The MacGuffin

Some have said that every movie is a little miracle.  From conceiving the story, to writing it, casting actors, hiring dependent filmmakers, and having enough money to film it, there are a thousand reasons why a movie may not be made.  Every time a movie is finished, regardless of whether or not it actually turns out to be good, it is a product of dozens, maybe even hundreds, of people working very hard to achieve a certain goal.  Unfortunately, for every movie that remarkably gets made, there are 5-6 other movies that don’t.  Lost in La Mancha (2002) is a story of one of those movies.

Spencer and John are still at Crypticon, where they conduct interviews with Amanda Wyss and Andras Jones from the Nightmare on Elm Street Series, with Felissa Rose from Sleepaway Camp, and with Ernie Hudson from Ghostbusters, before closing out the show with their DVD picks of the week.

Spencer and Brandi debate the quality of the remake of The Karate Kid starring Jaden Smith.

Those lovable characters from the smash hit films Toy Story (1995) and Toy Story 2 (1999) have returned to the Pixar forefront in the highly anticipated Toy Story 3.  Once again, we are reunited with the likes of the lanky cowboy, Woody (Tom Hanks), his intergalactic friend-in-need Buzz Lightyear (Tim Allen), as well as cowgirl Jessie (Joan Cusack), Rex the nebbish T-Rex (Wallace Shawn), Mr. and Mrs. Potato Head (Don Rickles/Estelle Harris), and many others.  Coming in to the film, I have to admit I had my reservations: would the film live up to the standards that were set in the first two?  The first Toy Story was an instant classic growing up as a kid, and the second one just reinforced my admiration for the franchise.  “Part 3’s” have traditionally been terrible films, and with director John Lasseter not taking the helm this time, this installment had a lot of obstacles to overcome.  So did it?  Let’s find out.

Spencer and John head to Seattle’s horror convention, Crypticon. First up they interview Chris Alexander, the new editor at Fangoria. Next, they interview the actor Doug Jones, best known for his work in Hellboy 1&2 and Pan’s Labyrinth. Finally, they close out the show with their DVD picks of the week.

Eraserhead is the first feature length film from writer/director David Lynch, who has brought us Blue Velvet and Mulholland Dr. While I have heard great things about both of those films and Mr. Lynch in general, this was the first of his movies that I took the time to watch. If I only had one word to describe this movie, it would be bizarre. One type of movie that I am always a huge fan of is bizarre, but this film took it way over the edge. It took the weirdness so far that it distracted from the plot which there was not much of anyway. David Lynch has gone on record as saying that no one has ever gotten the true meaning of the film and that he likes it that way.

Julie and Julia is a cute little film about Julia Child, the famous cook played here by Meryl Streep, before she became famous and modern Julie, played by Amy Adams, who is kind of a non-famous writer. Julie has a bunch of rich and important (read: snooty) friends who have no idea what she’s going through because they can’t relate. Julie decides, with the recommendation of her boyfriend, to go through Julia Child’s entire cookbook and blog about the experience. She does so (with some difficulty), but gets quite a following of friends and readers she doesn’t know.

Spencer and John spend this special bonus episode chatting with Dave ‘Gruber’ Allen, best known for his work as Mr. Rosso on Freaks and Geeks.

When you think of Adam Sandler, you think of the comedies that you grew up with, the potty humor and the cheap laughs that he gave you. One thing that you do not think of right away is great dramatic acting. While he has dabbled a bit in dramatic acting with Punch Drunk Love and Spanglish, his characters from movies such as Billy Madison and Happy Gilmore generally seem to come to mind first. After seeing this movie, it became clear to me that Adam Sandler has a mild form of what I like to refer to as the Jim Carrey disorder. When Jim Carrey first became a household name in the 90’s, he was popular for his character acting and his over-the-top comedy style. He began to test his dramatic limits with The Truman Show and The Majestic and then went on to star in one of the greatest movies of recent times Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind. Jim Carrey can be a very funny guy, but he is also an extremely underrated dramatic actor. He tends to choose the funny roles over the serious ones, and it appears that in the case of Adam Sandler the same can be said.

Once upon a time,

in a land so far away,

there was an action director,

by the name of Michael Bay.