Alcohollywood

This week on Alcohollywood, our Disney princess Cherish joins us as we hit you as hard as we can with our review and drinking game of 1999’s cult hit Fight Club! This adaptation of the Chuck Palahniuk novel of the same name follows an unnamed narrator (Edward Norton) who finds a release from his disaffected, postmodern life by falling in with radical soap salesman Tyler Durden (Brad Pitt). Together, they create fight clubs and rebel against the establishment, all the time creating something even more dangerous. In the meantime, the narrator learns more about himself and his relationship with an aimless, misanthropic drifter (Helena Bonham Carter). David Fincher’s gritty-yet-slick style, combined with great cinematography, deft scripting and a dynamic electronic score from the Dust Brothers help make this a greatly watchable dark comedy/thriller with a wonderful sense of pulp complexity. Meanwhile, we’ve got our signature cocktail and drinking rules – check ‘em out!

This week on Alcohollywood, guest Justin from Consequence of Sound joins us as we recover from last week’s terrible Oogieloves to cherish a true classic: the 1934 Alfred Hitchcock thriller The Lady Vanishes! The last movie he made before heading to America, The Lady Vanishes sees young bride-to-be Iris (Margaret Lockwood) and wan Englishman Gilbert (Michael Redgrave) stuck in a mystery about an old governess (Dame May Whitty) who has suddenly disappeared on a train. No one seems to know anything about her, or believe that she ever existed - was she all in Iris’s head, or is something else going on? What follows is a tense but witty political thriller that still holds up today, and features some of Hitchcock’s signature tricks. Come join us in the mystery along with our drinking rules and custom cocktail!

This week on Alcohollywood, Hausu and Mallrats guest Nick returns to help us endure the fresh, shiny hell that is 2012’s children’s movie flop The Oogieloves in the Big Balloon Adventure! “From the marketing genius behind Teletubbies,” as the trailer tells us, The Oogieloves introduces us to a hellish landscape in which three obnoxious, multicolored monsters (Goobie, Zoozie and Toofie) wander through Lovelyloveville to collect balloons from high place and drink junk food. Along the way, they encounter a number of D-list washed-up actors (Cary Elwes, Chazz Palminteri, Christopher Lloyd, Cloris Leachman, Jamie Pressly, Toni Braxton and others), all hiding sneers of embarrassment at the ridiculous things they've gotta do. Guess you have to pay your mortgage somehow! The whole enterprise is a sloppy, silly mess, and not in the way children’s movies are supposed to be - it's just creepy and desperate. Luckily, we’ll be here to help you adventurize with our custom cocktail and drinking rules – check them out!

Happy Alcoholloween everyone! Clint and Jared (along with returning guest Craig) polish off Horror Octorbor with their final double feature of a Universal classic monster movie and its modern counterpart! This time, we delve into the one that started it all: 1931’s Dracula, starring the inimitable Bela Lugosi as the titular vampire, whose thirst for blood leads him to seek out a life in London. Then, we sink our teeth into 1992’s bold (if flawed) Bram Stoker’s Dracula, directed by Francis Ford Coppola and starring Gary Oldman as the shape shifting Dracula (now literally Vlad the Impaler, complete with tragic girlfriend backstory). In this episode, we talk about the origins of the vampire mythos, Keanu Reeves’ infamously bad performance, Anthony Hopkins’ surprisingly great performance, and the “Spanish” version of Dracula that was filmed at the same time. It’s all great stuff, so sit down and enjoy your spooky holiday with our signature custom cocktail and drinking game

This week on Alcohollywood, we (along with guest Max) unwrap the secrets of the 1933 James Whale classic The Invisible Man and the 2000 Paul Verhoeven slasher Hollow Man! Two wildly different tales of mad scientists who discover invisibility, the Universal classic follows Claude Rains as a sadistic chemist who goes on a murder spree in a 19th century village. Meanwhile, Hollow Man follows Kevin Bacon as an egotistical pervert who uses his powers to terrorize his hot neighbors in a SyFy Original Movie laboratory. The 30s film earns its classic status through tremendous performances, ahead of its time effects and a surprising amount of humanity. However, Hollow Man’s artificiality and flat characters make it a disappointing survival horror movie. No matter what you think about these flicks, check out our drinking rules and custom cocktail!

