Rogues Gallery

Latest Episodes:

Case File 062: The Cable Guy Aug 17, 2022

Show notes

After an unbelievable two-year hot streak where every Jim Carrey movie was doing bang-up business at the box office, The Cable Guy became a sobering reminder that nothing lasts forever. The film was not a bomb by any means, but when compared to the performance of his previous hits, it was unquestionably a major disappointment. And there's no shortage of theories as to why - it was too dark, the marketing campaign was misleading, there was cynicism about Carrey's $20 million payday, etc. So the film has a very interesting reputation and it also represents a key moment in Carrey's career. We wanted to dig into all of that, see how it plays nearly three decades later, and offer up some alternative explanations for the icy reception it initially received. Facebook | Twitter | Instagram Apple Podcasts | Stitcher | Google Play | Spotify Chris's Instagram & Twitter | Kristen's Instagram Chris & Kristen's Web Series: The Strange Case of Lucy Chandler

Case File 061: A Clockwork Orange Jul 27, 2022

Show notes

Stanley Kubrick's adaptation of A Clockwork Orange is now regarded as an incredibly accomplished and influential film, but it was a lot more divisive upon its original release in 1971. And one of its biggest detractors wound up being the original novella's author, Anthony Burgess. Burgess wasn't just critical of the movie, he had very complicated feelings about his own book. This wasn't like Stephen King's misgivings over The Shining, though. Burgess's relationship with A Clockwork Orange was something that eroded over time due to a variety of factors. So we wanted to dig into exactly what happened there, parse out our own reactions to the material and how they've changed over the years, and examine the lasting impact and legacy of Alex DeLarge and his gang of droogs. Facebook | Twitter | Instagram Apple Podcasts | Stitcher | Google Play | Spotify Chris's Instagram & Twitter | Kristen's Instagram Chris & Kristen's Web Series: The Strange Case of Lucy Chandler

Case File 060: The Mummy (1999) Jul 13, 2022

Show notes

Throughout the 80s and 90s, a lot of top-tier genre filmmakers took a crack at developing a modern update of The Mummy. In the end, it was writer/director Stephen Sommers who landed the gig by reimagining the story as a family-friendly Indiana Jones-esque adventure as opposed to a more straightforward horror film. In this episode, we examine the earlier iterations that were considered, why Universal Pictures ultimately went with this version, the franchise that it spawned, and how we feel about the film two decades later. Facebook | Twitter | Instagram Apple Podcasts | Stitcher | Google Play | Spotify Chris's Instagram & Twitter | Kristen's Instagram Chris & Kristen's Web Series: The Strange Case of Lucy Chandler

Case File 059 - AVP: Alien Vs Predator Jun 29, 2022

Show notes

Whoever wins... we lose. That's what the poster for AVP: Alien Vs Predator proclaimed and that's certainly how most audiences probably felt walking out of the theater. That was almost two decades ago though and now that we've sat through some of the subsequent entries in both of these franchises... is this one really that bad? We decided to investigate. Topics include: the original Dark Horse Comics mini-series, why it took over ten years to bring this concept to the big screen, how AvP disrupted plans for an Alien 5 written by James Cameron and directed by Ridley Scott, the internet's reaction to Paul W.S. Anderson being hired to helm this, the PG-13 rating and other studio mandates that seemed to immediately handicap the film, controversial changes to the look of the Predators, how the first act of this is legitimately pretty solid (and surprisingly similar to Prometheus), the future of both franchises and whether or not there's room for more AvP crossovers, and much more! Facebook | Twitter | Instagram Apple Podcasts | Stitcher | Google Play | Spotify Chris's Instagram & Twitter | Kristen's Instagram Chris & Kristen's Web Series: The Strange Case of Lucy Chandler

Case File 058: Nightmare Alley Jun 15, 2022

Show notes

On this episode, we're investigating Stanton Carlisle's rise and fall in all three versions of Nightmare Alley: the original novel, the 1947 movie, and Guillermo del Toro's 2021 adaptation. Topics include: the eerie way in which William Lindsay Gresham's book almost foreshadowed his own demise, the incident in del Toro's past that made him connect so deeply with the source material, notable differences between each iteration, some pushback on the criticism that the most recent version favors style over substance, why the entire point is that you were supposed to see the ending coming from a mile away, and much more! Facebook | Twitter | Instagram Apple Podcasts | Stitcher | Google Play | Spotify Chris's Instagram & Twitter | Kristen's Instagram Chris & Kristen's Web Series: The Strange Case of Lucy Chandler

Case File 057: Coraline Jun 02, 2022

Show notes

When you consider all of the obstacles it was up against, it's sort of a miracle that Coraline even exists. Stop-motion animation was considered a dead art form, the director's previous film was a notorious critical & commercial failure, and there were concerns that the subject matter was too dark for kids and too tame for adults. And yet...

