Two Geeks And A Git Classic Movie Reviews

Our second film in our tribute to the great Sidney Poitier, who passed away on January 6th, 2022, came out just five weeks after "To Sir, With Love," but it brought audiences to a stunned silence with its realistic depiction of the treatment an African-American man would have received in Mississippi in the late 1960s! Directed by Normal Jewison, "In the Heat of the Night" sees Poitier playing Virgil Tibbs, the top homicide investigator from Philadelphia, on a trip to visit his mother in Sparta, Mississippi, get brought in as a murder suspect after a prominent businessman gets killed. Officer Sam Wood (Warren Oates) brings Tibbs into the station and presents him as the guilty party to Sheriff Gillespie (Rod Steiger). Fortunately, Tibbs reveals that he, too, is a police officer, and is grudgingly given the respect he's due by the Sparta police department. After Tibbs' chief suggests Virgil stay and help, he and Gillespie begin a tense, perilous (for Virgil) few days hunting down the real killer! Plus, the trio

We interrupt our regular schedule of film reviews to pay tribute to an Actor's Actor. Someone who was a trail-blazer both on and off the screen, who was the epitome of a commanding presence, and who never turned in a bad performance in a career that lasted over 50 years. Sidney Poitier passed away on January 6th, 2022, but he left us a catalog of performances people will be talking about for centuries. And in only one year, 1967, he released three films that are among the top Hollywood classics of all time. We have chosen to review two of them as a way of honoring this great man. The first film in our tribute pairing dedicated to Sidney Poitier is "To Sir, With Love." Directed by James Clavell, this film is the story of an engineer, Mark Thackeray (Poitier) who takes a teaching job at a school for poor and troubled kids while waiting to find a "real" job in his field. After failing to reach them for weeks, an epiphany sends him in a different direction, and ultimately wins him the respect and admiration of hi

Part two of our look at the work of director Robert Altman focuses on a film with 24 leading and supporting characters. It's a bewildering trip through politics and country music known as 1975's "Nashville!" The film boasts a tremendous cast, including Keith Carradine (who won an Academy Award for the song he wrote and performed in the film, "I'm Easy"), Karen Black, Ronee Blakley, Shelly Duvall, Ned Beatty, Timothy Brown, Geraldine Chaplin, Robert DoQui, Henry Gibson, Scott Glenn, Jeff Goldblum, and so many more! And while the acting is superb, and the storylines are interesting, the overall impact of the film obscured by the choices made in their presentation, leading to a fascinating if somewhat muddled tale. Plus, the trio announce a shift in their schedule to pay tribute to a trail-blazing master actor who recently left us.

It's a listener-suggestion pairing of Robert Altman films! Bennett Oberfeld contacted us on Facebook to point out that we had yet to do any films from the acclaimed director and suggested two Altman films, which we agreed with, and thus this pairing! First up, from 1970, it's the film based on the book by Richard Hooker about life in a Mobile Army Surgical Hospital, or M*A*S*H unit, in the Korean War. Starring Donald Sutherland, Elliott Gould, Tom Skerritt, Sally Kellerman, Robert Duvall, Roger Bowen, Rene Auberjonois, Gary Burghoff, Bobby Troup, Timothy Brown, and John Schuck, this looks at the antics of two highly-qualified surgeons, Hawkeye Pierce (Sutherland) and Trapper John McIntyre (Gould) who are assigned to a M*A*S*H unit just a few miles from the front line! With a casual indifference to anything Army-related, except for saving their patients, this film spawned an eleven-season TV series spinoff and added a theme song to our musical lexicon that still lives in our hearts and minds today!

The second film in our "I can't believe you haven't done THAT movie yet!" list also happens to be directed by Robert Zemeckis, although that wasn't planned when the pairing was first decided upon! Winner of SIX Oscars at the 1995 Academy Awards, including Best Picture, Best Actor, Best Director, and Best Effects, Visual Effects, this film tells the story of Forrest Gump (Tom Hanks) a boy who's considered "slow" due to his IQ, but grows up to be a man who has incredible experiences that take him all over the United States and into Vietnam. 1994's "Forrest Gump" is a masterpiece of storytelling, showing you the world through the eyes of a simple yet incredibly good man as he deals with love and loss over the course of his life. And, whether it's dealing with his mother (Sally Field), his best friend and true love Jenny (Robin Wright), his army Lieutenant (Gary Sinese), or his best friend in the Army, Bubba (Mykelti Williamson), Forrest only ever sees the good in people. And finally, the trio reveal which listen

