Movie Meltdown

Movie Meltdown - Episode 398 This week we kick-off our coverage of WonderFest with the return of a certain cast member who has tales of an epic road trip. Plus we sit down and talk with our special guest... William Stout. Renowned as a master illustrator & paleo-artist, he has also spent a good portion of his life working in the film industry. As production designer for movies like "Return of the Living Dead" and "Masters of the Universe" to designing movie posters, drawing storyboards and creating character designs for a multitude of films. And while we try to keep our monster in the closet at bay, we also mention... working with Dan O'Bannon, 28 years of conventions, Doc Hudson, Roger Corman, R.L. Stine, Disney... and drawing... and cartoons, John McTiernan, Colorado Springs, Edith Head, the Nine Old Men, John Milius, neon cowboy dude, the murder capital of the world, Drew Struzan, a tiny frail little alien, let the problem dictate the solution, why would Dorthy want to go back, epic adventures, Evel Pi

Movie Meltdown - Episode 397 (For our Patreon supporters.) This week the gang breaks new ground in our Super Series as we discuss Patty Jenkins' Wonder Woman. And while we restore our faith in humanity, we also address... Zack Snyder, the 36th chamber, full-on into DC multi-verse now, Chris Evans, the old school cut-away, Fast and Furious, being hard and being soft, Joss Whedon, Birds of Prey, fighting things from other worlds, Watchmen with the Justice League, a great three days, going out into no man's land, Tony Stark, going into hiding, Captain America, too slow and relatable, have permeated pop culture, Black Panther, mom lied, you guys think that the audience wants that, created by Zeus, chicks with scars, Svengali, what's right, everyone wants to like stuff, fountain of youth, the Godkiller, oh she is crazy, Ben Affleck, Gotham is the new Smallville, diversity in superheroes, who put you in power, Spawn-ish and kicking someone's ass and then talking about love and understanding. Spoiler Alert: Full s

Attack of the Killer Soundtrack - Episode 44 This week the Meltdown Gang gets together for a listening party of songs from semi-recent movies. And while we examine anatomical specimens from a long time ago, we also discuss... going to Eastern Europe, The Creeper, the bone church, The Elephant Man, the soundtrack birth of a new sub-genre of music, drift into death with Wonder Woman, crazy eyes, girls in jeans and a T-shirt, it's a very strange thing she's got going on there, cloth hall, Chelsea Woods, Rondo Hatton, super pretty, I'm really good at dying, going to the salt mines, playing Big Bertha, dusting off this weird old obscure song, zip-lining the mega cavern of Romania, the other Franco, missing all her limbs, Polskibus, I think a lot of their movies are too alienating for regular people, creepy tombs, always sick, Vltavou Castle, get lost exploring a town, a stack of skulls, Rosario Dawson, the moose out front should have told you and stop licking the chandelier. "I can't imagine what hipsters would

Movie Meltdown - Episode 396 This week the Meltdown Gang gets together to have a large scale discussion about Ridley Scott's Alien: Covenant. How it works as an individual movie as well as how it fits into and essentially changes the entire franchise. And as we break down this lovely parallel for the futility of life, we also mention... Noomi Rapace, the susceptibility of humans and pugs, big wheat, the lost episode of Heavy Metal, an overwhelming sense of mystery, Michael Fassbender, kind of timeless, planet designers, hinges on insanity, you knew that was coming because the movie kept going, less-predictable twists, the bastion of humility, masking frustration, this... means something, Don Knotts in every movie ever, what's the point of all this, faith-based leader, as the years go on... these do become our myths, science fiction my ass, person gets into a situation... then it's non-stop action 'til the end of the movie, replacing cloud with butt, it's mouth has a mouth, that stuff does other stuff, a land

Movie Meltdown - Episode 395 This week the Meltdown Gang decides to go see Guy Ritchie's new movie King Arthur: Legend of the Sword. Was that a good decision? Well... let's talk about it. And while we search the listings for more German opera at the movies, we also bring up... the problems with network television shows, I'd be happy to get the fruit salad, Fargo, talk about towers, things are now... vehicles for the items that are attached to it, stab the eyes of the editor, A Knight's Tale, it's fantasy... and then grit, Prometheus was Excalibur set in space, out of the people you know... who would you cast as Jaws, you... who are a caricature of a nerd, growing up on the streetz, and it was all Reservoir Dogs, it's like they made a twenty hour movie, if they had bothered to explain that, those aren't turkey legs, watching idiots talk into a microphone, disjointed, Gods of Egypt, face down in the mud, cannibalism is fine as long as it's deep-fried, a demographic hole, I don't even know what I watched, Footl