This week on Alcohollywood, Brockett from the Biggest Fan Podcast joins us for this latest installment of Horror Octorbor, where we pair classic Universal monster movies with a modern adaptation! This time around, we get wrapped up in the 1932 Boris Karloff classic The Mummy and the 1999 Stephen Sommers-directed action-comedy The Mummy, starring Brendan Fraser as Indiana Jones-lite Rick O’Connell! These two movies have wildly different tones. Whereas the Karloff Mummy is a more sedate, dramatic and suspenseful love story, Fraser’s Mummy trades tension for wry charm and thrilling, fast-paced action sequences. They’re two great flavors that go great together, along with our custom cocktail and drinking rules – check ‘em out!

The full moon is out, and this week on Alcohollywood we’re scaring up some strange (along with guest Jesse) for Week 2 of this year’s Horror Octorbor! This week, we’re looking at the 1941 Universal classic The Wolf Man, starring Lon Cheney Jr., and the 2010 Joe Johnston reimagining The Wolfman, starring Benicio Del Toro! While the 1940s movie has quite a bit to love (fun performances, great makeup and prosthetics for the time), Johnston’s flick suffers from incredibly flat performances (especially from Del Toro and Emily Blunt), dim cinematography, and a tone that goes all over the place – evidence of the film’s troubled production history. Either way, it’s a howling good time, especially with our drinking rules and custom cocktail below – also check out our episode!

Happy hauntings, listeners – it’s Horror Octorbor once again at Alcohollywood! This year, we’re doing something a little different: taking the major Universal monster movies from the Golden Age of Hollywood and comparing them to a modern adaptation/reimagining and seeing how they stack up. We’re starting out this week with everyone’s favorite stitched-up modern Prometheus, Frankenstein – along with guest Nathan of The Right Brain Project, we resurrect both the 1931 James Whale classic (starring Boris Karloff) and the melodramatic, big-budget costume drama Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein, directed by and starring Thor’s Kenneth Branagh (and Robert De Niro as the creature)! Take a listen to the episode to find out what we thought, and be sure to make our drink and follow our rules!

This week on Alcohollywood, we're getting groovy with 1968's Dino de Laurentiis-produced Italian spy-sploitation flick Danger: Diabolik! Adapted from the Italian comic, the film sees Barbarella's John Philip Law as a leather-clad super thief with a hot girlfriend/accomplice, spending the movie stealing more and more elaborate goods while being chased by Italian policeman Jenko and gangster Valmont (played by Thunderball's Largo, Adolfo Celi). The whole thing is delightfully wacky, if a little empty, and Mario Bava's broad, energetic style is quite interesting to behold. Not only that, we get a wonderfully groovy Ennio Morricone score and appropriately lavish production design. This film is the very last one Mystery Science Theater 3000 ever covered, and it's one of the few that is actually not a complete disaster. Check out our thoughts on it, along with our custom cocktail and drinking rules

Eat our shorts, listeners – this week, we’re headed to detention with The Breakfast Club! One of John Hughes’ most well-known efforts, this adolescent dramedy follows five teen stereotypes (played by Brat Pack regulars Judd Nelson, Emilio Estevez, Molly Ringwald, Anthony Michael Hall and Ally Sheedy) as they while away a Saturday afternoon in detention. While avoiding the bitter Vice Principal Vernon (John Gleeson), they cause trouble, learn more about each other, and mostly just smoke a lot of pot. Love it or hate it, it’s a seminal film in 1980s pop culture, and we’ve got a cavalcade of guests (previous guests Julia, Grant of Chip & Ironicus and LP13A fame, and Our Fair City’s Kat, along with newbie Alaina) to join us in the discussion. We’ve also got our signature custom cocktail and drinking rules for it, so give us a listen and subscribe