Often, when we talk to people about our podcast, they'll ask us if we've done certain movies. This pairing is made up of two films on what we call our "I can't believe you haven't done THAT movie yet!" list. :) First up, it's the first, last, and likely only time you'll ever see Disney and Warner Brothers cartoon characters in the same film, a movie that was also instrumental in pushing ahead special effects in the industry! Directed by Robert Zemeckis, it's the story of Eddie Valiant (Bob Hoskins), a down-on-his-luck Private Investigator, who gets hired by the studio head of Maroon Cartoons to find out if their star "toon," Roger Rabbit (voice by Charles Fleischer), is being cuckholded by his wife Jessica (voiced by Kathleen Turner). And, in a world where toons and humans life, love, and work side-by-side, any investigation involving both is bound to go spectacularly off-the-rails in the most comical of ways, and 1988's "Who Framed Roger Rabbit?" is no exception! Also featuring Christopher Lloyd, Joanna Cass

Part two of our holiday pairing jumps ahead nine years and focuses on the now-veteran director Jon Favreau's second film, the sugar-fest that is 2003's "Elf!" With an all-star cast, including Will Ferrell, James Caan, Bob Newhart, Zooey Deschanel, Ed Asner, Mary Steenburgen, Peter Dinklage, Amy Sedaris, Andy Richter, Kyle Glass, Artie Lange, and Leon Redbone, the film tells the story of a human raised by Elves named Buddy (Ferrell), who travels to New York to find his real father, Walter (Caan). There, he meets Jovie (Deschanel) and discovers that life outside the North Pole is much more different than he anticipated. When Sants (Asner) has transportation problems on Christmas Eve, it's Buddy, Jovie, and Buddy's new family, to the rescue! Plus, find out which to movies from the "I can't believe you haven't done THAT movie yet!" list the trio has chosen to finish out 2021!

Happy Holidays! It's part one of our yearly pairing of holiday films, this year starting with a new take on the story of Santa. In this episode we take a look at 1994's "The Santa Clause," starring Tim Allen, Judge Reinhold, Wendy Crewson, Eric Lloyd, David Krumholtz, and Peter Boyle. Directed by John Pasquin, this film tells the story of Scott Calvin (Allen), an advertising executive for a toy company, and also a single father to his son Charlie (Lloyd). On Christmas Eve, after hearing noises on the roof, Scott scares "Santa" who falls off the roof and disappears, leaving only his santa suit. Scott and Charlie find a card that says "Put on the suit, the reindeer will know what to do." And so begins a year-long saga as Scott slowly begins to transform into Santa Claus, much to Charlie's delight, and the dismay of his ex Laura (Crewson) and her new psychiatrist husband Neal (Reinhold).

Our second War Film moves ahead four years in real time, but focuses on the same time period as the first. This time, it's a hopeless plan to sabotage twin radar-guided guns that are preventing the allies from rescuing some two-thousand men stranded on the island of Keros in the Aegean Sea. But a mountain-climber and his partner, a demolitions expert, a master strategist, a butcher, and a trained killer may just be the team who can pull it off! Directed by J. Lee Thompson and starring Gregory Peck, David Niven, Anthony Quinn, Anthony Quayle, Stanley Baker, James Darren, Irene Papas, and the beautiful and talented Gia Scala, this is a masterful demonstration of how you make an engagin, tense, and riveting espionage film! Plus, the trio give a shout-out to a listener who flagged a hole in their library of reviews thus far, and they reveal which two popular Christmas films they're reviewing this year, regardless of how two of the three feel about them!

The holiday shopping season has begun, so it's only fitting that we turn to War films for this pairing. Our first film is a true classic, and an absolutely favorite of one of the trio, "The Bridge on the River Kwai" from 1957! Directed by David Lean and starring Sir Alec Guinness (back before he was a "Sir"), William Holden, Jack Hawkins, Sessue Hayakawa, James Donald, Geoffrey Horne, and Andre Morell, the film follows a group of British POWs who have been sent to a work camp during World War II. The group is led by the upright Colonel Nicholson (Guinness) who demands of the camp's leader, Colonel Saito (Hayakawa) a strict observation of the Geneva Convention. Thus begins a war of wills between the two men. Meanwhile, American POW Shears (Holden) is thought dead after an escape attempt, but actually manages to get back to a British colony, and is persuaded to join a commando team bent on bringing down the bridge Nicholson and his men are building for Saito. A fantastic film, winning seven Academy Awards, and