Movie Meltdown - Episode 394 This week we return to our running series for another Marvel Super Special! We kick things off with a little response to Iron Fist on Netflix, then we share some thoughts on the trailer for Thor: Ragnarok. All before launching into our full discussion of this week's movie: Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2. And of course along the way, we find a way for the conversation to spill over into the Star Wars universe. And as we all concurrently get our Wormtongue on, we happen to mention... the Foot or The Hand, Zoe Saldana, losing your muscle, the essences of things, millennials and their music, Doritos, needs to be the Robin, regurgitated scripts, Dave Bautista, trespassing and breaking into the building, dragging their feet, Sylvester Stallone, Kurt Russell, Spider-Man: Homecoming, Yondu, Luuuke, James Gunn, relationships, Jessica Jones, please stop having your Splinter moments, swerving Mandarin, this is a geek dreaming, Daredevil, Chris Pratt, ten years in it's so dependent now on it

Movie Meltdown - Episode 393  This week we bust out a new game or maybe more of just a mechanism designed to trigger amazing ideas. Join us as we discuss properties that should be remade... or maybe shouldn't? As we try to decide what's the best new direction we could take the story... and the worst? And what's the most interesting new casting for classic roles... and what's potentially the most ridiculous casting choices ever? And while we set up our apple boxes and perspective shots, we also mention... Murder on the Orient Express, Aidan Gillen, a tracheostomy in the middle of the buffet, Brian De Palma, must love kung fu, Roger Moore... not dead, artisanal, small batch, what's a fax machine, we have... a Canon Films Studio... in this kitchen, Ocean's Eight, those must have been good because you saw it thousands of times, Grimm, Shelley Duvall, knock on his dead wood, Timothy Dalton vs. Pierce Brosnan, red Swingline, shoes on a submarine sandwich, we've written so many better movies then what comes out, t

Movie Meltdown - Episode 392  This week we try to tackle the notorious modern "classic" - Birdemic: Shock and Terror. At first we start to crack from the initial "shock", but as we make our way through the so-called "terror", we eventually come around to a pretty amazing resolution. And while we revel in a land of lawlessness and sweet bird justice, we also bring up... spider monkeys, robotin', more Indiana Jones, time-lapse filmmaking, just as smarmy but with guns, Samurai Cop, the rotary hot dog maker, beloved 8-bit graphics, the first selfie, a sheet with a hole in it, driving around with birds, you're taking a risk... you are taking a chance, you have to be the fool, a lady alien, Jake from State Farm, cut him a check Yoko, you can't make a cult film, Transformers, Nagel artwork, the Al Gore spiel, winter is coming, you're mission is accomplished, did we break our Hammerhead Corvette, it looks like you went to the mall... in 1984, a mountain lion with water wings, the way that it's told is kind of the w

Movie Meltdown - Episode 391 (For our Patreon supporters.) This week... we talk about movies. Zombie movies and rage viruses... and high school melodrama... and slasher movies... and the Leatherface family reunion... and Stephen King stories... and one of our favorite, if not one of the most perplexing directors. All that, among many other things. And while we specifically clarify that we don't eat flesh... we eat brains, we also mention... Chicken Little, Vincent Price, hand-held action scenes, my two least favorite things about weddings and funerals, The Edge of Seventeen, putting dirt on the coffin, a button-down shirt, Dan O'Bannon, it still yips, Turk 182, as happy as you can be in a zombie apocalypse, I'm expected to look like a grown-up, just vast wasteland and dead bodies, a grim presentation, Chicken Run, The Last Man on Earth, wearing super short skirts, Tobe Hooper, even people who love it make fun of the second half, 28 Days Later, you care about those characters, From the Hip, Haley Lu Richardson

Attack of the Killer Soundtrack - Episode 43 This week we welcome our special guest E.G. Daily! You may know her from Pee Wee's Big Adventure or Valley Girl or tons of other movies. Or maybe you know her from all of her music performances over the years. Or maybe her recent appearance on The Voice. Or maybe you just know her voice from Rugrats or The Powerpuff Girls or countless other animated characters. However you know Elizabeth Daily... you know she's talented. This week we sit down with her to discuss her career and along the way we build a soundtrack of not just her work but also songs from other movies she's been involved with over the years. And as we hit the clubs across the Sunset Strip, we discuss... Martha Coolidge, singing mice and Braveheart, I'm gonna get my daughter an agent, Michelle Pfeiffer, playing the song in my car, Tim Burton, keeping him in the real world, Sean and Chris Penn, working at Radio Shack, once you've planted that many seeds... for that many decades, things just start growi

