Reels & Wheels

The 80's was all about exploiting our fear of the power of computers and Weird Science, another John Hughes classic, is a modern-day Frankenstein playing to our fear of keyboards, CRT monitors and phone modems. High school nerds Gary and Wyatt use a computer to create the perfect girl (and Kelly LeBrock fits that part nicely), who provides them with not only the confidence and popularity they have dreamed of, but also a few really cool automobiles. Joining us is David Obuchowski, Jalopnik writer and host of the Tempest Podcast, helping us take a look back and see how this movie holds up. Does it hold up today? How strange was their choice of Ferraris? Any other 1980's kids remember the 928 as their introduction to what a Porsche is? Follow James (@S2KJames) and Sid (@SidBridgeComedy) - subscribe to @ReelsandWheels and leave us some feedback! Find David's podcast on www.jalopnik.com and catch him on Twitter @DavidOfromNJ!

Reels and Wheels celebrates Halloween by sitting down on Halloween night and talking about Quentin Tarantino's tribute to classic Grindhouse movies, Death Proof! Death Proof is a Horror/Thriller for car guys, layered with references to all the great classic car chase movies covered on this podcast, like Vanishing Point, Dirty Mary Crazy Larry, and Bullitt.  It's also a Tarantino movie, so there's tons of snappy dialogue and a few key points of extremely graphic violence. We have some amazing cars - the psychotic Stuntman Mike, played to perfection by Kurt Russell, choose both a 1971 Chevy Nova and a 1969 Charger. Our protagonists show up in a 1972 Mustang, dead set on getting a test drive of an Alpine white 1970 Challenger similar to the Vanishing Point car! How much Tarantino is too much Tarantino? How deep to the tributes and references go? How unintentionally creepy is the movie? Make sure you subscribe on iTunes, Stitcher or Google Play and leave us some feedback! @SidBridgeComedy, @S2KJames, @ReelsandWhe

On this episode Reels and Wheels pays tribute to the late Burt Reynolds with a great movie - White Lightning. Joining us once again is racer, writer & comic JG Pasterjak! White Lightning celebrates the ethos of running moonshine and was one the cutting edge of the "small town with corrupt sheriff" movie trope. Smuggling moonshine is how NASCAR was born, but it really qualifies as its own category of car racing - it requires a large car that can carry all the cargo AND a large engine so it can outrun the police. The Ford Custom 500 was perfect for the role. What kind of car would you run moonshine in? Do towns like this still exist?  Find JG Pasterjack at www.grassrootsmotorsports.com! Find Sid (@SidBridgeComedy) and James (@S2KJames) online - subscribe to Reels and Wheels on iTunes, Stitcher or GooglePlay and leave some feedback!

Diamonds are Forever! It was Sean Connery's last official James Bond movie (not counting the non-Eon Never Say Never Again) and it was an interesting mixture of classy and campy; providing a precursor to the Roger Moore era. It also had some interesting car choices - A Triumph Stag, a 1971 Mustang Mach I and a moon buggy created by legendary car customizer Dean Jeffries! Joining Sid and James is friend of the podcast and cohost of Five Minutes of Trouble/Five Minutes of Banzai, Brett Stillo! Can James come to terms with Sid's recent purchase of a Triumph Spitfire? Can one "drive British" in a Mustang Mach I? What extremely cool (before they were famous) cameo is buried in this movie? Find Brett at http://5minutesoftrouble.com/ - Catch Sid (@SidBridgeComedy) and James (@S2KJames) on social! Subscribe to Reels and Wheels on Itunes, Stitcher or Google Play and leave some feedback!

Son, you got a panty on your head. Raising Arizona - a masterpiece of a comedy/satire from the Coen brothers is a memorable, quotable and purely enjoyable movie from a time when Nicolas Cage wasn't just a walking punchline. Kyle Phalen (who previously joined us for Rain Man) joins us to talk about the movie and gets an education on Malaise Era cars in the process. What did the 1972 Impala mean for America? Was there automotive optimism in the post-muscle car age? Was Reagan really to blame for the problems of the mid 1980's?  Kyle challenges Sid and James in ways they just plain weren't ready for - you're gonna enjoy this episode. Subscribe on Stitcher, iTunes or Google Play and leave us some feedback! Connect with us online @ReelsandWheels, @S2KJames and @SidBridgeComedy!