This week on Alcohollywood, we dive headfirst (along with guest Emily) into the madness that is Dr. Seuss’ first and only live-action creative work, The 5000 Fingers of Dr. T! A 1950s mix of musical comedy, Disneyesque whimsy and horrifying Seussian allegory, the film follows young Bart, an unfortunately untalented child who daydreams a nightmarish world run by his tyrannical piano teacher, Dr. Terwilliker. His scheme is to keep his mother captive and schemes to hold a music concert for his 500-kid piano! It’s only with the help of his all-American wimp father figure Mr. Zabladowski, some insanely Seussian production design, and a thinly veiled A-bomb metaphor that he can free himself from his dream and figure out how to just be a kid. Luckily, we help you navigate this interesting, labyrinthian failure with the help of our custom cocktail and drinking rules!

This week on Alcohollywood, we (along with guest Derek) saddle up for the Hollywood historical western Sunset, starring Bruce Willis and James Garner (and directed by Blake Edwards of Breakfast at Tiffany’s fame)! This half-cocked whodunit sees an older Wyatt Earp (Garner) serving as a technical consultant for an early silent Western starring cocky Tom Mix (Willis), only for the two to get embroiled in a seedy murder mystery at the heart of the Golden Age’s seedy underbelly. Malcolm McDowell also stars as a sneering, Bizarro Charlie Chaplin, and Mariel Hemingway as The Girl of the Movie. The movie brought in some Razzies when it came out, and it’s easy to see why – it’s a strange, pedestrian mess that is disappointingly toothless and dull. Come on, Blake Edwards, you can do better! Whatever you think of this interesting failure, we’ve got the drink and rules to get you through the film, so be sure to check out our episode below!

This week on Alcohollywood, Our Fair City’s Lise ‘Kat’ Evans joins us as we hitch a ride on a phallic-looking spaceship to watch the 80s camp classic Flash Gordon! Adapted from the comic strips and film serials of the 1930s and 40s, this Dino De Laurentiis-produced bit of cheese follows intrepid football player/space adventurer Flash Gordon (Sam J. Jones) and his erstwhile girlfriend Dale Arden (Melody Anderson) as they battle the forces of Ming the Merciless (Max Von Sydow) and befriend the Errol Flynn-esque Prince Barin (Timothy Dalton) and blustering hawkman Prince Vultan (BRIAN BLESSED!). The result is a ridiculous but campy bit of fun that drags a bit, but is nonetheless entertaining – due in no small part to Queen’s rock-infused score we all know and love. Check out our drinking game and custom cocktail below, along with the episode!

This week, we’re kicking it up a notch with the 2005 Thai action flick The Protector (original name: Tom Yum Goong), starring Asian action sensation Tony Jaa! Jaa plays Kham, the last member of a tribe of elephant protectors, who must brave the big city of Sydney, Australia to rescue a pair of elephants that were cruelly stolen from him by the mob that controls an exotic food restaurant named Tom Yum Goong. The plot’s extremely thin and drags on way too long, but the real highlights of the film are Tony Jaa’s intricately choreographed fight scenes – minute after minute of Jaa completely throwing his body into visceral, brilliant fight choreography. It may be a bit of weirdness sitting through the poorly-written dialogue and paper thin characters to get to them, but boy, are they worth it. Luckily, we’ve got some drinking rules and a custom cocktail to tide you over until the next time Tony Jaa launches himself at someone!

We’ve made it to 100 (official) episodes! First of all, we want to thank each and every one of you for tuning in, giving us feedback, listening to the podcast and telling your friends – we hope for at least another 100 episodes of awesome drinking games and film breakdowns! This week, we’ve got a special COMMENTARY EPISODE for you – 1962’s Dr. No! In our ongoing quest to cover all the James Bond films, we chose this special episode to give a blow-by-blow commentary for the superspy’s very first outing, starring Sean Connery, Ursula Andress’s seashells, Joseph Wiseman’s half-Asian makeup, and Jack Lord's granny shades. We’ve still got our special cocktail and drinking rules, but this time we’ll be playing right along with you. The film’s on Netflix Streaming, so there’s no problem keeping up with us! (If you’d like to donate to the show and support the podcast, this special episode is also available for download on Bandcamp for $2. Support from our listeners helps us pay for hosting, equipment, and the like,

