the the issues with it seem to be that it people say that it kind of leans a little too.
01:27:23
Speaker
heavily on its influences without doing anything different enough to to matter. Which, like I said, that's a that's a matter of context, because like I said, this is the first one I saw. Everything that he's pulling from, I didn't see until after I saw this movie. So that could be contextual for me. I don't know. So you're you're
01:27:50
Speaker
What you say about this film is common from what I hear about people that are just kind of like, it's fine, you know, it's okay. All right. Yeah, I mean, I like I went in with the as open a mind as I could. And again, there are things I really dig, like I dig the style I dig. I dig what he's trying to do. I just it doesn't feel like it.
01:28:13
Speaker
It doesn't feel like it coalesced quite the way I needed it to in order for me to come back. Because again, it feels like it wants to be a comedy, but doesn't really ever land the jokes. Like the humor just doesn't ever quite get there when you're like, well, you never saw it that way, which makes me scratch my head. Cause I'm like, well then what the fuck or was I look, what the fuck movie was I watching? Like it's kind of where I end up landing on this is I was like, this feels.
01:28:41
Speaker
I don't feel it feels it feels like I'm missing something then maybe but. Yeah. I didn't have it loud enough. I mean, the score, like I say, it's a whole mood like and that's it's I wish that this were popular enough to get because they rerelease everything now. It's so easy because it's all digital. I would I would go see this the movie theater in a heartbeat to have a dark theater with
01:29:07
Speaker
a modern sound system playing this film. This I. Oh, my God. Because like I say, in the right conditions, this movie will will take you into itself. Mm hmm. Because as I said before, I think everything that works well in this movie works well because it plays off everything else. Right. Like I say, the sound is playing off of the score. The score is playing off the cinematography, cinematography is playing off the acting. It's all.
01:29:38
Speaker
It all works together. The chemistry between all the things that you all the different people you have to put together a movie. Right. In this film, it works very, very well. And I think to really experience that the best is would be in the movie theater. And we really we need a good HD print of this. I'd love to have a 4K because I don't know what
01:30:04
Speaker
I think Arrow is putting out all the old Vesteron, or it might be Shout that's putting out all the Vesteron movies from the 80s, which this was one of. But I know they have a Blu-ray, which I have not looked at. I hope there's a 4K though, because the digital version that I have, the HD version on Voodoo, looks like fucking garbage.
Box Office Performance and 1989 Film Landscape
01:30:30
Speaker
It looks
01:30:32
Speaker
awful, which works at sometimes because it's supposed to be grainy, but it's more digital artifacts. Well, in the the cut, the transfer on Tubi is more or less the same as well. I started watching it on Tubi. Yeah, I might look I'm going to have to do some research on that Blu-ray that was released. I'd like I want to wait for a 4K, but I just don't know if it's ever going to happen. Sure. If God told me to.
01:30:57
Speaker
Got a 4K release also has Sandy Dennis, by the way. So who knows who fucking knows? Nice. Yeah, I'd love to have a 4K of this, though, because you can tell even with the shitty transfer that we get a streaming now, you can tell this is a movie that looks great on fucking film. And so the closest I can get to film was 4K. So let's go. Yeah, let's go. Let's fucking go.
01:31:24
Speaker
I'd love to see a print of this, actually, a good print of this on film. I think that's my ultimate theater goals, to see this on film. Nice. In a movie theater. I don't know what that is. I think it's ever going to happen. Probably not, no. I would love to. That would really check all my boxes, I think. Well, I hope it happens for you, man. I really do. Maybe one day it will. Maybe one day.
01:31:54
Speaker
Did this movie even like this came out in the movie? It sure did. This movie comes out January 27th, 1989. It opens at number 25.
01:32:07
Speaker
Right, but right between the 16th week of Pumpkinhead and the 10th week of Cocoon the Return. But how many theaters did it come out? And I feel like that's 94. Yeah, see, that's when you got to you got to consider things like that. Right. I feel like I mean, this was a limited run. It was a small film. So I was going to say it. It only hits 94 theaters. So like it doesn't really hit. Not really. Yeah.
01:32:36
Speaker
It hit the Keystone Arts, that's about it. About it, yeah. Which didn't exist at that time. Correct. You know, that kind of theater, that's the kind of theater it hits. Yeah, the smaller art theater. And after then there were even less of those. Correct.
01:32:51
Speaker
It opens to two hundred and seventy seven point nine million dollar or thousand dollars. Excuse me. I'll say, wow, they did really well. Where's the sequel? No, thousand thousand dollars. Excuse me. The domestic box office, the total domestic is eight hundred.