Netflix made a movie! And it's got Forrest Whitaker in it! And it sucks! We love post-apocalypse movies at Reels and Wheels, so we had high hopes for How it Ends, the Netflix original that scrounged up enough cash to hire Forrest Whitaker. Sadly, the movie is just not good.  Will wants to marry Samantha, but Samantha's father, Tom hates his guts. Then the apocalypse happens and Will and Tom have to drive 2,000 miles to find Samantha because of course they do.  Suffering through the movie with us is Tom's Cadillac CTS - not a CTS-V, so don't get too excited, but still an interesting choice for a post-apocalyptic road trip. Hopefully it gets better from here, Netflix. Subscribe to Reels and Wheels on iTunes, Stitcher or Google Play and leave some feedback! @ReelsandWheels @S2KJames @SidBridgeComedy

Cobra (1986) is an 80's cop movie that you can absolutely love (in theory) if you get past how reprehensible it is. Sylvester Stallone is a cop who plays by his own rules. His peers don't like the fact that he kills everyone he should be arresting, but they let it go because he "gets the job done." Joining us to talk Cobra and its iconic 1950 Mercury is podcaster and comic Matthew Carter. Matt actually watched this movie when he was 8, which is a little disturbing, but we can cut him some slack because the cars in this movie are so much fun! There are so many cool 80's cars in the background, everyone has a personal experience to share just by watching the periphery of Cobra. And yeah, Cobra is disturbing. As good guys go, Stallone is a little murder-happy. Remember to subscribe to @ReelsandWheels on Stitcher, iTunes or Google Play and leave feedback! Go a movie or guest to suggest? Let us know on Facebook (https://www.facebook.com/ReelsandWheels/?ref=br_rs)!  Also follow @SidBridgeComedy, @S2KJames and find

Wax on, wax off! The Karate Kid (1984) is a classic that still inspires people today and is still talked about - and it's a great car movie to boot. From Mrs. Larusso's Chevelle wagon to Johnny Lawrence's Avanti II to Mr. Miyagi's collection of 1940's classics, cars were almost as integral to The Karate Kid as... well, Karate. Learn a lot of interesting facts in this episode as James and Sid talk about the bizarre Avanti II, Daniel's 1949 Ford Special Deluxe birthday present and more! Subscribe to Reels and Wheels on Stitcher or iTunes and follow us on Facebook! Catch @ReelsandWheels, @S2KJames and @SidBridgeComedy on Twitter, too!

The apocalypse happens. Jan-Michael Vincent is pretty chill about it. George Peppard suggests driving from southern California to Albany, New York in an armored all-terrain vehicle. They do that. Movie over. Improv comic and movie buff James Roach joins James and Sid to talk about Damnation Alley, a movie where NOTHING HAPPENS. Enjoy long scenes where a guy shaves and discusses the rotation for taking showers? No? Neither does anyone. Damnation Alley is bad. It's worse than a BattleTruck/Killdozer marathon. Listen to this podcast instead of watching it. Find us online @ReelsandWheels, @S2KJames, @SidBridgeComedy - https://www.facebook.com/ReelsandWheels/ Subscribe on iTunes or Stitcher and be sure to comment, thanks!

Remember when they did a post-apocalyptic pilot for a new Knight Rider series that never got picked up? Probably not. Knight Rider 2010 was part of a group of attempts at syndicated shows called the Action Pack. Unlike the Action Pack's successes (Hercules, Xena), it never got to be a series - but at least we got this bizarre pilot! Ed Carden of The Pushers and The Push Comedy Theater turned us on to this movie thanks to his love of post-apocalyptic strangeness.  This movie shares very little with Knight Rider. There is a super car and it does (kind of) talk, and it is piloted by one man trying to make a difference, but that's where the similarity ends. It's a 1994 take on a future that includes a strange vision of cyberspace, immigrant smuggling, black market human organ trade, and (there's no delicate way to put this) a sexual relationship with the car. Just, um, just listen.  Find Ed Carden and The Pushers at The Push Comedy Theater and catch a show there! www.pushcomedytheater.com Subscribe to @ReelsandWh