This week on Alcohollywood, Jared and Clint (with guest Theo) take a peek at the 1985 ensemble board-game comedy Clue! Decades before Battleship, this board game adaptation sees the classic murder mystery game adapted into an Agatha Christie-esque murder-in-a-house whodunit. Headed by an ensemble of fantastic comedic actors from the 80s (Michael McKean, Christopher Lloyd, Madeline Kahn, Tim Curry, Leslie Ann Warren, Martin Mull and others), Clue is a hilarious and surprisingly bawdy caper with quite a bit of surprising Red Scare subtext. Join us as we discuss the sexual politics of McCarthy-era America, the alternate names of Clue around the globe, who could have played Miss Scarlet, and what movies we think would be fun with multiple endings. Check out our multiple custom cocktails, tailored for each of the characters, grab your favorite turn-of-the-century weapon, and take a listen!

Happy Shark Week everyone! This week, our chum Derek joins us for the Syfy Original Movie/Asylum creature feature Sharknado, featuring a killer cyclone full of sharks…and little else! This movie checks off all the boxes on the Asylum checklist:D-list stars/celebrities (Ian Ziering, Tara Reid, John Heard), sketchy/rubbery  CGI, a nonsensical script that just exists to deliver the gimmick, and so much more. Luckily, to survive these shark-infested waters, we’ve got a custom cocktail and drinking game rules that will keep us afloat through this whirlwind of awfulness. Check out the podcast and drinking game below!

Holy libation*! This week on Alcohollywood, we set atomic batteries to power and turbines to speed with the 1966 film companion to the camp TV classic, Batman: The Movie! Join the Caped Crusader (Adam West) and his trusty sidekick Robin (Burt Ward) as they foil a dastardly plot to kidnap the world’s leaders, perpetrated by their combined Rogue’s Gallery of villains! Mark of Blastropodcast joins us as we take a closer look at this bit of 60s silliness, discussing such trenchant topics as the logistics of Batman’s equipment, the selective prosopagnosia of superheroes and supervillains, and the importance of clear labeling when creating world-saving (or ending) gadgets. Along the way, you can cure your dehydration with our Bat-cocktail and Bat-rules! *I was originally going to go with "Holy spirits!" but I realized that would probably get confusing.

This week on Alcohollywood, we head back into the 90s, land of Weezer, plaid shirts, and ripped jeans as we (along with guest Nick) revisit the 1995 mall comedy Mallrats! This flawed throwback to hard-R teen sex comedies is the second film from Kevin Smith, and his first (and only) attempt to write and direct a major studio picture. Watching the film, it’s not hard to see why – Smith’s overly verbose dialogue is mumbled out by an ensemble of half-baked ‘90s actors, the director’s limited visual style makes the whole film look ugly, and it’s hard to watch all the comic book/film references that exist for their own sake. (Don’t even get us started on Jay and Silent Bob.) Nonetheless, we manage to take a good look at this flawed-even-for-Kevin-Smith-standards flick along with our custom cocktail and drinking game. Take a listen!

This week, Nick from Consequence of Sound joins us once again as we check out the 1991 dog-and-kid flick Bingo! When a preternaturally intelligent dog is run off the circus and makes friends with a precocious kid, only to have to chase him from Denver to Green Bay, Wisconsin after the family moves - it's Homeward Bound without the celebrity voices, and with a whole lot of prison shank fights and dog slaughter! A strange, baffling movie that represents everything weird about kid’s movies from the 90s, Bingo takes place in an oddball world where dogs can track the scent of urine cross-country, the family of a professional football player lives like the Cleavers, and people on both sides of a court case can not only be sent to prison, but to the same prison. It’s a real treat, folks, so strap in and enjoy our review along with our signature cocktail and drinking rules!