01:33:11
Speaker
and seventy point five thousand. It gets an international box office. But that's sure that's almost a million. Oh, thousand thousand eight hundred and seventy. It almost made a million dollars, Stephen. Almost on a budget of let me just check my notes here. Three million dollars. Shut up, Stephen. Almost a million dollars. Shut up.
01:33:37
Speaker
It, on a budget of three million, it makes less than a million. Internationally, it makes $581 for a total domestic worldwide, or for total worldwide box office of $871,113 worldwide. Not a hit. Opening at number one this week was the Oscar winner from 1988.
01:34:05
Speaker
It is definitely, definitely, definitely a movie that a lot of us have seen and definitely one that probably hasn't aged super well. It's Dustin Hoffman and Tom Cruise in Rain Man. And number two, it's the opening weekend of a movie called Three Fugitives. What if there were three fugitives? That one's got James Earl Jones, Martin Short,
01:34:33
Speaker
Larry Miller, Nick Nolte, Alan Ruck, Bruce McGill. What a weird thing. Lauren Shuler Donner produced it. I don't have any word on who directed it, though. That's bizarre. I've never heard. What's this called? What's this movie? Three fugitives. Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. And the little kid is one of them. And one of them's a little kid.
01:34:56
Speaker
Yeah, Nick Martin short and yeah, a little kid. Yeah, it's Francis Weber movie. That's that girl from that other movie is the girl that the girl from the other movie. Yeah. You know, the movie she was in that was cool. Sure. Yeah. We're talking. What are we talking about? Who's the girl? What's her name? Her name is Sarah Roland Dora Dorif.
01:35:25
Speaker
And she was in a movie called Wait, wait, it was called. We talked about this in our Little Monsters episode. It was called Big Girls Don't Cry, They Get Even.
01:35:38
Speaker
No, she's in. She has three credits to her name. This is the only film. She's also in an episode of a TV show called Help and an episode or H.E.L.P. And it's an acronym, you see, and then an episode of a TV show called Law and Order. And that's all. And an episode of My Two Dads. Nope. Oh, no, literally just those three things. Remember that show? Your boy Paul Reiser is in that. I do. Yeah.
01:36:06
Speaker
He's one of the two dads. She's like a lawyer now. She stopped acting after being a teenager, yeah. She was like, ah, that was cool, but now I'm just gonna go do something else I like to do. In third place is beaches. Bette Midler, Barbara Hershey, beaches. What if there were beaches? What if there were beaches? What if beaches existed? Movie number four, future episode of this podcast, twins.
01:36:32
Speaker
Ivan Reitman's twins down from number two the week before, but it's been in theaters for eight weeks has already grossed eighty six point five million dollars. And in fifth place, Mississippi Burning.
Critical Reception and Unique Film Elements
01:36:48
Speaker
I feel like that is that's one of those like really great.
01:36:56
Speaker
Let's like Gene Hackman, Willem Dafoe, like a good boomer movie, but that's a boomer movie. Yeah, it is. Stephen Tobolowsky, Frankie Faison, Brad Dureff, Arlie Ermey, Frances McDormand, Michael Rooker, Tobin Bell. What a fucking cast. It's such a good movie, too. Have you seen it? Have you seen it, Mr. Burns? I haven't. No, I need to. Holy shit. Your parents would like it. Watch it with your parents. Would they like it? Maybe. Maybe.
01:37:26
Speaker
Rounding out the top 10, you've got Working Girl at number six, The Naked Gun from the Files of Police Squad at number seven, The Accidental Tourist at number eight, Opening at number nine, Physical Evidence, and in 10th place, the classic, Steve Martin, Michael Caine, Glenn Headley, Dirty Rotten Scoundrels. What else is there?
01:37:51
Speaker
The Tomatometer score on parents is a 63%. So respectable showing there. The meta score is a 66. And if you had to guess the letterbox score, what would you say? Somewhere between a 2.8 and a 3.2. Wrong. It is 3.3. Oh,
01:38:17
Speaker
Surprised me by a point letterbox. Just outside. Tuck her out of... Hey, we're back. So soon. Hey.
01:38:28
Speaker
So out of letterboxed out of five, did we do that on the main feed or was that a was that a Patreon conversation that we had? I don't know, dude. I know it was it was Patreon because that's where you were looking at your list to see what movies you had watched because you was a review. And oh, that's right. That's right. So, yeah, that's that's a joke that only our patrons will learn about a week from now or I guess three or four days from now. Patreon dot com slash disenfranchised.