It's the movie that kicked off the most prolific car movie franchise ever - The Fast and the Furious. It's a wake up call to the world - the tuner community has arrived and it's time to accept it. Sid and James are joined by Kristen Lee of Jalopnik to talk about the influence this movie had on car culture and whether it was a good thing or a bad thing. So... how about the movie itself? Good? Bad? Unrealistic? Is it okay that the racing is unrealistic? Should we just relax and enjoy this movie for what it is? Kristen Lee is part of the wonderful team at Jalopnik.com - if you listen to this podcast, you should be visiting Jalopnik daily.  Make sure you tell your friends about Reels and Wheels! Subscribe on iTunes or Stitcher and leave some feedback! Follow us on FaceBook and Twitter @ReelsandWheels, @SidBridgeComedy and @S2KJames! Also check out Jalopnik's podcast, Tempest: https://jalopnik.com/why-the-best-cars-are-underdog-cars-1825419124  

On this episode, James and Sid tackle Battle Truck. It's a movie about a TRUCK that's (get this...) equipped for BATTLE. This post apocalyptic Max Mad/The Road Warrior wannabe actually had it's US release one month before The Road Warrior. It's got everything that made Mad Max successful - an ambitious director with a vision, a cool truck and a, um, villain. Only difference is that Battle Truck is terrible.  Well, James enjoyed it. Sid likens it to the Negan storyline of Walking Dead TV show, but without the zombies. Which is bad.  But hey, the truck is cool so there's that. Subscribe to Reels and Wheels on iTunes or Stitcher and leave some feedback! @ReelsandWheels @S2KJames @SidBridgeComedy  

Ok, maybe it doesn't make sense to leave an unstable prototype alone in a warehouse where anyone can reactivate it without at least taking the wheels off, but dammit KARR was awesome. The original Knight Rider gave us two episodes featuring KITT's evil prototype, the Knight Automated Roving Robot (KARR!) and each featured a different take on what was possibly KITT's greatest nemesis. Trust Doesn't Rust introduces us to KARR, voiced by Peter "Optimus Prime" Cullen. This KARR is somewhat naive, but self-centered and dangerous. KARR returns in "KITT vs. KARR", this time with an amber scanner and the voice of Paul Frees - an equally accomplished voice actor. Now KARR is pure evil, manipulative and bent on revenge. James and Sid are joined by Tobias Ellis, the person who helped get Reels and Wheels started, to drop some knowledge and nostalgia into the conversation. Maybe these shows weren't perfect, but they were freaking awesome. Follow @ReelsandWheels, @S2KJames and @SidBridgeComedy and leave us some feedback!

Cars 3... Is it a shameless cash grab to sell toys or an homage to the fans of the first movie?  The answer is probably both. The Cars universe expands quite a bit with plenty of great new toys to sell to your kids. However, Cars 3 also goes back to the successful formula that made the first movie a hit. Sound familiar? It's taken the same path as the first three Toy Story movies and the first three Indiana Jones movies. But that's the strength of the Cars franchise - it lifts big pieces of successful movies and adapts them to its own universe.  Sid and James are joined by the Alpha Geek himself, Derek Williams - stand up comic, voice actor and co-founder of Geek Night Comedy to talk about Cars 3 as we scratch a bit below the surface of another fun Pixar movie. Follow @ReelsandWheels, @SidBridgeComedy, @S2KJames and @Derek5Letters - subscribe to Reels and Wheels on Stitcher or iTunes and leave us some feedback!

Sure, it's a stoner movie. But it's a stoner movie with character growth, literary significance, great dialogue and some insightful car choices. Heck, how often do we get to do an episode of Reels and Wheels where the hero car is a Toyota Camry? It was time! It was the Camry's time! Sure, it's boring and it's basic, but that's the point. If you need a car - a reliable car - to get you from point A to point B, there is nothing better than the Camry. As car enthusiasts, that's a tough one for James and Sid to recognize, but hey, Harold had it figured out, right? Enjoy this episode about the Camry and about how weed should be legal. Follow @ReelsandWheels, @SidBridgeComedy and @S2KJames! Subscribe on iTunes or Stitcher and leave feedback!