Movie Meltdown - Episode 390 This week we talk with the one, the only - John Waters. Now is he intrinsically evil? Well, we'd say no. But the Censor Board may have a different answer. Or The Baltimore Police Department. Or certain Canadian film distributors. Or... well, there's probably a lot of people. Listen as we revisit stories of his early days of shooting films in his hometown, specifically, the newly restored and rereleased Multiple Maniacs. And just how this kid from Baltimore got together with his friends and inadvertently came to offend so many people over the years. But along with these crazy stories comes some wisdom. So as John goes out into the world and talks to people today... does he hold the key to living an interesting and fulfilling life? Listen and find out for yourself. And as we bask in the cultured luster of Janus Films presents, we also discuss... The Cavalcade Of Perversion... on their front lawn, shooting on 16mm, it's like a hostage video, smoking pot and taking acid, lobsters ar

Movie Meltdown - Episode 389 This week we are joined by director Rob Spera. He's not only been directing film and television for the past thirty years, but he's also currently teaching filmmaking at The American Film Institute. We talk about his early days working with Roger Corman and shooting low-budget horror and thriller movies. And then we'll find out just how that led him to direct the genre favorite Leprechaun in the Hood. And we'll cover how he moved into directing high-profile network shows like Supernatural, Army Wives and Criminal Minds. And how all that led him to his latest film, The Sweet Life starring Chris Messina and Abigail Spencer. And while we figure out the best way to capturing your audience, we also cover... Corman's technique, acting in New York, the Supernatural cast, how to teach filmmaking in an ever-changing medium, Bus Stop, Warwick Davis, shifting the axis, Al Pacino, driving two characters to their death, they point to the symptom, teaching, becomes your editor, this is somethi

Movie Meltdown - Episode 388 (For our Patreon supporters.) This week we hang out in a parking lot and reminisce about our time spent at the Lexington Comic and Toy Convention. Plus we discuss some of the movies and shows we've seen lately. And as we try to decide just how inappropriately color-coded the Power Rangers were, we also mention... John Wick, The Girl on the Train, loitering Deadpool, Major Lilywhite, 3-gun competition, Mystery Science Theater 3000, are you on Top Model, a T-Rex stumbling down a hallway, Overdrawn at the Memory Bank, Riverdale, that's always a plus... nobody got stabbed, scamming free stuff from the CW booth, kids making their own shows, Creepypasta, Solomon Grundy want pants too, Sean Gunn and Sebastian Bach, in a Lifetime movie, Mädchen Amick, you and Tina Fey... you're the only ones who can sell that, slave girl Leia Dorothy, Daredevils, and then there was a teeth monster, now there's a guy who didn't try very hard, Squirm and pancakes. Spoiler Alert: Spoilers mentioned for The

Movie Meltdown - Episode 387 This week our host is reunited with Bryan Johnson from the podcast Tell 'Em Steve-Dave! as well as the AMC series Comic Book Men. Join us as we discuss recent and not-so-recent movie viewings, meeting people who used to have very interesting jobs in the business and eventually we round things out with this week's Sofa Theater feature the 1979 horror movie Don't Go in the House. Which just happened to be filmed right around the corner from where Bryan grew up. Memories and body burns ensue. And as a couple of old guys reminisce about the way the world used to be back in the day, we also bring up... Ralph Macchio, Katrina Law, John Wick, when it came out on video, Jacques Cousteau, my son's on TV, Michael Rooker, a whole ensemble, shoveling stuff into a furnace, if you were on TV... it was a major major deal, Henry: Portrait of a Serial Killer, taking a ferry to Ellis Island, a phone booth, Dan Grimaldi, hanging out at The Web, you are either from a different country or you're craz

Movie Meltdown - Episode 386 This week we hang out with artist Dirty Donny as we discuss, among other things - designing the artwork for pinball machines, working with Metallica and our movie o' the week Heavy Metal. And as we assure ourselves that we aren't just watching the movie to see naked cartoon girls, we also bring up... laserdiscs, Eddie the Head, Hernandez Brothers, BMX bikes, skateboarding, Sean Penn, guitars and cars, The Hellacopters, I can't believe I'm allowed to buy this, Ivan Reitman, the big kid down the street, Stephen King, Bernie Wrightson, a '73 Dodge van, Superchannel, Beavis and Butt-head, my dork hanging out, Conan the Barbarian, one of my hero directors, Thrasher Magazine, Wizards, springs on the back shocks on the front, the plastic gas tank, The Cannonball Run, the motor painted green, Warren Oates, problems with the soundtrack, Clint Eastwood, coming up with the breadbox, Ralph Bakshi, camping with my parents, a bootleg VHS, Love and Rockets, robot Brigitte Nielsen, midnight movi