01:38:55
Speaker
Tucker, out of five stars, how do you rate 1989's parents? Look, this is a solid four.
01:39:02
Speaker
for me, solid, solid, solid, solid. Because like I said, there are so many moments in this movie where every major force of filmmaking is working off of the other forces, creative forces in filmmaking. And it just ping pongs back and forth to the point to where I can't believe how good parts of this movie are.
01:39:28
Speaker
But I also understand why people have issues with it. Like if you're not if if if it doesn't totally have you in its grip, it can feel a little boring. It can slog a bit. It can it can kind of drag. I get it. So that's why it gets a four because it's I feel like to be a perfect five stars, you should be able to have the best experience with it no matter where you're watching it. But with parents,
01:39:58
Speaker
You kind of got to set the mood and let that motherfucker grab you. So four stars. It's a three for me. It's better than just OK, but like it's not high enough that I'm really going to be like, oh, yeah, of course. Great. Love this. So like it just kind of it falls just above fine for me. But no, it's again. And I appreciate what Balaban's trying to do. I just don't think it coalesces the way that I really want it to.
01:40:25
Speaker
So which I think is I've said way too many times in this episode already. So I'll stop there. But yeah, that's kind of where I'm at on 1989's parents. Now, can I ask you something, Stephen, before we go to our socials really quick? Sure, sure, sure. Did you you watched the the cast credits and the credits right when they all came out? I know sometimes you have a tendency to sometimes like maybe turn it off right when it's over, which is fine. Not a big deal.
01:40:55
Speaker
That's why I had to ask because I love that because it makes it It's such a dark movie. Mm-hmm
01:41:03
Speaker
And to do that at the end makes it feel like a play.
Podcast Promotion and Listener Engagement
01:41:06
Speaker
That's why that's why the little shop ending from the play doesn't work on film, because you don't see them take a bow afterwards. That that's why I that's why they had to reshoot the ending. And that's what Frank Oz said he realized is, no, I think they should have gone back and done like what they did in this movie or what they do in like Brewster McCloud or or Rooster McCloud or no, it's Brewster. Bruce, the
01:41:30
Speaker
it's something fucking the fucking robert altman movie bruce mcclellan uh or even predator like predator does this too where you're like this movie like everyone fucking dies like you got to remember the early part of this movie where everyone was having a good time and that's why you get like whatever they had like downtime filming i think everybody but arnold they would say like hey just like do your thing like you know give a thumbs up or
01:41:53
Speaker
You know, spit your chah, Jesse Ventura or, you know, smile. Sometimes you'll have like parts of the gag reel when you do that. You'll have a goof up. Yeah, I love movies that end that way because no matter what happened in that moment, it's like, yes, it's OK. It's OK because everybody's here. We're all having a good time. That was fucked up. And we had a fucked up time. And that was cool. But we're good now. Like everything's good. I love they're holding. They're holding him up at the end. And he's like, he's kind of like.
01:42:23
Speaker
Yeah, it's still weird and uncomfortable, but somehow wholesome, you know, which mirrors the scene at the beginning where they're in the car and they're like trying to get him to wave with the traffic guy. They're all waving at the guy with the traffic sign, letting the kids pass and he's standing there just wave all the most awkward waves I've ever seen on film like it's bizarre. Yeah. Yeah. But yeah, that is straight up. Episode two on Battle of the Taliban's parents.
01:42:50
Speaker
There it is. Go watch this movie, you guys, and let me know in whatever, you know what? Comments are cool, but there's so many pod catchers that we'd have to like comb over to find comments and stuff. Send us an email, disenfranchpod at gmail.com. Let us know what you thought about parents. Go watch it. It's on Tubi. It's on my voodoo. You don't have access to my voodoo, I know. But if you got to know me well enough, you might. It is on Tubi, though. It do be on Tubi, though. So definitely check that out.
01:43:21
Speaker
And look, we are, we're the disenfranchised podcast. You can find us wherever you find your podcasts. And while you're out there looking at us on those podcatchers, slip us a nice five star rating and review that really goes a long way to helping us find other listeners like yourselves. And we think you're pretty cool. We'd probably think other people like you are pretty cool too.
01:43:44
Speaker
And if you do leave us a five-star rating and review, we'll read it here on the podcast. And if you send us an email, we'll probably read it on the podcast. Look, we like to read what you write us, basically, is what I'm saying. So if you want to hear your voice read in either my dulcet tones or Tucker's, shoot us an email.