Hey, look! It's a new movie that is supposed to be like "The Fast & The Furious" but in France! Let's watch it and talk about it on Reels and Wheels! ...and that's where things went downhill. Overdrive (2017) sucks. The dialogue is terrible, the plot makes no sense, and whoever wrote it clearly wasn't really a car person. But we watched it. We suffered so you wouldn't have to.  Do yourself a favor - listen to this episode of Reels and Wheels. It's way more entertaining than "Overdrive." @SidBridgeComedy @S2KJames @ReelsandWheels Subscribe. Leave great feedback. Share with your friends. You owe it to us after we sat through this one for you.

How do you bring NASCAR to a mainstream audience in movie form? Tom Cruise, I guess. I mean, it beats Stroker Ace. Days of Thunder was actually the last of an era - the last time producers Jerry Bruckheimer and Don Simpson got to do a high budget action movie before the studio got too mad at them to do it again. There is a lot to love, though - the portrayal of racing as a dangerous obsession by infantile people who grasp at an illusion of control hits right at home, especially with our guest, Andie Albin - who works for the SCCA and races herself! What do you think about early 1990's NASCAR and the Chevy Lumina? How about Tom Cruise's character crossing the line while hitting on Nicole Kidman's Dr. Luwicki? And you wouldn't believe how many scenes in this movie are based on real events! Follow Sid and James - @SidBridgeComedy and @S2KJames. Keep up with Andie at www.scca.com! Don't forget to subscribe to @ReelsandWheels on iTunes or Stitcher. Share it and leave feedback!

Sid and James are joined by their good friends Josh Horowitz and Brett Stillo of the "5 Minutes of Banzai" podcast for a quintessential cult classic - The Adventures of Buckaroo Banzai Across the 8th Dimension! If you're a Reels and Wheels listener, you probably remember Josh and Brett from the Big Trouble in Little China episode and their "5 Minutes in China" podcast. We enjoy going on each other's podcasts so much we decided to do it again! Buckaroo Banzai isn't a big car movie, but the rocket car (made from a Ford F-350) is worth an episode and Josh and Brett's knowledge of the movie makes for a great discussion! Find Josh and Brett at 5minutesofbanzai.com! Subscribe to Reels and Wheels on iTunes or Stitcher and make sure you share and leave feedback! @ReelsandWheels, @S2KJames, @SidBridgeComedy

It was the car of the future! In the late 1940's, a charismatic man named Preston Tucker got America excited about his innovative, futuristic car design... Sid and James welcome Steve Lehto, attorney, author and automotive journalist to talk about Tucker: The Man and His Dream, Francis Ford Coppola's surprisingly accurate portrayal of a man who sold his dream to the country, only to get squashed by the government and the big three. Steve has some amazing stories and the group also discusses Tucker's eerie similarity to Elon Musk. We also talk about the car itself, the Tucker 48 (sometimes called the Tucker Torpedo) and its quirky, ahead-of-its-time features! Follow @ReelsAndWheels, @SidBridgeComedy and @S2KJames on social media. Subscribe on Stitcher or iTunes and leave some feedback! Find Steve all over the place: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCMljRGC0eBJrxbUorWEnasg http://lehtoslaw.com/ http://www.roadandtrack.com/author/3026/steve-lehto/ https://www.amazon.com/Steve-Lehto/e/B001JPA7O4 https://jalopn

Phantasm is a brilliant horror movie that bends reality and deals with heavy situations of confronting mortality and loss. It's also got a kick-ass 1971 HemiCuda that went on to become a mainstay vehicle of the Phantasm movie series. For this episode, James and Sid are honored to be joined by one of the stars of the Phantasm series, Reggie Bannister and his wife, Gigi. Not only are they a great couple to talk to with lots of great information on the movie, they are both huge car enthusiasts. Want to find out what sleeper Reggie drag raced when he was young? Want to find out what kind of experimental car Gigi got to drive (and crash)? You're only going to find it here on Reels and Wheels! A big Reels and Wheels thank you to Reggie and Gigi for joining us on the podcast - please drop by their website, www.reggiebannister.com to find out what's going on, including a big project they are working on. Follow @ReelsandWheels, @SidBridgeComedy and @S2KJames, subscribe on iTunes or Stitcher and leave some feedback!