Movie Meltdown - Episode 385 It's time for the most prestigious of all award shows - The Meltdown Awards! Yes, join us as we gather together to ignore the Oscars and instead hand out our own awards... The Foilers. Plus we eat a lot of pork, recap our reactions to the films of 2016 and even read some of the comments made by our voters. And as we are hippin' up the Pepto audience a little bit, we also mention... a social faux pas, Janelle Monáe, skinsuit, I'm kind of like the Michael Jordan of diabetes, I forgot that movie existed, what are you wearing, Powerless, cowboy bad boy charm, John Goodman, taking home leftovers, attack of the man buns, the swirling tornado and a bunch of rock dudes, I'm all about some Brie Larson, that weird little club on the outskirts of nowhere, you'll be dead or napping soon, the arm in the door, a race track in the basement, she might have had TMJ, how much it added to the movie atmospherically and mood-wise, King Kong, he looks so haggard, The IT Crowd, being mean in a Starbuck

Movie Meltdown - Episode 384 (For our Patreon supporters.) This week we return to our on-going "Super Series" as we discuss the latest super hero entry: The Lego Batman Movie. So join us as The Meltdown Gang settles in to talk about Batman, the DC universe, multiple villains and just how the Lego empire ties them all together. So as we pick out the new Lego sets we're going to need to buy, we also discuss... Riverdale, being needed in your life, organic things like water and fire, Roger Rabbit, Oscar-nominated for Best Makeup and Hairstyling, a bullet hole in his forehead, Space Ghost, less frames to worry about, bad CG rock guys, the Batman geeks are in heaven, Deadshot, I feel like you've brought a curse on my home, Twin Peaks, kids are like... I like Legos, Killer Croc, Legends of Tomorrow, Grammy-winners, Geoff Johns, Landstriders, Mel Gibson, Sophie Turner spoiled it, the funny tech guy, Deadpool, all of this is by design, BoJack Horseman, darker and more offensive, my love affair with the CW is kind of

Movie Meltdown - Episode 383  This week, in response to a recent online list, the gang gets together to come up with their own top ten list of best and/or underrated villains. And as we contemplate that maybe making a snuff film is the way to go, we also mention... the Dick Tracy museum, gets drunk on blood, stares the boy down, Robocop, in the middle of the bloodbath, AFI, it was incredibly dark for it's time, gross wheezing jokes, David Lynch, smashes a bottle, a cool... calm... snake-like villain, he's always rich with really odd people, The Cook, the Thief, His Wife & Her Lover, another villainess with inscrutable motives, The Last House on the Left, the birth of the alt-right, Nil by Mouth, his gumline, well... it won't bring back our kids, pathos, quotable, talk about unhinged, they wanted to show the deterioration, Villain vs. Monster, incredibly manipulative... they almost make the movie hard to watch, I guess I'm going to dive into David Cronenberg, She fights it, and she fights it, and she fight

Movie Meltdown - Episode 382 This week we welcome our special guest co-host comedian Bert Kreischer. Join us as we talk about getting into comedy, becoming part of the podcast world, being the inspiration for the movie Van Wilder and the Rolling Stone interview that started it all. Then we change gears to this week's Sofa Theater feature... Fletch. Where we discuss whether this Chevy Chase comedy holds up today... and just how it has influenced Bert's life overall. And as we repeatedly put on ridiculous disguises throughout the show, we also mention... Snoop's podcast, Dane Cook vs. Ryan Reynolds, doing drugs at fourteen, Milo Yiannopoulos, singing and acting, Laughable, Godfrey, I would definitely say I made my career on podcasting, Bill Burr, I wanna say in a weird way it helped form who I am today, comedy is not about the set you have... it's about the set you're working on, Charlie Murphy, Ethan and Hila Klein, When I got into comedy I felt like... so outside of it, because everyone seemed to know every c

Attack of the Killer Soundtrack - Episode 42 This week we play and discuss all of the nominees for both original song and original score for the 89th Annual Academy Awards. So join us in knocking out all of your musical Oscar homework in one shot! And as we embrace the a nice dreamy quality, we also discuss... melancholy, deep-fried pig tails, Eminem, I won't do it, cello and bass, it's like a robot making a sad song, key changes, The Tooth Fairy, weirdness around, Arrival, the thought of it actually winning just made me laugh, never neglects instruments, it's like he used the right instrumentation... he just didn't go the distance, imitating Kevin Hart, Lincoln, radio version, stepping up to meet the level of the project, the Academy Awards is not really a pinpoint of the best of the year... it's just what the Academy decides to nominate. It is it's own weird little game, digital picture vs. Polaroid, Rhodes piano, Bruce Springsteen, no real movements, Be Cool, it melts in and out of tones, they are smart,