Hey, Do You Remember...? - TopPodcast.com

Latest Episodes:

The Nightmare Before Christmas Oct 28, 2016

Show notes

Is it a Halloween movie? Is it a Christmas movie? The easy answer is that The Nightmare Before Christmas is both. So this felt like a great way for HDYR to celebrate All Hallow's Eve and kickoff a run of holiday-themed episodes. Even though it was successful when it was released in the fall of 1993, I'm not sure any of us could have predicted the incredible legacy this film would have two decades later. Ironically, Tim Burton wasn't even at the helm for what feels like the purest translation of his imagination. A lot of our memories are tied into that initial misconception and that's where our conversation begins - with Disney's concerns over how this project was coming together and their 11th hour plans to rebrand it. We then come full circle with them ultimately embracing the property and their attempts to capitalize on its success.

Other topics include: the degree to which Danny Elfman's music informed the overall story, how involved Burton actually was with the production of the film, the painstakingly precise process of stop-motion animation and how many seemingly simple shots were actually incredibly complex, some confusion over the rules of this universe and the doorways to all of these other holidays, a somewhat muddled message and one tiny tweak to the ending that might have made it more cohesive, Easter eggs for other Burton movies that appear throughout, Chris' story about a haunted forest attraction, the triumphant return of Be & F and 2 Truth 1 Lie, and much much more!

iTunes / Stitcher / RSS / Facebook / Twitter / Instagram

About The Show

Ernest Scared Stupid Oct 14, 2016

Show notes

With Halloween right around the corner, we figured it was a good time to scare ourselves stupid. Okay, okay... so maybe this one isn't quite as terrifying as it was when we were nine, but it's still an interesting halfway point in the long-running series of Ernest movies. On one side you've got the well-known, theatrically released titles we all remember. On the other, there's a bunch of straight-to-video entries you'd probably rather forget. As it turns out, the fallout from this installment played a pretty significant role in that shift. But before we discuss how this one came together and the consequences of its too-creepy-for-kids premise, we talk about the Ernest character in general. Although we all remember being completely enamored with him as kids, we were pretty shocked to realize that none of us had particularly clear memories of any of his movies, TV shows, or commercials.

Topics include: the six (!) other Ernest movies in development at the time that were ultimately abandoned in favor of this one, the unlikely comparison Carlos drew between these opening credits and some of HBO's late night programming, how similar the early moments are to Hocus Pocus, what in the world Eartha Kitt is doing in this movie and how all of this is sort of her fault, Chris' somewhat disturbing story about building haunted houses with his friends, how great all of the troll effects still look, the right way to talk to your plants, some big problems with the final showdown, and much much more!

iTunes / Stitcher / RSS / Facebook / Twitter / Instagram

About The Show

Willy Wonka & The Chocolate Factory Sep 30, 2016

Show notes

It's a shame that it took Gene Wilder's recent passing to galvanize us into covering one of his films, but wow are we glad we did. I suppose we're tipping our hand a bit here, but it probably won't come as too much of a surprise to anyone that all three of us still absolutely adore Willy Wonka & The Chocolate Factory.

Topics include: the multiple reasons they swapped out "Charlie" for "Willy Wonka" in the title, why Roald Dahl was unhappy with the end result, the possible sequels that never materialized, some key differences between this and the 2005 remake, the surprisingly brief amount of screen time dedicated to Wonk and his factory, an examination of the "Scumbag Grandpa Joe" meme, the possibilities and pitfalls of a Wonka-themed amusement park, and much much more!

iTunes / Stitcher / RSS / Facebook / Twitter / Instagram

About The Show

Little Giants Sep 16, 2016

Show notes

With football season right around the corner, it felt like the right time to revisit the 1994 comedy Little Giants. It may not have been as popular as other similarly-themed films from this era, but the performances from Rick Moranis, Ed O'Neil, and the entire cast of kids help make it a lot better than you might expect. Topics include: how the project's origins can be traced back to a McDonald's commercial, a more streamlined backstory that cleans up the underdeveloped romantic subplot, why Junior missed football tryouts and how his mother and Danny went all these years without realizing they lived in the same small town, the reason both of the O'Shea brothers needed to "see it my way" just a little bit more by the time they reached that final game, the weird message a Giants' victory sends to young viewers, just what in the world is going on in Coach Kevin's bedroom, and much much more!

iTunes / Stitcher / RSS / Facebook / Twitter / Instagram

About The Show

Beverly Hills Cop Sep 02, 2016

Show notes

We've all been on a pub crawl, right? Well get ready for a Podcrawl! Instead of hopping from one bar to the next, the idea is to move from podcast to podcast in order to cover all three Beverly Hills Cop movies. It kicks off right here with the HDYR gang tackling the original. From there, Does It Have Legs? picks up the baton to talk about Beverly Hills Cop II. And then Proudly Resents brings it home with a discussion about Beverly Hills Cop III. Topics include: the long and complicated history of this project and the different iterations that almost wound up on screen, Eddie Murphy's surprisingly understated performance, the way the sequels betray certain characters in some ways, how pitch-perfect the Detroit scenes are and why everything gets a little murkier once it moves to Beverly Hills, action scenes that are slightly lackluster even for 1984 and the key ingredient we think might be missing, some thoughts on the potential future of this franchise, and much much more! Huge thanks to Adam from Proudly Resents for reaching out and putting this Podcrawl together!

iTunes / Stitcher / RSS / Facebook / Twitter / Instagram

About The Show

Pee-wee's Big Adventure Aug 19, 2016

Show notes

Even though it had been ages since any of us had seen Pee-wee's Big Adventure, our memories from numerous viewings of it as children meant there weren't too many surprises during this rewatch. We could still recall nearly every scene and punchline with pretty impressive clarity.