The second film in our end-of-year holiday films is a modern classic, starring two of the funniest comedians ever to grace a screen, paired with one of the most beautiful women in film history! Directed by Donald Petrie, this is the story of John Gustafson (Jack Lemmon), a widower with IRS woes, who lives next to his best frenemy in the world, Max Goldman (Walter Matthau) in a small town in Minnesota. Both men have known each other for fifty years, and have a comfortable, if antagonistic, relationship. Johns daughter, Melanie (Daryl Hannah) is having marriage problems, while Max's son Jacob (Kevin Pollak) is running for Mayor. Their friend Chuck (Ossie Davis) runs the local bait shop where John and Max pick up their ice-fishing supplies every day. And John delivers beer to his father, "Grandpa Gustafson" (Burgess Meredith at his funniest) at his ice shanty every day. It's a comfortable, if predictable life, until Ariel Truax (Ann-Margret) moves in across the street from John and Max, and throws both of their

Our pairing of end-of-year holiday films begins with a film about getting home for Thanksgiving. Directed by legendary film-maker John Hughes, this movie tells the story of marketing executive Neal Page (Steve Martin), who is just trying to get from New York to Chicago in time for Thanksgiving with his family when a winter storm throws a wrench in his plans. Add to that the excruciatingly-annoying interference by one Del Griffith (John Candy), a shower curtain ring salesman, and that fact that their paths seem inextricably crossed over the next 48 hours, and you have a recipe for a comically-uncomfortable buddy travel picture. With cameos from Michael McKean, Kevin Bacon, Dylan Baker, and Edie McClurg, this film is a one hour and 33 minute explanation of just how wrong things can go when you simply try to catch a flight home!

Finishing up our look at animation aimed at adults, we turn to proof that something can be moved from television (well, cable television) to the big screen and the result is something truly unique and well worth watching! From the demented minds of Trey Parker and Matt Stone, 1999's "South Park: Bigger, Longer and Uncut" shows exactly what the duo would turn in every week were it not for the programming limits of basic cable. And to top it all off, it's a musical, with songs in the style of so many classic movie and stage musicals, it even had a song nominated for an Academy Award for Best Original Song, "Blame Canada!" This is a great middle-finger to the MPAA, done with all the snark and style those familiar with "South Park" have come to expect, and then some! Plus, the trio reveal which two "Thanksgiving-adjacent" films make up their next pairing!

We're turning to the realm of animated films aimed at adults for this pairing, and starting with the poster-child for such offerings. With nearly as many directors and writers as cast members, 1981's classic "Heavy Metal" turns in a sci-fi/fantasy/horror anthology with something for everyone! The film has voice-work from some notable actors including John Candy, Joe Flaherty, Eugene Levy, John Vernon, and Harold Ramis. The variety and complexity of each segment's animation (there are eight!) provide for an amazing visual palette, but it's musically that this film really shines! With a score by Elmer Bernstein and a soundtrack featuring the likes of Sammy Hagar, Devo, Blue Oyster Cult, Cheap Trick, Don Felder, Nazareth, Donald Fagan, Journey, Grand Funk Railroad, Cheap Trick, Stevie Nicks, Black Sabbath, and more, the film completely lives up to its name in both content and tone!

Part two of Halloween pairing is the rare television-to-film adaptation that does the original material justice! We're talking, of course, about the Barry Sonnenfeld-directed masterpiece that is 1991's "The Addams Family!" Starring Angelica Houston as Morticia, Raul Julia as Gomez, Carel Struycken as Lurch, Judith Malina as Granny, Jimmy Workman as Pugsley, Christopher Hart as Thing, and Christina Ricci in her break-out role as Wednesday, the film follows Gomez's search for his long-missing brother Fester (Christopher Lloyd), and the trio of hapless normals who are part of their orbit, two of whom are trying to scam Gomez out of his riches! This film is the perfect combination of romance, goth, and humor, and creates a world we'd all like to live in, especially if we could be neighbors with the Addams... as long as we were at least two houses away that is. And the trio reveal which two quality representatives of adult animation they're choosing for the next pairing!