01:44:06
Speaker
and or leave us a review and we'll read your words back to you and to anyone else listening to this thing. We've mentioned it several times throughout the episode, but if you want to support us financially, patreon.com slash disenfranchpod, weekly episodes of a show we call What Are We Watching, which we normally record right before the main feed episodes. So those are like right away.
01:44:31
Speaker
Uh, we record staggered now too, because we've been recording kind of in advance. So it's really interesting. The episodes are coming. The, what are we watching? They're coming before the main feeds, which, whereas normally they air after the main feed episode. So it's kind of an interesting dynamic going on right now.
01:44:48
Speaker
Yeah. So I think this one will line up pretty much the way it's supposed to. But like, like last week's lines up with next week's last week's, what are we watching? It lines up with this next week's main feed episode. So yes. Yeah. So that'll be wild. That'll be a fun time.
01:45:07
Speaker
Um, but yeah, that's kind of, that's kind of where we're at right now. And, uh, look, you can find us on the social media. We're on Twitter. No, we're not on Twitter. Fuck Twitter. Uh, we're on Instagram, Facebook, uh, letterboxed, uh, blue sky and YouTube at disenfranch pod. Find us there, interact with us, say hi. I will try to say hi back.
01:45:30
Speaker
You can also find me, your host, Stephen Foxworthy, hi on Blue Sky Letterboxd or Instagram at Chewy Walrus. Brett, our absent co-host Brett Wright, we wish him a speedy return. You can find him on Instagram, Blue Sky...
01:45:51
Speaker
or not, yeah, Instagram, blue sky and letterbox at sus underscore warlock. I think just sus warlock on blue sky because they don't like underscores. And Tucker, where can we find you on the socials these days? You can find me on YouTube and Instagram at ice 909. That's I C E N I N E the number zero and the number nine. You know, also I'm on Instagram with tuck mugs. Mm hmm.
01:46:20
Speaker
We just had a guest mug. By the time this airs. The what are we watching episode with Sammy will have aired and on that episode. Mm hmm. He takes a photo of his wine glass and that photo. Has been recently used in a guest host on Tuckmugs, the first ever live
01:46:49
Speaker
Tuck mugs photograph. It's true. We're doing a thing. It's pretty rad. Yeah, pretty, pretty rad. It's up there. Check it. Tuck underscore mugs is where you want to go on Instagram. It's just a chill little corner of the Internet. I'm trying to put together a community of people who just want to like share mugs and glassware, you know, pint glasses, scotch glasses, shot glasses, mugs.
01:47:19
Speaker
anything that you can drink out of. I don't give a fuck what it is. Come check out Tuck mugs. Send us a guest mug. I will put up any guest mug as long as it fits the format. I don't give a fuck. Send me your mugs. You can send us those through DM on Instagram or shoot those over to disenfranchpod at gmail.com. Either way. Yeah. Just DM Tuck underscore mugs. If you've got a submission, make sure if you haven't checked out the page, though, check out the format just to make sure that you, you know,
01:47:46
Speaker
You get that to us in the way it needs to be, just so that it's easier for us to pop it up there. Correct. Yeah. So that's it, man. That's it. Sure. Right on. And that is our straight up. That is episode 174 of the disenfranchised podcast. Yeah, we talked about parents. That is that is straight up episode two. Straight up. Episode two. Straight up. I feel good about it. Man, I love that movie.
01:48:15
Speaker
Yeah, so glad I got to share it with you, Steven. I'm really sad that Brett couldn't be here, but I'm hoping that he'll watch it just at his leisure and maybe maybe we can talk about it just as pals or whatever. We don't have to record it. I just want to know. We could talk about it as what are we watching if he ever does get around to watching it. So I hope that he does. I'm going to pressure him to do it.
01:48:35
Speaker
I mean, we talked about a movie I've you've been trying to get me to watch forever on what are we watching this this week? This is the one that'll drop in a few days. So it wasn't a hard sell, though. No, it wasn't. But you didn't need me to tell you to watch that fucking movie. You were going to watch it anyway. I was anyway. But you know what I finally did.
01:48:53
Speaker
You did. I'm very happy for you. I need to finally watch Oppenheimer. I can't believe I still watch that. It's just it's it's the I don't want to. I want to watch it all in one setting is what I'm saying. I get it in the way that my life is like it's going to have to be at night and at night. I just don't know. I want it to be loud, too. It feels like a movie that should be. My soundbar is really nice and really nice. So it's a Bose and Bose is good shit, man. OK, and I said I said about five feet from it.