Which is not to say we had the same experience with the film that we did as kids. A lot of this still works, but there were certain aspects of the vignette-heavy story structure and with Pee-wee as a character that left us a little bit conflicted.

Topics include: the origins of the Pee-wee Herman persona and the alternate scripts that were developed for this movie, our initial confusion over all the differences between this and Pee-wee's Playhouse, the one important detail that makes the biker bar sequence more successful than just about any other scene in the movie, the enduring legacy of Large Marge, how a ridiculous scandal robbed us of ten good years worth of material from Paul Reubens, a debate about the right time to brush your teeth, the time Chris tried to learn how to read minds, which member of the HDYR gang still doesn't know how to ride a bike, and much much more!

iTunes / Stitcher / RSS / Facebook / Twitter / Instagram

About The Show

National Lampoon's Vacation Jul 22, 2016

Show notes

Since the last few weeks have been filled with ninja turtles, aliens, and vampires, we decided it was time for a vacation. So we crammed into our metallic pea family truckster, loaded a Lindsey Buckingham cassette into the tape deck, and hit the open road for a look back at National Lampoon's Vacation.

All three of us were introduced to the movie at a fairly young age, but it was the repeat viewings that cemented its reputation as one of the all-time great screwball comedies. Which is not to say there aren't certain elements that definitely play differently now than they did in 1983. Because there are. A whole lot of them. But the film still works on so many other levels and even manages to sneak in a pretty powerful message about nostalgia as well.

Topics include: the original short story by John Hughes that this is based on, the pros and cons of turning Clark into the main character instead of Rusty, that notorious stop in St. Louis, the one big problem with the dream girl subplot, the unparalleled talent of mid-80s Chevy Chase, why the kids were recast in the sequels, the original ending and what it says about our obsession with "the good old days", the unbelievably simple reason the movie still works in spite of its issues, and much much more!

iTunes / Stitcher / RSS / Facebook / Twitter / Instagram

About The Show

From Dusk Till Dawn Jul 08, 2016

Show notes

Much has been made about the sudden left turn From Dusk Till Dawn takes at the halfway point, but back in 1996 the marketing was definitively selling us a vampire movie. So for many of us, the only surprise was how long it took for the bloodsuckers to show up. Fortunately, the movie has a lot more going for it than that twist.

It was particularly interesting to discover how we felt about the first half and second half now, what those reactions meant for the sum total of our viewing experience, and how many indicators there were for the different paths Tarantino and Rodriguez would take after this.

Topics include: how familiar we were with these filmmakers before we saw this movie, how our feelings about them have changed in the last two decades, Chris' theory about the days Tarantino was on set, the best piece of diegetic music we've heard since Masters of the Universe, the pros and cons of this risky story structure, the creature effects that still work, the ones that leave us with more questions, and much much more!

iTunes / Stitcher / RSS / Facebook / Twitter / Instagram

About The Show

Independence Day Jun 24, 2016

Show notes

Before the resurgence, we're going back to where it all began with the original Independence Day. Before Will Smith was a bona fide movie star... before we realied Roland Emmerich was essentially just going to keep remaking this same movie again and again... and before Randy Quaid became this character in real life. Kristen from The Sunnydale Stacks joins the HDYR gang for a conversation about how films like this influenced subsequent summer tentpoles, how much these types of blockbusters have changed in the last twenty years, and how much remains exactly the same.

Other topics include: the aggressive marketing campaign and some slight confusion over the ID4 abbreviation, our initial impressions of the movie, the supporting characters we'd put on the chopping block and which ones feel like they're in a different film entirely, some mixed opinions on Bill Pullman's performance as President Whitmore, what the rest of the world was doing while America was figuring out how to stop the invasion, the staggering number of blink-and-you'll-miss-them familiar faces, the fact that Dr. Okun was absolutely 100% dead, how many problems could have been solved by changing one thing about that alien spacecraft in Area 51, a debate about one of cinema's most notorious plot holes, that Goldblum swagger, and much much more!

iTunes / Stitcher / RSS / Facebook / Twitter / Instagram

About The Show

Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles III Jun 10, 2016

Show notes

The critical and commercial failure of Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles III didn't just derail plans for subsequent films in this franchise - it also represented a pretty definitive end point for our generation's "Turtle-mania". No one's suggestion that the movie hasn't earned its bad reputation, but it's grown so aggressively hyperbolic over the years that the HDYR gang couldn't help but wonder if the slide in quality was really THAT severe.

Well. We have our answer.

When we revisited the first two films with a more objective point of view, we realized that each of them had their issues - but boy oh boy is this third one a different beast entirely. It's probably no great revelation that this isn't a very good movie, but what was surprising were the reasons it felt like such a spectacular failure to us now... because the terrible Turtle costumes are the least of its problems.

Topics include: how the studio's recognition of the Turtles' dwindling popularity influenced their decision to cut corners, the story behind those hideous new suits, the baffling choice to bring back Casey Jones and do nothing with him, some absolutely insane time travel logic and how easy it would have been to simplify this whole scenario, a more satisfying backstory for these new villains, a discussion about the right time to age out of this stuff, and much much more!

iTunes / Stitcher / RSS / Facebook / Twitter / Instagram

About The Show

Our TOPPODCAST Picks

Follow Us

Stay Connected

Hey, Do You Remember…?

Related Podcasts

Links

Stay Connected