Happy Halloween! For this year's Halloween pairing, we're taking a look at the lighter side of the holiday, and reviewing two classic horror comedies. The first is THE classic horror comedy, and the film that signaled the end of the first horror cycle in American film, 1948's "Abbott and Costello Meet Frankenstein," directed by Charles Barton! Viewed primarily as a stand-alone film (and not a continuation of Universal's horror series'), this film finds Chick Young (Bud Abbott) and Wilbur Gray (Lou Costello) working as baggage claim agents at the local station. They receive a strange call from someone asking them not to deliver two packages, but then the actual owner turns up and demands they do so. As it turns out, the two large crates contain a coffin holding Count Dracula (Bela Legosi, in only his 2nd turn as the famous vampire) and the other holds the Frankenstein monster (Glenn Strange). And it turns out that the person who called to warn them was none other than Larry Talbot (Lon Chaney Jr.), the Wolf-Ma

From a castle somewhere in Ohio to the Paris of the mid-1930s we go for the second film in our "tranvestite musicals" pairing, courtesy of master director Blake Edwards! This time, it's a starving former opera singer, Victoria Grant (Julie Andrews) who, thanks to a chance meeting with cabaret performer Carole 'Toddy' Todd (Robert Preston), winds up as a woman, pretending to be a man, pretending to be woman, as they embark on a musical con to become rich and famous, and Victoria becomes Count Victor Grazinsky, Polish aristocrat, and Europe's greatest female impersonator! And it would have worked, were it not for the arrival of King Marchand (James Garner), his moll/girlfriend Norma Cassidy (Lesley Ann Warren) and his bodyguard 'Squash' Bernstein (Alex Karras) to witness Victor's debut. After King is smitten with Victoria, he refuses to admit that "he" is really not a "she" and embarkes on a mission to get the girl (after he proves she IS a girl). It's am amazing romp and a true tour de force for both Andrews a

This week we review a cult film. Okay, we review THE cult film. Our pairing is "transvestite musicals" and we're starting with the grand marshal of them all, the theatrical play-turned-movie-turned-Broadway smash, the midnight movie to end all midnight movies! That's right, it's time to get your toast and your Scott toilet paper ready, we're looking at 1975's flop-turned-cult-classic, "The Rocky Horror Picture Show!" And, although it's now meant to be accompanied by a veritable ton of audience participation, the trio are looking at it solely as a stand-alone film! Created by Richard O'Brien (who also plays "Riff Raff" in the film), and directed by Jim Sharman, the film stars Tim Curry (in his first cinematic role) as Dr. Frank-N-Furter, a mad scientist (and also a lyrically-proclaimed transvestite) who, with his assistants Riff Raff and Magenta (Patricia Quinn), and groupie Columbia (Nell Campbell), is throwing a party to celebrate his Frankenstein-esque animation of his "monster," a hunk known only as Rocky

Part two of our pairing of films about satanic children covers birth through age five in 1976's horror classic "The Omen!" Written by David Seltzer and directed by the late, great Richard Donner, this is the story of newly-minted American Ambassador to England Robert Thorn (the incredible Gregory Peck) and his wife, Katherine (Lee Remick). The film begins with Katherine's newly-born baby dying and a priest convincing Robert to accept another child, born at the same time, in its place. He accepts, keeps the truth from his wife, and they name the child Damien (Harvey Stephens). At first, all is idyllic but, as the child grows, strange things begin to happen. At Damien's birthday party, his nanny commits suicide in a very vivid and public way after the appearance of a demonic hound. This is followed by the appearance of Mrs. Baylock (Billie Whitelaw),a new nanny neither parent hired, the arrival of Father Brennan (Patrick Troughton of "Dr. Who" fame), a fanatical priest who tries to warn Robert about the truth o

Satanic children are the theme for this pairing of horror films, starting with conception through birth in 1968's Roman Polanski-directed "Rosemary's Baby!" Polanski also wrote the screenplay based on the novel by Ira Levin. The film tells the story of Guy (John Cassavetes) and Rosemary (Mia Farrow) Woodhouse, attractive newlyweds looking for their first apartment together. Guy is an up-and-coming actor, while Rosemary is a homemaker who is soon adopted by eccentric elderly neighbors Roman (Sidney Blackmer) and Minnie (Ruth Gordon) Castevet who live next door. Their friend Hutch (Maurice Evans) is sad to see them move away but remains supportive. When Rosemary finds out she's pregnant, Minnie sends her to her trusted physician, Dr. Sapirstein (Ralph Bellamy) who takes Rosemary under his wing. But when Rosemary starts having severe pains, and no one else seems overly concerned, she begins to wonder. When Hutch is suddenly struck down, Rosemary receives a book from him about witches, adding to Rosemary's parano