01:49:23
Speaker
So it doesn't sound that loud, but it doesn't. But still, when it is loud, it's really good. It's a Christopher Nolan movie. So of course it needs to be loud. That sound design, though, that's something you can always count on Christopher Nolan. You got to set up. You're going to have a good fucking tan. My favorite sound design of the year, though, zone of interest. That movie lives and dies by the sound design. Should I watch that? Would I like it?
01:49:52
Speaker
I'll watch it anyway. You should. You should. It's an important film to watch, even if it's not. I would not say it's an enjoyable watch by any stretch. Whether whether I like it or not. Oh, that's the one where they're next to the concentration camp. They live next to the concentration camp. Yeah. Yeah. I'm gonna watch that. I'm gonna hate myself. I'm gonna watch it.
01:50:09
Speaker
Yeah, you should watch it, dude. It's it's an insane indictment of the banality of evil. And I think it indicts all of us on some level like you got it. You got to watch it like that because then like it's it sucks. But also, if you can come out of that, if you feel like shit after watching that,
01:50:31
Speaker
That means that you're feeling the right thing. You're not a sociopath. You're OK. If that upsets you, good that that you should be thankful. It is not evil. It is. It is. Of all the movies that I've watched this path from from 2023, it is the one that has sat with me the most. So my roommate gave me some advice once I was going through a breakup. And she said,
01:51:00
Speaker
Just ride the wave of emotion and be thankful that it's there because it means you're not a sociopath. There you go. There you go. That's how I'd like to end this episode.
01:51:12
Speaker
And on that note, this has been our episode on parents. We'll get back to the regular format next week, but every few months we got to check in with Tucker and straight up see what he's got for us. So this has been straight up on the disenfranchised podcast. I'm your host, Stephen Foxworthy for my absent co-host Brett Wright and the ever present Tucker. Until next time, if you don't eat your pudding, you can't have any meat. How can you eat your pudding if you don't have any meat?
01:51:39
Speaker
I think I fucked that up, but I don't care. No, I had to. No, I would never. I would never, Steven. You better not, bitch.
01:51:50
Speaker
Oh, hey, wait, wait, Steven, wait, you got. Hey, we forgot to tell them about the straight up the the free Patreon tier. We're doing a free Patreon tier thing. Right. So so not many people know you can actually follow our Patreon for absolutely free. However, the content that is accessible to you is fairly limited at this point. However,
01:52:14
Speaker
as a way of allowing us to communicate with you more directly, rather than setting up a Discord server that we would have to manage and all that bullshit. We don't want to mess with that. Sounds like so much work. We don't have fucking time for that. But what we'll do instead is we will release main feed episodes, starting with the parents episode of Straight Up.
01:52:34
Speaker
We will go ahead and release those onto the free tier at Patreon. And there's a whole comment section there. So if you follow us on the free tier level, you can just just follow us. You can actually communicate with us and we can respond back to you both in our civilian guys and as as the podcasters podcast official, you know, and love. Look, and real ones already know. Yeah. But that's like when you post a comment
01:53:04
Speaker
on anything on our Patreon, I get an email. Tucker's right there. If it comes from the disenfranchised podcast email, like my regular email, it's just a silent notification. It's just little icon shows up. It's like, hey, man, you got email. No big deal. And I'm like, yeah, that's cool. But if it's disenfranchised email, this motherfucker vibrates. This motherfucker makes a loud ass sound like I know no matter what I'm doing. Tucker put it back in your pants.
01:53:32
Speaker
that someone has has posted a comment on Patreon and I'm immediately checking out what it is. Like people are ask ask the patrons that talk to us on our behind the paywall episodes in the comments. I'll tell you before response within seconds. Generally comment on Patreon.
01:53:51
Speaker
I'm getting back to you real fucking soon. At least I am. And if it's something I feel like the boys need to like like weigh in on, I'll tell them in a group chat and they will come right to my aid and we will have a big old discussion. And that's that's what this podcast is all about, like talking about movies. Yeah. So we want to not only do we like to talk about movies with each other, we want to talk about these movies with you. We want to hear what you think about these movies that we have such strong opinions on weekly.
01:54:20
Speaker
Absolutely. So head on over to disenfranch or patreon.com slash disenfranch pod. It is late. I'm sorry. patreon.com slash disenfranch pod. Join us at the follow us at the free level and and get to talking. That's that's really all we chimed in here to say. So we now return you to your regularly scheduled outro music.
01:54:51
Speaker
you