Like the Neil Gaiman novella it's based on, Coraline was embraced by audiences of all ages (and often precisely for the reasons that the studio was initially wary of it). As faithful as the film is, it also makes several notable changes and additions to the source material. So we wanted to dig deeper into the origins of both versions and see how they compare. Facebook | Twitter | Instagram Apple Podcasts | Stitcher | Google Play | Spotify Chris's Instagram & Twitter | Kristen's Instagram Chris & Kristen's Web Series: The Strange Case of Lucy Chandler

Case File 056: American Psycho May 18, 2022

Show notes

When describing the reaction to Bret Easton Ellis's 1991 novel American Psycho, the word "controversial" seems hilariously inadequate. The backlash to this transgressive tale of a Wall Street stockbroker who moonlights as a sadistic serial killer was intense. So when the film adaptation hit theaters in 2000, it was anticipated with a great deal of trepidation and skepticism. As it turns out, director Mary Harron brought the satirical elements of the book front and center in a way that not only recontextualized the source material for many people, it arguably improved upon it in many ways. Two decades later, the character of Patrick Bateman maintains a stranglehold on pop culture and we wanted to investigate why. Topics include: the arduous road to getting the film made and some truly shocking prior iterations that almost made it to the screen, Christian Bale's "method-adjacent" approach to his performance and the effect that had on his co-stars, why the themes of the story are maybe even more relevant now, the in-name-only sequel, Bateman's appearances in other media, whether or not audiences have spent 20 years asking the wrong question about the film's ending, and much more! Facebook | Twitter | Instagram Apple Podcasts | Stitcher | Google Play | Spotify Chris's Instagram & Twitter | Kristen's Instagram Chris & Kristen's Web Series: The Strange Case of Lucy Chandler

Case File 055: Jason Voorhees (Friday the 13th: The Final Chapter) May 04, 2022

Show notes

Well, we did it. We made it to the very last Friday the 13th movie ever! Kudos to everyone involved for going out on a high note instead of overstaying their welcome with a conveyor belt of sequels.

Jokes aside, the fact of the matter is that The Final Chapter is still a pretty significant entry in the franchise. In fact, a lot of fans would argue it's the best one (including one of your hosts). Is it deserving of that title? And did they really intend for this to be the big finale or was it just a savvy marketing gimmick? Join us as we dig deep into those questions and so much more!

Case File 054: Mean Girls Apr 20, 2022

Show notes

Get in losers, we're going podcasting! We've been to Elm Street, Crystal Lake, and Haddonfield, but this week we're visiting the most terrifying location of all... high school. No one's more surprised by the success of Mean Girls or the scope of its pop culture imprint than the people who made it. So we wanted to go back to the beginning and investigate how a modest teen comedy based on a self-help book became a perennial favorite and one of the most quotable films of all-time. Topics include: the unconventional source of inspiration, some of the differences between the original R-rated version of the script and the finished film, how Mean Girls transcends its genre and taps into something a lot more universal, the musical chairs aspect of the casting process, the original ending, plans for a sequel, and much more! Facebook | Twitter | Instagram Apple Podcasts | Stitcher | Google Play | Spotify Chris's Instagram & Twitter | Kristen's Instagram Chris & Kristen's Web Series: The Strange Case of Lucy Chandler

Case File 053: Darkman Apr 06, 2022

Show notes

The marketing campaign for Sam Raimi's 1990 action/horror movie tantalized moviegoers with the question: "Who is Darkman?" But from the studio's point of view, the bigger mystery was probably what is Darkman? From pre-production all the way to release, there was quite a bit of confusion over the tone Raimi was aiming for. As a result, the film found itself in a tug-of-war between a director who was trying to deliver something more transgressive and executives who were attempting to turn this into a more straightforward superhero story. The end result might not completely represent Raimi's original vision, but Darkman retains enough of his signature style for us to declare it a very underrated entry on his filmography. Facebook | Twitter | Instagram Apple Podcasts | Stitcher | Google Play | Spotify Chris's Instagram & Twitter | Kristen's Instagram Chris & Kristen's Web Series: The Strange Case of Lucy Chandler

Our TOPPODCAST Picks

Follow Us

Stay Connected

Related Podcasts

Links

Stay Connected